After a long Election Day (turned night, turned day, again) MSNBC's "map guy" Steve Kornacki finally took a break from reporting on the tight race between former Vice President Joe Biden and current Commander-in-Chief President Donald Trump.
Steve, a correspondent for MSNBC and NBC News, was tasked with updating viewers at home about how the highly anticipated election was shaping up. His shift began Tuesday, Nov. 3 with an appearance on Morning Joe, and continued all the way through the early morning hours on Wednesday, Nov. 4, E! News learned. Sleep, obviously, was not an option—for Steve, and also for many of the viewers at home glued to his reporting.
While the increase in mail-in votes due to the coronavirus pandemic means a lag in getting the results for many elections—including the battle for the White House, which will fall in the hands of the winner of the electoral college—Steve is only human. Though he told GQ that he deals with the long hours by drinking ample Diet Coke, caffeine can't replace a good night's sleep. Fortunately, on Wednesday, Nov. 4, Steve finally decided to take a breather...though it didn't sound like much of a choice!
"We have removed him forcibly from the building," Ali Velshi told MSNBC anchor Ari Melber shortly after noon on Wednesday when he stepped in to take over the map. "He's in a room with a pillow, blankets and warm milk."
While a nap was definitely overdue, Steve still took the time to thank the fans at home watching his coverage of the election.
"You may not recognize me, there's no giant touch screen behind me, but Steve Kornacki here," he joked in a video shared to the MSNBC Twitter account. "I just wanted to say, I saw after I finally left the studio all these incredibly, you know, kind and friendly and nice messages everybody [shared] on social media. I just wanted to say thank you."
There will be plenty of time for powering through the election cycle by pounding Diet Cokes, but for now, let's hope Steve really enjoys that warm milk and some much-deserved Zzzs.