February 16, 2026 Story by: Publisher
Scope, definitions, and source standards:
This report tracks every U.S. House seat (including two non-voting delegates) and every U.S. Senate seat currently held by a Black American as of Feb. 16, 2026, then summarizes each seat’s 2026 electoral posture (running, retiring, running for other office, or unknown; and “not up in 2026” for Senate seats not scheduled this cycle). The core “who holds what seat” baseline is anchored in two official federal references:
- The U.S. House’s History, Art & Archives compilation of “Black-American Members by Congress,” which enumerates Black members serving in the 119th Congress (2025–2027) and provides an official, institution-hosted identification of the cohort this report is about.
- The Office of the Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives “Official List of Members” (dated Feb. 2, 2026), which provides the member-by-district roster used here for each House seat’s district code (e.g., CA-43) and incumbent officeholder verification.
For the Senate, the Clerk’s “List of Senators by State” (within the same document set) is used to verify current officeholders by state, and an official Senate history page is used as a secondary cross-check on the identity and historical context of Black senators.
For election status, challengers, fundraising, and polling, this report prioritizes:
- Official incumbent statements (House.gov, campaign websites) and official filings/records where practical (notably the Federal Election Commission candidate profiles and filings).
- Major national and local outlets (e.g., AP, Reuters, Roll Call, The Texas Tribune, WHYY).
A reality constraint matters: candidate filing has not closed uniformly nationwide as of Feb. 16, 2026, and several states’ definitive candidate lists will not be final until later deadlines. Where candidate lists, fundraising numbers, or polling are not reliably available across sources, this report explicitly notes that.
Retirements/Not seeking re-election: Bonnie Watson Coleman (New Jersey’s 12th Congressional District and first Black congresswoman elected in New Jersey) ; Danny K. Davis (Illinois’ 7th Congressional District) ; Eleanor Holmes Norton (Washington D.C’s. delegate) ; G.K. Butterfield (North Carolina’s 1st Congressional District) ; Marc Veasey (Texas’ 33rd Congressional District) ; Dwight Evans (Pennsylvania’s 3rd Congressional District)
Running for Governor: Keisha Lance Bottoms (D-GA) ; Byron Donalds (R-FL)
Running for Senate: Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) ; Wesley Hunt (R-TX) ; Robin Kelly (D-IL) ;
More than 10% of incumbents plan to leave, which is the highest percentage at this point in the calendar since at least President Barack Obama’s administration, according to an Associated Press analysis of House retirements going back to 2013.
What’s at stake in 2026 for Black representation in Congress
The 119th Congress includes a historically large cohort of Black members. The Congressional Research Service profile of the 119th Congress notes 61 African American House members (including two delegates) and five African American senators (as of the report’s date) as part of broader demographic tracking of current congressional membership.
The House’s own Black-American membership compilation for the 119th Congress also lists a large set of Black members (including both House and Senate), reflecting a broader institutional definition of “Black-American Members” that includes several members who are also Afro-Latino or Black immigrants.
The 2026 midterms occur with very narrow margins in the House—the Clerk’s member information page shows Republicans at 218 and Democrats at 214 with vacancies, underscoring how even “safe” seats can become strategically important when retirements or other-office bids create open races.
In this environment, open-seat churn inside Black-held districts has national representational stakes: a retirement or office-switch does not only change party power calculations, it can also break long running lines of Black representation in particular cities, regions, or states if successor coalitions fracture.
Senate seats held by Black Americans
NJ-Sen (Cory Booker) – This is the only Black-held Senate seat on the 2026 ballot in the set identified by the 119th-Congress baseline, and it illustrates how Black representation can become a national story even in a “blue-leaning” state because the officeholder is national-profile and fundraising-capable.
Booker’s own campaign site states that he is running for re-election, and the FEC candidate profile indicates an active federal committee and robust fundraising, which matters because early money can deter serious challengers and fund statewide field operations. The most substantive intraparty dynamic identified in reporting reviewed here is a challenge from the left (Chris Fields), which—whether symbolic or not—signals that debates about Gaza, Democratic coalition messaging, and “establishment vs. insurgent” framing are not confined to House primaries.
On the Republican side, New Jersey political reporting emphasizes uncertainty about who will take on Booker, with some names floated and at least one declared candidate; that “who will run” question is itself an indicator of the seat’s perceived competitiveness and the GOP’s strategic allocation decisions. National representational stakes: Booker is one of a small number of Black senators and is a high-visibility national Democrat, so any primary turbulence or unexpected general-election tightening would reverberate well beyond New Jersey in narratives about Black political power within the Democratic Party and the post-2024 electorate.
DE-Sen (Lisa Blunt Rochester) – This Black-held Senate seat is not scheduled for election in 2026, so the “midterm” relevance here is indirect: Blunt Rochester’s presence contributes to the small cohort of Black senators but does not face voter confirmation this cycle. For representation analysis, the key point is durability: a non-2026 cycle means the “Black Senate footprint” is less exposed to midterm volatility than the House footprint, where every seat is on the ballot.
MD-Sen (Angela Alsobrooks) – Alsobrooks is verified in the institutional Black-member list for the 119th Congress and listed as a sitting senator by state in the Clerk materials; her seat is not up in 2026. The representational significance is structural: with only a handful of Black senators nationwide, each additional Black woman senator is a meaningful increment for committee leadership pipelines, statewide donor networks, and future gubernatorial or presidential auditioning—even when a particular seat is not immediately contested.
GA-Sen (Raphael Warnock) – Warnock is a current senator and included in official Black-member compilations for the 119th Congress, but his seat is not up in 2026. Georgia’s 2026 midterm story will still run through Senate politics (including the separate Ossoff cycle referenced in broader coverage), but in strictly “Black-held seat” terms, Warnock’s representation is stable through this cycle.
SC-Sen (Tim Scott) – Scott is listed as a sitting senator and included in the 119th-Congress Black-member compilation; his seat is not up in 2026. Scott’s representational significance is that he is one of the few Black Republicans in Congress at the federal level, and an incumbent of that profile affects the national story Democrats and Republicans tell about race, party alignment, and coalition composition even when his own reelection is not imminent.
House seats held by Black Americans
The House is where the 2026 cycle poses the most immediate representational risk and opportunity because every House district (and these delegates) goes on the ballot. The pattern that emerges from the seats reviewed is not a single national “Black vote” storyline, but rather a set of recurring structural themes: open seats created by retirement, office-switches triggered by statewide ambition, and redistricting or legal disputes that reshape the electorate inside districts with strong Black political identities.
AL-2 (Shomari Figures) – Although this report does not synthesize a full challenger list, AL-2’s national significance is unusually high for a single House district because it sits at the intersection of Voting Rights Act litigation, court-ordered maps, and the durability of newly created opportunity districts. Federal court decisions described in major reporting have emphasized intentional discrimination findings against prior maps and the long-run use of court-ordered maps that produced a second Black-majority district in Alabama. In 2026, the practical political question is whether the coalition that elected the incumbent remains cohesive under turnout conditions typical of midterms, and whether national parties or outside groups treat the seat as a test case for the post-Milligan redistricting era.
AL-7 (Terri Sewell) – AL-7 is best understood as a continuity seat: a long-running Black-represented Alabama district whose national representational weight is in maintaining a durable House foothold for Black Alabamians even as statewide politics remain heavily Republican. The public record reviewed here does not surface a headline-level 2026 challenger or retirement announcement; absent that, the critical lens is succession planning and whether the district’s seat remains a stable anchor within the broader Black House delegation.
CA-12 (Lateefah Simon) – Simon’s official House biography page describes the district as encompassing parts of the East Bay (including Oakland and surrounding communities), providing a local-policy frame (housing, transit, public safety and reform politics, and affordability tend to dominate). With no specific 2026 challenger synthesized here, the representational significance is that newer Black members build seniority and committee leverage over time; safe early cycles often determine whether a member becomes a long-term power center for regional Black political networks.
CA-37 (Sydney Kamlager-Dove) – CA-37 remains important less for partisan competitiveness than for institutional power-building: seniority accumulation, caucus leadership, and the ability to shape federal spending and oversight priorities that disproportionately affect Black communities in major metros. No prominent retirement or other-office run was identified in the sources surfaced above. Kamlager-Dove will face a Democratic primary challenger.
CA-43 (Maxine Waters) – Waters’ district is emblematic of the national “generational change” debate inside heavily Democratic seats: even where general elections are unlikely to be competitive, the meaningful contest can become a nonpartisan primary (“jungle primary”) or a Democratic-leaning intraparty fight based on age, ideology, and local networks. FEC candidate pages confirm an active federal campaign account for Waters, and election trackers show other filed candidates exist, though this report does not validate a single dominant challenger as of this date. The national representational stakes are twofold: Waters is a senior Black lawmaker whose influence extends into financial policy debates, and succession in her district would be a bellwether for whether new Black leadership emerges through coalition continuity or factional splintering.
CO-2 (Joe Neguse) – CO-2’s significance is partly geographic: it reflects the growth of Black representation in places not historically associated with majority-Black congressional districts. In the absence of a verified 2026 challenger list in this report, the more durable story is about whether Black representatives in non-Southern, non-majority-Black districts continue to normalize broader forms of Black congressional representation beyond traditional district archetypes.
CT-5 (Jahana Hayes) – CT-5 is one of the clearer “watch” seats among Black-held House districts because it has recently displayed competitive tendencies, and local reporting identifies a Republican challenger (Michele Botelho). Ballot trackers also show additional names on the Democratic side, indicating potential intraparty pressure even if the seat is usually expected to remain Democratic. The dynamic here is a classic midterm test: if national mood and turnout shift against the incumbent’s party, seats that are not deep-blue can tighten quickly. For Black political representation, CT-5 matters because it is an example of a Black incumbent holding a seat where victory is earned through cross-community coalition rather than demographic dominance, making it a bellwether for multiracial suburban coalition durability.
DC-Delegate (Eleanor Holmes Norton) – While the DC delegate is non-voting, the seat is symbolically enormous for Black political representation because it sits at the nexus of representation, democracy reform, and DC statehood debate. Norton has decide not to seek re-election and will not be running again in the 2026 midterm.
FL-10 (Maxwell Frost) – FL-10 is a newer-generation profile seat: a young Black representative in a large-state delegation. With no verified 2026 challenger details synthesized here, the main analytic frame is whether Florida’s broader political environment, turnout shifts, and migration dynamics create new pressure points for Democratic incumbents—even in districts that often lean Democratic.
FL-19 (Byron Donalds) – This seat is unusually complicated because the incumbent has announced a run for Florida governor, yet an FEC filing from the incumbent’s congressional committee indicates he had not officially ended his congressional re-election campaign as of mid-2025. That dual-track posture matters: it can freeze potential House successors and deter challengers until the incumbent clarifies whether he will actually forgo House reelection. For Black representation, Donalds is one of the very small number of Black Republicans in the House (and a nationally visible Trump-aligned figure); whether he stays, leaves, or engineers a successor shapes the GOP’s “diversity” narrative and the practical Black Republican pipeline.
FL-20 (Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick) – This seat typically centers around South Florida’s unique coalition politics (Caribbean diaspora communities, labor/service economies, and immigration-adjacent policy). Cherfilus-McCormick will face multiple primary challengers in the upcoming 2026 Democratic primary.
FL-24 (Frederica S. Wilson) – Florida’s 24th is important because the incumbent is in the cohort of older, long-serving Black lawmakers frequently discussed in “retirement watch” narratives; however, this report does not identify an official retirement announcement as of the date. The representational risk is that open-seat contests can fracture coalition maintenance if successor selection becomes a multi-faction fight.
GA-2 (Sanford Bishop Jr.) – GA-2 is notable because it is one of the few Black-held districts that sits nearer the “moderate/conservative Democrat” brand lane; election trackers report a Democratic primary challenger (Danny Glover). The national significance is strategic: if moderates are primaried successfully, it reshapes the ideological composition of the Black House delegation and can alter how national party leadership communicates about rural and small-city Black constituencies in the South.
GA-4 (Hank Johnson) – With no specific 2026 race developments synthesized here, GA-4’s story is about continuity in metro Atlanta’s Black representation and how Georgia’s rapid demographic and economic shifts influence district-level coalition politics. Johnson will face multiple primary challengers in the upcoming 2026 Democratic primary.
GA-5 (Nikema Williams) – GA-5 is a core Atlanta Black-representation seat. Absent a documented 2026 challenger, the key representational question is succession planning: when district politics are defined by local party organizations and civic institutions, the eventual “next” member can shape national policy influence.
GA-6 (Lucy McBath) – GA-6 is a suburban Atlanta seat tied to the national story of gun violence politics and suburban realignment (even when not directly summarized in this report). No 2026 status change is identified here.
GA-13 (David Scott) – GA-13 is another anchor seat for Black representation in Georgia. In the absence of a sourced 2026 challenger list here, the likely determinative arena—if any—would be intraparty dynamics rather than general-election competitiveness.
IL-1 (Jonathan Jackson) – Chicago-area Black representation often hinges more on primary-era coalition sorting than general election competitiveness. This report does not synthesize a 2026 challenger list for IL-1.
IL-2 (Robin Kelly) – Same analytic frame as other Chicago-area seats: coalition politics inside the Democratic primary more than general election. Kelly is running for the U.S. Senate.
IL-7 (Danny K. Davis) – This is a major representational hinge seat because Davis has announced he will not run again, producing an open-seat contest in a historically Black Chicago district. Davis endorsed Illinois state Rep. La Shawn Ford in public reporting and in his own announcement, signaling an attempt to shape succession—and, implicitly, to protect continuity of Black representation. The field is crowded by most accounts, which is typical when a safe seat opens; in representation terms, the key question becomes whether Black political organizations consolidate around a successor or whether fragmentation allows a non-Black candidate to win the nomination.
IL-14 (Lauren Underwood) – This is one of the clearer “coalition” seats in the Black-held set: a Black incumbent holding a district not defined solely by a single racial bloc. That tends to heighten sensitivity to national swings. This report does not synthesize 2026 challengers for the seat, but the representational baseline is that her continued tenure would reinforce the model of Black incumbency in diverse suburban districts.
IN-7 (Andre Carson) – Indianapolis-area representation has long included a Black representative; the main representational stake is continuity and institutional seniority. No 2026 challenge details are summarized here.
LA-2 (Troy Carter) – New Orleans-based representation carries national salience because Gulf Coast resilience, energy policy, and disaster funds often intersect with poverty and racial equity. No 2026 challenger dynamics are synthesized here.
LA-6 (Cleo Fields) – Louisiana’s newer map era and litigation environment make the state a recurring national redistricting story. This report does not synthesize a 2026 challenger list, but LA’s Black-held districts are often central to national Voting Rights Act strategizing.
MD-4 (Glenn Ivey) – A safe Democratic Maryland seat where the main representational question is continuous Black leadership and the buildout of federal influence in a high-federal-workforce region.
MD-7 (Kweisi Mfume) – Baltimore-area Black representation is historically significant. Representative Mfume will face multiple candidates for his U.S. House District 7 seat.
MA-7 (Ayanna Pressley) – MA-7’s representational significance is that it is a major urban district embedded in national progressive networks. Without a documented 2026 challenger list here, the key question in 2026 would likely be whether left-flank pressures manifest in primaries in deep-blue seats nationally.
MI-10 (John James) – James is one of the small number of Black House Republicans in the current Congress, giving his seat national “representation narrative” weight even when local competitiveness varies cycle to cycle. James will be running for Michigan’s gubernatorial race.
MN-5 (Illhan Omar) – Omar’s national profile means even local races can become nationalized through messaging on foreign policy, immigration, and party faction dynamics; this report does not synthesize her 2026 challengers. The representational significance is that Somali-American and Muslim representation—while overlapping with Black identity—broadens what “Black political representation” looks like in Congress.
MS-2 (Bennie Thompson) – MS-2 is one of the most historically resonant Black-representation districts in the South; the representational lens is continuity and federal attention to Delta-region poverty and voting rights. Thompson will face a heavy primary challenge in the upcoming 2026 primaries.
MO-1 (Wesley Bell) – As a St. Louis-area seat, MO-1 is a core urban Black-representation district. Without a documented 2026 challenger list here, the key lens is whether the incumbent consolidates local institutional support. Bell will face a challenge from former U.S. representative Cori Bush.
MO-5 (Emanuel Cleaver) – Kansas City-area Black representation. No contest details synthesized here.
NV-4 (Steven Horsford) – Nevada’s Black representation in a fast-growing, diverse Sun Belt state matters nationally because it sits inside the “future electorate” narrative: multiracial metros, union density, and service-economy politics. No 2026 challenger list synthesized here.
NJ-3 (Herbert C. Conaway) – A newer Black member in New Jersey’s delegation; without a challenger list here, the representational focus is on whether the state continues to broaden Black representation beyond its historically Black urban districts.
NJ-10 (LaMonica McIver) – This seat’s 2026 context includes lingering controversy over oversight actions and prosecution dynamics covered in major outlets; those narratives can change donor behavior and intraparty support even if the district is “safe.” Representation stakes: maintaining Black leadership in a Newark-centered district with deep civil-rights movement infrastructure.
NJ-12 (Bonnie Watson Coleman) – Watson Coleman’s retirement is verified via her official House press release and major reporting, converting the district into an open seat. Open seats are where representational continuity is most fragile: even in safely Democratic districts, a multi-candidate primary can scramble coalition alignments. One key subplot is whether the successor is another Black candidate, which will depend on the field that emerges closer to the filing deadline.
NY-5 (Gregory Meeks) – Queens-centered representation. No 2026 contest details synthesized here.
NY-8 (Hakeem Jeffries) – Even without a competitive election, this seat is nationally significant because the incumbent is House Democratic leadership. The representational angle is that high-ranking Black leadership positions can shape party agendas and candidate recruitment pipelines in ways that influence Black political power nationally.
NY-9 (Yvette Clarke) – Brooklyn-centered representation. Clarke will face multiple Democratic challengers in the upcoming 2026 primaries.
NY-13 (Adriano Espaillat) – Harlem/Upper Manhattan-area representation that also reflects Afro-Latino identity within Black representation. No 2026 contest details synthesized here. Espaillat will face multiple Democratic challengers in the upcoming 2026 primaries.
NY-15 (Richie Torres) – Bronx-centered representation that also intersects with Afro-Latino identity and LGBTQ representation. Torres will face a primary challenge from former DNC Vice Chair Michael Black.
NC-1 (Don Davis) – This is arguably the most structurally endangered Black-held House seat in the set summarized here because it is directly tied to aggressive redistricting battles and has already drawn well-covered challengers. A federal court decision allowed use of a redrawn map that reduced the Black voting-age population share in the district and was designed to help Republicans flip it. On the challenger side, AP reports state Sen. Bobby Hanig entering the race, and Notus reports Laurie Buckhout running for a rematch-style challenge; early coverage also mentioned a self-funding local official in the Republican field. The representational stakes are enormous: losing NC-1 would not only be a partisan swing; it would also be a national warning that even districts with significant Black communities can be made more vulnerable through line-drawing.
NC-4 (Valerie Foushee) –The incumbent, Rep. Valerie Foushee, is seeking her third term in Congress representing the 4th district — which encompasses Orange and Durham counties and parts of Chatham and Wake. She’s up against Durham County Commissioner Nida Allam, a 32-year-old progressive activist who would become the first Muslim from North Carolina elected to Congress, if she won.
NC-12 (Alma Adams) – A Charlotte-area anchor district for Black representation. Adams will face a primary challenger in the upcoming 2026 Democratic primary.
OH-3 (Joyce Beatty) – Columbus-centered representation; Beatty will face a primary challenge in the upcoming Democratic primary.
OH-11 (Shontel Brown) – Cleveland-area Black representation; Brown will face multiple primary challengers in the upcoming 2026 Democratic primary.
OH-13 (Emilia Sykes) – Akron-area representation; no 2026 contest details synthesized here.
OR-5 (Janelle Bynum) – OR-5 is nationally significant for representation because Bynum was widely covered as Oregon’s first Black member of Congress after flipping the seat in 2024; her own official materials underscore this historic status. In a midterm environment, freshman/sophomore members who flipped seats can become targets even when they come from strong state-level organizations—so the representational stakes include whether “firsts” consolidate into long-term incumbencies. Bynum will face a 2026 primary challenger.
PA-3 (Dwight Evans) – Evans has officially announced he will not seek re-election, creating an open seat in Philadelphia. The AP notes potential successor interest, including mention of state Sen. Sharif Street. Representation stakes: Philadelphia’s congressional map has historically been central to Black political power in Pennsylvania; open primaries are where succession can either preserve or dilute that power.
PA-12 (Summer Lee) – Lee’s seat has already shown signs of 2026 turbulence through reports of polling/testing of challenges and a continued focus from outside groups; Ballotpedia also lists primary challengers. Lee publicly announced a reelection campaign in local coverage, framing the race as another test of progressive incumbency resilience. Representation stakes: this is a case where the question is less “will the seat flip parties” than “what kind of Black Democrat (progressive vs. more establishment-aligned) represents a region,” a dynamic that has become central to intra-Democratic contests nationwide.
SC-6 (James Clyburn) – Clyburn’s continued tenure has been directly addressed in reporting that frames him as remaining in Congress to shape leadership outcomes and broader party direction. Meanwhile, South Carolina redistricting talk has periodically targeted his district as a desired Republican pickup, which matters because it underscores how even “safe” seats can become vulnerable if maps are redrawn. Representational significance: Clyburn is not just a district representative; he is a national power broker in Black Democratic politics, so any structural threat to SC-6 would have outsize national consequences.
TN-9 (Justin Pearson) – State Representative Justin J. Pearson is a progressive Democratic candidate running for the U.S. House of Representatives in Tennessee’s 9th Congressional District in the 2026 election, challenging longtime incumbent Steve Cohen in the Democratic primary. A community organizer and Memphis native, Pearson first came to wider prominence as one of the so-called “Tennessee Three” state lawmakers expelled in 2023 for leading a gun-control protest after a deadly school shooting — an episode that underscored his advocacy on gun reform and social justice and helped solidify his profile as a bold voice for change. His congressional campaign emphasizes tackling entrenched issues in the district, including economic inequality, healthcare access, environmental justice, and more aggressive gun-violence legislation.
TX-9 (Al Green) – Green’s posture for 2026 is shaped by Texas’ remapping battles. Reporting explains that Green’s current district was effectively dismantled in proposals and that he signaled interest in running in a different district (TX-18) rooted in historic Houston Black political representation. Representation stakes: when a long-serving Black incumbent is pushed into a district switch, the contest becomes not only about the member’s survival, but also about whether Black representation is preserved in both the old district (through successor selection) and the new one (through primary outcomes).
TX-18 (Christian Menefee) – This is one of the most volatile Black-held seats in the 2026 cycle because it sits on top of successive disruptions (vacancy, special election, and then changed district lines). Texas coverage describes a primary field where Menefee must defend the seat in a reshaped constituency, with Al Green also running and other candidates affected by filing rules (including Amanda Edwards remaining on the ballot even after suspending a campaign). The representational stakes are acute: TX-18 is a historically consequential Black Houston seat, and multi-candidate primaries can produce outcomes that reshape which Black coalition (establishment civic leadership, labor, progressive networks, etc.) becomes dominant for a decade.
TX-30 (Jasmine Crockett) – Crockett’s decision to run for U.S. Senate is a confirmed and major development; it converts TX-30 into an open-seat race. Texas reporting identifies Rev. Frederick Haynes III as a prominent early candidate in the open-seat scramble. The representational significance is unusually large: Crockett is a viral, nationally recognized Black Democrat whose Senate bid has become a proxy battle about Democratic identity politics, coalition management, and electability in Texas, all while her House district must choose a successor who can maintain local Black political power.
TX-33 (Mark Veasey) – Veasey’s retirement path is now clear in major reporting: he withdrew from a county judge bid but still plans to retire at the end of 2026, citing a desire to focus on finishing his House term amid high-stakes national politics. This creates a representational inflection point because Texas’ map changes have already triggered a cascade of incumbent decisions; open seats invite faction fights and potential representational turnover.
TX-38 (Wesley Hunt) – This seat’s 2026 posture is harder to classify definitively using only the sources surfaced here. However, major national coverage of the Texas Senate race explicitly places Hunt in the Republican Senate primary mix, which could imply a future decision that affects his House seat. Until the incumbent’s formal House intentions are clarified, the representational note is that one of the few Black House Republicans potentially moving statewide would alter the balance of Black Republican representation in the House.
UT-4 (Burgess Owens) – Owens remains one of the few Black House Republicans. In representational terms, the key issue is continuity: if a rare Black Republican seat changes hands, it disproportionately affects the already small Black Republican footprint.
VA-3 (Robert C. Scott) – A long-standing Virginia anchor district for Black representation, with significance tied to seniority and committee influence. Scott will face a 2026 primary challenger.
VA-4 (Jennifer McClellan) – A newer Virginia Black representative whose long-run influence depends on tenure consolidation. No contest details are synthesized here.
VI-Delegate (Stacy Plaskett) – The Virgin Islands delegate seat (non-voting) still has representational importance because it provides federal voice and committee participation for a predominantly Black U.S. territory. The Clerk roster lists this delegate seat explicitly.
WA-10 (Marilyn Strickland) – A Washington state district where Black representation reflects broader diversification of representation in Pacific Northwest metros. Strickland will face a 2026 primary challenger.
WI-4 (Gwen Moore) – A Milwaukee-area seat that functions as a durable anchor for Black representation in the Upper Midwest. No 2026 contest details are synthesized here.
*Each candidate, except James Pearson (TN-9), is an incumbent.*
Source: Ballotpedia
