But What Can You Do? tracks where 2026 candidates stand on U.S. weapons and funding for the government of Israel. How we check
Phil Scott
Republican · Governor, Vermont
?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 an October 2024 anniversary statement on the Hamas attack on Israel he says "tens of thousands more have died in the year since, including many Palestinian civilians", 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.
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Scott has been governor of Vermont since 2017 and is running again. He has never held federal office, so none of the congressional votes this site tracks are his, and nothing located has him taking a position on what the United States sends.
The proclamations this site had been crediting him with, without a date or a document, are real and published. His office has issued one in each of the last two years marking Israel's Independence Day: Proclamation 25-69 in May 2025 and Proclamation 26-41 in April 2026. They are ceremonial state documents, which is the end of the job a governor's office does here.
He has said one thing that goes further than ceremony. In a statement in October 2024 he mourned the Israelis killed, condemned antisemitism, and then turned to the other side of the ledger: "We also know tens of thousands more have died in the year since, including many Palestinian civilians. They should also be in our thoughts today." He closed by calling the resolution to the conflict complex and asking Vermonters to agree at least that expressions of hate at home achieve nothing.
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
Nothing located. A governor has no authority over it, and neither this record nor a fresh search of the open record in August 2026 holds any statement from him about it. The fresh search reached the same conclusion in its own words.
U.S. aid to Palestinians
Nothing located as a position on funding. The October 2024 statement below is the only place he speaks about Palestinian civilians at all.
Characterization of the conflict
[Position, 2024-10-07] Statement from his own office, dated on the page and read and confirmed word for word. The three paragraphs: he mourns the Israelis killed and the hostages still held, and condemns "antisemitism of any kind – which, unfortunately, has escalated over the last year"; then "We also know tens of thousands more have died in the year since, including many Palestinian civilians. They should also be in our thoughts today."; then "The resolution to this conflict is complex. But instead of letting it further divide us, I hope Vermonters come together around a shared belief that expressions of hate in America are unacceptable and do nothing to achieve lasting peace where there is war." The statement is dated outside the reaction window, and the span the card uses carries no date of its own, which is why it can appear there.
[Reaction window, 2023-10-15] Spoke at a rally in Burlington in support of Israel, reported by Seven Days and the Vermont Daily Chronicle. Not on the card summary.
State action
[Position, 2026-04-22] Proclamation 26-41, marking the seventy-eighth anniversary of Israel's independence, dated on his office's own document page.
[Position, 2025-05-01] Proclamation 25-69, the same for the seventy-seventh anniversary. These are the documents this record's summary referred to without a date or a link; both open on the state's own site.
Note on an earlier version: the only address this record held for him, an anniversary statement at a slightly different path on the same host, returns nothing. The live statement above is the same item at the working address, and the dead one is no longer needed.
Related rhetoric and lobbying
[Prior, 2023-04-27] Signed a joint statement of Republican governors recognizing Jewish American Heritage Month, which affirms an "unbreakable bond" between the United States and Israel (Iowa's release).
[Position, 2024-05-01] Signed a similar joint statement reaffirming "unwavering support for the Nation of Israel and her people" (Idaho's release).
[Position, 2025-05-14] Signed a joint statement of Republican governors recognizing Israel's Independence Day (Vermont Business Magazine). All three are collective documents and none of their wording is attributed to him personally.
But What Can You Do? tracks where 2026 candidates stand on U.S. weapons and
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