But What Can You Do? tracks where 2026 candidates stand on U.S. weapons and funding for the government of Israel. How we check
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.
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You asked Don Tracy where they stand.
Deep Dive
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.
The record
• In a Nov. 4, 2025 interview on Illinois Public Media's 'The 21st Show,' Tracy voiced support for continued U.S. backing of Israel, describing U.S. involvement in the Gaza war as 'measured and appropriate from the very beginning' and Israel as 'a very strong ally.' (Found on a later check via the IPM Newsroom text writeup; the segment had first been recorded as audio-only.)
• On March 6, 2026 the Tracy campaign issued a press release attacking Democratic rivals Raja Krishnamoorthi and Robin Kelly for being among 53 House Democrats who voted against H.Res. 1099, a bipartisan resolution reaffirming Iran as the largest state sponsor of terrorism (passed 372-53). Israel-adjacent (Iran is Israel's principal regional adversary), not a direct position on U.S. aid or arms to Israel.
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: Asked about U.S. involvement in the Gaza war he called it measured and appropriate short of troops, and asked about reconsidering decades of U.S. support he said "we have to support Israel", which reads as continuing U.S. military backing. Reviewed by hand on 2026-09-28. This candidate has no recorded tracked floor votes.
The money
Checked the five lobbying groups we track; no direct 2026 support found
In their words
Research log
The notes behind this card: what we looked at, what we found, and where each item came from.
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, was no longer online 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 was no longer online 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.
- He did not serve in Congress during any of the ten tracked votes.
Also in this race
- ✗Supports Juliana Stratton (Democrat)
- –No Position Found Whitfield Harrington (Independent)
All Illinois candidates.
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