David Pan
R · U.S. House, CA-46 · Tier 1/2
Tier 1/2, between “Firmly pro-Israel” and “Mainstream pro-Israel”
A UC Irvine German professor and former member of the State Department’s Commission on Unalienable Rights, in his second race against Rep. Lou Correa. His June 2024 campaign-kickoff speech, still on his site, blamed campus indoctrination for “student protests against Israel and in favor of Hamas” and urged unity against “protestors who support terrorists”; an April 2024 post on his campaign blog (by Jesse Whitfield) hailed House passage of military aid to Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan, warning that “Without robust U.S. military aid, the world could face the disappearance of Israel, Ukraine, and Taiwan as independent, democratic nations.” In a May 2024 Orange County Register op-ed, linked from his campaign site, he argued that student protesters who break the law should be arrested, wrote that those who hide their faces “are denying responsibility for their actions, in the same way as Hamas terrorists,” and asserted that “Israel adheres to the international law of war by avoiding civilian casualties.”
A 1/2, not a clean 1. His campaign’s record is zero-daylight support — backing the April 2024 aid package and casting Gaza protesters as supporters of Hamas and of terrorists — with no expressed concern for Palestinian civilians. There is no leadership on the issue: he is a challenger with no authored measures, and rhetoric against protesters is not leading a crackdown. The record dates from 2024; the aid post was written by a campaign blogger rather than Pan himself, but the May 2024 op-ed is his own.
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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).