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Races · house · 2026 · South Carolina
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PrimariesThis seat also has primary-season views:Republican primary
house · open seat

Mac Deford vs Mark Smith

Likely RR +13.4 forecast · 3 months 27 days to election· 1 polls · 2 marketsLast poll 31d agoMarkets 11h agoRating today
Live model · win probabilityupdated 11h ago · poliagg-v34
14% Deford (D)
86% Smith (R)
R+15R+5TIEDD+5D+15
Predicted final margin R +13.4 · 80% CI R+29.6 → D+2.6 · 3 months 27 days to election
Momentum
insufficient data
Tipping-point P
3.7%
Decisive for chamber control
Market · D-side
D 31¢
Cross-platform consensus
News articles · 30d
78
articles · new
Caution · early warning
Editorial raters moved while polling has gone quiet

The last rating change here was 22d ago, but only 0 polls have landed in the last 60 days. When raters move and pollsters don't, the rating shift may be running ahead of the data. Watch for a late-cycle correction in either direction.

Where this race stands
Verified

Lean R · model 86% R

No recent polls or markets for this race. PVI baseline (R+6) suggests Lean R.

The poliagg-v34 ensemble forecasts R+13.4 with an 80% CI ranging from R+29.6 (10th pctile) to D+2.6 (90th pctile), giving R a 86% chance of winning.

Tipping-point probability: 3.7% of simulations see this race as decisive for chamber control.

Uncertainty score: 100/100 (high). Key drivers: only 0-1 recent polls; wide forecast CI (32.2pp). Treat any single point estimate with extra caution.

CITATIONS · lean-r · low-tipping · uncertainty-high
How confident are we?0 = certain · 100 = max uncertain
Combined
100
High uncertainty
Main driver: only 0-1 recent polls.
Forecast CI width100
32.2pp 80% interval
Inter-model disagreement61
12.2pp across models
Polling sparsity100
0 polls in 60d · target ≥ 8
Forecast · poliagg-v34
Predicted final margin
R +13.4
80% CI: R +29.6D +2.6 · win prob 14%
R+30R+15TIEDD+15D+30
Quality · inputs
Data quality · medium
Polls used1
Days to election118
Residual σ12.56pt
Generated7/7/2026
Compare with other models3 models
qgbt-v1GBT (qgbt)
R +16.2
80% CI R +17.6 → R +13.4
CV MAE 8.51
bayes-v1Bayes / Kalman
R +3.9
80% CI R +8.4 → D +0.6
CV MAE 3.51
consensusMarket-implied
R +4.6
no interval
market-implied

Polling average

32343638404244SMITH 39.5DEFORD 35.5DEC '25DEC '25DEC '25
Weighted, plus each pollster's measured bias subtracted before averaging.

Prediction markets

Consensus · D 31¢1 platformupdated 11h ago
DisagreementMarkets are 5 points less bullish on D than polling. Markets 31% · polls 36%.
Cross-platform price · history
25¢30¢35¢40¢54 DAYS · D YES PRICENOWMay 14Jul 7
Per-platform · current
PlatformD YESR YES7d ΔVolvs cons
Polymarket
Will the Democratic Party win the SC-01 House seat?
31¢70¢+0¢+0

All polls · 1 results

strongpositiveinfocautionflag
DatePollster · trust signalsn · popLeanBias · trackvs ratersD · R
Dec 5Public Policy Polling+2For · Internal D-aligned645 · LVNEUTRALD +0.9104 tracked+2.4noisy36 · 39

Endorsements · 5 total

Source · Wikipedia · 1 candidate with no endorsements yet
Smith · 100%5
RMark Smith5 endorsers
Most notable · Davey Hiott · majority leader of the South Carolina House of Representatives (2022–present) from the 4th district (2004–present)
Elected officials5
Federal 3State 0Local 0
DMac Deford0 endorsers
no endorsers yet
No endorsements found yet. Endorsements come from the candidate's Wikipedia article (when one exists) and update with the daily scrape.

Money raised · own committees

FEC Schedule E (independent expenditures) + candidate-committee totals · last filing 2026-06-24
Mark SmithH6SC01250 ↗
Receipts
$778.1K
Disburse
$553.4K
Cash on hand
$224.8K
Debts
$300.0K
No industry data.
No contributor data.
Mac DefordH6SC01227 ↗
Receipts
$575.3K
Disburse
$516.1K
Cash on hand
$59.1K
Debts
$1.0K
No industry data.
No contributor data.

Outside spending · independent expenditures

FEC Schedule E (independent expenditures) + candidate-committee totals · 24/48-hr IE reports
IE total
$46.9K
D side
$25.0K · 53%
R side
$21.9K · 47%
Top spender
Palmetto Point
For / against split
For Deford $25.0K
For Smith $21.9K
SpenderSideAmountShareTarget
Palmetto PointD$25.0K53%for Mac Deford
LOWCOUNTRY PATRIOT FUNDR$21.9K47%for Mark Smith

Editorial ratings · 4 raters

Cook · Sabato · Inside Elections · 538 · DDHQ et al.
Likely R2
Safe R2
Cook Political Report
Likely R
Jun 17
Inside Elections
Safe R
Jun 24
Sabato's Crystal Ball
Safe R
Jun 8
Split Ticket
Likely R
Jun 24

Demographic crosstabs

age · education · race · gender
No demographic crosstabs published for this race yet. Most pollsters release only topline numbers; subgroup breakdowns (age, education, race, gender) appear here when a pollster publishes them.

In the news

40 shown · last 30d · Google News
News volume · 30d
78 articles · building history
Net favorability
+0.10
Coverage lean (D−R) · first week of data
Coverage tilt
D 10%
Neutral 90%
10% of outlets rated · by editorial lean
N
news.ballotpedia.org · 13d ago
Jenny Honeycutt (R) defeated Mark Smith (R) in the Republican primary runoff for South Carolina's 1st Congressional District
Neutral
K
ktvb.com · 14d ago
Nancy Lacore wins Democratic nomination for U.S. House in South Carolina's 1st Congressional District
Neutral
G
greenvilleonline.com · 14d ago
2026 South Carolina primary runoff election results. Who's on the ballot
Neutral
W
wltx.com · 14d ago
25-year-old Zyon Khalifa wins Democratic runoff in South Carolina's 2nd Congressional District
Neutral
W
wtoc.com · 14d ago
Honeycutt wins GOP runoff for South Carolina’s 1st Congressional District
Neutral
N
news10.com · 14d ago
Albany native advances in South Carolina House race
Neutral
N
nytimes.com · 14d ago
Who Is Ahead in the South Carolina Governor's Race? Latest 2026 Election Polls
D-favorable
K
kvue.com · 14d ago
Zyon Khalifa wins Democratic nomination for U.S. House in South Carolina's 2nd Congressional District
Neutral
K
kvue.com · 14d ago
Jenny Costa Honeycutt wins Republican nomination for U.S. House in South Carolina's 1st Congressional District
Neutral
C
counton2.com · 14d ago
Honeycutt, Lacore win nomination for South Carolina’s First Congressional District
Neutral
Page 1 of 4
Rating timeline
Jun 14, 2026Likely Rmodel
May 5, 2026Safe Rmodel
May 3, 2026Likely Rmodel
Verification trail
Polls verified1 / 1deterministic
Polls flaggednone
Markets ingested1 platformupdated 11h ago
FEC filingssyncedcommittee + IE · 2026-06-24
Endorsements8 totalWikipedia scrape
News coverage40 / 30dGoogle News
Method · bounds + percentage totals + date-order checks