On Election night, CNN’s team of anchors, correspondents, analysts, and commentators will provide special coverage and report from across America on Tuesday, Nov. 8.
Jake Tapper and Anderson Cooper will kick off Election Night in America 2022 live from CNN’s Election Centers in Washington, DC, and New York, beginning at 4 p.m. ET. Joining them will be CNN chief political correspondent and anchor Dana Bash, along with CNN anchors Abby Phillip and Chris Wallace.
CNN anchor and chief national affairs analyst Kasie Hunt will be tracking the Senate races, and CNN anchor Boris Sanchez will be covering the gubernatorial races around the country.
CNN anchor and chief national correspondent John King will be back at his famed “Magic Wall,” providing viewers with up-to-the-minute election analysis and reporting on the House races. CNN anchor John Berman will also report from the CNN Magic Wall, CNN reporter Harry Enten will give context on exit polls, and CNN political director David Chalian will provide analysis on exit polls. Additionally, CNN anchor Pamela Brown will provide updates on voting across the country.
CNN chief political analyst Gloria Borger and CNN senior political commentator David Axelrod will provide insight and analysis, as well as CNN commentators Van Jones, David Urban, Alyssa Farah Griffin, and Scott Jennings.
CNN senior White House correspondent Phil Mattingly will provide live updates from the White House and CNN chief congressional correspondent Manu Raju will report live from Washington, D.C.
CNN has a team of correspondents and reporters reporting live from key battleground states on Tuesday. They include national correspondent Kyung Lah, national politics reporter Eva McKend, correspondent Omar Jimenez, congressional correspondent Jessica Dean, and chief national affairs Correspondent Jeff Zeleny.
Anchors Don Lemon, Wolf Blitzer, Erin Burnett, Poppy Harlow, Alisyn Camerota, and Kaitlan Collins will lead continuing coverage live from the CNN Election Center. Anchors Ana Cabrera, Victor Blackwell, and Brianna Keilar will report from the voting desk.
It’s fair to say that’s a lot of people on call! We recently caught up with CNN svp of Washington D.C. and special events programming Eric Sherling, who is the executive in charge of CNN’s election night coverage this year, about what else viewers should expect from the network. Here’s what the longtime CNN producer had to tell us.
TVNewser: What can the viewer expect from your network’s election night coverage that he or she didn’t see in 2020 or 2018?
Sherling: This year, a team of producers behind CNN’s Magic Wall led by Pallavi Reddy developed new ways to explore the vast amounts of election data that come with a midterm election. Viewers can expect our on-air election team to dive even deeper into the closest races in the country in real time county by county. These more sophisticated tools will help viewers understand how Americans are voting in 2022, where outstanding votes are, and when they are expected to come in. These tools will ensure CNN viewers have the most accurate, up-to-date information about results and the context to understand that information.
What lessons did you take away from 2020 and 2018 that you’re keeping in mind for this year’s coverage?
As we saw in 2020, the early results that come in on election night are often not predictive of the final outcomes. CNN will continue to put an emphasis on providing our audience with clear and fact-based information ahead of time and as the evening progresses, helping them to understand how the dynamics and voting regulations in each state impact how the results come in.
Where will you be spending most of election night? If it’s in the control room, who will you be seated near/next to?
I will be in the control room in CNN’s Washington, DC, bureau – sitting next to a pile of snacks, our Director Reza Baktar, Executive Producer Abigail Crutchfield, and Supervising Producer Melissa Block.
If past is prologue, some of these races may not be decided on Nov. 8, or even Nov. 9. Do you have contingency plans set if this goes on for multiple days, and if so, what are they?
As we did in 2020, CNN will rely heavily on our robust reporting teams in the field and the operation we have built to give the best coverage of the election for as long as needed.
Eric Sherling