The problem(s) with JD Vance’s assessment of Republican midterm losses

Vice President JD Vance has publicly attributed Republican losses of Congress in the midterm elections to the war with Iran. In a long post on X on Wednesday, he said voters who backed Republicans in 2024 turned out again this year but chose Democrats because of the war's fallout, and that any honest discussion of the party's path forward has to begin with that fact. MS NOW reports that the statement amounts to a rebuke of the administration's central foreign policy undertaking of the past year.

MS NOW political contributor Steve Benen argues the diagnosis is incomplete. He points to evidence that voters were also reacting to tariffs, corruption, aggressive federal immigration agents and an emphasis on vanity projects. He also notes that Vance spent roughly eight months defending the conflict, which Donald Trump launched despite campaign pledges to avoid new wars, even if private objections have been reported. Benen reads the post as positioning for 2028 and says the distance comes too late.

Democratic Senator-elect Abdul El-Sayed of Michigan, speaking on CNN, said Vance should have spoken up eight months ago and called him a coward for following Trump until Trump lost at the ballot box.

Summarized by PolitiKool from MS NOW’s reporting. Read the full story at MS NOW →