House passes sixth Iran war powers vote as GOP cancels final pre-midterm session
A New York Times/Siena University poll released Tuesday showed likely voters preferred Democrats over Republicans for Congress by nearly nine percentage points, a finding consistent with other recent surveys. The poll was released the same day the House passed its sixth war powers resolution against the Iran conflict with three new Republican defectors, and it comes as Democrats see expanded opportunities in Iowa beyond the two vulnerable House seats — including a potential Senate seat and the governor’s mansion.
The additions of Representatives Mariannette Miller-Meeks of Iowa, Zach Nunn of Iowa and Nancy Mace of South Carolina expanded the ranks of GOP defectors on the war powers resolution to seven, joining four prior Republican backers of similar measures.
In Iowa, where Miller-Meeks and Nunn represent competitive districts, Democrats see opportunities well beyond unseating those two incumbents. Iowa has drifted consistently to the right over the past decade, but Democrats believe the circumstances this year are right for them to win a Senate seat, the governor’s mansion and potentially more congressional districts in the state. Iowa farmers have struggled with higher prices for diesel, gasoline and fertilizer, costs that have been compounded by Trump’s tariffs. Iowa is far from the only state where Democrats see themselves on the offensive heading into the November midterms.
Miller-Meeks, who won her 2024 race by fewer than 800 votes, framed her switch as a response to voter concerns about the war’s economic toll. “I said it in March: the mission had to stay focused and limited, because Americans do not want another forever war. I will not vote to keep our soldiers in an open-ended war, with Iowans paying too much at the pump,” she said.
Her Iowa colleague Nunn pointed to the war’s human cost in his state, noting Iowa “has already paid a devastating price,” with two Iowans among the US soldiers killed by Iranian attacks as the war began. “Congress owes them, their families, and every American in uniform clear objectives and constitutional oversight. With the negotiating window closed, sustained combat operations now require congressional authorization,” Nunn said. “Having deployed multiple times and flown over 700 combat hours in the Middle East, I will not support another open-ended war. We can defend Americans, pressure Iran and pursue peace while ensuring Congress fulfills its constitutional responsibility.”
The two Iowans are among the Republicans considered most at risk of losing re-election in the November midterms. They also represent areas of a state where the market impacts of the war with Iran are pronounced.
Tuesday’s vote marked the sixth House war-powers resolution since the United States joined Israel in attacking Iran at the end of February. The first three attempts failed, but in June the fourth passed with the votes of two libertarian-minded Republicans — Thomas Massie of Kentucky and Warren Davidson of Ohio — along with Tom Barrett of Michigan and Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, both of whom occupy battlefield districts. The Senate later approved that measure, but Trump refused to abide by it. In July, the same lineup in the House passed a fifth war powers resolution, before Nunn, Miller-Meeks and Mace expanded the ranks of Republican objectors to seven in Tuesday’s vote.
Since the US joined Israel in attacking Iran at the end of February, Democrats have used war powers resolutions repeatedly to get Republicans on the record about a conflict that polls indicate is not popular with the public. Democrats are helped in their quest to retake the House by the fact that Republicans control it with a tiny majority that may be exceedingly hard to defend in November. The thin margin has also enabled Republicans like Massie to leverage splits within the party against Trump and his ally the House speaker, Mike Johnson.
Earlier Tuesday, Massie, who lost his Republican primary earlier this year to the Trump-endorsed Ed Gallrein after clashing repeatedly with the president, proposed impeaching Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, alleging constitutional transgressions including prosecuting the war against Iran without congressional authorization. Hegseth had campaigned for Gallrein during the primary.
Massie has a track record of leveraging House rules to challenge Trump and Johnson. Last year, he joined with Democrats and a handful of Republican dissidents to force passage of a bill requiring the release of files related to the late disgraced financier and former Trump associate Jeffrey Epstein. That intensified the president’s ire toward him. With less to lose after his primary defeat, the congressman appears to be seizing on intraparty splits to retaliate against Hegseth. House rules appear to require the impeachment resolution be voted on by Thursday.
But on Wednesday morning, House Republican leaders canceled the Thursday session, sending lawmakers home early to face their constituents. The chamber had been scheduled to be in session Thursday for the last time before the November 3 midterm elections.
The rebellions are thus far mostly symbolic. Trump has ignored the sole war-powers resolution to make it through both chambers, and the prospects for Hegseth’s impeachment remain unclear. The defections nonetheless underscore the political risk the war has become for both the party’s most vulnerable incumbents and its most outspoken Trump critics, with Democrats spending Trump’s second term positioning themselves as the party voters trust to lower costs for Americans.