Joy Powers
D · U.S. House, VA-9 · Tier 4
Tier 4, “Critical / conditions aid”
On her campaign's issues page (quoted by Ballotpedia in July 2026), answering “Where do you stand on AIPAC and U.S. aid to Israel?”, she writes that “I do not take my orders from AIPAC or any other lobby,” that American families should not “keep paying for what Benjamin Netanyahu's government is doing” since he is “under an international arrest warrant for alleged war crimes,” and that “We send Israel's government billions in weapons and taxpayer dollars every year with almost no conditions and no accountability, and I would end that.” She wants “safety and dignity for Israelis and Palestinians alike” and says “our weapons should come with our values attached.” A Bedford County rancher and small-business owner, she faces Rep. Morgan Griffith. Asked in Cardinal News’s 2026 voter-guide questionnaire whether she would support an arms embargo on Israel, she answered: “So yes, I would cut off the American weapons and taxpayer dollars that make us complicit,” citing Netanyahu’s arrest warrant “for war crimes, including using starvation as a weapon against civilians,” and ended by saying “we should stop funding and arming” what she called “a genocide.” At a Christiansburg town hall on October 20, 2026, the Roanoke Times reported, she said the “current Israeli regime does not represent all Jewish people,” called Netanyahu a “war criminal,” said taxpayer dollars should not support Israel’s military actions in Palestine, and said she would refuse AIPAC money.
A 4. Her campaign site says the U.S. sends Israel’s government “billions in weapons and taxpayer dollars every year with almost no conditions and no accountability, and I would end that,” and asked in Cardinal News’s 2026 voter guide whether she would support an arms embargo, she answered “So yes, I would cut off the American weapons and taxpayer dollars that make us complicit,” citing Netanyahu’s arrest warrant and calling what the weapons fund “a genocide.” She says she does not take her orders from AIPAC. What holds her short of 4/5 is the frame around the cutoff: both statements set it in a friend’s candor (“I want the hostages home,” safety and dignity for both peoples, “a real friend tells the truth”) aimed at Netanyahu’s government, and her site’s version ends on “our weapons should come with our values attached,” which is conditioning. Counter-case: 4/5, taking her direct “yes” to an arms embargo, with the genocide named, at its word.
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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).