Ritchie Torres
D · U.S. House, NY-15 · Tier 1
Tier 1, “Firmly pro-Israel”
One of the party’s most forceful Israel defenders (NY-15); AIPAC-aligned, called genocide claims a “blood libel” (Nov 2023), and won the June 2026 primary with ~72% over Michael Blake and Jose Vega. A self-described Zionist, he rejected ceasefire calls. He introduced the Special Envoy for the Abraham Accords Act (H.R.1268, Feb 2023), with Lawler as its only original cosponsor, then was the only original cosponsor of Lawler’s version (H.R.3099, May 2023), which passed the House 413–13. Ahead of an anti-Zionist rally at City Hall on the third anniversary of October 7 he wrote that “The far left sees October 7th—the deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust—not as an occasion to mourn the 1,200 Israelis murdered in an act of terror but as an occasion to romanticize the mass murder of Jews as ‘resistance’” (an Oct 6, 2026 post quoted by Mediaite). In a joint statement with three other Bronx officials, reported Oct 22, 2026, against a protest the group Pal-Awda planned in Riverdale, apparently aimed at an Israel real-estate event, he said the group was “targeting Jewish families in our borough simply for gathering together” and that “Organizing a campaign to hunt down these gatherings and drive them out of our neighborhoods is an attack on Jewish New Yorkers.” On Oct 26, 2026 he wrote that the annual U.S. funding for Israel “amounts to less than one-tenth of 1% of the federal budget” and that “politicians who specialize in scapegoating would have you believe that Israel is responsible for America’s affordability crisis. Like every form of scapegoating before it, it is a dangerous lie.” In January 2024 he signed the Smith–Manning letter, whose signers “thoroughly reject” South Africa’s “charge of genocide” against Israel. Later that year he signed Josh Gottheimer’s letters urging an immediate House vote on the Senate’s national-security supplemental, with its aid to Israel (April), asking the Treasury and State Departments to designate and sanction UNRWA employees who took part in the October 7 attacks (May) and seeking a classified briefing on Iranian government efforts “to promote and encourage anti-Israel protests” (July), and the Lawler–Moskowitz letter warning the UN Secretary-General that any downgrade of Israel’s standing at the General Assembly would bring a matching cut in U.S. support to the UN (October). In September 2025 he signed the Schneider–Raskin letter urging Netanyahu’s government “to refrain from steps toward unilateral annexation” of West Bank territory, and on July 15, 2026 he cosponsored the West Bank Violence Prevention Act (H.R.3045), which would authorize sanctions on those who commit violence in the West Bank.
A 1, on a public brand built mostly on his own words, plus an Israel bill he wrote. He is one of his party’s most forceful defenders of Israel: a self-described Zionist who called claims that Israel is committing genocide a “blood libel” (Nov 2023), rejected a ceasefire, and in October 2026 wrote that the far left treats October 7 as “an occasion to romanticize the mass murder of Jews as ‘resistance’.” In February 2023 he introduced the Special Envoy for the Abraham Accords Act (H.R.1268), with Lawler as its only original cosponsor, and he was then the only original cosponsor of Lawler’s version, which passed the House 413–13 in June 2023, and he voted for the April 2024 aid package, the May 2024 bill forcing delivery of the paused bombs and both ICC-sanctions bills. In 2024 he also signed letters seeking sanctions on UNRWA employees over October 7 and a classified briefing on Iranian influence in anti-Israel protests, and one warning the UN that any downgrade of Israel’s standing there would cost it U.S. support. His criticism of Netanyahu (“irreparable damage” to Israel’s standing with Democrats) is not criticism of Israel’s conduct. Counter-case: 1/2, since his own bill never left committee and the version that passed was Lawler’s, and since he has signed a letter opposing West Bank annexation (September 2025) and cosponsors sanctions on settler violence (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).