But What Can You Do? tracks where 2026 candidates stand on U.S. weapons and funding for the government of Israel. How we check
Chelsey Hockett
Democrat · U.S. House, Texas District 5
✓OpposesFrom their own words
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.
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Hockett is the Democratic nominee in Texas’s 5th District.
Her position names both directions of the money question in one sentence. Her campaign issues page pledges to "End the Genocide in Gaza by enacting an Arms Embargo on Israel through the Block the Bombs Act and using congressional pressure to let aid through to Palestine". In a 2025 candidate questionnaire she wrote: "I oppose U.S. funding for Israel’s genocide in Gaza, and I support a free Palestine. I will vote for legislation like the Block the Bombs Act to bring an end to the atrocities."
So she wants U.S. weapons to the Israeli government stopped and aid to Palestinians let through, and she has said so in her own words twice.
On the conflict she has been consistent. In a 2026 questionnaire she wrote: "For too long, Palestinians have been at the mercy of the Netanyahu government’s murderous and apartheid regime. We should support Palestinians in their goals to create a free democratic state where they can determine their own future." In a campaign statement she wrote that Israeli strikes "killed Palestinians, including children, even as efforts toward a ceasefire were being announced. Their lives cannot be reduced to collateral damage or treated as an acceptable cost of negotiations", calling for an end to the strikes, protection for civilians and "a just peace rooted in the equal dignity and value of every human".
On her podcast she said "AIPAC money, U.S. complicity, and political cowardice are fueling this atrocity". That is a lobbying argument and is on the research page. Her platform also addresses rising prejudice against both Islam and Judaism, and in July 2026 she wrote that "Antisemitism has no place"; that is context here rather than a position on U.S. aid.
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
2026-03 [Current position; VERIFIED 2026-08-11 ON A SECOND CHECK]: Her campaign issues page, read in full: "End the Genocide in Gaza by passing the Block the Bombs Act and other legislation that will terminate all US funding for the apartheid state of Israel while at the same time forcing through desperately needed aid to the people of Palestine. I will work with any and all allies in Congress, like Representative Tlaib, to enforce international law and hold those responsible for the genocide accountable. I will support the internationally recognized right of return for Palestinians so they may reclaim their lands from which they have been ethnically cleansed."
⚠ **AN INITIAL SEARCH PARAPHRASED THIS AND THE CARD QUOTED THE PARAPHRASE.** It rendered the pledge as "enacting an Arms Embargo on Israel through the Block the Bombs Act and using congressional pressure to let aid through to Palestine". Neither "arms embargo" nor "congressional pressure" appears on the page. Her actual wording is stronger and wider: terminate *all* US funding, not an arms embargo, and it carries the "apartheid state" characterization inside the same sentence. Corrected on the card.
2025 [Current position]: In a candidate questionnaire: "I oppose U.S. funding for Israel's genocide in Gaza, and I support a free Palestine. I will vote for legislation like the Block the Bombs Act to bring an end to the atrocities." The source pages are her Ballotpedia page, listed three times, and a BallotReady profile of 2026-05-26.
2025 [Current position]: On foreign policy generally: "I reject any foreign policy that fuels war, resource extraction, mass incarceration, and human rights abuses at home and abroad." A blanket position, recorded as that.
U.S. aid to Palestinians
2026-03 [Current position]: The same platform sentence commits to "using congressional pressure to let aid through to Palestine". Direction: aid in. Named on the card alongside the embargo so neither reads as the other.
Characterization of the conflict
2025 [Current position]: She characterized Israeli operations in Gaza as a "genocide in Gaza".
2026-03 [Current position]: "For too long, Palestinians have been at the mercy of the Netanyahu government's murderous and apartheid regime. We should support Palestinians in their goals to create a free democratic state where they can determine their own future."
2026 [Current position]: In a campaign statement: "The deadly Israeli strikes in Gaza this weekend killed Palestinians, including children, even as efforts toward a ceasefire were being announced. Their lives cannot be reduced to collateral damage or treated as an acceptable cost of negotiations... I am calling for an end to the strikes, protection for civilians, and a just peace rooted in the equal dignity and value of every human."
Rhetoric and lobbying
[A lobbying argument must never read as a weapons or funding position. Her funding position is stated on her own platform and carries the card on its own.]
2026 [Current position]: On her co-hosted podcast Moms Against the Machine she said "AIPAC money, U.S. complicity, and political cowardice are fueling this atrocity, and it will only end if people refuse to look away".
Safety and antisemitism
[Context only, never the answer to what America sends.]
2026-03 [Current position]: On her platform: "Hatred against religions, like the rising prejudice against Islam and Judaism, has been tearing apart our communities. How can we guarantee our Constitutional right to freedom of religion when our neighbors cannot safely practice their own beliefs?"
2026-07-30 [Current position]: In a campaign statement on human rights principles she wrote that "Antisemitism has no place", alongside opposition to Islamophobia and support for religious freedom and safety for all faith communities.
2025 [Current position]: "I will always defend the right to protest, speak freely, and live without intimidation. No one should get thrown under the bus. Ever."
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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