United States Senate election in the District of Columbia, 2026

• Congress elections
  • U.S. Congress
  • U.S. Senate
  • U.S. House
  • Congressional special elections
• State elections
  • Ballot measures
  • State executives
  • State legislatures
  • State legislature special elections
  • State supreme courts
  • Intermediate appellate courts
• Local elections
  • Ballot measures
  • Municipal government
  • School boards
  • Trial courts
  • Political recalls
• Voter information
  • Sample ballot
  • Election calendar
  • Election results
  • Poll opening and closing times
  • Voting policies

← 2024
U.S. Senate, District of Columbia
General election
Election details
Filing deadline: March 18, 2026
Primary: June 16, 2026 General: November 3, 2026
How to vote
Poll times: 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Voting in District of Columbia
Ballotpedia analysis
U.S. Senate battlegrounds U.S. House battlegrounds Federal and state primary competitiveness Ballotpedia's Election Analysis Hub, 2026
See also
U.S. Senate, District of Columbia U.S. Senate • At-large District of Columbia elections, 2026 U.S. Congress elections, 2026 U.S. Senate elections, 2026 U.S. House elections, 2026 Alabama U.S. Senate raceAlaska U.S. Senate raceArkansas U.S. Senate raceColorado U.S. Senate raceDelaware U.S. Senate raceGeorgia U.S. Senate raceIdaho U.S. Senate raceIllinois U.S. Senate raceIowa U.S. Senate raceKansas U.S. Senate raceKentucky U.S. Senate raceLouisiana U.S. Senate raceMaine U.S. Senate raceMassachusetts U.S. Senate raceMichigan U.S. Senate raceMinnesota U.S. Senate raceMississippi U.S. Senate raceMontana U.S. Senate raceNebraska U.S. Senate raceNew Hampshire U.S. Senate raceNew Jersey U.S. Senate raceNew Mexico U.S. Senate raceNorth Carolina U.S. Senate raceOklahoma U.S. Senate raceOregon U.S. Senate raceRhode Island U.S. Senate raceSouth Carolina U.S. Senate raceSouth Dakota U.S. Senate raceTennessee U.S. Senate raceTexas U.S. Senate raceVirginia U.S. Senate raceWest Virginia U.S. Senate raceWyoming U.S. Senate raceSubmit

Voters in the District of Columbia will elect one shadow member to the U.S. Senate in the general election on November 3, 2026. The election will fill the seat held by Paul Strauss (D), who first took office in 1997. To learn more about other elections on the ballot, click here.

Candidates and election results

Note: The following list includes official candidates only. Ballotpedia defines official candidates as people who:

• Register with a federal or state campaign finance agency before the candidate filing deadline
• Appear on candidate lists released by government election agencies

There are no official candidates yet for this election.

General election

The general election will occur on November 3, 2026.

Candidate profiles

There are currently no candidate profiles created for this race. Candidate profiles will appear here as they are created. Encourage the candidates in this race to complete Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey so that their profile will appear here.

Voting information

See also: Voting in District of Columbia

Ballotpedia will publish the dates and deadlines related to this election as they are made available.

Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey responses

Ballotpedia asks all federal, state, and local candidates to complete a survey and share what motivates them on political and personal levels. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

No candidate in this race has completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey. Ballotpedia is seeking 100 percent participation so voters can learn more about all the candidates on their ballots.

Campaign finance

There are currently no declared candidates in this race. Know of one we missed? Click here to let us know.

Election history

2024

See also: Municipal elections in Washington, D.C. (2024)

General election

General election for U.S. Shadow Senator District of Columbia

Ankit Jain defeated Nelson Rimensnyder in the general election for U.S. Shadow Senator District of Columbia on November 5, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Ankit Jain (D)	89.9	265,360
		Nelson Rimensnyder (R)	9.1	26,968
		Other/Write-in votes	0.9	2,705

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 295,033
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for U.S. Shadow Senator District of Columbia

Ankit Jain defeated Eugene D. Kinlow in the Democratic primary for U.S. Shadow Senator District of Columbia on June 4, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Ankit Jain	53.1	41,664
		Eugene D. Kinlow	44.7	35,108
		Other/Write-in votes	2.2	1,694

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 78,466
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Andrew C. Haynesworth (D)
• Wendy Hamilton (D)
• Franklin Garcia (D)

Republican primary election

No Republican candidates ran in the primary.

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Quinn K. Nii (R)

2020

See also: Municipal elections in Washington, D.C. (2020)

General election

General election for U.S. Shadow Senator District of Columbia

Incumbent Paul Strauss defeated Eleanor Ory and Cornelia Weiss in the general election for U.S. Shadow Senator District of Columbia on November 3, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Paul Strauss (D)	81.2	251,991
		Eleanor Ory (G)	10.0	31,151
	Submit photo	Cornelia Weiss (R)	7.8	24,168
		Other/Write-in votes	1.0	3,154

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 310,464
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for U.S. Shadow Senator District of Columbia

Incumbent Paul Strauss advanced from the Democratic primary for U.S. Shadow Senator District of Columbia on June 2, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Paul Strauss	96.8	86,014
		Other/Write-in votes	3.2	2,860

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 88,874
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Green primary election

Green primary for U.S. Shadow Senator District of Columbia

Eleanor Ory advanced from the Green primary for U.S. Shadow Senator District of Columbia on June 2, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Eleanor Ory	90.8	423
		Other/Write-in votes	9.2	43

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 466
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

See also

District of Columbia	2026 primaries	2026 U.S. Congress elections
District of Columbia congressional delegation Voting in District of Columbia District of Columbia elections: 2026 • 2025 • 2024 • 2023 • 2022 • 2021 • 2020 • 2019 • 2018	Democratic primary battlegrounds Republican primary battlegrounds U.S. Senate Democratic primaries U.S. Senate Republican primaries U.S. House Democratic primaries U.S. House Republican primaries	U.S. Congress elections U.S. Senate elections U.S. House elections Special elections Ballot access

External links

• Search Google News for this topic

Footnotes

[show]

Washington, DC's current delegation to the United States Congress

Senators

Ankit Jain (D)

Paul Strauss (D)

Representatives

Eleanor Norton (D)

Oye Owolewa (D)

Democratic Party (4)

Ballotpedia

About

Overview • What people are saying • Support Ballotpedia • Contact • Contribute • Job opportunities

---

Executive: Leslie Graves, Founder and CEO • Gwen Beattie, Chief Operating Officer

Communications: Alison Graves, Director of Communications • Carley Allensworth • Abigail Campbell • Frank Festa • Sarah Groat • Nathaniel Harwood • Dillon Redmond
External Relations: Geoff Pallay, Director of External Relations • Ken Carbullido, Vice President of Election Product and Technology Strategy • Ashley Fleming • Thomas Mardik • Hannah Nelson
Operations: Meghann Olshefski, Director of Operations • Amanda Herbert • Mandy Morris • Caroline Presnell • Kelly Rindfleisch
Tech: Matt Latourelle, Director of Technology Operations • Ryan Burch • Kirsten Corrao • Beth Dellea • Travis Eden • Tate Kamish • Margaret Kearney • Eric Lotto • Joseph Sanchez • Mary Susmitha

Contributors: Scott Rasmussen

---

Editorial Content

Josh Altic, Director of Content • Daniel Anderson, Associate Director of Elections & Data • Cory Eucalitto, Associate Director of Features • Ryan Byrne, Managing Editor of Ballot Measures • Mandy McConnell, Managing Editor of News • Doug Kronaizl, Managing Editor of Local Expansion • Abbey Smith, Managing Editor of Elections • Janie Valentine, Managing Editor of Law • Joel Williams. Managing Editor of Events • Andrew Bahl • Jaclyn Beran • Marielle Bricker • Joseph Brusgard • Emma Burlingame • Kelly Coyle • Jon Dunn • Thomas Ellis • Nicole Fisher • Joseph Greaney • Thomas Grobben • Brianna Hosea • Molly Kehoe • Tyler King • Glorie Martinez • Norm Leahy, Senior Editor • Nathan Maxwell • Jimmy McAllister • Brandon McCauley • Ellie Mikus • Ellen Morrissey • Mackenzie Murphy • Kaley Platek • Samantha Post • Adam Powell • Annelise Reinwald • Ethan Rice • Spencer Richardson • Victoria Rose • Briana Ryan • Myj Saintyl • Maddy Salucka • Emma Soukup • Alexis Thacker • Mina Vogel • Samuel Wonacott • Trenton Woodcox