Pressure Mounts on Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth After Republican Midterm Defeat

The Republican Party's heavy losses in Tuesday's US midterm elections have ignited demands for accountability both inside the Trump administration and among its critics, with the war on Iran widely identified as the central source of voter anger. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has become the focus of that reckoning after Democrats seized control of both chambers of Congress.

Some Republican lawmakers and other critics contend that the Pentagon chief was instrumental in persuading President Donald Trump to strike Iran without any exit strategy. On Wednesday, Kentucky Congressman Thomas Massie, a Republican who has frequently clashed with Trump and his team, publicly urged Hegseth to step down, and an impeachment vote in the House could take place as early as next week.

Should a vote proceed, Hegseth's immediate fate would rest with a Congress still under Republican control, since the newly elected members will not be sworn in until January. Even so, some reports indicate that Republican lawmakers are increasingly open to removing him from the Pentagon. Trump, who has praised Hegseth as a champion of the Iran war, told reporters on Wednesday that replacing him was not under consideration. "I think he's doing a very good job," the president said.

Massie filed eight impeachment accusations against Hegseth in September and told CNN he intends to force a vote when Congress reconvenes next week, with multiple Republican sources telling the outlet they expect it to pass. Because Massie lost his Republican House primary in May, the current session is his only opportunity to pursue the effort. He argued that Hegseth's "constitutional violations extend beyond the illegal war in Iran," accusing him of abusing his office by ignoring congressional war powers resolutions, kidnapping foreign leaders and retaliating against administration critics for exercising free speech.

In January, the United States abducted then-Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, and flew them to New York to stand trial on charges including drug trafficking, which they deny. Venezuela has since effectively functioned as a US protectorate, with Washington controlling its economy and vast oil reserves.

Many Republicans remain reluctant to fault Trump directly for the electoral wipeout, yet they acknowledge the Iran war as its main driver. Vice President JD Vance conceded that "the reason we lost is the war," adding that "any honest conversation about where we go from here must start there." Hegseth, among the loudest advocates of military action, is seen by many as having pushed the president into a conflict that deepened the affordability crisis and drained costly US munitions. "You can already see the knives out for Secretary Hegseth," Paul Musgrave, an associate professor of government at Georgetown University in Qatar, told Al Jazeera.

Republican Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina said Hegseth faces "a reckoning" in the post-election lame duck session, questioning whether he is the right person to bring Pentagon funding requests to Congress within its remaining 60 days. Tillis, who supported Hegseth's confirmation in January 2025, has called that vote the "biggest regret of my career" and last month urged Trump to dismiss him over his "inept management of the brave men." Anonymous Republican sources quoted by CNN said Hegseth oversold America's ability to overpower Iran and kept pressing for escalation even after it became clear force would not compel Tehran's surrender.

Impeachment requires only a simple House majority. Democrats hold 214 seats and would need a handful of Republican votes to reach 218; after the new House convenes in January, they would need none, having confirmed 240 seats so far with more expected, their largest majority since at least 2008. Removal, however, demands a two-thirds Senate vote, and even in the new Congress Democrats would hold at most 56 of 100 seats, requiring at least 11 Republicans to reach 67. That same threshold explains Trump's two Senate acquittals and why the only two cabinet secretaries ever impeached, William Belknap in 1876 and Alejandro Mayorkas in 2024, were both acquitted.

Analysts say pressure on Hegseth to resign will likely intensify regardless of the impeachment outcome. Richard Johnson, a senior lecturer in politics at Queen Mary University of London, said the midterm drubbing could push ambitious Republicans to cast themselves as "more MAGA than Trump," arguing the president's inner circle succumbed to the US "deep state" on Iran, "betraying the promise of no new wars and pushing up the cost of living for ordinary Americans." In the meantime, Republicans may look to distance themselves from the war, as Vance has already begun to do. A fall guy would help.