Elizabeth Warren pulled off a win in the Massachusetts U.S. Senate race Tuesday night, but a "rogue tweet" falsely claimed NBC News had called the race about an hour before the official projection was made at 9:45 p.m.
At 8:51 p.m. Tuesday night, a tweet from the Center for American Progress Action Fund — a sister organization to the Center for American Progress — read, "NBC news is calling #MA Senate race for Elizabeth Warren (D)." The tweet, now deleted, spread from there.
The original tweet from CAP Action Fund
The tweet was then picked up by several users
RT @CAPcongress: NBC news is calling #MA Senate race for Elizabeth Warren (D). / YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!! #p2
RT @CAPcongress: NBC news is calling #MA Senate race for Elizabeth Warren (D). / YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!! #p2-- LilMissSocial
Massive. RT @CAPcongress: NBC news is calling #MA Senate race for Elizabeth Warren (D).
Massive. RT @CAPcongress: NBC news is calling #MA Senate race for Elizabeth Warren (D).-- Christopher Wensley
AAAHHHHHH RT @sarahljaffe: !!!!! RT @CAPcongress: NBC news is calling #MA Senate race for Elizabeth Warren (D).
AAAHHHHHH RT @sarahljaffe: !!!!! RT @CAPcongress: NBC news is calling #MA Senate race for Elizabeth Warren (D).-- Andrea Grimes
Woot! RT @CAPcongress NBC news is calling #MA Senate race for Elizabeth Warren (D).
Woot! RT @CAPcongress NBC news is calling #MA Senate race for Elizabeth Warren (D).-- trianglman
ThinkProgress, with over 185,000 followers, then also tweeted that Warren had won
RT @thinkprogress NBC calls Massachusetts for Elizabeth Warren (D). She replaces Sen. Scott Brown (R).
RT @thinkprogress NBC calls Massachusetts for Elizabeth Warren (D). She replaces Sen. Scott Brown (R).-- Politicolnews
The tweet spread from there, but some noted NBC seemed to be the only network to make the call
Crowd here unaware of any calls being made in Warren's favor. It's just NBC right now, right?
Crowd here unaware of any calls being made in Warren's favor. It's just NBC right now, right?-- Rosie Gray
But the Warren campaign apparently believed the conventional wisdom on Twitter. They released a "Thank You" picture on Warren's Facbeook page at 9:08, before an official call
News organizations picked it up, too
NBC Anchor Brian Williams then took to Twitter to dispel what he called the "rogue retweet"
"There's a rogue retweet going around that we have somehow called the Massachusetts Senate race.. we have not"-@bwilliams #NBCPolitics
"There's a rogue retweet going around that we have somehow called the Massachusetts Senate race.. we have not"-@bwilliams #NBCPolitics-- NBC News
But by 9:42, NBC was ready to call the race in Warren's favor anyway
NBC News declares Elizabeth Warren the the projected winner of the Senate race in Massachusetts. #NBCPolitics
NBC News declares Elizabeth Warren the the projected winner of the Senate race in Massachusetts. #NBCPolitics-- NBC News