As Trump Gained Lead, TV Anchors Tried to Convince Viewers to Stay

By Brian Steinberg

Senior TV Editor

Most of the nation’s big TV-news anchors used the same phrase throughout Election Night: “We’re not there yet.” As things turned out, they were.

TV networks came to the 2024 Election ready for a rehash of the one they covered in 2020. Executives had 24-hour coverage sessions mapped out for the battle between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris, and expected, based on polls, to have political panels at the ready through the weekend. The belief was that, like last time, swing states including Pennsylvania, Michigan and Arizona would need days to tabulate the results. Before midnight, however, the crystal ball became more clear. On NBC, around 11 p.m., Lester Holt chided his colleagues for starting to speak as if the whole thing had been decided. “This is beginning to sound like a post-mortem,” he cautioned.

Soon, it would be. After 1 a.m,, Fox News Channel’s Bret Baier told viewers it looked as if Harris “had no path” to 270 electoral votes, and then, at 1:23, the conservative outlet Newsmax had called the race for Trump, with Nexstar’s NewsNation. Fox News Channel, which had earlier called Pennsylvania for Trump, soon made things official for its larger audience.

Anchors, panelists and correspondents spent most of the evening trying to convince viewers there was more drama to unfold. Phrases like “we’re not there yet” and “there’s more to come” became oft-repeated mantras across all the outlets. CNN’s John King spent much of his time using the network’s signature Magic Wall to show how many more Democratic votes might still be left to help Harris overcome what looked to be deficits in Georgia or Pennsylvania.

After time passed, he began demonstrating to viewers that there weren’t enough to be had.

Sitting in the center of a massive soundstage in Culver City, Calif., as 1 a.m. neared on the east coast for an evening-long Election Night special streamed by Amazon Prime Video, Brian Williams called to Erin McPike, who was handling an interactive map: “Erin, you got anything?”

There were good reasons to hope for an extended cycle. A presidential election is what typically brings the biggest and broadest audiences to news. That can be a boon at a time when advertisers have grown wary of sponsoring opinion hosts and newscasts that deliver tough headlines about climate change and polarized electorates. If audiences like what they see, they may stick around for more. At a time when the economics of the TV-news business are under scrutiny, with veteran anchors departing and big salaries under the microscope, days of coverage might have won new audiences.

But it was not to be. Sure, coverage is likely to continue for the next day. Plans have been in place at NBC News and ABC News for hours of coverage that will take viewers from morning programs like “Today” and “Good Morning America” through the evening.

Some were clear well before midnight where things were headed. “North Carolina and Georgia will go to Donald Trump tonight,” said Sean Hannity on Fox News. “And I am as confident in that prediction as any I have ever made.” On CNN, Chris Wallace seized upon exit-poll data just after 5 p.m., showing voters were dissatisfied with major kitchen-table issues such as the economy. Harris, he said, would need “a miracle” to win in the face of such sentiment.

At 11 p.m., with Harris proving unable to emerge with leads in crucial states, the smoke was clearing. “This looks a lot more like 2016 to me than it does 2020,” said Chuck Todd on NBC News. He would be followed around midnight by — for Democrats, at least — a more sobering sight. Jen Psaski, the former Biden White House Press Secretary turned MSNBC host, sat on the panel on NBC News and said: “I’m a believer that you gotta wait until you know … but, yes, if you’re on the campaign right now, you’re feeling pretty down.”