Vance, Cruz and DeSantis diagnose GOP's midterm disaster as battle over party's future begins

Fox News · Paul Steinhauser · 2026-11-06 10:00 UTC

JD Vance's 600-word postmortem blamed the Iran war for GOP midterm losses, putting striking daylight between himself and Trump on foreign policy.

The 2028 Republican White House race may be getting its first battle lines, as Vice President JD Vance, Sen. Ted Cruz and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis quickly offered competing assessments of the GOP's devastating midterm election losses, potentially previewing their visions for the party's future.

The three high-profile Republicans, all viewed as potential contenders for the party's presidential nomination, used their postmortems to weigh what went wrong and what Republicans must do differently — a debate that could help define the GOP's direction heading into 2028.

"I think everybody's trying to figure out where to position themselves in the aftermath. Where were you on the day after," longtime Republican strategist and presidential campaign veteran David Kochel told Fox News Digital. "I think these are all moves designed to look towards 2028."

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