Tom McClintock
R · U.S. House, CA-5 · Tier 1
Tier 1, “Firmly pro-Israel”
Author of the No Immigration Benefits for Hamas Terrorists Act, which bars anyone tied to Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad or the October 7 attack from any U.S. immigration benefit and passed the House 422-2 in January 2024 (H.R.6679) and by voice vote in December 2025 (H.R.176); he also managed the Antisemitism Awareness Act's House debate for the majority in May 2024 and cosponsored Tom Tiffany's GAZA Act (Oct 2023), which would make every holder of a Palestinian Authority passport inadmissible to the U.S. Backing the bill to force the paused bomb shipment he said “Israel not only has a right to defeat Hamas – it has a moral duty to do so,” that “the killing on both sides can only end with the unconditional surrender of Hamas,” and that withholding the arms while “sending billions of dollars of supplies into Gaza before Hamas has surrendered” was “treacherous” (May 2024); backing ICC sanctions he said October 7 gave Israel “a fundamental moral obligation to annihilate the forces that had unleashed such depravity” (Jan 2025). He voted for all three aid packages (Nov 2023, Feb 2024, Apr 2024), as an original cosponsor of the first, and for the bill forcing delivery of the paused bomb shipment (also as an original cosponsor), both ICC sanctions bills, 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 split, a Nay on the Tlaib censure (Nov 2023), is a free-speech stance he set out days earlier, voting to table the first censure resolution against her: “we must never punish speech, no matter how vile it may be. I denounce her defense of Hamas in the strongest possible terms.” In January 2024 he signed the Smith–Manning letter, whose signers “thoroughly reject” South Africa’s “charge of genocide” against Israel.
A clean 1. He has authored Israel-related legislation that passed the House twice — the Hamas immigration bar — and managed the Antisemitism Awareness Act for the majority, on top of a record that backs every Israel measure tracked and opposes humanitarian supplies to Gaza before Hamas surrenders. His Nay on the Tlaib censure is not daylight on Israel: in his note on voting to table the first censure resolution days earlier he denounced her “defense of Hamas,” and he applied the same free-speech stance in voting to table the 2025 censure of Ilhan Omar. Beyond saying the precision bombs he wanted delivered would let Israel end the war “while minimizing civilian casualties” (May 2024), there is no concern for Palestinian civilians in his own words. Counter-case: 1/2 if the Hamas bill is read as immigration law rather than Israel legislation and the AAA debate as a Judiciary Committee assignment, since his signature issues are immigration and spending.
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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).