In the months since he became Donald Trump ’s running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance has repeatedly deflected questions about whether the Republican presidential nominee lost the 2020 election, saying he was focused on the future.
During a rally in Pennsylvania on Wednesday, where Vance was asked by a reporter about his lack of straight answers so far, he was more declarative.
“What message do you think it sends to independent voters when you do not directly answer the question ‘Did Donald Trump lose in 2020?’” the reporter asked, eliciting boos from the crowd before Vance responded, saying he has answered the question ”a million times.”
“No. I think there were serious problems in 2020,” Vance said. “So, did Donald Trump lose the election? Not by the words that I would use, OK?”
The answer was the most specific Vance has been on the subject, and a departure from the series of evasions he has offered about the election Trump continues to say without evidence was decided fraudulently in favor of Democrat Joe Biden.
During a debate with Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Walz this month, Vance was asked about the 2020 election but responded that he was “focused on the future.”
Vance’s refusal to say whether Trump lost was widely considered his weakest debate moment with Walz, the governor of Minnesota, who called the response “a damning non-answer.” The campaign for Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris quickly turned the exchange into a television ad.
During an interview with The New York Times, Vance refused five times to acknowledge Biden won.
Trump’s continued denial that he lost the election to Biden is a widely held opinion among the Republican’s base of supporters. He warned an audience in Nevada last week, “We never want to have happen what happened in 2020.”
Trump has continued to say without evidence that he expects his opponents to “cheat” in the 2024 election and has urged his supporters to turn out in numbers to make his vote tally “too big to rig.”