Scrutinel— 2026 midterms

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

New Jersey 4th District

Currently held by a Republican · incumbent running

Democrat
Rachel Peace
0.2%
Republican
Chris Smith
99.8%
ForecastSafe R
Projected margin
R+30.4
80% range
R+42.0 to R+18.9
Partisan lean
R+28.6
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
R+30.2
Blended
R+30.2
Similar-race shift
+1.1
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
R+28.6
Elasticity
1.10
Incumbency
−3.4
Candidate experience
0.0
Fundraising
−3.6
National environment
D+7.1
Expected margin
R+31.3
How it voted for presidenttwo-party
2024 margin
R+31.0
2020 margin
R+22.8
Shift 2020 → 2024
R+8.2
Votes cast, 2024
403,670

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
589,130
Median age
53.3
Median household income
$93,300
Bachelor’s degree or higher
39%
White
82%
Black
4%
Hispanic
9%
Asian
3%

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
Christopher H SmithREP$592k$488k
Rachel PeaceDEM$34k$5k

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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