JD Vance cast doubt on 2020 election results, wouldn't have certified result

Former President Donald Trump's running mate Sen. J.D. Vance, R-Ohio, has backed Trump's efforts to undermine the 2020 election and he has yet to make an unqualified commitment to accept the results of the 2024 election.

Vance's record starkly contrasts with former Vice President Mike Pence, who resisted pressure from Trump and his allies to refuse to certify President Joe Biden's victory in 2020.

Vance, a freshman senator who took office in 2023, told ABC News in February that the 2020 election had problems, and endorsed the Trump campaign's scheme to anoint alternate slates of electors from states he had narrowly lost.

“I think there is a political solution to those problems,” Vance said. “So litigating which slate of electors was legitimate I think is fundamentally the political solution to the problems that existed in 2020.”

“If I had been vice president, I would’ve told the states like Pennsylvania, Georgia and so many others that we needed to have multiple slates of electors, and I think the U.S. Congress should’ve fought over it from there,” Vance said.

In Georgia, Trump and his allies face racketeering charges related to the fake elector scheme. The scheme is also the main thrust of a federal criminal case against Trump.

Vance questioned whether Mike Pence was really in danger

In a May interview with CNN , Vance criticized journalists for having an “obsession” with the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol by Trump supporters, which happened before Vance was serving in any public office. He also said Trump did not endanger anyone's life and accused the Department of Justice for coming down too heavily on the rioters who stormed the halls of Congress. Many attacked police officers and at least seven people died in connection with the attack.

Outside of the Capitol, some protesters erected gallows and chanted “hang Mike Pence.” Later, after they breached the Capitol, Trump alleged on social media that Pence was a coward for not certifying the fake electors.

“I'm extremely skeptical that Mike Pence's life was ever in danger,” Vance said. He added that people in the Democratic Party “act as if January the 6th was the scariest moment of their lives. I think, look, January 6th was a bad day. It was a riot. But the idea that Donald Trump endangered anyone's lives, when he told them to protest peacefully, it's just absurd.”

After the mob entered the building on Jan. 6, they made it within 40 feet of Pence’s hiding spot, according to witnesses. The Secret Service asked Pence to leave the Capitol to a secure location, but he refused because he didn’t want to provide the world the image of a vice president fleeing the seat of government.

Vance qualifies his statements about accepting the 2024 election

Vance placed qualifications on his willingness to accept the results of the 2024 election in another May interview with CNN’s Dana Bash . Trump has never conceded his loss in the 2020 election. Prior to his victory in 2016, Trump said he would only accept the result if he won.

“I think Donald Trump will be the (victor),” Vance said. “And if it’s a free and fair election, Dana, I think every Republican will enthusiastically accept the results. And again, I think the results will show Donald Trump has been elected president, re-elected president.”

He compared Republicans’ concerns about 2020 to Democrats’ challenges during the presidential election in 2000 between George W. Bush and Vice President Al Gore. (After losing his legal challenge at the Supreme Court, Gore conceded his defeat and, as vice president, he certified Bush’s victory.)

“If you think there are problems, you have to be willing to pursue those problems and try to prosecute the case,” Vance said. “And certainly, if we have a free and fair election, I’ll accept the results.”

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: JD Vance cast doubt on 2020 election results, wouldn't have certified result