But What Can You Do? tracks where 2026 candidates stand on U.S. weapons and funding for the government of Israel. How we check
Cory Booker
- Backed with $8K by PACs we track that support U.S. weapons funding for the government of Israel (lifetime)
- Endorsed by AIPAC
- Sits on Senate Foreign Relations
Booker spent years voting to let U.S. arms sales to the government of Israel proceed. In April 2026 he changed course, saying he does "not support more weapons to continue the combat". He has also said he will stop taking campaign money from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.
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You asked Cory Booker where they stand.
Deep Dive
Booker is New Jersey's senior senator, seeking re-election, and sits on the Foreign Relations Committee. His recorded votes are on this card and they are the story: for a long run of them he declined to block proposed U.S. arms sales to the government of Israel, and then he stopped declining.
He explained the first position while he held it. The two sales he let through that July were $675.7 million of 1,000-pound bombs with JDAM guidance kits and a sale of fully automatic rifles, and the Gaza health ministry had by then reported 60,138 people killed in Gaza. Announcing his vote against the disapproval resolutions in July 2025, he said the war should end and then gave his reason for voting no: "These Joint Resolutions of Disapproval would restrict our country's ability to provide future security guarantees without achieving the goal of ending this war now or increasing vital humanitarian aid." The same statement opens: "The suffering, starvation, and atrocities happening in Gaza are unacceptable. I will continue fighting for humanitarian aid now." His New Jersey colleague voted the other way that night, which is how sharp the split was inside one state's delegation.
In April 2026 he voted the other way himself, for the first time, on a $295 million sale of armoured bulldozers and a $151.8 million sale of 1,000-pound bombs, at a reported toll of 72,344 killed with 20,179 children among them. His statement puts the change inside an argument about a different war: "I am using every tool available to me to stop this war, and do not support more weapons to continue the combat, whether it is to our own government or to one of our closest allies." In the same breath he said he would "always steadfastly support Israel's defense and deterrence capabilities", and called on the Senate to pass a war powers resolution. Read the two statements together and the change is narrower than the headline: what moved was his willingness to let particular sales go through while this war continues.
Separately, and it is a different question, he told Politico in March 2026 that he would stop accepting money from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee and other single-issue political action committees. That is a decision about who funds his campaign, not a position on what the United States ships, and the group kept its endorsement of him afterwards.
The record
Supported sending weapons or funding in 8 of 10 tracked votes
Senate Committee on Foreign Relations
• Nov. 20, 2024 - Voted 'Nay' on three motions to discharge Sanders Joint Resolutions of Disapproval (S.J.Res.111 rejected 18-79; S.J.Res.113; S.J.Res.115) that sought to block sales of tank rounds, mortar rounds, JDAM kits and other defense articles to the Government of Israel, declining to block the sales.
• April 3, 2025 - Voted 'Nay' on the motions to discharge S.J.Res.26 (failed 15-83) and S.J.Res.33 (failed 15-82), the Sanders resolutions to block roughly $8.8 billion in bombs and munitions sales to Israel, aligning with the bulk of the Democratic caucus against the 15 senators who voted to block.
• July 30, 2025 - Voted 'Nay' on S.J.Res.34 (failed 24-73) and S.J.Res.41 (failed 27-70), continuing to decline to block arms sales to Israel while N.J. colleague Andy Kim voted yes; Booker said the resolutions would 'restrict our country's ability to provide future security guarantees' without ending the war or increasing aid.
• April 15, 2026 - For the first time voted 'Yea' to block arms sales to Israel, supporting S.J.Res.32 (blocking a sale of armored bulldozers; failed 40-59) and S.J.Res.138 (failed 36-63), joining a record 40 of 47 Senate Democrats; Booker framed the reversal as opposition to 'Trump's war' with Iran rather than a change in support for Israel's defense.
• March 31-April 1, 2025 - Delivered the longest recorded Senate floor speech in history (25 hours, 5 minutes) protesting the Trump administration.
• March 2026 - Told Politico he would stop accepting AIPAC and other single-issue PAC money; AIPAC subsequently removed the ability for donors to contribute to him through its portal, though he kept the group's endorsement. Booker had received AIPAC-bundled donations for the first time in 2025 (reported at roughly $481,000 in Q1-Q2 and $227,000 in Q3).
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.
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Voted to send weapons or funding in more than half of their recorded tracked votes. (Supported sending weapons or funding in 8 of 10 tracked votes.)
The money
$8K in lifetime support from the five lobbying groups we track
In their words
AIPAC (American Israel Public Affairs Committee) (2026 cycle)
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
- [Position, 2024 to 2026] His ten recorded Senate votes are rendered on this card with their own official roll-call sources and are not re-listed here. Their direction: he voted for the national security supplemental that carried U.S. military aid to the government of Israel; he voted against the motions to take up every arms-sale disapproval resolution through the summer of 2025; and in April 2026 he voted for both, the first time he had done so. Sampled against the official roll calls, for example the November 2024 vote and the April 2026 vote.
- [Position, 2025-07-31] His own Senate statement on the joint resolutions of disapproval, read and verified verbatim: "The suffering, starvation, and atrocities happening in Gaza are unacceptable. I will continue fighting for humanitarian aid now." And: "It's time for the conflict in Gaza to end-- there must be an immediate ceasefire that stops the fighting, ends the suffering for innocent civilians caught in the crossfire, brings the hostages home, and dramatically increases humanitarian aid. These Joint Resolutions of Disapproval would restrict our country's ability to provide future security guarantees without achieving the goal of ending this war now or increasing vital humanitarian aid." And: "And we all must work to bring about a just and lasting peace, one that guarantees Israel's right to exist as a Jewish and democratic state and ensures the Palestinian people's right to self-determination and a state of their own." The double hyphen is the page's own. A New Jersey Globe report carried the same statement and recorded the split with his state colleague.
- [Position, 2026-04-15] His own Senate statement the day he first voted to block sales, read and verified verbatim: "With no congressional approval or strategy for success, Trump has led America into a reckless, dangerous quagmire in Iran that continues to spiral out of control. I am using every tool available to me to stop this war, and do not support more weapons to continue the combat, whether it is to our own government or to one of our closest allies. I will always support America having the globe's preeminent military and defense capabilities, and I will always steadfastly support Israel's defense and deterrence capabilities. I will not, however, support Trump's war, and I will continue to take every action to bring it to a swift conclusion." The page's own address contains a spelling error, which is his office's and not ours. A New Jersey Globe report covered the vote as a first.
- [Earlier record, 2019-11] He is recorded saying that U.S. security assistance ensured the damage from rocket fire was not worse and that the support must continue. The carrier is a political guide's compilation page, and the line is described here rather than quoted.
U.S. aid to Palestinians
- [Position, 2025-07-31] From the statement above: "I will continue fighting for humanitarian aid now", and the call for aid to be dramatically increased. His stated reason for voting against the disapproval resolutions is partly that they would not increase humanitarian aid.
- [Position, 2025-07-25 and 2025-10-09] Our search records further statements on catastrophic hunger in Gaza and on the announced peace agreement. Their carriers are his press office's index rather than individual pages we could open, so they are named here and quoted nowhere.
Characterization of the conflict
- [Position, 2025-07-31] From the statement above, verified verbatim: a just and lasting peace "that guarantees Israel's right to exist as a Jewish and democratic state and ensures the Palestinian people's right to self-determination and a state of their own."
- [Position, 2026-04-15] From the April statement: the American involvement in Iran is "a reckless, dangerous quagmire". That is a characterization of U.S. policy rather than of the conflict in Gaza.
Related rhetoric and lobbying
- [Position, 2026-03] He told Politico he would stop accepting contributions from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee and other single-issue political action committees. A money-refusal decision is about campaign fundraising and is not a position on weapons or funding, and the deep dive says so. The committee's endorsement of him stood afterwards.
- [Earlier record, 2019] He co-sponsored anti-boycott legislation and said repeatedly that he does not support the boycott movement. These are recorded on a political guide's compilation page and on secondary reports; described here, quoted nowhere, and prior band.
- American Israel Public Affairs Committee support and Democratic Majority for Israel lifetime support are badges on this card and the numbers are not restated. See the data note below.
- An advocacy compilation site, boughtbyzionism.org, carries a page about him. It is campaigning material rather than a record of his words, and nothing on this card rests on it.
Safety and antisemitism (context)
- [Earlier record, 2018 to 2024] Our search records a long series of items: his statement after the Tree of Life synagogue shooting in 2018, remarks in 2019 that antisemitism is un-American, a 2020 address on security grants for houses of worship after attacks in Jersey City and Monsey, a bipartisan Black and Jewish senators' coalition in 2021, a statement after an attempted arson at a New Jersey temple in 2023, and co-sponsorship of the Countering Antisemitism Act in 2024. All are attributed to his press office's index rather than to individual pages we could open, so they are listed here without quotation.
Race and status context
- New Jersey's senior senator, seeking re-election, and a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
- The money badge counts only what the lobbying groups we track gave him directly or spent for him. It does not count AIPAC-bundled donations, which he received for the first time in 2025, reported at roughly $481,000 for the first two quarters and $227,000 for the third.
Also in this race
- ?Mixed Justin Murphy (Republican)
- ✓Opposes Veronica Fernandez (Independent)
- ✗Supports Joanne Kuniansky (Other)
All New Jersey candidates.
See everyone on the New Jersey ballot →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.