But What Can You Do? tracks where 2026 candidates stand on U.S. weapons and funding for the government of Israel. How we check
Jacqueline Auringer
Republican · U.S. House, New York District 18
✗Supports
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.
Reviewed by hand after the two reviewers read it differently: Taken together her own statements attack her opponent for turning from his years of championing aid to Israel after his vote to cut U.S. military aid, which is opposition to cutting it. Reviewed by hand on 2026-10-01. This candidate has no recorded tracked floor votes.
Auringer attacked her opponent’s vote to block U.S. military aid to Israel, saying he "broke his promise to unequivocally support Israel" and should return donors’ money. She has published no platform of her own on the conflict.
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That tells a voter which way she points: she treats continuing U.S. military aid to Israel as the commitment a member should keep. It is a position expressed through criticism of an opponent rather than one set out in her own platform, and the card says so, because an initial search found no policy document, questionnaire answer or platform page from her on the conflict.
Her own two press releases, read in full, are the same shape at greater length. In the July 17 release she demands he return the $791,782 he has taken through AIPAC since 2022: "Give it back, Pat. Not some of it, every single penny." She also says of the winner of the NY-13 primary that "A candidate who questioned whether Israel should even exist just won a Democratic primary". In the July 21 release she quotes his 2024 debate answer, that he could think of nothing Israel could do to lose his support, and argues he has since reversed under pressure: "This isn’t about Pat Ryan changing his mind. This is about Pat Ryan getting pressured by the DSA and folding."
All of that is about him. Across four sources she is not recorded saying what she would vote for, what she would send, or on what terms. Her campaign site carries a "Track AIPAT" feature to monitor whether he refunds the money.
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
“Pat Ryan broke his promise to unequivocally support Israel. He should return the money to the donors who believed he would keep that promise.”
“Give it back, Pat. Not some of it, every single penny. Pat Ryan financed his political career on AIPAC's money but the moment the radicals in the DSA demanded it, he cut ties; he folded.”
“This isn't about Pat Ryan changing his mind. This is about Pat Ryan getting pressured by the DSA and folding. He gave voters a straight answer in that debate, and now he's caving to the loudest, most radical voices in his own party.”
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
2026-07-30 [Current position; VERIFIED]: Washington Examiner, read in full, quotes her: "Pat Ryan broke his promise to unequivocally support Israel. He should return the money to the donors who believed he would keep that promise." Direction: she treats continuing U.S. military aid to the Israeli government as the commitment that was broken. This is the closest thing on the record to a position of her own, and it is still framed as his failure rather than her policy.
2026-07-21 [Current position; VERIFIED]: Her "Ryan Caves to DSA" release reproduces an exchange from his 2024 debate against Alison Esposito. Moderator: "Is there anything or any action Israel could take that would make you lose support for the Jewish state?" Ryan: "Not that I, not that I can think of." Her release then says he "is distancing himself from Israel's supporters and shifting his positions", and quotes her: "This isn't about Pat Ryan changing his mind. This is about Pat Ryan getting pressured by the DSA and folding. He gave voters a straight answer in that debate, and now he's caving to the loudest, most radical voices in his own party." Every claim in it is about him.
2026-07-17 [Current position; VERIFIED]: Her "Give It Back" release demands he return "the nearly $792,000 he pocketed through AIPAC", and states the figure and its provenance itself: "According to reporting by the Washington Examiner, Ryan has taken in $791,782 through AIPAC since 2022." Her quote: "Give it back, Pat. Not some of it, every single penny. Pat Ryan financed his political career on AIPAC's money but the moment the radicals in the DSA demanded it, he cut ties; he folded." She asks for three things "in public, with paperwork": the amount, which contributions, and documentation. The release also asserts that he "spent years championing aid to Israel, traveled there through AIPAC's sister organization, and built a public record touting the U.S.-Israel alliance".
⚠ **A CORRECTION OF OURS ON THIS ITEM, 2026-08-11.** An earlier version of this card flagged the $792,000 demand as "a paper's own analysis reported as the candidate's claim", on the reasoning that the figure came from the Examiner's FEC review rather than from her. That reading was wrong and is withdrawn. Her release cites the Examiner for the number and then demands "the full $791,782" in her own words, so an initial search’s account of it was accurate. The finding here is about our extraction, not about her.
Undated [Current position]: Her campaign homepage. An initial search’s own verdict is that she has published no detailed platform or standalone document setting out her position on the conflict, and reading both releases in full confirms it: neither says what she would do.
U.S. aid to Palestinians
Nothing located. No statement on UNRWA, Gaza humanitarian funding or the aid pipeline, in either direction.
Characterization of the conflict
2026-07-17 [Current position; VERIFIED]: In the "Give It Back" release she writes of the NY-13 Democratic primary winner that "it surfaced that she had posted that Israel's right to exist was in question, on a deleted account", and quotes herself: "A candidate who questioned whether Israel should even exist just won a Democratic primary with the backing of Pat's pal, the mayor of New York City." An initial search reported this and it is confirmed verbatim; an earlier version of this card excluded it as unsourced, which was our reading failure.
The candidate she refers to is Darializa Avila Chevalier. What a rival says about a candidate is never that candidate's position, and this appears on her research page rather than theirs.
An initial search’s own verdict: she has not published a platform or document addressing the roots of the conflict or a long-term resolution, including two-state or border questions. Confirmed.
Rhetoric and lobbying
2026-07-17 onward [Current position; VERIFIED]: Her campaign site carries a "Track AIPAT" item in its main navigation, the feature an initial search described for monitoring whether her opponent returns the money. A tracker of an opponent's refunds is not a statement of her own position on weapons or funding.
2026-07-16 and 2026-07-30 [Current position]: She argued that discarding pro-Israel endorsements was a tactic to appease the Democratic Socialists of America, per the Washington Examiner's earlier report and the later one, and in her own words in both releases. A claim about her opponent's motives rather than a statement of her own policy, and a money-and-endorsements argument must never read as a weapons or funding position in its own right.
2026-07-22 [Current position]: Hudson Valley One covered the same dispute from the incumbent's side and is the source page for his own words.
Safety and antisemitism
Nothing located. An initial search’s own verdict: no public statements, campaign policy releases or legislative proposals from her addressing antisemitism, campus safety or anti-hate measures. She uses "antisemitic" of the DSA in the July 21 release, which is a characterization of a rival organisation rather than a policy on antisemitism.
Consulted, could not be reached
A localcandidates.org page for her. That host returns 200 and renders its body client-side, so a browser can read it and our open cannot.
Nothing on this record is now unreadable. Her press pages were recovered on re-extraction and everything an initial search reported from them checks out.
No position of her own on U.S. aid to Palestinians was located in either direction.
The gap that remains is hers rather than ours: across four readable sources and two of her own press releases, she is not recorded stating what she would send, vote for, or condition.
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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