Raul Ruiz
D · U.S. House, CA-25 · Tier 2
Tier 2, “Mainstream pro-Israel”
An emergency physician who led the August 2025 letter from five Democratic doctors in the House on Gaza’s starvation and, with Rep. Maxine Dexter, the September 2026 letter of 71 lawmakers seeking the release of Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, “a Palestinian pediatrician detained by Israel without charge or trial.” In his own July 2025 statement he called the starvation in Gaza “a man-made crisis” and said: “Every day that food, water, and life-saving medical care are blocked from reaching civilians, more lives will be lost, especially children”; he also signed the November 2025 Amo letter on starvation, the July 2025 letter questioning the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation and the September 2025 Schneider–Raskin letter to Netanyahu opposing West Bank annexation, and cosponsored the West Bank Violence Prevention Act (Nov 2025). After October 7 he said “I stand by our ally Israel and their right to defend themselves”; he signed the April 2024 Gottheimer–Wilson letter urging Speaker Johnson to bring the Senate’s national-security supplemental, with its aid to Israel, to “an immediate vote,” voted for the April 2024 aid package and the Antisemitism Awareness Act, Present on H.Res.894 (Dec 2023), against H.R.8369, the 2024 ICC bill and the September 2026 anti-boycott bill, and No on the July 2026 Massie amendment, on which Democrats split 103 Aye to 98 No.
A flat 2, with a case for 2/3. His votes keep him in the mainstream pro-Israel lane — the April 2024 package, the Antisemitism Awareness Act and No on the Massie amendment, where more Democrats voted Aye than No — and he affirmed Israel’s right to defend itself after October 7. What separates him from a 1/2 is repeated concern for Palestinian civilians in his own voice and without self-defense language: the July 2025 “man-made crisis” statement, the doctors’ letter he led, and his co-leadership of the Abu Safiya letter. The case for 2/3: that letter goes beyond aid to criticize Israel’s detention of a Palestinian doctor “without charge or trial,” and he voted Present on H.Res.894, cosponsored the West Bank Violence Prevention Act and voted for the June 2026 Lebanon war-powers resolution most Democrats opposed — but he has taken no step to condition or limit weapons, cosponsored none of the conditioning bills, and voted to keep Israel’s military financing in July 2026.
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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).