Scrutinel— 2026 midterms

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

Tennessee 2nd District

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

Democrat
Michaela Barnett
0.3%
Republican
Tim Burchett
99.7%
ForecastSafe R
Projected margin
R+27.7
80% range
R+39.2 to R+16.3
Partisan lean
R+32.9
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+27.5
Blended
R+27.5
Similar-race shift
+2.6
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+32.9
Elasticity
0.99
Incumbency
−1.9
Candidate experience
0.0
Fundraising
−2.9
National environment
D+7.1
Expected margin
R+30.1
How it voted for presidenttwo-party
2024 margin
R+34.3
2020 margin
R+29.8
Shift 2020 → 2024
R+4.5
Votes cast, 2024
366,777

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
609,512
Median age
49.6
Median household income
$66,500
Bachelor’s degree or higher
33%
White
84%
Black
6%
Hispanic
4%
Asian
2%

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
Tim BurchettREP$2.4M$967k
Michaela BarnettDEM$398k$56k

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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