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

Chris Gallant

✓From their own words

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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No recorded votes on the bills we track. In their own words on May 27, 2026.

Asked whether the U.S. should continue military funding for Israel, Gallant said America promised to come to its defense but that "when the war turned into a humanitarian crisis, we need to stop that kind of funding", and called for holding Netanyahu accountable.

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Deep Dive

Gallant is the Democratic nominee in New York’s 1st District, covering Suffolk County on Long Island. He is an Army National Guard veteran and Black Hawk pilot, an FAA air traffic controller and a volunteer firefighter.

He answered this question directly, in the place a candidate is hardest to avoid it. At the first debate of the campaign, on May 27, 2026 at the Jamesport Meeting House, he was asked whether the United States should continue military funding for Israel. The East End Beacon reports his answer in full: "Israel has a right to exist, and Israel is a partner of the United States of America. We have made a promise to come to their defense. When the war turned into a humanitarian crisis, we need to stop that kind of funding and hold Netanyahu accountable for what he’s doing. War is a dangerous game, of course, but when we are attacking citizens, blowing up schools and churches, those things are not correct."

That is a conditional position and the order of it matters. He affirms the alliance and the American commitment first, then makes the humanitarian situation the trigger for stopping the funding, and names the Israeli prime minister rather than Israel as the object of accountability. Compressing it to "opposes military aid" would lose the first half; compressing it to "supports Israel" would lose the second.

What he has not addressed is U.S. aid to Palestinians, in either direction. Nothing was located on UNRWA, on Gaza humanitarian funding, or on the aid pipeline.

He has held no federal office and has no recorded votes on any of this.

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.

In their words

“Israel has a right to exist, and Israel is a partner of the United States of America. We have made a promise to come to their defense. When the war turned into a humanitarian crisis, we need to stop that kind of funding and hold Netanyahu accountable for what he's doing. War is a dangerous game, of course, but when we are attacking citizens, blowing up schools and churches, those things are not correct.”

Source ↗, 2026-05-27

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

2026-05-27 [Current position; VERIFIED VERBATIM 2026-08-11]: At the first debate of the campaign, at the Jamesport Meeting House, sponsored by the Southold and Riverhead Democratic Committees and moderated by Angela DeVito of the Riverhead Town Democrats, he was asked whether the United States should continue military funding for Israel. His answer, from the East End Beacon: "Israel has a right to exist, and Israel is a partner of the United States of America. We have made a promise to come to their defense. When the war turned into a humanitarian crisis, we need to stop that kind of funding and hold Netanyahu accountable for what he's doing. War is a dangerous game, of course, but when we are attacking citizens, blowing up schools and churches, those things are not correct."

⚠ **A VERDICT OF OURS THAT WAS WRONG, CORRECTED 2026-08-11.** This card previously said the answer could not be sourced because both East End Beacon urls would not open. Checked again properly: this one opens and gives about 16,000 characters, and carries the answer verbatim in a section headed "On Foreign Wars". The card went from a sourcing statement to a position card on the strength of one corrected open. Direction: the recipient is named in the question he was answering and in the same passage. "That kind of funding" is military funding for Israel, and the accountability he asks for is of the Israeli prime minister.

U.S. aid to Palestinians

Nothing located, in either direction. Neither the debate report nor any other source that opened records him on UNRWA, Gaza humanitarian funding or the aid pipeline. He does name the humanitarian crisis as the reason the military funding should stop, which is adjacent to the question without answering it.

Characterization of the conflict

2026-05-27 [Current position; VERIFIED]: From the same answer: "Israel has a right to exist, and Israel is a partner of the United States of America", and "when we are attacking citizens, blowing up schools and churches, those things are not correct". He holds both, and the card keeps both.
2026-05-27 [Current position; his opponent, recorded for context only]: The same report carries the answer of Nick Ventouras, the other Democrat at that debate, on a two-state solution. A rival's words are never the candidate's position and nothing here rests on them.

Rhetoric and lobbying

Nothing located.

Safety and antisemitism

Nothing located. A reader comment beneath the article characterises both candidates in hostile terms. Reader comments are not sources and nothing on this card touches them.

Sources consulted and read

The East End Beacon debate report, which carries the whole of this card, read in full 2026-08-11.
The Suffolk Times report of his primary win, read in full: it is about affordable housing and transit and does not raise the conflict.

Consulted, could not be reached

A second East End Beacon report, on the primary results, was not recovered. Worth a retry given that the first one was recovered.

What came back empty or unusable

Nothing that matters. The one thing this record needed was the debate report, and it reads.
No position located on U.S. aid to Palestinians.

Also in this race

✗ Nick LaLota (Republican)

All New York candidates.