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

Mike Thurow

Independent · 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.

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 Thurow taking a position on U.S. weapons or money for the government of Israel, or on U.S. aid to Palestinians. His platform's plank headed No More Foreign Wars opposes “giving billions of dollars to defense contractors” and names no country.

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Deep Dive

Mike Thurow is running for Congress in Wisconsin's 6th District as an independent. He grew up in Mequon, worked for nearly a decade at Healthcare for the Homeless, and has been a Milwaukee firefighter since 2013, now a union fire captain and director of a HAZMAT team. He is a father of four. He has never held federal office, so there are no congressional votes on this record. He faces Representative Glenn Grothman, the Republican, Bradley Smith, the Democratic nominee, Matthew Arndt of the Green Party and Elizabeth Fitzgibbon, another independent, on November 3.

The nearest his published material comes to this question is general. His platform has a plank headed No More Foreign Wars, which begins: “We should not be spending billions of dollars a year on foreign wars.” It says taxpayer money should go to veterans and infrastructure rather than to Boeing and Raytheon executives, and ends: "American tax payer dollars should be spent on helping our veterans and our people, not making defense contractors and their shareholders rich while trying to police the world." It names no country, conflict or bill. The words Israel, Gaza and Palestinian appear nowhere on his campaign site, in his Ballotpedia questionnaire, or in his answers to a questionnaire the Sheboygan Press published on September 21, 2026, all of which are about monopolies, health care, housing, public safety and corruption. An empty record carries no implication either way.

Two recordings of him could add to this: a February 2026 podcast interview whose published description lists a segment on war powers and the Constitution, and the League of Women Voters candidate forum in Ripon on September 16, 2026. Neither could be heard for this card, and his campaign's accounts on Facebook, X and Instagram could not be read. The addresses are on his research page so that anyone who can open them may look.

You are better placed to change this than we are. Ask Thurow 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.

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.

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, About, Events and Platform pages. His Ballotpedia page and Candidate Connection answers, his iVoterGuide profile, WUWM's candidate guide, the Sheboygan Press candidate questionnaire, the 9to5 group's candidate questionnaire, the published description of a February 2026 podcast interview and a Facebook post about the September 2026 Ripon forum were also read. Thurow 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 falls in the reaction window or earlier.

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

  • Nothing located, at any date. No statement by him about arms transfers or military aid to the government of Israel, Foreign Military Financing, a condition on aid, or any bill on those subjects appears on his campaign site, in his questionnaire answers or in any report read for this card.
  • [Undated; read 2026-09-28] The closest material names no country. His platform, under the heading No More Foreign Wars: "We should not be spending billions of dollars a year on foreign wars. While thousands of our decorated service members struggle with homelessness and PTSD we should not be lining the pockets of Boeing and Raytheon execs. While Wisconsin's infrastructure gets a grade of C+ we should not be giving billions of dollars to defense contractors. American tax payer dollars should be spent on helping our veterans and our people, not making defense contractors and their shareholders rich while trying to police the world."
  • [Position, 2026-02-20] An episode of the Independent Americans podcast with Paul Rieckhoff, published February 20, 2026, is an interview with him. Its published description lists segments on ICE, on "Iran: Trump, war powers, and the Constitution" and on "Trump's record on foreign wars", and quotes a cold open: "We've dropped bombs on 7 countries — that's not no more foreign wars". The description does not say who speaks that line, and the recording itself could not be heard or transcribed for this card, so nothing from it is attributed to him.

U.S. aid to Palestinians

  • Nothing located, at any date.

Characterization of the conflict

  • Nothing located, at any date. The words Israel, Gaza, Palestinian and Hamas appear nowhere on his campaign site or in any of his questionnaire answers.

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.
  • [Position, 2026] His Ballotpedia questionnaire: "I would ban any trading of stocks or crypto currency by all elected officials, push for term limits to be enacted, and fight to ban corporate pac money from our elections." His campaign site's home page says "No corporate PAC money." Neither names an organization on this subject.

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

  • Nothing located, at any date.

What the campaign site and own pages say

  • [Undated; read 2026-09-28] His platform covers making life cheaper, middle-class and small business taxes, drug prices, right to repair, surveillance pricing, banks and private equity, Social Security, public safety, labor, American jobs, corruption, AI, data centers, foreign wars and marijuana. Only the foreign wars plank concerns defense or foreign affairs. His About page gives his biography.
  • [Position, 2026] Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey, completed in 2026 according to the page, which gives no day. His three key messages are about monopolies and housing, public safety and FEMA funding, and anti-corruption; he names health care, housing, public safety and anti-monopoly as the areas he is passionate about, and lists endorsements from Milwaukee Local 215 and the Working Class Hero's Fund. No question is about foreign policy and he raised none.
  • [Position, 2026-09-21] The USA TODAY Network-Wisconsin candidate questionnaire, as published by the Sheboygan Press and carried by Yahoo News, by Alex Garner. He answered all five questions, on why he is running, his priorities (monopolies, the PRO Act, health care and fixing the "rigged system"), the cost of living, working with opponents, and promises on town halls and corporate PAC money. None concerns foreign policy.
  • [Undated; read 2026-09-28] The 9to5 advocacy group's 2026 Wisconsin candidate questionnaire carries his answers on child care, paid leave and maternal health. None concerns foreign policy.
  • [Position, 2026-07-14; updated 2026-08-13] WUWM's guide to the 6th District candidates says "Thurow did not respond to WUWM's candidate questions" and lists his platform, including "no more foreign wars", from his campaign site.
  • [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, this is a fact about the guide's coverage and not about his views.
  • [Position, 2026-09-18] A post on his campaign's Facebook page thanks the League of Women Voters of the Ripon area for hosting the 6th District candidate forum. Its text says nothing about what was discussed, and the video attached to it could not be played here.

The race

  • [Read 2026-09-28] Ballotpedia's page for the 2026 election in Wisconsin's 6th District: "Incumbent Glenn Grothman (R), Bradley Smith (D), Matthew Arndt (G), Elizabeth Fitzgibbon (Independent), and Mike Thurow (Independent) are running in the general election for U.S. House Wisconsin District 6 on November 3, 2026." The Ripon Press announced that Smith, Arndt and Thurow had agreed to take part in the League of Women Voters forum at Ripon City Hall on September 16, 2026, and that it would be streamed on the city's YouTube channel.

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

  • The recording of the Independent Americans interview, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oyckUvegUe8 . Its page opened and its description was read, but its automatic captions returned nothing by the routes available here.
  • The recording of the September 16, 2026 League of Women Voters forum in Ripon, streamed on the City of Ripon's YouTube channel, which was not located.
  • His campaign's accounts, listed by Ballotpedia: Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/Thurowforcongress/ (one post read, above), X, https://x.com/Thurow4congress , Instagram, https://www.instagram.com/thurowforcongress , and LinkedIn, https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-thurow-b6868131a/ .

Not on the card, and why

  • The rest of his platform, on prices, taxes, drug prices, right to repair, banks, Social Security, public safety, labor, jobs, corruption, AI, data centers and marijuana: out of scope. Listed above so the absence can be checked.
  • The podcast description's segment titles on Iran and foreign wars: they are the show's words, not his, and Iran is a different question from what the United States sends the government of Israel.
  • His pledges on corporate PAC money: statements about his own campaign, naming no organization.
  • Glenn Grothman's, Bradley Smith's, Matthew Arndt's and Elizabeth Fitzgibbon's records belong on their own cards.

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

  • https://www.thurowforcongress.com/ , https://www.thurowforcongress.com/about , https://www.thurowforcongress.com/events and https://www.thurowforcongress.com/platform (opened; 2026-09-28)
  • https://ballotpedia.org/Mike_Thurow (opened; 2026-09-28; survey completed in 2026)
  • https://ballotpedia.org/Wisconsin%27s_6th_Congressional_District_election,_2026 (opened; 2026-09-28)
  • https://www.yahoo.com/news/politics/articles/wisconsin-6th-congressional-district-candidates-093116126.html (opened; 2026-09-28; published 2026-09-21; the Sheboygan Press article as syndicated; the original on sheboyganpress.com could not be opened)
  • https://9to5.org/resource/2026-wisconsin-midterms-candidate-positions/ (opened; 2026-09-28; undated)
  • https://www.wuwm.com/wisconsins-6th-congressional-district-candidates-2026 (opened; 2026-09-28; published 2026-07-14, updated 2026-08-13)
  • https://ivoterguide.com/candidate/97379 (opened; 2026-09-28)
  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oyckUvegUe8 (opened, description read, recording not heard; 2026-09-28; published 2026-02-20)
  • https://www.facebook.com/Thurowforcongress/videos/had-a-great-time-at-the-league-of-women-of-ripon-wisconsin-6th-district-candidat/1102452912725590/ (post text read, video not played; 2026-09-28; posted 2026-09-18)
  • https://www.riponpress.com/news/congressional-candidate-forum-planned/article_6c7ed8d4-f862-4250-a5ca-49a9c4497ac7.html (opened; 2026-09-28)
  • https://x.com/Thurow4congress , https://www.instagram.com/thurowforcongress and https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-thurow-b6868131a/ (could not open; 2026-09-28)
  • 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. ✗ Glenn Grothman (Republican)
  2. ? Brad Smith (Democrat)
  3. – Elizabeth Anne Fitzgibbon (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.