With their new trifectas in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Arizona, Wisconsin and Nevada, Democrats could sign onto the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact, in which states give their electoral votes to whoever wins the nationwide popular vote. All five of those states haven’t yet signed; the 19 that have possess 222 of the 270 votes needed to win the presidency. The additional states would activate the Compact. Some states might decline, bellyaching over losing their place of prominence in picking the president, but that would be irritatingly myopic: of the five presidents who won while losing the popular vote, four were Republicans.
Talk about historic.
As awesome as it would be, I fear there are too many comfortable with status quo. That being said I’ll keep my fingers crossed
The Compact has been enacted by 18 states and DC (CA, CO, CT, DE, DC, HI, IL, MA, MD, ME, MN, NJ, NM, NY, OR, RI, VA, VT, WA) representing 222 of the 270 necessary Electoral College votes.
Nine of the remaining States have had bills pass the State House or Senate, but not make it all the way.
Nevada (6 votes) is annoying. On May 18, 2023, the Nevada Senate approved the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact as a constitutional amendment AJR6 by a 12-9 vote. The Assembly had previously approved AJR6 by a 27-14 vote. The sponsors did not request passage by the 2025 Legislature, and therefore the amendment will not be on the statewide general election ballot in November 2026. So Nevada voters could have decided it this year, but they let it sit instead of resubmitting what had already been passed by the Assembly previously.
As crazy as it is to think about, with Texas going Blue with both a Dem Governor and a majority in the State House, there is actually a possibility of those 40 votes. A completely unthinkable scenario even a week ago.
Texas Senate will stay red, so no chance there, but there are other trifecta states that could get it to 270.
Also even if it texas DID pass that, we probably don’t want to rely on texas staying blueish forever. The ideal scenario for the compact is a decent amount above 270 so even if one state fucks up and goes all red and drops out, it still exists.