The House races to watch in 2026

September 11, 2026 allaboutgirl_8p7t0g 35 Views 0 Comments

Democrats are trying to flip the U.S. House, currently narrowly controlled by Republicans, in November. And while all 435 House seats are up for election in 2026, only a handful of competitive races will determine which party will control the chamber come January.

The president’s party typically loses House seats in midterm elections. However, several Republican-controlled states took the unprecedented step of redrawing their district maps ahead of the midterms to favor congressional Republicans. The Supreme Court’s decision in Louisiana v. Callais allowed other GOP-controlled states in the South to eliminate their majority-Black and safely Democratic seats.

Still, Democrats are favored to pick up seats this year and have a good shot at flipping the chamber. A record number of women are running for the U.S. House, according to the Center for American Women and Politics, with one group aiming to achieve the milestone of 100 Democratic women serving in the chamber and some women candidates who would mark historic firsts.

A number of congressmen accused of misconduct toward women have also scrambled the map, starting with Reps. Eric Swalwell and Tony Gonzales, who resigned earlier this year. Republican Rep. Cory Mills of Florida lost his seat to a primary challenger, and Rep. Chuck Edwards of North Carolina dropped his reelection bid and was censured following a House Ethics report into his conduct toward staffers. But two other House members accused of wrongdoing — Democratic Rep. Jimmy Gomez of California and Republican Rep. Max Miller of Ohio — will be on the ballot.

Here are some of the top House races we’re watching:

Arizona

6th District: Democrat and U.S. Marine veteran JoAnna Mendoza is facing Republican Rep. Juan Ciscomani in Arizona’s 6th District, a Tucson-based battleground district that President Donald Trump carried by less than one percentage point in 2024. If elected, Mendoza would be the first out LGBTQ+ person to represent Arizona in the U.S. House and one of the first women Marine veterans to serve in Congress.

California

7th District: Democrat Rep. Doris Matsui is facing a serious challenge from Sacramento City Council Member Mai Vang after the two advanced out of the all-party primary for California’s 7th District. Vang, 41, is running on generational change against Matsui, 81, who has represented the deep-blue district for over 20 years.

11th District: San Francisco Supervisor Connie Chan and state Sen. Scott Weiner are facing off for the San Francisco-based seat that former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has represented since 1987. Pelosi has endorsed Chan to succeed her in what has become a highly contentious and expensive race for a safe blue seat.

14th District: Rep. Aisha Wahab won an August special election for the seat formerly held by Swalwell, who resigned in April after being accused of sexual assault; he has denied the allegations. Wahab, the first person of Afghan descent to serve in Congress, will face Melissa Hernandez, her opponent in the special election, for a full term in November.

34th District: Democratic Rep. Jimmy Gomez, currently under investigation for sexual misconduct, is facing a challenge from community organizer and fellow Democrat Angela Gonzales-Torres for his deep-blue Los Angeles-based district. Gomez, a fifth-term lawmaker, has denied wrongdoing.

48th District: Democrat Marni Von Wilpert, a San Diego City Council member, and Republican Jim Desmond, a member of the San Diego Board of Supervisors, are running for the seat held by GOP Rep. Darrell Issa, who is retiring. The district went from Republican to Democratic-leaning under new district lines voters approved last year; former Vice President Kamala Harris would have won the new district by three points in 2024, according to calculations by The Downballot.

Florida

14th District: Democratic Rep. Kathy Castor is facing her toughest reelection fight yet as she seeks a 10th term in Congress. She’s running against former Florida state Rep. Mike Beltran after Florida Republicans redrew her once-safe blue Tampa-area district to be much more GOP-leaning; Trump would have carried it by over 10 points in 2024.

Georgia

13th District: Jasmine Clark is set to be the first Black woman PhD scientist in Congress after winning the Democratic nomination for a safe blue seat east of Atlanta. Clark, a microbiologist, initially ran to challenge former Rep. David Scott, who died in office in April at 80. She won the primary for a full term to succeed him in May.

Iowa

1st District: Christina Bohannon, a former Democratic state representative, is challenging Republican Rep. Marianette Miller-Meeks for the third time in Iowa’s 1st District, a tossup seat covering the southeastern part of the state. Miller-Meeks defeated Bohannon by just under 800 votes in 2024 as Trump carried the district by over 8 points.

2nd District: Democratic state Rep. Lindsay James and former Republican state Rep. Joe Mitchell are running for Iowa’s 2nd District, a seat based in northeast Iowa whose incumbent, Rep. Ashley Hinson, is running for U.S. Senate. Trump won the Republican-leaning seat by 10 points in 2024.

3rd District: Democratic state Sen. Sarah Trone Garriott is challenging GOP Rep. Zach Nunn for Iowa’s 3rd District, a swing seat based in southwest Iowa that Trump carried by 4 percentage points in 2024. Trone Garriott, also an ordained Lutheran Minister, is one of several Democratic faith leaders running for office in 2026.

Michigan

10th District: Democrat Christina Hines and Republican Michael Bouchard are facing off in Michigan’s 10th District, a swing district in the Detroit suburbs. Hines, a sex crimes prosecutor, and Bouchard, a military veteran and son of longtime Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard, are vying to succeed current Rep. John James, the Republican nominee for governor.

Nebraska

2nd District: Democrat Denise Powell is facing off against Republican Brinker Harding, a member of the Omaha City Council, in the open Omaha-based seat currently held by retiring GOP Rep. Don Bacon, a frequent critic of his own party. The seat, one of just three Republican-held districts that Harris won in 2024, is a top target for Democrats to flip this year.

New Jersey

7th District: Ex-Navy helicopter pilot Rebecca Bennett is challenging GOP Rep. Tom Kean Jr. in New Jersey’s 7th District. Kean made headlines earlier this year for disappearing from Congress and missing months of votes with no explanation. When he returned, he said he had been hospitalized for depression. This swing district voted for President Joe Biden in 2020 and backed Trump by just one percentage point in 2024.

Nevada

3rd District: Democratic Rep. Susie Lee is seeking a fifth term in Congress in Nevada’s 3rd District, a competitive seat that includes parts of Las Vegas and southern Nevada — and reelected Lee while backing Trump by one point in 2024. Republican nominee Marty O’Donnell is a first-time political candidate and retired music composer whose work includes the score to the Halo games.

New York

4th District: Freshman Democratic Rep. Laura Gillen is running for a second term in New York’s 4th District, a once safely Democratic Long Island-based seat that has shifted right in recent years; Biden carried it by 15 points in 2020, but Harris won it by only one point in 2024. Gillen’s Republican opponent, Jeanine Driscoll, is an attorney and receiver of taxes for the town of Hempstead.

17th District: GOP Rep. Mike Lawler is in a competitive reelection fight against Democrat Cait Conley, a West Point graduate who served multiple tours of duty overseas and later worked as a White House national security official. Harris narrowly carried this Hudson Valley-based district by less than one percentage point, as Lawler won his race by over six points in 2024.

North Carolina

1st District: Republican veteran Laurie Buckhout is again challenging Democratic Rep. Don Davis, who narrowly defeated her in 2024. But this year, the two are competing in a redrawn district that should be friendlier for Republicans. Both parties are expected to invest heavily in the district.

11th District: Republican Rep. Chuck Edwards dropped his reelection bid in August amid accusations of inappropriate behavior with women staffers that he denies. That means there’s an open seat in Western North Carolina, and the late chaos may make it more competitive. Republican state Rep. Jennifer Balkcom, who in the state legislature sponsored legislation to block trans girls and women from school sports that align with their gender, was picked by her party to face Democrat Jamie Ager.

Ohio

7th District: Republican Rep. Max Miller has been accused by Emily Moreno, his ex-wife — and the daughter of Sen. Bernie Moreno of Ohio — of violence against her and their daughter; he has faced similar accusations in a previous relationship. Miller has denied wrongdoing, but the accusations may make the district more competitive. His challenger, Democrat Brian Poindexter, is a union ironworker and city council member.

9th District: Democratic Rep. Marcy Kaptur has been in the U.S. House since 1983, making her the longest-serving woman member of Congress. She’s in a rematch against former state Rep. Derek Merrin, whom she defeated by less than a percentage point in 2024, in a district that has been redrawn to be slightly more favorable to Republicans.

Pennsylvania

10th District: The state’s most expensive House race as of July is between Republican Rep. Scott Perry, a former chair of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, and former TV anchor Janelle Stelson. It’s a rematch from 2024, when Perry beat Stelson by just over a percentage point.

8th District: Democrat Paige Cognetti — the first woman to be mayor of Scranton — is challenging first-term Republican Rep. Rob Bresnahan, particularly focusing on stock trades he made that have drawn scrutiny. She’s outraised him so far this year.

Texas

15th District: Republican Rep. Monica de la Cruz flipped the district red in 2022, running on border security. This year, she’s facing a tougher-than-expected challenge from Tejano singer Bobby Pulido. Trump won the district by 18 points in 2024, but Latino voters have moved away from the GOP since then.

Virginia

1st District: Prosecutor Shannon Taylor, a Democrat, is trying to defeat Republican Rep. Rob Wittman by focusing on combating corruption. Wittman has held the seat since 2007, but the district has moved slightly to the left, raising Democrats’ hopes.

2nd District: Former Rep. Elaine Luria, a Democrat, is trying to win back the seat that Republican Jen Kiggans captured in 2022. Both are Navy veterans touting their past service in the coastal Virginia district, where a military background is a bonus.

Washington

3rd District: Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez has made it a habit of breaking with her party, which could help in a district that voted for Trump in 2024. She’s facing Republican state Sen. John Braun, who also emerged from the top-two primary system.

Wisconsin

3rd District: Rebecca Cooke, a political consultant raised on a dairy farm, is again Democrats’ pick to take on Republican Rep. Derrick Van Orden. Van Orden, a two-term House member, has made headlines for yelling at teenage Senate pages over their behavior at the Capitol and at a teenage librarian over a display of LGBTQ+ books.