CBS News is adding prediction market data to its coverage of the 2026 midterm elections, giving viewers another way to follow the race for control of Congress. The network announced Wednesday that it will use Kalshi market prices alongside its existing polling, election models and political analysis. CBS has identified Kalshi as its prediction market sponsor.
The partnership puts Kalshi's election forecasts directly in front of a national news audience. CBS News Executive Director of Elections and Surveys Anthony Salvanto introduced the integration while discussing the midterms, explaining how market prices offer a different measurement from traditional polling.
Polls and Markets Will Share the Screen
CBS isn't replacing its polling operation with Kalshi. Instead, the network plans to show the two forms of information together, giving you a chance to see what voters are saying and what traders think will eventually happen.
Salvanto made that distinction clear during the announcement. Polls measure voter sentiment at a particular moment, while prediction markets move continuously as traders react to polling, economic conditions, campaign developments, and other information. That means the two numbers can look very different without necessarily contradicting each other.
CBS demonstrated the approach using several Kalshi markets, including:
- Control of the U.S. House
- Control of the U.S. Senate
- Individual congressional races
- The Texas Senate contest
Kalshi Gets a Spot in Mainstream Political Coverage
For Kalshi, the value goes well beyond having its logo appear during an election segment. Millions of people who may never visit a prediction market could become familiar with market probabilities simply by watching political coverage.
Kalshi CEO Tarek Mansour said markets combine competing views into public forecasts that update in real time. He argues that viewers can get value from those forecasts even if they never personally trade an event contract.
That distinction could become important for the industry's broader growth. Prediction markets don't necessarily need everyone who sees their data to become a trader for market probabilities to become a familiar part of how people consume information.
CBS Isn't Kalshi's First Big Media Deal
Kalshi has been working its way into major media organizations for a while. CNN named Kalshi its official prediction-market partner in December 2025, followed shortly afterward by a multiyear agreement with CNBC.
The Associated Press partnership works differently. AP agreed earlier this year to provide election results to Kalshi, including vote counts and race calls during the 2026 election cycle. Kalshi also launched its own midterms hub in July, combining market forecasts with polling, fundraising information and historical election data.
Put together, those deals show Kalshi isn't only trying to bring people onto its platform. It also wants its probabilities distributed wherever people already consume news.
The Midterms Become a Big Test
Election night should give CBS an interesting experiment. Viewers can watch polling, CBS analysis, and market probabilities develop around the same races rather than seeing each in isolation. That also means disagreements will be highly visible. When CBS polling and Kalshi prices point in different directions, viewers will naturally want to know why.
Neither measure guarantees an outcome. What makes the combination interesting is that each approaches the election from a completely different direction.
The Trade Handle Prediction Markets Take
We think the biggest part of this deal isn't simply another Kalshi sponsorship. It's the continued movement of prediction market prices into places where millions of people already get their information. You don't need a Kalshi account to see a market probability during CBS election coverage.
That gives prediction markets a chance to be an information product as much as a trading product. The 2026 midterms should offer a pretty good test. If viewers find value in seeing live market probabilities next to traditional polling, expect this kind of integration to become much more common by the next major election cycle.