Democrats Escalate House Power Grab, Target Five More GOP Seats

Paul Riverbank, 2/11/2026Democrats expand House target list, intensifying a high-stakes, unpredictable 2026 midterm showdown.

Rep. Suzan DelBene, calmly enthusiastic in interviews but steely in her resolve, put it bluntly: Democrats are on the front foot, pushing into terrain the GOP won by no more than a baker’s dozen points in the last round. She was frank about the kitchen-table issues—rising costs everywhere you look—and seemed unfazed by criticism of party ambition. “People are tired,” she said, “of Republicans making promises they don’t keep. Groceries, rent, energy—it’s all inching upward, and folks are feeling squeezed.” Whether one buys her argument or not, DelBene is tapping into anxieties as old as the American campaign trail itself.

Consider Colorado’s 5th District—a place where Rep. Jeff Crank, comfortably ahead by 14 points in ’24, probably hadn’t planned on warding off another blue offensive this cycle. Or the seat in South Carolina’s 1st, left up for grabs after Rep. Nancy Mace pivoted toward the governor’s mansion, opening the door to more uncertainty. The notion that a party would chase so many districts rather than laser-focus on a handful feels as much about messaging to donors—and would-be volunteers—as it does real electoral calculus.

Inside the DCCC’s nerve center, reports of energy and optimism are hard to avoid. The afterglow of recent off-year upsets still lingers in the halls. The old maps, it seems, have lost their relevance; hope is buzzing through even the tense war-room updates. “We’ve cracked the code,” one staffer quipped, not entirely seriously, “just ask anyone in this building.”

The Republicans, meanwhile, aren’t sitting quietly in the back row. Mike Marinella, NRCC spokesman with a knack for deflation, shot down the growing Democratic list with a mix of skepticism and bravado: “The money game is killing them. Their primaries are a mess, and our battleground numbers look sturdy.” To Republican strategists, the narrative remains familiar: Democrats are chasing more seats, sure, but they’re also, in the eyes of their critics, stuck in internal feuds that could cost them.

The GOP’s own battle plan reads differently—a stubborn effort to shield 29 blue-held seats. History is, as ever, their friend: the midterms rarely treat the sitting president’s party with tenderness, and Republican operatives point to what they say is a structural advantage that hasn’t wavered, even as polls wobble and headlines flutter back and forth.

No one’s pretending this midterm cycle will be a replay of any before it. Underneath the volleyed talking points is the reality that, for all the claims about the “public mood,” there’s a lot that could go sideways—an unexpected economic dip, a flashpoint event, a sudden candidate implosion. The only certainty, really, is the uncertainty.

One can’t ignore the stakes here. With Trump entering the second half of another term, the ability to control even a slim House majority gives each party a distinct lever over the agenda. And while strategists on both sides will continue to lay out glossy, foolproof paths to victory, the truth is rarely that neat. The coming months promise all the usual trappings of a contested election—fiery speeches, anxious donors, breathless analyses—but the difference this time may be just how crowded the field has become.

In the end, voters will have the final word, and the consensus across Washington’s political class is that this House fight may run right down to the wire. For every calculated press release and each confident memo, there’s a campaign volunteer out there knocking on doors, hoping, this year, their pitch just might turn the tide.

As the 2026 midterms begin to cast a longer shadow over Washington, Democrats are making a gamble—a sizeable one. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, or DCCC for those who keep up with such acronyms, just stretched their reach further, eyeing five more GOP seats that—on paper, at least—aren’t out of grasp. Colorado, Montana, Minnesota, South Carolina, Virginia: they’re no strangers to tight races, but not every strategist would have recommended setting the sights here. Still, that brings the list of targets to 44—a number that’s more marathon than sprint, considering only three flips would tip the House back their way.Rep. Suzan DelBene, calmly enthusiastic in interviews but steely in her resolve, put it bluntly: Democrats are on the front foot, pushing into terrain the GOP won by no more than a baker’s dozen points in the last round. She was frank about the kitchen-table issues—rising costs everywhere you look—and seemed unfazed by criticism of party ambition. “People are tired,” she said, “of Republicans making promises they don’t keep. Groceries, rent, energy—it’s all inching upward, and folks are feeling squeezed.” Whether one buys her argument or not, DelBene is tapping into anxieties as old as the American campaign trail itself.Consider Colorado’s 5th District—a place where Rep. Jeff Crank, comfortably ahead by 14 points in ’24, probably hadn’t planned on warding off another blue offensive this cycle. Or the seat in South Carolina’s 1st, left up for grabs after Rep. Nancy Mace pivoted toward the governor’s mansion, opening the door to more uncertainty. The notion that a party would chase so many districts rather than laser-focus on a handful feels as much about messaging to donors—and would-be volunteers—as it does real electoral calculus.Inside the DCCC’s nerve center, reports of energy and optimism are hard to avoid. The afterglow of recent off-year upsets still lingers in the halls. The old maps, it seems, have lost their relevance; hope is buzzing through even the tense war-room updates. “We’ve cracked the code,” one staffer quipped, not entirely seriously, “just ask anyone in this building.”The Republicans, meanwhile, aren’t sitting quietly in the back row. Mike Marinella, NRCC spokesman with a knack for deflation, shot down the growing Democratic list with a mix of skepticism and bravado: “The money game is killing them. Their primaries are a mess, and our battleground numbers look sturdy.” To Republican strategists, the narrative remains familiar: Democrats are chasing more seats, sure, but they’re also, in the eyes of their critics, stuck in internal feuds that could cost them.The GOP’s own battle plan reads differently—a stubborn effort to shield 29 blue-held seats. History is, as ever, their friend: the midterms rarely treat the sitting president’s party with tenderness, and Republican operatives point to what they say is a structural advantage that hasn’t wavered, even as polls wobble and headlines flutter back and forth.No one’s pretending this midterm cycle will be a replay of any before it. Underneath the volleyed talking points is the reality that, for all the claims about the “public mood,” there’s a lot that could go sideways—an unexpected economic dip, a flashpoint event, a sudden candidate implosion. The only certainty, really, is the uncertainty.One can’t ignore the stakes here. With Trump entering the second half of another term, the ability to control even a slim House majority gives each party a distinct lever over the agenda. And while strategists on both sides will continue to lay out glossy, foolproof paths to victory, the truth is rarely that neat. The coming months promise all the usual trappings of a contested election—fiery speeches, anxious donors, breathless analyses—but the difference this time may be just how crowded the field has become.In the end, voters will have the final word, and the consensus across Washington’s political class is that this House fight may run right down to the wire. For every calculated press release and each confident memo, there’s a campaign volunteer out there knocking on doors, hoping, this year, their pitch just might turn the tide.