André Carson
D · U.S. House, IN-7 · Tier 4
Tier 4, “Critical / conditions aid”
Original Block the Bombs cosponsor and a genocide-resolution cosponsor; among the earliest and most consistent House critics of Israel's conduct — while retaining an explicit two-state, both-states-side-by-side framing. He co-led the 2023 Ceasefire Now resolution, led a February 2024 letter urging Congress not to block UNRWA funding, voted No on Iron Dome funding in 2021, was one of three original cosponsors of the 2024 Nakba and refugee-rights resolution (H.Res.1231), and is an original cosponsor of the 2025 and 2026 Nakba and right-of-return resolutions (H.Res.409, one of only eight, and H.Res.1289, May 14, 2026). He has not, though, taken a current full arms-embargo position, and his one vote to cut off Israel’s military financing was an Aye on the July 15, 2026 Massie amendment (roll 243). After voting No on the April 2024 Israel aid package he co-signed a 19-member statement saying “We believe strongly in Israel’s right to self-defense” and “All of us support strengthening the Iron Dome and other defense systems.” In 2024 he also signed letters urging the State Department to affirm U.S. opposition to the forced displacement of Palestinians from Gaza (January), backing refugee status for Gazans with U.S. citizen or permanent-resident relatives (June) and urging sanctions on Israeli ministers Smotrich and Ben-Gvir over incitement of settler violence (October). Between March 2025 and January 2026 he signed letters demanding answers on the detentions of the student activists Mahmoud Khalil and Rümeysa Öztürk (March 2025) and Mohsen Mahdawi (April 2025), opposing West Bank annexation with most House Democrats (September 2025) and asking the administration to warn Israel off annexation and the E-1 settlement and to reimpose Biden-era West Bank sanctions (January 2026). In August and September 2026 Carson signed Tlaib’s letter demanding the release of 20-year-old US citizen Sama Safi from Israeli military detention, the Dexter–Ruiz letter seeking the release of Gaza pediatrician Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya from Israeli detention without charge (Sep 8), the Pocan–Quigley letter on Palestinian medical workers held by Israel without charge and a 72-member letter urging Netanyahu to contain settler violence in the West Bank and “halt further settlement approvals” (both Sep 24). On Oct 1, 2026 Carson became an original cosponsor of the Stop the Settlements Act (H.R.10642), which would sanction those who build or expand Israeli settlements in the West Bank and Gaza and ban imports of settlement goods. In June 2026 Carson signed a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, led by Reps. Becca Balint and Joaquin Castro, on Israel’s operations in southern Lebanon, saying Israel’s “targeted, mass destruction of civilian homes and infrastructure does not constitute Israeli self-defense” and asking that, if U.S.-origin arms were confirmed in those operations, the administration “stop arms transfers being used in these operations until these violations cease”; the letter also affirmed that “Israel has a right to defend itself.” On Oct 21, 2026, after Israeli forces detained some 33 Americans at the olive harvest, he wrote that settler attacks “are enabled by a culture of impunity that treats Palestinian lives as expendable” and that “The U.S. must protect Palestinian lives by demanding an end to settler violence and the enforcement of real consequences for those carrying out and enabling these attacks.” Jewish Insider reported on Oct 23, 2026 that Carson was among about 30 signers of a draft letter, led by Rep. Ro Khanna and gathering signatures through Nov 6, urging the negotiators of the 2027 defense authorization bill to strip its U.S.-Israel defense-technology cooperation provisions; the draft, which cites Israel’s conduct in Gaza, the West Bank and Lebanon, says “These are not the actions of a government whose defense establishment should be granted deeper access to American military technology, nor rewarded with U.S. defense contracts,” and asks that any framework kept “carry human rights conditions consistent with those governing other United States security assistance.”
A 4, on one of the House’s earliest and most consistent records. He is an original Block the Bombs cosponsor (May 21, 2025) and cosponsors the H.Res.876 genocide resolution, which puts him on record naming the genocide, though not in his own statements. He co-led the 2023 Ceasefire Now resolution, has led on UNRWA funding for years (letters with Bernie Sanders in 2023 and with Pramila Jayapal and Jamie Raskin in 2024, and the 2025 restoration act), and was one of nine House Democrats to vote No on “Standing with Israel” (Oct 2023) and one of eight to vote No on the 2021 Iron Dome money. An original cosponsor of Tlaib’s 2024, 2025 and 2026 Nakba resolutions (one of three on the first), he is on record for the Palestinian right of return, a position that questions Israel’s legitimacy and reaches toward the Tier 6 end. What holds him at 4 is aid: he conditions offensive arms but has stated no end to military aid; in April 2024 he co-signed a statement that “All of us support strengthening the Iron Dome,” and in July 2025 voted to keep Israel’s missile-defense funding; he backs “a democratic state of Israel and a democratic state of Palestine, living side-by-side”; and he takes no embargo or BDS position. Counter-case: 4/5, weighing the Nakba resolutions and his long record above the aid position.
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elect26 places 2026 midterm candidates on a six-tier spectrum, from 1 (most pro-Israel) to 6 (most critical of Israel).