Vice President of the United States J. Dee Vance cited the war with Iran as the reason for the defeat of the Republicans in the midterm elections. In the elections held the day before, the party lost the majority to the Democrats in both houses of Congress. Vance began talking about correcting the course of the administration, in which he himself holds the second position. CNN saw his speech as a possible blueprint for his 2028 presidential campaign. President Donald Trump's political legacy after such a defeat should be met with reservations.
In a post on X, Vance described voters who voted for their party in 2024 and then switched to Democrats. Quoting an anonymous reviewer, he linked their return to the end of the war and the struggle against high prices. Two additional requirements - the priority of American interests and the change in relations with Israel - determine the foreign policy significance of the statement. Washington is being asked to reconsider which obligations to an ally justify the costs and risks to its own citizens. Vance takes other people's answers and turns them into a topic for public discussion about defeat.
Criticism of the war matches the mood of most voters. According to a survey by the research company SSRS for the AP news agency and other American media, about 60% of the election participants saw initiating military action against Iran as a mistake. Among those who voted for Republican candidates for the House of Representatives, about 80% believed that this decision was correct. Vance had to deal with two different audiences: the disaffected majority of voters and the war supporters who supported the party. These data refer to the 2026 elections and do not predict the composition of the future primaries. However, anti-war rhetoric does not give him an automatic advantage within the party.
Vance had already tried to end the war at the negotiating table. In June, he publicly defended the agreement with Tehran, opening a two-month period of further negotiations.