For all the concerns about a tumultuous process that could leave Americans waiting for days to learn who its next president would be, news outlets instead experienced an election night that hewed close to tradition.
Fox News Channel was the first to declare Donald Trump had reclaimed the presidency at 1:47 a.m. on Wednesday. Other television networks and The Associated Press had Trump on the precipice of returning to presidency when he took the stage in Florida at 2:25 a.m. to declare victory. 91裸聊视频淭his is, I believe, the greatest political movement of all time,91裸聊视频� Trump said onstage at his victory party in West Palm Beach.
His opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, would speak later Wednesday morning, her campaign manager said, dispersing a crowd that had gathered to celebrate her at Howard University.
Broadcast, cable news networks, digital news sites and one streaming service 91裸聊视频� Amazon 91裸聊视频� steadily into Wednesday morning. Many of their journalists had that determining the winner could be a protracted process that could take several days, .
Yet from the first hints provided by exit poll results shortly after 5 p.m. Eastern time, the election night story moved methodically in Trump91裸聊视频檚 direction. The dam broke at 11:18 p.m. on Tuesday, when the AP called the first of seven battleground states, North Carolina, for the former president.
Networks forge forward quickly
The networks moved quickly into the post-mortem stage.
91裸聊视频淭his looks a lot more like 2016 to me than 2020,91裸聊视频� NBC91裸聊视频檚 Chuck Todd said, a reference to Trump91裸聊视频檚 victory that year over Democrat Hillary Clinton.
Fox News Channel pointed to exit poll results that showed Trump making gains among young voters and Latinos. 91裸聊视频淭he Biden-Harris people pushed them into Trump91裸聊视频檚 open arms,91裸聊视频� said Fox91裸聊视频檚 Dana Perino, a former White House press secretary under President George W. Bush.
91裸聊视频淢aybe,91裸聊视频� Fox News91裸聊视频� Brit Hume said, 91裸聊视频渋t91裸聊视频檚 time for his enemies to stop it.91裸聊视频�
In his speech, Trump praised his running mate, J.D. Vance for 91裸聊视频済oing into the enemy camp91裸聊视频� for interviews on places like CNN and MSNBC. 91裸聊视频淗e absolutely obliterated them,91裸聊视频� he said.
Hours earlier, when the first exit poll results showed the unpopularity of President Joe Biden and Americans with a dim view of where the country was headed, CNN91裸聊视频檚 Chris Wallace said that 91裸聊视频渋t would be a miracle if Harris could win with that.91裸聊视频� His colleagues, Dana Bash and Audie Cornish, warned him of jumping to conclusions that Harris would be blamed for that, but Wallace sounded more prescient as the night progressed.
91裸聊视频淪he was trying to do something as a sitting vice president that had never been done before 91裸聊视频� succeed an unpopular president,91裸聊视频� Todd said.
Analysts question the element of race
Former Sen. Claire McCaskill, an NBC News analyst, said the element of race could not be discounted. Some Americans were more comfortable with President Joe Biden, a white man, than Harris, who was attempting to be the first woman of color to be elected president, she said.
91裸聊视频淐an you imagine a woman of color acting the way Donald Trump acted 91裸聊视频� even for one day?91裸聊视频� CNN analyst Van Jones said. 91裸聊视频淭he kinds of stuff that he said, the kinds of stuff that he did, the way that he would insult people. If you91裸聊视频檙e a person of color, you don91裸聊视频檛 feel like you have the freedom.91裸聊视频�
Trump had 91裸聊视频渁 license to just be a fool, just to be an obnoxious ass 91裸聊视频� and he gets to be president,91裸聊视频� Jones said.
Due to remarkably close pre-election polls, the outcome was considered a mystery that could take many days to resolve. In his last pre-election prediction, statistician Nate Silver said it was no better than a coin flip, giving an ever-so-slight edge to Harris.
The New York Times91裸聊视频� predictive Needle judged the contest a 91裸聊视频渢oss-up91裸聊视频� in the beginning of the evening, leaning slightly toward Trump. But it moved steadily in Trump91裸聊视频檚 direction, to the point where the Times by midnight judged Trump with a 90 percent likelihood of capturing the presidency again.
Also by midnight, CNN91裸聊视频檚 count had Trump leading Harris in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin 91裸聊视频� the so-called blue wall that was central to her strategy for victory.
91裸聊视频淚t91裸聊视频檚 not mission impossible91裸聊视频� for Harris to come back and win Pennsylvania, CNN91裸聊视频檚 John King said, looking over voter statistics. 91裸聊视频淏ut it91裸聊视频檚 becoming mission improbable.91裸聊视频� Within two hours, CNN awarded Pennsylvania to Trump.
For much of the night, the journalists who stood before 91裸聊视频渕agic boards91裸聊视频� 91裸聊视频� King, Bill Hemmer on Fox News Channel, Steve Kornacki on MSNBC 91裸聊视频� took up much of the airtime with granular reports on results. State-by-state, county-by-county, they showed numbers where Trump was outperforming his 2020 campaign and Harris lagged behind Biden91裸聊视频檚 results.
If anything, the networks relied too much on their numbers czars than on their reporters.
To have results was a relief
The presence of actual results were a tonic to news organizations that had weeks 91裸聊视频� and an excruciatingly long 91裸聊视频� to talk about an election campaign that polls have repeatedly shown to be remarkably tight. They tried to extract wisdom from anecdotal evidence.
91裸聊视频淒ixville Notch is a metaphor for the entire race,91裸聊视频� CNN91裸聊视频檚 Alyssa Farah Griffin said, making efforts to draw meaning from the tiny that reported its 3-3 vote for Harris and Trump in the early morning hours.
Former NBC News anchor Brian Williams, during his one-night leading Amazon91裸聊视频檚 streamcast appearance, had one unexpected guest in the California studio where he was operating. Puck reporter Tara Palmeri was supposed to report from Trump headquarters in West Palm Beach but was denied credentials to attend by the former president91裸聊视频檚 team.
Trump campaign manager Chris LaCivita described her as a 91裸聊视频済ossip columnist91裸聊视频� in a post on the social media site X. Palmeri told Williams she had accurately reported some anxiety within the Trump camp about who was voting early.
Neither Axios nor Politico would immediately confirm reports that some of their reporters were similarly banned, and the Trump campaign did not immediately return a call for comment.
