Sec. Pete Buttigieg speaks during the third day of the Democratic National Convention Photo: Jasper Colt / USA TODAY NETWORK
Out Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg slammed GOP vice presidential candidate Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) for saying that he does not think Donald Trump lost the 2020 presidential election despite numerous courts finding no evidence of widespread voter fraud.
Buttigieg called it “literally disqualifying” for a candidate for high office to not accept the results of an election in a democracy.
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Vance was speaking at an appearance in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, yesterday when a reporter asked him about how he had been avoiding, up until then, the question of whether he believes that Trump lost the election in 2020.
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“I’ve answered this question a million times,” Vance said, even though he has famously dodged it, like during the vice presidential debate with Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D). “No, I think there are serious problems in 2020. So, did Donald Trump lose the election? Not by the words that I would use.”
Later that day, CNN asked Buttigieg about Vance’s response.
“First of all, it’s wrong, Donald Trump lost, and I think he knows that, I think he’s lying,” Buttigieg said.
He said that he believes it’s a political mistake for Vance to deny the results of the 2020 election because “voters have a dim view of election deniers.”
“J.D. Vance is officially on the record as an election denier,” he continued. “Something that is shameful but also something that if, certainly if we look at 2022 and how pretty much anybody who was an election denier who was on the ballot in so many swing states, statewide races, lost, you know, I think that’s something that’s a setback.”
Buttigieg speculated that Vance likely has “no choice” because the top of his ticket is demanding that he deny the results of the 2020 election.
“One of the most profoundly important things in a democratic process is that when you lose an election, you say so.”
Joe Biden won. Donald Trump lost. And anybody who cannot bring themselves to say that out loud… that is literally disqualifying for the vice presidency or the presidency.”
During his debate with Walz earlier this month, Vance said that Trump peacefully handed over power when he left office on January 20, 2021, ignoring the riots that occurred at the Capitol on January 6 of that year, when Trump supporters attempted to prevent Congress from certifying the election results after Trump spent months claiming the election was stolen.
Walz then directly asked Vance, “Did he lose the 2020 election?”
Vance replied, “Tim, I’m focused on the future. Did Kamala Harris censor Americans from speaking their mind in the wake of the 2020 COVID situation?”
Walz grimaced and said, “That is damning. That is a damning non-answer.”
New York Times columnist Ezra Klein has also speculated that since it’s not helpful to Vance’s career to deny the results of the 2020 election, nor is it likely that the Yale-educated lawyer doesn’t understand the verdicts against the Trump campaign, that Vance’s hesitation in saying that Trump lost in 2020 – and now his direct election denial – is likely motivated by his loyalty to Trump.
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