November 10, 2026
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Michael's Daily Memo
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Last week’s midterms may have changed more than Congress. They may change how we choose a president.
Yahoo’s Andrew Romano will join me on radio today after recently explaining that the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact dates to 2006. It was the brainchild of John Koza, a computer scientist who co-invented the lottery scratch card. Member states pledge their electoral votes to whoever wins the most votes nationwide, but only once members together hold the 270 needed to elect a president. Maryland joined first, in 2007, and Virginia joined last year. Eighteen states and D.C. are in, with 222 electoral votes.
The theory rests on the Constitution itself, which lets each state appoint electors “in such Manner as the Legislature thereof may direct.” No amendment is required.
Enter the midterms. Democrats now hold the governorship and both legislative chambers in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Arizona and Nevada. Those states carry 61 electoral votes, more than the 48 still needed, and lawmakers in Michigan and Wisconsin say they’ll move early next year.
Supporters cite 2000 and 2016, when the popular-vote loser won the White House. Critics see an end run around the Framers. Jonathan Turley, once an Electoral College critic himself, wrote this weekend: “Ten years ago, I would have applauded this effort. Now I am deeply concerned.” It’s also an open question whether Congress must approve such a compact.
Passage is far from certain. Michigan had a Democratic trifecta in 2023-24 and never acted. Nevada’s Democratic governor vetoed the compact in 2019, worried about his small state’s clout.
The compact’s core complaint is that campaigns ignore all but a few swing states. But Doug Sosnik told me Monday that the election began “decalcifying that political map,” with Florida, Texas, Iowa and Ohio, worth 93 electoral votes, now competitive. If the map is opening up on its own, is the cure still needed?
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DAILY POLL
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Should states join a compact to give their electoral votes to the national popular vote winner, even when their own voters didn’t?
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TOP STORY
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President Trump said a renewed military campaign against Iran is "quite unlikely" and the war is "effectively over," opting for now to maintain a naval blockade and a new land-route operation dubbed "Iron Gate" while Qatar helps broker talks with Tehran.
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TODAY'S YOUTUBE
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SPONSORED BY PARX CASINO
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IN OTHER NEWS
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Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie reintroduced articles of impeachment against Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth over the Iran war, as GOP criticism mounts following the party's midterm rout that handed Democrats control of Congress.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said Democrats will refuse to work with Stephen Miller, who takes over as President Trump's chief of staff on Nov. 9, and signaled strong Democratic support for a looming impeachment vote against Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth over the war in Iran.
President Donald Trump says the FBI is investigating whether Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang’s affair with an alleged Chinese government agent compromised U.S. national security, as the company launches its own investigation.
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Ahmed Moor, a Palestinian American writer and Democratic Socialists of America member from Philadelphia, launched a primary bid against Sen. John Fetterman, becoming the first challenger to the senator whose moderate turn and support for Israel have angered many Democrats.
After a gunman killed six people in Kraków’s Main Market Square in Poland, John Lynch reflects on his family’s frightening close call and the extraordinary courage, professionalism and compassion shown by police officers, doctors and ordinary citizens who rushed to help during the terrible tragedy.
California voters defeated Proposition 40, a measure that would have imposed a one-time 5% tax on residents worth more than $1.1 billion to fund healthcare, after opponents including outgoing Gov. Gavin Newsom and Gov.-elect Xavier Becerra outspent supporters 250 to 1 on ads.
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MORE NEWS
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President Trump questioned the legitimacy of the midterm election results and revived unfounded claims about voting machines, echoing his efforts to challenge the 2020 election after Republicans suffered sweeping losses.
Judge William Sullivan denied Lindsay Clancy's motions to dismiss the three murder indictments tied to the deaths of her children and to question the lone holdout juror from her mistrial, while also rebuffing prosecutors' effort to curb lawyers' media comments as a possible retrial looms.
The Supreme Court paused a district judge's order that had halted border wall construction in Texas's Big Bend region, finding the Trump administration is likely to prevail in arguing the challengers' major-questions claim was beyond the court's authority to hear.
For the Left
A new analysis found that deep-red counties with large data centers or proposed projects shifted more toward Democrats in the 2026 midterms, suggesting local concerns over electricity costs, water use and community impact may be eroding Republican support.
For the Right
The Conservation Fund has acquired Jimmy Carter’s 2,458-acre family farm in Plains, Georgia, for $8.5 million, with plans to protect its wildlife habitat, preserve the former president’s family legacy and eventually open the property to the public for outdoor recreation.
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