Erik Bottcher
D · New York State Senate, District 47 · Tier 1/2
Tier 1/2, between “Firmly pro-Israel” and “Mainstream pro-Israel”
Sitting State Senator for Manhattan’s West Side (won the Feb 2026 special election for the former Hoylman-Sigal seat; previously NYC Council District 3), whose brand is LGBTQ, housing, and sanitation — Israel is not a signature issue. His scattered Israel data points lean mild-mainstream: entering the 2025 NY-12 race (later abandoned) he said he supports Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state, explicitly distinguishing himself from Mamdani (whom he endorsed for mayor while distancing on Israel); he criticized 2024 Columbia protest rhetoric as crossing into antisemitism while defending protest of ‘civilian deaths and a humanitarian crisis.’ His Israel record is statements only — no aid votes, no AIPAC money, and no arms-related record.
A 1/2, on a thin record: a few statements and one signature. Entering the 2025 NY-12 race, he “confirmed that, unlike Mamdani, he supports Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state,” by Jewish Insider’s account. In April 2024 he wrote that rhetoric at the Columbia protests had “crossed the line from legitimate protest speech to anti-semitism and calls for violence against Israelis and Jews,” allowing that “Protesting civilian deaths and a humanitarian crisis is one thing; hate speech is quite another.” That sentence marks which protests he finds legitimate; it voices no concern of his own for Palestinian civilians. But in December 2023, as a council member, he signed the “Women’s Rights Leaders Condemn the Atrocities of October 7th” statement, which condemned the sexual violence of the October 7 attack and added, “We mourn the deaths of so many Palestinian and Israeli civilians who have been killed in this war,” saying it did not “signal support for the bombings in Gaza”; Gov. Kathy Hochul, the leaders of both chambers and dozens of legislators from across the spectrum on Israel signed it, so it does little to set any one signer apart. As a city council member and state senator he has cast no vote on aid or arms. Counter-cases: a 2, if the April 2024 sentence and the December 2023 signature are read as concern for Gaza’s civilians; NR, since Israel is not his issue.
Open the full card, with votes, money and every source, on elect26 →
elect26 places 2026 midterm candidates on a six-tier spectrum, from 1 (most pro-Israel) to 6 (most critical of Israel).