Pelosi-Endorsed Candidate Calls for 'Full Arms Embargo' on Israel at California Debate

San Francisco supervisor Connie Chan stood on a debate stage Thursday night and called for a "full arms embargo on the Israeli government," a position that puts her sharply at odds with the political record of the person who endorsed her to replace in Congress: outgoing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Chan is running to succeed Pelosi, 86, in California's 11th congressional district. Pelosi is not seeking re-election after decades in the House, where she consistently backed Israel, voted for military aid packages, and condemned boycott and sanctions campaigns against the country.

Chan broke from that record directly. Asked about Gaza during the televised debate, days before mail-in ballots go out to California voters, she said she would act immediately if elected.

"On day one in Congress," Chan said, she would vote to "end a genocide in Gaza and to end an apartheid state."

Chan also said she would not support funding for Israel's Iron Dome missile defense system, arguing humanitarian aid should take priority in U.S. spending decisions.

Her opponent in the Democratic primary, California state Senator Scott Wiener, staked out a similar position. Wiener said he would oppose funding for the Israeli military and the provision of bombs or offensive weapons, while also describing the Gaza campaign as a genocide.

"This government, and it's not just Netanyahu, is an absolute abomination, in my view, in terms of what it has inflicted on Gaza, in terms of Israel empowering settler violence and land grabs in the West Bank," Wiener said.

The debate lands amid wider cracks in congressional Democratic unity on Israel policy. Nearly all Senate Democrats recently backed an unsuccessful push to require a State Department report on Israel's human rights record, including the killings of nine American citizens in the occupied West Bank. Separately, several House members introduced the Stop the Settlements Act this week, a bill that would impose sanctions on individuals and entities involved in building or expanding Israeli settlements in the West Bank and Gaza.

Both California candidates are seeking a seat long held by one of the most reliable congressional backers of U.S. military assistance to Israel. Whoever wins will help decide the composition of a House where all 435 seats, along with 35 Senate seats, are on the ballot in November's midterms, with control of Congress at stake.