Scott DesJarlais
R · U.S. House, TN-4 · Tier 1/2
Tier 1/2, between “Firmly pro-Israel” and “Mainstream pro-Israel”
Signed an October 2023 letter from nine Republican members of Tennessee’s delegation urging the Biden administration to support Israel “however possible, including by providing any and all weapons and munitions necessary,” and was an original cosponsor of Ryan Zinke's SAFE Act (H.R.6211, Nov 2023), which would deny visas, asylum and refugee status to every holder of a Palestinian Authority passport and revoke those granted since October 1, 2023, and of Andy Ogles's Defunding Israel’s Enemies Act (Oct 2023), which would bar all U.S. assistance to Palestinian-controlled areas of the West Bank and Gaza until the President certifies that those the bill holds responsible for the October 2023 attack, including Hamas and Hezbollah, have agreed to a permanent cessation of hostilities. He voted for both Israel-only supplementals (Nov 2023, Feb 2024), H.Res.894, the Antisemitism Awareness Act, the bill forcing delivery of the paused bomb shipment, ICC sanctions (Jun 2024), the ban on citing Gaza Health Ministry casualty figures and the September 2026 college anti-boycott bill, and against the 2025 Greene and 2026 Massie cuts; his one vote against an Israel aid bill, on the April 2024 package (H.R.8034), came with no public explanation that has surfaced, and AIPAC shut off donations to him through its site afterward but endorses him in 2026. On Iran he backed the June 2025 strikes on a regime that “bombed our ally Israel incessantly,” and in September 2026 defended the war on Iran: “Everyone who is hating this war on Iran, they don't see it from a more detailed level like I do.”
A 1/2, not a clean 1. The April 2024 Nay is not a step toward withholding weapons: he voted for both Israel-only supplementals, which carried no humanitarian aid, and for every other tracked Israel measure he was present for, while opposing the Greene and Massie cuts. There is no concern for Palestinian civilians in his own words — the record runs the other way, with his name on bills to shut out every Palestinian Authority passport holder and to cut off all U.S. aid to Palestinian areas — which rules out a flat 2. There is no leadership on the issue: he has written no Israel legislation, and his brand is Armed Services and loyalty to Trump rather than Israel. Counter-case: a clean 1 if the SAFE Act cosponsorship and the “any and all weapons” letter are read as hardline leadership, though both are signatures on other members' initiatives.
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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).