Our First Tuesday Talk on June 3, 2025 was held over Zoom to hear about the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact. We did not record the meeting, but here is our report for those who were unable to attend.

National Popular Vote: Local League considers option for choosing a President

Despite a winning margin of 7 million votes in the 2020 presidential election, a difference of 43,000 votes in just 3 states could have caused the winning presidential candidate to lose out in the Electoral College’s vote to the 2nd-place finisher.

Christopher Pearson, a member of the nationwide leadership team for National Popular Vote, and local League Member Nancy Kolb spoke at our First Tuesday Talk on June 3rd on Zoom about the need to replace the Electoral College.

Pearson used President Biden’s narrow win over Donald Trump in 2020 to demonstrate the risk posed by the Electoral College.  The current Electoral College system has resulted in five U.S. Presidents being elected without winning the most popular votes nationwide.

Both Pearson and Kolb urged League members to lobby our legislators in the upcoming General Assembly session to support the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact.  This legislation would ensure that the popular vote in U.S. presidential elections would replace the vote of the Electoral College in electing future presidents.

Under National Popular Vote legislation, states would commit to having their electoral votes go to the candidate with the most popular votes nationwide.  Seventeen states and the District of Columbia  have signed on to National Popular Vote – resulting in 209 of the required 270 electoral votes needed for the law to take effect. 

Nancy Kolb summarized the bill’s fate the last time the General Assembly voted on the legislation.  The House of Delegates  passed the bill, but the Senate failed to bring the bill up for a vote – and the legislation died. 

Once states with 61 additional electors pass this law, it will change how these states cast their votes in the Electoral College and ensure that the candidate who won the national popular vote is elected president. 

Virginia is one of the critical states needed for passage, Pearson explained, because it is relatively evenly split between the two political parties.

League member Pat Hyer pointed out that the League already has a full plate for the 2026 General Assembly working for passage of three Constitutional Amendments. Pearson acknowledged the competing demands but stressed that no issue was more urgent and critical to our nation’s survival as a democracy than ensuring that a majority – rather than a minority – determines who will lead our nation.

Christopher Pearson, a member of the nationwide leadership team for National Popular Vote