Less than 24 hours after polls closed in the 2026 midterm election, the longest-serving Democrat in Pennsylvania’s congressional delegation announced he won’t be running for U.S. Senate next cycle.
Following his victory for another term representing Pennsylvania’s 2nd U.S. House District, Congressman Brendan Boyle announced on Wednesday afternoon that he won’t be seeking his party’s nomination for U.S. Senate in 2028.
“For months, many of my supporters have urged me to consider running for US Senate in 2028,” Boyle wrote on social media. “I have always said that after the November 2026 election, I would make a decision based on one simple question: where can I have the biggest impact on public policy?”
“After months of consulting many people, including current senators and past committee chairs, it is quite clear that I can have a much bigger impact as House Budget Committee Chairman than as a freshman member of the Senate,” Boyle continued. “Therefore, I will not be running for the Senate.”
As Democrats have soured on fellow U.S. Sen. John Fetterman’s job performance since the beginning of Trump’s second term, several elected officials have expressed interest in potentially running for the seat in 2028. Boyle was one of those who were weighing a run for the statewide office.
Because of Democrats winning races up and down the ballot on Tuesday, flipping the U.S. House and Senate in the process, Boyle is slated to serve as the Chairman of the House Budget Committee next session.
Boyle, a Philadelphia Democrat first elected to Congress in 2014, said he looked forward to using his position as chairman of that committee to “finally get this nation’s fiscal health back on track, and bring more resources back home to our community.”
“Few Americans have ever had the opportunity to serve as a congressional chairman, and especially over such an important committee,” Boyle said. “It is a high honor, and I won’t ever forget who I am there to serve: the hardworking people of my district and our country.”
This is not the first time that Boyle had publicly weighed a run for statewide office, but ultimately decided to pass on it.
In 2021, while Democrats were lining up for the 2022 U.S. Senate race, Boyle announced he would instead stay in the U.S. House.
It is unclear if Fetterman will seek reelection in 2028, although it appears several Democrats could mount a bid for the office.
U.S. Reps. Chris Deluzio, Summer Lee, and former U.S. Reps. Conor Lamb and Susan Wild, as well as state Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta, have been mentioned as potential candidates for the seat.