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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Democrats Take Control of U.S. House, Republicans Keep Senate. Aired 4-4:30a ET

Aired November 07, 2018 - 04:00   ET

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

[04:00:00] NIA-MALIKA HENDERSON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL REPORTER: There were suggestions that he was closing near the end, but obviously, he pulled it off partly because of things you're talking, the opioid there, about and his response to it. So, yes, Republicans obviously feeling good about this, going into it nervous near the end. Democrats were hopeful, but he ends up winning in this state.

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Obviously a brand name.

HENDERSON: Exactly.

BASH: New Hampshire -- his brother was senator, father was governor.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN HOST: A hundred percent.

So, that is going to give us a little bit more of the picture of who gets to decide the congressional districts. That's why we're following the governors' races, as a setup for what happens in 2020, who decides the district gets a lot of a say over the map.

So, let's look at how we see the state of play. In the House, 221- 199, 28 pickups so far for the Democrats, 15 seats remain open. We're watching them in real time. The headline already known -- thank god for the women on the Democrat side. If that's what you're following tonight, if not for the women who won the party tonight, you would not be in the position you're in right now if you're a Democrat. That's the story for you. That's who you're going to thank when you see these headlines.

The U.S. -- Senate side, very different story. And they see themselves getting a comfort cushion there that is fueling the president's feelings that he did historic gains tonight on the Senate side.

So what are we watching in terms of house seats? Let's go to Phil Mattingly. There are a lot of races that aren't just close but are like within 1 percent close, right?

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes.

CUOMO: One of the races that we're looking at is Georgia six, right?

MATTINGLY: Yes.

CUOMO: There's been a development there. Let's start on that race. MATTINGLY: Let's set it up. There's 15 outstanding races.

CUOMO: Right.

MATTINGLY: That's why you only see a little color here. Democrats are leading in seven, Republicans leading in eight. Democrats have very real pickup opportunities across the races.

You talk about Georgia, you talk about Georgia six. Take a look at this right now. Lucy McBath up 1,400 over Karen Handel. This is the special election, what every Democrat was keyed on, and they lost that race. This race came on line late.

And right now, Lucy McBath, again, who became a national figure at some point, Democrats felt good about her and her candidacy, weren't sure she could get it over the line -- 100 percent reporting, this race hasn't been called yet -- 100 percent reporting, Lucy McBath is in a great position.

CUOMO: Closest race in the country now?

MATTINGLY: No. It's not the closest in the country. I'm going to tell you why. There are a lot of very close races out in the country right now.

Let's go back into New Jersey. We've been waiting for this all night. Tom MacArthur, 97 percent reporting, 2,000 votes ahead. Still haven't called it yet. Andrew Kim was trying to take out the moderate Tom McArthur, that's up in the air.

There's a slim opportunity for pickup. We'll move across the map. This isn't that close. This has opened up, 100 percent reporting, Ben McAdams, on the road in Utah.

Let's go over to California. There are a lot of close races in there. This race, Jeff Denham opening a lead right now, about 1.2 percent, 1,200 ahead.

Josh Harder, considered a top-tier Democratic candidate. Can he close the gap? Eighty-eight percent reporting. Still an open question.

Move down, this would be your closest race. Steve Knight, 330 ahead, the Republican incumbent, over Katie Hill, again, Los Angeles County, the demographic shifts as people have left the city area and moved here over the course of the last couple of years. Have been major.

Steve Knight has always been targeted by Democrats. Katie Hill was considered a top-tier Democratic candidate. Raised a ton of money. Thought they'd give him a run for his money, 50 percent reporting.

She's giving him a run for his money. It's a question of what's going to end up happening.

Go back down and check back in on Dana Rohrabacher. Right now, Dana Rohrabacher losing to Harley Rouda, the Democratic challenger by about 2,700 votes. He's opening up a big enough probably end this thing at some point if this holds, 99 percent reporting.

Basically what I'm saying now, Chris, if you look across the map, there are still tight races out there. On top of that, there are still Democratic pickup opportunities out there to expand the lead.

We've called 221 seats for Democrats. You see right now Democrats are leading in seven of the remaining seats with the opportunity, perhaps, in a couple of other races to get back in play, too. You're looking at 228, 229, 230. That's what Democratic strategists have their eyes on right now.

Can some of the really tight races still in Republican hands actually move forward?

I want to point out one more. This was interesting. This is a Democratic-held seat. This was Tim Walz. He ended up running --

CUOMO: The closest in the country or no?

MATTINGLY: No, it's not. We went through the closest. That was California, 25. What I'm interested mostly because I'm a nerd is this was one of the few seats that Republicans banked as a potential pickup that was held by a Democrat.

Tim Walz, incumbent, left the seat to run for governor, won that governor race. This was a district president Trump won by 15 points. Jim Hagedorn has run multiple times for Congress, they thought this might be his chance, how close this is, 581 votes. Republicans only had a very minute number of pickup opportunities, this is a crucial one and Democrats hanging in right now in this district.

CUOMO: So, we've got 15 seats we're watching. Seven races in 1 percent.

[04:05:01] And on the Senate side, a projection now. Let's go to Dana.

BASH: That's right. In the U.S. Senate, CNN can project Angus King will go on and serve another term in the state of Maine. Angus King is an independent. That's why it is purple, but he caucuses with the Democrats. So, we're going to give that to the Democrats when it comes to the balance of power.

So, let's look at the overall numbers, 45 for the Democrats, 51 for Republicans. They have two pickups so far, but four seats remain. And several of those are really big battlegrounds, Chris.

CUOMO: We always like to add personal details to people as we go through the races, give you a feel for the texture. Two things about Angus King. The first thing is, in his pocket at all times, he has a card to explain global warming to people and what carbon monoxide emissions do. Always in his pocket, he's always handing them to people to help them understand.

Second thing, you almost never see the guy with a tie on without lobsters on it because he's from Maine. I made fun of him once, he sent me a tie that had lobsters on it, I reported it.

So, Matt, when we're looking at the map now, having Angus King in there is important because after all of this readjustment -- now that we see we are truly a divergent electorate, right, we're diametrically opposed and moving in opposite directions, we see it on the Senate side as we get more and more of the raw votes. We're going to see, in the areas where Trump is strong, the numbers are really strong, high 50s, 60 percent approval.

Where he loses, he's got them crushed in the suburbs. A party realignment on both sides, and it's getting more entrenched. And then you have a handful of people like Angus King who is a true independent. He does caucus with the Democrats often, but he's a dealmaker. They're going to be at a premium now.

MATTINGLY: I think the question becomes particularly with the expanded Republican conference which could grow by one or two more in the days ahead depending on what happens in Montana and Arizona, is whether or not Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell feels like he needs to make deals with Senate Democrats because he's expanded that conference.

Now, the interesting element there -- Mitch McConnell will have no choice but to make deals with whoever the house speaker is. If that's Nancy Pelosi -- but to your point, the interesting element I think is everybody's been so focused on the very few Republican moderates because they've been everything, whether or not they can actually get a majority now. And will there be working groups, will there be people -- you talk not just about Angus King but in the mold. You have a group of senators, both Republican and Democrat, sitting in the mid 40s range that are very, very frustrated about where things are going. They would be the people who would want to make a deal.

The other element, too, is the two states that are still outstanding could produce people that would be in that. Jon Tester is often considered one of the individuals in this room -- look at 78 percent reporting. Let's look at what's still standing here. Again, Rosendale, 6,500 votes ahead.

This is what's interesting to me, right? Look what's outstanding -- 82 percent reporting or less. These are three blue counties. Now, in Montana, you're not going to get huge numbers of votes. In total, looking at a little over 325,000 votes.

This is -- the fact this is out there is a big deal for Jon Tester. Earlier it looked like this was 100 percent reporting. This is 67 percent reporting. Missoula is Dem country, this is blue country in Montana to the extent it exists.

The margin, 28 points now. Again, 22,000 votes total in this county. That's a couple thousand votes there that Jon Tester can pick up based on this margin.

So, again, you're talking, look at the top line, Matt Rosendale, 6,500 votes ahead. If you're Tester, where are you going to get votes? Missoula has 33 percent outstanding vote. You're picking up a couple thousands votes there if you're Jon Tester.

Move over to another county, Great Falls, this is the fifth-biggest county in the state. Not a huge amount of vote, not a huge distance here, but ten-point margin, you could pick up 1,000 votes or 2,000 there. Go to Gallatin County, this is the third largest county in the state, look at that margin, 21 percent.

What I'm saying here is, people have been talking that Matt Rosendale was right on the verge.

CUOMO: Right.

MATTINGLY: And there's no question that Jon Tester is in trouble in Montana. These are blue counties with outstanding vote. Jon Tester still has a path. It might be slim, but Tester still has a path.

I want to go to Arizona, as well, and check in where that is. This has been static the last couple of hours. Let's look at what the outstanding vote here and what does it mean -- there are two places where there's outstanding vote.

You have Pinal County, it's 5.9 percent of the vote. Martha McSally running up the lead here, not a huge amount of vote, 82 percent. She can bank on a couple of votes here.

Now, move over to Maricopa, this is everything at this point in time, right?

CUOMO: Yes.

MATTINGLY: This is what might be -- what might take a couple of days, 60 percent of the state comes from here. Eighty-seven percent reporting, Kyrsten Sinema has a little bit of an edge. If she can expand that edge, she could be in a big place.

CUOMO: She got a shot.

MATTINGLY: The big question, this is traditionally a county that Dems get close on --

CUOMO: Not enough --

MATTINGLY: -- and then end up falling short.

CUOMO: Yes.

MATTINGLY: Can she hold the lead and expand it a little bit? That gives her the opportunity. That's what we're going to be waiting on maybe for another 24 hours.

CUOMO: And for people trying to figure out the story of the night, this is kind of a metaphor race.

[04:10:03] You know, the role of women coming into the dominance role, having ideological diversification, having firsts that will go along with their races. If Sinema's able to win, you would have the first openly bisexual person going into the Senate. Martha McSally wins, you're going to have your first woman from the state as senator. And you're seeing that a lot tonight.

The role of Trump in the state and what Martha McSally has promised the constituents there and her ability to work with Trump. These are all themes that we're seeing across the country. And we've got a long way to go.

We've got a handful of Senate races matter in the mandate. In the House, seven races within 1 percent, 15 races still too close to call.

So, please, stay with us. We'll continue our coverage.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

DON LEMON, CNN HOST: So, with Democrats taking over the Congress, that means new leadership. Let's put it up now. Nancy Pelosi probably going to be the House speaker.

[04:15:02] And then you go on and on. Let's look down the line.

I want to bring it to the panel. The president is tweeting, what did he say, tremendous success?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, I got it. A tremendous success. Thank you to all.

LEMON: Thank you to all.

But I wonder if he realizes what he's up against with all the committees. One of the people he demonizes a lot or he talks about a lot in the campaign trail is Maxine Waters. She's going to be over the finance committee. They're going to be talking about finance, money dealings, and on and on and on.

And also, Elijah Cummings is going to be on the oversight committee. You've been speaking to him?

APRIL RYAN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes, I've been texting with congressman Cummings all morning. And some of the first things he wants to deal with as head of oversight and government reform -- issues that affect people on a daily basis like the issue of pre- existing conditions, as well as housing issues, the census. You know, we -- I talked to Mark, and we were like trying to figure out, you know, where is this going.

And we drilled down on it with him about the investigations in Russia. He wants to reach across the aisle and talk to people, a bipartisan effort, because this is very serious. He says when it comes to issues of subpoenaing, he wants to be very delicate yet serious with this, but he wants a bipartisan effort.

But he did talk about Russia. He wants to -- people to understand that he is going to deal with issues that affect them daily.

LEMON: So, that means that the president is going to be under complete scrutiny for --

MARK PRESTON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: One bazillion percent.

CHRIS CILLIZZA, CNN POLITICAL REPORTER: Is that a technical?

(LAUGHTER)

PRESTON: Might be one ka-trillion percent. Think of this time where we sit right now, it was about this time when we had called President Trump or -- it was a little bit later now, was going to be president of the United States. It was the middle of the morning.

And during that speech, he talked about how he was going to work in Washington and get things done together, OK? We're hearing from Elijah Cummings. What we heard from Nancy Pelosi tonight was carefully worded statements. We want to work, we want to be bipartisan, we want to do this, do that, but the bottom line is they're going to take a baseball bat and lined knock down the White House floor --

LEMON: I want to look at the two Republicans --

RYAN: Mark doesn't look happy.

LEMON: What do you think?

MARC SHORT, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I think that it will probably be pretty excruciating, but I think it's going to be politically beneficial to the president in the long run.

(CROSSTALK)

LEMON: Any sort of legislative victories coming?

SHORT: I do think. I think infrastructure stands a likely chance. A lot of Democrats are running in the same Midwest states that the president won. The president will be on the ballot. And they'll say, look, I don't like his rhetoric, but I need to show I can work with him on some issues.

LEMON: Look at the face -- what?

CHARLIE DENT, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I think he's right. The infrastructure will be an area to collaborate on. Also pharmaceutical pricing.

I believe that the president wants -- he's talking sort of price controls. The Democrats are doing the same thing. I think they'll make common cause on an issue like that. But beyond those issues, I'm not sure what they can agree on.

CILLIZZA: Remember that Nancy Pelosi did say, I mean, she was asked about impeachment and if they control the House, what would they do, she said, look, impeachment -- she said this to Dana Bash who I think is still awake, I think -- she said impeachment can sort of be a lever, a pressure point to get other this other things we want. We were talking about Pelosi and what she's done.

But I do think there's a question -- there's an element within the Democratic Caucus that wants -- the day that the Congress is sworn in, get that impeachment -- get the articles of impeachment out there. She's been consistently opposed.

She's going to navigate that water and figure, OK, can we use it as a lever. If I want to be the speaker, do I need to make a promise --

(CROSSTALK)

LEMON: Hold on. Hold on. I've heard others say earlier on CNN, they expressed the sentiment, why would Democrats want to work with a president, especially folks who have not wanted to work with them for the past two years? But go on.

SYMONE SANDERS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Ii think to understand what Democrats ran on. Democrats across the country, these folks that flipped seats, the red and blue candidates, ran on putting a check on the president. They did not run on being the resistance to Donald Trump. These ran on putting a check on him, holding him accountable, on exercising the oversight that, frankly, their Republican colleagues did not run on.

So, there is though a contingent in the House of Representatives, even new folks, that do want impeachment. I think you'll see with focus like Steny Hoyer, Nancy Pelosi, some in the congressional black caucus, they have said previously that impeachment is -- is not what -- if we win the House -- what the American people necessarily sent us here to do.

If there's credible things that come out of the Russia investigation, if things bubble up to the oversight investigations and it is a tool --

LEMON: That sounds good --

(CROSSTALK)

[04:20:04] LEMON: Let's get -- let's get to the bottom of this.

SANDERS: Wait a minute --

LEMON: Let's get to the bottom of what everyone wants to know -- are they going to get the tax returns? That's what everyone wants to know.

RYAN: They're going to -- Elijah Cummings is not going to be the one to do that. They're going to go after the tax returns. But also -- but also you've got issues of the emoluments --

LEMON: That's going to be Richard Neal.

RYAN: Yes. The emoluments issues, conflict of interest violations, executive gag orders. And also listening to what the whistle blowers. This is not going to be easy and this is before you get into impeachment.

MAEVE RESTON, CNN NATIONAL POLITICAL REPORTER: If you go out and talk to voters around the country, beyond the activist Democrat side of things, they do not want impeachment right now. They do not want to be having that conversation. They want a discussion --

RYAN: They want checks and balances --

RESTON: They want checks and balances. They want a discussion about pocketbook issues, particularly health care. I think that much of this, the reason why you're seeing Pelosi's caution tonight is because they will overplay their hand at their peril for 2020.

And this is exactly the foil that Donald Trump would like to have if Democrats go too far.

LEMON: I've got 20 seconds, Mark.

PRESTON: I want to be the moral authority and say as the father of a 13-year-old and 14-year-old, I look at what's going on in this country, all kidding aside, and it's pretty awful. It's pretty awful that both political parties can't get together, that we really have no leadership in this country right now. And there's a lot of problems.

LEMON: I have something important to talk about. Coming up, we're going to tell you where it's legal, going to be legal to smoke pot.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:25:55] CUOMO: All right. Big numbers on the big board. The Democrats now control the House of Representatives, 221-199. That means 28 pickups.

However, 15 seats remain open. There are seven races in the country right now within 1 percent. That's why you got to go slow, and you have to see what happens, and you can't call races too soon. So, we won't.

On the Senate side, a very big story tonight. Republicans have opened up a bigger lead, 51-45, four seats remain. Each one of these has major implications.

But it's not all that's going on tonight. We've been following the governors' races, that has implications for 20. There are ballot measures that give us a window into the shaping of culture in our country.

And one of the questions on there is Don Lemon's favorite -- where in the country can you legally smoke marijuana?

For that, we go to Jessica Dean.

Jessica, what do we know?

JESSICA DEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, hi, Chris. Let's answer that question for you right off the bat.

We go to Michigan where voters there overwhelmingly said that they will vote to allow recreational marijuana, 56 percent of voters there saying that's going to be what they want. So, 82 percent reporting right there.

There's also a marijuana initiative on the ballot in Utah. Now, this is medical marijuana. That's the differentiation here. Again, voters approving that measure 53.2 percent to 46.8 percent. So, those are the two marijuana initiatives we were following tonight.

The others -- expanding Medicaid. We go back to Utah. Here 54 percent in Utah saying yes to expanding Medicaid. We also take a look in Nebraska where they said yes, 53 percent to 46.7 percent.

We know that health care was a major issue on a lot of people's minds. In Idaho, overwhelming 61.4 percent saying yes to expanding Medicaid in Idaho.

So, Chris, a few of those we're keeping our eye on into the morning.

CUOMO: You know, look, that's an important referendum measure. It's also going to be instructive in terms who've gets to be the governor there, because those governors can make decisions about expanding health care and Medicaid that can offset whatever happens on the federal level.

Jessica, thank you very much for that.

Let's bring in Don Lemon.

I hear that you have something you want to say about the Medicaid expansion?

LEMON: Which of those nine states are you moving to where it's going to be legal to smoke pot?

CUOMO: I don't know what you're talking about. You know, Sanjay Gupta says medical marijuana is a big part of the wave of the future. I stand with science.

LEMON: I'm not talking about medical marijuana, I'm talking about recreational, buddy. Don't even try to pretend. It's 4:28 in the morning. Let's go there.

CUOMO: Listen, I'm happy that you can still tell time.

(LAUGHTER)

LEMON: All right. I'm not going -- I'm not going to embarrass you because I'm sure there are lots of things you don't remember. Your short-term memory is gone. Now -- now get back to work.

CUOMO: I will. Thanks, Don.

LEMON: If you can remember your name. Cuomo, Christopher. CUOMO: Nice to see you.

See you later.

Make him go away. Make him go away. Just like my dreams.

All right. So, when we look at this -- every time I see Don --

BASH: You can't do that here. We're physically here.

CUOMO: I go like this, and nothing happens.

You know, I got a lot of questions tonight, early on in the coverage, this was, of course, excellent and bravo to all of you for what you were doing with it. People were saying, so you're looking at the governors races, trying to get a sense of who could run in 2020. That's logical. I get that, that's not the biggest impact, right?

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Right.

CUOMO: These referenda, that's interesting, because you're going to see health care policy, it was huge for the Democrats -- now that they're in control of the House, they're not going to let it go.

The Republicans have themselves in a corner on pre-existing conditions. They went after it and punitively say they'll save it in the laws, but they join the lawsuit on the federal level. So, they've got trouble there, trouble for Trump. These governors can make decisions about expanding Medicaid even easier in states where it's done by referendum. That's important.

How do you think that's going to play in this alchemy of where we go next? What do they work on, what don't they? How big a chance do you think health care is the new horizon?

BASH: I mean, that's a great question. The Democrats in the Senate in particular, and the House, as well, they -- they really tried hard to run on health care. And if you look at the exit polls, the people who supported the Democrats put that as their top issue.