Hakeem Jeffries
D · U.S. House, NY-8 · Tier 2
Tier 2, “Mainstream pro-Israel”
NY-8 incumbent and House Minority Leader; long AIPAC-aligned but also accepted J Street’s first-ever endorsement of him (Sept 12, 2025). Met Netanyahu April 2025; two-state; does not use ‘genocide.’ In July 2025 he called for humanitarian aid to be “surged into Gaza immediately” and for “the ceasefire negotiated by the Biden administration” to be restored alongside hostage release. He voted for the April 2024 Israel aid supplemental, repeats an “ironclad” commitment to Israel’s security, and affirms Israel as a Jewish-and-democratic “eternal homeland,” and AIPAC endorsed him this cycle (on Oct 21, 2026 AIPAC said it would no longer issue endorsements). He has also said the starvation and death of Palestinian children is unacceptable and opposed the 2026 Iran war as “Trump’s reckless and costly war of choice.” In September 2025 he and Democratic Whip Katherine Clark signed, directly beneath its two leads, the Schneider–Raskin letter in which most House Democrats, as “long-standing supporters” of Israel, urged Netanyahu’s government “to refrain from steps toward unilateral annexation” of West Bank territory. Jeffries cosponsored the West Bank Violence Prevention Act (H.R.3045) on Mar 24, 2026, and on Sep 23 told Jewish Insider the bill “is certainly a legislative step that should be considered in order to push back aggressively against the out of control settler violence in the West Bank,” adding, “That cannot continue.” On the third anniversary of October 7 he said “The horrific death of Palestinian civilians, destruction of civil society and devastation in Gaza is reprehensible and can never be allowed to happen again” and that “American policy in the region must change dramatically,” calling for an independent Palestinian state while affirming “Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish and democratic state” (Oct 7, 2026). Asked on CNN on Oct 2 whether he backed Mayor Mamdani’s call for the United States to join the ICC and enforce its warrants, including for Netanyahu, he did not say, answering that “we can never allow another October 7 to happen, and we can never allow the type of death, devastation, and destruction that has occurred in Gaza over the last three years to happen.” Asked in a News 12 interview his office posted on Oct 21, 2026 what that dramatic change would look like and whether he would support conditioning aid to Israel, he again did not say, answering that “we have to lift up two principles at the same time”: “Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish and democratic state, living side by side in peace and prosperity with an independent Palestinian state,” and that “America needs to reinforce its commitment to a two-state solution in order to achieve a just and lasting peace.”
A Tier 2 on the 2/3 boundary, with real, liberal-Zionist distance from the pro-Israel line: he called for aid to be surged into Gaza immediately and for the Biden-negotiated ceasefire to be restored (July 2025), said the starvation and death of Palestinian children is unacceptable, called “the horrific death of Palestinian civilians” and the devastation of Gaza “reprehensible” (October 2026) and said American policy in the region “must change dramatically,” and accepted J Street’s first-ever endorsement of him. What keeps him at the pro-Israel end rather than a critical 3 is his core: an “ironclad” commitment to Israel’s security repeated throughout, a Jewish-and-democratic-state ‘eternal homeland’ affirmation, the April 2024 aid Yea, no genocide language and no bill conditioning current transfers, and AIPAC’s endorsement this cycle. His July 2026 Dear Colleague does call for replacing the expiring 2016 MOU with an arrangement that would “strictly adhere to our human rights laws and values,” on the ground that Israel “is capable of paying for its own sophisticated weapons.” As House Minority Leader he embodies the establishment position and has moved with the party center rather than staking out a distinguishing critical stance; his ceasefire/two-state posture is now the standard Democratic-leadership line. He also opposed the 2026 Iran war as “Trump’s reckless and costly war of choice.” A 2/3 split is defensible given his genuine ceasefire calls and concern for Palestinian civilians.
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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).