But What Can You Do? tracks where 2026 candidates stand on U.S. weapons and funding for the government of Israel. How we check
Tharon Chandler
Independent · U.S. Senate, Tennessee
?Mixed
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.
Two reviewers, reading the public record as a whole, agree: In a May 2025 Substack post he writes of a Zionist plan "not only to obliterate Gaza" and to remake the world "in their image of a Master race", 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.
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.
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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.
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 2026-07-13) 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.
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. An initial 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.
But What Can You Do? tracks where 2026 candidates stand on U.S. weapons and
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