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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Dems Take Control of House, GOP Keeps Senate. Aired 5-5:30a ET

Aired November 07, 2018 - 05:00   ET

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


[05:00:01] CHRIS CUOMO, CNN HOST: All right. We're going to have continuing coverage throughout the morning. One of the big questions is how many of us came out? How many of us voted?

Well, we have numbers for you right now. Eighty-eight percent of the vote is in, OK? You'll see we have 96 million people.

But remember, 12 percent still to come in. That's going to be relevant. How does it size up? In 2014, you had 83.3 million people. We're ahead of 2014. The 2016 presidential election, you had 136 million.

What's the record for a midterm? In 2010, we had 96 million people. We're already there. We still have 12 percent to go. So, good for you for getting out and vote.

Our coverage continues. My thanks to this panel. Let's hand it off to NEW DAY right now.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to our viewers in the United States and all around the world. Welcome to NEW DAY. It is Wednesday, November 7th, 5:00 in Washington.

You know, I say good morning, but it's still election night, frankly. What a night it has been. Mixed messages in the absolute extreme, giving both parties coming to cheer about, but in terms of the biggest change, no question, Democrats seize control of the House, breaking the Republican monopoly in Washington. They are now in the game.

In the Senate, the Republicans not only held their majority, they added to it. Many of the winners in states that President Trump visited in the final days of the campaign. But they already controlled the senate. The House is a huge shift. After two years of virtually no oversight from Congress, now it's here.

Among other things, Democrats are already saying they want to see the president's tax returns. White House counselor Kellyanne Conway tells CNN, quote, they're talking about investigations and subpoenas, and he's talking about issues.

Kellyanne is going to talk to Alisyn in the 8:00 hour.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: OK. So exit polls point to several interesting factors. The biggest -- women, especially in the suburbs. Women ahead up 52 percent of the overall election alternate. They went for Democrats over Republicans by about 20 points.

It was a rough night for high-profile Democrats -- Andrew Gillum in Florida, Beto O'Rourke in Texas, both lost their bids. And Stacey Abrams in Georgia is behind at the moment, but refusing to concede.

Some key races in the Senate -- still too close to call. Razor-thin margins in Florida, Montana, and Arizona. In Mississippi, a special election is headed to a runoff.

So, we have it all covered for you. These numbers change by the minute.

So, let's begin with CNN's Phil Mattingly. He has the latest results for us.

Where is it now, Phil?

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Alisyn, I want to really focus in on the three races that are still outstand -- races that are still outstanding in the senate. You look at the margin, if things hold, 55 Republicans, 45 Democrats. Things are not final.

Let's start with Montana. Incumbent Democrat Jon Tester trailing by about 4,000 votes to Republican Matt Rosendale, 84 percent reporting. Key question, what's still outstanding. Does Jon Tester have a pathway? Well, there's four blue counties outstanding with vote.

There's not a ton of vote in the counties. Jon Tester, I'm told, still does have a pathway but it's not a very large one. So, Democrats sweating that race a bit.

To the south to Arizona, this is another potential pickup opportunity. Jeff Flake, retiring Republican senator. Right now, Martha McSally, member of the House, up by 12,000 votes with 74 percent reporting.

Let's see if Kyrsten Sinema, the Democrat, has the opportunity to come back. There's one outstanding county, Martha McSally is leading by 17 points. Again, nothing has been called yet. There's still opportunities here; the opportunities look at least at this point to be somewhat limited.

I To another race. People have been talking about this all night. Governor Rick Scott running for Senate as a Republican against incumbent Bill Nelson. Ninety-nine percent reporting, Rick Scott is up by 38,000.

A lot of people have said, why don't you call this race? A lot of people think we should. Here's why -- right now, 0.4 percent separates the challengers, 0.5 percent is the automatic trigger for Florida recount in a statewide race. There's also absentee ballots that had to be postmarked by today and will likely be counted over the next couple of days.

Our decision desk is holding off calling this race until we find out if there's going to be a recount and if those absentee ballots come in and what they say.

So, that's what's currently outstanding right now. Let's look at a broader sense of the map. You talked about the divergent maps between the House and the Senate.

If you're Mitch McConnell, you feel very good. Why do you feel good? You've got Indiana circled. You got North Dakota circled.

In Texas, Beto O'Rourke put up a mighty challenge. No question about, losing by two or three points. He went down, as well. Missouri, also a flip.

Democrats right now, we knew they had a tough map going in, they had to defend Trump-won seat. Democrats lost a lot of those seats.

The open question is how big Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's majority will be, not if he will have a majority. We know that's the answer.

Let's move quickly, guys, over to the House, because there's still outstanding races there. I want to look at those. You talk about the top-line number that matters, as it currently stands, the Democrats are leading or had races called in 228 seats.

[05:05:07] Magic number was 218. They're over the threshold. The question is how big is their majority going to be? The here's the uncalled pickup opportunities out there -- seven for Democrats.

The key ones to look up in California, just a few minutes ago, when I was on the other set, this race was heading in Republicans' hands. Take a look right now -- 50, 50, 55 percent reporting, only 82 votes ahead. Guys, the races are going to stay tight.

Why they matter with the top line, yes, Democrats absolutely have won the House. When you look at races that are a couple hundred of votes apart, Georgia six, everybody talked about this in the special election, right now, it looks like the Democrat may win this, as well. Margins matter when you have a house majority. Yes, likely to be Speaker Nancy Pelosi. How many votes will she have to work with? That's what we're going to be figuring out over the next couple of hours -- guys.

BERMAN: Phil Mattingly at the magic wall. Great to have you here. You've been up all night, still counting votes one by one, if you have to.

CAMEROTA: Really some of them are that close. As he was saying, 82. Every vote counts as we've learned.

BERMAN: Phil on each and every one.

All right. Let's talk about all this. Joining us, David Gregory, Jeff Zeleny, Alice Stewart, Nina Turner.

David Gregory, I want to talk about what's going on. In terms of what's changed on Planet Earth, specifically in Washington, Democrats are taking control of the House. That is a giant deal. That is a different world for the president to live in.

DAVID GREGORY, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: No question. You know, 2016, reverberations felt. Democrats felt decimated. They won the popular vote in the presidency. Lost the Electoral College, lost the presidency, lost all control of Washington. So, the Democratic Party struck back and struck back big.

I mean, they not only won the House. We're counting the vote total. They showed strength across the board is. But they showed strength across the board, right? They exploited where the president's unpopular with suburban voters, college-educated voters -- where he's weak, rather, among women.

They picked up a seat in Central Oklahoma. They picked up a seat in South Carolina. They picked up a seat, Culberson, outside of Dallas, showing all of the strength that we've seen in demographic changes, mobilization, energy, those races -- the governors' races appear to be disappointing certainly in Florida. Perhaps, as well, in Georgia, showing that even with demographic changes, even with energy, it's still difficult in the South. In those two states.

But Beto O'Rourke in Texas, a lot of strength there. But we also saw two things -- polarization and the resiliency of Trump as a campaigner, as a political force, somebody who can consolidate that support particularly in rural parts of the country. There's a lot there. Not the blue wave a lot of people thought was coming. But certainly a big night.

CAMEROTA: So blue wave in the House. Red wave in the Senate, if you want to call it that. The president can feel good -- basically, there are a lot of different factions that can be celebrating and see it as a victory for themselves.

Explain that paradox.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: I think the fact that -- I mean, this was always two separate elections. The Republicans had the blessing of geography going into this because all of these Senate races were in red states. But look where the president went. He largely won all of the Senate seats.

The question we don't know is did his rhetoric at the end of the day, did his -- you know, his harsh tone on immigration, hurt the House. We'll be looking at that for a long time to come.

One thing I noticed overnight so interesting -- as the president goes forward, what does he do? Sarah Sanders, White House press secretary, she told reporters before midnight the president had no plans to call Speaker Pelosi.

BERMAN: Not-yet Speaker Pelosi.

ZELENY: Well, former Speaker Pelosi. Speakers always call themselves speakers even after they leave. The president called Nancy Pelosi just a couple of hours later. The reality is President Trump knows he's waking up to a new era in

Washington. How much will he work with them? I think more than we might think at this point. That is something to keep an eye on.

But the president, for all the thought of how he was going to hurt all these Senate Republicans, that did not happen. He was helpful at the end of the day by him making this race all about him, which it was. It helped saved Senate Republicans no question.

BERMAN: In those states for sure. In this White House -- the political team deserves credit --

ZELENY: As does the president --

BERMAN: He campaigned for those senators in those places. The House is a different story.

Nina, I want to go to you, because I think it's easy to tell what the Republicans' mood is, they lost the house. I think they knew they were going to do that. Perhaps they picked up a few more Senate seats than they thought.

How do Democrats, deep down inside, really feel this morning?

NINA TURNER, FORMER OHIO STATE SEATOR: I mean, mixed, John. For me, this has been heavy especially because -- I was talking to David a little about that. Especially because of Florida and Georgia. And there's something extra special about Florida and Georgia, it was the weight of history, too.

These were not just ordinary races. It wasn't just Stacey Abrams and Andrew Gillum were trying to jump mountains. I call them mountain jumpers. Some people have smooth surfaces. They had to try to overcome mountains.

So, in that regard, for a lot of Democrats, that is very heavy because people poured their heart, soul, into those races.

[05:10:06] But in terms of them taking back the House of Representatives and being able to be a check and balance on this president, the Democrats were, in fact, successful. They won six more gubernatorial, you know, races trying to make up for lost ground because, you know, since 2010, you know, Democrats have lost 1,100 seats, and that's including state legislatures and governors mansions. But it has to be mixed.

I will say also, in Florida, one positive thing that happened, that is the second chance amendment, where 1.5 million returning citizens, ex- offenders, will be able to regain their right to vote. That has a very powerful impact on the African-American community disproportionately because they are disproportionately impacted by those kinds of laws. So, it's mixed this morning.

CAMEROTA: Alice, same question. How are Republicans feeling this morning? ALICE STEWART, FORMER TED CRUZ COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: They're

feeling justified given that we knew this was going to happen. This is exactly how it was expected to turn out.

The blue wave in the House was something they expected for three reasons. One being history. Generally the party in power loses states. Another is Democratic fund-raising was strong. That was beneficial to their candidates. As well as the retirements, we had a lot of Republicans retiring. That opened up some seats for Democrats to make some headway. That's certainly the way it happened.

I will say with regard to those two races you mentioned in Florida and Georgia, Gillum and Abrams ran phenomenal races. They were tremendous candidates. The good thing is we haven't seen the last of them. They've got great futures ahead of them. These were strong, hard- fought races.

But at the end of the day, a lot of emotion we had behind these candidates, Oprah Winfrey brought that out in Georgia. The emotion wasn't enough to match the intensity on the issues that Republicans had. Republicans were very firm on the issues and sticking hard with their core Republican values.

That drove more voters to the polls. And at the end of the day, that was beneficial in Georgia, Florida, and in Texas. I think the Ted Cruz victory was strong.

TURNER: I have to add in Georgia in particular, I mean, what -- the secretary of state managing the election process and the voter suppression that has gone on there. So, it wasn't just that it was a smooth path for Stacey Abrams there. A lot of poli-tricking went on in Georgia. The racialization of those two races by both the president and the candidates, also Andrew Gillum and Stacey Abrams, that had a lot to do --

CAMEROTA: It was not a level playing field.

TURNER: They had to jump mountains, absolutely.

GREGORY: I'm curious to see what the voting totals are particularly among young voters. This is important. In a way -- I agree with you, we're going to look in 2020 at -- as we have started to already, we're going to look at Georgia, we're going to continue to look at Florida. We're going to look at Arizona. These Sunbelt states are where the action is.

What Beto O'Rourke did in Texas is shocking because the states are changing. The demographics are changing. They may have fallen short in these governors' races, but we look at millennial voters, their turnout. But the energy is there and is growing.

BERMAN: Let me quote Ron Brownstein who will see in a little bit. States like Arizona, to a lesser extent Texas, they're the future of the Democratic Party and always will be.

GREGORY: Right. BERMAN: Which is to say that it always just seems out of reach. What

happens is sort of my theory on those states. What we did see overnight and into this morning, we're still seeing it in California, is real movement in the suburbs.

And you know, it wasn't long ago where the suburbs, it was the base of the Republican Party, Alice. I mean, George W. Bush made his election based on these suburban areas. And now they're just melting away.

You go state by state -- Jeff, to you, melting away here. It is, safe to say, a reaction I think to the president. Does the White House think this is an even trade? Is this something they are concerned about? Is this an area you think the president might try to pivot in the next two years?

ZELENY: I think it's challenging for him to try to pivot in the suburban districts. That's not how he won in the first place. I'm not sure how that's how he'll win re-election.

But look at governors' races and other things, this is what concerns the White House and should concern the Republican Party as well, Democrats, a strong night in state legislative races. The early numbers show as well as the governor's race in Wisconsin, a state that the president won, and Michigan, a state the president won.

This is a new landscape for Trump 2020. He's going to start campaigning almost immediately. He liked the rallies. One adviser told me, look, the rallies aren't ending. They are just starting. He liked the field. The reality here is the president has a choice to make.

At the halftime mark of his first term in office, he has a choice to make if he wants to keep on the same path or if he wants to pivot a little bit. And will Democrats allow him to pivot. So, so much going there. But he is in charge of so much as he brings in a new team which he's going to do.

CAMEROTA: All right. Panel, thank you very much for all of the insights.

[05:15:01] Stick around if you would.

In Georgia, Stacey Abrams is down but not out in her bid to become the first black female governor. She trails the Republican Brian Kemp by just over 2 percent points. She is not conceding at this hour.

Our Nick Valencia is live in Atlanta with more.

What's the situation at this hour, Nick?

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Alisyn, this goes without saying, but it was a very bitterly contested governor's race. And at least right now, officially, it is still not over. Even though 99 percent of the precincts are reporting and Democrat Stacey Abrams trails Republican Brian Kemp by more than 80,000 votes, she has hope that there are tens of thousands of absentee ballots that could bring 50 percent of the threshold, that 50 percent mark that Brian Kemp has, below the threshold enough to send it into a runoff.

This is something she addressed to a rally of supporters last night during the campaign headquarters at her event there. She said that she knows it's going to be an uphill battle, but it's still a very real possibility.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STACEY ABRAMS (D), GEORGIA GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE: Votes remain to be counted. There are voices that are waiting to be heard. Across our state, folks are opening up the dreams of voters in absentee ballots. We believe our chance for a stronger Georgia is just within reach. But we cannot seize it until all voices are heard.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VALENCIA: Abrams didn't mention Kemp by name but said there were people hard at work to, quote, try to take our voice away, alluding to allegations that she made against Brian Kemp of suppressing voters.

Brian Kemp is the secretary of state, a position that oversees the elections here in Georgia. Some calling it a conflict of interest.

For his part, Kemp didn't declare victory last night but said he is confident math is in his favor to win the election -- guys.

CAMEROTA: But, Nick, how long will it take to count the absentee ballots?

VALENCIA: Well, the December 4th runoff, that's the mark. That is the outstanding question is how long it will the take.

Ninety-nine percent, Alisyn, of these precincts already reporting. The local paper, the "AJC," saying 100 percent of precincts reporting. A Hail Mary here, the tens of thousands of absentee votes. She's counting on metro Atlanta, which is predominantly progressive, to try to get her over the mark, Alisyn.

BERMAN: Nick Valencia in the middle of it all in Atlanta. Nick, thanks very much.

Still counting votes in Montana. Can Jon Tester hold on?

Still counting in California. Congressional races. Will the Democrats expands their margins in the House?

We are watching all of it, and we're going to talk about what the Democrats might do with this newfound power in Trump's Washington.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:21:43] CAMEROTA: OK, it was a big night for governors' races nationwide. Democrats managed to flip at least six seats from the GOP, but Republicans managed to hold key seats in the Midwest. The most contested race is still playing out in Georgia. That's where Stacey Abrams refuses to concede this hour. She's hoping that absentee ballots will help close the gap and then force a runoff with Brian Kemp.

CNN's Phil Mattingly has been crunching all these numbers. He's here with the latest.

What's it looking like now, Phil?

MATTINGLY: Well, Alisyn, we've been talking about the divergent maps between the house and the senate. Democrats looked at governors races as the place to put the stamp on this night. And as you noted, mixed results.

I want to focus on things Democrats are most hurt about this morning when you talk about the races they watched. First start with Florida. Andrew Gillum was considered a top-tier candidate. The Democratic Party thought of him as the future for the party. He ended up losing to Ron DeSantis, 49.7 percent to 49 percent. He conceded. That's obviously as we talked about beyond the.5 percent recall trigger.

That race is now over. You talked about Stacey Abrams. Another really big, lot of momentum behind them in the Democratic Party. Right now the race is still uncalled because, as we, as Nick laid out earlier, she has not conceded the race. Those are two difficult losses for Democrats.

Here's another one -- Ohio. If you talk about Ohio, people going into this night thought Richard Cordray, the former director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, had a real opportunity here. Mike DeWine, state attorney general, ended up winning this race by about four points.

Here's why that's problematic. You talk about what this means for the future. You're losing places like Florida, like Ohio, in governors' races statewide, that has 2020 implications. But more importantly it has redistricting implications. When the new census comes out and they draft maps, this governor has veto power.

This is why Democrats feel like they had a good night. Let's look at the seats that flipped. And you're looking now at seven total if held and where are the seats, guys? And I think this is crucial.

We're talking about Michigan. We're talking about Wisconsin, Scott Walker, Wisconsin, ended up losing. The longtime Democratic target. You're talking about Nevada, as well.

Why are those important? Talking about a Midwest rejection of President Trump. States he won. Another crucial 2020 state. It's a mixed results. Democrats happy certainly in the Midwest. Not happy about what happened in Florida, Georgia, and Ohio, guys.

CAMEROTA: All right. Phil, thank you very much.

Back with us, we have David Gregory, Jeff Zeleny, Nina Turner, and Alice Stewart. So, in terms of the governors' races, let's focus in on Florida for a

second because that was so high profile.

So, David Gregory, with Andrew Gillum, is there anything to glean -- any wisdom to glean from this? With progressives are not the flavor of the day or is there -- are we looking too specifically?

GREGORY: Yes, no, I think there's a lot that's positive. I think Democrats were deeply disappointed. There was a lot of energy and enthusiasm, you know, when you talk about the star power that's a piece.

But he was the real star power. You know, a young, black, progressive who -- I think Democrats are looking for who will lead us, not just the resistance, but who will lead us and give us something to vote for. Give us someone to vote for, to create something of a movement.

And I think Gillum represented that, and not just because he was young and fresh. Because he had something to say that was meaningful. He was doing it in a state that would be tough. It would be really tough to win.

[05:25:00] And to John's point earlier, you know, the Sunbelt States are the Democratic future. And I think that will become the future -- these are battleground states but they weren't able to do it. So, it shows you that demographics matter, but so does the polarization. The president's strengths, the Republican strength in rural parts of the state and other states is still meaningful, makes it difficult.

BERMAN: You know, it's interesting. I think if you asked Democrats going into yesterday what the big governors' races would be it would be Georgia, Florida, and Ohio. And they were 0-3 there.

But, Jeff, they now they control Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Michigan. They had Pennsylvania already. But the three states, if Hillary had won, she'd be president today.

ZELENY: No question. That is something that it was going to be a challenge for this president going forward. If he is going to win re- election and we're going to move on to that sooner than we probably should. That's the reality here.

BERMAN: That hatched about six hours -- that happened about six hours ago.

ZELENY: In the president's mind, as well. That is something that is going to be an issue as they go forwards, particularly redistricting. Going forward for the next decade, this is the critical year for governors, I think.

But I think back to Florida for one second, I think the president also plays a role here. You have to absolutely give him credit for campaigning for DeSantis. But DeSantis was a mini Trump during the primary. He moderated during the general election. And he ended up winning at the end of the day here. But I think the White House, how they work with people of all sides

including these Democratic governors is something I'm keeping an eye on.

Again, it's the president's choice here. Is he going to remake himself a bit, or keep going on? We don't know.

GREGORY: You look at the Democrats winning in Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, the upper Midwest, this is -- you know, where Democrats need to make changes.

CAMEROTA: But, Nina, in the places where it has been a struggle with Beto O'Rourke, Andrew Gillum, Stacey Abrams, still struggling, these were the high-profile stars. Are there lessons to be learned?

TURNER: They softened the soil. Alice brought that up in her first comments, and I do agree with her on that even though I am not happy with the results. But they softened the soil. It wasn't a blowout.

You know, Andrew Gillum was the future of the Democratic Party. He still is the future of the Democratic Party. He showed very clearly he ran as a true progressive, not a half-measured progressive.

CAMEROTA: Why don't you take the lesson that progressives are -- where they lost --

TURNER: No, but again, it's a difference between having a smooth surface, a rocky surface, hills and mountains. Let us not forget the import of history in this country, that less than five African- American men have been elected as governor in this country. And no African-American woman has ever been elected.

That history and that energy and momentum that both Abrams and Gillum had, that means something. Yes, they did not win, but they didn't get blown out either. Even with the fact that they had to jump mountains, even with the racialized nature of it brought on by the president and the two candidates that they had to run against, making this about race and one of the most negative, despicable ways ever. All of that plays into this.

So they have a lot to be proud of. And this is bigger than the Democratic Party. This is really about the future of America. That whether or not we are as a country fully ready to be represented in executive office by people who are black and brown. That's really what's on the line in this country.

BERMAN: Alice Stewart, if we can, I want to pull it back to the House a little bit now and talk about what we're going to see over the next few weeks and few months. Because the Democrats are coming into power here, and they have a choice to make, and the president has a choice to make.

Should I hold my breath that they'll both decide miraculously to work together, or where do you think it's going?

STEWART: You hold your breath, and you'll be the boy in blue over there. You'll continue to hold your breath.

A lot of it depends on who blinks first. Will the Democrats in the House be about legislation, or will they be about investigation?

BERMAN: It could be about both.

STEWART: It could. Simultaneously as Paul Ryan says we can walk and chew gum at the same time. I hope they will have a kumbaya moment and get things done. We did see when the president met with Chuck and Nancy that they had the summit and had some type of agreement with regard to DACA and immigration.

CAMEROTA: Fell apart --

STEWART: Didn't move forward. I think what we need to do is agree, OK, if we're going to get things done, we've to work together. We can't just have meetings and have talk and no action. We have to follow through and have bipartisanship. I'd like to think that's what we're going --

GREGORY: Do they want it, though? I mean, ultimately did they want it? If you want to continue to resist the president, do you want to investigate, do you want to use the subpoena power, you heard Nancy Pelosi being cautious about impeachment which I think is a good idea.

You know, I don't know. The president's always going to spoil for a fight. You know, he had an immigration deal. He had money from Democrats to build the wall. He said no because he wanted to take a more hard-line position.

If you're the Democrats, I'd want this immigration issue off the table. I think Republicans want it off the table, too. I'm not holding my breath on that. But I always think there's an opportunity because they both have reasons to want this issue off the table before 2020.

STEWART: The question is, do Democrats want DACA more? Does the president want the wall more?