But What Can You Do? tracks where 2026 candidates stand on U.S. weapons and funding for the government of Israel. How we check
Joan Bell
Independent · U.S. House, Virginia District 4
–No Position Found
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.
This is an empty record on these questions rather than a thin one. Her campaign site is a single page. It carries a television ad titled “Vote NO on Virginia's Amendment 1.”, a row of historical photographs under the line “Every successful social revolution showed images of victims.”, and an appeal for money saying her ads “can not be censored.” Her campaign is one of ten listed by Babies.Vote, a joint fundraising committee for anti-abortion candidates for Congress. Neither site mentions foreign policy, Israel, Gaza or aid abroad. The one mention of antisemitism on her site is a heading that lists “Fighting Anti-Semitism” among past social movements, beside a 1945 photograph of a U.S. senator at Buchenwald; it is part of an argument about showing images of abortion, not a statement about what the United States sends. An empty record carries no implication either way.
You are better placed to change this than we are. Ask Bell directly, or at a candidate forum, and send us the reply: it goes on this page in her own words, which is worth more than anything we could write about her.
Research log
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 2026-09-24 unless the entry says otherwise. Her campaign site is a single page and was read in full, including the page data behind it. Bands: Position (2024-01-26 onward), Reaction window (2023-10-07 to 2024-01-25), Earlier record (before 2023-10-07), Undated. Bell has not served in Congress, so none of the congressional votes this site tracks is hers, and no funding from the committees this site tracks is recorded on this record.
U.S. military aid and weapons to the government of Israel
Nothing located, at any date. No statement by her about arms transfers, weapons shipments, Foreign Military Financing, security assistance or any bill on those subjects appears on her campaign site, on the site of the joint fundraising committee her campaign belongs to, in the Virginia voter guides that list her, or on her Ballotpedia page.
U.S. aid to Palestinians
Nothing located, at any date.
Characterization of the conflict
Nothing located, at any date. Both her site and the committee's site use the word genocide only about abortion: the committee's site is titled "Showing America the Victims of the American Genocide". Neither concerns the war in Gaza.
Israel-related rhetoric and lobbying
Nothing located, at any date. No statement by her about the American Israel Public Affairs Committee or any other advocacy organization on this subject was found.
Safety and antisemitism (context, not an answer to what America sends)
[Undated; read 2026-09-24] Her campaign site carries the heading "Ending Slavery | Ending Child Labor | Women's Voting Rights | Fighting Anti-Semitism | Ending Segregation" over the line "Every successful social revolution showed images of victims." and five captioned photographs, one titled "US Senator Barkley at Buchenwald", dated "April 24th, 1945". The next section reads "To end abortion, we too must show the victims." The same section appears on the Babies.Vote site. It is an argument for showing images of abortion. It says nothing about antisemitism today or about the safety of any community.
What her campaign site and own pages say
[Undated; read 2026-09-24] Her campaign site, headed "JOAN ANDREWS BELL" and "VIRGINIA | DISTRICT 4", has five sections: "JOAN BELL: A LIFE POURED OUT FOR THE UNBORN", with the line "Faith, sacrifice, and a lifetime spent defending children in the womb - including over 200 arrests for the babies."; a television ad, "Vote NO on Virginia's Amendment 1."; the photographs described above; "Baby Harriett"; and a contribution form under "Say No to late term abortion in Virginia!", which says: "With your help, Joan will reach millions of viewers with her unfiltered political ads. They can not be censored. The people must know the truth. The revolution will be televised." The page closes "Until they can speak, we will speak for them." and "Paid for by Joan Bell for Congress." Its contact address is at babies.vote. The site carries no date and is recorded on the date it was read.
[Read 2026-09-24] The ad on her site is hosted at https://vimeo.com/1220495803 . Vimeo's public listing gives its title as "Vote NO on Virginia Amendment 1 -Joan Bell" and the uploading account's name as Randall Terry. It was not watched.
[Undated; read 2026-09-24] The Babies.Vote site describes itself as "A Joint Fundraising Committee | Defending the Unborn" and says "Ten candidates. One mission. Defend Babies." It lists her first among ten candidates for Congress in several states, captioned "Pardoned by Trump for FACE Violation" and "Virginia, District 4", and says the candidates' photographs are mugshots "taken in Shelby County Jail, Memphis, TN, in December 2025, following a peaceful civil disobedience at Planned Parenthood". It says its ads can reach "over 60 million viewers" and that donations are divided among all ten candidates. It carries nothing on foreign policy.
[Read 2026-09-24] Her Ballotpedia page lists her as "Joan Bell (independent)", gives no campaign website or social accounts, and says she has not yet completed Ballotpedia's 2026 Candidate Connection survey.
[Position, 2026-09-18] VPM News' Q&A for the 4th District, published September 18, 2026, lists her as "Joan E. “Andrews” Bell (Independent)" and says "VPM News has reached out to the Bell campaign." It prints no answers from her. WVTF's 2026 Virginia Voter Guide lists her in the district and links pages only for the other two candidates.
Reporting on her campaign
[Position, 2026-09-08] A Fredericksburg Advance column by Phil Huber, published September 8, 2026, about minor candidates across Virginia, says two 7th District independents are part of a slate called "Defending the Unborn" whose aim is to use a federal broadcasting rule under which television stations cannot refuse or edit a qualified federal candidate's own ads, timed to Virginia's Amendment 1 abortion-rights referendum. It says: "A third member of the same slate, Joan Andrews Bell, is running the identical play one district over in the 4th." It adds that she "was convicted in 2023 of violating the federal FACE Act, sentenced in 2024 (EWTN News), and later pardoned by President Trump in January 2025 (DOJ clemency list)." This is a columnist's account of her candidacy, not her words, and it is recorded here as his.
[Position, 2026-09-18] Cardinal News' early-voting guide, published September 18, 2026, repeats the Fredericksburg Advance report that she is part of the same effort.
[Read 2026-09-24] The Virginia Department of Elections' candidate list for federal offices for November 3, 2026 lists, for the 4th District, Jennifer L. McClellan (Democratic), Robert P. "Family Man" Murray, Jr. (Republican) and Joan E. "Andrews" Bell (Independent), with joan.vote as her website and an address in Montague, New Jersey. It is recorded here as a fact about the filing.
[Read 2026-09-24] Ballotpedia's page for the 2026 election in Virginia's 4th District: "Incumbent Jennifer McClellan, Robert Murray Jr., and Joan Bell are running in the general election for U.S. House Virginia District 4 on November 3, 2026." The Republican primary set for August 4, 2026 was cancelled. Jason Brown, an independent, is listed as withdrawn.
Places that could not be read, so nothing is claimed from them
WAVY's candidate profile of her, https://www.wavy.com/news/politics/candidates/candidate-profile-joan-e-andrews-bell/ , which could not be opened.
A post in a Facebook group, https://www.facebook.com/groups/petersburgsolution/posts/2316243822484750/ , which does not open and is not hers.
The television ad on her site, which was not watched.
The Wikipedia page on Virginia's 2026 House elections lists her; nothing is taken from it.
Not on the card, and why
Her anti-abortion campaign, her ads and the Amendment 1 referendum: out of scope beyond the one sentence on the front that says what her campaign is about. Recorded above.
The Fredericksburg Advance column's account of the slate's purpose and of her conviction and pardon: a third party's account of her candidacy, not her words and not about what the United States sends. Recorded above as the columnist's.
The Babies.Vote caption about her pardon and the mugshots: biography, out of scope. Recorded above.
Jennifer McClellan's and Robert Murray Jr.'s records, and the other nine candidates on the Babies.Vote slate: they belong on their own cards.
Sources retrieved for this card (address; opened or could not open; date)
https://joan.vote/ (opened; 2026-09-24)
https://www.babies.vote/ (opened; 2026-09-24)
https://vimeo.com/1220495803 (listing read through Vimeo's public embed record; 2026-09-24; not watched)
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 Find Your Candidates for votes, funding and contact details.