WASHINGTON — A resolution aimed at ending President Donald Trump’s war in Iran failed by a single vote Thursday as Sen. Jon Husted (R-Ohio) voted no despite saying this week the war should end.

The Senate defeated the resolution by a vote of 49 to 50, with four Republicans in favor and one Democrat, Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, against.

The vote came as Republicans are increasingly antsy about Trump’s war, which has dragged on for months, pushed up gas prices and aroused voter anger at the Republican Party ahead of November elections to decide which party controls Congress.

There’s nothing remarkable about a Republican backing Trump in his war, except Husted and several other GOP candidates in close election contests said this week the war should end.

“The war needs to come to an end as quickly as possible so that we can lower gas prices,” Husted told Politico on Tuesday. Husted ducked reporters after the vote.

Voting in favor of a “war powers” resolution directing the president to cease hostilities in Iran would have been probably the simplest and most direct way for Husted to wield his power as a U.S. senator to influence the situation. Yet Husted decided to stick with Trump.

Democrats have hammered Republicans for supporting the war, which Trump launched in February and said would last a few weeks.

“Senate Republicans, if they knew what was good for them, would have joined us in pushing for an end to Trump’s war seven months ago,” Democratic leader Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said before the vote.

The four Republicans who voted for Thursday’s resolution were Sens. Susan Collins (Maine), Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), Rand Paul (Ky.) and Thom Tillis (N.C.). It was the first time Tillis had voted against the war. He said the administration has failed to brief members of Congress and ignored the war powers law’s deadlines for seeking authorization.

“I’m inclined to vote on something unless I’ve been properly briefed and convinced that we’re on the right track. I haven’t gotten that brief,” Tillis told reporters.

Meanwhile, Republican Senate candidates in tight races — Rep. Ashley Hinson (R-Iowa) and former Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.) — have said the conflict should end, as have a handful of other Republicans running in the midterms.

“Iowans are being squeezed and shouldn’t have to foot the bill at the pump or the checkout line for the war in Iran,” Hinson said this week on X, despite having repeatedly voted against war powers resolutions in the House. Seven other Republicans, including two of Hinson’s colleagues from Iowa, broke with the president to support the resolution when the House adopted it last week.

The war powers statute, enacted in the 1970s after the Vietnam War, gives Congress fast-track procedures for voting on such resolutions. Lawmakers drew up the statute specifically to stop presidents from dragging the U.S. into endless conflicts in other countries, though the law hasn’t been fully tested in courts. The type of resolution the Senate voted down on Thursday wouldn’t have been presented to the president for his signature if it had been approved, meaning it was a symbolic vote.

Sens. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) and Roger Marshall (R-Kan.) voted against ending the war even though they’re both in close races. Sullivan on Thursday criticized Iran for having sponsored terrorist organizations that have killed and wounded thousands of U.S. service members over the years.

Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), who sponsored the resolution in the House, called the Senate vote “a slap in the face to the millions of American people who want this war to end.”

By entering your email and clicking Sign Up, you're agreeing to let us send you customized marketing messages about us and our advertising partners. You are also agreeing to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.