Election LabU.S. forecasts, with every number traced to its run

TX-6 · House

election-day forecast · ground-up model · as of 2026-10-02

Likely R
5%
Danny Minton
Democrat
95%
Jake Ellzey
Republican
Expected margin and its 90% range
R+40R+20R+10EvenD+10D+20D+40R+14.9
What moves this district (points of margin; blue toward the Democrat, red toward the Republican)
2024 presidential lean−9.1
2024 House lean−4.2
religion: evangelical+0.7
experience gap−0.4
asian share+0.4

The district, in brief

Texas's 6th is drawn on new lines for 2026. The text describes it as most of the southern parts of the Dallas–Fort Worth Metroplex, including most or all of Midlothian, Mansfield, Burleson, Waxahachie and Corsicana, most of the west side of Arlington, and south and central Irving. Donald Trump won 60.4% here in 2024 and Ted Cruz 57.4%.

The incumbent is Republican Jake Ellzey, re-elected with 66.4% in 2024. He won the Republican primary with 66.3% over pastor James Buford at 19.9% and Covington city councilman Brian Stahl at 13.8%, and is endorsed by Donald Trump, Greg Abbott, AIPAC and Texas Alliance for Life. The Democratic nominee is Danny Minton, a sales representative, who was unopposed in his primary; he had self-funded $3,125 of the $12,840 he raised by February 11, 2026. A post-primary endorsement block, unlabeled in the text, lists Track AIPAC. As of April 26, 2026 Ellzey had raised $3,705,546 with $2,100,542 on hand; Minton had raised $25,133 with $9,381 on hand.

Decision Desk HQ (July 14, 2026), the Cook Political Report (February 6, 2025), Inside Elections (March 7, 2025) and Sabato's Crystal Ball (September 18, 2025) all rank the seat R; Silver Bulletin's line (August 20, 2026) is blank. The text records no district polls.

A paragraph quoting a model forecast from the day this brief was written is omitted; the current forecast is at the top of this page.

The facts, each beside its sentence

Incumbent
Jake Ellzey (R)The incumbent is Republican Jake Ellzey, who was re-elected with 66.4% of the vote in 2024.
Open seat
noThe incumbent is Republican Jake Ellzey
Democratic nominee
Danny MintonDanny Minton, sales representative
Republican nominee
Jake EllzeyJake Ellzey, incumbent U.S. representative
Democrat's background
sales representativeDanny Minton, sales representative
Republican's background
incumbent U.S. representativeJake Ellzey, incumbent U.S. representative
Presidential vote
Trump 60.4% in 2024; Cruz 57.4% in 2024Donald Trump and Ted Cruz won 60.4% and 57.4%, respectively, in this district in 2024.
Last result
Ellzey re-elected with 66.4% in 2024who was re-elected with 66.4% of the vote in 2024
Lines
Most of the southern DFW Metroplex: Midlothian, Mansfield, Burleson, Waxahachie, Corsicana, most of west Arlington, and south and central IrvingThe new 6th district encompasses most of the southern parts of the Dallas–Fort Worth Metroplex, including most or all of the suburbs of Midlothian, Mansfield, Burleson, Waxahachie and Corsicana, as well as most of the west side of Arlington and south and central Irving.
Primaries
Ellzey won the Republican primary with 66.3% over James Buford (19.9%) and Brian Stahl (13.8%); Minton was unopposed in the Democratic primarycandidate: Jake Ellzey (incumbent) votes: 42,230 percentage: 66.3 party: Republican Party (United States) candidate: James Buford votes: 12,660 percentage: 19.9
Raters
Decision Desk HQ: R (July 14, 2026); Cook: R (February 6, 2025); Inside Elections: R (March 7, 2025); Sabato's Crystal Ball: R (September 18, 2025); Silver Bulletin: no ranking shown (August 20, 2026)Decision Desk HQ R July 14, 2026 The Cook Political Report R February 6, 2025 Inside Elections R March 7, 2025
Money
As of April 26, 2026: Ellzey raised $3,705,546 with $2,100,542 on hand; Minton raised $25,133 with $9,381 on handJake Ellzey (R) $3,705,546 $2,700,452 $2,100,542 | Danny Minton (D) $25,133 $15,752 $9,381
Also
Ellzey is endorsed by Donald Trump, Greg Abbott, AIPAC and Texas Alliance for Life; a post-primary endorsement block, unlabeled in the text, lists Track AIPACDonald Trump, 45th and 47th president of the United States (2017–2021, 2025–present) Statewide officials * Greg Abbott, governor of Texas (2015–present) Organizations * AIPAC * Texas Alliance for Life
Minton self-funded $3,125 of the $12,840 he had raised by February 11, 2026Danny Minton (D) $12,840$3,125 of this total was self-funded by Minton

Not in the source: No district polls appear in the text, and the model's basis says none.; Silver Bulletin's ranking is blank in the text.; The post-primary endorsement block (Track AIPAC) is not labeled by candidate.; The general-election fundraising figures are as of April 26, 2026.

Read from the district's section of Wikipedia's state page (CC BY-SA), archived as efe72be7e14a; written by claude-fable-5-1 (batch reader) on 2026-09-30 and checked mechanically: every quote occurs verbatim in the archived text, every number in the brief occurs in the inputs. No probability here is the reader's.

Who holds the seat now

Jake Ellzey (Republican), in this chamber since 2021, 3 terms. Committees: House Committee on Appropriations; House Committee on Small Business.

From the congress-legislators dataset (CC0), archived as ae8cb9477c48. For a Senate race this lists both of the state's senators; the one whose term ends in the election year holds the seat on the ballot. For a House district redrawn for 2026 it is the member elected under the old lines with this number, who may be running elsewhere; the dossier above names who is running here.

How it has voted for president

Two-party margin201620202024
PresidentR+19.4R+11.7R+16.9

A shift of 2.5 points toward the Democrats from 2016 to 2024. county returns placed on the current lines by 2020 block population; MEDSL county file (2016), an MIT-licensed county file (2020, checked against certified state results) and MEDSL precinct returns (2024). For a district split across counties this is an estimate, and where the state published the exact 2024 figure for these lines, that exact figure is the one the model uses.

Who are the voters?

Group (adults 25+)Share of adultsTurnout 2020 / midtermShare of a midterm electorateEst. Democratic share, 2020
White, no degree35%62% / 44%36%8%
White, degree18%84% / 68%29%42%
Black12%56% / 39%12%94%
Hispanic27%38% / 26%17%60%
Asian5%39% / 28%4%76%
Other / multiracial2%55% / 40%2%54%

Of about 495,699 adults 25 and over. In 2020 the district voted 40.3% Democratic (two-party) for president. With the same preferences and a 2022-style midterm turnout, it would vote 40.2% Democratic: the midterm electorate alone moves the margin 0.2 points toward Republicans. Group shares are estimated from how results vary across the state's census tracts (ecological inference, anchored to Pew's 2020 validated-voter figures) and calibrated to this district's actual 2020 vote; turnout is the Census survey's state rate by race and national rate by education, whose state samples carry margins of several points.

Not answered here: how each group will vote in 2026. These are 2020 preferences; this profile is description, not yet an input to the forecast.

The money

CandidateRaisedCash on handPAC shareSelf-fundedOutside $ forOutside $ against
Ellzey, John Kevin Sr. (REP)
incumbent
$4,660,385$2,483,40216%0%$34,345$0
Stahl, Brian (REP)
challenger · not on our roster
$189,021$30,2053%0%$13,500$0
Minton, Danny (DEM)
challenger
$44,283$13,6380%7%$0$0
Love, John Benard Iii (DEM)
challenger · not on our roster
$111$4,5420%0%$0$0

FEC bulk candidate summaries through June 30, 2026; $47,845 of independent expenditures for or against these candidates this cycle (FEC Schedule E, types 24E and 24A), which is the parties' and outside groups' own revealed view of whether this seat is in play.

The district in numbers

MeasureDistrictNationDifference
Bachelor's degree or higher, 25+30.3%34.9%-4.6 pts
White, non-Hispanic46.1%58.2%-12.1 pts
Black, non-Hispanic12.7%12.0%+0.7 pts
Hispanic or Latino32.5%19.0%+13.5 pts
Asian, non-Hispanic5.0%5.8%-0.7 pts
Foreign-born17.8%13.9%+3.9 pts
Median age36.539.2-2.7
Median household income$86,912$84,362$+2,550
Median home value$286,441$379,737$-93,296
Owner-occupied homes64.0%65.1%-1.1 pts
Unemployment, July 2026 (BLS county data)4.6%4.4%+0.2 pts
Change in unemployment, past 12 months+0.4 pts——
Change since the last election (24 months)+0.3 pts——
Unemployment (ACS)4.1%5.2%-1.1 pts
Federal government workers2.2%2.6%-0.5 pts
Work from home11.3%13.5%-2.2 pts
Households on SNAP7.4%11.8%-4.3 pts
Households with Social Security income25.2%31.2%-6.0 pts
Households with public assistance income2.2%2.7%-0.5 pts
Moved in from another state, past year1.7%2.3%-0.6 pts
Gini index0.400.44-0.04
Per-capita personal income (BEA), 2024$67,467$73,248$-5,781
Per-capita income growth since 2019, nominal, 202428.8%32.0%-3.2 pts
Government and other transfers, share of income, 202415.0%19.6%-4.6 pts
Social Security, share of income, 20224.5%5.8%-1.4 pts
Medicare, share of income, 20223.8%4.5%-0.6 pts
Medicaid, share of income, 20222.5%4.0%-1.4 pts
SNAP, share of income, 20220.5%0.6%-0.1 pts
Earned Income Tax Credit, share of income, 20220.4%0.4%+0.1 pts
Veterans' benefits, share of income, 20220.9%0.9%+0.0 pts
Federal civilian jobs, share of all jobs, 20220.8%1.3%-0.5 pts
Military jobs, share of all jobs, 20220.3%0.9%-0.6 pts

ACS 5-year 2023, assembled from census tracts by the 2020 population of their blocks inside the current lines, because the Bureau has not tabulated these lines; medians are population-weighted means of tract medians. Unemployment is the BLS county series placed on the district by block population, not seasonally adjusted, so changes are same-month comparisons. Income, transfers and jobs are BEA county accounts placed the same way, compared with the average district. Every other figure is a named column of a named table in the Bureau's summary file, archived before it was read. This is what a reader knows about a district before looking at a poll; the model does not yet use it, and whether it should is a registered question.

Who is favoured, and by how much?

95%
Jake Ellzey
run 00a09d4b · house_district_prior/0.2.0 · as of 2026-10-02
-15.0
expected margin, D-R
run 00a09d4b · house_district_prior/0.2.0 · as of 2026-10-02

The 90% interval runs from -30.2 to +0.1 points, D-R. It is wide because this district has never been polled.

What is this built on?

A model trained on every contested House race 2012-2024 predicts this district's lean from its own record: presidential and House results on the current lines, incumbency, both candidates' prior offices, outside and party money before 1 October, demographics and public-assistance shares from the Census release before the election, local unemployment and income, and religious tradition. The national margin comes from presidential approval, the economy, the midterm penalty and the generic ballot corrected for its measured lean. Draws share national and state errors, so the seat total and this district come from the same simulation.

Not answered here: district polls, which are not yet folded in.

Why does the model say this?

Each figure is how far this district's predicted lean moves when that one feature is set to the typical value across 2026 districts, everything else held: 2024 presidential lean (R+21.8): 9.1 pts toward the Republican; 2024 House lean: 4.2 pts toward the Republican; religion: evangelical (28.9%): 0.7 pts toward the Democrat; experience gap (-4 levels, D minus R): 0.4 pts toward the Republican; asian share (5.2%): 0.4 pts toward the Democrat.

How sure is it, and of what?

Total sd 9.23 points, made of the seat's own volatility 92%, correlated polling error 8%. The decomposition is stored with the forecast rather than reconstructed, so a probability whose dominant input is a placeholder is visibly that.

Not answered here: a nowcast. 'If ballots were cast today' needs something that observes today, and for a House district nothing does. Publishing the election-day figure under both labels would make one forecast look like two.

How was this number made?

Run 00a09d4b-7980-4ec5-ada0-077968a87242, house_district_prior/0.2.0, as of 2026-10-02. Promoted by a pre-registered gate: on 2016-2022 its Brier score was 0.036 against 0.049 for the previous method, and on a single 2024 run 0.023 against 0.032 (experiments/district_gate_result.md, with an independent review).