Jesse Wegman
Jesse Wegman is a member of the New York Times editorial board, where he has been since 2013. He writes editorials on the Supreme Court, democracy reform, and legal affairs. He graduated from New York University School of Law in 2005. In recent years, Jesse has taught a seminar there on writing about the law for general audiences. Let the People Pick the President, published in 2020, is Jesse’s first book that makes a powerful case for abolishing the antiquated and anti-democratic Electoral College and choosing presidents based on a national popular vote.
In Let the People Pick the President, Jesse uncovers the Electoral College’s controversial origins. He profiles the many attempts to reform it over the years, and explains why it is now essential for us to remove this obsolete system and finally make every citizen’s vote matter. Addressing objections from both sides of the aisle, Jesse presents an airtight argument. He believes that moving toward a national popular vote would reduce voter apathy and political polarization, increase voter turnout, and restore belief in our democratic system. Abolishing the Electoral College is the keystone reform that must be accomplished to improve our politics. This once-lofty goal can be achieved, and Jesse charts a path to accomplishing it.
He is now at work on the first general-interest biography of James Wilson, the forgotten American founder who was arguably the most influential drafter of the Constitution, a member of the first Supreme Court and certainly the most democratic of all the founding fathers. The Lost Founder is currently slated for release in 2026, by Celadon, an imprint of Macmillan.
Jesse Wegman was previously a senior editor at the Daily Beast and Newsweek. He also was a legal news editor at Reuters, and the managing editor of the New York Observer. From 1997 through 2002, he was a producer and reporter for several National Public Radio programs.
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Now in paperback: an ironclad argument for eliminating the Electoral College. The framers of the Constitution battled over it. Lawmakers have tried to amend or abolish it more than 700 times. To this day, millions of voters, and even members of Congress, misunderstand how it works. It deepens our national divide and distorts the core democratic pr...Read More
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A New Engine for a New Age: Birch Bayh, the Electoral College, and the Push for a National Popular Vote
“In Plain Sight, Republicans Are Still Trying to Undermine the Election”
“The Supreme Court Is Gaslighting Us All”
“The Abortion Pill Stays Legal. But for How Long?”
Check out all of Jesse Wegman’s articles for The New York Times.
“The Daily: A Peculiar Way to Pick a President”
“The Electoral College Will Destroy America”
Across the Margin podcast: Let the People Pick the President
“The Supreme Court Is Not Going to Fix the Electoral College”
“The Case For Abolishing The Electoral College”
“New York Times Editorial Board Member Jesse Wegman on Why We Should Abolish the Electoral College”
Watch Jesse Wegman in conversation with Adam Liptak with Politics and Prose’s virtual event.
“Why We Should Abolish the Electoral College”
“What if We Just Counted Up All the Votes for President and Saw Who Won?”
New York Times names Let the People Pick the President as one of “13 Books to Watch For in March.”
“Change How We Elect the President?”
Watch Jesse’s closing remarks at the Electoral College Symposium at Harvard Law School (1:12:15).
“Jesse Wegman: With Trump, all roads lead to Moscow”
“NYT Ed. Board: Rosenstein, Wray ‘must stand up to the president’”
“Jesse Wegman: Col. Vindman’s America is something Trump knows little about”
“‘Times’ hires Jesse Wegman as editorial-board writer on law, Supreme Court”
Follow Jesse Wegman on Twitter.
Praise for Let the People Pick the President
“Was it a mistake to create the Electoral College? Jesse Wegman argues that it was. This timely and erudite work should interest all who are interested in the future of the United States.”
— Annette Gordon-Reed, author of The Hemingses of Monticello“Jesse Wegman is exactly the right person at the right time to take on the Electoral College. This is the timeliest of subjects and Wegman adds much to our understanding of this curious institution.”
— Jeffrey Toobin, author of The Nine“Jesse Wegman’s urgent and ultimately irrefutable call to action is the most readable and fully informed explanation of how the Electoral College is wrecking America’s great experiment in government of, by, and for the people. It’s not too late to rescue our democracy from destruction. But it soon will be. Wegman makes a compelling case that we must act now—and he explains what to do.”
— Laurence H. Tribe, Carl M. Loeb University Professor, Harvard Law School“Wegman combines in-depth historical analysis and insight into contemporary politics to present a cogent argument that the Electoral College violates America’s ‘core democratic principles’ and should be done away with…this urgent and lucidly presented plea for change will resonate with progressives.”
— Publishers Weekly“A methodical, well-reasoned compilation of arguments on a pertinent subject; recommended for readers interested in historical and contemporary U.S. politics.”
— Library Journal“Throughout, the author’s confidence in his argument shines through…An illuminating history and analysis.”
— KirkusBook This Speaker
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