Beginning at 7 a.m. on Election Day on “TODAY” until 6 a.m. the following day on MSNBC, Steve Kornacki was NBC News and MSNBC’s go-to political correspondent to find the trends behind the votes. With a few taps on his signature Big Board, a large touch-screen monitor, Kornacki pulled up polls and electoral data from all over the country, as well as comparisons with previous elections.
Steve Kornacki put in months of hard work before he stepped in front of the Big Board. Along with his senior producer, Adam Noboa, Kornacki spent countless hours researching voting trends and poring over polling and demographic data. Kornacki may be known for his touch screen, but his office is full of printout maps and reference cards covered with handwritten notes. Leading up to the election, Kornacki felt like he was “cramming for an exam.”
“Probably 99% of what I’m doing is not going to make air. But you don’t know what the 1% is, so you got to be ready for it,” Kornacki said.
To help concentrate during the long election night, Kornacki relied on Diet Coke and Nutter Butters. To learn how Kornacki and Noboa gained their insight on electoral trends, watch the video above and read their further comments below.
What do you study to prepare for election night?
Kornacki: Different maps of different battleground states. We have to be ready for stuff outside battlegrounds, too. There are themes for each map: a particular demographic I might be looking at, voting history, something like that. We run simulations and I try to translate it into something that could be useful on the air. Probably 99% of what I’m doing is not going to make air. But you don’t know what the 1% is, so you’ve got to be ready for it.
Noboa: People can tell how much prep Steve Kornacki puts into being able to talk about the national picture, state picture, county picture, municipality picture at any given time. It’s helpful on election night when all the information is coming in so quickly. Steve’s a good barometer to help get us an answer.
For me, it’s being involved with him every step of the way: get the research, prepare the graphics, get the board ready for election night. You see him all night at the touch screen, guiding viewers through the country. A lot of prep work goes into knowing different reporting procedures for counties, how quickly they’re going to count votes. What are the political trends going on in states, in metro areas around the country.
What keeps you up at night when it comes to the election?
Noboa: I woke up a ton of times last night, thinking that I had overslept and we had missed our first broadcast.
Kornacki: Fear of not being prepared. I continually think of possible angles, possible developments during the course of the night. Have I prepared for that? Am I ready for that? I’m always thinking of something new and you get a little bit of a jolt of panic every time.
What’s your favorite part of working on Election Day?
Kornacki: It’s probably a few minutes after we go on air, because you’re into it and have no choice. It’s less panicking and worrying about what you forgot to do, and more dealing with what you have.
Noboa: The thing I like to see the most is the finished product. Being on my computer right outside [the studio], watching Steve on the monitor, [MSNBC anchor] Rachel [Maddow] — the whole broadcast is a really cool thing. We put on TV every day, but there is a certain uniqueness on election night. When we call the first race, when we call one of our first battlegrounds, seeing that on screen, it’s always history in the making.
