Eli Crane scrubs ‘forever wars’ and spending pledges he voted against from campaign website

A month ago, a section of U.S. Rep. Eli Crane’s campaign website declared that he was opposed to spending money on foreign “forever wars” and vowed to “rein in reckless spending” that was increasing the national debt.

But Crane, a Republican who represents Arizona’s 2nd Congressional District, has repeatedly voted to allow President Donald Trump to unilaterally go to war with Iran — a conflict now in its seventh month — and he backed Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which slashed taxes on businesses and the wealthy and will increase the national debt by $4.7 trillion. And now, as Republicans head into a midterm election with a historically unpopular GOP president and polling shows he is running neck-and-neck with his Democratic opponent, Crane has scrubbed those priorities from his website.

“Instead of funding forever wars and throwing away money we don’t have, Eli believes we should be focused on taking care of those who risked it all for our freedom,” Crane’s site said as recently as July under the heading “fighting for those who fought for us.” 

The new site changes the heading to “fighting for veterans” and removes his opposition to “forever wars” in favor of talking about fighting “fraud-ridden nongovernmental organizations” and declaring that “we should be focused on taking care of those who risked it all for our freedom.” 

Crane has voted multiple times in favor of the deeply unpopular war that has cost the average American household $1,200 so far. Recent polling found that only a quarter of Americans are supportive of the Iran War, which has seen 18 service members die and more than 750 wounded. 

A former Navy SEAL, Crane has been outspoken during his time in Congress against spending money to fund overseas wars, regularly zeroing in on U.S. support of Ukraine in its war against Russia, which invaded the American ally in 2022.

“They’re seeing the headlines, you know, when they pump gas or they’re buying groceries, you know, they’re struggling to make ends meet,” Crane said on a podcast in 2024. “They’re wondering, why the hell are we sending, you know, hundreds of billions of dollars over to a country that most people can’t find on a map and escalate a war with the biggest nuclear superpower in the world? 

In 2022, Crane made similar comments on another podcast.

“It’s just that I have to ask myself, are we putting Americans first? And I don’t believe that we are. And so that’s something when I continue to see us send more money that we don’t even have, we have to print this money because we already are… I think, $33 trillion in debt,” Crane said about the Ukraine conflict. “You know, it really bothers me because we continue to spend money that we don’t have on, you know, protecting somebody else’s sovereignty and border.” 

Likewise, Crane’s website no longer features his pledge to “rein in reckless spending” and practice fiscal responsibility. 

“As a small business owner, Eli knows you can’t just print money. As inflation rates and our national debt skyrockets, Congress continues to spend money we don’t have. This is unacceptable and Eli has consistently gone against the grain, voting to rein in reckless spending,” the website previously read.

Now, after he voted for the debt-boosting One Big Beautiful Bill, and as inflation continues to rise under Trump, that section of the website has been deleted.

Crane’s rewrite of his “issues” page also signified a shift in focus from national politics to local matters. The old version didn’t mention rural Arizona once, while the new page features sections on protecting rural Arizona land, recovering from natural disasters — like the flood in 2025 that devastated Globe — and helping Arizonans achieve the American Dream.

Crane, whose campaign did not respond to a request for comment from the Arizona Mirror, isn’t the only Republican in the country making similar moves. Two Kentucky Republicans have removed mentions and photos of Trump from their campaign websites, as Republicans nationally are grappling with the president’s rising unpopularity among voters. 

Although Crane’s district has historically been safe for Republicans — Trump won it by 15 points in 2024 — that may not be the case this year. New polling from his opponent, former Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez, showed the race statistically tied as of late August.

Crane was already seen as potentially vulnerable earlier this year, which prompted national GOP leaders to funnel cash into his campaign. The changes to Crane’s website also extended to his “about” page which has removed references to his anti-abortion stance, replacing it with a quote from Crane saying he is “committed to putting Rural Arizona first.”