(DCNF)—Senate Republicans are crafting an ambitious strategy to expand their 53-seat majority during the 2026 midterms.
Though midterms historically have favored the party not in the White House, Republican South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, who is leading the Senate GOP’s campaign arm during the 2026 cycle, laid out a roadmap to grow the party’s ranks to 55 members during the National Republican Senatorial Committee’s (NRSC) weekend retreat in Florida, according to Punchbowl News.
Scott is reportedly focused on defending GOP incumbents in Maine, North Carolina and Ohio and going on offense to flip two Democratic-held seats in swing states President Donald Trump won in 2024: Michigan and Georgia.
If Scott is able to defend every GOP incumbent and flip two senate seats, Senate Republicans would have their largest majority since former President George W. Bush’s second term. The Senate GOP’s campaign arm is also reportedly eyeing Democratic Sens. Mark Warner of Virginia, Ben Ray Lújan of New Mexico and Tina Smith of Minnesota as potential targets.
The NRSC is likely to invest heavily in the five following races to defend potentially vulnerable incumbents and expand the GOP’s senate majority.
Democratic Georgia Sen. Jon Ossoff
Democratic Georgia Sen. Jon Ossoff is one of the NRSC’s top targets during the upcoming midterms and would likely be vulnerable to a strong Republican challenger.
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Two-term Republican Georgia Governor Brian Kemp, who has an approval rating north of 60%, is seen as an obvious choice to challenge Ossoff. Kemp leads Ossoff 46% to 40% in a hypothetical matchup with 14% undecided, according to a January Club for Growth poll shared with the Daily Caller News Foundation.
Republican Georgia Reps. Buddy Carter, Mike Collins and Rich McCormick could also get into the race.
Despite running in a swing-state President Donald Trump won, Ossoff has largely refrained from voting for the president’s cabinet nominees, according to a DCNF review of senators’ roll call votes.
Ossoff has voted for just two of Trump’s nominees — Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Central Intelligence Agency Director John Ratcliffe — and skipped votes on Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and Department of Interior Secretary Doug Burgum.
Though Ossoff voted for the Laken Riley Act, a bill intended to crack down on illegal immigration, he joined with his Democratic colleagues to block legislation sanctioning International Criminal Court officials for seeking to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Ossoff also cast two procedural votes last December that would have restricted certain weapon sales to Israel.
Ossoff narrowly won his first Senate election in the state by just 55,000 votes during a runoff against former Republican Georgia Sen. David Perdue in January 2021.
The Democratic incumbent’s campaign has nearly $5 million on hand, according to FEC data.
Retiring Democratic Michigan Sen. Gary Peters
Two-term Democratic Michigan Sen. Gary Peters’ announcement that he would not seek reelection on Jan. 28 gave the NRSC a boost to flip the open seat to add to the Senate GOP’s majority.
Though Senate Republicans failed to secure the state’s open seat last November with Democratic Michigan Sen. Elissa Slotkin narrowly defeating GOP candidate Mike Rogers, Trump’s strong electoral performance in the state could give Republicans optimism that 2026 will yield better results.
Rogers, a former Republican congressman who served in the House from 2001 to 2015 and secured Trump’s endorsement during his 2024 senatorial run, told Fox News on Jan. 30 that he is considering a run for the open seat.
Rogers’ campaign committee ended 2024 with nearly $2 million on hand, according to FEC data.
Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg is one of many potential Democratic candidates considering jumping into the race, according to multiple reports, though he could face carpetbagger allegations due to relocating to the state less than three years ago.
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Republican Maine Sen. Susan Collins
Republican Maine Sen. Susan Collins, generally seen as the most moderate member of the Republican conference, could be the most endangered Republican incumbent heading into the 2026 cycle. Former Vice President Kamala Harris defeated Trump in the state by nearly seven percentage points.
Collins, chair of the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee, announced she intends to run for a sixth Senate term last November. Her campaign has more than $2.5 million in the bank, according to FEC disclosure data. The NRSC is likely to invest heavily in the race.
Two-term Democratic Maine Governor Janet Mills, who Collins’ team has acknowledged would be a formidable candidate, has not ruled out challenging Collins for the seat.
Collins, who represents a reliably blue state at the presidential level, has been willing to cross Trump in the past. She has voted for every Trump cabinet nominee so far except Department of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
Collins defied electoral odds in 2020 by winning her contest by nearly 10 percentage points despite former President Joe Biden winning Maine by roughly 7%. Every poll listed by the RealClearPolitics aggregate during the final weeks of the race between Collins and her Democratic challenger Sarah Gideon showed the Republican incumbent heading for a decisive loss.
Republican North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis
The Senate GOP’s campaign arm is also likely to invest heavily to defend Republican North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis from a potentially competitive primary and general election contest.
Former Democratic North Carolina Roy Cooper has not ruled out challenging Tillis in what would likely be a competitive general election. Cooper notably won gubernatorial elections in 2016 and 2020 despite Trump being at the top of the presidential ticket and winning the state both cycles.
Tillis has voted for all of Trump’s cabinet nominees thus far despite reportedly wavering on Hegseth’s nomination in the final hours before the confirmation vote. The senator introduced Trump’s FBI nominee Kash Patel during his confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Tillis’ campaign has more than $2 million on hand, according to FEC disclosures.
GOP Hold: Republican Ohio Sen. Jon Husted
The NRSC will also have to defend newly-sworn in Republican Ohio Sen. Jon Husted during a special election set for November 2026.
Husted has to run in a special election during the 2026 midterms in order to serve out the remainder of Vice President JD Vance’s senate term. Husted must also seek reelection in 2028 to seek another term in the Senate.
Though Trump trounced Harris in Ohio last November by more than 11 percentage points, Republican Ohio Sen. Bernie Moreno’s victory over former Democratic Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown was decided by just 200,000 votes.
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Brown has not ruled out challenging Husted or running in Ohio’s gubernatorial contest set for 2026.
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