Vance: "The reason we lost is the war" — SkimNews
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- NBC News exit polling found 74% of voters said the Iran War was a "crucial" or "major factor" in their vote, and 62% said using force against Iran was the wrong decision; an October Fox News poll had already ranked the war, inflation and gas prices among voters' top concerns.
- JD Vance admitted on Wednesday that "the reason we lost is the war," saying voters wanted the GOP to end the conflict, focus on cost of living and inflation, put America first, and change the country's relationship with Israel.
- Will Chamberlain, senior counsel at the Article III Project, called the war a "geopolitical masterstroke" on April 17, 2026 — six weeks after Trump and Israel launched it — and predicted it would be a "mild footnote" by midterms, but after the November 3 results conceded the war is "clearly catastrophically unpopular and has to end."
- Mark Levin said in September the war was a "4% percent issue" for voters, then insisted after the losses that "it's not because of the Iran War, it's not because of the price of gasoline" and that "the vast majority of us are utterly unaffected"; Nancy Mace, who backed the war before reversing, called him "a moron" on X and he responded that she is "one of the most mentally unhinged POS to ever be in Congress."
- Rebeccah Heinrichs of the Hudson Institute — funded by BAE Systems, Boeing, Raytheon, Lockheed Martin, Palantir and other defense contractors — blamed officials who pursued diplomacy for the result, prompting Andrew Day of The American Conservative to mock her position as "We didn't Iran War hard enough."
- Mark Zandi of Moody's Analytics estimated in July that the Iran War has cost the average American household at least $1,200 more than if it had never started, with Iran's restrictions on transit through the Strait of Hormuz — open every day before February 28 — sending oil and diesel prices skyrocketing.
- Eylon Levy, a former Israeli spokesman, rejected Vance's account with "We are not the cause of any of your problems"; Marc Thiessen said Trump had called Iran "a piece of it" and "I would have done it again," while Sid Rosenberg said Vance's post was "further proof that I could never vote for this guy."
Why it matters: With 74% of voters calling the war a major factor and 62% saying force was wrong, the GOP's Iran policy now carries a measurable price: an estimated $1,200 extra per household from the conflict. Vance's admission also fractures the war's defenders, with pro-Israel figures rejecting his call to change the U.S.-Israel relationship.
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