In response to JD Vance saying he “would have asked the states” to submit slates of fake electors in 2020, DNC Rapid Response Director Alex Floyd released the following statement: 

“Donald Trump picked JD Vance as his running mate because he knows that Vance will do what his last vice president wouldn’t – undermine our democracy and help him try to overturn election results. Now, Vance is making it clear: instead of certifying the 2020 election, Vance ‘would have asked the states’ to send slates of fake electors and throw our election into chaos to help Trump stay in power. Vance is clearly laying out the stakes of this election for our democracy and our basic freedoms, and showing voters that if given the chance, he’ll try to replace the rule of law with the rule of Trump.”

NEW: When asked if he would have certified the last election, Vance instead said he “would have asked the states” to send him slates of fake electors.

Jason Calacanis: “Would you have certified the [last result of the election]?”

Vance: “Again, I would have asked the states to submit alternative slates of electors and let the country have the debate about what actually matters and what kind of an election that we have.” 

Calacanis: “You wouldn’t have certified, to be clear?”

Vance: “I would have asked the states to submit alternative slates of electors, that’s what I would have done.”

Reminder: Vance is an extreme election denier who won’t commit to accepting this November’s election results.

HuffPost: “[Vance] said he would accept a Biden win only if he considered the election to be legitimate. … Vance’s comments illustrate a new tactic by Republican lawmakers, who are now placing conditions on accepting election results.”

Kristen Welker, NBC: “Well, here we are, about a week before the Republican convention. Before I let you go, can you say unequivocally, unequivocally, here and now, that you will accept the results of the 2024 election no matter what they are?”

Vance: “So long as it’s a free and fair election, Kristen, of course, we will. We will use constitutional processes to challenge issues if we think there are issues, but if it’s a free and fair election, we will do what the constitution requires, we will respect the results and I expect those results are gonna be to reelect Donald Trump.”

Welker: “It was a free and fair election in 2020, Donald Trump took his concerns to court, he lost in court, but he still has not conceded. Do you understand that when you refuse to commit unequivocally, that feeds into people’s concerns, skepticism about the nation’s electoral process?”

Vance: “Well, Kristen, I don’t agree with that, actually. I think that feeding into people’s concerns about our electoral process is that one half of America’s political segment, they won’t support legislation that makes it harder for illegal aliens to vote, they won’t support universal voter I.D. in our elections, even though you have to present I.D. to do almost anything in this country. I think taking people’s concerns seriously about election fraud is the way to reinforce security and confidence in our elections.”

New York Times: “J.D. Vance Says He Would Accept the Election Results, With a Caveat”

Vances echoes Trump’s baseless lies about the 2020 election and attempts to whitewash the violent January 6 insurrection.

Vance: “I think the entire post-2020 thing would have gone a lot better if there had actually been an effort to provide alternative slates of electors, and to force us to have that debate. I think it would’ve been a much better thing for the country. … [Trump] was trying to take a constitutional process to its natural conclusion.

“I think it would’ve been extraordinarily disappointing to a whole host of people that I care a lot about if Trump had just taken it [and conceded the 2020 election before January 6].”

Vance: “No real Republican with any credibility in the party is still blaming [Trump for January 6].”

ABC News: “JD Vance says [he] wouldn’t have certified 2020 race until states submitted pro-Trump electors”

New York Times: “[Vance] has said that, unlike Vice President Mike Pence in 2020, he would have helped Mr. Trump overturn the results, by accepting Trump electors that had not been elected by voters.”

The Hill: “JD Vance says he is ‘skeptical’ Pence’s life was in danger on Jan. 6”

Politico: “[Vance] downplayed the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol, when Pence was forced to evacuate the building as rioters called for his hanging.”

Vance: “If you go back to what I thought in 2016, another thing that was going on, Sean, is I bought into the media’s lies and distortions. I bought into this idea that somehow he was gonna be so different, a terrible threat to democracy. It was a joke.”

And Vance has no problem with Trump using the government to go after his political opponents.

Kristen Welker, NBC: “Senator, if former President Trump were to win, if you were to be his vice president, would you support him appointing a special prosecutor to go after his political enemies, the Bidens?”

[…]

Vance: “Donald Trump is talking about appointing a special prosecutor to investigate Joe Biden for wrongdoing.

[…]

“I think what Donald Trump is simply saying is we ought to investigate the prior administration.”