The fight for the Senate in 2026 is beginning to take shape, with more candidates who launch campaigns in recent days and additional announcements expected in the coming weeks. But both parties are still waiting to see if they can convince a governor to try to turn one of their most prominent states next year.
Democrats will have to reach the Republican territory to obtain the four seats they need to turn the camera, while defending the competitive seats they currently have in Georgia, Michigan and elsewhere. Meanwhile, Republicans seek to increase their majority of 53-47 in next year’s elections while defending Maine with a blue trend, Battleground North Carolina and some more red states.
It is not surprising that both parties are looking at the governors as the main recruits, since they have shown that they can win state careers and come with strong personal marks and fundraising bases, although, as some recent governors have learned, the past victories do not always translate into victories in the Senate.
The main objective of the Republicans is the Senator of Georgia, Jon Ossoff, the only Democratic senator who runs for re -election in a state president Donald Trump won in November. (Democrats also defend a seat in the Senate in Michigan, now an open seat contest with Senator Gary Peters withdrawing).
While the Republican party is anxious to face Ossoff, the party field has frozen while Governor Brian Kempo Sopés did jump to the race. KEMP, who is prohibited by limits on the execution of the governor again in 2026, has not made a decision on an execution of the Senate and has just begun the process of evaluating a possible campaign now that the state legislative session has concluded, according to a source familiar with his thinking.
The source said there is no specific timeline for Kemp to make a decision, but that the governor “will not unnecessarily keep people waiting.”
Meanwhile, the Democrats are waiting for a former governor to decide if he faces one of his main objectives: the senator of the Republican Party Thom Tillis of North Carolina.
Democrats have not won a career in the Senate in the state since 2008, but former governor Roy Cooper, who could not apply for re -election last year due to term limits, is considered a strong recruit with a proven state call.
But Cooper will keep the Democrats waiting for a little more. Morgan Jackson, a Cooper advisor, said the former governor has not made a decision on a career in the Senate, and that Cooper has said that he will not make a decision until a scholarship ends at Harvard at the end of May.
Meanwhile, former Democratic representative Wiley Nickel launched his Senate campaign on Wednesday. On the prospect that Cooper could run, Nickel told the capital of North Carolina of Spectrum News tonight: “We will cross that bridge when we get there.”
In Georgia, Republicans have openly courting Kemp for months, with the president of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, Tim Scott, RS.C., told Semafor in January that Kemp is the “recruit number one” of the party.
Other Republicans are waiting on Georgia’s wings, while Kemp supports their options. The representative Buddy Carter has suggested that he would consider running if Kemp does not, and the representatives. Rich McCormick and Mike Collins told Fox News that they will not rule out offers if the governor does not run. The State Agriculture Commissioner, Tyler Harper, published in X in February that he met with the NRSC, and the insurance commissioner John King also told Atlanta Journal-Constitution at the end of last year that he would “look hard” to a race in the Senate, if Kemp stays out.
NRSC spokeswoman Joanna Rodríguez said in a statement to NBC News that the committee “will work tirelessly with our headlines and challengers to maintain and expand to the republican majority of the Senate and continue delivering the agenda of President Trump throughout his mandate. We are committed to protecting the red states and excited with the collection opportunities that we have in georgia races, Michigan, and New Hethire.
Democrats are considering that another governor faces his other superior objective: Senator Susan Collins de Maine, the only Republican senator for re -election in a former state vice president Kamala Harris won in November.
Democratic governor Janet Mills did not rule out a race against Collins in an November interview with Portland Press Herald, but has been in the race since then.
“The Democrats have a map of the Senate that is full of offensive opportunities, particularly when combined with the reaction of the construction of half of the period against the Republicans promoted by their threats to Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and its impulse to increase costs,” said the spokesman for the Senatorial Democratic campaign committee, Maeve Coyle. “Republicans have more seats to defend themselves, and are doing it in a hostile political environment.”
Open seat
While Georgia, North Carolina and Maine are the main states with Senate careers in 2026, there are many more that could affect the balance of power. As the fundraising period begins with the second quarter, some Senate candidates are also beginning to solidify their plans in the three open -round races where Democratic senators do not run for re -election.
The state senator Mallory McMorroow became the first important Democratic contender to jump into the race to replace Peters in Battleground Michigan when he released his campaign last week. But it is not expected to be the last.
Representative Haley Stevens is considering a career in the Senate, along with Abdul El-Sayed, who resigned from his position as Wayne County Health director last week. El-Sayed told Detroit Free Press that he would make a decision “in the next two weeks.” The first -term representative Kristen McDonald Rivet, who had been weighing a race, told Detroit News that, on the other hand, he will apply for re -election to the house.
The former representative of the Republican Party Mike Rogers, the republican candidate who lost the career of the Michigan Senate last year, said last month that he is seriously “another campaign for the Senate. The Governor 2022 of the party, Tudor Dixon, is also weighing campaigns for governor or Senate in Michigan.
The decision of the Senator of New Hampshire, Jeanne Shaheen to retire, opened the race in the state of granite, which could be competitive next year. Democratic representative Chris Pupas launched his Senate campaign last week, and his partner Maggie Goodlander is also still considering a career, according to a source familiar with his thinking.
On the Republican side, the former governor of the Republican Party, Chris Sununu, announced this week that he will not apply for the Senate, noting that he had been encouraged to run. But former Massachusetts senator Scott Brown, who ran unsuccessfully against Shaheen in 2014, has been weighing a race for months. Brown travels through the state and meets the interested parties, which will continue to do “during the next weeks and months,” said a Brown advisor. The former senator is in regular contact with Scott, the president of NRSC.
Democrats will also defend an open seat in Minnesota, where Senator Tina Smith retires, although it is not clear if Republicans can make the race competitive.
The former basketball player Royce White, who lost to the Democratic senator Amy Klobuchar last year and has a history of controversial statements, works again. The rest of the Republican field is still in flow, with names such as former Sportster Michele Tafoya and former professional basketball player Willie Burton in the mixture as potential candidates.
On the democratic side, Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flanagan launched her campaign for the Senate last month, along with the former leader of the state Senate Melisa López Franzen. Democratic representative Angie Craig is also considering a career in the Senate, she tells the Minnesota Star Tribune that she plans to make her decision this month. Craig also plans to celebrate municipalities in each of the four districts of the Republican Congress of the State.
The representative Ilhan Omar, who had been weighing a Senate campaign, announced Thursday that it will apply for re -election to the camera.
Democratic recruitment in other states most lying by Republicans could also affect the ability of the party to offend next year.
The former Ohio Senator, Sherrod Brown, has been weighing in the Senate Special Elections next year against the Senator of the Republican Party Jon Husted, as well as a race for governor in 2026, according to a Brown spokesman. Brown recently turned his federal campaign committee of the Senate into a PAC for his organization “dignity of work”, but the spokesman said that this is not a sign that Brown has approved a career in the Senate.
“Senator Brown has been clear that he has not made any decision or ruled out anything,” said the spokesman.
Former Democratic Representative Colin Allred also said that he is considering another career for the Senate in Texas, where the senator of the Republican Party John Cornyn will also have to deal with a competitive primary career against state attorney general Ken Paxton.
