CO · Senate 2026 · Updated Oct 28, 2026, 2:01 a.m. ET
Colorado
Rated Solid D
John Hickenlooper wins this seat in 98 in 100 simulations. Call it all but certain.
John HickenlooperDIncumbent98 in 100
Mark BaisleyR2 in 100
Over time
How the forecast has moved
The margin
How close it lands
Each simulation produces a final margin. The curve shows where those margins fall; the tinted areas on either side of even are the futures each party wins.
Under the hood
What's driving the number
The forecast blends a weighted poll average with a fundamentals model: the state's partisan lean, incumbency, the national environment, and fundraising. Positive points favor the Democratic side of the margin; negative favor the Republican side.
- Partisan leanD +11.6
- IncumbencyD +2.5
- National environmentD +4.7
- FundraisingD +1.5
- Fundamentals sayD +20.3
- Blended forecast marginD +20.3
With no usable polling, the forecast rests entirely on the fundamentals.
The field
How other forecasters see this race
Ours isn't the only model on this race. Where another forecaster publishes a number — or we've copied one in by hand from a paywalled model — it appears here beside ours, dated, because models update on their own schedules. Forecasts disagree for knowable reasons: different poll filters, different weights on the fundamentals, different priors.
- John Hickenlooper winsThis forecast98 in 100
- John Hickenlooper winsRametta & Hare · as of Oct 2799 in 100
No model is "right" before the votes are counted. How our number is made — and how it scored against 2012–2024 races — is on the methodology page.
The markets
What the betting markets say
Prediction markets put a price on this seat too: what people are paying for a contract that pays out if John Hickenlooper wins, read as an implied probability. Shown for comparison only. This is not betting advice, and market prices never feed the model.
- John Hickenlooper winsThis forecast98 in 100
- John Hickenlooper winsKalshi98 in 100
- John Hickenlooper winsPolymarket99 in 100
Market prices as of Oct 28, 2026, 2:00 a.m. ET
The evidence
The polls, as the model sees them
Nobody has polled this race yet, so the forecast leans on the fundamentals above. Polls will show up here as they arrive.
How the weights, the blend, and the simulation work is spelled out on the methodology page.