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Buttigieg: The Electoral College is 'One of the Manipulations' The GOP Uses to 'Keep Their Agenda in Play'

April 16, 2019

South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg (D.) on Monday night referred to the Electoral College as "one of the manipulations of political structure" that the Republican Party uses to keep their agenda going in Washington, D.C.

Buttigieg appeared on MSNBC's Rachel Maddow Show to discuss his presidential campaign and some of his policy views, including the Electoral College, which he believes should be abolished.

Host Rachel Maddow asked Buttigieg whether he was concerned he was giving the Trump era Republican Party an idea on starting to amend the Constitution or start changing the structure of the Supreme Court. Buttigieg said Senate Republicans have already been changing the numbers of justices on the Supreme Court, referring to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) blocking a vote on then-President Barack Obama's Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland.

Buttigieg went on to say that "most Americans" don't approve of what Republicans are doing, claiming, "It's precisely for that reason that they have to interfere with democracy with things like voter suppression or clinging on an electoral college that overrules the will of the American people."

"It is precisely because the American people by-and-large don't want what they are selling, that they are relying on manipulations of our political structure in order to keep their agenda in play," Buttigieg said.

During his official 2020 campaign launch on Sunday, Buttigieg echoed his previous calls for the Electoral College to be eliminated.

"We can’t say it’s much of a democracy when twice in my lifetime the Electoral College has overruled the American people," Buttigieg said. "Why should our vote in Indiana only count once or twice in a century? Or your vote in Wyoming or New York?"

Buttigieg first called for the Electoral College to be eliminated back in January, where he said, "The electoral college needs to go because it's made our society less and less democratic."

Two-time failed presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and other Democrats have clamored for the Electoral College to be eliminated since Trump won the 2016 election. Trump lost California by approximately 4.3 million votes and won the rest of the country by roughly 1.4 million votes.

Buttigieg isn't the only 2020 Democratic candidate to call for an end to the Electoral College. Former Rep. Beto O’Rourke (Texas) said there was "a lot of wisdom" in abolishing the Electoral College and Sen. Elizabeth Warren ( Mass.) said, "Every vote matters, and the way we can make that happen is that we can have national voting, and that means get rid of the Electoral College."

Sen. Kamala Harris (Calif.) has also said that she is "open to the discussion."