Kentucky Lantern: Beshear calls for electing president by popular vote, says it would be better for Kentucky

By McKENNA HORSLEY

Kentucky Lantern

LEXINGTON — Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear is joining other Democrats in calling for the U.S. president to be elected by popular vote, saying the country needs to “move to a place where seven states don’t decide the presidency.” 

“We’ll have better government. We’ll have better politics. We’ll have better elections when we get to that point,” Beshear said Wednesday at a gathering of Democrats in Lexington. 

When asked to further clarify in a Thursday press conference, Beshear said that candidates would be encouraged to campaign for votes in all states rather than just in swing states if the popular vote decided the president. He added that such a system would get “us closer to a place where we can govern in a way that lifts all Americans up, that we’re not pushed towards any extreme, that we don’t write off crazy things that some candidates may or may not say, but that we would truly get an election for all Ameriicans.” 

“I think to do that, we would ultimately have to abolish the Electoral College,” Beshear said. “I know that’s been with us a long time, but we see where things currently stand.” 

The Electoral College consists of 538 electors — mirroring states’ total members in Congress — meaning a candidate needs 270 electoral votes to win the presidency. 

In 48 states, the winner of the popular vote, no matter how slim the margin, is awarded all of the state’s votes in the Electoral College. Maine, Nebraska and the District of Columbia use a proportional system to award electoral votes. 

Some Democrats, including Beshear and Democratic vice presidential nominee Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, are renewing calls to do away with the Electoral College in favor of a national popular vote. 

According to POLITICO, the U.S. has had five elections in which the winner of the popular vote lost. The races in this century where this happened are Vice President Al Gore’s 2000 bid against President George W. Bush and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign against President Doanld Trump. 

Both Gore and Clinton are Democrats. Bush was the last Republican to win the popular vote during his 2004 reelection campaign. 

Beshear’s Wednesday night comments drew ire from Kentucky Republicans on social media. The Republican Party of Kentucky said on X that abolishing the Electoral College would make “Kentucky have no say in presidential elections.” 

U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said in a Thursday evening statement that he was not surprised by Beshear’s position on the Electoral College. McConnell defended the system, saying the Electoral College “compels presidents to govern nationally rather than pandering to the interests of New York and California.” Not having it would mean no presidential candidates at all would travel to middle America states like Kentucky, the senator said. 

“Democrats’ disregard – and borderline disdain – for the constitutional guardrails that safeguard our political system has lurked below the surface of their rhetoric for a long, long time,” McConnell said. “No institution is too dear if it stands between a Democrat and their progressive ‘reforms’ to ‘preserve democracy’ – the standard euphemism for partisan power grabs on the Left. Those genuinely concerned about the future of our country should call for strengthening our constitutional guardrails, not obliterating them. At its core, the Electoral College protects Americans from the whims of the majority, something I’m familiar with in the Senate.”

In a Thursday evening statement, Republican Senate President Robert Stivers said the GOP Senate Caucus sees the Electoral College as “a vital pillar of our Republic that ensures smaller states like Kentucky continue to have a voice and we reject any attempt to dismantle it.” Stivers added that Beshear’s position “proves that he is a nationalized Democrat through and through” and “violates what our founding fathers, including Washington, Jefferson, and others, envisioned for this great country.”

“Governor Beshear’s proposal to eliminate the electoral college not only threatens the federal balance but disrespects every Kentuckian who values their representation in the highest levels of government,” Stivers said. “This proposal is a blatant dereliction of his responsibility as the head of the Commonwealth’s executive branch and a disrespectful affront to every Kentuckian who values their right to be heard.”

Kentucky has eight electoral votes, which have consistently gone to Republican presidential candidates since the 2000 presidential election. 

In his response on Thursday, Beshear said that Kentucky would benefit from a popular vote for president, although he doubts the Electoral College will be abolished anytime soon.

“At the end of the day, regardless of the changes that are or are not made, certainly in my activities, I want to make sure that we are moving not just this state, but other states into a place where they are also considered important in these elections, that we have a seat at the table nationally. That’s good for Kentucky, but it’s also good for every single state.

A recent Pew Research Center poll found that 63% of Americans would instead prefer that the winner of the popular vote be the winner of the presidential election while 35% prefer maintaining the Electoral College.

This story was updated Friday morning with additional comments.