MS NOW has hired Kabir Khanna as its director of elections and analytics, luring away another CBS News veteran as it beefs up its elections coverage ahead of the 2026 midterms.
Khanna, who led CBS News’ elections data desk as its director of election analytics and technical systems, will work across both MS NOW and sister network CNBC. He’ll oversee MS NOW’s elections data coverage and voter polls while evaluating race projections from network partners.
“Bringing Kabir on board at this pivotal moment, just ahead of the 2026 midterm elections and as we look toward the highly contested 2028 presidential race, underscores our commitment to leading the industry in political coverage,” Brian Carovillano, MS NOW’s senior vice president of news standards and partnerships, told staff in a Friday memo.
“The MS NOW community deserves fact-based, data-driven stories that not only inform them about which side is winning but also contextualize the current political moment,” Khanna said in a statement. “How does the public approach key issues, and how are voters making decisions at the ballot box? In this era of democratic backsliding and such a fragmented information environment, we have an opportunity to lead the way in providing timely, accurate estimates of what people think and how they’re voting.”
Earlier this week, MS NOW hired former “CBS Mornings“ executive producer Shawna Thomas as its political director. Carovillano told staff the two would work together “to ensure our show teams and reporting bureaus have access to the highest-quality election data and projections.”
Khanna’s departure is the latest at Bari Weiss’ CBS News, which has seen multiple executives, producers and on-air journalists exit since the opinion journalist took over as its editor-in-chief last year.
His hire at MS NOW also marks one of several editorial additions since the progressive cable network began fleshing out its independent newsgathering arm following Versant’s split from Comcast, stripping MS NOW of NBC News’ newsgathering resources.
