Scrutinel— 2026 midterms

UpdatedOct 10, 2026, 11:27 AM EDT
To election day24 days
Simulations200,000

California 28th District

Currently held by a Democrat · incumbent running · district redrawn for 2026

Democrat
Judy Chu
>99.9%
Republican
April Verlato
<0.1%
ForecastSafe D
Projected margin
D+40.7
80% range
D+29.2 to D+52.2
Partisan lean
D+28.3
Uncertainty multiplier
1.80×

The 80% range comes from 200,000 simulations in which this race’s error is correlated with every other race through the national, state and demographic layers.

How the estimate is built
Fundamentals >99.9%
Polling average
no polls
Fundamentals
D+40.9
Blended
D+40.9
Similar-race shift
−2.4
Polling

No public polling of this matchup. The forecast rests on fundamentals plus the polling residuals of demographically and politically similar races — which is the normal case: most of the 435 House seats are never polled.

Fundamentals
Partisan lean
D+28.3
Elasticity
1.07
Incumbency
+1.9
Candidate experience
0.0
Fundraising
+4.2
National environment
D+7.1
Expected margin
D+43.3
How it voted for presidenttwo-party
2024 margin
D+26.2
2020 margin
D+33.4
Shift 2020 → 2024
R+7.2
Votes cast, 2024
326,776

Presidential results reaggregated onto the 2026 district lines. This is where the seat’s partisan lean comes from, and it carries most of the forecast in a race nobody has polled.

Who lives hereCensus ACS
Population
617,402
Median age
50.2
Median household income
$98,800
Bachelor’s degree or higher
45%
White
28%
Black
5%
Hispanic
26%
Asian
41%

Used to find demographically similar districts, so a race with no polling can borrow the polling error of races that look like it.

Campaign fundraisingFEC filings to Invalid Date
CandidatePartyRaisedCash on hand
Judy ChuDEM$930k$3.7M
April VerlatoREP$250$205

Receipts across the cycle, from FEC bulk filings. The model uses the ratio between the two sides rather than either total, and weights it lightly — money follows a competitive race at least as much as it causes one.

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