2026 Midterm Roster: Palestine, Genocide, and Zionism

New York rows (statewide, U.S. House, State Senate, Assembly, city) are imported verbatim from the 2026 primary archive; national rows are research-compiled. Tiers reflect the strongest documented signal (Block the Bombs / genocide-resolution cosponsorship, AIPAC·DMFI·RJC endorsement, direct statements); contested placements show a split badge (e.g., Tier 4 | Tier 5). Several national placements are inferred from votes/endorsements rather than direct quotes — see each row's position text. How the tiers work: a six-step spectrum from Tier 1 (firmest pro-Israel / Zionist) to Tier 6 (most critical of Israel, supporting Palestine), with each placement set by a candidate's strongest documented signal. The higher tiers (5–6) require straining or breaking the Zionist consensus — an arms embargo, BDS, "genocide" framing, backing measures like Block the Bombs. The poles aren't symmetrical: Tier 1's pro-Israel commitment is typically unequivocal, while Tier 6's support for Palestine is necessarily more diplomatic — by the nature of US electoral politics, even candidates most critical of a state perpetrating genocide have to hedge. Strikingly few candidates in either party break from a broadly Zionist frame, and essentially none describe themselves as anti-Zionist — itself a measure of how Israel-centric American electoral politics remains even amid the genocide in Gaza.

Two linked pages. This roster tracks the general-election field (all of NY plus national House & Senate). Its companion, the 2026 primary archive ↗, holds the June 23 NY primary results and the deeper per-race detail. NY placements here are pulled from that archive.

What Tiers 5 and 6 actually require — and why almost no one reaches them. The top of this scale is deliberately hard to reach. A Tier 5 placement demands a firm, consistent stance — not a position adopted only once the genocide became politically costly to ignore; wavering is penalized, and a late conversion counts for less than a long record. A candidate who backed Iron Dome funding during the genocide generally cannot reach Tier 5 (and struggles to hold a 4/5), and recent pro-Israel money — an AIPAC, DMFI, CUFI, or J Street contribution in 2022 or later — keeps a candidate below 5 regardless of later rhetoric. Endorsements from the most critical electeds don't by themselves certify a Tier 5, because those figures sit around 4/5 themselves: Bernie Sanders has fought for years to block arms sales yet still affirms Israel's right to exist as a Jewish state and backs a two-state solution, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez reached 4/5 only after a long pro–Iron Dome record she reversed in 2026. Being endorsed by them is not a mark against a candidate — it simply doesn't lift one into Tier 5 on its own.

Tier 6 is harder still — and electoral politics is not its ceiling. Even the most critical figures in American politics are surpassed by the scholars and organizers who have carried this movement from outside electoral life. That fuller position tends to name itself anti-Zionist plainly; to treat BDS as one tactic among many rather than the whole of resistance; to center justice, return, and decolonization rather than offering "coexistence" or a two-state endgame as the primary frame; and to insist on the right of return and an honest reckoning with 1948. Measured against that horizon, even the strongest candidates here — those backing a complete embargo, naming the genocide without hedging, and affirming Palestinian return — represent the leading edge of what is currently sayable in American electoral politics, which remains far behind the movement it trails.

Re-audit (late June 2026). After the June 23 NY primaries, every row was re-checked against the finalized rules. Movements, with direction: toward Israel — Grace Meng (NY-6) Tier 3 → 2 (AIPAC top career donor, no conditioning); Paul Tonko (NY-20) Tier 4 → 3 (J Street cap + 2024 AIPAC PAC money). Away from Israel — Jabari Brisport (SD-25), Julia Salazar (SD-18), and Diana Moreno (AD-36) resolved Tier 5/6 → 6 on documented BDS / anti-Zionist / right-of-return markers; David Orkin (AD-38) resolved 5/6 → 5 (anti-Zionist frame but thin individual record). National: Janelle Stelson (PA-10), Paige Cognetti (PA-8), and Shannon Bird (CO-8) Tier 1 → 2 (DMFI money, but no firmest-pro-Israel statements). Tag corrections: removed an erroneous "AIPAC" funder tag from Claire Valdez (NY-7) — that spend targeted a different race — and "DSA" tags from Jordan Wright (AD-70) and Jessica Scarcella-Spanton (SD-23), both of whom DSA opposed. Removed (not 2026 candidates): Jen Perelman (FL-25) and David Siffert (AD-66).