Who are the incumbent senators in states with 2026 elections?
Executive summary
The 2026 Senate cycle will contest roughly one‑third of the chamber — 33 regularly scheduled Class 2 seats plus two special elections (Florida and Ohio), for about 35 contests total — and incumbents in those states are the current officeholders whose terms or appointed seats expire or are being filled in 2026 [1] [2] [3]. Public sources enumerate many of those incumbents (for example Jon Ossoff in Georgia, Susan Collins in Maine, John Cornyn in Texas, Marco Rubio’s vacated Florida seat filled by Ashley Moody, and Jon Husted’s appointment in Ohio), but the provided reporting does not contain a single, complete, authoritative roster of every incumbent by state in one place, and some outlets report different counts of retirements [4] [2] [5] [6] [7].
1. What “incumbent senators in states with 2026 elections” means and how many seats are involved
The phrase refers to the sitting U.S. senators whose seats are scheduled for regular or special contests in November 2026; this includes the 33 Class 2 senators up in the regular cycle plus two special elections that accelerate two other seats into the 2026 ballot — Florida’s Class 3 (vacated by Marco Rubio) and Ohio’s special appointment (Jon Husted) — bringing the total to about 35 seats contested [1] [2] [3]. National trackers summarize the partisan balance and the count of seats up: analysts note Republicans hold a Senate majority of 53–47 and that 22–23 of the seats on the 2026 map are Republican‑held, underscoring why many incumbent Republicans will be defending seats [1] [3] [8].
2. High‑profile incumbents explicitly identified in the reporting
Several sitting senators named in the available reporting are clear incumbents whose seats are on the 2026 map: Jon Ossoff (D–Georgia) is up for re‑election and has been repeatedly flagged as a competitive incumbent contest [4] [9]; Susan Collins (R–Maine) is identified as the Republican incumbent in a competitive Maine race [4] [9]; John Cornyn (R–Texas) is described as the incumbent facing primary challengers [5]; and Louisiana’s John N. Kennedy is listed as among the seats up [10]. The reporting also highlights special situations: Marco Rubio’s 2025 resignation created a vacancy in Florida filled by Ashley Moody by appointment, making that a special election in 2026 [2], and Ohio’s Jon Husted was appointed to a seat that will be decided by a special election concurrent with the 2026 cycle [2].
3. Which incumbents are retiring or not seeking re‑election — and the reporting discrepancy
Multiple trackers agree that a nontrivial number of incumbents are not seeking re‑election, but available sources differ on the exact tally: Ballotpedia reported eight incumbents (four Democrats, four Republicans) not running as of late November 2025 [6], while related Ballotpedia pages and other summaries list nine incumbents (four Democrats, five Republicans) in some snapshots [11] [7]. Those differences reflect ongoing announcements and the rolling nature of retirement reporting; the inconsistent totals in the provided reporting make clear that any firm list of “which incumbents are not running” must be checked against the most recent Ballotpedia or similar trackers [6] [7].
4. Why a definitive, one‑paragraph list of every incumbent by state can’t be supplied from these sources
The supplied reporting collectively identifies many specific incumbents and the overall count of seats, but no single source in the packet gives a current, complete state‑by‑state list of every incumbent whose seat is on the 2026 ballot; instead, the sources provide snapshots, examples, and aggregate tallies [4] [1] [2] [3]. For a definitive roster of incumbents in each 2026 race, the most direct contemporary references remain the dedicated 2026 Senate pages maintained by Ballotpedia and the 2026 Senate election pages on Wikipedia and 270toWin, which compile full state lists and are cited here as the best available compilations in the reporting set [4] [6] [3].
5. Bottom line and how to verify the full roster
The incumbents in states with 2026 elections are the sitting senators whose seats are Class 2 or the two seats filled by appointment for special elections; notable incumbents called out in the reporting include Jon Ossoff (GA), Susan Collins (ME), John Cornyn (TX), Ashley Moody (FL, appointee to Rubio’s seat), and Jon Husted (OH, appointee), while several others and the precise retirements are tracked and updated on Ballotpedia, Wikipedia, and election‑mapping sites [4] [6] [2] [3]. Given the reporting discrepancies on retirements and the fluidity of appointments, those consolidated trackers should be consulted for a current state‑by‑state incumbent roster [6] [7] [3].