The Gateway Pundit reports that Democratic policymakers and allies have pushed a slate of changes that would alter how federal power is won and wielded: adding Supreme Court seats, ending the Senate filibuster, replacing or routing around the Electoral College, granting statehood to Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico, and allowing some noncitizens to vote in local elections. Below are the specific moves, quotes, and votes cited by the outlet and its sources.
Supreme Court expansion
According to The Gateway Pundit, the push accelerated in April 2021 when Sen. Ed Markey and Reps. Jerrold Nadler, Hank Johnson, and Mondaire Jones introduced the Judiciary Act to add four seats, creating a 13-justice Court. The bill was reintroduced in May 2023 with additional backers, including Sen. Tina Smith and Reps. Adam Schiff and Cori Bush.
Speaking outside the Court in July 2024, Markey said, “We must expand the court,” per the outlet. The Gateway Pundit says Smith linked expansion to eliminating the filibuster and urged Democrats to abolish it.
Supporters have included prominent Democrats. As Newsweek reported, a podcast released Oct. 14 featured former Vice President Kamala Harris saying, “I believe that we need to expand the Supreme Court.” The Gateway Pundit adds that House Democratic leader Jim Clyburn endorsed adding four seats, and that Sen. Chuck Schumer said Court reform would be a priority if Democrats won both chambers. Rep. Jamie Raskin also backed expansion, per the outlet.
On Sept. 2, House Republicans forced a vote on a constitutional amendment to fix the Court at nine justices. The measure drew 212 votes in favor and 206 against—short of the two‑thirds needed. All but one Democrat opposed it; Rep. Don Davis was the sole Democrat voting with Republicans, according to The Gateway Pundit.
Filibuster fights and carve‑outs
NPR reported that in January 2022, President Joe Biden told an Atlanta audience that if voting bills stayed blocked, Democrats had no option but to change Senate rules, “including getting rid of the filibuster for this.” Days later, Sens. Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema joined Republicans to defeat the move, 52–48.
Other Democrats have pressed to end or narrow the filibuster. In his 2020 eulogy for John Lewis, former President Barack Obama called the filibuster “another Jim Crow relic.” As a 2024 nominee, Harris said on radio, “I think we should eliminate the filibuster for Roe,” per The Gateway Pundit. The outlet also reports that Schumer said Democrats would prioritize workarounds for voting legislation if they controlled the White House and both chambers, and that Sen. Angela Alsobrooks campaigned on “I will vote to abolish the filibuster.”
Electoral College overhaul and the compact
The Gateway Pundit notes that in 2019, Sens. Brian Schatz, Dick Durbin, Dianne Feinstein, and Kirsten Gillibrand proposed a constitutional amendment for direct popular election of the president. “In an election, the person who gets the most votes should win,” Schatz said. Durbin later described the Electoral College as “this 18th‑century invention that disenfranchises millions of Americans,” according to his press release, when he and Sen. Peter Welch reintroduced the measure on Dec. 12, 2024. Harris said in an October podcast, “The popular vote has to matter,” per the outlet.
Democratic‑led states have also pursued the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact, which would award electoral votes to the national popular‑vote winner once it reaches 270 electoral votes in member jurisdictions. The Gateway Pundit reports that Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger signed on in April 2026, bringing the compact to 19 jurisdictions with 222 electoral votes.
D.C. and Puerto Rico statehood
The Washington, D.C. Admission Act (H.R. 51) passed the House on April 22, 2021, but stalled in the Senate. Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton reintroduced it on Jan. 3, 2025, with 207 House cosponsors including Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries, according to The Gateway Pundit.
On Dec. 15, 2022, the House passed the Puerto Rico Status Act, 233–191, calling for a binding vote on the island’s status, including statehood. Then‑Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the vote aimed “to tear down the vestiges of colonialism,” per The Gateway Pundit. Democratic strategist James Carville urged Democrats to make D.C. and Puerto Rico states “on day one” if they won unified control, and Harris said she supported statehood for both if residents wanted it, the outlet reports.
Local voting by noncitizens
The D.C. Council passed the Local Resident Voting Rights Amendment Act on Nov. 21, 2022, allowing noncitizens—including those without lawful status—to vote in local elections only, provided they are 18+ and have lived in the District at least 30 days. Democratic Mayor Muriel Bowser let it become law without her signature, according to The Gateway Pundit.
The House voted to block the law in Feb. 2023, but the Democratic‑majority Senate did not take up the resolution, allowing the measure to take effect, per a House committee report cited by the outlet. The House later voted to repeal it on May 23, 2024, with 52 Democrats in favor and 143 against, and again on June 10, 2025 (H.R. 884), passing 266–148, according to The Gateway Pundit.
In New York City, the Council approved a 2021 law to let certain noncitizens vote in city elections, but New York’s Court of Appeals struck it down 6–1 on March 20, 2025, finding the state constitution limits voting to citizens, per the outlet.
Federalizing election rules
The Gateway Pundit recounts that H.R. 1, the For the People Act, passed the House in March 2021 with 220 Democrats in favor and one Democrat joining 209 Republicans in opposition. The bill included same‑day voter registration for federal elections. The 2019 House‑passed version contained findings supportive of D.C. statehood, linking federal election legislation to the broader statehood push, according to the outlet.
What’s at stake
The Gateway Pundit frames this list as proposals that could reshape political competition if enacted. The outlet says this week’s midterms would determine whether Democrats gain the congressional power to advance them.
