“A non-profit closely aligned with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) is preparing its first major investment in the 2026 election with a campaign aimed at dinging Republicans on the economy,” Axios reports.
“The effort comes as President-elect Trump and congressional Republicans are preparing a hulking fiscal policy package that could define the 119th Congress.”
Rep. Dan Meuser (R-PA) signaled he is seriously considering challenging Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) for his post in 2026, The Hill reports.
Kansas Secretary of State Scott Schwab on Wednesday launched a bid to become governor, making him the first major candidate to enter the 2026 field, the Kansas City Star reports.
Playbook: “With incumbent Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly term-limited, this will be one of Republicans’ biggest targets next year.”
Former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) said he may not be done with politics despite resigning from Congress last month to be a cable news host, the Tampa Bay Times reports.
Said Gaetz: “I am starting to think about running for governor.”
Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) sure sounds like he’s ready to challenge Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) in a Democratic primary.
“Gov. Roy Cooper of North Carolina is set to leave office on New Year’s Day after two terms that began with his effort to undo the state’s ‘bathroom ban’ for transgender people and ended with him muscling through a Medicaid expansion,” the New York Times reports.
“Now Mr. Cooper, 67, has plenty of options. In his farewell address last week, he pointedly said, ‘I’m not done.’”
“Many Democrats hope he will run for Senate in 2026 and help the party claw back ground in the chamber; others see him as a potential presidential contender in 2028. Asked in an interview if he was weighing bids for Senate or for president, he said ‘it’s hard for me to believe’ that he would not want to seek public office again.”
CNN: What the only battleground Democrat to do better than Trump says his party needs to learn.
“Elon Musk said he’ll be funding moderate primary challengers to incumbent Democrats in deep-blue seats around the country, as he continues to try to influence a wide swath of government,” Politico reports.
Said Musk, in response to a video of Rep. Richard Neal (D-MA): “Forgot to mention that I’m also going to be funding moderate candidates in heavily Democrat districts, so that the country can get rid of those who don’t represent them, like this jackass.”
Charlie Cook: “The 2026 midterm-election prospects for the two major political parties in the House and Senate are as different as night and day. The Republican majority in the House today is as precarious as either party has seen in that chamber in at least a century.”
“Conversely, the GOP’s majority in the Senate is about as solid as can be, regardless of what President-elect Trump’s standing will be in November 2026.”
“Democrats have a plan to take back power in Washington back from Republicans in two years: work with them now,” ABC News reports.
“Democrats, who are already planning their comeback after being swept out of power in Washington last month, have said they’ll oppose President-elect Donald Trump and his allies when their values collide but are open to cooperation on a range of issues, including immigration, federal spending and entitlements.”
“The strategy marks a turnaround from 2017, when ‘resistance’ to Trump was Democrats’ rallying cry. But, some lawmakers and operatives said, it also marks a challenge to Republicans for bipartisanship at a time when narrow GOP congressional majorities will likely mandate some level of cooperation.”
New York Times: “Many lieutenant governors toil in the deep shadows to serve their state governors. But Mr. Delgado has apparently gone rogue, fueling speculation that he may seek to challenge Ms. Hochul’s re-election bid in 2026.”
“He has done little to tamp down the rumors, telling donors that he plans on running for a statewide office. In an interview, he said that he had no ‘intention’ of challenging Ms. Hochul in 2026, but also allowed that he planned to ‘stay ready’ and that he wanted to be an ‘independent actor.’”
Said Delgado: “I definitely plan to be a part of the future of New York. I’m ready to serve in whatever capacity New Yorkers think is best.”
“Top aides and people close to Kamala Harris have divided over whether she should head home to run for California governor in 2026 — and it all comes down to whether they believe she could win the Democratic nomination for president in an expected competitive primary in 2028,” CNN reports.
“Some believe a repeat run, after quickly improving her reputation and raising more than $1 billion over her surprise 100-day race, should be hers for the taking. Others worry that in a longer campaign, against some of the other major Democratic contenders who already sat out 2024 in deference first to Joe Biden and then to her, Harris might fizzle out and follow her loss to Donald Trump with the humiliation of being rejected by her own party.”
“A super PAC closely aligned with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) is circling districts that voted for their Republican incumbents by as much as 30 percentage points as it charts a course back to the majority,” Axios reports.
“Democrats are cautiously optimistic that they can pull off a repeat of the 2018 ‘Blue Wave’ as Trump’s right-wing policy agenda and appointments come into view.”
Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA) “first ran for office seven years ago with a promise to get under Donald Trump’s skin,” the Atlanta Journal Constitution reports.
“As he seeks another U.S. Senate term, and the president-elect prepares a return to office, the Democrat is stressing his ability to work across party lines.”
Ossoff says now that he is “actively seeking opportunities” to find common ground with Trump and other Republicans.
Politico: “The Pennsylvania senator appears to be the first Democrat in the chamber to join President-elect Donald Trump’s social media site.”
“In his ‘first truth,’ Fetterman advocated for Trump to be pardoned from the New York hush money case for which he was found guilty of 34 felony counts, comparing the case to Hunter Biden’s and saying they were ‘both bullshit.'”
“House Democrats launched a new effort Wednesday to recruit challengers for Republican districts in Arizona, Michigan, California and Virginia that were not contested this year, as a first step to taking back control of the House after falling just three seats short,” the Washington Post reports.
“Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg has met in recent months with several prominent Michigan Democrats, some of whom believe the former presidential candidate is considering a campaign for governor,” the Detroit News reports.
“Some of the sources said they saw the meetings as an indication Buttigieg was seriously looking at the possibility of a gubernatorial run, while others said they believed Buttigieg’s plans might have been altered by the Nov. 5 presidential election.”
“Because Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris lost to Republican Donald Trump, Buttigieg will likely have to decide whether to run for governor of Michigan in 2026 or president in 2028.”
“Just weeks after winning reelection to her House seat, Rep. Nancy Mace is already looking at a statewide bid in 2026,” NOTUS reports.
“The sources said Mace has been discussing two positions: South Carolina governor or a Senate race. (Sen. Lindsey Graham is up for reelection in 2026.)”
“But three of the sources said Mace is particularly looking at the governor’s seat, which Henry McMaster has held since 2017 when he replaced Nikki Haley after she was appointed to be Donald Trump’s ambassador to the United Nations. McMaster is term-limited in 2026 and can’t run again.”
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.
Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.
Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.
Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.
Goddard is the owner of Goddard Media LLC.