Tharon Chandler
In a May 2025 post under his own name Chandler wrote of a "Zionist plan" to "make over the whole world in their image of a Master race", and called AIPAC "the guilty financial master". He has stated no position on U.S. military aid or weapons transfers.
Chandler is an independent candidate for the U.S. Senate in Tennessee. He ran as an independent for the same seat in 2024, taking 28,444 votes, and has run for the U.S. House. He served in the U.S. Army in 1991 and has worked as a journalist, economist, missionary and farmer.
On May 27, 2025 he published a post on his own Substack, under the byline Wm Tharon Chandler. It describes a "Zionist plan" in which the obliteration of Gaza and the taking of Ukraine are steps toward a purpose he states as making "over the whole world in their image of a Master race, as Masters over slaves". It calls the covid vaccine "a pre-planned ethnic cleansing done by the meanest Zionists", writes that "no attractive native daughter will be safe from the Zionist Masters", and names AIPAC as "the guilty financial master".
What he objects to, in his own words, is a group of people rather than a policy. That distinction is the reason this card does not describe him as opposing U.S. military aid. He has published no position on aid packages, arms sales or weapons transfers, and the reasoning he does set out is about Jews as a group, not about harm to civilians or about what the United States sends and to whom.
The post is quoted here only as far as is needed to establish what it says; the fuller record is on the research page. Tennessee is a Senate race, so the seat does vote on military aid.
Research
U.S. military aid and weapons to Israel
- No position located. He has set out no position on U.S. military aid packages, arms sales or weapons transfers to any country. **The claim previously carried on this card has been withdrawn: see the verification note below.**
Characterization of the conflict
- 2025-05-27 [Current position; his own published writing; VERIFIED 2026-08-12]: The Substack post described under Safety and antisemitism refers to "the obliteration of Gaza" as part of what he calls a "Zionist plan", rather than as harm he objects to on its own terms. Recorded here so the characterization is not lost, and noted as inseparable from the reasoning set out below.
Rhetoric and lobbying
- 2025-05-27 [VERIFIED 2026-08-12]: The same post names AIPAC: "Aipac is the guilty financial master. And every APAC recipient." It also states that a plan "has been funded by APAC".
- Two sources found are posts by Jane Fonda that do not name him. Mis-attached source pages; no claim rests on them.
Safety and antisemitism
- 2025-05-27 [Current position; HIS OWN PUBLISHED WRITING; VERIFIED VERBATIM 2026-08-12]: "Russia answered back to the Zionists. Spring 2025", published under the byline "Wm Tharon Chandler". Read in full on 2026-08-12; roughly 260 words of body text. What it says, in its own words:
- Of a "Zionist plan": "The Zionist plan in World War now is not only to obliterate Gaza but to take over Ukraine and make it the 'biggest Israel' of the world, as they continue their plan of Genocide and to make over the whole world in their image of a Master race." - Of the covid vaccine: "The covid vaccine murder was a pre-planned ethnic cleansing done by the meanest Zionists." - "No attractive native daughter will be safe from the Zionist Masters and their plan that has been funded by APAC." - "Aipac is the guilty financial master." The post distinguishes "the meanest- deadliest Zionist" from "every Jewish person". It is recorded here in full because a voter is better served knowing what a candidate has published than not knowing, and because the words are his own and dated.
Identity, established before the writing
Material of this kind carries the highest cost if misattributed, so identity was established first and independently of the content. Four points agree:
- The post is bylined "Wm Tharon Chandler"; his Ballotpedia profile gives his name as "William Tharon Chandler".
- The Substack's own about page describes the author as "an independent political candidate in Tennessee, graduate of Memphis State U in May of 1994"; Ballotpedia records a bachelor's degree from Memphis State University in 1994.
- The post is signed "a Veteran Mr W Tharon Chandler"; Ballotpedia records U.S. Army service in 1991.
- The about page says "On the ballot in Tennessee for 2024"; Ballotpedia records his 2024 independent run for this seat.
Verification, 2026-08-12
- **The Substack post: CONFIRMED VERBATIM.** Every phrase quoted on this page was matched against the live post, which returned about 260 words of body text and was not paywalled.
- **The previous card's Ballotpedia claim: NOT ON THE PAGE.** The earlier version of this card said that in a 2024 Ballotpedia profile he "opposed foreign military interventions" and condemned "the bombing of Gaza and the children of Palestine". The page was read in full on 2026-08-12, 3,437 words. It contains no occurrence of "Gaza", "Israel", "Palestine", "bombing" or "intervention", and states that he did not complete Ballotpedia's 2026 Candidate Connection survey. The source loads and reads cleanly and does not carry the claim, so the claim has been withdrawn from the card rather than moved.
- 2022-07-28 [Earlier record; SOURCE PAGE WRONGLY ATTACHED]: a comment on congressional discourse about the conflict. The first search attached a video post by Rep. Rashida Tlaib as the source page. That is another person's post and does not name him, so it is not usable as evidence of his words.
What came back empty or unusable
- No position located on U.S. military aid packages, arms sales or weapons transfers.
- No position located on U.S. aid to Palestinians or UNRWA.
- Three of nine sources found are Facebook posts by other people that do not name him.
Also in this race: Marquita Bradshaw (Democrat), Andrew Gerena (Independent), Bill Hagerty (Republican), Jeremy Dean Hearn (Independent), Robert Thomas Jones (Independent), James William Macon III (Independent), Yoshi D. Matthews (Independent), David Jr Sutman (Independent), Catherine Barcel Ms Barcy Whitson (Independent) · All Tennessee candidates.
See the full record →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 the interactive card for votes, funding and contact details.