The ongoing war in Iran is putting Iowa Republicans in a bind, as rising gas and diesel prices hammer the agricultural sector and put incumbents on increasingly difficult political terrain.
The strain on Iowa Republicans from the war was on stark display Tuesday, when two Iowa Republicans, Reps. Zach Nunn and Mariannette Miller Meeks, who are both in toss-up House races, moved to support a Democratic measure directing President Donald Trump to end the war immediately.
As the war enters its seventh month, the sudden shift from Nunn and Miller-Meeks underscores the growing political problem the war poses for candidates in heavily agricultural areas.
A Republican strategist, granted anonymity to speak candidly about the campaigns, told the Washington Examiner that the war is “disproportionately” affecting the state’s economy and agricultural sector and admitted the war is putting the Iowa incumbents in a “pretty difficult spot.”
“It’s going to be a challenge for this White House to see their way through it in a way that doesn’t, you know, affect the party politically at the polls in November,” the strategist, who has worked on Iowa campaigns, said.
The rare break from Republicans — with only seven Republicans in total supporting the resolution — comes as gas and diesel prices have increased significantly amid the war. Gas prices average $4.46 per gallon, while diesel costs $6.44 per gallon.
In statements explaining their votes, both Nunn and Miller-Meeks said they would not support an “open-ended war.” Miller-Meeks’s statement tied her vote directly to costs of living concerns, saying Iowans are “paying too much at the pump.”
“I served 24 years in the Army,” Miller-Meeks said. “I said it in March: the mission had to stay focused and limited, because Americans do not want another forever war.”
Nunn called for Iran to be held accountable for “killing Americans, supporting terrorism, threatening the Strait of Hormuz, and pursuing nuclear weapons,” but said that Iowa has “paid a devastating price,” referring to the deaths of two Iowa residents, Major Jeffrey O’Brien, 45, and Sgt. Declan Coady, 20, who were killed on March 1 by an Iranian strike in Kuwait.
“The President needs to present a plan to Congress and the American people for how this ends so we can focus on bringing our soldiers home and lowering prices,” Nunn said in his statement.
Both Nunn’s and Miller-Meeks’s offices declined further comment on their votes to end the war.
“I think it’s just kind of like a sensitive issue for them personally, and a lot of their constituents as well,” a GOP operative said, arguing the votes aren’t emblematic of a larger push in the conference.
Trump dashed Republican lawmakers’ hopes the war could end before voters start heading to the polls in the general election during the Republican National Committee’s midterm convention in Dallas last week, once again pushing back an expected end date to the war, and therefore, the date for gas prices to come down as well.
“Right after the election, oil prices are going to be tumbling downward,” Trump said. “I think it’s going to take a little bit longer than the midterm.”
Still, the break signals a separation from the Trump administration not typically seen from rank-and-file members. The pair also aren’t the only Iowa candidates to recently distance themselves from the president and his administration. Rep. Ashley Hinson (R-IA), who is running for Senate, distanced herself from Trump over his slashing of tariffs on foreign beef imports, arguing the plan would hurt domestic cattle ranchers. The GOP Senate nominee also did not attend a rally in Iowa with JD Vance on Friday.
Nunn and Miller-Meeks did not support two previous successful Democratic pushes to rein in Trump on the Iran war, which passed with help from four other Republican members. The about-face from the two Iowa Republicans shows they aren’t “trying to answer to the White House or the party in Washington,” the Republican strategist told the Washington Examiner.
“They’re trying to answer to their own voters, and that’s what you see in these votes,” the strategist said.
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The White House has sought to downplay the resolution, with spokeswoman Anna Kelly saying in a statement that “Politicians in the United States and around the world have been talking about the danger posed by a nuclear Iran for decades. Only President Trump, however, has possessed the courage to take this national security threat head-on.
“The administration has been fully transparent with Congress over the course of this conflict and throughout negotiations, and senior officials have provided over 30 bipartisan briefings to the Hill since late February,” she wrote. “The Iranian regime – which for 47 years has chanted ‘Death to America’ and threatened our troops overseas – can never be allowed to possess a nuclear weapon, and the President’s team will continue to communicate with Congress as we work toward this shared goal.”
Naomi Lim contributed to this report.