As voters cast their ballots in the highly anticipated midterm elections on Tuesday, TV networks will give their viewers a closer look at how the election sausage is made.
As usual, anchors and analysts will be on the news desks as votes are counted and gubernatorial races across the country determine whether Democrats can wrest the House and Senate from Republicans in the final two years of President Trump’s second term.
But TV news organizations are offering additional tools and options for viewers who want a more detailed look at how votes are counted and winners declared, in response to growing interest in national politics and calls for greater transparency in an age of media distrust.
“As we’ve seen incredibly close elections over the last few years with higher turnout and tight political divisions, people are understandably looking for more transparent ways to understand how and why elections turned out the way they did,” said Jennifer Agiesta, CNN’s vice president of election and data reporting innovation.
Former NBC News political director and “Meet the Press” moderator Chuck Todd, who was among the first analysts to delve deeper into TV voting data, compared the growing appetite to the way viewers watch sporting events. Tighter races attract more attention, especially at a time when voters are deeply divided over Trump’s actions and policies.
“Do people sit back and watch as things break out and want more, or do people want more information when decisions are made based on nose hair?” said Todd. “You can’t ignore that this is an existential generation of political competitiveness.”
Todd noted that in the 21st century, the House, Senate or White House changed hands in 11 of 13 elections, and all but one of the seven presidential races were won by less than a five percent margin.
As NBC News offers its affiliates an unprecedented 13 hours of midterm coverage, data junkies can see analyst Steve Kornacki’s real-time issue at the county and regional level in the “Kornacki Cam” stream available on YouTube and on the network’s streaming platform. During the first season, Kornacki attracted millions of viewers online with his large billboard and distinctive khaki pants, which he broadcast on nights when the network was not on the air. This time the channel will refer to it throughout the night for a broader look at the results, but will broadcast continuously for those who need a quick digit fix.
“I hope they will broadcast live on the phone and on television,” Kornacki said in a recent interview. “They can be complementary.”
Kornacki will have many friends this election season. While CBS News chief political correspondent Ed O’Keefe is tasked with breaking down the numbers on TV, the network also hosts live coverage of “The Nerd Show” with Anthony Salvanto, the network’s election and polling director, and CBS News congressional correspondent Caitlin Huey-Burns. They will provide a constant deep dive into the numbers as they arrive.
Nexstar’s cable news channel NewsNation will place a camera fixed on analysts at Decision Desk HQ, a startup company that provides polling data to media outlets and companies.
“You’ll hear me talk about the data, what we’re seeing, what we’re not seeing, why we think we can project or why we should delay,” said Scott Tranter, director of data science at Decision Desk Headquarters. “Sometimes we get data that looks good but that may not be enough [to call a race]. So you kind of go back and forth, it ebbs and flows.”
Subscribers to Nexstar’s digital political site The Hill will be able to view polling data in the same breath as the Decision Desk HQ team that first called the race for President Trump in 2024.
Todd is among a growing number of independent journalists publishing their own shows on streaming platforms. On election night, he will host a live broadcast with veteran Washington expert Chris Cillizza via the Noosphere platform, which will also have full access to Decision Desk HQ data. Todd and Cillizza are partnering with Decision Desk HQ on the special, which will be expanded into a daily program in 2027.
CNN is also offering more advanced polling analysis to its digital users through a new tool called Sightline. Sightline will provide the data the network uses to determine the outcome of the races; It will show the outstanding vote totals, geography, voting method and comparisons with past elections. Viewers can see the information before CNN chief national correspondent John King presents the results on the network’s Magic Wall.
Fox News host Bill Hemmer will present the results and vote counts on an augmented reality set. But users of the Fox News app will have an AI-powered function that gives them instant access to the network’s reports on any given contest.
“The goal is to give users a truly personalized experience about the national picture or the state or race they specifically want to look at,” said Douglas Rohrbeck, vice president of Fox News Media. “People who log in can ask questions about specific races, voting trends, candidates, polls closing time, and the balance of power table as the population grows.”
Each of the major networks has its own decision desk, where statisticians, political scientists, and analysts dig deep into vote counts, historical trends, and polls to determine the winner. They are usually isolated from anchors and experts on air, but sometimes appear on air when necessary.
Showing the work carries its own risk. Early returns can vary sharply because mail-in and election day ballots are counted at different times, and those shifts are treated as evidence that something is wrong. Fox News was forced to film its decision desk chief Arnon Mishkin in 2020 after the channel’s viewers and the Trump White House were angered by his early but accurate prediction that Joe Biden would win Arizona in the presidential election.
NBC News is betting on openness. The network ran a lengthy segment on Thursday’s “Today” edition to explain how the decision desk works and how it prepares its election night predictions.
“Viewers want to know the business behind the calls, and they really want to understand it,” said Rebecca Blumenstein, executive editor of NBC News. “By showing this work, we think this is a really important part of building trust.”
Another element of interest is online prediction markets where users can bet on election results, and betting companies are now paying for some of the coverage. Kalshi sponsors CBS News’ coverage and Todd’s election night coverage. DraftKings is sponsoring election broadcasts on CBS-owned television stations, including KCBS in Los Angeles.
It could take days to determine which party has the majority in the House and Senate. But Kornacki said results from Kentucky’s 6th Congressional District, where both parties are competing for the open seat of Republican Rep. Andy Barr running for Senate, will be a strong indicator when they arrive at 7 p.m. Eastern time. Trump won the district by 15 points or more in each of his three presidential races.
“This is an early test,” Kornacki said. “If the Democrats were able to win this or get really close to it, that’s a sign that they kind of had the night they were dreaming of.”