NBC News Will Get a Whole Lot More Steve Kornacki During Midterms Coverage

NBC News is going all-in on Steve Kornacki and his famous big board for its 2026 midterm election coverage, as viewers will be able to watch the chief data analyst on a dedicated “Kornacki Cam.”

According to The Hollywood Reporter, this year’s edition of the Kornacki Cam will air across all of NBC News’ digital platforms, as well as YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram. The dedicated Kornacki footage will complement NBC’s main coverage of the midterms, which kicks off on Tuesday (March 3) with the Democratic and Republican primaries in Texas, North Carolina, and Arkansas.

Kornacki, who regularly appears on NBC programs such as Meet the Press, Today, and NBC Nightly News, told THR that it’s “liberating” to have a dedicated camera, meaning viewers won’t miss out on any of his voting coverage.

“I think typically on an election night, there’s a certain bar that I would have to reach with the election returns to get the producer’s attention, to get me on the air with the result,” he said. “Doing it this way, on this livestream, there is no bar. Every result makes air. Every county result makes air. Every little twist and turn makes air.”

NBC first tested the Kornacki Cam in December for a special election in Tennessee, and it was a big hit, amassing more than 1.5 million viewers. NBC News president of editorial Rebecca Blumenstein is expecting similar success with the midterms, while also hoping the concept will help build trust with audiences.

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“We are very hopeful that this is something that can help restore trust by being more transparent,” Blumenstein told THR. “Steve is sitting there at the big board, he’s getting the signal from the decision desk that the result is coming in. He’s giving it to viewers and readers as it’s happening, and then he’s tabulating the results of one county versus another and what’s going to happen.”

Kornacki added that he’ll be able to provide coverage for the “hardcore election audience” while also giving them a heads-up for when he’s about to be called in to provide an update on the television broadcast.

“I’ll go and I’ll do two minutes on News Now, talking a little bit more broadly, a little bit more generally, about the headlines that we’ve seen in the results, and then we’ll go back to the livestream audience,” he explained.

Kornacki added that the live stream will allow him to share more data than ever before. “Now, every time I see something come in, a new result come in from a county or from a certain part of the state, I can show it right away,” he stated. “I can talk about it. And I think the viewer has the opportunity to get a much more kind of comprehensive picture of how the election was won or lost.”