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

Fred Clark

Democrat · U.S. House, Wisconsin District 7
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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 Clark taking a position on U.S. weapons or money for the government of Israel, or on U.S. aid to Palestinians. His campaign platform runs to nine sections and does not reach these questions, and nothing he has published elsewhere does either.

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Deep Dive

Fred Clark is the Democratic nominee in Wisconsin's 7th District, which covers the northern quarter of the state and has no incumbent in this race. He is a forester who owns Clark Forestry and who worked before that as a service forester for the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources and as a forest ecologist for The Nature Conservancy. He served in the Wisconsin State Assembly from 2009 to 2015 and has never held federal office. He won the Democratic primary on August 11, 2026 with 37.5 percent, ahead of Ginger Murray and Chris Armstrong, and faces the Republican Michael Alfonso on November 3, 2026.

This is an empty record on these questions rather than a thin one. His platform runs to nine sections, each with a page of its own, and Israel, Gaza, Palestinians, weapons and foreign aid appear in none of them. The nine are affordability, health care, women's rights and women's health, the rural economy, farms and forests, border safety and immigration, the Constitution and the rule of law, oversight of data centers, and artificial intelligence. He also answered Ballotpedia's candidate survey this year, and when it asked which areas of public policy he is personally passionate about he named conservation, public lands, small businesses and congressional oversight. An empty record carries no implication either way.

The nearest his published words come is a sentence about the price of fuel. On the night he won the primary his campaign issued a statement calling this Congress a failure for northern Wisconsin, saying the tariff policy is crushing farmers, businesses and consumers, and adding that "Fuel costs are up because of another truly crazy misadventure in the Middle East." He named no country, no weapon and no form of aid there. In a March 2026 television interview he named a Republican senator as the member of Congress he most respects, for voting to put the decision to go to war back in Congress's hands, and the conflict he was talking about is not this one.

Six local news accounts of his campaign, including a candidate forum, a town hall and a survey of the primary field, could not be read here, and their 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 Clark 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.

In their words

“Fuel costs are up because of another truly crazy misadventure in the Middle East. And Congress shares the blame for all of it.”
Source ↗, 2026-08-11

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, page by page: the home page, the biography page, the priorities page and all nine of its issue pages, the endorsements page, the media page, the events page, the volunteer page and the contact page. Bands: Position (2024-01-26 onward), Reaction window (2023-10-07 to 2024-01-25), Earlier record (before 2023-10-07), Undated. He has never held federal office, so this record carries no roll calls and no tracked funding.

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

  • Nothing located at any date, in either direction. A case-insensitive search of every page of his campaign site for israel, gaza, palestin, hamas, antisemit, jewish, unrwa, west bank, weapon, munition, arms, foreign aid, middle east, netanyahu, aipac, ceasefire and hostage returns nothing at all.
  • [Position, 2026-03-07] WSAW's interview with him, by Dale Ryman. Asked which serving politician he would most closely align himself with, he named Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky: "The reason I do is that just yesterday, he voted to have Congress have the war powers in order to basically confirm the decision of whether or not we should be at war in Iran." The subject is the war with Iran and the war powers question, not what the United States sends to the government of Israel or to Palestinians. The full conversation is published as video, which was not watched.

U.S. aid to Palestinians

  • Nothing located at any date, in either direction. Neither the campaign site, nor his campaign's own list of press releases, nor his Ballotpedia survey answers mentions humanitarian funding for Gaza, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, or the aid pipeline.

Characterization of the conflict

  • Nothing located at any date. He has not been reported saying anything about the war between Israel and Hamas, in any direction, and no question about it appears in anything of his that could be read.
  • [Position, 2026-08-11] The statement his campaign issued on the night of the primary, reproduced in full by Urban Milwaukee at 11:31 pm that day. The passage nearest this subject is: "This Congress has been an abject failure for northern Wisconsin. Health care is more expensive and harder to get. This insane tariff policy is crushing our farmers, businesses and consumers. Fuel costs are up because of another truly crazy misadventure in the Middle East. And Congress shares the blame for all of it." It names no country, no weapon and no recipient, and the rest of the statement is about costs, tariffs and working across party lines.
  • [Position, 2026-04-30; could not be verified] Our research reported a post on his campaign's Facebook page calling for congressional oversight under the War Powers Act, in which he is said to have written that "tomorrow is Day 60 since the US and Israel launched a war on Iran" and to have criticized Washington for lacking an exit plan. The address our research gave for it is a Facebook post belonging to a television station in Tyler, Texas and has nothing to do with him, and the words could not be found anywhere else. His campaign's own page is at https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61580798786652 and could not be read here. Nothing is written from this, on the card or anywhere else.

Israel-related rhetoric and lobbying

  • Nothing located at any date. No statement of his about any lobbying organization on this subject was found, and no such organization appears on his campaign site. His endorsements page lists former and current elected officials, local community members, a state labor federation and conservation and environmental groups, and no Israel-related organization of any kind.
  • [Undated; read 2026-09-20] Asked by Ballotpedia what organizations or individuals have endorsed his campaign, he answered: "Our campaign has been endorsed by former and current elected officials, and a growing number of community members." No organization is named in the answer.

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

  • Nothing located at any date. The word antisemitism does not appear anywhere on his campaign site or in any statement of his that could be read.

What the campaign site and own pages say

  • [Read 2026-09-20] His campaign site has nine pages plus nine issue pages. The priorities page sets out A Real Affordability Agenda, Health Care for Everyone, Supporting Women's Rights and Women's Health, Rebuilding Our Rural Economy, A Future for our Farms and Forests, Border Safety and Immigration, Our Constitution and the Rule of Law, Putting the Reins on Data Centers and Making Artificial Intelligence Work For Us. Each opens onto its own page, and all nine were read. Not one line of any of them is about foreign policy of any kind.
  • [Read 2026-09-20] His biography page describes him as a forester and land manager, a long time business owner and employer, and a rural legislator, and says what happens in Washington affects northern Wisconsin. The media page lists six campaign press releases from 2026: a challenge to hold seven debates in the district, two endorsements, an item about his opponent's public appearances, an item about firearms, and a call to halt an oil pipeline after a spill. None of the titles touches this subject and none is published on the site as a document.
  • [Read 2026-09-20] His Ballotpedia page records that he completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2026. The survey asks three required questions. His three key messages are about representation, partisanship and a new majority in Congress; the policy areas he names as personal passions are "Conservation, public lands, small businesses, and Congressional oversight"; and his endorsement answer is quoted above. None of the three reaches this subject. The page also gives his education, a bachelor's degree from Michigan State University in 1985 and a graduate degree from the University of Wisconsin, Madison in 1992, his profession as forester, and his service in the Wisconsin State Assembly from 2009 to 2015, in District 42 and then District 81.

The race

  • [Read 2026-09-20] The general election is on November 3, 2026. Wisconsin's partisan primary was held on August 11, 2026 and the filing deadline was June 1, 2026. The field on the Wisconsin Elections Commission's certified Candidates on Ballot list, printed on August 25, 2026, is Michael Alfonso, a Republican, and Fred Clark, a Democrat. The list prints the district's incumbent as Tom Tiffany and gives the total number of candidates for the office as two. The same list carries Tom Tiffany as a candidate for governor of Wisconsin, on the Republican ticket with David Varnam.
  • [Read 2026-09-20] Ballotpedia's page for the 2026 election in Wisconsin's 7th District agrees: "Fred Clark and Michael Alfonso are running in the general election for U.S. House Wisconsin District 7 on November 3, 2026." It states plainly that "There are no incumbents in this race", that "Incumbent Tom Tiffany (R) ran for governor of Wisconsin", and that "Before the election, this was one of 59 open races for the U.S. House of Representatives in which an incumbent did not seek re-election." Clark won the Democratic primary with 37.5 percent and 25,229 votes over Ginger Murray at 31.9 percent and Chris Armstrong at 30.3; Michael Alfonso won the Republican primary with 48.9 percent. Cheryl Ann Runkel and Paul Wassgren, both Republicans, are listed as withdrawn or disqualified. Ballotpedia prints its own caution that the candidate list may not be complete.
  • Michael Alfonso's record is on his own card and is not narrated here.

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

  • https://wausaupilotandreview.com/2026/07/31/meet-the-democratic-candidates-for-7th-congressional-district-seat/ , a survey of the three Democrats in the primary published on July 31, 2026. It could not be opened on 2026-09-20. Of everything found, this is the item most likely to put questions to him that his platform does not cover.
  • https://www.apg-wi.com/ashland_daily_press/news/local/democratic-candidates-for-7th-congressional-district-hold-ashland-forum/article_a3463f27-2f34-4fda-88f7-e0929c0d762c.html , a report of a candidate forum in Ashland. Both attempts failed.
  • https://www.antigojournal.com/news/clark-talks-issues-at-town-hall-meeting/article_c26e853e-bbd4-4b12-a690-d5d06904c9ac.html , a report of a town hall meeting, and https://www.hudsonstarobserver.com/news/why-fred-clark-is-running-for-wisconsins-7th-congressional-district/article_dbb28266-14ff-429e-b627-dbc194b1d743.html , a profile. Both return the same refusal.
  • https://rivernewsonline.com/news/2026/mar/03/democrat-clark-makes-case-for-the-wisconsins-7th-congressional-district-seat/ , which returned its navigation and no article text, and https://wisconsinexaminer.com/2026/08/12/fred-clark-wins-the-democratic-nomination-in-the-7th-cd/ , which could not be opened.
  • https://www.wispolitics.com/2026/clark-campaign-fred-clark-secures-democratic-nomination-for-congress/ , his campaign's own release on the same subscription service. It refused a plain retrieval and stops at a subscription prompt otherwise. The whole release is published openly at the Urban Milwaukee address above, which is what was read.
  • His campaign's video: https://www.wsaw.com/video/2026/03/06/1-on-1-with-7th-congressional-candidate-fred-clark/ . No video was watched for this card.
  • His campaign's accounts: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61580798786652 and https://instagram.com/fredclarkforwi , both linked from his own site, and the YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/@ClarkforWisconsin that Ballotpedia lists. None was read.

Not on the card, and why

  • The claim that he posted in April 2026 about the sixtieth day of the war with Iran. The address our research gave for it belongs to a television station in Texas, the words could not be found anywhere else, and his campaign's own page could not be read. An unverified claim is recorded here and goes no further.
  • The rest of the primary night statement, on health care and on working with anybody to bring down costs. Out of scope. The whole passage is set out above.
  • The rest of the March 2026 interview, on his years in the state Assembly, on campaign strategy and on tariffs. Out of scope. The one answer in it that comes near this subject is quoted in full above, and it is about the war powers question and a different conflict.
  • The affordability, health care, women's health, rural economy, farms and forests, immigration, Constitution, data center oversight and artificial intelligence material that fills his platform. Out of scope. The headings are named above so a reader can see what the rest of the record covers.
  • Michael Alfonso's record. Another candidate's record belongs on that candidate's own card.
  • The reaction-window rule has nothing to act on here. Nothing of his from between October 7, 2023 and January 25, 2024 was found in any source read for this card; he held no office and was not a candidate then.

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

  • https://www.clarkforwi.com/ , /about , /issues , /media , /endorsements , /events , /volunteer1 , /contact and /privacy-policy (opened; 2026-09-20)
  • The nine issue pages: https://www.clarkforwi.com/issues/a-real-affordability-agenda , /issues/issue-2 , /issues/supporting-womens-rights-and-womens-health , /issues/issue-1 , /issues/A-future-for-our-farms-and-forests , /issues/safety-at-the-border-and-immigration-policy , /issues/our-constitution-and-the-rule-of-law , /issues/putting-the-reins-on-data-centers and /issues/making-artificial-intelligence-work-for-us (opened; 2026-09-20)
  • https://urbanmilwaukee.com/pressrelease/fred-clark-secures-democratic-nomination-for-congress/ (opened; 2026-09-20; posted August 11, 2026 at 11:31 pm)
  • https://www.wsaw.com/2026/03/07/dem-candidate-clark-brings-political-experience-7th-district-race-compares-self-gops-rand-paul/ (opened; 2026-09-20; article:published_time 2026-03-07T00:25:38.924Z, by Dale Ryman)
  • https://ballotpedia.org/Fred_Clark and https://ballotpedia.org/Wisconsin%27s_7th_Congressional_District_election,_2026 (opened; 2026-09-20)
  • https://elections.wi.gov/media/40951/download , the Wisconsin Elections Commission's Candidates on Ballot list for the 2026 general election (opened; 2026-09-20; printed August 25, 2026)
  • https://wausaupilotandreview.com/2026/07/31/meet-the-democratic-candidates-for-7th-congressional-district-seat/ , https://www.antigojournal.com/news/clark-talks-issues-at-town-hall-meeting/article_c26e853e-bbd4-4b12-a690-d5d06904c9ac.html , https://www.hudsonstarobserver.com/news/why-fred-clark-is-running-for-wisconsins-7th-congressional-district/article_dbb28266-14ff-429e-b627-dbc194b1d743.html , https://wisconsinexaminer.com/2026/08/12/fred-clark-wins-the-democratic-nomination-in-the-7th-cd/ and https://www.apg-wi.com/ashland_daily_press/news/local/democratic-candidates-for-7th-congressional-district-hold-ashland-forum/article_a3463f27-2f34-4fda-88f7-e0929c0d762c.html (could not open; 2026-09-20)
  • https://rivernewsonline.com/news/2026/mar/03/democrat-clark-makes-case-for-the-wisconsins-7th-congressional-district-seat/ (navigation only, no article text; 2026-09-20)
  • https://www.wispolitics.com/2026/clark-campaign-fred-clark-secures-democratic-nomination-for-congress/ (subscription; 2026-09-20)
  • https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61580798786652 , https://instagram.com/fredclarkforwi , https://www.youtube.com/@ClarkforWisconsin and https://www.wsaw.com/video/2026/03/06/1-on-1-with-7th-congressional-candidate-fred-clark/ (not read or watched; 2026-09-20)
  • https://www.patheos.com/blogs/slacktivist/ , the blog of a Christian writer of the same name, and https://docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/legislators/138 , the Wisconsin legislature's record for the former Assembly member (checked for identity; 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. – Michael Alfonso (Republican)

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.