Mark Takano
D · U.S. House, CA-39 · Tier 3/4
Tier 3/4, between “Pro-Israel, critical” and “Critical / conditions aid”
Cosponsor of Block the Bombs and the Ceasefire Compliance Act; took an AIPAC-affiliated trip to Israel and the West Bank in 2013; no documented 'genocide' usage. He voted Nay on the aid supplemental and the Hamas-financing bill, and applauded the Rafah arms-withholding. In April 2024 he joined the Jayapal-led statement explaining their Nays on H.R.8034 as votes “against supplying more offensive weapons that could result in more killings of civilians in Rafah and elsewhere,” which also says “We believe strongly in Israel’s right to self-defense” and “All of us support strengthening the Iron Dome and other defense systems.” He is J Street–endorsed and keeps to a two-state, both-peoples frame, using no embargo language. He signed the October 2024 DeLauro–Van Hollen letter urging the Biden administration to sanction Israeli ministers Smotrich and Ben-Gvir over incitement of settler violence. In 2025 he also signed the March Jayapal–Raskin–Scanlon letter demanding answers on the detention of Columbia graduate student Mahmoud Khalil, the August Pressley–Pettersen letter urging Secretary Rubio to press Israel for a massive surge of aid into Gaza, above all infant formula, and, with most House Democrats, the September Schneider–Raskin letter to Netanyahu and his ministers opposing annexation of the West Bank. On Sep 8, 2026 Takano signed the Dexter–Ruiz letter seeking the release of Gaza pediatrician Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya from Israeli detention without charge. On Oct 1, 2026 Takano became an original cosponsor of the Stop the Settlements Act (H.R.10642), which would sanction those who build or expand Israeli settlements in the West Bank and Gaza and ban imports of settlement goods. In February 2024, on a J Street delegation with five other House Democrats, he went to Khirbet Zanuta, which their joint statement, posted on his site, calls “a Palestinian village in the West Bank where settlers destroyed homes and a school”; the statement calls for “the U.S. and Israel to bring an end to settler violence,” including by greater accountability for perpetrators. In June 2026 Takano 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.”
A 3/4 straddle, on his conditioning record: he cosponsored both Block the Bombs and the Ceasefire Compliance Act and voted Nay on the aid supplemental and the Hamas-financing bill. He also voted Aye on the July 2026 Massie amendment. He does not reach a clean 4, though: he voted for the April 2024 resolution condemning “from the river to the sea,” both bills are offensive-only and exempt missile defense, he keeps to a two-state, both-peoples frame, and he uses no genocide or embargo language — so he sits between a liberal-Zionist 3 and a conditioning 4.
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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).