Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, the Democratic nominee for vice president, said at a fundraiser on Tuesday that the Electoral College voting system in America “needs to go” in favor of a national popular vote to elect a president.

Walz made the comment while speaking about the significance of focusing on winning a handful of specific battleground states this November.  

What You Need To Know

  • At a fundraiser on Tuesday, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, the Democratic nominee for vice president, said at a fundraiser on Tuesday that the Electoral College voting system in America “needs to go”

  • A spokesperson later clarified that was not the position of the Harris campaign, and that Walz was "commenting to a crowd of strong supporters about how the campaign is built to win 270 electoral votes"

  • According to the Pew Research Center, more than 60% of Americans favor the popular vote determining who wins the presidency; just 35% prefer keeping the Electoral College in place

  • The Trump campaign’s National Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt criticized Walz’s remark in a post on social media, questioning whether he was “laying the groundwork to claim President Trump’s victory is illegitimate?"

“I think all of us know, the electoral college needs to go,” Walz said at a fundraising event at the home of California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Tuesday. “We need a national popular vote.”

“But that's not the world we live in,” he continued. “So we need to win Beaver County, Pennsylvania, 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.”

The last time the Democratic candidate for president lost the popular vote was two decades ago. Since the 2000 election, two candidates have won the popular vote but lost the electoral college and thus the White House. Both were Democrats, including former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in 2016, who won nearly three million more votes than former President Donald Trump in the national tally, but fell short in the electoral college. 

The Trump campaign’s National Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt criticized Walz’s remark in a post on social media, questioning whether he was “laying the groundwork to claim President Trump’s victory is illegitimate?” 

A spokesperson later clarified that was not the position of the Harris campaign.

"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," the spokesperson said. "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."

In an interview with "60 Minutes" that aired this week, Walz, who has made notable gaffes on the campaign trail about his travel to China, his military record and other issues, said that the vice president told him to get a better handle on his rhetoric.

“She said, ‘Tim, you know, you need to be a little more careful on how you say things,’” Walz recalled, while comparing himself to Trump, who he referred to as a “pathological liar.”

“I will own up to being a knucklehead at times,” Walz said, adding: “The folks closest to me know that I keep my word.”

The Electoral College was established by the founding fathers in the Constitution, but hundreds of amendments have been proposed over the years to try and reform or eliminate it. Critics say that it disenfranchises voters in reliably red or blue states and forces candidates and campaigns to appeal to small slivers of the electorate across a handful of states.

According to the Pew Research Center, more than 60% of Americans favor the popular vote determining who wins the presidency. Just 35% prefer keeping the Electoral College in place.