On Iran, Republicans Want to Have It Both Ways

On Iran, Republicans Want to Have It Both Ways

Caught between voters and the White House, vulnerable GOP candidates try to oppose the war without opposing the war.

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When J.D. Vance was elected to the Senate from Ohio in 2022, he won his race by a healthy 6-point margin. Four years later, his successor in that seat—Sen. John Husted (R-OH)—is down by between 4 and 8 points, depending on the poll.

Midterms are always hard for the party in power, and GOP candidates this year face a number of headwinds. But let’s be honest: It’s the war, stupid. Voters in Ohio, like voters across the country, are furious at paying more for gas (and everything else) because the president got us into an unwinnable Mideast conflict at the behest of a foreign country. They’re tired of bearing the costs, and they’re tired of being lied to.

So Husted has sought to distance himself from this debacle. “The war needs to come to an end as quickly as possible so that we can lower gas prices,” he told POLITICO this week. “I don’t know anybody who doesn’t want this war to end.”

Of course, Husted is not just “anybody.” He is a sitting United States senator, a member of th...