House Effects
Monday, September 21, 202643 days until Election Day, November 3, 2026
2026 projections

The governors

Thirty-six states elect governors this year. Democrats now hold 24 governorships and Republicans 26; 6 Democratic and 8 Republican governors are not on the ballot. Voters split their tickets for governor far more than for Congress, so state partisanship explains much less here, and races without polls carry honest, wide intervals.

Democratic governors, expected
26.3
24 now; nine in ten simulations: 21 to 32.
Republican governors, expected
23.7
26 now.
16212426313624 now12%
share of simulationsDemocratic governors after the election, 40,000 simulations
Safe D 10Likely D 6Lean D 3Toss-up 2Lean R 4Likely R 8Safe R 3
The assumption that matters most: which way the polls miss
If…Democratic governors
No direction assumed (still carries the usual uncertainty)26.3
Polls overstate Democrats as they did, on average, in 2016–24 (4.1 points)22.8
Polls understate Democrats by the same amount (4.1 points)29.7

“No direction assumed” does not mean the polls are assumed to be exactly right: every row above, including that one, already carries the historical size of past misses as uncertainty (see Uncertainty) — the win probabilities and seat ranges everywhere on this page are built from that spread. It means only that the model does not bet on which direction the next miss runs, unlike the two rows below it. From 2016 through 2024 the projections this method would have made ran too Democratic on average; before that they ran about even, and in the 2025 governor's races the polls missed the other way. These rows show what a repeat of that pattern, or its mirror image, would mean on top of the uncertainty already built in.

Race by race

All 36 races

Fundraising is not an input for governors: state campaign-finance data is not in the FEC files the federal races use.

Race
D+30EvenR+30
Proj.
projected margin (polls + fundamentals) polls alone half of simulated outcomes nine in ten outcomes
Table view

Every race, sortable

36 races
CandidatesRatingCook
HawaiiGreen v. CorderySAFE DD+29.396% DD+29.3D+25Safe D
Rhode IslandFoulkes v. GuckianSAFE DD+24.6>99% DD+24.64D+10.9D+15Safe D
MarylandMoore v. CoxSAFE DD+23.4>99% DD+23.41D+34.3D+30Safe D
MassachusettsHealey v. MinogueSAFE DD+22.8>99% DD+22.88D+30.2D+27Safe D
PennsylvaniaShapiro v. GarritySAFE DD+21.5>99% DD+21.518D+21.9EvenSafe D
CaliforniaBecerra v. HiltonSAFE DD+21.3>99% DD+21.36D+14.7D+22Safe D
IllinoisPritzker v. BaileySAFE DD+20.3>99% DD+20.31D+20.2D+12Safe D
ConnecticutLamont v. FazioSAFE DD+17.0>99% DD+17.06D+19.5D+16Safe D
MainePingree v. CharlesSAFE DD+12.297% DD+12.26D+6.8D+8Safe D
New YorkHochul v. BlakemanSAFE DD+10.696% DD+10.621D+14.5D+14Safe D
AlaskaKreiss-Tomkins v. WilsonLIKELY DD+9.890% DD+9.81R+5.1R+12Lean R
ColoradoWeiser v. MarxLEAN DD+9.273% DD+9.2D+12Safe D
New MexicoHaaland v. HullLIKELY DD+8.290% DD+8.23D+6.3D+7Safe D
MinnesotaKlobuchar v. DemuthLIKELY DD+8.191% DD+8.17D+5.2D+6Safe D
ArizonaHobbs v. BiggsLIKELY DD+7.892% DD+7.817D+11.8R+4Lean D
MichiganBenson v. JamesLIKELY DD+7.791% DD+7.726D+1.8EvenLean D
IowaSand v. LahnLIKELY DD+5.785% DD+5.715R+5.2R+12Lean D
WisconsinCrowley v. TiffanyLEAN DD+3.774% DD+3.76D+2.2D+1Tossup
GeorgiaBottoms v. JacksonLEAN DD+1.763% DD+1.79D+1.4R+1Tossup
OhioActon v. RamaswamyTOSS-UPD+0.755% DD+0.717R+4.0R+10Tossup
OregonKotek v. DrazanTOSS-UPR+0.553% RR+0.54D+17.3D+16Lean D
FloridaJolly v. DonaldsLEAN RR+1.762% RR+1.722R+5.1R+12Likely R
NevadaFord v. LombardoLEAN RR+3.071% RR+3.013R+5.5R+2Tossup
TexasHinojosa v. AbbottLEAN RR+4.178% RR+4.132R+13.4R+12Likely R
ArkansasLove v. SandersLEAN RR+5.577% RR+5.51R+22.4R+29Safe R
KansasHolscher v. MastersonLIKELY RR+6.084% RR+6.03R+6.9R+15Lean R
AlabamaJones v. TubervilleLIKELY RR+8.788% RR+8.72R+15.5R+29Safe R
NebraskaWalz v. PillenLIKELY RR+10.495% RR+10.46R+17.9R+19Safe R
South CarolinaJohnson v. WilsonLIKELY RR+10.694% RR+10.62R+8.0R+16Safe R
VermontJanoo v. ScottLIKELY RR+11.993% RR+11.92R+31.1D+33Safe R
New HampshireWarmington v. AyotteSAFE RR+13.498% RR+13.47R+9.2D+4Likely R
IdahoPickens v. LittleSAFE RR+15.598% RR+15.52R+31.6R+35Safe R
TennesseeGreen v. BlackburnSAFE RR+16.499% RR+16.43R+15.0R+28Safe R
OklahomaMunson v. MazzeiLIKELY RR+17.788% RR+17.7R+33Safe R
South DakotaAhlers v. RhodenLIKELY RR+22.993% RR+22.9R+28Safe R
WyomingCasner v. BarlowLIKELY RR+24.694% RR+24.6R+44Safe R

Bold surname = incumbent running. Settled = only one major party is on the November ballot. Lean = presidential vote relative to the nation. Cook = Cook Political Report rating as listed on Wikipedia, shown for comparison only; it is not an input.