But What Can You Do? tracks where 2026 candidates stand on U.S. weapons and funding for the government of Israel. How we check
Tony Wied
Before he was elected, Wied said in July 2024 "I’m a big supporter of Israel, I believe Israel has a right to exist". Nothing located since has him saying what the United States should send the government of Israel, and he has said nothing about aid to Palestinians.
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Deep Dive
Tony Wied has represented Wisconsin's 8th District, which is centered on Green Bay, since November 2024. He founded and ran a chain of gas stations in northeast Wisconsin and sold the business in 2022. He won both the special election to finish Mike Gallagher's term and the full term on November 5, 2024, defeating the Democrat Kristin Lyerly, and he took his seat on November 12. He advanced from the Republican primary on August 11, 2026 and is running on November 3, 2026 against the Democrat Rick Crosson.
The one time he has been questioned about this at any length was during the 2024 campaign, before he held office. Jewish Insider, a Washington news organization covering politics and the Jewish community, interviewed all three Republicans running for the seat and reported that each of them said they supported continued American aid to the government of Israel. That sentence covers the three of them together and is the publication's summary rather than a quotation of his. What he said in his own words was this: "I’m a big supporter of Israel, I believe Israel has a right to exist. I think it’s in the United States of America’s best interest that Israel exists." He called Israel "an example of democracy in the Middle East" that the United States should support. The same publication described him as "the least voluble of the three candidates on foreign policy generally".
On American money for Palestinians he has said nothing we could find, in either direction. The nearest he came in the same interview was an answer about the United Nations, in which he said the United States should not be "the world’s piggy bank" and "shouldn’t be funding the majority of the U.N.’s operations when they continuously oppose U.S. interests". He named no agency and no program, and nothing in the answer is about relief for Palestinians. Asked in the same interview about a two-state solution, he did not take a position and said the priority is the hostages.
Since taking his seat he has published one statement that touches the subject. On June 18, 2025, during the fighting between Israel and Iran, he said "We can support Israel and stop Iran from building nuclear weapons without starting a new, and potentially endless, war", and that the country must learn from its earlier mistakes in the region rather than spend trillions and put American service members at risk. The statement is about Iran and about American military involvement, and it does not say what the United States should send to anyone.
In August 2025 he went to Israel with twenty other Republican members of Congress on a delegation organized by the American Israel Education Foundation, the charitable arm of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the lobbying organization that works to strengthen the United States relationship with the government of Israel. The lobbying organization's own account of the visit names him, and Jewish Insider reported that the delegation was to meet the Israeli prime minister and the leader of the opposition. His own office published nothing about the trip, and nothing he has published says what he took from it.
His campaign site lists seven priorities and none of them is foreign policy. His statements about Iran, his answers on the hostages and the United Nations, and everything else our research found are on his research page.
The record
Supported sending weapons or funding in 2 of 2 tracked votes
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.
Voted to send weapons or funding in more than half of their recorded tracked votes. (Supported sending weapons or funding in 2 of 2 tracked votes.)
The money
$10K in lifetime support from the five lobbying groups we track
In their words
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 congressional newsroom was read in full: all 61 press releases across its seven listing pages, back to the start of his service, plus the whole of the in-the-news listing, which holds one item, and the letters listing, which holds one. His campaign site was read in full. Bands: Position (2024-01-26 onward), Reaction window (2023-10-07 to 2024-01-25), Earlier record (before 2023-10-07), Undated. His recorded House votes and his recorded cosponsorships are shown in this card's record section and are not restated here.
U.S. military aid and weapons to the government of Israel
- [Position, 2024-07-15] Jewish Insider, on the three Republicans running to replace Mike Gallagher, by Marc Rod. The publication's own summary of the field reads: "All three candidates pledged support for Israel and said they supported continued U.S. aid to the Jewish state, but Roth leaned more toward traditional conservative foreign policy views than his two competitors, both of whom said they opposed additional U.S. aid to Ukraine." That is a collective statement about three people and is not sharpened here for one of them. What it quotes from Wied himself is: "I’m a big supporter of Israel, I believe Israel has a right to exist. I think it’s in the United States of America’s best interest that Israel exists." It adds that he described Israel as "an example of democracy in the Middle East" that the U.S. should support, and that he was "the least voluble of the three candidates on foreign policy generally". On Ukraine he called American support a "blank check" and said he is an "America First conservative". The two other candidates' answers are theirs and are not recorded here.
- [Position, 2025-06-18] His statement on the fighting between Israel and Iran, issued from De Pere and dated June 18, 2025 on his own House page. The passage nearest this subject: "It's my hope that Iran will see the writing on the wall and come back to the negotiating table. We can support Israel and stop Iran from building nuclear weapons without starting a new, and potentially endless, war. We must learn from our previous mistakes in the Middle East by refusing to spend trillions of taxpayer dollars and endangering the lives of our men and women in uniform in a futile attempt to change the anti-American culture of our enemies." The subject is American military involvement against Iran. It sets no figure, names no weapon and states no condition on anything the United States sends.
- Nothing located in which he discusses the dollar figure in the United States and Israel memorandum of understanding, any condition on that money, or any munitions transfer. He has said nothing that could be found about either of the amendments to cut that aid on which his votes are recorded, in his newsroom, on his campaign site or anywhere else.
- Nothing at all in his newsroom on any part of this subject in 2026.
U.S. aid to Palestinians
- Nothing located at any date, in either direction. Neither his House newsroom, nor his campaign site, nor any interview that could be read mentions humanitarian funding for Gaza, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, or the aid pipeline.
- [Position, 2024-07-15] The nearest item is an answer about the United Nations in the same 2024 interview, given when the publication asked about the body becoming a point of contention in the race: he said the United States shouldn't be "the world’s piggy bank" and "shouldn’t be funding the majority of the U.N.’s operations when they continuously oppose U.S. interests". He named no agency and no program, and nothing in the answer is about relief for Palestinians. It is recorded here rather than treated as a position on that question.
Characterization of the conflict
- [Position, 2024-07-15] In the same interview he did not take a position on a two-state solution and said the priority is the hostages held in Gaza. He said he believed the former president would have "prevented" the October 7 attack and "would be very helpful right now with diplomacy". Asked about Iran he offered no specific policy and said the United States must focus on "being as strong as we can be economically and militarily" and "providing peace around the world and using our influence", and that Iranian and proxy aggression against the United States and Israel would not have happened under a different president. The words in quotation marks are his; the sentences around them are the publication's account of what he said.
- [Position, 2025-06-18] His June 2025 statement: "Iran is the world's leading state sponsor of terrorism whose leaders have been responsible for the deaths of Americans and countless others. Their continued support for terrorist proxies and pursuit of regional dominance represents a grave threat to peace – not just for Israel, but for the broader Middle East. Israel, like all sovereign nations, has every right to defend itself from Iran and other rogue actors who do not believe it has a right to exist." The dashes in that passage are the page's own. It is about Iran rather than about the war in Gaza.
- [Position, 2025-06-28] His weekly update to constituents for June 27, 2025, published under his own byline by a Wisconsin local news site on June 28, 2025. On the American strikes on Iranian nuclear sites and what followed: "Within days of this strike, President Trump was able to negotiate a ceasefire between Iran and Israel. This was a remarkable showing of peace through strength by our President. He proved to the world that we once again have a real leader and will not tolerate threats to the United States or our allies abroad." The rest of the update is about domestic legislation. This is about Iran and is recorded here with its date.
- Nothing located in which he characterizes the war between Israel and Hamas, in any direction, beyond the 2024 answer about the hostages recorded above.
Israel-related rhetoric and lobbying
- [Position, 2025-08-05 and 2025-08-07] In August 2025 he traveled to Israel on a delegation of Republican House members led by the House Majority Whip and organized by the American Israel Education Foundation, the charitable arm of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. Jewish Insider's daily briefing of August 5, 2025 names him in the Republican delegation and says the visit "will include meetings with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Opposition Leader Yair Lapid". The lobbying organization's own channel published a short film on August 7, 2025 whose description reads: "Rep. Tony Wied, along with 20 Republican members of Congress, are in Israel with the American Israel Education Foundation." The film itself was not watched; only the page's own text is used. 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.
- [Read 2026-09-20] His entry in a congressional staff and travel directory states that he "has filed disclosures indicating that one or more outside organizations has funded travel" and puts the summary of those trips behind a subscription. It therefore confirms that privately funded travel has been disclosed without naming this trip. Our research reported the trip as documented in those disclosures; that is more than the public page shows.
- No statement of his about donations from any organization on this subject was located, and no such organization appears on his campaign site's endorsements page.
Safety and antisemitism (context, not an answer to what America sends)
- [Position, 2024-07-15] In the 2024 interview, asked about campuses at home, he said that as a member of Congress he would be a "role model to make sure that we are not hateful towards other people" and "not allowing that type of thing in this country", and added: "That’s President Trump, that’s me, and I’m proud to be the Trump-endorsed candidate, and I will do that." Context about conduct at home, not an answer about what America sends.
- Nothing else located at any date. The word antisemitism does not appear anywhere in his House newsroom or on his campaign site.
What the campaign site and own pages say
- [Read 2026-09-20] His campaign site and its issues page list seven priorities: Securing the Southern Border, Curbing Out of Control Spending, Supporting President Trump, Peace Through Strength, American Energy Independence, Supporting Wisconsin Agriculture and Protecting US Innovation. The Peace Through Strength section reads in full: "Our country's national security depends on a powerful military. Tony will fight to keep our military strong and eliminate any threat of terrorism inside of our borders." A case-insensitive search of the whole site for israel, gaza, palestin, hamas, antisemit, jewish, unrwa, west bank, foreign aid, middle east, aipac, arms, weapon and munition returns nothing at all. Its press release page carries six items, all from 2024 and none on this subject.
- [Read 2026-09-20] His House newsroom: 61 press releases across seven listing pages, every title searched for israel, gaza, palestin, hamas, unrwa, antisemit, jewish, jerusalem, west bank, netanyahu, hezbollah, houthi, middle east, aipac, hostage, ceasefire, iran, foreign aid, arms, weapon, munition, supplemental and appropriation, and every match opened. One matched: the June 18, 2025 statement above. The in-the-news listing holds a single item, an encyclopedia article about the 118th Congress, and the letters listing holds a single item, a January 29, 2025 confirmation letter on another subject. His site's issue pages are Congress, Economy, Education, Energy, Health and Veterans; there is no foreign policy page.
- [Read 2026-09-20] His Ballotpedia page records that he assumed office on November 12, 2024, that he was born in Lincoln, Nebraska, graduated from Notre Dame Academy and took a degree from St. Norbert College in 1998, and that he sits on the Agriculture, Small Business, and Transportation and Infrastructure committees. He has not completed Ballotpedia's 2026 candidate survey. He completed the 2024 one, and none of its answers, nor the campaign platform it reproduces from 2024, mentions Israel, Gaza, Palestinians or foreign aid.
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 Tony Wied, a Republican, and Rick Crosson, a Democrat. The list prints the district's incumbent as Tony Wied and gives the total number of candidates for the office as two.
- [Read 2026-09-20] Ballotpedia's page for the 2026 election in Wisconsin's 8th District agrees: "Incumbent Tony Wied and Rick Crosson are running in the general election for U.S. House Wisconsin District 8 on November 3, 2026." Wied advanced from the Republican primary with 99.8 percent; Rick Crosson won the Democratic primary with 35.2 percent over Mark Scheffler at 33.0 and Katrina deVille at 31.6. Benjamin Hable, a Democrat, is listed as withdrawn or disqualified. Ballotpedia prints its own caution that the candidate list may not be complete. The page also records the 2024 results: Wied defeated Kristin Lyerly with 57.3 percent in the regular general election and 57.2 percent in the special general election, both held on November 5, 2024.
- Rick Crosson'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://www.wispolitics.com/2025/u-s-rep-wied-releases-statement-on-the-conflict-between-israel-and-iran/ , the subscription service where our research found the June 2025 statement. It refuses a plain retrieval. The same statement is published in full on his own House page, which is what was read, and that page dates it June 18, 2025.
- https://pbswisconsin.org/candidate/tony-wied/ , a public broadcaster's candidate page. That host refuses every attempt, as it has for other candidates.
- The film of the August 2025 visit at https://www.youtube.com/shorts/TUdaCSRIPLU . The page opened and its own description is used; the film itself was not watched.
- His accounts on X, Facebook and Instagram, official and campaign, and the interview he refers constituents to at WBAY. None was read or watched.
Not on the card, and why
- Everything he has said about Iran: the June 2025 statement in its parts about strikes, sanctions and negotiation, the June 2025 constituent update about the strikes and the ceasefire, and the 2024 answer about strength and influence. A different question from what the United States sends to the government of Israel or to Palestinians. Where an Iran clause sits inside a sentence of his that is quoted whole, the quotation keeps its own words and nothing is built on it.
- His answers about Ukraine and about the former president's role, in the same 2024 interview. Out of scope.
- The campus answer in the 2024 interview. Context about conduct at home, not an answer about what America sends.
- The other two candidates' answers in the 2024 interview, which make up most of the article. Other people's records.
- The border, spending, energy, agriculture, innovation and military-strength material that fills his campaign site, and the agriculture, transportation, veterans and health material that fills his newsroom. Out of scope. The headings are named above so a reader can see what the rest of the record covers.
- Rick Crosson's record. Another candidate's record belongs on that candidate's own card.
- The recorded votes and the recorded cosponsorships. They are shown in this card's record section. The prose narrates no roll call, because he has said nothing about any of them in his own words.
- 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 yet a candidate then.
Sources retrieved for this card (address; opened or could not open; date)
- https://jewishinsider.com/2024/07/mike-gallagher-gop-wisconsin-candidates-u-s-foreign-policy/ (opened; 2026-09-20; article:published_time 2024-07-15T08:55:24+00:00)
- https://wied.house.gov/media/press-releases and all seven of its listing pages, 61 items (opened; 2026-09-20)
- https://wied.house.gov/media/press-releases/rep-wied-releases-statement-conflict-between-israel-and-iran (opened; 2026-09-20; dated June 18, 2025 on the page)
- https://wied.house.gov/media/in-the-news and https://wied.house.gov/media/letters (opened; 2026-09-20; one item each)
- https://appletonwi.org/congressman-tony-wieds-update-june-27-2025-capital-credit-union/ (opened; 2026-09-20; article:published_time 2025-06-28T00:12:35+00:00, published under his own byline)
- https://jewishinsider.com/2025/08/daily-kickoff-lessons-from-the-gaza-withdrawal-20-years-on/ (opened; 2026-09-20; article:published_time 2025-08-05T11:58:01+00:00)
- https://www.youtube.com/shorts/TUdaCSRIPLU (opened; 2026-09-20; uploaded 2025-08-07 by the lobbying organization's own channel; the film was not watched)
- https://www.legistorm.com/person/bio/495551/Anthony_Christian_Wied.html (opened; 2026-09-20; the travel summary is behind a subscription)
- https://tonywiedforcongress.com , https://tonywiedforcongress.com/issues/ , https://tonywiedforcongress.com/press-releases/ and https://tonywiedforcongress.com/endorsements/ (opened; 2026-09-20)
- https://ballotpedia.org/Tony_Wied and https://ballotpedia.org/Wisconsin%27s_8th_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://www.wispolitics.com/2025/u-s-rep-wied-releases-statement-on-the-conflict-between-israel-and-iran/ and https://pbswisconsin.org/candidate/tony-wied/ (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
- –No Position Found Rick Crosson (Democrat)
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