Kyle Austin
Austin supports ending foreign aid to Israel and ending U.S. foreign aid overall, per Montana Libertarian Party platform scoring. In a 2024 questionnaire he also said the U.S. needs a good relationship with Israel for sound Middle East policy.
Austin is a pharmacist, farmer and small-business owner from Billings and Havre who won the Montana Libertarian primary for U.S. Senate on June 2, 2026.
He holds two things that are in tension only if you assume a relationship requires a subsidy. Montana Libertarian Party platform evaluations, published May 31, 2024 and again on June 3, 2026, record him as supporting an end to foreign aid to Israel and to U.S. foreign aid overall. Separately, in a 2024 questionnaire during his run for Montana’s 2nd District, he said "the United States needs a good relationship with Israel to maintain good foreign policy in the middle east".
Both are on the card because leaving either out would misrepresent him. The aid position is the one in scope for this project, and it is a blanket libertarian position rather than one aimed at Israel.
His own iVoterGuide candidate entry carries the same position in his own words, answering "yes.. The United states needs a good relationship with Israel to maintain good foreign policy in the middle east", and on the same questionnaire he picked the most interventionist of four foreign-policy options, that the United States should intervene whenever freedom is threatened. Those are his answers; the position on ending aid is the party’s scoring of him.
He has no located statement characterizing the conflict itself.
Research
U.S. military aid and weapons to Israel
- 2024-05-31 and 2026-06-03 [Current position; card-leading]: Montana Libertarian Party platform evaluations, the 2024 Freedom Scores and the party blog, record him as supporting ending foreign aid to Israel and ending U.S. foreign aid funding overall. This is a blanket position that includes Israel rather than one aimed at it, and the card says so by naming the source as party platform scoring.
- 2024-05-21 [Earlier record; his own words]: In a Q&A with Yellowstone Public Radio during his 2024 U.S. House campaign he said "the United States needs a good relationship with Israel to maintain good foreign policy in the middle east". Note that he was running as a Republican in that race.
- 2026-05-06 [Current position]: A Q&A with Montana Public Radio as the Libertarian Senate candidate. No in-scope claim extracted by the first search, and it is his most recent long-form interview, so it is the likeliest place to find his current position in his own words.
- [Current position; VERIFIED 2026-08-12; his own submitted answers]: His iVoterGuide candidate entry, which covers his 2026 U.S. Senate race and two earlier U.S. House races. Asked "Is the United States’ relationship with Israel important, and if so why?" he answered: "yes.. The United states needs a good relationship with Israel to maintain good foreign policy in the middle east." Asked which view of American foreign policy most closely resembled his, from four options ranging from intervening whenever freedom is threatened to staying out of foreign conflicts completely, he answered **A**, intervene whenever freedom is threatened.
This is a second, independent source page for the statement the card already reports, and it is his own submission rather than a report of it. It also sits against the party-scoring claim: a candidate scored as favouring an end to all foreign aid has himself picked the most interventionist option on offer. The party scoring on mtlp.org remains unread, so whose position it records is still unestablished.
Characterization of the conflict
- Nothing located. The first search states plainly that there are no public statements or actions where he personally characterizes the Israel/Palestine conflict.
Rhetoric and lobbying
- Nothing located.
Safety and antisemitism
- Nothing located.
Identity and ballot status
What came back empty or unusable
- No statement located on U.S. aid to Palestinians, UNRWA or Gaza humanitarian funding.
- The aid position comes from party platform scoring rather than from his own words, and his own quoted words on this subject point the other way, toward maintaining the relationship.
Also in this race: Kurt Alme (Republican), Alani Ines Bankhead (Democrat), Seth Bodnar (Independent) · All Montana 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.