House Republicans will target Jared Moskowitz, Darren Soto in 2026

The National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) will try to flip seats held by Democratic U.S. Reps. Jared Moskowitz and Darren Soto in 2026.

The political arm for the House Republican caucus announced 26 Democratic incumbents it hopes to unseat this election cycle. Both Moskowitz and Soto have been in the crosshairs for the NRCC before, but Republicans hope continued voter registration trends will make the two more vulnerable to defeat next cycle.

This will mark the first election that Moskowitz, a Parkland Democrat, sits on the NRCC target list as an incumbent. But House Republicans invested heavily in Florida’s 23rd Congressional District in the 2022 election cycle.

That year, U.S. Rep. Ted Deutch, a Boca Raton Democrat, retired. Moskowitz, a former state Representative and Broward County Commissioner, won the open seat with 53% of the vote over Republican Joe Budd, but that was the smallest margin of victory of any U.S. House race in Florida that year.

Moskowitz won re-election in 2024 with just over 52% of the vote over Republican Joe Kaufman, who was backed by a number of Florida Republicans despite the fact that the NRCC did not target Moskowitz.

Republican George Moraitis, a Fort Lauderdale Republican and former state Representative, has already announced he will run for Moskowitz’s seat this election cycle. Republicans Raven Harrison and Darlene Swaffar have also filed.

Soto, meanwhile, has been targeted by the NRCC the last two election cycles.

The Kissimmee Democrat won 55% of the vote in Florida’s 9th Congressional District in November over Republican Thomas Chalifoux. That was a slight improvement over 2022, when he won 54% of the vote against Republican Scotty Moore, winning by the slimmest margin of any incumbent in Florida’s congressional delegation that year.

Dr. Stuart Farber, an Orlando Republican, has filed to challenge Soto in 2026.

But Republicans have worked to increase strength statewide and feel particularly confident about inroads made with Hispanic voters in Central Florida and Jewish voters in South Florida. Statewide, Republicans have increased a voter registration advantage to about 1.2 million voters.

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