But What Can You Do? tracks where 2026 candidates stand on U.S. weapons and funding for the government of Israel. How we check
Claire Valdez
Democrat · U.S. House, New York District 7
✓OpposesFrom 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.
Valdez’s platform pledges to "end all weapons sales and military aid to Israel" and to push for a full suspension until Israel complies with international law, including voting against any military funding to Israel.
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Valdez is a New York State Assembly member from Queens and won the Democratic primary in New York’s 7th District on June 23, 2026, in a race to succeed the retiring Nydia Velazquez.
Her position is far-reaching. Her campaign platform page, whose heading "International Solidarity, Not War and Genocide" was confirmed, pledges according to an initial search to "push to end all weapons sales and military aid to Israel" and to advocate a comprehensive arms embargo, to co-sponsor the Block the Bombs Act, to vote against all future military funding to Israel, and to work to close legal loopholes permitting arms transfers. An earlier check reported that the page rendered its text client-side and the pledges could not be read. That was wrong: the body is in the served HTML and was read in full on 2026-08-11. Her pledges are quoted directly, and they go further than an initial search’s summary: she commits to "a full suspension of U.S. military funding and arms transfers to Israel until it complies with international law", including "voting against any military funding to Israel".
JTA, read in full, confirms she was among the earliest local politicians to accuse Israel of genocide and to call for a ceasefire. It also records that every candidate in that primary accused Israel of genocide, which is why its headline describes a race with no pro-Israel candidate.
As an Assembly member she co-sponsored the "Not on Our Dime" bill, which would strip tax-exempt status from New York nonprofits funding Israeli settlement activity or military violations, and she attended a press conference supporting its reintroduction in May 2026. In August 2025 she was arrested at a protest outside Senator Schumer’s office where banners read "Let Gaza live" and "Let aid in now". In her victory speech she said she would "stand up to the genocide" and "continue to call for Palestinian liberation".
She 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.
✓ Endorsed by JVP Action +3 more
JVP ActionJewish Voice for Peace's political arm, which now operates as JVP. It backs candidates who support Palestinian rights and work to end U.S. military funding to the government of Israel.USCPR ActionThe political arm of the US Campaign for Palestinian Rights. Its endorsed candidates commit to block U.S. weapons transfers and military funding to Israel and to refuse AIPAC money.A New Policy PACA group backing congressional candidates who want a new U.S. policy toward Israel and Palestine grounded in U.S. and international law, including conditions on military aid.Track AIPACA watchdog on AIPAC-linked money. It backs candidates who reject AIPAC support and call for an arms embargo and conditions on aid to the government of Israel.These endorsements come from groups that push to restrict or end U.S. weapons transfers to the government of Israel. Endorsements from these groups are shown for information; they do not decide the mark.
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 [Current position; VERIFIED 2026-08-11 ON A SECOND CHECK]: Her campaign platform page "International Solidarity, Not War and Genocide", read in full. Verbatim: she will "Push to end all weapons sales and military aid to Israel and fight for Palestinian freedom", and, under a heading on opposing further military funding and supporting a comprehensive arms embargo, "Claire will push for a full suspension of U.S. military funding and arms transfers to Israel until it complies with international law and ends its campaign of violence against Palestinians. This includes voting against any military funding to Israel and working with congressional allies to block future we[apons sales]." The page also refers to "offender weapons to Israel being used to commit genocide in Gaza".
⚠ **AN EARLIER CHECK CALLED THIS PAGE CLIENT-SIDE RENDERED AND UNREADABLE. IT IS NOT.** The text is on the page; our first reading of it lost the body. All four pledges are now quoted rather than reported.
2023-10 [Months after October 7, 2023; on this page only]: An initial search reports she called for the U.S. to immediately cut off all military aid to Israel following the October 7 attacks and the start of the Gaza operation. Her earliest position on U.S. weapons, and in the months after October 7, 2023.
2026-06-19 [Current position; VERIFIED]: JTA reports that in this primary "Each candidate accuses Israel of having committed a genocide in Gaza", and that her rival Reynoso "opposes sending both offensive and defensive weapons to Israel". Read. Useful context: her position was not distinctive within her own primary, which is what the headline means by a race with no pro-Israel candidate.
U.S. aid to Palestinians
2025-08-01 [Current position]: At the protest outside Senator Schumer's office where she was arrested, banners read "Let Gaza live" and "Let aid in now". An aid-access demand rather than a U.S. funding position.
Characterization of the conflict
2023-10 onward [Current position for the pattern; VERIFIED]: JTA confirms she "was among the earliest local politicians" to accuse Israel of genocide and "began calling for a ceasefire in October 2023". The initial calls fall in the months after October 7, 2023; the continued characterization is current and she restated it in 2026.
2026 [Current position]: An initial search reports her campaign site characterizes Israel's control over Palestinian territories as an "apartheid and military occupation" and says Prime Minister Netanyahu has carried out "genocide against the Palestinian people". Same client-side page.
2026-06-23 [Current position]: In her primary victory speech she said she would "stand up to the genocide" and "continue to call for Palestinian liberation".
2025-02-26 [Current position]: As an Assembly member she co-sponsored Assembly Bill A6101, the "Not on Our Dime!: Ending New York funding of Israeli settler violence act", which would strip tax-exempt status from New York nonprofits funding illegal settlement activity in the West Bank or military violations in Gaza. The bill page would not open. A state tax measure rather than a federal aid position, and it concerns private funding rather than U.S. government money.
2026-05-22 [Current position]: She attended a press conference in Long Island City supporting the bill's reintroduction.
2025-08-01 [Current position]: She was arrested during the Schumer office protest.
Rhetoric and lobbying
[A lobbying or endorsement argument must never read as a weapons or funding position.]
2023 [Earlier record; out of scope]: An initial search reports she publicly endorsed the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement. Boycott and divestment measures are named out of scope by the content rule.
2026-03 [Current position]: She accepted the endorsement of PAL PAC, a pro-Palestinian committee formed to counter AIPAC's influence (City & State, 2026-03-24).
2026-03 [Current position]: At her campaign launch she was introduced by the activist Mahmoud Khalil.
2026-06 [Current position]: JTA records she attacked her rival for accusing Israel of genocide only since launching his campaign, and accused AIPAC of possibly backing him.
Safety and antisemitism
Nothing located. An initial search returned no statement from her on antisemitism or community safety.
Two localcandidates.org pages would not open; two YouTube urls carry no retrievable text.
What came back empty or unusable
Her campaign platform is the source for four of her five pledges and its body text cannot be read, because the page is drawn by the browser. Another campaign site that fails that way, like the Auringer and Morelle sites.
Nothing located on antisemitism or community safety at all.
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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