NewsNation Plans Fast-Paced Election Night Focused on Hot Data, Not Hot Air

NewsNation has a different kind of recipe for Election Night — heavy on stats, light on the gas. When the Nexstar cable-news outlet launches five hours of coverage of the nation’s 2026 midterm elections on November 3, it will do so with the intent of keeping viewers interested in key results and on-the-ground reporting, giving them so much of it they won’t be craving the usual analysis and roundtable chatter. “I think what are aren’t going to have is a lot of noise,” says Page Lobdell, executive producer of special projects and events for NewsNation, during a recent interview. “All the opinion and the commentary and the talking heads sitting around a table giving their talking points, we are going to want to cut that out.” Executives at the network hope their coverage reminds some viewers of “NFL RedZone,” the “whip-around” format that takes viewers to important moments as they happen. The network is, as it has during recent coverage of elections, relying on Decision Desk HQ, a tabulator of voting data that enjoys a good record as an early caller of key races. That company’s data-miners will hold forth in a “war room” at Georgetown University and will offer behind-the-scenes looks at how the team analyzes incoming stats and makes its pronouncements. “More transparency is better,” says Chris Stirewalt, NewsNation’s political editor. “We live in an era of data. We live in an era of prediction markets. People have an expectation of what they are going to get and when they are going to get it. We can do that.” NewsNation will vie for attention Tuesday night with a growing host of media outlets that will also be covering elections. Some are bigger rivals like CNN or NBC News. Others are nimble start-ups led by digital “creators,” some of whom once worked in traditional media. Either way, says Stirewalt, NewsNation thinks it has an edge. Decision Desk HQ proved to be a pivotal ally. The company’s data helped NewsNation become the first network to call Donald Trump the winner of the presidential election in 2024. “I can’t promise you we are going to be first calling the House. I can’t promise you we are going to be first calling the Senate majority. I think we are going to be right before we are going to be first,” says Stirewalt. “I can tell you that the track record says if you are a betting person, you might put your wager on DDHQ and NewsNation.” The “whip-around” format has been making its way from sports to other genres. “RedZone” has become a popular offering for NFL die-hards on Sundays, but in recent years NBC Sports has unveiled a “GoldZone” that helps viewers dip in and out of sundry events during its many hours of Olympics coverage. CBS’ stations have played an instrumental role in a format that takes viewers to news events taking place in different parts of the country that are covered by CBS’ local newsrooms. Election Night can also be a good time to promote other parts of a network. The network’s regular evening hosts, Chris Cuomo, Elizabeth Vargas, Leland Vittert and Katie Pavlich, will co-anchor the evening’s proceedings from Washington, D.C, with Stirewalt and Connell McShane in New York ready to pore through data and stats. NewsNation can tap into resources from dozens of Nexstar stations around the country, and will have its own correspondents spread out around the nation. “We have a camera in a campaign headquarters at nearly every single race across the country,” says Lobdell. NewsNation’s on-air team will have a lot to study. Will results on the east coast serve as an indicator of how other states will vote? Stirewalt says he intends to keep a close eye on Ohio and North Carolina to see whether they eventually tilt red or blue. He also wants to see what the election says about the future of both Democrats and Republicans. Will the Democrats have to contend with left-wing insurgents like Republicans did the Tea Party? What will Republican voting say about the appeal of Vice President JD Vance? To deal with all these storylines, he says, the team needs to focus on numbers ,and not pontification. “We are not going to make you hear the same tired arguments again and again,” says Stirewalt. “What people want are results.”