But What Can You Do? tracks where 2026 candidates stand on U.S. weapons and funding for the government of Israel. How we check

Neil J. Gillespie

Other · U.S. Senate, Florida
?
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.

Two reviewers, reading the public record as a whole, agree: In a September 2026 candidate-survey answer he says "Israel cannot protect Jews" and "Its wars are creating antisemitism worldwide", without saying where he stands on U.S. weapons and funding for the government of Israel. Reviewed by hand on 2026-10-09. This candidate has no recorded tracked floor votes.

Nothing located has Gillespie taking a position on U.S. weapons or money for the government of Israel, or on U.S. aid to Palestinians. His campaign messages say "Israel cannot protect Jews. Its wars are creating antisemitism worldwide." He holds Prime Minister Netanyahu responsible "for allowing October 7th to happen".

✉  Copy a message to send them

We don’t have a campaign email on file yet. Copy this message and send it through their website or a public social account.

If you send this from your own email, cc replies@butwhatcanyoudo.org so we can post their answer.

Deep Dive

Neil Gillespie, who calls himself "No Party Neil", is running with no party affiliation in the special election for the Senate seat Ashley Moody has held by appointment since Marco Rubio became secretary of state. He announced his campaign from Ocala and runs an advocacy group called Justice Network, and he says he is running because of what he calls lawfare and a lack of due process in the courts. He tried to run for president in 2024 and was disqualified in Florida. He faces Moody, the Republican, and Angie Nixon, the Democrat, on November 3. He has never held office, so there are no Senate votes on this record.

His answers to Ballotpedia's candidate questionnaire, submitted on September 30, 2026 and reposted on his campaign site, give as the third of his key messages "Guarantee the safety of Jews in the United States." Under that heading he writes: "Unfortunately, Israel cannot protect Jews. Its wars are creating antisemitism worldwide." He holds Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responsible "for allowing October 7th to happen, and for the war on Iran", and recalls that Yitzhak Rabin "made peace with the Palestinians (Oslo Accords)" before his assassination in 1995 ended the peace plan. In an essay on his earlier campaign blog, first published in March 2025, he wrote: "I oppose the slaughter of Jews and Palestinians in the Holy Land."

None of this says what he would do about U.S. weapons or money for the government of Israel, or about U.S. aid to Palestinians, and nothing located has him addressing either. You are better placed to ask him than we are: ask Gillespie directly, and send us the reply. It goes on this page in his own words.

In their words

“Unfortunately, Israel cannot protect Jews. Its wars are creating antisemitism worldwide.”
Source ↗, 2026-09-30

Research log

The notes behind this card: what we looked at, what we found, and where each item came from.

Every page named below was opened and read on 2026-10-05 unless the entry says otherwise. His campaign site was read: its home page with its sidebar, his August 2026 announcement, his July 2026 press release, and the three posts of October 5, 2026 that reproduce his answers to Ballotpedia, to the League of Women Voters of Palm Beach County and to the Daytona Regional Chamber of Commerce. Bands: Position (2024-01-26 onward), Reaction window (2023-10-07 to 2024-01-25), Earlier record (before 2023-10-07), Undated. Undated pages are recorded on the date we read them. Gillespie has never held office, so none of the Senate votes this site tracks is his, and no funding from the committees this site tracks is recorded on this record. Nothing located on this subject falls in the reaction window.

U.S. military aid and weapons to the government of Israel

  • Nothing located, at any date.

U.S. aid to Palestinians

  • Nothing located, at any date.

Characterization of the conflict

  • [Position, 2026-09-30] His Ballotpedia Candidate Connection answers, dated September 30, 2026 by Ballotpedia and reposted on his campaign site on October 5, 2026. His third key message reads in full: "Guarantee the safety of Jews in the United States. America is the promised land that defeated fascism in Europe in 1945. Hold Bibi responsible for allowing October 7th to happen, and for the war on Iran. Iran is Bibi's war, and it is a disaster. Unfortunately, Israel cannot protect Jews. Its wars are creating antisemitism worldwide. Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin made peace with the Palestinians (Oslo Accords). But on Nov-04-1995, an Israeli, Yigal Amir, murdered Rabin, ending the peace plan. Most of my family (Catholic) came to America from Ireland. My maternal great-grandmother was Jewish. We are not a "Christian Nation" as some claim. Catholics, Jews, Hindus, and Muslims are not "Christians"."
  • [Position, 2025-03-28; updated 2025-08-03] His essay "The Jews I love", on the blog of his 2024 presidential campaign, which his Senate site links. Near its end he writes that he follows two rabbis on YouTube, and: "I oppose the slaughter of Jews and Palestinians in the Holy Land." The essay recalls a 1984 conversation in which a Jewish partner told him Jews needed Israel as a "place to run to" for safety and he answered "You are safe in America". The page is dated March 28, 2025 and carries an update dated August 3, 2025, so the sentence quoted may belong to either date.

Israel-related rhetoric and lobbying

  • [Read 2026-10-05] His campaign site's sidebar carries an image link headed "Click for Florida AIPAC records", which leads to the Track AIPAC site's Florida page, and image links headed "I support Torah Jews Rabbi Shapiro", "I support Pearl and Frieda Vizel" and "I support Neturei Karta Rabbi Weiss", each leading to a YouTube video. Among the links on his essay's page, near links to videos by Rabbi Yisroel Dovid Weiss, is one reading "NKI is the voice of Religious Jews world wide in their Torah-based opposition to the State of Israel". The videos were not watched, and the headings are recorded here as what they say.
  • No statement by him about the American Israel Public Affairs Committee itself was found beyond the link heading above.

Safety and antisemitism (context, not an answer to what America sends)

  • [Position, 2026-09-30] His third key message, quoted in full above, opens "Guarantee the safety of Jews in the United States." This is the heading under which all of his statements on Israel appear.

What the campaign site and own pages say

  • [Position, 2026-08-19] His campaign announcement, made "from my campaign office in Ocala Florida" the day after the August 18 primary, is about George Washington's warning against political parties and his own independent candidacy.
  • [Position, 2026-07-22] His press release, updated July 29, 2026, says nothing about Israel.
  • [Position, 2026-10-05] His answers to the League of Women Voters of Palm Beach County (immigration, legislative priorities, free speech, education) and to the Daytona Regional Chamber of Commerce (why he is running, his experience, his priorities), both reposted on his site, contain nothing on foreign policy; neither questionnaire asked about it.
  • His Ballotpedia answers name his other key messages as separation of powers, including his view that lawyers admitted to practice should not hold elected office, and health care reform with a national coverage plan that people could opt out of.

The race

  • [Read 2026-10-05] Ballotpedia's race page: "Incumbent Ashley B. Moody (R), Angela Nixon (D), and Neil Gillespie (No Party Affiliation) are running in the special election for U.S. Senate in Florida on November 3, 2026." The winner serves the rest of the term Marco Rubio won in 2022; Governor Ron DeSantis appointed Moody on January 21, 2025. His Ballotpedia page records that he filed to run for president in 2024 and was disqualified in Florida.
  • [Position, 2026-09-25] PantherNow's guide to the race says he has focused on immigration, border security, the two-party system and the legal system. It reports nothing from him on Israel.
  • [Read 2026-10-05] A centrist political action committee's evaluation of the race declines to endorse anyone and says he has not published a full policy platform. It is a third party's judgment and reports nothing from him on Israel.

Places that could not be read, so nothing is claimed from them

  • His campaign's Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100063718713259 , his X account, https://x.com/Justice_Network , and his YouTube channel, https://www.youtube.com/@Neil4US.Senate , all listed by Ballotpedia, were not read.
  • The four videos his sidebar links (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rzYqimDCyjs , https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=92Q4LAxh_Ug , https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U2H-F0HVKDY and the Rabin video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UFpQOWWDM20 ) were not watched.
  • A copy of his essay on Scribd, https://www.scribd.com/document/852501679/THE-JEWS-I-LOVE-by-Neil-J-Gillespie , was not opened; the essay was read on his own blog.

Not on the card, and why

  • His statement that "Iran is Bibi's war, and it is a disaster": Iran is not this card's subject. It is in the deep dive only inside the sentence about October 7, and in full above.
  • His account of the Oslo Accords and Rabin's assassination: history, recorded in the deep dive and above, not a position on what the United States sends.
  • The sidebar links to Track AIPAC and to videos by rabbis: link headings, not statements of position on weapons or aid; the videos were not watched.
  • His positions on lawyers in office, the courts, health care, immigration and free speech: out of scope.
  • Ashley Moody's and Angie Nixon's records: they belong on their own cards.

Sources retrieved for this card (address; opened or could not open; date)

  • https://neilgillespie4senate.blogspot.com/2026/10/neil-j-gillespie-candidate-survey_083006531.html (opened; 2026-10-05; published 2026-10-05)
  • https://neilgillespie4senate.blogspot.com/ (opened; 2026-10-05)
  • https://neilgillespie4senate.blogspot.com/2026/08/neil-j-gillespie-for-us-senate.html (opened; 2026-10-05; published 2026-08-19)
  • https://neilgillespie4senate.blogspot.com/2026/07/press-release-no-party-neil-us-senate.html (opened; 2026-10-05; published 2026-07-22)
  • https://neilgillespie4senate.blogspot.com/2026/10/neil-j-gillespie-candidate-survey_0454663984.html and https://neilgillespie4senate.blogspot.com/2026/10/neil-j-gillespie-candidate-survey.html (opened; 2026-10-05; published 2026-10-05)
  • https://neil2024.blogspot.com/2025/03/the-jews-i-love.html (opened; 2026-10-05; published 2025-03-28, updated 2025-08-03)
  • https://ballotpedia.org/Neil_Gillespie (opened; 2026-10-05; survey dated 2026-09-30)
  • https://ballotpedia.org/United_States_Senate_special_election_in_Florida,_2026 (opened; 2026-10-05)
  • https://panthernow.com/2026/09/25/what-to-know-about-floridas-2026-senate-race/ (opened; 2026-10-05; published 2026-09-25)
  • https://centristindependentvoter.com/florida-u-s-senate-candidate-evaluation-no-endorsement/ (opened; 2026-10-05)
  • This is a record of what was checked on 2026-10-05, not a claim that no other statement exists.

Also in this race

  1. ✗ Ashley Moody (Republican)
  2. ✓ Angie Nixon (Democrat)

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.