How Colorado’s Western Slope representatives in Congress have reacted to strikes on Iran
Democrats have largely criticized the Trump administration for not seeking congressional approval before launching an attack, while most Republicans have said decisive action is needed to protect the U.S. and its allies
Robert Tann/Summit Daily News and Larry Robinson/Grand Junction Daily Sentinel
Colorado’s two U.S. House lawmakers representing much of the Western Slope broke along party lines over the weekend in their support for the United States’ attacks on Iran.
The U.S. and Israel on Feb. 28 launched a series of airstrikes on Iran, including in the capital of Tehran, where the country’s 86-year-old supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was killed.
President Donald Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social that Khamenei was “one of the most evil people in History,” and said attacks on the country would continue as the U.S. seeks to block Iran’s ability to develop nuclear weapons. Iran has since launched retaliatory strikes on U.S. and Israeli sites across the Middle East.
U.S. Rep. Joe Neguse, a high-ranking House Democrat who represents Colorado’s central and northern mountain areas, as well as parts of the Front Range, lambasted Trump for not seeking approval from Congress to launch the attack.
“Our constitution is crystal-clear: the decision to take our nation to war rests with Congress,” Neguse wrote in a Feb. 28 post on X. “President Trump’s reckless and dangerous decision to, yet again, initiate military action without congressional authorization is clearly unconstitutional.”
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Neguse also called on House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Republican, to hold a vote on a resolution to check the president’s power under the War Powers Act.
Rep. Jeff Hurd, a Republican who represents much of western and southern Colorado, said in his own X statement that same day that he supports Trump’s actions, calling Iran “the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism.”
“A nuclear armed Iran is not an option,” Hurd wrote. “Preventing that outcome is a clear national security imperative for the United States.”
Hurd added, “I support President Trump’s decision to take decisive action to hold the Iranian regime accountable and to degrade its ability to threaten Americans and our allies. When American lives and security are at risk, we must be clear eyed and strong. Peace is best preserved through strength and resolve.”
Colorado’s two Democratic senators, Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper, also released statements lambasting Trump following the attacks.
Bennet said Trump and his administration have “launched the United States into war with Iran with no authorization from Congress,” and said he would vote on the War Powers resolution to rein in Trump’s military authority.
Hickenlooper said Trump’s “unilateral action ignores most Americans’ desire to avoid endless foreign wars.”
“While we would certainly welcome the fall of Iran’s terror-sponsoring and repressive regime, the President’s reckless approach leaves us facing profound, unanswered questions about the new dangers he has unleashed,” Hickenlooper added.
The responses from the two lawmakers fall largely in line with how Congress has reacted so far to the second Trump administration’s use of military power.
Many Democrats were critical after Trump announced in late June that the U.S. had bombed nuclear sites in Tehran, also without congressional approval, though some have stressed their desire not to see Iran develop nuclear capabilities.
Republicans have largely supported the Trump administration’s operations in the Middle East, which they see as necessary for protecting the security of the U.S. and its allies abroad. Still, some Republican lawmakers have pushed back on Trump for not seeking congressional approval for the latest round of strikes, including Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, a frequent Trump critic.
Trump has also received backlash from some of his strongest long-time supporters, who see the attacks as a reversal of his pledge to be a peacetime president who would keep the U.S. out of foreign conflicts.
“I did not campaign for this,” wrote former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, who resigned her House seat in January, in a Feb. 28 post on X. Greene’s post was in response to a video of a bombing of an Iranian school that killed and injured dozens of children.
“This is not what we thought MAGA was supposed to be. Shame!” Greene added.
