Candy and Smiles on MS NOW, and Some Regrets on Fox News

Follow our live coverage of the 2026 midterm elections.It was a night when cable news seemed to turn on its head.The “celebration can absolutely begin,” declared Rachel Maddow just after 10 p.m.Eastern on MS NOW, where she and a band of beaming liberal pundits had just projected a Democratic takeover of the House of Representatives.Two years ago, back when the network was called MSNBC, hangdog faces dominated as President Trump clinched one battleground state after the next.

On Tuesday, Chris Hayes was looking giddy.“There are races on the board right now that have no business whatsoever of being close,” he said, marveling at the reach of a blue wave that was sweeping even obscure Democratic candidates into Congress.“I’ve never seen these people’s names before! The Democrat — I’m like, ‘Who’s this dude?’”It wasn’t long until actual candy was being passed around on set, and that was before the Democrats were projected to win the Senate, too.

“The miasma of sugar coming off you guys!” Ms.Maddow said, teasingly, as Nicolle Wallace and Michael Steele giggled and acknowledged they had been sneaking some sweets.Over on Fox News, the mood was subdued.

The buoyancy of Mr.Trump’s 2024 election night was replaced with pensive exchanges about what it meant for the Republican Party to be repudiated so starkly.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.

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