LANSING — Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump was right in Wednesday’s presidential debate when he refused to say whether he would accept the results of the Nov. 8 election, Michigan Republican Chairwoman Ronna Romney McDaniel said.

“I will look at it at the time,” Trump said, dodging the question posed by moderator Chris Wallace of Fox News, who asked Trump and Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton if they would “absolutely accept” the outcome of the election.

“What I’m saying is that I will tell you at the time,” Trump added. “I will keep you in suspense. OK?”

Clinton fired back, calling Trump’s answer “horrifying” and saying he was “talking down our democracy.”

Trump’s break from a storied tradition of vanquished presidential candidates promising to abide by Americans’ decision at the ballot box for the good of the nation have fueled more criticism against the Republican nominee, who has complained of a “rigged system” he thinks is designed to throw the election to Clinton.

“How can Donald Trump right now say exactly what’s going to happen after Election Day?” McDaniel told The Detroit News. “… I think it’s good to say, ‘Let’s just wait, let’s just wait until after the election, we want to make sure there’s no voter fraud.’ ”

McDaniel pointed out former Vice President Al Gore had pledged to abide by the results of the 2000 election before his campaign won a court order for a recount in Florida’s Palm Beach, Broward, Miami-Dade and Volusia counties after the discovery of hanging, dimpled and pregnant chads on Florida’s punch-card ballots.

The outcome of the 2000 election hung in the balance for 36 days. Only when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the process in the court-ordered recount process in Florida was unconstitutional did Gore concede defeat to President George W. Bush.