But What Can You Do? tracks where 2026 candidates stand on U.S. weapons and funding for the government of Israel. How we check
Kellie Keenan
Republican · U.S. House, Rhode Island District 1
–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.
This is an empty record on these questions rather than a thin one. Her platform runs to eleven headings: costs and tax relief; energy, affordability and ratepayer protection; jobs and small business; government waste and fraud; the ocean economy; healthcare and the physician shortage; education; parents and family voice; child welfare reform; veterans; and rights, safety and accountability. Foreign policy is not among them, and the words Israel, Gaza, Palestinian, Hamas, foreign aid and Middle East appear nowhere on her campaign site, including the page where she sets out who she is. She filled in Ballotpedia’s candidate questionnaire twice, in May and June 2026, answering at length on permitting and infrastructure, on community health centers, and on energy and housing costs. No question on that form asks about foreign policy, and she raised none. An empty record carries no implication either way.
Two places that might hold more could not be read here. Her campaign’s Facebook page opened only to a sign-in wall showing its two most recent posts, neither about this subject, and her campaign’s Instagram account did not open at all. She also gave a 55-minute interview to a Rhode Island radio show in July 2026, and its own description lists energy policy, affordability and government waste; nobody has listened to it for this card. Those addresses are on her research page so that anyone who can open them may look.
You are better placed to change this than we are. Ask Keenan directly, or at a candidate forum, and send us the reply: it goes on this page in her own words, which is worth more than anything we could write about her.
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 2026-09-27) 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.
Every page named below was opened and read on 2026-09-19 unless the entry says otherwise. Her campaign site was read in full: the home page, the platform page and the biography page, which are all the pages it has apart from donation and sign-up forms. Bands: Position (2024-01-26 onward), Reaction window (2023-10-07 to 2024-01-25), Earlier record (before 2023-10-07), Undated. Keenan has never held office, so none of the congressional votes this site tracks is hers, and no funding from the committees this site tracks is recorded on this record.
U.S. military aid and weapons to the government of Israel
Nothing located, at any date. No statement by her about weapons transfers, Foreign Military Financing, security assistance, an arms embargo or any bill on those subjects appears on her campaign site, in either of her Ballotpedia questionnaire submissions, on the county Republican committee page that profiles her, or in any news report about her campaign read for this card.
U.S. aid to Palestinians
Nothing located, at any date. Neither UNRWA, nor humanitarian funding for Gaza, nor the aid pipeline appears anywhere in her published material.
Characterization of the conflict
Nothing located, at any date. The words Israel, Gaza, Palestinian, Hamas, Middle East and foreign policy appear nowhere on her campaign site or in her questionnaire answers. Her platform’s nearest heading to any foreign subject is “RIGHTS, SAFETY & ACCOUNTABILITY”, whose four lines are about constitutional rights, public safety, opportunity and border security.
Related rhetoric and lobbying
Nothing located, at any date. No statement by her about the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, about any other advocacy organization on this subject, or about money connected to any of them was found. The only endorsement she reports is the Rhode Island Republican Party, given in answer to the Ballotpedia question about endorsements.
Safety and antisemitism (context, not a position on what America sends)
Nothing located, at any date. Her platform carries a public-safety line and a parental-rights section; neither mentions antisemitism, religious communities or hate crimes.
What the campaign site and own pages say
[Undated; read 2026-09-19] Her platform page and the same platform reproduced on her home page carry eleven headings: LOWER COSTS & TAX RELIEF; ENERGY, AFFORDABILITY & RATEPAYER PROTECTION; JOBS, SMALL BUSINESS & LOCAL INVESTMENT; CUT WASTE, FRAUD & GOVERNMENT INEFFICIENCY; OCEANS & THE BLUE ECONOMY; HEALTHCARE & THE PHYSICIAN SHORTAGE; EDUCATION THAT WORKS; PARENTS & FAMILY VOICE; DCYF & CHILD WELFARE REFORM; VETERANS & COMMUNITY SUPPORT; RIGHTS, SAFETY & ACCOUNTABILITY. Every line under every heading is about Rhode Island or domestic federal policy. The two copies differ in two lines only, the education line and the border line, and neither difference touches this subject.
[Undated; read 2026-09-19] Her biography page tells her family story, her schooling, her AmeriCorps service and her career in community health, and carries one quoted line of her own: “I’m running because I believe the American dream is still worth fighting for — freedom, opportunity, and the ability to build a better life.” It says nothing about foreign policy.
[Undated; read 2026-09-19] The social buttons in the footer of her campaign site point at the bare home pages of six platforms rather than at any account of hers, so they carry nothing. The real accounts are listed by Ballotpedia and are below.
Ballotpedia questionnaire answers
[Position, 2026-06-18] Her second Candidate Connection submission. Her three key messages are infrastructure modernization and permitting reform; community health centers and primary care; and energy and housing affordability. Asked what areas of public policy she is personally passionate about, she answers: “My primary policy interests are healthcare, infrastructure, housing, energy, education, and child welfare reform.” Asked who has endorsed her, she answers: “Rhode Island Republican Party”. Nothing on the form asks about foreign policy and she raises none.
[Position, 2026-05-22] Her first submission, kept on the same page under past responses, is written in the third person and describes her as “an independent candidate for the U.S. House representing Rhode Island’s First Congressional District” who “is running as an independent candidate because she believes many voters feel politically disconnected from both major parties”. Its three key messages are the economy, housing and healthcare. She qualified and ran as a Republican, and her biography page describes leaving the Democratic Party. The change of label is recorded here because the record should be complete; it has no bearing on this subject, on which both submissions are silent.
The race
[Position, read 2026-09-19] The Rhode Island Department of State’s candidate list for Representative in Congress District 1 at the November 3, 2026 general election, current as of September 19, 2026, carries three names on the election ballot: Kellie Eleanor Keenan (Republican, 791 signatures validated and 750 certified, ballot position 1), Gabriel Felix Kofi Amo (Democrat, position 2) and Pedro DeSouza (Independent, position 3), whose name the ballot display prints as PEDRO JUNIOR SOARES DE SOUZA and who qualified with 535 certified signatures against a requirement of 500 and did not appear on a primary ballot. The filing deadline was June 24, 2026 and the primary was September 9, 2026; Keenan and Amo were each unopposed in their own party’s primary.
[Position, read 2026-09-19] Ballotpedia’s page for this race gives a different third name: “Incumbent Gabe Amo, Kellie Keenan, and Wilfred Curioso are running in the general election for U.S. House Rhode Island District 1 on November 3, 2026.” It does not list Pedro DeSouza under any spelling of his name, and its page for Wilfred Curioso says only that he “declared candidacy for the general election scheduled on November 3, 2026”. The state’s certified list is what this card follows. Ballotpedia’s own note on that page reads “The candidate list in this election may not be complete.”
Places that could not be read, so nothing is claimed from them
Her campaign’s Facebook page opened to a sign-in wall. What is visible above it is the page description, “Republican RI-01 candidate. Lower costs. Transparency.”, a follower count and the two most recent posts, one about voting for her and one sharing another account’s video. The feed itself was not read and nothing is claimed from it.
Her campaign Instagram account, https://www.instagram.com/kelliekeenanforcongressri01/ , did not open. Her personal Facebook account, https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61573328022785 , and her LinkedIn profile, https://www.linkedin.com/in/kellie-keenan-2aa479190/ , were not read. The addresses are printed here rather than linked because they did not open for us.
The Coalition Radio Network interview of July 16, 2026, published July 26, 2026, 55 minutes of audio. Its published description reads “We Talk Issues ... Energy Policy ... Affordability ... Government Waste” and names no foreign subject. Nobody has listened to it for this card, and it is the one source that could change this card if it turns out to cover the question.
https://votewiser.com/2026/RI/Kellie_Keenan did not open; the host returned a challenge page instead of the profile.
https://www.localcandidates.org/politicians/kellie-keenan/positions/91729b2a-52c3-48ee-a90b-262edd6d8dd5 , which our research listed as a source, does not render for us by any route and is a known unreadable host. Nothing is claimed from it.
Not on the card, and why
Her domestic platform in detail: it is set out above, and none of it answers what the United States sends to the government of Israel or to Palestinians. The card names the number of headings and says they are domestic rather than reciting them.
Her account of leaving the Democratic Party and the third-person May 2026 questionnaire that called her an independent: both are on the research page. The party change is context and it touches nothing in scope.
The records of Gabe Amo and Pedro DeSouza: another candidate’s record is never narrated on this card.
Wilfred Curioso as a name in the November field: Ballotpedia lists him and the Department of State’s certified list does not. Both addresses are above and the card follows the state.
Sources retrieved for this card (address; opened or could not open; date)
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.