In a sign of potential bullishness heading into the November elections, the campaign arm for House Democrats is adding five more seats to its target list for the 2026 cycle — including four districts President Donald Trump won by double digits in 2024.
The additions — shared first with MS NOW — bring the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee’s overall target list of districts where they hope to go on the offensive to 44. That far exceeds the handful of districts Democrats need to flip to win the House and notch a foothold of power in GOP-controlled Washington.
“These are all examples of districts where we have opportunities, where Republicans haven’t stood up,” DCCC Chairwoman Suzan DelBene, D-Wash., told MS NOW. “People are frustrated about what’s happening.”
The five new targets — all currently held by Republicans — include Colorado’s 5th district, represented by incumbent Jeff Crank; Minnesota’s 1st district, held by Rep. Brad Finstad; Montana’s 1st district, held by Rep. Ryan Zinke; and Virginia’s 5th district, held by Rep. John McGuire.
South Carolina’s 1st district, where Rep. Nancy Mace has opted to give up her seat to run for governor instead and Trump won by 13 points in 2024, rounds out the group.
The Cook Political Report, which rates House races, ranks all of these districts as either likely or solid Republican.
DelBene noted that while the newly added districts — among the most Trump-friendly of the 44 — are “probably” not ones political observers may have had on their maps previously, the DCCC is making the move both in response to what’s happening on the ground in these districts and the trends in recent special elections nationwide.
“In special elections since November 2024, Democrats are winning by about 13%,” DelBene said. “In congressional special elections, we’ve seen Democrats up 17 points.”
Ticking through some of the new additions to the DCCC list, DelBene called the open seat in South Carolina — where the incumbent was, in her words, “definitely underwater” — a “huge opportunity.”
She also noted that the Minnesota seat has the distinction of being won by both Trump and Sen. Amy Klobuchar, the Democratic incumbent, in 2024 — a sign, she said, that a Democrat can win there, too. Currently, Republicans hold a paper-thin majority in the House, with just 218 GOP members to 214 Democrats (plus three vacancies). That amounts to a one vote margin of error for Republicans on any given party-line vote. This DCCC’s decision to expand the map comes as Democrats are fresh off a slew of overperformances in elections across the country. In December, a Democrat lost by single digits in a Tennessee congressional district Trump previously carried by 22 points. And just a week ago, a Democrat flipped a Texas state Senate distinct that Trump won by 17 points in 2024. Trump, meanwhile, is seeing his polls slump. An AP poll released last month showed his approval rating underwater on issues where voters have traditionally trusted him, including immigration and the economy. The target list is just a preliminary step for the DCCC ahead of the midterms. The campaign arm for the House Democrats will eventually name candidates to their ‘Red to Blue’ program, who will receive staff resources, training, and fundraising support.
Kevin Frey is a congressional reporter for MS NOW. Recommended
