Darren Soto
D · U.S. House, FL-9 · Tier 1/2
Tier 1/2, between “Firmly pro-Israel” and “Mainstream pro-Israel”
On eleven tracked votes he sided against the larger bloc of House Democrats, each time toward the pro-Israel position: he voted to censure Rashida Tlaib (Nov 2023), for the Israel-only supplementals that carried no humanitarian aid (H.R.6126, Nov 2023; H.R.7217, Feb 2024), for the bill to force the paused bomb shipment (H.R.8369, May 2024), for both ICC-sanctions bills (Jun 2024, Jan 2025), for the June 2024 amendment barring the State Department from citing Gaza Health Ministry casualty figures, for the September 2024 Anti-BDS Labeling Act and for the September 2026 anti-boycott university bill, and against the July 2026 Massie amendment and the June 30, 2026 Lebanon war-powers resolution. On Gaza's civilians, he joined Jayapal's H.Res.473, which is “gravely concerned” with “acute suffering of the Palestinian civilians in Gaza” and calls for urgent humanitarian aid, the day after its June 2025 introduction, and he signed group letters including the November 2023 letter of 92 House Democrats urging swift passage of President Biden’s supplemental request for its humanitarian aid, which said “a prompt and robust humanitarian response is necessary to protect the lives of Palestinians, Americans, and Israelis”, and Auchincloss’s September 2025 letter, which said “the hunger crisis and suffering of civilians in Gaza—particularly among children—requires urgent action to stop the violence, expand humanitarian assistance, and build a better future.” He also signed the March 2024 Schneider–Panetta letter to President Biden, which said a pause in fighting would “give desperately needed relief to the millions of civilians displaced by this war,” and Gottheimer’s September 2025 letter asking the UN to deploy peacekeepers to protect aid convoys in Gaza, which said “Hamas diverts and sells aid and is not focused on feeding innocent Palestinian families and children.” No statement on Israel or Gaza appears among his House press releases since October 2023; before the window he authored the United States–Israel Agriculture Strategic Partnership Act (2017). In January 2024 he signed the Smith–Manning letter, whose signers “thoroughly reject” South Africa’s “charge of genocide” against Israel, and later that year letters urging Speaker Johnson to put the Senate’s aid package to “an immediate vote” so that “critical aid is delivered to Israel” (April), asking the Treasury and State Departments to designate as terrorists and sanction UNRWA employees “who took part in the October 7 terrorist attacks” (May, 51 signers) and seeking a classified briefing on “the Iranian government’s recent influence efforts to promote and encourage anti-Israel protests” (July, 31 signers).
A 1/2, not a clean 1. On votes he sits at the pro-Israel end of his party — the Tlaib censure, H.R.8369, both ICC-sanctions bills, the casualty-figures ban and the anti-boycott bill — but there has been no leadership on the issue since October 2023: no authored Israel legislation in the window, no caucus role and no pro-Israel fundraising brand found. His concern for Gaza's civilians comes through the H.Res.473 cosponsorship and group letters he signed between November 2023 and September 2025, each set beside support for Israel’s security; with no statement of his own outside those, that is not enough for a flat 2, and he also signed two 2024 letters with few signers that point toward the pro-Israel end, for sanctions on UNRWA staff (51) and for a briefing on Iran’s alleged role in the protests (31). Counter-case both ways: a clean 1 if the run of party-breaking votes, including the Tlaib censure, is read as leadership; toward 2 if the H.Res.473 cosponsorship and the humanitarian letters are weighed as concern for Palestinians.
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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).