Monday, November 2, 2026
U.S. midterms in 1 day

California’s 49th District

U.S. House · CA-49

Election day November 3, 2026 · forecast of November 2, 2026

Our forecast gives the Democrats a 99% chance of winning, with an average lead of 21.6 points.

Safe seat. Chance of a final gap under 5 points: 2%.

Projected vote share

Projection by party

  • Democrat 60.8%

    Mike Levin, incumbent

  • Republican 39.3%

    Armen Kurdian

Thin vertical mark: 2024 result.

What Orbit says

Orbit, our experimental model, picks the same favourite as our main forecast: the Democrat, with a 96% chance (> 99% according to Harfang des neiges).

ModelFavouriteChance
Harfang des neigesDemocrat> 99%
OrbitDemocrat96%
50/50 blendDemocrat98%

Figures as of November 2, 2026. The blend averages the two chances; in replays of the 2018 and 2022 Quebec elections, it beat our main forecast on its own.

Every race according to Orbit

Compared with the average

Democrat Republican
CA-49 60.8%39.3%
National averageUnited States 54.9%+5.9 43.9%−4.6

Simple average of the 435 districts, not weighted by population.

Projection track

How the projection has moved

Current member

Mike Levin · Democrat

Primary results

Held June 2, 2026 · Certified official result · Official source

Top-two primary Mike Levin · Advanced to the general election 55.9% 125,869 votes
Top-two primary Armen Kurdian · Advanced to the general election 26.1% 58,822 votes

Who's running

The candidates

Candidates for the upcoming election.

  • Democrat Incumbent

    Mike Levin

    source
  • Republican Challenger

    Armen Kurdian

    source

Previous election (2024)

The Democrats won by 8.9 points.

Our current projection: the Democrats ahead by 21.6 points.

Where these voters came from

This district was redrawn in the 2025-2026 redistricting. Share of its voters from each former district:

  • Former district 49 78%
  • Former district 50 14%
  • Former district 48 7%

Nearby districts

Party ahead and how sure the projection is.

  • CA-50 Democrat, safe seat
  • CA-40 Republican, toss-up
  • CA-47 Democrat, safe seat
  • CA-39 Democrat, safe seat
  • CA-51 Democrat, safe seat
  • CA-48 Democrat, competitive

Watch list

The tightest races

The smallest projected gaps between the top two.

  1. AZ-2Democrat55%5.7-point gap
  2. VA-1Republican55%5.7-point gap
  3. MI-4Republican56%5.8-point gap
Forecast updated