But What Can You Do? tracks where 2026 candidates stand on U.S. weapons and funding for the government of Israel. How we check
Brett Smith
Green · Governor, Oregon
?Mixed
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.
Two reviewers, reading the public record as a whole, agree: In an April 2026 Pacific Greens candidate answer on BDS and Palestinian rights, he said "Israel's infiltration into our political system needs to be addressed", 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.
Brett Smith is a welder and inventor from Molalla and the Pacific Green Party's nominee for governor of Oregon. He grew up in Hinkley, California, worked as a pipefitter and welder in several states, and moved to Oregon in 2016; a medical device he built for his son has since cleared the FDA. In 2024 he ran for Congress in Oregon's 5th District as the Independent Party of Oregon's nominee and took 4.7 percent of the vote. This year he beat three other candidates for the Pacific Green nomination, and he faces Governor Tina Kotek, the Democrat, and Christine Drazan, the Republican, who also carries the Libertarian nomination, on November 3.
His campaign is about corruption and about the state. His voters' pamphlet statement pledges an independent audit of state systems and the tax code, health care for all, a permanent moratorium on data centers, no unconstitutional surveillance, a state constitutional amendment that no Oregonian will be drafted into a war Congress has not sanctioned, a Defend the Guard law and a larger Oregon Civil Defense Force. His site adds a surcharge on large employers that pay below a living wage and a public health insurance option open to every resident.
The plank closest to this site's question is one his site calls Ports for Peace. It would use the governor's appointments to the Port of Portland Commission to adopt a rule "prohibiting the shipment of military grade weapons, ammunition, explosives, and military only weapons components", limited to nations in sustained hostile military operations with "credible international findings of humanitarian law violations." The site says the proposal "does not interfere with federal foreign policy authority." In an August radio interview he described it as stopping weapons "going overseas, to unsanctioned, non-congressional-approved wars," and said Matt Rowe, who had planned to run for the nomination, wrote it. Neither version names a country.
His one remark that names Israel came in April, in the Pacific Green Party's questionnaire for candidates seeking its nomination. Asked whether he supported the party's position on the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement and on Palestinian rights, he answered: "Israel's infiltration into our political system needs to be addressed. This is the least we can do." The answer does not say what the United States should send to the government of Israel or withhold from it. Nothing located has him taking a position on U.S. weapons or money for the government of Israel, or on U.S. aid to Palestinians.
His X account, which needs a sign-in to read past its first screen, and his campaign's Facebook page could not be read here. The addresses are on his research page.
You are better placed to change this than we are. Ask Smith directly, or at a candidate forum, and send us the reply: it goes on this page in his own words, which is worth more than anything we could write about him.
In their words
“Israel's infiltration into our political system needs to be addressed. This is the least we can do.”
The notes behind this card: what we looked at, what we found, and where each item came from.
Every page named below was opened and read on 2026-10-05 unless the entry says otherwise. His campaign site is a single page with sections for his plan, his biography, endorsements and contact details, plus a separate questions-and-answers page; both were read in full. Bands: Position (2024-01-26 onward), Reaction window (2023-10-07 to 2024-01-25), Earlier record (before 2023-10-07), Undated. Smith has not held federal office, so none of the congressional votes this site tracks is his; the federal funding badges do not apply to a state office.
U.S. military aid and weapons to the government of Israel
Nothing located, at any date, that names the government of Israel.
[Position, read 2026-10-05] The nearest thing is a state port plan that names no country. His campaign site, under "Ports for Peace", proposes appointing a Port of Portland Commission majority "committed to ethical export oversight" and adopting "a Port rule prohibiting the shipment of military grade weapons, ammunition, explosives, and military only weapons components." It would "Restrict that prohibition to nations actively engaged in sustained hostile military operations with credible international findings of humanitarian law violations", basing each designation on findings from international courts, United Nations agencies or human rights bodies, with an advisory panel of international law experts. The site says: "The proposal does not interfere with federal foreign policy authority." Enforcement would run through port leases, docking rights and shipping privileges. The page carries no date and is recorded on the date we read it.
[Position, 2026-08-07] In a KEPW 97.3 "Meet the candidate" interview he said Matt Rowe wrote the policy "when he was going to run", and described it as "any weapons of war that are going overseas, to unsanctioned, non-congressional-approved wars, aren’t coming through our ports." The criterion here (wars Congress has not approved) differs from the one on his site (international findings of humanitarian-law violations). Neither names a country.
[Position, 2026-09-19] Portland Civic Lab's voter guide summarizes, in its own words, that he would "Oppose Oregon ports handling weapons for wars lacking congressional authorization." A third party's summary; recorded for completeness, not quoted on the card.
U.S. aid to Palestinians
Nothing located, at any date.
Characterization of the conflict
Nothing located from him that names Israel, Gaza or the Palestinians.
[Position, 2024; read 2026-10-05] Ballotpedia reproduces the pledge on his 2024 House campaign site (accessed by Ballotpedia on October 28, 2024), which begins: "I will not use your vote to send our children to foreign wars and commit genocide." It names no war and no country, so it is not read here as a statement about Gaza.
[Position, 2026 pamphlet; read 2026-10-05] The Pacific Green Party's own statement in the state voters' pamphlet (page 21) says: "Don't support a party that cozies up to techno-fascist and helps Israel commit genocide." These are the party's words, "furnished by Pacific Green Party", not his; the statement lists him as the governor candidate it supports. Recorded as context about the party, not attributed to him.
Israel-related rhetoric and lobbying
[Position, 2026-04-10] The Pacific Green Party's "Meet the Candidates for Nomination" page for him, posted April 10, 2026, carries his answers to the party's questionnaire. To the question whether he supports the Green Party's position on the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement and on Palestinian rights (the question links the national party's Israel-Palestine and boycott pages), he answered: "Israel's infiltration into our political system needs to be addressed. This is the least we can do." He did not answer yes or no in words, and the answer does not mention weapons, aid or Gaza.
Safety and antisemitism
Nothing located, at any date.
What the campaign site and own pages say
[Position, read 2026-10-05] His campaign site calls its platform "the Oregon plan" and credits Matt Rowe, Seth Woolley and the Pacific Green Party. Its sections: corruption ("the single most important issue facing us today"); a "Wage Gap Public Cost Recovery Surcharge" on employers with 50 or more workers who pay below a living wage, with revenue to the Oregon Health Plan and food assistance; a permanent moratorium on data centers; a universal public option built on the Oregon Health Plan; Ports for Peace (above); Defend the Guard, described as legislation that would bar deploying a state's National Guard into combat without a declaration of war by Congress; and a proposed state constitutional amendment on corporate political spending. His biography says he was born in 1982, grew up in Hinkley, California, worked as a pipefitter and welder, moved to Oregon in 2016, and ran for Oregon's 5th District in 2024; it says a medical device he developed for his son has been approved by the FDA.
[Position, read 2026-10-05] His questions-and-answers page carries one exchange, about a federal Justice Department memo on people with disabilities. Nothing on this subject.
[Position, 2026 pamphlet; read 2026-10-05] His voters' pamphlet statement (page 36), headed "The Protest Vote", lists his pledges: an independent audit of state systems and the tax code; prosecution of anyone found responsible for corrupt, negligent or treasonous acts against Oregonians; "Healthcare for all"; "No unconstitutional surveillance"; "A permanent moratorium on data centers"; a constitutional amendment "to state no Oregonian will be drafted into a war not sanctioned by Congress"; "Defend the guard"; a larger Oregon Civil Defense Force; and subsidies for local businesses and ranchers. It lists his occupation as "Inventor, Small Business Owner, Welder, Fabricator" and his prior governmental experience as "None". Nothing on this subject.
[Position, 2026-04-10] The party questionnaire also carries the pull quote "I have been thoroughly impressed by the Green Party's antiwar stance." and gives his top issues as "corruption, sustainability and the future." It says he was the Independent congressional nominee in the 5th District in 2024 and that the Libertarian Party had asked him to manage Matt Rowe's campaign.
[Position, 2026-08-07] In the KEPW interview he criticized Christine Drazan for saying nothing about what he called "Donald Trump's unconstitutional war", without naming the war, and proposed a state constitutional amendment against drafting Oregonians into a war Congress has not sanctioned. He also described Ports for Peace and Defend the Guard (above).
[Position, 2024 survey; read 2026-10-05] Ballotpedia carries his 2024 Candidate Connection survey for the U.S. House race, submitted October 1, 2024: his messages were school shootings and a device he is developing to stop an active shooter, the two major parties as fundraising machines, and independence from both. No question on that form is about foreign policy, and he raised none. He has not completed the 2026 survey.
The race
[Read 2026-10-05] Ballotpedia records that Tina Kotek (Democratic and Working Families), the incumbent, Christine Drazan (Republican and Libertarian) and Brett Smith (Pacific Green) are running in the general election for Governor of Oregon on November 3, 2026. The state voters' pamphlet lists the same three candidates for governor. In the 2024 general election for Oregon's 5th District, Smith, as the Independent Party of Oregon's nominee, took 18,665 votes, 4.7 percent.
[Position, 2026-07-23] OPB reported that he beat three other candidates for the Pacific Green nomination, that he is a 44-year-old Molalla resident and a former welder, mill worker and maintenance man, and that he had sought a cross-nomination from the Libertarians.
[Position, 2026-09-16] OPB reported that polling suggested he could draw 4 percent and that he had yet to report raising any money, and quoted him: "We’re confronted with this choice of one of the worst governors in America or someone who’s affiliated with one of the worst administrations in history".
Places that could not be read, so nothing is claimed from them
His X account, https://x.com/Brett_Smith_D5 , listed by Ballotpedia and his site. A plain reader sees only the profile header (about 1,838 posts); the posts need a sign-in.
His campaign's Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61561686027648 , listed as the campaign's by Ballotpedia and linked from his site. It showed only the page's name, Brett Smith for Change, with no posts.
His site's Instagram and TikTok buttons point only at the services' home pages, so no account address is known.
The voters' pamphlet statements file Portland Civic Lab links, https://sos.oregon.gov/elections/Voters-Pamphlet/Documents/Candidate-Statements.pdf , returned a not-found page; his statement was read instead in the full pamphlet linked above.
Not on the card, and why
His state platform on corruption, wages, health care, data centers, surveillance, corporate political spending and the Civil Defense Force: out of scope, listed above so the absence can be checked.
His criticism of Christine Drazan over an unnamed war: it names no country and is not about what the United States sends to the government of Israel or to Palestinians.
His 2024 pledge about "foreign wars" and "genocide": it names no war and no country.
The Pacific Green Party's pamphlet statement about Israel: the party's words, not his.
The Portland Civic Lab summary: a third party's wording; his own site and interview are cited instead.
Sources retrieved for this card (address; opened or could not open; date)
https://brett-smith.us/ (opened; 2026-10-05; read in full by two routes)
https://brett-smith.us/q-a and https://brett-smith.us/endorsements (opened; 2026-10-05)
https://www.opb.org/article/2026/07/23/oregon-governor-race-third-party-candidate-brett-smith/ (opened; 2026-10-05; published 2026-07-23)
https://www.opb.org/article/2026/09/16/spoilers-happen-in-oregon-will-this-years-race-for-governor-join-the-list/ (opened; 2026-10-05; published 2026-09-16)
https://x.com/Brett_Smith_D5 (profile header only; posts not read; 2026-10-05)
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61561686027648 (could not open; 2026-10-05)
https://sos.oregon.gov/elections/Voters-Pamphlet/Documents/Candidate-Statements.pdf (could not open, not found; 2026-10-05)
This is a record of what was checked on 2026-10-05, not a claim that no statement exists anywhere.
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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