These are the most important midterm House races for banks

• Key insight: Competitive races span the Midwest, South and New York suburbs, putting several influential banking lawmakers on the ballot.
• What's at stake: The outcomes could alter the makeup of the House Financial Services Committee and determine which lawmakers shape banking policy in the next Congress.
• Forward look: Bankers' groups are already spending in several of the contests, backing candidates with records on community banking and financial services policy.

WASHINGTON — In this year's midterm elections, Democrats have long been favored to flip the House, and if they do it could usher in a new era of oversight for tech, crypto and even financial firms in the lower chamber. 

While it's still months to Election Day and many races are tight, early indicators and polls point to a change in leadership — at least in the House, though the Senate is increasingly in play — come November. A number of Republicans, including some on the House Financial Services Committee, are fighting for reelection in tough contests.

Here's some of the key races for bankers to watch in 2026. 

Bill Huizenga

Vice Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee Bill Huizenga, R-Mich., is facing another tight election. His challenger is Democrat Sean McCann, a state legislator and community organizer whose record on financial issues is relatively thin. 

The Cook Political Report rates the district — which spans from the suburbs of Grand Rapids, the city of Kalamazoo and the working-class neighborhoods of Battle Creek — as leaning toward Republicans. That margin is narrowing, however, as suburban attitudes toward President Donald Trump decline. 

Huizenga has been a major player on the House Financial Services Committee, playing a role on both the stablecoin bill and the housing bill that included many community bank riders. He's also led the committee's investigations work, particularly those targeting former Consumer Financial Protection Bureau lead Rohit Chopra and Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler. 

Banking industry groups in Washington and in Michigan have thrown their weight behind Huizenga. They released an ad on Wednesday highlighting Huizenga's work on the banking committee, particularly around fraud and scams. 

Zach Nunn

The Iowa 3rd Congressional District, home of Republican Zach Nunn, is rated a toss-up by the Cook Political Report. Nunn faces off against Sarah Trone Garriott, a state legislator and Lutheran minister. 

Nunn participates in a lot of events hosted by bankers, notably with state groups and those focused on rural and farm banking. While he hasn't played a leading role in much of the legislation that has passed through the House Financial Services Committee in the past few years, he's been supported by the industry. 

The American Bankers Association and the Iowa Bankers Association released an ad in Iowa supporting Nunn earlier this week. 

Iowa's 3rd district includes the Des Moines metro, as well as rural and suburban areas. Nunn's share of the votes slipped in the 2024 election compared to 2020, even as Republicans performed well throughout the state and country. 

Vicente Gonzalez

House Financial Services Committee member Rep. Vicente Gonzalez, a Democrat, is enmeshed in one of South Texas' most competitive races. 

He's competing against Eric Flores, an attorney. Gonzalez holds a small advantage at the moment, but he's not actually the incumbent in the district he's running in; after the Texas state house changed the state electoral maps, Gonzalez chose to run in this district rather than his previous one. Backlash against the administration in Texas — with its growing metropolitan areas favorable to Democrats and a Hispanic population broadly angered by the Trump administration's immigration actions — will be key to Democrats' plans of flipping the House. 

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Gonzalez is one of a few Democrats backed by the banking industry. He has the endorsement of Friends of Traditional Banking, and has generally worked across the aisle for pro-banking policies, particularly those supporting small institutions. 

Mike Lawler

Rep. Mike Lawler, a Republican from New York, is also facing reelection in one of the tightest races in the country. He is running against former special forces soldier Cait Conley. 

Lawler's district is mostly a suburb of New York and is home to thousands of Wall Street workers. He flipped the district last election as part of a Republican wave, but will struggle to hold on to it as the tide has turned the other way. Conley's campaign is portraying Lawler as an unabashed acolyte of President Donald Trump, banking on the president's unpopularity in a district that includes some of the wealthiest towns in the country as well as diverse, working class neighborhoods. 

As a relatively new lawmaker to Congress, Lawler hasn't been a big player in legislative negotiations for the last 18 months, but he has signed on to a number of financial services bills and sponsored some of the legislation that ended up in the housing package. The district, because of its close commute to Manhattan for Wall Street workers, typically has a voice on the House Financial Services Committee.