During a 5 October, 2026 candidate forum in Durham, New Hampshire, one of the Granite State’s contestants for United States Congress, in response to a question about upcoming elections in Israel stated, “Foreign policy is not top of mind for the people of New Hampshire.” While the candidate might truly believe that assertion, the purpose of the following column is to highlight why voters in the midterm elections should care about what happens outside of America’s borders.
Let’s start with the Ukraine/Russia war. Over the past 18 months the current administration has alternated frequently between putative support for Kyiv in its seeming death struggle with Tsar Vladimir (I want to be) the great’s Kremlin and outright hostility toward Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The most recent trajectory of White House policy regarding the conflict has been undeniably pro-Moscow with a deal to buy hundreds of thousands of tons of diesel fuel, an executive order waiving recently-approved U.S. sanctions against the Kremlin, and talk of a U.S./China/Russia (minus Ukraine) summit to resolve the crisis.
As a voter, you need to consider if the current administration’s (and its party’s) plans for dealing with the war in Ukraine are in this country’s best interest or if, conversely, the opposition party’s policies—decidedly more pro-Ukrainian—better represent our nation’s values as well as the wishes of the American public. In short, should we be on the side of Russia or on the side of Ukraine?
Next up is the White House’s ongoing state of quasi-war in the Middle East. The primary strategic goal of the Iran conflict, which started eight months ago with a massive U.S./Israeli strike against Tehran’s leadership is the permanent elimination of the Iranian nuclear program. In the pursuit of that objective, the U.S.-led hostilities have resulted in a global energy crunch due to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz and Iranian attacks on the oil fields/infrastructure of Persian Gulf states. Furthermore, the war has reignited conflict in the extreme south of the Arabian peninsula between Yemen’s Houthi rebels and Saudi Arabia, in the process causing death and mayhem in Riyadh, the Saudi capital. Additionally, the renewed violence in Yemen has called into question the reliability of the Bab al-Mandab Strait, another critical economic choke point which serves as the southern maritime gateway to the Suez Canal.
Meanwhile, 7,000 miles removed from the conflagration in the Middle East, gas and diesel prices across America remain stubbornly high, causing a trickle up inflationary effect on the entire U.S. economy. According to a recent report from the U.S. Department of Labor, the inflation rate for the New England region was at 4.2 percent for the past year. Thus, from farming to transportation to airline travel to your weekly grocery bill, gas and diesel costs represent an expensive reminder of how America’s actions abroad can rebound on the home front.
Returning to the principle aim of the present battle with Tehran, when casting your ballot you must consider whether the current administration’s (and its party’s) military efforts to de-nuke Iran constitute the best policy option to achieve that goal. When making that judgement, one should also understand that to fully verify the destruction of said nuclear program, hundreds of thousands of U.S. troops would likely be needed to occupy and clear all of Iran’s nuclear facilities.
Moving on, let’s contemplate America’s place in the world. Since the end of World War II, the United States has, by and large, been a force for good across the globe. It is no secret that the current administration (and its party) has taken a different, more confrontational tact with much of the rest of the world. From threatening allies (see Denmark and Canada) to forcibly deporting immigrants to mercurial and punitive trade policies to transactional efforts to trade foreign aid for access to natural resources, the White House has undeniably altered America’s image abroad. America has become, in the words of scholar Michael Beckley, a rogue superpower.
The jury is still out whether these policies will make America strategically safer and economically stronger. Nevertheless, when determining who to vote for in the upcoming races for the U.S. Congress, U.S. Senate, and the state governor, voters need to take into account the candidates views on these critical foreign policy issues. The notion that what happens across the world does not reverberate back to the homeland is simplistic drivel and just plain wrong. Political aspirants for these pivotal positions should be held to account to thoroughly explain and defend their views on the most salient international challenges this country faces.
In closing, do your due diligence on all of the candidates to ascertain their opinions on American policy in Ukraine, the Middle East, and across the wider globe and vote for those whose vision of America’s place in the world most closely aligns with yours. Regardless of what some politicians might believe, foreign policy should be “top of mind” for this country’s voters.
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