The Iowa Caucus takes place Monday night, kicking off the primary season of the 2020 election in earnest. The major cable news networks will be doing special coverage, as will a variety of outlets and their corresponding digital arms.
The Iowa Caucus is the first nominating contest of the 2020 cycle and it begins at 8 p.m. ET, or 7 p.m. CT (local time), all throughout the state. Iowa has 41 delegates and eight superdelegates available to vote for the caucus winner at the upcoming conventions, where each party’s nominee will be chosen.
NBC News and MSNBC hit the ground running Monday morning, announcing a bevy of platforms and tools to supplement the first caucus of the season, as well as sending over 30 anchors, reporters and correspondents to the state for day-long, live coverage. They rolled out “Road to 270,” an interactive online tool to help voters visualize the paths 2020’s winner could take to secure the Electoral College, and brought back “Election Confessions,” a portal for voters to submit anonymous thoughts about the process.
Rachel Maddow, Brian Williams and Nicolle Wallace will anchor special coverage on MSNBC starting at 6 p.m. ET and Chris Matthews anchor from Des Moines, IA. NBC News and MSNBC national political correspondent Steve Kornacki will provide updates on results. NBC News will also stream a special report with “Meet the Press” moderator Chuck Todd at 7:30 p.m.
Fox News is also doing special coverage around the event live from Iowa, with chief political anchor Bret Baier and “The Story” anchor Martha MacCallum hosting a two-hour special, “Democracy 2020: The Iowa Caucuses” at 6 p.m. ET. There will be a primetime special at 10 p.m. ET to review results and give viewers analysis.
C-SPAN will be live in Iowa from caucus sites in West Des Moines and Milo at 7:30 p.m. ET, and will air results and candidate speeches at 9:30 p.m. ET. Stream C-SPAN’s coverage here.
CBS Evening News managing editor and anchor Norah O’Donnell will provide updates on the network beginning at 8 p.m. ET. CBSN, CBS News’ free streaming service, will stream coverage throughout the day and at 5 p.m. ET, Elaine Quijano will anchor a special edition of “Red & Blue” focusing on the caucus. CBS News’ live CBSNews.com will also provide updates throughout Monday.
ABC News will have special coverage, with special reports in primetime and breaking news as results are announce. The network will also provide coverage and analysis on ABCNews.com. ABC News Live, the network’s 24/7 breaking news and live events channel, will also have special coverage beginning at 8:00 p.m. ET.
For a more digitally-savvy crowd, NowThis News is broadcasting its correspondents from locations across the state. The outlet’s daily Facebook Watch show, “KnowThis,” will be broadcasting live from Iowa with senior correspondent Dan Lieberman.