US midterm election results 2026: Pete Hegseth to be impeached? Why he is under scrutiny after Republicans’ poll rout

US President Donald Trump's Republican Party was routed in the US midterm elections on November 3, but the onus of the historic loss may fall upon a few leaders, including Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth.

Republican Thomas Massie, a representative from Kentucky, told CNN he plans to trigger a vote to impeach Hegseth when Congress returns next week — and multiple GOP sources were quoted as saying they expect it to pass.

Later, in a post on X, Massie said there is one contingency in which he won’t reintroduce the articles of impeachment: “Hegseth resigns.”

Quick answers to key questions

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QUESTIONS

Republican Representative Thomas Massie said he plans to bring forward a vote to impeach Hegseth when Congress returns. The article reports that the House could vote as soon as the following week, but impeachment has not yet occurred.

Some Republicans argue Hegseth urged President Trump to attack Iran without an exit strategy and overstated how quickly the US could win. They also fault him for backing further escalation as the war and its economic effects angered voters.

Trump publicly said Hegseth was doing a very good job and was not being considered for replacement. However, reports cited in the article say Trump has asked advisers about Hegseth’s future, and some sources believe he could still be replaced.

Democrats have promised oversight of Hegseth’s handling of the Pentagon, including the Iran war and the removal of senior military officers. The article also says scrutiny could cover his Ukraine policy and US strikes on suspected drug-trafficking boats.

Massie said he would not reintroduce the articles of impeachment if Hegseth resigns. The article does not say that Hegseth has resigned.

The House could vote as soon as next week to impeach the Pentagon’s top leader, CNN reported, citing sources.

Massie noted that Trump has continued to argue for continuing the war in Iran, no matter the political and economic price paid at home.

“You don’t screw up this badly an election with just one issue,” Massie told CNN, adding, “It was completely avoidable if they’d just broken out of the cultish following of Donald Trump.”

US midterm election results 2026: Why is Pete Hegseth under scrutiny?

Democrats won control of both chambers of Congress in midterm elections that reflected voter anger over the war in Iran.

While Trump said "it's largely true" that the Iran war was to be blamed for the Republicans' stinging loss in the midterms, Vice President JD Vance explicitly said in an X post, "The reason we lost is the war."

Following the poll debacle, many Republican lawmakers and allies, alarmed by the electoral loss, moved swiftly to pin blame for the election results on Hegseth.

They argued behind the scenes that Hegseth played a chief role in convincing Trump to attack Iran with no exit strategy — and no plan for managing the inevitable political fallout, CNN reported.

Hegseth, a vocal cheerleader for the war, oversold the US’ ability to win the conflict quickly and easily, multiple Republicans argued to CNN, describing on condition of anonymity why many in their party are now turning against the defense secretary.

They accused him of continuing to advocate for escalation despite little sign that continued bombing has brought Iran closer to surrender.

They said the conflict in West Asia has since turned into a quagmire, worsening the affordability crisis in the US, and triggering voters’ midterm revolt against the GOP.

“The pivot is starting” on the war and Hegseth, a former senior Pentagon official told CNN. “This has been primarily a Department of War-led effort because you chose to take military action to resolve a foreign policy matter," the official added.

Loyalty towards Trump

The CNN report added that Republican party leaders – and many in their ranks – remain unwilling to directly blame Trump for their woes even as House and Senate GOP strategists "privately acknowledged" that the party’s problems extended far beyond the war, triggering 2008-level losses that will take years to reverse.

Even among House Republicans who survived Tuesday’s onslaught, there’s zero expectation they will suddenly break from President Trump with two years left in his term, CNN analysed.

Yet that loyalty does not extend to Hegseth, the defense secretary who has made few friends on Capitol Hill since taking over command of the Pentagon.

According to CNN, House Republicans are expected to vote to directly repudiate the defense secretary in a matter of days.

Republican US Senator Thom Tillis told CBS news on Tuesday night that Hegseth has "a reckoning" coming and his strained relationship with lawmakers was undermining the Trump administration's push for a $1.5 trillion defense spending package in Congress.

However, Chief Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell said Hegseth would continue to drive Trump's agenda and that the Pentagon "has followed the law."

"Secretary Hegseth will not back down or be deterred by politicians ​seeking to score partisan points or launch phony investigations where no wrongdoing exists," Parnell said.

Will Trump fire Pete?

Trump backed Pete Hegseth on Wednesday despite efforts around him to turn up the heat on the Defense Secretary.

The president's own confidence in his defense secretary hasn’t yet wavered even as he’s continued to survey allies about his performance, multiple White House officials told CNN.

Asked whether he was considering replacing Hegseth, whom he has described as a champion of the war, Trump ‌told reporters: "No, I think he's doing a very good job."

But sources told Reuters Trump could still replace Hegseth as Republicans assess their losses.

One Trump adviser said Hegseth "could be on the chopping block" because of the war. "Someone is going to get blamed for this and you know it's not going to be ​him (Trump)," the adviser said.

Sources told CBS News that President Trump has been asking advisers around him and on the phone whether Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth should stay in his job.

Some White House aides also predicted that some of the blame for GOP midterm losses will be trained on Adm. Brad Cooper, the head of US Central Command, and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen Dan Caine, who both played big roles in guidance on Iran war.

What Democrats may do next

This comes as Democrats promised to investigate Hegseth and his handling of the Pentagon, and ​aides said that could include everything from his handling of the Iran war to his purges of top military officers including the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

He could also face scrutiny over his Ukraine policy and US ‌military strikes on ⁠suspected drug trafficking boats in Latin American waters, which some Democrats say could amount to war crimes.

Representative Adam Smith, the Democrat who is expected to lead the House Armed Services Committee next year, promised vigorous oversight on everything from the Iran war to what he called the erosion of the “apolitical foundation of the armed forces.”