Scrutinel— 2026 midterms

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

Tennessee 1st District

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

Democrat
Kristi Burke
<0.1%
Republican
Diana Harshbarger
>99.9%
ForecastSafe R
Projected margin
R+49.3
80% range
R+60.9 to R+37.8
Partisan lean
R+57.3
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
R+49.1
Blended
R+49.1
Similar-race shift
+2.7
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+57.3
Elasticity
0.95
Incumbency
−1.9
Candidate experience
0.0
Fundraising
−2.7
National environment
D+7.1
Expected margin
R+51.8
How it voted for presidenttwo-party
2024 margin
R+58.4
2020 margin
R+55.2
Shift 2020 → 2024
R+3.3
Votes cast, 2024
348,338

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
616,550
Median age
52.3
Median household income
$53,900
Bachelor’s degree or higher
23%
White
90%
Black
3%
Hispanic
4%
Asian
1%

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
Diana HarshbargerREP$1.3M$2.0M
Kristi BurkeDEM$102k$14k

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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