Following the Democratic Party’s victories in the US midterm elections, Vice President JD Vance said that many Americans who voted for Donald Trump and him in 2024 had switched their support to Democrats in Tuesday’s elections.
In a post on X, Vance said that while turnout could have been higher in some areas, low voter participation was not the main reason Republicans lost.
“There are undoubtedly places where we could have had higher turnout. But the main problem is not turnout. The main problem is that many of the people who voted for Trump and Vance in 2024 voted for Democrats in 2026,” Vance wrote.
He said some polls had indicated that a significant number of Trump voters from 2024 were angry and planning to support Democrats.
According to Vance, polling suggested Republicans could regain voters’ confidence if they ended the war in Iran, focused on the cost of living and inflation, put America first, and changed the US approach toward Israel.
Vance: The war is why Republicans lost
Vance directly blamed the war in Iran for the Republican Party’s election defeats, arguing that any honest discussion about the party’s future must begin with that issue.
“The reason we lost is the war. The president himself said that last night,” Vance wrote on X.
“If you want to argue that it was worth it, that losing the Senate for the next six years was a reasonable price to pay, then say so. You are arguing that it was a price worth paying. Whether you agree with that or not, at least that is fair. But everyone knows why we lost. And any honest conversation about where we go from here has to start with that,” he added.
The vice president also said he understood why voters were angry about the election results.
“People who are simply angry about the results have every right to be. Let’s use that anger and get back to the work of saving our country,” Vance said.
