Data wizard Steve Kornacki is moving from MSNBC to join NBC News ahead of the liberal cable network’s split from its parent company.
Kornacki, the network’s data guru who has become a fixture of election nights, is leaving MSNBC and is expected to become a regular on Meet the Press, NBC Nightly, and the Today show, an NBC spokesperson confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter.
He is also expected to appear on the NBC News Now streaming service as well as NBC Sports programming, including NFL football, the Olympics, and the Kentucky Derby.
His new title will be chief data analyst for NBC News and NBC Sports.
The Independent has reached out to representatives at NBC News for comment.
Kornacki, who became known for his election night coverage with his “big board” where he scribbles polling data while providing in-depth analysis into each county’s demographic makeup and voting history, has been a national correspondent for NBC News since 2017. He first joined MSNBC in 2012, Deadline reported.
Kornacki and his signature khakis became an internet sensation as ballots took days to be counted during the 2020 presidential election.
“The reason I love doing election nights is that we spend so much time in the run-up to it, trying to figure out what’s going on, and coming up with all sorts of different theories,” Kornacki previously told USA Today. “That’s truly where the adrenaline comes in. For me, it’s ‘I don’t know what’s going to happen, but we’re going to find out.'”
The move comes as MSNBC constructs a new news operation as the network is set to join SpinCo, a spinoff operation run by parent company Comcast.
SpinCo will include an array of cable assets — USA Network, CNBC, MSNBC, Oxygen, E!, SYFY and Golf Channel — as well as digital assets, Fandango and Rotten Tomatoes, GolfNow and Sports Enginem according to a November 2024 press release.
The change means a shakeup in the talent lineup.
NBC News Correspondent Antonia Hylton is leaving NBC News to come to MSNBC to co-host The Weekend: Primetime, MSNBC announced Tuesday.
