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Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees
Primary Races In Four States; Now: Polls Close In Maine; U.S. Hits Iran For Chopper Downing; Iran Retaliates; Trump Family, UFC Promoting Coins Prices At Up To Nearly $12,000; Polls Close In Maine; Voters Weigh Platner's Scandals In Dem Senate Race; CNN Projects GOP Steve Hilton Advances To November CA Gov. Race. Aired 8-9p ET
Aired June 09, 2026 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: Partnering with the UFC to sell the collection of themed coins, which come alongside, complete with the President's face and his signature. There is a cheaper silver coin option that you can get for 250 bucks. The coins are billed as a celebration of America's 250th anniversary and construction of the UFC cage for the fight is continuing on The White House lawn today, as you can see. Thanks so much for joining us. Our continuing coverage of Election Night in America continues now with Anderson Cooper.
[20:00:38]
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST, "ANDERSON COOPER: 360": It is Primary Night in America once again, with serious implications for November and beyond. Voters in Nevada, North Carolina, North Dakota, South Carolina and Maine casting ballots today. Polls now closed in the last two. South Carolina an hour ago, just now, Maine.
In South Carolina, crowded field Republicans is competing to succeed the state's outgoing governor. The race, you'll recall, includes the Trump backed lieutenant governor and, most notably, Congresswoman Nancy Mace, who broke with the President over the Epstein files, and Republican Senator Lindsey Graham is facing several primary challengers. He's out to a comfortable lead but with few precincts reporting.
In the Democratic race to challenge him, pediatrician, Andy Andrews was leading in polls going into tonight maintains that lead right now. The one race drawing more attention than most, if not all the others tonight is in Maine. Oyster farmer, Graham Platner running to challenge longtime incumbent Republican Susan Collins. This fall, he's all but unopposed tonight, Maine's Governor, Janet Mills, suspended her campaign last month, but she remains on the ballot. Interesting to see tonight how many votes she may draw in light of the scandal surrounding Platner over extramarital sexting, allegations of mistreatment by ex-girlfriends and Nazi tattoo.
As you might imagine, Republicans have seized upon all three of those things, and Democrats hoping to retake the Senate are split over whether to shun or embrace him, if only at a distance.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) REP. JAKE AUCHINCLOSS (D-MA): I don't think Democrats win by accepting
a degraded state of affairs. I think we win by elevating and governing from a redefined and more decent center.
Actually, I've been clear and candid since October of 2025, where I stand, my focus is on supporting those candidates throughout the country, whose character, whose platform I think, elevates and advances the Democratic Party and helps us win back the Senate.
REP. ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ (D-NY): If that choice on the ballot is between that and a Senator who's voted to take healthcare away from millions of Americans, that's the situation that we have to weigh. I don't think that it's to hand wave away any of this. I think it's, you know, again, for voters and frankly, I don't think the people of Maine are particularly concerned about what people in Washington are fretting about.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Well, let's start tonight with CNN's Arlette Saenz in Maine and also CNN's Dianne Gallagher is in South Carolina for us. We'll start with Arlette at Platner headquarters. What is the mood among supporters there tonight?
ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Anderson, attendees have started to file into this gymnasium in the very town where Graham Platner was born. They're hoping to hear a victory speech from their favorite candidate this evening.
Platner is favored to win this Democratic Primary, but the question is by how much and whether that might be a sign of the enthusiasm that is around Platner in the wake of these scandals that have confronted his campaign in recent weeks.
Now, we spent the day speaking with Maine voters, and they really had mixed views about Platner controversy and his viability as a candidate going forward. Here are two Maine voters we spoke with today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KATHLEEN LEAVIS, REGISTERED DEMOCRAT: I don't believe in misogyny or power over women, and although he has said all of those things were in the past, I don't know if a person can change that much.
LEE EDWARDS, REGISTERED DEMOCRAT: I know he's got a lot of bad stuff behind him. I also understand that having gone through four tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan, he has more than PTSD. He had moral injury, and it really messes with your mind.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SAENZ: Now, the biggest test for Platner will come in November, when he's expected to face off against Republican Senator Susan Collins. Republicans have made clear that they want to put Platner's controversies front and center in their campaign messaging against Platner. Earlier today, Collins, speaking with our colleague Manu Raju, said
that he she thinks that some of these allegations that he's faced are unacceptable, that he needs to explain himself to Maine voters. But this is a state that's also going to be critical for both parties when it comes to control of the senate after the midterm elections. Some national Democrats are anxious that these controversies could continue to plague Platner heading into November, potentially putting their plans to flip this state blue at risk -- Anderson.
[20:05:08]
COOPER: Arlette, thanks very much. We're going to talk to John King at the Magic Wall shortly look at numbers coming in from Maine. But first, let's go to South Carolina, where polls closed just over an hour ago. Dianne Gallagher is there following the key races. What are people saying about the gubernatorial and Senate races tonight?
DIANNE GALLAGHER, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that gubernatorial race, Anderson, all that anybody is focusing on right now on the GOP side. A lot of eyes, especially some of those potentially in the White House, on whether or not Lieutenant Governor Pamela Abbott is going to get a Trump bump after the President endorsed her a little less than two weeks ago.
I will tell you that this is a stacked field with five candidates who all come with their own very respectable resumes. The lieutenant governor, of course, the longtime attorney general, Alan Wilson, two sitting members of congress, and Nancy Mace and Ralph Norman and businessman, Rom Reddy.
And there has been no clear leader in this race thus far. And in talking to voters today, we kind of got a mix of that support speaking with them. And in fact, many of them who say they're big fans of the President didn't even know that he had officially endorsed in this race. And those who had already who did know it said that it didn't really impact their vote, saying they had already done the research. They knew the candidate they wanted to vote for, and that potentially, if Pamela Abbott advanced to a runoff, because in South Carolina, a candidate must get 50 percent or the top two vote getters advance to a runoff. That's likely what's going to happen in this particular race.
They said then they may give her a second look because of that Trump endorsement, but she's got to make the runoff first. Now, you mentioned the Senate race as well. Lindsey Graham, who has been in the U.S. Senate from here in South Carolina since 2003, has five opponents in the GOP primary. We spoke with a lot of people who said they cast ballots for various numbers of those opponents didn't really say why, except they didn't want to vote for Lindsey Graham.
When we spoke to other people, they said they voted for Graham because he's been in for a long time or was endorsed by the President but we'll have to wait and see if that will matter and if he potentially could be forced to a runoff as well.
COOPER: All right, Dianne Gallagher, thanks very much. John King is tracking the numbers at the Magic Wall. John, what does it look like? JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Anderson, as Dianne was
just going through? Number one, you're the lieutenant governor of the state. Number two, you have Donald Trump's endorsement with 21 percent of the vote in you're at 28 percent. If you don't get 50 plus one, then you have a runoff in two weeks.
Interesting at the moment, for all the talk of anti-establishment sentiment in the country, and trust me, from my travels, there's a lot of it. South Carolina does tend to be a more establishment state, especially on the Republican side. Youve got the sitting lieutenant governor and the state attorney general right now at the top of the race. Rom Reddy is a businessman who is trying to test that anti- politics anti-establishment sentiment. He's running third at the moment.
And then as you come down here, two members of congress, Anderson. If nothing else, South Carolina's guaranteed a turnover in its congressional delegation because Ralph Norman and Nancy Mace decided to run for governor.
Nancy Mace, as you well know, she actually worked for Trump back in 2016 for a bit the 2016 campaign. But she and Trump are at loggerheads over a number of issues, including her push to get the Epstein files released. She's at the bottom of the pack right now. Ralph Norman at 17 percent right there.
So, the lieutenant governor on top there, Anderson. Again, you got to get to its 22 percent. Your eyes tell you right now we're likely to head for a runoff here, but we'll continue to count the votes. And, you know, does the Trump, there've been conversations since Randy Feenstra in Iowa didn't win the gubernatorial nomination. Spencer Pratt out in the L.A. mayor's race, didn't win and Trump had endorsed him. So, there's questions I would not overplay that angle in South Carolina. But let's watch how the day plays out.
COOPER: And John, in terms of main numbers, are we still waiting on those?
KING: Let's go, we did see some in the Republican side, but Susan Collins is on a post, so that's not a surprise at all. You see their runaway there. So, let's take a look at the Senate, the Democratic Primary. We still have nothing coming in Anderson. I'm just going to pull up the map a little bit. This is where were going to look most.
The southeast part of the state, right along the coast, half of the population in the state of Maine lives in that circle I just drew. And guess what? That's also the blue, very, very blue first Congressional District. So, if Democrats want to cast a protest vote either for Governor Mills or David Costello, David Costello, an active candidate, Governor Mills suspended her campaign. But she has several times in the past couple of weeks, amid all the Platner controversy, said, you know, I'm still on the ballot.
So, let's just watch how this plays out. And again, I wouldn't overstate that either. I talked to a couple of the voters we spoke to when I was up in Maine doing a piece on this race, a couple who said they were going to vote for Mills or had voted for Mills, voted early in the primary. A couple of them said they would still vote for Platner, at least as of today, come November but they did want to lodge a protest vote there. And I did talk to one of our voters who said that she is now a never Platner and is likely to support Collins, but she's going to weigh whether to support Collins or sit out.
So, let's see when the numbers come in. How much of a protest vote is registered, and try to figure out what to make of it.
COOPER: All right, John, we'll check in with you. Joining me right now is former Michigan Republican Congressman Peter Meijer, former Trump White House communications director Alyssa Farah Griffin, former special adviser to President Obama, Van Jones and Executive Committee Chair of the New York State Democratic Committee, Christine Quinn.
Alyssa, what are you watching for tonight?
[20:10:13]
ALYSSA FARAH GRIFFIN, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I will be looking at Maine tonight. Obviously, the Graham Platner scandals just keep coming. Just this week, there were new allegations from an ex- girlfriend, someone I've actually known for over a decade against him, somebody I consider to be very credible in those allegations and they're just more and more stacking up.
You've got the Nazi tattoo; you have him denigrating wounded soldiers. You have allegations from ex-girlfriends; you've got the sexting. That's going to start to resonate with people. And it would be one thing if he was running against, let's say, Ken Paxton, but he's not, he's running against Susan Collins, one of the most bipartisan senators in the Senate, somebody who's also a political heavyweight. She is used to running really tough races.
So, if you're a woman, a Democrat in that state, and you're weighing, how serious should I take these allegations? You're really not happy with the direction things are going in. Susan Collins, you have someone who's going to be campaigning, as I voted for Obama, Supreme Court justices. I'm willing to break with Trump when I need to. And I think you could really see a very serious race in a state that I think Democrats thought was going to be much easier to win.
COOPER: Congressman Meijer.
PETER MEIJER, FORMER U.S. REPRESENTATIVE: Yes, I mean, she voted to impeach Trump in 2021. You know, the question that I want to see or the data that I think will be really interesting, Janet Mills has not been running a campaign. She withdrew herself, but she's still on the ballot. How many votes does she pick up? How many protest votes on the Democratic side who say, you know what? I know Graham Platner. He's really the only viable candidate in this race. He's the only guy still running. I can't stomach it. I'm circling in Janet Mills. And who do they vote for come November?
COOPER: How do you see it, Van? VAN JONES, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Look, Platner is a flawed
candidate. He's not running against Susan Collins. He's running against Donald Trump. That's how Democrats are going to see this. And it's really hard for us to hear all this passion from Republicans suddenly about moral standing and being a good person and being kind to puppies.
Look at your President, what are you literally talking about? And so, I think if you're a Democrat or an Independent who's tired of this President running the country into the ground, starting dumb wars he can't win, running up the price of everything, you've got one shot in Maine to send a message not to Graham Platner, not to Susan Collins, but to this White House is out of control. I think that's going to be, all this stuff is great for cable news. I think on the ground in Maine, it's going to be a fight about the future of the country, not about Graham Platner's past.
COOPER: Christine.
CHRISTINE QUINN, EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE CHAIR OF THE NEW YORK STATE DEMOCRATIC COMMITTEE: Yes, no, I agree with that. I mean, I think, is he a flawed candidate? You can't argue he's not. I mean, it's just a fact. But the fact that he is doing as well as he is, even as flawed as he is, speaks not to him or Susan Collins. It speaks to how in the toilet President Trump's numbers are in the state of Maine and how hard it is for everyday people in Maine to survive, to pay for gas, to pay for food. And then you have a President who says he doesn't think at all about the economic impact of the war on everyday Americans.
So, if there's a choice between a guy who's done some bad things or a guy who says, you don't matter at all when it costs now 70 bucks to fill up your pickup truck, I think people are going to go with themselves.
COOPER: Are you concerned at all about, you know, this is a race right now among Democrats that there's no even kind of GOP opposition research going on. Are you concerned about what might come out down the road?
JONES: Yes, they're going to back up a dump truck and it's going to be all kind of dog poop dumped on this dude. And I don't think a lot of voters are going to care because we've just been just so eroded and corroded in what we accept now, because of what you see from the White House every day.
GRIFFIN: I wonder, though, Van, like the Democrats love to run on the moral high ground. And I actually think you do in many ways have it in this moment. But when you nominate somebody like a Graham Platner, it makes it much harder to say, this is this is a critique of the character in the White House. This is a critique of abusing women from, you know, the senior most figures in the Trump administration. It's a lot harder to do that when this is the nominee.
COOPER: We're going to continue following the returns as they come in throughout the hour. Next, after an American attack, helicopter went down, its crew was
rescued, the U.S. retaliates and Iran says it then retaliated. That is, the President yet again signs a peace deal, signals that a peace deal is days away.
Later, you know about the UFC fight scheduled on the South Lawn of The White House. But did you know that the Trump family is now profiting off it?
Don, Jr. and Eric Trump's connection to gold and silver coins being sold to commemorate the fight.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:18:45]
COOPER: Striking counter-strike tonight in the Persian Gulf. Iran saying it launched missiles and drones against American targets after U.S. strikes on Southern Iran. No word yet what, if anything, the Iranian salvo may have hit all of it following the downing of a U.S. Army Apache helicopter overnight by an Iranian drone, both crew members survived.
The President initially shrugged it off before posting this today. "Nevertheless, the United States must of necessity respond to this attack."
CENTCOM announced it retaliated just after 5:00 P.M. Eastern, calling the mission a " proportional response to unjustified Iranian aggression. " Two sources tell CNN that initial U.S. strikes targeted military sites around the Strait of Hormuz. One saying additional strikes are expected.
The President telling ABC News they should, "be very strong, very powerful." And that's what this one is. Speaking with The Wall Street Journal, though, he said the chopper downing, "wasn't a big deal. And just last night he was talking like peace was truly at hand.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: And we're in the final throes of what will be a very, very good deal that will not allow in any way, shape or form nuclear weapons, et cetera. And the Strait will open up right away. It'll open up immediately upon signing, which could be in two or three days.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: If in fact that is the case, the President revealed no evidence of it. True or not, though he has now been saying words to that effect for months.
[20:20:06]
[BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: We have points of major points of agreement. I would say almost all points of agreement.
They want to make a deal and we are very willing to make a deal.
I think we would end it. I can't tell you for sure, but they want to make a deal so badly. You have no idea how badly they want to make a deal.
I do see a deal in Iran, you know.
We are very close to a deal.
And it's looking very good that were going to make a deal with Iran.
I think it's close to over, yes. I mean, I view it as very close to over.
We think we're close to a deal and that's okay.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Joining us now AXIOS' Barak Ravid and retired army Lieutenant General Karen Gibson. Barak, what are you hearing about the U.S. Response at this point?
BARAK RAVID, CNN POLITICAL AND FOREIGN POLICY ANALYST: What I heard, Anderson, that so far, the U.S. launched three waves of strikes against air defense and radar systems in several sites in Southern Iran close to the Strait of Hormuz. All the targets are around the Strait of Hormuz, and at least at the moment, as of a minute ago, the Iranians still haven't launched any retaliation. And I think what the U.S. is waiting to see, what the U.S. Military is waiting to see is whether there is going to be any retaliation.
They think there's going to be. So, I think that they're also preparing in defense to try and intercept any Iranian attack when it's launched.
COOPER: General Gibson, as we mentioned, a source told CNN that this Apache helicopter was brought down by a Shahed drone. What kind of targets are shed drones typically used for, and how does the U.S. establish whether this was an intentional downing of the aircraft?
LT. GEN. KAREN GIBSON (RET), U.S. ARMY: Yes, so I think they're used against a broad range of targets, fixed sites, you know, mobile things in this case, like aircraft or perhaps, a vessel, they can be used across a broad range of targets.
Determining or attributing that it was a Shahed drone is probably not that difficult. It was probably picked up on radar, not only by aircraft in the area, but shipboard radar for various ships that are sailing in the area. And, you know, the pilots radio transmissions also probably would have given some indication of that.
So, attributing it as coming from Iran or even where it came from in Iran may not be that difficult. Attributing the intentionality, whether it was an accident, whether the Iranians thought it was an Israeli aircraft, that's a lot tougher, and it would probably require some kind of incidental collection of communications where that was conveyed. And we may not have information on the intentionality of it, but nailing it down as the type of drone and where it came from. It sounds like there was a wealth of sensors that probably provided that information.
COOPER: Barak, you said, I think that the U.S. was waiting for to see if Iran responded. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, they said in a social media post that Iran had launched missiles and drones toward the toward U.S. targets in the region. Is that is that not the case?
RAVID: As far as I know from U.S. officials, the Iranians haven't launched any retaliatory strikes yet. I'm not sure and at least, I haven't seen any statement by the Iranians that they have.
COOPER: Barak, what are you hearing about, I mean, the President has talked about a deal being closed for many, many months now. What is the latest you are hearing on that?
RAVID: So, I think it was, let's go back, something like ten days. When the Iranians sent back their response to the U.S. and President Trump holds a meeting in the situation room to decide whether he wants to take it or not.
At the end of that meeting, he decides to ask for two amendments. Those two amendments are then sent to the Iranians, who take something like five or six days before they tell the U.S., through the mediators, that they think they will have a response in 24 to 48 hours. That was on Saturday night, Sunday morning. Then the escalation between Iran and the U.S., Iran and Israel happened and I think everything got held up.
So, the U.S. is still waiting to hear back from the Iranians about the two amendments that President Trump asked for.
What I hear from sources that are involved in the mediation efforts is that the kind of things that are still open are, you know, for example, I'll give you an example to understand how far down the road this is. For example, President Trump wants to put a 60-day deadline on the process of down blending of the Iranian uranium. The Iranians say we want 90 days. That's one of the things that they're still haggling over, if it's 60 days or 90 days.
That's not a big gap. But until you don't close all those small gaps, you just don't have a deal.
[20:25:30]
COOPER: General, in terms of a U.S. response, how is a response calibrated to limit? I mean, how do you play as kind of tit for tat game of retaliation? It's not a game, but I mean, retaliation, especially if you want there to be a deal.
GIBSON: Yes. Now, that's a very important decision. I think it was important also to strike back one to reestablish deterrence. Two, to show that this kind of action cannot go unanswered. And three, if we fail to act to an extent, we legitimize Iran's claims that they control these International Waters, which by International Maritime Law are supposed to be available for unimpeded transit.
So, it's important to strike back to establish deterrence but as you say, without launching both parties on a kind of escalatory tit for tat cycle. And so, striking probably things is, as we've heard, perhaps drone command and control sites, radars associated with drones, specific military equipment in the Strait of Hormuz that could be used for these kinds of airstrikes. Ideally, even the specific equipment that was used to strike the Apache as well as perhaps drone logistical sites, but not striking further into Iran, not hitting dual use kind of facilities, not hitting civilian things. Because, as you say, we want to send a message and reestablish deterrence without escalation and to leave room for these glacial talks to continue.
COOPER: General Gibson, Barak Ravid, thanks very much, appreciate it.
Coming up next, the President says the UFC cage match on the South Lawn of the White House is to celebrate America's 250th birthday.
Then why is the Trump family promoting these Trump coins commemorating the UFC fight with the most expensive one, costing nearly $12,000.00? Details on that.
Later, we'll check back in on primary results coming in, especially in the Maine Senate race, which could decide control of the Senate in November.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:32:02]
COOPER: Today, June 9th, is not only primary day across a number of states where Americans get to exercise their sacred right to vote, it is also the day that the Trump family officially starts to cash in on the UFC cage match planned at the White House. That cashing in is in the form of these Trump coins which went on sale today, described as, quote, "The official gold and silver of UFC 250."
The priciest of these coins will run you $11,999.99. That is the cost of the fine gold. We the People medallion, it's called. The Trump coin site touts that, quote, "This extraordinary collectible unites American history, presidential legacy, and combat sports history in one landmark release."
Note that it comes in a case featuring photos of President Trump and UFC President Dana White on either side of Donald Trump's signature. Now, there are four medallions in all, two gold, two silver, ranging in size and price, with the lowest costing around $250. The site says they are all designed by President Trump himself, which is amazing. Where does he find the time?
This is, of course, not the first product the President or his family members are pushing.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'm proud to be partnering with my very good friend, Lee Greenwood, who doesn't love his song, God Bless the USA, in connection with promoting the God Bless the USA Bible. This Bible is the King James Version and also includes our founding father documents. Yes, the Constitution, which I'm fighting for every single day, very hard.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: The presidential edition, quote, "commemorating the 45th and 47th president" cost $99.99, as does the Melania Trump First Lady edition in red. Then there's Trump sneakers. Kennedy Trump unveiled these Never Surrender high tops, which at the time retail for $399. And yes, they were released before he was reelected.
But lest you think he's forgotten, three weeks into the war with Iran, President Trump posted this to social media, claiming that these same high tops were now selling at a sneaker convention in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia for $180,000. That presidential post about sneaker prices during the war. Where does he find the time?
I'd be remiss not to mention the Trump phone. The $499 gold-plated phones finally started shipping a few weeks ago, nearly a year after initially taking customer's money. While originally touted as being made in the USA, they are now marketed as designed with, sorry, designed with American values in mind, which we should just pause and reflect on that claim for a moment -- designed with American values in mind.
I don't know what that means. Someone was thinking about America when they signed the contract to hawk these? Experts said they closely resemble a phone made in China, but somehow American values were thought about when they were designed. Rest easy.
[20:35:04]
Then of course, there's the Trump meme coin, which he launched in a social media post three days before inauguration. It's one of four Trump family crypto projects. A recent Reuters' analysis found the Trump family have used these projects to generate at least $2.3 billion, which is great for them, not so great for more than a million investors who have net losses totaling $2.3 billion.
Back with our political panel. I know you're waiting for your coins. It's been (INAUDIBLE). The office has been a buzz. And with this desk, by the way, was also made with American values in mind.
GRIFFIN: America in mind.
COOPER: Yes. But, you know, does any of this matter? I mean, you would -- nothing sticks, so --
FARAH GRIFFIN: Nothing sticks --
COOPER: It's all built in. It's all built in. FARAH GRIFFIN: I mean, it's Teflon Don. I just think of the things that we Republicans were outraged with, with Hunter Biden when Biden was in office. He's profiteering off of this, you know, his artistry and these pictures he was drawing. This is next level. It's really next level.
But while it doesn't really stick with Donald Trump, it does potentially stick with Republicans down ballot. Heading into the midterms when the gas prices are high, when the cost of everything seems through the roof, having to defend these sort of things and things like, you know, $1 billion ballroom gets increasingly harder for Republicans.
COOPER: Well, it's also -- to me, what was surprising about the coins, I mean, I don't know why it should be surprising, but, I mean, this whole UFC cage match thing, whatever you think of it, was sort of marketed as a celebration of Flag Day. And of course, it's on the President's birthday. It's now the part of the 250th celebrations and they are marketing -- making money off the 250th celebration.
MEIJER: There's going to be merch, right? There's going to be merch. So I have a Home Depot Homer Bucket that has America's 250 on it, so I'm also participating in this great Homer buckets. They're $498, I think.
But to Alyssa's point, I mean, it is what the political image is going to be of this. You know, they're selling for two and a half times the spot value on like silver or gold. They're a nice little turducken between, you know, Trump and the UFC and the 250th.
COOPER: I like a turducken record.
MEIJER: Yes.
COOPER: Some people are going to need to scramble to look it up, but it's like a duck and a turkey inside a turkey.
MEIJER: Yes, exactly.
COOPER: Yes, yes, yes.
MEIJER: It's all great things, right? But these are places where the proceeds should go to a patriotic --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
COOPER: Right. Yes, exactly.
MEIJER: You don't want to give the impression.
COOPER: Yes.
MEIJER: Obviously, there's a lot of profiting, you know, in any merchandising scenario. But this is something that's just so on the nose. Find a good charity support though.
COOPER: If the National Parks were profiting from this --
FARAH GRIFFIN: Right.
COOPER: -- you know?
QUINN: Or the VA --
COOPER: Yes.
QUINN: -- which the President has cut services at dramatically. If the money was maybe going there, we would feel a little better about it. But once you hawk the Bible with a constitutional insert, the sky's the limit. I mean, really, that is so low. This barely (INAUDIBLE).
FARAH GRIFFIN: I would be afraid I'd get like struck by lightning.
QUINN: Right, right.
FARAH GRIFFIN: Like, I just wouldn't do that.
MEIJER: The Trump sneakers did lead to a fantastic SNL skit with Shane Gillis. So we shouldn't forget that.
FARAH GRIFFIN: But one thing we -- because there is some seriousness in all of this. There's reporting by the Washington Post, by the way, that this UFC fight, which is taking place, it's the President's birthday. It's the 250th celebration of America, but that it's not going to have White House press pool coverage that actually the credentialing for press is going through UFC -- the UFC, which is extremely odd. It's extremely unused role.
I worked in the White House. You always have a press pool cover any event that the President's present for. That's just another step in this direction of cracking down on press access and not getting, you know, the information to the American people of what their tax dollars are actually paying for at this big display of America.
JONES: I just -- this is so tacky.
QUINN: Yes.
JONES: It's just tacky. And, you know, it's like kindergarten during COVID. No class, you know what I mean? Like no class. And I just think that, yes, a lot of people voted for this guy. They really believe he's going to do something for them. They really believed it.
I mean, I argue with these folks. They said, no, he's going to do something for us. And he's done nothing. He's run up the price of everything. He's run over our values and now he's running off to the bank with his little -- all his golden coins laughing and all of his proceeds come at the expense of Americans who believed in him. It's just sad.
COOPER: We're going to take a quick break. Next, back to the primaries and the first results from Maine. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:43:30]
COOPER: Primary night in America. We're just getting our first results from Maine. I want to go back to John King in the Magic Wall. John?
KING: Very, very, very early results, Anderson. As we look at Maine, the big question in the Democratic primary, it's not who's going to win. I think it's pretty well expected that Graham Platner, the oyster farmer, the ex-Marine, is going to win this primary.
The big question, because of all the recent controversies about Graham Platner, his character and his temperament, some of his behavior toward women, is how big will the protest vote be? We have no idea at the moment.
We have just a tiny percentage. If you look at the map here, just a few small townships in. Again, about half of Maine's population lives inside that line, south of that line, right along the coast, from the Massachusetts border up to about an hour north of Portland.
That's the first congressional district. That's where most of the population lives. That's where most of the Democrats live in the state of Maine. So we really need to wait to see what's happening here.
At the moment, again, 163, 52, 46, a tiny, tiny, tiny number of votes. Platner at 66, the governor at 20 percent, David Costello at 14 percent. He is still an active candidate. She suspended her campaign.
Anderson, I don't want to make anything of the numbers right now, but I'll just say this is the dynamic. At the end of the night, people are going to see where Platner is, and they're going to add this up, right? How big is the non-Platner vote?
And then there will be a debate. You know, does that mean he's weakened? Does that mean there are people out there who can't vote for him? Some of these people are people loyal to their governor, who voted for her in the primary, who will vote for Platner in the fall. Some of them are voting for Mills because they either won't vote for Platner or they just can't get there yet.
[20:45:01]
So this number at the end of the night is the most important number, I think. What percentage of people did not vote for the clear frontrunner in their race? And then the debate will begin over just what that means.
COOPER: All right, John King, thanks very much.
Back now with the panel. Joining us as well as Alex Seitz-Wald, Deputy Editor of the Maine paper, the Midcoast Villager. Alex, what are you looking for tonight in the numbers?
ALEX SEITZ-WALD, DEPUTY EDITOR, MIDCOAST VILLAGER: Yes, Anderson, well, I think John's analysis is exactly correct. Everyone's going to be watching that margin with a threshold around 70, 75 percent for what would be considered a good night for him. Above that, it would be good. Below that, Democrats start to get nervous. That's where he's been at in the polls.
I'm also going to be looking at how he performs in different towns. Maine is very diverse geographically. Does he do well in these kind of old mill towns with a lot of working class white voters who shifted from Obama to Trump towns like Jay or Sanford? How does he do in the coast with older, educated women who have been key voters for Susan Collins in the past?
And I'm also going to be looking at the governor's race as a sign of the Senate race. Troy Jackson, a Graham Platner ally, had been polling pretty low throughout the entire course of the race until just a few weeks ago when Platner really threw all his weight behind him. So if Platner can help get Troy Jackson over the line or within striking distance of winning, I think that would also help bolster Graham Platner's case that he's in a strong position in November.
COOPER: What do you -- how do you see the way Platner has responded to these negative stories? How have you seen it evolve over the course of this race?
SEITZ-WALD: Yes, it's a great question, Anderson, because early on in those scandals in the fall, the Reddit post, the tattoo, people really liked the way he responded. They felt like he took ownership. He took responsibility, something you don't often hear from politicians.
But then I heard in this more recent the sexting issue with his early in his marriage, he was defensive. He criticized the media's coverage. He took issue with the number of women he had been sexting with, and that turned off voters that I've spoken to almost as much as the allegations themselves.
I think he's corrected a little bit and he's kind of staunched the bleeding. But Susan Collins's support has been quiet. People refer to it as the silent Susan phenomenon. So it's harder to get a read on where those voters who have split their tickets in the past and cross party lines.
Those are the ones who are really going to matter in November. And these kinds of issues are going to make it harder for them to support Platner, I think/
COOPER: Alyssa, how much do you think Platner's percentage of the vote -- I mean, it matters to folks who look at the numbers a lot, how much do you think it matters moving forward?
FARAH GRIFFIN: I think John King nailed it. If he gets upwards of 75 percent, I think there's a good argument for him staying in the race. But if you see this real peel off, even with Janet Mills not formally in the race anymore, that's a protest vote.
And Susan Collins is somebody who has the ability to pull off moderate Democrats and Independents. You guys are absolutely right. There's tremendous frustration with Donald Trump. But she's going to have the next six months until Election Day to run as far from Donald Trump as humanly possible.
And Susan Collins is capable of doing that and will. She's pro-choice. She is moderate. She is centrist. She has a 30-year long record that she can point to in the state of Maine. And I'm just telling you that this guy is looking tougher and tougher to defend every day.
JONES: Susan Collins is bipartisan when it don't matter. As long as --
FARAH GRIFFIN: She confirm (ph) two years Supreme Court justice.
JONES: And that's standard in American life for 200 years. You don't get a cookie for voting for --
MEIJER: She voted to impeach Donald Trump.
QUINN: He never is the deciding vote. When it always came down to her and Murkowski, they would never go the distance when you needed her to be the one to choose (ph).
JONES: Yes, the cheese.
FARAH GRIFFIN: He voted for Obama --
JONES: You're always --
FARAH GRIFFIN: -- voted for impeachment.
MEIJER: Is there a line that Graham Platner could cross that would be too far?
JONES: Well, yes. Look, if some criminal stuff comes out, I mean, listen, but what I'm saying is, right now you've got somebody, he's got a checkered past. I like accountability.
MEIJER: And checkered present.
JONES: Yes, I like -- look, I like accountability, but I'm a second chance, third chance, fourth chance guy. I've spent a lot of my life working with people in prison. What I didn't like about Graham Platner recently was when he stopped being an accountable guy and started being the blame other people guy. I don't like that. I think that's bad.
But is it bad enough for me to say, please, Susan Collins, go back in there and support Donald Trump on everything that matters? No.
COOPER: All right. We're going to take a quick break.
Alex Seitz-Wald, thanks very much. Everyone else, stick around.
Next, California and a long-awaited projection in the governor's race there.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:53:57] COOPER: It's primary night in America. We've got a new projection from the last primary night of a week ago. Late today, CNN made a projection of California's race for governor after seven days of vote counting. We can finally say which two candidates will face off in November.
CNN's John King is back at the wall with that. John?
KING: And, Anderson, as you know, we were here last week counting these votes. And because California, every voter gets a ballot by mail and they can cast that ballot. And as long as they're come in, as long as they're postmarked by Election Day, they count them.
But you're right. 91 percent of the estimated ballots count now, which made our decision desk comfortable in making this projection. The Democrat, Xavier Becerra, will run against Republican Steve Hilton in the November election. Mr. Becerra at about 28 percent right now. Steve Hilton at 25 percent, if you round that up a little bit.
The disappointment is in the Tom Steyer campaign. They're in third place at 23 percent, if you round that up. So not terribly far back. But our decision desk now confident with the outstanding votes that Mr. Becerra and Mr. Hilton will face off in the fall.
This, unless you're a Steyer supporter, Anderson, has caused a big sigh of relief among Democrats, both nationally and in California, because now you will have by no means guaranteed.
[20:55:03]
There's a lot of anti-establishment in Washington, in the House races, in the Senate races. We focus on voters angry at Washington, voters angry at President Trump. But voters everywhere in a volatile mood. And Becerra is not the incumbent governor. But California Democrats have run the state for some time.
So this is by no means a cakewalk. But by voter registration, it's an overwhelmingly Democratic state. And so Becerra versus a Republican is a lot easier for Democrats to swallow than Becerra versus Steyer, which would have been Democrat on Democrat fighting.
Not only did they not want that to happen in California, they thought if you had two Democrats spending millions of dollars fighting each other over different issues, different positions, character issues or whatever in California, some of that could reverberate into other Democratic races across the country.
So in our largest state and our most populous state, Becerra versus Hilton heading into the fall. And again, if you're not in the Steyer campaign, most Democrats are happy that they get a D versus an R.
COOPER: And let's go back to Maine. Any numbers?
KING: We're waiting for more. Let's check and see if we can get here a little bit quicker. Whoops. I went way down here. Let me come back up. Sorry, Anderson. We got a lot of races in the wall here. We got to come back to Senate D. There we go. Not much. Nothing since we last spoke. Grant Platner at the moment -- I think a couple more towns come in. Grant Platner at this moment, 71 percent, but at 1,100 votes. So we have a long way to go.
Still nothing. The most populous area, you just had the main guest on, knows this better than I do. But right down here, half the population lives inside that, actually, even south of where I drew the line a little bit north.
But again, 71 percent from Platner at the moment, 18 percent or 19 percent. So 29 percent or, you know, yes, 29 percent if you add up the, quote unquote, "non-Platner" vote right now. But, Anderson, we're only at 1 percent. So we'd be putting the cart way out ahead of the horse to even try to explain what that means, because we got a lot of votes to count.
COOPER: Can we look at the Lindsey Graham race in South Carolina?
KING: We sure can. We can pull back out. You make the line go away. Let's come to Senate Republican, and let's check on in.
So we're at half the vote. Again, the challenge for Lindsey Graham is stay above 50. Avoid a runoff. Any North Carolina candidate tonight, there's a governor's race, some other races. If you're not above 50, you have a runoff in two weeks.
I would say this. As an incumbent Republican senator who has the endorsement of the President of the United States and who has spent millions of dollars in the last few weeks on his campaign, it's not a good sign right now that you're at 27 percent, but CNN can now project, I'm told, that Lindsey Graham will advance to November without a runoff, which meaning he's staying above.
He's at 59 percent right now. We have about half the vote counted. So your eyes were telling you that's where we're headed anyway. So Lindsey Graham will breathe a big sigh of relief tonight, Anderson, that he does not have to campaign for two more weeks. That he does not have to ask Donald Trump to step in and help him in a runoff campaign.
South Carolina is about as red as you can get. So Lindsey Graham will be the overwhelming favorite in November, even though we talk about this is a Democratic year, a good year for Democrats nationally. I would have a big asterisk when it comes to South Carolina.
So Lindsey Graham breathing a big sigh of relief tonight. I will, again, just say this, though, that any challenger against a Republican incumbent gets 27 percent of the vote, somewhere in that ballpark. We'll see where it ends up. So it's a bit of a warning sign to Lindsey Graham that some conservatives back home are not happy.
COOPER: Yes. John King, thanks very much.
Back now with our political panel. Van, just in terms of the race in California, obviously, the President has been talking about rigged elections. Do you think that is a preview? I mean, is he workshopping stuff for the midterms?
JONES: Well, I mean --
COOPER: I mean, for the actual election?
JONES: Well, he only says that elections are rigged on a day's an end and why. So he's going to continue to do that. I do feel a little bit sorry for Tom Steyer. He's a friend of mine. I've known him for a long time, spent a lot of money.
I wonder if rather than running so far to the left, if he had said, look, I'm a business guy and I'm going to make California work better and lean into his business credentials rather than almost running away from it. But I'm very, very glad.
Becerra is going to beat the pants off of this guy. And I hope the Democrats, you know, fix the state because we're going to have three party -- three branches of control and the state's not working right. But a Trump supporting person -- I mean, a Trump back candidate in California has no shot.
MEIJER (?): Yes.
FARAH GRIFFIN: Well, and of course, Steve Hilton is now already kind of running away from these these myths, these lies that the election was stolen. Obviously, Spencer Pratt lost in Los Angeles. So that fueled a bunch of conspiracy theories. But Hilton advanced to the runoff.
And now he's distanced himself on Erin Burnett's show. He knows that he needs to spend now until Election Day separating himself from the President.
MEIJER: I want him to do as well as humanly possible. It's a Republican in California. And the challenge -- yes, there are logical reasons to say it's moving by this much. We're a week from this election and they're still trying to figure out who's going to make these runoffs. But by God, it should not be this hard.
JONES: I agree with that.
MEIJER: Florida had issues in 2000, they fixed it. And now they're a hallmark of efficiency. California, get your act together.
JONES: Amen. Can't argue with that. It's not stolen, it's just --
FARAH GRIFFIN: It just looks crazy (ph).
JONES: It's just low. Slow as Christmas. Slow.
COOPER: Well, that's it for us. Thanks, everyone, for watching. The CNN's coverage of primary night in America continues. I'll see you tomorrow.
The Source with Kaitlan Collins starts now.
