But What Can You Do? tracks where 2026 candidates stand on U.S. weapons and funding for the government of Israel. How we check
Chris Royal
Libertarian · U.S. House, Texas District 34
✗Supports
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.
Reviewed by hand after the two reviewers read it differently: in his June 2024 Ballotpedia survey answer he objects that weapons Congress voted to send Israel were stopped by the president and faults the president's wavering on "ironclad" support, and nothing in his 2026 campaign points elsewhere. Reviewed by hand on 2026-10-08. This candidate has no recorded tracked floor votes.
Chris Royal, a retired Brownsville teacher who has also worked as a lawyer and served in the Army from 1982 to 1990, is the Libertarian nominee in Texas's 34th District. He ran for the seat as an independent in 2020 and 2022, and was listed as an independent candidate in 2024 but did not appear on that November ballot. This year he advanced from the Libertarian Party convention on March 21, 2026 and faces Representative Vicente Gonzalez, the Democrat, Eric Flores, the Republican, and Eddie Espinoza of the Green Party on November 3. He has never held office, so there are no votes on this record.
His only located words on the subject are in his answers to Ballotpedia's candidate survey for the 2024 race, submitted June 14, 2024. Asked about financial transparency and government accountability, he wrote: "What just happened with Congress voting to send weapons to Israel but then the shipments are stopped thanks to our president? Why were they stopped? Who stopped them?" He added that the president had called U.S. support "ironclad" and was "only trying to speak out of both sides of his mouth for the up coming presidential election." The answer is about the president's consistency and goes on to the cost of federal spending; it does not say what he would vote to send.
His 2026 campaign has published little. His campaign site carries one letter to voters about the Constitution and the federal debt, his 2026 iVoterGuide profile has no answers on it, and he has not completed Ballotpedia's 2026 survey. Nothing located from this campaign addresses U.S. weapons or money for the government of Israel, U.S. aid to Palestinians or the war in Gaza. The rest of what our research found is on his research page.
In their words
“What just happened with Congress voting to send weapons to Israel but then the shipments are stopped thanks to our president? Why were they stopped? Who stopped them?”
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 2026-10-08 unless the entry says otherwise. His campaign site, chriscongress.com (listed for him by the San Antonio Report; Ballotpedia lists no campaign site), was read in full: its home page and its one other page. Bands: Position (2024-01-26 onward), Reaction window (2023-10-07 to 2024-01-25), Earlier record (before 2023-10-07), Undated. Undated pages are recorded on the date we read them. Royal has never held office, so none of the congressional votes this site tracks is his, and no funding from the committees this site tracks is recorded on this record. Nothing located on this subject falls in the reaction window.
U.S. military aid and weapons to the government of Israel
[Position, 2024-06-14] His Ballotpedia Candidate Connection answers for his 2024 independent run, submitted June 14, 2024, answering "What are your views on financial transparency and government accountability?": "We know that this isn't happening. Politicians transparent? What just happened with Congress voting to send weapons to Israel but then the shipments are stopped thanks to our president? Why were they stopped? Who stopped them?" The answer continues: "He's only trying to speak out of both sides of his mouth for the up coming presidential election." and then turns to federal spending and inflation. Elsewhere in the same survey he names "President Biden".
Nothing located from his 2026 campaign, at any date.
U.S. aid to Palestinians
Nothing located, at any date.
Characterization of the conflict
Nothing located, at any date.
[Earlier record, 2020 and 2022] His iVoterGuide profiles for 2020 and 2022 list questions on a boycott of Israel with "Did not answer". Every question on both forms reads "Did not answer", so the blanks are a fact about the guide's coverage, not a choice. His 2026 profile carries no questionnaire at all.
Israel-related rhetoric and lobbying
Nothing located, at any date. In the 2024 answer above he quotes the president calling U.S. support "ironclad".
Safety and antisemitism
Nothing located, at any date.
What the campaign site and own pages say
[Read 2026-10-08] His campaign site carries one letter to voters, signed "Chris B. Royal", on the Constitution, the Libertarian Party and the federal debt, calling for a balanced federal budget. It says nothing about foreign policy. Its second page invites voters to share issues with him.
[2024-06-14] His 2024 Ballotpedia survey lists three key messages: inflation and federal spending, executing immigration law, and "Our freedoms are in jeopardy", which mentions adversaries "on our college campuses, in the South China Seas and in the Middle East" without naming a country or a policy.
The race
[Read 2026-10-08] Ballotpedia: "Incumbent Vicente Gonzalez Jr. (D), Eric Flores (R), Eddie Espinoza (G), and Chris Royal (L) are running in the general election for Texas' 34th Congressional District on November 3, 2026." It records him as an independent on the 2020 and 2022 general-election ballots for this seat and among the "Withdrawn or disqualified candidates" in 2024, and says he "has not yet completed Ballotpedia's 2026 Candidate Connection survey."
[2026-09-23] The San Antonio Report's candidate profile says he was born in Indiana, taught at Brownsville ISD and has worked as an attorney and a computer programmer; nothing on these questions.
[Read 2026-10-08] Branch's voter guide entry records his answers to a science-policy survey (https://snapcoalition.org/initiatives/stance-on-science/candidates/tx/chris-royal) and says that as of September 11, 2026 it had no information from him on foreign policy.
Places that could not be read, so nothing is claimed from them
His personal Facebook https://www.facebook.com/chris.royal.3781 and LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/christopher-royal-b5b590117/ , as listed by Ballotpedia.
Not on the card, and why
The blank iVoterGuide forms for 2020 and 2022: guide coverage, not a position.
His 2024 remark about adversaries "in the Middle East": names no country or policy.
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.
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