‘Are You Serious?!’ NBC Data Guru Steve Kornacki Visibly Shaken by Election Night Madness in Francesca Hong Race

Hopefully somebody got him a beer and a cigarette after all of that.

NBC chief data analyst Steve Kornacki was put through the ringer on Tuesday night thanks to some unforeseen twists in the razor-thin Wisconsin Democratic gubernatorial primary, which former Thanksgiving hater and democratic socialist Francesca Hong (D) lost to David Crowley (D).

Kornacki seemed like he was on the verge of walking off-set and never returning — but it made for some good clips which were shared on social media.

With 93% of the votes counted and Crowley narrowly leading by about 3,200 votes, it seemed like the last thing Kornacki wanted to hear. He slouched over and put his hands on his knees for a few seconds, before mustering the strength to pull himself up again. But his mouth was agape in sheer disbelief.

“Really? Really?” he muttered quietly. “That’s um… so we’re back to square one on this?”

Check that out below:

And when he found out there would be delays because Milwaukee County officials announced five flash drives had botched voting data, Kornacki let out a frustrated chuckle and put his head in his left palm.

“Are you serious?! They have to… God… what were… OK…umm,” Kornacki said as he looked down at his New Balance sneakers in disbelief.

Another clip of Kornacki saying NBC News was waiting on Wisconsin officials to “get their act together” also went pretty viral. He looked at the camera and told viewers he was disappointed he would have to sign off without giving them the results many of them had been waiting hours to hear.

“I hate doin’ this to you, because I know you’re here for results,” Kornacki vented.

The results eventually came in, with Hong conceding early Wednesday morning that she lost to Crowley by several thousand votes. Soon after, Kornacki gave a shout-out to the NBC News faithful who grappled with the election madness.

“Thank you *so* much to everyone who joined in for our livestream last night. I couldn’t believe how many of you were right there with me as Milwaukee kept us waiting (and waiting) into the wee hours,” he posted on X. “I hope you got at least a little sleep!”

New: The Mediaite One-Sheet "Newsletter of Newsletters"
Your daily summary and analysis of what the many, many media newsletters are saying and reporting. Subscribe now!