House Dems size up 2028 Senate map after midterm landslide
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Current and former House Democrats, flush with victory following their landslide midterm wins, are already looking at potential opportunities to run for Senate in 2028, Axios has learned.
Why it matters: Democrats' 2026 romp — with wins in Texas, South Carolina, Kansas and possibly even Mississippi — has some party members reevaluating what were once considered impossible targets.
- A source close to Rep. Sharice Davids (D-Kan.) — who was reelected by 21 percentage points in a district former Vice President Harris carried by four points in 2024 — did not rule out her running against Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.).
- "All options are on the table," the source said, adding that Davids' "focus right now is on delivering actual results and overcoming the chaos from these extreme policies we're seeing."
- Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.) was defeated by Democrat Adam Hamilton last week, marking the first time in nearly a century a Democrat has been elected to the U.S. Senate from Kansas.
North Carolina: Rep. Don Davis is "taking a look at" a run against Republican Sen. Ted Budd, a source familiar with his thinking told Axios.
- Davis won a third term on Tuesday after defeating his GOP opponent in a district President Trump carried by 12 points in 2024. Republicans redrew the district with the express goal of ensuring Davis' loss.
- Former Rep. Wiley Nickel, who was elected Wake County district attorney on Tuesday, would consider a Senate run if state Attorney General Jeff Jackson doesn't, a source close to him told Axios. The two served together in the House.
- Democratic former Gov. Roy Cooper won North Carolina's other U.S. Senate seat last week in a nearly 20-percentage-point landslide over Republican Michael Whatley.
Pennsylvania: A huge field of Democrats is gearing up to potentially run for the seat held by Democratic Sen. John Fetterman.
- Fetterman, who has morphed from a populist firebrand to an arch-centrist, has angered much of the party by siding with Republicans on key votes.
- Rep. Chris Deluzio (D-Pa.) told Axios in a statement: "I am thinking hard about my next steps and will be having that conversation with my family and supporters."
- Said former Rep. Susan Wild: "I am not ruling anything out at this time. ... I think PA is long overdue for a woman senator, and that will factor into my eventual decision."
Florida: State Rep. Angie Nixon is already hinting at a 2028 run against Republican Sen. Ashley Moody after losing to her on Tuesday by three percentage points.
- But some in the party's centrist wing believe Nixon's left-wing politics and her affiliation with the Democratic Socialists of America may have cost her in a Democratic wave year and are looking to recruit elsewhere.
- Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-Fla.), who won reelection in a district Trump carried by nine points in 2024 and is often mentioned as a potential candidate for statewide office, is in the mix, sources said.
- Sources also pointed to Rep. Kathy Castor (D-Fla.), who won in a district that went for Trump by 11 points, as another possible candidate. A Castor spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.
