Return to Transcripts main page

Don Lemon Tonight

Iowa GOP Rep Steve King Fighting For His Political Life; Trump's Female Supporters; Millions Of Americans Have Already Cast Their Ballots In The Early Voting And The Data Shows That A Lot Of Them Are Young First-Time Voters; The People Of North Ogden, Utah Mourning Their Mayor, Brent Taylor. Aired: 11-12m ET

Aired November 04, 2018 - 23:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[23:02:15] DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: This is CNN TONIGHT. I'm Don Lemon. Two presidents, one former, one current, out on the campaign trail in the final days before Tuesday's midterms. Men and their messages could not be more different.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: How about that caravan? Do you want to let that caravan just pour in? I don't think.

BARACK OBAMA, FORMER UNITED STATES PRESIDENT: It shouldn't be Democratic or Republican to say it's wrong to spend all your time vilifying folks and calling them enemies of the people, and then when bad things happen, something you're concerned with, civility.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: President Trump is using fear, xenophobic rhetoric, and flagrant lies about Democrats and immigrants. Former president Barack Obama is saying this election is about the character of our nation.

Early voting turnout has been extraordinary so far and as of now, polls seem to show that Democrats are on track to gain a House majority while Republicans will keep control of the Senate, but don't let anybody tell you that this race is in the bag. You don't know. That's what they are saying. We shall see.

CNN's Boris Sanchez is in Chattanooga where President Trump had a rally today and Ryan Young is in Chicago where the former president Barack Obama was campaigning.

Good evening, to both of you, gentlemen. Boris, I'm going to start with you. What was President Trump focusing on tonight in Tennessee and how much of it was true?

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hey there, Don. Yes. Tonight we saw an unusual speech from President Trump. He only spoke for about 50 minutes. He usually goes well over an hour and he mostly stuck to the script. It didn't seem like he was adlibbing very much as he usually does. Also notable the president talked about the economy almost as much as he talked about immigration. That's important.

Just last night at another rally I attended in Pensacola, Florida, the president was chafing at criticism from some commentators that he spends too much time on immigration and not enough talking about positive jobs numbers and a strong stock market, et cetera. No surprise, though, the president did get into immigration.

Of course he's here campaigning for Representative Marsha Blackburn. She's trying to take Senator Bob Corker's seat as he retires. She's running to the right of Corker and she's got a hard line stance on immigration. So of course the president talked about the caravan tonight and again chafed at criticism over his mischaracterization of migrants in that caravan. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: They want to oppose socialism on our country. And they want to erase America's borders. Democrats want to invite caravan after caravan of illegal aliens to pour into our country. I don't think so. I don't think so. No nation can allow its borders to be over run and that's an invasion. I don't care what they say.

[23:05:04] I don't care what the fake media says. That's an invasion of our country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Now, Don, our cameras have been there, our reporters have actually spoken with these people. You've heard it. But it bears repeating, these are refugees fleeing political and economic turmoil in their home countries. They're coming to this country looking for the jobs that almost no one else wants. They're looking to pick fruit. They're looking to do hard labor. They're looking to clean our homes. This is not an invading force.

One final note, Don, the president tonight did not go off on a tangent railing against the fake news media as he often does. I actually heard from one of his supporters saying that he was disappointed that the president didn't go there because he believes it's all part of the fun -- Don.

(LAUGHTER)

LEMON: All right. Boris, stand by. I want to bring in Ryan.

Now, Ryan, you were with President Obama in Chicago. What's the closing message for the midterm?

RYAN YOUNG, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Wow, what a contrast in styles. Obviously the former president came out punching, really trying to get that message out where he thought it was about the values of the country and the idea that someone voting could help save someone's life. He looked at the crowd and said look, we need more women to run, we need more women to vote, we need people to get out there and help each other. He goes this is about the values of the country. And you can really

feel the idea that he was the closer. He was taking things on. In fact, he even mentioned the idea that the Chinese could be listening in on Donald Trump's cell phone at one point, getting the crowd to laugh. When he took off his jacket and seemed to roll up his sleeve and talked about the idea that Democrats had to do the hard work and mop things up, you could really see the crowd get behind it.

You've got to remember, it was 10 years ago today that he was elected. So many people there were talking about the ideas of them being there at Grant Park and having those ideals and the shared values. And they wanted to see something change.

In fact listen to the president talking about how the values matter and how what politicians say need to count even more.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: What we have not seen before, at least not in my lifetime are politicians who are blatantly, repeatedly, boldly, shamelessly lying. It's like up is down and black is white and just making stuff up. Literally advertising -- spending millions of dollars advertising that you are doing something when you are doing the exact opposite.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

YOUNG: Don, I can really tell you the crowd was enjoying the former president sort of giving it to the nation in terms of having this conversation. You can see J.B. Pritzker who was sitting behind him, he's running for governor. The race here is going to be one of the most expensive ever for a governor's race. Over $240 million has been spent here in the state as the governor is trying to run. J.B. Pritzker looked like he's ahead of the incumbent Bruce Rauner who at one point was at a Trump rally and didn't even get on stage with the president.

So a lot of people feel like that might be lined up but they want to make sure in the closing hours that people get out to vote, they kept saying take your friends, take your family members, go out and vote. You can see the different closing style and what he was hammering home in terms of the promise for this nation.

LEMON: It's family night, right? Thank you, Ryan. Thank you, Boris. I appreciate both of you.

Now I want to bring in Harry Enten with the forecast for Tuesday. And Harry, we're not talking about the weather. Let's hope it's good so there's high voter turnout everywhere.

So, Harry, just two days to go, what is the latest forecast for the Senate and also how is that Texas race shaping up?

HARRY ENTEN, CNN POLITICS SENIOR WRITER AND ANALYST: Sure. So for the Senate overall, we expect that Republicans may actually pick up a seat. Right? They are at 51 now. We think they might end up with 52 seats. Of course there is a margin of error with that, that could potentially be the case that Democrats actually pick up a seat but of course they need a net gain of two.

And in order to get that net gain of two they probably do need to win the Texas Senate race and right now Senator Ted Cruz is favored in that race to win by 6 percentage points. Look, errors do happen. It's plausible that Beto O'Rourke could win but right now, if you're making a bet, you would bet on Cruz.

LEMON: All right. All right. So let's talk about the House. Are you still predicting that the Democrats will take control?

ENTEN: I have appeared on your show how many times now in the last month and every single time it's been basically the same number. I feel like we're going in a rerun. Yes. The Democrats are favored to take back the House with 226 seats to the Republicans' 209. Of course you need 218 to maintain control. So Democrats are favored. It's plausible Republicans could hold on but it's also plausible if you look at the last second district polls, that I might actually be underestimating how well the Democrats do. But for right now we are saying that Democrats will win control of the House of Representatives.

LEMON: All right. Harry, hold your horses. We like having you on. Don't get defensive.

(LAUGHTER)

LEMON: All right. So let's talk about the two big governor races, what's happening in Georgia and Florida?

ENTEN: Yes. So Georgia to me is one of most fascinating races. I wouldn't be shocked that a week from now we're still talking about that race because you need a majority of the vote. Whose ever had on Tuesday night needs a majority of vote to win outright.

[23:10:04] And right now what I'm seeing in the polls suggests that no one will get that, neither Republican Brian Kemp who I think will finish first nor Stacey Abrams, the Democrat. They'll both fall short of 50, which means a runoff in early December and you know what, I love elections. So let's carry it on for another month.

(LAUGHTER)

LEMON: Everybody is sitting next to me including -- and me were saying well, you know, speak for yourself, not for us.

Thank you, Harry. We appreciate it.

ENTEN: Thank you, Don.

LEMON: All right. Joining me now, the people I'm talking about this hour, Hilary Rosen, Kevin Madden, Ryan Lizza, Tara Setmayer, Mark Preston and Mike Shields.

We would like it to be over. Is that the consensus? Right? We don't want to go --

HILARY ROSEN, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Only if Stacey wins.

(LAUGHTER)

LEMON: Ryan, what is your reaction what you heard from Harry? How do you see things playing out?

RYAN LIZZA, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Look, we've had one of the most controversial presidents in modern times, right?

LEMON: Yes.

LIZZA: Most presidents after two years face a backlash against them.

LEMON: Right

LIZZA: Our system is meant to sort of readjust, right? And so the only question for Tuesday is how big and deep is that backlash? And I think most of the evidence is, it's going, you know, I don't want to make a prediction but I think for Democrats, when they wake up on Wednesday, they're going to have to ask questions how far into Trump's base if at all were they able to produce that backlash? Right?

We know that there is a white collar backlash against Trump. Right? We know that the groups that are already loyal to the Democrats look like they're going to turn out in big numbers, but I think the key question is, how big is it? Is it an election that's true wave or is it just an election that is a moderate backlash against Trump where, you know, the Democrats pick up 25 seats so that they win back the House but that it just sort of reinforces the bases of both parties. And that's -- you know, those are two very different story lines coming out of this.

LEMON: Should Democrats be confident or worry? How are you feeling?

ROSEN: I was walking in here tonight remembering how cocky I was in 2016 on your show. Remember that night before the election and like oh, Donald Trump lost this the day he talked about Mexicans being rapists.

LEMON: Yes.

ROSEN: And, you know, that it was people of color and women going to come together and knock this guy down. So I am not confident at all because I'm too nervous to be confident, but I will say we have to just understand this is not a campaign right now for Democrats or Republicans. This is a campaign for the independent vote and in almost every district, it is registered independence who will make up the margin for victory in all of these states and all of these House seats.

And, you know, independence broke at the last minute for Donald Trump in 2016. Democrats, we need independence to break for us on Tuesday. Really, I think we are doing ourselves a disservice to consistently now talk about a country where we only have Democrats and Republicans.

LEMON: Yes, yes. OK. We have a lot to talk about. You guys will get in. We have a whole show. So stick around with me, everyone. I want to talk about high-profile governor's races in Florida and Georgia and some pretty ugly campaigns, but first, here is a message for voters from the cast of "Hamilton."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Text less.

GROUP: Vote.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Vote more.

GROUP: Vote.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Show everyone what you're against and what you're for.

GROUP: Vote.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Turn out for her.

GROUP: Vote.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Midterms.

GROUP: Vote.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's 2018, ladies, tell your husbands it's your turn.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't like voting --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[23:17:32] LEMON: Historic and high-profile race in Georgia just took a remarkable turn. Earlier today the office of Secretary of State Brian Kemp who is also the Republican candidate for governor announced an investigation into the state Democratic Party after accusations of an attempted hack of Georgia's voter registration system. CNN has obtained the e-mails and the e-mails show a voter alerted the Democratic Party hotline about potential vulnerabilities on Georgia's My Voter information page. Party operatives then asked a cyber security expert to evaluate the problem. That expert alerted the secretary of state's office.

So, Kevin, I'll bring you in here because it sounds like a voter found the potential issue and did exactly what they were supposed to do and turned it over to officials. So why is it being seen as a --

KEVIN MADDEN, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, I'll tell you this about voter registration laws particularly in Georgia. They are very complex. And I think this goes to Harry Enten's case right now. So when you see flash points like this in the last 48 hours, 72 hours of a very closely fought campaign, it is emblematic of just what -- of just how tough this race has been but also, as Harry Enten mentioned, that this could very well go into a recount.

You're going to see hand to hand combat down there in Georgia over issues like this. District by district, precinct by precinct for probably the next month.

TARA SETMAYER, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Which is why the secretary of state who oversees this shouldn't be secretary of state while he's running for governor. 100 percent. I said this many times before. I don't think that should be permitted. The right thing to do would have been to recuse himself if not resign completely because I don't see how anyone can look at this process and say that the integrity of it is not questioned, especially with how nasty that fight has been, especially with the racial history of voter suppression in the south.

There are just so many things that just don't make it look good for what Republicans are doing whether it's valid or not.

LEMON: But let me -- you're a Republican. You're still a Republican? Are you concerned --

SETMAYER: I'm hanging on there. I'm a conservative. I'm hanging on by a thin thread with the Republicans.

LEMON: OK. So as a consecutive --

SETMAYER: Yes.

LEMON: Let's say -- you're still a Republican hanging by a thin thread.

SETMAYER: Yes. Yes. I'm still a registered Republican.

LEMON: What if it was a Democrat who's the secretary of state and running for governor, would you -- would your head be popping off?

SETMAYER: Of course. I would say that this is absolutely not OK because you just have too much access to the process and can manipulate it in ways that I just don't think are good, whether you do or not. I've been in this game way too long. I'm sorry I'm a cynic especially when it comes down to voter recounts and manipulation of the rules.

[23:20:04] To Kevin's point, it's true. A lot of these states, these voter registration laws are so byzantine and archaic.

LEMON: And some don't have paper trails.

SETMAYER: Yes. It's crazy. And something else with this office, too. I mean, Kemp -- I guess they're just not up to date on technology because this is not the first time that they've kind of had a freak out over something with that. There was a -- the Homeland Security, what they thought was a breach, it was not, it was the Homeland Security person doing a background check on something and they thought it was somebody else hacking into it.

LEMON: Let me ask you real quick, and I got to get in, these guys are going to say, I haven't had a chance to talk. But isn't that sort of an indictment on Kemp that he is not able to protect the process and --

LIZZA: Number one, yes.

SETMAYER: Yes.

LIZZA: But, I mean, my test for this is what if this were happening on another country, how would you look at this?

SETMAYER: Right.

LEMON: Yes.

LIZZA: The state of Georgia, imagine this was the country of Georgia, right?

SETMAYER: Right.

LEMON: Yes.

LIZZA: And we were covering that and you had the guy running the voting system making up claims like this and having this conflict of interest, we would have no hesitation just calling that out as something like --

SETMAYER: Banana republic stuff.

LIZZA: Yes. That is -- but this is happening in our country.

LEMON: So, listen, Mark, they are calling it a stunt, right, the Democrats. Do they have a right to call this a stunt, do you think? The Democratic Party in Georgia.

MARK PRESTON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: We have -- how about this? We have a right to know the facts right now and we haven't seen anything from the secretary of state other than this initial we're looking into it statement beyond that. So we deserve the facts. And at some point perhaps the governor himself needs to step in. I get it. He's a Republican. Not necessarily going to be on the side of Stacey Abrams and certainly doesn't want to embarrass the Republican nominee. But when you have the secretary of state's office go out and say that 48 hours before Election Day, I mean, it seems a little bit murky.

LEMON: I want to play Stacey Abrams, what she told CNN tonight. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STACEY ABRAMS (D), GEORGIA GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE: First of all, it's not a real investigation. What has happened is that Brian Kemp once again is trying to cover up for his failures in cyber security by blaming someone else. The first four times he blamed staff, he blamed vendors and now he's blaming Democrats but the reality is there were imperfections in their system. There are weaknesses and vulnerabilities. They were told about this on Friday and instead of owning up to the failure and making it right, he decided to blame Democrats.

We are not responsible. We have nothing to do with this and I'm very sad that instead of owning up to his responsibility, and honoring his commitment as secretary of state, that he's once again misleading Georgia.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: What do you think, Mike Shields?

MIKE SHIELDS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes, it's interesting to me to hear Democrats sort of trying to say he's doing some funny business when in reality, I don't see how this helps him. I'm not sure why announcing this is somehow going to benefit him three days before the election. He'd rather be talking about how well the office is run and why he should be governor. And so there isn't any sort of -- I think, trying to cast aspersions that this is nefarious and that he should step down because he shouldn't overseeing this because there could be some funny business.

In reality, he's being attacked for not running the office correctly. So it's actually a vulnerability for him. He's probably -- he has to announce that something is going on. He can't -- you wouldn't want him to have an investigation and just say, I'm not going to tell anyone about that until after the election. He has an investigation. He has to tell people.

(CROSSTALK)

ROSEN: That's like a super cynical analysis. The reality is that he has consistently declassified voters across the board and so this is a way to make this be the Democrats' fault. I mean, that's what he's doing. He's saying if Stacey Abrams doesn't win, you know, that Democrats aren't going to have a claim on this. You know, I thought Barack Obama --

SHIELDS: That's what he said? I thought he said he had an investigation into a potential cyber attack. That's --

(CROSSTALK)

ROSEN: Yes, he did.

SETMAYER: If he loses, he can say Democrats did something funny.

ROSEN: Cyber attacks from Democrats is what he's saying.

SHIELDS: For having our own thoughts into what this will be without actually knowing.

ROSEN: No, he specifically said it, it was from Democrats and that that's what the attack was., which, look, Barack Obama said something important on the trail today, which I think Republicans need to own up to on a big picture level, which is one party has consistently tried to pass laws, do things to get people not to vote and another party has consistently tried to encourage people voting.

And this is going to hang around Republicans' necks if we have massive problems again this year with people being, you know, denied at the polls, not being counted. This is just -- it's one election too many. You can't keep doing that.

LEMON: Listen, I just want to get it because I don't want to get too far afield here because this is what CNN has obtained, a series of e- mails in the Georgia secretary of state's office that led to them leveling this accusation of hacking. OK. But the e-mails included in exchange between the Georgia Democratic Party operatives refer to findings by a voter who said he had discovered potential vulnerabilities in the state's voter information page and its online regular system.

The e-mails referred to an attachment that the secretary of state's office said was computer programming code. Secretary of state received a chain of e-mails from the representative of the cyber security expert Georgia Democratic Party asked to evaluate the potential vulnerabilities. That's it.

[04:25:02] So they saw it and they asked to -- they were asked to investigate it. It's not like Democrats were secretly trying to hack into the system, which I think --

LIZZA: Right. Right.

SETMAYER: Which is how they made it sound.

LIZZA: Discovering the vulnerability is not a plot.

LEMON: And turning knit over to --

SETMAYER: That's right.

LEMON: Yes.

LIZZA: If what you're saying is correct.

LEMON: Yes.

LIZZA: We see this all the time. Right? You have hackers who try and find vulnerabilities and systems to protect the system, right?

LEMON: Yes.

LIZZA: That sound what this is like, right? They were trying to show the secretary of state that there was a problem that needs to be corrected.

LEMON: Everyone, stick with me. The race for Congressman Steve King's House seat is getting close. Could his own party's rebuke of his racism be the reason the Democratic challenger is gaining on him?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) DON LEMON, HOST, CNN TONIGHT WITH DON LEMON: May be rockier than he originally anticipated. Could his history of racist remarks be catching up to him? Let's discuss now. Tara, I know you know him, right?

TARA SETMAYER, POLITICAL COMMENTATOR, CNN: Yes.

LEMON: Let's - he put out a TV ad in his campaign. I want to play it and then I want to get your response to it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEVE KING, IOWA GOP REPRESENTATIVE: I grew up in Iowa, started with a rusted out dozer. I've lived in the same house 40 years. I know most of you agree our country is slipping away. Well, I think it's worth fighting for no matter whose toes have to be stepped on to make it right. If that's okay with you, I'd sure appreciate your vote.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: No matter whose toes have to be stepped on to make it right.

SETMAYER: Wait a minute, we're evaluating this from Washington DC, it's very effective in Iowa. I've been to his district. I worked with Steve King's office closely when I worked in Capitol Hill because I worked on immigration directly and he's an immigration hawk. I'm very disappointed in the language that Steve King has been using over the years. It's not acceptable. It's not necessary to do that, you know, it's starting - it's becoming more difficult to explain away, which is unfortunate, but Steve King is going to win that district and - but what is interesting, though, I sit on the Board of Stand Up Republic and our organization put money into his opponent's race, well, not directly, but we're against Steve King because we think that what he represents is not good for Republicans moving forward.

And his opponent raised a lot of money. He put in $1.4 million and had several television ads going up which is what's made this race a bit more competitive than in the past.

LEMON: His opponent is J.D. Scholten.

SETMAYER: Yes, and I think that's the first TV ad.

LEMON: That's what I was going to ask - my next question, his first TV ad. What does this say about him because maybe he had been taking it for granted?

SETMAYER: Of course, and like I said, even outside groups like ours, Stand Up Republic has put money into this race where in the past, Steve King's district was something that was not competitive.

I mean, I think Donald Trump won that district by 20 something points last time around. So it goes to show you, it's very rare you see like the head of the NRCC come out and say, this is not acceptable what Steve King has done and the language he's used. Republican on Republican criticism at that level is unusual. RYAN LIZZA, POLITICAL ANALYST, CNN: Did you hear what he's done here?

The guy just went out of his way to endorse essentially a neo-Nazi candidate in a Toronto mayoral race. Like who the hell cares about ...

SETMAYER: He met with the nationalists in ...

(CROSSTALK)

LEMON: He said, if these guys were in America, they would be Republicans.

HILARY ROSEN, POLITICAL COMMENTATOR, CNN: That's why that ad I think a way is a rebuke not just to his Democratic opponent but also a rebuke to the Republican leadership because he's probably pissed at them for abandoning him, and, you know, I have to give them a little bit of credit here for distancing themselves from him.

SETMAYER: I kind of think he deserve it, he endorsed the neo-Nazi.

ROSEN: The key test is going to be, you know, if he gets reelected, whether he gets power and welcomed back and how that goes and I think that will be the test.

(CROSSTALK)

ROSEN: ... of the Republican leadership.

MARK PRESTON, SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST, CNN: No, you're absolutely right here. We sit here and we sit around the table and we try to extrapolate what is going on in America and we try to see it through the eyes of votes. Right? Well, guess what? This is democracy and this is the ugly bit of democracy and there are people in Northwest Iowa that want Steve King to be in Congress as awful as all of us here think it is that when he pushes forward these views. That is what this country was creating. People want him out of office, right? If they abhor him so much, then they've got to vote him out of office in Northwest Iowa. I'm not saying it's a good thing, but it's reality.

LEMON: I wonder if Northwest Iowa even know about like how much ...

LIZZA: They do because the (inaudible) newspaper has for the first time has not endorsed him.

SETMAYER: Yes.

LIZZA: I was there in august and the thing that struck me about that district is Steve King, what is he known most for? Right? He is known for his anti-immigration views, right? He wants all undocumented citizens out of this country, all undocumented immigrants. That district is a rural obviously, farming district. All of the farms, the dairy farms, corn, whatever you're doing out there relies on undocumented immigrants.

If Steve King's immigration views were actually implemented, his entire district economically would be poof, would be gone. And yet, they support him cycle after cycle. So you have to sort of figure out that puzzle of why voters who have that disconnect still like this guy.

SETMAYER: It's cultural.

LEMON: It's always culture. It's always surprising to me when small business owners and farmers say that and then you visit them and like a lot of their workers, if not most of thenm are undocumented people out there doing the crops and so on.

[23:35:03]

LIZZA: Hundred percent.

SETMAYER: It's a cognitive dissonance. But Kevin made a good point about another district in Iowa and where Trump's popularity has taken a hit because of the tariffs.

LEMON: Yes.

SETMAYER: So I thought it thought was interesting.

LEMON: Go on.

KEVIN MADDEN, POLITICAL COMMENTATOR, CNN: I'll tell you, I haven't been to Sioux City in a long time, but I have been there. There are good people there. But they are essentially, and I think Steve King is a reflection of the views there. You have to remember. The folks out in Iowa's Northwest district where Steve King lives, they don't care about what a whole bunch of people in Washington are doing.

SETMAYER: Right.

MADDEN: They send ...

SETMAYER: And they are a lot nicer than us.

MADDEN: ... an ambassador for their ideas, their principles and their conservative cultural views. But yes, on the other side of Iowa, in Iowa 1, that's a race where another farm rich district where the tariffs have had a very bad effect on the economy and at a time where we see booming economic numbers, the folks there feel like they are worse off than they were in 2016 and as a result, you have a congressman there in that district who won by - a district that Trump won by four points he was reelected in 2016 by ten points in a race that's going down to the wire.

LEMON: Well, I'm glad you said that, but you can continue to talk but I just want to put this up and tell you that's why his opponent we only mentioned him once, J.D. Scholten - crisscrossing the district in an RV.

SETMAYER: That's in King's district.

LEMON: He has been telling voters that King is ignoring the district and it's time for moral leadership. So there you go. SETMAYER: Well, it's the point that all politics is local and this is

a perfect example of that.

LEMON: I grew up and lived in the same house for 40 years, I would love that.

(CROSSTALK)

LEMON: Not to be harassed? Yes. I don't have - I can't eat here. I've got to go. I can't make a living with what I want to do, I have to do. I wish I could do that.

ROSEN: I mean, I do think - it's so true, and I do think that it argues though in this case, you know, he'll probably get primary because the cultural consecutive is not - is, you know, is not automatically a racist and neo-Nazi.

To the extent that the Republican Party embraces this kind of extremism, it brings everybody down and it allows us to have more and more arguments against them. So that's one of those even if the Democrat wins, my guess is they will get hit next time.

LEMON: Sick around, everyone. Mike is awfully quiet here. We're going to talk about the women behind President Trump who his female supporters are and why they love him.

[23:40:00]

LEMON: And we're back. Hilary, Kevin, Ryan, Tara, Mark and Mike. There will be a test if everybody at home can remember all of these. So, Tara, I'm going to ask you about this. Check out this "New York Times" headlines. It says, "At Trump rallies, women see a hero protecting a way of life." Why do you think President Trump resonates with so many we have to qualify this because it's true with so many white women?

SETMAYER: I read that article, too, and I thought the same thing, and it came across to me as there seems to be a significant amount of daddy issues going on here.

LEMON: Oh.

SETMAYER: I mean, no, they talk about it.

LEMON: I can't wait to see your social media feed after this.

SETMAYER: I don't care because I'm being honest. These women out of their mouths said there are certain paternalistic aspect to Donald Trump. Another woman said that she is obsessed with him because he's going to protect her.

So these are things that are coming out and it's something about that dynamic that has drawn these kinds of women to Donald Trump. That's concerning to me because I don't think that that's a healthy perspective. But you could say the same thing about some folks who felt the Messiah complex with Barack Obama. People seem to be attracted to people that they think are going to save them or protect them which is why Donald Trump is using the immigration issue and demagoguing that as "I'm going to protect you."

And women want security. Now, Kevin and Mike can attest to this that you know, the security moms used to be a demographic that Republicans catered to during the Bush years after 9/11. But it wasn't a demagoguing of the issue the way that Donald Trump is doing it and it wasn't a daddy issue being either related with Trump. It's very strange.

LEMON: But isn't it part of the role of the President of the United States to keep people safe?

SETYAMER: Yes, but you see how people when they are looking for something or there's a void to fill, they will fill it with something or someone. That's occult personality ...

LEMON: I was actually surprised by the accused pipe bomb - the guy who mailed pipe bomb said similar things about the President. Okay, Mike.

SETMAYER: And so did Kanye, by the way.

LEMON: "The Times" piece on women at Trump rally says in part, "Many women believe the President when he reminds them during each of his hour-long PEP rallies the world they knew largely Christian, conservative and white is at stake on Tuesday." Is that what's motivating many Trump supporters, especially women?

MIKE SHIELDS, POLITICAL COMMENTATOR, CNN: There is a cultural fight going on in the country and this is what we've been talking about - we talked about it in the last hour with watching Obama go out on the campaign trail. We are talking about it in Iowa and look, one of the things that I find remarkable about politics now and we really saw this in the Kavanaugh fight is how sort of disempowered conservative women get.

And I'm married to a very strong consecutive woman. She could tell you this all the time in terms of our media, "Glamour Magazine," "Hollywood," television shows decide what women's issues are and they tend to be from the left and there are millions of conservative women who are smart enough to see past maybe some of the things they might disagree with the President on, actually want a President who is strong, agree with him on the policies of his military expansion, tax cuts in business. They are smart enough to make those decisions and to try to narrow cast them into some sort of women care about these from the left except for these crazy Trump women ...

[23:45:07]

SHIELDS: ... who somehow are for this guy that we can't understand only furthers push those women over to his side and what I find quite often is that there are women Trump supporters that I talk to who started off saying, "You know, I may not agree with some of the things he says," and then they watch panels on CNN, MSNBC, Fox and see people sort of shoving them over into a place and see the President being criticized and say, "You know what? I'm more for him than I ever was."

LEMON: Just a little push back. Sometimes the truth hurts.

SHIELDS: Yes, well, I know, I just gave some.

LEMON: People cannot sit in their spaces when people call it an echo chamber. Sometimes you do learn from people who are not necessarily in your environment. Sometimes you are too close to it and I notice that on the left and on the right.

SHIELDS: Well, that's true. Undoubtedly.

MADDEN: Let me add something real quick to what Mike just said because this is one of amazing thing about politics and elections overall. If you want to go into a store, you can buy a Pepsi and a Coke. But when you walk into a voting booth, you can only choose one.

And one of the things that was most powerful and having some of these women support Donald Trump was that they had disqualified the alternative. And I can't tell you, I mean, anecdotally, empirically, how many Republican voters - women voters said, "I just couldn't vote for Hillary," and so much of what the appeal now maybe to try to get those voters back has been lacking, and that's where Donald Trump has found support from these women, which is that they just did not want to - they were ready to vote from Donald Trump because they didn't want to vote for Hillary.

LEMON: I've got to go, but I've got to hear from a woman - another woman on the panel, go.

ROSEN: White woman here. Look, first of all, let's not kid ourselves. Actually, Donald Trump has 60% disapproval from women across ...

SETMAYER: Overall.

ROSEN: ... including white women. So it's not - there is not a huge constituency there; however, white women Republicans will be white women Republicans ultimately in key votes and I think that that is not going to change by virtue of Donald Trump.

But the idea that somehow, white men should be going out and telling conservative women you know what, you shouldn't worry about a guy who grabs women by their, and sexually harasses ...

SHIELDS: But Hilary, what should - can liberal women tell conservative women what to think ...

ROSEN: That your tax cut and your military defense is more important. Really, the way to deal with this would be for everybody to actually care about women's lives mostly, not focus on the division.

LEMON: Okay, we've got another block after this. We'll be right back. We're going to talk about young voters, as well, surging in the early polling. We'll be right back.

[23:50:00]

LEMON: As you can hear, the conversation continues. Kevin and Hillary are still debating.

MADDEN: So the audience knows, I won.

LEMON: Millions of Americans have already cast their ballots in the early voting and the data shows that a lot of them are young first- time voters. So, Mark, it's always a Democratic pipe dream about young voter turnout. Is that going to be a reality this year?

PRESTON: Look, in a couple of races, it could be consequential, specifically in Florida, and specifically in Georgia, and specifically if they can be younger African-American voters who don't normally vote, then they could have a big impact on the election.

We don't know what's going to happen with the younger voters. We need to look at the data after the fact. What is heartening to see, though, is early voting numbers have increased from what we've seen over past years. And as all Americans, we want to see people engaging.

LEMON: Music mogul and entrepreneur Diddy endorsing Stacey Abrams and Andrew Gillum. He released this video yesterday.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SEAN "DIDDY COMBS, RECORD PRODUCER, ENTREPRENEUR: I'm so proud to endorse Andrew Gillum who will become the first black governor of Florida. It's not just because he's black, it's because he's the best man for the job. He's running a campaign for the people. I've spoken to him at length. I believe in him. His ideas, his focus, what he stands for.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: There are a lot of people who are turning out, Hilary. Stacey Abrams, for Stacey Abrams, John Legend as well. And a lot of people have been stamping as far as you know ...

ROSEN: Oprah.

LEMON: But do these big endorsements, do they translate into votes?

RESON: No, they translate into crowds, they translate into some increased registration early in the cycle. Look, if celebrity endorsements mattered Hillary Clinton would be president today because there was such an overwhelming thing. There are some promising signs, particularly with young people.

There is a 25% increase in voter registration among 18 to 25-year-olds in Florida, and I credit the Parkland kids for having done that. Whether they go to vote, Mark, is exactly right, I don't know. I don't think they're going to go because Diddy is asking them to. I think they're going to go if Andrew Gillum is inspiring them and they care about issues like gun control. LEMON: It would be great if they actually would just turn out and

vote regardless who they are going to vote for because you need to be involved in the political process. Just quickly, though, races this close, Kevin, do you think this demographic can make a difference?

MADDEN: Only if they are broader and sustained efforts to engage them. I think if you're in this last 48 hours trying to cover your tracks and get out younger voters, I think that you probably - and you don't have enough of them right now, you're probably - it's probably not enough in the last minute. But if it's something you've been doing the entire campaign, it will make a difference.

LEMON: Thanks everybody who dress dressed up and came in. Except for Mike Shields ....

SHIELDS: Me and Obama ...

LEMON: Casual ....

SHIELDS: ... have the same blue tie, blue shirt.

[23:55:00]

LEMON: You're bros.

SHIELDS: I modelled my wardrobe.

ROSEN: He took his jacket off and rolled up his sleeves.

LEMON: Thanks, everyone.

SHIELDS: I can do that.

LEMON: Before we leave you tonight, I just want to talk about an American hero. The people of North Ogden, Utah mourning their Mayor, Brent Taylor. He was killed Saturday in Afghanistan. Taylor was a Major in the Utah Army National Guard and served four tours in both Iraq and Afghanistan. He kept in touch with his family and friends in Utah through social media, telling everybody how inspired he was by elections in Afghanistan. And from halfway around the world, Brent Taylor was encouraging Americans to vote on Tuesday.

In his final Facebook posting, he wrote this. He says, "As the USA gets ready to vote in our own election next week, I hope everyone back home exercises their precious right to vote. And that whether the Republicans or the Democrats win, that we all remember that we have far more as Americans that unites us than divides us. United we stand, divided we fall. God bless America." Major Brent Taylor leaves behind his wife, Ginnie and seven children.

[00:00:00]