North Carolina’s senior Republican senator Thom Tillis will kick off his 2026 reelection campaign with a fundraiser this week in Washington, D.C., alongside a host of his Senate GOP colleagues, according to an event invitation obtained by National Review.

The December 11 reception will kickstart what’s expected to be one of the most competitive Senate races of the 2026 midterms. Tillis likely to face stiff primary- and general-election competition. (It’s no wonder then that the North Carolinian’s office told Breitbart last week that he plans to support every Trump nominee who makes it through committee to a hearing.)

So begin the 2026 midterms for Senate Republicans, whose campaign strategy will be spearheaded by new National Republican Senatorial Committee chairman Tim Scott.

Senate Republicans had long seen the 2024 election as their best opportunity to pad their margins this decade, with very few pickup opportunities on the horizon for the rest of the 2020s. In addition to North Carolina, Republicans will have to defend a number of other incumbents in 2026 who could face tough primaries or general elections, including Susan Collins in Maine and John Cornyn in Texas. Ohio governor Mike DeWine also has yet to tap a successor to Vice President-elect JD Vance. Whoever he picks will have to run in a 2026 special election to serve the last two years of Senator Vance’s term. (Outgoing Senator Sherrod Brown, who just lost reelection to Senator-elect Bernie Moreno, may run for that seat.)

Senate Republicans will also work hard to unseat Senators Jon Ossoff in Georgia and Gary Peters in Michigan, both of whom are up in the next midterm cycle.