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Report: Clinton Fights to Hold Off Trump in PA; Early Voting Spikes Among Latinos in 3 Key States; Marijuana on the Ballot in 9 States; Just Hours Away from First Election Results. Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired November 08, 2016 - 15:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[15:30:00] MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Long in the true techno-geek way, we have a drone that can show you how long this line is. This is what we're seeing in front of the door. It has been an hour long for most people to get through here but this as you watch that drone rise over and we walk toward the end of the line, it's about an hour to the end of this block here but now it's snaking around into the parking lot. That's probably an hour and a half. Officials are able to get through about 150 voters every hour, they have about only six or seven provisional ballots that have been filled out. That is people who come to the polls and their names are not the registry. Or there is some issue with their registration. Those ballots will then be given to the courts later and counted later. So far very heavy turnout in Washington county. Erin?

ERIN BURNETT, CNN ANCHOR: Miguel, thank you very much.

Joining me now, Julian Castro, Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, a Hillary Clinton supporter. We were talking about the crucial nature of the Hispanic vote. Perhaps the most important group of voters in swing states. You've seen a surge in Hispanic turnout, Florida 89% from 2008. That's more than 400,000 people. Georgia, North Carolina also seeing relative to the population a significant increase. Do you believe it will be the Hispanic vote that determines who wins the White House tonight?

JULIAN CASTRO, SECRETARY OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT: Well, first of all, thank you, Erin for having me and I want to note that I'm here in my personal capacity, not my official one. The Hispanic vote, I believe is going to be a major reason that Hillary Clinton wins tonight. Donald Trump started his campaign off in June of 2015 by insulting immigrants, particularly Mexican immigrants. Was very denigrating towards judge Curiel, said that he couldn't do his job because his parents were Mexican. He was of Mexican descent.

And for decades, folks have talked about the Hispanic community and their voting potential as the sleeping giant. What Donald Trump has done is he has awoken that sleeping giant and when 7:00 comes around and polls close in Florida and they release the early vote, he is going to start to see the power of that sleeping giant.

BURNETT: Now, do you believe, though, because you're talking about this relative to Donald Trump which is a crucial part of it, but are these voters turning out to vote against Donald Trump? That's one thing and it might help Hillary Clinton win but it's very different than voting for Hillary Clinton.

CASTRO: I also think that it's a credit to her that she's had a long- standing relationship with the Latino community. In fact, she started her political work out the George McGovern campaign in the early 1970 registering Latino voters in south Texas. She's talked about immigration reform and getting that proposed within the first 100 days of her administration. She's talked about issues that matter to the Latino community like improving healthcare, improving education. So, this is both respect and appreciation for Hillary Clinton and, of course, a recognition that Donald Trump is the most anti-Latino candidate to come along in quite a while.

BURNETT: So, one thing that perplexes me and this is the most recent data we have, we'll see what happens tonight. But "USA Today" poll from late October showed 18%, 18%, of Hispanic voters were undecided. To the point you made, this is more than a year after Trump called most Mexicans rapists and pounded the table daily about building the wall. Yet 18% are undecided. Is that a warning sign to you? You would think with stuff like that and the way you're speaking it would be 99%. But people were already decided, 18% undecided.

CASTRO: As you know it's hard to get 99% of anything in politics. Others have said it before that pollsters have not had the best track record in polling the Latino community. And because of that what you've seen are polls that have been outliers or don't show as strong support, they show Latinos that are up in the air. What you'll find is that Hillary Clinton will do better than the 71% that president Obama got four years ago with the Latino community and that will make the differences in places like Florida and Nevada and other battleground states.

BURNETT: Secretary Castro, thank you very much, appreciate your time. We'll see what happens tonight.

CASTRO: Good to be with you.

BURNETT: Next, Donald Trump and Melanie Trump voting today. What is he doing in this picture? Is he checking out her vote? And Lara Trump on how her father-in-law is doing today, what he's doing this afternoon as he waits. She's my guest and she's next.

[15:35:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BURNETT: You are looking at live pictures of voting lines in Pennsylvania. The results come in in a couple hours as polls close. Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump away from each other in Manhattan tonight. Clinton hosting her election night party under an actual glass ceiling at a convention center. Trump and his supporters will gather nearby at a midtown hotel. Joining me now, Trump's daughter- in-law Lara Trump. She has seen a big presence on the campaign trail for her father-in-law. Lara, 17 months almost since your father-in- law launched his campaign. It all comes out there today. You've been out there today, five events in the past three days. How is he feeling today? LARA TRUMP. DAUGHTER-IN-LAW OF DONALD TRUMP: I think he's feeling

great today. None of us can actually believe -- and I think I speak for most of America -- that it's today because we have been feeling this for some time, the anticipation, the buildup and we've been on the campaign trail working so hard but we're feeling good. We left nothing on the nothing on the table, and we all worked our hearts out, so today is the big day.

BURNETT: What is he doing this afternoon? He's been at a frenetic pace, rally to rally to rally. Now he has to sit and wait like everybody else. Have you talked to him? Do you know what he is actually doing this afternoon?

LARA TRUMP: Well, I've seen pictures from people texting me from the war room, from our headquarters at the campaign office that he's been checking in with people, talking to people, thanking volunteers, thanking the whole staff because we've worked hard this past month. He's been getting phone calls, I'm sure, so we're all eagerly anticipating the next couple of hours but he's keeping himself busy.

BURNETT: You brought up pictures. There's a video of your father-in- law getting a lot of attention. I don't know if you've seen it, but they're voting and then you see him -- well, I don't know what he's doing there but obviously, people are chuckling about this. And we saw the photo when you went to vote this morning and I know it's your anniversary, you and your husband went to cast your ballots and he appeared to do the same thing.

[15:40:00] What's happening here?

LARA TRUMP: I haven't even seen either of those and I didn't know my husband was checking it out but I think we can all feel safe in saying that Melanie and I both voted for Donald Trump for the presidency of the United States. I don't know. That's the first time I've seen that. That's very funny. It shows you the similarities that I guess Eric and his dad share.

BURNETT: Now, on a serious note, Lara, you've done about 50 rallies for your father-in-law. I was being serious when I said you have been a big presence on the campaign trail for him. Women for Trump was the bus tour you did. But you know the numbers, the latest poll from Fox News has him down 12 points with women. Do you understand why some women are not supporting your father-in-law?

LARA TRUMP: Well, listen, I know here's been a narrative from the beginning trying to paint my father-in-law in a certain light, but that's why I got out on the campaign trail and said I want to get out and talk to women because the way that the media was portraying him because not the Donald Trump that I knew. And that's why we really undertook this mission, this bus tour across the country to talk to women and men alike, all voters, really, about Donald Trump and the amazing things he wants to do for the whole country, women included.

I have to tell you, we have so many women that come to our rallies. And I'm not the candidate, I'm his daughter-in-law. So, I think the polls might be a little off. I think we'll see a big turnout for Donald Trump with women at the end of tonight.

BURNETT: And, you know, maybe we will see that but one thing, I don't know if you saw this either, a lot of voters were visiting Susan B. Anthony's grave site, she fought for women's suffrage and they were putting their "I Vote" stickers on the grave and decorating her tombstone. This is a personal question for you and I know he's your father-in-law, you support him, you put your heart and soul into it. If Hillary Clinton wins tonight she will of course make history the first woman to be president of the United States. As a woman, as a millennial woman, Lara, how would you feel about that?

LARA TRUMP: I have to tell you I wouldn't feel great about that. This is not the candidate most women would choose as our female president and appreciate the milestone that would be reached and the fact that she is the first woman nominated, to be nominated but we can do so much better than Hillary Clinton. You see the scandals and corruption and what's been going on within the Clinton campaign with the e-mails we've seen come out. She's under criminal investigation. This is not the person that I would choose to be the first woman president personally.

BURNETT: All right, well thank you very much, just to be clear, not criminal investigation and the FBI resting that case.

LARA TRUMP: Well the Clinton foundation case is still under investigation for sure.

BURNETT: Thank you for your time tonight. You and your family will have a big night tonight. The county we are watching closely for a big night election surprise is going to be in Michigan. And live to Nevada where pot is on the ballot. In other elections, you've talked about things like abortion and whether that could turn an election. This time it could be pot in crucial states. Nevada one of five states that could vote to legalize recreational marijuana.

[15:45:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BURNETT: Counting down to the first results coming in. Just about two hours to close. Pot is also on the ballot in nine states. Some of them battlegrounds. Massachusetts, Nevada, and Maine. Several are crucial battlegrounds. Arkansas, Montana and North Dakota are voting on legalizing it for medical purposes. Kyung Lah is at a polling site in Las Vegas. Kyung, this is one of those issues that for a certain group of voters matters deeply. What are you hearing there?

KYUNG LAH, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Matters very deeply because it's very personal whether you are the mother of kids, whether you're a schoolteacher or police officer. This issue gets to quality of life, safety for a lot of people and education so this is one of the big issues that is bringing people to the polls today. This is a state that has had medicinal marijuana since 2000 so they are used to the idea of marijuana. What this does though is it makes it recreational. It allows people to buy pot essentially at a store. So, this is legalization of pot in this state what we are hearing from voters is, yes, the presidential race is very important but this is the issue on quality of life here in Nevada. Here's what they told us.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PHYLLIS BARNABY, LAS VEGAS VOTER: No way. No way. Things are bad enough as they are right now. We don't need it. Sorry, but that's my opinion.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LAH: We also heard from another vote voter, another voter that said she supports it, here's why.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) NICOLE MCANDREWS, LAS VEGAS VOTER: It's just, like, the same thing with alcohol. They're going to put an age limit on it, it's going to be 21 and over, right? So, you should be an adult to use, should be an adult to use alcohol as well.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LAH: We should point out, you were mentioning those states, Erin. If you put Arizona, Nevada, and California together, those three states in the southwest, you would have, if they do pass, if recreational marijuana passes on those state ballots, you would have a block in the west where marijuana would be legal for recreational use. Erin?

BURNETT: Kyung, thank you very much. My panel is back with me. How big of an issue is this going to be? Clinton and Trump have said they are in favor of medical marijuana.

BAKARI SELLERS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: You came to me?

BURNETT: You happened to be sitting here, I won't pass judgment on your current state.

SELLERS: It's going to be a good night tonight. But what we are seeing is where these amendments and where these referendums are popping up and one of the things we need to look closely at is amendment 2. One of my good friends in Florida, John Morgan, a big Democratic donor, is running a campaign on amendment 2 which will pass tonight on medical marijuana. We're seeing when you have these issues on the ballot, it's a very personal decision for many other people and it drives the interest in the race, puts more money in the races and so it's an interesting phenomenon. I'm interested to see because in South Carolina, we are pushing towards getting to a medical marijuana proposition because I think it's morally OK so I don't have a problem with it.

[15:50:00] BURNETT: But when you look at it in terms of what its effect is going to be on the presidential race, you get turnout. Because you only have Gary Johnson as someone who favors recreational marijuana, which is in five states. It is actually on the ballot today.

KEVIN MADDEN, FORMER SENIOR ADVISOR TO MITT ROMNEY: I think it has more to do with how it shapes the turnout of the electorate. Think about where we have come on this. In 1992 we had a candidate who swore he didn't inhale. In 2016 we're dealing with ballot initiatives on this issue. It shows you how it's progressed. As the Kevin Madden, the father speaking not Kevin Madden, the college student.

I think that is one of the things that we have seen less of a fight for candidates to go on one side of the criminalization issue. Instead it has too with whether it's appealing to millennials as a turnout vote.

MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL REPORTER: Watch the down ticket impact on this in a state like Nevada, a close senate race. But also there is a house race in Montana where Democrats think there is chance to take --

BURNETT: Montana medical marijuana is on the ballot.

RAJU: Zinke, a Republican congressman, Democrats have an outside chance of defeating him. One reason why, it could drive up some the liberal voters, college students in the state. This is perhaps one reason why. Would be this --

PARIS DENNARD, TRUMP NATIONAL DIVERSITY COALITION MEMBER: The one point we shouldn't make is that this is a Democratic/Republican issue. A lot of Democrats are more conservative and in line --

BURNETT: Clinton and Trump both agree. They're on the same side and support medical but not recreational.

DENNARD: In terms of turnout, you could see this driving more liberal-minded and libertarian-conservatives to the polls. And then for Mr. Trump. We can't just say it is a pure Democrat or Republican.

SELLERS: I agree but it's also a younger voter. I think it draws a lot of young voters of color out as well. One of the things we realize in criminal justice reform -- you have kids who get one or two charges with marijuana and you see the disparities between white young people and black young people. And so, it just has these ramifications.

MARIA CARDONA, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: It's a big issue in the criminal justice arena with black and Latino voters but also did you know, as a mother, I saw Sanjay Gupta's special on medical marijuana. It was incredibly impactful. If you're looking at this from that standpoint, I think mothers and people who are dealing with children who really need this can have a big impact.

BURNETT: A big difference between medical and recreational when it comes to voters.

Michigan, part of Clinton's blue wall in the Midwest. As we all now know it's part of Trump's plan to win. He needs it. We'll go live to one county that could hold the answer as to whether he is successful.

[15:55:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BURNETT: Welcome back. Counting you down to the hours here. First polls closing at 6:00 eastern. A lot of attention on Michigan. Both candidates were there yesterday. Donald Trump holding the last campaign rally of the election there in Michigan. He needs to turn it Republican. Jessica Schneider is there in Warren, Michigan. This is a battle fought at the micro-local level. What are you seeing?

JESSICA SCHNEIDER, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Erin, Donald Trump is banking on exactly where we're standing in Macomb county. This is the land of the Reagan Democrats. The blue-collar suburb of Detroit. I just got off the phone with the county executive here. He says he is seeing turnout like never before. We are at one of the polling places here.

The line has been steady here. Nothing too overwhelming. I hear five miles away the lines are two hours' long. They're telling me they're on par to hit some record turnouts. Turnouts they haven't seen since 2008 and even 1980. A turnout of about 69% of registered voters. So, a lot of enthusiasm here, but it's unclear as to exactly who that enthusiasm bodes best for. Will it be Donald Trump?

A lot of people here have been telling me that they've been seeing a lot of signs. Signs are not votes. Or will it bode better for Hillary Clinton? I've been hearing people on both sides of things. If nothing else, there is a lot of enthusiasm here, a lot of getting out to vote, what they say could be record turnout tonight. Erin.

BURNETT: Thank you very much.

My panel is back. I guess the big question is could we be surprised, Mark Preston? The polling all coming in, Hillary Clinton was on top in all of them. The one thing we've learned this year, the polls can be very wrong.

MARK PRESTON, EXECUTIVE EDITOR, CNN POLITICS: They could be wrong. It's going to be a late night. It's not going to be an early night. I think that Donald Trump has a very difficult path. Not an insurmountable path to winning the presidency.

MAEVE RESTON, CNN NATIONAL POLITICAL REPORTER: I mean, the idea that he would win Michigan would be such an amazing surprise.

PRESTON: Right.

RESTON: Just not only because he hasn't spent a lot of time there, he has not invested in the ground game there, and you have president Obama going out there over the last couple of days making sure that that African American turnout, you know, comes out for Hillary Clinton. So, I think that would be very surprising.

BURNETT: What are you watching for?

RAJU: The debate tomorrow within the Republican party will be fascinating to watch and completely consequential. Particularly, if Donald Trump loses. Do the conservatives say we need to fight for our ideals or do the folks say we need start to work with Democrats, cut deals with Democrats say on immigration. If Trump loses it is going to be an intense battle, it is going to go a long way to shaping the first couple years of a Clinton presidency if she wins.

MADDEN: As far as Michigan, I think in a year that's made "House of Cards" look like a documentary, nothing would surprise me. Manu is right. Whoever comes into office tomorrow comes in with extraordinarily high unfavorable ratings and probably without a mandate. It will be tough no matter who is in there.

BURNETT: Top thing you're watching for tonight.

SELLERS: When you come down the east coast, New Hampshire, Virginia, North Carolina, Florida, it may not be as late a night as Mark said. I think Hillary Clinton gets 323 electoral votes and people like my daughter can actually say there is a female president of the United States

SCOTTIE NELL HUGHES, DONALD TRUMP SUPPORTER: Cautiously optimistic. Republicans looking in Macomb county where there are a lot of Reagan Democrats who have all of a sudden come in play. The fact that we're talking about Michigan shows that Pennsylvania would also be in play. It will be a late night if we even get a conclusion.

CARDONA: I'm so happy the story will be about the Hispanic turnout. If Hillary Clinton wins which I believe she will, it will be because of the Hispanic vote. It will be a brown, beautiful wall built by Hispanic voters that keeps Donald Trump out of the White House.

DENNARD: I'm looking for the new coalition of voters, the new coalition that voted for Donald Trump. I believe it will be a lot of people who look like me and a lot of beautiful people who look like you who voted for Donald Trump today.

[16:00:00] PRESTON: What about me? I'm beautiful.

BURNETT: I knew somehow Preston would get the last word. Talking about his beauty. Who would have thought.

DENNARD: Fact-check that.

BURNETT: Thank you.

CNN's Election Night in America coverage continues now.