Scrutinel— 2026 midterms

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

California 42nd District

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

Democrat
Robert Garcia
99.6%
Republican
Brian Burley
0.4%
ForecastSafe D
Projected margin
D+26.7
80% range
D+15.2 to D+38.2
Partisan lean
D+15.6
Tipping-point chance
0.05%
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+26.9
Blended
D+26.9
Similar-race shift
−2.0
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+15.6
Elasticity
1.05
Incumbency
+1.9
Candidate experience
0.0
Fundraising
+3.5
National environment
D+7.1
Expected margin
D+28.9
How it voted for presidenttwo-party
2024 margin
D+13.6
2020 margin
D+20.2
Shift 2020 → 2024
R+6.6
Votes cast, 2024
349,656

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
620,533
Median age
47.1
Median household income
$97,700
Bachelor’s degree or higher
44%
White
49%
Black
7%
Hispanic
28%
Asian
14%

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
Robert GarciaDEM$2.6M$1.4M
Noah BlomREP$163k$0

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.

← Back to the full forecast