By Mary Ellen McIntire, CQ-Roll Call

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.

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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.

Mike Rogers, a candidate for U.S. Senate, speaks during a panel discussion with former U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman and U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, hosted by the Republican Jewish Coalition, on Oct. 28, 2024, in Bloomfield Township, Michigan. (Katy Kildee/The Detroit News/TNS)

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)

Sherrod Brown, D- Ohio, speaks with a voter during a campaign stop at Yonder Brunch and Vibe, on Oct. 30, 2024, in Cleveland. (Jeff Swensen/Getty Images North America/TNS)

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.

UNIVERSAL CITY, CALIFORNIA – JUNE 15: Los Angeles County Supervisor Hilda Solis attends California Governor Gavin Newsom’s press conference for the official reopening of the state of California at Universal Studios Hollywood on June 15, 2021 in Universal City, California. (Photo by Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images)

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)

David Trone, D- Md., speaks during the news conference following the Maryland delegation’s meeting on the federal response to the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse in the U.S. Capitol in Washington on April 9, 2024. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call/ZUMA Press/TNS)

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.

WASHINGTON, DC – APRIL 22: Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO) speaks during a news conference to advocate for ending the Senate filibuster, outside the U.S. Capitol on April 22, 2021 in Washington, DC. With the Senate filibuster rules in place, legislative bills require 60 votes to end debate and advance, rather than a simple majority in the 100 member Senate. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

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.

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS – AUGUST 22: U.S. Rep. Colin Allred (D-TX) speaks on stage during the final day of the Democratic National Convention at the United Center on August 22, 2024 in Chicago, Illinois. Delegates, politicians, and Democratic Party supporters are gathering in Chicago, as current Vice President Kamala Harris is named her party’s presidential nominee. The DNC takes place from August 19-22. (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

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.

©2025 CQ-Roll Call, Inc., All Rights Reserved. Visit cqrollcall.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

By DEVI SHASTRI and MARGERY A. BECK

States will share $10 billion for rural health care next year in a program that aims to offset the Trump administration’s massive budget cuts to rural hospitals, federal officials announced Monday.

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But while every state applied for money from the Rural Health Transformation Program, it won’t be distributed equally. And critics worry that the funding might be pulled back if a state’s policies don’t match up with the administration’s.

Officials said the average award for 2026 is $200 million, and the fund puts a total of $50 billion into rural health programs over five years. States propose how to spend their awards, and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services assigns project officers to support each state, said agency administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz.

“This fund was crafted as part of the One Big Beautiful Bill, signed only six months ago now into law, in order to push states to be creative,” Oz said in a call with reporters Monday.

Under the program, half of the money is equally distributed to each state. The other half is allocated based on a formula developed by CMS that considered rural population size, the financial health of a state’s medical facilities and health outcomes for a state’s population.

The formula also ties $12 billion of the five-year funding to whether states are implementing health policies prioritized by the Trump administration’s “Make America Healthy Again” initiative. Examples include requiring nutrition education for health care providers, having schools participate in the Presidential Fitness Test or banning the use of SNAP benefits for so-called junk foods, Oz said.

Several Republican-led states — including Arkansas, Iowa, Louisiana, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Texas — have already adopted rules banning the purchase of foods like candy and soda with SNAP benefits.

The money that the states get will be recalculated annually, Oz said, allowing the administration to “claw back” funds if, for example, state leaders don’t pass promised policies. Oz said the clawbacks are not punishments, but leverage governors can use to push policies by pointing to the potential loss of millions.

“I’ve already heard governors express that sentiment that this is not a threat, that this is actually an empowering element of the One Big Beautiful Bill,” he said.

Carrie Cochran-McClain, chief policy officer with the National Rural Health Association, said she’s heard from a number of Democratic-led states that refused to include such restrictions on SNAP benefits even though it could hurt their chance to get more money from the fund.

“It’s not where their state leadership is,” she said.

Experts say fund is inadequate in face of other cuts

Oz and other federal officials have touted the program as a 50% increase in Medicaid investments in rural health care. Rep. Don Bacon, a Republican from Nebraska who has been critical of many of the administration’s policies but voted for the budget bill that slashed Medicaid, pointed to the fund when recently questioned about how the cuts would hurt rural hospitals.

“That’s why we added a $50 billion rural hospital fund, to help any hospital that’s struggling,” Bacon said. “This money is meant to keep hospitals afloat.”

But experts say it won’t nearly offset the losses that struggling rural hospitals will face from the federal spending law’s $1.2 trillion cut from the federal budget over the next decade, primarily from Medicaid. Millions of people are also expected to lose Medicaid benefits.

Estimates suggest rural hospitals could lose around $137 billion over the next decade because of the budget measure. As many as 300 rural hospitals were at risk for closure because of the GOP’s spending package, according to an analysis by The Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

“When you put that up against the $50 billion for the Rural Health Transformation Fund, you know — that math does not add up,” Cochran-McClain said.

She also said there’s no guarantee that the funding will go to rural hospitals in need. For example, she noted, one state’s application included a proposal for healthier, locally sourced school lunch options in rural areas.

And even though innovation is a goal of the program, Cochran-McClain said it’s tough for rural hospitals to innovate when they were struggling to break even before Congress’ Medicaid cuts.

“We talk to rural providers every day that say, ‘I would really love to do x, y, z, but I’m concerned about, you know, meeting payroll at the end of the month,’” she said. “So when you’re in that kind of crisis mode, it is, I would argue, almost impossible to do true innovation.”

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

If in scouting the Wild for their Monday night game, the Vegas Golden Knights watched video of Minnesota’s overtime win in Winnipeg from Saturday, the effort might not have provided a true preview.

Heading into their first matchup in Nevada since an overtime loss in Game 5 during last spring’s playoffs, Wild coach John Hynes remade the Minnesota lines in search of some new results from new partners.

“I just think that a little bit of a switch-up. I think the last few games some lines have gone dry a little bit,” Hynes said. “We’ve played a lot of hockey.”

Notably, rookie Danila Yurov was elevated to center the team’s top line between Kirill Kaprizov and Mats Zuccarello, and Ryan Hartman was sent to center the third line between Vinnie Hinostroza and Vladimir Tarasenko.

“I think Yurov back with Kaprizov and Zuccarello was a good combo,” Hynes told reporters after the team’s morning skate at T-Mobile Arena. “Before we had injuries, we thought that Vinnie bringing the speed that he has with Hartzy and Vladdy was a good line.”

Hynes envisioned his fourth line of Nico Sturm at center between Marcus Foligno and Yakov Trenin bringing some physical play when needed, with Trenin continuing to lead the NHL in hits.

Having survived their longest travel day of the season on Saturday, getting an unlikely win in Winnipeg when they trailed with less than 30 seconds left in regulation, the Wild were still feeling good about their cohesiveness leading to success.

“I think it just shows how great this group is,” Hinostroza said. “Ever since I got here in the middle of last year, you could see how much of a tight-knit group this is. It’s amazing to be a part of, and when you love each other like that and you play for each other, you usually get a good outcome.”

Hunt on the mend

Defenseman Daemon Hunt missed a sixth straight game in Vegas, still working his way back from a lower body injury suffered in the Wild’s shutout win over the Capitals on Dec. 16 in St. Paul.

While he is currently not traveling with the team, Hynes said if he is able, Hunt could join the Wild on the West Coast later in this two-week road trip.

“He’s progressing. I would assume that he’s going to meet us on the trip, I just don’t have an exact time yet,” Hynes said, adding that Hunt is working with team skating coach Andy Ness. “We’d like to make sure he gets some good skates with Andy and when he does come, he’s ready to be a game player.”

Hunt has played in a dozen games with two assists so far this season.

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Top officials in the administration of President Donald Trump are directing more federal law enforcement resources to investigate allegations of rampant government fraud in Minnesota — a move that comes in the wake of a viral video claiming significant abuse in Somali-run day care programs.

A video posted to social media platforms on Friday by YouTuber Nick Shirley shows what appear to be empty day care centers in Minneapolis and claims to expose millions of dollars in fraud in the state’s federally funded child care program. The video has more than 100 million views on X.

The video is based on existing allegations about fraud in Minnesota’s child care program, which until recently was run by the state’s Department of Human Services and is now under the authority of the Department of Children, Youth and Families, a spin-off agency.

In the video, Shirley visits several day cares, including Quality Learning Center, which had already been under investigation by state officials for various violations and had collected $7.8 million from the state since 2019, according to a January report by KSTP-TV.

The video drew praise from Vice President JD Vance, who reposted the video on X.

“This dude has done far more useful journalism than any of the winners of the 2024 (Pulitzer Center) prizes,” he wrote.

In response to the video, U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and FBI Director Kash Patel announced boosts to federal law enforcement resources in the state. Social media posts Monday showed federal law enforcement agents visiting businesses in the Twin Cities area, including some shown in the video.

State response

At a Monday news conference addressing Shirley’s video, the Department of Children, Youth and Families Commissioner Tikki Brown said children were present at the day cares shown in the video during unannounced inspection visits in 2025. Still, the video warrants more scrutiny on fraud, she said.

“While we have questions about some of the methods that were used in the video, we do take the concerns that the video raises about fraud very seriously,” Brown told reporters. “Each of the facilities mentioned in the video has been visited at least once in the last six months as part of our typical licensing process.”

Brown said she had questions about when Shirley visited day cares, as some centers could have been closed, and said her department was making additional unannounced visits to businesses shown in the video to confirm whether children are present.

Two of the seven day cares Shirley visited in the video — Quality Learning Center and Mako Childcare — are no longer open. Quality Learning Center closed “just over a week ago,” Brown said. Mako “closed maybe even several years ago.”

Allegations of fraud

Allegations of fraud in federally funded state-administered programs, which Assistant U.S. Attorney Joe Thompson recently said could potentially top $9 billion since 2018, have drawn significant attention and scrutiny on the record of second-term Democratic-Farmer-Labor Gov. Tim Walz, who is seeking a third term.

Walz and officials in his administration continue to press back against claims by Republican critics and the Trump administration that they hadn’t done enough to address fraud in recent years.

Earlier in December, Walz announced the hiring of former Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension head Tim O’Malley as fraud czar.

In October, DHS, which oversees the Medicaid-funded programs that have seen significant fraud, ordered a third-party audit of 14 “high-risk” programs.

They also moved to shut down a Medicaid-funded housing-stabilization program beset by fraud after news emerged in July of a federal investigation into several providers.

Minnesota House Republicans on Monday told reporters that allegations of fraud in Minnesota’s day care program, including at Quality Learning Center, had come up at a hearing of the GOP-led Fraud Prevention and State Agency Oversight committee earlier this year,

“If DHS or the Walz administration had been serious about wanting to root up fraud, they would have already been taking care of these things much before we brought it up in February,” said House Speaker Lisa Demuth, who is seeking the Republican nomination for governor in 2026.

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