Source: Politics<\/p>\n
Democrats who just triumphed in a number of battlegrounds are facing pressure to make their states just a little less powerful in the fight for the presidency.<\/p>\n
The party\u2019s sweeping victories present an opportunity for Democrats in states with newly won trifectas to join the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact, an agreement between states to make sure whoever wins national popular vote becomes president by awarding their Electoral College votes to that winner, rather than the winner of the most votes in their state.<\/p>\n
The compact would go into effect when it\u2019s enacted in states whose combined electoral vote total is at least 270. Currently, 18 historically blue states and Washington D.C. have joined the compact, a two-decade-long, nonpartisan project, with a combined 222 electoral votes.<\/p>\n
That means if Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin join, along with either Arizona or Nevada, the compact would go into effect in every member state, making it possible for the next president to be elected by winning the popular vote while losing the Electoral College. All five states will now be under unified Democratic control starting next year.<\/p>\n
Democrats in those five states, which will likely be battlegrounds in 2028 under the current system, have supported switching to national popular vote in the past.<\/p>\n
But it\u2019s unclear whether they will move forward on national popular vote after gaining historic trifectas on the back of promising to lower costs for voters \u2014 a move that would make their own states less crucial for the 2028 presidential battle.<\/p>\n
Incoming Arizona Senate Majority Leader Priya Sundareshan told POLITICO her caucus will take up the national popular vote, but the timing remains unsettled. Sundareshan added she hasn\u2019t spoken to Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs about national popular vote. Hobbs\u2019 office declined to comment.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe certainly are and have been prepared to join the compact, and we also want to make sure that we are showing that our priorities are reflective of what we really focused on on the campaign trail,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro told POLITICO<\/a> he is \u201copen\u201d to signing his state into the compact but suggested he hasn\u2019t yet coordinated with state legislators on how national popular vote fits in with the rest of his agenda. He said separately Saturday at Crooked Media\u2019s \u201cCrooked Con\u201d that the national popular vote \u201cmakes sense\u201d and pledged to work with lawmakers \u201cto figure out what the right mechanism going forward on that.\u201d<\/p>\n Some state leaders say they know they\u2019d draw challenges and political fury if they attempt to rewrite the nation\u2019s rules for electing presidents. Incoming Michigan Senate Majority Leader Darrin Camilleri said he\u2019s open to enacting a national popular vote, but conceded that any change would likely invite lawsuits from Republicans.<\/p>\n \u201cOther states that have done this are not going to be the tipping-point states. We very well could be one of those tipping point-states, and so I want to ensure that everybody is on the same page,\u201d Camilleri said.<\/p>\n Michigan Gov.-elect Jocelyn Benson\u2019s representatives did not respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n Wisconsin Gov.-elect David Crowley previously backed a 2019 bill<\/a> to have Wisconsin join the compact. When asked if he would do so as governor, Crowley said in a statement he \u201cis focused on assembling an experienced transition team so his administration can be ready on day one to deliver results for working families across the Badger State.\u201d<\/p>\n Ben Wikler, the former Wisconsin Democratic Party chair and national popular vote advocate, dismissed concerns about battleground states diminishing their prominence in presidential elections, even as he acknowledged that \u201cbattleground states passing the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact is like the popular kids abolishing the concept of popularity.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI’ve spoken to audiences all over the state of Wisconsin,\u201d Wikler said. \u201cEveryone here agrees that Wisconsinites shouldn’t be high and mighty, lording over the powerless voters in the coastal states. We should be a one-person, one-vote democracy.\u201d<\/p>\n When Nevada Democrats held a trifecta in 2019, they put a bill to join the compact on former Gov. Steve Sisolak\u2019s desk, but Sisolak vetoed it<\/a> out of concern it would diminish the role of smaller states like Nevada in the electoral process. Nevada Gov.-elect Aaron Ford\u2019s office declined to comment.<\/p>\n Despite the uncertainty, the outside groups pushing the compact are optimistic enough states will join to trigger the compact ahead of the 2028 election.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve never been more confident in my life,\u201d said Patrick Rosenstiel, a spokesperson for National Popular Vote, the bipartisan group behind the compact.<\/p>\n