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Democrats Show Signs of Advantage in Early Midterm Voting; Trump Heads to Texas to Back Paxton in Tight Senate Race; Trump: GOP Doing Extremely Poor Job of Promotion Ahead of Midterms; Tennessee Death Row Inmate Survives Execution Attempt; Cornell Agrees to Independent Review of Alleged Sexual Assault Case. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired October 01, 2026 - 09:00   ET

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

[09:00:00]

ED LAVANDERA, SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: If this hospital were somehow not be able to function or offer all of the services that they offer, the town itself would die. We heard that over and over from people. And it's just kind of a fascinating look at all of these different issues that we hear talked about so much kind of playing out in one place.

And kudos to my colleagues who have spent so much time there. We got to know so many people in this community. They were incredibly gracious with us as they opened their doors and let us kind of document all of this unfolding there.

And I hope people will tune in to watch what I think is a really spectacular hour and a very eye-opening hour as well -- Sara.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, eye-opening, disturbing. There's so many ways that you can couch this as Americans grapple with this issue of trying to get good health care in smaller places with all of the things going on with this administration, especially. Ed Lavandera, thank you so much.

You can watch more of Ed's reporting on "THE WHOLE STORY WITH ANDERSON COOPER" this Sunday at 8 p.m. Eastern and Pacific, right here on CNN, and the next day on the CNN app with an All Access subscription.

A new hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts right now.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: New this morning, the Democrats with the early edge. A new analysis shows Democrats with an advantage in early voting. They are ahead of their pace in 2024.

Just in, Tennessee's governor has halted executions there for the rest of the year after a female inmate on death row survived two lethal injections overnight.

And the Coast Guard rescues a man after his fishing boat sinks off the coast of Alaska.

I'm John Berman with Sara Sidner. This is CNN NEWS CENTRAL. SIDNER: All right, we're in the sprint to the midterms. Hundreds of thousands of people have already voted early. And this morning, CNN is launching a new tool to help you make sense of how early voting is trending.

Our new early voting tracker is up and running and lets you see how many ballots have been cast across the country and how early voting is shaping up state by state. And the first numbers are pointing to a strong start for Democrats in several states with key races. Democrats have a bigger share of ballot requests than at this point in 2024.

Now, we don't know how those voters will cast their votes, but it could be a sign of enthusiasm. The clear sign of all right now may be in Virginia, where our Tom Foreman is this morning. Tom, a lot of votes already been cast in these midterms.

Despite all of the hullabaloo the president threw around about mail-in voting, people have been coming, putting those votes in. What are you learning this morning?

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, they're doing a brisk business in this government building here in Fairfax and the voting center inside. There are people walking in to vote, also drop-offs and mail- ins happening here. Crossing the 700,000 frontier this morning in terms of early votes across the country in 29 states, as you mentioned, several key states where they have big governor's races and control of the Senate races underway.

Those are showing strong turnouts for the Democrats there. And in places like Virginia here, one of the stats we're seeing that's very interesting, places where Kamala Harris, counties or cities where she had plus 20 points in her campaign, the turnout there is higher, more robust than in the places where Donald Trump had a plus 20 point gain in that election. So again, another sign of what might be happening here.

You are correct, though. We don't really know how all these people are voting. All these indicators look good for Democrats, but we don't really know how people are voting here.

There have been real changes since the pandemic in how voters respond. Plus, with the president putting out all these false statements about the security of voting, again, American voting is very secure and always has been. With all those claims going out there, though, it could affect how voters are behaving, particularly among Republicans.

So maybe when you don't see as many showing up now, maybe they're going to show up later or maybe they need more convincing before they move forward. And we still have more than a month until election day. So there's a lot of room for different things to change around here.

The bottom line is, though, if this were a basketball game and you had two teams where one is favored, yes, the favored team has scored the first two goals here. But there's a lot ahead of us. That's why I really say not just for promotional purposes, but because it really matters. Yes, go check out our voting tracker on CNN.com and you can keep track of this and get a closer look at all these numbers and study them for yourselves.

SIDNER: Yes, it's very interesting.

[09:05:00]

What you're saying is we don't know how they voted, but Democrats are voting in bigger numbers so far with a full month to go before the election. Tom Foreman, thank you so much. I do appreciate you -- John.

BERMAN: All right, President Trump headed to Texas today to rally behind Senate hopeful Ken Paxton. This even after The New York Times reported on a leaked audio recording of Paxton telling supporters that Trump's midterm convention in Dallas actually dropped his -- Paxton's poll numbers.

And the president has some criticism of his own. He blames Republicans for, quote, an extremely poor job of promotion ahead of the midterms. Let's get CNN's Betsy Klein live, brightly lit at the White House this morning.

Betsy, it's great to see you. Give us a sense of why the president is saying not a good enough sales pitch by Republicans.

BETSY KLEIN, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yes, John, President Trump's mind is on the midterms and specifically this idea that his party is doing a bad job messaging. This is something he referenced repeatedly during an event that was ostensibly focused on honoring Hispanic American -- American Heritage Month. But we know that President Trump is facing dismal poll numbers, about 35 percent approval, according to CNN's poll of polls.

And we are seeing some Republicans place some strategic distance from the president and his policies. But despite that, the president is expected to kick off later this afternoon a spate of midterm campaign travel. Today, he is heading to Oklahoma and to Texas, where he is aimed to rally his MAGA base.

The goal there is to bolster turnout from his most ardent supporters. But he also wants to convince skeptical Americans that he's doing a good job. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: So there are by a lot more Americans working today than at any time in history of our country. You can't.

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: That's a stat.

(APPLAUSE) TRUMP: But nobody knows it. That's why I'm doing it myself. That's why I'm doing it myself, Rachel, can you believe it? I'm going out because nobody's selling it. I'm doing, we're doing an extremely poor job of promotion and an extremely great job of running the country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KLEIN: Now, privately, Trump officials concede that Republicans could struggle to control the House of Representatives after November's midterm elections. They are also increasingly concerned about Republicans prospects of holding on to the Senate. And in the brand new interview with Time magazine out earlier this morning, the president was bullish on the midterms.

He said that he thought Republicans would do well. And if Democrats do, in fact, take control of the House, he said, quote, they'll probably go after me and I'll go after them. But there was another notable moment in that interview where the president declined to say one way or the other whether he was prepared to invoke the Insurrection Act.

That is the extraordinary powers given to presidents that allow them to dispatch the military to quell domestic unrest. I want to read to you this exchange here.

The reporter asks, "Would you rule out declaring a state of emergency in the lead up to the midterms unless there's widespread violence in the streets?"

Trump says, "I don't rule anything out or in. We'll see. You mean the Insurrection Act?"

The reporter says, "Yeah."

Trump goes on to say, "No, I've never used it. I could use it. A lot of people think I should use it sometimes."

Now, the president has repeatedly threatened to take this extraordinary step, specifically during that unrest in Minneapolis among those anti-ICE protests. But sources close to the president at the time said that he was concerned about the political implications.

So definitely a space to watch here -- John.

BERMAN: We will be watching closely now that the lights are on. It was a joke. Betsy's lights didn't go on.

And when we first spoke to her at seven o'clock, she was in the dark for an entire live shot. This time it's a little different. That's why I said that.

It's great to see you, Betsy. Really appreciate it -- Sara.

SIDNER: All right, thank you, John. Joining us now is Ayesha Rascoe. She is the host of NPR's Weekend Edition Sunday and Up First. Good to see you. Thanks for being here this morning. Let's talk about some of these numbers that we're seeing come in. Election Day is obviously still more than a month away. But more than -- I think it's now 700,000 Americans have voted across 29 states.

There are signs emerging of the advantage that Democrats have in motivating their voters. That played out in polling kind of all summer long. And it's certainly a higher number than in 2024.

What do you make of this? Is this something that Democrats can sort of sit back and go, hey, we're doing the right thing? Or is it just way too early to start doing that?

AYESHA RASCOE, NPR HOST, WEEKEND EDITION SUNDAY AND UP FIRST: Oh, I think it's definitely way too early. I mean, no one should be getting comfortable right now. And it's always tricky with the early voting.

Are these people, you know, like, are you banking new votes or bringing in new people? Are these people who would have, you know, voted on Election Day? And like, you're not actually getting more votes than you would normally.

They're just voting early. So I think that it's a difficult thing. Like, you're not actually getting more votes than you would normally.

They're just voting early. So I think that it's a difficult thing. Like, we always like to look at the numbers and try to read the tea leaves, but I think it's way too early.

But when you see this kind of Democratic advantage, it does line up with what we're seeing in the polls, right? That there is an enthusiasm gap, right? That does not mean that Republicans cannot make that up.

That doesn't, and typically, especially now with all the stuff about mail-in voting, there are, or early vote, or don't vote early, vote on the day of the election, Republicans may be more likely to show up on the day of the election. So I think we have to be careful. They still have a lot of time.

SIDNER: A lot of time. It's a good point, Ayesha. Look, we're hearing from President Trump, who says he is traveling the country in the run- up to the midterms.

It's starting that today. Here's what he said as his reason for doing so.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I'm going out because nobody's selling it. We're doing an extremely poor job of promotion and an extremely great job of running the country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: So you hear him talking basically about messaging, and we've heard this before. Are Republicans seeing this as a help or a hindrance in some places?

RASCOE: Well, in some places, I think Republicans know that it may be a hindrance, right? Like, the president is not very popular right now. And so they're kind of between a rock and a hard place because, you know, he can rally the base in a way that no one else can.

But for those independents, for those that they may need to win an election, he can be a bit of kryptonite right now, right? Like, he is just deeply unpopular. And when you hear him talking about, oh, you know, we're just not promoting our message enough, it sounds a lot like the Biden administration back in 2024.

Oh, everything is going well. It's just people don't know all the great things that we've done, and they don't know that the economy is doing well. Well, I mean if the economy is doing well, people feel it.

You don't really have to promote it.

SIDNER: I do want to ask you about what we heard from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who is talking about slashing a full fifth of all military leadership. And that's doubling down once again on the culture war rhetoric while there is a real war happening. Let's take a listen to a little bit of what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETE HEGSETH, DEFENSE SECRETARY: We are no longer the woke department or the weak department. Simple translation of that. No fanny, no fatties, no trannies, no beardos, no weirdos, no wimps, no radicals, just warriors.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: As the American public is pulled over and over and over again, this is an extremely -- this is a war they do not agree with. They are they're suffering from this. Is this a message that is going to end up helping or hurting the administration?

RASCOE: I don't think it helps right now. I think that, you know, leaning into these culture war issues can be, you know, a boost, but it's a boost when you're winning, right?

Like it's a boost when, you know, the you know, the military, the U.S. military is looking like it is winning wars. It is, you know, kicking butt and taking names. But when Americans are dealing with gas over $4.00 a gallon and a protracted war that they were told was going to last a few weeks, it's gone on for months and months, then focus on, you know, what people look like in the military.

I don't think that that speaks to the average American. Like they don't -- they don't even want to be in this war, right? And so it's like, who cares what the people in the military look like?

I just think there's a lot of things that the administration is doing right now that just seems out of touch. And we're seeing that in polling over and over again. SIDNER: Ayesha Roscoe, it is so good to have you. Thank you so much for joining us this morning -- John.

BERMAN: All right, breaking overnight, new details in the investigation of the alleged gang rape at Cornell University. The New York Times says they have more than 1,000 pages from the university's internal investigation.

And the governor of Tennessee halts all executions in the state after a woman survives two lethal injections.

And officers pull a driver from a burning truck just moments before it explodes.

[09:15:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: This morning, the governor of Tennessee has halted all executions for the rest of the year in the state and ordered an outside review after a death row inmate survived two attempts at lethal injection. Let's get to CNN Senior National Correspondent Ryan Young for the very latest on this. Ryan, I'm not sure you're hearing me, but if someone can cue you, give us the latest on this.

RYAN YOUNG, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: John, I'm sorry. I lost communication with you. But what we know so far, and we were outside that building yesterday, was basically that Krista Pike was supposed to be put to death around 10 a.m. on Wednesday. And what happened was there was a stay of execution. Then the Supreme Court said it could move forward. At 7:27, she was administered two doses of that lethal injection drug, and both attempts failed.

In fact, Pike could be heard snoring during these attempts. And so people in the room were actually rattled. Let's take a listen to two of the witnesses who were there.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CATHERINE SWEENEY, WPLN, MEDIA WITNESS: She said that there was a spot that was burning and hurting and asked if that was normal. I covered all the executions last year and most of the ones this year.

[09:20:00]

We haven't seen anything like it. And it went really poorly.

TORI GESSNER, WKRN, MEDIA WITNESS: When the curtains were open, she was kind of inconsistently going in and out of snores and silence. When the curtains closed the final time at 8:05, we could consistently hear her snoring and then it kind of developed into a snore squeak.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

YOUNG: Yes, John, I'm back now. But look, a lot of folks here were concerned about this. She was taken to the hospital. We're not sure what her condition is right now, but you can obviously understand this was the first woman set to be executed in Tennessee in over 200 years. So there was a morbid curiosity from the public already. Folks lining up outside that facility yesterday to see if they could figure anything out.

Then you had this stay of execution. Let's not forget there's a family in mourning and pain about this. The mother of the victim traveled there yesterday after, think about it, 1995, so over 30 years ago at this point, trying to see what this ending would be.

Finally getting justice for her daughter after she was beaten by a large chunk of asphalt, then also was not only beaten but had a star carved in her chest. So you understand the feelings behind this case, but now with this botched attempt, there's so many more questions about how this will be moved forward, and this is not the first time that Tennessee has struggled putting someone to death -- John.

BERMAN: No, it does raise so many questions about the process that they are using. Ryan Young, thank you for being with us this morning -- Sara.

SIDNER: All right, thank you so much, John. This morning new details are coming out from the initial investigation into an alleged sexual assault involving multiple students at Cornell University. The New York Times got a hold of the Title IX investigation by the school, shedding light on what the victim said and those she accused.

CNN's Brynn Gingras is here with more. What are you learning about what was said in that initial, fairly long report?

BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You're hitting it right on the head there, OK? So that initial report is what the Times has possession of. We can confirm with Jane Doe's attorney -- we have confirmed with Jane Doe's attorney that he's in possession of this long report as well.

It actually was part of the basis of why they filed the civil lawsuit, OK. We're talking about an interview that Jane Doe had with police in 2024 after this incident happened. According to the Times, that's 120 pages long, OK? Now, keep in mind, police gave the district attorney in this case a six-page summary of what she gave.

So you can imagine there's a lot more detail that was in that initial report, OK? So let's tick through some of the stuff that the Times has been reporting based off of this investigation. One is the fact that Jane Doe was a sexual survivor.

Again, in important context to be knowing as you hear this larger story of what allegedly happened that night. Also, that after this assault allegedly happened, that she took steps on her own to make sure that she was preserving evidence and doing all the right things to make sure that she, you know, knew exactly what was going on, what was happening to her, that police would have the information that they need. Including preserving the dress that she was wearing that night, including photographing bruises that she had on her body, including really telling one of the men, hey, you know what? I'm pretty sure what happened to me last night was assault. She actually text one of these men who are accused in that civil lawsuit. And the bigger picture here too is also she was processing what exactly happened to her.

The Times says that there were several interviews that were done not only with Jane Doe, but also her roommates. And she was going through this whole process of not really being clear of exactly what happened to her, understanding that she took drugs and there were men, but not really using the word rape. But in that larger document, in that larger conversation, she does believe she was raped.

She said initially she was in denial and then basically came to sort of the realization when she saw on a message board that someone basically said these guys at Chi Phi, you know, quote, "They're terrible people, they gang raped a sophomore." She said that's when she actually went to police with these accusations.

Her attorney in a statement, I want to read just what he said to us. He says, "Ms. Doe's internal processing went from denial to shame and ultimately acceptance that she had been raped by people that she thought were her friends. Her reactions were a textbook reaction to trauma. I am not a mental health professional, but I have seen this many times in my practice."

So again, why is this important, Sara? Because it gives so much more context to this story, right? And had all this information been given to the DA, this entire interview, would that have changed the outcome if criminal charges would have been filed? Could the DA ask for this information? So much more important as we learn more details about this story.

SIDNER: There are a lot of questions as this case goes forward, and I know you're going to be on it, Brynn. Thank you so much. Appreciate it.

All right, the first ever AI-powered platform that predicts whether you will get breast cancer is being made available for the very first time to the public. A look at this revolutionary tool.

[09:25:00]

BERMAN: All right, new reporting from Politico out this morning. A little over a month until the midterms. New Jersey Senator Andy Kim is heading out on a campaign tour focused on engaging Asian-American voters.

Kim told Politico, quote, "They don't feel like they're being courted or being targeted or being sought after, and they think that's going to reflect in how people govern."

With us now is the Democratic Senator from New Jersey, Andy Kim. Great to see you this morning, Senator.

There was this nine-point shift. Politico notes it in this article, which is a really good article. A nine-point shift toward Donald Trump in the last election among Asian-American voters.

Why do you think that was, and what do Democrats need to do better to reach those voters?

SEN. ANDY KIM (D-NJ): Thanks for shining a light on this.