Rep. Ashley Hinson, the likely GOP nominee in Iowa’s critical Senate race, said last week that the Iran war will become a “political liability” if it extends much longer, according to audio obtained by POLITICO.
Asked in a one-on-one exchange about a timeline for the war, Hinson said, “I’m deferring to the president on the negotiations because he has the team doing it.”
However, she added: “I do hope we can get this done by the next couple of weeks. If it drags on beyond that, it’s a political liability for us too, because we’ve lost Iowa soldiers. I’ve been to four funerals since December, it’s awful.”
It’s a stark acknowledgement for a representative who has positioned herself as a loyal ally of President Donald Trump on Capitol Hill, including on the ongoing war, and repeatedly voted against limiting the president’s military powers.
The candid remarks came during a private conversation during a public meet-and-greet with voters in Webster County last Thursday.
Hinson didn’t go so far last Thursday as to condemn the Iran war, reiterating that “Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon” and that the families of the fallen Iowa soldiers “all said that we need to finish the job.” But her remarks offer a glimpse into Republicans’ growing concerns that a prolonged conflict, especially with the resulting rise in gas prices and risk of increased American casualties, could become a vulnerability in battleground contests.
“Of course endless wars are unpopular — no one wants them and thankfully President Trump is doing everything he can to prevent one while keeping Americans safe,” a Hinson spokesperson said in a statement. “Ashley fully supports his mission to keep nuclear weapons out of Iran’s hands.”
While some anti-interventionist Republicans have openly criticized the conflict, such as Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), few Trump-endorsed candidates running in competitive races have publicly acknowledged the political complications of being at war.
Hinson is widely expected to win Tuesday’s GOP primary for Iowa’s open Senate seat and take on the Democratic nominee, either state Sen. Zach Wahls or state Rep. Josh Turek, in November — what will be one of the nation’s most closely watched races as both parties battle to take control of the upper chamber.
Trump endorsed Hinson’s Senate bid last year and reinforced his support for her in a Truth Social post on Monday night.
Early polling of hypothetical head-to-head matchups between Hinson and Wahls or Hinson and Turek show a tight general election, although the race could widen between now and November.
The White House has offered conflicting timelines for when the Iran war may end, frustrating some Republicans strategists and officials. Polling shows that voters are souring on both the president and the war as the weeks go by, especially as cost of living concerns remain a top issue ahead of the midterms.
A May POLITICO Poll found that a majority of Americans — including many Trump voters — said the war has made things more expensive for them and Trump is not doing enough to protect them from high costs.
“The sooner the war winds down … the better off [Trump] is, at least for the midterms,” said one Florida-based Republican strategist who was granted anonymity to speak candidly about the midterm landscape.
But the president has continued to insist that deterring Iran from developing a nuclear weapon is a top priority. “I don’t care about the midterms,” he said last week during a Cabinet meeting when discussing why he hasn’t moved faster to end the conflict.
The war in Iran has become a particular concern for Iowans as prices for fertilizer and diesel fuel — both essential for food production — have soared amid the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. That, combined with Trump’s trade policies from earlier this year, has sent the state’s agriculture sector spiraling. Iowa has also experienced personal toll from the conflict when six Army Reserve soldiers with the 103rd Sustainment Command based in Des Moines, Iowa, were killed on March 1 in an Iranian strike on a Kuwait facility.
“Ashley has stood side-by-side with grieving Iowa families whose loved ones paid the ultimate sacrifice in service to our country,” the Hinson spokesperson said. “She will always honor their service and stand with our men and women in uniform carrying out this critical mission.”