Unexpectedly, news outlets wind up having a relatively traditional election night experience

For each nan concerns astir a tumultuous process that could time off Americans waiting for days to study who its adjacent president would be, news outlets alternatively knowledgeable an predetermination nighttime that hewed adjacent to tradition.

Fox News Channel declared Donald Trump had reclaimed nan presidency astatine 1:47 a.m. connected Wednesday. Broadcast networks and The Associated Press had Trump connected nan precipice of returning to nan presidency erstwhile he took nan shape successful Florida astatine 2:25 a.m. to state victory. “This is, I believe, nan top governmental activity of each time,” Trump said onstage astatine his triumph statement successful West Palm Beach.

His opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, would speak later Wednesday morning, her run head said, dispersing a crowd that had gathered to observe her astatine Howard University.

Broadcast, cablegram news networks, integer news sites and 1 streaming work — Amazon — covered nan count steadily into Wednesday morning. Many of their journalists had warned viewers that determining nan victor could beryllium a prolonged process that could return respective days, like it had successful 2020.

Yet from nan first hints provided by exit canvass results soon aft 5 p.m. Eastern time, nan predetermination nighttime communicative moved methodically successful Trump's direction. The reservoir collapsed astatine 11:18 p.m. connected Tuesday, erstwhile nan AP called nan first of 7 battleground states, North Carolina, for nan erstwhile president.

The networks moved quickly into nan post-mortem stage.

“This looks a batch much for illustration 2016 to maine than 2020,” NBC’s Chuck Todd said, a reference to Trump’s triumph that twelvemonth complete Democrat Hillary Clinton.

Fox News Channel pointed to exit canvass results that showed Trump making gains among young voters and Latinos. “The Biden-Harris group pushed them into Trump’s unfastened arms,” said Fox’s Dana Perino, a erstwhile White House property caput nether President George W. Bush.

“Maybe,” Fox News' Brit Hume said, “it's clip for his enemies to extremity it.”

In his speech, Trump praised his moving mate, J.D. Vance for “going into nan force camp” for interviews connected places for illustration CNN and MSNBC. “He perfectly obliterated them,” he said.

Hours earlier, erstwhile nan first exit canvass results showed nan unpopularity of President Joe Biden and Americans pinch a dim position of wherever nan state was headed, CNN’s Chris Wallace said that “it would beryllium a occurrence if Harris could triumph pinch that.” His colleagues, Dana Bash and Audie Cornish, warned him of jumping to conclusions that Harris would beryllium blamed for that, but Wallace sounded much prescient arsenic nan nighttime progressed.

“She was trying to do thing arsenic a sitting vice president that had ne'er been done earlier — win an unpopular president,” Todd said.

Former Sen. Claire McCaskill, an NBC News analyst, said nan constituent of title could not beryllium discounted. Some Americans were much comfortable pinch President Joe Biden, a achromatic man, than Harris, who was attempting to beryllium nan first female of colour to beryllium elected president, she said.

“Can you ideate a female of colour acting nan measurement Donald Trump acted — moreover for 1 day?” CNN expert Van Jones said. “The kinds of worldly that he said, nan kinds of worldly that he did, nan measurement that he would reproach people. If you're a personification of color, you don't consciousness for illustration you person nan freedom.”

Trump had “a licence to conscionable beryllium a fool, conscionable to beryllium an obnoxious ass ... and he gets to beryllium president,” Jones said.

Due to remarkably adjacent pre-election polls, nan result was considered a enigma that could return galore days to resolve. In his past pre-election prediction, statistician Nate Silver said it was nary amended than a coin flip, giving an ever-so-slight separator to Harris.

The New York Times' predictive Needle judged nan title a “toss-up” successful nan opening of nan evening, leaning somewhat toward Trump. But it moved steadily successful Trump's direction, to nan constituent wherever nan Times by midnight judged Trump pinch a 90 percent likelihood of capturing nan presidency again.

Also by midnight, CNN's count had Trump starring Harris successful Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin — nan alleged bluish wall that was cardinal to her strategy for victory.

“It's not ngo impossible” for Harris to travel backmost and triumph Pennsylvania, CNN's John King said, looking complete elector statistics. “But it's becoming ngo improbable.” Within 2 hours, CNN awarded Pennsylvania to Trump.

For overmuch of nan night, nan journalists who stood earlier “magic boards” — King, Bill Hemmer connected Fox News Channel, Steve Kornacki connected MSNBC — took up overmuch of nan airtime pinch granular reports connected results. State-by-state, county-by-county, they showed numbers wherever Trump was outperforming his 2020 run and Harris lagged down Biden’s results.

If anything, nan networks relied excessively overmuch connected their numbers czars than connected their reporters.

The beingness of existent results were a tonic to news organizations that had weeks — and an excruciatingly agelong day of voting — to talk astir an predetermination run that polls person many times shown to beryllium remarkably tight. They tried to extract contented from anecdotal evidence.

“Dixville Notch is simply a metaphor for nan full race,” CNN’s Alyssa Farah Griffin said, making efforts to tie meaning from nan mini New Hampshire community that reported its 3-3 ballot for Harris and Trump successful nan early greeting hours.

Former NBC News anchor Brian Williams, during his one-night starring Amazon's streamcast appearance, had 1 unexpected impermanent successful nan California workplace wherever he was operating. Puck newsman Tara Palmeri was expected to study from Trump office successful West Palm Beach but was denied credentials to be by nan erstwhile president's team.

Trump run head Chris LaCivita described her arsenic a “gossip columnist” successful a station connected nan societal media tract X. Palmeri told Williams she had accurately reported immoderate worry wrong nan Trump campy astir who was voting early.

Neither Axios nor Politico would instantly corroborate reports that immoderate of their reporters were likewise banned, and nan Trump run did not instantly return a telephone for comment.

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David Bauder writes astir media for nan AP. Follow him astatine http://x.com/dbauder.