Democrats are once again attacking the democratic institutions of the United States in the name of “defending democracy.” Minnesota Governor Tim Walz told a crowd of millionaire donors that he thinks the Electoral College “needs to go” while making a fundraising trip to California.
“I think all of us know the Electoral College needs to go. We need, we need national popular vote, but that’s not the world we live in,” Walz said, according to CNN.
The Harris campaign tried to distance the vice president from her running mate’s statement. According to a campaign official, Walz’s comments were aimed at energizing strong supporters and reinforcing the need to compete effectively within the existing Electoral College framework.
“Governor Walz believes that every vote matters in the Electoral College, and he is honored to be traveling the country and battleground states working to earn support for the Harris-Walz ticket,” a spokesperson for the campaign said in a statement.
The Trump campaign jumped at the chance to point to more evidence that Democrats intend to cast aspersions on the vote if the Republicans win in November.
Is Tampon Tim laying the groundwork to claim President Trump’s victory is illegitimate? https://t.co/E8konqFN82
— Karoline Leavitt (@kleavittnh) October 8, 2024
For months, liberals have appeared to be laying the groundwork to prevent Trump from taking office if he wins.
A few days before the Supreme Court ruled that random state officials cannot simply pronounce that a candidate participated in an “insurrection” to make them ineligible for the presidency, The Atlantic wrote that “a Trump win could lead to a constitutional crisis in Congress. Democrats would have to choose between confirming a winner many of them believe is ineligible and defying the will of voters who elected him. Their choice could be decisive: As their victory in a House special election in New York last week demonstrated, Democrats have a serious chance of winning a majority in Congress in November, even if Trump recaptures the presidency on the same day. If that happens, they could have the votes to prevent him from taking office.
Vice President Harris has previously expressed a willingness to discuss the idea of abolishing the Electoral College. In a 2019 appearance on “Jimmy Kimmel Live,” she noted her openness to revisiting the system, stating that “the popular vote has been diminished” and that it was worth having a conversation about the issue.
USA Today noted that “since being tapped as Harris’ running-mate in August, Walz has faced scrutiny for a trail of past misstatements and gaffes. During his debate last week against Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance, Walz called himself “a knucklehead” when he was asked about discrepancies over the dates he previously said he traveled to China during the spring of 1989 Tiananmen Square democracy protests.”
