As a conservative, I take issue with many of Gov. Abigail Spanberger’s (D-VA) political positions. Her signing the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact is not one of them.
The conservative movement should embrace reform that makes every voter in every state politically relevant in every presidential election. I believe that our ideas are better, more aligned with most voters, and can win presidential elections. President Donald Trump bolstered this belief when he won the national popular vote in 2024.
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Let me address some of the silliest critiques of the compact that I’ve read in various publications and online.
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The U.S. Constitution allows states to make this change. The power to award electors is plenary to the state. A simple reading of Article II, Section 1 is all anyone needs to understand that this is true. Challenging the constitutionality of the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact is ignorant at best. Doing so chips away at the conservative movement’s credibility.
Defending the state-by-state winner-take-all system as the Founders’ system puts the “low” in low-information. The winner-take-all law is not found in the Constitution, was not mentioned in the Federalist Papers, and does not appear in the minutes of the Constitutional Convention. Just like the current state-based, winner-take-all laws (and congressional district laws in Maine and Nebraska), the national popular vote bill uses the power of the states to award electors. It moves the country to a national popular vote for president and keeps the Electoral College in place. In short, opposing the national popular vote does nothing to defend the Founding Fathers or the Electoral College.
While some believe the population shift to Sun Belt states will give Republican candidates a distinct advantage under the current system, their thinking is shortsighted and wrong. This shift is not new — the net result has been to turn reliably Republican states (Georgia, Arizona, and potentially Texas) into battleground states and former battleground states (New Mexico, Virginia, and Colorado) into reliably Democratic states. Systems we use to elect our leaders should favor citizens, not parties, and neither party has a permanent advantage under the current or national popular vote system.
The idea that New York and California will control presidential elections under a national popular vote (a core talking point of the opponents) is beyond ludicrous. The two states, which combined for slightly over 15% of the popular vote in 2024, will never dominate the other 85% of votes cast elsewhere. And let’s not forget that Democrats achieved only 59% of the vote from these two states (with a 4.2 million margin), while Republicans received 63% of the votes (with a 6.8 million margin) from the very red states with the same population size.
Also, the current system does nothing to advance the cause of low-population or rural state voters. In 2024, the 14 least populous states hosted only three general election campaign events, despite having 49 electoral votes and 15.3 million people. The single battleground state of North Carolina received 40 campaign events for 16 electoral votes and around 11 million people. General election campaign events indicate where public opinion polling is being conducted, and they serve as a proxy for political influence. Small and rural state voters are ignored under the current system, and the national popular vote will increase their influence in presidential elections.
I can write a whole piece on how the current system ignores three out of four voters in flyover states. Or how presidential agendas align with the interests of persuadable voters in a handful of battleground states. Or how judges in battleground states are more likely to pick a president than any voter anywhere.
The system is broken. We should fix it because the Constitution allows it.
The most important reason to support the national popular vote is that 63% of voters, according to Pew Research, want a popular vote for president. This includes 46% of Republicans, 74% of conservative and moderate Democrats, and two-thirds of voters between the ages of 18 and 49. The GOP should never be afraid to encourage every citizen to vote and for those votes to count equally.
The national popular vote preserves the Electoral College while making every voter in every state politically relevant in presidential elections.
The national popular vote puts voters in charge of presidential elections and advances the principle of one person, one vote.
The national popular vote ends the chaos of hairsplitting lawsuits in battleground states that determine the outcome of presidential elections.
The national popular vote gives presidents the mandate to lead with the support of the most voters.
The national popular vote will force the GOP to campaign in every precinct and is essential to building and maintaining a center-right majority in the United States.
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And the national popular vote gives voters what they want.
Instead of attacking the compact, conservatives should consider its virtue and embrace it. We have nothing to fear and everything to gain.
Patrick Rosenstiel is a Republican from Minnesota. He is a senior consultant to National Popular Vote.
