Campaigning For Pappas, Harris Makes Court Packing, Reworking Electoral College 'First Priorities'

By Michael Graham, NH Journal

Former Vice President Kamala Harris declared packing the U.S. Supreme Court and reworking the Electoral College “first priorities” during a New Hampshire campaign swing for U.S. Senate nominee Chris Pappas and other Granite State Democrats Saturday.

Harris, who sits atop the national polls for the 2028 Democratic presidential primary, made a three-city campaign swing through the state. She pumped up volunteers at a Portsmouth phone bank and poured beers at Feathered Friend Brewing in Concord.

Then she joined Pappas on stage for a taping of an episode of the “My Body. My Pod.” podcast with Mini Timmaraju, president and CEO of Reproductive Freedom for All in Manchester. (Editor’s note: NHJournal reporter Leonard Robinson was turned away from the event by Democratic operatives and was not allowed to participate in the press coverage. More here.)

During that podcast, Harris laid out her vision for what she called “structural change” in America’s political system.

Acknowledging that her proposals would be “controversial coming from me,” Harris didn’t hold back.

“We have to expand the Supreme Court. Let’s expand it to 13 because we have 13 district courts.” (Harris misspoke about the lower courts: There are 13 federal circuit courts and 94 district courts.)

“We also need to take a critical look at the Electoral College, fight for statehood for Puerto Rico and D.C. We need to overturn Citizens United,” Harris added. “These have to be first priorities.”

And to achieve them, “We have to be ruthless.”

“And so, when I talk about ruthless, I mean simply that we have the backbone to actually act on accountability and consequence, because a harshly worded letter ain’t gonna get it,” Harris said.

And electing Pappas will help, too, she said.

“Chris Pappas will be the kind of senator who will hold accountable the system to the people, and fight,” Harris said.

Perhaps. But Pappas’ record on these issues is far less clear.

On packing the court, Pappas told NHPR earlier this month that he was a “no.”

“I don’t support that. I think that would be a never-ending tug-of-war between both political parties.” Instead, he suggested term limits or age limits for justices, saying turnover would benefit the federal judiciary.

However, a month earlier Pappas voted “no” on a constitutional amendment to set the number of judges at nine.

Pappas has also wobbled on eliminating the Electoral College, a move many political experts say would be disastrous for small states like New Hampshire.

During an Oct. 7, 2020, NHPR debate, he said, “I believe in one person, one vote. I think (eliminating the Electoral College) is something we should take a look at.”

He called the system an “antiquated compromise” and said he was concerned about presidents winning without a national popular-vote majority.

Eight days later, WMUR reported that Pappas opposed both expanding the court and abolishing the Electoral College.

The John Sununu campaign says Pappas’ campaigning with Kamala Harris reflects the sort of U.S. senator he would be.

“Again and again, ‘California Chris’ has shown that he is more interested in catering to the Far Left than serving the people of New Hampshire,” said Sununu spokesman Mike Schrimpf. “If Chris Pappas is this partisan during an election, just imagine what he’d be like during a six-year term.”

Harris also campaigned with Democratic gubernatorial candidate Cinde Warmington and congressional candidates Rep. Maggie Goodlander and Stefany Shaheen.

The court has had nine justices since 1869. Congress sets its size through legislation, according to the Supreme Court’s explanation of its structure.

Since the Supreme Court achieved a 6-3 originalist/conservative majority, Harris has repeatedly called for changing the rules.

At the National Urban League conference in Nashville on July 31, she said, “We need to revisit the point of expanding the court to 13 justices like we have 13 district courts.”

She also urged reconsidering the Electoral College at that event.

In a June interview with Don Lemon, Harris agreed that a 13-member court is worth considering. When asked specifically about getting rid of the Electoral College, she said, “I don’t think we should eliminate that as a point of discussion for potential action.”

On Keke Palmer’s podcast, released Oct. 13, Harris again endorsed expansion. “I believe that we need to expand the Supreme Court.” Advocating changes to the Electoral College, she said, “The popular vote has to matter.”

Harris has a double-digit lead over the nearest contender, fellow Californian Gov. Gavin Newsom, in the national RealClearPolling average. However, in the new St. Anselm College Survey Center poll released last week, she’s well back in the pack with just five percent support.

Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg finished in first place with 28 percent support.

This story was originally published by the NH Journal, an online news publication dedicated to providing fair, unbiased reporting on, and analysis of, political news of interest to New Hampshire. For more stories from the NH Journal, visit NHJournal.com.