Tom Barrett

US Representative Max Miller (R-OH) attends a campaign rally in Youngstown, Ohio, US, October 12, 2026. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

Kathleen Culliton is a Raw Story investigations writer. She's been covering local and national news for more than a decade for outlets that include the New York Post, Al Jazeera, DNAinfo New York, Bustle, the New York Daily News, WNYC, NY1, City Limits and the New York City Patch. Kathleen is a proud alumna of the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism.

House Republicans can’t afford to make mistakes ahead of the upcoming midterm election — but that isn’t stopping them.

As the majority party fights to keep its control of Congress, and protect President Donald Trump and his powerful allies from the investigations House Democrats have planned, all eyes are on a small batch of conservative incumbents battling to hold onto their seats.

Cook Political Report predicts Democrats will easily win 186 of the House's 435 seats, and have a clear advantage in 34 others. Republicans, meanwhile, only have a firm hand on just 168 races and an advantage in 30 others.

That leaves 17 races up for grabs. Democrats could lose every single one and still claim the majority if they win the races Cook designates as leaning, likely and solidly blue.

Republicans meanwhile need to win every toss-up and three Dem-leaning races if they plan to hold onto the majority with a minimum of 218 seats.

But this campaign season has been a rocky one, and many of those Republicans have made some questionable decisions.

One Congress member got caught breaking his service-dog promise to veterans. Another handed her opponent the campaign tactic of a lifetime. A third mistakenly published naked pictures of his toddler daughter.

These are the incumbents upon which Republicans are pinning their hopes.

Republican U.S. Congressman Tom Barrett addresses supporters at his campaign office in Brighton, Michigan, on April 17, 2026. REUTERS/Rebecca Cook

It’s not a good idea to make promises you can’t keep about service dogs for veterans. Just ask George Santos.

But that’s what Rep. Tom Barrett, 45, has done, according to an October surprise investigation from the Detroit Metro Times.

Barrett garnered much publicity in 2016 when he announced the launch of the Michigan Veterans Institute to help veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder.

But an insider told Metro Times there was “little to no money raised” for any of the initiatives promoted.

The campaign is now trying to distance Barrett, who serves on the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, from the Michigan Veterans Institute, according to the report.

But Barrett’s getting reminders on X and from pundits who say he got headlines while “veterans got empty promises.”

Harvard University’s Election Forecaster gives his opponent William Lawrence, a climate activist, a 92 percent chance of victory in District 7.

Official portrait of Rep. Rob Bresnahan (R-PA). Courtesy of the House of Representatives and available on the Public domain via Wikimedia Commons.

Rep. Rob Bresnahan was drenched in criticism when his boast about abolishing a “rain tax” went swirling down the drain.

The Freshman Republican released an ad in September that included a news anchor stating Bresnahan had reversed the rain tax.

But the news outlet in question revealed Bresnahan’s name had been slapped on an executive order actually signed by Trump, and subsequent reporting revealed the order will not end the controversial stormwater management fee in question.

Bresnahan’s opponent, Scranton Mayor Paige Cognetti, was quick to alert her would-be constituents to the news.

“Local media are calling out his dishonesty and now his campaign has gone so far as to alter a local news anchor’s words to mislead us,” said campaign spokesperson Emma Mustion.

“People here deserve honesty and results, not a congressman more focused on his stock portfolio than the people he was elected to serve.”

Bresnahan’s stock portfolio is the reason Cook downgraded his district from leaning red to toss-up.

Bresnahan, whose net worth is $40 million, was caught dumping Medicaid provider stocks before his Big Beautiful Bill vote slashed Medicaid's value, and trading stocks after vowing to end such practices in Congress.

Harvard gives Bresnahan just a 25 percent chance of victory in District 8.

Official portrait of Rep. Monica De La Cruz (R-TX).Courtesy of the House of Representatives and available on the public domain via Wikimedia Commons.

Rep. Monica De La Cruz thought she had a great line to take against her opponent.

“This election isn’t about who you want performing at your niece’s quinceañera,” De La Cruz said in a campaign ad from March. “It’s about who you trust with your family’s future.”

But Bobby Pulido, District 15’s Democratic nominee, had a surprising response. He thanked her.

“We would have never thought about that,” Pulido replied. “This algorithm’s going really good.’”

Pulido, a Latin Grammy Award-winning Tejano musician, immediately took De La Cruz’s criticism and turned it into a campaign strategy.

He began performing for free at quinceañeras, weddings and other events, singing a song then delivering his pitch. Yes, there are “Make Quinceañeras Great Again” baseball caps.

Pulido told the Texas Tribune the tactic turned out to be campaign gold.

“You got them on a Friday night or Saturday night, they’re a little tipsy, and they’re happy,” Pulido told the Texas Tribune. “Everybody’s got their cellphones, and they’re streaming.”

Pulido, making his first-ever bid at public office, does have serious issues to overcome, including a one-time bandmate imprisoned on child sex molestation charges and slurs posted to social media, among them.

She supported Trump’s increasingly unpopular mass deportation agenda, and that hasn’t played well with independent voters who helped her flip the historically blue district in 2022.

Harvard University puts Pulido’s chance of victory at 35 percent, but Cook Political Report puts it at 50/50.

Rep. Bill Huizenga won his 2024 reelection campaign with a strong showing of 12 points — but that was before Trump went to war.

This campaign season, Huizenga decided to speak publicly, and with confidence, about his decision to vote against the War Powers Resolution to remove the U.S. from Iran.

"We have to make sure that, as we are looking at this, the president has the ability to maneuver and negotiate that he needs to be able to," Huizenga said on Fox News in June. “I just don’t think voting for a Democrat War Powers Act that really is politically based, not fact-based, not policy-based, just isn’t the right direction to go.”

The resolution passed with bipartisan support, with seven Republicans joining 213 Democrats in voting yea.

Meanwhile, Huizenga's constituents have paid $252 million in extra fuel costs since the war began, according to an analysis from the progressive group American Bridge 21st Century.

And his state saw the largest spike in gas prices of any other, with a whopping 56% increase in 2026, according to GasBuddy petroleum analyst Patrick De Haan.

His opponent, state Sen. Sean McCann, has taken to campaigning outside of Michigan gas stations, reminding voters Huizinga voted six times to support a war that has cost American service members their lives.

"The biggest issue is what we’re seeing nationally: the war in Iran, which has driven up the price of gas and, in turn, the cost of everything connected to gas," McCann said in a recent interview. "It really bites hard, and people are feeling it."

But whether Huizenga's support for Iran could cost him his seat remains unclear.

Harvard University gives McCann a 45 percent chance of victory.

U.S. Representative Mike Lawler (R-NY) gives remarks during a press conference with House Problem Solvers Caucus members on gerrymandering reform on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., U.S., September 16, 2026. REUTERS/Aaron Schwartz REUTERS/Aaron Schwartz

Cait Conley, the Army veteran and former national securit