Kamala Harris’s running mate urges popular vote system but campaign says issue is not part of Democrats’ agenda

Tim Walz, the Democratic vice-presidential nominee, has called for the electoral college system of electing US presidents to be abolished and replaced with a popular vote principle, as operates in most democracies.

His comments – to an audience of party fundraisers – chime with the sentiments of a majority of American voters but risk destabilising the campaign of Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential candidate, who has not adopted a position on the matter, despite having previously voiced similar views.

“I think all of us know, the electoral college needs to go,” Walz told donors at a gathering at the home of the California governor, Gavin Newsom. “We need a national popular vote. We need to be able to go into York, Pennsylvania, and win. We need to be in western Wisconsin and win. We need to be in Reno, Nevada, and win.”


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  • @Viking_Hippie
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    373 hours ago

    but campaign says issue is not part of Democrats’ agenda

    Fucking hell! Every time either of them says something truly based, some DNC lackey comes and spoils it by saying that! 🤬

    • Queue
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      61 hour ago

      And all interest in this statement was lost in record time. Even though it would help Democrats win every time, as swing states would stop being a thing, and the Democrat voters in Wyoming and Texas and every other sold-red state is now something to seriously counts.

  • @TommySoda
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    404 hours ago

    I think at this point pretty much everyone I’ve ever talked to thinks the electoral college is bullshit. Even my dad and he’s a trumper.

    • DacoTaco
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      83 hours ago

      It makes sense to exist… In the 40’s.
      But with modern day society and how small the world has become, it makes no sense to me to still exist tbh…

      • @bamfic
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        182 hours ago

        1840s. It existed to preserve slavery

        • @[email protected]
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          342 minutes ago

          I was taught something different growing up and had to check myself with a quick read. Holy shit. You’re right. Thanks for sharing.

  • @Veedem
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    346 hours ago

    While I agree with him, it’s also a stupid thing to say out loud during the election when they’re CLEARLY trying to sway moderate and uneasy right leaning voters.

    • @[email protected]
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      1095 hours ago

      I think the electoral college has become pretty unpopular with pretty much everyone except committed republicans in recent years

      • @InverseParallax
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        233 hours ago

        It’s become unpopular with everyone except the people who originally demanded it so they could count their slaves as 3/5 of a vote.

        • Dwraf of Ignorance
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          -22 hours ago

          I think it was progressive who demanded it to be 3/5 if then conservative had their way they would happily count slaves as two people. It’s was in their favour to do so. Slaves could vote and it inflated their population count which will grant more seat. I’m neither American nor have I been there.

          • Mbourgon everywhere
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            52 hours ago

            Nope, but not bad. The free states wanted them to not count for representative purposes, since they couldn’t vote.

            From Wikipedia:

            Slave holding states wanted their entire population to be counted to determine the number of Representatives those states could elect and send to Congress. Free states wanted to exclude the counting of slave populations in slave states, since those slaves had no voting rights. A compromise was struck to resolve this impasse. The compromise counted three-fifths of each state’s slave population toward that state’s total population for the purpose of apportioning the House of Representatives, effectively giving the Southern states more power in the House relative to the Northern states.

        • @SmilingSolaris
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          -13 hours ago

          Small suggestion to use “enslaved people’s” rather than “slaves”

          • @vxx
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            2 hours ago

            Why though? We call baking people bakers, why shouldn’t we call enlaved people slaves?

            It’s not as if their circumstances become more human that way.

            • @SmilingSolaris
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              22 hours ago

              It’s just good to reinforce the idea that enslaved people’s were people who were enslaved. Not a profession, slave was not their job, it was their status.

              Plus studies have shown that by using these people first language, especially while teaching the subject, results in higher empathy for enslaved people and reminds that their status as a slave was one forced upon them and continually so rather than the simple status they were born with.

              It’s not a huge problem or anything, but it isn’t hard to toss in every now and then and only does good.

            • @[email protected]
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              -22 hours ago

              I think there’s a difference between the two. The term “salve” says nothing about what happened. It just tells you how things are. However, the term “enslaved” clearly indicates that the person used to be free, but was later forced into slavery by someone.

              • LustyArgonianMana
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                15 minutes ago

                Imo it’s more that “enslaved people” emphasizes their humanity, something that slavery itself typically removes from a person. Therefore “enslaved person” can be seen as radical phrasing that works against the goals of slavery

              • @[email protected]
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                32 hours ago

                Words have a definition, slave is the appropriate word to talk about enslaved people and them being enslaved is what makes them slaves therefore it’s implied that they are enslaved if they are slaves. Now stop with the PC bullshit to derail the discussion.

      • @takeda
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        75 hours ago

        Exactly, the result is decided but free starts and for example Republicans in California and New York feel their vote doesn’t matter at all.

      • @acosmichippo
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        -14 hours ago

        not the undecided swing state voters.

        • @Fedizen
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          3 hours ago

          with the amount of money being spent to woo swing state voters I feel like being an “undecided voter” is some kind of career at this point

    • @njm1314
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      355 hours ago

      Maybe they’re finally realizing that instead of chasing right wing voters they should try to tap into the much larger pool of left-wing voters. Or at least one can hope.

    • The Assman
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      53 hours ago

      His comments – to an audience of party fundraisers – chime with the sentiments of a majority of American voters

      I guess you missed this bit

      • @meco03211
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        44 hours ago

        But if we take the high road once more, surely the voters will see the light!

        • @[email protected]
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          259 minutes ago

          Just vote blue no matter who.

          It’s that simple, do that and you’ll uh somehow magically become a lefter country?

  • @steventhedev
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    75 hours ago

    The electoral college is good for one thing and one thing only: boosting confidence that election fraud in one place won’t impact the result of the election.

    Winner takes all was always stupid and needs to be replaced with proportional allocation, preferably with a more direct ratio to the actual population of votes. Basically, everyone doing what Nebraska and Maine do.

    • @[email protected]
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      255 hours ago

      It’s also really good for making sure that whoever wins the most acres of land gets a huge electoral boost. Because that’s important.

      • @acosmichippo
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        124 hours ago

        what if we make a compromise on the land area, say 3/5?

      • RickRussell_CA
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        -24 hours ago

        It’s also really good for making sure that whoever wins the most acres of land gets a huge electoral boost. Because that’s important.

        Is it? The most disproportionate representation in the EC belongs to the people of Delaware, last time I ran the numbers of EC votes per capita.

        State population is all that matters. Very small populations still get an EC vote for each Senator, which is the root of the problem.

  • @[email protected]
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    45 hours ago

    I wish Walz was at the top of the ticket.
    I’d eagerly vote for him, as opposed to skeptically voting for Harris.

    • @[email protected]
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      7 minutes ago

      I don’t get the downvotes, I’m in a similar position and I’m sure so mang others are as well.

    • @proudblond
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      245 hours ago

      My hope is that she chose him, so she likes him, maybe for the same reasons we do.

  • queermunist she/her
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    -43 hours ago

    Watch Trump win the electoral college again and Democrats not use that as a rallying point to abolish it.

  • @givesomefucks
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    -85 hours ago

    Don’t worry. As soon as Waltz said an overwhelmingly positive thing, Kamala distanced herself from it.