If Your Time is short
- Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, for several weeks avoided directly answering questions about whether Donald Trump lost the 2020 election, pivoting to the topic of censorship.
- Joe Biden won 306 electoral votes to Trump’s 232. States certified the results, and Congress accepted the results showing that Biden won.
- Republican officials in Trump’s administration and battlegrounds said the 2020 election was safe and secure.
See the sources for this fact-check
After weeks of avoiding a direct answer to the question of whether former President Donald Trump lost the 2020 election, U.S. Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, finally got definitive.
But it was a false answer.
At an Oct. 16 event in Pennsylvania, a reporter asked Vance, “What message do you think it sends to independent voters when you do not directly answer the question, ‘Did Donald Trump lose in 2020?’”
The question drew boos from the crowd before Vance responded:
“On the election of 2020, I have answered this question directly a million times: No. I think there were serious problems in 2020. So, did Donald Trump lose the election? Not by the words that I would use, OK? I really couldn’t care less if you agree or disagree with me on this issue.”
Vance said that the media “will focus on court cases” or a “crazy conspiracy theory.”
When rival vice presidential nominee Tim Walz asked Vance at the Oct. 1 debate whether Trump had lost the 2020 election, Vance said, “I’m focused on the future,” and then focused on censorship. In a New York Times interview, Vance repeatedly would not answer questions about whether Trump lost but said he would have voted against certifying the results.
Politicians are free to air concerns about elections, but whether Trump won or lost is not about word choice or opinion. Here is how we know Trump lost.
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