Return to Transcripts main page

CNN News Central

Democrats Set For Blue Wave?; Interview With Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-TX); Trump Campaigns in Texas. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired October 27, 2026 - 13:00   ET

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

[13:00:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:01:06]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Texas two-step. President Trump visiting the Lone Star State to rally Republican voters, as new data shows enthusiasm is up for Democrats heading to the polls there.

And a vote of no confidence. A new analysis shows how right-wing influencers are pushing theories for why, if Democrats win, the elections cannot be trusted.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Plus: the future of Israel on the ballot. Israeli voters turning out in the highest numbers in decades, as they decide the political fate of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

We're following these major development stories and many more all coming in right here to CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

KEILAR: It is a fight to the finish one week out from the midterms, and new polling shows just how fierce this battle for the Senate really is. New CNN numbers show Republican incumbent Senator Susan Collins in a dead heat with her Democratic challenger, Troy Jackson.

In the meantime, President Trump has his focus on another Senate race. Today, he's taking his fourth trip to Texas before Election Day, Republican Ken Paxton facing an extremely tough challenge from James Talarico, a lot of money, a lot of Trump's time being spent there.

And CNN's Alayna Treene is live for us at the White House watching it all.

Alayna, what can we expect today?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, look, this is the president, one of the states that he's actually visited most, you mentioned his fourth time, and he's going to have two stops there today, first at Corpus Christi, port city in Texas, and then on to Lubbock.

And, look, this race has become very expensive. You have seen the president, as we mentioned, spending a lot of time and energy in this state, but you have seen a lot of resources go into a state that I think a couple months ago, Brianna, Republicans would not think would be as in play as it is today, the current polls showing Talarico and Paxton in a dead heat, really a toss-up over who could win next week.

Now, I will note that the president did comment on this earlier today when he was traveling on his way over to Texas. I want you to listen to what he said about James Talarico and what he thinks about Paxton.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Ken Paxton deserves to be the next senator. The other guy, he does not stand for Texas values, nothing, nothing, from get rid of the oil, get rid of the guns, and get rid of the meat. Between the three things, it's ridiculous.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TREENE: So you could hear there the president really trying to defend Paxton here and argue -- criticize Talarico and argue that he doesn't really stand for what, in the president's mind, Texas represents.

I will note as well that you have heard Paxton say this and some other Republicans say this, but it's be something that's echoed in my private conversations with members of the president's political operation, is that they do believe that whoever wins in Texas could potentially kind of be the key marker of the overall makeup of who has control over the Senate on November 3.

They see it as kind of like a ground zero for these broader midterms, because Texas, of course, a very historically red state, but so are other places, Brianna.

And I do want to mention just one other quick note here is that, with the present going to Corpus Christi -- this was something that's pointed out by our colleague Kevin Liptak -- the last time the president was actually in Corpus Christi, he was on Air Force One when he first ordered the strikes, U.S. military strikes on Iran.

And then, of course, we saw the Iran war breakout after this, and notable moment in context, I think, to point to, of course, the Iran war being one of the key things that is dragging down the president's approval ratings and Republicans across the country -- Brianna.

KEILAR: All right, Alayna Treene, thank you so much -- Boris.

SANCHEZ: So, a new "Washington Post" analysis is shining a light on President Trump and his allies' aggressive efforts to sow doubt about the midterm election results before even a single vote is counted.

"The Post" found -- quote -- "Nearly 600 high-profile right-wing social media accounts, podcasts, and other online media have published more than 7,000 statements questioning the election's integrity so far this year. That messaging has, in particular, pushed overstated claims that noncitizens are on voter rolls and that mail-in ballots enable widespread fraud" -- end quote. [13:05:21]

The president adding fuel to that fire on Monday, promising a $1 million payout to anyone who reports voter fraud that leads to an arrest or conviction.

We're also following the Justice Department's unprecedented legal moves ahead of Election Day. That includes plans to deploy approximately 1,000 election monitors across all 50 states. It's also ramping up requests for certain states to hand over voter registration data.

Let's go to CNN's Gabe Cohen, who has the latest on this.

So, Gabe, walk us through what you're learning.

GABE COHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Boris, as you're mentioning, very busy week heading up to the election for Trump's Justice Department.

As you said, we now know they're planning to send these federal election monitors to all 50 states, more than 1,000 of them in all, more than double the number that President Biden sent out during the 2022 midterms.

To be clear, these are not federal law enforcement officers. These are mostly federal lawyers, and the Trump administration has said, and even the president has echoed this himself, that they're not going to be disturbing voting in any polling locations. Voters should not expect interactions necessarily with them, but they are there to watch for any sort of disturbances or violations of federal law potentially that could lead to challenges or litigation after Election Day.

And I think that is a real key piece of this to remember, Boris, because what we are also seeing from DOJ are these lawsuits in the days leading up to the election. We saw just a couple of days ago they filed this preemptive lawsuit in Alaska, challenging, forcing -- trying to force the state to block certification of the Senate race results if the Democrat wins.

And then there's this lawsuit in California where they are accusing the state of having 20,000 noncitizens on its voter lists, who they say, the Department of Justice says are getting ballots as we speak for these midterms and may be committing voter fraud in real time, and they essentially want the state of California to separate their ballots of those individuals until an investigation can be done.

And one of the reasons this is critical, because it's moving through the courts, Boris, but, yesterday, we saw a very similar letter go out to the state of Washington from the Department of Justice, also accusing Washington of having hundreds of noncitizens on its voter lists who are registered to vote, they say have voted 1,500 times in recent elections.

And they are calling for Washington to do a similar investigation, saying that additional legal action from DOJ will come if Washington does not do something in the next 48 hours. And so this is all setting the stage for more litigation heading into Election Day and even afterward, with a lot of officials raising concerns about this at the very least sowing doubt in the midterm results and possibly leading to some significant challenges potentially to certification of some candidates.

SANCHEZ: Yes, a lot to be on the lookout for as we get closer to Election Day.

Gabe Cohen, thank you so much.

Just into CNN, we have some new predictions from one of the country's top election forecasters.

Kyle Kondik is the managing editor of Larry Sabato's Crystal Ball at the University of Virginia Center for Politics.

Kyle, thanks so much for being with us.

So, going through some of these predictions, you see Maine and Texas as the likeliest races that will determine which party winds up controlling Congress. Why -- or, rather, the Senate, I should say. Why those two states, and what do you see as the determining factors in those races?

KYLE KONDIK, UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA: I mean, look, all of this is just about the political environment.

And it's interesting. Maine, that's the only Senate seat that is in a state won by Kamala Harris that's held by a Republican, Susan Collins. I think Collins is probably trailing at this point. And then we just heard the report at the start of the show about Texas, and I think even the White House is looking at Texas as maybe the hinge state.

And you think, God, it's crazy to think Democrats could actually win a Senate race in Texas, and you keep waiting and waiting and waiting for Ken Paxton to take the lead, and he just hasn't done it.

SANCHEZ: Well, to your point about Texas, it seems like the elusive Charlie Brown chasing the football for Democrats over the last several cycles, believing that they could win a Senate race there. You believe that at this point it's likely that they do?

KONDIK: I wouldn't say it's likely that they do. But I do think you see a little bit of an edge for Democrats in Texas.

One of the things we look at is like this early vote reporting, and it's kind of all over the map.

SANCHEZ: Yes.

KONDIK: But it certainly seems a lot bluer than it was in 2022 and 2024. One of the things we're going to be watching for is, do the Republicans catch up? Because the whole cycle we have been talking about Republican enthusiasm problems, Republican turnout problems. The midterm's always a challenge for the president's party anyway, and

you're seeing it. You're seeing it in the polls. I think you're seeing it in the early voting. The president's going down to Texas a lot to try to gin up enthusiasm. At the end of the day, you look at these red states and say, oh, if the Republicans hold them, you shouldn't be shocked. And yet the environment is so bad that they're very much in play.

[13:10:04]

SANCHEZ: So they are going full on, full steam ahead on states where they believe that they can flip Democratic seats. Which do you think presents the most likely flip for Republicans?

KONDIK: I mean, I don't think there are really any. I'd say Michigan would be the likeliest flip for Republicans. I do think Abdul El-Sayed is still favored in that state.

SANCHEZ: Yes.

KONDIK: I do think he's also going to run behind Jocelyn Benson, the Democrat in the governor's race. At this point, I think the polls are pointing El-Sayed by maybe two or three points. That's probably where I would -- where I would think it might go.

And some of these other ones we talk about, like Minnesota, that doesn't probably -- seem all that likely. Georgia, Jon Ossoff seems to be in good shape. So, really, we're talking about Republicans defending the key states here.

SANCHEZ: Switching to House races, you were shifting one race that we have been watching very closely in particular. That is Texas 15. You have gone from it being a toss-up to it leaning Democratic. We have been paying close attention. We have interviewed both candidates, in part because this was one of the districts that got redistricted by the Texas Statehouse.

It has an 80 percent Hispanic population, which gives you an indication of where Latino voters are, a key swing demographic now. It flipped from blue to red in 2022 for the first time in a long time. Why are you leaning toward Bobby Pulido defeating Congresswoman Monica De La Cruz?

KONDIK: I think all the polling that we have points to it. Now, some of it is from Democrats. We did just have a public poll there, though, that had Pulido up by seven. And all of the data we have suggests that there's going to be huge swing back to the Democrats in South Texas, heavily Latino South Texas.

Now, look, maybe that won't hold in 2028. You know, 2024, Donald Trump did really well in that part of the country. But there are three kind of core South Texas House seats that the Democrats -- or the Republicans were hoping to flip a few of them. It looks like Democrats might be able to win all three of them.

SANCHEZ: You have 17 toss-ups in the House overall. What are you predicting a Democratic majority in the House might look like?

KONDIK: I mean, I have been thinking low 230s, but one of the things we did in our update today is, we pushed some more Republican races to toss-up. And I think it's actually possible that Democrats could get to 235 or more; 235 is the number of seats they won in 2018.

That's kind of the number I'm watching in the House. I think it's more about, how does it look compared to 2018, as opposed to whether Democrats win the majority, because, again, I think it'd be a huge shock if Democrats didn't win the majority at this point.

SANCHEZ: Wow.

Kyle Kondik, thanks so much for joining us.

KONDIK: Thank you .

SANCHEZ: Appreciate it.

Still plenty more news to come, including Democratic Congressman Henry Cuellar fighting to keep his seat in a district that was redrawn in hopes of favoring Republicans. He will join us live next.

Plus, we're hitting the campaign trail in Ohio, where the race for governor has been thrust into the national spotlight. We will tell you which party is seeing a higher-than-average voter turnout right now following a controversial campaign tactic and a very controversial ad in that race.

And, later, we're told an FBI search of a Beverly Hills mansion is connected to an investigation into former Congressman Eric Swalwell.

We will have the details when we come back on CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:17:57]

KEILAR: A Texas two-step for President Trump a week out from the midterms. He's holding two rallies there today to drum up support in key House and Senate races. Republicans in the Lone Star State tried to gain an edge this election cycle when they redrew those congressional maps.

But early voting numbers are giving Democrats some optimism. Turnout is up 50 percent from the same point in 2022, and it's especially high in the most heavily Democratic counties.

We're joined now by one of the Texas Democrats who had their congressional district redrawn for this election cycle, Congressman Henry Cuellar.

Congressman, thanks for being with us.

Latinos are almost a quarter of the vote in Texas. That has grown since 2022. Your opponent, Tano Tijerina, says that what -- he really asked this question: What has the Democratic Party done for the Mexicanos or the Latinos to go back to the Democratic Party?

OK, so what has your party done?

REP. HENRY CUELLAR (D-TX): Well, first of all, we did not go and put ICE on Hispanics that have no criminal records.

And we passed the Affordable Health Care. We passed infrastructure, the largest infrastructure. You got to keep in mind my opponent was a Democrat. And he changed -- as we call it down here in South Texas, he's a chaquetero, which means that he changed coats in the middle of the game because he thought that, if Trump won, that he was going to win as a Republican congressman.

But, look, we got to keep one thing in mind. Trump did win because of open borders and high prices, but it was not a political realignment. A political realignment is when everybody goes down the ballot and votes for the president down every single ballot. He won, but in my district in South Texas, Democrats won, the sheriffs won, the constables won, I won.

And that's the mistake of the Republicans made. They put us in a stereotype, and that's what my opponent, he just doesn't understand he did it because he was a chaquetero.

KEILAR: So some voters in Texas were hearing about this. They are surprised to find out, as they're approaching Election Day, they're not voting in the district they voted in during the last election. And, of course, they didn't leave their districts, right? Their districts left them with this mid-decade redistricting the Texas Republicans spearheaded.

What are you hearing from people in your district about this?

CUELLAR: Look voters are very smart. And they know what Republicans have done. They have had redistricting just so they can get better results, better political results.

But voters are very smart. They know what Republicans are doing, and they're sick and tired of Republicans changing political lines, so they can get a political advantage.

KEILAR: But are they having any difficulties with voting? Have you heard anything about that, where there's confusion?

CUELLAR: Oh, absolutely, yes.

I mean, down there, some people thought they were voting for Bobby Pulido, where they're voting for me because they changed the line, when Monica was there, and I used to be in that area four years ago. So they saw me. They saw Monica. There they thought Bobby Pulido was running in South Texas.

[13:20:05]

So, yes, people are looking at this, and some people are confused. But, at the end of the day, the voters are very smart and they know what the Republicans have done.

KEILAR: The Democratic candidate for Texas governor, Gina Hinojosa, who would become Texas' first ever Latina governor if she does win, says that her agenda is not a Democratic agenda. She is distancing herself from that national Democratic brand.

What does your party need to do to have more appeal in states like Texas without fully spurning their party label, recognizing that you're actually going to have a lot of potentially, these Democrats, if they do win, going to Washington and having to caucus and govern and prioritize legislation, at least attempting to if there is a Republican in the White House?

But they're going to have to band together with other Democrats. How are they going to go back and sort of sell that, that national brand when they come back to places like Texas?

CUELLAR: Well, I'm glad people like Gina Hinojosa and other Democrats are now talking what I have been talking about a long time, that Democratic national brand has not been very good.

And once we win the majority, we need to go back there, and we need to make sure that we get a brand for Democrats where we can be pro-oil and gas, we can be pro-border security and still be able to work with the working class, make sure that we provide Medicare, make sure that we protect the Medicare, the Social Security.

And that's what we need to do as Democrats. But if we continue looking at fringe issues and make that our platform, that is a mistake. And I certainly want to talk to -- work with my leaders in the House and say, hey, we got to work on our brand, and it's got to be commonsense middle ground, instead of fringe ideas.

And that's what's wrong with the -- a lot of times the Democratic Party, it goes too far left or the Republican Party goes too far right. We got to make sure that we go where the American people are at.

KEILAR: Over the weekend, Hakeem Jeffries, your leader in the House, said the Democrats will take action against defense Secretary Pete Hegseth if President Trump doesn't push him aside. Do you support that?

CUELLAR: Well, right now, I'm going to focus on my campaign. I'm going to focus on Homeland.

I do sit on Defense Appropriations. My focus is to make sure we put rail guards on ICE, making sure that we have a strong border security, but still be respectful of the immigrants. I will deal with that issue at a later time.

But, right now, hopefully, we win the House, we win everything. I should be the chairman of Homeland. I'm going to be focusing on Homeland to make sure that we have commonsense border security.

KEILAR: You must have an opinion, though, on the performance of the defense secretary.

CUELLAR: I do. I do, and I just gave you my opinion. Thank you.

KEILAR: On the defense secretary? How do you think he's done?

CUELLAR: Well, certainly, he went into a war. I can tell you that he went into a war, and I don't see an exit plan.

Any time you go into a war, you got to make sure you have clear objectives. You got to make sure that you focus on that. And this secretary certainly has to change course, because the things that he's done is not what the military should be done.

So I certainly have opinions on some of the actions and certainly when it comes to the war and some of the other things. And I can tell you, I sit on Defense Appropriations. His administration, or, should I say, his leadership doesn't provide us information. They wanted a blank check from us.

So I certainly feel that the actions that he has taken, where he can't even trust Democrats and Republicans on the Defense Appropriations, that is wrong. So I certainly have an opinion as to the actions and the actions that he's taken I don't agree with. And we want to make our country strong, but you got to work with Congress.

You certainly got to work with the Defense Appropriations. And, certainly, if you're going to get in a war, you better have a smart exit plan.

KEILAR: Congressman Henry Cuellar, thank you so much for being with us.

CUELLAR: Thank you so much.

KEILAR: Next, we're learning more about an FBI search at a Beverly Hills mansion and how it's connected to a former Democratic congressman.

Plus, governor hopeful, gubernatorial hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy has a one-word message for Ohio voters after last week's ad controversy: Relax.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:29:23]

SANCHEZ: We're following the latest on the FBI search of a Beverly Hills mansion that sources tell CNN is tied to former Congressman Eric Swalwell, the home owned by a Swalwell donor, according to a source close to the probe.

Swalwell has also been the subject of state and federal investigations.

Let's bring in CNN senior justice correspondent Evan Perez.

So, Evan, what are you hearing about this search?

EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, the search happened this morning.

The FBI has been leading this investigation on the federal side of sexual misconduct claims that have been made against Eric Swalwell. The home that was searched today is in Beverly Hills owned by Stephen Cloobeck. He is a prominent Democratic donor who helped fund Swalwell's run for the gubernatorial race in California after he himself had dropped out.