Former US Army Ranger Greg Stoker, left, seen on his MintPress podcast; and retired US Green Beret Anthony Aguilar, right, seen on his Instagram account (Screengrabs)

Two former US soldiers who have become some of the most notable critics of Israel's genocide in Gaza have now launched campaigns for Congress ahead of November's midterm elections. 

Former US Army Ranger in Afghanistan turned anti-war activist and podcast host, Greg Stoker, announced his bid for Texas's 31st District in an Instagram video on 15 January. 

Middle East Eye
Bu Yasmine El-Sabawi
January 27, 2026

Eight days later, retired US Green Beret turned whistleblower from the defunct Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, Anthony Aguilar, announced his bid for North Carolina's 13th District, also in an Instagram video. 

Both districts are considered comfortably Republican, as voters have historically gone red and are allegedly set to stay red, according to The Cook Political Report.

That's not to say that an upset isn't possible. 

After the record-setting New York City mayoral win by Democratic Socialist Zohran Mamdani, the plummeting of US President Donald Trump's approval ratings because of violent immigration raids, and the lack of any meaningful opposition by establishment Democrats in Congress, there is a clear opportunity for something - and someone - new. 

Third-party candidates

Both Stoker and Aguilar are running as Green Party candidates. 

On the ballot in Stoker's district in particular is Republican candidate Valentina Gomez, whose virulent anti-Islam campaign was deemed too extreme even for the president himself. 

Stoker is hoping to encourage a strong turnout from Texans who want to upend the status quo.

"Texas is not a blue state. Texas is not a red state. Texas is a non-voting state, because really, what does - historically - our government have to offer you, besides the tired old culture wars and identity politics as the house burns down around us? So I believe now the time is right, the only time to begin a new type of politics," he said in his launch video.

"It starts with affordability for us, and accountability for officials who sell out Texas to corporations and foreign interests trying to get you to hate your neighbour while looting your tax money and misappropriating it," he added. 

Stoker will not be accepting money from political action committees (PACs) or corporate donors, he noted. 

Aguilar's website states the same.

"No more endless war. Yes to America's needs. No to fascist corporatisation. Affordable housing for all. Healthcare for all. Universal childcare [and] a living wage to keep North Carolina families out of poverty. These are human rights, not privileges," he said in his launch video.

"I will go to Washington, DC, to serve on the front lines as a representative of the people, just as I have for 25 years on the front lines around the world," he added. 

"I fought in every war that the United States has put boots on the ground for the last quarter of a century with honour, valour and distinction. When I hung up my uniform one year ago, I did not hang up my oath to protect and defend the Constitution." 

Shaped by Gaza

It's safe to say that both of these candidates have built a massive online following and media footprint precisely because of Israel's genocide in Gaza, which has, as of Tuesday, killed at least 71,662 Palestinians, with the likelihood of 10,000 more under millions of tonnes of rubble. 

They are conventional congressional candidates in the sense that they were both enlisted in the US military, and are considered, across much of the political spectrum in this country, to be patriots - a term synonymous with the American election landscape as candidates push to prove they love their country more than their opponents. 

But they are unconventional in that they are not just anti-war, but more specifically anti-Zionist, and looking to break the longstanding US-Israel relationship that has shaped how lawmakers represent their constituents on Capitol Hill. 

Middle East Eye has reached out to both Stoker and Aguilar for comment on their respective campaigns, but did not hear back in time for publication. 

Stoker was deployed to Afghanistan four times.

He told UK rapper Lowkey last year that he "was brainwashed" in the military. 

Over the last two years, he has used his social media accounts to dissect the Biden and Trump administrations' military tactics vis-a-vis Gaza, becoming a go-to source on geopolitics for critics of Israel's disproportionate assault on the blockaded enclave. 

Stoker joined 400 other activists on the Global Sumud Flotilla to try to break the siege on Gaza in late September, providing regular updates until Israeli forces boarded the vessels and arrested everyone on board. 

He came home to a hero's welcome after his release. 

Aguilar's turnaround doesn't stretch back as far.

In May 2025, soon after he retired from the army as a member of the US Special Forces, he was recruited among hundreds of other former soldiers to take up a contract securing a new American aid site in Gaza, after Israel blocked United Nations relief agencies from carrying out their mandate. 

Aguilar's contract stipulated a $2,000 daily pay, with his food and hotel in Israel also covered, he told MEE in October. 

That aid site was to be the scandal-plagued Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), which human rights groups called a "death trap" after more than 1,000 Palestinians were killed at its four sites in the strip while seeking food and aid.

GHF denied any violence taking place under its watch. 

In June, Aguilar was dismissed from the shadowy organisation, whose donors were never disclosed. 

Aguilar told the UnXeptable podcast in July that he saw Israeli forces kill a young Palestinian boy named "Amir" on 28 May 2025, whilst he was manning a GHF aid distribution point in southern Gaza. 

He met with Senators Chris Van Hollen and Bernie Sanders to share his story of seeing several other Palestinians targeted, and he became the whistleblower who revealed that the GHF was working for a client, and the client was the Israeli military. 

However, Aguilar's story about "Amir" unravelled, with Middle East Eye's own Gaza correspondent, the late Mohamed Salama, noting that he remained missing, with no evidence he had been killed. 

By September, Abdul Rahim Muhammad Hamden - the boy's real name - was found with his mother, and the two have reportedly left Gaza. 

Aguilar has since been out at protests in the US in support of Gaza and even disrupted a Senate hearing while wearing his army uniform. 

He has been feted by advocacy groups critical of the American "Israel First" policy. 

The Council on American Islamic Relations invited him to speak at its Leadership and Policy Conference, and the Muslim Public Affairs Committee invited him to speak at its benefit gala.