More than two dozen House Democrats are on the GOP’s “target list” for the 2026 midterm elections released on Monday, following polls that show the American public souring on the Democratic Party.
Their districts represent “prime pick-up” opportunities for Republicans to grow their slim majority in the House, the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) said in a press release.
On the list are Reps. Josh Harder (D-CA), Adam Gray (D-CA), George Whitesides (D-CA), Derek Tran (D-CA), Dave Min (D-CA), Darren Soto (D-FL), Jared Moskowitz (D-FL), Frank Mrvan (D-IN), Jared Golden (D-ME), Kristen McDonald Rivet (D-MI), Don Davis (D-NC), and Chris Pappas (D-NH).
There is also Nellie Pou (D-NJ), Gabe Vasquez (D-NM), Dina Titus (D-NV), Susie Lee (D-NV), Steven Horsford (D-NV), Tom Suozzi (D-NY), Laura Gillen (D-NY), Josh Riley (D-NY), Marcy Kaptur (D-OH), Emilia Sykes (D-OH), Henry Cuellar (D-TX), Vicente Gonzalez (D-TX), Eugene Vindman (D-VA), and Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (D-WA).
“House Republicans are in the majority and on offense,” NRCC Chairman Richard Hudson (R-NC) said in a statement. “Meanwhile, vulnerable House Democrats have been hard at work demonstrating they are painfully out of touch with hardworking Americans. Republicans are taking the fight straight to these House Democrats in their districts, and we will unseat them next fall.”
During an interview on Fox News, Hudson offered insight into the NRCC’s thinking when picking districts.
“You have a number of majority-Hispanic districts that have been trending our way for a long time,” Hudson said after highlighting certain areas in Texas and California. He added, “13 of these 26 seats were carried by President Donald Trump in the last election.”
The list of 26 “targets” follows the release of a national poll from NBC that found just 27% of respondents had a positive view of the Democrats and a survey from CNN that showed their party at 29% favorability.
Despite the dire warning signs, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) shrugged off the NRCC’s “target list” for the 2026 midterms.
“House Democrats overperformed across the country in 2024, powered by our battle-tested candidates who won despite the NRCC’s false bravado and these Frontliners will win again in the midterms,” DCCC spokesperson Viet Shelton said in a statement posted to X by Punchbowl News reporter Max Cohen.
Currently, the party breakdown in the House is 218 Republicans and 213 Democrats. There are four vacancies, including the seats left vacant by Reps. Sylvester Turner (D-TX) and Raul Grijalva (D-AZ), both of whom died over the past couple of weeks. Special elections can fill the void for the remainder of the two-year term.
