About The Cook Partisan Voting Index (Cook PVI℠)
In August of 1997, The Cook Political Report introduced the Cook Partisan Voting Index (Cook PVI) as a means of providing a more accurate picture of the competitiveness of each of the 435 congressional districts. Whereas our race ratings reflect our outlook for which party will win the next election in each state and district, the Cook PVI takes a longer view and seeks to measure the underlying partisanship of each district relative to the nation as a whole.
A Cook PVI score of D+2, for example, means that in the 2020 and 2024 presidential elections, the state or district performed about two points more Democratic in terms of two-party vote share than the nation did as a whole, while a score of R+4 means the state or district performed about four points more Republican. If a state or district performed within half a point of the nation in either direction, we assign it a score of EVEN.
A Cook PVI score of D+2, for example, means that in the 2020 and 2024 presidential elections, the state or district performed about two points more Democratic in terms of two-party vote share than the nation did as a whole, while a score of R+4 means the state or district performed about four points more Republican. If a state or district performed within half a point of the nation in either direction, we assign it a score of EVEN.
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Our subscribers have first access to individual race pages for each House, Senate and Governors race, which will include race ratings (each race is rated on a seven-point scale) and a narrative analysis pertaining to that race.