With Iran War A Huge Vote Factor, Will Dems Become Peace Party?

Indeed, Trump acknowledged that the war harmed Republicans, telling Fox News,“I think a part of it was Iran,” – but he nevertheless defended the 35-week military campaign, insisting that“people understood the importance of what I've done with Iran.”

In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Trump was similarly unapologetic, declaring:“I did the right thing. I would have done it again.”

Numerous observers contended that Tuesday's results offered an opportunity for Democrats to do more than simply capitalize on Republican mistakes.

“Among other things, this is an absolute rebuke of the war in Iran. Democrats would be wise to heed that lesson and truly become the anti-war party,” said commentator Ben Rhodes – who, while serving as a senior national security adviser to then-President Barack Obama, supported US intervention in countries including Iraq, Libya and Syria as well as Obama's wider drone war campaign.

Geopolitics scholar Van Jackson opined on social media that“if Democrats remain the party of the national security state, they will lose everything in 2028. If they become the anti-war party, they'll consolidate this wave with the presidency.”

A Wednesday analysis on the libertarian site Reason by Matthew Petti argued that Democrats now have an opportunity to exercise Congress' constitutional power over the war, including by withholding military funding.

Petti noted that Representative Ro Khanna (D-California) told Fox News last week,“The House and the Senate should stop the funding for any further actions in the Iran War,” just like“we did to stop the Vietnam War.”

However, Petti cautioned that Democratic electoral victories usually don't lead to anti-war foreign policy.

“Party leadership that is willing to attack Republicans' execution of the war may not share a principled anti-war commitment,” he wrote, recalling how Democrats swept the 2006 midterms over public anger with the Iraq War but then struggled to use their control of both chambers of Congress to end it.

Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-Maryland) wants his party to cut off funding for Trump's war and said Democrats can do so by demanding explicit restrictions on war spending as a condition of supporting the fiscal year 2027 government funding bill that expires next month.

“Right now, the continuing resolution goes through December 11,” Van Hollen told The Lever on Tuesday.“And my view is that Democrats should not advance spending to continue to fund this war.”