The 119th Congress was just sworn in—and Democrats are already plotting the best way to take the gavel again from Speaker Mike Johnson and his noxious Republican convention.
Home Majority PAC, a brilliant PAC that seeks to elect Democrats to the Home, announced its high 29 targets for the 2026 midterms, in addition to one other 16 attain seats that could possibly be in play in the appropriate political surroundings.
The group—which touted its 2024 monitor report of serving to Democrats internet a seat within the Home even though Donald Trump gained the favored vote nationwide—stated it should start by recruiting and vetting sturdy candidates in goal districts.
“Headed into the midterms with classes discovered from 2024, HMP is at present launching a 2026 Recruitment Fund—which is able to enable us to recruit and put together potential candidates sooner than ever,” the group stated in a information launch. “With Republicans like [New York Rep.] Mike Lawler, [Arizona Rep.] Juan Ciscomani, [Michigan Rep.] John James, and doubtlessly others probably leaving their seats, we should guarantee Democratic campaigns are arrange for fulfillment—and that comes via conducting qualitative and quantitative analysis to develop particular messaging and methods for particular person races.”
Just a few of the districts Home Majority PAC is working to subject sturdy recruits for embrace:
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Colorado’s eighth District, the place Democrats misplaced to Rep.-elect Gabe Evans by less than 1 point.
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Iowa’s 1st District, the place GOP Rep. Marionette Miller Meeks gained by simply 799 votes.
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Pennsylvania’s seventh District, the place Democrats misplaced to Rep.-elect Ryan Mackenzie by 1 point.
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Pennsylvania’s eighth District, the place Democrats misplaced to Rep.-elect Robert Bresnahan by less than 2 points.
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Pennsylvania’s tenth District, the place Republican Rep. Scott Perry gained by simply 1.3 points.
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Nebraska’s 2nd District, the place GOP Rep. Don Bacon was capable of maintain on by less than 2 points, whilst Vice President Kamala Harris carried the district.
On paper, the 2026 midterms ought to be 12 months for Home Democrats.
They should flip simply three seats as a way to win again management of the Home—one thing they got here painfully near doing in 2024. Democrats fell brief this 12 months within the three districts that decided the bulk by a mixed complete of simply 7,309 votes.
And on condition that the get together within the White Home virtually at all times loses seats in the first midterm election, that places Democrats in prime place to oust Johnson from the speaker’s workplace.
Democrats may have the added benefit in 2026 of with the ability to run in opposition to what is certain to be Republican dysfunction in Congress, because the GOP will battle to move its agenda with a historically small majority and fractious caucus of members who like to vote in opposition to laws and refuse to make the compromises essential to move payments.
For not less than the primary few months of 2025, the GOP majority might be simply one seat, till particular elections could be held to fill vacancies created by Trump nominating House lawmakers to serve in his administration. Meaning Johnson can’t lose a single vote if each member reveals up, as it might end in a 216-216 tie and a vote would fail.
That may make fundamental duties—reminiscent of funding the federal government—a tightrope act for Johnson, as Republicans like to vote in opposition to spending offers and sometimes should rely on Democratic votes to maintain the federal government’s lights on.
In 2018, the primary midterm of Trump’s first flip within the White Home, Democrats ran on the Republican chaos and gained 40 seats to win the bulk—way over the 23 the get together wanted to win the gavel.
In the meantime, what Trump and the Republican majorities in Congress are promising to attain is unlikely to be widespread with the citizens.
Republicans are already speaking about cutting Social Security and Medicare—the third rail of politics—whereas on the identical time slashing taxes for the wealthiest Americans. Polling reveals that voters really need the federal government to boost taxes on the rich.
In the meantime Trump is pushing for tariffs that can increase costs for consumers and harm the financial system, precisely the opposite of what Americans supposedly voted for in November.
Democrats are already drawing consideration to the GOP’s harmful agenda.
“It has turn into more and more obvious that lots of my Home Republican colleagues wish to jam large tax cuts for the rich, the well-off and the well-connected down the throats of the American individuals and attempt to pay for these tax cuts, which is not going to profit on a regular basis Individuals, by slicing Social Safety and Medicare,” Home Minority Chief Hakeem Jeffries stated at a Dec. 11 information convention on Capitol Hill.
“This isn’t a hypothetical. It isn’t hype. It isn’t hyperbole. It is occurring earlier than our very eyes as a result of excessive MAGA Republicans within the Home are telling us, publicly and repeatedly, that is precisely what they plan to do to the American individuals,” Jeffries warned. “Home Democrats are clear we are going to oppose any effort to finish Social Safety and Medicare as we all know it.”
Count on to listen to that message loads over the following two years.
