Elissa Slotkin, Josh Shapiro take aim at US Constitution as WaPo touts Dem plan to bypass Electoral College, create ‘winner takes all’ elections

A recent report by The Washington Post highlighted Democrats’ renewed push to change how the United States elects its president, with the goal of making the national popular vote determine the winner rather than the Electoral College. For two decades, supporters of the effort have pushed states to join the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact, an agreement under which participating states pledge to award their electoral votes to the winner of the national popular vote rather than the winner within their individual states.

The compact would take effect once participating states collectively represent at least 270 electoral votes, the number needed to win the presidency. The arrangement is based on the Constitution's provision that allows state legislatures to determine how their electoral votes are awarded.

Currently, 18 states and Washington, DC, have adopted the compact, representing 222 electoral votes. That leaves 48 electoral votes needed to activate the agreement.

Following the November midterms, Democrats gained full control of state governments in states not yet in the compact, including Arizona, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. The five states collectively account for 61 electoral votes.

Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro has already expressed support for the effort, saying after the midterms that “The national popular vote makes sense.”

“To me, the most important thing is that the will of the people is heard and respected, and I think popular vote is a way to do that,” he said on the “Pod Save America” podcast.

In recent presidential elections, the only candidates to win the Electoral College while losing the national popular vote have been Republicans, with George W. Bush in 2000 and Donald Trump in 2016. Should Democrats go forward with the compact, it would likely face significant legal challenges and ultimately reach the Supreme Court.

Article 1, Section 10 of the US Constitution prohibits states from entering “into any Agreement or Compact with another State” unless it has the consent of Congress to do so. In practice, however, the court has loosely interpreted rulings in favor of allowing states to enter into compacts that don’t inherently undermine federal sovereignty.

The push to change the Electoral College comes as Democrats have increasingly discussed broader changes to the federal government. Democratic lawmakers in the Senate have proposed the idea of abolishing the filibuster to allow Democratic legislation to be passed with a simple majority.

Party members have also called for amending the Constitution if needed to achieve their goals. Shapiro supported this in a recent post on X, writing, “As we look to the future, we can’t be limited by the status quo. Laws will need to change. Investments will be necessary. And if we have to amend the Constitution to make it happen, so be it.”

Democrat Michigan Senator Elissa Slotkin also called for generational change within the federal government once Trump leaves office.

“There is going to be an America after President Trump. The next generation must reimagine and rebuild something new. The systems of the past are failing us,” Slotkin wrote on X.