5 minPolitics
Democrats Turn Iran War Votes Into Midterm Attack Ads on Rising Costs
Democratic candidates and allied groups are spending heavily on ads that tie Republican rivals to an unpopular Iran war and higher household prices, even in races where the Republican never served in Congress and could not have voted on the conflict.
Democrats and their allies are making the Iran war a central line of attack in the most competitive midterm races, spending an estimated $42 million on television ads that link Republican candidates to rising household costs. The ads have aired more than 43,000 times since Sept. 1, according to an analysis of advertising data, and at least half of the 50 most competitive House and Senate contests have featured Iran-related messaging.
The strategy marks the culmination of an effort Democrats began in the spring, when they repeatedly forced votes on war powers resolutions aimed at ending the conflict. Those votes had little practical effect, but they put lawmakers on record. Now those records are being used in campaign advertising across the country, including in races where the Republican candidate has never served in Congress and could not have cast a vote on the war.
In Wisconsin, an ad says Rep. Derrick Van Orden voted for «the costly Iran war and spiking gas prices.» In Nebraska, Democratic candidate Chris Backemeyer accuses Rep. Mike Flood of voting six times for Trump's tariffs and the Iran war, saying the result is higher prices on groceries, gas, cars and medicine. In Iowa, the group Vote Vets Action Fund says Republican Senate candidate Ashley Hinson voted five times for the Iran war, «giving us record prices for gas and fertilizer.»
Even where Republicans have no congressional voting record, Democrats are portraying them as likely rubber stamps for President Donald Trump on the war. Of the 65 unique Iran-themed ads identified in the analysis, 61 also stressed household cost-of-living messages such as rising fuel prices, suggesting the war is being used primarily as an economic argument rather than a foreign policy one.
Republicans are largely avoiding the Iran war in their own advertising. Their dominant themes since Sept. 1 have been taxes and crime, followed by character, health care and immigration. «Talking about the Iran war is really not a winning message because you're playing on the Democratic turf,» said Republican strategist Ron Bonjean, who argued the better approach is to define Democratic opponents as worse for voters.
Some Republicans have nonetheless tried to distance themselves from the conflict. In Michigan, Senate candidate Mike Rogers has said the «war with Iran needs to end — and end quickly.» His Democratic opponent, Abdul El-Sayed, has run ads saying a billion dollars a day is going to a war «we have no business fighting.» In Maine, Republican Sen. Susan Collins emphasized in a debate that she voted nine times to end the conflict, while Democratic challenger Troy Jackson countered that she voted five times to «make it happen.»
The Senate has voted 14 times on resolutions seeking to halt or restrict Trump's military action against Iran, and the House has held six such votes since the conflict began in late February. In the latest House vote, seven Republicans sided with Democrats to end the war, including four seeking reelection in highly competitive districts: Tom Barrett of Michigan, Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, and Mariannette Miller-Meeks and Zach Nunn of Iowa. The yes votes were the first for Miller-Meeks and Nunn, a sign of growing weariness with the war.
The concentration of Iran advertising varies sharply by district. In California's 48th Congressional District near San Diego, roughly a third of the 12,000 ads aired touch on Iran. Democrats there are seizing on a remark Republican Jim Desmond made early in the war that «no pain, no gain» would be needed and that higher prices were just «a spike.» An ad from Democrat Marni von Wilpert asks: «No pain, no gain? Tell that to a family filling up their gas tank.» Desmond and the National Republican Congressional Committee responded with an ad that does not mention Iran and instead criticizes von Wilpert's record on taxes and fees while on the San Diego City Council.
Roughly a quarter of the ads in Virginia's 2nd Congressional District, held by Republican Rep. Jen Kiggans, and Maine's 2nd Congressional District, an open seat, touch on Iran. The pattern suggests the war is becoming a fixture of the closing argument in races where control of Congress is at stake, with Democrats betting that voter frustration over prices will outweigh any risk in emphasizing a conflict that Republicans would rather not discuss.
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