Vice Presidential Debate: Vance refuses to answer whether Trump lost the 2020 election

The exchange came after CBS News anchors asked Vance whether he would seek to challenge the results of the November election even if every state governor certified them – as was the case in 2020.

Vance didn’t respond directly, but instead said he was “focused on the future.”

He tried to defend Trump over the riots in which supporters of President Trump attacked the US Capitol to prevent Joe Biden from becoming president.

Vance said Trump only spoke of “problems” in 2020 and emphasized that Trump only said that “protesters should protest peacefully.”

Looking ahead to the outcome of the 2024 vote, he said: “If Tim Walz becomes the next vice president, he will hear my prayers, he will have my best wishes and he will have my help whenever he wants it.”

But Walz stuck to the events of 2020 and challenged Vance to answer whether Trump lost the election. When Vance tried to change the subject again, Walz said, “That’s a damn non-answer.”

Walz added that they were “miles apart” on the issue, although they agreed on other things during their 90-minute debate.

Aside from one or two other arguments — including an exchange about immigration that resulted in the two men’s microphones being muted — the debate was civil.

Walz was pressured by moderators over previous comments of his own – the latest instance in which he has run afoul of fact-checkers.

He admitted he “misrepresented” when he claimed he was in Hong Kong during the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre in Beijing. News reports at the time indicate that he was actually in the United States when the events in China occurred.

Tuesday’s event in New York was the first and only scheduled head-to-head clash between the two.

A CBS News poll immediately afterward found that 42% of viewers thought Vance won the debate, compared to 41% who thought Walz had the edge. About 17% said the debate was undecided.