In a last-ditch attempt to reclaim power after years of losses, Democrats are scrambling to recruit Senate candidates nationwide for next year, a sign of their mounting anxiety about their platform and their ability to compete credibly beyond blue states.
Is it true that Democrats will run in every state in 2026? Even in close contests, will the leaders spread the wealth, or will they save it for the races they think would provide the best results? How will they deal with candidates whose allegiances could swing from Bernie Sanders to Donald Trump?
These concerns are playing out even though the 2026 elections are still a ways off, and Democrats will be up against their most challenging slate of Senate races in decades.
“The Senate map doesn’t look great at first glance, but if this is a wave election, Democrats can compete in places they normally can’t,” stated Jaime Harrison, who ran for the Senate in South Carolina in 2020 before his tenure as Democratic National Committee chair—a position he just finished. “We need to find a Democrat to represent every single seat in Congress.”
“A tremendous chance for us to create a fresh Democratic Party.”
Senator Kirsten Gillibrand of New York and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York have been meeting with local leaders to gauge the strength of potential candidates while strategists prepare to attack Trump on the economy and portray Republicans as utterly beholden to him.
Executives in the Senate aren’t the only ones trying to fill open positions. Sanders has urged other potential candidates all throughout the nation to run for office, including Abdul El-Sayed, who last week began his campaign for the Democratic primary for the vacant Senate seat in Michigan with Sanders’s instant endorsement. In order to sidestep whatever choices are made in Washington, smaller groupings of activists and operatives are quietly teaming together to support their own candidates.
According to El-Sayed, who has dealt with chronic pain sufferers and heard pessimism from voters, “It’s the morass of, ‘Everything kind of sucks,’ and our job is to break it down to its key elements.”
State senator Mallory McMorrow of Michigan is also vying for the nomination to the United States Senate. “For too many voters in Michigan who narrowly elected Donald Trump, they didn’t know what the Democratic Party stands for,” she said.
McMorrow stated that her campaign prioritizes “success, safety and sanity” over maintaining the current system.
“This is a tremendous chance for us to shape a new Democratic Party and make a strong statement. Our race exemplifies the potential of the new party in terms of its appearance, rhetoric, and behavior,” she stated.
Winning the majority isn’t the only thing at risk in the Senate. Every seat won by Democrats is crucial if you are among those who view limiting Trump’s authority as a national emergency: The few Republicans still prepared to defy the president would feel much more pressure if the GOP’s 53-47 lead were to be shrunk.
The struggle is steep, I’m sure of it.
Sen. Jon Ossoff of Georgia is constructing his campaign on a platform that he feels was successful for him in the past: he is arguing for common sense over anarchy, condemning corruption, and opposing Trump’s authoritarian tendencies. Not to defend Trump’s diversity, equality, and inclusion policies, but to highlight potential consequences for public health, he spoke out against cuts to the Atlanta-based CDC.
Also, in a state that Trump won again last year, he has collected $11 million and thousands of people have attended his rallies; what he has established can serve as a model for other candidates seeking to win over seats in historically conservative areas.
There are some new possibilities.
If South Carolina’s demographics continue to change in a way that makes Graham vulnerable, doctor Annie Andrews, who was unsuccessful in her bid for the House in 2022 against Rep. Nancy Mace, has been discussing the possibility of challenging him this time around. Alaskan Democrats are pushing for Mary Peltola to challenge Dan Sullivan in the next election. Peltola successfully turned the state’s House seat in 2022 but was unsuccessful in 2024 despite being well ahead of the presidential candidates. They are hopeful that the ranked-choice voting system would give Peltola an advantage. Scott Colom, the district attorney of Mississippi, has been preparing for what is expected to be a run against Cindy Hyde-Smith, the senator who rejected Joe Biden’s nomination to serve as a district court judge.
In Maine, there is talk of a soon-to-be-launched campaign by a former chief of staff for the Democratic group End Citizens United who worked on Capitol Hill. However, the focus is still on four-term congressman Jared Golden, who recently split with his party by voting for the GOP’s stopgap funding bill. While he considers his options, Democrats in Maine are considering 77-year-old Gov. Janet Mills as a potential alternative.
Dan Osborn, a prominent Nebraska labor leader and industrial machinist who garnered substantial support and attention from the Democratic Party during his independent race for the Senate in 2024, is preparing to run again. Nathan Sage, who lives across the Missouri River, began his campaign against Iowa Senator Joni Ernst last week with similar views but is still a Democrat.
“This is shaping up to be an incredibly interesting election cycle where anything’s possible,” said Andrews of South Carolina, who added that she intends to make a final decision about running in the coming weeks. “The situation we’re in is so dire that we need to do everything in our power to restore order to this nation, and I know it will be difficult.”
After national excitement failed to materialize in Texan contests in 2018 and 2024, Democrats are weighing the pros and cons of a GOP primary in the hopes of reviving their ambitions for 2026. State Attorney General Ken Paxton and Senator John Cornyn began criticizing each other for being unqualified for office and failing to serve Texans within minutes of the contest beginning.
In the last several months, former Democratic nominee and current U.S. Representative Colin Allred has been actively considering running for office again. He plans to make a final decision by summer after speaking with people and going to events throughout the state.
“The DC game of proving to people that we can do this or we can’t do that” is something Allred no longer cares about, she told HEADLINESFOREVER. “I believe that people are feeling the need to do something during this time of crisis.”
In pursuit of candidates who can change people’ perceptions of Democrats
Campaign staff for the United States Senate are still figuring out their strategy, but they know that in most states, it will be candidate-driven since Democrats need to perform exceptionally well in order to win over voters’ opinions of them. Depending on the situation, they claim that this may involve seeking out a well-known Democrat or an obscure unicorn who can focus on common principles instead of party affiliation.
“Senate Democrats will be able to take control this cycle due to stronger campaigns, more charismatic candidates, a compelling message, and an increasing reaction against Republicans in the midterms caused by their attacks on Social Security and Medicaid,” Gillibrand stated in an interview with HEADLINESFOREVER. “The political climate is bad, and Republicans have more seats to defend.”
Despite the fact that midterm elections have a tendency to benefit the opposing party, Democrats preparing for these races are aware that they will require more than just a poor political climate to win. This is true even in Kentucky, where the incumbent Republican is not seeking reelection (former Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is retiring from the position in a state with a two-term Democratic governor but little other recent history of supporting the party).
In her 2026 Senate campaign, Air Force colonel and state House minority leader Pam Stevenson hopes to improve upon her 2023 campaign for attorney general. “Somebody has to stand up, and I’ve done it my entire life,” she said. It’s still early. That is, until you need to collect $25 million. Giving people hope is something you should do at any age.
Kansas has been without a Democratic senator for decades, and although state party chair Jeanna Repass has been involved in interviews with potential candidates to challenge Sen. Roger Marshall, she is still unsure of who will run for the office, she told HEADLINESFOREVER on Friday.
However, Repass has forecast that there is sufficient energy to hold a primary, thanks to recent organizational efforts in rural areas of the state.
“If you don’t lead with optimism, you’re done from the get-go,” she remarked, describing her experience as a Democrat in a Republican state.