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

Jennifer Jenkins

Democrat · U.S. House, Florida District 8
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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: She said she probably would not have voted for the resolutions blocking arms sales to Israel, yet also said those sales should comply with humanitarian and international law, so her words point both ways. Reviewed by hand on 2026-09-28. This candidate has no recorded tracked floor votes.

Asked in September 2025 about Senate resolutions to block weapons sales to the government of Israel, Jenkins said she “probably would not have voted for it”, and that “our arms sales should be in accordance with humanitarian and international law”. Nothing else from her on this question was located.

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Deep Dive

Jennifer Jenkins is the Democratic nominee in Florida's 8th District, the Space Coast and Treasure Coast seat that Mike Haridopolos has held since January 2025. She is a speech-language pathologist who won a seat on the Brevard County School Board in 2020 by defeating a co-founder of Moms for Liberty, served one term, and then founded a national organization that works against political extremism in public schools. She entered this election cycle running for the United States Senate, moved to Florida's 6th District in February 2026, and moved again to the 8th after the state redrew its congressional map in May 2026. Neither party held a primary here, so she and Haridopolos advanced to the general election unopposed and meet on November 3.

Her one statement on this question was made during the Senate campaign, in an interview with Salon published on September 10, 2025. The reporter asked about the resolutions Senator Bernie Sanders had forced to a vote that July, which would have blocked particular arms sales to the government of Israel, one covering bombs and one covering rifles. She said she had not looked at them closely and that she “probably would not have voted for it”. She then explained the view behind that answer in two sentences: “I believe that our arms sales should be in accordance with humanitarian and international law. I believe, though, that we also need to recognize that Israel lives in a really dangerous neighborhood.” She named no dollar figure, no bill and no condition she would attach.

There is nothing else. She has never held federal office, so none of the congressional votes this site tracks are hers. Her campaign site is three pages, and its four priorities are affordability, healthcare, public safety and education, none of them about foreign policy. She answered all seven questions in the candidate questionnaire the Space Coast Rocket published for this district on July 22, 2026, at length and in her own voice, and that form asks nothing about foreign policy, so its silence is a fact about the form. She has not filled in Ballotpedia's candidate questionnaire for this election or for her school board race. Nothing was found from her on United States humanitarian funding for Gaza, on the aid pipeline, or on the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, and nothing in which she characterizes the war. A statement she made in February 2026 about a colleague's remarks on Muslims is on her research page, with what it was about.

One interview answer from a different race is a thin record on a question this size. You are better placed to fill it in than we are: ask her directly, or at a candidate forum, and send us the reply, because it goes on this page in her 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

“probably would not have voted for it”
Source ↗, 2025-09-10
“I believe that our arms sales should be in accordance with humanitarian and international law. I believe, though, that we also need to recognize that Israel lives in a really dangerous neighborhood,”
Source ↗, 2025-09-10

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. Her campaign site was read in full, all three of its pages; so was the one candidate questionnaire she has answered in this election, her Ballotpedia record, and the coverage of all three races she has entered this cycle. Bands: Position (2024-01-26 onward), Reaction window (2023-10-07 to 2024-01-25), Earlier record (before 2023-10-07), Undated. She has held no federal office, so there are no recorded votes on this record and no tracked funding.

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

  • [Position, 2025-09-10] Salon's interview with her, "She took on Moms for Liberty. Now she's aiming for the Senate", by Russell Payne, published on September 10, 2025 during her Senate campaign. The passage in full: "On other issues, Jenkins talks in ways more in line with the mainstream of the party. On the United States' relationship with Israel, for example, Jenkins said that she had not extensively reviewed Sen. Bernie Sanders's, I-Vt., resolutions to stop sales of weapons to the country but said that she 'probably would not have voted for it.'" The article then explains: "In July, Sanders forced a vote on two resolutions aimed at blocking the sale of arms to Israel, one focused on bombs and the other on rifles. In both cases, the majority of the Democratic Senate conference voted in favor of the resolutions." Her own words follow: "I believe that our arms sales should be in accordance with humanitarian and international law. I believe, though, that we also need to recognize that Israel lives in a really dangerous neighborhood," Jenkins said. Nothing in the interview names a dollar figure, a bill, or a condition she would attach.
  • Nothing else located, at any date. No statement by her about Foreign Military Financing, the memorandum of understanding on annual military assistance, an arms transfer, or any House bill or amendment on this subject was found on her campaign site, in the questionnaire she answered, in her Ballotpedia record, or in the coverage read for this card.

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 she has published or answered.

Characterization of the conflict

  • [Position, 2025-09-10] The one clause is in the Salon interview above: "we also need to recognize that Israel lives in a really dangerous neighborhood". She said it as the reason behind her answer on arms sales rather than as a description of the war. Nothing else was located: no statement on Gaza, on Palestinian statehood, on a two-state framework, or on the words genocide, apartheid, self-defense or terrorism as applied to this war.

Israel-related rhetoric and lobbying

  • Nothing located from her, at any date. No statement about pro-Israel lobbying organizations, about political money connected to them, or about a pledge on such money was found.
  • [Position, 2026-02-17] The nearest adjacent item, and it is about Muslims rather than about Israel. Truthout's report on calls to censure Rep. Randy Fine after a post about Muslims records that Jenkins, then running against Fine in Florida's 6th District, said censure was not enough: "Randy Fine has spent years spewing hate: attacking entire faiths, calling for violence, targeting kids and families, and dehumanizing Americans," she wrote. "He's only escalated. Congress must act now and expel Randy Fine immediately." Neither her words nor the article frames the dispute around Israel, pro-Israel lobbying or Middle East policy.

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

  • Nothing located, at any date. No statement or platform plank specifically about antisemitism or about security for Jewish institutions was found.

The race

  • [Undated; read 2026-09-08] Ballotpedia's page for this election: "Incumbent Mike Haridopolos and Jennifer Jenkins are running in the general election for U.S. House Florida District 8 on November 3, 2026." Both primaries scheduled for August 18, 2026 were canceled and each candidate advanced unopposed. The same page records that Florida is voting on a new congressional map this year, passed by the legislature on April 29, 2026 and signed by Governor Ron DeSantis on May 4, 2026.
  • [Undated; read 2026-09-08] Her Ballotpedia page records that she was a member of the Brevard Public Schools school board for District 3 from November 17, 2020 to November 19, 2024, having won that seat outright in the August 2020 primary against the incumbent Tina Descovich with 54.6 percent; that she also entered the special election for the United States Senate this cycle and did not appear on the ballot for the August 18, 2026 special Democratic primary; and that she has not completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey for 2026 and did not complete it in 2020. It lists four endorsements: the Democratic Environmental Caucus of Florida and three voter-guide groups.
  • [Position, 2026-07-22] The Space Coast Rocket's 2026 candidate questionnaire for this district, a Brevard County news site, which prints her answers to seven questions: why she is running, her top three priorities, the biggest problem facing the district, how she would keep constituents informed, why she is a better choice than her opponent, anything in her record she would address up front, and anything else she wants voters to know. Her answers name the cost of living, protecting Medicare and Social Security, public schools, and Florida's homeowners insurance crisis, for which she proposes "a multi-state catastrophe pool and federal reinsurance program". The form asks nothing about foreign policy, so its silence on this subject is a fact about the form. The same site has published no questionnaire from her opponent.
  • [Undated; read 2026-09-08] Her campaign site, https://jenkinsforfl.com/ , refused both attempts to open it directly; its pages were read in the Internet Archive's copy of August 17 and 18, 2026. It has three pages. The priorities page has four headings: Affordability ("Stabilize Florida's property insurance market through bipartisan federal reinsurance and catastrophe backstops", "Oppose reckless tariffs that drive up the cost of everyday goods", "Fight for tax and cost-of-living policies that put working families first, not special interests"), Healthcare (expanding Medicaid, restoring Affordable Care Act subsidies, protecting coverage for pre-existing conditions), Public Safety (funding and mental health support for first responders, evidence-based strategies, "Protect the constitutional rights of U.S. citizens and immigrants alike") and Education (protecting the Department of Education, funding IDEA and defending Section 504, expanding Title I). The page about her sets out her family, her school board term and the organization she founded. Neither page, nor the home page, mentions Israel, Gaza, Palestinians, foreign aid, weapons, arms sales, antisemitism or foreign policy of any kind.
  • [Position, 2026-02-17 and 2026-05] Her path to this district: the Truthout report above places her as a candidate against Rep. Randy Fine in Florida's 6th District in February 2026, and The Floridian reported her move to the 8th in May 2026, after the new map. Neither piece touches this subject.

Places that were not read, so nothing is claimed from them

  • Her campaign's accounts on Facebook, Instagram, X and TikTok, and her personal Facebook and LinkedIn pages, all listed on Ballotpedia: https://www.facebook.com/JenniferJenkinsForFlorida , https://www.instagram.com/jenniferjenkinsflorida , https://x.com/Jenkins4Florida , https://www.tiktok.com/@jenniferjenkinsflorida , https://www.facebook.com/jennifer.jenkins.496210 and https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennifer-jenkins-033492191/ . None was read here.
  • The CBS Miami interview with her about political violence, which is a video and was not watched.
  • Florida Phoenix's report of her move to this district, https://floridaphoenix.com/2026/05/05/democrat-jennifer-jenkins-now-says-shell-run-for-cd-8-seat-in-brevard-county/ , and Florida Politics' reports on the race, which did not open. The Floridian's report of the same move, which did open, is above.

Not on the card, and why

  • The February 2026 statement about Rep. Randy Fine: it is about remarks concerning Muslims, not about United States weapons or money for the government of Israel, and neither her words nor the report connects the two. It is above in full.
  • Her affordability, insurance, healthcare, public safety and education material, on her campaign site and in the questionnaire she answered: out of scope. It is listed above so the absence is checkable.
  • Her four endorsements: an endorsement is other people's recommendation rather than a statement by the candidate, and no position is inferred from one.
  • The July 2025 Senate votes themselves, and how other senators voted on them: they are the background the reporter supplied for the question, not her record. The article's sentences about them are quoted above so the reader can see what she was asked about.
  • Mike Haridopolos's record: it belongs on his own card.

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

  • https://www.salon.com/2025/09/10/she-took-on-moms-for-liberty-now-shes-aiming-for-the-senate/ (opened; 2026-09-08; published 2025-09-10)
  • https://jenkinsforfl.com/ , https://jenkinsforfl.com/priorities/ and https://jenkinsforfl.com/about/ (could not open directly; read in the Internet Archive's copies of 2026-08-17 and 2026-08-18; 2026-09-08)
  • https://thespacecoastrocket.com/2026-candidate-questionnaire-jennifer-jenkins-u-s-congress-fl-district-8/ (opened; 2026-09-08; published 2026-07-22)
  • https://ballotpedia.org/Jennifer_Jenkins (opened; 2026-09-08)
  • https://ballotpedia.org/Florida%27s_8th_Congressional_District_election,_2026 (opened; 2026-09-08)
  • https://truthout.org/articles/lawmakers-call-for-rep-andy-fines-censure-after-racist-anti-muslim-tweet/ (opened; 2026-09-08; published 2026-02-17)
  • https://floridianpress.com/2026/05/jenkins-pivots-to-floridas-8th-congressional-district-now-battling-haridopolos-for-congress/ (opened; 2026-09-08)
  • https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2026-election/moms-liberty-foe-jennifer-jenkins-senate-bid-ashley-moody-rcna230155 (opened; 2026-09-08; carries nothing on this subject)
  • https://www.asha.org/news/2025/asha-certified-slp-pursues-public-service-through-florida-senate-campaign/ (opened; 2026-09-08; biography only, nothing on this subject)
  • https://www.predictionedge.com/elections/profile/jennifer-jenkins/ (opened; 2026-09-08; polling and biography only)
  • https://floridapolitics.com/archives/794822-redistricting-shuffle-jennifer-jenkins-turns-her-attention-to-mike-haridopolos-instead-of-randy-fine/ (could not open; 2026-09-08)
  • https://floridaphoenix.com/2026/05/05/democrat-jennifer-jenkins-now-says-shell-run-for-cd-8-seat-in-brevard-county/ (could not open; 2026-09-08)
  • Her campaign and personal accounts on Facebook, Instagram, X, TikTok and LinkedIn, listed above (not read; 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. ✗ Mike Haridopolos (Republican)

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.