Pressed in an interview with Mark Halperin on whether he also backs the prime minister, Vance said he was "focused on the midterms" and neither endorsing nor opposing him: "I endorse American candidates. I'm not getting involved in Israeli elections." Earlier in his term, Vance backed Germany's AfD and flew to Budapest in April to campaign for Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who went on to lose by nearly 15 percentage points.
Trump broke with longstanding US practice on Sunday by giving Netanyahu his "complete and total endorsement" on Truth Social, warning Israelis that if they elect anyone else, "America will have to do this work ourselves" against Iran. Netanyahu on Monday released a video of a follow-up phone call in which he told Trump "we have a job to finish" against Iran and Trump called him "the man I want by my side." Axios reported that several of Trump's closest advisers believed his Middle East agenda would fare better under a different Israeli government and that Trump had privately called Netanyahu "his own worst enemy."