Robert E. Latta

Republican · U.S. House, Ohio District 5

Latta was an original cosponsor of a May 2024 bill to bar federal funds from being used to withhold deliveries of U.S. weapons to the government of Israel. Nothing located from 2024 onward has him speaking about that funding in his own words; the votes are on this card.

Bob Latta is a Republican who has represented Ohio's 5th District since 2007 and chairs the Energy Subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. He is on the ballot again on November 3, 2026. The bill he signed on to in May 2024, the Israel Security Assistance Support Act, was written after the Biden administration paused a delivery of weapons that was ready to go. It would bar money appropriated to the Defense or State Departments from being used to withhold, halt, reverse or cancel the delivery of defense articles or services to the government of Israel, would pay no official who acted to support such a withholding, and would require anything already held back to be delivered within fifteen days. His name is on the bill as introduced on May 14, 2024.

He has not explained that in his own words, and nothing else of his own from 2024, 2025 or 2026 addresses what the United States sends. His congressional newsroom was read year by year for those three years and searched by phrase, and it carries no item naming Israel from 2024 onward. His campaign site is a single page with a donation form and no positions on it. A Toledo television station reported in February 2026 that he commented on joint United States and Israeli strikes in Iran; that page does not open, so what he said there has not been read and is not used here.

The earlier record is a matter of the relationship rather than the money. In July 2023 he said Israel is "America’s strongest ally in the Middle East" and that a colleague's description of it as a racist state was wrong, after voting for a resolution on the point. In January 2017 he welcomed a House resolution condemning a United Nations Security Council vote on Israeli settlements, and in July 2014 he said he stood with Israelis "as they take the necessary actions to defend themselves" against rockets from Gaza. The rest of what was read, including his record on antisemitism, is on his research page.

A reader in Ohio's 5th District is better placed than we are to close the gap. Ask Latta directly what he thinks the United States should send to the government of Israel, and send us the reply: it goes on this page in his own words.

Tracked votes: backed sending U.S. weapons or funding to the government of Israel in 6 of 6 recorded votes.

Research

One search was read as a lead list for this card, run 2026-08-21, and every page cited below was opened and read on 2026-09-07 unless marked otherwise. His congressional newsroom was read year by year for 2024, 2025 and 2026, item by item, and searched by phrase for Israel, Gaza, Hamas, Iran and antisemitism; his campaign site was read. Bands: Position (2024-01-26 onward), Reaction window (2023-10-07 to 2024-01-25), Earlier record (before 2023-10-07). Robert E. Latta is a Republican who has represented Ohio's 5th District since a December 2007 special election and chairs the Energy Subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. This card replaces an older one-sentence summary of his record, and everything below was checked again at the source.

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

U.S. aid to Palestinians

Characterization of the conflict

Related rhetoric and lobbying

Safety and antisemitism (context, not a position on what America sends)

Not on the card, and why

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

Also in this race: Brian Alan Shaver (Democrat) · All Ohio candidates.

See the full record →

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 the interactive card for votes, funding and contact details.