A spokesperson for the Harris campaign issued a statement clearing up what Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Walz said about the Electoral College.
During a fundraiser in California on Tuesday, the Minnesota governor said the Electoral College “needs to go,” though he acknowledged it’s unlikely.
“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," he said at an event hosted by Gov. Gavin Newsom at his private residence. “So, we need to win Beaver County, Pennsylvania. We need to be able to go into York, Pennsylvania, win. We need to be in western Wisconsin and win. We need to be in Reno, Nevada, and win.”
A spokesperson for the Harris campaign noted that Walz's belief about the Electoral College is not an official position.
“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 campaign spokesperson told CNN. “He was commenting to a crowd of strong supporters about how the campaign is built to win 270 electoral votes. And, he was thanking them for their support that is helping fund those efforts.”
Walz’s comments are in line with what Vice President Kamala Harris said about the Electoral College in 2019 when she first ran for president.
“There’s no question that the popular vote has been diminished in terms of making the final decision about who’s the president of the United States and we need to deal with that, so I’m open to the discussion” about abolishing the Electoral College, she said on "Jimmy Kimmel Live."