But What Can You Do? tracks where 2026 candidates stand on U.S. weapons and funding for the government of Israel. How we check
David Brock Smith
Republican · U.S. Senate, Oregon
–No Position Found
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.
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Smith is a third-term Oregon state senator from Port Orford and the Republican nominee for the U.S. Senate. He has never held federal office, so none of the congressional votes this site tracks are his.
Nothing was located from him on the question this office decides: not on U.S. weapons or money for the government of Israel, not on conditioning that aid, not on the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees or the aid pipeline into Gaza, and not on boycotts of Israeli goods. His campaign platform is Oregon-domestic throughout, and news coverage of his campaign launch and his primary win, his Ballotpedia entry and a candidate voter guide all return the same nothing. A fresh search of the open record turned up one item, a legislative newsletter of his from 2023, which is set out on his research page and which says nothing about American weapons or American money.
If you want his position on what the United States sends, you are better placed to get it than we are: ask Smith directly and send us the reply. It goes on this page in his own words.
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.
Research log
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
Nothing located, in any band. Checks recorded: his campaign site, his Ballotpedia entry, a candidate voter guide, news coverage of his campaign launch and primary win, and a fresh search of the open record in August 2026 which reached the same conclusion in its own words. This is documented absence rather than inference, and no party-based assumption about his views should be drawn.
U.S. aid to Palestinians
Nothing located.
Characterization of the conflict
[Reaction window, 2023-10-12] His own legislative newsletter, sent through the Oregon State Legislature's bulletin service and timestamped on the page at 11:43 a.m. that day, opens: "Like you, we condemn the abhorrent terrorist attacks on the Israeli people and stand with them and our Jewish communities. The lives of so many innocent men, woman and children that have been taken by the Hamas terrorist acts is tragic and we pray for them, their families and the men and women fighting for the people of Israel." Read and confirmed word for word, including the typographic error in the original. Not on the card summary: dated inside the reaction window. Two further limits: the newsletter is written in the first person plural throughout, as office newsletters usually are; and it says nothing about American weapons, American money or American policy, so it does not touch the absence claim the card makes.
Related rhetoric and lobbying
[Position, read 2026-07-24] The iVoterGuide candidate questionnaire for this race. It carries the item "Is the United States' relationship with Israel important, and if so why?" and records "Did not answer" for it, and "Did not answer" for every other item on the form, including the general foreign-policy and national-security questions. A wall of non-answers is a fact about the guide's coverage rather than evidence of a position, and it is not used as one.
No endorsement from any advocacy group this site tracks was located on either side.
Safety and antisemitism (context)
[Reaction window, 2023-10-12] The newsletter above also says he stands with "our Jewish communities". Not on the card summary. Nothing else located.
[Position, read 2026-07-24] Campaign site: serving Oregon first, working families, communities and businesses, affordability, public safety, homelessness and addiction, and jobs. The only occurrences of Israel or Palestine anywhere in the page are entries in a country list inside a form widget, not content.
He did not serve in Congress during any of the tracked votes.
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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