Republican vice presidential candidate Sen. JD Vance on Tuesday said he wanted to focus on the future when asked about former President Trump’s denials that he lost the 2020 election – an answer that drew negative reactions from some voters, according to the Fox News Debate Dial.
Vance was asked by Democratic candidate Gov. Tim Walz whether Trump lost the 2020 election, something that Trump has repeatedly denied, and which led to the protests on Jan 6, 2021.
“This was a threat to our democracy in a way that we had not seen, and it manifested itself because of Donald Trump’s inability to say – he is still saying he didn’t lose the election,” Walz said. “Did he lose the 2020 election?”
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Sen. JD Vance speaks during the vice-presidential debate at CBS Studios on Oct. 1, 2024, in New York. (Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
Vance attempted to put the ball back in Walz’s court.
“Tim, I’m focused on the future. Did Kamala Harris censor Americans from speaking their mind in the wake of the 2020 COVID situation?” he responded.
Walz called it a “damning non-answer.”
“It’s a damning non-answer for you to not talk about censorship,” Vance said, going on to say that there were “problems” in 2020.
Republicans on the Fox News Debate Dial had been unimpressed with Walz’s line of questioning and the dial went down, with the approval staying generally the same with Vance’s answers, but the dials for independents and Democrats took a sharp dive as Vance brushed off the question. It dove the sharpest among independents.
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“But you guys attack us for not believing in democracy,” Vance then said. “The most sacred right under the United States democracy is the First Amendment. You yourself have said there’s no First Amendment right to misinformation. Kamala Harris wants to use the power of 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.”
“I would like Democrats and Republicans to both reject censorship. Let’s persuade one another. Let’s argue about ideas, and then let’s come together.”
Sen. JD Vance and Gov. Tim Walz debate at the CBS Broadcast Center on Oct. 1, 2024, in New York City. (Getty Images)
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As he spoke, the Republican dials increased significantly, the independent dial improved slightly and Democrats’ approval stayed generally the same.
Walz responded with a reference to the alleged limits on free speech.
“You can’t yell fire in a crowded theater – that’s the test, that’s the Supreme Court test.”