Chuck Todd, Chris Cillizza to host live election night broadcast
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Chuck Todd and Chris Cillizza. Photos: Ed Rode/Getty Images for Politicon; Photo by Slaven Vlasic/Getty Images for American Friends of NATAL
Chuck Todd and Chris Cillizza are teaming up with Decision Desk HQ to host "The Projection," a live Election Night broadcast, Axios has learned.
Why it matters: The show features two of Washington, D.C.'s most well-known political pundits and gives them a platform to deliver their own real-time results directly to viewers.
- NBC News veteran Todd launched his own media company after leaving the network.
- Cillizza is a former Washington Post and CNN politics guru-turned independent journalist.
Zoom in: "The Projection" will begin streaming at 6pm ET next Tuesday for audiences across YouTube, X and Substack, as well as Decision Desk HQ's Votes portal and the Noosphere app.
- Noosphere is a subscription platform that connects journalists directly with their audiences. Both Todd and Cillizza are on its roster of journalists. Todd is also an investor.
- The event, which is invitation-only for those attending in person, will take place at a pub in downtown Washington, D.C.
- The live broadcast is presented by Kalshi and Noosphere.
Between the lines: Todd and Cillizza's livestream is unique in that it will make its own election calls, and will announce them live, on-air.
- Decision Desk HQ analysts will project races as results come in, according to a statement announcing the show. "Viewers will see those calls on 'The Projection' at the same time they go to DDHQ's other media partners," the statement said.
- "Every other Election Night stream is reacting to someone else's numbers," said Scott Tranter, co-founder of Decision Desk HQ, said in a statement. "On 'The Projection,' the data and projections are ours, and we make them first."
Context: While other media outlets and creators use Decision Desk HQ's data, Todd and Cillizza's show will be produced in conjunction with the company and stream on Decision Desk HQ's social channels.
- Todd, Tranter, Cillizza and his wife, Gia, co-founded Decision Made Productions to cover the 2026 midterms.
- They plan to turn "The Projection" into a daily show after the midterm elections, in early 2027.
The big picture: Typically, major broadcasters and cable networks provide live video coverage of race calls.
- But in the streaming era, more creators are building their own shows and products to reach political junkies directly online.
The bottom line: "Viewers want the results fast, they want them straight, and they want to understand what they mean. That's the show we built," Todd said in a statement.
