California Republicans facing tough re-election fights in this year's midterm elections have lined up to support President Trump's war on Iran, which polls suggest is unpopular.
They include Republicans whose re-election chances were already diminished by voter approval in November of Proposition 50, which gave Democrats in Sacramento the authority to redraw the state's congressional districts in favor of Democratic candidates.
Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Bonsall), who sits on the House Foreign Affairs Committee and has long been critical of Iran, has defended the latest attacks as overdue and legal under the existing authority the White House has to combat terrorism, in which he said Iran is deeply involved.
When asked by ABC News on Sunday about Trump's promises not to start new foreign wars during the 2024 campaign, and the attacks on Iran that conflicted with that, Issa said the belief that Trump owes immediate answers about his intentions was “insanity,” that the attacks on Iran's nuclear facilities last summer had made people around the world “happy” and that the latest attacks were a continuation of that effort.
He said Iran has funded terrorism for decades, expanding extremism in the region, and asking whether the Trump administration had a specific reason to attack now was the wrong question.
“The real question is, after almost half a century, do we need a specific trigger, or if at some point we say enough is enough, let's take the claws and teeth out of this tiger, and then we'll see if it's actually willing to drink milk instead of blood,” Issa said.
Issa's district is one of five that Democrats redrawn to better favor a Democrat under Proposition 50. The move was championed by Gov. Gavin Newsom and others as a response to similar redistricting efforts in the mid-decade that Republicans undertook, at Trump's behest, to curry favor in states like Texas.
It is unclear whether the Republican candidates' support for Trump on Iran will make them even more vulnerable. Some in California (including those in the Iranian diaspora in Los Angeles) are pleased with Trump's actions and the death of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, a conservative cleric who ruled the country with brutal force for decades.
However, several recent polls suggest that the war is not popular.
According to a Reuters/Ipsos poll that closed Sunday, only 1 in 4 Americans approved of U.S. strikes on Iran, while about half (including 1 in 4 Republicans) said they believe Trump is too willing to use military force. Overall, 43% of respondents said they disapproved of the strikes, 27% said they approved of them, and 29% said they were unsure.
A text poll conducted by SSRS for CNN on Saturday and Sunday found that nearly 6 in 10 Americans said they opposed the decision to take military action against Iran. A separate text poll conducted by SSRS for the Washington Post found that 52% of Americans opposed the attacks and 39% supported them.
Rep. Ken Calvert (R-Corona), who has long been hawkish on Iran and accused the Biden administration of maintaining a weak policy in the Middle Eastern nation, is another Republican in a redrawn district who has come out strongly in favor of the war effort.
“President Trump's decision to launch Operation Epic Fury will protect the United States and our allies by eliminating the Iranian regime's ability to spread terror and threaten its enemies. It will also provide the Iranian people with a historic opportunity to shape their own future free of oppression,” Calvert, chairman of the Defense Appropriations Committee, wrote on Saturday.
Another member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee facing re-election in a redrawn district, Rep. Young Kim (R-Anaheim Hills), on Saturday shared a committee post on
On Monday, she reposted a video of a rally in favor of the attacks by Iranian Americans and others in Los Angeles, writing: “So grateful for the decisive action of our president and for our vibrant Iranian American community. From Southern California to Tehran, let freedom ring!”
Also facing redrawn districts and backing the war were Rep. David Valadao (R-Hanford) and Rep. Kevin Kiley (R-Rocklin).
Valadao wrote Saturday in
“I congratulate President Trump for taking decisive action and pray for our brave men and women across the region who are working to keep us all safe,” Valadao wrote.
Kiley, in an
Kiley wrote that he hoped “to be briefed soon on the scale of operations, the strategy to be pursued, and any risks to American lives and interests that must be urgently addressed,” and that Congress “must be centrally involved in defining and pursuing American objectives going forward.”
Top California Democrats condemned the attacks and said that although Khamenei's Iranian government was corrupt and guilty of terrorism and violence, there was no evidence that it posed an “imminent threat” to the United States and no congressional authorization for Trump to unilaterally commit the nation to war there.
Many of the Democrats running in the state's redrawn congressional districts took a similar position.
“I am deeply concerned that President Trump is leading us toward another war of regime change without congressional authorization, public support or a clearly defined mission,” said San Diego Councilwoman Marni von Wilpert, a Democrat challenging Issa. “The Iranian regime is brutal and should never obtain a nuclear weapon, but the Constitution is clear: only Congress can declare war, and it must reconvene and exercise that authority now.”
Esther Kim Varet, an art dealer and one of several Democrats challenging both Calvert and Kim in the state's new 40th District, in Orange County and the Inland Empire, wrote in
