Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) accused President Donald Trump on Sunday of breaking his two central 2024 campaign promises — no new wars and lower prices — arguing that seven months into the war with Iran, American families are now paying the cost of that conflict at the grocery store and the gas pump.
Murray, the Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, made the accusation in a post on X published at 1:59 p.m. on September 27, 2026. Her post read, in its entirety:
“Trump promised no new wars and lower prices—and here we are, 7 months into a forever war with Iran that YOU are paying for with higher prices at the store and the pump.
END the war with Iran.”
A War Now in Its Eighth Month
The conflict Murray referenced began on February 28, 2026, when the United States and Israel launched joint airstrikes against Iran, killing the country’s supreme leader along with a number of senior officials. The war has since expanded into a broader regional crisis, drawing in Hezbollah, the Houthi movement in Yemen, and Iran-aligned militias in Iraq, while triggering a naval blockade of Iranian ports and repeated closures and reopenings of the Strait of Hormuz. A brief ceasefire brokered in Pakistan collapsed on July 8 after strikes resumed from both sides, and low-intensity fighting has continued intermittently since.
Murray’s Post Fits a Pattern Dating to the War’s First Day
Sunday’s post was not an isolated statement. Murray posted a similar message on the day the war began, writing that “Congress must return immediately and vote to put an end to this war” and that “the American people deserve to know which of their leaders supports another potentially bloody and costly war in the Middle East.” In a formal statement issued that same day, Murray called the initial strikes “unconstitutional” and said the administration owed Congress and the public an explanation of “what the strategy here” was and “what the goal is.”
Voting Record: Four War Powers Resolutions
In the months since, Murray has voted four separate times in favor of War Powers Resolutions aimed at ending U.S. military action against Iran, including a resolution introduced by Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA) that would have required congressional authorization for continued hostilities. After one such vote, Murray said: “For the fourth time, I voted to put an end to Trump’s reckless war of choice in Iran. Since the beginning, Trump has had no strategy and no endgame—meanwhile American lives have been lost, hundreds of servicemembers have been injured, and thousands are in harm’s way.”
The “Broken Promises” Framing Has Been Consistent
Murray has repeatedly tied her opposition to the war to the same two campaign pledges she referenced in Sunday’s post. At a Senate Democrats press conference earlier this year, she said: “Donald Trump promised lower costs and no more foreign wars. Instead, he has given us higher costs and a new, costly war in the Middle East. It is hard to imagine a more straightforward betrayal.” In a Senate floor speech, she went further, accusing the president of shipping American troops off to war “from his beach club in Florida” and calling it “obscene.”
Grilling the Pentagon Over Cost and Strategy
Murray has also used her position on the Appropriations Committee to press Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth directly on the war’s cost and trajectory. During a recent hearing on an $88 billion supplemental funding request tied to the war, Murray noted that “143 days ago, President Trump started a war of his own choosing with Iran,” adding that he did so without congressional authorization, without building a coalition, and without ever winning public support — citing polling that put opposition to the war at two-thirds of Americans. In a separate hearing, she confronted Hegseth over earlier claims that Iran’s missile program had been “functionally destroyed,” pointing out that Iranian forces had continued striking U.S. bases and ships in the region weeks later.
Diplomatic Movement in the Days Before the Post
Murray’s Sunday statement came days after Iran presented a written roadmap to the United States at the United Nations proposing a regional ceasefire of up to 60 days, a phased reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, and an end to the American naval blockade. Iranian officials, including Supreme National Security Council secretary Mohsen Rezaei, gave Washington a four-to-five day window to respond to the terms, which also included a halt to Iranian strikes on Gulf Arab states and the release of frozen Iranian assets. Regional sources have linked the administration’s recent push for a diplomatic resolution to concerns over the president’s approval ratings ahead of the midterm elections, particularly on the war and on fuel prices.
Economic Costs Central to Murray’s Critique
Murray’s references to rising prices “at the store and the pump” reflect a line of argument she has pressed throughout the year, tying the war’s financial burden directly to the cost pressures facing American households. At the same press conference where she called the war a “straightforward betrayal,” she said: “What Americans want is health care, they want to pay less at the grocery store and the gas station. They do not want to spend billions in taxpayer dollars to bomb Iran.”
Not Without Pushback
Murray’s public statements on the war’s cost have not gone unchallenged. A claim she made earlier this year that Trump sought to spend “half a trillion” additional taxpayer dollars on the war drew heavy criticism on X, with more than 120 replies disputing the figure within hours of the post. Critics argued the claim overstated the administration’s request and, in some cases, misrepresented the state of the conflict at the time. The pushback underscores that Murray’s characterizations of the war’s cost and status have remained a point of ongoing dispute between her office and supporters of the administration’s Iran policy.
Where Things Stand
As of Sunday’s post, the war has entered its eighth month with no formal ceasefire in place, despite Iran’s latest roadmap proposal and the short deadline attached to it by Iranian officials. Murray’s renewed call to “END the war with Iran” places her among a group of Senate Democrats who have repeatedly sought legislative avenues to force an end to U.S. military involvement, even as those efforts have so far failed to change the administration’s course. Whether the diplomatic movement reported in the days before her post will lead to a resolution remains unclear, and Murray’s office has not indicated any change in her position since the war began on February 28.