For several weeks, Republican vice-presidential nominee JD Vance has been repeatedly asked on the campaign trail about whether he believes former President Donald Trump lost the 2020 election. On Wednesday, Vance responded with a flat “no” in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, when a reporter inquired about what message it sends to independent voters when he does not directly answer whether Trump lost in 2020. Vance stated that he has addressed the question multiple times, suggesting there were significant issues in 2020 and expressing that he would not phrase it as Trump losing the election.
As Trump’s running mate, Vance has consistently diverted questions regarding Trump’s 2020 election loss into criticism of censorship during that year’s election. In a recent vice-presidential debate, Vance, when pressed by his Democratic opponent, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, about whether Trump lost, stated his focus was on the future, a response that Walz described as a “damning non-answer.”
In a recent interview with The New York Times, Vance was asked several times about the 2020 election outcome. Instead of a direct answer, Vance reiterated his critique regarding social media companies censoring reports on Hunter Biden’s laptop, arguing this censorship affected the election results by costing Trump millions of votes.
In response to Vance’s remarks in Williamsport, the Harris campaign released a statement criticizing him, claiming he finally admitted to denying the 2020 election results. The statement suggested that Trump chose Vance as his running mate because he is perceived as loyal in Trump’s pursuit of power.
Later, during a campaign event in North Carolina, Vance remarked that there are as many opinions on what happened four years ago as there are people in the audience. He emphasized that disagreements are acceptable and stressed the importance of uniting to change the current administration to improve Americans’ quality of life.