Donald Trump named Ohio Sen. JD Vance as his running mate after Vance spent two years echoing the former president's baseless claims about the 2020 election.
Vance was the most vocal election denier among Trump's small circle of finalists, having claimed without evidence since his 2022 run for the Senate that the election was stolen.
Republicans who have raised concerns about the 2020 election range from those who say that they did not like how certain voting rules were changed because of the pandemic to those who make baseless allegations that the election was stolen.
Vance has made arguments along the entire spectrum:
- He argued that the way Pennsylvania changed its ballot due dates in 2020 was problematic.
- He attacked Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg for donating to a nonprofit that helped local elections officials during the pandemic.
- He argued that intelligence agencies and big-tech companies had "censored" the Trump campaign.
- He claimed without evidence that people had voted illegally in the election "on a large-scale basis."
- He said that states such as Georgia and Pennsylvania should have sent both Trump and Biden electors and let Congress decide.
Looking ahead to November, it's worth noting that Vance also echoed something that Trump has said when asked if he would accept the election results in the past.
"If it's a free and fair election, Dana, I think every Republican will enthusiastically accept the results," Vance told CNN's Dana Bash in May. "And again, I think those results will show that Donald Trump has been elected president."
Vance was more diplomatic when asked if he would accept a loss in his own Senate race, however, stating that he had confidence in Ohio's elections.
“I expect to win,” he said at a Fox News town hall just days before the 2022 election. “But, of course, if things don’t go the way that I expect, I’ll support the guy who wins and I’ll try to be as supportive as I possibly can.”
Election denial is also a major reason the position of Trump's running mate was open in the first place. After then-Vice President Mike Pence refused Trump's request to object to electors on Jan. 6, 2021, the two had a falling out, and the angry mob that descended on the Capitol threatened to "hang Mike Pence."
Congress has since updated the Electoral Count Act to clarify that the vice president's role in the proceedings is strictly ceremonial. But Vance has also made clear that he might be willing to cross a line that Pence wouldn't, and that may have helped him get the job.
