The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) on Aug. 5 added 12 Republican-held or Republican-leaning districts to its 2026 “Districts in Play” list, bringing the committee’s total number of targeted seats to 58.
The additions are Arkansas’s 2nd District, held by Rep. French Hill (R-Ark.); Colorado’s 3rd, held by Rep. Jeff Hurd (R-Colo.); Colorado’s 4th, held by Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.); Florida’s 12th, held by Rep. Gus Bilirakis (R-Fla.); Indiana’s 5th, held by Rep. Victoria Spartz (R-Ind.); North Carolina’s 9th, held by Rep. Richard Hudson (R-N.C.); Nebraska’s 1st, held by Rep. Mike Flood (R-Neb.); New York’s 1st, held by Rep. Nick LaLota (R-N.Y.); and four seats the committee lists as open, in Nevada’s 2nd District, New York’s 21st, Tennessee’s 9th, and Texas’s 23rd.
Hudson is the chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC), the DCCC’s counterpart.
The Cook Political Report rates 11 of the 12 as Solid Republican. It rates the Texas seat, which is vacant, as Likely Republican.
The committee’s release describes the group as including four open seats resulting from Republican retirements and four districts in states where redistricting is a factor.
“House Democrats are expanding the battlefield deep into Trump terrain because we have a winning message focused on fighting for an Affordable America,” DCCC Chair Rep. Suzan DelBene (D-Wash.) said in a statement.
“At the same time, MAGA Republicans who historically have considered themselves ’safe' have let down the people they were elected to represent, passing disastrous policies that are crushing working families and our communities.”
DelBene said Democrats would win in November and make Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) the next speaker of the House.
NRCC spokesman Mike Marinella said the committee was targeting safe Republican seats because it had lost ground in the districts it needed to win.
“The DCCC has officially entered the hallucination phase of the election cycle,” Marinella said in a statement to The Epoch Times.
“Instead of explaining why radical socialists hijacked the districts they actually needed to win, they’re pretending deep-red Republican seats are suddenly competitive. It’s a pathetic coping mechanism from a committee that’s watching its path to the House majority disappear.”
The committee describes Districts in Play as its offensive map for the cycle and states on its website that three seats separate Democrats from a House majority.
Candidates in those districts receive strategic guidance and organizational support from the committee, distinct from its Red to Blue program, which also provides fundraising support. The DCCC expanded Red to Blue to 30 candidates in late July.
The committee’s Frontline program covers Democratic incumbents it considers vulnerable.
General election matchups are set in eight of the 12 districts. Chris Jones will face Hill; Dwayne Romero will face Hurd; Eileen Laubacher will face Boebert; JD Ford will face Spartz; Richard Ojeda will face Hudson; Christopher Backemeyer will face Flood; and Christopher Gallant will face LaLota.
In Nevada’s 2nd District, Democrat Teresa Benitez-Thompson faces Republican David Flippo and independent Lynn Chapman.
New York’s 21st District was held by former Rep. Elise Stefanik. Democrat Blake Gendebien faces Republican Anthony Constantino, Conservative Party candidate Robert Smullen, and independents Michael Metzgier and Christopher Schmidt.
Florida’s 12th District Democratic primary is on Aug. 18.
Tennessee’s 9th District, one of the four open seats added Wednesday, was redrawn under a map Tennessee Republicans enacted in the current cycle. Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.), who has held the Memphis-based seat since 2007, announced he would not seek reelection after the map passed. Both parties hold primaries there on Aug. 6.
Texas’s 23rd District is open following redistricting and the April resignation of former Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-Texas). Democrat Katy Padilla Stout faces Republican Brandon Herrera and independent Ben Mendoza.
