Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance said Wednesday that there were “serious problems” in the 2020 election and suggested for the first time that then-President Donald Trump did not actually lose the race.
“Did Donald Trump lose the election? Not because of the words I would use,” Vance said in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. “But look, I don't really care if you agree or disagree with me on this issue.”
He was pressed on his response by a reporter later that day at another campaign stop in Wilmington, North Carolina, saying: “I think Big Tech rigged the election in 2020. That's my opinion. And if you don't agree with me, that's okay.”
The response comes in the wake of a lack of response earlier this month, when during an interview with the New York Times, Vance was reportedly given five opportunities to “acknowledge that Trump did not win in 2020” and he “regretted.” “He refused to say it.”
Trump notably lost the 2020 election and is currently facing numerous charges related to election interference after being found guilty in May 2024 of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in a hush money trial in New York.
The Harris campaign criticized Vance's answers to the question about the 2020 election.
“There we have it: JD Vance has finally admitted that he denies the results of the 2020 election,” a Harris campaign spokesperson, Matt Corridoni, said in a statement. “As Governor Walz said on the debate stage weeks ago, Donald Trump selected Vance for exactly this reason: He knows Vance will be a loyal soldier in Trump's quest for absolute, unfettered, unlimited power.”
Vance previously avoided answering the question directly, deflecting when pressed by Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Walz during a debate about whether Trump would lose the 2020 election. He also downplayed the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection.
“Tim, I'm focused on the future. Did Kamala Harris censor Americans from speaking their minds in the wake of the 2020 Covid situation? Vance said.
In September 2024, during a podcast interview, Vance responded to a question about what he would have done differently than former Vice President Mike Pence in January 2021: “I would have asked states to submit alternative slates of electors and let the country debate what they actually wanted.” matters and what kind of elections we had.”
Vance once criticized Trump and compared him to Hitler before the 2016 presidential election. He went on to back Trump's claims of denying the election while vying to be his running mate.
Shortly before joining the Trump campaign, Vance claimed in an interview with ABC Information This Week host George Stephanopoulos: “Mike Pence could have done more, whether you agree or disagree, Mike Pence could have done more to bring to light some of the problems in the 2020 election.”
Trump has claimed that there will be a “bloodbath” if he does not win the 2024 election. He also stated that his supporters will no longer have to vote if he wins, as Trump and his allies have laid the groundwork to challenge the results of the 2024 election. 2024.