The Republican Party’s sweeping midterm defeat has complicated Vice President JD Vance’s political ambitions, prompting influential donors and some of his allies to question whether he should pursue the presidency in 2028, a report says.

The Wall Street Journal carried the report on Saturday, citing six people close to Vance as saying he has yet to decide whether to run, having told associates both before and after the election that he remains undecided.

Some allies have even suggested that no Republican could realistically win the presidency in two years.

Tuesday’s defeat saw Democrats flip seven Republican-held Senate seats, including Vance’s former Ohio seat, and reclaim governorships in traditionally Republican states such as Georgia and Texas, raising questions about the electoral strength of the Trump coalition.

According to the daily, within 24 hours of the election, a veteran New York fundraiser began receiving calls from wealthy Republican donors who said they could not support Vance in 2028. Some instead floated Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and other potential candidates, fearing that someone emerging from within the administration would be too closely associated with Trump and politically weakened by the midterm losses.

War on Iran complicates Vance’s position

Vance has sought to explain the Republican defeat by pointing to the war against Iran.

In a lengthy social-media essay this week, he blamed the aggression for the party’s poor performance and argued that Republicans needed to reconsider their relationship with the Israeli regime.

His concerns about the consequences of the war predated the aggression.

In January, as Trump considered a major military assault, Vance privately urged him to continue pursuing diplomacy and commissioned polling through Rasmussen Reports, an American polling company, to assess public attitudes towards a potential war.

The survey found that 44 percent supported going to war, while 43 percent opposed it. Meanwhile, 62 percent said an acceptable level of American combat deaths would be fewer than 100, and 65 percent believed Trump should obtain congressional approval before ordering attacks.

Trump has acknowledged that the war contributed to Republican losses, but tried to defend his decision, saying, “I did the right thing. I would have done it again.”

Even DeSantis has criticized the aggression’s economic consequences, saying, “Gas is higher. It hurts people, working-class people... That’s just a fact,” a reference to the fallout from Iran’s retaliatory closure of the strategic Strait of Hormuz that has sent shockwaves throughout global markets.

Additionally, the war prompted the Islamic Republic to deliver at least 100 waves of devastating reprisal targeting critical American military infrastructure across the region, including the US’s biggest regional airbase in Qatar and its regional logistical hub in Bahrain.

Vance has, meanwhile, reportedly considered the possibility of DeSantis challenging him in a Republican primary and expressed concern about distancing himself from the war and its economic fallout.

Some Vance confidants have suggested that he return to Ohio to contest his former Senate seat or run for governor. He rejected both proposals, according to people close to him.

Nevertheless, Vance still retains strong polling against potential Republican challengers and support from influential Republicans, including Donald Trump Jr. As Republican National Committee finance chair, he also maintains regular contact with major donors.