The surprise political star from the 2020 presidential election was not on the ballot but in front of a results screen, in khakis, on cable news. Steve Kornacki, NBC News’ and MSNBC’s national political correspondent and Election Night guru, broke out as a viewer favorite while a captive audience spent hours, then days, waiting for the definitive call. Four years later, Kornacki is back and doing his best to prepare and get a little sleep ahead of another marathon Election Night. We caught up with him to get a sense of how he’ll try to stay sane over the next few days.
Will you have any time off this weekend, and what will you be doing?
Any downtime I have Saturday, it’s the Breeders’ Cup. It’s the biggest day in horse racing, all these championship races down at Del Mar in California. So I’ll be losing money on that.
Will you be going to the races?
I wish. NBC has had me in the coverage the past three years, which has been great. But it was just to try to get back from San Diego the Sunday before the election.
What about your exercise routine? You seem like a runner.
I once was. In my old age now, I’ve become more of a walker. I’m going to go for a long walk Saturday morning and hopefully Sunday, too.
What percentage are you excited versus nervous versus stressed?
Yeah, heavy on the nervous, stressed part because I always say that 99 percent of the prep I do will never make the air.
You just got to be ready for that 1 percent. It can be overwhelming trying to anticipate all the different scenarios that could come up that you need to be ready for. So I’ve had a running list for a while now and then every time I think of something else, I’ll write it down. It’s just the list has been getting bigger and bigger, and it takes a lot to check off one item on it. And it’s just to be in position to interpret these results in real time and hopefully say something meaningful and useful about them. It just requires a ton of prep and memorization, and the possibility that I’ll miss something really kind of haunts me.
How much sleep are you hoping to get on Monday night?
I’d like to have a fair amount. I’m going to be on the air, I think, starting 7 a.m. Tuesday. And I’m not one of those people who can just fall asleep on command. I can’t just say like, “Oh, I’m going to go to sleep at ten tonight and get a full night.” So I’ll see if my mind cooperates. I hope to get some on Monday. I know I’m not getting any Tuesday.
How much caffeine are you estimating for Tuesday? Are you still a Diet Coke guy?
Much more Dunkin’. Just coffee, I guess, but not a ton. I’ll have some on Tuesday, no more than usual because it is Election Night itself. I don’t have a problem with energy. All of the stuff happening keeps me occupied, and watching this thing slowly take shape is just fascinating. But if we end up in a situation where it’s days again, then yeah, the coffee comes into play much more.
What’s the order?
An extra-large original blend with milk only.
What’s your strongest memory from broadcasting the 2020 election? Were you even able to form memories?
The ending? That might be it. A lot of it is a blur too because when that much is happening and you start losing that much sleep, your ability to attach timelines to events fades a little.
Are you thinking khakis again?
I’m an undecided voter on that one.
Oh wow, okay. Were you surprised so many people were into that look?
Oh my God, yeah. I’m flattered, obviously. And anybody who takes something positive from it — I never in a million years would’ve expected it, and I still don’t really understand it. But hey.
For food on Election Night, is your stomach just turned off by the time the results are coming in?
It is just an overload of activity, and I lose track of being either hungry or thirsty. And honestly, I always wonder sometimes when I think about it, it’s like I don’t have to use the restroom much, either. It’s almost like my body kind of recognizes I need six hours just to be there.
Would you call it a flow state?
I’m not familiar with the term.
It’s something athletes often talk about when they’re just completely in the zone and are able to rely on training and perform at a really high level.
I wouldn’t compare myself to an athlete or anything, but yeah, something like that.
Do you get to shower during the broadcast, or is that not a problem?
No, I don’t. The studio tends to be very cold. I remember even in 2022, the most recent one, I was actually like, “Geez, can I wear a layer underneath this?” It was so cold.
How long will it take you to come down and feel normal after this?
That’s the hard part, when it goes for a couple of days and they tell me, “It’s 2:00 a.m., be back at 5:30.” I got a room; there’s a relatively cheap hotel around the studio. In theory, I can be there in ten minutes and grab close to three hours of sleep. But it always, no matter how physically tired I am, takes at least an hour to get my mind to calm down. I remember when it finished in 2020, I’d never been more sleep-deprived in my life. That was about 11:30 a.m. Just the fact of it being over gave me this burst of adrenaline. I really didn’t go to sleep until 6 p.m., but when I did, I was out for 15 hours or something.
