But What Can You Do? tracks where 2026 candidates stand on U.S. weapons and funding for the government of Israel. How we check
Clay Higgins
- Backed with $15K by PACs we track that support U.S. weapons funding for the government of Israel (lifetime)
- Sits on House Armed Services
Higgins co-sponsors the Stand with Israel Act, which would withhold U.S. funding from United Nations agencies that restrict Israel's participation. Speaking at the Knesset in 2026 he called the two-state solution an "absurd" vision and said American assistance is no act of charity.
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Deep Dive
Higgins represents Louisiana's 3rd District, across Acadiana and the southwest coast. He is the sitting member.
His position on U.S. money runs through the United Nations. He is one of two dozen co-sponsors of the Stand with Israel Act, which would require U.S. funding to be withheld from any United Nations agency that expels, downgrades, suspends or otherwise restricts Israel's participation.
In February 2026 he travelled to Jerusalem with other Republican members for a roundtable with Israeli legislators. The published account has him saying the two peoples are spiritually bonded by an unwavering commitment, and that American assistance is by no means charity. His own words there rejected a Palestinian state outright: he called the two-state solution an "absurd" vision and added, "We see Israel as the sovereign nation, completely capable of dealing within its own sovereign rights. The world should be reminded daily that only in Israel do Arabs live free." The roundtable's broader theme, moving the relationship from aid to a strategic partnership, was argued by other participants, and it is not written up here as his proposal.
He has been on this ground for years. In July 2019 he wrote to Speaker Nancy Pelosi urging her to condemn a resolution supporting boycotts of Israel, calling it "a thinly veiled attack on the nation of Israel" and "a much more sinister undertaking meant to attack and marginalize the Jewish people". In 2018, after the U.S. embassy moved to Jerusalem, he said "The United States stands shoulder to shoulder with Israel".
The record
Supported sending weapons or funding in 6 of 6 tracked votes · Backs 0 of 1 tracked bills to restrict weapons transfers
House Committee on Armed Services
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.
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Voted to send weapons or funding in more than half of their recorded tracked votes. (Supported sending weapons or funding in 6 of 6 tracked votes.)
The money
$15K in lifetime support from the five lobbying groups we track
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, 2024-08-20] Co-sponsor of H.R. 9374, the Stand with Israel Act. Opened and confirmed: the release's co-lead list prints "Clay Higgins (LA-03)". The bill "will require the withholding of U.S. funding to UN agencies that expel, downgrade, suspend, or otherwise restrict the participation of the State of Israel". ⚠ The release carries quotations from several other members; none of them is attributed to him, and none is used. Also reported by Representative Mike Lawler's office.
- [Position, 2026-02-18] At a Knesset roundtable, as reported by JNS, "Higgins was clear that the United States and Israel share a deep partnership, and that any American assistance is by no means charity." Opened and confirmed. That sentence is the reporter's summary rather than a quotation, and the card renders it attributively for that reason.
⚠ **Multi-speaker page.** The article's headline theme, urging a shift from U.S. aid to a strategic partnership, is argued on the page by Representative Scott Perry and by Knesset members Ohad Tal, Simcha Rothman and Amit Halevi. The $38 billion Memorandum of Understanding figure and the account of a paused shipment of 3,500 bombs both belong to other speakers. None of that is attributed to Higgins here or on the card.
- [Prior, 2019-01-08] Co-sponsored H.R. 336, the United States-Israel Security Assistance Authorization Act of 2019, which extended loan guarantees and authorized Foreign Military Financing. The address offered, https://legiscan.com/US/bill/HB336/2019, returns 403, so it is written out here rather than linked.
- [Reaction window, 2023-10-25] Co-sponsored H.R. 5932 to authorize additional military assistance and weapons transfers, per BillTrack50, which opens and lists him as a co-sponsor. In the reaction window, so not on the card summary.
- His recorded votes on the tracked bills appear as badges on this card, and the grounding for each sits in the record section rather than in the prose.
U.S. aid to Palestinians
- [Reaction window, 2023-11-02] Co-sponsored H.R. 1102, the UNRWA Accountability and Transparency Act, per BillTrack50, which opens, names him as a co-sponsor, and describes the bill: "A BILL To withhold United States contributions to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), and for other purposes." Also listed at Reverse Canary Mission. In the reaction window, so not on the card summary. Note: this is the clearest thing on the record about U.S. money for Palestinian refugees, and it stays here, out of the card summary.
- The 2024 Stand with Israel Act is modeled, per its own release, on the existing prohibition on funding United Nations entities that elevate the Palestinian Authority to member-state status (confirmed, above).
- Nothing else located on Gaza humanitarian funding or the aid pipeline.
Characterization of the conflict
- [Position, 2026-02-18] From the same JNS account, confirmed word for word: he called the two-state solution an "absurd" vision, and: "We see Israel as the sovereign nation, completely capable of dealing within its own sovereign rights. The world should be reminded daily that only in Israel do Arabs live free." The article also has him saying that antisemitic and anti-Israel speech within conservative circles came from "a very small voice", and: "It's not real, this antisemitic, anti-Israel noise that you're hearing. It's like something stuck to the bottom of our boot is to be scraped off while we continue with our journey."
- One phrase offered for this item is NOT used: that he framed the alliance as a bond between "Judeo-Christian nations". That wording does not appear anywhere on the cited page, which says instead that he described the two peoples as "spiritually bonded by an unwavering commitment, anointed by God". The unsupported phrase is dropped and the page's own wording is used.
- [Prior, 2018-05-14] "The United States stands shoulder to shoulder with Israel", on his own House site after the embassy opening in Jerusalem, describing the commitment as unwavering. Opened and confirmed.
- [Reaction window, 2023-11-21] Joined a bipartisan letter to Reuters seeking an investigation into a freelance photojournalist's knowledge of the October 7 attack, per Representative Mike Lawler's office. Not on the card summary.
Related rhetoric and lobbying
- [Prior, 2019-07-23] Letter to Speaker Nancy Pelosi urging her to condemn H.Res. 496, a resolution supporting boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel. Opened and confirmed word for word. Quoted: H.Res. 496 "is a thinly veiled attack on the nation of Israel". And: "The BDS movement does not simply call for the boycott, divestment, and sanctions of Israel; it is a much more sinister undertaking meant to attack and marginalize the Jewish people, cutting them off from western support and leaving them vulnerable in a region of political and religious instability."
- Tracked funding totals appear as a badge on this card.
Safety and antisemitism (context)
- [Prior, 2022-02-08] At a House Homeland Security subcommittee hearing after the Colleyville synagogue hostage crisis, Forward reports him telling testifying rabbis that "any act of aggression or violence toward Israel and its citizens must be handled swiftly" and quoting scripture that "the nation that stands against Israel, stands against itself", and reports a follow-up statement the next day: "We condemn antisemitic attacks against America's Jewish community just as we condemn antisemitic acts against our ally Israel." Opened; the outlet's headline characterization is not adopted.
- [Prior, 2017-07-01] A video recorded inside a former gas chamber at Auschwitz-Birkenau drew criticism from the memorial and museum, and he apologized four days later for any unintended pain caused. Opened and confirmed. Also covered by CBS News. Recorded here as history; it is not an answer to what the United States sends and does not appear on the card.
Race and status context
- Sitting representative for the district, qualified on Louisiana's certified list for the all-candidate November election, with a December runoff between the top two if nobody clears half the vote. Six candidates are on the ballot in this district.
- Two carriers offered for identity disambiguation concern Irish politicians of the same surname and are not about him: an Anadolu Agency report on the Irish president and Senator Alice-Mary Higgins's own site. Nothing from either is used.
Also in this race
- –No Position Found Kate Cotten (Republican)
- –No Position Found Caleb "With a C" Walker (Democrat)
- –No Position Found John Day (Democrat)
- ?Mixed Priscilla Gonzalez (Democrat)
- –No Position Found Tia LeBrun (Independent)
All Louisiana candidates.
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