atlanta — Even if he is a Republican Brian Jack Although he’s only a first-term congressman, he’s become a regular in the Oval Office these days. As the chief recruiter for his party’s House campaign team, the Georgia native often reviews polls and resumes for potential candidates President Donald Trump.
Lauren Underwoodthe Illinois congresswoman who does similar work for Democrats, has no such invitation from the West Wing. She’s on the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue, making phone calls to profile and advise candidates she hopes will erase Republicans’ narrow majority in the House of Representatives in November’s midterm elections.
Although they have little in common, both lawmakers are honed in on the lessons of 2018, when Democrats flipped dozens of seats held by Republicans to turn the rest of Trump’s first term into a political crucible. Underwood won her race that year, and Jack was responsible for dealing with the fallout when he became White House political director a few months later.
Underwood wants to do it again in 2026, and Jack tries to stand in her way.
For Republicans, that means sticking all in with Trump and his “Make America Great Again” agenda, and betting that the enduring enthusiasm of his base will trump that. Wider dissatisfaction with His leadership.
“You see a lot of people very inspired by President Trump,” Jack said of his party’s House candidates. “They are excited to serve on this body alongside him and the White House. This has been a tool and a motivating factor for many people who want to run.”
Underwood said she is looking for candidates with community involvement and public service outside of Washington politics. A registered nurse, she was a health care advocate before her candidacy in 2018, joining a cadre of Democratic newcomers that included military veterans, educators, activists and business owners.
“This is about getting ordinary Americans to step up” in a way that “brings a sharp contrast to the actions of these MAGA extremists,” she said.
It is typical for a president’s party to lose popularity in Congress during the first midterm elections after winning the White House. However, Trump is in a rare position to test this historical trend with a second, non-consecutive presidency.
Neither party released a list of preferred candidates in the targeted seats. But Jack said Oval Office discussions with Trump focus on who can align with the White House in a way that can win.
Jack highlighted Former Maine Governor Paul LePage For example. LePage is running in a GOP-leaning district where Democrats face a replacement challenge Rep. Jared Goldenanother member of the party’s 2018 class who recently announced that he would not seek re-election.
Trump’s involvement contrasts with 2017, when House leadership, including then-Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., was not as engaged on the details of the midterm campaign as he is now. Jack, who started with Trump by managing delegate outreach ahead of the 2016 convention, was deputy White House political director during that period. He was promoted to political director after the 2018 losses.
Jack continued to advise the president, particularly on his endorsements, between Trump’s 2021 departure for the White House and Jack’s own campaign for Congress in 2024. He described Trump as closely involved in hiring decisions and open to advice on his endorsements since the 2018 defeats.
Trump’s loyalty will not always be easy to measure, especially among first-time candidates.
But Jack said Republicans have good options. He pointed to Albuquerque, New Mexico, where Republicans could face a competitive primary featuring Jose Orozco, a former Drug Enforcement Administration contractor, and Greg Cunningham, a former Navy and police officer.
“They both have very inspiring stories,” Jack said.
Orozco asked voters to “give President Trump an ally in Congress.” Cunningham did not focus on Trump in launching his election campaign.
Underwood said Democrats are replicating the district-by-district approach taken in 2018. Recruiting under Trump, she said, was often more about talking to potential candidates who raised their hands to run than convincing them to play politics.
Underwood said the notable numbers of women and veterans in her first class was not a top-down strategy, but rather the result of candidates who saw Trump and Republicans as a threat to functional and democratic government.
Underwood, who at 32 became the youngest black woman ever to serve in Congress after her election in 2018, recalled that Republican efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act prompted her to run because of her training as a nurse. She shares those experiences with recruiters, showing how to connect their ideas and backgrounds to the job of a congressman.
Underwood said she also regularly fields questions about serving in an era of political violence and about the daily balance of being a candidate or congressman, especially from recruits with children.
National security is again a magnet for Democrats. Former Marine Joanna Mendoza is running for a largely rural seat in southern Arizona, and former Rep. Elaine Luria, another Underwood colleague and a former Navy officer, is running again in Virginia after losing her seat in 2022. Luria was among the House’s lead investigators into the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot.
Underwood said there were clear similarities to 2018, when successful congressional candidates included Mickey Sherrill, a former Navy helicopter pilot who is now New Jersey’s governor-elect; Jason Crow, a former Army Ranger who is one of its co-chairs of recruiting; and Virginia Governor-elect Abigail Spanberger, a former CIA officer.
Democrats also cited the need to find candidates who reflect the cultural sensitivities of the district, that is, a candidate who can withstand Republican charges that national Democrats are out of touch with many voters.
For example, in one South Texas county, the top potential Democratic challenger is Tejano music star Bobby Pulido. The five-time Latin Grammy nominee criticized progressive Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York for using the term “Latinx” instead of “Latino” or “Latin.”
Mid-decade gerrymandering, much of which occurred in Republican-led states at Trump’s behest, leaves the state’s 435 House districts in flux. Even with the changes, Democrats have identified more than three dozen Republican-held seats that they believe will be competitive. Republicans are facing about two dozen seats held by Democrats who they believe they can flip.
In the Southwest, Democrats are targeting all three Republican seats in Arizona. The Republican Party aims to gain three Democratic seats in Nevada. From the Midwest to the Philadelphia suburbs, Democrats want to flip two seats in Iowa, two in Wisconsin, three in Michigan, three in Ohio, and four in Pennsylvania. Republicans are targeting four Democratic seats in New York.
Nearly all of the Democratic targets were within a 15 percentage point margin in 2024, and many are much closer than that. Democratic candidates in 2025 special elections typically have double-digit gains over Trump’s margins in 2024, including the last special election for the House of Representatives in Tennessee, when Democrats came within 9 points in a district Trump won by 22 points.
“It’s the same kind of shifts we saw in 2017 before the 2018 win,” said Meredith Kelly, a senior official with the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee during Trump’s first presidency. “So, it becomes a combination of that national environment and finding the right candidates that fit the region and can benefit from it.”