With the 2026 primaries fast approaching, there are three U.S. Senate seats onlookers should keep an eye on.
Republicans are currently enjoying a supermajority after sweeping the 2024 elections, controlling the White House, the House of Representatives, and the Senate.
The freshman senator narrowly won his seat in 2020 by just one point.
After November, Republicans flipped four seats: Ohio, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Montana. These victories flipped the Senate and put Republicans in a comfortable 53-seat majority while Democrats fell back to just 47 seats.
Although the GOP has a healthy majority, there are some more potential pick-up opportunities — and losses — for Republicans going into next year's primaries.
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One of the most contentious Senate races will be for Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff's seat in Georgia. Several prominent challengers have emerged in recent months, most notably with Republican Rep. Mike Collins throwing his hat in the race back in July. Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene has also been floated as a potential candidate, but she has not formally moved to run for the seat.
The freshman senator narrowly won his seat in 2020 by just one point against Republican incumbent Sen. David Perdue. Given this razor-thin margin, Republicans have set their sights on taking back Ossoff's seat, and early polling suggests it's within reach.
The Cook Political Report currently rates Ossoff's seat as a toss-up, and some polls mirror this rating. In a hypothetical race between Ossoff and Collins, the Democratic incumbent has polled with an average three-point advantage, according to RealClearPolitics. Another recent poll shows Collins trailing Ossoff by just one point, according to findings from TechnoMetrica Institute of Policy and Politics.
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Another pick-up opportunity for Republicans emerged in Michigan after Democratic Sen. Gary Peters announced his retirement in January. Several Democratic candidates, like Rep. Haley Stevens and state Sen. Mallory McMorrow, have since launched their own campaign bids, but the future nominee will inevitably have to put up a fight against Republican challengers.
Former Republican Rep. Mike Rogers is considered the frontrunner among the GOP candidates in the Michigan Senate race. Rogers previously ran and narrowly lost against Democratic Sen. Elissa Slotkin in 2024, but he has since relaunched his Senate campaign with the hopes of flipping the swing-state seat.
Slotkin managed to defeat Rogers by just 0.3% in November, signaling the support behind the Republican challenger. Earlier in the year, Rogers was polling several points ahead of his Democratic counterparts, and Cook Political Report has rated the Senate seat a toss-up.
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Although Republicans are poised to potentially flip some seats, there may be some warning signs in the Midwest.
Republican Sen. Joni Ernst (Iowa) reportedly will not seek re-election in 2026, leaving a vacancy in the deep-red state. The Cook Political Report has rated the seat as leaning Republican, and the GOP has maintained a prominent presence in Iowa at both the local and national level.
Despite the success Republicans have enjoyed in the Hawkeye State, Democrats have begun to secure their own electoral victories. Most recently, Democrat Catelin Drey defeated Republican Christopher Prosch for an open state Senate seat, flipping the GOP's supermajority for the first time in three years.
Steve Deace, a native Iowan and host of "The Steve Deace Show" on BlazeTV, told Blaze News that this swing in favor of Democrats is taking place because Iowans are not energized by any Republican candidates they have to choose from.
"There are danger signs, because if it can happen in Woodbury County, Iowa, this can happen anywhere in America," Deace said.
"Our people are just not motivated, by and large, to vote for the Republican Party brand as a brand anymore. So you’ve got to prove to them you’re worth their time and effort for them to show up, and I think that this is a wake-up call for the next midterm."
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Former Republican Rep. Mike Rogers (Mich.) announced Monday that he will once again be running for a Michigan U.S. Senate seat, this time to replace retiring Democrat Sen. Gary Peters in 2026.
Rogers was previously the Republican nominee in the 2024 race to replace now-retired Democratic Sen. Debbie Stabenow of Michigan. Although Republicans managed to flip four Senate seats in the 2024 election cycle, Rogers narrowly lost to his Democratic challenger, now-Sen. Elissa Slotkin.
Similar to Rogers' first Senate bid, the Michigan race is expected to be one of the most contested. As of now, Michigan state Sen. Mallory McMorrow is the only Democratic candidate in the running. Notably, former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg clarified that he would not be running to replace Peters.
'Michigan is a battleground state, and with Mike as our candidate, I know we will add his seat to president Trump's Senate majority in 2026.'
"President Trump needs strong allies in the Senate to help him deliver on the mandate given by the American people," Rogers said. "That means bringing manufacturing jobs back to Michigan, protecting seniors’ Social Security, lowering the costs of gas, groceries, and prescription drugs, and setting our kids up for success by improving the quality of their education. Michigan, let’s get to work."
Although Democrats have had a steady winning streak in Michigan's Senate seats in past cycles, the swing state's mixed electorate makes for another pickup opportunity that Republicans have set their sights on. Rogers has also maintained support from senior Republican senators, strengthening his bid for the seat.
"Michigan is a battleground state, and with Mike as our candidate, I know we will add his seat to president Trump's Senate majority in 2026," NRSC Chairman Tim Scott (R-S.C.) said in a statement.
"Mike Rogers is the conservative leader that Michigan needs in the U.S. Senate," Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) said in a statement. "As an Army veteran and former special agent, Mike understands the importance of putting service before self. We need him in the U.S. Senate to help achieve President Trump's America First agenda and to bring manufacturing and good-paying jobs back to Michigan."
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