Twenty states have now passed the Convention of States resolution. Kansas crossed the threshold in early 2026, becoming the 20th legislature to apply to Congress for an Article V convention limited to three subjects: fiscal restraints on the federal government, limits on its power and jurisdiction, and term limits on federal officials. Fourteen states remain.
The mechanics matter before the politics. Article V provides that Congress shall call a convention on the application of two-thirds of the states — 34 of 50. Once called, the convention proposes amendments requiring ratification by three-fourths of states — 38 of 50. That’s never happened in 236 years. All 27 amendments came through Congress proposing, and the states ratifying.
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When 34 states file, Congress has no discretion. The text says, “shall call,” not “may call.” Critics left and right share the same fear: a “runaway convention” where delegates ignore their scope. The 1787 Philadelphia Convention was supposed to amend the Articles of Confederation. The delegates scrapped them entirely. The counterargument holds, though — any proposed amendment still requires 38 states to ratify. A runaway convention could propose a new Constitution. It couldn’t enact one.
Three states are closest to tipping. North Carolina’s Senate passed the resolution in 2017. The House has blocked it since. COS Action reports over 100,000 state supporters in a Republican-controlled legislature. The obstacle is leadership inertia, not member opposition. Iowa passed it in the House. The Senate hasn’t moved it. With substantial Republican majorities and strong fiscal conservatism, Iowa’s blockage is procedural, not ideological. Wyoming cleared the house and has come close in the senate — COS Action lists Wyoming as actively considering the resolution in 2026. South Dakota and New Hampshire have also had one-chamber passage and are in play for upcoming sessions.
The political context in 2026 is more favorable than in any prior year. The national debt crossed $39 trillion. Annual interest payments hit $1 trillion for the first time, exceeding the defense budget and Medicaid. Congress depends on deficit spending to fund the coalition maintenance that keeps incumbents in office. Asking Congress to restrain itself is, as the saying goes, like asking the arsonist to call the fire department.
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George Mason wrote this mechanism into Article V at Philadelphia specifically because he argued Congress would never propose amendments to limit its own power. He was right. The 17th Amendment was passed in 1913 partly because 29 states had already filed Article V applications for direct Senate elections, putting Congress within two states of a convention it couldn’t control. Congress acted rather than face that process. That precedent matters: The convention’s value isn’t only in what it might produce. It’s in what it forces Congress to do instead.
Twenty states in 12 years is genuine progress. It’s also 14 short, and the remaining path runs through legislatures with structural bottlenecks that grassroots pressure alone may not unlock. North Carolina, Iowa, and Wyoming are the persuasion problems with the most favorable odds. The founders built this tool because they knew citizens threatened by unconstrained federal power couldn’t rely on that government to constrain itself. They were right about that, too.
Jay Rogers is a financial professional with more than 30 years of experience in private equity, private credit, hedge funds, and wealth management. He has a BS from Northeastern University and has completed postgraduate studies at UCLA, UPENN, and Harvard. He writes about issues in finance, constitutional law, national security, human nature, and public policy.
