The Iran war has been an unmitigated disaster, as gas prices across the country continue to soar with no end in sight. Recent reporting from Zeteo reveals that Republicans running in close Senate elections are attempting to change their stances on the conflict in light of what a failure it has become. Mike Rogers, Ashley Hinson, Susan Collins, John E. Sununu, and Jon Husted, who were initially outspoken supporters of the war, are now calling for the war to end, a decision that was no doubt motivated by public opinion. A CNN/SSRS poll from this month shows that 73% of Americans disapprove of Trump’s handling of the war.
“As Ashley Hinson put it, the Iran war has become a ‘political liability,’ and Republican Senate candidates are now desperate to save face,” said American Bridge 21st Century Spokesperson Gus Nathanson. “But the fact of the matter is that they championed the war for months, even as Americans suffered as a result. Voters won’t forget that at the ballot box this November.”
Here is what Republican Senate candidates have said about the Iran war:
Mike Rogers
- The day the war on Iran began in late February, Michigan Republican Senate candidate Mike Rogers declared, “Iran is an imminent threat to our country and must not have a nuclear weapon. May God bless our troops and our country on this mission for safety and justice.”
- The next day, he called it potentially “the biggest opportunity for peace in the Middle East that I’ve certainly seen in my lifetime.”
- As the American public soured on the war, he scolded them. “It is maddening to me,” Rogers said in March. “We ought to stand up, shut up, stand up and say we want this thing to have a successful conclusion. Then you want to debate it later? Let’s do that,” he said.
- When asked in late July if Trump should have authorization from Congress to continue the war, he doubled down, saying, “I don’t mind giving the president authority to continue. You can’t stop in mid-negotiation.”
Ashley Hinson
- Ashley Hinson said in March shortly after the war began, and then again in June, that she “fully supports” Trump’s war in Iran.
- Asked whether she would support sending in ground troops to Iran, her spokesperson didn’t say no. “Ashley trusts our commander-in-chief to make the right decisions to keep Americans safe,” they said.
- In the House of Representatives, Hinson has repeatedly voted against war powers resolutions to end the conflict.
- Last week, Hinson tweeted that Iowans “shouldn’t have to foot the bill at the pump or the checkout line for the war in Iran,“ and that the conflict should be brought to an “immediate end.”
- Yet, just one week earlier, she voted against an effort to curtail U.S. involvement in Iran – for the seventh time since March.
Susan Collins
- Susan Collins was unequivocal about her support for the war initially. When a war powers resolution was put to a vote in early March, she said that passing the resolution would “send the wrong message to Iran and to our troops.” She said that the war was justified because Iran was the world’s largest state sponsor of terrorism.
- As she backed the war, she said in interview after interview that she hoped the war would be “successful” and “brief.”
- “If this is going to be a relatively brief operation, then I believe that the president has inherent abilities as commander-in-chief to react,” Collins said in March.
Jon Husted
- A week into the war, Jon Husted said that the military operation was going “much better than anyone thought it would,” even after Iran announced the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. By that point, six American soldiers had died.
- Husted said that he believed it was the end of the road for the Iranian government, adding he hoped for peaceful regime change.
- Husted has consistently voted against war powers resolutions to end the conflict.
- Now, Husted says it should be the end of the road for Trump’s war. In an interview with Politico last week, he said that the war needs to “come to an end as quickly as possible” so that gas prices can come down.
- Yet, last week, Husted voted once again in opposition to a war powers resolution. In fact, he cast the deciding vote.
John E. Sununu
- At its outset, Republican New Hampshire Senate candidate John Sununu had lots of praise for the war in Iran. He said in March that the war has “advanced our national security interest” and that the U.S. was “absolutely” safer because of it.
- By June, the buyer’s remorse began to kick in. “Look, if you’re asking me if I would have done this, no, no,” Sununu told WMUR.
- Then in August, the former senator told NHPR that it was “a mistake to go in the first place” without a plan for protecting the Strait of Hormuz.
Published: Sep 29, 2026