Mark DeSaulnier
D · U.S. House, CA-10 · Tier 4
Tier 4, “Critical / conditions aid”
Voted against the April 2024 Israel aid package (H.R.8034) — his office wrote that “Given the Netanyahu government’s continued attacks on civilians in Gaza, Congressman DeSaulnier opposed providing more offensive weapons or funding without conditions” — after voting against the November 2023 Hamas-financing bill and the April 2024 “river to the sea” resolution; he also voted against both ICC-sanctions bills and the Antisemitism Awareness Act, and Present on H.Res.894. He cosponsored Block the Bombs (H.R.3565) on Aug 22, 2025, about 35th of its 82 cosponsors, after joining UNRWA restoration as an original cosponsor (Mar 2025); in 2026 he added McCollum’s Palestinian children’s-rights bill, Waters’ Gaza children’s food bill, the Ceasefire Compliance Act (Sep 2026) and, as an original cosponsor, the Stop the Settlements Act (Oct 2026). He signed the January 2024 Pressley–Raskin letter opposing the forced displacement of Palestinians from Gaza, the June 2024 letter backing refugee priority status for Gazans with U.S. citizen or permanent-resident relatives, the October 2024 letter urging sanctions on Israeli ministers Smotrich and Ben-Gvir over settler violence, the August 2025 Pressley–Pettersen letter urging a surge of infant formula into Gaza and, with most House Democrats, the September 2025 Schneider–Raskin letter opposing West Bank annexation; in 2025 he also signed letters to the administration on the detention of student activists Mahmoud Khalil and Mohsen Mahdawi. On Sep 24, 2026 he signed the Pocan–Quigley letter on Palestinian medical workers held by Israel without charge and a 72-member letter urging Netanyahu to contain settler violence in the West Bank and “halt further settlement approvals.” In July 2026 he voted Aye on the Massie amendment “to block an additional $3.3 billion in American taxpayer money for Israel’s military operations in Gaza and Lebanon that have already killed tens of thousands of civilians,” signing the 27-member statement behind it, and he voted Yea on the June 4, 2026 Lebanon war-powers resolution that most Democrats opposed. Early in the genocide his record included an original cosponsorship of the October 2023 “Standing with Israel” resolution and Yea votes on H.Res.888 and the Human Shields Act, and he voted against Greene’s 2025 cut to Israeli missile-defense aid. On Oct 17, 2026, after settlers attacked Palestinian villagers and a Washington Post photographer in the West Bank, he wrote: “The Israeli settlers who violently attack Palestinian civilians, journalists, and others must be held accountable immediately.” In June 2026 DeSaulnier signed a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, led by Reps. Becca Balint and Joaquin Castro, on Israel’s operations in southern Lebanon, saying Israel’s “targeted, mass destruction of civilian homes and infrastructure does not constitute Israeli self-defense” and asking that, if U.S.-origin arms were confirmed in those operations, the administration “stop arms transfers being used in these operations until these violations cease”; the letter also affirmed that “Israel has a right to defend itself.” Jewish Insider reported on Oct 23, 2026 that DeSaulnier was among about 30 signers of a draft letter, led by Rep. Ro Khanna and gathering signatures through Nov 6, urging the negotiators of the 2027 defense authorization bill to strip its U.S.-Israel defense-technology cooperation provisions; the draft, which cites Israel’s conduct in Gaza, the West Bank and Lebanon, says “These are not the actions of a government whose defense establishment should be granted deeper access to American military technology, nor rewarded with U.S. defense contracts,” and asks that any framework kept “carry human rights conditions consistent with those governing other United States security assistance.”
A flat 4. He has a sustained record of trying to withhold offensive weapons: the Nay on the April 2024 package, explained as refusing more offensive weapons without conditions, Block the Bombs in the first half of its cosponsors, the Ceasefire Compliance Act and the Massie Aye — alongside six Palestinian-rights cosponsorships and early Nays (Nov 2023, Apr 2024) on H.R.340 and the “river to the sea” resolution. He stops short of 5: he voted to keep Israel’s missile-defense money in 2025, and while he voted in July 2026 to block Israel’s $3.3 billion in military financing (“No more American tax dollars should be used to take us farther from peace”), no call to end all military aid, missile defense included, was found. Counter-case: 3/4, since no “genocide” language was found (his X feed could not be searched) and his 2023 votes included the “Standing with Israel” resolution and H.Res.888.
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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).