Rejected and running again: A comeback wave hits the 2026 midterms

Voters are feeling a sense of déjà vu in Missouri’s 1st Congressional District, where Cori Bush is mounting a comeback to reclaim the House seat she lost less than two years ago in the Democratic primary.

And she’s not alone. Ms. Bush’s return is part of a broader wave of attempted political comebacks stretching from Texas to Virginia to Florida, where once‑rejected members of Congress are betting that voters still want them.

President Trump’s nationwide redistricting push — and Democratic counter‑efforts — also have opened the door for some familiar faces to reenter the fray.

That includes Texas, where Republican Steve Stockman, convicted of 23 counts of fraud in 2018, has filed paperwork to run in the newly redrawn 9th Congressional District in the Houston suburbs.

The 69-year-old Stockman is no stranger to political whiplash, having served in Congress from 1995 to 1997 and again from 2013 to 2015 before leaving amid corruption accusations that led to his imprisonment. In 2020, Mr. Trump commuted his ten‑year sentence.

Stockman joins a long line of former lawmakers who got on the wrong side of the law and later tried to claw their way back. The late James Traficant Jr. is among the more noteworthy — the Ohio Democrat was expelled from Congress in 2002 after bribery and racketeering convictions, attempted a comeback in 2010 as an independent but lost.

Elsewhere, former Rep. Ben McAdams is running for Utah’s newly drawn 1st District, which is seen as a potential surprise pickup opportunity for Democrats.

The irony: Mr. McAdams was known as a moderate, common‑sense lawmaker when he represented the state from 2019 to 2021. Now he’s competing in a more Democratic‑friendly district against candidates who may have a stronger pull with grassroots activists.

This year’s growing horde of bounce‑back contenders is making it clear they believe they still have something to give. They say the stakes are too high to sit on the sidelines with Mr. Trump in office. Some have cast themselves as political martyrs, blaming their past defeats on political smears, establishment attacks or party infighting.

Ms. Bush, for her part, leaned into her outsider message in her campaign launch video, promising to “fight for St. Louis” and working‑class communities. She didn’t mention that primary voters in 2024 replaced her by nearly six points with Democratic Rep. Wesley Bell.

“I ran for Congress to change things for regular people,” she said. “I’m running again because St. Louis deserves leadership that doesn’t wait for permission, doesn’t answer to wealthy donors, and doesn’t hide when things get tough.”

Others eyeing a triumphant return, fresh off a loss, include former Sen. Sherrod Brown of Ohio.

After 18 years in the Senate and 14 in the House, he’s treating his 2024 defeat as a fluke. Now he’s aiming to unseat Republican Sen. Jon Husted, whom Gov. Mike DeWine appointed to fill the vacancy created when J.D. Vance left the Senate to become vice president.

Some former lawmakers are testing their mettle in new states. Former Rep. Madison Cawthorn — whose controversies fueled his 2022 primary loss in North Carolina’s 11th District — has resurfaced in Florida’s 19th District. He’s running for the seat that Republican Rep. Byron Donalds is vacating to run for governor.

Others have been out of the game longer but are giving it another go.

Former Rep. Tom Perriello announced this month he’s running again for his old seat in Virginia’s 5th District.

The 51‑year‑old Democrat represented the district from 2009 to 2011, but lost in part because he voted for the Affordable Care Act and cap‑and‑trade legislation.

He later ran unsuccessfully for governor in 2017.

Now, he says, “this is an all‑hands‑on‑deck moment — things are out of control.”

He’s not the only possible comeback story in Virginia. Elaine Luria, ousted in 2022 by Republican Rep. Jen Kiggans after serving two House terms, is also eager for a do-over.