The Wisconsin Democrat primary for governor was a real nail-biter last night. Hong was up, then down. Crowley was up, then down. It went on this way for hours.
Then, Wisconsin election officials came out and claimed that there was a problem related to five data sticks that weren’t properly downloaded or some such nonsense.
At this point, NBC data guru Steve Kornacki, who had been following the race all night, had nothing to say. He seemed like a man who had been thoroughly beaten. He usually has an answer for anything that Democrats do, but in this case he was at a loss for words.
It was possibly the most awkward moment in political media ever.
The Daily Caller has details:
NBC News national political correspondent Steve Kornacki appeared stunned Tuesday when an error occurred in counting the votes in Wisconsin’s gubernatorial primary.
Democratic Socialist of America (DSA) candidate Francesca Hong lost to Democratic Wisconsin gubernatorial candidate David Crowley by less than 1% after polls indicated she had a comfortable lead. During the “Kornacki Cam” segment on NBC News, Kornacki was at a loss for words when he learned that Milwaukee County officials announced five flash drives had botched voting data, meaning there would be delays in counting the votes.
“Really? Really?” Kornacki muttered. “So we’re just back to square one on this?”
Kornacki did not know how to respond live on-air to the delay. He looked into the camera and told viewers he was disappointed he would have to step off the air without the final results.
“It really is coming down to this one giant update in Milwaukee, but man … we, we … waited 90 minutes for them, they did this whole procession, and then we find out there’s nothing on the sticks … I want you to know I hate, hate doing this to you because we’ve been … I know you’re here for results and we’ve come to the point where it’s like one thing away. I hope you understand that everyone here has been for a long time,” Kornacki said.
Watch the video. This is really painful:
🔥🚨 AWKWARD — NBC ended its live coverage of the Wisconsin Democratic primary as Milwaukee County officials announced a “tabulation error” in the election data.
Five of nine USB sticks with the absentee ballot results contained only audit logs rather than the actual vote… pic.twitter.com/cWjh3uTYSG
— The Patriot Oasis™ (@ThePatriotOasis) August 12, 2026
He is like a man who has just witnessed a horrible crime and doesn’t want to admit it to himself.
kind of sad, really.
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