Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Walz called Sen. JD Vance’s non-answer “damning” as the pair sparred over Jan. 6 and Trump’s refusal to concede defeat.
Sen. JD Vance refused to acknowledge that former president Donald Trump lost the 2020 election, setting off one of the most contentious exchanges in Tuesday night’s vice-presidential debate with Gov. Tim Walz.
Walz vigorously pressed Vance on the issue near the end of a debate that had otherwise been marked by unusual comity. “I would just ask, did he lose the 2020 election?” Walz asked.
“Tim, I’m focused on the future,” Vance said, without addressing the question.
“That is a damning non-answer,” Walz responded.
We need to make this clip of JD Vance refusing to say Trump lost the 2020 election go viral. pic.twitter.com/vhiZ8SKowS
— Aaron Parnas (@AaronParnas) October 2, 2024
The Republican senator from Ohio and the Democratic governor of Minnesota offered sharply different perspectives on the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, Trump’s lies about his 2020 loss and whether each ticket would accept the results this fall.
Vance’s answers minimized Trump’s role in attempting to overturn a defeat that the former president has never acknowledged, glossing over the then-president’s multistate attempt to undermine election results and his incitement of the Jan. 6 attack.
“Remember he said that on January the 6th, the protesters ought to protest peacefully and on January the 20th, what happened? Joe Biden became the president. Donald Trump left the White House,” Vance said.
Trump encouraged protesters to march to the Capitol and criticized his vice president, Mike Pence, for refusing to allow Republicans to block the certification. Once the violence at the Capitol began, Trump waited more than three hours to encourage the rioters to disband, despite being urged to do so by many fellow Republicans, including members of Congress.
Vance has previously said that if he had been vice president that day, he would have allowed Trump’s electoral votes to be considered by Congress from states where he had not won. Experts and lawyers say that approach would have violated the Constitution. On Tuesday he suggested that his intention would have been merely to allow for a debate over the election.
“Look, what President Trump has said is that there were problems in 2020,” Vance said. “And my own belief is that we should fight about those issues, debate those issues peacefully in the public square. And that’s all I’ve said, and that’s all that Donald Trump has said.”
To that, Walz offered his most forceful rebuttal of the evening, saying, “This one is troubling to me. And I say that because I think we need to tell the story — Donald Trump refused to acknowledge this.”
Walz noted that 140 law enforcement officers were injured that day — and he reminded viewers that the violence and threats spilled out into the country too, including at his own state capitol in St. Paul, Minn.
Gov. Tim Walz (D-Minn.) on Oct. 1 criticized former president Donald Trump for not accepting his election loss and playing down the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol attack. (Video: CBS News, Photo: Ricky Carioti/CBS News)
“In Minnesota, a group gathered on the state Capitol grounds in St. Paul and said, ‘We’re marching to the governor’s residence and there may be casualties,’” Walz recalled. “The only person there was my son and his dog, who was rushed out crying by state police.”
Vance suggested, but did not say outright, that he will accept the results in 2024.
“If Tim Walz is the next vice president, he’ll have my prayers,” Vance said. “He’ll have my best wishes, and he’ll have my help whenever he wants it.”
Walz made clear that he would accept the outcome, even if his ticket loses.
“I will tell you this, that when this is over, we need to shake hands this election and the winner needs to be the winner,” Walz said. “This has got to stop. It’s tearing our country apart.”
Vance sought to shift the discussion to censorship, arguing that Vice President Kamala Harris and Walz were trying to prevent people from speaking.
“You guys attack us for not believing in democracy,” Vance said. “The most sacred right under the United States democracy is the First Amendment. … Kamala Harris wants to use the power of the government and Big Tech to silence people from speaking their minds. That is a threat to democracy that will long outlive this present political moment.”
Walz stuck to the issue of the last election, noting Pence had refused to go along with Trump and suggesting Vance would.
“What I’m concerned about is, where is the firewall with Donald Trump?” Walz said. “Where is the firewall if he knows he could do anything, including taking an election and his vice president’s not going to stand [up] to it? That’s what we’re asking you, America. Will you stand up? Will you keep your oath of office, even if the president doesn’t?”
Regardless of who wins this fall, Harris will preside over Congress when it certifies the results. As a senator, Vance will have to decide whether to object during the counting of electoral votes.
In July, Vance said he would accept the results this fall “so long as it’s a free and fair election.” He has called for ending early voting and claimed that mail voting creates opportunities for fraud. Records show he voted early in 2020 and in other recent elections.
Vance, like Trump, has also leaned into suggestions that noncitizen voting could affect the election outcome this fall, even though studies have found noncitizen voting rarely happens.
