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

Mark Tedford

Republican · U.S. House, Oklahoma District 1
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In a voter guide for Oklahoma's June 2026 primary, Tedford said “The United States should stand with Israel, protect our shared security interests, and support Israel’s right to defend itself.” Nothing located has him addressing U.S. weapons or money for the government of Israel, in either direction.

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Deep Dive

Mark Tedford is the Republican nominee in Oklahoma's 1st District and faces John Croisant on November 3, 2026 for a seat with no incumbent running. He has represented District 69 in the Oklahoma House since 2022 and owns a Tulsa insurance agency. A state legislature does not vote on what the United States sends abroad, so there is no voting record here to set beside what he says.

He has answered a direct question about Israel in writing, and the answer is about the relationship rather than about the transfers. A questionnaire published for the June 16, 2026 primary by iVoterGuide, a candidate guide run by AFA Action, asked whether the United States' relationship with Israel is important and why. He answered yes, and that Israel is one of America's most important allies and a critical partner in the fight against terrorism and radical Islamic extremism, and that the United States “should stand with Israel, protect our shared security interests, and support Israel’s right to defend itself.” Nothing in it names a weapon, a dollar figure, a package, an aid condition or the Memorandum of Understanding, and it does not say whether transfers should continue, grow or be restricted.

The same form asked him to pick a description of American foreign policy from four options. He chose the one reading that the United States has become too involved in others' policies and should remain focused on issues regarding our own sovereignty unless in imminent danger, and wrote that the country should “maintain a strong military, support key allies, and avoid foreign entanglements that do not serve a clear American interest.” He did not say which entanglements he means, and he did not apply the limit to any named country or programme, so the two answers sit side by side without either resolving the other.

Nothing else of his addresses the question. His campaign site has no foreign policy heading and no mention of Israel, Gaza, foreign aid, weapons or military assistance on any of its three pages, and neither does the Ballotpedia survey he submitted in May 2026. A Tulsa voter guide that asked every candidate in this race what the United States' role in the Middle East should be records that he did not respond to its survey request. What was read, including his recorded absence from two votes in the Oklahoma House on defining antisemitism, is on his research page. You are better placed than we are to close the gap. Ask Tedford directly what the United States should send, and send us the reply: it goes on this page in his own words.

The record

Notable actions

• His own campaign site says none of it. The navigation is Meet Mark, Endorsements, Priorities, Events, Volunteer and Donate, and the content is his business background, his endorsements from Oklahoma Republican officials, and general conservative themes. There is no foreign policy heading and no mention of Israel, Gaza, foreign aid, U.S. weapons or military assistance anywhere on it.

• Asked by iVoterGuide's candidate survey whether the United States' relationship with Israel is important and why, he answered that the U.S. should stand with Israel and support its right to defend itself. The answer does not mention U.S. weapons, arms transfers, appropriations, aid conditions or any dollar figure, and takes no position on whether transfers should be restricted or continued. Dating caveat: the profile carries no completion date, so it is dated here to the primary election the guide was published for.

• In the same survey, asked to describe his approach to American foreign policy, he coupled support for allies with a limit on commitments abroad. He did not say which entanglements he means, and did not apply the limit to any named country or aid programme. Same dating caveat as the item above.

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.

See a dash? Ask the candidate where they stand, then send us their answer and we'll review it and update the mark. Or volunteer to help review candidates.

Two reviewers, reading the public record as a whole, agree: Answering a June 2026 voter-guide question, he says the United States should "stand with Israel, protect our shared security interests, and support Israel’s right to defend itself", without saying where he stands on U.S. weapons and funding for the government of Israel. Reviewed by hand on 2026-10-09. This candidate has no recorded tracked floor votes.

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 2026-07-13) 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 is one of America’s most important allies and a critical partner in the fight against terrorism and radical Islamic extremism. The United States should stand with Israel, protect our shared security interests, and support Israel’s right to defend itself.”
Source ↗, 2026-06-16
“America’s foreign policy should put our national security and sovereignty first. We should maintain a strong military, support key allies, and avoid foreign entanglements that do not serve a clear American interest.”
Source ↗, 2026-06-16

Research log

The notes behind this card: what we looked at, what we found, and where each item came from.

Our research for this card began with a search run on 2026-08-21. Every page cited below was opened and read on 2026-09-07, and his campaign site was read in full, all three pages of it, along with his Ballotpedia entry, all four of his voter guide profiles and the roll calls named below. Bands: Position (2024-01-26 onward), Reaction window (2023-10-07 to 2024-01-25), Earlier record (before 2023-10-07), Undated. This card replaces an older summary of his record; both quotations in it were checked again at the source. He has no recorded federal votes on this record and no tracked funding.

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

  • Nothing located. Nothing he has published or answered addresses U.S. weapons transfers, arms sales, appropriations, aid conditions, arms pauses or the Memorandum of Understanding, and he has never named a figure or a package. The two answers below are what he has said about Israel and about foreign policy, and both stop short of the transfers.
  • [Position; the profile carries no completion date, was published for the June 16, 2026 primary and was read on 2026-09-07] iVoterGuide's questionnaire asked: “Is the United States' relationship with Israel important, and if so why?” His answer in full: “Yes. Israel is one of America’s most important allies and a critical partner in the fight against terrorism and radical Islamic extremism. The United States should stand with Israel, protect our shared security interests, and support Israel’s right to defend itself.”
  • [Position; same profile, same dating] Asked to choose among four descriptions of American foreign policy, he selected C, which reads: “The United States has become too involved in others' policies and should remain focused on issues regarding our own sovereignty unless in imminent danger.” His written explanation in full: “America’s foreign policy should put our national security and sovereignty first. We should maintain a strong military, support key allies, and avoid foreign entanglements that do not serve a clear American interest.” No country and no aid programme is named in it.
  • [Position; same profile] He answered the questionnaire in full, across every section it puts to candidates, from abortion and the economy to immigration, education and the Second Amendment, with a written comment under nearly every prompt. His answers are therefore evidence of what he thinks rather than a gap in the guide's coverage. iVoterGuide is a candidate guide that sends a questionnaire, publishes the answers and adds its own rating; its pages carry the line that it is a division of AFA Action. It rated him Leans Conservative in this race.
  • [Position; page read 2026-09-07] His general-election profile in the same guide, for the November 3, 2026 ballot, carries a biography heading and no questionnaire at all, so there is no later answer from him there.
  • [Position; undated pages read 2026-09-07] His campaign site has no foreign policy heading. Its five issue blocks are lower costs for working families, enforcing immigration law, stopping waste and fraud, rebuilding the economy, and defending faith, family and freedom. The words Israel, Gaza, Palestine, foreign aid, arms and military assistance do not appear anywhere on it. Its own index lists three pages, the home page, an events page and a voting-information page, and all three were read.
  • [Position, 2026-06-09] The Tulsa Flyer voter guide for the June 16, 2026 election asked every candidate in this race what the United States' role in the Middle East should be. Under his own heading the guide prints his biography, his campaign address and the sentence: “This candidate did not respond to the Flyer’s survey request.”
  • [Position, 2026-05-27] The Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey he submitted on May 27, 2026 names an economy that works, government accountability and American values as his three messages. It mentions rebuilding supply chains and not relying on foreign adversaries for pharmaceuticals, semiconductors and rare earth minerals. It says nothing about Israel, Gaza, foreign aid or weapons.

U.S. aid to Palestinians

  • Nothing located. Neither voter guide profile, neither his campaign site nor his Ballotpedia survey carries a statement from him on UNRWA, on humanitarian funding for Gaza or on the aid pipeline.

Characterization of the conflict

  • Nothing located. He has not been recorded describing this conflict, and the word Gaza does not appear in anything of his that was read.
  • [Position; profile dating as above] In the same questionnaire, asked whether “Islamic terrorism is a threat to the United States' national security”, he answered Strongly Agree and wrote: “Islamic terrorism is a serious threat to America’s national security. We must secure our borders, support law enforcement, and give our military the tools they need to keep Americans safe.” That answer is about terrorism and American security generally. It names no country and does not describe this conflict.
  • [Position, 2026-06-17 and 2026-06-18; other people writing about him] Three reports on this district's Republican primary say the same thing about him. The Forward, June 17, 2026: Tedford “has made few if any public comments about Israel or the war in Gaza”. The Times of Israel ran the same story that day and The Jerusalem Post ran it on June 18, 2026, which prints the sentence with commas as “few, if any”. All three are reporters' accounts of him and stay out of the card summary. All three were published the day after the primary the iVoterGuide answers above were published for, and none of them mentions those answers.

Related rhetoric and lobbying

  • Nothing located about any organization that lobbies on this question. He has not been recorded naming the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the Republican Jewish Coalition, Christians United for Israel or any comparable group.
  • [Position; profile read 2026-09-07] His iVoterGuide profile lists ten endorsements he reported, all of them Oklahoma figures and local organizations: a Tulsa firefighters' committee, a state senator and four mayors among them. His campaign site lists the same kind of support, Oklahoma mayors, county commissioners, state legislators, the Speaker of the Oklahoma House and the state insurance commissioner. No organization that works on this question appears on either list.
  • [Earlier record, 2022-06-28] His iVoterGuide profile for the 2022 Oklahoma House primary carries a questionnaire on which every biography field reads “Candidate did not provide” and every question, more than twenty of them, reads “Did not answer”. One of the unanswered prompts is about the boycott movement aimed at the government of Israel. A form nobody filled in is a fact about the guide's coverage that year and not a fact about him, so nothing is drawn from it in either direction.
  • [Position; profile dating as above] Asked in the 2026 questionnaire whether “Foreign governments should be prohibited from funding American education”, he answered Strongly Agree and wrote that foreign governments should not be allowed to buy influence in American classrooms. That is about foreign money coming in, not about American money going out.

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

The race

Not on the card, and why

  • His answer selecting the option that the United States is too involved in others' policies, and his written foreign-policy answer: neither names a country or a programme, so neither can be read as a position on weapons or money for the government of Israel. Both are quoted in full above and set out in the deep dive.
  • His answer on Islamic terrorism and his answer on foreign funding of American education: both are about other subjects.
  • The 2022 questionnaire on which he answered nothing, including its prompt about the boycott movement: an unanswered form is a fact about the guide, not about the candidate.
  • The June 2026 reports in The Forward, The Times of Israel and The Jerusalem Post: reporters' accounts of what he has not said, not statements of his.
  • His two excused absences in the Oklahoma House on April 30, 2025: not voting is not a position, and the bills are about a definition used in schools rather than about what the United States sends.
  • His social accounts: his campaign's Facebook page did not open for us, and his account on X returned a page with no readable posts. Nothing is claimed for either, and their addresses are listed below.
  • The earlier summary sentence on this record, which reads only that he is an Oklahoma lawmaker and a longtime Tulsa businessman: this card replaces it rather than merging with it, and both of its quotations were re-checked at the source.

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

  • https://ivoterguide.com/candidate/67453/race/27979/election/1425 (opened; 2026-09-07; the profile carries no completion date and was published for the June 16, 2026 primary)
  • https://ivoterguide.com/candidate/67453/race/35073/election/1506 (opened; 2026-09-07; his general-election profile in the same guide, biography only)
  • https://ivoterguide.com/candidate/67453/race/11554/election/911 (opened; 2026-09-07; his 2022 state legislative profile, answered nowhere)
  • https://www.tedfordforcongress.com/ (opened; 2026-09-07)
  • https://www.tedfordforcongress.com/voting (opened; 2026-09-07)
  • https://www.tedfordforcongress.com/events (opened; 2026-09-07)
  • https://www.tedfordforcongress.com/pages-sitemap.xml (opened; 2026-09-07; it lists three pages and all three were read)
  • https://ballotpedia.org/Mark_Tedford (opened; 2026-09-07; Candidate Connection survey submitted 2026-05-27, read in full)
  • https://ballotpedia.org/Oklahoma%27s_1st_Congressional_District_election,_2026 (opened; 2026-09-07)
  • https://tulsaflyer.org/june-16-voter-guide-u-s-hr-district-1/ (opened; 2026-09-07; published 2026-06-09)
  • https://forward.com/fast-forward/832091/lahmeyer-pastor-who-says-antichrist-will-be-jewish-heads-to-oklahoma-gop-runoff/ (opened; 2026-09-07; published 2026-06-17)
  • https://www.timesofisrael.com/pastor-who-says-antichrist-will-be-jewish-heads-to-runoff-for-oklahoma-congressional-seat/ (opened; 2026-09-07; published 2026-06-17)
  • https://www.jpost.com/american-politics/article-899815 (opened; 2026-09-07; published 2026-06-18)
  • https://www.okhouse.gov/posts/news-20250501_1 (opened; 2026-09-07; published 2025-05-01)
  • https://www.oklegislature.gov/cf/2025-26%20SUPPORT%20DOCUMENTS/votes/House/SB991_VOTES.HTM (opened; 2026-09-07; the Oklahoma House roll calls on SB991)
  • https://www.oklegislature.gov/cf/2025-26%20SUPPORT%20DOCUMENTS/votes/House/SB942_VOTES.HTM (opened; 2026-09-07; the Oklahoma House roll calls on SB942)
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Tedford (opened; 2026-09-07; used only to check office and district)
  • https://wlangdon.substack.com/p/mark-tedford-has-trumps-endorsement (opened; 2026-09-07; published 2026-08-11; about tariffs and the endorsement, nothing on this question)
  • https://www.facebook.com/tedfordforoklahoma/ (could not open; 2026-09-07)
  • https://x.com/MarkTedfordOK (opened but returned no readable posts; 2026-09-07)
  • https://oklahomavoice.com/voter-guides/contests/u-s-representative-district-1-republican/ (could not open; 2026-09-07)
  • This is a record of what was checked on 2026-09-07, not a claim that no other statement exists.

Also in this race

  1. – John Croisant (Democrat)

All Oklahoma candidates.

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.