Tag: Ukraine

CIVPAC Endorses Chris Coons for U.S. Senate in Delaware

CIVPAC endorsement graphic for Chris Coons for U.S. Senate in Delaware in 2026, featuring the U.S. Capitol framed by an outline of Delaware in a purple-and-white design, with Centrist Independent Voter branding.

Centrist Independent Voter has endorsed Democratic Senator Chris Coons for reelection to the United States Senate from Delaware in 2026.

Coons will face Republican Michael Katz, a physician, businessman and former Delaware state senator. Our full Delaware Senate evaluation examines both candidates across foreign policy, presidential power, tariffs, taxation, health care, immigration, election administration, abortion and gun policy.

The endorsement reflects areas of both agreement and disagreement with Coons. His record on foreign policy is especially well developed. He has been a strong supporter of Ukraine and NATO, has taken substantive positions on China and Taiwan, Israel and Iran, and has repeatedly defended a congressional role in decisions involving war and presidential tariff authority.

Coons also differs from some members of his party in ways relevant to our evaluation. He does not advocate Medicare for All, has supported border enforcement as part of broader immigration reform, and has demonstrated a willingness to support some Trump administration nominees while opposing the most troubling ones. His record on biomedical research has also included significant bipartisan work.

There are important areas where CIVPAC disagrees with him. We do not favor his proposal to tax unrealized gains of extremely wealthy taxpayers, and several of his gun-control positions go farther than we would. We also generally favor a smaller and less regulatory federal government.

Katz presents a different problem. His campaign emphasizes fiscal discipline, deregulation, immigration enforcement and his experience as a physician. But on several issues important to CIVPAC, his positions remain either unclear or insufficiently developed. We found no sufficiently specific positions on Ukraine and NATO, China and Taiwan, Israel and Iran, presidential war powers, abortion, the Affordable Care Act, Medicaid or federal biomedical-research funding.

His current platform also repeatedly aligns itself with President Trump while leaving unanswered how Katz would respond when he disagreed with the president. Those questions matter particularly in evaluating a Senate candidate, because one of the Senate’s constitutional responsibilities is to provide an independent check on executive power.

Our endorsement of Coons therefore does not reflect agreement with him across the board. It reflects our assessment of the available record, including foreign policy, institutional independence, health care, trade, immigration, elections and the role of divided government.

Readers can see the complete reasoning in our Delaware U.S. Senate evaluation and review all of CIVPAC’s 2026 endorsements and evaluations.

CIVPAC has endorsed Jack Reed for reelection to the United States Senate from Rhode Island.

Rhode Island outline and U.S. Capitol representing CIVPAC’s 2026 endorsement of Jack Reed for U.S. Senate.

This is not an endorsement based on broad ideological agreement. Reed remains substantially to our left on labor policy, taxation and the proper scope of government. We disagree with him on important domestic economic questions.

But Reed is unusually strong on several issues that have become increasingly important in CIVPAC’s 2026 Senate evaluations.

He has been a consistent supporter of Ukraine and of America’s alliances, brings substantial experience in national security, and has repeatedly defended Congress’s constitutional authority over war powers and presidential use of emergency powers. His record gives us considerable confidence that he views the Senate as an independent branch of government rather than simply an extension of the executive.

The alternatives did not overcome that advantage. Republican Ray McKay is closer to CIVPAC on some conventional economic issues, but his campaign has closely identified itself with President Trump and has provided relatively little detail on Ukraine, NATO and congressional independence. Independent Michael Bahry offers a more developed foreign-policy position, but his support for American withdrawal from NATO is fundamentally at odds with CIVPAC’s view of the United States’ international responsibilities.

On balance, Reed’s strengths on foreign policy, Ukraine and institutional responsibility outweigh our significant disagreements with him on domestic policy.

CIVPAC therefore endorses Jack Reed for reelection to the U.S. Senate from Rhode Island.

Read our full Rhode Island U.S. Senate evaluation.

See all CIVPAC 2026 endorsements.

CIVPAC has endorsed Marquita Bradshaw for the United States Senate in Tennessee.

Tennessee outline and U.S. Capitol representing CIVPAC’s 2026 Tennessee U.S. Senate endorsement.

It was not an easy decision. In fact, we had been preparing to make no endorsement at all.

Republican incumbent Bill Hagerty is substantially closer to CIVPAC on many questions of taxation, regulation and economic policy. Bradshaw’s economic philosophy remains considerably to our left, and important questions remain about her views on Ukraine, NATO and America’s broader international responsibilities. Her current campaign focuses primarily on domestic priorities including education, health care, housing, voting rights, broadband, small business and environmental issues.

But Hagerty’s record raises a different set of concerns. He has opposed U.S. assistance to Ukraine, saying that he had opposed “every cent” of such aid and arguing that the United States should focus its resources at home. He has also generally supported President Trump on issues in which CIVPAC believes congressional independence deserves particular attention, including nominations, tariffs and presidential war powers.

The final consideration came from President Trump himself.

At the Republican midterm convention in Dallas, Trump urged voters to treat the 2026 election as a referendum on his presidency, telling them to “pretend I’m on the ballot.”

CIVPAC has decided to take that invitation seriously.

For CIVPAC, divided government is not an automatic reason to support the opposition party. Candidates still have to be judged individually. But when questions of congressional independence and executive power are already central to an evaluation, the composition of the Senate becomes an additional consideration.

After weighing those factors, CIVPAC has endorsed Marquita Bradshaw for the U.S. Senate from Tennessee.

Read our full Tennessee U.S. Senate evaluation.

See all CIVPAC 2026 endorsements.

CIVPAC Endorses Shelley Moore Capito for U.S. Senate in West Virginia

CIVPAC endorsement of Shelley Moore Capito for U.S. Senate in West Virginia

CIVPAC has endorsed Sen. Shelley Moore Capito for reelection to the United States Senate from West Virginia.

Capito’s strongest case is her demonstrated commitment to constitutional democracy, her support for Ukraine and the international order, and her record of bipartisan governing. She is also substantially closer to CIVPAC on economic and health-care policy.

The endorsement is not without reservations. We disagree with Capito on reproductive freedom and are troubled by her position on presidential war powers in the current conflict with Iran.

Our full West Virginia U.S. Senate endorsement explains both the reasons for supporting Capito and the areas where CIVPAC continues to disagree with her.

You can also see all of our endorsements on the 2026 CIVPAC endorsements summary page.

CIVPAC Endorses Jamie Davis for U.S. Senate in Louisiana

CIVPAC Louisiana U.S. Senate 2026 general election endorsement

Centrist Independent Voter (CIVPAC) has endorsed Jamie Davis for the United States Senate from Louisiana over Republican Julia Letlow.

The endorsement comes with significant reservations. CIVPAC disagrees with Davis on several domestic economic issues and believes voters should seek greater clarity about his positions on Ukraine, NATO, Russia, China, Israel, and Iran.

The endorsement gives substantial weight to other considerations, including Davis’s emphasis on congressional independence, his opposition to tariff wars, support for political reform and government transparency, and the institutional concerns raised by Letlow’s close alignment with President Trump. Letlow’s June 2026 vote against the Ukraine Support Act also figured prominently in CIVPAC’s assessment.

Read CIVPAC’s full Jamie Davis endorsement.

You can also see the complete summary of CIVPAC’s 2026 endorsements.

CIVPAC Endorses Brian Bengs for U.S. Senate in South Dakota

Centrist Independent Voter endorses Brian Bengs for U.S. Senate in South Dakota in the 2026 general election.

Our endorsement of independent candidate Brian Bengs for the United States Senate from South Dakota was not an easy one.

Republican Senator Mike Rounds has done some things we respect. He has been a strong supporter of Ukraine, and after the 2020 election he rejected Donald Trump’s unsupported claims of widespread fraud and said plainly that Trump had lost a fair election.

But more recently, Rounds has too often gone along with an increasingly powerful presidency rather than insisting that Congress exercise its own constitutional responsibilities.

Bengs offers something different. He is running as a genuine independent and says he would caucus with neither major party. Along with several other independent Senate candidates, he has discussed creating an independent caucus that could serve as a fulcrum between Republicans and Democrats.

We find that possibility enormously attractive.

Congress has surrendered too much authority to presidents of both parties, while party leadership increasingly determines what individual members are expected to support. Even a small group of independent senators could make bipartisan coalitions easier and force Congress to behave more like an independent branch of government.

We have substantial disagreements with Bengs. We oppose his proposed wealth tax and have serious reservations about parts of his health-care and economic agenda. An endorsement does not require agreement on every issue.

It does require a judgment about which candidate would make the Senate—and the country—better.

In South Dakota, we believe that candidate is Brian Bengs.

Read our full endorsement of Brian Bengs for U.S. Senate.

See also Centrist Independent Voter’s 2026 candidate endorsements.

CIVPAC has endorsed Sherrod Brown over Jon Husted in Ohio’s 2026 U.S. Senate race.

CIVPAC endorses Sherrod Brown in the 2026 Ohio U.S. Senate race

This was a close call. Husted is stronger on several issues, school choice, right-to-work principles, and the Hyde Amendment. He also deserves credit for supporting Ukraine and for rejecting election denial after January 6.

But his Senate record matters. On controversial nominees, Trump’s tariffs, and congressional war powers, Husted has repeatedly sided with the administration even when other Republican senators chose to break with it.

Brown has plenty of positions we dislike, particularly on protectionism, unions, and price controls. But in the political environment of 2026, we believe the stronger need is for an independent legislative check on executive power.

Under a different president and Congress, this endorsement might go the other way.

Read the full endorsement

See all of CIVPAC’s 2026 candidate endorsements

CIVPAC Endorses Josh Turek for U.S. Senate in Iowa

Centrist Independent Voter endorses Josh Turek for U.S. Senate in Iowa, with the U.S. Capitol and Iowa farmland.

This may be the closest thing CIVPAC has published to an endorsement by faint praise.

We have endorsed Josh Turek for the United States Senate from Iowa over Republican Ashley Hinson. But this is not an endorsement in which one candidate clearly reflects our views and the other clearly does not.

Both candidates have strengths. Both have weaknesses. And under different national circumstances, I can easily imagine CIVPAC reaching the opposite conclusion.

Ashley Hinson has positions we like. She is generally more market-oriented than Turek. She supports right-to-work laws and school choice, positions substantially closer to our views on labor unions and K–12 education. She voted to accept the certified results of the 2020 presidential election and supported the Respect for Marriage Act. She is not simply an election-denying MAGA caricature.

Josh Turek, meanwhile, has plenty of positions we do not like.

He supports a wealth tax on billionaires. We do not. Our taxation, spending and debt policy favors a progressive tax system but puts considerable weight on economic efficiency, broad tax bases and long-term fiscal balance rather than new taxes on accumulated wealth.

Turek also supports federal food-price-gouging restrictions. We generally distrust price controls and laws that attempt to suppress price signals rather than address the underlying causes of scarcity.

He supports the PRO Act, which conflicts with our view that workers should be free to organize but that states should remain free to enact right-to-work laws. He would end school vouchers, while CIVPAC supports carefully designed experiments with vouchers and charter schools subject to common transparency and testing standards.

His foreign-policy views are also less developed than I would like in someone seeking a seat in the United States Senate.

So why endorse him?

Partly because endorsements are comparative judgments, not ideological purity tests.

Turek has demonstrated something we value enormously: an ability to represent people who do not necessarily share his party affiliation. Donald Trump carried his Iowa House district, yet Turek won it. He has crossed party lines on consequential votes and has been effective in a legislature overwhelmingly controlled by Republicans.

He is also substantially closer to us on abortion and personal liberty. And his combination of stronger border enforcement with a legal path for long-established undocumented residents is much closer to the compromise reflected in our immigration policy than either open-ended permissiveness or mass-deportation politics.

Turek also strongly opposes Trump’s broad tariffs. That puts him much closer to CIVPAC’s trade policy, which favors open trade, predictable rules and restoring greater congressional control over the use of tariffs.

Hinson, meanwhile, increasingly identifies herself with Donald Trump and his agenda. She has supported his broad tariff policies, which we regard as economically damaging and particularly inappropriate for an agricultural state.

She also voted against the 2026 Ukraine Support Act despite having previously expressed stronger support for resisting Russian aggression. CIVPAC’s Russia and Ukraine policy places considerable weight on deterrence, alliance reliability and denying Russia the benefits of territorial aggression.

Most importantly, the current political environment changes the weight we assign to these differences.

If Donald Trump and Trumpism were not dominant forces within the Republican Party, this endorsement might be different.

If Democrats controlled the presidency and Congress and the greater need were for a market-oriented check on the left, this endorsement might also be different.

In that environment, Hinson’s positions on taxes, school choice, labor policy and regulation might well carry greater weight.

But we do not make endorsements for an imaginary political system. We make them for the one that exists.

Today, institutional independence, constitutional restraint, respect for individual liberty, sensible trade policy, support for American alliances and a willingness by members of Congress to act as legislators rather than extensions of a president deserve unusual weight.

On balance, Turek comes out ahead.

Not by much.

That is why “endorsement by faint praise” seems about right. It is not meant as an insult to Turek. It is a recognition that serious political choices are often between imperfect alternatives.

CIVPAC’s purpose is not to find candidates with whom we agree on everything. It is to decide which available candidate is more likely to move government in a sensible, centrist and institutionally responsible direction.

In Iowa, by a narrow margin, we believe that candidate is Josh Turek.

Centrist Independent Voter Endorses Jessica Killin in Colorado’s 5th District

Colorado general-election endorsement graphic featuring the state outline, the U.S. Capitol and the Centrist Independent Voter compass rose.

Centrist Independent Voter has endorsed Jessica Killin, the Democratic nominee for Congress in Colorado’s 5th Congressional District.

Killin is an Army veteran who describes herself as part of “Team Normal.” We disagree with her on some economic policies, particularly proposals aimed at restricting institutional housing investors and increasing assistance to homebuyers when housing supply remains constrained.

But Killin gets several important things right. She opposes President Trump’s tariffs, recognizes the need to increase housing supply, supports a combination of border security and legal status for otherwise law-abiding immigrants, and believes Congress should reclaim authority it has surrendered to the executive branch.

Her foreign-policy background is also important. Killin served eight years in the Army and worked on NATO expansion and peacekeeping in Europe. She has spoken strongly about the importance of American alliances and NATO to U.S. national security.

Her Republican opponent, Representative Jeff Crank, has taken the other side on several issues that matter greatly to us, including voting against the Ukraine Support Act and against congressional efforts to limit unauthorized presidential military action against Iran.

We do not expect candidates we endorse to agree with us on everything. We do expect them, on balance, to offer the better combination of sound policy, independent judgment and respect for democratic institutions.

We believe Jessica Killin does.

Read our full endorsement of Jessica Killin.

See also Centrist Independent Voter’s 2026 candidate endorsements.

Centrist Independent Voter Endorses Brian Fitzpatrick in Pennsylvania’s 1st District

Pennsylvania endorsement graphic featuring the state outline, U.S. Capitol and Centrist Independent Voter compass rose for the 2026 Brian Fitzpatrick endorsement.

Centrist Independent Voter has endorsed Republican Representative Brian Fitzpatrick for re-election in Pennsylvania’s 1st Congressional District.

Fitzpatrick is not a perfect match for CIVPAC on every issue. His Democratic opponent, Bob Harvie, is also a serious candidate. But Fitzpatrick has built one of the strongest records of bipartisan cooperation and independent judgment in Congress.

He co-chairs the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus, has repeatedly ranked among the House’s most bipartisan members, and has been a particularly strong supporter of Ukraine and America’s alliances. In 2026, he helped force a House vote on additional assistance for Ukraine despite opposition from Republican leadership.

Fitzpatrick has also demonstrated a willingness to disagree with his own party when he believes it is warranted.

Centrist Independent Voter believes that behavior should be rewarded. If we want both political parties to produce more pragmatic, institutionally serious members of Congress, independent voters have to support those who actually govern that way.

Read our full endorsement of Brian Fitzpatrick.

You can also see CIVPAC’s complete list of 2026 candidate endorsements as we continue reviewing general-election races.