Vance Says Iran War Cost Republicans the Midterms, Lists Changing U.S. Relationship With Israel Among Voters' Demands

Update, Nov. 4, 3 PM CT

Israel's ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, pushed back on Vance's assessment in an interview with i24NEWS. According to i24NEWS, Danon said Washington had independently decided to attack Iran, though Israel supported the operation, and rejected suggestions that Israel was responsible for the war or for rising U.S. energy prices. "It's very easy always to blame Israel for everything. But that's not the case," he said. He also warned that with Democrats in control of Congress, "it will be harder for us."

Update, Nov. 4, 1 PM CT

Donald Trump Jr. reposted Vance's message on X and wrote, "Every word of this is" followed by three 100 emojis, according to Mediaite, which embedded the post, and Iran International. Axios said he was "quick to apparently endorse" Vance's message. Separately, Axios reports Trump said at a White House event Wednesday afternoon that he agreed the war "drove the gasoline up a little bit, short term," but added, "if I had to do it again, I'd have to do it again" (Axios).

Status: Confirmed by NBC News, Politico, Axios and the Jerusalem Post. The remarks come from Vance's own post on X. The quotes below are as those outlets report them.

Vice President JD Vance blamed Republicans' midterm losses on the war with Iran in a lengthy post on X on Wednesday. "The reason we lost is the war. The president himself said so last night," he wrote, according to NBC News, Politico and Axios.

The four reasons

Vance cited an unnamed pollster who asked voters who had left the party what would bring them back. "The top four answers, accounting for nearly all of the responses, were: 1) End the war 2) Focus on cost of living/inflation 3) Put America First 4) Change our relationship to Israel," Vance wrote, as quoted by the Jerusalem Post. "Our voters showed up. And the above four reasons are why many of them voted for Democrats," he added (NBC News).

"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," Vance wrote. "Argue it was a worthwhile cost to pay. Agree or disagree, that's at least honest. But everyone knows why we lost" (NBC News).

Trump's view

Vance referred to Trump's interview with the Wall Street Journal on Tuesday, in which Trump said "Iran was a piece of it" while defending the decision to go to war: "I did the right thing. I would have done it again" (NBC News). Trump has also said Republicans would have won if he had been on the ballot.

How it's being read

Axios says the post started to put "at least a little daylight" between Vance and Trump, and Politico calls it "a striking acknowledgment" that the handling of the Iran conflict has become a political liability. Some posts on X (RightLineNews, TheObserverLens) describe it as an open break with Trump. Axios reports that the White House and the vice president's office did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

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