Establishment Democrat Dina Titus won reelection to Nevada's 1st Congressional District on Tuesday — a seat drawn to guarantee the outcome before a single ballot was cast, leaving working Americans with no real choice in who represents them.
That's the racket across American congressional elections in 2026. While a handful of competitive races dominate coverage, the vast majority of House seats are pre-wired to protect whoever already holds them. Both parties do it. Both parties benefit. And the people who pay the price are the ones who can't afford a lobbyist.
Look at Louisiana, where Speaker Mike Johnson sailed to a fifth term in a district the Cook Political Report rates R-26 — 26 points more Republican than the country. Fox News reported that Louisiana's GOP legislature redrew the congressional map this year after a Supreme Court ruling allowed the state to dissolve its only Black-majority district. The governor even postponed primaries to give mapmakers more time to lock in Republican advantage. Johnson took nearly 60% against four opponents. That's not a contest.
Then there's the family pipeline. In Wisconsin's 7th District, 26-year-old Michael Alfonso — son-in-law of Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy — won the seat Duffy himself once held. The New York Post reported that Alfonso's campaign got $1 million from his father-in-law's dormant campaign account, routed through a super PAC, according to PBS Wisconsin. Delta Air Lines, whose operations depend on the Transportation Department Duffy runs, sponsored a fundraiser where Duffy was billed as special guest and gave $5,000 to Alfonso's campaign. The Transportation Department said Duffy supported Alfonso only in a "personal capacity." Draw your own conclusions.
The rare competitive races show what it actually takes to unseat an incumbent. In Wisconsin's 3rd District, Democrat Rebecca Cooke beat Republican Derrick Van Orden after both parties flooded the zone with cash. WPR reported that Elon Musk alone spent $4.6 million backing Van Orden. Cooke still outraised and outspent the incumbent in the final stretch. Van Orden conceded and told his supporters to accept the results.
Cooke made the war in Iran central to her pitch, arguing that billions in taxpayer money flowing overseas while Americans struggle with gas prices and healthcare costs is the opposite of an America-first agenda. "This is a victory for anyone who is struggling to pay your rent or your mortgage, drowning in medical debt, worrying if you'll have to sell the farm," Cooke told supporters.
The AP, via WTOP, reported that Democrats flipped at least seven Senate seats and more than two dozen House districts in what it called a "widespread repudiation" of Trump, taking full control of Congress. But that wave only reached shore in the small fraction of districts where lines weren't drawn to make it impossible.
Here's the open question: if both parties can draw themselves safe seats and pipeline family money into campaigns, who exactly is representing the Americans who have neither?
