From the Liveblog of
Wednesday, November 4, 2026
Vance says GOP lost midterms due to Iran war, and that voters want to ‘change our relationship to Israel’
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleJacob Magid is The Times of Israel's US bureau chief
US Vice President JD Vance, citing voters, says two lessons from Republicans’ heavy losses in yesterday’s midterm elections are that the Iran war must end and that the US must change its relationship with Israel.
He writes in a post on X that Democrats made historic gains thanks to voters for President Donald Trump crossing the aisle.
“The main problem is that many people who voted for Trump/Vance in 2024 voted for Democrats in 2026,” Vance writes on X.
The vice president goes on to cite who he says are highly respected pollsters, including one who predicted the sweeping Democratic gains.
The pollster “asked those voters who had abandoned us what would cause them to come back on our team. The top four answers, accounting for nearly all of the responses, were:
“1) End the war.
2) Focus on cost of living/inflation.
3) Put America First.
4) Change our relationship to Israel.”
To that end, Vance touts someone who urged the administration to resolve the Iran conflict diplomatically.
“It turns out her political advice was sound,” he writes, in a knock of those — reportedly including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — pushing for another round of conflict.
“The reason we lost is the war. The president himself said so last night,” Vance says.
While Trump did acknowledge that the spiking gas prices caused by the war contributed to the Republican losses, he also defended the decision to launch the conflict, which Vance does not do in his lengthy post.
Vance was widely reported to have opposed the war before the US and Israel launched it on February 28. Israel has largely not participated in strikes on Iran since April.
“If you’d like to argue it was worth it, that losing the Senate for the next 6 years was worth it, then do so. Argue it was a worthwhile cost to pay. Agree or disagree, that’s at least honest,” Vance continues.
Vance’s post is retweeted by Trump’s son Donald Jr., who writes, “Every word of this is 100% 100% 100%.”
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