This is the first of a three-part study.

This study analyzes every House, Senate and Governor race rated "toss-up" or "lean" by The Cook Political Report or Sabato's Crystal Ball in the 2026 midterm election: 63 races in 24 states, with 126 campaigns from both Republican and Democratic candidates.

Part 1 (this report) looks at how well each of those 126 campaign websites is, or is not, set up for AI training, AI search and AI answer systems. We summarize with what can still be done that meaningfully moves the needle for better AI visibility that can occur in time for the crucial last weeks of the midterm.

Part 2 Every day since July 24th, we have asked the seven leading AI systems the same voter questions about all 63 races, and we have saved every answer and every source they cited. Part 2 will cover the top trends, the early error and hallucination rates we are seeing, and the sources that all seven systems cite most. Our data set currently stands at about 210,000 answers and 1.5 million citations.

Part 3 will come out right after the midterms. It will summarize the findings from the entire research window, which we expect to total about 335,000 answers and 2.5 million citations across these competitive races.This study analyzes every House, Senate and Governor race rated "toss-up" or "lean" by The Cook Political Report or Sabato's Crystal Ball in the 2026 midterm election: 63 races in 24 states, with 126 campaigns from both Republican and Democratic candidates.

Parts 2 and 3 are contingent on funding. The ability to produce these reports depends on your support and donations.