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Republicans are running away from the Iran war and scrambling to curtail high gas prices as they try to keep hold of Congress — and even some who aren’t up for reelection are breaking with the Trump administration in high-profile fashion.
It’s a critical moment for the congressional GOP as the Senate prepares to empty out for election season as soon as this week, joining their House colleagues on the fall campaign trail. But as they do so, there are growing instances of daylight between President Donald Trump and the Republican Party he leads, a notable trend after so many months of muted criticism.
Sen. John Curtis, R-Utah, is pushing for an investigation of Donald Trump Jr. over his business dealings while Senate Armed Services Chair Roger Wicker, R-Miss., reprimanded Trump for inviting Chinese leader Xi Jinping to Washington for a formal state visit this week. And looming over it all is the nearly seven-month Iran war, which is starting to generate public friction with swing state Republicans across the country. This week, Democrats are seeking to make the Senate vote on curtailing the conflict one last time before the election.
On Monday, Michigan Republican Senate candidate Mike Rogers along with Iowa GOP Reps. Mariannette Miller-Meeks and Ashley Hinson, who is running for the Senate, called for an end to the Iran war. They were joined by Rep. John James, a Republican running for governor of Michigan, and endangered Sen. Jon Husted, R-Ohio.
“It’s not popular. They are in tough elections. People understand the need to have a safe nation but we also understand the need to resolve this conflict,” retiring Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, told Semafor of her Iowa colleagues. “The administration hasn’t been clear on how to end this and I think that’s why people are moving.”
Ernst said she’ll “probably” continue voting against the Democratic-led efforts to rein in the conflict, though she wants a “clear understanding” of the path forward.
Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., another retiring swing state senator, said he’d seen enough. He said the war had “meandered for too long” and urged GOP candidates to take the same position if that’s what their political predicaments demand.
“There are so many headwinds now for these candidates that I hope that the administration gets the point that you can be 90% with the president and speak about the 10% you’re not. So I think you’re seeing that distance,” Tillis said. “You’ve got a lot of people out there that want to vote for Republicans, but they’re a little uncomfortable with one issue or another, the president’s tone, whatever.”
Curtis and Wicker gave Republicans further cover to find that distance. Curtis asked the Senate Judiciary Committee to subpoena both Trump Jr. and Hunter Biden, declaring that reports on Trump Jr.’s wedding and business deals raise “legitimate questions about foreign access to members of a sitting president’s family.” Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, declined to comment on that request.
Wicker didn’t mince words about Xi’s visit, calling Xi a “brutal, unelected and oppressive dictator who seeks to dominate his neighbors and whose massive military arsenal is aimed directly” at the United States.
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Most Senate Republicans in competitive races like Husted, Dan Sullivan of Alaska, and Roger Marshall of Kansas have backed the Iran war on the Senate floor. Sullivan also threw his support behind a diesel export ban — prompting Trump himself to back it. But a few, like Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, have voted to rein in Trump’s conflict.
Miller-Meeks and Rep. Zach Nunn, R-Iowa, both voted last week against the war. Both Rogers and James had sounded significantly more supportive of the war earlier this year but said they want to end it this week.
“We all want it to end as quickly as possible. I think they’re being bold and they’re being direct,” said Sen. Ted Budd, R-N.C., of Republican candidates. “You have to be in sync with people in your state to get elected — in an authentic way. I think people genuinely want the war to be over; that doesn’t mean you quit, you bring it to a successful resolution.”
Senate Majority Leader John Thune said he was hoping he could keep Republicans from splintering on Iran right before the election: “I would hope the team could hang together on this.”
The View From the white house
Trump has repeatedly threatened to escalate the conflict only to predict a deal is close at hand. He said during his speech at the UN General Assembly that he has a “big decision” to make on Iran. He can either cut a deal that helps Iran rebuild and ends the war, or, Trump suggested, he could “annihilate the Islamic republic and do it quickly.”
Burgess’s view
Republicans have wanted the war to end basically since it started, but are reluctant to cross the president publicly. That’s clearly starting to change, but it’s one thing to criticize the war and another to vote against it.
That’s what makes Miller-Meeks and Nunn’s votes so interesting. And if Senate Republicans with similar views really want to show voters they oppose the war, their best chance to do so is to vote against it.
Notable
- Husted told Politico that he wants the war to end, but he is not going to vote against it on the floor.