In her lifetime, California Sen. Barbara Boxer has seen her party lose two presidential elections after winning the popular vote -- Al Gore's race against George W. Bush in 2000, and now Hillary Clinton's loss to Donald J. Trump.
A week after her party's White House loss, the retiring U.S. senator has introduced a bill that would amend the Constitution in order to abolish the Electoral College. According to a New York Times estimate, Clinton will be ahead in the popular vote by more than 2 million votes and more than 1.5 percentage points. But Trump got 306 in the Electoral College vote while Clinton got 232 -- 270 is needed to win.
With Republicans now in control of both congressional houses, it's unlikely Boxer's bill will become much more than a political statement. If the long-shot measure makes it through Congress, it would not take effect until three-fourths of the 50 states ratify it within seven years after congressional approval.
In 2012, president-elect Trump voiced his opposition to the Electoral College in a series of tweets -- after it seemed Republican Mitt Romney might lose the electoral vote but win the popular vote. Trump called the electoral system a "disaster for democracy."
The electoral college is a disaster for a democracy.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 7, 2012
He doubled-down on that position during Sunday's 60 Minutes interview, in which he said, "I'm not going to change my mind just because I won." But as of Tuesday, it's unclear whether he would support Boxer's bill.
The same morning Boxer introduced the measure, Trump again took to Twitter to call the electoral system "genius."
The Electoral College is actually genius in that it brings all states, including the smaller ones, into play. Campaigning is much different!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 15, 2016
