Former Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton was the first of New York's presidential electors to cast their vote for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris Monday.


What You Need To Know

  • Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, were among New York's electors casting their votes for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris

  • Speaking to Spectrum News after the vote, she said she's "looking forward to the Biden-Harris administration"

  • "We're going to have a president and a vice president who are going to work for all the people and make a real difference for everybody," she told Spectrum News following the vote.

  • She also wrote a call to abolish the Electoral College on Twitter following the vote

Joined by other notable political figures, including her husband, former President Bill Clinton, and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, the former Secretary of State led the charge in the state's 29 Electoral College votes being formally cast for the incoming Biden administration.

Clinton voiced her support for the incoming administration, telling reporters following the vote that she's "looking forward to the Biden-Harris administration." 

"It's going to be great for the country," she added.

 

"We're going to have a president and a vice president who are going to work for all the people and make a real difference for everybody," she told Spectrum News following the vote.

Soon after casting her vote, Clinton voiced her opposition to the process as a whole, calling on the Electoral College to be abolished.

"I believe we should abolish the Electoral College and select our president by the winner of the popular vote, same as every other office," the former first lady wrote on Twitter. "But while it still exists, I was proud to cast my vote in New York for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris."

 

 

This is far from the first time Clinton has endorsed eliminating the Electoral College.

Over two decades ago, following Al Gore's loss to George W. Bush in the 2000 presidential election: "I believe strongly that in a democracy, we should respect the will of the people and to me, that means it's time to do away with the Electoral College and move to the popular election of our president."

Following her 2016 loss to President Trump – in which Clinton won the popular vote by nearly 3 million votes but lost the White House after failing to clinch enough Electoral College votes – she has frequently advocated for a popular vote system to elect the president.

"We've moved toward one-person, one-vote, that's how we select winners," she told CNN, adding, "I think [the Electoral College] needs to be eliminated. I'd like to see us move beyond it, yes."