Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) called out Vice President JD Vance during an appearance on CNN after Vance blamed the midterm blowout on the Iran war in a post-election X post.
When host Kasie Hunt asked Kennedy during a Thursday segment if he planned to run for president in 2028 — noting that Vance’s chances aren’t “as rosy” as they were prior to the midterms — Kennedy said he would consider it.
The senator then pivoted to his criticism of Vance: “But look, I don’t think the vice president did himself any favors by sending out that email or tweet, or whatever it was, after the election. This loss was not because of Iran. That might have played a part, but I don’t think every statewide Republican in Texas lost their election — every single one — because they [voters] think American foreign policy is too interventionist. I mean, put down the crack pipe.”
Kennedy is referring to Vance’s lengthy X post from the day after the midterms placing the blame for the loss on the Iran war, citing a pollster he trusts.
“The reason we lost is the war. The president himself said so last night,” Vance said.
One of the things the data analysts on our side obsessed over was "composition"—whether the electorate looked close enough to 2024 for Republicans to win. And despite polls that showed a Democrat blowout, the data kept on telling us the same story: in some states turnout was merely OK, in other states it was downright amazing, and in no state was it catastrophic. There was a genuine sense of optimism on our team: our people were showing up. So, I asked the smartest data guy I know, does that mean we're going to shock the world? "No," he told me. "We might do better than the polls suggest. But the data is telling us that a lot of Trump/Vance 2024 voters are pissed and planning to vote for the other guys. Our voters are turning out, but they may not vote for us." Well, that looks prophetic now. Our voters did show up. In Florida, for example, the electorate was 9 points more Republican than Democrat, just a couple points worse than 2024. Undoubtedly there were places we could have done better on turnout. But the main problem is not turnout. The main problem is that many people who voted for Trump/Vance in 2024 voted for Democrats in 2026. There will be a lot of infighting and arguing over what happened and why that is. One of the pollsters I really respect told me that our economic messaging wasn’t sharp enough down the stretch. I’m sure that’s true. But the real reason we lost is obvious to almost everyone. Another pollster—one of the smartest people I know in politics, told me yesterday we’d lose the generic ballot by 13 points. I felt negative going into Tuesday, but even I was shocked by this. In his polling, he saw that a lot of Trump 2024 voters were angry and planning to vote for Democrats. He 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 Our voters showed up. And the above four reasons are why many of them voted for Democrats. This is according to a pollster who nailed the results. While many spent Monday attacking Rachel Campos Duffy for calling for a diplomatic resolution to the conflict, it turns out her political advice was sound. (She’s also a great person.) In the next few months, there's going to be a lot of gaslighting. Expect to hear any number of establishment politicians say the solution to our woes is amnesty. I'm open to the idea that we should change enforcement—by focusing more on businesses that hire illegal labor, for instance. But anyone pushing amnesty is lying to you. The reason we lost is the war. The president himself said so last night. 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. But everyone knows why we lost. And any honest conversation about where we go from here must start there. I remain hopeful about our country. To the people who are pissed off and want to say, “I told you so”: you’re right, you did tell us so. Take that energy into electing Republicans who share your worldview. To the people who are just pissed at the results, you should be. Let’s take that anger and get back to the work of saving our country.
— JD Vance (@JDVance) November 4, 2026
It’s unclear from the X post alone if what Vance is pointing to is the Iran war as a foreign policy failure or the Iran war as the catalyst for the rise in diesel and gas prices — or both.
As Sen. Kennedy noted, the war “might have played a part,” either because a certain percentage of voters are non-interventionist or, more likely, that voters see the Iran war as a major contributor to the increase in prices at the pump and the grocery store.
Either way, pre and post-election surveys show that the economy (gas and grocery prices) was the number one issue, while an October Gallup poll had the Iran war not far behind.
And the issues are intertwined. According to AAA, one year ago, gas prices were hovering at $3/gallon and diesel (the fuel used by farmers and freight) was about $3.75/gal. As of this week, gas is averaging $3.87/gal and diesel is approximately $6/gal.
That is a direct result of the Iran war and has a ripple effect into the rest of the economy.