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- Stephan Joseph Kornacki
- Born:
- August 22, 1979, Groton, Massachusetts, U.S. (age 44)
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Steve Kornacki (born August 22, 1979, Groton, Massachusetts, U.S.) is a journalist and television commentator known for his encyclopedic knowledge of political history and the intricacies of the electoral map. The MSNBC commentator has become famous in popular culture for providing frenetic, tireless analysis during the election cycle while wearing khaki pants and standing in front of the cable network’s “big board.”
Childhood and early life
Kornacki was born in Groton, Massachusetts, to Stephan Joseph Kornacki, Sr., an executive search consultant, and Anne Bernadette (née Ramonas) Kornacki, a social worker and homemaker. He has one sister, Katherine Kornacki, who is 18 months older than him.
His childhood was dominated by Boston, sports, and a passion for politics. He dreamed of being like sportscaster Brent Musburger, and at age 12 he was heartbroken when Bill Clinton defeated Massachusetts Sen. Paul Tsongas to win the 1992 Democratic presidential nomination.
College and early career
Kornacki graduated from Boston University with a degree in film and television in 2001, and the following year he began his journalism career at the political website PoliticsNJ.com. He covered New Jersey politics for several years before moving on to a series of reporting positions at various publications, including Roll Call, The New York Observer, and Salon, where he served as politics editor.
As his profile as a political reporter grew, he found himself being asked to appear as a “talking head” on cable news networks, including MSNBC. His vast knowledge of political history, his ability to offer big-picture analysis rooted in the minutiae of the political leanings of congressional districts, and his Energizer Bunny-like enthusiasm for his subject matter soon led to regular appearances on The Rachel Maddow Show and The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell.
Career at MSNBC
After a stint hosting The Cycle on MSNBC while still working at Salon, Kornacki moved to a full-time role at MSNBC in 2013. In 2014 he became MSNBC’s election coverage map correspondent, a role that has become a staple of network election night coverage. CNN has John King in this role, and Fox’s Bill Hemmer has the eponymous “Bill Board,” an interactive screen that features up-to-the-minute returns.
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Kornacki’s near around-the-clock on-screen presence during the 2020 election cycle elevated his status to social media phenomenon, winning the admiration of influencers, including model Chrissy Teigen. Often shuffling printouts on camera and even pulling out a calculator on live television to determine the number of votes left to be counted as he exuberantly circled key counties on maps, Kornacki seemed to be an MSNBC fixture at any time of the day or night between Election Day on Tuesday, November 4, and Joe Biden being declared president-elect on Saturday, November 8.
Kornacki is tongue in cheek about the secrets to his stamina and success. “I’ll drink a ton of Diet co*ke,” he told GQ magazine in advance of the 2020 marathon. “Once we start getting election results, I feed off the energy.…It’s kind of perpetual motion there. So that keeps me alert and I get energized by that. And, before the election, I guess some combination of anticipation and terror, fear of failure.”
Kornacki’s appeal seems to transcend politics. The sports-loving Kornacki has done analyses of the NFL playoffs, the Kentucky Derby, and the Olympic Games for NBC. He made a cameo appearance on Saturday Night Live after the 2022 midterm elections. He is also the author of The Red and the Blue: The 1990s and the Birth of Political Tribalism.
Personal life
In 2011 he wrote a deeply personal essay for Salon revealing that he is gay and exploring the struggle he had with his identity. He decided to write the essay because he had decided, he said, that “if I couldn’t stand up to the fear that had gripped me since high school, regret would become my permanent condition.” Kornacki had guarded his secret so closely that even his parents did not know until he showed them the essay shortly before it was published. Their response—“We’re proud of you”—lifted a burden Kornacki had been carrying for much of his life.
“Most people used to be exposed to only a select cross-section of gay people,” Kornacki told Out magazine in 2014. “But the atmosphere has changed so much, and so quickly.”
Tracy Grant