''Decision Desk HQ'' is an American website that focuses on reporting election results in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. The company's president is Drew McCoy. ''Decision Desk HQ'' uses an

application programming interface An application programming interface (API) is a connection between computers or between computer programs. It is a type of software Interface (computing), interface, offering a service to other pieces of software. A document or standard that des ...

(API) to get election results at the same time as they are published on websites provided by election officials. As of April 2025 it currently has United States election coverage partnerships with

Nexstar Media Group Nexstar Media Group, Inc. is an American publicly traded media company with headquarters in Irving, Texas, Midtown Manhattan, and Chicago. The company is the largest television station owner in the United States, owning 197 television station ...

owned outlets

The Hill (newspaper) ''The Hill'', formed in 1994, is an American newspaper and digital media company based in Washington, D.C. Focusing on politics, policy, business and international relations, ''The Hill''s coverage includes the U.S. Congress, the presidency a ...

and

NewsNation NewsNation is an American cable news network owned by Nexstar Media Group. Known for most of its history as Superstation WGN before becoming WGN America in 2008, it relaunched on March 1, 2021, as a cable news network named after its flagship n ...

, as well as

ballotpedia Ballotpedia is a nonprofit and nonpartisan online political encyclopedia that covers federal, state, and local politics, elections, and public policy in the United States. The website was founded in 2007. Ballotpedia is sponsored by the Lucy Bur ...

for U.S. local election coverage.

History

''Decision Desk HQ'', originally named ''Ace of Spades Decision Desk,'' was founded in 2012 by Brandon Finnigan as an alternative to what he deemed "slow" election calls by the

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American not-for-profit organization, not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association, and produces news reports that are dist ...

. It has called major races since the

2012 United States elections Elections were held in the United States on November 6, 2012. Democratic President Barack Obama won reelection to a second term and the Democrats gained seats in both chambers of Congress, retaining control of the Senate even though the Repub ...

, and it first became known for calling the upset defeat of

House Majority Leader Party leaders of the United States House of Representatives, also known as floor leaders, are congresspeople who coordinate legislative initiatives and serve as the chief spokespersons for their parties on the House floor. These leaders are el ...

Eric Cantor Eric Ivan Cantor (born June 6, 1963) is an American lawyer and former politician who represented Virginia's 7th congressional district in the United States House of Representatives from 2001 to 2014. A Republican, Cantor served as House Mino ...

during his reelection bid to Virginia's 7th congressional district in

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

. In 2020, ''Decision Desk HQ'' was considered one of nine "official sources" for election results by

Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

and provided election results to ''

The Economist ''The Economist'' is a British newspaper published weekly in printed magazine format and daily on Electronic publishing, digital platforms. It publishes stories on topics that include economics, business, geopolitics, technology and culture. M ...

'',

BuzzFeed BuzzFeed, Inc. is an American Internet mass media, media, news and entertainment company with a focus on digital media. Based in New York City, BuzzFeed was founded in 2006 by Jonah Peretti and John Seward Johnson III, John S. Johnson III to ...

'', '' Vox'', and ''

Business Insider ''Business Insider'' (stylized in all caps: BUSINESS INSIDER; known from 2021 to 2023 as INSIDER) is a New York City–based multinational financial and business news website founded in 2007. Since 2015, a majority stake in ''Business Inside ...

''. ''Decision Desk HQ'' was the first major election reporting organization to call the

2020 United States presidential election United States presidential election, Presidential elections were held in the United States on November 3, 2020. The Democratic Party (United States), Democratic ticket of former vice president Joe Biden and California junior senator Kamala H ...

for

Joe Biden Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. (born November 20, 1942) is an American politician who was the 46th president of the United States from 2021 to 2025. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he served as the 47th vice p ...

. The call was made shortly before 9 a.m. ET on Friday, November 6. It made this call after projecting that Biden's lead in outstanding mail-in ballots from

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

left incumbent

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...

with no realistic path to win Pennsylvania and its 20 electoral votes. McCoy told ''Vox'' that the great majority of mail-in ballots from Pennsylvania were from heavily Democratic areas around

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

and

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...

. According to McCoy, Biden was winning the mail-in vote in those areas by a margin large enough to make his lead in the state insurmountable. By ''Decision Desk HQ''s accounting, adding Pennsylvania to Biden's total gave Biden 273 electoral votes, three over the threshold to make him president-elect. ''Vox,'' who partnered with ''Decision Desk HQ,'' called the election for Biden shortly after. Statistician

Nate Silver Nathaniel Read Silver (born January 13, 1978) is an American statistician, political analyst, author, sports gambler, and poker player who Sabermetrics, analyzes baseball, basketball and Psephology, elections. He is the founder of ''FiveThirty ...

praised ''Decision Desk HQ''s call and hoped other sources would follow suit. In November 2021 Decision Desk HQ acquired election news site Elections-Daily.com. It also partnered with

Europe Elects Europe Elects is a political intelligence company and poll aggregator. It is credited for being the first of two platforms to publish permanent European Parliament seat projections, a work which commenced in 2014. Genesis and history Europe ...

during the German and French elections of 2021 and 2022. It did call the Missouri Congressional District 1 Democratic primary wrong, when

Cori Bush Cori Anika Bush (born July 21, 1976) is an American politician, nurse, pastor, and Black Lives Matter activist who served as the United States House of Representatives, U.S. representative for from 2021 to 2025. The district includes all of the ...

beat incumbent

Lacy Clay William Lacy Clay Jr. (born July 27, 1956) is an American politician who served as the U.S. representative from from 2001 to 2021. His congressional career ended after he lost in a Democratic primary to Cori Bush in 2020, after successfully ...

by almost three points. Two years earlier, it miscalled a closer general election in California's 21st Congressional District for

David Valadao David Goncalves Valadao ( ; born April 14, 1977) is an American politician and dairy farmer serving as the U.S. representative for California's 22nd congressional district since 2023. His district comprises part of the San Joaquin Valley. A m ...

who was beaten by Democrat T.J. Cox. During the

2022 United States elections Elections in the United States, Elections were held in the United States on November 8, 2022, with the exception of absentee balloting. During this U.S. midterm election, which occurred during the term of president Joe Biden, all 435 seats in ...

, Decision Desk HQ provided election data to

owned media outlet

, ultimately calling control of Congress on November 15, 2022, 6:13 pm EST, a day before other media outlets. In November 2023 Decision Desk HQ announced a partnership with

owned The Hill and

for

2024 United States elections Elections in the United States, Elections were held in the United States on November 5, 2024. In 2024 United States presidential election, the presidential election, former Republican President Donald Trump, seeking a non-consecutive second term ...

coverage. Decision Desk HQ reprised providing election data to NewsNation, and was the first to call the

2024 United States presidential election United States presidential election, Presidential elections were held in the United States on November 5, 2024. The Republican Party (United States), Republican Party's Ticket (election), ticket—Donald Trump, who was the 45th president of ...

for Donald Trump. In May 2024, Decision Desk HQ announced a partnership with

Ballotpedia Ballotpedia is a nonprofit and nonpartisan online political encyclopedia that covers federal, state, and local politics, elections, and public policy in the United States. The website was founded in 2007. Ballotpedia is sponsored by the Lucy Bur ...

to provide real-time election results coverage for local elections in the United States. On March 31, 2025, Nexstar announced a continuation of its partnership with Decision Desk HQ for the

2025 So far, the year has seen the continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudanese civil war, and the Gaza war. Internal crises in Bangladesh post-resignation v ...

and 2026 United States election coverage for NewsNation and The Hill.

Decision Desk HQ News

In 2021, ''Decision Desk HQ'' announced the creation of ''Decision Desk HQ News'' and the subsequent acquisition of its first site: ''Elections Daily''. The new undertakings are designed to expand Decision Desk HQ's local news and international elections coverage.

References

External links

* {{official website, https://decisiondeskhq.com 2012 establishments in the United States Aggregation websites American political blogs Internet properties established in 2012 Data journalism American political websites Nexstar Media Group

History

Decision Desk HQ News

See also

References

External links