Republican National Committee spokesman Sean Spicer on Thursday acknowledged that proposals considered in various swing states to allocate electoral votes based on the outcome in congressional districts would make the the party “more competitive” in presidential battlegrounds.
Although the proposal in Virginia has garnered the most attention, Republican lawmakers in Ohio, Michigan and Pennsylvania have floated similar measures, which would disproportionately favor the GOP in presidential elections.
“For these states, it would make them more competitive, but it’s not our call to tell them how to apportion their votes,” Spicer said, according to the Washington Post.
RNC Chairman Reince Priebus, who has publicly supported such proposals, said that it makes sense for “states that have been consistently blue that are fully controlled red” to consider reconfiguring how they apportion electoral votes.
Democrats have carried Michigan and Pennsylvania in the previous six presidential elections, while President Barack Obama won Ohio and Virginia in the last two cycles.
