As in every US general election, all 435 seats in the House of Representatives are up for grabs in 2024. And, as usual, this year showcases some tight races and some with fairly predictable outcomes.
But as voters examine their representatives’ records on Ukraine, Democratic incumbents don’t offer much variety on that account: When the House voted on H.R. 8035 on April 20, 2024, allocating about $61 billion for Ukrainian aid, not a single Democratic representative voted against it. This trend seems likely to continue.
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The Republican side of the aisle, on the other hand, was fairly evenly split, with 101 in favor of the bill, 114 against. The Grand Old Party, the erstwhile Cold Warrior team led in the 1980s by Ronald “Mister-Gorbachev-Tear-Down-This-Wall” Reagan, could not be less unified in its thinking on Ukraine.
Interestingly, or perhaps just coincidentally, some of the closest races facing Republican incumbents seem to be those who hold moderately pro-Ukrainian records: David Valadao and Ken Calvert of California, Don Bacon of Nebraska, and Marianette Miller-Meeks of Iowa, to name just a few.
But in this review, we’ll focus on those with vigorously pro-Ukrainian aid or vehemently anti-Ukrainian-aid records and remarks.
Republican representatives FOR Ukraine
Joe Wilson
South Carolina, District #2
Like all the other representatives on this pro-Ukraine list, Wilson voted for every single measure to send aid to Kyiv since the Russian full-scale invasion began in February 2022, including the Ukraine Democracy Defense Lend-Lease Act of 2022, which had divided his caucus at the time.
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More to the point, as chairman of the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe in April 2024, Wilson introduced the Ukraine Victory Resolution in the House of Representatives, which ultimately passed the Senate.
He might be seen as the leading Republican voice for Ukraine in the House.
“Grateful to lead this resolution affirming longstanding US policy in support of a sovereign Ukraine, while defining victory over war criminal Putin. Rule of law must prevail, and we must remain steadfast in our support.” – April 2023
Projection: Wilson is very likely to win re-election against Democratic challenger David Robinson II.
Michael Lawler
New York, District #17
Representing a fairly wealthy and well-educated district just north of New York City, Lawler is in the fight of his life against a lot of Democratic money behind his opponent, Mondaire Jones.
Because of his very conservative views on abortion and other hot-button topics, Lawler is a Donald Trump favorite and someone the Democrats are eager to dislodge from Congress. Americans in the Northeast can expect to see multiple TV ads blasting Lawler while they are watching football on Sunday afternoons this month.
And yet, he has been a steadfast supporter of Kyiv.
“Vladimir Putin is a vile dictator and thug and I have supported funding in Ukraine and I will continue to do that… We cannot give up on this mission and let Vladimir Putin be successful.” – Sept. 2023
Projection: This is a very tight race.
Jennifer Kiggans
Virginia, District #2
Kiggans, a former Navy pilot, is one of the more hawkish representatives on this list, but faces another female centrist candidate with a military background in Democrat Missy Cotter Smasal, a small-business owner who once served in the US Navy as a surface warfare officer.
“I will continue to be a fierce advocate for additional defense funding to ensure our military capabilities are sufficient to deter our adversaries like China and Russia.” – June 2023
Projection: Kiggans has the edge here, but this district with a relatively large percentage of veterans and active-duty soldiers is widely seen as a battle zone for the respective parties.
Brian Fitzpatrick
Pennsylvania, District #1
Along with Joe Wilson, Fitzpatrick in September of this year introduced the bipartisan, bicameral Stand With Ukraine Act. According to his website, “This legislation would ensure that the 10-year Bilateral Security Agreement made in June 2024 between the United States and Ukraine is upheld and further promote peace and security in Ukraine.”
“The United States must never waver from supporting freedom and democracy throughout the world, period.” – February 2024
Projection: A former FBI agent, Fitzpatrick is expected to narrowly defeat his Democratic opponent, US Army combat veteran Ashley Ehasz, in one of the most closely watched districts in America for the presidential race, comprising parts of Bucks County, Pennsylvania, just outside of Philadelphia.
Anthony D’Esposito
New York, District #4
In a nasty race, facing longtime rival Democrat Laura Gillen in this Long Island, NY, district, D’Esposito has been the subject of tabloid press accusing him of nepotism, but it remains to be seen whether that tarnished reputation will be enough to cost him his seat in this middle-of-the-road district that has shaded Republican in recent years.
Last year, he faced pressure from left-leaning protesters in his district to stand up against Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson, who dragged his feet on signing H.R. 8035, and D’Esposito ultimately broke ranks with party leadership and voiced support for Ukraine.
In couched language to appeal to hardline Republicans as well, his office released the statement, “Congressman D’Esposito has consistently supported sending aid to Ukraine and is currently working with a bipartisan group of lawmakers to pass the Defending Borders, Defending Democracies Act, which is a comprehensive plan to assist our allies in Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan while also ensuring America’s borders are secured.”
“The people of Ukraine deserve to live in peace and dignity, free from the aggressive tendencies of their bully neighbor, Russia.” – March 2022
Projections: This one’s a toss-up.
Republican representatives AGAINST Ukraine
Again, there are more than 100 seated Republican representatives who voted against the $61 billion aid package for Ukraine in April 2024, and more than 90 who were given an “F” or “Very Poor” rating on the report card from the lobbying group, Republicans For Ukraine.
So, where to start?
Let’s look at five candidates for re-election who are either the most obnoxiously anti-Ukraine, or else actually have a chance of losing in November, a specter that is somewhat rare among such fervently isolationist representatives: Typically, the loudest isolationist voices in Congress come from poor, mostly Southern rural districts who haven’t voted for a Democrat since the proud-Texan president Lyndon Baines Johnson left the Oval Office in 1969, marking the end of the concept of “Southern Democrats.”
Marjorie Taylor Greene
Georgia, District #14
Alphabetical order aside, we’ve got to start with MTG, as Marjorie Taylor Greene is known in social media circles, as she is Public Enemy No. 1 for fans of defending democracy at home or abroad.
An election denier and fierce opponent of anyone who dares lift a finger against Putin, MTG is one of a young group of Donald Trump protégés in Congress, along with Byron Donalds of Florida (see below), Matt Gaetz of Florida (who would be the sixth mention on this list if it were longer) and Lauren Boebert of Colorado (running in a different district this time), who have made as much noise as they can in Congress to get their formerly unknown names in print. (You may recall MTG impudently wearing a “Make America Great Again” baseball hat at the 2024 State of the Union address.)
For months in 2023, MTG (Marjorie Taylor Greene) posted daily rants against Ukraine on her social media pages, with the slogan “not one more dollar.”
When asked about this group of relatively unknown MAGA Republicans who were dead-set on defunding aid to Ukraine, repentant Trump co-conspirator Lev Parnas had this to say to Kyiv Post in 2023:
“You have to understand that the people in the group you’re talking about – Gaetz, Boebert, and Marjorie Taylor Greene – really haven’t traveled outside of the US, and certainly not to Ukraine. They simply don’t comprehend the magnitude and severity of the situation. So, their motivation is isolationist, inward-looking and, ultimately, self-serving.
Far too many to choose just one.
Projection: Her opponent, Democrat Shawn Harris, a retired Army General and farmer, doesn’t stand a chance in this suburban Atlanta district where people wait in line to buy MAGA merchandise.
Byron Donalds
Florida, District #19
Like Greene, Donalds voted against every single House measure to fund Ukraine excluding the Ukraine Democracy Defense Lend-Lease Act of 2022. During the longest-ever round of votes to replace ousted House speaker Kevin McCarthy in September 2023, Donalds was one of seven candidates nominated, boosted by the far-right fringe that included Gaetz, Chip Roy of Texas and MTG.
Eager to placate the fellow right-wingers who nominated him, Donalds fought hard to defeat the series of proposals that ultimately granted $61 billion to Ukraine, insisting that money for border security had to be tied to any foreign aid. Put another way, while Donalds does not appear to be as vehemently anti-Ukraine as some of the others on this list, as a Capitol Hill newbie who owes his political career to Trump, he led the charge to hold Ukrainian aid hostage for more money to be sent to the southern border.
“Don’t even talk to us about Ukraine until the Southern border is secured.” – December 2023
Projection: This deep-red district in deep southwest Florida (parts of Lee County and Collier County) hasn’t elected a Democrat since 2010 and likely will not again for some time.
Anna Paulina Luna
Florida, District #13
The rookie representative from the Tampa Bay area of Florida has other things on her mind these days, outside of Ukraine. Two back-to-back powerful hurricanes decimated her district very shortly after she voted against a bill that would add funding for hurricane victims.
Up until the disasters, Luna had spilled a lot of digital ink on social media faithfully parroting the MAGA line that no more military aid should be going to Kyiv. A significant number of her constituents in the environs of St. Petersburg, FL, come from Ukraine, and when they were interviewed by Kyiv Post in February 2023, they were quite surprised to learn of her dismissive position on the full-scale Russian invasion of their homeland.
She has voted against every measure before Congress (for which she was present) to support Ukraine.
“I want to remind everyone, Ukraine decided not to join NATO… I do believe that we need to be helping out countries that can’t help themselves. But more importantly, remember, they are not a NATO ally of ours.” – January 2023
Projection: Before the hurricanes, this once-solidly Democratic district was leaning Republican for the second Congressional election in a row, but Luna’s slim lead might be in jeopardy now.
Scott Perry
Pennsylvania, district #10
Scott Perry’s fascination with defunding aid to Kyiv is mystifying, not only because Pennsylvania has the second-highest number of Ukrainian-Americans among all the states, but also because he somehow believes that the US has not placed enough restrictions on the use of American weapons against the Russian aggressors in Ukraine.
During a Congressional hearing in May, Perry skewered Secretary of State Antony Blinken for placing restrictions on arms that Israel could use in Gaza, but said that Ukraine faced “no such restrictions,” apparently ignoring the debilitating ban that the administration of US President Joe Biden has placed on the use of US long-range weapons on Russian territory.
One takeaway from that hearing could be that Perry does not want the war in Ukraine to divert funding or attention from the war in Israel. And yet, despite his regular calls for Israel’s right to defend itself, pro-Israel groups recently have questioned their support for his campaign.
The ten-year veteran of Capitol Hill has voted “nay” on every Ukraine aid bill to reach the floor, including the lend-lease act.
“This [War in Ukraine] is all made by President Joe Biden – who talks tough but does absolutely nothing.” – Feb 2022
Projection: Perry’s inscrutable remarks on foreign policy might represent another opening for his gaining Democratic challenger, broadcast journalist Janelle Stelson, who brought in twice the funding ($1.3 million) this summer than Perry’s campaign did, and the pundits are now saying that this district is a toss-up.
Chip Roy
Texas, district #21
Again, this list could include dozens of other Republican representatives who have grandstanded against Ukraine aid to score political points either with constituents or to appease Trump, but Chip Roy, a MAGA Republican from a district deep in the heart of Texas (between Austin and San Antonio) sort of encapsulates them all.
He co-authored a letter, along with Ohio senator and now-Vice Presidential candidate JD Vance, to President Joe Biden in September of 2023 asking the following: “The American people deserve to know what their money has gone to. How is the counteroffensive going? Are the Ukrainians any closer to victory than they were six months ago? What is our strategy, and what is the president’s exit plan?… For these reasons – and certainly until we receive answers to the questions above and others forthcoming – we oppose the additional expenditure for war in Ukraine included in your request.”
It goes without saying that Roy has voted no on every Ukraine-aid bill he has seen. But his most poignant remarks, came in February of this year, illustrating the general mood of the far-right:
“I think I might submit a bill pretty soon to rename Texas to Ukraine. Then maybe this administration and even senators will work on securing the border of the United States…”
Projection: Roy has got this re-election in the bag.
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