The West Wing
Election Night
TV Flash files “Election Night” as hour 72 of 154 in the TV Flash guide — The West Wing (1999–2006) on NBC, season 4, episode 7, aired 2002-11-06, 60 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S04E07: listed hour 72 of 154 in the The West Wing guide, hour 7 of 23 in season 4. It aired 2002-11-06 (60 min). The listed hour before it is “Game On” (S04E06). Next is “Process Stories” (S04E08).
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
Election day finally arrives with the staff eagerly anticipating the outcome; Sam is increasingly concerned about the Wilde campaign in Orange County; Toby worries about the effect of Andy's pregnancy on the voters; Donna accidentally votes for Richie and tries to rectify the situation by trying to find someone who will vote-swap; Josh resists Deborah's new office rules until she reveals their basis; Bartlet has some new health issues to worry about.
Viewer FAQ
Where does Election Night sit in the The West Wing guide?
S04E07 is listed hour 72 of 154 — hour 7 of 23 in season 4, season 4 episode 7.
When did The West Wing S04E07 air?
Election Night aired 2002-11-06 and is listed at 60 minutes.
Where should I start?
The pilot. The walk-and-talk contract is the show. If the first hour’s pep talk feels like a recruitment ad, that is the thesis, not a bug.
In the series
Why this series still plays
Watch it for the music of people who still believe the job can be noble — network prestige as civic romance, not documentary. The Sorkin years are the novel; later seasons are the building after the composer leaves. If you want power ugly, that is another desk. This one wanted the walk.
Listen to the footsteps first. The West Wing is a drama of motion: staffers cutting corners of the set as if speed were a moral quality. Aaron Sorkin did not invent the walk-and-talk, but he made it a civic rhythm — information as music, governance as a job you could love if the lighting were kind. Martin Sheen’s Bartlet is not a president so much as a conductor. The orchestra is the communications shop, the counsel’s office, the people who speak in complete sentences because the show believes they should.
Filed against
- Martin Sheen as President Jed Bartlet
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- Bradley Whitford as Josh Lyman
Bradley Whitford made Josh Lyman the volatile heart of The West Wing — walk-and-talks, loyalty, and Sorkin velocity as character. Commander Joseph Lawrence on The Handmaid’s Tale later proved he could play moral gray at dystopia volume.…
- Richard Schiff as Toby Ziegler
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- John Spencer as Leo McGarry
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- Dulé Hill as Charlie Young
Dulé Hill played Charlie Young on The West Wing — presidential aide as the human tempo inside Sorkin's walk-and-talk civic romance. Competence without a podium. TV Flash files him as the staffer who made the White House feel like a…