But What Can You Do? tracks where 2026 candidates stand on U.S. weapons and funding for the government of Israel. How we check
Matt Loesby
Libertarian · U.S. Senate, Idaho
✓Opposes
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.
Two reviewers, reading the public record as a whole, agree: His platform, revised June 2024 and still his campaign site, says 'No more cash or weapons for Ukraine, nor for Israel', naming Israel in an end to all U.S. military financing of foreign armies. Reviewed by hand on 2026-10-01. This candidate has no recorded tracked floor votes.
Matt Loesby, a software engineer, chairs the Libertarian Party of Idaho and is its nominee for the U.S. Senate. He was the party's candidate for the House in Idaho's 1st District in 2024. He faces Senator Jim Risch, the Republican, and two independents, Todd Achilles and Natalie Fleming, on November 3; the Democrat, David Roth, withdrew in September. He has never held office, so there are no Senate votes on this record.
His campaign platform says no member of the military should be deployed outside U.S. territory unless Congress declares war, and continues: "Similarly, the US should not spend a penny to finance other countries’ armies. While individuals are free to travel to a country and volunteer to fight in its army, the government has no business using the resources it stole from the people to support foreign governments. No more cash or weapons for Ukraine, nor for Israel, nor any foreign aid to any country." Under the heading "Stop Doing Evil" it says of the federal government: "It deploys military service members for use in maintaining a global monopoly on banking and expanding the borders of the state of Israel." The platform was written for his 2024 House race and was last revised in June 2024. The site still asks voters to send him to Congress for Idaho's First District, and it is the campaign website listed for his Senate race.
At a candidate forum in Caldwell on September 30, 2026 he said the United States needed to "end all these horrific foreign wars", and that "Congress needs to say, all right, if you want to keep sending our troops to die overseas for foreign governments, you’re not getting any money". He named no country. In a May 2024 post on his campaign site he wrote that since the Hamas attack, "the Neocon/Zionist faction and the pro-Israel elements of the progressive coalition are uniting to crush the identity socialists, who have come out in support of the Gazan Palestinians." His platform's line against "any foreign aid to any country" names no Palestinian program, and nothing located has him addressing U.S. aid to Palestinians directly.
In their words
“Similarly, the US should not spend a penny to finance other countries’ armies. While individuals are free to travel to a country and volunteer to fight in its army, the government has no business using the resources it stole from the people to support foreign governments. No more cash or weapons for Ukraine, nor for Israel, nor any foreign aid to any country.”
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 2026-10-05 unless the entry says otherwise. His campaign site was read in full: the home page, the platform page and the site's three posts, and the site's own search was run for Israel. The site's own data gives the platform page a first publication date of March 14, 2024 and a last revision of June 12, 2024; nothing on the site has been added since June 2024. Bands: Position (2024-01-26 onward), Reaction window (2023-10-07 to 2024-01-25), Earlier record (before 2023-10-07), Undated. Loesby has never held office, so none of the Senate votes this site tracks is his, and no funding from the committees this site tracks is recorded on this record. Nothing located on this subject falls in the reaction window.
U.S. military aid and weapons to the government of Israel
[Position, 2024-06-12] His campaign platform, in the section on the military: "No member of the US military should be deployed anywhere outside US territory. Unless and until the US Congress declares war against another country, they should be at home with their families, commuting to base every work day to maintain equipment and train." Then: "Similarly, the US should not spend a penny to finance other countries’ armies. While individuals are free to travel to a country and volunteer to fight in its army, the government has no business using the resources it stole from the people to support foreign governments. No more cash or weapons for Ukraine, nor for Israel, nor any foreign aid to any country. Those who want to support foreign governments or help foreign people can do so with their own resources." The page was written for his 2024 House race; it is still the platform on the campaign website Ballotpedia lists for his 2026 Senate race.
[Position, 2026-09-30] The Idaho Capital Sun's report of the League of Women Voters forum in Caldwell, under "Candidates agreed Congress needed to intervene in foreign conflicts, such Iran War": "Loesby said the U.S. should defund all U.S. military bases abroad and call back American military members." He is quoted: "Congress needs to say, all right, if you want to keep sending our troops to die overseas for foreign governments, you’re not getting any money," and "we need to impeach the president and remove him for treason for sending American troops to die for other countries." Earlier in the forum he said the U.S. needed to "end all these horrific foreign wars". The report's one mention of Israel is in Natalie Fleming's section, not his.
U.S. aid to Palestinians
Nothing located, at any date, that names U.S. aid to Palestinians. His platform's line against "any foreign aid to any country" names no program.
Characterization of the conflict
[Position, 2024-05-01] His campaign post "I Was Wrong.", mostly about interest rates: "Now, since the Hamas attack on southern Israel in October, the Neocon/Zionist faction and the pro-Israel elements of the progressive coalition are uniting to crush the identity socialists, who have come out in support of the Gazan Palestinians."
Israel-related rhetoric and lobbying
[Position, 2024-06-12] His campaign platform, under "Stop Doing Evil": "In the past century, the US Federal Government has established the Global American Empire, a totalitarian regime attempting to rule the entire world. It wages war against peaceful people who were never a threat to you and me. It deploys military service members for use in maintaining a global monopoly on banking and expanding the borders of the state of Israel." The same passage appears in his 2024 Ballotpedia Candidate Connection answers.
[Position, 2024-05-01] The same May 2024 post: "Members of Congress who are not actively pro-Israel will face hefty primary challenges and have little party support for November. The trend of suppressing anti-Zionist rhetoric through all possible institutions will continue and escalate." It predicts that the elites will push a second Trump administration "to be more and more pro-Israel and anti-woke".
No statement by him about the American Israel Public Affairs Committee by name 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
[Read 2026-10-05] His home page reads "Elect Matt Loesby in Idaho’s First District", above the slogan "Stop Doing Evil", and "Send me to Congress, so I can slow them down while we rebuild Idaho." Its latest post is dated June 17, 2024. The platform's other sections cover immigration and birthright citizenship, the economy and the Federal Reserve, drug laws, the intelligence agencies, militias, education, the administrative state and civil rights law.
[Read 2026-10-05] His Ballotpedia page records that he has not completed the 2026 Candidate Connection survey. His 2024 answers there repeat the platform's "Stop Doing Evil" passage and name war among the areas he cares about most: "the Global American Empire uses young American men as the footsoldiers for its imperialism and corporate handouts. The soldiers should all come home".
[Read 2026-10-05] His 2026 iVoterGuide profile carries no answers. His 2024 iVoterGuide profile shows "Did not answer" on every question, including "Is the United States' relationship with Israel important, and if so why?"; a form answered on no question is a fact about the guide's coverage, not about him.
The race
[Read 2026-10-05] Ballotpedia: "Incumbent Jim Risch (R), Matt Loesby (L), Todd Achilles (Independent), and Natalie Fleming (Independent) are running in the general election for U.S. Senate Idaho on November 3, 2026." He advanced from the Libertarian primary on May 19, 2026, and the page names him as chair of the Libertarian Party of Idaho. The Idaho Capital Sun reports that the Democrat, David Roth, withdrew in September and that Risch declined to attend the Caldwell forum.
Places that could not be read, so nothing is claimed from them
KREM's list of the candidates for U.S. Senator for Idaho, https://www.krem.com/article/news/politics/elections/here-are-the-candidates-running-for-us-senator-for-idaho/293-55d38295-bfab-494f-b48c-db4342c2f5c9 , refused both ways we tried.
His campaign Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61557763598681 , and his X account, https://x.com/LoesbyForIdaho , listed by Ballotpedia, were not read.
The full forum video, which the Idaho Capital Sun says is on the City of Caldwell's YouTube page, was not watched.
Not on the card, and why
The forum quotations: they name no country. They are in the deep dive as context.
The May 2024 post's predictions about Congress and anti-Zionist rhetoric: commentary on U.S. politics, recorded above.
His call to impeach the president over troop deployments: not about what the United States sends to the government of Israel or to Palestinians.
His positions on immigration, the Federal Reserve, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, drug laws, education and civil rights law: out of scope.
Jim Risch's, Todd Achilles's and Natalie Fleming's records, including Fleming's remarks on Israel at the same forum: they belong on their own cards.
Sources retrieved for this card (address; opened or could not open; date)
https://www.loesby.us/platform/ (opened; 2026-10-05; first published 2024-03-14, revised 2024-06-12, per the site's own data)
https://www.loesby.us/ (opened; 2026-10-05)
https://www.loesby.us/2024/05/01/i-was-wrong/ (opened; 2026-10-05; published 2024-05-01)
https://idahocapitalsun.com/2026/09/30/idaho-us-senate-candidates-weigh-in-on-tariffs-iran-war-federal-spending-and-more/ (opened; 2026-10-05; dated September 30, 2026)
https://ivoterguide.com/candidate/82133/race/32862/election/1476 and https://ivoterguide.com/candidate/82133/race/1340/election/1209?culture=en-us (opened; 2026-10-05)
https://www.krem.com/article/news/politics/elections/here-are-the-candidates-running-for-us-senator-for-idaho/293-55d38295-bfab-494f-b48c-db4342c2f5c9 (could not open; 2026-10-05)
This is a record of what was checked on 2026-10-05, not a claim that no other statement exists.
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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