Former Vice President Mike Pence has publicly disagreed with Vice President JD Vance regarding the factors behind the Republican Party's losses in the recent midterm elections. During an appearance on NBC’s Meet the Press, Pence described Vance as a good man but stated that the current Vice President was wrong to attribute the party’s defeat in Congress primarily to the war with Iran.
Pence argued that voters were not turned off because the conflict existed, but rather because of how the military campaign was managed. He noted that after the U.S. military responded brilliantly in Operation Epic Fury and the strike against Iran the previous year, operations ceased for inexplicable reasons after just five weeks. This pause, he suggested, left many Americans frustrated that the military effort stopped short of a definitive conclusion.
In contrast, Vance had previously written that many individuals who supported the Trump and Vance ticket in 2024 switched their votes to Democrats in 2026. Vance cited anger over the Iran war, the cost of living, inflation, a perceived lack of focus on putting America first, and the current relationship between the United States and Israel as key drivers of this shift in voter behavior.
Pence lauded the military victories achieved in Iran, highlighting the destruction of thousands of military sites. However, he invoked the strategic principle that one does not make peace with an enemy, but rather with a defeated one. He pointed to recent events in Bahrain, where Iran continued to fire on U.S. targets, as evidence that the Iranian leadership did not yet feel defeated.
The electoral impact of these events was significant. The Council on Foreign Relations released an analysis showing that the Democratic Party picked up 44 seats in the House of Representatives. This margin represents the largest advantage Democrats have held over Republicans since the midterms of 1990.
In the Senate, Democrats flipped eight seats, with the race in Alaska remaining unconfirmed at the time of the report. This outcome ties for the third largest net seat gain for any midterm election since 1942. Pence suggested that these results reflected the influence of isolationist voices on the right that had gained prominence within the administration.
The conflict with Iran has continued for over eight months since its start on February 28. President Donald Trump has sent mixed signals about the state of the war. While telling reporters at a surprise White House briefing that the conflict was effectively over, he later stated on Veterans Day that the question is when the administration wants to end it, emphasizing the need for a total victory.
The financial burden of the war has grown substantially since its inception. Estimates indicate that the total cost reached $47.1 billion in October. These figures underscore the economic pressures that both Pence and Vance have identified as central to the political discourse surrounding the administration’s foreign policy decisions.
