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

James Pericola

Democrat · U.S. House, Florida District 11
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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.

No recorded votes on the bills we track. We found nothing in their own words about Israel, Gaza or the war.

Nothing located as of September 2026 quotes Pericola on U.S. weapons or money for the government of Israel, or on U.S. aid to Palestinians. His campaign site sets out five priorities, all of them domestic, and his answers to a candidate questionnaire never reach foreign policy.

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Deep Dive

James Pericola is the Democratic nominee in Florida's 11th District, the Central Florida seat that runs through Lake, Marion and Sumter counties and the western edge of Orange County. Daniel Webster, who has held the seat since 2011, withdrew from the Republican primary, so the seat is open. Pericola is a Winter Garden attorney who began in public service as a staff assistant to Senator Bob Graham and served in the Clinton administration as special assistant to the chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board. He won the Democratic primary on August 18, 2026 with 46.3 percent of the vote and faces the Republican nominee Joe Strada and the Libertarian Ralph Groves on November 3.

What he has published says nothing on this question. His campaign site is one page, in English and in Spanish, and the five things it says he will fight for are Social Security and Medicare, affordable health care, housing and insurance costs, taxes for working families, and voting rights. He answered every question on a candidate questionnaire he submitted in July 2026, including one that invited him to name the policy areas he cares about most, and named health care; no question on that form asks about foreign policy and he raised none. The five issue statements his campaign wrote for a second voter guide cover the same ground. In a nine-question interview with a Winter Garden newspaper in August 2026 he came close to the subject once, arguing that Washington should ask why it can find trillions of dollars for endless wars while treating Social Security as an impossible expense. He named no country and no program.

There is one place that may hold an answer, and it could not be read. Our research found a candidate interview with him published by a Florida political news site in August 2026, and that page refuses to open here. Nothing from it is quoted or claimed anywhere on this card, and its address is printed on his research page so that anyone who can open it may check it. His campaign's accounts on Facebook, Instagram and X could not be read either, and their addresses are there too.

An empty record carries no implication either way. You are better placed to change this than we are. Ask Pericola directly, or at a candidate forum, and send us the reply: it goes on this page in his own words, which is worth more than anything we could write about him.

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.

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 2026-09-16 unless the entry says otherwise. His whole campaign site was read, in English and in Spanish, along with his Ballotpedia page and the candidate survey it carries, his BallotReady profile, the Ballotpedia page for this race, and a nine-question newspaper interview read through an archived copy. Bands: Position (2024-01-26 onward), Reaction window (2023-10-07 to 2024-01-25), Earlier record (before 2023-10-07), Undated. Pericola has never held office, so none of the congressional votes this site tracks is his, 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 located, at any date, in anything that could be read. No statement by him about arms transfers, weapons shipments, Foreign Military Financing, security assistance, conditions on aid or any bill on those subjects appears on his campaign site in either language, in his Ballotpedia survey answers, in his BallotReady issue statements, or in the August 2026 newspaper interview read for this card.
  • One source is reported to carry an answer from him and could not be read: a candidate interview published by Florida Politics, at https://floridapolitics.com/archives/813913-james-pericola-dems-need-to-give-people-something-to-vote-for-not-just-someone-to-vote-against/ . Our research reported that it is dated August 14, 2026 and that in it he says U.S. defense aid to the government of Israel “should not be a blank check” and that “we can stand by an ally while insisting that American assistance be used responsibly and in a way that reflects our values.” That page returned a refusal to a desktop browser identity and a payment-required response to a rendering retrieval, and the Internet Archive holds no copy of it, so none of that wording has been checked against the page it is said to be on and none of it is published on this card. The address is printed here rather than linked because it does not open.

U.S. aid to Palestinians

  • Nothing located, at any date. Neither the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, nor humanitarian funding for Gaza, nor the aid pipeline appears anywhere in his published material.

Characterization of the conflict

  • Nothing located, at any date, in anything that could be read. The words Israel, Gaza, Palestinian, Hamas, Middle East and foreign policy appear nowhere on his campaign site, in his survey answers, in his issue statements or in the newspaper interview. Our research reported further remarks from the same unread interview, in which he is said to have called the suffering of children and families broadcast from the war unacceptable, to have said the government of Israel has a right to exist and defend its people while supporting it does not mean supporting every decision of the Netanyahu administration, and to have said the aim should be ending the conflict through diplomacy. None of that has been checked against the page and none of it is published on this card.
  • [Position, 2026-08-05] His interview with the West Orange Times & Observer, read through the Internet Archive's copy of August 7, 2026, by Leticia Silva. Nine questions, on his qualifications, his opponents, Daniel Webster's tenure, a letter grade for the House, how constituents would experience his service, the district's three most pressing issues, Social Security, health care, term limits, and working with the Senate and the president. The nearest he comes to this subject is in the Social Security answer: “We need to reprioritize our spending and ask why Washington can find trillions of dollars for endless wars and billions for wasteful projects, but treats protecting Social Security as an impossible expense.” It names no country, no weapons and no aid programme, and it is recorded here as what it is. The live page does not open; the archived copy opens.

Israel-related rhetoric and lobbying

  • Nothing located, at any date. No statement by him about the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, about any other advocacy organization on this subject, or about money connected to any of them was found.
  • [Position, read 2026-09-16] His single endorsement recorded on Ballotpedia outside the list he gives himself is from a Florida and nationwide voter guide run by Sara Wiles on the Sway platform, headed “Make Florida Affordable Again”. Its page carries recommendations and no candidate answers, and it is not an organization on this subject. The endorsements he lists in his own survey answers are Rep. Jim McGovern, state Rep. Rita Harris, Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer, Orlando Commissioner Tom Keen, former school board member Jennifer Jenkins and the 2024 Democratic nominee in this district, Barbie Harden Hall.

Safety and antisemitism

  • Nothing located, at any date. Nothing in his published material addresses antisemitism or the safety of any religious community.

What his campaign site and his own pages say

  • [Position; the pages carry no date and were read 2026-09-16] His campaign site is a single page with four sections, published in English and in Spanish. The five priorities under “What James will fight for” are: opposing cuts to or privatisation of Social Security and Medicare and letting Medicare negotiate drug prices; protecting the Affordable Care Act; federal funding for the housing crisis and property insurance costs; eliminating income tax for people earning under $100,000 and cutting taxes for middle-class families; and ending gerrymandering and passing the John Lewis Voting Rights Act. The record section describes his work for Senator Bob Graham, his Clinton administration appointment at the National Transportation Safety Board, and his later government affairs career. Foreign policy appears nowhere on the page, and a search of its text for israel, gaza, palestin, hamas, antisemit, jewish, aipac, weapon and middle east returns nothing.
  • [Position, submitted 2026-07-15; read 2026-09-16] Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey. He answered every question on the form at length. His three key messages are affordability, protecting Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, and protecting democracy; the policy area he says he is personally passionate about is health care; and his answers on his own life, his mentor and the legacy he wants are domestic throughout. No question on the form asks about foreign policy, and he raised none. The form's silence on this subject is a fact about the form; his own silence, on a form that invited him to name what he cares about most, is recorded here for what it is worth.
  • [Position, read 2026-09-16] BallotReady's profile carries five issue statements from his campaign, under health care, housing, legislation, social services, and taxes and budget. They repeat the campaign site's five priorities. None of them mentions foreign policy.

The race

  • [Read 2026-09-16] Ballotpedia's page for him: “James Pericola (D), Joe Strada (R), and Ralph Groves (L) are running in the general election for U.S. House Florida District 11 on November 3, 2026,” and “There are no incumbents in this race.” He took 20,477 votes and 46.3 percent in the Democratic primary of August 18, 2026, ahead of Royal Webster and Dan Williams. Joe Strada won the Republican primary with 33.5 percent in a field of five, and the Libertarian primary was cancelled, so Ralph Groves advanced without appearing on a ballot. Daniel Webster, who has represented the district since 2011, is listed among the withdrawn Republican candidates. The page carries the standing caution that its candidate list may not be complete.

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

  • https://floridapolitics.com/archives/813913-james-pericola-dems-need-to-give-people-something-to-vote-for-not-just-someone-to-vote-against/ . This is the one page that could change this card. It refused a desktop browser identity with a challenge page and returned a payment-required response to a rendering retrieval, and a search of the Internet Archive's index for that address returns no snapshot at all. Its address is printed here rather than linked because it does not open.
  • https://www.orangeobserver.com/news/2026/aug/05/meet-11th-congressional-district-democratic-candidate-james-pericola/ , the live address of the newspaper interview above, which does not open. The Internet Archive's copy of August 7, 2026 opens and was read in full, and that is the address linked above.
  • His campaign's accounts and his personal accounts, all listed as his by Ballotpedia and the first four verified as his by BallotReady: https://www.facebook.com/votejamespericola , https://www.instagram.com/votejamespericola/ , https://x.com/JamesPericola , https://www.facebook.com/james.pericola , https://www.instagram.com/jamespericola/ and https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-pericola-a1512015/ . The X profile loads far enough to show the account is his, headed “James Pericola (@JamesPericola)”, “Candidate for Congress | FL CD 11”, opened in June 2026 with 127 posts and 69 followers; the posts themselves need a signed-in reader. The Facebook and Instagram pages returned nothing readable.
  • The League of Women Voters' Vote411 guide for the November election, which the League said would go live on September 14, 2026. No entry for this district was found on 2026-09-16.

Not on the card, and why

  • The whole of his platform and all of his questionnaire and interview answers on Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, health care, prescription drugs, housing, property insurance, groceries, utilities, taxes, gerrymandering, voting rights, term limits, campaign finance and congressional oversight: real positions, but not about U.S. weapons or money for the government of Israel, or about U.S. aid to Palestinians. They are listed above so the absence can be checked.
  • His remark about Washington finding trillions of dollars for endless wars. It names no country, no weapons and no aid programme, and it is an argument about how to fund Social Security. It is quoted in full above.
  • Everything our research drew from the Florida Politics interview, including the phrase about a blank check. The page it is said to be on could not be read and has no archived copy, so none of the wording has been checked at its own source.
  • His endorsements, and what the endorsing people and guide said about him. Other people's recommendations, and no position is inferred from one.
  • Joe Strada's and Ralph Groves's records, and the answers of the two candidates he beat in the primary. Another candidate's material belongs on that candidate's own card.

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

  • https://jamespericola.com/ and https://jamespericola.com/es (opened; 2026-09-16)
  • https://ballotpedia.org/James_Pericola (opened; 2026-09-16; survey submitted 2026-07-15)
  • https://www.ballotready.org/people/james-pericola (opened; 2026-09-16)
  • https://web.archive.org/web/20260807154711/https://www.orangeobserver.com/news/2026/aug/05/meet-11th-congressional-district-democratic-candidate-james-pericola/ (opened; 2026-09-16; the interview is dated 2026-08-05 and the copy was taken 2026-08-07)
  • https://www.sway.co/g/sara-wiles (opened; 2026-09-16; a recommendation list with no candidate answers)
  • https://x.com/JamesPericola (the profile opened, the posts did not; 2026-09-16)
  • https://floridapolitics.com/archives/813913-james-pericola-dems-need-to-give-people-something-to-vote-for-not-just-someone-to-vote-against/ (could not open; 2026-09-16; no archived copy exists)
  • https://www.orangeobserver.com/news/2026/aug/05/meet-11th-congressional-district-democratic-candidate-james-pericola/ (could not open live; 2026-09-16; read through the Internet Archive)
  • https://www.facebook.com/votejamespericola , https://www.instagram.com/votejamespericola/ , https://www.facebook.com/james.pericola , https://www.instagram.com/jamespericola/ and https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-pericola-a1512015/ (could not open; 2026-09-16)
  • This is a record of what was checked on 2026-09-16, not a claim that no statement exists anywhere.

Also in this race

  1. – Joe Strada (Republican)
  2. ? Ralph Groves (Libertarian)

All Florida candidates.

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.