Republicans continue to prolong the term of President Donald Trump against Iran.
First, they hoped he would stick to his introductionfour to six week timelinefor war. Then, they gave him 60 days; then,until summer.
Now, battleground GOP chairmen, campaign officials and strategists are uniting around Labor Day as their hard deadline, according to interviews with more than a dozen people.
It’s different this time, they say: September is the unofficial start of election season, when more voters tune in and the stakes get higher. Amid rising U.S. deaths, gas prices and fertilizer costs, these Republicans pointed to the political risk of an ongoing war increasing as the midterms approach.
“At the beginning of September … it needs to be resolved,” said Dan Naylor, who runs the Lackawanna County GOP in a key battleground district in Pennsylvania. “You’re more focused on the election at that time, and we need to be able to signal a drop in price.”
Still, Naylor said he and many other Republicans believe Trump is doing what “needs to be done” on Iran and acknowledged the president is unlikely to “draw a line in the sand” on a deadline given the complexity of the situation.
“I believe voters need time to see the prices come down before Election Day,” said a Nevada GOP strategist working on the battleground floor of the House race, who — like others in this story — was not identified to speak openly about the midterm environment. “If we can fix this situation over time, we’ll be fine. But if we’re looking at Labor Day coming up on us, and we still have $5 a gallon gas, we’re going to be in big trouble.”
A senior White House official said Fridaythat the initial agreement with Iran to end the war is close but not final, putting the chance of success at 80 to 85 percent, as concerns continue to hang over the negotiations. A deal would bring a sigh of relief to war-weary Republicans — and they expressed confidence that it would come to fruition. But this is not the first time that an agreement seemed to be close, but the war continued.
Fissures within the GOP have begun to spill out into the open, with some candidates stressing the need for the war to end soon, even if they agree with his initial goals.
Representative Ashley Hinson, the Republican nominee for the US Senate in Iowa,be recognized at a campaign eventlate last month that the war would be a “political liability” if it continued beyond “the next few weeks.”Senator Jon Hustedwho is running for a full term in the battleground state of Ohio, said earlier this month he wasn’t sure how the war would end but “needs to,” referring to the stalled and uncertain talks with Iran. And Senator Pete Ricketts, who is running for re-election in Nebraska, saidon local radio this weekthat he wants to see a “diplomatic solution” to the war “as soon as possible.”
In May and June, eight members of the Republican Partyon the side of the Democratsto voteagainst Trump’s war powers— a dramatic break from the president that included some of the most vulnerable Republicans on the House and Senate war maps, such as Maine Sen. Susan Collins, Pennsylvania Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick and Michigan Rep. Tom Barrett. (Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie and Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy, who also supported the measure, lost re-election to Trump-backed opponents earlier this year.)
Many of those Republicans, including Representatives Warren Davidson, Barrett and Fitzpatrick, defended their rebellion as defending the authority of Congress to determine the length and scope of military action taken. Massie has long been opposed to US military intervention.
“It would be nice to see more progress in the negotiations,” said a national Republican working on the Senate race. “The goals are reasonable, but obviously, if this continues until the end of the summer, into the summer, it will continue to present issues.”
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Republican hand-wringing over the war’s implications for the midterms comes at a time when Trump has shown little interest in the Middle East crossroads. Presidenthe is audibly confusedfor Iran’s unwillingness to sign its regime’s demands. On Thursday morning, he vowed to hit the country “HARD TONIGHT,” earliergo backlater that afternoon.
He also said his goal was to capture Kharg Island, an important Iranian oil hub, in an operation that could endanger American troops, but he did not believe “the United States has the stomach for it.”
Conservative commentator Tucker Carlson, who has a strong influence on the young, anti-interventionist wing of the GOP, said.on his show on Thursdaythat the president “is a bad commander-in-chief and is definitely not a diplomat and not a businessman.”
“What we’re beginning to understand, unfortunately, for the rest of us, is not just the limits of Trump, but the limits of American power,” said Carlson, who has emerged as one of the most prominent anti-war voices.
Even if the war ends soon, it could take months for gas prices to return to pre-war levels, Republicans and economic analysts have warned, adding to the urgency for Trump to pull out before the final primary.
“Veterans support Trump and what he’s doing in general, but as it goes forward, the economic impact is a reality that we’re seeing less and less,” said Mark Lucas, a Trump ally and founder of Veteran Action. “And that’s why we strongly support President Trump to reach a peace resolution.”
“What good does it do us if September 15 starts and prices go down, but people are about to start voting?” the Nevada-based GOP strategist said.
Polls show that support for the Iran war is weak among Americans — and many say it is making their financial situation worse, a warning sign for Republicans eyeing a November election that could hinge on voters’ concerns about the cost of living. A A recent POLITICO poll found that many Americans, including a large portion of Trump’s own voters in 2024, say he has not done enough to protect them from the economic downturn caused by the war.
The majority of Republican votersstill approve of the conflict, and reiterate their continued confidence in the president,but that support may slip as it progresses.
“People have short-term memories, but if the challenges remain and start to become a fallout, there’s a liability there,” said Tyler Campbell, an Iowa-based Republican strategist who has no ties to the race. “Urgency is important right now, so we hope that it will reach a resolution.”
Since the start of the war, Republicans have offered conflicting timelines for how long it will last. In March, Trump said there would be a war“short trip”; later, he criticized the Americans’ impatience and pride in Iran’s warit was too shortthan World War II or the Iraq war.
Republican lawmakers and candidates, facing an increasingly confused base, have been telling voters for months that the dispute would be resolved sooner rather than later, only to be proven wrong.
In March, Representative Juan Ciscomani, running for re-election in his battleground district of Arizona,he told a local reporterthat “everyone wants it to be over as soon as possible, and that is my goal as well.” In April, Representative Anna Paulina Luna ran for re-election in Florida,he told the announcerthat “everything should be closed soon.” And in May, Representative Brad Finstad of Minnesotahe told local radiohe hopes the war “will be dealt with and ended as soon as possible.”
“We can’t fight everybody’s war,” said Susan Ruch, GOP chairwoman of Carson City, Nevada. “I don’t want it to be an eternal war, and I think the Iranians, if they don’t want this kind of government, at some point they have to think about what they’re going to do.”
