Suzan K. DelBene

Democrat · U.S. House, Washington District 1

On July 15, 2026 DelBene said Americans should not be subsidizing the Netanyahu government's military-only strategy. She said in the same statement that she voted against the amendment barring U.S. funds for Israel because it would also have cut humanitarian aid, refugee funding and money to rebuild Gaza.

Suzan DelBene is a Democrat who has represented Washington's 1st District, which runs from north Seattle's suburbs to the Canadian border, since 2012. She chairs the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, the House Democrats' campaign arm. She faces Republican Mary Silva on November 3, 2026.

Her fullest statement on what the United States sends is the one she issued on the day of the July 2026 House vote, and it points in two directions at once. She wrote that the American relationship with Israel must change for the good of both the Israeli and Palestinian people, that the Netanyahu government is blocking the path to a two-state settlement, and that Americans should not be subsidizing what she called reckless and dangerous behavior, adding that the Israeli prime minister himself says Israel can finance its own military. In the same statement she said she voted against the amendment and against the underlying funding bill, because in her account the amendment did more than cut military aid and would also have ended humanitarian assistance, refugee resettlement funding and money to rebuild Gaza. She set out what she wants instead: a two-state settlement, a surge of humanitarian aid, money to rebuild Gaza, and an end to settlement expansion in the West Bank.

Before that, the record on weapons and money is short. In April 2024 she said she had voted for the national security funding bill because it provided allies with new defense equipment and economic support and carried humanitarian assistance for civilians in Gaza. Nothing else from her on what the United States sends was found between that April 2024 statement and the July 2026 one, a period in which the votes shown on this card continued.

On the shape of a settlement she has been consistent for years. In September 2020 she welcomed the normalization agreements and said she wanted the details, including the announced freeze of annexation in the West Bank and any arms sales to Gulf states. In October 2024 she said a negotiated ceasefire was the best path to peace, to a surge of humanitarian assistance for Gaza and to a two-state solution, alongside her commitment to Israel's right to defend itself under international law. In February 2025 she was one of 144 House Democrats who signed a letter calling the forcible removal of two million people from Gaza morally indefensible and a violation of the Geneva Convention; that is the signers' collective wording, not hers alone.

In May 2026, as committee chair, she joined Leader Hakeem Jeffries in a statement calling a Texas primary candidate's remarks about American Jews disqualifying. In June 2026 Jewish Insider reported on her answers about the party and antisemitism on a Chuck Todd interview program, where she pointed to that Texas statement as evidence of how Democratic leaders had responded. Her signature on a Seattle-area pledge against antisemitism, the letters she has co-signed, and everything else that was read are on the research page.

Tracked votes: opposed sending U.S. weapons or funding to the government of Israel in 3 of 6 recorded votes.

Research

An initial search was run on 2026-08-21 to find sources for this card, and its results were treated as leads rather than as evidence. Every page cited below was opened and read on 2026-09-07 unless the entry says otherwise. Bands: Position (2024-01-26 onward), Reaction window (2023-10-07 to 2024-01-25), Earlier record (before 2023-10-07). DelBene has represented WA-01 since 2012, so her tracked votes appear as badges on this card and are not re-counted here.

U.S. military aid and weapons to the government of Israel

U.S. aid to Palestinians

Characterization of the conflict

Related rhetoric and lobbying

Safety and antisemitism (context, not a position on what America sends)

The race

Not on the card, and why

Sources read for this card (address; opened or could not open; date read)

Also in this race: Mary Silva (Republican) · All Washington candidates.

See the full record →

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 the interactive card for votes, funding and contact details.