But What Can You Do? tracks where 2026 candidates stand on U.S. weapons and funding for the government of Israel. How we check
Richard Ojeda
Democrat · U.S. House, North Carolina District 9
–No Position Found
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.
No recorded votes on the bills we track. We found nothing in their own words about Israel, Gaza or the war.
Ojeda has not stated a position in his own words on U.S. weapons or money for the government of Israel, or on U.S. aid to Palestinians. A PAC linked to him ran texts on the subject in 2024; the research page explains why they are not his words.
The email has replies@butwhatcanyoudo.org in cc, so we can post their answer on their page in their own words; remove it if you prefer. Keep the subject line as it is, add your name, and send.
Ojeda is the Democratic candidate for North Carolina's 9th District, and a former West Virginia state senator.
His own campaign material does not address this question. His Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey, read in full, contains no mention of Israel or foreign policy at all. He has no federal voting record.
The one thing on the record is not his. In October 2024 Turn Left PAC, which is on his endorser list, ran a text-message campaign attacking AIPAC and U.S. military aid. Talking Points Memo reported the texts and called their language antisemitic. The words are a committee's, not his, and the only account of them is a critique. The research page sets out all three reasons they are not reproduced here.
So the question stands open. You are better placed to answer it than we are: ask him 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 2026-07-23) 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
No statement located in his own words.
His Ballotpedia page and Candidate Connection survey were opened and read in full. They contain no reference to Israel and none to foreign policy. His survey answers cover economic, education and veterans policy. His endorsement list includes the North Carolina AFL-CIO, CWA, the North Carolina Progressive Caucus and Turn Left PAC.
[Position, 2026-07-22, reported] Said during his campaign to oppose deep U.S. military involvement in Middle Eastern conflicts and taxpayer funding of foreign military action. The research's source is a TrackAIPAC campaign statement. Advocacy sources are consulted, never card sources, and no source in his own words was located, so this is recorded rather than stated as his position.
He has no federal voting record.
U.S. aid to Palestinians
No statement or documented position located.
Characterization of the conflict
[Position, 2026-05-20, reported] In a livestream interview with Hal Sparks he discussed Middle East instability, oil supply and the Strait of Hormuz. The source is a Facebook video; not readable, and the research records no position from it on U.S. assistance.
No characterization located in his own words of the war in Gaza, of Palestinian statehood, or of the conduct of either side.
⚠ The Turn Left PAC text campaign, and why nothing from it is quoted
[2024-10-09] Talking Points Memo was opened and read in full. It reports a mass text message sent in New York City identifying itself as from a group called "Turn Left," which the piece says is "associated with Richard Ojeda from West Virginia." Ballotpedia confirms this is the same person: Richard Ojeda served in the West Virginia State Senate from 2016 to 2019 and is now the Democratic candidate in North Carolina's 9th District, and Turn Left PAC is among his listed endorsers.
The piece quotes phrases from the text about AIPAC and U.S. military aid, and it presents them as an example of, in its own framing, florid and traditional antisemitic tropes. It is a critique of the text, not a record of the candidate's position.
Three separate reasons keep this out of the card summary and keep its phrases out of this record: **(1)** the words are a PAC's, and TPM says only that the PAC is "associated with" him, which is not authorship; **(2)** the sole source is a critical analysis, and this site does not build positions out of hostile characterizations any more than out of friendly ones; **(3)** the specific phrases are the subject of an antisemitism finding by the source itself, so reproducing them under his name would publish that material on this site on the strength of an attribution that has not been established.
If he holds a position on U.S. military aid, it should be obtainable from him. Nothing here says he does or does not.
Related rhetoric and lobbying
Covered above. Nothing located in his own words.
Safety and antisemitism (context)
The only located material in this area is the third-party analysis described above, which concerns a PAC's texts rather than any statement of his.
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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