August Pfluger
R · U.S. House, TX-11 · Tier 1
Tier 1, “Firmly pro-Israel”
Republican Study Committee chairman and former Air Force fighter pilot who wrote the July 2023 resolution declaring that “The State of Israel is not a racist or apartheid state” (H.Con.Res.57, adopted by both chambers) and the Expediting Israeli Aerial Refueling Act (H.R.1218, Feb 2023) to train Israeli pilots on KC-46 tankers. After October 7 he introduced a bill to bar or remove foreign nationals who “endorse or espouse” Hamas terrorism (H.R.6200, Nov 2023; reintroduced 2025), citing “thousands of people across the United States openly supporting the Hamas terrorists,” led the House bill to block Iran’s $6 billion, and as chairman of the Homeland Security counterterrorism subcommittee held a June 2025 hearing on antisemitic and anti-Israel attacks. He said “Israel has every right to eliminate this evil terrorist network” (Feb 2025), and voted for the 2023–24 aid supplementals, H.Res.894, the Antisemitism Awareness Act, H.R.8369 against the 2024 arms pause, ICC sanctions (2024 and 2025) and the September 2026 anti-boycott bill, and against the 2025 Greene and 2026 Massie cuts. In January 2024 he signed the Smith–Manning letter, whose signers “thoroughly reject” South Africa’s “charge of genocide” against Israel.
A clean 1. He writes Israel legislation as a matter of course: the 2023 resolution rejecting the apartheid characterization, the bill to speed tanker capability to Israel, a post-October 7 bill to bar and remove foreign nationals who support Hamas, and the Iran-funds bill, alongside a subcommittee hearing on antisemitic and anti-Israel attacks and a MACH 1 Caucus letter urging faster tanker deliveries to Israel. His statements stay in the stand-with-Israel frame — on Nasrallah’s killing, “I am glad he is gone” — and the concern for Gaza’s civilians he has voiced is an argument for arming Israel without conditions: a March 2024 op-ed he co-wrote says “It is Hamas, not Israel, that bears ultimate responsibility for the suffering and death in Gaza” and that “The U.S. can protect civilians, on both sides of the conflict, by continuing to ensure Israel receives as much U.S. assistance as is needed.” There is no real counter-case.
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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).