But What Can You Do? tracks where 2026 candidates stand on U.S. weapons and funding for the government of Israel. How we check
Mark Robert Warner
- Backed with $8K by PACs we track that support U.S. weapons funding for the government of Israel (lifetime)
- Endorsed by AIPAC
Warner voted for one resolution blocking a U.S. arms sale to the government of Israel and against another the same day, then said the United States should give it the tools to defend itself while opposing transfers of equipment used to demolish homes and expand settlements.
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You asked Mark Robert Warner where they stand.
Deep Dive
Warner is Virginia's senior senator, seeking another term, and vice chairman of the Intelligence Committee. His record here has moved, and the movement is the point: for two years he voted against every attempt to block a specific U.S. arms sale to the government of Israel, and in April 2026 he voted for one of them for the first time while voting against a second the same afternoon.
He explained the split the next day. In a statement on the two resolutions he set out the distinction he was drawing: "The United States can and must hold two truths at once: we can stand firmly with Israel's security while also speaking out against actions that jeopardize peace and stability in the region. Israel has an unequivocal right to defend itself, but it does not have the right to unilaterally displace Palestinians in the West Bank and torpedo any chance of ever achieving a two-state solution." And, in the same statement, what that means for what America sends: "The United States should ensure that Israel has the tools it needs to protect its people and deter its adversaries while opposing transfers of equipment that are used to demolish homes, expand settlements, and further entrench a reality that weakens the already fragile prospects for a durable peace."
On the money, he has been consistent that both halves should travel together. When the national security supplemental passed in April 2024 he said the bill delivered both kinds of support: "It delivers support to Israel and humanitarian aid for Palestinian civilians in Gaza."
In July 2025 he joined five other Senate Democrats calling on the administration to use its leverage on the Israeli prime minister. The six wrote that "Humanitarian conditions in Gaza are appalling and unconscionable", and asked for a ceasefire that released the hostages and for a surge in humanitarian assistance with mechanisms to verify and monitor its distribution. Six signatures carry only the collective wording, and nothing in it is sharpened here into a statement of his alone.
The record
Supported sending weapons or funding in 9 of 10 tracked votes
• November 20, 2024: voted Nay on all three motions to discharge Israel arms-sale disapproval resolutions: S.J.Res. 111 (roll 292), S.J.Res. 113 (roll 293), and S.J.Res. 115 (roll 294). Each was rejected, and his Nay votes declined to block the proposed transfers.
• April 3, 2025: voted Nay on the motions to discharge S.J.Res. 33 (roll 165) and S.J.Res. 26 (roll 166), both disapproving proposed foreign military sales to Israel; both motions were rejected. Virginia's junior senator Tim Kaine voted Yea on both.
• July 30, 2025: voted Nay on the motions to discharge S.J.Res. 41 (roll 454) and S.J.Res. 34 (roll 455) disapproving arms transfers to Israel; both motions were rejected even as Democratic support for such measures grew (S.J.Res. 41 failed 27-70). Kaine voted Yea on both.
• April 15, 2026: split his vote on two Israel arms-sale disapproval resolutions, breaking with his prior record for the first time. Warner voted Yea on the motion to discharge S.J.Res. 32 (roll 80), his first vote in favor of blocking a proposed U.S. arms sale to Israel, but Nay on the motion to discharge S.J.Res. 138 (roll 81). Both motions were rejected. Kaine voted Yea on both; fellow Democrats Booker and Hickenlooper, who had previously opposed such measures, also voted Yea on both.
• April 23, 2024: as Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman, welcomed congressional passage of the supplemental national security package that provided military support to Israel alongside humanitarian aid for Palestinian civilians in Gaza.
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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Voted to send weapons or funding in more than half of their recorded tracked votes. (Supported sending weapons or funding in 9 of 10 tracked votes.)
The money
$8K in lifetime support from the five lobbying groups we track
In their words
AIPAC (2026 endorsement)
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
- [Position, 2026-04-16] Statement on the joint resolutions of disapproval, dated on the page and read and confirmed word for word. The whole of it: "The United States can and must hold two truths at once: we can stand firmly with Israel's security while also speaking out against actions that jeopardize peace and stability in the region. Israel has an unequivocal right to defend itself, but it does not have the right to unilaterally displace Palestinians in the West Bank and torpedo any chance of ever achieving a two-state solution. The United States should ensure that Israel has the tools it needs to protect its people and deter its adversaries while opposing transfers of equipment that are used to demolish homes, expand settlements, and further entrench a reality that weakens the already fragile prospects for a durable peace. We can remain steadfast in our support for Israel's security and still be clear-eyed that actions by the Netanyahu government in the West Bank that displace families and escalatory military actions in southern Lebanon are not in Israel's long-term interest, nor our own." This is the statement this record first listed as missing. Direction named on both sides: for defensive capability, against transfers of the equipment used in the West Bank.
- [Position, 2024 to 2025] Recorded votes against every motion to discharge a resolution disapproving a U.S. arms sale or defense export to the government of Israel, across three voting days, each cross-checked against the official roll call, for example S.J.Res. 111 and S.J.Res. 41. Virginia's other senator voted the opposite way on each of them from April 2025 onward.
- [Position, 2026-04-15] Split his two votes that day: for the motion to discharge on the resolution concerning armored bulldozers (roll call), against it on the resolution concerning bombs (roll call). The first is the first vote of his in favor of blocking a proposed U.S. arms sale to that government, and the statement above, issued the following day, is his account of why. The card renders the votes; the prose does not re-list them or restate the tallies.
- [Position, 2024-04-23] Voted for the national security supplemental (roll call) and welcomed its passage, confirmed word for word: "It delivers support to Israel and humanitarian aid for Palestinian civilians in Gaza."
U.S. aid to Palestinians
- [Position, 2025-07-25] Joint statement with five other Senate Democrats, confirmed word for word: "Humanitarian conditions in Gaza are appalling and unconscionable." The signers call on the administration to press the Israeli prime minister to reach a ceasefire releasing the hostages and to "Support a surge in humanitarian assistance that provides both a sufficient amount of humanitarian aid and credible mechanisms for effective distribution, including the verification and monitoring of assistance to ensure equitable distribution and to prevent Hamas from diverting assistance." Collective wording only.
- [Position, 2025-01-15] and [Position, 2025-10-09] Statements welcoming the two ceasefire and hostage agreements, on his own site (January, October), both of which call for humanitarian aid to reach Gaza and treat a ceasefire as a foundation for two states.
- [Position, 2024-07-29] Called with Virginia's other senator for an immediate ceasefire and the return of all hostages (the other senator's page). A joint call; collective wording only.
Characterization of the conflict
- [Position, 2025-08-08] Statement opposing the plan to expand military control over Gaza City, and the following day a joint statement with four other Democrats urging a return to negotiations. Collective on the second.
- [Position, 2026-02-10] Signed a joint statement opposing conditions being set for expanded control and settlement in the West Bank, arguing that annexation runs against U.S. policy. Collective.
- [Position, 2024-03-11] Warned that the Israeli prime minister's conduct of the war risked undermining long-term support for Israel's security, reported by Jewish Insider.
- [Position, 2025-04-10] Told a Jewish community audience in Virginia Beach that policy differences with the Israeli government should be handled privately rather than aired publicly, reported by Jewish News of Virginia.
Related rhetoric and lobbying
- [Position, 2025-10-22] Co-signed a letter urging the administration to reinforce opposition to annexation in the West Bank. Collective.
- American Israel Public Affairs Committee support and Democratic Majority for Israel support are badges on this card and are not restated.
- [Context] An advocacy site that catalogs officeholders it opposes holds a profile on him. Its characterizations are its own; none is used here.
Safety and antisemitism (context)
- [Position, 2025-02-18] Co-sponsored the Antisemitism Awareness Act, which would direct the education department's civil rights office to use a standard definition of antisemitism in campus discrimination complaints (his release).
Race and status context
- Incumbent senator seeking re-election, per Ballotpedia's race page.
- Source note: the two congress.gov interface addresses on this record, for his member entry and for a cosponsor roster, return a refusal to any reader without a key. They were used only to confirm identity and are not linked anywhere on this card.
Also in this race
- –No Position Found Bert Mizusawa (Republican)
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