But What Can You Do? tracks where 2026 candidates stand on U.S. weapons and funding for the government of Israel. How we check

Arthur Burks

Independent · U.S. House, Wisconsin District 4
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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.

See a dash? Ask the candidate where they stand, then send us their answer and we'll review it and update the mark. Or volunteer to help review candidates.

No recorded votes on the bills we track. We found nothing in their own words about Israel, Gaza or the war.

Nothing located as of September 2026 has Burks taking a position on U.S. weapons or money for the government of Israel, or on U.S. aid to Palestinians. His campaign platform's six planks are all domestic: jobs, health care, public safety, schools, housing and voting rights.

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Deep Dive

Arthur Burks is running for Congress in Wisconsin's 4th District, most of the city of Milwaukee and some of its suburbs, as an independent. His campaign is based in Brown Deer, and his campaign site says he has run businesses in Milwaukee and raised his family there. He has never held federal office, so there are no congressional votes on this record. He faces Representative Gwen Moore, the Democrat, and Tim Rogers, the Republican, on November 3.

This is an empty record on these questions rather than a thin one. His platform is about Milwaukee: livable wages and vocational training, community clinics, gun safety legislation and violence interruption programs, school funding, affordable housing, and voting rights. It says "No PAC will own me", a line about his own fundraising that names no organization. The words Israel, Gaza and Palestinian appear nowhere on his campaign site, and the site's news page has no posts. He has not filled in Ballotpedia's candidate questionnaire, and WUWM reported that he did not answer its candidate questions. An empty record carries no implication either way.

You are better placed to change this than we are. Ask Burks directly, or at a candidate forum, and send us the reply: it goes on this page in his own words, which is worth more than anything we could write about him.

Research log

The notes behind this card: what we looked at, what we found, and where each item came from.

Our research for this card began with a search run on 2026-09-28, and every page below was opened and read on 2026-09-28 unless the entry says otherwise. His campaign site was read in full: its home, Vision & Platform, Donate & Volunteer and Just Good News pages, which are all the pages it has. Burks has never held federal office, so none of the congressional votes this site tracks is his, and no funding from the committees this site tracks is recorded on this record. Bands: Position (2024-01-26 onward), Reaction window (2023-10-07 to 2024-01-25), Earlier record (before 2023-10-07), Undated. Nothing located on this subject falls in any band.

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

  • Nothing located, at any date. No statement by him about arms transfers, military aid, Foreign Military Financing, a condition on aid, or any bill on those subjects appears on his campaign site or in any report read for this card.

U.S. aid to Palestinians

  • Nothing located, at any date.

Characterization of the conflict

  • Nothing located, at any date. The words Israel, Gaza, Palestinian, Hamas, foreign and war appear nowhere on his campaign site.

Israel-related rhetoric and lobbying

  • Nothing located, at any date. No statement by him about the American Israel Public Affairs Committee or any other advocacy organization on this subject was found.
  • [Undated; read 2026-09-28] His platform page says: "This is a grassroots campaign. No PAC will own me. No party machine will dictate my votes." It names no organization, and it is recorded here as a statement about his own campaign.

Safety and antisemitism (context, not an answer to what America sends)

  • Nothing located, at any date. His platform's public safety plank is about gun safety legislation and violence interruption programs in Milwaukee.

What the campaign site and own pages say

  • [Undated; read 2026-09-28] His campaign site presents him as an independent candidate with "STRONG MILWAUKEE ROOTS" and argues that the district has not been well served by its representative since 2005. The platform page sets out six planks, Economy & Jobs, Healthcare Access, Public Safety, Education Quality, Housing, and Democracy & Voice, followed by three values, Integrity, Accountability and Community-First. It says he has "served alongside the National Action Network", a civil rights organization. None of it concerns foreign policy. The Just Good News page carries no posts, and the Donate & Volunteer page invites requests to interview him.
  • [Position, 2026-07-14; updated 2026-08-12] WUWM's guide to the 4th District candidates says "Burks did not respond to WUWM's candidate questions" and summarizes his campaign site instead. It adds that the National Action Network would not confirm his membership or participation. It does not say what WUWM's questions were.
  • [Read 2026-09-28] The 9to5 advocacy group's 2026 Wisconsin candidate questionnaire, on child care, paid leave and maternal health, lists him as "Requested" with no answers.
  • [Read 2026-09-28] His Ballotpedia page records that he has not completed Ballotpedia's 2026 Candidate Connection survey.
  • [Read 2026-09-28] iVoterGuide's profile of him marks all thirty-two questions "Did not answer", including one asking whether the United States' relationship with Israel is important. Because he answered nothing on that form, on any subject, this is a fact about the guide's coverage and not about his views.
  • [Read 2026-09-28] PBS Wisconsin's candidate page lists him as an independent for the 4th District and gives his campaign website. It lists no social media accounts, and the social icons on his campaign site lead only to the platforms' home pages, not to accounts of his.

The race

  • [Read 2026-09-28] Ballotpedia's page for the 2026 election in Wisconsin's 4th District: "Incumbent Gwen Moore (D), Tim Rogers (R), and Arthur Burks (Independent) are running in the general election for U.S. House Wisconsin District 4 on November 3, 2026." WUWM reports that Moore won the Democratic primary on August 11, 2026 and Rogers the Republican.

Places that could not be read, so nothing is claimed from them

  • No social media account of his was found. His campaign site's social icons point to the home pages of Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, X and YouTube rather than to any account.

Not on the card, and why

  • His platform on jobs, health care, gun safety, schools, housing and voting rights: real positions, but not about U.S. weapons or money for the government of Israel, or about U.S. aid to Palestinians. Listed above so the absence can be checked.
  • His "No PAC will own me" line: a statement about his own fundraising, naming no organization.
  • The National Action Network association and WUWM's note that the organization would not confirm it: not about this subject.
  • Our research cited this site's own page for him as a source. A page cannot be its own evidence, and nothing is drawn from it.
  • Gwen Moore's and Tim Rogers' records belong on their own cards.

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

  • https://www.burks4congress.com/ , https://www.burks4congress.com/platform , https://www.burks4congress.com/donate-volunteer and https://www.burks4congress.com/blog (opened; 2026-09-28)
  • https://www.wuwm.com/wisconsins-4th-congressional-district-candidates-2026 (opened; 2026-09-28; published 2026-07-14, updated 2026-08-12)
  • https://ballotpedia.org/Arthur_Burks (opened; 2026-09-28)
  • https://ballotpedia.org/Wisconsin%27s_4th_Congressional_District_election,_2026 (opened; 2026-09-28)
  • https://ivoterguide.com/candidate/97377/race/34167/election/1497 (opened; 2026-09-28)
  • https://pbswisconsin.org/candidate/arthur-burks/ (opened; 2026-09-28)
  • https://9to5.org/resource/2026-wisconsin-midterms-candidate-positions/ (opened; 2026-09-28; undated)
  • This is a record of what was checked on 2026-09-28, not a claim that no statement exists anywhere.

Also in this race

  1. ? Gwen Moore (Democrat)
  2. – Tim Rogers (Republican)

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.