Charles Booker
At a March 2026 debate Booker called the government of Israel's actions in Gaza a genocide, and pledged to take no American Israel Public Affairs Committee money, which is about his own fundraising. His campaign's platform page on Gaza no longer opens (research).
Booker is a former Kentucky state representative and the Democratic nominee for the state's open Senate seat. He has never held federal office, so none of the congressional votes this site tracks are his.
At a televised primary debate in March 2026 he called the actions of the government of Israel in Gaza a genocide, and pledged to take no money from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee: "not take a cent of AIPAC money, and I’m urging all of my colleagues here today to do the same thing. We need to stand for humanity right now." That pledge is about campaign fundraising, not about what the United States sends abroad, and one rival on the stage replied that the committee was not offering him money in any case.
His campaign's issues page carried a section on Gaza saying, in the campaign's own third-person wording, that the Israeli government's actions there constitute a genocide, that the United States is funding it despite American law barring weapons for war crimes, and that he supports a free Palestine, the release of all hostages, and an end to the violence. That page returns a not-found error now, so it is named here rather than quoted. What can be read is the endorsement page of the antiwar group Peace Action, which says he "opposes continued U.S. funding for Israel's military actions and believes Palestinians have a right to freedom, safety, and self-determination". Those are the group's words about him, on a page his campaign raises money through, and they say the same thing the dead plank said.
His earlier record ran differently and it is worth setting beside this one. In October 2021, during a previous Senate run, he backed the billion-dollar supplemental for the Iron Dome missile-defence system and attacked Senator Rand Paul for holding it up, saying Paul "made a dishonest, empty excuse to singularly oppose funding for Israel’s ability to defend itself and keep families safe." In the same statement he said American support should "ensure both Israeli and Palestinian people can disarm deadly threats on innocent lives". Five years separate that from the platform above, and both are on the research page with their dates.
Research
U.S. military aid and weapons to Israel
- [Position, 2026 cycle, read 2026-08-18] The Peace Action endorsement page, through which his campaign raises money, states in the group's own words: "Charles believes that what is happening in Gaza constitutes a genocide. He opposes continued U.S. funding for Israel’s military actions and believes Palestinians have a right to freedom, safety, and self-determination." And: "He supports significantly reducing military spending and the ever-growing military industrial complex, raising the standard to ensure American tax dollars are no longer used to fund genocide, reasserting congressional oversight over foreign policy". Verified verbatim. These are the endorsing organization's characterizations of his position, not his own sentences, and they are attributed that way everywhere they appear.
- [Position, 2026 cycle, platform live as of 2026-07-23] His campaign issues page carried a Gaza plank stating that the Israeli government's actions against Palestinians in Gaza constitute a genocide, that the United States is funding that genocide despite American law barring weapons for war crimes, and that he unequivocally supports a free Palestine, the release of all hostages, and a real and lasting end to the violence. This is the campaign's third-person platform text, not a first-person quotation, and it is set out in plain words rather than in quotation marks because the page can no longer be opened and read. Source problem, stated plainly: that page, https://charlesbooker.org/issues/, 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, but now carries only home, biography, endorsements and donation pages, with nothing on this subject.
- [Position, 2026-03] The gather round reports that at a primary debate he said he would not support further U.S. military funding for the government of Israel until the humanitarian situation was addressed and the fighting in Gaza ended. The only carrier offered for it is a short video with no transcript, so it is not quoted here and nothing on the card rests on it. The Peace Action wording above says the same thing on a readable page.
- [Prior, 2021-10-18] Statement to Jewish Insider during an earlier Senate run, supporting the House-passed $1 billion supplemental for the Iron Dome missile-defence system and criticizing Senator Rand Paul for blocking its quick passage. Verified verbatim: "In the midst of the ongoing conflict that has cost so many Israeli and Palestinian lives, Rand chose to pit our allies against one another when he made a dishonest, empty excuse to singularly oppose funding for Israel’s ability to defend itself and keep families safe." And, in a separate span the report divides with its own attribution: "While we work to ensure community safety here at home, we have a role to play to that same end with foreign allies." And: "That includes support to ensure both Israeli and Palestinian people can disarm deadly threats on innocent lives." The spans are not joined here.
U.S. aid to Palestinians
- [Position, 2026 cycle] The platform plank and the Peace Action wording above, in their support for a free Palestine and for Palestinian self-determination, are the nearest thing on this record. Nothing located in which he states a position on a specific U.S. funding channel for Palestinian civilians, such as the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees.
Characterization of the conflict
- [Position, 2026-03-17] At the Spectrum News 1 Democratic primary debate he called the actions of the government of Israel in Gaza a genocide, per the Kentucky Lantern and, independently, Louisville Public Media. The Lantern places the word in quotation marks inside its own sentence; the quoted span it attributes to him directly is the fundraising pledge.
- [Prior, 2021-05-20] Post on X as a ceasefire was announced, verified verbatim against the post, which carries its own date of May 20, 2021: "This is the right move, but it’s no comfort to parents who lost their children. A temporary break on bombing is the minimum. We need true, lasting peace and justice in Israel and Palestine, and that includes healing and reconciliation. Too much innocent blood has been spilled."
Related rhetoric and lobbying
- [Position, 2026-03-17] The pledge to refuse contributions from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. This is a campaign fundraising commitment and is not a position on U.S. weapons or money. A rival on the same stage replied that the committee was not offering him money in any case.
- [Position, 2026-04-13] An organization that campaigns against that committee's influence in elections endorsed him in a post carrying its own date. Its accompanying descriptions of his positions, including that he is fighting for an arms embargo, are the organization's words and not his, and they are not used anywhere on this card.
Safety and antisemitism (context)
- [Position, 2024-09-18] The Kentucky governor's office published an agenda for a meeting of a state antisemitism task force on that date, at https://governor.ky.gov/community/Documents/20240918_Antisemitism-Task-Force_Meeting-Agenda.pdf. The file opens but is a scanned document whose text we could not extract, so his part in the meeting, which the gather round reports in his then role running the state's faith-based initiatives office, is recorded here as unconfirmed rather than stated.
- [Position, 2025-12-14] A post attributed to his campaign account condemned an attack on a Hanukkah gathering in Sydney, using the words that the hate fuelling the violence is exhausting and heartbreaking. The address returns an error, so the words are not quoted and nothing on the card rests on them.
Race and status context
- Democratic nominee for the open Kentucky Senate seat, per Ballotpedia's race page, the state's official primary certification, and WKU Public Radio's primary report.
- His ten tracked vote cells are all not-in-office.
Also in this race: Garland Andy Barr (Republican), Christopher Todd Campbell (Other) · All Kentucky 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.