Washington, Nov 15 (IANS) Former Vice President Mike Pence said Sunday that Republicans lost voters because the United States stopped short in its war against Iran, while Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen urged Congress to cut off funding for the conflict.
Their competing prescriptions put the war at the centre of Washington’s debate over the midterm election results and the approaching deadline to keep federal agencies funded.
Speaking on NBC’s “Meet the Press”, Pence rejected Vice President JD Vance’s assessment that the war had caused Republican losses. He argued that voters were frustrated by the decision to pause military operations before securing a decisive outcome.
Pence said rising petrol and diesel prices had contributed to public anger, but maintained that the problem was Washington’s failure to finish the campaign rather than its decision to launch it. NBC’s published description of the interview confirmed his argument that the United States had “stopped short”.
Vance had offered a different explanation the day after the election.
“The reason we lost is the war,” he wrote on X on November 4, arguing that Republicans needed to acknowledge the conflict’s political cost.
A day after the mid-term election, Vance said that voters who had backed President Donald Trump in 2024 switched to Democrats because they wanted the war ended and greater attention paid to living costs. Trump defended his decision to attack Iran, saying preventing Tehran from obtaining a nuclear weapon justified it.
Pence’s criticism extended beyond military policy. He described the election result as a rejection of Trump’s tariffs, rising government debt and what he characterised as an accommodating approach towards Russia and Iran.
He argued that Republican voters had been discouraged by the administration’s direction rather than persuaded to embrace the political left.
Van Hollen, appearing on CNN’s “State of the Union”, drew the opposite lesson on Iran. He said Congress should use its spending powers to end a conflict he described as illegal and refuse further funding.
The Maryland senator linked that position to next month’s government funding negotiations. Asked whether the confrontation could trigger a shutdown, he argued that Trump would bear responsibility if he insisted on continuing the war at the expense of funding federal agencies.
Van Hollen also connected the conflict to household costs, citing petrol, diesel, fertiliser and heating oil. He presented ending the war as an immediate economic priority.
Mississippi Senator-elect Scott Colom linked the war and tariffs to higher costs. In his Sunday interviews, he said voters expected him to hold Trump to campaign commitments, including his promise to avoid prolonged foreign wars.
Colom also supported pressing for healthcare changes during the coming funding negotiations rather than waiting until the new Congress convenes.
Federal agencies are currently funded through December 11 under the Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act, 2027, signed on September 2. Without replacement funding, a lapse could begin December 12 and lead to a shutdown of affected government activities.
–IANS
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