NBC News journalist Steve Kornacki covered the 2026 midterm election results for just over 10 hours before he abruptly left the program.
“I just need to take about five minutes here,” Kornacki, 47, said during the Tuesday, November 3, “Kornacki Cam” livestream. “I’ll be right back.”
Kornacki, who quickly left the NBC soundstage without further explanation, explained his hasty exit the next day.
“I was sure 13 hours would be fine but things caught up to me in a hurry at hour 10,” the broadcaster explained via X on Wednesday, November 4. “I can’t say thanks enough to all of you.”
He continued, “What a ride and I think we did make livestream history. Sorry for the abrupt ending!”
Kornacki revealed cross-country election results on NBC’s YouTube page, which generated a record-breaking 29 million views across platforms.
“Pure gratitude for all of you who watched last night,” he tweeted later on Wednesday. “This started as an experiment with a House special election last year and turned into this.”
The political journalist has helped lead NBC’s Election Day coverage since 2014 with his white board analysis of the results, all while dressed in his now-signature wire-rimmed glasses and khaki trousers.
NBC launched a designated “Kornacki Cam” in 2025 for Kornacki to analyze poll data during an ongoing livestream.
“There was kind of a community that built itself around these primary nights,” Kornacki told Axios earlier this month. “We did it as an experiment and were just trying to see if there are people out there that actually want to just do the whole journey of an election night — just results and nothing else.”
When Kornacki is working the desk on Election Night, he seldom takes breaks.
“Once you start doing it, the adrenaline of new results, new material [and] new information constantly coming in, it carries you,” he noted the outlet.
The political analyst appeared on NBC News’ special broadcast coverage, in addition to his designated “Kornacki Cam” footage.
“Featuring 10.5 hours of nonstop coverage, the unfiltered, behind-the-scenes livestream gave viewers a continuous look at Steve Kornacki as he tracked and analyzed election results throughout the night,” a press release from NBC reads. “On YouTube alone, the livestream reached 6.1 million views and had twice as many live viewers compared to all key broadcast and cable competitors with over 300,000 peak concurrents.”
Kornacki’s “Kornacki Cam” previously generated 41 million livestream starts throughout the primary cycle earlier this year.
