But What Can You Do? tracks where 2026 candidates stand on U.S. weapons and funding for the government of Israel. How we check
Curtis Gibson
Democrat · U.S. House, Florida District 18
–No Position Found
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.
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 has Gibson taking a position on U.S. weapons or money for the government of Israel, or on U.S. aid to Palestinians. His campaign platform and his answers to Ballotpedia's questionnaire are domestic throughout.
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Curtis Gibson is the Democratic nominee in Florida's 18th District, which is centred on Polk County under the congressional map signed into law in May 2026. He lives in Lake Wales, manages Eagle Ridge Mall and owns a small business, and he served on the Lake Wales City Commission from 2017 to 2021. He was nominated without a contest: the August 18, 2026 primary was cancelled after the only other Democrat to file did not stay on the ballot. He faces Representative Scott Franklin and Deva Simmons, who has no party affiliation, on November 3.
This is an empty record on these questions rather than a thin one. His campaign site runs to three pages, and the six headings on its issues page are property insurance, veterans' healthcare, property taxes, citrus and agriculture, infrastructure, and what he calls straight talk accountability. He answered all four of Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection questions on July 13, 2026, at length, including the one that asks what areas of public policy a candidate is personally passionate about; his answer to that one is about local government being accountable to the people it serves. His entry on the Local Candidates guide reproduces the same six positions and adds nothing. The words Israel, Gaza, Palestinians, antisemitism and foreign aid appear nowhere in any of it. An empty record carries no implication either way.
One item was reported to us and could not be checked. A message published by his campaign on April 10, 2026 and headed "The High Cost of Conflict" was described to us as being about what foreign military conflicts and defense spending cost American families, and as not addressing military assistance to the government of Israel. It was published on a social media account whose address does not open, so its words have not been read and nothing from it is written here. Its address is on his research page so that anyone who can open it can judge it. He has held no office in Washington, so there are no votes on this record.
You are better placed to close this than we are. Ask Gibson 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.
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 campaign site was read in full, along with his Ballotpedia page and its questionnaire answers, his profile and all six of his positions on the Local Candidates guide, and the two election write-ups that name him. Bands: Position (2024-01-26 onward), Reaction window (2023-10-07 to 2024-01-25), Earlier record (before 2023-10-07), Undated. He has held no federal office, so there are no recorded votes on this record.
U.S. military aid and weapons to the government of Israel
Nothing located, at any date. The word Israel appears nowhere on his campaign site, in his Ballotpedia questionnaire answers, or on his profile or position pages on the Local Candidates guide. Nothing was found about arms transfers, Foreign Military Financing, the memorandum of understanding, or any bill or amendment on this subject.
[Undated; read 2026-09-08] His campaign site's issues page, headed "Where I Stand". Its six items are property insurance stability, veterans' healthcare access, property tax relief, citrus and agriculture, infrastructure that keeps up with growth, and straight talk accountability. Each is written as "What's happening" followed by "What I'll do". None concerns foreign policy of any kind. The home page and the about page carry his biography and the same three priority headings, and no foreign policy either. The site's other addresses return the home page.
Our research reported a message published by his campaign on April 10, 2026 and headed "The High Cost of Conflict", describing it as a general criticism of what foreign military conflicts and defense spending cost American families, and stating that it did not address military assistance to the government of Israel. The address given for it does not open, so its words could not be read 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/CurtisGibsonLW/posts/the-high-cost-of-conflictpeace-is-the-goal-affordability-is-the-requirement-%EF%B8%8Fas-/1250217630601217/
U.S. aid to Palestinians
Nothing located, at any date. Gaza, the West Bank, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency and humanitarian funding appear nowhere in anything he has published or answered.
Characterization of the conflict
Nothing located, at any date.
Israel-related rhetoric and lobbying
Nothing located from him, at any date. No organization of any kind is named in his platform or in his questionnaire answers.
Our research reported that he runs on a broad pledge to refuse corporate political action committee money. No such pledge was found on his campaign site, on his Ballotpedia page or on the Local Candidates guide. His site invites readers to "Read my Pledge to the Heartland" and carries a button labelled "Read My 100-Day Pledge", but no pledge text is published behind either. Ballotpedia's summary of his federal filings records $12,208 raised for the 2026 cycle, of which $9,747.90 is his own money and $2,460.33 came from individuals, with no political committee money listed; that is a fact about his receipts, not a statement by him.
Safety and antisemitism (context, not an answer to what America sends)
Nothing located, at any 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, signed into law by Governor Ron DeSantis on May 4, 2026.
[Position, 2026-07-13] His Ballotpedia page carries his Candidate Connection answers in full, submitted on July 13, 2026. Asked who he is, he answered: "I am a dedicated community leader, former Lake Wales City Commissioner (2017–2021), and commercial property manager with a deep-rooted commitment to public service and economic revitalization." The same answer records that he has worked as a school board janitor, a mail carrier for the Postal Service, an employee at Amazon Air and a professional wrestler, and that he and his wife Danielle are raising five children and a foster child in Polk County. His three key messages are headed "A Proven Voice for Working Families", "Economic Revitalization & Small Business Growth" and "Civic Advocacy & Public Accountability". Asked what areas of public policy he is personally passionate about, he answered with the third of those: "My time as a City Commissioner taught me that local government must remain directly accountable to the people it serves." None of the four answers mentions Israel, Gaza, foreign aid, the military or foreign policy of any kind. The same page records that he graduated from Lake Wales High School, earned an associate degree from Bryant & Stratton College in 2017 and a bachelor's degree from Kaiser University in 2021, and works as a property manager.
[Undated; read 2026-09-08] His profile on the Local Candidates guide and its positions page, which reproduce his campaign biography and his six positions under the headings homeownership, veterans' healthcare, taxes and spending, agriculture, roads and highways, and accountability. Nothing is added to what his own site says.
[Position, 2026-08-19] Legis1's account of the race records that he became the Democratic nominee after the primary was cancelled, that Tiffanie Luong did not remain on the ballot, that Deva Simmons is running with no party affiliation rather than as a Democrat, and that the Cook Political Report and Inside Elections both rate the district Solid Republican. It carries a note by its own editors correcting an earlier draft of the same piece. It says nothing about this subject.
Places that were not read, so nothing is claimed from them
His campaign's Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/CurtisGibsonLW/ , and the post described above, neither of which opens. This is the account his campaign site and Ballotpedia both link to, and the account our research drew its one adjacent item from.
His account on X, https://x.com/curtisgibsonlw . The profile line reads "Father of 5 beautiful kids, Husband to Danielle, Former City Commissioner, Candidate for Congressional District FL-18 and Advocate for the PEOPLE!", and the posts themselves require a signed-in reader, so none was read here.
The League of Women Voters guide for this election, https://www.vote411.org/ . Its candidate pages are reached through an address lookup, and the lookup address for a Lake Wales street did not open, so it is not known whether he answered it.
Not on the card, and why
A second social media address our research offered belongs to a candidate for governor of Mississippi, at https://www.facebook.com/GipsonForGovernor/ . It is a different person with a similar surname and nothing on it concerns this candidate or this race.
The message headed "The High Cost of Conflict": its address does not open, so its words could not be read. It is described above in the terms it was reported to us, and its address is printed there.
The claim that he pledges to refuse corporate political action committee money: no such pledge was found in anything he has published. It is set out above with what was looked at.
The property insurance, veterans' healthcare, property tax, agriculture, infrastructure and accountability material on his campaign site, on the Local Candidates guide and in his Ballotpedia answers: out of scope, none of it is about U.S. weapons or money for the government of Israel or about U.S. aid to Palestinians. It is listed above so that the absence is checkable.
A prediction-market profile of him at https://www.predictionedge.com/elections/profile/curtis-gibson/ , whose biographical section matches his own site. Its news summary, dated September 2, 2026, is about congressional redistricting in Louisiana, South Carolina and Texas and has nothing to do with him, so nothing on this card rests on that page.
Scott Franklin's and Deva Simmons's records: they belong on their own cards.
Sources read for this card (address; opened or could not open; date read)
https://votecurtisgibson.com/ , https://votecurtisgibson.com/about and https://votecurtisgibson.com/issues (opened; 2026-09-08; the whole site, whose other addresses return the home page)
But What Can You Do? tracks where 2026 candidates stand on U.S. weapons and
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