But What Can You Do? tracks where 2026 candidates stand on U.S. weapons and funding for the government of Israel. How we check
Gay Valimont
Democrat · U.S. House, Florida District 1
✓Opposes
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.
Two reviewers, reading the public record as a whole, agree: In an August 2026 Facebook reply she wrote that "Netanyahu is a war criminal" and "We shouldn't give one more dime" to Israel, with nothing pointing the other way. Reviewed by hand on 2026-10-09. This candidate has no recorded tracked floor votes.
Gay Valimont is the Democratic nominee in Florida’s 1st District, the Panhandle seat running from Pensacola to Panama City. She is a Pensacola gun violence prevention organizer who led Moms Demand Action in Florida, and this is her third run at the seat: she lost to Matt Gaetz in November 2024 and to Jimmy Patronis in the April 2025 special election, and the Democratic primary was cancelled this year because no one else filed. She, Patronis and an independent, Tyler Davis, are on the ballot on November 3, 2026.
Her own materials say nothing on the subject at all. Her campaign site was read in full, and its priorities page sets out eight areas, from insurance costs to a full-service veterans’ hospital, with no foreign policy among them. She completed Ballotpedia’s candidate survey in 2024 and again in March 2026, answering every question both times, and named foreign policy as an area she is personally passionate about without saying anything further about it. At a candidate forum in Niceville days before the August 2026 primary, the claims she made that a local outlet checked were about health insurance premiums and staffing at veterans’ hospitals.
One thing more has been reported and is not confirmed. Replies to voters under a video on her campaign Facebook page on August 19, 2026 are said to carry answers from her about American money for the government of Israel, about the Israeli prime minister, and about whether she would take money from a pro-Israel lobbying group. The post opens and its caption reads, but the replies themselves are not visible without signing in to that service, and no other account of them was found. What is reported of them, and the address, are on her research page so you can look for yourself.
You are better placed to close this than we are. Ask Valimont directly, or at a candidate forum, and send us the reply: it goes on this page in her own words, which is worth more than anything we could write about her.
The money
Checked the five lobbying groups we track; no direct 2026 support found
2026 support from the five lobbying groups we track
Nothing recorded (as of 2026-09-27) from the five lobbying groups we track; earlier cycles and earmarked donations not yet tracked.
Support-only OpenFEC data. Opposition independent expenditures are excluded.
In their words
“Donald Trump wants to build a hotel on the graves of babies,”
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 2026-09-07 unless the entry says otherwise. Her campaign site was read in full, all nine pages, and both of her completed Ballotpedia surveys were read under her own name. Bands: Position (2024-01-26 onward), Reaction window (2023-10-07 to 2024-01-25), Earlier record (before 2023-10-07), Undated. Valimont has never held office, so none of the congressional votes this site tracks are hers, and no funding from the committees this site tracks is recorded on this record.
U.S. military aid and weapons to the government of Israel
Nothing confirmed, at any date. No statement by her about arms transfers, weapons shipments, Foreign Military Financing, security assistance or any bill on those subjects was found on her campaign site, in either of her Ballotpedia surveys, in her three campaign press releases, or in any of the news reports read for this card.
[Position, 2026-08-19; reported, not confirmed] Replies attributed to her under a video posted to her campaign Facebook page after the August 18, 2026 primary. In them she is said to have answered a voter asking where she stands on Israel with the words “We shouldn’t give one more dime to Isreal”, the misspelling included. The post itself opens and its caption is readable, and it carries 72 comments of which two are shown; the rest, and the three replies the page records from her, are behind a sign-in. No other account of the exchange was found. The address is www.facebook.com/gayvalimont/posts/913973761788181/, which the same page also serves as www.facebook.com/reel/2162202234702810/. It is printed here rather than linked because the words attributed to her cannot be read at it.
U.S. aid to Palestinians
Nothing located, at any date. No statement by her on Gaza humanitarian funding, the aid pipeline or UNRWA was found.
Characterization of the conflict
[Position, 2025-03-16, reported 2025-03-17] People’s World’s report on the two Florida special elections, which describes a March 16 session of Progressive Democrats of America at which she took questions. It reports: “Asked about Gaza, she said ‘it’s bad,’ of Trump’s unleashing of the Israeli government—and his plans to annex Gaza and turn it into a resort. ‘Donald Trump wants to build a hotel on the graves of babies,’ Valimont said.” And, in the paragraph that follows: “The Palestinians are not Hamas and they have paid the price for what Hamas did.” The same paragraph reports that she said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “will pay,” too, for his retaliation; that phrase sits inside the reporter’s own sentence and is recorded here as printed rather than rebuilt into a sentence of hers. The article is dated March 17, 2025 and the session it describes is March 16, 2025.
[Position, 2026-08-19; reported, not confirmed] In the same Facebook replies described above she is said to have written “Netanyahu is a war criminal”. Not confirmed.
Related rhetoric and lobbying
[Position, 2026-08-19; reported, not confirmed] In the same Facebook replies she is said to have answered a question about the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, a lobbying group that works to strengthen U.S. support for the government of Israel, with the words “I don’t, would not take AIPAC money”. Not confirmed. A pledge to refuse a group’s money is not a position on what the United States sends, and it is recorded here on that footing.
[Position, read 2026-09-07] Her priorities page includes, under voting rights and democracy, a commitment to campaign finance reform “to reduce the influence of dark money in our politics”. It names no organization and says nothing about this subject.
[Position, 2026-08-12] Mid Bay News fact-checked what each candidate said at a Meet the Candidates forum held by the Okaloosa Democrats and the Poquito Bayou Community Association in Niceville the previous Thursday. The two claims of hers the outlet checked were about health insurance premiums and about staffing cuts at veterans’ hospitals. An attendee at the same forum asked Jimmy Patronis about a donation from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee; that exchange is his and is on his card. Nothing in the report has Valimont speaking about this subject.
[Undated; read 2026-09-07] iVoterGuide’s profile for her in the 2024 general election and its profile for the 2025 special election both carry the guide’s full questionnaire, including “Is the United States’ relationship with Israel important, and if so why?”. Every question on both forms is marked “Did not answer”, and the five biographical prompts are marked “Candidate did not provide”. A form nobody filled in is a fact about the form, not about the candidate, and nothing on this card rests on it.
Safety and antisemitism
Nothing located, at any date. Neither her campaign materials nor any coverage read carries a statement from her about antisemitism, hate crimes against Jewish communities or security for Jewish institutions. Her long record on gun violence prevention, including her decade with Moms Demand Action, is about firearms policy and is not a statement on this subject.
What her own materials do say
[Position, read 2026-09-07] gayforcongress.com. Nine pages, all read. The priorities page covers lower costs and inflation, healthcare access, veterans and military families, community safety, workers and small businesses, public education, immigration, and voting rights. There is no foreign policy section. The news page carries three press releases, all from 2025 and all about Engage Y’all! PAC, a committee she founded to fund Democratic campaigns in southern districts; two of the three are about a Tennessee special election. None of the nine pages uses the words Israel, Gaza, Palestinian, antisemitism, Jewish, foreign aid, Middle East, Hamas or foreign policy.
[Position, 2026-03-02] Her Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey for this race, submitted March 2, 2026. Her three key messages are affordable living and healthcare, veterans, and voting rights. Asked what areas of public policy she is personally passionate about she answered: “Healthcare, Education, Veterans Affairs, Foreign policy, term limits.” She was not asked, and did not say, anything further about foreign policy.
[Position, 2024-03-11] Her 2024 Candidate Connection survey, submitted March 11, 2024, answers every question at length on healthcare, equity, gun violence, term limits and her own life. Asked what committees interest her she answered: “Veterans Affairs, Armed Services, Education, Oversight, Ethics.” Israel, Gaza, foreign aid and weapons appear nowhere in it, and neither does any foreign policy content beyond a line about protecting elections from foreign interference. Ballotpedia also reproduces her 2024 campaign platform in full: healthcare, veterans, education, housing, environment, voting rights, equity and gun violence prevention, with no foreign policy section. She did not complete the 2025 survey.
[Undated; read 2026-09-07] Ballotpedia’s page for her: she is on the ballot in the general election on November 3, 2026 against incumbent Jimmy Patronis and Tyler Davis; the Democratic primary was cancelled and she advanced from it. She was the Democratic nominee against Matt Gaetz in November 2024 and against Patronis in the April 1, 2025 special election. WUWF reported her entry into the special election on November 18, 2024; that report contains nothing on this subject. Mid Bay News reports that she spent about $6.5 million on the 2025 campaign to Patronis’s $1.3 million.
Not on the card, and why
The healthcare, insurance, veterans, housing, education, immigration, gun violence and voting rights material that fills her platform and both of her surveys: real positions, but not about U.S. weapons or money for the government of Israel, or about U.S. aid to Palestinians. Listed above so the absence can be checked.
The iVoterGuide questionnaires: every question on both is unanswered, which says something about the form and nothing about her.
The words attributed to her in the August 2026 Facebook replies: they could not be read, and a reply to a voter in a comment thread is not treated here as a published statement. They are described above with the address.
Jimmy Patronis’s and Tyler Davis’s positions: they belong on their own cards.
Her endorsements and the pledges shown on her endorsements page: an endorsement is somebody else’s decision about her, and the page is images without text.
Sources retrieved for this card (address; opened or could not open; date)
https://www.gayforcongress.com/ and all nine pages listed in its own index (opened; 2026-09-07)
https://ballotpedia.org/Gay_Valimont (opened; 2026-09-07; carries her 2024 and 2026 surveys and her 2024 platform)
https://www.peoplesworld.org/article/social-security-rising-prices-gaza-war-key-issues-in-florida-special-elections/ (opened; 2026-09-07; published 2025-03-17)
https://midbaynews.com/post/birth-tourism-health-insurance-and-va-centers-we-fact-check-fl-1-house-candidates (opened; 2026-09-07; published 2026-08-12)
https://ivoterguide.com/candidate/85935/race/5122/election/1254 (opened; 2026-09-07; her 2024 general election profile)
https://ivoterguide.com/candidate/85935/race/22888/election/1275?culture=en-us (opened; 2026-09-07; her 2025 special election profile)
https://www.wuwf.org/local-news/2024-11-18/gay-valimont-announces-campaign-for-floridas-1st-congressional-district-special-election (opened; 2026-09-07; published 2024-11-18)
www.facebook.com/gayvalimont/posts/913973761788181/ (the post opened and its caption and two of 72 comments were read; the replies attributed to her are behind a sign-in; 2026-09-07)
www.facebook.com/MidBayNews/posts/895222363054445/ (could not open; 2026-09-07)
https://www.palestinechronicle.com/falling-from-grace-who-are-the-us-candidates-refusing-aipac-money/ (could not open; 2026-09-07)
https://www.timesofisrael.com/randy-fine-wins-florida-race-bringing-tally-of-jewish-republicans-in-congress-to-4/ (could not open; 2026-09-07; and it is about a different Florida district)
Her campaign’s other social accounts, which were not read for this card: https://x.com/gayvalimont, https://www.instagram.com/gayvalimontfl, https://www.tiktok.com/@gayvalimontfl, https://www.threads.com/@gayvalimontfl
This is a record of what was checked on 2026-09-07, not a claim that no statement exists anywhere.
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.
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