Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz strayed from the official Kamala Harris campaign position on the Electoral College system for electing presidents, telling supporters at fundraisers in Seattle, Wash. and Sacramento, Calif. that the Electoral College needs to be abolished.

“I think all of us know, the Electoral College needs to go,” Walz said in Sacramento in remarks recorded by a pool reporter for the New York Times. “We need… a national popular vote. But that’s not the world we live in. So we need to win Beaver County, Pa. We need to be able to go into York, Pa. and win. We need to be in western Wisconsin and win. We need to be in Reno, Nev. and win.”

It’s not a surprising position for Walz. He signed a bill last year that would allow Minnesota to join a National Popular Vote Compact with other states. However, the timing of his statement is surprising because the presidential campaign is currently being waged in a handful of states and small communities in about seven battleground states.

“It’s really in some cases telling some of these states and some of these people I’m only here because I have to be, not because we really want to campaign here,” says Hamline University law professor David Schultz, who notes it will likely take a change in the U.S. Constitution to abolish the Electoral College.

Under the Electoral College system each state awards its electoral votes to the candidate who wins the most votes in each state. In 2000 and 2016, Democratic candidates won the national popular vote but lost the elections in the Electoral College.

Advocates of the Electoral College say it gives even small states a chance to have a say in selecting a president. In a national popular vote, candidates might choose to only campaign in the biggest states with the most votes, like California, Texas and Florida.

“The question becomes what kind of representation would North and South Dakota or Wyoming get,” Schultz says. “It’s possible Minnesota wouldn’t even be paid attention to whatsoever.”

In a statement from a Harris campaign spokesperson they make it clear abolishing the Electoral College is not a Harris campaign position. “Gov. Walz believes that every vote matters in the Electoral College and he is honored to be traveling the country and battleground states working to earn support for the Harris-Walz ticket. He was commenting to a crowd of strong supporters about how the campaign is built to win 270 electoral votes. And, he was thanking them for their support that is helping fund those efforts.”

According to the latest average of polls from the website realclearpolitics.com, Harris leads the national polling 49.2% to 47.2%, while Trump leads in the seven major battleground states 48.5% to 48.2%.

Click here to view the 2024 Electoral College map.