House Republicans are turbocharging their ad spending in two crucial states after winning major redistricting battles that could reshape the competitive landscape heading into the 2026 midterms. The Congressional Leadership Fund, a super PAC aligned with Speaker Mike Johnson, announced it would inject $22 million into new television and digital reservations in Florida and Virginia, betting that redrawn congressional maps give the party an opening to expand its House majority.
Nearly $19 million of the new spending will target Florida, where the GOP-controlled legislature approved a map creating four additional Republican-leaning districts. The remaining $3.1 million heads to the Norfolk, Virginia, media market, where the state Supreme Court blocked a Democratic-backed redistricting plan that voters had approved.
Chris Winkelman, president of the Congressional Leadership Fund, framed the investment as a show of GOP strength heading into the campaign season. "CLF remains well-resourced with battle-tested incumbents, high-quality candidates, and favorable terrain," he said, characterizing Democrats as "overextended" and caught in "brutal primary battles."
The spending reveals where Republicans see genuine flipping opportunities. In Florida, the Congressional Leadership Fund is allocating $9.9 million for the Miami market, $6.5 million in Tampa, and $2.6 million in West Palm Beach. All of those buys are concentrated in districts Republicans are trying to flip from Democratic control. Three incumbent Democrats in that region are defending seats: Rep. Kathy Castor in Tampa's 14th District, Rep. Jared Moskowitz near Miami in the 25th District, and an open seat in the 22nd District that stretches from West Palm Beach north of Miami.
The Norfolk investment is less straightforward. While the super PAC did not specify which districts it would target, the Norfolk media market bleeds into three competitive House districts. Two are in Virginia, where Republican Reps. Rob Wittman and Jen Kiggans are running for re-election. The third is North Carolina's 1st District, where Republicans are eyeing a pickup against Democratic Rep. Don Davis. The Norfolk spending brings the Congressional Leadership Fund's total investment in the Norfolk market to $5.6 million.
These new reservations push the super PAC's overall 2026 spending to more than $175 million across 41 media markets. Democrats are not sitting idle. The House Majority PAC, the mirror organization for the left, announced its own $11.5 million ad buy in Florida and Virginia last week, with roughly 80 percent of that money focused on districts Democrats are trying to capture. House Majority PAC President Mike Smith said the group was moving to "expand the map and go on offense," pointing to Republican policies that have "made life more expensive for the American people."
The dueling investments underscore how aggressively both parties are contesting terrain that shifted as courts and legislatures redrew political lines. Republicans have been working across multiple states to redraw maps favorable to the GOP as they defend a narrow House majority. Democrats, needing to net at least three seats to regain control, launched their own offensive in states like California and Virginia. The Virginia effort fell short when voters approved a constitutional amendment to bypass the state's redistricting commission, only to have the new map blocked on procedural grounds by the state Supreme Court.
The House Majority PAC's total reservations so far stand at more than $283 million across 68 media markets. Both groups are investing heavily in the same Florida and Virginia media markets, signaling that those states will be among the most hotly contested battlegrounds in the 2026 midterms.
Author Sarah Mitchell: "These spending wars show Republicans smell blood in Florida while banking on maps that finally give them the edge in Virginia that always slipped away before."
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