During the vice presidential debate, Republican candidate JD Vance refused to verify whether he would accept the results of the 2024 election.

When Democratic candidate Tim Walz directly asked Vance whether his running mate lost the 2020 election, Vance evaded a yes or no response, saying that he was “focused on the future.”

“That,” Walz said, is a “damning non-answer.”

Vance’s refusal to commit to abiding by the democratic process presents harrowing reminders of former president Donald Trump’s own scheme to reverse the results of the 2020 election, opening a window for political violence if the Trump-Vance ticket does not win this time around.

Earlier this year, Vance told ABC News that if he were vice president in 2021, he would not have immediately certified the election results as former vice president Mike Pence had. Instead, he suggested that the election should have been handed over to the House of Representatives.

In 2020, it was found that there was no voter fraud or any type of irregularity.

On Jan. 6, 2021, insurrectionists at Trump’s “Save America” Rally chanted “Hang Mike Pence!” after efforts to pressure the former vice president to interfere in the ceremonial certification of the election failed.

Vance’s denial of election integrity demonstrates his willingness to be complicit in political violence and to back Trump into oblivion if the ticket loses the election, careful to avoid the fate of the former vice president.

Walz commented that Vance’s disregard for the electoral system should be “disqualifying.”