Trump's victory sets up fight for the House on his turf in 2026

The next battle for the House will be fought mostly in districts that Trump carried, giving Republicans hope they can buck historical midterm trends in two years.

The demographic and geographic specifics of President-elect Donald Trump’s victory in 2024 mean the next battle for the House will be fought mostly in districts that Trump carried, giving Republicans hope they can buck historical midterm trends and expand their majority in two years.

The National Republican Congressional Committee’s chairman, Rep. Richard Hudson, R-N.C., told NBC News that there are now more than a dozen Democrats in districts Trump carried, with just three Republicans in districts Vice President Kamala Harris won.

“So that tells me we’re going on offense,” Hudson said.

It’s a very different House picture than what emerged after Trump’s first win in 2016, when roughly two dozen Republicans found themselves in districts that Hillary Clinton won, and around a dozen Democrats won seats that Trump carried. Democrats ended up cleaning up in the Clinton districts and then padding their majority in the Trump districts in 2018. But even though Republicans won just a three-seat majority this year (220-215 in a full chamber), any path to a meaningful Democratic House majority has to run through Trump’s 2024 territory.

Democrats, though, don’t believe these new Trump districts are firmly in the GOP’s column, pointing to their downballot candidates who performed better than Vice President Kamala Harris in November and how close they came in the House despite losing the national popular vote.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/trumps-victory-sets-fight-house-turf-2026-rcna184017

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