Democrats are preparing to push them deeper into Republican-owned turf next November.
Encouraged by a special election last Tuesday, the GOP enemy is sensing opportunities. Three Senate candidates announced their bids this week. The same week, Democrats promoted a decisive victory in Wisconsin swing state, with two long shot Democrats overperforming in deeper Florida districts. Currently, party recruiters report growing interest from favorable territorial candidates.
“This puts more on the field. It attacks Democrats. That’s what we’re saying – if you’re in the Trump Plus 15 district, we’re playing there,” said Rep. Morgan McGarvey (D-Ky.), co-chairman who handles recruiting for the party’s campaign division. “We now have a lot of interest from people all over the country and are intervening to get our country into office.”
In Iowa, two state lawmakers are considering running against Rep. Zach Nun in areas affected by tariffs. Two candidates, Pennsylvania and Michigan, have lost or left their jobs thanks to the Trump administration, giving them a powerful story on the campaign trail. The former pair of representatives are considering a comeback bid for the Battlefield District of the Rust Belt.
And Democrats believe that at least two Virginia districts held by GOP officials are hosting Rob Whitman and Jen Kiggans. Possible recruits are appearing. Pamela Nautham, a former Virginia first lady, is approaching her as a run to Kigugan’s seat in the Hampton Road area.
This happens in a week of punishment for Republicans who saw the stock market crater after President Donald Trump rolled out tariffs and his officials continue to face tough questions about the “signal gate” fiasco. Democrats feel open and want to expand their momentum by recruiting new potential candidates.
“People are upset. If they can guide it, they’ll use it for the right energy, run a strong campaign and get people out there. I think they can win in Iowa,” said JD Scholten, a Democrat who was leaning towards Senator Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) until Tuesday’s election. Now he said it’s 50-50 in another run in a state where Democrats have not held Senate seats since 2015.
House Democrat operatives have also reported an increase in openness from Midwest Midwest candidates over the past few weeks. And the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee notes that there are around 40 additional attack targets that Housing Democrats can oust in the mid-term, based on Tuesday’s margin in Florida.
House Majority PAC, an external Democratic group focusing on Congressional race, reported “a huge amount of interest and enthusiasm from potential candidates across the country” through Tuesday and Tuesday.
“People have been receptive in the last 48 hours,” said a typical House Democrat recruiter who has spoken with candidates in red seating like the R+7 since the special election.
Meanwhile, previously disappointed Democrats are beginning to seriously consider increasing their campaigns to get the smallest seats needed to recapture the majority of their home.
Among them is Andy Levin (d-mich.), who is weighing bids from his elected office for the seat currently being held by former Republican Rep. John James, and Matt Cartwright, another former Democrat, who will decide whether to run again to his swing district in northeastern Pennsylvania.
Cartwright called the Wisconsin election results “very encouraging,” and said House Republicans made a serious political error when they voted for a budget blueprint that Democrats claimed to have laid the foundation for Medicaid cuts. His former opponent, Rep. Rob Bresnahan, was one of them. Cartwright said 200,000 people in his old district rely on the program.
At least two candidates have experienced firsthand the upheavals caused by the Trump administration.
Former federal prosecutor Ryan Crosswell, who has resigned to move to charges against New York Mayor Eric Adams, is considering a run against Pennsylvania freshman Rep. Ryan Mackenzie. Crosswell declined to comment.
Andrew Lennox, veteran to make it easier Losing his job at Veteran Hospital in Ann ArborMusk’s government efficiency is pondering the run for Michigan’s seat. Lennox, a guest of Senator Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.), said in Trump’s speech to Congress that Tuesday’s election and Senator Cory Booker’s record speech inspired him.
“People actually beat billionaires,” he said. “While seeing it happen, it was a breath of fresh air, and there may be hope that this is not over.”
State Sen. Sarah Anthony is another potential candidate to play against Barrett. And in Des Moines, appointed minister Sen. Sarah Tron Garriott and state Sen. Jennifer Confust, both of whom are well-versed in their ideas, are considering a run against the Nun.
Bob Harvey, a suburban Philadelphia county commissioner, launched a bid this week against Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.) after talking to the DCCC, according to someone familiar with communications.
And Susan Wilde, a former Democrat who represented the swing district of Pennsylvania’s Lehigh Valley, told Politico she wasn’t running in 2026, but she said she “works hard to make sure we have a really solid Democratic candidate.”
“We have to make people more interested,” she said of the election results this week, adding that Trump’s tariffs and other factors also have the political environment more favorable to Democrats. “People who are thinking of running say, “I think it’s even these tough neighborhoods that you know, we can turn over.” ”
But she warned not to go too far to the Democrats. She said Republicans and 10 districts are difficult and that the party should not pursue them except in special cases.
“If they go ahead and they’re going beyond them, the frontliner would really hurt if they were cheeky about this,” she said.
In New Jersey, for example, Democrats want to kick Republican Rep. Jeff Van Drew out.
Michael Suleiman, chairman of the Atlantic County Democrats, admitted that “there could be a district if there were strong candidates.” However, he warned that the top priority for the New Jersey Democrats in 2026 is to protect freshman Democrats Nelly Pooh and exiled Tom Keene Jr. In contrast, he carried almost 13 percent points through Van Drew’s district.
And Democrats still have a greater impact on Trump in the 2024 elections as the shift between minority voters. Especially when voters chose Democratic congressional candidates last fall, heavy Latino districts have moved to the right at the presidential level. Democrats bet that the shift is Trump-centric, but the GOP believes Latinos will make more intrusions.
“Democrats are burning with no vision, no leader or message. This is the latest hail Mary in the freefall party,” said Mike Marinella, spokesman for the House GOP Campaign Arm. “While they chase their fantasies, we will continue to expose them and crush them again in 2026 to be unable to contact them.”
However, Democrats involved in turning the house upside down at Wave in 2018 remembered that the powerful candidates in the winning seat are an important part of the recipe for success. Scary Democratic candidates like Kendra Horn of Oklahoma, Joe Cunningham of South Carolina, and Ben McAdams of Utah have managed to take away the political environment that favors victory in the deep red district.
Veterans of that cycle said they will pay dividends for recruitment on long shot sheets.
“We’ve been working hard to get the better of our customers,” said Meredith Kelly, top spokesman for DCCC during the 2018 cycle. “Put your surfboard in the water. I don’t know what’s coming.”
Madison Fernandez and Elena Schneider contributed to this report.
