Lance Gooden
R · U.S. House, TX-5 · Tier 1/2
Tier 1/2, between “Firmly pro-Israel” and “Mainstream pro-Israel”
Voted for every tracked Israel measure — both Israel-only supplementals (H.R.6126, Nov 2023; H.R.7217, Feb 2024), which he cosponsored, the April 2024 package (H.R.8034), the bill to force the paused bomb shipment (H.R.8369, also a cosponsor), both ICC-sanctions bills, H.Res.894, the censure of Rashida Tlaib and the September 2026 college anti-boycott bill — and against the 2025 Greene and 2026 Massie amendments to cut Israel’s military aid; he also cosponsored the U.S.-Israel Defense Partnership Act (2025) and Rep. Tiffany’s GAZA Act (Oct 2023), which would bar every holder of a Palestinian Authority passport from entering the United States. His own bill to end U.S. contributions to UNHCR, UNRWA and the International Organization for Migration (H.R.1792, Mar 2025) is framed as immigration, and his press releases since October 2023 carry no Israel statement. On X in July 2025 he wrote: “Standing with Israel means eliminating every barbaric Hamas terrorist. It also means rejecting the killing and starvation of children in Gaza. We must allow aid to enter Gaza.”
A 1/2, not a clean 1. The voting record is zero-daylight and he has cosponsored a long run of pro-Israel bills, including the GAZA Act’s blanket bar on Palestinian passport holders, but cosponsoring is not leadership, his one authored bill touching UNRWA, introduced in each Congress since 2021, is an immigration measure, and no caucus role or Israel-centered brand was found. His July 2025 post names the killing and starvation of Gaza’s children, but in the same breath as “eliminating every barbaric Hamas terrorist,” and says ending the hunger would “strip Hamas of its ability to use innocent children as pawns” — concern paired with Israel’s war aims, which keeps him at 1/2 rather than a flat 2. Counter-case: a flat 2 if “rejecting the killing and starvation of children in Gaza” is read as concern standing on its own; a clean 1 if hardline rhetoric of his own surfaces.
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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).