Ali Velshi is about to enter a club with very exclusive membership.
When TV-news outlets contemplate how best to explain the results of the nation’s big elections to viewers, one key element is always an interactive board that shows polling and voting results in the most granular detail. The person assigned to that duty each year becomes an important part of the evening’s proceeding.
At MS NOW, Velshi will pick up duties previously held by Steve Kornacki, and which are matched elsewhere by John King at CNN and Bill Hemmer at Fox News Channel. Kornacki left MS NOW last year as the network, once known as MSNBC, was preparing for a split from NBCUniversal. MS NOW, CNBC and other cable networks are now part of a separate company known as Versant ,and Kornacki opted to stick with NBC News and NBC Sports, where he often interprets data about football and horse racing.
“I’ve had the privilege of learning from Ali for the last twenty-plus years in various newsrooms. One of his many gifts is his unique ability to take complex data and make it digestible,” said Rebecca Kutler, president of MS NOW, in a statement. “Ali will guide our audience through the real-time information that will determine the outcomes of the midterm and presidential elections. I’m thrilled Ali will bring his understanding of public opinion and voters to our election coverage in the years ahead.”
Velshi, a veteran of the cable-news wars, joined MS NOW in 2016 after stints at CNN and Al-Jazeera America. Since that time, he has led his own weekend program, teamed up with Stephanie Ruhle and served as a fill-in host for the network’s primetime shows. He has also traveled around the world, reporting from Ukraine and across Central and Eastern Europe, among other locales.
“On big political nights, the numbers tell the story of participation, power, and choice. Voters decide elections, and the data lets us watch those decisions take shape in real time,” said Velshi, in a statement. “I’m grateful for the opportunity to guide viewers through primaries, election nights, and major political moments with context, transparency, and a focus on the facts.”