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

Jermaine Johnson

Democrat · Governor, South Carolina
?
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 April 2025 he co-sponsored a South Carolina House resolution titled "Enduring friendship between the citizens of SC and the people of Israel", 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.

Johnson was one of nearly the whole state House to co-sponsor a resolution on South Carolina's enduring friendship with Israel. No statement by him on U.S. weapons or money for the government of Israel was located, and none on aid to Palestinians. His policies page is state issues.

✉  Email the campaignWebsite ↗X ↗Facebook ↗

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.

Deep Dive

Johnson represents District 52 in the South Carolina House and is the Democratic nominee for governor, having won the primary outright. He has never held federal office, so none of the congressional votes this site tracks are his.

His name appears on two state resolutions in this area. In April 2025 he was one of the sponsors of a House resolution recognizing the enduring friendship and the academic and economic ties between South Carolina and the people of Israel, and in April 2026 he was one of the sponsors of a resolution marking Yom HaShoah. Both sponsor lists run to well over a hundred members, close to the whole chamber and both parties, so a name on either says less about an individual position than an ordinary co-sponsorship would.

Beyond that, nothing. The search behind the card covered his campaign site, news coverage of his campaign, his state legislative record and a fresh search of the open record. Nothing was located in which he addresses U.S. weapons or money for the government of Israel, conditions on that aid, funding for Palestinians, or state procurement rules about boycotts. His campaign's policies page runs to affordability, infrastructure, families, cannabis and a state hate-crimes bill, and contains nothing on foreign policy at all.

If you want his position on what the United States sends, you are better placed to get it than we are: ask Johnson directly and send us the reply. It goes on this page in his own words.

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. Checks: his campaign homepage and policies page, both read again and both free of any foreign-policy content; news coverage of his campaign; his state legislative record; and a fresh search of the open record in August 2026, which reached the same conclusion in its own words.

U.S. aid to Palestinians

  • Nothing located.

Characterization of the conflict

  • Nothing located in his own words.

State legislative record

  • [Position, 2025-04-22] House Resolution 4352, "Enduring friendship between the citizens of SC and the people of Israel", introduced in the House on April 22, 2025. The sponsor list, read and confirmed, includes "J.L. Johnson", which is him; it also runs to roughly a hundred and twenty members of both parties, so it is close to the whole chamber. Recorded as what it is.
  • [Position, 2026-04-02] House Resolution 5496, marking Yom HaShoah, with a similarly chamber-wide sponsor list that also includes "J.L. Johnson".
  • [Position, 2024-04-24] South Carolina's antisemitism-definition act, H.4042 of session 125. The sponsor recorded as J. E. Johnson is Representative Jeffrey E. Johnson, a Republican; Jermaine Johnson is not a sponsor. On the concurrence vote, Jermaine L. Johnson, Sr. is recorded excused. Listed here because a surname match on a bill list is exactly the kind of thing that becomes a false attribution, and it is not one here.

Related rhetoric and lobbying

  • [Wrong person, 2025-05-29] A fresh search attributed to him a statement about that antisemitism act: "I supported that bill. I support anything that fights hate." The page it cites was opened and read. The words are Representative Wendell Gilliard's, given in an interview about a separate hate-crimes bill of which he is the author; Johnson is named elsewhere in the same article, in a different paragraph, on a different subject. Not his; excluded and recorded here so it is not repeated.
  • No endorsement located from any advocacy group this site tracks, on either side.
  • Nothing located on state procurement or investment rules about boycotts.

Safety and antisemitism (context)

  • The Yom HaShoah resolution above.
  • [Unconfirmed, 2025-01-21] A fresh search reported a statement of his condemning neo-Nazi rhetoric. Its carrier is a party page's video and does not serve the statement as text, so nothing from it is quoted.

Race and status context

  • South Carolina state representative for District 52; Democratic nominee for governor, having won the primary outright, per Ballotpedia's race page and his Ballotpedia profile. He gave his party's response to the state of the state address in January 2026, published by the state party, which carries nothing on this subject.
  • He did not serve in Congress during any of the tracked votes.

Also in this race

  1. ✗ Alan Wilson (Republican)
  2. ? Walid Hakim (Green)
  3. ? Michael Addison (Other)

All South Carolina 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.