Thune: Iran war ‘trumps everything else’ in midterms
Senate Majority Leader John Thune said the Iran war “sort of trumped everything else” shaping tight Senate races, even as AP-NORC shows most adults blame Trump for high prices. He urged candidates to localize campaigns. Nov. 3 is five weeks away.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) told Fox News that affordability and energy costs are hitting campaigns but that the Iran war “sort of trumped everything else that’s going on,” the Washington Examiner reported. He called many Senate races a “jump ball,” warned against nationalizing contests in states like Michigan and Maine, and said candidates need their own brands with independent voters. Thune argued Republican intensity is returning after a summer of Democratic attacks over the war.
AP-NORC’s late-September poll paints a harsher backdrop: 65% of adults blame Trump’s policies for high prices, only 26% approve of his economy handling, 17% approve on cost of living, and 69% say the Iran war has not been worth fighting. Fortune’s write-up stressed the contrast with 2022, when fewer voters blamed President Biden for prices. Examiner daily-memo coverage has likewise framed midterms as a collision of war messaging and kitchen-table anger.
For swing-state voters, the stake is which pain dominates the final five weeks — casualty and diesel headlines, or grocery tabs. Thune is betting localized candidates can outrun national headwinds; Democrats are betting price blame and war fatigue travel. Watch Michigan, Maine, and Texas advertising mixes and whether Trump’s rally schedule nationalizes races despite Thune’s advice.
Thune singled out Susan Collins’s Maine brand and Mike Rogers’s Michigan pitch as models for winning heterogeneous electorates, while admitting Texas gives him “heartburn.” Democrats hear the same map as an opening if grocery and gas anger stick. Five weeks is enough for one more diesel spike — or a war headline — to reorder the closing argument.
What we know:
Thune says Iran war overshadows other midterm issues; AP-NORC shows deep price blame and war disapproval; Nov. 3 is five weeks out.
What we don’t:
Whether war-first or prices-first messaging wins late persuasion in margin-of-error seats.
Where outlets agree The Washington Examiner and AP-NORC agree midterm politics are dominated by the collision of the Iran war and economic discontent.
Where they differ Thune elevates war as the overriding frame; AP-NORC respondents more often center price blame and say the war was not worth fighting.