But What Can You Do? tracks where 2026 candidates stand on U.S. weapons and funding for the government of Israel. How we check
Steven Young
Green · Governor, Minnesota
✓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 campaign site treats a history of 'funding the Occupation of Palestine' as disqualifying, set beside the ICE operation he wants abolished and with his campaign's 'Free Palestine', which read together is opposition to continued U.S. funding of Israel's occupation. Reviewed by hand on 2026-10-01. This candidate has no recorded tracked floor votes.
Steven Young is the Green Party's nominee for governor of Minnesota, with Jane Kirby, a midwife, as his running mate; the party endorsed them at its state convention on April 18. His campaign site describes him as a former Marine and former attorney who owned a neighborhood grocery store, and in his answers to KAXE's election guide he lists twelve years in the Marine Corps, nine as a lawyer and his current job as a light rail operator in Minneapolis. The seat is open. He faces Senator Amy Klobuchar, the Democrat, and Lisa Demuth, the Republican, on November 3.
His campaign is about last winter's federal immigration operation in Minneapolis. His site's planks are abolishing ICE ("I know that the governor can't technically abolish ICE, but I can make their lives miserable while they're in our state"), a sanctuary state, closing the immigration detention center at the Whipple Building, a truth and reconciliation process over Operation Metro Surge, a ban on hyperscale data centers, green jobs, and ending factory farming and food waste.
On the question this site asks, what he has said is short and in his own campaign's words. His campaign's link page describes him as the Green Party candidate and ends: "All Power to the Neighborhoods. Free Palestine." Under the heading And Justice for All, his campaign site says: "We deserve a governor who doesn't have a history of funding the Occupation of Palestine or the Occupation of Minneapolis." Neither names the government of Israel or says what U.S. weapons or money for it should be, and nothing located has him addressing U.S. aid to Palestinians. A governor casts no federal votes on any of this.
His party's announcement of his endorsement describes his positions in its own words, and a September news report on his campaign and a June interview with him could not be read or watched here. All three are on his research page.
Research log
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 is a single page, read in full; his campaign's Linktree page was read from its served HTML, including its page data. Bands: Position (2024-01-26 onward), Reaction window (2023-10-07 to 2024-01-25), Earlier record (before 2023-10-07), Undated. Young has never held federal office, so none of the congressional votes this site tracks is his, and a campaign for state office is not covered by the federal funding records this site tracks.
U.S. military aid and weapons to the government of Israel
[Position, read 2026-10-05] His campaign site, under the heading And Justice for All: "We deserve a governor who doesn't have a history of funding the Occupation of Palestine or the Occupation of Minneapolis." It does not name who has that history, and it names no recipient and no program. The page carries no date and is recorded on the date we read it.
Nothing else located from him, at any date.
U.S. aid to Palestinians
Nothing located, at any date.
Characterization of the conflict
[Position, read 2026-10-05; the page's own data records an update on 2026-06-05] His campaign's Linktree page reads: "Green Party Candidate for Governor of Minnesota. We Keep Us Safe. We Keep Us Fed. We Keep Us Housed. Arrest ICE. All Power to the Neighborhoods. Free Palestine." It links his campaign site, his campaign's donation page and his accounts on Instagram, X, Bluesky and Telegram.
The campaign site's phrase "the Occupation of Palestine", above.
Israel-related rhetoric and lobbying
[Third party, published 2026-05-17 and posted 2026-05-19] The Green Party of Minnesota's press release on its endorsements, posted on the national party's site, describes him in its own words: "In addition to strong protections for the natural environment, support for single-payer healthcare, and a guaranteed basic income, he supports boycott, divestment, and sanctions against Israel, and an end to federal immigration operations in the state and closure of the detainment center at the Whipple Building." This is the party's description of him, not his words, so it stays here. The same paragraph appears in the description of a YouTube interview posted on June 4, 2026 (below).
The same release quotes the party's co-chair, Rachel Braaten, not him, saying corporate money is "the reason we have been funding a genocide abroad". Her words; recorded for completeness and not used.
Safety and antisemitism (context, not an answer to what America sends)
Nothing located, at any date.
What the campaign site and own pages say
[Position, read 2026-10-05] His campaign site bio: "Steve Young is a repentant former U.S. Marine who used his ill-gotten skills to help train and defend various neighborhood groups this winter. He is a former attorney and neighborhood grocery store owner, and a father of two (#dancedad)." It says he "will not rest until the Whipple concentration camp is emptied and closed". Its key issues are Abolishing ICE, Sanctuary State, Ban Hyperscale Data Centers, Truth and Reconciliation (over Operation Metro Surge), Green Jobs, And Justice for All, End Factory Farming, End Food Waste and Fraud, the last proposing universal basic income and Medicare for All. It is built on GoodParty.org and "Paid for and authorized by the Campaign Fund of Steve Young".
[Position, published 2026-09-28] KAXE's 2026 Election Guide, answers published as submitted, under his own tab: website steveformngov.info, party Green, age on Election Day 42, community Minneapolis, employment "Metro Transit, Light Rail Operator"; experience "Twelve years in the USMC. 9 Years as a lawyer (with a bit of teaching of international law). 1-ish year of anti-ICE activism." His answers on why he is running, his running mate, his priorities, fraud, school funding and working with the legislature are about ICE, defense against federal overreach, green jobs and state programs. None mentions Israel, Gaza or Palestinians.
The race
[Read 2026-10-05] His Ballotpedia page: "Steven Young (Green Party) is running for election for Governor of Minnesota. Young is on the ballot in the general election on November 3, 2026." It lists the field as Amy Klobuchar (D), Lisa Demuth (R) and Steven Young (G), says there are no incumbents, and records that he has not completed its 2026 Candidate Connection survey.
[Position, published 2026-05-17] The Green Party of Minnesota's release says the party endorsed him and Jane Kirby on April 18, 2026, and that he "lives in the Bryn Mawr neighborhood of Minneapolis with his wife and two children"; it quotes him on the endorsement in general terms.
Places that could not be read, so nothing is claimed from them
Alpha News, "Green Party governor candidate wants to abolish ICE, slams Klobuchar over Gaza", by Luke Sprinkel, published 2026-09-24: https://alphanews.org/green-party-governor-candidate-wants-to-abolish-ice-slams-klobuchar-over-gaza/ . The page shows the headline, subhead, byline and tags (among them Gaza) but not the article body. Its headline says he criticized Klobuchar over Gaza; what he said is not known from anything read.
"Interview with MN Green Party Gubernatorial Candidates-Steven Young & Jane Kirby", The Truth Expedition, published 2026-06-04: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xAakhZhCew8 . Its description repeats the party's paragraph above. A video; not watched.
His accounts linked from the Linktree page: https://www.instagram.com/steveformn/ , https://x.com/steveformn , https://bsky.app/profile/steve4mn.bsky.social and a Telegram channel. Not read.
Not on the card, and why
The party's statement that he supports boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel: a third party's description of him, so research page only; his own words on it, if any, may be in the June interview or the Alpha News report, neither of which could be read.
The party co-chair's words on "funding a genocide abroad": not his.
His positions on ICE, detention, data centers, farming, food waste and fraud: real positions, described on the card only as what he runs on.
Amy Klobuchar's and Lisa Demuth's records, including whatever history his site's line refers to: they belong on their own cards.
Sources read for this card (address; opened or could not open; date)
https://www.kaxe.org/2026-09-28/governor-demuth-klobuchar-young-mn-2026-election-guide (opened; 2026-10-05; published 2026-09-28)
https://couriermn.com/news/elections/where-mn-gov-candidates-stand-issues/ (opened; 2026-10-05; published 2026-08-21)
https://alphanews.org/green-party-governor-candidate-wants-to-abolish-ice-slams-klobuchar-over-gaza/ (opened; 2026-10-05; headline and byline only, body not served)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xAakhZhCew8 (page opened for its description and date; video not watched; 2026-10-05)
This is a record of what was checked on 2026-10-05, not a claim that no statement exists anywhere.
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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