Scrutinel— 2026 midterms

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

Tennessee 5th District

Currently held by a Republican · open seat · district redrawn for 2026

Democrat
Chaz Molder
11%
Republican
Charlie Hatcher
90%
ForecastLikely R
Projected margin
R+12.3
80% range
R+24.8 to D+0.3
Partisan lean
R+20.4
Tipping-point chance
0.19%
Uncertainty multiplier
2.01×

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+12.1
Blended
R+12.1
Similar-race shift
+1.8
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+20.4
Elasticity
1.15
Incumbency
0.0
Candidate experience
0.0
Fundraising
+2.5
National environment
D+7.1
Expected margin
R+13.8
How it voted for presidenttwo-party
2024 margin
R+23.4
2020 margin
R+12.8
Shift 2020 → 2024
R+10.6
Votes cast, 2024
314,025

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
586,652
Median age
48.1
Median household income
$56,900
Bachelor’s degree or higher
27%
White
64%
Black
28%
Hispanic
5%
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
Chaz MolderDEM$2.6M$1.5M
Charlie HatcherREP$720k$105k

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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