A growing number of Republican candidates in the country’s most competitive midterm contests are pushing the Trump administration to bring the war with Iran to a close.
The rare burst of pressure from within President Trump’s own party comes as the war nears the seven-month mark, and as public opposition to the war and frustration with rising energy prices pose electoral risks for Republicans nationwide. The pushback has extended beyond the president’s usual critics, with some Trump-aligned candidates calling for an end to the conflict. Mr. Trump has stood by his Iran strategy and has also suggested escalation is possible.
“The war with Iran needs to end, and end quickly,” Michigan Senate candidate Mike Rogers said in a video Monday that didn’t mention Mr. Trump by name, arguing “energy costs will plummet.”
In his prior comments on the Iran war, Rogers had said the conflict should be brought to an end but offered more explicit support for Mr. Trump, who campaigned with Rogers earlier this year. The Senate hopeful told CBS Detroit in July: “I want [the president] to wrap it up, and my understanding is he’s doing just that,” pointing to ongoing negotiations with Iran.
Earlier Monday, Rep. Ashley Hinson — the Republican candidate for Iowa’s open Senate seat — wrote that “the war needs to be brought to a successful and immediate end.” But last week, Hinson did not vote to support the war powers resolution to limit Mr. Trump’s authority to wage war.
In June, the Trump-endorsed Hinson acknowledged in a conversation with a voter that the Iran war could turn into a “political liability” unless it’s wrapped up “by the next couple of weeks,” according to a recording obtained by CBS News.
Rep. John James, the Republican nominee for Michigan governor, told reporters on Tuesday, according to local outlet MLive: “Iran cannot have a nuke, but I’ve always said that we need to use every resource at our disposal to bring this war to an end quickly.”
In neighboring Wisconsin, Republican gubernatorial candidate Rep. Tom Tiffany said Tuesday: “I just believe that we should be exiting Iran, that it’s time to move on.” He argued the U.S. has degraded Iran’s military, so it’s “time to come home, take care of business here in America.”
And Ohio Sen. Jon Husted, who is fighting to hold on to his seat amid a challenge from Democratic former Sen. Sherrod Brown, told Politico the “war needs to come to an end as quickly as possible so that we can lower gas prices.” Husted had told local media in March that he told Mr. Trump’s team that the military operation “should be brief and successful.”
When Mr. Trump first ordered strikes on Iran in late February, launching what he predicted would be a four- or five-week conflict, the vast majority of congressional Republicans backed the move. Some of the loudest dissents came from longstanding members of the party’s anti-interventionist wing like Sen. Rand Paul and Rep. Thomas Massie.
Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine — who is fighting for a sixth term in an increasingly blue-leaning state — later began voting with Democrats on resolutions to rein in Mr. Trump’s war powers. She was joined by GOP Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, a frequent Trump critic.
As the conflict stretched into the summer, keeping oil prices elevated above prewar levels, and as a temporary U.S.-Iran truce collapsed in July, a growing share of the electorate voiced disapproval with the war and criticized its direction.
One late July CBS News poll showed 67% of Americans wanted the Iran conflict to end immediately, including 92% of Democrats, 73% of independents and 30% of Republicans.
Last week, seven House Republicans voted with Democrats on a resolution to block Mr. Trump from taking further action in Iran. Three new GOP lawmakers had joined the list of defectors since the House’s previous war power votes over the summer: Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina and Reps. Mariannette Miller-Meeks and Zach Nunn of Iowa.
Republican Rep. Tom Barrett, who’s running for reelection in Michigan, has voted in favor of the War Powers Act four times and also introduced a resolution to limit and wind down the Iran war in May.
In a social media post the morning after the surprise vote, Miller-Meeks said Mr. Trump “needs to present a plan to Congress and the American people for how this ends.”
“I will not vote to keep our soldiers in an open-ended war, with Iowans paying too much at the pump,” wrote Miller-Meeks.
Nunn said in a statement on X: “With the negotiating window closed, sustained combat operations now require congressional authorization.”
The two Iowans represent House districts that Democrats are targeting in November, and Miller-Meeks has a history of winning elections by razor-thin margins since she was first elected to Congress in 2020 by just six votes.
The Iran war has also been especially taxing on agricultural states like Iowa. Oil market turmoil has caused diesel and fertilizer prices to soar, putting pressure on farmers — many of whom were already struggling to sell crops like soybeans abroad due to last year’s trade wars.
Some Republican candidates have pushed for relief from high energy prices. Hinson argued this week the U.S. should pause diesel exports, suspend the gas tax and create a “diesel relief program.” Rogers has also called for diesel export restrictions and a gas tax suspension.
“The war in Iran needs to end to bring costs down — but Michigan families can’t afford to wait,” Rogers wrote in a social media post earlier this week.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune told reporters Wednesday morning, when asked about the recent calls by Republicans for an end to the war, that there’s “voter fatigue” with high gas and diesel prices. The South Dakota Republican, who said he’s encouraged Senate candidates to run their own campaigns, even if they disagree with the president on some issues, said it’s an “economic frustration.”
“That’s why again I hope that the administration is laser-focused on trying to get the strait open, get the shipping lanes opened up, and help out with that global energy supply,” Thune said.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said it’s “interesting” that several Republicans in tight races “are all now starting to say the war needs to end.”
“Where were these Republican sycophants over the last six-plus months when Democrats, in lockstep, have been fighting to end the war of choice in Iran?” he said during a news conference Wednesday.
Mr. Trump has not shown any signs that he will bend to the pressure and seek a quick resolution to the conflict, calling the Iran war a necessary move to curb Iran’s military. Last week, he called rising gas prices a “very inexpensive price to pay for what we’ve done.”
While the U.S. and Iran haven’t directly struck each other in recent weeks, the president left the door open to further escalation on Tuesday, saying he has a “big decision to make” between cutting a deal with Iran and seeking to “annihilate” the country.
And in recent weeks, he has predicted the war could end after — not before — the midterms.
“I believe we’ll make a deal right after the election because it doesn’t make sense for them not to,” Mr. Trump said in an address to the United Nations’ General Assembly on Tuesday. “They’re waiting to see how I do in the midterm election.”
