SIOUX CITY, Iowa — A voter confronted former Vice President Mike Pence Wednesday about his actions on January 6, 2021, accusing him of unfairly handing the election to Joe Biden.
“Do you ever question yourself? It was a constitutional right that you had to return those votes to the states,” the woman said as Pence answered questions at a packed Pizza Ranch restaurant here. She said Pence “changed history” by refusing to send the 2020 election results to states for a recount.
Pence certified the election results despite pressure from President Donald Trump and threats from his supporters. He refused to buy into Trump’s conspiracy theories that Biden and the Democratic Party stole the election.
Pence has leaned into his refusal to concede to what Trump wanted that day, setting him up as a key point of contrast. He launched his campaign for the Republican Party’s presidential nomination last month with criticism of his former boss, saying Trump abandoned his conservative principles and his loyalty to the Constitution.
While Pence may carve out a distinctive path for himself with that approach, it also risks alienating a sizeable portion of the Republican base still loyal to Trump.
Pence said Wednesday that certifying the election was “an issue that continues to be misconstrued,” saying the Constitution “does not give the vice president or anyone else authority to reject votes or return votes to states.”
“I’m sorry, ma’am, but that’s actually what the Constitution says,” Pence told the woman at the Pizza Ranch. “No vice president in the history of the United States has ever claimed the authority that you have been convinced I had. But I want to tell you, with all due respect… President Trump was wrong about my authority that day, and he continues to be wrong.”
Pence later told NBC News that he “welcomed the opportunity” to speak about why Trump’s messaging around certification of the election is inaccurate.
“If I have the great privilege of being President of the United States, you can also always count on me to uphold my oath to the Constitution,” he said.
Pence continues to trail significantly in the polls in the race, with the most recent NBC News poll showing Trump with a commanding lead. He was in Sioux City on Wednesday as part of a three-day stretch through Iowa that began with a Fourth of July parade in Urbandale. At his three events on Wednesday, he was joined by Republican Rep. Randy Feenstra, who represents the western part of the state.
Pence began his presidential campaign in Iowa, whose caucuses rank first on the Republican Party’s presidential primary calendar. The state’s active conservative evangelical community is a natural focus for Pence, who was a governor and congressman from nearby Indiana and has championed conservative positions on social issues throughout his career.
