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

Brad Smith

Democrat · U.S. House, Wisconsin District 6
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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.

Two reviewers, reading the public record as a whole, agree: Asked about Israel, he would stop supporting offensive capacity but keep supporting reasonable defense, which the defensive-aid rule reads as mixed, all in one statement. Reviewed by hand on 2026-10-01. This candidate has no recorded tracked floor votes.

Asked about the government of Israel and the Middle East at a July 2026 forum, Smith said “Our first principles are we should not be harming innocent civilians and children,” and that the United States should not be “supporting things beyond reasonable defense for themselves and certainly not offensive capacity.”

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Deep Dive

Bradley Smith, who campaigns as Brad, is the Democratic nominee in Wisconsin's 6th District, eleven counties across central and eastern Wisconsin taking in Fond du Lac, Oshkosh, Manitowoc and Sheboygan. He was born in the town of Larsen in Winnebago County, grew up in Neenah, and enlisted in the Wisconsin National Guard out of high school as a forward observer, rising to staff sergeant and leading soldiers through a fourteen-month deployment after September 11, 2001. He went to college on the GI Bill, spent about ten years at a Milwaukee software company and now runs a small consulting business. He lives in Ozaukee County. He defeated Amanda Bell in the Democratic primary on August 11, 2026 and is one of five candidates on the ballot on November 3, 2026, alongside the incumbent Republican Glenn Grothman, Matthew Arndt of the Wisconsin Green Party, and two independent candidates, Elizabeth Anne Fitzgibbon and Mike Thurow.

He set out where he would draw the line at a candidate forum in Ripon on July 22, 2026, hosted by the League of Women Voters of the Ripon Area. Asked about the Middle East, he said “Our first principles are we should not be harming innocent civilians and children,” and then “I also don’t think we should be a party to it, nor supporting things beyond reasonable defense for themselves and certainly not offensive capacity.” He named no country, no bill, no weapon and no figure in those two sentences. The report sets them in the forum's discussion of the Middle East, directly after the questions about the Israeli prime minister and about American military ties abroad.

In that same discussion the newspaper reports that he opposed House Resolution 8800 and legislation forging deeper binding operational links between the U.S. military and foreign militaries outside of mutual defense treaties like NATO. Asked about the Israeli prime minister, he said he believes Benjamin Netanyahu is “complicit in causing war crimes,” and argued that prosecuting him or removing him from office is a decision for Israeli voters.

His campaign refuses one kind of money by name. In May 2026 it said it does not accept contributions from corporate PACs or AIPAC, relying instead on individual donors in the district, and it has made the same point on its own social account. The American Israel Public Affairs Committee is a lobbying organization that works to strengthen the United States relationship with the government of Israel and that since 2021 has run political committees giving directly to candidates. A refusal of one committee's money is a separate thing from a position on what the United States sends, and nothing here is read as one.

On American aid to Palestinians there is nothing. His campaign's priorities page runs to fourteen sections and none of them is foreign policy; Israel, Gaza, Palestinians and foreign aid appear nowhere on his campaign site, nowhere in his answers to Ballotpedia, and nowhere in the five questions a Milwaukee public radio station put to the candidates in this race, which he answered in full. The rest of what our research found, including four statements attributed to him that the newspaper's own report does not contain, is on his research page.

The money

Checked the five lobbying groups we track; no direct 2026 support found

2026 support from the five lobbying groups we track
Nothing recorded (as of 2026-09-27) from the five lobbying groups we track; earlier cycles and earmarked donations not yet tracked.
Support-only OpenFEC data. Opposition independent expenditures are excluded.

In their words

“Our first principles are we should not be harming innocent civilians and children,”
Source ↗, 2026-07-22
“I also don’t think we should be a party to it, nor supporting things beyond reasonable defense for themselves and certainly not offensive capacity.”
Source ↗, 2026-07-22
“complicit in causing war crimes,”
Source ↗, 2026-07-22

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 2026-09-20 unless the entry says otherwise. His campaign site was read in full: the home page, the biography, the priorities and positions page, the press releases listing and its items, the endorsements page, the events page, the media resources page and the contact page. His Ballotpedia candidate page, his party's race page and a public radio voter guide were read in full. The Ripon Commonwealth Press, which is where his answers at the July 2026 forum were published, answers every request from here with a notice saying access cannot be granted to readers it places in the European Economic Area. The Internet Archive's copies of its two reports on this race open and were read in full, and those are the addresses linked below. Bands: Position (2024-01-26 onward), Reaction window (2023-10-07 to 2024-01-25), Earlier record (before 2023-10-07), Undated. He has held no office, so this record carries no votes.

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

  • [Position, 2026-07-22] The Ripon Commonwealth Press report of the League of Women Voters forum, by Roger Mathews, as the Internet Archive copied it on August 7, 2026. The page is dated August 6, 2026; it reports a forum held “Wednesday, July 22”. Under the heading “Foreign policy, defense and international relations” it prints, in one paragraph: “Smith similarly opposed House Resolution 8800 and legislation forging deeper binding operational links between the U.S. military and foreign militaries outside of mutual defense treaties like NATO. On Netanyahu, Smith stated he believes the Israeli leader is ‘complicit in causing war crimes,’ but argued that prosecuting or removing him is an internal decision for the Israeli electorate.” The word “similarly” refers back to the other candidate in that primary, whose own answers belong to her and are not set down here. The bill number could not be checked: congress.gov could not be opened on 2026-09-20, so nothing is said here about what House Resolution 8800 contains beyond what the report itself says.
  • [Position, 2026-07-22] From the same report, his own words, printed as two spans separated by the attribution: “Our first principles are we should not be harming innocent civilians and children,” Smith said. “I also don’t think we should be a party to it, nor supporting things beyond reasonable defense for themselves and certainly not offensive capacity.” The two are kept apart here because the page separates them. He names no country in either sentence. The report places them immediately after the paragraphs about the defense authorization sections linking the Israeli and American militaries and about the Israeli prime minister, which is the reading the card takes; the words themselves are printed here whole so a reader can judge that for themselves.
  • Nothing located at any date in which he discusses a dollar figure, the United States and Israel memorandum of understanding, a particular munition, or a condition on American money.

U.S. aid to Palestinians

  • Nothing located at any date, in either direction. The forum report, his campaign site, his Ballotpedia answers and the public radio voter guide carry no statement about humanitarian funding for Gaza, about the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East or about the aid pipeline.

Characterization of the conflict

  • [Position, 2026-07-22] From the same report: he “believes the Israeli leader is ‘complicit in causing war crimes,’ but argued that prosecuting or removing him is an internal decision for the Israeli electorate.” The three quoted words are his; the sentence around them is the reporter's.
  • [Position, 2026-07-22] The first-principles answer printed above is also a characterization of the conduct of the war, and is recorded under weapons and money because that is the question it answers.

Israel-related rhetoric and lobbying

  • [Position, 2026-05-01] His campaign's own release on its nomination papers and its first-quarter finances states: “The campaign does not accept contributions from corporate PACs or AIPAC, relying instead on grassroots support from individual donors primarily within the District.” The American Israel Public Affairs Committee is a lobbying organization that works to strengthen the United States relationship with the government of Israel and, since 2021, runs political committees that give directly to candidates. A money-refusal is never read here as a position on weapons or funding.
  • [Position; the post carries no date we could read, and it was read 2026-09-20] A video posted on his campaign's Facebook page carries this caption: “Asking for support can be tough for anyone, and it’s definitely something I had to get used to as a congressional candidate. But, unless you are funded by AIPAC or special interest dollars like Glenn and others, donations from individuals are crucial to spreading the word to voters and sending a message to Glenn. Please help get us one step closer to unseating Glenn this fall by donating what you can to the campaign. The next FEC filing deadline is only a week away: Tuesday, June 30.” The page shows no date; the reference to a filing deadline of Tuesday, June 30 places it in June 2026, and our research dated it June 24, 2026, which could not be checked. The clause naming his opponent is his own and is printed here, and that candidate's record belongs on that candidate's own card.
  • [Position, 2026-07-22] At the same forum, on his own fundraising, the report says he “reported raising $155,000, noting that 96% of contributions came from individual middle-class and working families in Wisconsin without corporate PAC money, save for a $1,000 donation from the National Teachers Union.” That paragraph names no Israel-related organization.
  • [Undated; read 2026-09-20] His endorsements page and the ethics pledge his campaign signed, which concerns congressional term limits, overturning a campaign finance ruling, a lobbying moratorium, a ban on stock trading in office and a judicial code of ethics. No Israel-related organization appears on either page.

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

  • Nothing located at any date. Our research recorded the same.

What the campaign site and own pages say

  • [Read 2026-09-20] His priorities and positions page, about 1,600 words under fourteen headings: good jobs and fair wages, healthcare, education and training, artificial intelligence and data centers, automated license plate readers and surveillance, sustainability and clean energy, housing, workers and unions, family farms and rural communities, immigration, reproductive freedom, guns and public safety, LGBTQ+ rights, retirement and childcare, and enlarging the House of Representatives. There is no foreign policy section and no mention of this subject.
  • [Read 2026-09-20] His biography, about 900 words, which sets out his family's farm in Iola, his National Guard service as a forward observer, the federal Humanitarian Award his unit received for assisting with Hurricane Katrina operations, his degrees and his business career. It names no foreign policy subject. It says he “spent 14 months deployed in support of the Global War on Terror”, which matches the forum report's account of a fourteen-month deployment after September 11, 2001.
  • [Read 2026-09-20] His campaign's press releases page and every item on it: the campaign launch, an ethics trip to Washington, the nomination-paper release, an educators' endorsement, several organizing and fundraising releases, the primary result and a data center release. None names this subject.
  • [Position, 2025 or 2026; read 2026-09-20] His answers on Ballotpedia's candidate questionnaire, also carried on his own Ballotpedia page. He submitted a biography and three key messages, all domestic: good jobs and an economy for working families, affordable and reliable healthcare, and education and training for every path. No question in the survey asks about foreign policy and no answer reaches it.
  • [Position, 2026] WUWM's voter guide for this district. The station put five questions to the candidates: why they are running and what qualifies them, federal policies to lower the cost of living, securing federal funding and its priority areas, which Trump administration policies they most support and most oppose, and notable endorsements. He answered all five. None of the five concerns foreign policy, and none of his answers reaches this subject.
  • [Read 2026-09-20] The notice of the forum itself, dated July 17, 2026, as the Internet Archive copied it on July 18, 2026. It is an announcement only: the date, the time, the venue, the two candidates, and the fact that “The event will be recorded and broadcast on the Ripon Cable/YouTube channels.” It carries no answers of his.

The race

  • [Read 2026-09-20] Ballotpedia's page for the 2026 election in Wisconsin's 6th District: “Incumbent Glenn Grothman, Bradley Smith, Matthew Arndt, Elizabeth Fitzgibbon, and Mike Thurow are running in the general election for U.S. House Wisconsin District 6 on November 3, 2026.” Arndt is listed as Green, Fitzgibbon and Thurow as Independent. Wisconsin's partisan primary was held on August 11, 2026, and Bradley Smith defeated Amanda Bell in the Democratic primary. The record holds the same five names, with Arndt as Wisconsin Green and Fitzgibbon under her full name, Elizabeth Anne Fitzgibbon. The public radio voter guide names the same five, spelling the Green candidate's surname Arendt in some places and Arndt in others. The other candidates' records belong on their own cards.

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

  • The Ripon Commonwealth Press at its live address, https://www.riponpress.com , which returns a notice saying access cannot be granted to readers it places in the European Economic Area, and a security check on the bare domain. Every route tried on 2026-09-20 met the same refusal, including a browser read. Its two reports on this race were read through the Internet Archive instead, at the two addresses linked above, and that is why the card's links point there rather than at the newspaper.
  • The Wisconsin Examiner's primary voter guide for this contest, at https://wisconsinexaminer.com/voter-guides/contests/2026-democratic-primary-6th-cd/ , which refused every route tried on 2026-09-20, including a browser read.
  • His candidate page at https://pbswisconsin.org/candidate/brad-smith/ , which refused every route tried on 2026-09-20.
  • The congress.gov page for the bill the report numbers House Resolution 8800, which could not be opened on 2026-09-20, so nothing is said here about the bill's contents.
  • The newspaper's Facebook post at https://www.facebook.com/RiponPress/posts/democratic-congressional-candidates-amanda-bell-and-brad-smith-squared-off-durin/1666106208851117/ and the group post at https://www.facebook.com/groups/584867057855725/posts/1046389578370135/ , both of which refused to open.
  • The recording of the July 22, 2026 forum. The notice says it was recorded and broadcast on Ripon Cable and YouTube; no recording was watched for this card, and the words used here come from the newspaper's report of the evening.
  • His accounts on Instagram and Bluesky, at https://www.instagram.com/bradsmithforcongress/ and https://bsky.app/profile/bradsmithwi.bsky.social . Neither was read here.

Not on the card, and why

  • Four sentences our research attributed to him from this newspaper: a call for a ceasefire including the release of hostages, long enough to provide food, shelter and healthcare to civilians; a statement that the prosecution of the war in Gaza is not making Israel safer and is creating generational hatred; a statement that action against Hamas must be carried out surgically; and a statement that, having served in a peacekeeping force in Bosnia, he believes the United States should lead alongside Arab neighbors such as Saudi Arabia in helping the Palestinian people choose new leadership for a two-state solution. None of the four appears anywhere in the report, which was read in full: the words ceasefire, hostages, surgically, Bosnia, peacekeeping, two-state and Saudi do not occur in it at all, and no other publication carries any of the four. The report's own account of his service is a fourteen-month deployment after September 11, 2001, as is his campaign biography's; neither mentions Bosnia. Nothing is built on any of the four.
  • The other primary candidate's answers at the same forum, including her opposition to the defense authorization sections she said link the Israeli military defense system to the American military, and her words about the Israeli prime minister. Another person's words. They are in the same report, which anyone can open at the address above.
  • His campaign's refusal of corporate committee money and of money from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, treated as a position on weapons or funding. A money-refusal is a separate thing and is never read here as a position on what the United States sends. It is on the card as exactly what it is, with the committee described.
  • The clause in his campaign's video caption naming his opponent as funded by that committee. It is his own sentence and it is printed above, but another candidate's record belongs on that candidate's own card.
  • Glenn Grothman's, Matthew Arndt's, Elizabeth Anne Fitzgibbon's and Mike Thurow's records. Another candidate's record belongs on that candidate's own card.
  • The economy, healthcare, Social Security, artificial intelligence, energy, immigration, guns, cannabis, Supreme Court and ethics answers he gave at the same forum, and the jobs, housing, surveillance, farm, union, reproductive freedom, LGBTQ+, retirement and House-size material that fills his platform. Out of scope. The subjects are named above so a reader can see what the rest of the record covers.

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

  • https://web.archive.org/web/20260807141518/https://www.riponpress.com/news/bell--smith-pitch-electability-in-race-to-challenge-grothman/article_617f3155-63c6-4ecf-bb3d-0d26c16f2714.html (opened; 2026-09-20; copy taken 2026-08-07 of an article dated 2026-08-06 by Roger Mathews, reporting a forum of 2026-07-22)
  • https://web.archive.org/web/20260718022709/https://www.riponpress.com/news/lwv-hosts-6th-congressional-district-dem-candidate-forum/article_a70823df-683e-4b5d-b5d5-adb135f380af.html (opened; 2026-09-20; copy taken 2026-07-18 of a notice dated 2026-07-17)
  • https://www.bradsmithforcongress.com/ , /about , /priorities-and-positions , /press-releases , /endorsements , /events , /media-resources , /hear-from-brad , /learn-more-1 and /contact-us (opened; 2026-09-20)
  • https://www.bradsmithforcongress.com/press-releases/brad-smith-grassroots-momentum-in-wisconsins-6th-congressional-district-race (opened; 2026-09-20; the page prints May 1)
  • https://www.bradsmithforcongress.com/press-releases/smith-campaign-finance-pledge (opened; 2026-09-20; the page prints Mar 17)
  • https://www.facebook.com/BradSmithforCongress/videos/asking-for-support-can-be-tough-for-anyone-and-its-definitely-something-i-had-to/999066583015605/ (opened; 2026-09-20; the page carries the caption in full and shows no date)
  • https://www.facebook.com/UpNorthNewsWI/videos/democrat-brad-smith-is-challenging-republican-us-rep-glenn-grothman-in-wisconsin/1645774803545898/ (opened; 2026-09-20; its caption describes his candidacy and names no foreign policy subject)
  • https://ballotpedia.org/Wisconsin%27s_6th_Congressional_District_election,_2026 and https://ballotpedia.org/Bradley_Smith_%28Wisconsin%29 (opened; 2026-09-20)
  • https://www.wuwm.com/wisconsins-6th-congressional-district-candidates-2026 (opened; 2026-09-20)
  • https://www.yahoo.com/news/politics/articles/amanda-bell-brad-smith-appear-180104338.html (opened; 2026-09-20; a Fond du Lac Reporter notice that the July 22 forum would be held and recorded)
  • https://www.riponpress.com and both of its live article addresses (could not open; 2026-09-20; read through the Internet Archive)
  • https://wisconsinexaminer.com/voter-guides/contests/2026-democratic-primary-6th-cd/ , https://pbswisconsin.org/candidate/brad-smith/ , https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/8800 , https://www.wispolitics.com/2026/smith-campaign-brad-smith-wins-democratic-primary-for-wisconsins-6th-congressional-district/ , https://www.facebook.com/RiponPress/posts/democratic-congressional-candidates-amanda-bell-and-brad-smith-squared-off-durin/1666106208851117/ and https://www.facebook.com/groups/584867057855725/posts/1046389578370135/ (could not open; 2026-09-20)
  • This is a record of what was checked on 2026-09-20, not a claim that no other statement exists.

Also in this race

  1. ✗ Glenn Grothman (Republican)
  2. – Elizabeth Anne Fitzgibbon (Independent)
  3. – Mike Thurow (Independent)
  4. ✓ Matthew Arndt (Green)

All Wisconsin candidates.

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.