Exclusive: Liberal donor network charts plan to seize House in 2026

By Fredreka Schouten, CNN

(CNN) — The leaders of the Democracy Alliance – a powerful network of liberal donors – will prioritize flipping control of the US House from Republicans in the 2026 cycle, building on gains the group helped engineer in New York and California in this year’s elections.

“The House will be a critical place where we will be able to minimize the harms of the (Trump) administration,” the alliance’s president, Pamela Shifman, said of midterm plans shared first with CNN. Democrats’ loss of both the White House and control of the Senate last month has made the organization’s leaders more determined to invest in House contests with the goal of building a “robust” majority for House Democrats in two years, she said.

No budget has been set yet for the 2026 races. The group plowed more than $11 million alone into an effort that helped Democrats flip House seats in the deep-blue state of New York, further narrowing Republicans’ fragile majority in the chamber.

“We have a lot of momentum for this effort,” she said. “I am confident that we have what we need to win.”

Shifman did not rule out investing in special elections next year in New York and Florida to fill expected Republican vacancies in the House. “Nothing is off the table at this point,” she said.

The alliance has funneled more than $2 billion into liberal causes and organizations since its creation in 2005. It has roughly 120 members who pay annual dues of $35,000 apiece and must commit to sending at least $200,000 to groups working to advance progressive policies.

The alliance does not identify its donors, but the membership includes labor unions, foundations and wealthy individuals.

Despite a tough political environment at the federal level this year, Democrats netted one additional seat in the House – with Republicans winning 220 seats to Democrats’ 215.

And the GOP’s majority is likely to grow even tighter early next year.

Former Rep. Matt Gaetz, a Florida Republican, resigned from the House following an announcement that he would be nominated for a position in President-elect Donald Trump’s Cabinet (he has since withdrawn his name from consideration). He said he will not take a seat in the new Congress in January. Additionally, Republican Reps. Elise Stefanik of New York and Mike Waltz of Florida are expected to leave Congress to assume jobs in the incoming Trump administration.

The seats will be filled through special elections. All three are considered solidly GOP seats and were handily won by the Republican incumbents in last month’s elections.

This year, the alliance provided financial backing to groups that helped Democrats flip three House seats in California and four in New York – including in a special election earlier this year to replace scandal-plagued former New York Rep. George Santos.

Shifman said the wins demonstrated the power of field organizing by established labor and activist groups in those states – a model her group plans to build on.

The Battleground New York organization funded by the alliance included local unions, the Working Families Party, Indivisible and Planned Parenthood Votes. That coalition helped register more than 25,000 voters and knocked on more than 800,000 doors, according to figures provided by the alliance.

Over on the West Coast, the California effort raised more than $5 million, Shifman said.

She said New York and California will remain priorities in the 2026 midterms, as Democrats work to protect their 2024 gains there, but Shifman said her organization will focus on House districts across the country; targets will be decided after a careful study of data from this year’s elections.

As a starting point, she said, the alliance views expanding Democrats’ coalition of voters as a key objective.

“Close to 90 million people who were eligible to vote voted for the couch,” Shifman said of last month’s election. “We see that as an epic organizing opportunity.”

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