U.S. Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio), Donald Trump’s running mate in the presidential election, speaks at a campaign event in Shelby. Twp. on Aug. 7, 2024. | Lucy Valeski
During a campaign rally in Williamsport, Penn., on Wednesday, U.S. Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio), the GOP nominee for vice president, was again asked about whether he accepts the results of the 2020 election, and what message it sends to independent voters when he doesn’t answer questions about it directly.
“I’ve answered this question directly a million times,” Vance said, as the audience at Liberty Arena heckled the reporter who asked the question. He said there were “serious problems” in 2020. “So did Donald Trump lose the election? Not by the words that I would use.”
Vance said “the media” will “focus on the court cases or they’ll focus on some crazy conspiracy theory. What I know, what verifiably I know, happened, is that in 2020, large technology companies censored Americans from talking about things like the Hunter Biden laptop story, and that had a major, major consequence on the election.”
In recent interviews Vance has not acknowledged that former President Donald Trump lost the 2020 election and when asked by States Newsroom at a Johnstown rally on Oct. 12 he said there had been a “peaceful transfer of power” in Jan. 2021. On Jan. 6, 2021, a mob of Trump supporters breached the Capitol in Washington, D.C., to try to disrupt certification of the election results.
More than 1,500 defendants have been charged with crimes associated with the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, during which 140 police officers were assaulted.
“There we have it – JD Vance finally admitted he denies the 2020 election results,” Harris campaign spokesperson Matt Corridoni said in a statement Wednesday. As Governor Walz said on the debate stage weeks ago, Donald Trump selected Vance for this exact reason – he knows Vance will be a loyal soldier in Trump’s pursuit for absolute, unchecked, limitless power.”
Hunter Biden’s laptop and its contents became a source of controversy in 2020 after a story about it ran in the New York Post in the weeks before the 2020 election. Social media companies limited the spread of stories about the laptop at the time.
Trump continues to falsely claim he won the 2020 election and that it was rigged against him, despite multiple court cases being dismissed for lack of evidence of any widespread fraud.
“I’ve been asked just in the past two weeks, I think I’ve been asked probably eight or nine questions about 2020 and I give an honest answer, because I think it’s important to ask the question or to answer the questions that are asked,” Vance said Wednesday.
During the rally in Williamsport, Vance criticized Harris and said he felt “bad for” Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, the Democratic vice presidential candidate. “I have got the easiest job in American politics, because I just have to defend the record of Donald J. Trump,” he said. “He’s gotta defend the policies of Kamala Harris.”
Both campaigns are intensely focused on Pennsylvania in the remaining 20 days before the election, with Walz in rural Pennsylvania on Tuesday, Harris in the Philadelphia suburbs on Wednesday, Vance in Pittsburgh on Thursday, and Trump in Latrobe on Saturday.
Its 19 electoral votes make Pennsylvania a must-win for either candidate. Polling continues to suggest the race is a toss-up.
The last day to register to vote in Pennsylvania for the November election is Oct. 21.
Pennsylvania Capital-Star is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Pennsylvania Capital-Star maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Kim Lyons for questions: info@penncapital-star.com. Follow Pennsylvania Capital-Star on Facebook and X.