MSNBC viewers were in for a surprise on election night yesterday.
Thousands of American citizens watching the channel expected to see Steve Kornacki manning the Big Board of election coverage as he has done in years past, but instead saw his new replacement, Ali Velshi.
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The move comes just before the network’s rebranding to MS NOW on November 15, as MSNBC is being spun off into the new company Versant, which is separate from NBCUniversal.
The new network MS NOW will no longer use NBC News-employed reporters or staff, which includes Kornacki. He was broadcasting on NBC proper this past Tuesday.
In place of Kornacki, Velshi took viewers through all sorts of statistics for Tuesday’s election day, like turnout and voting percentages.
Initially, viewers were confused at Kornacki’s disappearance.
“Where is STEVE KORNACKI??? @MSNBC love Ali Velshi but whereโs STEVE???????,” one Twitter/X user wrote.
Eventually, though, viewers grew to like Velshi’s on-air persona.
“Election nights with Steve Kornacki are big khakis to fill, but Ali Velshi is doing a great job!,” another Twitter/X user wrote.
And Valshi even had his own trademark clothing item, too.
“Today, @AliVelshi introduced theโฆ.ALI VESTi as we have retired the Kornacki Khakis,” yet another Twitter/X user wrote.
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