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Georgia Governor's Race; Florida Governor's and Senate Races; Virginia's House and Senate Races; Watching Tonight's Results; Pelosi Confident in Democratic Wins. Aired 1:00-1:30p ET

Aired November 06, 2018 - 13:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:00:22] JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, I'm Jim Sciutto. It is 1:00 p.m. here in Washington. Thank you so much for joining us today.

Up first, Election Day in America. Voters across the country are heading to the polls in the high stakes, high energy, high tension midterm elections expected to be the most significant in years. And even though his name is not on the ballot, the election is being seen by many as a referendum on the tumultuous first two years of the Donald Trump presidency.

It is also on referendum, perhaps, on two Americans, the more evangelical, rural, non-college educated white voters, where President Trump has broad support, and the minority, young and college-educated voters, which Democrats are counting on today. Thirty-six governors races, 35 Senate seats, all 435 House seats up for grabs today. Democrats hoping they regain control of the House. Republicans aiming to hold on to the Senate. The outcome in both houses far from certain.

The battle between Democratic candidate Andrew Gillum and Republican candidate Ron DeSantis to be the next governor of Florida among the high profile races to watch, along with the Florida Senate race. And in Georgia, the governor's race there between Democrat Stacey Abrams and Republican Brian Kemp promising to be a nail biter tonight.

All day our correspondents will be fanned out across the country. Let's begin with CNN national correspondent Gary Tuckman. He is at a polling place in Powder Springs, Georgia.

Gary, what kind of turnout are you seeing there today? Are you seeing long lines?

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Jim, we've been here now for six hours. And for the first time we've seen it slow down a little bit. But it has been very crowded all day. The minimum wait up until now has been a half an hour to vote. It's been up to 90 minutes at times.

When we got here before 7:00 a.m., the doors weren't open yet because the polls here in Georgia are open from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. Eastern Time. When the doors open, though, more than 100 people streamed in right away. And that was very notable because it was raining outside. They were waiting in the rain for 45 minutes. The high-profile governor's race and also people who symbolically want to vote for President Trump or against President Trump have made people very enthusiastic about voting.

Where we are right now is a very interesting place, Cobb County, because this was the home of the former speaker of the House, Newt Gingrich. It's always been a very Republican county, but it's changed over the years. And in the most recent presidential election in 2016, Hillary Clinton actually defeated Donald Trump by less than 2 percentage points. But she won. We thought it was an interesting bellwether. It's a battleground county.

We've been talking to people all day. We've been talking to lots of people who are voting for the Republican Kemp. Lots of people who are voting for the Democrat Abrams in the gubernatorial race. The race may not come to an end. And that's a very important thing to stress. A lot of people are saying, can't wait until Tuesday is over till we know all the results. But in this gubernatorial race, it may not end because in Georgia, it's one of the few states that has a run-off provision. If one candidate doesn't get 50 percent plus one vote, there's a runoff in four weeks, on December 4th. And because there's a libertarian candidate in the race, his name is Ted Metz, Ted Metz is not going to win. He's not going to do very well at all. But he may get enough votes to stop one of these two candidates from getting 50 percent, and then the race will go into overtime on December 4th.

Jim, Back to you.

SCIUTTO: And we'll go right back at it.

As we mentioned, we're actually watching two key races in the state of Florida, the governor's race and the race for the U.S. Senate there.

Correspondent Rosa Flores joining us from a polling site in Miami, Florida.

So, Rosa, a highly contested race in Florida. Imagine that in an election year. Set the scene for us there today.

ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: well, I'm in Brickell, which is the financial district here in Miami. And take a look over my shoulder. This is a polling place that opened at 7:00 a.m. But the line started forming at 6:30.

Now, I want to take -- take you to a drone shot that we have because this is as close as we can get to the actual polling place. By law here in Florida. I mean you can see that there is a line that has formed. And from talking to the organizers inside, they tell me that this line has been here since 6:30 this morning. It's been steady. It's been steady. Lots of people in the area voted.

But, Jim, as you mentioned, Florida has nail-biting races. And this is no exception. The latest numbers that we've gotten from the secretary of state show that 39 percent of registered voters have already cast their ballot. Now, if you look at that breakdown by party, it is nail- biting because more than five million total registered voters have already voted. And 40.1 percent of those are registered Republicans, 40.5 percent are Democrats, and the rest are no party affiliation or other.

[13:05:06] Now, so when you look at these races, the governor's race between Andrew Gillum and Ron DeSantis, what we know is that -- is that it is in a dead heat. So all of these folks that are voting out here, you know, their vote will definitely count. Their ballots will count. And we will learn who will take this state.

I just talked to a voter, Jim, who told me that -- and, of course, this is Miami. It's a Democrat stronghold. They -- some people hoping that indeed Florida goes blue. So we'll see.

SCIUTTO: It's another one of those East Coast races that may give us an early indicator of how the broader playing field will look.

Rosa Flores there in Florida. Thanks very much.

Virginia, a couple of interesting races to watch there, both in the House and in the Senate. On the House side, incumbent Republican Barbara Comstock is squaring off with Democrat Jennifer Wexton. Also Tea Party Republican Dave Brat, who beat former House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, facing a tough challenge this cycle from Abigail Spanberger. On the Senate side in Virginia, former Vice Presidential Candidate Tim Kaine hoping to hold on to his Senate seat, this against Republican Corey Stewart.

Our Brian Todd is in Sterling, Virginia, right now.

Brian, turnout heavy there?

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Turnout very steady and very strong, Jim. It is very heavy. We talked to an election official here in Lauden (ph) County not long ago. He said that really turnout is popping way above the levels of the midterm elections in 2014. We just had a little bit of an influx of lunchtime voters coming in here, casting their ballots, and then they left. This is where they're checking in. They're voting over here. And then they enter the tabulations right about here, Jim, in this machine.

But what we can tell you is, you mentioned all those races. You mentioned Tim Kaine running for re-election to hold his Senate seat. The Democrat, Dave Brat, fighting to hold his seat, the Republican from that district down near Richmond, Virginia.

But the race here that everybody's talking about is that 10th district race between Barbara Comstock and Jennifer Wexton. A lot of Democratic investment in this race. Wexton has really challenged Comstock. This seat has been held by a Republican for almost 40 years and Comstock is in danger of losing it.

SCIUTTO: We lost Brian's signal there. We've got a lot of people around the country. Hard to keep the signals up with all of them.

But you heard him there, that Comstock race a big challenge there. Also another one of those bellwethers we're going to be watching in those early hours as the polls close this evening.

Today, tens of millions of Americans expected to cast their ballots. We already have more than 30 million who have voted -- 30 million Americans who have voted early. In a matter of hours, we're going to have some of the very first results.

CNN's senior political analyst Mark Preston, he joins me now.

So, Mark, East Coast time. You've got a lot of key races, key regions here. What are going to be the early indicators as the first polls close on the East Coast? Then give us a sense of where this is turning.

MARK PRESTON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, Jim, let's take first a look at the 6:00 hour right now when polls will be closing in Kentucky and Indiana. Of course we're looking at a very important race in Kentucky where it has to do with the House of Representatives. And, of course, in Indiana, we have a Senate race that is very much under the gun. A lot of people are watching it to see whether the Democrat can pull that out.

But then again we jump to 7:00, New Hampshire, Vermont, Virginia, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida. They all start to close their polls. And, of course, we'll start to see results coming in, some of these races, very, very important. We've been spending a lot of time talking about them. Of course that was Georgia and in Florida.

And, of course, by 7:30, Ohio, North Carolina, West Virginia.

What I should note, Jim, is that the last polls close in Alaska at 1:00 a.m. And, of course, we'll be here at CNN talking about that and doing all the results through the night.

SCIUTTO: Democrats, at least, hoping for some early pick-ups up in the northeast in the state of Pennsylvania, where there's been some redistricting. So we'll get some early indicators.

Walk us through each of the party's agendas, their priorities, if they win or maintain control.

PRESTON: Right. So let's just focus on the House of Representatives. Let's assume the Republicans maintain control of that. Immigration reform, obviously the border wall, two big issues that President Trump has spent his first two years of his administration talking about and certainly the last two weeks of this election.

Middle class tax cuts. This is something that surprised us in the last month or so when President Trump said that he was going to guarantee a middle class tax cut of 10 percent to the middle class. Many thought it was an election ploy. In fact, it was. But, of course, we'll see what happens with there (ph). And then, of course, they will continue to try to repeal Obamacare.

But if Democrats take it back, this is what we could see. This is an entirely different agenda. Ethics reform, voter protection laws, the Trump investigation and the infrastructure bill. We'll come back to that in one minute.

The Trump investigation. We heard from Adam Schiff, the head of the House Intelligence Committee. He has said that this will be front and center for him looking into whether there was collusion with Russia.

Voter protection laws. Of course we've been talking about that throughout the day. Democrats believe there needs to be done more to protect voters.

[13:10:02] And then this last one, infrastructure. This might actually be something that Democrats and Republicans can agree on. Something that President Trump can get behind. And it's something that I think that if we're going to see anything done in the new Congress, it could be infrastructure.

Jim.

SCIUTTO: Yes, those committee chairmanships, they matter in the House, certainly on the Russia investigation and a lot of Democrats chomping at the bit for that opportunity if they get control.

Mark Preston, thanks very much.

PRESTON: Thanks.

SCIUTTO: So we're going to treat you to something now that you don't hear often. That is the president expressing regrets. What Trump wishes he had done differently in his first two years in office.

Plus, Fox News is now responding to criticism over its host appearing on the campaign stage with the president during an election.

And the president's closing message for the midterms, was it enough to drive Republicans to a victory tonight? We're going to discuss that -- all of that coming up next.

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[13:15:13] (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

QUESTION: Are you 100 percent sure of victory tonight in your mind?

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D), MINORITY LEADER: Yes, I am. We're going to win based on data.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: A lot of confidence there from Nancy Pelosi. She is hoping to reprise her role as House speaker if Democrats capture the House.

Let's bring in our experts here, CNN senior political analyst John Avlon, April Ryan, CNN political analyst and White House correspondent for American Urban Radio Networks, CNN political analyst and "Washington Post" congressional reporter Karoun Demirjian, and CNN political analyst David Gregory. David, 100 percent confidence there from Democrats. Not unusual

because even Republicans have been, I think, saying to you and me privately that they kind of expect that. Reasonable confidence on her part?

DAVID GREGORY, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, there's a lot of reason to be confident if you're -- if you are the Democrats looking at the House. You know there is 25 congressional seats that are held by Republicans that Hillary Clinton won in 2016. So Republicans are playing defense all over the map. There's just no question about it.

And we see from looking at the polling that President Trump has shrunk the battleground of the electorate because he's got a low approval rating historically. We know what that means for an incumbent party. He's also got college educated voters, women, minorities, younger people who have all trended against him tremendously.

And we know how much of this is really riding on him. He has said so. We know that's true historically.

So there's a lot riding against Republicans. They did have more momentum. They were kind of slumbering. They woke up in the aftermath of the Kavanaugh confirmation hearing. But I think some of that energy has waned a little bit at a time when he was able to unite the entire party. Now you see the president closing hard on a pretty dark message, a hardline message on immigration, which I think has a narrower focus for him.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

He's doubled, tripled, quadrupled down on that hardline message, the message of fear, division, et cetera, April Ryan. And I suppose we shouldn't be surprised by that because it's very consistent with his 2016 message.

APRIL RYAN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes.

SCIUTTO: Listen to what the president said, though, in an interview just in the last 24 hours. I want to see what you think of this comment. Listen.

RYAN: OK.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is there anything, as you look back at your first almost two years, that you regret that you wish, on you, that you could just take back and redo?

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, there would be certain things. I'm not sure I want to reveal all of them. But I would say tone. I would like to have a much softer tone. I feel, to a certain extent, I have no choice, but maybe I do and maybe I could have been softer from that standpoint.

(END VIDEO CLIP) SCIUTTO: Hmm, sincere regret there from the president?

RYAN: Sincere, I don't know, but there are regrets. And you know why there are regrets? Because polls are showing that people are not happy with him right now. You've got independents who are very upset with a lot of this harsh tone with this bombasticness, this fearmongering, this racial overtones. And it's not just the president, but you have to remember, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, his mouth piece, she is an extension of him in that Briefing Room and the way she's come after Jim Acosta, the way she's come after me, the way she's come after so many people, she is an extension. So it's not just the president having regrets, it's about how his administration has treated people, has dealt with the issues.

But, you know, this is kind of late. You know, just before the wave or the waves are coming in, you know, I just wonder, and especially as it's raining in many important state, we just don't know what's going to happen.

SCIUTTO: So, John Avlon, help me understand something, because we've said this on the broadcast, Republicans have said this, too, why doesn't he just talk about the economy. He's got very strong numbers there. What is the why? I mean did the president look at numbers and figure out that that's just not driving people to the polls so I've got to go this path on immigration? Why not just stand up there and hold up placards of, you know, economic growth, unemployment down, wages up, et cetera.

AVLON: He's not a placards kind of guy, is he?

Look, you know, I think Steve Bannon, in an interview with Michael Lewis (ph), laid it out very clearly, explicitly, saying, look, fear and anger is what motivates people to the polls and the president has followed that (INAUDIBLE) instincts.

GREGORY: What about James Carville, it's the economy?

AVLON: And -- but I think this is -- this is that tension. He's a Bannonite, not a Carvilleite, fully. And -- but, you know, a lot of Republicans are anguished because the jobs numbers that came out Friday read like a press release. This is excellent job numbers. And he could make a credible case. Instead, he's doubling down and playing to his base narrowly, hoping that that fear and anger can motivate people to the polls. That's his experience in winning and shocking the world in '16 and he wants to see if he can river it again.

The problem is, this isn't about that. This is swing districts. It's not just what David pointed out, the House districts that Hillary Clinton won. He is really in a lot of trouble with historically low approval numbers and only 28 percent approval among independent women. That requires reaching out. That's specifically what he's not doing.

RYAN: IT's too late.

SCIUTTO: Karoun, could this be -- I don't want to say the right strategy, but the smart strategy for this particular election in that the House doesn't look good for the Republicans, so the president's focused on the Senate races.

KAROUN DEMIRJIAN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Right.

[13:20:09] SCIUTTO: And he made a political judgment that on those races that are in contention --

DEMIRJIAN: Yes.

SCIUTTO: That this message is most likely to save those seats or win them some seats, in fact, for the Democrats as well?

DEMIRJIAN: Well, I think that the fact that he's been focusing so much on the Senate in the final days indicates that the president kind of agrees with Nancy Pelosi. That odds are the House is going to go to the Democrats and he has to shore up resources when he -- where he can.

I mean it's -- it is important for the president to be doing that because as we have seen, things that just go through the Senate have been extremely high on the president's agenda. Judges --

SCIUTTO: Yes.

DEMIRJIAN: If you don't keep the Senate, you don't have any more ability to get those judges through and --

SCIUTTO: And other than the tax plan, that's pretty much been --

DEMIRJIAN: The tax plan. That's been the main thing.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

DEMIRJIAN: And that was the main fight or the last main fight that we saw heading into the election season. And it's been -- I mean Mitch McConnell has said that's their number one priority as a party, to try to get that done.

So between that and the fact that you wouldn't get veto majorities, veto-proof majorities in the House and Senate --

SCIUTTO: Right.

DEMIRJIAN: But you could get enough agreement and that you would have enough agreement among Democrats and a few Republicans to cause problems with the president. He'd end up being a veto pen holder basically the whole second half of his term.

SCIUTTO: Right.

DEMIRJIAN: It's just -- it's -- for him to have to double down on the resources here is smart for him saving the function of the Senate to give him wants, the administration. Without that he's stuck.

SCIUTTO: Right.

David, is it possible -- OK, again, there's a lot of ifs here and let's just, you know, throw the caveats out there because we were here a couple years ago and the polls indicated one way and there -- you know, there's an enormous potential for surprises. But if it plays out the way frankly both parties see this, as Democrats taking the House, Republicans retaining the Senate, maybe gaining a seat or two, maybe gaining three or four seats. How different does Washington look in that environment? As Karoun was saying, Trump is going to still get judges through.

GREGORY: Right.

SCIUTTO: Unless he has some, you know, a few senators that walk away on the Republican side. How different would it look?

GREGORY: Well, I just don't think the conditions are right for Democrat and the president to work together. I thought there was a moment earlier on, whether it was around immigration, infrastructure, where they would find a way to work together. And he had those streaks of independence where he was willing to take on his own party. But, in the end, he really didn't do that. And I don't see -- I think Democrats are so focused on today and then into 2020 to getting him out of power, I don't see a lot of work in there (ph).

So I think he's always going to be in a fight. And the truth is, if the Democrats take the House, there's the potential for a lot more investigations, the potential to -- and a lot of energy to really bring impeachment to him.

RYAN: Yes.

SCIUTTO: That's a great point.

GREGORY: And I think -- so I think that's going to continue.

I think that we -- but we've also got to pay attention to governorships in this race. And the reason I say that is, for Democrats who are looking for how to actually oppose Trump in a presidential race, they're going to look to see how Stacey Abrams, Andrew Gillum have run down in Georgia and Florida. If they prevail as two African-American progressives running in the south, that's going to provide a real -- I think a real road map for Democrats who say, yes, this is how we take it.

SCIUTTO: And it might create a national star too.

GREGORY: Absolutely. Where they could use one.

SCIUTTO: In a (INAUDIBLE) Stacey Abrams -- this is the first, Stacey Abrams the first -- but would be the first black governor there.

Curious as you look at this on the Russia investigation, as David brings up.

RYAN: Yes.

SCIUTTO: Let's not forget that there's a lot of prognostication. Again, Robert Mueller is the ultimate black box, so we don't know for sure. But there's an expectation that a report is -- could come out soon after the elections.

RYAN: Yes.

SCIUTTO: In the House you will have Democratic -- Democrats holding chairmanships --

RYAN: Yes.

SCIUTTO: Of these committees and we'll also have a political judgment to make, will they not, as to whether they impeach.

You know, the House impeaches, the Senate convicts.

RYAN: Right.

SCIUTTO: They may not be able to convict, but they could impeach.

RYAN: And that's very important. And what's going on, this back and forth with Democrats right now, if we do control the House, do we just move forward with impeachment proceedings or do we wait for the Mueller report? And that could happen soon. And it could also -- we just don't --

SCIUTTO: What are you hearing from them (ph)? Do they say --

RYAN: They're trying --

SCIUTTO: Because, of course, many Democrats who think it's going to damage them --

RYAN: Right. They're trying to find their way, but they know that they have to do this methodically and the right way because, if not, there will be backlash on them.

But at the same time, even -- and this is -- this is the piece that a lot of people don't understand. Just because the House may begin impeachment, and as you say, if the Senate is not Democratic, you don't have a conviction, meaning removal. People say, oh, impeachment, oh, impeachment, but removal is what people want. It's the scar of impeachment, but the removal is what people want.

SCIUTTO: Right.

DEMIRJIAN: Look --

SCIUTTO: People mistake impeachment for removal, when in reality that's like an indictment, in effect, not --

RYAN: Right. (INAUDIBLE).

AVLON: Jumping the gun on that on the House standpoint I think would be a mistake. To some extent, Republicans have been running on the threat of impeachment more than Democrats have been running on the proposal to impeach. It's really going to come down to, what does the Muller report deliver. The chairmanships are important though because Democrats will be in a position, I believe through House Ways and Means, to release the president's taxes.

[13:25:02] SCIUTTO: Yes.

RYAN: Yes, that's a big one.

AVLON: That's a big deal in terms of following the money and getting to the (INAUDIBLE).

SCIUTTO: That is if you're -- sorry, Karoun, you want --

DEMIRJIAN: They're going to have to be strategic about what they do because somebody's going to come out of tonight being angry.

AVLON: Yes.

DEMIRJIAN: And if Bannon is right, that anger motivates, and especially for his own base --

SCIUTTO: Yes.

DEMIRJIAN: That can propel you to 2020. If Democrats do too much, they would risk fueling that.

RYAN: But there's going to be anger on either side.

DEMIRJIAN: Well, yes --

RYAN: There's going to be anger on either side.

DEMIRJIAN: But you're not going to heal after tonight. There's no --

RYAN: Yes, there's going to be anger (INAUDIBLE).

DEMIRJIAN: That's why they have to be judicious about this.

RYAN: Yes.

GREGORY: There's one fact that's kind of interesting. I've looked at some analysis where you see -- in a lot of these pretty tight districts, that Republicans in these districts are running behind -- their polling is running behind the president's approval, which means that they have some room to grow if Trump supporters, if Trump approvers show up and vote.

SCIUTTO: Uh-huh.

GREGORY: Now, I think a lot of the president's strategy down at the end was, you know, running on the economy is great, but does it really motivate people as much as being afraid or being angry.

SCIUTTO: Right.

GREGORY: And I think that's one of the reasons he went with a hardline immigration message. But that's a real opportunity but still a fear for the White House that those singular Trump approvers, people who are not voting on party lines, don't show up tonight and that's what contributes potentially to a big night for Democrats.

SCIUTTO: Well, listen, it's consequential. It will be consequential either way.

Thanks very much to all of you.

You're looking at live pictures there in Miami. A line outside a polling site. We've been seeing a lot of lines like that. It's good to see. This is America. You've got a right to vote. Use it. This is Texas. See those signs? Beto. I think he's challenging Ted Cruz there. I think there's been a little attention on this race at times. We're going to find out what happens there tonight. One of the most high profile, the most expensive, I believe, Senate race in U.S. history.

Plus, ready for combat. Armed agents are lining the border as the president ramps up fears over the migrant caravan. He had a lot of soldiers there, too. Do they belong there? What's behind this? We'll be right back.

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