US midterms: Republican blame game starts as 2028 hopefuls angle for position - The Straits Times

US Vice-President J.D. Vance, the Republican Party’s presumed frontrunner, on Nov 4 distanced himself from both President Donald Trump and the war against Iran.

WASHINGTON – The Republican Party’s generational collapse in this week’s midterm elections ushered in a wave of finger-pointing largely aimed at the Oval Office, exposing deep fissures within the party and opening the door for 2028 hopefuls to hone their message.

Vice-President J.D. Vance, the Republican Party’s presumed frontrunner, on Nov 4 distanced himself from both President Donald Trump and the war against Iran. He blamed the party’s defeat on the war, the cost of living and US-Israel ties, saying the conflict cost his party the Senate for at least six years. 

To those who are angry and “want to say, ‘I told you so’”, Vance wrote in a lengthy social media post, “you’re right, you did tell us so”.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who has downplayed his interest in the 2028 race, seized on his state’s status as a rare, moderate bright spot for Republicans to position himself as the party’s rightful heir.

“Let’s just be clear about what happened last night – this is close to an extinction-level event for Republicans in many parts of the country,” DeSantis said at a news conference. 

After polls showed voters ranked government corruption near the top of their list of concerns, DeSantis demanded that Congress outlaw stock trading by lawmakers – and extend the prohibition to the executive branch. 

It was hard to view the comment as anything other than a jab at Trump, who made tens of thousands of securities trades during his first year in office, according to financial disclosures. The White House has said Trump’s investments are independently managed and there is no conflict of interest. 

A person familiar said DeSantis’ campaigning for his successor, Florida gubernatorial candidate Byron Donalds, helped him boost his own standing after his presidential hopes flamed out in the 2024 Republican Party primary. The person cast DeSantis as still popular with his state’s Republicans even amid the broader midterm turmoil.

The events on Nov 4 marked the opening salvos in the coming fight over how Republicans will rebuild their party ahead of the next election. After a decade of Trump controlling the Republican Party with an iron grip, the early signs show the next generation of leaders will look to shape it in a different image.

Other longtime Republican Party figures offered an I-told-you-so message. 

Senator John Cornyn of Texas wrote in a Wall Street Journal op-ed that Republicans made a series of “unforced political errors”, including being told to embrace scandal-plagued nominee Ken Paxton, who defeated him in a primary race. Mitt Romney, the Republican Party’s 2012 presidential nominee, slammed candidates’ embrace of Trump’s tariffs, “impulsive” war and “apparent corruption”, among other missteps. 

“Bad policy, bad character make bad politics,” he posted on social media platform X. “Hoping for a course correction, for the country and for my party.”

Trump, for his part, held court at the construction site of the White House ballroom on Nov 4, a sign he is unlikely to radically shift his focus away from controversial pet projects during his final two years in office despite voters rendering a damning verdict of his leadership. 

Taking questions from reporters, Trump downplayed the results and the notion that there is any tension with Vance. He also denied a CBS News report that he was quizzing allies on ousting Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth. “No, I think he’s doing a very good job,” Trump told reporters.

The White House responded to a request for comment by referring to Trump’s earlier remarks to reporters.

The President has publicly dismissed the likelihood of a major staff shakeup in his administration.

One person familiar with his thinking, who requested anonymity to discuss internal dynamics, said Trump is not in the mood to make big changes, saying there was no ketchup being thrown at the wall – a reference to testimony that Trump hurled his lunch in the aftermath of his 2020 election defeat. The President denied at the time that he did such a thing.

Still, several lower-level staff are ready to leave their posts, the person said. Some Trump allies continue to speculate about the future of White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, though the President previously said she will “be here for a long time”.

The Nov 3 election dealt an unrelenting series of blows to the Republican Party. 

It lost at least seven Senate seats and Democrats are expected to gain their biggest margin in the House of Representatives since the post-Watergate period in the 1970s. 

Republicans lost in deeply conservative states, including Texas, South Carolina and Kansas, and were swept in other battlegrounds. In total, Democrats will control at least 54 Senate seats and are expected to end up with 258 House members, compared to 177 for Republicans, according to NBC News.

In the wake of the defeats, Speaker Mike Johnson intends to step down as the top House Republican in 2027, kicking off a fractious leadership contest.

The blast radius amounted to something of a worst-case scenario for Vance. The Ohio native campaigned heavily in that state, along with Trump, only to see Republicans lose the gubernatorial race and a Senate special election for the remainder of Vance’s own term.

Vance can distance himself from Trump only so much. The Vice-President now faces the prospect of trying to run for president while tied inextricably to an unpopular leader and after failing to deliver key races on his home turf.

“Vice-President Vance has a steep hill to climb if he wants to run for president in 2028. Like it or not, this is the Trump-Vance administration,” said Meghan Hays, a former aide in Democratic president Joe Biden’s White House. “They are rejecting the administration’s failed economic policies and do not want more of the same. It’s hard to see what message Vance could run on that would resonate with voters.”

During his several Ohio visits, Vance backed gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy’s controversial advertisement that featured Democratic candidate Amy Acton’s estranged mother. The ad sparked widespread backlash and Acton ultimately become the first Democrat to win an Ohio governor’s race in 20 years.

“J.D. Vance will be remembered for standing behind Vivek and his ad. A man who wrote a book about Catholicism. It’s a disgrace,” former New Jersey governor Chris Christie, who twice sought the Republican Party presidential nomination, posted on X. While Trump told reporters on Nov 4 that he more or less agreed with Vance’s post on Iran and Israel, he also suggested his Vice-President might sit out the 2028 race. 

“Maybe he won’t run. I don’t know who’s going to run,” Trump said.

Trump’s fingerprints are also all over the week’s defeats. The President backed Paxton over Cornyn, pushed the party to nominate Darline Graham in South Carolina and backed ally Michael Whatley in North Carolina’s Senate race after incumbent and Trump bete noire Thom Tillis declined to seek re-election. Republicans lost all three seats. 

Republicans barely hung on to Louisiana, where Trump forced another Senate incumbent to bow out. He also vociferously supported the Ramaswamy ad.

Trump’s former acting chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney, said there was no grand plan behind his maneuvers. “It wasn’t a consultant. There was no focus group. It was DJT,” he tweeted on Nov 4, referring to the President. BLOOMBERG