Ty Pinkins
Pinkins says the United States "should immediately discontinue sending American taxpayer dollars to Israel", and that any future U.S. money for that government should be conditioned on compliance with international law and a ceasefire. He calls the war in Gaza a genocide.
Pinkins is an Army veteran running as an independent for the U.S. Senate in Mississippi. He holds no federal office, so none of the congressional votes this site tracks are his.
He set out his position in full in a published candidate questionnaire in March 2026, answering a question about foreign aid to Ukraine and to the government of Israel. On the second half of it he wrote: "I stand with the basic human rights and dignity of the Palestinian people, and I believe the most recent war in Gaza has amounted to a genocide. The United States has provided far too much money and military support while Gaza has been destroyed, and Palestinian civilians have been killed at a catastrophic scale. For that reason, the U.S. should immediately discontinue sending American taxpayer dollars to Israel."
He then set out what would have to be true before money resumed. Any future U.S. support, he wrote, should be "contingent on verifiable compliance with international law, an immediate and sustained ceasefire, and a serious, credible push toward a two-state solution that guarantees Palestinian self-determination and Israeli security". On the other side of the ledger he wants more, not less: the United States, he wrote, "should expand humanitarian relief, insist on accountability, and pursue a long-term political settlement that ends occupation". He also said new Israeli settlement building should stop.
He has made the same argument about who funds American politics. In June 2026 he said he is "the only candidate in this race that is not affiliated with pro-Israel lobbies like J Street and especially AIPAC", and he repeated the point at the Neshoba County Fair, calling himself the only candidate not "beholden to the pro-Israel lobby". That is about campaign money and lobbying rather than about what the United States ships, and it is separate from the position above.
Research
U.S. military aid and weapons to Israel
- [Position, 2026-03-06] Mississippi Free Press candidate questionnaire, answering "What are your views on foreign aid to Ukraine and Israel?" in his own first-person prose. Read in full and verified verbatim: "On Israel and the broader region, my view is tougher and clearer. Civilian protection and international humanitarian law must be the standard, not a talking point. I stand with the basic human rights and dignity of the Palestinian people, and I believe the most recent war in Gaza has amounted to a genocide. The United States has provided far too much money and military support while Gaza has been destroyed, and Palestinian civilians have been killed at a catastrophic scale. For that reason, the U.S. should immediately discontinue sending American taxpayer dollars to Israel." And: "Israel should also stop building new settlements, because settlements make peace harder and undermine a just resolution. Any future U.S. financial support should be contingent on verifiable compliance with international law, an immediate and sustained ceasefire, and a serious, credible push toward a two-state solution that guarantees Palestinian self-determination and Israeli security, with equal rights and equal dignity."
⚠ **Questionnaire test passed.** He answers at length across the whole form, on the economy, energy, war powers, Venezuela and more. This is not a wall of non-answers with one entry filled in.
- [Prior, 2024-10-23] Mississippi Free Press interview during an earlier run: the government of Israel has a right to defend itself and a responsibility to obey international law and minimize harm to civilians in Gaza. Two years before the questionnaire above, and noticeably milder.
U.S. aid to Palestinians
- [Position, 2026-03-06] From the same questionnaire, verified verbatim: the United States "should expand humanitarian relief, insist on accountability, and pursue a long-term political settlement that ends occupation and ensures Palestinians have freedom, safety, and a viable future." His position runs in two directions at once: stop the money to the government of Israel, expand the relief to Palestinians.
Characterization of the conflict
- [Position, 2026-03-06] From the questionnaire, verified verbatim: "I believe the most recent war in Gaza has amounted to a genocide." And: "a country cannot credibly argue its own existence is at risk while simultaneously destroying another people's existence."
- [Position, 2025-02-05] A campaign statement calling the president's proposal for Gaza reckless and criticizing the incumbent senator for supporting it.
- [Position, 2026-05-07] He used the same word on a podcast interview. Audio with no transcript, so nothing is quoted from it.
- [Prior, 2024-10-23] In the earlier interview he urged the Israeli government to distinguish between Hamas and Palestinian civilians.
Related rhetoric and lobbying
- [Position, 2026-06-15] Magnolia Tribune interview, verified verbatim: "I'm the only candidate in this race that is not affiliated with pro-Israel lobbies like J Street and especially AIPAC." The report adds that he pointed to donations received by his two opponents. The surrounding argument is about money in politics generally.
- [Position, 2026-06-24] At the Neshoba County Fair (Mississippi Today, read and verified verbatim 2026-08-17): the report has him saying his agenda in Congress would be focused on getting big money out of politics and, to that end, calling himself the only candidate who is not "beholden to the pro-Israel lobby." The phrase inside quotation marks is his; the sentence carrying it is the reporter's.
⚠ **Shared carrier.** That fair report covers three candidates in this race and appears on the Democratic nominee's page too, where it is used as an attribution correction because the same line was misattributed to him. Only sentences naming Pinkins are used here.
- Both items are about lobbying and campaign money. Neither is a position on U.S. weapons or funding, and the deep dive says so.
Safety and antisemitism (context)
- Nothing located.
Race and status context
- Independent candidate for the U.S. Senate in Mississippi, running against the Republican incumbent Cindy Hyde-Smith and the Democratic nominee Scott Colom, per Ballotpedia's race page and his Ballotpedia profile, which carries no issue content on this subject.
- His tracked vote cells are all not-in-office.
Also in this race: Scott Colom (Democrat), Cindy Hyde-Smith (Republican) · All Mississippi 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.