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Archive photo · 25 March 2026JD Vance Says Iran War Caused Republicans To Lose U.S. Midterms
“pointing at the Iran war as the driving force behind the party's election-night defeats.”
“Vance says Iran war ‘reason we lost’ US midterm elections after Democrats sweep Congress”
Photo: Emily J. Higgins, Public domain · Cropped for layout
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JD Vance credited the Iran war as the reason for Republicans' midterm losses He said 'the reason we lost is the war' in a post on X
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Vance links loss to Iran
Vice President JD Vance said Republicans lost the U.S. midterm elections because of the war in Iran, writing, "The reason we lost is the war. The president himself said so last night," on X.
Vance argued that voters who backed President Donald Trump and Vance in 2024 cast ballots for Democrats in 2026 for four reasons, including to end the war with Iran and to focus on the cost of living and inflation.
Vance also said Democrats gained power in Congress after the midterms, giving the opposition the ability to block legislation and tightly scrutinise the administration.
President Donald Trump, in contrast, denied that voters were rejecting the war, while acknowledging that high gas prices caused by the war may have been a factor.
The dispute over the war's political impact sharpened as the conflict began more than eight ago and continued into its eighth month, according to the accounts in the coverage.
Iranian officials celebrate
Iran’s supreme leader said those who think partisan changes in the United States can change its hostility toward the Islamic Republic are "gravely mistaken." Iran’s chief negotiator and parliament speaker, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, wrote on X that "Americans said NO TO WAR, and we endorse this message." Tehran Mayor Alireza Zakani told demonstrators that the United States and Israel suffered a massive defeat, saying, "The decisive defeat of the United States and the Zionist regime in recent developments and elections is the result of the Iranian nation’s steadfastness and strength,".
Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson warned Washington that if the U.S. continues to ignore reality, "the consequences of this grave miscalculation will extend far beyond what you have already witnessed." Demonstrators in Tehran burned American and Israeli flags and chanted “Death to America” and “Death to Israel” as they celebrated the election results.
What comes next
Chuck Schumer said Democrats’ first order of business will be to "bring down the cost of living," and then "clean up corruption in government," while he said the third priority will be to end Trump’s "chaos" abroad, notably the war in Iran.
Schumer said the U.S. Constitution allows Congress to use "the power of the purse as one of the ways of deterring a president who does war without the consent of the American people."
Vance said Republicans should respond by ending the war, focusing on cost of living and inflation, putting "America first," and changing the U.S. relationship with Israel.
Vance also said he believes the midterm results will lead to "infighting" in the Republican party and encouraged Americans to, in 2028, elect "Republicans who share your worldview."
The coverage also described Trump’s own position that the war will end "when I say it ends," while the conflict has disrupted global energy markets and shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.