But What Can You Do? tracks where 2026 candidates stand on U.S. weapons and funding for the government of Israel. How we check
Tom Cotton
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You asked Tom Cotton where they stand.
Deep Dive
Cotton is Arkansas's senior senator, seeking a third term, and one of the Senate's most direct voices on this question.
In May 2024, when the administration paused a bomb shipment, he introduced the Israel Security Assistance Support Act with twenty-three Republican cosponsors. It would have compelled delivery of the withheld weapons and cancelled the salary of any Defense or State Department official who acted to withhold them. His announcement called the pause "a de facto arms embargo on Israel" and "a betrayal of one of our most important allies as it fights an existential war for survival".
He has also opposed tying weapons to conditions. In an October 2024 letter to the president about the threat to restrict arms over humanitarian access to Gaza, he wrote that "Denying Israel military aid is in direct opposition to the will of Congress", and added, of the administration: "Your administration insists on protecting a terrorist organization in the name of humanitarian aid."
On the aid question he is equally explicit. In a Senate floor speech in July 2025 he argued that hunger in Gaza is Hamas's doing rather than a shortage of supplies, that aid mechanisms run by the United Nations have been infiltrated, and that "Israel doesn't have any responsibility to send a single loaf of bread to Gaza." Months earlier he had put the same view more sharply, comparing the demand for aid to feeding an enemy in wartime. His votes match all of it: every resolution that would have blocked a specific arms sale or export licence to the government of Israel, he voted against.
The record
Supported sending weapons or funding in 10 of 10 tracked votes
Senate Committee on Armed Services
• Voted Nay on all nine Senate joint resolutions of disapproval seeking to block or condition U.S. arms sales to the government of Israel across three Congresses: S.J.Res. 111 (roll 292), S.J.Res. 113 (roll 293), and S.J.Res. 115 (roll 294) on Nov. 20, 2024; S.J.Res. 33 (roll 165) and S.J.Res. 26 (roll 166) on Apr. 3, 2025; S.J.Res. 41 (roll 454) and S.J.Res. 34 (roll 455) on Jul. 30, 2025; and S.J.Res. 32 (roll 80) and S.J.Res. 138 (roll 81) on Apr. 15, 2026. A Nay vote was a vote against discharging/advancing each disapproval resolution, i.e., in favor of allowing the arms transfers.
• Introduced the Israel Security Assistance Support Act (S., May 14, 2024) with 23 Republican co-sponsors, which would force the administration to complete delivery of weapons to Israel and cancel the salary of any Defense or State Department official who acted to withhold weapon deliveries to Israel.
How this mark works
We track key votes on sending U.S. weapons and money to the government of Israel. A check means every tracked vote they cast came down against sending more, on the side of peace and de-escalation. A question mark means a mixed record: they sided with sending up to half of the time. An X means they voted to send more weapons and money in over half of their tracked votes, even as the way those weapons and dollars were being used became more and more obvious. At exactly half, money this election cycle from a lobbying group we track, or an endorsement from a group that backs sending weapons, makes it an X. Only votes actually cast are counted. Where a candidate has no recorded votes on these bills, the mark comes instead from a reviewed reading of their public record (money from the lobbying groups we track, endorsements, and their own words since January 26, 2024). There an X also covers fully backing the conduct of the war by the government of Israel without significant reservations, and a question mark also covers speaking about Israel without saying clearly where they stand on U.S. weapons and funding. A dash means No Position Found: we found nothing in their own words about Israel, Gaza or the war.
See a dash? Ask the candidate where they stand, then send us their answer and we'll review it and update the mark. Or volunteer to help review candidates.
Voted to send weapons or funding in more than half of their recorded tracked votes. (Supported sending weapons or funding in 10 of 10 tracked votes.)
The money
$22K in lifetime support from the five lobbying groups we track
In their words
AIPAC (2026 endorsement)
Research log
The notes behind this card: what we looked at, what we found, and where each item came from.
U.S. military aid and weapons to Israel
- [Position, 2024-05-14] Introduced the Israel Security Assistance Support Act with twenty-three Republican cosponsors, verified verbatim: "President Biden's decision to impose a de facto arms embargo on Israel is a betrayal of one of our most important allies as it fights an existential war for survival. This bill will reverse Joe Biden's arms embargo and withhold the salaries of officials who implement it." A colleague's release on the same bill sets out its mechanics.
- [Position, 2024-06-20] Statement that the administration was delaying arms shipments, accompanying a letter to the president about stalled congressional notifications.
- [Position, 2024-10-16] Letter to President Biden opposing conditioning arms on humanitarian access to Gaza: "Denying Israel military aid is in direct opposition to the will of Congress, as expressed in the Israeli security supplemental passed earlier this year. Unilaterally threatening to cut off aid by declaring Israel in violation of U.S. law also ignores Congress's oversight role. Your administration insists on protecting a terrorist organization in the name of humanitarian aid."
- [Position, 2024 to 2026] Nine recorded votes against motions to discharge arms-sale disapproval resolutions, each cross-checked against the official roll call, for example S.J.Res. 111 and S.J.Res. 138. The card renders them; the prose does not re-list them.
- [Position, 2026, unread carrier] He is reported to have sponsored provisions of the Senate intelligence authorisation bill limiting a president's power to suspend intelligence sharing with Israel without notifying Congress. The carriers offered are a Facebook post that does not answer us and an opinion column that discusses the trend rather than his sponsorship. Not used on the card.
- [Reaction window, 2023-10-07] Statement on the day of the attack: "The United States should provide Israel the military and diplomatic support it needs to destroy Hamas. And the Biden administration should cease all engagement with Iran." Not on the card summary.
U.S. aid to Palestinians
- [Position, 2025-07-31] Senate floor speech, "Hamas is to Blame for Suffering in Gaza", on his own Senate site, opened and confirmed word for word. He argues that hunger in Gaza reflects Hamas diverting aid rather than any shortage: "children in Gaza aren't going hungry because of a lack of supplies from Israel; they're suffering because Hamas uses food and humanitarian aid as a weapon to stay in power." He describes United Nations aid pallets sitting undistributed, says the aid system "allowed Hamas to rake in more than half-a-billion dollars in profit", and concludes: "Put simply, Israel doesn't have any responsibility to send a single loaf of bread to Gaza."
- [Position, 2025-03-04] Earlier the same year he defended the decision to block aid entering Gaza, by analogy to Allied policy toward enemy states in the Second World War. The analogy is his; the card does not repeat it, and it is recorded here.
- [Position, 2024-10-16] The letter above is also a position on aid, in the negative: he objected to the administration using humanitarian access to Gaza as a condition on weapons.
Characterization of the conflict
- Carried inside the statements above, and in the July 2025 speech, which characterises the reporting of famine in Gaza as a Hamas propaganda campaign amplified by "gullible senators".
- [Position, 2025-02-11] Joined senators introducing a resolution that Hamas must not retain control of Gaza. The release named for it, on a colleague's Senate site, returns 403 to us, so it is not linked.
Related rhetoric and lobbying
- [Earlier record, 2021-07-29] Co-introduced a bill on country-of-origin labelling for goods made in Israeli-controlled areas. Predates the war; kept as history.
- American Israel Public Affairs Committee support this cycle and Republican Jewish Coalition lifetime support are badges on this card and are not restated.
- An advocacy site, https://www.boughtbyzionism.org/tom_cotton, catalogues his record and donations. It opens, but it is a campaigning page rather than a document, so nothing is taken from it.
Safety and antisemitism (context)
- [Position, 2024-04-16] The Guardian reported his remarks about demonstrators blocking roads.
- [Position, 2024-04-23] Called for the National Guard to be sent to university campuses.
- [Position, 2024-05-01] At a press conference with Senate colleagues on campus protests; Axios covered his remarks.
- [Position, 2025-03-11] Introduced two bills aimed at universities and at students convicted of offences during campus demonstrations.
- These are context on his approach to protest and antisemitism, not answers on what the United States sends, and they are not used as such.
Race and status context
- Republican nominee for re-election; his cosponsor and vote sources are the official Senate roll-call pages linked from the card.
- The Democratic candidate in the same race has her own card on this site.
Also in this race
- –No Position Found Hallie Shoffner (Democrat)
- ?Mixed Jeff Wadlin (Libertarian)
All Arkansas candidates.
See everyone on the Arkansas ballot →But What Can You Do? tracks where 2026 candidates stand on U.S. weapons and funding for the government of Israel. Every claim on this page goes through at least two verification steps. Open Find Your Candidates for votes, funding and contact details.