Nick LaLota
R · U.S. House, NY-1 · Tier 1/2
Tier 1/2, between “Firmly pro-Israel” and “Mainstream pro-Israel”
A reliable pro-Israel Republican and Navy veteran on Long Island. He touted Israel security aid and Iron Dome, Iron Beam and David's Sling funding on a Standing With Israel campaign page, since taken down, voted for all three 2023–24 Israel aid bills, and cosponsored resolutions condemning Hamas and Iran — his own Israel legislation is one resolution, H.Res.803 (October 2023), condemning Hamas’s attack and honoring its victims, which never left committee. He was an original cosponsor of H.R.8369 (May 14, 2024), the bill to force delivery of the bombs Biden paused, and voted for it. His backing for Israel’s arms carries no conditions and he has voiced no criticism of Israel’s wartime conduct. In May 2024 he cast the only Republican vote on the Armed Services Committee against Ronny Jackson’s amendment to bar the Pentagon from transporting Palestinian refugees, splitting the committee 29–29 and keeping it out of the defense bill; he told NOTUS, “I’m super pro-Israel. I’m super anti-Hamas. But that doesn’t mean I’m anti-Palestinian refugee.” 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. He is the sponsor of record of H.Res.803 (October 2023), his own resolution honoring the American and Israeli victims of Hamas’s attack, by which the House “condemns Hamas’ brutal attacks against Israel”; it never left committee. The rest of his Israel record is votes (all three 2023–24 Israel aid bills, both ICC-sanctions bills and the September 2026 anti-boycott bill), an original cosponsorship of the 2024 bill forcing delivery of the paused bombs and others’ condemnation resolutions; his backing for Israel’s arms carries no conditions. What keeps him from 1 is May 2024: he cast the only Republican Armed Services vote against Ronny Jackson’s amendment barring the Pentagon from transporting Palestinian refugees, splitting the committee 29–29 and keeping it out of the defense bill, and explained it in his own words: “I’m super pro-Israel. I’m super anti-Hamas. But that doesn’t mean I’m anti-Palestinian refugee.” Counter-cases: 1, since that line defends refugees rather than naming Gaza’s civilians; or 2, since one symbolic resolution is thin authorship beside a real break with his party.
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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).