Virginia Joins National Popular Vote Compact: What It Means
- Virginia has joined the National Popular Vote Compact, bringing the total number of electoral votes committed to the interstate agreement to 222.
- The measure, identified as HB965 in the 2026 Regular Session of the Virginia General Assembly, enters Virginia into the Agreement Among the States to Elect the President and...
- Despite the addition of Virginia, the compact will not take effect until the participating states reach a collective total of 270 electoral votes, the minimum number required to...
Virginia has joined the National Popular Vote Compact, bringing the total number of electoral votes committed to the interstate agreement to 222. Governor Abigail Spanberger signed the legislation on April 13, 2026, adding the state to a growing coalition of jurisdictions pledged to award their presidential electoral votes to the winner of the nationwide popular vote.
The measure, identified as HB965 in the 2026 Regular Session of the Virginia General Assembly, enters Virginia into the Agreement Among the States to Elect the President and Vice President of the United States by Popular Vote. With Virginia’s participation, the compact now includes 18 states and the District of Columbia.
Despite the addition of Virginia, the compact will not take effect until the participating states reach a collective total of 270 electoral votes, the minimum number required to elect a president. According to reporting from The Fulcrum, the compact currently requires 48 more electoral votes to become active.
Constitutional Basis and Mechanism
The National Popular Vote Interstate Compact relies on a provision in the U.S. Constitution that grants state legislatures the authority to determine how their electoral votes are allocated. While every state and the District of Columbia currently use a popular vote within their own borders—with two states utilizing popular votes within individual congressional districts—the compact seeks to shift that allocation to a national scale.
Under the terms of the agreement, signee states agree to award all their electoral votes to the candidate who wins the popular vote across all 50 states and the District of Columbia, regardless of the results within that specific state’s borders.
Political Path in Virginia
The passage of the bill in Virginia was facilitated by a Democratic trifecta, with Democrats holding the governor’s office and full control of the state legislature following the elections of 2025. Dan Helmer, a member of the Virginia House of Delegates, told NPR that the effort to bring Virginia into the compact had been a process spanning at least a decade.
Helmer linked the legislative push to what he described as new threats against American democracy. The movement to move away from the Electoral College has seen a slow but steady progression over the last two decades.
Alyssa Cass, strategist for the National Popular Vote Project
This [effort] started 20 years ago and it’s been slow and steady … constant forward momentum across these 20 years. Bills have been introduced in almost every state, most passed in a bipartisan way. This is on the five-yard line of making this a reality.
Arguments Against the Electoral College
Proponents of the compact argue that the current Electoral College system is imperfect because it can allow a candidate to win the presidency without winning the national popular vote, an outcome that has occurred several times in U.S. History, including twice since 2000.
Critics of the current system also point to the proportionality of votes. Because every state is guaranteed at least three electors regardless of population, smaller states possess a higher proportionality of votes than larger states. This structure is argued to diminish the incentive for voters in safely Democratic or Republican states to participate, as their votes may be viewed as irrelevant to the final outcome.
Alyssa Cass, a spokesperson for National Popular Vote, told Truthout that under the current system, the presidential election is decided by voters in a handful of battleground states, while the votes of the four out of five Americans who live in safely blue or safely red states are essentially irrelevant.
Future Outlook and Legal Challenges
While Virginia’s entry provides significant momentum, the path to the 270-vote threshold remains uncertain. It is currently unclear which other states will seek to enact the compact next to fill the remaining 48-vote gap.
Even if the required number of electoral votes is reached, the compact is expected to face significant legal hurdles. Analysts suggest that legal challenges would likely await the implementation of the system before it could be fully utilized in a presidential election.