Republican hopefuls in the race to succeed Donald Trump quickly blamed two key pillars of his agenda – the war in Iran and tariffs – for sparking the Democratic blue wave that swept the US midterm elections.
The fallout from Democrats’ resounding success Tuesday night has left Republicans reeling — and gripped by the reasons for the collapse in support. The Associated Press on Thursday called for more competitive House races for Democrats, even as Senate races in Alaska and Mississippi remained undecided.
Vice President JD Vance, outgoing Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and Texas Senator Ted Cruz have all highlighted their frustration with the cost of living amid the fallout from Republican defeats across the country, including in former strongholds like Texas and Kansas.
They cited factors such as Trump’s prolonged war against Iran and his aggressive trade agenda; the relationship between the United States and Israel; and Democratic ads that misportray conservative candidates.
“The tariffs have made everything too expensive and the war in Iran has lasted too long,” Cruz, a former Republican presidential candidate who has not ruled out running again, said Wednesday on his podcast, Verdict With Ted Cruz. “It should have been brief, decisive and over. It has to end.”
“The reason we lost is the war,” Vance wrote in a lengthy post Wednesday, suggesting his party lost because voters are angry at the Trump administration for distracting Americans.
“To the people who are just upset about the results, you should be,” the vice president added. “Let’s take this anger and get back to the task of saving our country.”
DeSantis, who unsuccessfully challenged Trump for the Republican nomination two years ago and has since endured a strained relationship with the president, said this week’s election was “close to an extinction-level event” for their party.
Democrats have made Republicans look bad with ads targeting them over the case of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and congressional stock trading, DeSantis said Wednesday.
DeSantis said Republicans promised to release the Epstein files, which included a vast array of documents and correspondence related to the disgraced financier. He said: “And then there are people in Congress who are voting against releasing (the Epstein files) when the attorney general said she had all these horrible things on her desk and people were going to be held accountable. »
In the months and weeks leading up to the midterm elections, polls showed voters were increasingly unhappy with how Trump had handled his job. Americans were feeling the pressure of the American economy with the rising prices of gasoline and food products – a consequence of the war with Iran.
Still, Trump remained confident that voters would remain loyal to him, encouraging them to vote as if he were on the ballot and campaigning for Republicans to win competitive seats.
Democrats, meanwhile, promised to make life more affordable and rein in the US president’s sprawling agenda – and won over voters. Democrats took power in both houses of Congress and won the majority of gubernatorial elections across the country.
Tuesday’s results indicate that Trump’s support no longer has the same power as it once did. Several Republican incumbents he vouched for in competitive House and Senate races have consistently lost to Democrats.
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Although Trump said he would accept the results of the midterm elections, he quickly reversed course, saying Republicans would have won if his name had actually appeared on the ballot.
On Thursday, the US president went further, demanding that all votes for Dan J Sullivan, an alternative Republican Senate candidate in Alaska, go to incumbent Dan S Sullivan, whom Trump supported.
“The vote totals for Fake Dan Sullivan, plus the other ‘slug’ the Democrats put on the ballot, should immediately go to the REAL Dan Sullivan, and the election is over – he wins easily. There is no other fair solution!” Trump wrote.
But even Trump admitted that his war with Iran had turned off potential Republican voters. “A lot of it is true because it did raise the price of fuel a little bit,” Trump told reporters at the White House on Wednesday.
Some have suggested that Pete Hegseth, the defense secretary, could take responsibility for the administration’s conflict in Iran. However, when asked if he would consider firing Hegseth, Trump insisted that Hegseth was still doing “a very good job.”
Cruz blamed Republican politicians for ignoring warning signs.
“Too many Republican politicians seem not to understand and don’t care,” he said. “Food is too expensive. Gasoline is too expensive. Diesel is too expensive. Insurance is too expensive. Life is too expensive.”
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