At a time when the United States is directly engaged in an illegal war in Iran, acting as a key partner in the ongoing genocide and ethnic cleansing in Palestine, and failing to use our nation’s leverage to stop Israel’s pillage of Lebanon, silence from any congressional candidate is not neutrality — it is abdication of leadership. Both congressional candidates, Stefany Shaheen and Maura Sullivan, fail to adequately address foreign policy on their campaign platforms.
In fact, any candidate who fails to address war, foreign policy, and our government’s unconscionable financial, military, and diplomatic support for Israel’s illegal occupation and apartheid system of domination and displacement of Palestinians ignores their voters’ deep frustrations and undermines the basic democratic principles held dear in New Hampshire. Americans are fed up with endless wars. Recent polls show that nearly three-quarters of Democratic voters oppose U.S. military aid to Israel, and 95% oppose the U.S.-Israel war on Iran. In July 2026, more than 100 House Democrats voted to cut off aid to Israel, signaling a major shift within the party away from unconditional support.
When candidates remain silent on these issues, they perpetuate a dangerous cycle of endless wars and the misdirection of our tax dollars to matters that do nothing for the citizens they are supposed to serve. By treating foreign policy as irrelevant or too complex for the ballot box, they reinforce the notion that these “conflicts” are “over there,” disconnected from our daily lives. This silence reinforces the American public’s ignorance of our government’s actions, allowing the machinery of war to operate without meaningful democratic scrutiny. Congressional candidates worth supporting are vocal in demanding an end to a foreign policy that for decades has caused enormous death, disfigurement, displacement, destruction and environmental degradation, around the world but especially in West Asia.
While Stefany Shaheen rightly criticizes the economic costs of war in terms of gas prices and healthcare funding, this framing misses the profound human and ethical toll of our government’s failed foreign policy. Focusing solely on domestic affordability while ignoring the moral weight of complicity in atrocities abroad does not represent the leadership direly needed for these times. The websites and public messaging by both Shaheen and Sullivan ignore the catastrophic failures of American leadership. Finally, ignoring and avoiding constituents who demand an end to the violence reveals a preference for political comfort over civic duty.
Congress holds the constitutional power of the purse and the authority to declare war. We need congressional representatives who demonstrate, in their campaigns and in office, a willingness to speak truth to power. If you cannot face your constituents on difficult issues, including the genocide in Gaza — why are you running for representative government?
Karina Quintans is a marketing and communications specialist living in Portsmouth. John T. Fussell is a retired labor union attorney living in Dover.