Stephen Colbert delivered a live version of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert last night for special midterm election coverage.

It was election night in America, and Stephen Colbert was right there with them, announcing and experiencing the wins and losses in real time. There was a whole lot of election drama this midterm: anti-gay marriage county clerk Kim Davis lost re-election, some guy gloriously photobombed Mitch McConnell when we was voting, and Ted Cruz gets to be a real boy for another four years. Colbert covered most of the juicy bits, and of course a lot of Trump jokes.

But the biggest moment of all was when Stephen announced that the Democrats will be taking majority in the House of Representatives.

And the crowd goes wild! After seeing Stephen’s reaction/breakdown on the last live election show, it was nice to see him get a win this time around. He’s earned it.

Since big news could come any second, The Late Show was on stand-by to switch the broadcast feed over to CBS news for the big announcements. And out of New Orleans, there was apparently an announcement:

Scott Bakula’s NCIS: New Orleans character Dwayne Pride showed up for an NCIS promotion. Either that or Scott Bakula needs a vacation.

Stephen’s guests John Heilemann and Alex Wagner, who have been covering the midterms for weeks now on their show The Circus, joined Stephen to talk the evening’s results. The big excitement for them was the Democrats winning the House of Representatives

And it is exciting – change always is. And the rise of the Democrat party will put the Republicans in check, in contrast to their recent running amok. This change is significant, but it’s not a complete game changer yet.

So while the House of Representatives flips, the Senate remains in control of the Republicans – a big but expected loss for the Democrats. And key state Governor races favoured Republicans as well – specifically, the Beto O’Rourke/Ted Cruz race. Ted Cruz pinched out a 51/49% win over the rising-star and celebrity favourite O’Rourke in Texas. There was so much attention on O’Rourke (or Beto, as everyone calls him) that it’s a huge downer for pretty much everyone short of life-long Republicans. How did this happen? Comedian and former Daily Show correspondent  doesn’t have the answer for that, but he’ll explain to you why it’s such an upset.

This live election special of The Late Show was much more chipper than the last one. Hopefully it’s an intensifying trend, for the next time around.

Catch more of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert airing weeknights at 11.35 et/pt on Global, and watch the latest episodes online here on GlobalTV.com!