In response to JD Vance repeating Donald Trump’s lies about the 2020 election, DNC Rapid Response Director Alex Floyd released the following statement: 

“Donald Trump picked JD Vance to be his running mate because he knew Vance would go along with his dangerous election denialism and baseless attacks on our democracy no matter what. It’s pathetic – and voters are ready to remind Trump why he lost in 2020 again this November.”

NEW: JD Vance said Donald Trump did not lose the 2020 election “by the words [Vance] would use.”

Questioner: “What message do you think it sends to independent voters when you do not directly answer the question did Donald Trump lose in 2020?”

JD Vance: “On the election of 2020 I’ve answered this question directly a million times. No, I think there are serious problems in 2020, so did Donald Trump lose the election? Not by the words that I would use […] I really couldn’t care less if you agree or disagree with me on this issue.”

NBC News: “On stage in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, Vance said that he does not believe Trump lost the 2020 election. Asked if Trump lost he said, ‘No.’

“This is the first time Vance has explicitly said ‘no’ when asked if the former president lost the 2020 election. He previously said he saw issues with the election, including at the vice presidential debate where he said ‘I’m focused on the future’ instead of answering if Trump lost.”

Just last week, Vance failed FIVE consecutive times to tell the truth about Donald Trump’s loss in 2020 – and says he would not have certified the results.

New York Times: “Vance, Given 5 Chances to Say Trump Lost in 2020, Takes None”

“Heading into the final three weeks of the 2024 election, Senator JD Vance of Ohio will still not say whether his running mate won or lost the last race for the White House.

“In an interview with The New York Times that will be published on Saturday, Mr. Vance repeatedly refused to acknowledge former President Donald J. Trump’s defeat and went to even greater lengths to avoid doing so than he did during the vice-presidential debate earlier this month…

“On her fifth request for a yes-or-no answer, Ms. Garcia-Navarro pointed out that there was ‘no proof, legal or otherwise,’ of election fraud.

“Mr. Vance dismissed that as ‘a slogan.’ …

“During his 90-minute debate with Mr. Walz, Mr. Vance twice refused to answer a direct question about whether Mr. Trump had lost the 2020 election. It was widely considered his weakest debate moment and may have turned off voters. In CNN’s focus group of seven undecided Michigan voters who watched the debate, the only person who settled on a pick after the event said he would support Vice President Kamala Harris specifically because of Mr. Vance’s refusal to acknowledge the 2020 election results…

“In his Times interview, Mr. Vance said he would not have voted to certify the 2020 results.”

Vance previously falsely claimed that Trump won the 2020 election in an unearthed video.

Daily Beast: “Video Shows JD Vance Saying Trump Won the 2020 Election”

“JD Vance claimed Donald Trump won the 2020 election in an unearthed clip from 2022. The video… comes days after Vance refused to outright admit that Trump lost the race against Joe Biden during the CBS News vice presidential debate.”

On the debate stage with Governor Walz, Vance REFUSED to admit that Trump lost the 2020 election while whitewashing January 6 and declining to say if he would challenge this November’s election results.

NBC News: “‘Damning non-answer’: Vance refuses to acknowledge Trump lost the 2020 election”

“JD Vance refused to acknowledge that Donald Trump lost the 2020 presidential election during the vice presidential debate Tuesday and downplayed the seriousness of the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, which injured more than 140 law enforcement officers. He also declined to say whether he would seek to challenge the results of this year’s election.”

ABC News: “JD Vance refuses to say Trump lost in 2020, downplays events of Jan. 6”

Politico: “Vance refuses to admit that Trump lost the 2020 election”

“Vance omitted Trump’s attacks on his then-Vice President Mike Pence while a violent riot raged, as well as his months of fomenting false claims that the election was stolen and urging his supporters to ‘stop the steal.’ … Vance has previously said in interviews that he would have done in 2020 what Pence refused to do: facilitate challenges to the election at the Jan. 6 session of Congress, despite constitutional and legal restraints meant to prevent it.”

NBC News: “When asked if he would challenge this year’s election results, Ohio Sen. JD Vance avoided a direct answer, instead defending Trump’s actions on Jan. 6, 2021.”

Vance is an extreme election denier with a pattern of not committing to accepting this November’s election results, saying he would not have certified the 2020 election, and continuing to whitewash the violent January 6 insurrection.

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.”

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

Spectrum News: “Vance again says he wouldn’t have certified 2020 election if he was vice president”

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.”

Bloomberg: “[Vance] has asserted that the 2020 presidential race was stolen from Donald Trump.”

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].”

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.”