Source it.
Keep the origin and date attached to the number. Distinguish a provider's forecast from an original Bellelytics analysis.
OUR APPROACH
A useful analysis makes its sources, assumptions, and limits visible. Here is what this edition does—and does not—claim.
Keep the origin and date attached to the number. Distinguish a provider's forecast from an original Bellelytics analysis.
Explain what is measured, what is missing, and why related measures may differ.
Make room for error, shared uncertainty, and outcomes that differ from the base case.
2026 EDITION / READING GUIDE
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
References below are reproduced from the source workbook. Publication dates are the dates recorded there, not independent verification timestamps.
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.
Visit original sourceDDHQ House forecast historical series — 435 Nov 2 race records and chamber control; historical series recovered later. Nov 3 records excluded.
Visit original sourceDDHQ Senate forecast historical series — 35 Nov 2 race records and chamber control; independent/other groups retained.
Visit original sourceCook Senate ratings — Independent qualitative cross-check: 48 Democratic-caucus seats including favored races, 46 Republican, six toss-ups; not numerical probabilities.
Visit original sourceCook House ratings — Independent qualitative cross-check: 222 D-favored, 195 R-favored, 18 toss-ups.
Visit original sourceSiena 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.
Visit original sourceSiena Florida, Minnesota and South Carolina — Original Senate toplines: Moody50 Nixon44; Flanagan54 Tafoya40; Graham48 Andrews48.
Visit original sourceSiena Nebraska Senate poll — Ricketts49 Osborn43. Osborn is independent/by-petition, not a Democratic nominee.
Visit original sourceMarist 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.
Visit original sourceNPR/PBS/Marist national midterms survey — Generic congressional ballot D52 R44 among likely voters; not an eight-point bonus for every district.
Visit original sourceBLS 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.
Visit original sourceBEA September personal income release — Nominal income +0.2%, nominal consumption +0.5%; do not label nominal gains real growth.
Visit original sourceU.S. Senate Class II roster — 33 regular Class II elections plus two specials. 34 Democratic-caucus and 31 Republican holdovers reconcile to 65.
Visit original source