Dave Bushaw
I · U.S. House, IA-2 · Tier 3/4
Tier 3/4, between “Pro-Israel, critical” and “Critical / conditions aid”
A farmer and former Bernie Sanders field organizer running as an independent in IA-2 on universal health care, labor rights and rural revitalization. His platform singles out the FY2025 defense bill's funding “for Israel’s Iron Dome, David’s Sling, and Arrow programs,” saying “we are giving American taxpayer dollars to a country – Israel – who guarantees healthcare to all of their citizens. I cannot see the logic in this,” calling it “just one example of many where the Military Industrial Complex is directing US tax dollars abroad,” and pledges to cut the military budget “to strictly prioritize domestic defence.” At a Sept 26, 2026 stop in Tama County, by the Sun Courier’s account, he opposed using U.S. taxpayer dollars to finance Israeli military operations and backed Palestinian sovereignty, saying of Israel: “If they want to spend their own money waging conflicts in the Middle East and making enemies out of everybody, that’s on them.” He refuses AIPAC money.
A 3/4. He singles out U.S. funding for Israel's missile-defense programs as money that should stay home and pledges to cut the military budget to domestic defense alone — an objection that names Israel and reaches defensive systems, though he offers it as “just one example of many” — and he refuses AIPAC money. What holds him short of 4 is that the objection is fiscal: when he went further at a Sept 26, 2026 stop in Tama County, opposing U.S. taxpayer money for Israel’s military operations by a local reporter’s account (“If they want to spend their own money waging conflicts in the Middle East and making enemies out of everybody, that’s on them”), he grounded it in spending at home (“I want to focus on our borders here before we’re off fighting every other conflict abroad”), and he says nothing about Gaza or the genocide. Counter-cases: a 4 if the domestic-defense pledge is read as ending military aid to Israel, missile defense included; a 3 on the fiscal framing.
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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).