Long-time readers may recall the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact. Succinctly, those States subscribing to the Compact dedicate their Electoral College votes to the Presidential Candidate who garners the most votes, nation-wide, each Presidential election cycle. This would prevent the perceived injustice of a victory in the popular vote obviated by a loss in the Electoral College, as happened to candidates Hillary Clinton and Al Gore. Paul Hogarth on Daily Kos has an update:
We are already 72% [of the winning 270 electoral votes] of the way there—with 15 states and the District of Columbia having passed a law joining the Compact, which totals 195 electoral votes. And in Colorado, after the governor and state legislature joined the Compact in 2019, it even survived a referendum challenge at the ballot box.
Getting from 195 to 270 electoral votes will not be easy, as we already got the “low-hanging fruit” of large blue states like California, New York, and Illinois. But the Compact has already picked up battleground states like Colorado and New Mexico, and in recent years, the Compact came very close to passing in Nevada (where it passed both houses of the legislature), Maine, and Virginia.
After the 2022 midterms, Democrats have a trifecta in Minnesota and Michigan—so in 2023, these two states will be top priorities for the Compact. We also now have a Democratic majority in the Pennsylvania state House, and are likely just one more election cycle away from picking up the legislature in Arizona.
It’s interesting that he thinks the Arizona legislature will fall to the Democrats in 2024.
