But What Can You Do? tracks where 2026 candidates stand on U.S. weapons and funding for the government of Israel. How we check
Bob Harvie
Democrat · U.S. House, Pennsylvania District 1
✗SupportsFrom their own words
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.
No recorded votes on the bills we track. In their own words on January 14, 2026.
Harvie sees no reason for conditions on U.S. military aid to the government of Israel: "Israel is an ally of ours who we trust." He compared it to lending a neighbor a garden hose while his house burns: "You give him the garden hose."
The email has replies@butwhatcanyoudo.org in cc, so we can post their answer on their page in their own words; remove it if you prefer. Keep the subject line as it is, add your name, and send.
Harvie is the Democratic candidate for Pennsylvania's 1st District and a Bucks County commissioner.
He answered the conditioning question directly in a January 2026 interview, which notes that more congressional Democrats than ever have signed on to legislation conditioning U.S. military aid to the government of Israel and that he does not plan to join them: "Israel is an ally of ours who we trust. I don't see a reason for conditions".
He explained the principle through a wartime analogy: "When I think back to Franklin Roosevelt talking about helping Europe in World War II, and the garden hose story, that if your neighbor's house is on fire and he comes over to borrow a garden hose, you don't ask questions about, 'Well, am I going to get this back in one piece?' and 'How are you going to use it?' You give him the garden hose."
On why he sees Israel that way: "We haven't had a whole lot of consistent friends in the Middle East who we can trust, except for Israel. That's quite blunt. And Israel, obviously, like any country, has the right to defend itself, and so certainly, as an ally of Israel, we should be willing to help them and make sure that they can protect themselves".
At a town hall in Middletown that month, a constituent asked whether he would accept money from AIPAC, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, a pro-Israel lobbying group. He said he had had no conversations with anyone at AIPAC and went on: "I believe every Israeli child has the right to grow up in a peaceful, safe country where they can grow up to be anything they want to be. Every Palestinian child has the same right". Days later a spokesperson said he will accept donations from any source, without addressing AIPAC specifically.
He has no federal voting record. No statement was located from him on U.S. humanitarian aid to Palestinians.
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 2026-07-23) 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 an ally of ours who we trust. I don't see a reason for conditions”
“I believe every Israeli child has the right to grow up in a peaceful, safe country where they can grow up to be anything they want to be. Every Palestinian child has the same right”
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
[Position, 2026-01-14] Jewish Insider interview, opened and confirmed word for word. The outlet's framing sentence, also confirmed: "more congressional Democrats than ever have signed onto legislation that would place conditions on American military aid to Israel. Harvie does not plan to join them." His words: "Israel is an ally of ours who we trust. I don't see a reason for conditions". And: "When I think back to Franklin Roosevelt talking about helping Europe in World War II, and the garden hose story, that if your neighbor's house is on fire and he comes over to borrow a garden hose, you don't ask questions about, 'Well, am I going to get this back in one piece?' and 'How are you going to use it?' You give him the garden hose."
[Position, 2026-01-14] Also confirmed verbatim: "We haven't had a whole lot of consistent friends in the Middle East who we can trust, except for Israel. That's quite blunt. And Israel, obviously, like any country, has the right to defend itself, and so certainly, as an ally of Israel, we should be willing to help them and make sure that they can protect themselves".
He has no federal voting record.
U.S. aid to Palestinians
No statement or documented position located. His January 2026 town-hall line about Palestinian children, under Characterization below, names no aid.
Characterization of the conflict
[Position, 2026-01-14] The "consistent friends" passage above (confirmed verbatim). In the same interview he also said, confirmed word for word: "I don't know if there's been another country in the history of this planet that has had to fight harder in the first 80 years of its existence just to exist."
[Position, 2026-01-09] At his fifth town hall, in Middletown, a constituent asked whether he would accept money from AIPAC. The Bucks County Beacon reported his answer: he said he has had no conversations with anyone at AIPAC, and then: "I believe every Israeli child has the right to grow up in a peaceful, safe country where they can grow up to be anything they want to be. Every Palestinian child has the same right". Opened and confirmed word for word. It is the only located statement from him that mentions Palestinians.
[Reaction window, late 2023] As a Bucks County commissioner he joined two other commissioners in a statement saying they "stand in solidarity with the people of Israel", confirmed in the interview's own account, and the interior of the county administration building was lit in blue and white. Jewish Insider dates the statement only to 2023, after the October 7 attacks. From the weeks right after October 7, and a co-signed county statement rather than his personal wording.
Related rhetoric and lobbying
[Position, 2026-01-09] Asked at the January 2026 town hall whether he would accept money from AIPAC (the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, a pro-Israel lobbying group), he said he had had no conversations with anyone at AIPAC, as the Bucks County Beacon reported. Jewish Insider reported the same exchange: "Harvie responded by saying he hadn’t yet spoken to anyone from AIPAC."
[Position, 2026-01-14] A spokesperson for Harvie then said, as Jewish Insider reported, that he will accept donations from any source, "without specifically addressing AIPAC", in the outlet's words. His campaign manager, Dan McCormick, told the outlet: "Bob welcomes support for his campaign and he will always stand with the Bucks and Montgomery County Jewish communities, speak out against rising antisemitism and support the Jewish state of Israel and her right to defend herself". A campaign statement, not his own words.
Safety and antisemitism (context)
[Position, 2026-01-14] Said "fighting antisemitism means you stand up against it every time you see it", confirmed word for word in the Jewish Insider interview, drawing on 26 years as a high school social studies teacher (his campaign biography). Safety context, never an answer about U.S. weapons or funding.
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.