Vance would have asked for new electors instead of certifying 2020 election results

Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance said he would have had states submit new electors instead of certifying the 2020 election results, his first time saying so since he was named to the ticket.

“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 had,” Vance said in an interview with the All-in Podcast on Monday, when asked multiple times what he would have done if he was in former Vice President Mike Pence’s position on Jan. 6, 2021.

When asked to clarify whether that means he would not certify the election results, he repeated that he would ask states to “submit alternative slates of electors.”

Vance had previously stated issues with the 2020 election results and said he would not certify the 2020 results before being tapped as Trump’s running mate in July. On Monday, he repeated some of his concerns with the 2020 election results — specifically with Pennsylvania — and said he believed that Pence should have done more.

“Mike Pence could have done more, whether you agree or disagree, Mike Pence could have done more to sort of surface some of the problems in the 2020 election,” Vance said.

There is no evidence of widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election. There is also nothing in the Constitution that permits the vice president to reject some or all of the electors submitted by the states.

Pence ultimately refused to decertify the results of the 2020 election result at Trump’s request on Jan. 6. In response, a mob of rioters rushed to the Capitol threatening to “hang Mike Pence.”

“It should come as no surprise that I will not be endorsing Donald Trump this year,” Pence told Fox News in March, adding that there were a “range of issues” he disagreed with the former president on, “not just our differences on our constitutional duties that I exercised on Jan. 6.”

The former vice president has not said how he will vote in November, but joins a list of former Trump administration officials who are no longer supporting the former president.

Vance added that he believes Pence did not support Trump because of differences over his positions on funding foreign wars.

“In reality, if Donald Trump wanted to start a nuclear war with Russia, Mike Pence would be at the front of the line endorsing him right now,” Vance said. “Fundamentally the reason the old guard of the Republican Party hates Donald Trump — it's not because of January 6, 2021, whatever your views on it — it's because Donald Trump doesn't think we should start stupid wars in foreign countries and that’s why they all hate him.”