WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. — In his most direct response yet about the 2020 election results since joining the Republican presidential primary, Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance appeared to say Wednesday that he does not believe Donald Trump lost the last presidential election.
Answering questions from reporters after speaking at a rally in central Pennsylvania, Vance was pressed about recent appearances in which he has not directly declined to say whether or not Trump has lost his re-election bid against Joe Biden.
“What message do you think it sends to independent voters if you don’t directly answer the question: Did Donald Trump lose in 2020?” a reporter asked Vance.
“First of all, I’ve answered this question directly a million times in the 2020 election: No. I think there are serious problems in 2020. Did Donald Trump lose the election? Not by the words I would use,” Vance said.
He then admonished the media for focusing on the last election instead of the issues he believes voters care about, such as the cost of living or the southern border, adding that he “doesn’t care if you agree or disagree with me on this issue.”
“What has demonstrably happened is that in 2020, big tech companies have censored Americans from talking about things like the Hunter Biden laptop,” Vance said, a nod to comments he makes in interviews and campaign appearances showing that censorship would cost Trump “millions ” of his money. vote in 2020.
“Now let’s take that as a basic reality. Even the journalists who constantly fact-check me admit this is real. You could say – well, let’s say your view is that this happened and we still think Trump lost, or that happened and we think that means Trump won,” Vance said. “Who cares? It happened. Censorship is bad, and that is the essence of what we are focusing on.”
Later, during his second campaign stop of the day in Wilmington, North Carolina, Vance doubled down on his comment when another reporter asked him for his answer earlier in the afternoon.
“I’ve answered this question 10 times lately,” Vance said. “I think Big Tech rigged the 2020 election. That’s my opinion. And if you don’t agree with me, that’s fine.”
When given the opportunity to ask a follow-up question, the reporter asked, “Why did you answer the question now? Why did you say ‘no’ when you didn’t say it before?”
“I’ve been answering this question for literally years,” Vance said, bringing the media attention back to the spotlight.
“Do your job and focus on the issues the American people care about, instead of the bull—- of four years ago.”
Representatives for Vance did not respond to a request for comment.
Although he has long questioned the results of the election, Vance has been careful in public appearances to say definitively whether Trump won or lost four years ago — a stark contrast to Trump, who continues to say the election was stolen, even though voters are already casting their votes. ballots in this year’s election.
Even before Vance was nominated to join the Republican presidential primary, he expressed similar doubts about the results, saying he would not have certified the election results had he been in the Senate on January 6, 2020.
“If I had been vice president, I would have told states like Pennsylvania, Georgia and so many others that we needed multiple electoral rolls, and I think Congress would have had to fight it out from there,” Vance said in an interview on ABC News’ “This Week” in February, before joining Trump’s presidential ticket.
One of his most notable answers as a vice presidential candidate, however, came on the vice presidential debate stage this month, when his Democratic counterpart, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, pressed him about the outcome of the 2020 election.
“Did he lose the 2020 election?” Walz asked.
“Tim, I’m focused on the future,” Vance replied before once again ridiculing the censorship on social media.
More recently, in a recent interview with The New York Times’ “The Interview” podcast, Vance declined five times to explicitly say whether Trump had lost the 2020 election, again pointing to censorship and asking a question to the host of the show: Tech companies censor a story that independent studies have suggested could have cost Trump millions of votes?
Later at his event in Williamsport, Vance, in response to a follow-up question about what he would need to see in November to say the 2024 election is secure, said he is “not worried about it” because a lot of work has been done . done to “ensure that every legal vote is cast and every legal vote is counted.”
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
