Vice President JD Vance blamed the war with Iran for the Republican Party’s midterm defeat in a Wednesday post on X, writing The reason we lost is the war
and insisting any honest accounting of the loss must start there. Published hours after Democrats regained control of the House and Senate, the post put Vance in open disagreement with President Donald Trump’s defense of the nearly nine-month conflict.
Vance said he had spoken with a pollster he called one of the smartest people I know in politics,
who found that a lot of Trump 2024 voters were angry and planning to vote for Democrats.
When those voters were asked what would bring them back, the top four answers were: end the war, focus on cost of living and inflation, put America First, and change the relationship with Israel. But the real reason we lost is obvious to almost everyone,
Vance wrote.
One of the things the data analysts on our side obsessed over was "composition"—whether the electorate looked close enough to 2024 for Republicans to win. And despite polls that showed a Democrat blowout, the data kept on telling us the same story: in some states turnout was…
What Vance's pollster heard from Trump voters
Vance dared Republicans to defend the tradeoff publicly: If you’d like to argue it was worth it, that losing the Senate for the next 6 years was worth it, then do so. Argue it was a worthwhile cost to pay. Agree or disagree, that’s at least honest.
He added that the Democratic blowout came despite White House optimism about turnout, because many people who voted for Trump/Vance in 2024 voted for Democrats in 2026
instead.
Trump Concedes a Piece, Then Defends the War
Trump acknowledged the war hurt his party but refused to express regret. In interviews with Fox News and The Wall Street Journal, he said I think a part of it was Iran
and told the Journal Iran was a piece of it,
while distinguishing voter anger over the conflict from anger over its economic fallout: I don’t think it’s the war… I think it’s the gasoline price.
WATCH: In some of his first comments following Tuesday's midterm elections, President Donald Trump acknowledged the war with Iran contributed to Republican losses. However, he defended the decision and ruled out any changes to his Cabinet as a result of the resounding defeat.… pic.twitter.com/WPkarWd64d
Donald Trump Jr. Co-Signs the Attack
The president’s eldest son publicly broke ranks with his father, sharing Vance’s thread on X with the message Every word of this 💯💯💯
.
CNN’s analysis called Vance’s post multiple not-so-veiled criticisms of his boss’s presidency and second-term strategy
and a remarkable move for a vice president hours just after a devastating White House defeat.
The network also noted Vance defended Fox News host Rachel Campos-Duffy’s calls for a diplomatic end to the war — significant because Trump is widely reported to be weighing new strikes. CNN’s Stephen Collinson wrote that pundits had joked the 2028 campaign would begin Wednesday morning: JD Vance just made it a reality.
Trump himself shrugged off the distance, sharing a video of his own reaction to reporters: I know how he feels about it. I think it was fine. I thought it was good.
More on JD Vance
Breaking news: JD Vance has blamed Donald Trump’s war in Iran for Republicans’ midterms wipeout, as the US vice-president’s long-held frustrations over the conflict spilled into the open. Tap for live updates https://t.co/Gis70wBFcD pic.twitter.com/T0K259urxJ
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