Don Tracy
Tracy said U.S. involvement in the war in Gaza has been "measured and appropriate from the very beginning". Asked about pressure to reconsider American support for the government of Israel, he said "we have to support Israel". Nothing located from him on arms-sale amounts or on conditions.
Tracy is the Republican nominee for the U.S. Senate in Illinois. He has never held federal office, so none of the congressional votes this site tracks are his.
He has answered the question twice, to the same interviewer. In November 2025, asked about U.S. involvement in the war in Gaza, he told Illinois Public Media's The 21st Show that it had been "measured and appropriate from the very beginning". He went on: "We don’t have boots on the ground there, but Israel has been a very strong ally of ours for many years in the [Middle East] and continues to be. And we should support our allies". In the same answer he said the government of Israel, in defending itself, "has done a better job of minimizing collateral damage than almost any other warring nation in a war of this consequence."
In July 2026 the same programme put the harder version of the question to him: that younger voters on both the left and the right are pressing to reconsider decades of American support. He answered that much of that movement was "pretty ugly" and pointed to what he called the antisemitic aspect of it, then set out his own position: "Israel is an important ally, our most important ally in the Mideast. They're a true democracy." He called the wars in Gaza and Lebanon horrible, said the government of Israel did not start them, and finished: "so I do believe in supporting Israel and its defense" and "And so we have to support Israel."
That is a position for continuing U.S. support, stated twice and unambiguously. What it does not do is name a figure, a weapon or a condition: across both interviews he was not asked, and did not say, how much, what kind, or whether any of it should carry terms. His campaign platform is domestic, and the page setting it out no longer opens; nor does a March 2026 campaign release attacking two House Democrats over a resolution naming Iran the largest state sponsor of terrorism, which is about Iran rather than about what the United States sends. Both addresses are written out on the research page.
If you want the part he has not answered, on amounts and on conditions, you are better placed to get it than we are: ask Tracy directly and send us the reply. It goes on this page in his own words.
Research
U.S. military aid and weapons to Israel
- [Position, 2025-11-05] Interview with Illinois Public Media's The 21st Show, recorded 2025-11-04 and written up the next day by IPM Newsroom, under its own heading on U.S. involvement in the war in Gaza. Verified verbatim: "I think it’s been measured and appropriate from the very beginning. We don’t have boots on the ground there, but Israel has been a very strong ally of ours for many years in the [Middle East] and continues to be. And we should support our allies … Israel, in defending itself and responding to the Oct. 7 Hamas attack, brutal attack, has done a better job of minimizing collateral damage than almost any other warring nation in a war of this consequence." The bracketed words and the ellipsis are the outlet's. Direction named: for continued U.S. support of the government of Israel. He does not address arms-sale amounts, conditioning, the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, or boycott measures.
- [Position, 2026-07-30] A second, longer interview on the same programme, published with a full transcript. The host asked about the energy on both the young left and the young right for reevaluating the steadfast support America has shown the government of Israel for decades. Verified verbatim from the transcript: "Well, a lot of it, I think, is pretty ugly — the antisemitic aspect of it." And: "Israel is an important ally, our most important ally in the Mideast. They're a true democracy. They're a successful democracy and they've been an ally for a long time." And: "And the conflict in Gaza and Lebanon [is] horrible. War is horrible. It's absolutely horrible. But Israel didn't start it." And: "so I do believe in supporting Israel and its defense." And: "And so we have to support Israel." And, on his own party: "the Republican Party, the Conservative Party, whatever you want to call it, it's a big-tent party. We have a lot of different views on a lot of different subjects, but I think the majority of Republicans support Israel." The bracketed word in the Gaza sentence is the transcript's. Amounts and conditions are not raised in either direction.
- [Position, checked 2026-07-24] His campaign's issues page presents an entirely domestic platform, on cost of living, crime and policing, energy, and immigration, with no mention of the subject. Source problem, stated plainly: that page, https://dontracyforil.com/defend/champion, returned 404 when we tried it on 2026-08-17, so we could not open it and it is not linked. His campaign site itself still opens.
U.S. aid to Palestinians
- Nothing located. Neither interview raises U.S. humanitarian funding, and he does not volunteer a position on it.
Characterization of the conflict
- [Position, 2025-11-05] Carried inside the first interview above: his account of the conduct of the war is part of the same answer.
- [Position, 2026-07-30] From the second interview, verified verbatim: "And a lot of the people on the Palestinian side — they like to recite "from the river to the sea," basically they want to destroy Israel. It's like Iran's "death to America" — their position is death to Israel." Recorded in full here because it is his characterization of the other side, which is in scope, and because reducing it to a paraphrase would soften it.
Related rhetoric and lobbying
- [Position, 2026-03-06] A campaign press release attacked two Democratic House members for being among 53 who voted against a bipartisan resolution reaffirming Iran as the largest state sponsor of terrorism. Adjacent rather than on point: it is about Iran, not about U.S. weapons or money for the government of Israel. Source problem, stated plainly: the release at https://dontracyforil.com/press-releases?slug=tracy-raja-and-kelly-join-far-left-in-rejecting-bipartisan-resolution-against-iran-s-state-sponsored-terrorism returned 404 when we tried it on 2026-08-17, so we could not open it and it is not linked.
- [Position, 2026-07-30] In the same transcript he defends U.S. military action against Iran at length, as a threat to the United States rather than as an Israel question. Recorded, not used: this site tracks what the United States sends to the government of Israel and to Palestinians.
- The record reports that the Illinois Republican Party, which he chaired from 2021 to 2024, issued statements on demonstrations and on campus antisemitism. The party's news index refuses every route we tried, so none of it is quoted or linked, and a party's communications are in any case the party's rather than his.
- No endorsement from any tracked advocacy group is recorded, on either side.
Safety and antisemitism (context)
- [Position, 2026-07-30] The "pretty ugly" answer above is also his fullest statement on antisemitism, and it is quoted whole in the first section rather than split.
Race and status context
- Republican nominee for the U.S. Senate in Illinois, per Ballotpedia's race page and the Associated Press.
- His ten tracked vote cells are all not-in-office.
Also in this race: Whitfield Mr Jr Harrington (Independent), Juliana Stratton (Democrat) · All Illinois candidates.
See the full record →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 the interactive card for votes, funding and contact details.