Steve Kornacki calls Decision Desk as Michigan primary counts stall

journalismAug 5, 202641950

NBC News projected Abdul El-Sayed the winner of the Michigan Democratic Senate primary after late returns tightened the race, with Steve Kornacki repeatedly running numbers on air and urging the Decision Desk toward a call. NBC’s projection showed El-Sayed with roughly a 2 point edge over Haley Stevens in late returns, with sample tallies ranging from about 653,449 to 685,600 votes for El-Sayed and 631,603 to 657,905 for Stevens across data posts. The Decision Desk and other vote trackers put the race around 48.8 percent for El-Sayed and 47.2 percent for Stevens with roughly 87 to 90 percent of expected votes reported. The New York Times model gave El-Sayed about a 1.4 point lead, while AP vote updates indicated about 11 percent of ballots remained uncounted and that Stevens would need to win those by roughly 17 percentage points to overtake El-Sayed. On-air viewers noted Kornacki pressing for more time to work the math, saying he did not see a realistic path for Stevens to close the gap. With NBC’s call and multiple models favoring El-Sayed, the projected outcome hands him the Democratic nomination and sets up the next phase of the general election campaign in Michigan.

Walker Bragman

@walkerbragman.bsky.social

NBC projects El-Sayed the winner of the Michigan Senate primary! www.nbcnews.com/politics/202...

2172h ago

Walker Bragman92

This is a fucking rout for AIPAC and the Israel lobby. It’s a significant defeat for the Democratic Party’s centrist wing.

Quoting this

Micah156

okay team we won you can go to bed

Erin Biba46

Thank fucking god y’all did not fucking elect another fucking antisemite who uses Jews as a tool to manipulate people and tries to speak for us while simultaneously reinforcing deadly stereotypes about us. Hopefully this is a sign y’all will stop falling for that shit.

Ryan5

SIXTY MILLION AND FOR WHAT

Jesus Lizard Superstar 🖤 🐀🐀🐀4

thooot thooot thooot [airhorn noises]

logan, hater club CEO4

$70 million and nothing to show for it Stings, a bit

Leon English3

Yay Why the fuck did I stay up I have to continue living my life in a few hours

Zoe2

Oh the establishment crashout is going to be amazing

Sahil Kapur

@sahilkapur.bsky.social

🚨🚨 Abdul El Sayed wins the Democratic Senate primary in Michigan, NBC News projects. He defeats Haley Stevens.

1112h ago

Quoting this

Thembo33

okay this seems likely to hold so going to bed. Goodnight, better things are possible!

Eric Budd4

word. currently 49-47 but rapidly running out of votes for Stevens to make up ground

Charge 🔺

@chargecoyote.bsky.social

How I feel listening to Steve Kornacki and CNN while reading vote dumps on AP and scrolling bluesky all at once for a primary race in a state I don’t live in

895h ago

Barrista

@onbluskysku.bsky.social

If there weren't a flurry of polls right ahead of the primary this would be seen as a political coup across Michigan for McKinney, Lawrence, and El Sayed to all win

712h ago

talia jane

@taliajane.bsky.social

NBC is calling the Michigan Senate primary for Abdul El-Sayed as the projected winner with 685,600 votes and 89.7% of expected votes in and a 2% lead over Haley Stevens’ 657,905 votes. Mallory McMorrow finishes in a distant third with 55,878 votes.

622h ago

Eric Michael Garcia

@ericmgarcia.bsky.social

Per Ellis Bates at @votehub.com: Abdul El-Sayed is netting more votes in Dearborn in the primary than Kamala Harris received in 2024 El-Sayed 2026 primary: 15,899 votes Kamala Harris in 2024: 15,208 votehub.com/2026_mi_sen_...

462h ago

50501: The People’s Movement ❌👑

@50501movement.bsky.social

It’s official: @abdulelsayed.bsky.social wins the Democratic Primary for Senate! The People Prevail Over Corporate Profits Once Again!

50501 BREAKING NEWS
MICHIGAN SENATE
ABDUL EL-SAYED (D)
WINS THE PRIMARY!
Source:
Steve Kornacki

No Kings!

322h ago

Omar Wasow

@owasow.bsky.social

NYT model has El-Sayed winning with +1.4 but you can see how the race has tightened over time. www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

New York Times live forecast graphic for the Michigan Democratic Senate primary.

At the top, a summary indicates the race leans toward Abdul El-Sayed. The estimated final vote share is El-Sayed 49% (47–51%) versus Stevens 47% (45–49%).

The main chart, titled “Estimate of the final margin over time,” compares the reported vote margin (teal dotted line) with the New York Times’ estimated final margin (solid white line) from roughly 8 p.m. to 1:29 a.m. ET. A blue-and-purple shaded band shows the model’s uncertainty, which steadily narrows as more votes are counted. Early reported results briefly show El-Sayed leading by more than 20 percentage points before dropping sharply as additional precincts report. By 1:29 a.m., the reported margin is El-Sayed +1.7 points, while the model estimates a final margin of El-Sayed +1.4 points, with the estimate just above an even race.

A second chart below, “Share of expected turnout reported,” shows cumulative vote reporting rising steadily throughout the evening. At 1:29 a.m. ET, approximately 82% of expected votes have been counted.

272h ago

Kathleen Bachynski

@bachynski.bsky.social

It is cracking me up that NBC News has a “Kornacki Cam”

“Live / Kornacki Cam: Watch Steve analyze midterm primary election results”
He is standing in front of a batch of Senate primary results from Oakland County, Michigan

386h ago

Quoting this

Coach Finstock81

It looks like he's in a wind tunnel

Drew McKevitt45

This is because unregulated betting markets exist and I'm not even kidding

Mollz (ballz)9

Someone more talented than me should change the background to like one of those weather channel hurricane cam spots ykwim

Kevin Allman6

This dude is up there with Cantore for making the news into infotainment

One Battle After Your Mother5

makes it seem like he’s in a zoo enclosure, with a vending machine where visitors can buy polls to feed him

Roku City's Basilisk2

If you bootleg the Kornacki Cam in a specific way, you can access Videodrome.

Decision Desk HQ

@decisiondeskhq.bsky.social

DDHQ Race Update (est. 87% in): Michigan US Senate Democratic Primary Abdul El-Sayed (D): 663,329 (49.0%) Haley Stevens (D): 635,258 (47.0%) Mallory McMorrow (D): 54,315 (4.0%) Follow more results here: votes.decisiondeskhq.com/races/283906

232h ago

Quoting this

Matthew Downhour 17

So we haven't fixed our polling problems I take it

Matthew Blanchette5

Stevens is not making up as many votes as McMorrow is somehow gaining in. Honestly, points to McMorrow, I guess

Dom Ervolina

@dominicervolina.com

The Kornacki Cam is up on YouTube if you're a giant nerd like me www.youtube.com/watch?v=jdFq...

235h ago

Joe Adalian

@tvmojoe.bsky.social

Pretty clear watching the Kornacki Cam that NBC News is telling him he needs to wrap up (guessing by 2 am ET), but Steve is begging them to let him stay on until the race is called. Give the people what they want, NBC!

212h ago

garrett hohendorf3

I figured it was union related when he asked for a tripod

Banana Flower 🌸🌈

@violentbananas.bsky.social

the best part of this is the entire night Steve Kornacki is trying to find votes for Haley all night yet every time you see the screen she's losing even more as we go on lol

153h ago

Andrew Palmer

@andrewp97.bsky.social

love when steve kornacki gets so nerdy on live tv and does the math on paper

176h ago

Timothy McBride

@mcbridetd.bsky.social

I miss Kornacki. If you do too... on election night... watch Kornacki Cam here: You can even see him while he is not on the air LOL *** Watch Steve analyze midterm primary election results www.nbcnews.com/video/kornac...

105h ago

Police respond to Perez Hilton's Miami home after livestream self-harmjournalism Steve Kornacki calls Decision Desk as Michigan primary counts stalljournalism

Steve Kornacki calls Decision Desk as Michigan primary counts stall

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