Berk Kutay Gokmen
04 November 2026•Update: 04 November 2026
US Vice President JD Vance blamed the war with Iran for Republicans' defeat in the midterm elections Wednesday, saying voter anger over the conflict drove former Donald Trump supporters to back Democrats.
"The reason we lost is the war," Vance wrote in a statement on US social media platform X.
He argued that the election results reflected dissatisfaction with the administration's foreign policy rather than low Republican voter turnout.
Vance said many Americans who supported President Donald Trump and himself in the 2024 presidential election switched to the Democratic Party in 2026, despite significant turnout among Republican voters.
"The main problem is that many people who voted for Trump/Vance in 2024 voted for Democrats in 2026," he said.
Citing polling data, Vance said voters who abandoned Republicans identified ending the war, tackling the cost of living and inflation, putting America first and changing Washington's relationship with Israel as their main concerns.
The vice president acknowledged that Republicans would face "a lot of infighting and arguing" over the reasons behind their electoral losses.
He also conceded that the party's economic messaging may have fallen short but maintained that the Iran war was the central factor behind the defeat.
"Any honest conversation about where we go from here must start there," Vance said.
