Jeb Bush became the 15th person to formally launch a 2016 presidential campaign today, with an announcement at Miami Dade College. The former Florida governor is the 11th Republican in the race; with 4 so far on the Democratic side.

While Bush is polling relatively well, he has not broken out from the pack in a crowded Republican field. He trails likely Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton if we look at the national polls or the electoral map based on polls.

In somewhat related news, Donald Trump is expected to make his 2016 plans known tomorrow.  

270toWin has launched interactive maps for 2016 Congressional elections in the House and Senate, as well as 2015-16 elections for governor. The maps let you create your own forecasts and compare them to those from the political analytsts at Larry Sabato's Crystal Ball. 

As we get closer to 2016, we expect to bring in additional content, including more detailed information (candidates, polls) on each race that is forecast to be competitive.

Senate: Republicans currently control the Senate, with 54 of the 100 seats. 34 seats are up in 2016, of which 24 are held by Republicans. Democrats will need to gain four or five seats to take the majority. A four seat gain creates a 50-50 tie, with the tie-breaker going to the Vice-President. Since we don't know which party will win the 2016 presidential election, the map lets you make that projection to break the tie. 

House: Republicans also control the House, with a 246-188 advantage. One vacancy, in Illinois' 18th District, will be filled on September 10. That seat is likely to remain in Republican control. The table below the House map initially displays all races expected to be competitive. Click or tap a state to see/modify all the Districts for that state.

Governor: Three states will choose a governor in 2015, with another 12 going to the polls in 2016. Republicans currently control 31 governorships to 18 for the Democrats. Alaska governor Bill Walker is an independent.

Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush is expected to join the crowded 2016 Republican field on June 15, while former Texas Governor Rick Perry will announce today with a launch event scheduled for late morning outside Dallas. 

While polling thus far has not identified a breakout candidate, Bush has been running near the top, while Perry has seen support in the low single digits. There have been several national polls of the Republican field this week.

2016 Republican Field: Running or Actively Considering

Dates displayed are those when campaign launched or when an announcement is scheduled. The MAP link, where available, goes to an electoral map of that candidate vs. Hillary Clinton based on state-level polling conducted so far.

Announced

Pending Decision

No Announcement Date Set 

If you are looking for the map with the drop-down historical elections, it is now available here. 

As of February, 2016: If you have cookies enabled on your device, any changes to one of the maps discussed below should retain its settings on future visits. Use the Reset Map button to return to historical actual.

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270toWin continues to roll out a series of historical interactive presidential election maps. Modify results, winners and election participants to change the course of history. 

Interactive electoral maps for 46 out of 57 historical elections are now available, representing the period 1828-2012*.

*Excludes 1872. That maps as well as elections prior to 1828 should be available at a later date.

A new national poll from Quinnipiac shows a 5-way tie for the lead in a crowded Republican primary field.  Earning 10% support are Jeb Bush, Ben Carson, Mike Huckabee, Marco Rubio and Scott Walker. As of today, Bush and Walker are not declared candidates. Nine additional Republican hopefuls received at least 1% support. 

The five poll 270toWin average shows Bush with about 13.5% support, with Walker and Rubio each about 1% behind.  Carson and Paul round out the top five.

On the Democratic side, Hillary Clinton received 57%, well ahead of Bernie Sanders who was 2nd at 15%.

Quinnipiac also surveyed general election match-ups between Clinton and eight Republicans.  The former Secretary of State leads all challengers, with Paul and Rubio closest. Each trails Clinton by 4%.  

Ohio Governor John Kasich is moving rapidly to assemble a team and the financial resources needed to launch a 2016 presidential campaign, the Washington Post reports. He is expected to join the race after June 30.

Kasich will join a crowded Republican field that will gain its 7th candidate today, former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum. That number may grow to 10 in the next week.

2016 Republican Field: Running or Actively Considering

Announced

Pending Decision (Date of Announcement)

All are expected to run

No Announcement Date Set

Bush & Walker all but certain to run; at or near the top of

many early polls. 

Fox News, host of the first Republican debate of the 2016 presidential campaign, announced today a limit of 10 participants in that debate, the Washington Post reports. 

The debate is scheduled for August 6, in Cleveland, which is also the host city for the Republican Convention next July.

To qualify, candidates must have filed and declared their candidacy and place in the top ten of an average of the five most recent national polls as of early August. The specific qualifying polls will be determined by Fox News.

270toWin is following the Republican primary polls and, as it happens, we also have a polling average based on the five most recent polls. While the debate is obviously a ways off, the top ten currently are:

1. Bush  
2. Walker
3. Rubio*
4. Paul*
5. Carson*
6. Huckabee*
7. Cruz*
8. Christie
9. Trump
10. Kasich

Asterisked names have declared their candidacy. Trump and Kasich were not included in all five recent surveys. Perry just missed the cut-off, with Santorum, Jindal, Fiorina* and Graham also not currently in the top ten. 

Update:  The first three historical maps are available to try out. Let us know if you find any issues or have feedback.

1860 | 1968 | 2000

**Use the comments to let us know if you would find this feature useful and what year(s) you'd like to see first.**

One of the more popular feature requests we get is to have interactive maps for historical presidential elections. There are a lot of fans of alternate history scenarios as well as those that would like to change past electoral maps in a 'what if' kind of way.

Starting with the actual historical election result, you'll be able to modify the winner in each state and the distribution of electoral votes. You'll also be able to make some changes to the names in the race to create alternate scenarios (e.g., what if Robert Kennedy had lived and become the 1968 Democratic nominee)?

In the sample below, we have taken the 1960 election and set Illinois and Texas to undecided, putting Kennedy below the 269 electoral votes needed to win that year*. These two states' results were among many decided by 2% or less that year and were among the more controversial.

* There were 537 electoral votes in 1960, reflecting the addition of Alaska and Hawaii with 3 electoral votes each. These additions temporarily increased the size of The House from 435 to 437 Members (+100 Senators = 537). The Census reapportionment after 1960 reset the House to the required 435, while the 23rd Amendment gave Washington D.C. electoral representation with 3 electoral votes. As a result, there have been 538 electoral votes available since 1964 (435+100+3), with 270 required to win.

Several prospective 2016 major party presidential candidates will be making their plans known in the weeks ahead. Here's a summary of those, as well as a list of those that have declared and those that have formed exploratory committees (or similar) but have not made any further announcements regarding their 2016 candidacy. 

May 27: Former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum (R) is likely to run

May 28: Former New York Governor George Pataki (R) may or may not run

May 30: Former Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley (D) is expected to run

June 1: South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham (R) is expected to run

June 4: Former Texas Governor Rick Perry (R) is expected to run 

Declared Candidates

Democrat: Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders

Republican: Ben Carson, Ted Cruz, Carly Fiorina, Mike Huckabee, Rand Paul, Marco Rubio 

Exploratory Committee

Democrat: Lincoln Chafee, Jim Webb

Republican: Jeb Bush, Chris Christie, Bobby Jindal, John Kasich, Donald Trump, Scott Walker

Update May 18: Bobby Jindal announces the launch of his exploratory committee

A trio of Republicans not currently holding office will formally announce they are running for president early this week. They will join the three sitting Senators (Ted Cruz, Rand Paul, Marco Rubio) who previously launched their campaigns. While the new entrants start out with longer odds to be the eventual Republican nominee, each brings a set of attributes that can certainly impact the race.

This will be the 2nd presidential run for former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, who previously ran in 2008. That year he won the Iowa Republican caucuses and continued his campaign until March, when it became apparent that Arizona Senator John McCain would be that year's Republican nominee. At the national level, Huckabee performs best in states with a larger evangelical Christian population, putting him in a decent position to impact the early caucus/primary states of Iowa and South Carolina. Huckabee is set to announce on Tuesday.

Former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina joins the race Monday AM. Fiorina is expected to be the only woman in the Republican field and further distinguishes herself from the field with a strong business background. Of the three announcing this week, she is likely to be seen as the most moderate. Fiorina previously ran for Senate in California in 2010, losing to incumbent Barbara Boxer. Fiorina has received minimal support in early polling; it will be interesting to see if that shifts as she becomes more well-known.

Retired neurosurgeon Dr. Ben Carson made his 2016 announcement Sunday night. The only African-American likely to run for the 2016 Republican nomination, Carson became a star in conservative circles after a well-received speech at the 2013 National Prayer Breakfast. Carson has not previously run for political office. Carson has been receiving about 5% support in early polls and will be competing with Huckabee for many of the same voters.