Scrutinel— 2026 midterms

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

Texas 17th District

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

Democrat
Democratic candidate (TX-17)
2%
Republican
Pete Sessions
98%
ForecastSafe R
Projected margin
R+18.4
80% range
R+29.9 to R+6.9
Partisan lean
R+20.0
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+18.2
Blended
R+18.2
Similar-race shift
+1.5
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+20.0
Elasticity
1.04
Incumbency
−1.9
Candidate experience
0.0
Fundraising
−4.0
National environment
D+7.1
Expected margin
R+19.7
How it voted for presidenttwo-party
2024 margin
R+21.9
2020 margin
R+15.5
Shift 2020 → 2024
R+6.4
Votes cast, 2024
320,775

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
577,865
Median age
46.4
Median household income
$73,100
Bachelor’s degree or higher
32%
White
59%
Black
11%
Hispanic
22%
Asian
6%

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
Pete SessionsREP$1.1M$934k
James Gordon MitchellDEM$19k$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.

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