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

Matthew Montavon

Democrat · U.S. House, Florida District 17
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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.

Two reviewers, reading the public record as a whole, agree: On his campaign site in September 2024 he says "Israel has a right to exist and to defend itself" but that "its actions in Gaza is also horrendous and unacceptable", which points both ways. Reviewed by hand on 2026-10-09. This candidate has no recorded tracked floor votes.

Nothing located as of September 2026 has Montavon taking a position on U.S. weapons or money for the government of Israel. His 2024 campaign site said the government of Israel had a right to defend itself, that its actions in Gaza were unacceptable, and that Palestinians need a homeland.

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Deep Dive

Matthew Montavon is the Democratic nominee in Florida’s 17th District, which covers most of Sarasota County, all of Charlotte County and part of Lee County, including part of Fort Myers. He was born in South Bend, Indiana, served two years in the Peace Corps, worked in planning and financial management for governments in West Virginia, Virginia and Washington, and spent twenty-seven years with the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization in Rome. He won the Democratic primary on August 18, 2026, his second run for the seat, and faces Representative Greg Steube and Michael Quirk, who has no party affiliation, on November 3.

On what the United States should send in weapons or money to the government of Israel, the record is empty. His platform sets out eleven headings, from free and fair elections and campaign finance to gun violence, reproductive freedom, education and the environment, and its foreign policy heading, Pursue Lasting Peace, is about Congress reclaiming its constitutional role: it says Congress alone has the authority to fund or not fund wars, to declare war and to finance overseas commitments, and names China and international trade. It mentions no country in the Middle East. He answered every question on Ballotpedia’s candidate survey in December 2025 and on the Fort Myers News-Press questionnaire in July 2026, and the News-Press question about international challenges and about Congress’s role in military action and foreign spending listed Russia, Ukraine, Iran, Cuba and Venezuela; his answer named those countries and no others. An empty record carries no implication either way.

The one time the question was put to him directly, he answered about a different war. At a primary forum on August 12, 2026, the community radio station WSLR asked both candidates about United States military aid to Israel and about checking executive authority over military decisions. Montavon’s reply was about the war with Iran: he called it Trump’s war rather than the Iran war, said the president was spending billions of dollars on a war Congress did not want, and said, “We’ve got to get Congress into place to question this and cut off funding.” He did not mention Israel, Gaza or aid.

His fullest statement on the conflict is two years old and is no longer published. When he ran for the same seat in 2024, the foreign policy section of his campaign site carried a heading on Israel and Gaza alongside ones on Ukraine and Cuba. It said: “The attack on Israel was horrendous. Israel has a right to exist and to defend itself but its actions in Gaza is also horrendous and unacceptable.” It went on to say that killing Palestinian family members and destroying their homes would generate another generation of terrorists, and that Palestinians need a homeland and there must be a two-state solution, a place of stability without Hamas. Neither that section nor anything like it appears on the site he is running on now. The wording is quoted here from a copy of that page preserved as it stood on September 19, 2024; the address itself no longer opens and is on his research page.

His campaign’s accounts on X, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and TikTok could not be read here, and their addresses are on his research page so that anyone who can open them may look.

You are better placed to close this than we are. Ask Montavon directly what the United States should send the government of Israel, and send us the reply: it goes on this page in his own words.

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

“The attack on Israel was horrendous. Israel has a right to exist and to defend itself but its actions in Gaza is also horrendous and unacceptable.”
Source ↗, 2024-09-19
“Palestinians need a homeland. We must have a two-state solution. A place of stability without Hamas. The sooner we move in that direction, rather than decades long war, the better off the region will be.”
Source ↗, 2024-09-19

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 2026-09-08 unless the entry says otherwise. His campaign site was read in full: its home page, biography, both versions of its platform page, its district page, its contact and petition pages, its Spanish pages and all twelve items in its news section. His Ballotpedia page including both candidate surveys, the two local radio pieces about his campaign, the Fort Myers News-Press questionnaire and result reports, and the statement he wrote for the Lee County Democratic Party were read as well. Bands: Position (2024-01-26 onward), Reaction window (2023-10-07 to 2024-01-25), Earlier record (before 2023-10-07), Undated. Montavon 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. No statement by him about arms transfers, weapons shipments, Foreign Military Financing, security assistance or any bill on those subjects appears on his campaign site, in either of the two candidate surveys he has completed for Ballotpedia, in the Fort Myers News-Press questionnaire, in either radio piece about his campaign, in the statement he wrote for his county party, or on the 2024 campaign site described below.
  • [Position, 2026-08-12; reported 2026-08-13] WSLR, the community radio station in Sarasota, broadcast a summary of the primary forum it hosted. Its own account of the question is: "U.S. military aid to Israel is backing the ongoing destruction in Gaza, and President Trump deployed the U.S. military to prosecute a war with Iran. WSLR asked both candidates if they would support reasserting Congress’ role in military decisions under a war powers resolution and how they would check executive authority on military aid." The station records that neither candidate said whether he would support a war powers resolution. Montavon's printed answer is: "Trump has basically done impeachable offenses. The war that we didn’t want—Congress didn’t want—and he’s executing this war, spending billions of dollars. It’s Trump’s war. I don’t call it the Iran war. It’s Trump’s war. We’ve got to get Congress into place to question this and cut off funding." Israel, Gaza and aid to either are not mentioned in it. The station says the full forum is on its website and its video channel; that recording was not watched.
  • [Undated; read 2026-09-08] His platform's foreign policy heading, Pursue Lasting Peace: "As a world leader, we must reestablish respect rather than yield to other countries such as China. Congress needs to reassert its Constitutional role in foreign affairs. The Executive Branch does not have the authority to conduct foreign policy alone. Congress has the sole authority to fund (or not fund) wars, to declare war, and to finance our overseas commitments. Random chaotic actions, insulting our allies, and praising dictators does not help our standing in the world." The double space inside "the sole authority" is on the page. The section continues on trade, international cooperation, China and the treatment of international visitors. It names no country in the Middle East. An earlier version of the same page is still reachable and its wording of that sentence ends "and to fund our overseas commitments".

U.S. aid to Palestinians

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

Characterization of the conflict

  • [Position; the page carries no date and was preserved as it stood on 2024-09-19] The foreign policy section of the campaign site he ran on in 2024, under the heading ISRAEL AND GAZA: "The attack on Israel was horrendous. Israel has a right to exist and to defend itself but its actions in Gaza is also horrendous and unacceptable. What will it achieve? More anger, hatred, and bloodshed. The quickest way to generate another generation of terrorist is to randomly kill Palestinian family members and destroy their homes. Tens of thousands dead and wounded. A large majority of them women and children." And, as a second paragraph: "Palestinians need a homeland. We must have a two-state solution. A place of stability without Hamas. The sooner we move in that direction, rather than decades long war, the better off the region will be." The grammatical slip in "its actions in Gaza is also horrendous" is on the page. The same section carried headings on Ukraine and on Cuba, and the page carried a dozen other issue sections. The copy read here was preserved on September 19, 2024, and the section is also present in copies preserved on April 25 and June 20 of that year, so it stood on the site through at least those five months of the 2024 campaign. The address it stood at, www.montavon4congress.com/issues, now redirects to his current site and returns nothing, so it is not linked.
  • Nothing located on this subject since. The site he is running on in 2026 carries no equivalent section, and the word Israel appears nowhere on it.

Israel-related rhetoric and lobbying

  • Nothing located, at any date. No statement by him about the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, about any other organization on this subject, or about money from any of them was found.
  • [Position, 2026-07-08] A letter to the editor his campaign republished, written by Joan Powell of Punta Gorda and printed, the page says, in the Port Charlotte Sun and the Venice Gondolier. It says he is one of the candidates who believe in ending corporate political action committee money in campaigns. The words are hers, not his, and no pledge in his own words about donations from any organization was found. A refusal of money is in any case a different question from what the United States sends.
  • [Position, read 2026-09-08] His Ballotpedia page records no endorsements identified for either of his campaigns. His own site publishes endorsements from the American People's Compact, Americans for Democracy, Moms Demand Action, State Rep. Angie Nixon and James Muwakkil of the Lee County NAACP. None is an organization on this subject.

Safety and antisemitism

  • Nothing located, at any date. Nothing in his published material addresses antisemitism or the safety of any religious community by name.
  • [Undated; read 2026-09-08] His platform's Protect Human Rights heading is the nearest thing to it: "As a nation, we need to respect the rights of all people living here under our Constitution, regardless of race, creed, color, national origin, or who they love. Congress needs to lead by example and secure legislation to ensure that every individual can share in our economy and contribute to our society according to his or her ability, without fear of threats or mockery, or even physical harm." It names no community.

What his platform actually says

  • [Undated; read 2026-09-08] His platform page carries eleven headings: Ensure Free and Fair Elections; End Gerrymandering; Reform Campaign Finance; Expand Veterans' Services; Strengthen Social Security and Medicare; Pursue Lasting Peace; Reduce Gun Violence; Guarantee Reproductive Freedom; Protect Human Rights; Educational Excellence; Protect Our Environment. The Social Security heading carries a long personal commitment against raising the retirement age. His home page sets out four further themes under the wording "Matthew's Vision": preserving checks and balances, fiscal oversight, restoring congressional authority over tariffs, and accountability in the federal bureaucracy. His biography page and his district page carry no foreign policy of any kind.

The surveys and questionnaires he has answered

  • [Position, submitted 2025-12-05; read 2026-09-08] Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey for this election. He answered every question, at length, including "What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?", where his answer ends with "foreign policy and our place in the world", and "What do you perceive to be the United States' greatest challenges as a nation over the next decade?", which he answered about economic inequality. Among his key messages he writes that he will work to fund critical government programs and to expand public services "including education, the transition to renewable energy, voting access, foreign aid, and civil rights protection". No country is named anywhere in the survey, and no question on the form asks about the Middle East.
  • [Reaction window, 2023-12-27] The Candidate Connection survey he completed for his 2024 campaign, on the same page. It was read in full. It carries no foreign policy of any kind: his answers are about his life, his career and his priorities of the environment, a green economy, Social Security and Medicare, reproductive rights, housing, disaster recovery, jobs and voter rights. Nothing from it is on the card, and nothing in it is in scope.
  • [Position, 2026-07-28] The Fort Myers News-Press candidate questionnaire, republished on his site, by Amy Bennett Williams. He answered all eight questions. The seventh asks: "What should U.S. policy be regarding major international challenges, including Russia, Ukraine, Iran, Cuba and Venezuela, and what role should Congress play in decisions involving military action and foreign spending?" His whole answer is: "Under the Constitution and War Powers Act Congress has authority over spending and war. We need to reestablish the checks and balances. We need to fully support Ukraine and oppose Putin’s attempt to expand Russian borders. We should end the war in Iran as swiftly as possible. Don’t invade Cuba or starve them into submission. We need to use non-military measures to help Cubans move toward democracy. Venezuela, especially after the earthquake, needs help. We should provide it, which would also build a better relationship between us." The question does not name Israel and neither does the answer. His primary opponent's answers are printed on the same page and are used nowhere on this card.
  • [Position, 2026-02-14] The statement he wrote for the Lee County Democratic Party. It is headed "Matthew Montavon - District 19" although its text says he will represent Florida's 17th District; the mismatch is on the document. It sets out his priorities as immigration reform, defending democracy, affordability, an economy for all, healthcare including reproductive rights, Social Security and Medicare, the environment, gun safety, and voting and civil rights. It names no foreign policy.
  • No profile for him on iVoterGuide could be found for this race or any earlier one, and Vote Smart's Political Courage Test page for his name did not open. The League of Women Voters' guide page for this district did not open either.

The race

  • [Undated; read 2026-09-08] Ballotpedia: "Incumbent Greg Steube, Matthew Montavon, and Michael Quirk are running in the general election for U.S. House Florida District 17 on November 3, 2026." Montavon defeated Allen Spence in the Democratic primary on August 18, 2026 with 55.3 percent, 27,102 votes to 21,871. The Republican primary was cancelled and the incumbent advanced from it without appearing on the ballot. Stephanie Petersen-Soal, who had no party affiliation, is listed as withdrawn or disqualified. Ballotpedia also records that he lost the 2024 Democratic primary for the same seat to Manny Lopez, 47.1 percent to 52.9.
  • [Position, 2026-08-21] The Fort Myers News-Press report of the primary result, republished on his site, records that the latest redistricting pushed the district deeper into Lee County, adding parts of Fort Myers including the Dunbar community, and quotes him on the night: "It’s a wonderful opportunity to take our representation – and our country – in a different direction."
  • [Position, 2026-05-09] WSLR's profile of him, broadcast May 8, 2026, describes his career and his priorities, which it gives as affordability, restoring trust in government, universal health care and immigration. It quotes him saying "there’s wars that have started without the consent of the American people or the consent of Congress", in a list of things he says have damaged trust in government. It names no country. The station also reports that he lost the 2024 primary with 40 percent of the vote; Ballotpedia's certified figure is 47.1 percent, and this card uses Ballotpedia's.

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

  • His campaign's accounts, which his own site and Ballotpedia list as his: https://x.com/montavon2026 , https://www.facebook.com/montavon4congress/ , https://www.instagram.com/montavonmatthew/ , https://www.youtube.com/@Montavon4Congress and https://www.tiktok.com/@montavon.for.cong . The video channel is headed "Montavon for Congress", which confirms it is his, but no list of its videos rendered here. The others returned nothing readable. Their addresses are printed rather than linked because they do not open here.
  • The personal accounts Ballotpedia lists alongside them, at https://www.facebook.com/matthew.montavon.1 , https://x.com/mont14940 , https://www.instagram.com/Matthew_Montavon/ and https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthew-montavon-0244a . None was read.
  • The full recording of the August 12, 2026 primary forum, which WSLR says is on its website and video channel. Only the station's written summary was read.
  • The address his 2024 campaign site stood at, https://www.montavon4congress.com/issues , which now redirects to his current site and returns nothing. A copy preserved on September 19, 2024 was read and is linked above.
  • Vote Smart's Political Courage Test page for his name, and the League of Women Voters' guide page for this district, neither of which opened.

Not on the card, and why

  • The whole of his platform and all of his survey and questionnaire answers on elections, gerrymandering, campaign finance, veterans, Social Security, guns, reproductive rights, education, the environment, housing, health care and immigration: 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 answers about Ukraine, Iran, Cuba, Venezuela and Russia, and his remarks at the August 2026 forum about the war with Iran: those are different questions. The forum answer is set out above in full because of the question it answered.
  • The letter to the editor about political action committee money: its words are its author's, not his, and a refusal of money is not a position on weapons or funding.
  • His endorsements: other people's recommendations rather than statements by him.
  • Allen Spence's answers on the pages that carry Montavon's, and anything published by Spence's campaign about him: another candidate's words.
  • Greg Steube's and Michael Quirk's records: they belong on their own cards.

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

  • https://www.montavonforcongress.com/ , https://www.montavonforcongress.com/meet , https://www.montavonforcongress.com/platform , https://www.montavonforcongress.com/platform-1 , https://www.montavonforcongress.com/cd17 , https://www.montavonforcongress.com/news , the site's contact, petition, events and Spanish pages, and all twelve of its news items (opened; 2026-09-08)
  • https://www.montavonforcongress.com/news/election-2026-democratic-primary (opened; 2026-09-08; published 2026-07-28)
  • https://www.montavonforcongress.com/news/fort-myers-news-press-election-news (opened; 2026-09-08; published 2026-08-21)
  • https://www.montavonforcongress.com/news/letter-montavon-against-big-pac-money (opened; 2026-09-08; published 2026-07-08)
  • https://ballotpedia.org/Matthew_Montavon and https://ballotpedia.org/Florida%27s_17th_Congressional_District_election,_2026 (opened; 2026-09-08; surveys submitted 2023-12-27 and 2025-12-05)
  • https://wslr.org/democratic-steube-challengers-face-off-at-forum/ (opened; 2026-09-08; published 2026-08-13)
  • https://wslr.org/the-race-for-the-district-17-u-s-house-seat/ (opened; 2026-09-08; published 2026-05-09)
  • https://wslr.org/matt-montavon-wins-congressional-district-17-primary/ and https://wslr.org/two-democrats-want-to-challenge-steube/ (opened; 2026-09-08; neither mentions this subject)
  • https://leecountydems.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/Matthew-Montavon-17-1.pdf (opened; 2026-09-08; dated 2026-02-14)
  • https://web.archive.org/web/20240919095955/https://www.montavon4congress.com/issues (opened; 2026-09-08; the page as it stood on 2024-09-19)
  • The addresses under "Places that could not be read" above (could not open; 2026-09-08)
  • This is a record of what was checked on 2026-09-07 and 2026-09-08, not a claim that no other statement exists.

Also in this race

  1. ✗ Greg Steube (Republican)
  2. – Michael J. Quirk (Other)

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.