Overview
- Democrats won trifecta control of the governorship and both legislative chambers in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Arizona, Wisconsin and Nevada in the Nov. 3 midterms, creating a path to add roughly 61 electoral votes to the compact.
- Before the election 18 states and Washington, D.C. had joined the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact, representing 222 electoral votes, and adding the five battleground states could raise the total to about 283 votes.
- Each of the five states still must pass implementing laws and obtain gubernatorial approval, and past episodes such as Michigan’s earlier legislative failure and Nevada’s 2019 gubernatorial veto show enactment is not automatic.
- Legal scholars dispute whether the compact needs congressional consent under the Constitution’s Compact Clause versus states’ Article II power to appoint electors, making near‑certain court challenges likely if the compact reaches 270 votes.
- What to watch next is whether incoming state lawmakers prioritize joining bills, whether governors sign them, and how courts and Congress respond before the compact could affect the 2028 presidential election.