mayor bill de blasio. | ap photo/susan walsh by laura nahmias 11/29/16 01:26 pm est mayor bill de blasio thinks the electoral college should be abolished, he told reporters tuesday at an unrelated press conference. de blasio, who supported hillary clinton in the presidential election, also signaled his support for the recount efforts currently underway wisconsin, although he doubted a recount there or elsewhere would change the outcome of the contest, which put donald trump into the white house. story continued below <u+201c>i think the recount efforts are well intended,<u+201d> de blasio said, noting that they could draw attention to the vast gulf between the popular vote, which clinton won by over two million votes, and the electoral vote, which trump won 306-232. <u+201c>obviously we have a profound problem. we<u+2019>ve never seen such a disconnect between the popular vote and the electoral college vote in the history of this entire country. and this morning, i checked the numbers again and hillary clinton<u+2019>s up by 2.3 million votes. this is absolutely unprecedented, and i think it creates a huge question for our democracy. how is the president-elect going to proceed knowing that he had 2.3 million more people vote for his opponent?<u+201d> de blasio said. asked specifically if he would like to see the electoral college ended, the mayor said "yes." trump, for his part, has indicated that he believes he actually did win the popular vote, tweeting over the weekend that he would have won if not for millions of ballots that were cast illegally, although neither he nor any of his aides could provide evidence for the baseless claim. <u+201c>so, the recount effort is well-intentioned. i have not seen any evidence that it<u+2019>s going to change the outcome, but i think it will serve to remind people that something unprecedented happened here, and i hope it will serve as a reminder to the president-elect and his administration that they have to take a balanced approach that they have to respect the majority that actually voted the other way,<u+201d> he said. de blasio, whose relationship with the clintons was strained after he declined to endorse her candidacy soon after she announced it in 2015, told reporters that he spoke with her several days after the election had concluded. a free synopsis of our pro morning email about new york education policy and politics a free synopsis of our pro morning email about new york energy policy and politics a free synopsis of our pro morning email about new york health care policy and politics a free synopsis of our pro morning email about new york real estate policy and politics our morning email with must-read analysis and breaking news on state news and politics a morning email with must-read analysis and breaking news on city news and politics. a weekly round-up of legislation in city council for politics and policy professionals. a reported briefing on money in politics, executive moves, and trends in communications, lobbying and consulting. our twice-a-week digest of news on courts and the law in new york azi paybarah and jimmy vielkind's must-read briefing informing the daily conversation among knowledgeable new yorkers.
de blasio: electoral college should be abolished
laura nahmias