Major transportation players in Congress are facing tough reelection battles, including a former chairman, current subcommittee leaders and other influential lawmakers in the transit world.
The shakeup could come at a time when transportation and infrastructure are almost sure to be on the agenda early next year as both presidential candidates have vowed to make infrastructure investments a priority in their first 100 days.
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Here are five vulnerable members who are fighting to make sure they’re around to oversee it.
Rep. John Mica (R-Fla.)
Mica, an outspoken conservative, has emerged as a top target for Democrats.
The veteran lawmaker is the former chairman of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee and currently leads the Oversight panel’s subcommittee on transportation.
Mica has played a critical role in transportation oversight since coming to Congress in 1993.
He helped create the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and has since maintained aggressive oversight of the agency, along with Amtrak and Washington’s Metro system.
But his once heavily Republican Orlando-area district has become more favorable to Democrats since court-ordered redistricting.
Mica is facing 38-year-old Stephanie Murphy, a former national security specialist at the Defense Department whose family fled from communist Vietnam when she was a baby.
Murphy is leading Democratic internal polls by a few points, bolstered by millions of dollars of spending by Democratic groups.
Meanwhile, a survey conducted by Mica’s campaign indicates that nearly 50 percent of likely voters support Mica, while 41 percent support Murphy, after being asked negative questions about each candidate.
“I have taken eight weeks of battering that very few politicians could withstand,” Mica said last week. “We’ve just begun to fight. And we’re now launching our campaign. … We took some broadsides, but now we’re in the game. Now we’re firing back.”
Rep. John Katko (R-N.Y.)
Katko, chairman of the Homeland Security Subcommittee on Transportation Security, is facing a competitive race against Democratic opponent Colleen Deacon.
The New York lawmaker has been a vocal critic of President Obama’s push to resume air travel with Cuba and has crafted a slate of TSA and other transportation security bills.
Katko has had more measures passed by the House in his first term than any other freshman in decades, according to a recent Quorum analysis.
In the lawmaker’s district, Obama defeated GOP nominee Mitt Romney by 16 points in 2012.
But the Rothenberg and Gonzales political report says Katko’s polling numbers have remained strong, even after the publication of a 2005 tape in which GOP presidential nominee Donald TrumpDonald John TrumpSenate advances public lands bill in late-night vote Warren, Democrats urge Trump to back down from veto threat over changing Confederate-named bases Esper orders ‘After Action Review’ of National Guard’s role in protests MORE speaks lewdly about women, and have moved the race back in Republican’s favor.
Sen. Kelly AyotteKelly Ann AyotteBottom line Bottom line Bottom Line MORE (R-N.H.)
Ayotte is one of the most vulnerable incumbents in the Senate, where control of the majority is at stake.
The lawmaker, who chairs the Transportation panel’s subcommittee on aviation and was involved in efforts to pass a multi-year highway bill, has been locked in a dead heat against Gov. Maggie Hassan (D).
Both candidates have been walking a political tight rope when it comes to their party’s presidential nominee.
Hassan sidestepped questions about leaked emails from a top aide to Democratic nominee Hillary ClintonHillary Diane Rodham ClintonWhite House accuses Biden of pushing ‘conspiracy theories’ with Trump election claim Biden courts younger voters — who have been a weakness Trayvon Martin’s mother Sybrina Fulton qualifies to run for county commissioner in Florida MORE, while Ayotte was critical of Trump following the 2005 tape’s publication but said she will still support, but not endorse, him.
“His comments are totally inappropriate and offensive,” Ayotte said in a statement.
Rep. Jeff Denham (R-Calif.)
Denham is once again facing Democrat Michael Eggman, but the California lawmaker appears to be far more endangered this time around.
A member of the Transportation and Infrastructure panel, Denham trounced Eggman by 12 points in the last election.
The race has been heating up this year, with Eggman targeting Denham for supporting Trump and both sides investing heavily in the contest. Denham’s California district is 40 percent Hispanic.
“A couple polls showed me ahead. We see it on the ground and feel it on the ground, it’s no surprise that [House Speaker Paul Ryan] is out here trying to prop up floundering incumbent Jeff Denham,” Eggman said, according to a local Fox affiliate.
But recent internal polling from Democratic groups shows the race is a statistical tie, according to NPR.
Rep. Bill Shuster (R-Pa.)
Shuster chairs the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee and has represented his district — one of the reddest in Pennsylvania — since 2001.
The veteran lawmaker helped get a short-term Federal Aviation Administration bill through Congress this summer and plans to continue his push to reform air traffic control next year.
But he is facing an unexpected general election challenge from a Tea Party-backed candidate, Art Halvorson.
Although there is no public polling on the race, both candidates are running as if it’s competitive.
Shuster has already beaten Halvorson, a real estate investor and retired Coast Guard captain, twice in the primaries.
But after losing the primary by a slim margin this year, Halvorson earned enough write-in votes to run on the Democratic ticket in the general election. In a largely unprecedented move, Halvorson opted to run as a Democrat while vowing to serve as a Republican in Congress.
The unusual race has taken an ugly turn in recent weeks, with legal action and love lives being dragged into the fight just weeks before Election Day.
Although it will be a difficult task for Halvorson to unseat the sitting chairman, it’s not impossible. Former Transportation and Infrastructure Chairman Jim Oberstar (D-Minn.) was ousted in the 2010 midterm elections.
Scott Wong and Mike Lillis contributed to this report.