“The reason we lost is the war”, Vance said in a post on X.
Vance, whose political career was launched by Trump, had campaigned hard to hold off defeat. Republicans still lost heavily, including in states that have not sent a Democrat to the Senate for decades. The Journal said his comment showed how deeply he had opposed the war from the start, despite defending it repeatedly in public.
Trump agreed that the war was largely to blame for the result but said it had been worth it. A White House official said the president knew what Vance planned to post before it went out.
The Journal, citing sources, said White House officials spent recent weeks wrestling with how the war would play with voters. At a September meeting that included Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, they agreed that publicising continued US strikes on Iran would hurt Republicans in tightly contested states. Trump approved the approach.
The military then carried out small-scale strikes on missile launchers and other equipment, avoiding casualties, the newspaper said.
Some advisers blame Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth for convincing Trump the war would be short. Sources said Hegseth often argued for pressing on while Rubio and Vance pushed for peace talks. Trump said on Wednesday he would not fire him, though CBS News reported he had asked associates whether Hegseth should stay.
The administration is split over what to do next, the Journal reported. Some officials want further strikes followed by a deal and withdrawal, while others urge Trump to accept the losses and wind the operation down gradually.
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Source: PAP