House Democrats lay out their targets for 2026 battle

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: NBC News

April 8, 2025, 5:00 AM EDT / Updated April 8, 2025, 7:59 AM EDT


House Democrats are setting their sights on some districts President Donald Trump won handily in November as they lay out their top targets as they look to take back the House next year. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee announced Tuesday that it is targeting 35 Republican-held House seats, noting that recent gains in special elections have suggested a midterm election environment that will not be kind to Republicans. The committee is also launching a program to raise money for its eventual nominees.

Democrats need a net gain of three seats next year to take control of the House (they hold 213 seats, with two vacancies in solidly Democratic districts). The president’s party also typically loses seats in midterm elections, shedding an average of 20 House seats in presidents’ second terms, according to data from the University of California-Santa Barbara's American Presidency Project.

“We only need three seats to take back the majority and they have a microscopic majority right now,” DCCC Chairwoman Suzan DelBene, D-Wash., told MSNBC’s “Way Too Early.” But just three Republican incumbents — Nebraska’s Don Bacon, New York’s Mike Lawler and Pennsylvania’s Brian Fitzpatrick — represent districts former Vice President Kamala Harris carried in last year's presidential election.

All three are on the DCCC’s target list, along with familiar battleground incumbents whom the Cook Political Report with Amy Walter rates as being in "tossup" contests, including Bacon, Iowa’s Mariannette Miller-Meeks, Pennsylvania’s Scott Perry and Ryan McKenzie, Colorado’s Gabe Evans, Michigan’s Tom Barrett and Arizona’s David Schweikert and Juan Ciscomani. “We’re on offense and Republicans are running scared — for good reason,” DelBene said, arguing that the “Trump-Musk” agenda is harming Americans.

Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2026-election/house-democrats-lay-targets-2026-battle-rcna200051

[nordenbluejay]

1. nordenbluejay

South Dakota's Rep. Dusty Johnson is vulnerable.

[Greybnk48]

2. Tony Weid (R) Wisconsin's 8th District.

I actually don't believe he won in 2024, but here we are. He's a sitting duck. A gas station owner with a criminal record, who's afraid to hold town hall's, and people are already going at him. He will never win again.

I think Senator Ron Johnson is a viable target too if we're aggressive.

[bronxiteforever]

3. Open the map. Economic populism and FDR policies

will stake the GOP vampires because they only work for billionaires.

[GoreWon2000]

4. I think beating Schwikert is doable

I'm in that district. Voters in AZ are mad about how rRump is destroying our country. There were strong turnouts for the "Hands Off" protests in AZ last Saturday. Schwikert is a total tRumper and is appeared headed down with the sinking tRump Titanic.

[Old Testament Libera]

5. Contest every single district

...in the country! If they act like they want to engage with all the voters and win, then we might win!

A lot of people including myself will spend our last dollar and our last bit of shoe leather to support a challenge to any MAGA Republican.

[elocs]

6. I hope there are legitimate, free, fair, and unhacked elections in 2026. I'll believe it when it happens.

As Stalin is quoted as saying, "Those who cast the votes decide nothing; those who count the votes decide everything".

So Democrats, those on the Left need to show up and vote like the future of the nation depends upon it because it does.