Ohio Senator J.D. Vance, the Republican vice presidential candidate, made headlines Monday by stating that, if he were in former Vice President Mike Pence’s position, he would not have certified the results of the 2020 election on January 6, 2021. Speaking on the All-In Podcast, Vance argued that Pence missed an opportunity to address election integrity concerns.
“The issue isn’t that Mike Pence didn’t overturn the election results,” Vance explained. “It’s that he could have done more to surface some of the problems.” Vance specifically mentioned concerns about Pennsylvania, where he believes some ballots were cast “in an illegal way,” despite courts refusing to decertify results.
When co-host Jason Calacanis asked if Vance himself would have certified the election, the senator suggested a different approach. “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 election we have. That’s what I would have done,” Vance said. He emphasized that, even if the final results remained unchanged, the debate would have been crucial to addressing concerns about election integrity in key states like Pennsylvania and Georgia.
Vance’s remarks reflect his support for Donald Trump’s contested claims about the 2020 election and his endorsement of alternative slates of electors, a tactic intended to create confusion during the certification process. This approach was widely criticized by legal experts and is considered part of Trump’s broader efforts to challenge the election’s outcome.
Alex Floyd, rapid response director for the Democratic National Committee, reacted strongly to Vance’s comments, saying, “Donald Trump picked J.D. 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.”
Vance’s claim about illegal ballots in Pennsylvania echoes a statement made by Trump in 2022, who inaccurately said that a Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruling on undated ballots proved the 2020 election was “rigged.” The Associated Press debunked Trump’s claims, noting that even if those ballots had been discarded, the outcome of the 2020 election would not have changed.