Scott Franklin

Deep Dive

Scott Franklin is a retired naval aviator who won Florida's 15th District in November 2020 and has represented the 18th District since January 2023. The district he is running in this year is centred on Polk County, under the congressional map signed into law on May 4, 2026. He sat on the Armed Services Committee in his first term and now sits on the Appropriations Committee, where he is vice chairman of the Agriculture subcommittee. He is running for re-election on November 3, 2026 against Curtis Gibson and Deva Simmons.

His clearest statement about what the United States should send came on May 8, 2024, when the administration held back a munitions shipment. He said: “The President must stop strong-arming Israel into capitulating to Hamas and deliver the shipments as expeditiously as possible.” The same statement says Congress had already approved the sales and the President had signed them into law, and that any delay gives Hamas time to regroup while tying Israel's hands. He was an original cosponsor of the Israel Security Assistance Support Act, the bill written that month to require the expeditious delivery of the withheld defense articles. Two months earlier, when a standalone appropriations bill for the government of Israel failed on the House floor, he said America must send a clear and unequivocal message that it stands with Israel in its fight to defend itself. In September 2024 he was one of 38 Republican members of Congress who signed a letter to President Biden saying the administration had imposed a weekslong, partial arms embargo on the government of Israel; the same letter objects to the restoration of American funding to the Palestinian Authority and to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency. Those are the letter's words rather than his own, and the letter is the only place in his record where American money for Palestinians is addressed at all.

On the war itself he has spoken several times. In June 2024, explaining his vote for a bill sanctioning the International Criminal Court over its arrest warrant applications, he said: “Hamas caused this war and the resulting carnage.” The same statement says Israel is simply defending itself, and asks where the charges are for the Iran-backed terrorists who attacked on October 7. On the first anniversary of that attack he said the United States cannot waver in its support of Israel, its staunch ally and the only democracy in the Middle East. When a ceasefire and hostage agreement was reached in October 2025 he called it a critical step toward peace through strength and said in the same statement that America must ensure the deal is enforced and that humanitarian aid reaches civilians, not the terrorists who caused the suffering. When the House passed the fiscal year 2026 defense authorization bill in September 2025, he said it reinforces America's commitment to Israel, and his office's summary of the bill lists authorized funding for joint missile defense programs.

On February 17, 2026 he travelled to Jerusalem with Rep. Tim Walberg and Rep. John Moolenaar and met Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on a delegation organised by the U.S. Israel Education Association, a Christian-founded organization that lobbies Congress on United States and Israel policy. He cosponsored the Antisemitism Awareness Act, joining it on February 26, 2024, and on August 8, 2025 he cosponsored a resolution condemning the slogan “Globalize the Intifada” as a call to violence. His statements about Iran, his earlier record going back to 2021, and what he signed in the weeks after October 7, 2023 are on his research page.

The record

Supported sending weapons or funding in 6 of 6 tracked votes · Backs 0 of 1 tracked bills to restrict weapons transfers

House Committee on Appropriations

The money

$20K in lifetime support from the five lobbying groups we track

In their words

AIPAC (2026 endorsement)

Research log

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

Our research for this card began with a search run on 2026-09-07, and every page below was opened and read on 2026-09-08. His congressional press-release listing was read in full, all 262 items from January 2021 to September 2026, along with his 25 "In the News" items, all nine of his issue pages, his whole campaign site, his Ballotpedia page and the Ballotpedia page for this race. Bands: Position (2024-01-26 onward), Reaction window (2023-10-07 to 2024-01-25), Earlier record (before 2023-10-07), Undated. His recorded House votes and the tracked funding total are shown as badges on this card and are not restated here.

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

• [Position, 2024-05-08] His statement headed "Franklin Urges Biden Administration to Unfreeze Critical Weapon Shipment to Israel". The whole quoted statement reads: "The President must stop strong-arming Israel into capitulating to Hamas and deliver the shipments as expeditiously as possible. Congress has already approved these sales—and the President has signed it into law. Any delay is sanctimonious posturing that gives Hamas time to regroup and strengthen, while tying Israel's hands. From urging Netanyahu to stand down in the wake of Iran's April 13th attacks, to slow rolling aid, it is clear this White House is hell-bent on returning to the reckless Obama-era appeasement of Iran. It didn't work then, and it won't work now. It's time for the Commander-in-Chief to step up and act like one." The page carries a publication time of May 8, 2024.
• [Position, 2024-05] He is recorded as an original cosponsor of H.R. 8369, the Israel Security Assistance Support Act, which would require the expeditious delivery of defense articles and equipment to the government of Israel. GovTrack's cosponsor list for the bill prints "Original Cosponsor" against his name. His recorded vote on the bill is shown as a badge on this card.
• [Position, 2024-03-05] His statement on H.R. 7217, the standalone appropriations bill for the government of Israel, which failed on the House floor that night by 250 to 180: "On October 7, 2023 we watched in horror as Iran-backed Hamas launched an unprecedented attack on our ally and friend, Israel. In the months that followed, the conflict with Hamas has only escalated. Iran and its proxies have grown bolder, even killing our servicemembers. As the Middle East inches closer to all-out war, America must send a clear and unequivocal message we stand with Israel in its fight to defend itself. I'm disappointed this bill, which would have provided needed support to Israel and our troops in the region, failed tonight. I will always stand with our ally, Israel." The two paragraphs are printed as one quotation in his own office's release.
• [Position, 2024-09-26] Senator Tom Cotton's release on a letter to President Biden signed by 18 senators and 20 representatives, whose signatory list includes "Congressman Scott Franklin". The letter says: "You further empowered Iranian proxies by removing the Houthis from the list of designated terrorist organizations and restoring funding to the Palestinian Authority and the Hamas accomplices in UNRWA. These proxies then attacked and besieged Israel—and you proceeded to impose a weekslong, partial arms embargo on Israel, weakening the chief adversary of Iran capable of destroying its nuclear program." The words are the letter's, signed by 38 members, and support only what the group said. The release prints his district as Florida-15, which was his district before January 2023; the Cassidy letter of October 2023 below prints it correctly as FL-18.
• [Position, 2025-09-11] His statement on House passage of the fiscal year 2026 National Defense Authorization Act: "This NDAA restores focus on lethality. It strengthens our posture in the Indo-Pacific and reinforces America's commitment to Israel." The release's own summary of the bill includes the line "Supporting Israel and countering terror: Authorizes funding for missile defense programs like Iron Dome, Arrow and David's Sling while expanding cooperation to confront Iranian-backed threats."
• [Position, 2026-07-15] His statement after House passage of H.R. 8595, the fiscal year 2027 National Security, Department of State, and Related Programs Appropriations Act. It says the bill "strengthens support for key allies" and "strengthens oversight of foreign assistance to ensure taxpayer dollars are spent wisely". It names no country and says nothing about the amendment to that bill on which his vote is recorded as a badge on this card.
• [Position, 2026-07-22] His statement after House passage of the fiscal year 2027 National Defense Authorization Act is about the defense industrial base, service pay and China. It does not mention the government of Israel.
• Nothing further located. No statement was found in which he sets a condition on American military aid to the government of Israel, names a dollar figure for it, or explains any of the recorded votes shown as badges on this card. His nine congressional issue pages, including the Defense page, and his campaign site's six priorities say nothing on this subject.

U.S. aid to Palestinians

• [Position, 2025-10-10] His statement on the ceasefire and hostage agreement: "America must continue to stand firmly with Israel, ensure the deal is fully enforced and make certain that humanitarian aid reaches civilians, not the terrorists who caused this suffering."
• [Position, 2024-09-26] The Cotton letter set out above, which he signed with 37 colleagues, objects to "restoring funding to the Palestinian Authority and the Hamas accomplices in UNRWA". Those are the letter's words rather than his own.
• Nothing further located, at any date. Gaza humanitarian appropriations, the aid pipeline and the United Nations Relief and Works Agency appear nowhere in his own statements, on his issue pages or on his campaign site.

Characterization of the conflict

• [Position, 2024-06-05] His statement on his vote for H.R. 8282, the Illegitimate Court Counteraction Act, which he cosponsored: "The International Criminal Court (ICC) filing charges against Prime Minister Netanyahu and Defense Minister Gallant is as ridiculous as it is hypocritical. Hamas caused this war and the resulting carnage. Israel is simply defending itself. Where are the charges for the Iran-backed terrorists who butchered 1,200 and took hundreds of hostages on October 7?" The statement continues that the bill "will require the President to impose sanctions on anyone engaged in or aiding in ICC cases against Netanyahu and Gallant" and "will also ensure U.S. funding will never flow to the ICC".
• [Position, 2024-03-26] His statement on the United States abstention on the United Nations Security Council resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza: "A non-veto is a critical foreign policy failure by the Biden Administration. The President must reaffirm American support of Israel and its right to defend itself. He should immediately and unequivocally denounce a ceasefire, especially proposals that fail to demand the safe return of all hostages. Anything less makes the US look weak and sends mixed messages to our strong ally and friend, Israel."
• [Position, 2024-10-09] His statement on the first anniversary of the October 7 attack, which calls it "the deadliest day for the Jewish people since the Holocaust" and closes: "During this volatile time, the U.S. cannot waver in our support of Israel, our staunch ally and the only democracy in the Middle East. Today, one year later, America's commitment is the same: we stand firmly with Israel." The same statement says the Iranian regime intends to "vaporize Israel" and that "Israel has every right to defend itself—up to and including strikes into Iran to dismantle their nuclear program".
• [Position, 2025-10-10] His statement on the ceasefire and hostage agreement: "The Israel–Hamas ceasefire and hostage agreement is a critical step toward peace through strength, coming on the heels of the second anniversary of Hamas's brutal October 7 attacks." It adds: "True peace will only come when Hamas is disarmed and no longer able to threaten the people of Israel."
• [Position, 2024-10-01] His statement on Iran's ballistic missile attack: "I fully support Israel's right to defend itself and launch attacks into Iran to dismantle their nuclear program." Its subject is Iran.
• [Earlier record, 2021-05-12] His statement during the May 2021 fighting: "Israel is a staunch ally of the United States that has every right and a solemn duty to protect its people from the bloodthirsty forces of terrorism. I unequivocally support their effort to defend themselves from the rocket bombardments perpetrated by the Iranian-backed terrorist group Hamas." The same statement says defense systems "like the Iron Dome, a joint U.S.-Israeli initiative, are able to minimize civilian casualties", calls it shameful that some in Congress condemned the government of Israel, and closes: "The United States must continue to fully support Israel's right to defend herself against the constant threat of terrorist attacks."

Israel-related rhetoric and lobbying

• [Position, 2026-02-17] The Jewish News Syndicate's report that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met Reps. Tim Walberg, John Moolenaar and Scott Franklin at the Prime Minister's Office in Jerusalem, on a visit organised by the U.S. Israel Education Association. The report says Netanyahu thanked the group for their "steadfast support of Israel and spoke with them about regional issues", quoting the Prime Minister's Office, and that the lawmakers were said to have praised Jerusalem's "unique contribution to U.S. national security". None of the words in the report are his. The same report describes the association as "a pro-Israel, Christian-founded organization" that together with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee has pressed Congress to increase the budget for missile defense. His own newsroom carries nothing about the trip.
• [Position, 2024-06-05] He cosponsored H.R. 8282, the Illegitimate Court Counteraction Act, and said so in his own statement, set out above.
• [Position, 2026-03-05] His statement opposing a War Powers resolution on Iran: "Forcing the United States to pull back in the face of Iranian aggression would signal weakness to Tehran, embolden the terrorist proxies it funds, and undermine the credibility of our deterrence across the region." Its subject is Iran.
• [Position, 2026-02-28] His statement on American and Israeli strikes on Iran, which says the Iranian regime's "ultimate aim of destroying Western Civilization" runs through its proxies and that "if given the opportunity, they would wipe Israel off the map". Its subject is Iran.
• [Position, 2025-06-13 and 2025-06-21] His statement on the conflict between the government of Israel and Iran, which says "our issue is with the radical, jihadist regime in Tehran, not the Iranian people" and defends the rights of Iranian Americans at home, and his statement supporting American strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities. Both are about Iran.
• [Earlier record, 2021-05-03] His statement on allegations that John Kerry passed information about Israeli operations to the Iranian government: "The U.S. and Israel have been close allies for decades, and our shared trust is critical to the national security interests of both our nations."
• Our research reported a video posted on his official Facebook page on May 16, 2024 in which he criticised the pause on munitions shipments and named his cosponsorship of H.R. 8369. The page did not open for us and nothing from it is written on this card. The address, printed rather than linked because it does not open, is https://www.facebook.com/RepFranklin/videos/2019-biden-said-itd-be-preposterous-to-block-military-aid-to-israel2024-bidens-b/1666703557415864/ . His own written statement of May 8, 2024 and the cosponsorship record carry the same two facts and were read instead.

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

• [Position, 2024-02-26] He cosponsored H.R. 6090, the Antisemitism Awareness Act of 2023, which directs the Department of Education to consider the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of antisemitism when enforcing Title VI of the Civil Rights Act. GovTrack's cosponsor list dates his cosponsorship February 26, 2024; BillTrack50's page for the bill records the bill's introduction on November 1, 2023 and lists him among 62 sponsors.
• [Position, 2025-08-08] He cosponsored H.Res. 588, which condemns the slogan "Globalize the Intifada" as a call to violence against Israeli and Jewish people and urges national leaders to reject it. BillTrack50's page gives the resolution's introduction as July 19, 2025 and lists him among 29 sponsors; GovTrack dates his cosponsorship August 8, 2025. Our research described this resolution as being about a different slogan; the resolution's own title names "Globalize the Intifada".
• [Reaction window, 2023-10-25] Senator Bill Cassidy's release on a bicameral letter to Washington, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser asking that Black Lives Matter Plaza be renamed, whose signatory list includes "C. Scott Franklin (R-FL-18)". The letter says: "America must clearly affirm its stance against antisemitism, wherever it appears." Not on the card summary; recorded here with its date.

The race

• [Undated; read 2026-09-08] Ballotpedia: "Incumbent Scott Franklin, Curtis Gibson, and Deva Simmons are running in the general election for U.S. House Florida District 18 on November 3, 2026." The filing deadline was June 12, 2026. Both primaries scheduled for August 18, 2026 were cancelled because only one candidate from each party qualified; Tiffanie Luong is listed as a withdrawn or disqualified Democratic candidate. Deva Simmons has no party affiliation. The same site records that Florida is using a new congressional map in 2026, approved by both chambers on April 29 and signed by Governor Ron DeSantis on May 4, 2026.
• [Position, 2026-08-19] Legis1's account of the district records that the redrawn district takes in much of central and northern Polk County and a small part of Osceola County, that the Cook Political Report and Inside Elections both rate the seat Solid Republican, and that his campaign reported $849,999.59 in receipts through July 29 against Curtis Gibson's $12,208.23 through June 30. The piece carries a note by its own editors correcting an earlier draft's primary results, so its figures are set out here rather than on the card. It contains nothing about this subject.
• His own congressional page for the district, at https://franklin.house.gov/issues/issue/?IssueID=14892 , still describes the boundaries as they were before the 2026 map: "It starts north in Polk County at I-4 and stretches down past Lake Okeechobee, nearly to the Everglades."
• [Undated; read 2026-09-08] His Ballotpedia page records that he defeated incumbent Ross Spano in the Republican primary for Florida's 15th District on August 18, 2020 and Alan Cohn in that November's general election, and that he assumed office in the 18th District on January 3, 2023. It records a bachelor's degree from the United States Naval Academy in 1986, service in the Navy from 1986 to 2000 and the Navy Reserve from 2000 to 2012, and that he has not completed Ballotpedia's candidate survey in any cycle.
• [Undated; read 2026-09-08] His campaign site and its priorities page, which carries seven headings: economic growth, free markets, the Second Amendment, faith and family and life, national defense, a conservative agenda, and agriculture. The defense heading names China, Russia, Iran and North Korea. Israel, Gaza, Palestinians, antisemitism and foreign aid appear nowhere on the site.
• [Undated; read 2026-09-08] His nine congressional issue pages, at https://franklin.house.gov/issues/ : agriculture, conservative values, defense, economy, education, energy, healthcare, Second Amendment rights and veterans. None mentions the government of Israel; the defense page names China, Russia, Iran and North Korea.

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

• His official Facebook video of May 16, 2024, https://www.facebook.com/RepFranklin/videos/2019-biden-said-itd-be-preposterous-to-block-military-aid-to-israel2024-bidens-b/1666703557415864/ , described above.
• His accounts on Facebook, X, Instagram and YouTube: https://www.facebook.com/RepFranklin , https://www.facebook.com/votescottfranklin/ , https://x.com/ScottFranklinFL , https://www.instagram.com/RepFranklin/ and https://www.youtube.com/repfranklin . None was read here.
• His electronic newsletter. His congressional site offers a sign-up form and publishes no archive; the archive address the House system usually carries returns an error.

Not on the card, and why

• The letter of October 25, 2023 asking that Black Lives Matter Plaza be renamed: it falls in the weeks this site keeps to the research page. It is above with its date.
• His statements about Iran, of October 1, 2024, June 13 and June 21, 2025, February 28 and March 5, 2026: Iran is a different question from what the United States sends to the government of Israel. They are above with their dates. The Iran sentences inside his May 2024 and October 2024 statements survive only because those statements are reproduced whole above; nothing is built on them.
• The missile defense programmes named in his office's summary of the 2026 defense authorization bill: defensive systems are kept off card fronts. The summary line is above in full.
• The economy, free markets, Second Amendment, faith, agriculture and veterans material on his campaign site and in the great majority of his 262 press releases: out of scope, and listed above so the absence is checkable.
• Curtis Gibson's and Deva Simmons's records: they belong on their own cards.
• The recorded votes and the tracked funding total: both are shown as badges on this card. He has published no statement explaining any of those votes, so none is characterized in the prose.

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

• https://franklin.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=371 (opened; 2026-09-08; published 2024-05-08)
• https://franklin.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=351 (opened; 2026-09-08; published 2024-03-05)
• https://franklin.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=409 (opened; 2026-09-08; published 2024-03-26)
• https://franklin.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=317 (opened; 2026-09-08; published 2024-06-05)
• https://franklin.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=335 (opened; 2026-09-08; published 2024-10-01)
• https://franklin.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=440 (opened; 2026-09-08; published 2024-10-09)
• https://franklin.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=1604 (opened; 2026-09-08; published 2025-06-13)
• https://franklin.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=1612 (opened; 2026-09-08; published 2025-06-21)
• https://franklin.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=1693 (opened; 2026-09-08; published 2025-09-11)
• https://franklin.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=1725 (opened; 2026-09-08; published 2025-10-10)
• https://franklin.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=1870 (opened; 2026-09-08; published 2026-02-28)
• https://franklin.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=1873 (opened; 2026-09-08; published 2026-03-05)
• https://franklin.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=1918 (opened; 2026-09-08; published 2026-07-15)
• https://franklin.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=1921 (opened; 2026-09-08; published 2026-07-22)
• https://franklin.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=407 (opened; 2026-09-08; published 2021-05-12)
• https://franklin.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=420 (opened; 2026-09-08; published 2021-05-03)
• https://franklin.house.gov/news/documentquery.aspx?DocumentTypeID=27 and its pages 1 to 48 (opened; 2026-09-08; the whole press-release listing, 262 items from January 2021 to September 2026)
• https://franklin.house.gov/news/documentquery.aspx?DocumentTypeID=1951 and its pages (opened; 2026-09-08; the "In the News" listing, 25 items, none on this subject)
• https://franklin.house.gov/issues/ and all nine issue pages (opened; 2026-09-08)
• https://www.cotton.senate.gov/news/press-releases/cotton-37-gop-colleagues-condemn-biden-harris-administrations-weak-iran-policy-amid-nuclear-threat/ (opened; 2026-09-08; dated 2024-09-26)
• https://www.cassidy.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/cassidy-rubio-banks-20-republican-members-insist-dc-rename-plaza-following-blm-pro-hamas-rhetoric/ (opened; 2026-09-08; dated 2023-10-25)
• https://www.jns.org/u.s.-news/netanyahu-meets-with-us-lawmakers-in-jerusalem-2 (opened; 2026-09-08; published 2026-02-17)
• https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/118/hr8369/cosponsors , https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/118/hr6090/cosponsors and https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/119/hres588/cosponsors (opened; 2026-09-08)
• https://www.billtrack50.com/billdetail/1646296 and https://www.billtrack50.com/billdetail/1901783 (opened; 2026-09-08)
• https://ballotpedia.org/Scott_Franklin and https://ballotpedia.org/Florida%27s_18th_Congressional_District_election,_2026 (opened; 2026-09-08)
• https://www.votescottfranklin.com , /about, /services, /team and /contact (opened; 2026-09-08)
• https://ballotpedia.org/Florida%27s_18th_Congressional_District (opened; 2026-09-08; the district and its redistricting history)
• https://legis1.com/news/florida-18th-district-primary-2026-floridas (opened; 2026-09-08; published 2026-08-19)
• https://legiscan.com/US/bill/HB8282/2023 and https://legiscan.com/US/bill/HB6090/2023 (could not open; 2026-09-08; both refused, and the cosponsorship records were read elsewhere)
• 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.