Sam Rasoul thinking over run for congressional seat in 2026 midterm cycle

Sam Rasoul, a Democrat has represented Roanoke in the General Assembly since 2014, is now publicly mulling over a run for a seat in Congress in the 2026 midterm cycle.

The question of the day: which seat?

“At a time when our community faces potential regional redistricting in Virginia’s 5th, 6th, and 9th Congressional Districts as a consequence of Donald Trump’s relentless attacks on our democracy, I have decided to prepare the paperwork for an exploratory committee to run for the United States House of Representatives in 2026, to be formed after the first of next year,” said Rasoul.

Rasoul is having to think over which district because Virginia Democrats are working on a plan to redraw the state’s congressional boundaries in advance of next fall’s elections – a response to Trump’s push to Republican-led states to redo their district lines to try to squeeze out a few extra MAGA seats in the U.S. House.

Virginia Dems are floating new congressional maps that would take the current 6-5 Democrat majority in the state’s U.S. House delegation to either 9-2 or even 10-1.

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ICYMI

• Virginia Republicans cry foul over Dems’ congressional redistricting move

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The effect for our part of the state would be: Republicans would be herded into a supermajority district running down the West Virginia state line and extending into the Tri-Cities, with the cities on the interior of the western part of the state forming the backbone of a leans-Democrat district.

Roanoke would be a key to that effort.

We’ve already got three Democrats based out our way who have launched campaigns for Congress – Beth Macy, a Roanoke-based journalist and author; Pete Barlow, a former FEMA administrator; and Ken Mitchell, a retired military servicemember who was the Democratic nominee in the Sixth District in the 2024 cycle.

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ICYMI

• Author Beth Macy enters Sixth District race, will fight for those ‘left behind’
• Pete Barlow to Sixth District Democrats: Let’s be the big tent party
• The 2026 Sixth District congressional field is starting to get crowded

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For now, the focus of those three, now four, with Rasoul looking to enter the fray, is on Ben Cline, who is in his fourth term as the congressman from the Sixth District.

“Our region deserves a fighter in Congress who will never back down in the face of injustice at home and abroad, and will tackle the affordability crisis that we all face,” said Rasoul, who challenged Cline’s predecessor and political mentor, Bob Goodlatte, in the 2008 cycle. “As a Palestinian-American who has represented Appalachia in the Virginia General Assembly for over a decade, I am proud to have spent my career standing up to special interests who have rigged the system against Virginia’s working families.

“Virginians are looking for bold, experienced, progressive leadership that meets this moment and delivers results by guaranteeing healthcare as a human right through Medicare for All, protecting our access to clean air and water through a Green New Deal, and ending all military aid to Israel, which has waged a genocide in Gaza using our taxpayer dollars in violation of American law. I look forward to exploring the best path to serve our community as the stakes rise higher by the day,” Rasoul said.