Gov. Tim Walz made a new push for booting the Electoral College in favor of a national popular vote, as Democrats are again wary of a scenario in which Vice President Kamala Harris wins the popular vote but fails to secure the presidency.
“I think all of us know the Electoral College needs to go,” Walz said at a campaign fundraiser with California Gov. Gavin Newsom Tuesday afternoon, according to pool reporters in the room. “We need a national popular vote that is something. But that’s not the world we live in.”
Walz said he had been talking about the idea with Newsom earlier. But he appeared to put it aside as he went on to say that the campaign needs to focus on winning swing counties from Pennsylvania to western Wisconsin and Nevada.
Walz, according to pool reports, made similar comments at an earlier fundraiser in Seattle. His comments are a painful reminder for Democrats of 2016, when Hillary Clinton won the popular vote by nearly 3 million votes but fell short of the 270 votes she needed in the Electoral College and lost to Donald Trump.