Jeffries: Democrats won’t let Vance ‘run away’ from record of Iran war support

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) warned that Democrats would not let Vice President Vance off the hook for his record of supporting the Iran war after President Trump’s second-in-command said the conflict cost the GOP in the midterms.

Jeffries told Punchbowl News on Wednesday that Vance, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio “have been consistent cheerleaders” for the war, which has now lasted more than eight months.

“Their record on standing behind Donald Trump and wasting billions of taxpayer dollars to drop bombs in Iran, and then, as a result of their actions, skyrocketing prices on the American people, particularly as it relates to gas, is one that certainly played a role in the decisive defeat that the MAGA extremists experienced,” the New York Democrat said.

“We’re not going to let JD Vance run away from his own record of supporting Donald Trump’s reckless and failed war,” he added.

Following his party’s defeat in Tuesday’s elections, Vance put it plainly in a lengthy social media post : “The reason we lost is the war.”

“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,” he wrote. “Argue it was a worthwhile cost to pay. Agree or disagree, that’s at least honest.”

“But everyone knows why we lost,” the vice president continued. “And any honest conversation about where we go from here must start there.”

Despite the rhetoric, as Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.) pointed out , Vance was an early defender of the war. Ahead of the joint U.S.-Israeli strikes that began the conflict on Feb. 28, he told The Washington Post there was “no chance” this would lead to a longer war in the Middle East.

He has also stood by Trump as he continues to threaten military operations against Iran, telling reporters in September that he “wouldn’t call it a war” despite an eruption of back-and-forth strikes in the region.

Exit polling indicated that economic frustrations were a key motivator for many midterm voters. Democrats flipped control of both chambers of Congress.

A recent survey from The Associated Press found that voters across the country blamed Trump’s tariffs and the Middle East conflict for rising costs. A CBS News exit poll also found that 75 percent of voters shared a negative view of the U.S. economy around Election Day.