But What Can You Do? tracks where 2026 candidates stand on U.S. weapons and funding for the government of Israel. How we check
Rick Stewart
Libertarian · U.S. House, Iowa District 2
–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 October 2026 has Stewart taking a position on U.S. weapons or money for the government of Israel, or on U.S. aid to Palestinians. His five priorities for 2026 are taxes, immigration, a universal basic income, a carbon tax and eliminating nuclear weapons.
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Rick Stewart is the Libertarian candidate in Iowa's 2nd District, an open seat in northeast Iowa. He lives in Cedar Rapids. His Ballotpedia biography records that he was chief executive of Frontier Natural Products Co-op and once a police officer in Maquoketa, and that he was the Libertarian candidate for governor in 2022 and for the U.S. Senate in 2020. He faces three opponents on November 3: Lindsay James, the Democrat, Joe Mitchell, the Republican, and Dave Bushaw, an independent. He has never held federal office, so there are no congressional votes on this record.
This is an empty record on these questions rather than a thin one. Speaking at the Iowa State Fair in August 2026, he set out five priorities: eliminating nuclear weapons, replacing the income tax with a land tax, an immigration system in which vetted immigrants bid for green cards, a universal carbon tax, and a universal basic income in place of welfare programs. His campaign site is still the one from his 2022 race for governor. None of its pages mentions Israel, Gaza or Palestinians; the nearest, on the National Guard, says he would not let Iowa troops deploy overseas without a declaration of war by Congress. He has not filled in Ballotpedia's 2026 questionnaire, and iVoterGuide has not yet published answers for this race.
One earlier answer touches the subject at its edge. In a 2020 iVoterGuide questionnaire for his Senate race, he marked "Disagree" beside a statement supporting boycotts, divestment and sanctions against the government of Israel if it refused to allow a Palestinian state. That is about boycotts, not about what the United States sends. His other foreign policy answers from past races, which do not name the government of Israel, are on his research page. An empty record carries no implication either way.
You are better placed to change this than we are. Ask Stewart 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.
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 2026-09-28, and every page below was opened and read on 2026-10-01 unless the entry says otherwise. His campaign site was read: its home, About and Issues pages, which carry 2022 dates and present him as a candidate for governor. Stewart has never held federal 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. Bands: Position (2024-01-26 onward), Reaction window (2023-10-07 to 2024-01-25), Earlier record (before 2023-10-07), Undated. Nothing located falls in the reaction window.
U.S. military aid and weapons to the government of Israel
Nothing located, at any date. No statement by him about arms transfers, military aid, Foreign Military Financing or any bill on those subjects appears on his campaign site, in his questionnaire answers from 2020 or 2022, or in the 2026 report of his campaign speech.
[Earlier record, 2020] His 2020 iVoterGuide questionnaire, for his Senate race, under National Security: he marked "Strongly Agree" beside "The best way to maintain peace is through a strong military." Asked what the United States should do about the threat of radical Islamic terrorism, he wrote: "The threat of radical Islamic terrorism was created by the United States government, not by radical Islamists. Were we to pull our troops out of every Muslim country, radical Islamists would cease to pay us any attention at all, and the tiny number that might mistakenly do so would be quickly, easily, and inexpensively eliminated by our security forces." Neither answer names the government of Israel.
U.S. aid to Palestinians
Nothing located, at any date.
Characterization of the conflict
Nothing located, at any date.
Israel-related rhetoric and lobbying
[Earlier record, 2020] The same 2020 questionnaire, under Other Important Issues: he marked "Disagree" beside the statement "I support BDS (boycott, divestment, and sanction) against Israel if they refuse to allow the creation of a Palestinian state." He used the full range of answers elsewhere on the form, from "Strongly Agree" to "Strongly Disagree", so the answer is his. It is about boycotts, not about what the United States sends.
No statement by him about the American Israel Public Affairs Committee or any other advocacy organization on this subject was found.
Safety and antisemitism (context, not an answer to what America sends)
Nothing located, at any date.
What the campaign site and own pages say
[Earlier record; last modified 2022-06-19] His campaign site, the address Ballotpedia and iVoterGuide both give for this race, is headed "The First Choice for Iowa Governor". Its Issues page lists twelve: the Second Amendment, clean water, education, eminent domain, the drug war, ethanol, local control, mental health, the National Guard, obscene books, occupational licensing and ranked-choice voting. The About page is a long biography from his 2022 race. None of the site's pages, the twelve issue pages and three news posts included, mentions Israel, Gaza or Palestinians.
[Earlier record; 2022] His National Guard issue page, written for the governor's race: "As Governor I will not allow Iowa National Guard troops to be deployed overseas unless Congress passes an actual declaration of war." It calls the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq "endless wars" fought under authorizations for the use of military force. It names no other country.
[Position, 2026-08-15] Iowa Capital Dispatch, on his speech at the Des Moines Register Political Soapbox at the Iowa State Fair, reports five priorities: eliminating nuclear weapons, which he called an "existential threat", ending the income tax in favor of a land tax, an immigration system that auctions lifetime green cards to vetted immigrants, a universal carbon tax with per-person rebates, and a universal basic income replacing welfare programs. It reports nothing about foreign aid or the Middle East.
[Earlier record, 2022] His Ballotpedia page carries his 2022 Candidate Connection answers from his race for governor. Among them: "I want to take a close look at our foreign policy and ask ourselves an easy question - why do so many countries around the world hate us? Could it be we are bad neighbors?" And: "Can we have some peace already? Being a bad neighbor doesn't make the rest of the world fond of us. Rethink our militaristic tendencies, and give peace a chance." Neither names a country. The page records that he has not completed the 2026 survey.
[Earlier record, 2020] The 2020 iVoterGuide questionnaire also carries a biographical answer: "I worked on a kibbutz in Israel, in an ashram in India, and as a street sweeper in the Hague."
[Earlier record, 2014-08-14] Little Village, on his 2014 Senate run, quotes a travel story from the biography then on his campaign site, in which he was "sequestered by Palestinians for being an Israeli spy, released and given a cup of tea, then [he] kept on moving down to Jordan, where he was able to cross back into Israel, but did get arrested for spending the night in no man’s land". It is a story about his travels, not a position.
[Read 2026-10-01] His 2026 iVoterGuide profile lists him as the Libertarian candidate and carries only a biography heading; no questionnaire answers for this race are published on it.
The race
[Read 2026-10-01] His Ballotpedia page: "Lindsay James (D), Joe Mitchell (R), Rick Stewart (L), and Dave Bushaw (Independent) are running in the general election for U.S. House Iowa District 2 on November 3, 2026." There is no incumbent; Iowa Capital Dispatch reports that Representative Ashley Hinson is running for the U.S. Senate.
Places that could not be read, so nothing is claimed from them
His campaign's Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/IowaRick , his personal Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/rickisrick , and his YouTube channel, https://www.youtube.com/@LibertarianRick , all linked from Ballotpedia. None was read for this card.
Not on the card, and why
The 2020 questionnaire's boycott statement: about boycotts, not about U.S. weapons or money for the government of Israel, and from before October 2023. It is in the deep dive as history.
His 2020 answer on terrorism and troops in Muslim countries, his 2022 answers on foreign policy and peace, and his kibbutz and travel stories: they name no recipient of U.S. weapons or money. Recorded above.
His tax, immigration, carbon tax, basic income, drug war and nuclear weapons positions: out of scope. Listed above so the absence is checkable.
Lindsay James's, Joe Mitchell's and Dave Bushaw's records belong on their own cards.
Sources retrieved for this card (address; opened or could not open; date)
https://www.rickstewart.com/ , https://www.rickstewart.com/issues/ and https://www.rickstewart.com/about/ (opened; 2026-10-01; last modified 2022-06-19)
https://www.rickstewart.com/national-guard/ , the eleven other issue pages linked from the Issues page, and the three news posts linked from the home page (opened; 2026-10-01; 2022)
https://iowacapitaldispatch.com/2026/08/15/libertarian-wants-to-repeal-income-tax-welfare-programs-immigration-policy/ (opened; 2026-10-01; published 2026-08-15)
https://ivoterguide.com/candidate/23760/race/11086/election/771?culture=en-us (opened; 2026-10-01; the 2020 Senate questionnaire)
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.
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