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

John Sununu

Republican · U.S. Senate, New Hampshire
✗From an endorsement
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. Endorsed by Republican Jewish Coalition.

Asked about Gaza on WMUR in September 2025, Sununu said he was "not going to wade into foreign policy as I travel across New Hampshire". Nothing on his campaign site reaches these questions. In 2000 he voted against barring U.S. aid to a unilaterally declared Palestinian state.

✉  Email the campaignWebsite ↗

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.

Deep Dive

John E. Sununu held this Senate seat himself from January 2003 to January 2009, after three terms in the House, and he is the Republican nominee to take it back from a retiring Jeanne Shaheen. He is not his father, John H. Sununu, and not his younger brother Chris Sununu, a former governor. He won the Republican primary on September 8, 2026 with 68.4 percent against Scott Brown's 26.4, and five names are on the November 3 ballot.

What he has said in this campaign is that he is not ready to say. Asked about Gaza on WMUR in September 2025, he answered: "I'm not going to wade into foreign policy as I travel across New Hampshire to listen to people, to understand their perspectives, and obviously to make my decision. I think dealing with Middle East politics is among one of the most complex, challenging, difficult things, and the scale and the scope of the suffering, starting with October 7 and the suffering we're seeing today in the Middle East, isn't something that's going to be solved with a sound bite from me or from anybody else." Citizens Count, a New Hampshire voter guide that records candidates' positions, files that answer under whether to limit aid to the government of Israel and marks his position "Other". In November 2025 a spokesman for his campaign told the Washington Examiner that he supports the president's policies in the region and that "Israel has every right to defend itself and remains America’s strongest ally in the region". That is about the government of Israel's own actions, not about what the United States sends, and the same report says the campaign did not address his voting record.

The record it did not address is old and unusual for a Republican. The House Clerk's rolls carry four votes. He voted no in June 1997 on a resolution marking the thirtieth anniversary of the reunification of Jerusalem, and no in March 1999 on a resolution expressing congressional opposition to a unilateral declaration of a Palestinian state. In September 2000 he voted no on the Peace Through Negotiations Act, which would have barred United States assistance to a unilaterally declared Palestinian state and to the Palestinian Authority, barred all but humanitarian assistance to programs in the West Bank and Gaza, and allowed the president to withhold up to a tenth of American contributions to international organizations that recognized such a state. A month later he voted present on a resolution concerning the violence in the Middle East. In the Senate years the Washington Examiner reports that he was an outlier in his party, advocating more humanitarian assistance to Palestinians, that he voted for defense bills in 2005 and 2007 which authorized military assistance to the government of Israel, and that he cosponsored a resolution in 2008 on the sixtieth anniversary of the founding of the state. Those three are that newspaper's account rather than his own words.

So the votes are eighteen years old and further back, and nothing since answers the question this site asks: what the United States should send, fund or withhold now. His campaign site's pages about him, his news releases and his endorsements never mention Israel, Gaza or Palestinians, and he has not filled in Ballotpedia's candidate questionnaire. You are better placed to get that answer than we are. Ask Sununu 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 2026-07-13) from the five lobbying groups we track; earlier cycles and earmarked donations not yet tracked.
Support-only OpenFEC data. Opposition independent expenditures are excluded.
Endorsed by Republican Jewish Coalition
Republican Jewish CoalitionThe Republican Jewish Coalition's PAC; it financially supports Republican candidates who reflect its priorities, including strong U.S. backing of the government of Israel.These endorsements come from groups that back sending U.S. weapons and funding to the government of Israel.

In their words

“I'm not going to wade into foreign policy as I travel across New Hampshire to listen to people, to understand their perspectives, and obviously to make my decision. I think dealing with Middle East politics is among one of the most complex, challenging, difficult things, and the scale and the scope of the suffering, starting with October 7 and the suffering we're seeing today in the Middle East, isn't something that's going to be solved with a sound bite from me or from anybody else.”
Source ↗, 2025-09-07
Endorsements

Republican Jewish Coalition (2026 endorsement)

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 2026-09-20 unless the entry says otherwise. His campaign site was read in full, every page of it; so were his profile on a New Hampshire voter guide and all 43 issues on it, his Ballotpedia profile and the race page, the four House roll calls that carry his name on this subject, the text of the one bill among them that moves money, a November 2025 newspaper investigation of his record, and the page of the television interview his current position comes from. Bands: Position (2024-01-26 onward), Reaction window (2023-10-07 to 2024-01-25), Earlier record (before 2023-10-07), Undated. He left the Senate in January 2009, so none of the congressional votes this site tracks are his, and the record carries no support to him from the committees this site tracks.

U.S. military aid and weapons to the government of Israel

  • [Position, 2025-09-07] His own answer is that he is not giving one. Asked about Gaza on WMUR's CloseUp, in an interview with Adam Sexton, he said: "I'm not going to wade into foreign policy as I travel across New Hampshire to listen to people, to understand their perspectives, and obviously to make my decision. I think dealing with Middle East politics is among one of the most complex, challenging, difficult things, and the scale and the scope of the suffering, starting with October 7 and the suffering we're seeing today in the Middle East, isn't something that's going to be solved with a sound bite from me or from anybody else." The words are quoted from the New Hampshire voter guide that transcribed them, which files the answer under whether to limit aid to the government of Israel and marks his position "Other". The recording is at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AuXLrFmaJUE on WMUR-TV's channel; its page opened and carries its own title, "John E. Sununu seeks voter input before taking position on Gaza | CloseUp", its own description of an interview about the situation in Gaza, and its own upload time of September 7, 2025 at 19:38 Pacific. The recording itself was not watched.
  • [Position, 2025-11-04] The Washington Examiner reports, in a piece by Ramsey Touchberry, that he voted for defense spending bills in 2005 and 2007 that authorized military assistance to the government of Israel. That is the newspaper's characterization of two broad defense bills; no roll call of his on a measure whose subject is military aid to the government of Israel was located, and nothing of his own words on those bills was found.
  • Nothing else located, at any date. No statement by him about arms transfers, Foreign Military Financing, the memorandum of understanding, a dollar figure or a condition on aid appears on his campaign site, in his news releases, on his Ballotpedia profile, or in the 43 issue entries on his voter-guide profile.

U.S. aid to Palestinians

  • [Earlier record, 2000-09-27] The clearest vote of his on American money in this conflict. The House passed the Peace Through Negotiations Act, officially titled "To provide for a United States response in the event of a unilateral declaration of a Palestinian state", and the House Clerk's roll call 497 of the 106th Congress records Sununu of New Hampshire voting Nay. The bill's text says "United States assistance may not be provided to the government of a unilaterally declared Palestinian state, the Palestinian Authority, or to any successor or related entity" and that "United States assistance (except humanitarian assistance) may not be provided to programs or projects in the West Bank or Gaza", and it authorizes the president to withhold up to 10 percent of the United States assessed contribution to any international organization that recognizes such a state. It passed the House and was never passed by the Senate.
  • [Earlier record, 2003 to 2009] The Washington Examiner reports that in his single Senate term he was "an outlier in his party, advocating more humanitarian assistance to Palestinians". The report gives no quotation and names no bill, and nothing of his own on it was located. Our research reported that a television station had covered a 2006 speech of his to the American Task Force on Palestine in which he said the United States needed to do better at providing humanitarian assistance to Palestinians; that report could not be found and nothing of it is used here.
  • Nothing else located, at any date. The United Nations Relief and Works Agency and Gaza humanitarian funding appear nowhere in his campaign material.

Characterization of the conflict

  • [Position, 2025-09-07] The second half of the WMUR answer, quoted above, is the whole of what he has said about the conflict itself: that Middle East politics is among the most complex and difficult things, and that the scale and scope of the suffering will not be solved by a sound bite.
  • [Position, 2025-11-04] His campaign's statement to the Washington Examiner, given by a spokesman, Mike Schrimpf: "John Sununu knows that peace in the Middle East has been elusive for decades, and he supports President Trump's policies that have reshaped the dynamics of the region and brought about an historic ceasefire" and "Israel has every right to defend itself and remains America’s strongest ally in the region." These are the spokesman's words, not his.
  • [Earlier record, 1997-06-10] House Clerk roll call 176 of the 105th Congress, on House Concurrent Resolution 60, described by the Clerk as "Relating to the 30th Anniversary of the Reunification of the City of Jerusalem": Sununu of New Hampshire voted Nay. It passed.
  • [Earlier record, 1999-03-16] House Clerk roll call 52 of the 106th Congress, on House Concurrent Resolution 24, described by the Clerk as "Expressing Congressional Opposition to the Unilateral Declaration of a Palestinian State": he voted Nay. It passed.
  • [Earlier record, 2000-10-25] House Clerk roll call 549 of the 106th Congress, on House Concurrent Resolution 426, described by the Clerk as "Concerning the Violence in the Middle East": he voted Present. It passed.
  • [Earlier record, 2011-12-19] The American Task Force on Palestine's daily press round-up for that date carries one line about him, under Commentary: "Former Sen. John E. Sununu says Gingrich has revealed his bigotry." The column it points to was not found and is not quoted; the round-up page is at http://www.americantaskforce.org/archive/world_press_roundup/2011 and is printed rather than linked because it is not served over a secure address.
  • [Earlier record, 2006] The same organization's 2007 issue paper records that "At its first annual gala in 2006, ATFP honored three outstanding Palestinian Americans: Senator John E. Sununu, Mr. Jesse Aweida and Professor Mujid Kazimi." An award is not a statement, and nothing is claimed from it. The address is http://www.americantaskforce.org/policy_and_analysis/issue_paper/2007/10/15/1235593341_0 .

Israel-related rhetoric and lobbying

  • Nothing located from him, at any date. He has not been found naming the American Israel Public Affairs Committee or any other advocacy organization on this subject.
  • [Position, 2025-11-04] The Washington Examiner reports that the committee did not answer its questions about him or about whether it would take part in this race, that his primary opponent was among the top recipients of contributions from pro-Israel groups in the 2012 cycle in another state, and that his own 2002 Senate campaign drew criticism from some Jewish organizations and leaders over the votes set out above. All of that is other people's activity and other people's words.
  • [Position, read 2026-09-20] Two entries on his voter-guide profile show what an answer from him looks like when he gives one. He is recorded For on increasing military aid to Taiwan, with a long quotation about confronting China, and Other on the war in Iran, with a quotation. On the Israel question the same profile records only the answer quoted above. He gave no response to the guide's own issue surveys: of the 43 issues listed, 25 read "No Response".

Safety and antisemitism (context, not an answer to what America sends)

  • Nothing located from him about antisemitism in the United States, the safety of any religious community, or campus policy.
  • [Position, 2026-07-08] His campaign's news page carries two releases attacking his opponent over his response to a Senate candidate in another state who the release says was revealed as an antisemite. The subject is the opponent's conduct in another state's race. It is not an answer to what the United States sends and it is not treated as one.

What the campaign site and his own pages say

  • [Undated; read 2026-09-20] His campaign site was read in full: the home page, About, News and its releases, Endorsements, Media and Join. A search of every page for israel, gaza, palestin, antisemit, hamas, aipac, foreign aid, foreign policy, military aid, middle east, ukraine and iran returns nothing at all, except the antisemitism material described above. The About page is about his upbringing in Salem, his engineering and business career, internet-access taxes, disability protections, mental health reform, surveillance law, and his teaching at St. Anselm College. There is no issues page and no foreign policy page.
  • [Read 2026-09-20] His Ballotpedia profile records: "John Sununu has not yet completed Ballotpedia's 2026 Candidate Connection survey." Israel, Gaza and Palestinians occur zero times on the page.
  • [Read 2026-09-20] His voter-guide profile lists 43 issues, with positions drawn from debates and television interviews where he has spoken and "No Response" where the guide's own survey went unanswered.

The race

  • [Read 2026-09-20] Ballotpedia's page for the race reads: "Chris Pappas, John Sununu, Edmond Laplante, Matt Giovonizzi, and Tim Harris are running in the general election for U.S. Senate New Hampshire on November 3, 2026." It lists Laplante as the Constitution Party candidate and Giovonizzi and Harris as independents, and records no incumbent in the race; Jeanne Shaheen is listed among withdrawn candidates in the Democratic primary.
  • [Read 2026-09-20] The Republican primary of September 8, 2026 had eight candidates and 61,882 votes. Sununu took 68.4 percent and 42,354 votes, Scott Brown 26.4 percent and 16,356, and the other six between 0.4 and 1.1 percent each. Ballotpedia's table for this primary carries no statement that the results have been certified, unlike its tables for past cycles. The results page the record cites, https://www.sos.nh.gov/2026-democratic-state-primary , could not be opened here, so the shares above are Ballotpedia's.
  • Chris Pappas's record is on his own card and is not narrated here, and neither is any other candidate's.

Places that could not be read, so nothing is claimed from them

  • The recording of the September 2025 interview, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AuXLrFmaJUE . The page opened and its title, description and upload time were read; the recording was not watched and its captions were refused.
  • The official results page the record cites for this primary, https://www.sos.nh.gov/2026-democratic-state-primary . Could not be opened.
  • The candidate tracker our research cited at https://www.ajcongress.org/what-we-do/jewish-voter-guide/senate , which our research itself recorded as returning 404.
  • The 2002 report our research cited at https://www.arabnews.com/archive/223993 . Not read.
  • Congress.gov, which could not be opened, so the bill text and title above were read at GovTrack instead.
  • His campaign's accounts on X, Facebook, Instagram, Truth Social, TikTok and YouTube, linked from his campaign site. None was read.

Not on the card, and why

  • The report our research gave of a 2006 speech to the American Task Force on Palestine about humanitarian assistance. It was marked uncorroborated in our own research and could not be found; nothing of it is used.
  • The 2011 column condemning a presidential candidate's description of Palestinians. Only a one-line summary of it on an insecure page was ever read, and the column itself was not found.
  • The 2006 award from the American Task Force on Palestine. An honor is not a statement about what the United States sends.
  • His voter-guide entries on Taiwan, Ukraine and Iran. Real positions, and not about this conflict.
  • The releases about his opponent and a Senate candidate in another state. Safety and antisemitism are context on these cards, never the answer to what America sends, and another race's candidate is not this card's subject.
  • The statements in the Washington Examiner report from the Senate Republicans' campaign arm and from his primary opponent. Other people's words about him.
  • The coverage our research cited of the Democratic primary in this state. Another candidate's race and another candidate's answers.

Sources retrieved for this card (address; opened or could not open; date)

  • https://www.sununusenator.com/ and its About, News, Endorsements and Media pages (opened; 2026-09-20)
  • https://www.citizenscount.org/candidate/john-e-sununu (opened; 2026-09-20; 43 issues)
  • https://ballotpedia.org/John_E._Sununu (opened; 2026-09-20)
  • https://ballotpedia.org/United_States_Senate_election_in_New_Hampshire,_2026 (opened; 2026-09-20)
  • https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/campaigns/congressional/3873307/john-sununu-record-israel-presents-issues-new-hampshire-senate-election-2026/ (opened; 2026-09-20; published 2025-11-04)
  • https://clerk.house.gov/Votes/1997176?Title=Jerusalem (opened; 2026-09-20; vote of 1997-06-10)
  • https://clerk.house.gov/Votes/199952 (opened; 2026-09-20; vote of 1999-03-16)
  • https://clerk.house.gov/Votes/2000497?BillNum=5272 (opened; 2026-09-20; vote of 2000-09-27)
  • https://clerk.house.gov/Votes/2000549 (opened; 2026-09-20; vote of 2000-10-25)
  • https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/106/hr5272 and https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/106/hr5272/text (opened; 2026-09-20)
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_E._Sununu (opened; 2026-09-20; used only for the identity chain)
  • http://www.americantaskforce.org/archive/world_press_roundup/2011 and http://www.americantaskforce.org/policy_and_analysis/issue_paper/2007/10/15/1235593341_0 (opened; 2026-09-20; insecure addresses, printed not linked)
  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AuXLrFmaJUE (page opened, recording not watched; 2026-09-20)
  • https://www.sos.nh.gov/2026-democratic-state-primary (could not open; 2026-09-20)
  • https://www.congress.gov/bill/106th-congress/house-bill/5272 (could not open; 2026-09-20)
  • https://www.ajcongress.org/what-we-do/jewish-voter-guide/senate (404 in our own research; 2026-09-18)
  • This is a record of what was checked on 2026-09-20, not a claim that no statement exists anywhere.

Also in this race

  1. ✗ Chris Pappas (Democrat)
  2. ? Edmond Laplante (Other)

All New Hampshire candidates.

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 Find Your Candidates for votes, funding and contact details.