But What Can You Do? tracks where 2026 candidates stand on U.S. weapons and funding for the government of Israel. How we check

Jake Johnson

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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.

No recorded votes on the bills we track. We found nothing in their own words about Israel, Gaza or the war.

Nothing located has Johnson taking a position on U.S. weapons or money for the government of Israel, or on U.S. aid to Palestinians. His campaign priorities are domestic, costs, rural health care and ethics reform, and do not reach foreign policy.

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Deep Dive

Johnson is the Democratic-Farmer-Labor nominee in Minnesota's 1st District, a high school math teacher from Rochester and former union leader who won his primary in August 2026.

His own material was read: his campaign's priorities page runs through everyday costs, opposition to tariffs, rural health care funding and ethics reform, including a pledge to refuse corporate political action committee money and a congressional stock-trading ban. Israel, Gaza and foreign policy appear nowhere in it, and no interview, town hall account or statement of his was located that reaches these questions.

What was checked to reach that conclusion is listed on this card's research page. You are better placed to get an answer than we are. Ask Johnson directly, or at a candidate forum, and send us the reply: it goes on this page in his own words.

The money

Checked the five lobbying groups we track; no direct 2026 support found

2026 support from the five lobbying groups we track

Nothing recorded (as of 2026-09-27) from the five lobbying groups we track; earlier cycles and earmarked donations not yet tracked.

Support-only OpenFEC data. Opposition independent expenditures are excluded.

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

Nothing located.

U.S. aid to Palestinians

Nothing located.

Characterization of the conflict

Nothing located.

Related rhetoric and lobbying

Nothing located. His platform's refusal of corporate political action committee money is general and names no organization; it is not written up as a position on any lobby.

Safety and antisemitism (context)

Nothing located.

Identity: the collisions on this name, all excluded

⚠ **A same-name journalist covers exactly this project's subjects.** Jake Johnson is a senior editor and staff writer whose articles on U.S. policy toward Israel, Gaza, arms transfers and lobbying run in Common Dreams, Truthout and ScheerPost, including a 2026 piece on a bill blocking arms to Israel. **None of that writing is the candidate's**, and nothing from it is used anywhere on this card. This is a particularly dangerous kind of name collision: a namesake whose byline sits squarely on the material a researcher hopes to find.
Five other Johnsons are in our records, including the Speaker of the House; no material from any of them appears in this record.

Where the absence was checked

[Consulted, read earlier and re-read 2026-08-21] His campaign's priorities page. Opens; domestic priorities as described in the deep dive; no occurrence of Israel, Gaza or foreign policy. This is the own-site check the standing rule requires.
[Consulted] His Ballotpedia profile and local coverage of his campaign. Both open; his quoted themes are democratic process and local economics, nothing in scope.
A YouTube address was offered and not watched; nothing is claimed from it.

Race and status context

The Democratic-Farmer-Labor nominee in one of this cycle's priority districts, facing the sitting member, whose card carries its own record. He won the August 11, 2026 primary.
He has held no federal office, so there are no recorded votes on this card.

Also in this race

✗ Brad Finstad (Republican)

All Minnesota candidates.