But What Can You Do? tracks where 2026 candidates stand on U.S. weapons and funding for the government of Israel. How we check
Stephen Villee
Libertarian · Governor, New Hampshire
–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.
Stephen Villee is a software developer from Hampton and the Libertarian candidate for governor of New Hampshire. He was one of the earliest participants in the Free State Project, the effort to bring people who want much smaller government to the state, moving there in 2003, and he has served as treasurer of both that project and the New Hampshire Liberty Alliance. He ran for governor in 2024 and took 2.0 percent of the vote. He qualified for this year's ballot by petition in August 2026 and faces Kelly Ayotte, the sitting governor, and the Democrat Cinde Warmington on November 3.
The one plank that touches war is the Guard law, which he describes as legislation that would "require that Congress officially declare war before the New Hampshire national guard could be activated." It names no country and says nothing about weapons or money for any foreign government. Nothing located, at any date, has him taking a position on U.S. weapons or money for the government of Israel, or on U.S. aid to Palestinians. An empty record carries no implication either way.
His campaign's Facebook page and his accounts on Facebook and X could not be read here, and a 2024 radio interview linked from his site was not heard. The addresses are on his research page.
You are better placed to change this than we are. Ask Villee directly, or at a candidate forum, and send us the reply: it goes on this page in his own words, which is worth more than anything we could write about him.
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 2026-09-28 unless the entry says otherwise. His campaign site was read in full: the home page and its eleven linked pages (20,000 Activists, Article 83, Drugs, End of Life, Grandfathering, LPNH Tweets, Pandemic Response, Secession, Veto List, Libertarianism, Contact). Bands: Position (2024-01-26 onward), Reaction window (2023-10-07 to 2024-01-25), Earlier record (before 2023-10-07), Undated. Villee has not held federal office, so none of the congressional votes this site tracks is his; the federal funding badges do not apply to a state office.
U.S. military aid and weapons to the government of Israel
Nothing located, at any date. No statement by him about arms transfers, Foreign Military Financing, security assistance or any federal bill on those subjects appears on his campaign site, in either of his Ballotpedia surveys, or in his Citizens Count answers.
[Position, read 2026-09-28] The nearest thing is a war-powers plank that names no country. His site lists among his four legislative priorities: "I'll work to pass Defend the Guard legislation, which would require that Congress officially declare war before the New Hampshire national guard could be activated." It notes that HB229 passed the state House in 2024 and HB104 was retained in committee in 2025.
U.S. aid to Palestinians
Nothing located, at any date.
Characterization of the conflict
Nothing located, at any date. The words Israel, Gaza, Palestinian, Hamas, Middle East and foreign aid appear nowhere on his campaign site, in his Ballotpedia answers or in his Citizens Count answers.
Israel-related rhetoric and lobbying
Nothing located, at any date.
Safety and antisemitism
Nothing located, at any date. His site carries a page condemning a September 22, 2026 post by a group using the name of the state Libertarian Party, which had been disaffiliated from the national party, that advocated violence against the state's elected Democrats. The post and his response are about political violence at home and do not mention antisemitism or any religious community.
What the campaign site and own pages say
[Position, read 2026-09-28] His campaign site opens: "I want to give voters a choice for smaller government with much greater freedom for individuals." Its four legislative priorities are approval voting, cannabis legalization for adults, Defend the Guard legislation and medical psilocybin. The rest of the home page argues that libertarians should move to New Hampshire until they form a plurality, sets a goal of at least 4 percent of the vote for major-party status, and states his long-term aims: "I plan to wind down welfare programs, with appropriate grandfathering for those already living here, and I want to negotiate for peaceful secession to free us from federal income tax." Its secession page says he opposed the unilateral secession bills of 2022 and 2024 because unilateral secession "almost always leads to war." The pages carry no dates and are recorded on the date we read them.
[Position, 2026 survey; read 2026-09-28] Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey. His 2026 answers describe him as a software developer and early Free State Project participant, give his three messages as the case for libertarians moving to New Hampshire, the 4 percent goal, and civility in political discussion, and describe his passion as classical liberalism: "keeping taxes low, while opposing the welfare state." The page also carries his 2024 answers, submitted June 16, 2024. Neither form asks about foreign policy, and he raised none.
[Position, Citizens Count Issue Survey 2026 and 2024; read 2026-09-28] Citizens Count's profile records his positions on 29 issues, all state questions: the Education Freedom Account program, abortion limits, income, sales, capital gains, business and interest taxes, school funding and open enrollment, zoning for housing, nuclear power, net metering, marijuana legalization, voter registration rules, gun laws, climate action, child care funding, the minimum wage and local immigration enforcement. None concerns foreign policy.
The race
[Read 2026-09-28] His Ballotpedia page records that Kelly Ayotte, the incumbent Republican, Cinde Warmington, the Democrat, and Stephen Villee, the Libertarian, are running in the general election on November 3, 2026. Warmington took 96.3 percent in the Democratic primary and Ayotte defeated two challengers in the Republican primary, both on September 8, 2026. Jonathan Kiper, an independent, is listed as withdrawn. In the 2024 general election Villee took 16,202 votes, 2.0 percent.
[Position, 2026-08-29] Ballot Access News reported that his petitions carried 1,653 valid signatures from the 1st Congressional District and 1,736 from the 2nd, against 1,500 needed from each, and that if he wins at least 4 percent the Libertarian Party will regain ballot status in the state.
Places that could not be read, so nothing is claimed from them
His accounts, listed by Ballotpedia and Citizens Count: https://www.facebook.com/stephen.villee and https://x.com/svillee , and the campaign Facebook page Ballotpedia links. Not read.
A 2024 radio interview with Claudette Schmidt, linked from his site at https://wsmn.live/claudette-schmidt . An audio recording; not heard.
Not on the card, and why
His platform on voting systems, drugs, end-of-life choice, welfare, secession, pandemic powers and vetoes, and his 29 Citizens Count answers: real positions, but not about U.S. weapons or money for the government of Israel, or about U.S. aid to Palestinians. Listed above so the absence can be checked.
His page condemning a September 2026 post advocating violence against the state's Democrats: about political violence at home, not about this question.
The Guard plank's details beyond its one sentence: it names no country and is a state war-powers measure, so it is stated on the card only as what it is.
Sources retrieved for this card (address; opened or could not open; date)
https://villee4nh.com/ and its eleven linked pages (opened; 2026-09-28)
https://ballotpedia.org/Stephen_Villee (opened; 2026-09-28; 2026 and 2024 surveys)
https://ballot-access.org/2026/08/29/libertarian-stephen-villee-makes-the-ballot-for-governor-of-new-hampshire/ (opened; 2026-09-28; published 2026-08-29)
But What Can You Do? tracks where 2026 candidates stand on U.S. weapons and
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