Groton roots: How a middle school teacher shaped a national analyst

Steve Kornacki, the data analyst who became a national television fixture during the 2020 election, is currently in Lexington, Ky., for the Breeders’ Cup. While the event marks a return to his childhood love of horse racing, the trip carries a personal weight. Kornacki is meeting Bob Catalini, a former teacher who introduced him to the mechanics of political elections nearly four decades ago.

Catalini taught social studies at Groton-Dunstable Regional Middle School. In 1990, the class studied the Massachusetts gubernatorial race between Democrat John Silber and Republican William Weld. To illustrate the process, Catalini organized a mock election for his sixth graders. Kornacki volunteered to represent the Democratic candidate and immersed himself in the campaign, creating signs and campaigning in the cafeteria.

Kornacki recalled that Silber was considered the underdog, which made the race compelling. "It was just an exciting thing to watch this thing that wasn’t supposed to happen," Kornacki said. Although Kornacki won the classroom election, the real-world Silber lost in a close contest. The outcome left the young student disappointed, but it did not dim his interest in the political process.

The defining moment came when Catalini reviewed the actual election results with the class. He walked students through the town-by-town breakdown, explaining why specific municipalities leaned Democratic or Republican. Kornacki said this exercise provided a framework that influenced his career. "I didn’t know anything about why one would be Democratic, one would be Republican, and it explained to me what had happened in the actual election," he said.

The two maintained a connection through Kornacki’s high school years. Catalini later served as the athletic director and basketball coach at Groton-Dunstable Regional High School. When he needed a statistician for his staff, he selected Kornacki. "Of course it was Steve," Catalini said. Catalini, who now lives in Sandwich, described his former student as driven and enthusiastic.

Kornacki’s career has expanded since he moved from MSNBC to NBC News last year. He now anchors the "Kornacki Cam," a YouTube livestream featuring his election analysis monitor. NBC News plans 13 hours of coverage on Election Day, with the cam launching at 5:30 p.m. He also applies his data skills to sports, including weekly segments during Sunday night football games and analysis of the 2026 Milan Olympics.

Kornacki and Catalini reconnected through the world of thoroughbred racing. Catalini now works for The Real Players, a digital outlet founded by Saratoga Springs barbers Rasi Harper and Maurice Davis. The site documents the people behind the sport. Kornacki has appeared in their content, including an interview with Hall of Fame trainer Shug McGaughey. Kornacki views both racing and election nights as puzzles that require piecing together fragmented information to predict the final outcome.

The analyst compares the process of watching an election map fill in county by county to solving a race. "You’re trying to anticipate what the complete picture is going to look like based on a fragment of information," Kornacki said. He embraces the role of a horse race journalist, noting that both disciplines focus on determining who wins, who loses, and why.