LEXINGTON, Ky.—Over the last decade or so, Eric Pollack has almost always voted for the Republicans on his ballot—most soldiers do, the Army veteran told reporters.
But the Iran War is shifting that.
President Donald Trump promised “no new wars,” Pollack pointed out, but then started—and has continued—the Iran War. The diesel Pollack needs to fuel his truck for trips to school or to take care of his Harrodsburg farm now costs $3 more a gallon.
“I can’t afford $600 a month to feed chickens when I’m paying $200 to fill my truck up with fuel,” he said Monday afternoon.
So, this fall, Pollack said he’ll be voting for Zach Dembo, the Democrat running for Kentucky’s 6th Congressional District.
“There was no effort at all to explain to the American people why we were getting into this war,” Dembo said during a Monday press event. “There was no attempt to talk to Congress about it, and as a result, unfortunately, all of us are paying the price.”
Dembo, who served in the Navy as a Judge Advocate General or JAG, has repeatedly spoken out against the Iran War over the last several months. A group of veterans joined him at Lexington’s Veterans Park Monday to again push back against the Iran War and its toll on both service members and civilians.
The Iran War was unpopular to start with, and has become increasingly unpopular in the more than seven months since then—with experts suggesting voters will carry their frustrations with them to the ballot box in the upcoming 2026 midterm elections.
“It has been clear from the beginning for anyone who had a basic understanding of strategy and who’d ever been in a war game that a choke point like the Strait of Hormuz would be used for every possible strategic advantage,” Dembo said.
The Trump administration and “its enablers in Congress have stopped listening to the experts, have stopped listening to the military leadership, and have been playing politics in the apolitical military environment that they ignored all of those warnings and got us into this war,” he continued.
“Since then, it’s become completely unclear what the goal is, and how we are going to get out of this,” he continued.
Like Pollack, Dembo’s frustrations around the Iran War extend past the conflict itself and to the day-to-day consequences hitting central Kentucky families and farmers. Gas prices have skyrocketed due to the blockage of the Strait of Hormuz, and so have fertilizer prices—and this is “on top of crushing inflation and prices going high already because of this unnecessary trade war.”
If elected, Dembo said he would push for hearings in the House and Senate Armed Services Committees to “make clear what the plan is.”
“They have to get a hearing and figure out: Is there an exit plan and is there an articulable strategy? I have not heard one,” Dembo said. “If that continues to be the case, Congress needs to explore cutting off funding for this rogue adventure because this is risking to be yet another quagmire.”
Alvarado silent after early support of Iran War
It is unclear what Dembo’s main opponent, Republican Ralph Alvarado, thinks or would do regarding the Iran War if elected.
In February shortly after Trump announced the start of the Iran War, Alvarado said in a social media post, “I fully support, and applaud President Trump’s leadership in confronting a decades-long threat to America and our allies.”
Alvarado received Trump’s endorsement ahead of the May primary elections, but has since scrubbed his campaign website of mentions of Trump and repositioned himself as an “independent” voice.
Alvarado’s campaign has repeatedly ignored Hellbender Newsroom’s questions regarding whether or not he still supports the Iran War. He also did not show up to what was supposed to be the first TV debate in the race Monday night, where the topic came up.
Dembo has criticized Alvarado’s silence on the topic, adding Monday that Alvarado would be a “rubber-stamp” for the Trump administration in Congress.
“I want no more endless wars,” Dembo said, referencing Trump’s popular refrain. “The fact that he’s gotten us into yet another one is a betrayal of everyone who voted for him, and it’s a betrayal of us in Central Kentucky.”
What to know about Kentucky’s 2026 elections
Election Day is Nov. 3, and early voting runs from Oct. 29 to Oct. 31.
Kentucky voters who meet certain criteria can also vote using an absentee mail-in ballot or using excused, early in-person voting dates that begin Oct. 21.
