The newest Iran crisis, triggered by the weekend’s U.S.-Israeli strikes and the killing of Iran’s supreme leader, has become the first major foreign policy test for 2028 presidential hopefuls.
Two days before President Donald Trump authorized those strikes, Vice President JD Vance, a likely Republican candidate, told the Washington Post there was “no chance” military strikes would result in the United States becoming involved in a drawn-out war and floated the idea of solving “the problem diplomatically.” Vance, who has often harshly criticized America’s involvement in foreign wars, has remained silent since the attacks.
Democratic contenders have not.
They have opposed Trump’s military actions, especially his decision not to seek congressional authorization first, but their criticisms differ in tone and emphasis, revealing early ideological lanes forming within the party. Some took aim at Trump solely, while others threaded the needle, calling out Iran’s oppressive regime and faulting Trump for not seeking congressional approval first.
“The nuanced differences underscore a party still recalibrating after its bruising loss in 2024,” California-based political strategist Luke Conners told the Washington Examiner. “Democrats are actively redefining their message, with lawmakers adjusting their positions in response to President Trump’s expansive and unapologetic use of executive authority.”
Here’s a look at some of the comments.
Gavin Newsom
Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) stressed that “the corrupt and repressive Iranian regime must never have nuclear weapons” and that the leadership “must go” but said it “does not justify the President of the United States engaging in an illegal, dangerous war that will risk the lives of our American service members and our friends without justification to the American people.”
Newsom added that the president was “putting Americans at risk abroad because he is unpopular at home,” called Trump a “wrecking ball president,” and said Trump’s actions were a sign of “weakness masquerading as strength.”
California is home to the largest Iranian community outside of Iran. The conflict has forced Newsom to navigate the dual pressures of managing a massive, deeply affected diaspora community and a high-stakes, partisan foreign policy debate as he is termed out of office and pivots toward a White House run.
JB Pritzker
Like Newsom, Gov. JB Pritzker (D-IL) has pitched himself as someone willing to take on Trump. He also accused the president of “sidestepping the Constitution,” said the strikes lacked a clear objective, and accused Trump of failing to explain the rationale for a “potentially endless conflict” and disregarding the safety of American service members around the globe.
“Americans asked for affordable housing and healthcare, not another potentially endless conflict,” he posted on social media.
Cory Booker
Sen Cory Booker (D-NJ), a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, questioned Trump’s strength and mental acuity.
“America must be strong and smart,” he said. “Today’s actions were launched by a president who has rarely proven to be either.”
Booker, while acknowledging that the Iranian regime is one of the most dangerous and destabilizing forces in the Middle East, and one that has “American blood on its hands,” blasted Trump for going around Congress to carry out attacks.
“The Constitution is unambiguous: Congress alone has the power to declare war and to authorize the use of military force,” he said. “Americans are feeling less safe because President Trump launched ‘massive and ongoing’ military strikes on Iran without Congressional authorization, without meaningful consultation with lawmakers, and without presenting a credible legal justification or coherent strategy.”
Booker also faulted Trump for not having a strategy in place if the Iranian regime collapses. He also said Trump had no plan for securing nuclear material, preventing a humanitarian catastrophe, protecting tens of thousands of U.S. troops and civilians across a region on high alert, nor a plan to coordinate with suddenly imperiled neighboring nations.
Pete Buttigieg
Pete Buttigieg, the former transportation secretary under the Biden administration, was a Navy Reserve veteran when he was deployed to Afghanistan in 2014. Like Booker, he slammed Trump for green-lighting a military operation without congressional authorization or a plan for what comes next.
“This nation learned the hard way that an unnecessary war, with no plan for what comes next, can lead to years of chaos and put America in still greater danger,” he posted on Bluesky.
Josh Shapiro
Gov. Josh Shapiro (D-PA) also faulted Trump for acting “unilaterally — without congressional approval and outside of the guardrails set up by our founders.” Shapiro, like Booker, acknowledged some of the horrors of the Iranian regime, claiming the “Iranian regime represses its own people and is the leading state sponsor of terrorism around the world.”
Kamala Harris
Former Vice President Kamala Harris, who lost to Trump in 2024 under unique circumstances, accused the president of “dragging the United States into a war the American people do not want.”
“Let me be clear: I am opposed to a regime-change war in Iran, and our troops are being put in harm’s way for the sake of Trump’s war of choice,” Harris said in a statement over the weekend.
“This is a dangerous and unnecessary gamble with American lives that also jeopardizes stability in the region and our standing in the world,” she continued. “What we are witnessing is not strength. It is recklessness dressed up as resolve.”
Harris, who was in Madison, Wisconsin, on Sunday for her book tour, told the paying crowd that the president has “dragged America into a war that we don’t want” and hammered him for not seeking congressional approval first.
While Harris has not said she is running in 2028, she has been hinting at a possible return.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) was just as forceful in rebuking Trump’s actions as Harris, calling the conflict “unlawful” and “unnecessary.”
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“And it will be catastrophic,” she predicted.
Ocasio-Cortez also accused Trump of lying to the nation and said he made “a deliberate choice of aggression when diplomacy and security were within reach.”