As the US war with Iran drags on, the ranks of Republicans signaling the conflict is a liability for their party continues to grow.
When the House of Representatives on Tuesday evening considered its sixth war powers resolution intended to force Donald Trump to withdraw troops from the conflict, three Republicans who had not supported the previous efforts broke with their party to vote this one to passage. Earlier that day, a Republican who had lost his primary after repeatedly clashing with Trump proposed impeaching the US defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, alleging a variety of constitutional transgressions including prosecuting the war against Iran without congressional authorization.
The rebellions in the GOP are thus far mostly symbolic – Trump has ignored the sole war powers resolution to make it through both the House and Senate, and the prospects of Hegseth’s impeachment are unclear. But they underscore the growing nerves among both the party’s most vulnerable and most disobedient lawmakers over continuing a conflict that appears to have accomplished little other than play into the hands of Democrats, who have spent the entirety of Trump’s second term arguing that only they can be trusted to lower costs for Americans.
“I said it in March: the mission had to stay focused and limited, because Americans do not want another forever war. I will not vote to keep our soldiers in an open-ended war, with Iowans paying too much at the pump,” said the congresswoman Mariannette Miller-Meeks, one of the trio of Republicans who for the first time supported a war powers resolution.
She was joined by another Iowa Republican, Zach Nunn, who justified his vote by noting his state “has already paid a devastating price” in the conflict, with two Iowans among the US soldiers killed by Iranian attacks as the war began.
“Congress owes them, their families, and every American in uniform clear objectives and constitutional oversight. With the negotiating window closed, sustained combat operations now require congressional authorization,” the congressman said.
“Having deployed multiple times and flown over 700 combat hours in the Middle East, I will not support another open-ended war. We can defend Americans, pressure Iran and pursue peace while ensuring Congress fulfills its constitutional responsibility.”
Since the US joined Israel in attacking Iran at the end of February, Democrats have wielded war powers resolutions as a cudgel to get Republicans on the record about a conflict that polls indicate is not popular with the public. Their first three attempts failed, but in June, the fourth passed with the votes of two libertarian-minded Republicans – Thomas Massie of Kentucky and Warren Davidson of Ohio – along with Tom Barrett of Michigan and Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, both of whom occupy battlefield districts.
The Senate later approved that measure, but Trump refused to abide by it. In July, the same lineup in the House passed a fifth war powers resolution, before Nunn, Miller-Meeks and Nancy Mace of South Carolina expanded the ranks of Republican objectors to seven in Tuesday’s vote.
The two Iowans are among the Republicans considered most at risk of losing re-election in the November midterms, with Miller-Meeks having won her race two years ago by fewer than 800 votes. They also represent areas of a state where the market impacts of the war with Iran are pronounced, as Iowa farmers struggle with higher prices for diesel, gasoline and fertilizer, all of which have been compounded by Trump’s tariff regime.
Iowa has drifted consistently to the right over the past decade, but this year, Democrats believe the circumstances are right for them to oust not just Miller-Meeks and Nunn, but also to win a Senate seat, the governor’s mansion and potentially more congressional districts in the state.
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It’s far from the only state where Democrats are on the offensive. The House vote took place on the same day the New York Times and Siena University released polling that showed likely voters preferred Democrats over Republicans for Congress by nearly nine percentage point, a finding that lines up with other surveys.
Democrats are helped in their quest to retake the House by the fact that Republicans control it with a tiny majority that may be exceedingly hard to defend in November, and has also enabled Republicans like Massie to seize on splits within the party to embarrass Trump and his ally the House speaker, Mike Johnson.
Last year, Massie banded together with Democrats and a handful of Republican dissidents to force passage of a bill requiring the release of files related to the disgraced financier and former Trump associate Jeffrey Epstein.
That intensified the president’s ire towards him, and Massie lost his primary to the Trump-endorsed Republican Ed Gallrein earlier this year. Now with even less to lose, the congressman appears to be trying to seize on splits within the House GOP to retaliate against Hegseth, who campaigned for Gallrein.
Massie proposed the resolution on Tuesday, and House rules appear to require it be voted on by Thursday. The chamber was scheduled to be in session that day for the last time before the 3 November midterm elections, but on Wednesday morning, House Republican leaders canceled votes scheduled for Thursday, sending lawmakers home early to face their constituents.
