For all the lawmakers who’ve announced plans to retire from congressional service this year, there’s a long list of former members from both parties who want to be back in Congress. 

They range from former lawmakers whose terms ended only a year ago to ex-members who’ve been out of the political spotlight for more than a decade. 

Here’s a look at the former members who have launched comeback bids for 2026:

Senate Michigan: former Rep. Mike Rogers (R)

Rogers served 14 years in the House, rising to chair of the Intelligence Committee before leaving office in 2015. He returned to the political spotlight last cycle, narrowly losing a Senate bid to Democrat Elissa Slotkin. Now he’s seeking the state’s other Senate seat, which retiring Democrat Gary Peters is vacating. 

Republicans say Rogers has learned from his losing 2024 bid and is better prepared to win this year. While Democrats face a potentially messy primary for the open seat, Rogers has largely cleared the GOP field. 

New Hampshire: former Sen. John E. Sununu (R)

Sununu is attempting a Senate comeback nearly two decades after losing a second-term bid to Democrat Jeanne Shaheen, who is retiring this year. The National Republican Senatorial Committee and other national Republicans are supporting his bid, but before he can focus solely on Rep. Chris Pappas, the likely Democratic nominee, Sununu must contend with a primary against another comeback-seeking former senator. 

New Hampshire: former Sen. Scott P. Brown (R)

Brown won a 2010 special election in deep-blue Massachusetts to succeed the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy but lost reelection two years later to Democrat Elizabeth Warren. He then moved north to New Hampshire and unsuccessfully challenged Shaheen in 2014, falling short by 3 points. He served as U.S. ambassador to New Zealand and Samoa during President Donald Trump’s first term and announced his second bid for Shaheen’s seat in June.

Ohio: former Sen. Sherrod Brown (D)

Brown lost his bid for a fourth Senate term in 2024 to Republican Bernie Moreno as the Buckeye State’s red shift finally caught up with the longtime Democratic lawmaker. But Democrats were encouraged by his decision to launch a comeback this cycle against GOP Sen. Jon Husted, who was appointed to the seat after JD Vance became vice president. Republicans have dominated statewide elections in Ohio in recent cycles, but Brown’s entry puts the Senate seat in play. 

Louisiana: former Rep. John Fleming (R)

Fleming served four terms in the House before an unsuccessful Senate bid in 2016. After serving in the first Trump administration, he was elected state treasurer in 2023. 

Fleming is now challenging Sen. Bill Cassidy in a crowded Republican primary. He’s criticized the incumbent for his 2021 vote to convict Donald Trump at his second impeachment trial. In a change from previous elections, Louisiana will hold partisan primaries in 2026, with a runoff required if no one takes more than 50 percent of the vote. 

Florida: former Rep. Alan Grayson (D)

Grayson served two separate stints in the House, representing two different Orlando-area districts. He left the House after an unsuccessful Senate run in 2016. Since then, he has made multiple failed bids for the House, Senate and state legislature, including a special election for the state Senate last year. 

The perennial candidate is now one of several Democrats challenging appointed Republican Sen. Ashley Moody in the special election to complete Marco Rubio’s unfinished term. 

House Alabama’s 1st District: former Rep. Jerry Carl (R)

Carl was in his second term when he lost a member-versus-member primary to fellow Republican Rep. Barry Moore after the Supreme Court ordered Alabama to draw a new congressional map for the 2024 elections. But Moore is now campaigning to succeed Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville, who’s running for governor. 

Carl faces competition for the Republican nomination, however. State Rep. Rhett Marques, who has the backing of Alabama Sen. Katie Britt, and Air Force veteran Austin Sidwell are also set to compete in the May primary for the 1st District, which stretches across southern Alabama. 

California’s 38th District: former Rep. Hilda L. Solis (D)

It’s been nearly 17 years since Solis, now a Los Angeles County supervisor, left the House to become President Barack Obama’s first Labor secretary. She announced in August that she would seek to return to the House if California adopted a new congressional map, which voters approved in November. 

Solis’ comeback bid has the support of several current and former members of California’s House delegation, including former Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass. Solis faces at least two other Democrats in the June all-party primary for the Los Angeles-area seat: former Obama staffer TJ Adams-Falconer and Pico Rivera City Councilmember Monica Sánchez.  

Florida’s 19th District: former Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R)

Cawthorn represented a Western North Carolina seat for one term before losing a 2022 primary to fellow Republican Chuck Edwards. Cawthorn was beset by a series of personal-conduct scandals, and redistricting also forced him to change his plans about where he would run for reelection. 

Now, he’s running in Florida for the deep-red House seat being vacated by gubernatorial hopeful Byron Donalds. But Cawthorn isn’t the only snowbird politician setting sights on the coastal Southwest Florida district.

Florida’s 19th District: former Rep. Chris Collins (R)

Collins, who won four terms representing a Western New York seat, has told reporters he intends to run for Florida’s 19th District. But the former congressman doesn’t appear to have filed paperwork with the Federal Election Commission to officially raise funds for a campaign. 

Collins, the first sitting House Republican to endorse Trump’s 2016 presidential bid, resigned in 2019 before pleading guilty to insider trading charges. The following year, he began serving a 26-month term in federal prison but won a pardon from Trump about two months into his sentence. 

Illinois’ 2nd District: former Rep. Jesse L. Jackson Jr. (D)

Jackson served in the House for nearly 17 years before resigning in 2012 shortly before he pleaded guilty to repeated personal use of campaign funds. He was later sentenced to 30 months in federal prison. 

With his House successor, Rep. Robin Kelly, now running for Senate, Jackson launched a bid for the deep-blue Cook County-anchored 2nd District. But the former appropriator faces nine other Democrats in the March primary. 

Illinois’ 8th District: former Rep. Melissa Bean (D)

Bean lost her seat in the Chicago suburbs during the 2010 tea party wave after three terms in Congress. Fifteen years later, she decided it was time to get back in the game. 

Bean is one of eight Democrats running for the suburban 8th District, which Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi is vacating to run for Senate. Illinois Sen. Tammy Duckworth, Pelosi and the New Democrat Coalition Action Fund have all endorsed Bean’s comeback bid. 

Maryland’s 6th District: former Rep. David Trone (D)

Trone left the House a year ago after spending more than $60 million on an unsuccessful Senate bid. He announced last month that he would seek his former House seat in suburban Washington, challenging his successor, Rep. April McClain Delaney, in the Democratic primary. 

Trone, a co-founder of Total Wine & More, is expected to once again invest his fortune in the race, but McClain Delaney also has personal wealth that she’s invested into her campaign. She has won endorsements from Maryland Gov. Wes Moore and other members of the state’s congressional delegation. 

Missouri’s 1st District: former Rep. Cori Bush (D)

Bush waged a successful primary challenge to Democratic Rep. William Lacy Clay in 2020 but, four years later, found herself on the losing side of an intraparty contest against Wesley Bell. 

She announced in October that she would seek to win back the St. Louis-anchored 1st District. The United Democracy Project, an arm of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, targeted Bush in 2024, and could be involved again in this year’s repeat race. 

New Jersey’s 11th District: former Rep. Tom Malinowski (D)

Malinowski was elected to New Jersey’s 7th District in the 2018 “blue wave” but lost reelection to Republican Thomas H. Kean Jr. in 2022 after redistricting made his seat redder. He’s now running in the April special election to complete the unfinished term of Gov.-elect Mikie Sherrill in the neighboring 11th District. 

The Democratic primary for the blue-leaning North Jersey seat has drawn a crowded field, including several elected officials. Malinowski has the support of New Jersey Sen. Andy Kim, who was also first elected to the House in 2018.

Tennessee’s 6th District: former Rep. Van Hilleary (R)

Hilleary left the House after narrowly losing a 2002 gubernatorial race, but he returned to Capitol Hill in 2019 as chief of staff to GOP Rep. John W. Rose. With Rose running for governor this year, Hilleary is competing in a busy primary to succeed his former boss in the Middle Tennessee district.

This is the second time Hilleary has sought elected office since his 2002 loss. He placed third in the Republican primary for an open Senate seat in 2006.

Texas’ 9th District: former Rep. Steve Stockman (R)

Stockman served two separate one-term stints in Congress, most recently departing in 2015 after an unsuccessful primary challenge against Sen. John Cornyn. He was convicted in 2018 of 23 felony charges related to misusing charitable contributions and sentenced to 10 years in prison. Trump commuted his remaining prison sentence in December 2020. 

Now, Stockman is one of several Republicans running for the Houston-area 9th District, newly redrawn to be safely red. The primary also includes state Rep. Briscoe Cain; Army veteran Alex Mealer, the losing GOP nominee for Harris County judge in 2022; and businessman Dan Mims.

Texas’ 23rd District: former Rep. Francisco “Quico” Canseco (R)

Canesco won election to a lone term representing the massive border district in the 2010 tea party wave, when he unseated Democrat Ciro D. Rodriguez. Since losing reelection two years later, he’s made two unsuccessful House bids, losing Republican primaries in 2014 and 2018. 

This year, he’s challenging Rep. Tony Gonzales in a primary that also includes pro-gun activist Brandon Herrera, who lost to the incumbent by just 354 votes in a 2024 primary runoff. Gonzales won an endorsement from Trump last month.

Texas’ 33rd District: former Rep. Colin Allred (D)

Allred left the House in 2024 after unsuccessfully challenging Republican Sen. Ted Cruz. He then spent more than five months campaigning for Senate last year before making a last-minute switch to a House race shortly before Democratic Rep. Jasmine Crockett entered the Senate race. 

Now, he’s set to face his successor, Rep. Julie Elizabeth Johnson, in the Democratic primary for the redrawn 33rd District, which is centered in the Dallas-Fort Worth area and includes territory both have represented in Congress. Johnson has already won the backing of the top three Democratic leaders in the House. 

Texas’ 34th District: former Rep. Mayra Flores (R)

Since winning a June 2022 special election to flip a Democrat-held seat in South Texas, Flores has lost two elections to Democratic Rep. Vicente Gonzalez. She’s once again seeking to challenge Gonzalez in his South Texas district that became redder under the state’s new congressional map. But first, she must contend with a Republican primary that includes Army veteran Eric Flores, who has Trump’s endorsement, and businessman Scott Mandel.

Utah’s 1st District: former Rep. Ben McAdams (D)

McAdams is a centrist Democrat who flipped a battleground seat in 2018, before losing reelection to Republican Burgess Owens in 2020. Utah’s new court-ordered congressional map has provided him an opportunity for a comeback this year. 

But it’s not certain whether McAdams, a member of the moderate Blue Dog Coalition while in office, will be a match for the heavily Democratic 1st District, now anchored in deep-blue Salt Lake City. Several other Democrats, including state Sens. Nate Blouin and Kathleen Riebe, have also launched campaigns for the redrawn seat.  

Virginia’s 2nd District: former Rep. Elaine Luria (D)

Luria was part of the victorious Democratic class of 2018 that helped power that party to the House majority. Four years later, she lost her bid for a third term to Republican Jen Kiggans after her Hampton Roads seat inched to the right in redistricting.

Since announcing in November that she would challenge Kiggans in 2026, Luria has consolidated significant support from fellow Democrats and a handful of contenders have dropped out of the Democratic primary. Luria could also benefit from more favorable district lines if Democrats are successful in their push to redraw Virginia’s congressional map this year. 

Virginia’s 5th District: former Rep. Tom Perriello (D)

Perriello is another Democrat who lost reelection in 2010 seeking a comeback this year. A month after Virginia Democrats posted strong performances in the November off-year elections, he announced a challenge to Republican freshman John McGuire, a former state senator who defeated former House Freedom Caucus Chair Bob Good in a primary in 2024.

Perriello, who won election to a single House term in 2008, has secured endorsements from the commonwealth’s two Democratic senators, Mark Warner and Tim Kaine, as well as from former Gov. Ralph Northam, who defeated him in a 2017 gubernatorial primary.