Just months after defeating a Republican incumbent by the narrowest of margins, Rep. Josh Riley is already on the frontline of the looming battle for control of Congress.

The National Republican Congressional Committee on Monday named Riley and two Long Island Democrats on a 26-member target list ahead of the 2026 midterm elections. The districts listed represent Republicans’ best chance to unseat Democrats in competitive districts and grow their historically thin majority.

His response: “Bring it on.”

Going into 2026, 13 Democrats represent districts that President Donald Trump won in 2024, while three Republicans represent districts won by former Vice President Kamala Harris, according to Sabato’s Crystal Ball, a nonpartisan political analysis newsletter.

“House Republicans are in the majority and on offense,” Rep. Richard Hudson, a North Carolina Republican who chairs the NRCC, said in the Monday release. “Meanwhile, vulnerable House Democrats have been hard at work demonstrating they are painfully out of touch with hardworking Americans.”

The move follows the committee’s counterpart, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, adding Riley to a list of 26 “frontline” members earlier this month.

“With the cost of living still top of mind for voters, and House Republicans actively pushing disastrous policies that further increase costs, it’s clear that House Democrats are poised to retake the majority in 2026,” said Rep. Susan DelBene, a Democrat from Washington state who chairs the committee, in a press release accompanying the announcement.

“A critical foundation to our majority is the successful defense of our strong Frontliners, each of whom has a proven track record of delivering results and standing up against Republican extremism and dysfunction,” she added.

Riley’s victory in November capped off a path to Congress beginning with his defeat in 2022 to Marc Molinaro, a former Dutchess County executive and Republican nominee for governor.

He won a 2024 rematch by just over 2 percentage points, powered by a strong showing in Tompkins, Columbia and Ulster counties that offset Molinaro’s decisive victories in central New York. The race, which turned heated and highly personal, saw nearly $45 million in spending and was one of the most competitive nationwide.

The NRCC’s target list includes Democratic victors in the closest congressional contests of the last election cycle. They include Adam Gray of California, who won by just under 200 votes when the race was finally called in December; Nellie Pou of New Jersey, who narrowly survived a Democratic collapse in her northern New Jersey district; and Jared Golden of Maine, who represents a district that Trump won by nearly 10 percentage points.

Also on the NRCC’s target list is alumnus Eugene Vindman ‘97, who won a district in northern Virginia by 2.6 percentage points.

When he was ceremonially sworn into office in Endicott last month, Riley said he was committed to bipartisanship but would oppose any federal action that hurt upstate New Yorkers.

“I didn’t go there and push Democratic priorities, and I didn’t go to Congress to push Republican priorities,” Riley said at the Endicott ceremony. “I went to Congress to push upstate New York’s priorities.”

The NRCC attacked him for his vote against a recent resolution to prevent a government shutdown that divided Democrats and for his stance on taxes and border security.

“Out-of-touch Democrat Josh Riley continues to put the radical far-left agenda ahead of New Yorker,” said a spokesperson, Maureen O’Toole. “House Republicans are on offense and will hold Riley accountable; he will lose his seat next year.”