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Stephen WolfOct 28, 2026

Wolf writes that California Democrats are heavily favored to keep their legislative supermajorities and are strong favorites to hold the governor's office in the November election.

Published in writing · The Downballot (newsletter)Read the original

100Hit · out of 100
Xavier Becerra wonWhat happenedcalled, not yet certified
100A naive guessthe same call, no knowledge
100This callout of 100
0Skillafter difficulty

What Stephen Wolf said

they are also strong favorites to retain the governor's office
Our reading: Democrats to win the 2026 California gubernatorial election
Where it was published
The Downballot (newsletter)
The piece
How the midterms will determine the next phase of the redistricting wars
The original
Read the original
  1. SaidOct 28
  2. Election DayNov 3
  3. GradedNov 10

How the call scored

a naive guessbetter than naive

One checkable claim, graded on its own against what actually happened.

The call scored 100 out of 100, against 100 for a naive guess at the same calls.

The call is scored 0 to 100 against what happened, on its own, by the published methodology. The naive guess is what knowing nothing would have scored on the same call; the gap, weighted by how hard the call was, is the skill.

  1. Race Winners

    Democrats to win the 2026 California gubernatorial election

    What happenedXavier Becerra woncalled, not yet certified
    100Hit · naive 100
    100this call100a naive guess0better than naive1.01difficulty0skill
    How this was scored
    right:
    yes
    race:
    2026-governor-ca
    election year:
    2026
    skill:
    0
    topic:
    elections
    held going in by:
    Democratic
    in their words:
    strong favorites to retain the governor's office
    result from:
    wikipedia-2026
    who won:
    Xavier Becerra
    accuracy:
    100
    baseline:
    100
    race name:
    2026 California gubernatorial election
    decided in the:
    general
    they said:
    Xavier Becerra
    days before the vote when called:
    5
    difficulty:
    1.01
    the winner's party:
    Democratic
    the naive guess:
    the party holding the seat keeps it
    Election Day:
    2026-11-03
    the result is:
    called
    the party they named:
    Democratic
    Think this is wrong?

The race in this take

every call on each

More race winners

The same kind of call, about other players and teams.