Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear called for abolishing the Electoral College on Face the Nation on August 16, 2026, arguing that the current system prevents most states from ever seeing a presidential candidate on the campaign trail. The Democratic governor proposed the change as part of a broader constitutional amendment that would overhaul how Americans elect their president and reshape the federal government itself.
When CBS News anchor Ed O’Keefe noted he “didn’t realize you support abolishing the Electoral College,” Beshear explained his reasoning plainly: “In Kentucky we will never see a candidate for president or vice president unless they’re from here. Why? Because people just expect that it’ll go one way or the other.” He argued that direct elections would force candidates to “earn votes all over the United States” rather than focus on a handful of competitive states.
Beshear’s Electoral College position emerged during a wider discussion of government reform. He told O’Keefe that Americans want leaders to “fix the darn government,” and he outlined an ambitious constitutional amendment proposal that would address multiple issues simultaneously. According to the CBS News transcript, his plan would “outlaw partisan redistricting and enshrine part of the Voting Rights Act right there in the constitution. It should create term limits for Congress and the Supreme Court. No more gaming those appointments. It should also overturn Citizens United, and I think call for direct elections of the president and the vice president.”
Beshear’s call for Electoral College reform aligns with broader Democratic sentiment. According to a Pew Research Center poll from September 2024, eight-in-ten Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents favor replacing the Electoral College with a popular vote system. A June 2026 survey found that Americans back abolishing the Electoral College by a 2-to-1 margin overall.
The governor’s remarks came as he continues to travel the country in his role as chairman of the Democratic Governors Association, positioning himself as a potential 2028 presidential candidate. When asked about a future presidential run, Beshear said he has not made a final decision but emphasized that he refuses to leave the country “broken” for the next generation. He noted that his two major concerns are “the level of division and the belief that the American dream is no longer real.”
Abolishing the Electoral College would require a constitutional amendment, a process that demands approval from two-thirds of both chambers of Congress and ratification by three-fourths of the states. While support for the change is high among Democrats, Republicans have shown less enthusiasm for eliminating a system that has historically benefited their party in close elections.
Sources
- CBS News — Full transcript of Beshear’s August 16, 2026 Face the Nation interview, including his Electoral College comments and broader government reform proposal
- Pew Research Center — September 2024 polling data on Democratic support for replacing the Electoral College with a popular vote system
- Truthout — June 2026 survey showing Americans back abolishing the Electoral College by a 2-to-1 margin
