Steve Parsons
I · U.S. House, AR-1 · Tier 3
Tier 3, “Pro-Israel, critical”
A retired economist running as the Libertarian in AR-1 for the second time, on cutting inflation, tariffs, regulation and federal agencies. His 2026 platform lists “Stop being the puppet of Israel and end the war in Iran” as the first step against inflation, and his site's summary of a September 2026 Arkansas Democrat-Gazette profile quotes him calling the United States “a puppet of Israel” and saying “Everybody has the right to defend their borders. This is beyond defense.” At an October 2024 debate, Talk Business & Politics reported, he said Israel had the right to respond to the Hamas attacks but that its response had gone too far. At an October 14, 2026 Arkansas TV debate, the Arkansas Advocate reported, he again said the United States needs “to stop being the puppet of Israel” and, of Israel as the primary U.S. ally in the Iran war, said “That’s a terrible sign, and a part I don’t like that because Israel is the one that in Gaza killed 20,000 children”; after Rep. Rick Crawford said “I’m not antisemitic like the gentleman on the end here,” Parsons answered that complaining about those deaths “is absolutely not an antisemitic statement, but it is a statement about Israel.” On a debate page his campaign site added after that debate, he wrote that “Israel as our sole ally is troublesome because Israel had killed 20,000 children in Gaza” and that, while those behind the October 7 attack “should be punished for their war crimes,” he hopes “those responsible in the Israeli government and the Israeli military are ultimately held responsible for their war crimes.”
A 3. Across two campaigns he grants Israel a right of self-defense and says it has gone past it — “beyond defense” in 2026, a response that went too far in 2024 — and he calls the United States “a puppet of Israel,” which together put him in the supportive-but-critical middle, leaning toward the critical side; at an October 2026 debate he added that Israel “in Gaza killed 20,000 children,” and on his site afterward he wrote that he hopes those responsible in the Israeli government and military “are ultimately held responsible for their war crimes.” What keeps him from 3/4 is that he names no genocide and takes no position on weapons or aid to Israel itself; his call to stop being the world's charity and police is a blanket stance that on its own does not place him. Counter-case: 2/3, since each criticism keeps the right-to-defend frame and the “puppet” line is tied to the Iran war.
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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).