JD Vance says Mike Pence should have "played a better role" and not certified 2020 election

Washington DC - Vice presidential candidate JD Vance, who is running alongside Donald Trump, recently revealed that he would not have certified the 2020 election if he were vice president at the time.

JD Vance recently criticized former vice President Mike Pence for choosing to certify the 2020 elections, despite Donald Trump ordering him not to.
JD Vance recently criticized former vice President Mike Pence for choosing to certify the 2020 elections, despite Donald Trump ordering him not to.  © Andy Manis / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP

On Monday, the Ohio senator appeared on the All In podcast, in which he explained how Mike Pence, Trump's previous vice president, could have "done more to sort of surface some problems" surrounding unfounded claims that the election's results were being swayed away from Trump by illegal votes.

"Do I think that we could have had a much more rational conversation about how to ensure that only legal ballots are cast? Yes," Vance argued.

"And do I think that Mike Pence could have played a better role? Yes."

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The show's co-host, Jason Calacanis, pressed Vance on whether he would have certified the election if he was in Pence's position.

"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 an election that we have," Vance responded.

"The important part is we would have had a big debate," he added. "And it doesn't necessarily mean the results would have been any different."

Calacanis asked again, attempting to get a direct yes or no, but Vance simply repeated his answer.

Would JD Vance have helped Donald Trump overturn the 2020 election?

As vice president at the time, Mike Pence (pictured) went against his then-boss Donald Trump to certify the 2020 election results.
As vice president at the time, Mike Pence (pictured) went against his then-boss Donald Trump to certify the 2020 election results.  © Ethan Miller / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP

Following his loss to President Joe Biden in 2020, Trump pressured Pence, election officials, and others to help him stay in power and allegedly helped put together a crew of "alternate" electors who would then certify him as the winner in specific states.

Trump and many of his allies are currently facing federal and criminal charges over their attempts to overturn the election and for what is being called the "fake electors" scheme.

Though Vance, who has said he believes the election was "stolen," has refused to definitively say that he would have helped Trump, current vice president and Trump's Democratic challenger, Kamala Harris, has argued he definitely would have.

In a campaign video released in July, Harris claimed that Vance is "loyal only to Trump, not to our country" and would have followed his orders – "unlike Mike Pence."

Cover photo: Collage: Ethan Miller & Andy Manis / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP

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