爱荷华州苏城-在爱荷华州的竞选活动中，前副总统迈克·彭斯遇到了一位居民，他对自己在2021年1月6日证明乔·拜登在2020年总统选举中获胜的角色感到愤怒。
“你有没有怀疑过自己?”周三晚上，在比萨牧场的一次竞选活动中，一名女子问彭斯，她注意到他“改变了历史”，“如果没有[彭斯]的选票，拜登就不会在白宫。”
面对前总统唐纳德·特朗普继续错误地断言彭斯可能会推翻上次选举的结果，彭斯为自己的行为进行了辩护，称那天的事件是“被误解的”，他没有权力这样做。
“宪法没有授权——副总统或任何人——拒绝投票或将选票退回各州。以前从未做过，也不应该做。很抱歉，夫人，但这实际上是宪法规定的，”彭斯告诉她。
“在美国历史上，没有一位副总统拥有你认为我拥有的权威。我要告诉你们，恕我直言，我以前说过——我在宣布时说过:特朗普总统那天对我的权威的看法是错误的，现在仍然是错误的，”他说。
彭斯直接回答了这位女士的说法，即他“有宪法权利……将这些选票送回各州”，解释说选举是在州一级决定的;他的角色只是监督国会对2020年选举团结果的认证。
2023年7月5日，在爱荷华州苏城的披萨农场，前副总统迈克·彭斯在伍德伯里县共和党和共和党妇女会面并问候时回答观众的问题。
杰西兄弟/苏城日报通过美联社
当被问及活动结束后与记者的交流时，彭斯说，他很高兴有机会解释他在1月6日的行为，当时特朗普的一群支持者冲进国会大厦，推翻了安全措施，破坏了大楼，让彭斯和其他议员躲藏起来。
“坦率地说，我很高兴今天有机会谈论这个问题。因为我知道，我的前竞选伙伴仍然认为，我拥有一些权力，这是宪法在历史上从未赋予副总统的，也没有赋予我，”彭斯说。
“这就是为什么我看着她的眼睛，我说特朗普总统当时是错的，特朗普总统仍然是错的。我无权推翻选举，”他补充道。
彭斯在竞选活动中回答了一些关于他的候选人资格与他的前竞选伙伴有何不同的问题，他坚称自己“忠于特朗普，直到我对宪法的宣誓要求我下台”，这是对他的前老板的一系列含蓄抨击，通常围绕着政治生活中文明的价值。
但与爱荷华州的对抗是鹰眼州为期多天、充满问题的竞选活动中的第一次，在这场竞选活动中，彭斯不得不应对他对特朗普不忠的暗示。
这次相遇揭示了彭斯问鼎白宫的一个挥之不去的问题:尽管特朗普的支持者认为他是特朗普目前不在白宫的主要原因，但他能竞选并获胜吗?
据统计，在全国范围内，彭斯在民调中落后特朗普超过46个百分点五点三十八分投票平均数。
彭斯认为他可以。“最终，我认为我们运动中的人，像大多数美国人一样，珍惜我们的宪法，”他说。“我对共和党选民很有信心。我了解我们运动的人。”
周三在苏城，彭斯告诉人群，为了让共和党人赢得即将到来的选举-特别是在2022年中期选举的陷阱之后-他们需要从选举否认主义中走出来。
“我真的认为下一次选举是关于未来的。彭斯说:“如果我们在下次选举中谈论过去，民主党将在白宫多呆四年。”
“我们的候选人在22次中期选举中一直在谈论重新提起上次选举的诉讼，但他们输了，而且他们输在了我们应该赢的地方。”
'Trump was wrong': Pence confronts Iowan angry about his role certifying election on Jan. 6
SIOUX CITY, Iowa --During his campaign swing through Iowa, former Vice President Mike Pence encountered a resident angry over his role in certifying Joe Biden's victory in the 2020 presidential election on Jan. 6, 2021.
"Do you ever second-guess yourself?" a woman asked Pence during a campaign stop Wednesday evening at Pizza Ranch, after noting that he "changed history" and that "if it wasn't for [Pence's] votes, Biden wouldn't be in the White House."
Pence defended his actions, calling the events of that day "misunderstood" in the face of former President Donald Trump's continued false assertion that Pence could have overturned the results of the last election, something he did not have the authority to do.
"The Constitution affords no authority -- the vice president or anyone else -- to reject votes or return votes to the states. Never been done before, should never be done. And I'm sorry, ma'am, but that's actually what the Constitution says," Pence told her.
"No vice president in American history ever asserted the authority that you have been convinced that I had. And I will tell you, with all due respect, I said before -- I said when I announced: President Trump was wrong about my authority that day and is still wrong," he said.
Pence directly answered the woman's claim that he had "a constitutional right … to send those votes back to the states," by explaining that elections are determined at the state level; his role was just to oversee Congress' certification of the 2020 Electoral College results.
Asked about the exchange with reporters after the event, Pence said that he welcomed the opportunity to explain his actions on Jan. 6, when a mob of Trump supporters stormed the Capitol, overrode security and vandalized the building, sending Pence and other lawmakers into hiding.
"Frankly, I welcomed the opportunity to speak about it today. Because I know that my former running mate continues to hold the view that I had some authority that the Constitution had never given any vice president in history, and did not give me," Pence said.
"That's why I looked her in the eye and I said President Trump was wrong then, and President Trump is still wrong. I had no right to overturn the election," he added.
Pence, who has fielded a number of questions on the campaign trail related how his candidacy is different from that of his former running mate, maintains that he "stood loyal to Trump until my oath to the Constitution required me to step away," among a number of veiled swipes at his former boss, usually centered around the value of civility in political life.
But the confrontation with the Iowan was the first time in a multi-day, question-filled campaign swing in the Hawkeye State in which Pence had to deal with suggestions he had been disloyal to Trump.
The encounter illuminated a persistent question looming over Pence's White House bid: Could he campaign -- and win -- despite Trump supporters seeing him as the chief reason Trump is not currently in the White House?
Nationally, Pence trails Trump in the polls by more than 46 points, according toFiveThirtyEight'spolling averages.
Pence thinks he can. "Ultimately, I think that the people in our movement, like most Americans, cherish our Constitution," he said. "I have great confidence in Republican voters. I know the people of our movement."
In Sioux City on Wednesday, Pence told the crowd that in order for Republicans to win upcoming elections -- especially after the pitfalls of the 2022 midterms -- they would need to move on from election denialism.
"I really think this next election has got to be about the future. If we spend the next election talking about the past, you're going to get four more years of Democrats in the White House," Pence said.
"Our candidates that spent the 22 midterm elections talking about re-litigating the last election, lost and they lost in places we should have won."
