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Lester Holt Describes What Will Happen on Election Night — and How He's Preparing
The NBC Nightly News anchor told Jimmy Fallon which states to watch for early in the night, and shared that he's "packed for two nights in a hotel."
Jimmy Fallon described Lester Holt as "the face of NBC" at the top of their Tonight Show sit-down on November 4. And while you're certainly likely to spot the likes of Holt or Steve Kornacki should you visit 30 Rock, Holt's reaction was humble (Fallon also noted the journalist wore his NBC building I.D. to their interview, to which Holt insisted, "You can't get in doors around here without this!"). Holt spoke to Fallon about polling projections, the "dramatic" election night ahead, and which states to watch early in the evening.
As for the night of November 5 when the election returns roll in, Holt described his task as a "transition" from campaign reporting for the better part of two years. "For at least a period tomorrow, we'll be spectators, essentially, waiting for the information to come in — then we'll be able to report it out," he said.
Holt confirmed that he's been an NBC Nightly News anchor for 10 years, and he's spent 25 years at NBC News — so knows his way around an edge-of-your-seat election night. But with so many Americans anxious to hear who'll be elected the 47th president of the United States, Fallon told Holt that if he were in the anchor's shoes, he'd currently "live in a cave."
"Really?" Holt asked.
"Yes! Because everyone has their phones out, and they probably want to trick you into saying, 'who's going to win?' or, 'Do you know anything?'"
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Lester Holt talks to Jimmy Fallon about election results: It "could run late into the night" and then some
While "trick" isn't the word Holt would use, "people do think that you know a lot when you have this job, especially at times like this."
"They want to know what I know about the election: Who's going to win? What time will we call the election?" Holt told Fallon. "And sometimes you can't be as candid as you often want to be, because, your radar is up just a little bit. But with most people, it's a genuine conversation that we're all, on some level, engaged in right now."
Fallon said he's appreciated that Holt has "kept it classy" throughout the 2024 election, which Fallon called "probably one of the craziest ones in American history."
"It's been different," Holt allowed. As for the polls that are locked at 49-49 per NBC News, he said that "the polls are very useful in terms of us understanding where the story is going — what issues are animating people, or driving people to the [voting booth], what they think on a particular topic."
That said, "In terms of picking a winner or loser, I don't count on them for that," Holt added.
The anchor agreed with Fallon's prediction that the evening will be "dramatic," and it "could run late into the night."
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"There are some states I would watch early," Holt said, noting that Georgia's voting closes at 7 p.m. ET. "That's a battleground state, so that might give some indication, where things are going."
North Carolina closes a half an hour later, and "once again, could be a pivotal state. So we're going to be looking for those early clues in our coverage, trying to figure out which way the winds are pointing."
The path to 270 electoral votes may well be a long one: "I've packed for two nights in a hotel," Holt revealed.
Watch Lester Holt's Tonight Show interview — in which he shares his favorite election night snack — above.
How to watch election night coverage on NBC
You can find NBC’s live coverage of the 2024 presidential election on November 5 on local affiliate channel. You can also stream NBC’s coverage online via DirecTV Stream, fuboTV, or Hulu + Live TV, as long as you have a cable provider login.
Live news coverage will also be available on NBC's 24/7 YouTube stream.
