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

Phil "Felipe" Ehr

Democrat · U.S. House, Florida District 28
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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 Ehr has published since the start of 2024 states a position on U.S. weapons or money for the government of Israel, or on U.S. aid to Palestinians. His platform's national security plank pledges to use military force only when lawful and necessary and names no country.

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Deep Dive

Phil Ehr is a retired U.S. Navy commander and the Democratic nominee in Florida's 28th District, which covers southwest Miami-Dade County, from West Kendall and The Hammocks down through Homestead and Florida City, and all of the Florida Keys. He rose from seaman to commander across a 26-year career that began with the Mariel Boatlift and took in reconnaissance flights in the Cold War, combat support in Desert Storm and a NATO posting in Europe. He ran against Representative Carlos Gimenez in this district in 2024 and lost with 35.4 percent. The Democratic primary set for August 18, 2026 was cancelled because he was the only Democrat to qualify, and he faces Gimenez and Eddy Rojas on November 3.

On the question this site asks, his campaign has published nothing since the start of 2024. His site runs to five pages and lists seven priorities, six of them domestic: health care, property insurance, public corruption, veterans, immigration and the Everglades. The seventh is headed National Security and is a single sentence: “Putting America First means defending the Constitution and the rule of law, rejecting anti-American rhetoric, antisemitism, socialism and political extremism, and using military force only when lawful and necessary.” It names no country, no weapon and no aid program. His campaign has published nineteen press releases, and they are about Cuba, Venezuela, Ukraine, health care, public corruption and his opponent's conduct in Congress. Three of them, from November and December 2023, are on his research page with their dates. Gaza and Palestinians appear in none of the nineteen, on his site, or in anything else of his that was read.

The one thing he has published lately that comes near this subject is about an American organization rather than about American policy. On August 21, 2026, after a state legislator who had endorsed him withdrew the endorsement and joined the Democratic Socialists of America, a membership organization on the left of American politics, he published a statement rejecting its support. Most of it is about Cuba and Venezuela. One passage is about antisemitism: he writes that Jewish civil rights organizations have documented antisemitic rhetoric and discriminatory political tests associated with it, and that “Antisemitism is wrong whether it comes from the right or the left.” He says nothing in it about weapons, money or aid to anyone.

Two things could still change this page. His account on X has more than 145,000 followers and over 9,000 posts, and only its most recent ones can be read from here. And on September 13, 2026 he was the guest on a Sunday public affairs program on WPLG. That episode is video with no transcript and was not watched. Both addresses are on his research page.

You are better placed to change this than we are. Ask Ehr 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 2026-09-18. His campaign site was read in full: the front page, his biography and priorities page, the voter information page and the press page, together with all nineteen press releases it links, each one a document of its own, and each searched for this subject. His Ballotpedia page was read from top to bottom, including his 2018 candidate survey and the campaign-website text Ballotpedia carried for him in 2024. His BallotReady profile, the race page, and the news and interview pages our research pointed at 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. Ehr has never held federal office, so none of the congressional votes this site tracks is his, and no tracked funding is recorded on this record.

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

  • Nothing located from 2024-01-26 onward. No statement by him about arms transfers, weapons shipments, Foreign Military Financing, security assistance, a dollar figure, a condition on aid or any named bill appears on his campaign site, in any of the four press releases he has issued in 2026, in his Ballotpedia record, on his BallotReady profile, or in any news report about his campaign that could be read for this card.
  • [Reaction window, 2023-11-15] His campaign's release on the stopgap funding measure. His statement asks that Congress “focus on fully funding our military, our commitments to our allies like Israel and Ukraine, federal support to education, efforts to secure our southern border and, most importantly, our efforts to combat the rising costs of living”. Not on the card summary; recorded here with its date.
  • [Reaction window, 2023-12-13] His campaign's release on the Republican House leadership and aid to Ukraine. Of the Speaker and his opponent it says: “They continue to hold aid to Israel, Ukraine, Taiwan and border security hostage to their very narrow and extreme demands.” It later asks his opponent to stay in Washington “until our allies Ukraine - and Israel - get the American support they need to defend their homeland”. The dashes are hyphens as the document prints them. Not on the card summary; recorded here with its date.
  • [Reaction window, 2023-12-13] His campaign's release on his opponent's impeachment vote, which says of the House: “Virtually no action has been taken to lower costs to consumers or seniors, raise wages for workers, or ensure that allies like Israel and Ukraine get the aid they need to preserve their - and our - security.” The document's own header is dated December 13, 2023; its body says “on Thursday” and describes the vote as having happened “yesterday”, which does not sit with that date, so the header date is used and the discrepancy is recorded rather than resolved. Not on the card summary; recorded here with its date.
  • [Reaction window, 2023-10-20] A report by Florida Politics in which, our research says, he called his opponent's failure to pass aid to Israel and Ukraine a show of political cowardice. Its address, printed rather than linked because the host refused every attempt, is https://floridapolitics.com/archives/640563-phil-ehr-blasts-carlos-gimenezs-temporary-speaker-fix-no-more-chaos-and-half-measures/ . The words were not verified against the page and nothing is claimed from them. It falls inside the weeks this site keeps to research pages in any event.
  • [Position, 2024-02-16] His campaign's release after the death of Alexei Navalny calls for war aid to Ukraine and names no other country. It is the nearest thing in this band to a statement about American military assistance, and it is not about this subject.

U.S. aid to Palestinians

  • Nothing located, at any date, in either direction. Neither the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, nor humanitarian funding for Gaza, nor the aid pipeline, nor the Palestinian Authority appears anywhere in his campaign site, his nineteen press releases, his Ballotpedia record or his BallotReady profile. The words Gaza and Palestinian do not occur once in any of them.

Characterization of the conflict

  • Nothing located, at any date. He has not described the war, the parties to it, or the conduct of either side, in anything of his that was read. Israel is not named anywhere in his published material outside the three releases recorded above.

Israel-related rhetoric and lobbying

  • Nothing located, at any date. No statement by him about the American Israel Public Affairs Committee or any other advocacy organization on this subject was found, and no pledge about their donations was found under his name. Track AIPAC's Florida page does not name him.
  • [Position, 2026-08-21] His statement on the Democratic Socialists of America, headed “PHIL EHR REJECTS DSA” on his press page. It says that Rep. Angie Nixon asked him in July to remove her endorsement, that she later joined that organization, and: “I cannot accept political support tied to an organization that has repeatedly lent legitimacy to authoritarian regimes while condemning the democratic institutions generations of Americans have fought to defend.” Its argument is about Nicolas Maduro's government in Venezuela and the Castro government in Cuba. It is recorded here because the organization it names is one whose members have taken positions on this subject; his statement takes none, and nothing about this subject is inferred from it.

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

  • [Position; the page carries no date of its own and was read 2026-09-18] The third of the seven priorities on his campaign site, headed National Security: “Putting America First means defending the Constitution and the rule of law, rejecting anti-American rhetoric, antisemitism, socialism and political extremism, and using military force only when lawful and necessary.” That is the whole plank. It names no country.
  • [Position, 2026-08-21] From the statement above: “Jewish civil-rights organizations have also documented antisemitic rhetoric and discriminatory political tests associated with DSA.” And: “Racism is wrong whether it comes from the right or the left. Antisemitism is wrong whether it comes from the right or the left.” The hyphen in “civil-rights” is as the document prints it.
  • Nothing else located. He has published no statement about the safety of Jewish communities, about campus incidents, or about any named episode.

What the campaign site and his own pages say

  • [Position; the pages are undated and were read 2026-09-18] His campaign site has five pages: the front page, Meet Phil, Voter Information, Press and a bike tour page. Its seven priorities are health care costs, property insurance, national security, public corruption, a Veterans Affairs hospital for South Dade, immigration, and the Everglades and a moratorium on large-scale data centres. A case-insensitive search of every page for israel, gaza, palestin, hamas, unrwa, west bank, jerusalem, foreign aid, arms, weapon and zionis returns nothing. The word antisemitism occurs once, in the plank quoted above.
  • [Position; read 2026-09-18] His press page lists nineteen releases, published between January 2023 and September 2026, each as a document of its own. The four from 2026 are on Hope Florida and a health care and corruption plan (September 1), an endorsement by former Defense Secretary William J. Perry (August 24), the statement about the Democratic Socialists of America (August 21), and a call for United States military intervention in Cuba (August 14). The 2024 releases are about Cuba, Venezuela and Ukraine. The 2023 releases are about his opponent, a state legislative special election, World AIDS Day and the three items recorded above.
  • [Undated; read 2026-09-18] The illustrated prospectus his biography page links, at https://ehrforcongress.us/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/PhilEhr4Congress-Prospectus.pdf , opened but holds no selectable text at all. Nothing is claimed from it, and it is listed here so that someone who can read it knows it exists.
  • [Position, 2026; read 2026-09-18] His Ballotpedia page records that he has not completed the 2026 Candidate Connection survey and did not complete the 2024 one. The campaign-website text Ballotpedia carried for him in 2024 lists seven priorities, the first of which is “Fight for freedom and democracy at home and abroad”; it names no country. He did answer Ballotpedia's 2018 survey as a candidate in Florida's 1st District, and those answers are about Congress, infrastructure, taxes, health care, schools, military bases and beaches.
  • [Position; read 2026-09-18] His BallotReady profile carries his professional history and no issue statements of any kind.

The race

  • [Read 2026-09-18] Ballotpedia's page for the 2026 election in Florida's 28th District: “Incumbent Carlos Gimenez, Phil Ehr, and Eddy Rojas are running in the general election for U.S. House Florida District 28 on November 3, 2026.” The filing deadline was June 12, 2026. A primary was expected on August 18, 2026 but was not needed, because only one candidate from each party qualified; both party primaries were cancelled and Gimenez and Ehr each advanced without appearing on a primary ballot. Eddy Rojas has no party affiliation. Three other Democrats withdrew or were disqualified before the ballot was set.
  • [Read 2026-09-18] The same two men met here in 2024. Ballotpedia's certified result is Gimenez 210,057 votes and 64.6 percent, Ehr 115,280 votes and 35.4 percent, of 325,337 cast on November 5, 2024.
  • [Read 2026-09-18] The four analysts Ballotpedia tracks rate the 2026 race solid or safe Republican.

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

  • His September 13, 2026 appearance on This Week in South Florida, the WPLG Sunday program. The page opens and is dated, but the interview itself is video with no transcript and was not watched. It is the most recent long conversation with him that could be found, and it is the single most likely place for an answer to this question to exist.
  • His NBC6 Impact interview, also video with no transcript, and also not watched.
  • His accounts. https://x.com/PhilEhr opened and its most recent posts were read, which are about Cuba, Venezuela and his own naval service; the account holds more than 9,000 posts and its archive cannot be searched from here. https://www.facebook.com/PhilEhrFlorida , https://www.facebook.com/phil.ehr , https://www.instagram.com/phil.ehr , https://www.youtube.com/@ehrforcongress and https://www.linkedin.com/in/philehr/ did not open here. Their addresses are printed rather than linked for that reason.
  • Florida Politics, which covers this race closely and refuses every reader available here. Three of its reports were offered to us and none opened: https://floridapolitics.com/archives/640563-phil-ehr-blasts-carlos-gimenezs-temporary-speaker-fix-no-more-chaos-and-half-measures/ , https://floridapolitics.com/archives/819963-a-powerful-moral-compass-jamie-raskin-backs-phil-ehr-as-veterans-bike-across-cd-28-for-him/ and https://floridapolitics.com/archives/820561-phil-ehr-picks-up-cross-party-endorsement-in-cd-28-as-veterans-bike-tour-reaches-key-west/ .
  • A video on a Facebook page identified only by a number, https://www.facebook.com/61578047966678/videos/center-the-real-story-this-anchor-most-certainly-aligned-with-fascism-but-she-th/1736574877587399/ , which our research cited. The number could not be resolved to an owner by search and the page did not open, so it is treated as unread and nothing is claimed from it.
  • No iVoterGuide profile, League of Women Voters questionnaire or local voter guide entry carrying answers from him in this race was located.

Not on the card, and why

  • His campaign's statements of November 15 and December 13, 2023, and the report of October 20, 2023: they fall in the weeks this site keeps to the research page. All four are above with their dates, and the three that open are linked so a reader can see them whole.
  • Everything he has published about Ukraine, including the February 16, 2024 release calling for war aid after the death of Alexei Navalny: a different war and a different recipient. It is above.
  • Everything he has published about Cuba and Venezuela, including his August 14, 2026 call for United States military intervention in Cuba: out of scope. It is above so the shape of his record is visible.
  • The answers on his iSideWith page. The page sets out positions on Israel, on the two-state question, on a Gaza ceasefire and on Jerusalem, and every one of them is labelled by that site as generated by a language model or as taken from his party's support base rather than from him. None is his answer, and nothing from it is used.
  • His health care, insurance, corruption, veterans, immigration and environment platform, and his 2018 survey answers: real positions, none of them 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 is checkable.
  • His endorsements, including the one from a former Secretary of Defense: other people's recommendations rather than statements by him.
  • Carlos Gimenez's and Eddy Rojas's records: they belong on their own cards.

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

  • https://ehrforcongress.us/ , https://ehrforcongress.us/meet-phil/ , https://ehrforcongress.us/voter-information/ and https://ehrforcongress.us/press/ (opened; 2026-09-18)
  • All nineteen press releases linked from the press page, each opened and read in full (opened; 2026-09-18), including https://ehrforcongress.us/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/20231115-Rep.-Carlos-Gimenez-Kicks-Government-Funding-Down-the-Road.pdf (dated November 15, 2023), https://ehrforcongress.us/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/20231213-Condemns-Rep.-Carlos-Gimenezs-Partisan-Impeachment.pdf and https://ehrforcongress.us/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/20231213-Condemns-Republican-Blockade-of-Ukraine-War-Support.pdf (both dated December 13, 2023), https://ehrforcongress.us/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/20240216-Murder-of-Alexei-Navalny-Demands-War.pdf (dated February 16, 2024), https://ehrforcongress.us/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/DSAStatement.pdf (dated August 21, 2026) and https://ehrforcongress.us/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/Ehr_CubaIntervention.pdf (dated August 14, 2026)
  • https://ehrforcongress.us/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/PhilEhr4Congress-Prospectus.pdf (opened, no readable text; 2026-09-18)
  • https://ballotpedia.org/Phil_Ehr and https://ballotpedia.org/Florida%27s_28th_Congressional_District_election,_2026 (opened; 2026-09-18)
  • https://www.ballotready.org/people/phil-ehr (opened; 2026-09-18)
  • https://www.local10.com/this-week-in-south-florida/2026/09/13/this-week-in-south-florida-phil-ehr/ (opened; 2026-09-18; published September 13, 2026; the video was not watched)
  • https://www.local10.com/this-week-in-south-florida/2026/08/16/this-week-in-south-florida-oliver-larkin/ (opened; 2026-09-18; published August 16, 2026)
  • https://www.nbcmiami.com/video/video/nbc6-impact-phil-ehr-running-for-congressional-district-28th/3815420/ (opened; 2026-09-18; the video was not watched)
  • https://www.isidewith.com/candidates/phil-ehr/policies (opened; 2026-09-18; not used, because the page labels its answers as generated rather than given by him)
  • https://www.trackaipac.com/states/florida , https://www.algemeiner.com/2026/08/19/anti-israel-antisemitic-candidates-largely-flop-florida-primaries/ and https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/campaigns/congressional/4690378/florida-primaries-antisemitism-dsa-republicans-democrats/ (opened; 2026-09-18; none of the three names him)
  • https://x.com/PhilEhr (opened, recent posts only; 2026-09-18)
  • https://www.facebook.com/PhilEhrFlorida , https://www.facebook.com/phil.ehr , https://www.instagram.com/phil.ehr , https://www.youtube.com/@ehrforcongress , https://www.linkedin.com/in/philehr/ , https://www.facebook.com/61578047966678/videos/center-the-real-story-this-anchor-most-certainly-aligned-with-fascism-but-she-th/1736574877587399/ , https://hometownkeywest.com/2024/02/09/commander-phil-ehr-d-us-representative-district-28/ and the three Florida Politics reports named above (could not open; 2026-09-18)
  • This is a record of what was checked on 2026-09-18, not a claim that no other statement exists.

Also in this race

  1. ✗ Carlos A. Gimenez (Republican)
  2. – Eddy Rojas (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.