But What Can You Do? tracks where 2026 candidates stand on U.S. weapons and funding for the government of Israel. How we check
John Hickenlooper
- Backed with $3K by PACs we track that support U.S. weapons funding for the government of Israel (lifetime)
- Endorsed by AIPAC
Hickenlooper voted against blocking U.S. arms sales to the government of Israel through 2024 and 2025, then in 2026 voted to block one. On Gaza he said "we must get food, water, and medical supplies to the civilians who desperately need them" (research).
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You asked John Hickenlooper where they stand.
Deep Dive
Hickenlooper is Colorado's junior senator, seeking a second term. His record on this question has changed, and the change is the part worth reading.
For two years he declined to block particular weapons sales. Every resolution of disapproval that reached the Senate floor between November 2024 and July 2025 he voted against discharging, which meant letting the sale proceed. Those sales can be named. In November 2024 they were 120-millimetre tank rounds, high-explosive mortar rounds and JDAM bomb guidance kits, at a reported death toll of 43,985. In April 2025 they were roughly $8.8 billion of bombs and guidance kits, $2.04 billion of it 2,000-pound bombs, at a reported 50,523 killed, 17,954 of them children. In July 2025 they were 1,000-pound bombs with JDAM kits and a sale of automatic rifles, at a reported 60,138 killed. In April 2026 he voted the other way, on a resolution to block a proposed foreign military sale to the government of Israel and on a second resolution the same day; the two covered $295 million of armoured bulldozers and $151.8 million of 1,000-pound bombs, and the reported toll had reached 72,344 killed, 20,179 of them children. Both motions still failed. That is a reversal, and the votes on this card show it in both directions. Nothing he has said explains the change.
On the other half of the question he has been consistent and loud. In May 2025 he joined twenty-seven senators calling on the administration to end the blockade of food and medical supplies into Gaza, saying in his own name: "The humanitarian crisis in Gaza is dire. To prevent even more harm and save countless lives, we must get food, water, and medical supplies to the civilians who desperately need them." His office lists a longer trail behind that: fuel for hospitals and water treatment plants, and American funding to meet a $294 million United Nations emergency appeal. Two months later he joined forty-three Democrats demanding the State Department press for a large expansion of humanitarian aid.
So the two halves of his record point in different directions, and he has said why on only one of them. He supports security assistance to the government of Israel while pressing hard for more American-backed aid to Palestinians. His fullest explanation of why he would not cut weapons off is dated and set out on his research page.
The record
Supported sending weapons or funding in 8 of 10 tracked votes
• Nov 20, 2024: Voted Nay on the motions to discharge S.J.Res. 111, 113, and 115 (roll calls 292, 293, 294), the Sanders resolutions to block specified U.S. arms sales to the government of Israel; all three motions were rejected.
• Apr 3, 2025 and Jul 30, 2025: Voted Nay on the motions to discharge S.J.Res. 33 and 26 (roll calls 165, 166) and S.J.Res. 41 and 34 (roll calls 454, 455), each of which would have blocked proposed U.S. arms sales or defense-article exports to the government of Israel; all were rejected.
• Apr 15, 2026: Voted Yea on the motion to discharge S.J.Res. 32 (roll call 80), a resolution to block a proposed U.S. foreign military sale to the government of Israel - a reversal from his 2024 and 2025 votes. The motion was rejected 40-59.
• Jul 29, 2025: Joined 43 Senate Democrats in a letter to Secretary of State Rubio and Special Envoy Witkoff urging a large-scale expansion of humanitarian assistance to Gaza and renewed diplomacy to end the war, while continuing to support U.S. security assistance 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 8 of 10 tracked votes.)
The money
$3K in lifetime support from the five lobbying groups we track
In their words
Reproductive Freedom for All · 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, 2024-11-20 to 2025-07-30] Voted Nay on each motion to discharge the disapproval resolutions on specific arms sales and export licences to the government of Israel, seven votes across three days, each cross-checked against the official roll call, for example S.J.Res. 111. Each Nay left the sale in place.
- [Position, 2026-04-15] Voted Yea on the motion to discharge S.J.Res. 32, which would have blocked a proposed foreign military sale to the government of Israel. Motion rejected 40 to 59. A reversal of the earlier pattern, and the reason the card describes a change rather than a position. No statement from him explaining it was found in either pass.
- [Position, 2024-04-23] Voted for the national security supplemental carrying military aid to the government of Israel.
- [Position, 2025-08-01] In constituent correspondence he set out the frame he has used throughout: support for "Israel's right to defend itself" and for "upholding its long term security as our closest ally in the Middle East", alongside the condition that "Israel must adhere to international law, including allowing aid into Gaza and protecting civilians from harm." The text reaches us through a constituent-letter platform and a reader forum rather than his own site, so it is recorded here and not quoted on the card.
- [Reaction window, 2024-01-16] Statement on the Sanders resolution about conditioning U.S. aid: "The high rate of civilian casualties and ongoing humanitarian crisis in Gaza needs to end. We continue to urge Israel to follow international law and take all necessary precautions to limit civilian harm in its war with Hamas." And: "This resolution asks essential questions of Israeli actions, but unfortunately gives the State Department very little time before potentially cutting off all U.S. aid. We will investigate all allegations of human rights violations, but those reviews shouldn’t be rushed." Not on the card summary. It is his clearest explanation of the early votes, and it stays here.
U.S. aid to Palestinians
- [Position, 2025-05-20] Joined twenty-seven senators introducing a resolution calling for an end to the blockade on humanitarian aid into Gaza. His own words on his own release: "The humanitarian crisis in Gaza is dire. To prevent even more harm and save countless lives, we must get food, water, and medical supplies to the civilians who desperately need them." Confirmed word for word. The same release records his earlier calls for fuel deliveries to hospitals and water treatment facilities and for funding to meet the United Nations' $294 million emergency appeal.
- [Position, 2025-07-29] Letter with forty-three Senate Democrats to the Secretary of State and the special envoy, urging a large-scale expansion of humanitarian aid into Gaza and renewed diplomacy: "The acute humanitarian crisis in Gaza is also unsustainable and worsens by the day. Hunger and malnutrition are widespread, and, alarmingly, deaths due to starvation, especially among children, are increasing." Senator Bennet's copy carries a publication date of 2025-07-29. Direction named: for more U.S.-backed humanitarian aid to Palestinians in Gaza. Multi-signatory, so only the joint wording is used.
Characterization of the conflict
- [Position, 2024-02-20] Joined twenty-four colleagues in a letter supporting negotiations for a mutual ceasefire and hostage release, which says it is in the vital national interest of Israel that Hamas be removed from power in Gaza, and warns that without a break in the fighting conditions for civilians will become more catastrophic. Collective wording.
- [Position, 2025-10-09] Statement welcoming the ceasefire and hostage deal, calling it a welcome first step towards lasting peace.
- [Reaction window, 2023-10-10 and 2023-11-08] His statement on the attack and his newsletter on Gaza, in which he calls for a humanitarian pause. Not on the card summary.
Related rhetoric and lobbying
- [Earlier record, 2019-07-23] Jewish News Syndicate interview: the relationship had become "dramatically more partisan", and "We don't have to agree with every action of every Israeli government to recognize that Israeli people deserve real security." Predates the war; kept as history.
- [Position, 2025-02-25] Listed as an endorsed candidate by J Street's political arm.
- Democratic Majority for Israel lifetime support of $3,000 is a badge on this card and is not restated.
- An advocacy site, https://www.boughtbyzionism.org/john_hickenlooper, 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, 2024-04-17] Cosponsored the bipartisan Antisemitism Awareness Act.
- [Position, 2025-06-05] With the Colorado delegation, introduced a bipartisan resolution condemning the attack on a hostage awareness march in Boulder; the House sponsor's copy is dated 2025-06-05.
- [Position, 2025-06-17] With Colorado's senior senator, pressed for the Nonprofit Security Grant Program to be raised to $500 million and for synagogues and community centres to be able to hire permanent security staff.
- [Position, 2025-07-25] Co-led a letter demanding answers about antisemitic output from an artificial-intelligence chatbot.
- All of this is context. None of it is treated as an answer on what the United States sends.
Race and status context
- Democratic nominee for re-election after the June 2026 primary, per Colorado Public Radio's results and Ballotpedia.
- Other candidates in this race have their own cards on this site.
Also in this race
- –No Position Found Mark Baisley (Republican)
- ?Mixed Bob Chew (Other)
- ✓Opposes Adam Withrow (Other)
All Colorado candidates.
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