Two Republican Senate Candidates Take Different Stance From Trump on Iran War

Two Republicans locked in competitive Senate races called Monday for a swift end to the war in Iran, signaling that vulnerable candidates are trying to create some distance from President Donald Trump over a conflict that has driven up fuel prices, including diesel costs that have surged to record highs.

Mike Rogers, facing Democrat Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan, and Ashley Hinson, competing against Democrat Josh Turek in Iowa, both struck a notably more dovish tone on Monday after previously backing Trump’s authority to strike Iran. The shift was especially striking for Hinson, a sitting member of the House, who has voted six times against measures aimed at limiting Trump’s war powers, including as recently as last week.

Hinson wrote on social media that Iowans shouldn’t have to foot the bill at the pump or the checkout line for the war, calling for a suspension of gasoline taxes, a pause on diesel exports, and other steps to bring the conflict to a successful and immediate end.

The remarks reflect growing unease among vulnerable Republican candidates that the nearly seven-month-old war is becoming a political liability ahead of November’s midterms, which will decide whether Republicans hold onto their narrow majorities in the House and Senate. Public sentiment has soured on both Trump’s handling of the economy and the war, with inflation remaining stubbornly high; his approval rating has fallen to 32 percent, a career low, according to the latest Reuters/Ipsos poll released Monday.

Rogers had previously supported Trump’s strikes on Iran, arguing in a late-July interview against limiting the president’s authority while negotiations to end the conflict were underway. But in a campaign ad posted Monday, speaking from a grocery store, he said the war with Iran needs to end and end quickly, adding that while energy costs would fall once it does, Michigan families can’t afford to simply wait for that to happen. Rogers also called for suspending state and federal gasoline taxes and temporarily halting US diesel exports, an issue with particular resonance in Iowa, where agriculture plays an outsized role in the economy and farmers rely heavily on diesel-powered equipment.

Democrats framed the shift as election-year repositioning. El-Sayed said Rogers is only reversing course now because gas hit five dollars a gallon and diesel prices hit record highs. Turek, writing on X, said it’s easy to send a tweet, but Hinson had the chance to actually vote to end the war and chose not to.

Other Republicans have also begun distancing themselves from Trump on this and other issues. Last week, Iowa Representatives Zach Nunn and Mariannette Miller-Meeks, both facing tough re-election bids, reversed their earlier positions and joined Democrats in voting to limit Trump’s war powers over Iran. Separately on Thursday, Florida Representative Maria Elvira Salazar released an ad warning that Trump’s immigration crackdown had gone too far and that some of his Hispanic supporters now feel betrayed.

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