A Sports Network Inc. brand INTEGRITY  /  VISION  /  INNOVATION

OUR APPROACH

Show the evidence.
Respect the uncertainty.

A useful analysis makes its sources, assumptions, and limits visible. Here is what this edition does—and does not—claim.

01

Source it.

Keep the origin and date attached to the number. Distinguish a provider's forecast from an original Bellelytics analysis.

02

Contextualize it.

Explain what is measured, what is missing, and why related measures may differ.

03

Question it.

Make room for error, shared uncertainty, and outcomes that differ from the base case.

2026 EDITION / READING GUIDE

Know what
you are looking at.

The underlying source is the Election Outcomes Lab source workbook and seven-page report. This website presents that material; it does not independently certify its external sources.

Dates, coverage & reconstruction

Evidence cutoff: November 3, 2026, 8:00 a.m. EST. Numerical forecast benchmark: November 2 historical entries. Nominee snapshot: October 8. The research covers 435 voting House districts, 35 Senate elections, and 65 Senate holdovers in control arithmetic.

The source says historical series were retrieved later. Publisher revisions cannot be ruled out. No election returns or November 3 forecast entries were used as cutoff inputs in the source research.

Who produced the probabilities?

The national probabilities and projected margins are attributed to Decision Desk HQ (DDHQ) in the source report. They are not a newly trained Election Outcomes Lab or Bellelytics national model. The earlier Pennsylvania exploratory analysis is separate.

External source pages may now show newer information. Links are a source register, not proof that the displayed snapshot has been independently reproduced here.

Report bands versus Cook ratings

The workbook uses these report conventions: Toss-up when the leading group is below 60%; Lean from 60% to below 75%; Likely from 75% to below 95%; Strong at 95% or above.

These are not Cook Political Report categories, guarantees, or measures of predictive accuracy. Cook ratings cited by the report are a separate qualitative cross-check.

Nominees, independents & unpriced groups

The October 8 roster retains every nominee entry in the source workbook, including minor-party candidates and additional same-party nominees. Later withdrawals were not exhaustively audited.

Provider probabilities apply to selected modeled party groups. An unpriced Democratic or minor-party contender is not assigned a real-world zero chance. New independent wins are not assumed to join the Democratic caucus. Ranked-choice and same-party races retain their source caveats.

Seat counts, margins & upset watches

Published chamber-control probabilities are preserved, not recalculated by multiplying race odds. Expected seats are sums of marginal probabilities and may differ from separately published projected-seat figures.

Margins retain their source percentage-point meaning. No confidence intervals are invented. The upset screen uses a favorite at 65% to 80% and a modeled runner-up at 20% or above; it does not claim an independent forecasting edge.

What the validation does not establish

The build checks coverage, unique race identifiers, source dates, nominee counts, and reconciliation of modeled probabilities. This verifies the site's handling of the supplied data, not the accuracy of the underlying forecasts, poll claims, nominee lists, or historical calibration.

Provisional prototype weights in the source are not treated as a fitted nationwide model. No new economic, demographic, or digital-sentiment effect has been calculated for this website.

Publication rights & public availability

The workbook describes the compilation as private research and states that it does not license commercial redistribution of provider databases. The public launch therefore excludes the complete race-level forecast dataset and original source files.

The public site contains selected attributed findings and the nominee directory. Full files are supplied separately for local internal review. Any broader publication should be checked against the applicable provider permissions. Account-specific prior-session links are omitted from this public source register.

FOLLOW THE SOURCES

A visible evidence trail.

References below are reproduced from the source workbook. Publication dates are the dates recorded there, not independent verification timestamps.

BALLOT

Office of the Clerk official 120th Congress nominees — 470-race universe and 1,282 full ballot candidate entries; nominees, not results. Official snapshot predates cutoff; later withdrawals were not exhaustively audited.

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DDHQ-H

DDHQ House forecast historical series — 435 Nov 2 race records and chamber control; historical series recovered later. Nov 3 records excluded.

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DDHQ-S

DDHQ Senate forecast historical series — 35 Nov 2 race records and chamber control; independent/other groups retained.

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COOK-S

Cook Senate ratings — Independent qualitative cross-check: 48 Democratic-caucus seats including favored races, 46 Republican, six toss-ups; not numerical probabilities.

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COOK-H

Cook House ratings — Independent qualitative cross-check: 222 D-favored, 195 R-favored, 18 toss-ups.

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SIENA-7

Siena final seven-state Senate poll release — Original AK/IA/KS/ME/MI/OH/TX toplines. One poll per state; not a forecast or a complete polling average.

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SIENA-FMS

Siena Florida, Minnesota and South Carolina — Original Senate toplines: Moody50 Nixon44; Flanagan54 Tafoya40; Graham48 Andrews48.

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SIENA-NE

Siena Nebraska Senate poll — Ricketts49 Osborn43. Osborn is independent/by-petition, not a Democratic nominee.

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MARIST-ME

Marist Maine likely-voter survey — Jackson49 Collins47 among likely voters; share MOE6.6. Registered-voter result is a different electorate and is not pooled as an independent poll.

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MARIST-N

NPR/PBS/Marist national midterms survey — Generic congressional ballot D52 R44 among likely voters; not an eight-point bonus for every district.

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CPI

BLS September CPI release — Prices +3.7% year over year, +0.6% month over month; gasoline +9.1% month over month. Economic context, not a fitted electoral effect.

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BEA

BEA September personal income release — Nominal income +0.2%, nominal consumption +0.5%; do not label nominal gains real growth.

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SENATE

U.S. Senate Class II roster — 33 regular Class II elections plus two specials. 34 Democratic-caucus and 31 Republican holdovers reconcile to 65.

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