Baraza's Ranjan calls 231 House seats for Democrats at Newsreel panel

The Newsreel event took place in a Brooklyn neighborhood described as part of a "commie corridor," drawing a crowd of about 300 people who checked their phones into pouches at the door. Newsreel founder and CEO Jack Brewster framed the night around a question he posed to RSVPs: what election question they wanted answered. More than 150 responded, and Brewster used his own question to set up the final panel: Democrats are on track to win big according to polls, but they still cannot agree on who they are.

The panel's discussion of data centers revealed a gap between national and local concerns. While data centers account for about 1.5% of global electricity demand and 0.5% of global CO2 emissions, according to International Energy Agency data compiled by Carbon Brief, the load is concentrated: in Virginia, data centers already use 26% of the state's electricity. Hilary Flint, who organizes against data centers in Pennsylvania, said the Pennsylvania Data Center Resistance group on Facebook now has over 44,000 members from across the political spectrum.

The evening also highlighted tensions within the Democratic coalition. Batya Ungar-Sargon, a NewsNation host who calls herself a "MAGA leftist," said national trade unions are "crossing party lines for the first time and endorsing Republicans" because data centers mean good jobs for electricians and pipefitters. Morris Katz, a partner at Fight Agency and Mamdani's lead media strategist, offered Republicans the pro-data-center lane outright. The most specific forecast of the night came from Ranjan, while Ungar-Sargon was the only panelist willing to call the Senate, predicting Republicans would hold it.