A Cook Political Report snapshot put 350 of 435 U.S. House contests in solid partisan categories, showing how many races are rated as favoring one party before the general election on Tuesday, Nov. 3.
Cook’s dedicated 2026 House ratings page listed 186 contests as Solid Democrat and 164 as Solid Republican when checked Nov. 1. The combined 80.5% is a competitiveness forecast, not an election result; Cook says its assessments weigh district politics, candidates and conditions at the state and national levels.
A separate Cook ratings summary, marked updated Oct. 16, showed 185 Solid Democrat and 171 Solid Republican races. The page counts differ, and the two pages do not identify a shared as-of date.
NPR profiled former Wyoming state Sen. Lisa Kinney, a Democrat running for the state’s at-large House seat. The outlet reported that she campaigned in Casper on Oct. 19 without a campaign office and with a handful of helpers across the state. Public lands and health care costs were among her campaign topics, and Kinney told NPR, "I can win."
In Connecticut’s 2nd Congressional District, Republican congressional candidate George Austin is challenging a Democratic incumbent. NPR reported that Austin handles campaign scheduling and volunteer coordination. Federal Election Commission records show $240,000 in candidate loans to his campaign committee for the period from July 1, 2025, to June 30, 2026. Austin told NPR, "I want to win."
The candidates also described aims beyond their own election results. NPR reported that Kinney’s husband said her campaign could strengthen the state party even if she lost; Austin said he hoped his run would encourage other working people to seek office. Those are stated goals, not measured outcomes.
Dr. Eric Ostermeier, whom NPR interviewed, pointed to district lines and the concentration of like-minded voters in explaining why some seats are safe. He said candidates can also struggle to overcome voters’ association of them with their party nationally. In a Smart Politics analysis, Ostermeier counted 19 states whose House and Senate delegations were represented solely by the same party at the start of the 119th Congress, the highest number since the 83rd Congress began in 1953.
The Wyoming Secretary of State lists the general election for Tuesday, Nov. 3.
