‘My position is the campaign’s position,’ Walz now says about Electoral College

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) sided with the Harris-Walz campaign’s view of the Electoral College after the Democratic vice presidential candidate said earlier this week that he was in favor of abolishing the voting system.

“It’s not the campaign’s position. And the point I’m trying to make is that there’s folks that feel every vote must count in every state. And I think some folks feel that’s not the case. Our campaign does that,” Walz said in a sit-down interview with ABC’s Michael Strahan on Thursday.

“And the point I’m saying is I’m in five states in two days. We’re out there making the case that the campaign’s position is clear, that that’s not their position. Their position and my position is to make sure that everybody understands their vote, no matter what state they’re in, matters,” Walz added.

When asked if that’s something that Walz and his running mate, Vice President Harris, disagree on, Walz reiterated that his position is the campaign’s position.

“I have spoken about it in the past, that she has been very clear on this, and the campaign. And my position is the campaign’s position,” Walz said.

This comes in the wake of remarks made by Walz during two West Coast campaign stops earlier this week where the Democratic vice presidential candidate suggested doing away with the Electoral College.

“And we know, because of our system of the Electoral College, that puts a few states in real focus,” Walz said in Seattle. “I’m a national popular vote guy, but that’s not the world we live in.”

In Sacramento later in the day, he was talking about the pivotal battleground states that will decide this election and again made the suggestion.

“I think all of us know, the Electoral College needs to go. We need a — we need national popular vote,” he said. “But that’s not the world we live in. So, we need to win Beaver County, Pa. We need to be able to go into York, Pa., and win. We need to be in western Wisconsin and win. We need to be in Reno, Nev., and win. And the help that you give here today helps make that happen.” 

Despite the campaign’s current position, Harris had toyed with the idea of abolishing the Electoral College in 2019 during an interview on “Jimmy Kimmel Live,” saying that she was “open to the discussion.”

“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,” Harris had said in the 2019 interview.

The Hill has reached out to the Harris campaign for comment.