By Michael Scherer, The Washington Post (c) 2024
House Democrats launched a new effort Wednesday to recruit challengers for Republican districts in Arizona, Michigan, California and Virginia that were not contested this year, as a first step to taking back control of the House after falling just three seats short.
“The way we are looking at it is we have to start seeding the ground, recruiting the right candidates now, knowing that Democrats could shift the ground with Donald Trump and Republican control in Washington,” said Mike Smith, president of House Majority PAC, an independent group closely aligned with Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-New York). “We are focused on expanding the map and recruiting candidates that have voted Republican but shifted toward Democrats in recent years.”
The list of new targets includes Republican Reps. Bill Huizenga in Michigan’s 4th District in the southwest part of the state, Rob Wittman in Virginia’s 1st District in the Richmond suburbs, Elijah Crane in Arizona’s 2nd District, which includes some Phoenix exurbs, and Kevin Kiley in California’s 3rd District in the northern Sierra Nevada.
The group will launch a 2026 Recruitment Fund to find strong Democratic candidates for those seats and at least 25 others, including longtime Democratic targets such as the New York seat held by Michael Lawler, the Arizona seat held by Juan Ciscomani and the Wisconsin seat held by Derrick Van Orden, who all held off well-funded challenges this year.
A recent analysis by the Cook Political Report’s David Wasserman found that Democrats won 17 of the 25 closest elections in November but still fell short of taking back control of the House as Republicans nationwide won 2.7 percent more votes for Congress than Democrats. Wasserman’s analysis found that the House majority was decided by just 7,309 votes in three districts out of 148 million votes cast nationwide.
Smith plans to stay on as head of the principle Democratic House group funding advertising in 2026, along with Abby Curran Horrell, the group’s executive director.
The main Republican group, Congressional Leadership Fund, will have new leadership, with Chris Winkelman, the top staffer at the National Republican Congressional Committee, taking over from Dan Conston, who has been president since the 2020 cycle.
House Majority PAC spent more than $255 million in the 2024 cycle to win back the House, while the Congressional Leadership Fund spent $242 million defending Republican control. Both groups are staffed with strategists close to their respective congressional leaders and can raise donations of unlimited amounts.
Smith said the new fund will pay for an extensive effort to find attractive candidates across the country, with an emphasis on people who may not already be in elected politics but have excelled in their chosen fields.
“We are putting money into it in January of the off year and not stopping until election year,” Smith said.