After the 2026 midterms, ICAN recommits to safety, equal treatment and accountability for Jewish and Israeli-American communities, and reports what a full cycle of tracking and scoring candidates found.
Following the 2026 midterm elections, ICAN is even more committed to our agenda around two basic and noncontroversial principles: Jews and Israeli-Americans deserve safety, equal treatment, and full participation in American life at school, at work, and in civic spaces. And Americans who care deeply about the relationship between the United States and Israel must be able to express those views and support relevant policies without threats or actual violence.
Supporting civil rights and equality for all Americans, our allies’ right to exist and defend their people, and working together toward a prosperous future should not be controversial.
We will continue to confront the genocide lie and demand accountability from officials who use Israel to distract from the responsibilities and failures of their own offices, including leaders who invoke false civilian deaths in Gaza to condemn Israel while ignoring the real deaths on America’s streets. In California alone, tens of thousands of homeless people have died or have been murdered in recent years. And California is supposed to be the world's fourth-largest economy, not a war zone.
Across every level of government, rhetoric about America’s relationship to Israel cannot become an excuse to evade questions about domestic spending and failed programs.
Compare the longstanding U.S.–Israel security assistance of approximately $3.8 billion, a fraction of total U.S. spending on foreign aid, to program spending in other states. Again, in California, the high-speed rail program has ballooned to over $230 billion with no progress and nearly zero oversight. Meanwhile, the state invested nearly $24 billion in homelessness, and the programs have only gotten bigger while the problems have gotten worse. Blaming military purchases of American equipment by Israel on the budget choices we make is nonsensical.
We continue to have serious concerns about candidates and officials who promote Islam, or other religions, through government institutions, advance Islamist political agendas, and embrace radical policies that undermine public safety and accountability. For example, on January 1st, California’s new law AB 2017 takes effect. Introduced by leaders within the Legislative Jewish Caucus and coauthored by its Chair and Vice Chair, this bill authorizes school exercises about Islamic holidays and authorizes the State Board of Education to develop related Islamic curricula for statewide use.
Meanwhile, there is no oversight of foreign funding for K-12 public schools, leading to schools like Granada Hills Charter in Los Angeles implementing foreign language programs with joint funding from the Kingdom of Qatar, including trips to Doha and Al Jazeera's disinformation studios.
We will closely scrutinize how programs like these are implemented and operated.
We will continue engaging elected officials across party lines. They swore an oath and have a duty to serve the people—all the people, including Jews, Israeli-Americans, and Americans who choose to support Israel.
Our 2027 agenda is clear: protect Jewish and Israeli-American communities, strengthen the U.S.–Israel relationship, secure our schools and civic spaces, and demand good governance, public safety, equal treatment, and accountability. We will judge officials by their conduct, their policies, and most importantly, their results.
By the Numbers: ICAN’s 2026 Cycle
This cycle, ICAN assessed 19,175 candidates across all 50 states and the District of Columbia, from the first filings through the primaries to the November 3 general election. Most of them had never voted, spoken, or acted on our issues. Where there was a record, we scored it: our ICAN Index research scored 6,574 individual votes, statements, and actions, giving 1,193 candidates an ICAN Index score from −3 (strongly anti-Israel) to +3 (strongly pro-Israel). On the ICAN Vote ballot guide, we took 1,855 public positions where the record was clear, endorsing or opposing candidates from Congress to city councils and school boards.
The parties. Republican candidates averaged +1.80 and Democratic candidates −0.23, a gap of about two points. Nine in ten Republicans we scored rated as friends of the U.S.–Israel relationship. Among Democrats, 29% rated as friends and 39% as foes.
The gap narrows closer to home. Democrats running for Congress averaged −0.70. Democrats running for state legislature averaged +1.02, and for statewide office +0.94. The pattern holds among winners: Democrats elected to state legislatures average +1.31, while Democrats elected to Congress average −0.40. Part of that gap is exposure: state lawmakers rarely vote on foreign policy, so their records on Israel are thinner and less tested. It is also an opportunity. Today’s state legislators are tomorrow’s members of Congress, and the relationships we build with them now will matter when they get there.
The new Congress. We had scored 419 of the 448 House and Senate winners called so far. Together they average +0.60. Fewer than half, 203, rate as friends. The other 216 rate as mixed (124) or as foes (92). Every Republican winner except one rates as a friend. All 92 winners who rate as foes are Democrats.
Our endorsements. In a wave election for Democrats, 72% of ICAN-endorsed congressional candidates won, and endorsed candidates hold 277 seats, 62% of the seats called so far. Endorsed Democrats won 119 of 124 races (96%). Endorsed Republicans won 158 of 261 (61%), as the national wave cost a number of strong allies their seats.
The statehouses. Our endorsements did best closer to home. ICAN-endorsed state legislative candidates won 606 of 680 called races (89%). That includes 273 of 276 endorsed Democrats (99%) and 333 of 404 endorsed Republicans (82%). In statewide races, endorsed candidates won 28 of 49, including 19 of 20 endorsed Democrats.
The work ahead. In California’s local races, many candidates ICAN opposed are on track to win. Of 125 races that are called or show a clear lead, 87 of the candidates we opposed are winning. More than 100 other candidates we opposed are in races still being counted. Those city councils and school boards decide what happens in our children’s classrooms and on our streets, and that is where the next phase of accountability begins.
Results are unofficial as of November 7, 2026, and will be updated once they are certified. Congressional results reflect Associated Press race calls. State and local results come from state election offices, county registrars, AP calls, and Ballotpedia.