U.S. Vice President JD Vance on Wednesday blamed Republican losses in the midterm elections on growing public frustration over the war with Iran, saying opposition to the conflict had pushed voters who previously supported President Donald Trump toward Democrats.
"The reason we lost is the war," Vance wrote in a statement on 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.
The Democratic wave in Tuesday's midterms has raised major questions over Vance's previous status as the frontrunner for the Republican nomination in the 2028 presidential election.
He has not yet formally declared that he will run.
Vance, a longtime vocal critic of U.S. foreign interventionism, had reportedly been skeptical behind the scenes about the war on Iran that Trump and Israel launched in late February.
In the weeks ahead, the parties will hold internal leadership elections as members-elect arrive for freshman orientation at the Capitol.
The House will choose its speaker as one of the first votes when the new Congress convenes.
Rarely has the president's party held on to power during midterm elections, but the Democratic sweep carried echoes of Trump's first term, when Republicans faced a voter revolt that sent Democrats to the House majority, and the Barack Obama era, when the Republican tea party swept to power.
This new Congress will also mark firsts and welcome trailblazers.
