NBC News Chief Data Analyst Steve Kornacki gave viewers a very real, unscripted reaction late Tuesday after learning that key absentee vote totals from Milwaukee would be held up because of a human error by local election officials.
About six hours into the network’s livestream, around 1 a.m. ET, NBC News National Politics Reporter Ben Kamisar tried to relay the developing explanation. “They’re giving an update now — I’m trying to understand what’s happening,” he told Kornacki.
What followed was roughly 20 seconds of silence, with Kamisar urgently scrolling for details as the situation unfolded in real time.
Kamisar later explained that five of the nine flash drives transported from Milwaukee’s central count facility to the Milwaukee County Courthouse contained downloaded audit logs instead of election results.
That mistake temporarily stalled the count in Wisconsin’s Democratic gubernatorial primary.
The Associated Press ultimately called the race at 2:34 a.m. Wednesday, projecting that Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley had defeated democratic-socialist State Representative Francesca Hong in an upset.
After another pause of about 10 seconds, Kornacki, visibly puzzled, asked, “Are they still giving the update?”
Kamisar, still focused on his laptop, said he was reading the closed captioning and did not “have the fullest grasp of” what was happening. Kornacki then bent forward in apparent disbelief before covering his face in a drawn-out facepalm for viewers watching the live broadcast.
NBC’s Steve Kornacki offered viewers an unscripted reaction to news that five of nine flash drives brought from Milwaukee’s central count facility to Milwaukee County Courthouse had audit logs downloaded rather than results for the Wisconsin Democratic gubernatorial primary
David Crowley accepts the Democratic nomination for Wisconsin Governor during a press conference
His sidekick tried to explain as he stood hunched over in disbelief.
‘It appears that there were some irregularities in the reporting process, so I think they have to go back to the city location, do some work there, and then potentially kind of restart that process,’ Kamisar said.
‘That’s what I’m gathering from the city right now. Or from the county update.’
Kornacki asked: ‘Really? That’s, um- so we’re back to square one on this?’
‘Potentially, I’m just going through the, uh- just trying to read the closed captioning as it’s coming,’ Kamisar replied, his eyes glued to the computer screen.
Kornacki, 46, apologized. ‘I didn’t mean to uh… it just seems like a very-‘ He cleared his throat before noting, with a slight smile, the development was a ‘significant thing.’
Another 20-second period of dead-air followed, during which Kornacki took out his cellphone. As he did, Kamisar confirmed: ‘Yeah. They have to restart that process.
‘So, they have to go back to the city location, I think re-grab the memory sticks, or go through that vote process again, and then bring it back to the county.’
Kornacki couldn’t help but show his distress and amusement as the situation evolved. NBC News National Politics Reporter Ben Kamisar offered the updates
‘Really? That’s, um- so we’re back to square one on this?’ the analyst said at a point
‘Are we talking hours?’ asked Kornacki, after another period of awkward silence.
Kamisar explained that with the time needed for officials to drive back to the Central Count location in Milwaukee’s Bay View neighborhood, that seemed to be the case.
‘And it’s now 1am,’ he noted, streaming live for fans on YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram.
‘Uhh…’ said Kornacki, before a frustrated sniff and more silence.
‘Well, there’s no traffic at this hour – I guess that’s good,’ he joked.
The analyst let out a playful stomp before the absurdity fully got to him.
‘Are you serious? They have to… come-… Okay. Um, what are we thinking here?’ he said, before burying his face in his hand while laughing.
Kamisar responded with more silence and scrolling.
‘I guess the exact thing is, five of the USB sticks were missing results from the election, so then, they had to go and re-grab them,’ an also puzzled Kamisar confirmed
‘How do I ask this artfully: Do we still have an audience?’ Kornacki asked, before ending the livestream
‘I guess the exact thing is, five of the USB sticks were missing results from the election, so then, they had to go an re-grab them,’ he clarified.
Kornacki couldn’t help but look down and shake his head.
‘How do I ask this artfully: Do we still have an audience?’ he quipped, with some tongue-in-cheek distress. The ‘Kornacki Cam’ stream ended roughly 10 minutes later, before a victor was announced.
Crowley finished with 65,131 votes, or 43 percent. Hong – whom prediction market Kalshi pegged as having a 95 percent chance – finished just shy, with 62,739.
