Morgan Griffith
R · U.S. House, VA-9 · Tier 1/2
Tier 1/2, between “Firmly pro-Israel” and “Mainstream pro-Israel”
Votes the full pro-Israel slate: the November 2023, February 2024 and April 2024 aid bills, H.Res.894, the bill forcing delivery of the bombs Biden paused (H.R.8369, May 2024), both ICC-sanctions bills and the September 2026 anti-boycott bill, and No on the 2025 Greene and 2026 Massie cuts. His October 2023 column blamed Palestinians as a people — “Palestine has long blamed Israel for their suffering, while both its leaders and people have actively worked against their own self interests,” and “The Palestinians, however, refuse to recognize Israel.” After a 2024 trip to the Gaza envelope he wrote that “Hamas supporters often cite the loss of innocent Palestinian life” (Apr 2024), and he called Biden’s arms pause “unconscionable,” saying Israel “for self-defense reasons must neutralize” Hamas in Rafah (May 2024). In January 2024 he signed the Smith–Manning letter, whose signers “thoroughly reject” South Africa’s “charge of genocide” against Israel.
A 1/2, not a clean 1. Griffith has voted for every tracked Israel measure but shows no leadership on the issue: no authored Israel legislation, no caucus role, and his weekly columns on the war are commentary rather than a brand. His acknowledgments of Gaza’s civilian toll are framed in Israel’s defense: “War is always a horrible thing! Even in war, minimizing death is important” (Apr 2024) sits in a column that attributes that concern to “Hamas supporters” and defends the campaign to eliminate Hamas, and his May 2024 statement against the arms pause credits Israel with having “taken steps to try to alleviate harm to civilians and other noncombatants” in Rafah — so neither is concern of his own for Palestinian civilians, which rules out a flat 2. Counter-case: a clean 1 if the October 2023 column’s collective blame of Palestinians is read as hardline rhetoric.
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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).