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

Ken Krawchuk

Libertarian · Governor, Pennsylvania
?
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: In an October 2026 email reply about Pennsylvania's Israel bonds he wrote "From what you say, it seems those bonds are a good investment", 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.

Replying to a voter, Krawchuk wrote that as governor he would have "exactly zero authority or control" over foreign policy, called state laws on foreign countries "not my clowns, not my circus", and on Pennsylvania's Israel bonds wrote: "From what you say, it seems those bonds are a good investment."

✉  Copy a message to send them

We don’t have a campaign email on file yet. Copy this message and send it through their website or a public social account.

If you send this from your own email, cc replies@butwhatcanyoudo.org so we can post their answer.

Deep Dive

Ken Krawchuk is the Libertarian Party's nominee for governor of Pennsylvania, with John Thomas, a career educator, as his running mate. He lives in Abington and founded an information technology consulting firm, and he has run for governor three times before, in 1998, 2002 and 2018, winning about 1 percent of the vote each time: 1.11 percent in 1998, 1.14 percent in 2002 and 0.98 percent in 2018. From 2019 to 2024 he hosted a weekly talk radio show in Philadelphia. He faces Governor Josh Shapiro, the Democrat, and Stacy Garrity, the Republican state treasurer, on November 3, and is the only third-party candidate on the ballot. His campaign is about schools and taxes, starting with a plan to privatize the schools and put each child's share of state and federal school money, about $11,500, into an education savings account.

His two emailed replies of October 6, 2026 went to a voter who shared them with us, and came from his campaign's own email domain. The voter had asked where he stands on U.S. military aid and weapons for the government of Israel, and on state laws that require public contractors to promise not to boycott the government of Israel, or that move public funds out of companies tied to it. His first reply answered both: "The short answer is that I'm running for governor, not president. As such, I have exactly zero authority or control over what happens with any aspect if foreign policy, so there's no point in even mentioning it." Then: "The same goes for any Pennsylvania law supporting or opposing any foreign country or national issue that does not directly affect Pennsylvania. To put it colloquially, there're not my clowns, not my circus." The one place he sees a governor's reach abroad is the National Guard: "As governor, I'm the commander in chief of the Guard, and I will stand firm against deploying a single Guardsman outside of Pennsylvania unless there is a formal declaration of war (per the U.S. Constitution), but that hasn't happened since World War 2."

The voter wrote back that evening about the state Treasury's investment in Israel Bonds, debt issued by the government of Israel, and asked whether Pennsylvania would keep investing in them under his leadership. His second reply said he would leave investment details to others: "My background is Information Technology, not so much in finance." And: "So if you ask me about the details of any investments, I'd defer to people smarter than I am who enjoy researching that sort of thing." On the bonds themselves: "From what you say, it seems those bonds are a good investment. Were I to use my personal opinion to override a worthy factual business decision like that, I'd be doing an inferior job." He compared refusing the bonds to refusing to buy a Tesla out of dislike for Elon Musk, and added: "Ditto for any large organization's bonds."

Before those replies, his one recorded statement on the subject was about war in general. In June 2025, at an anti-war protest in Butler held in response to the U.S. bombing of Iran, the Butler Eagle reported that he said he would bring the Pennsylvania National Guard home if elected, and that intervention in any war, "whether in Russia and Ukraine or Israel and Iran", is none of the United States' business. It quoted him: "Is there ever a war going on in the Middle East? All the time. Do I follow those wars? No, I don’t follow those wars at all … I have no stake in them". Neither reply speaks to U.S. aid to Palestinians, and nothing else we found does. A governor casts no federal votes on any of this. What was read, and when, is on the research page.

In their words

Replied to a voter who asked, 2026-10-06

Their reply to a voter
“The short answer is that I'm running for governor, not president. As such, I have exactly zero authority or control over what happens with any aspect if foreign policy, so there's no point in even mentioning it. I'd only be a kitten mewing in a box: pointless and possibly annoying. The same goes for any Pennsylvania law supporting or opposing any foreign country or national issue that does not directly affect Pennsylvania. To put it colloquially, there're not my clowns, not my circus. I'm a Pennsylvania guy through and through, and only champion Pennsylvania interests. The only issue where the governorship reaches into foreign policy is with the Pennsylvania National Guard. As governor, I'm the commander in chief of the Guard, and I will stand firm against deploying a single Guardsman outside of Pennsylvania unless there is a formal declaration of war (per the U.S. Constitution), but that hasn't happened since World War 2. Hope this helps. Any other questions, please let me know.”
Written by the campaign to a constituent who asked on 2026-10-06. The full reply ↗
“My background is Information Technology, not so much in finance. Certainly I can do it and do it well, but it's not my cup of tea. So if you ask me about the details of any investments, I'd defer to people smarter than I am who enjoy researching that sort of thing. From what you say, it seems those bonds are a good investment. Were I to use my personal opinion to override a worthy factual business decision like that, I'd be doing an inferior job. Looking at a similar situation, there are people who refuse to buy a Tesla because they don't like Elon Musk. But Teslas are literally *eight times safer* if you use full self driving. Not eight percent, eight TIMES safer. Even without FSD, it's three times safer. You'd be doing a tremendous disservice to yourself, your family, and your community by reacting emotionally to avoid purchasing a Tesla. Ditto for any sound financial decisions. Nor would it matter if you did or didn't buy a Tesla. Elon's a trillionaire and it makes no difference to him if you do or don't. Ditto for any large organization's bonds. Thanks for the follow-up. Any other questions, please let me know.”
Written by the campaign to a constituent who asked on 2026-10-06. The full reply ↗
“Is there ever a war going on in the Middle East? All the time. Do I follow those wars? No, I don’t follow those wars at all … I have no stake in them”
Source ↗, 2025-06-29

Research log

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 was read in full: the home page, the issues index and its twelve issue pages, Meet Ken and the running mate's page, the press releases page and its five releases, the data centers page and three further pages. His two emailed replies of 2026-10-06 to a voter who shared them with us were read on 2026-10-08, and his campaign site's home, issues and press pages, the Butler Eagle, TribLIVE, WITF and Ballotpedia pages were opened again that day. Bands: Position (2024-01-26 onward), Reaction window (2023-10-07 to 2024-01-25), Earlier record (before 2023-10-07), Undated. Krawchuk has never held federal office, so none of the congressional votes this site tracks is his, and a campaign for state office is not covered by the federal funding records this site tracks.

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

  • [Position, 2026-10-06] His first emailed reply to a voter, sent from his campaign's email domain, kenk4pa.com, and shared with us by the voter, who had asked where he stands on U.S. military aid and weapons for the government of Israel. He wrote: "The short answer is that I'm running for governor, not president. As such, I have exactly zero authority or control over what happens with any aspect if foreign policy, so there's no point in even mentioning it. I'd only be a kitten mewing in a box: pointless and possibly annoying." He did not say whether he supports or opposes the funding. Published word for word on the evidence page, with the greeting, sign-off and signature block trimmed.
  • Before 2026-10-06, nothing located at any date: no statement by him about arms transfers, Foreign Military Financing, security assistance or any federal bill on those subjects appeared on his campaign site, in his Ballotpedia surveys or in the coverage read on 2026-10-05.

U.S. aid to Palestinians

  • Nothing located, at any date. Neither emailed reply of 2026-10-06 mentions it.

Characterization of the conflict

  • [Position, 2025-06-29] The Butler Eagle's report on a Libertarian anti-war protest in Butler's Diamond Park, by Sol McCormick, dated June 29, 2025. The Libertarian Party of Butler County held the protest in what it called a "response to President Trump’s unconstitutional bombing of Iran". The report says Krawchuk said "he would bring the Pennsylvania National Guard home if elected governor" and that "He expressed his belief that interventionism in any war, whether in Russia and Ukraine or Israel and Iran, it’s none of the United States’ business." It quotes him: "Is there ever a war going on in the Middle East? All the time. Do I follow those wars? No, I don’t follow those wars at all … I have no stake in them," and reports that he said Pennsylvania will need its Guard members at home for crises. The first two statements are the paper's paraphrase; the third is his words as quoted. None concerns Gaza or U.S. weapons or money for the government of Israel.

State action: laws, investments and the National Guard

  • [Position, 2026-10-06] The same first reply, on the voter's second question, about state laws that require public contractors to promise not to boycott the government of Israel or that divest public funds from companies tied to it: "The same goes for any Pennsylvania law supporting or opposing any foreign country or national issue that does not directly affect Pennsylvania. To put it colloquially, there're not my clowns, not my circus. I'm a Pennsylvania guy through and through, and only champion Pennsylvania interests." On the Guard: "The only issue where the governorship reaches into foreign policy is with the Pennsylvania National Guard. As governor, I'm the commander in chief of the Guard, and I will stand firm against deploying a single Guardsman outside of Pennsylvania unless there is a formal declaration of war (per the U.S. Constitution), but that hasn't happened since World War 2."
  • [Position, 2026-10-06] His second emailed reply, sent the same evening from the same domain, answering the voter's follow-up about the Pennsylvania Treasury's investment in Israel Bonds and whether it would continue under him. Israel Bonds are debt issued by the government of Israel; the Development Corporation for Israel, which sells them in the United States, describes itself as "the exclusive underwriter of debt securities issued by the State of Israel in the United States." The Treasury's June 2025 release says: "As of July 1, the Pennsylvania Treasury Department will have $64.5 million in Israel Bond investments." He wrote: "My background is Information Technology, not so much in finance. Certainly I can do it and do it well, but it's not my cup of tea. So if you ask me about the details of any investments, I'd defer to people smarter than I am who enjoy researching that sort of thing." Then: "From what you say, it seems those bonds are a good investment. Were I to use my personal opinion to override a worthy factual business decision like that, I'd be doing an inferior job." He went on to compare refusing the bonds to refusing to buy a Tesla because of Elon Musk, and closed that comparison with: "Ditto for any large organization's bonds." Published word for word on its own evidence page, with the sign-off and signature block trimmed.
  • [Position, 2025-06-29] The Butler Eagle report under the characterization heading above says he "would bring the Pennsylvania National Guard home if elected governor."

Israel-related rhetoric and lobbying

  • Nothing located, at any date. The state's investment in Israel Bonds is an issue in this race through his Republican opponent's record as treasurer; before 2026-10-06 nothing located had him commenting on it, and his answer of that date is under state action above.

Safety and antisemitism (context, not an answer to what America sends)

  • Nothing located, at any date.

What the campaign site and own pages say

  • [Position, read 2026-10-05] His education page says "The time has come to privatize Pennsylvania schools completely and eliminate school property taxes!" and would deposit the roughly $11,500 in state and federal money per student into an Education Savings Account for each student. His Ballotpedia survey puts the same plan as sending the money "directly to each child as a scholarship", selling the districts' assets to private schools, after which school property taxes "can simply vanish!" His other issue pages cover taxes, welfare, elections, abortion, crime, gun control, drugs, LGBT issues, the environment, the state constitution, data centers and his answers to questions from Facebook. The constitution page mentions "people of Middle Eastern descent" in a passage on religious freedom at home. Nothing on the site mentions Israel, Gaza or Palestinians.
  • [Position, 2026 survey; read 2026-10-05] His Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey gives his three key messages as schools, taxes ("I promise to veto all tax increases, and use the line item veto to eliminate all unconstitutional, special interest, and pork barrel spending") and election security, and names Elon Musk as his personal hero. Its 2018 survey gave his priorities as reducing taxes, reducing spending and defending the right to bear arms. Neither mentions foreign policy.
  • [Position, press releases May 10 to August 4, 2026] His press releases cover his campaign kickoff, a call to stop taxpayer funding of party primaries, a statewide pub crawl and his certification for the ballot.
  • [Read 2026-10-08] His home page, issues index and press releases page were opened again; none mentions Israel, Gaza, Palestinians or the state's bond investments.

Earlier record

  • [Earlier record, May 2018] OnTheIssues records his 2018 VoteMatch answers as opposing its "peace through strength" topic and favoring staying out of foreign wars, with notes on bringing the troops home and avoiding foreign entanglements. It records no stance on foreign aid, Israel or the Middle East. A compilation, not his own page, opened only through a page reader, so its wording is not quoted here.

The race

  • [Read 2026-10-05] His Ballotpedia page: "Ken Krawchuk (Libertarian Party) is running for election for Governor of Pennsylvania. He is on the ballot in the general election on November 3, 2026." The general-election field is Josh Shapiro (D), the incumbent, Stacy Garrity (R) and Ken Krawchuk (L); Bill Messner (Constitution Party) and Anthony Dastra (G) are listed as withdrawn or disqualified.
  • [Position, published 2026-10-01] TribLIVE's profile, by Tom Fontaine, reports that he is 73, has never won more than about 1 percent in three runs for governor (1.14 percent in 2002, his best), and wants to privatize public schools with $11,500 per child; it quotes him: "I am out to win, but I am also out to get my message out". His running mate is John Thomas of Kittanning.
  • [Position, published 2026-09-14] Spotlight PA's guide to the governor's race, carried by WITF, says he "is the only third-party candidate for governor on the ballot this November", lives in Abington, and favors privatizing schools, ending the school property tax and the personal income tax, ending mail ballots, expanding voter ID, ending parole for violent offenders and decriminalizing drugs. Its issue sections cover Shapiro and Garrity only.
  • [Read 2026-10-05] His Meet Ken page says he has been a registered Libertarian since 1993, hosted The Pennsylvania Project on WWDB in Philadelphia from April 2019 to December 2024 (246 episodes), and ran for Congress in 2000 and for the state House and township commissioner several times.

Places that could not be read, so nothing is claimed from them

  • His accounts: https://www.facebook.com/KenK4Pa/ and https://x.com/kenk4pa . Not read.
  • His 246 radio episodes on WWDB, 2019 to 2024. Not searched; nothing is claimed from them.

Not on the card, and why

  • The Butler Eagle paraphrase's naming of the war between Israel and Iran: given in the deep dive and here, kept off the front, because the war it refers to was the one with Iran, and the paraphrase is the reporter's.
  • His school, tax, election and other state positions: real positions, described on the card only as what he runs on.
  • His 2018 OnTheIssues answers: earlier record and a compilation; research page only.
  • Josh Shapiro's and Stacy Garrity's records, including Garrity's purchases of Israel Bonds as treasurer: they belong on their own cards. This card gives the state's holding only as the context for his answer.
  • His June 2025 rally statement: no longer on the front, which now carries his own replies of 2026-10-06; it stays in the deep dive and here.
  • His comparison with Tesla and Elon Musk in the second reply, including its claims about Tesla safety: off the subject; published in full on the evidence page and described in the deep dive only as a comparison.
  • The voter's own messages: described, never quoted, and the voter is not named. His signature block (phone and mailing address) is not published anywhere.

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

  • https://www.kenk4pa.com/ and its pages listed above (opened; 2026-10-05)
  • https://ballotpedia.org/Ken_Krawchuk (opened; 2026-10-05)
  • https://www.butlereagle.com/20250629/libertarians-lead-anti-war-protest/ (opened; 2026-10-05; dated 2025-06-29)
  • https://triblive.com/news/pennsylvania/libertarian-ken-krawchuk-vows-to-fix-schools-cut-taxes-in-4th-run-for-pa-governor/ (opened; 2026-10-05; published 2026-10-01)
  • https://www.witf.org/2026/09/14/pa-election-2026-your-complete-guide-to-the-candidates-for-governor/ (opened; 2026-10-05; published 2026-09-14)
  • https://www.ontheissues.org/Ken_Krawchuk.htm (opened by the page reader; a plain request returned 403; 2026-10-05)
  • https://butwhatcanyoudo.org/sources/direct-candidate-correspondence/pa-gov-krawchuk-2026-10-06/ (his first emailed reply of 2026-10-06; the page is built from the published entry)
  • https://butwhatcanyoudo.org/sources/direct-candidate-correspondence/pa-gov-krawchuk-2026-10-06-2/ (his second emailed reply of 2026-10-06; the page is built from the published entry)
  • https://www.kenk4pa.com/ , https://www.kenk4pa.com/issues/ , https://www.kenk4pa.com/press-releases/ , https://www.kenk4pa.com/issues/education/ and https://www.kenk4pa.com/meet-ken/ (opened again; 2026-10-08)
  • https://www.butlereagle.com/20250629/libertarians-lead-anti-war-protest/ , https://triblive.com/news/pennsylvania/libertarian-ken-krawchuk-vows-to-fix-schools-cut-taxes-in-4th-run-for-pa-governor/ , https://www.witf.org/2026/09/14/pa-election-2026-your-complete-guide-to-the-candidates-for-governor/ and https://ballotpedia.org/Ken_Krawchuk (opened again; 2026-10-08)
  • https://israelbonds.com/about-us/ (opened; 2026-10-08)
  • https://www.patreasury.gov/newsroom/archive/2025/06-16-Israel-Bonds.html (opened; 2026-10-08; dated 2025-06-16 in its address)
  • This is a record of what was checked on 2026-10-05 and 2026-10-08, not a claim that no statement exists anywhere.

Also in this race

  1. ✗ Josh Shapiro (Democrat)
  2. ✗ Stacy Garrity (Republican)

All Pennsylvania 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.