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Democrats Suffer Losses on Election Day. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired November 03, 2021 - 14:00   ET

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

[14:00:28]

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN HOST: Hello. I'm Victor Blackwell. It's good to be with you. Alisyn is off today.

So, Democrats are facing a sobering reality of major setbacks on Election Day. This is the first since Joe Biden took the White House. What was expected to be a smooth win for the party in New Jersey, the governor's race there, that's still too close to call.

And in Virginia, in the governor's race there, voters rejected Democrat Terry McAuliffe. His five-point lead two months ago turned into defeat to Republican Glenn Youngkin, the projected winner.

Now, parts of Youngkin's campaign may now become part of the playbook for future GOP candidates.

So, let's start in New Jersey, though, with CNN's Jason Carroll. He is in Fort Lee.

So, I understand votes there still being counted, Jason.

JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Oh, yes, Victor, they are still counting the votes. They're going to be counting down to the wire.

At last check, I think we saw that Murphy` was up by some 15,000 votes, still much closer than Democrats thought it would be here. Ciattarelli and his camp feel as though the reason why they were able to close the gap is because they were able to hammer Murphy on so many different points, namely, key issues such as mask mandates, Critical Race Theory, and property taxes.

As you know, folks here in New Jersey pay some of the highest property taxes in the country. Murphy, for his part, basically driving home his progressive accomplishments, when you think about some of the things that he's done here, that he talked about during the campaign, such as raising the minimum wage, taxing the wealthy, expanding paid family leave, but, also, a lot of folks feel as though he did a good job tying Ciattarelli to Trump as much as possible.

Certainly, that was the case with one voter we spoke to this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AMY NELLISSEN, NEW JERSEY VOTER: Absolutely.

I saw a rerun of an interview that Jack Ciattarelli did on a New Jersey public television station. And I saw this sometime between the election of Trump and January 6, and he was defending that we need to recount the votes.

I mean, he was sort of subtly reinforcing the big lie. And that inflamed me. I wrote him a letter, a handwritten letter, yes, right then. And then, after January 6, I saw that interview again, a replay, and I sent him another letter. And I never got a reply.

But I -- there's no way I could vote for him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARROLL: So, again, still a very tight race between these two candidates.

Just a short while ago, I had an opportunity to send a text message out to the Ciattarelli folks just to find out what they're doing. They're watching the results as they're coming in, basically saying that there's going to be no public or press schedule as of yet.

And then the campaign aide sent another text that said, stay tuned -- Victor.

BLACKWELL: All right, Jason Carroll for us in Fort Lee, thank you.

Now let's turn to Glenn Youngkin. He is part of a sweep of Republicans who are projected to win or likely going to win statewide in Virginia, where President Biden beat Donald Trump by 10 points just a year ago.

Dan Merica is CNN national political reporter.

So Youngkin is now projected the governor-elect there. What's he planning to do on day one?

DAN MERICA, CNN POLITICS REPORTER: I mean, that was a big pitch throughout the campaign. He often used that rhetorical device, on day one, I will do X, over and over again, to fire up the crowd. And it worked, clearly.

He has promised to ban stuff like Critical Race Theory, even though it's not taught in Virginia schools. He has made parental choice a central tenet of his campaign, pledging to make parents first and taking advantage of a comment Terry McAuliffe made in the second and final debate in this governor's race.

And he's also said he will protect qualified immunity and he will cut taxes, mentioning specifically a grocery tax in the Commonwealth of Virginia. His campaign is euphoric at this point. They were upbeat heading into Election Day. But I think even they were surprised by the results that they saw, especially in places like rural Virginia, some of the western counties, where you saw turnout both high and that he won about 85 to 80 percent of these counties.

Take a listen to what he told supporters yesterday at his victory party.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GLENN YOUNGKIN (R), VIRGINIA GOVERNOR-ELECT: Together, together, we will change the trajectory of this commonwealth.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

[14:05:00]

YOUNGKIN: And, friends, we are going to start that transformation on day one.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MERICA: There you hear that day one pledge once again.

And as you hear there as well, this isn't just about Washington, D.C. Of course, the Biden administration, what is happening in Washington was a factor in this race, Victor. But it's been eight years of Democratic control in Virginia. And what Youngkin represented to a lot of Republicans was a chance to finally get back in this race, finally have a Republican statewide candidate who could win.

And that's why, as you saw in that clip, Youngkin was so euphoric about not just the national implications of this race, but, of course, the next four years of Republican leadership in the commonwealth.

BLACKWELL: All right, Dan Merica for us.

Thank you, Dan.

Let's talk about the takeaways from the election results. Ron Brownstein is CNN senior political analyst, senior editor at "The Atlantic." S.E. Cupp is a conservative columnist and CNN political commentator, and Doug Jones is also a CNN political commentator and former Democratic senator for Alabama.

Welcome to you all.

Senator, I'm going to start with you.

Virginia, a loss, New Jersey too close for comfort for Democrats. Is this, are these signs that Democrats need to change course?

DOUG JONES, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: You know, Victor, here's the problem.

Democrats -- this is an old playbook for Democrats. They don't go where people are sometimes. And they win elections, and then they're going to turn right around and lose elections. I think Democrats have to take a very serious look at who they're really talking to, and how they're talking about these issues. And as everybody that I have seen today has talked about, Democrats

have to produce. They have to come together as a party to get things done for the American people. That's why they were voted. That's why Joe Biden was elected. He's got a great plan in the Build Back Better program. He's got a great plan in the infrastructure bill, those need to get done.

And if they need to get done one at a time, so be it. They just need to get done. Democrats have to put their money where their mouth is, and they have to deliver on the promises they make to people.

BLACKWELL: All right.

So, Ron, let me bring that to you. Is there evidence that what we saw, which, objectively is a considerable amount of losses potentially for the progressive movement last night, it's that they haven't delivered those elements, or that people just don't like the dog food?

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: I think it's more the former than the latter. But there is a component of that as well.

Look, the common thread in what we saw is that this is what happens to the president's party in off-year elections when his approval rating is sagging. I mean, that is the single biggest, I think, factor here. Joe Biden in the state of Virginia, he won 54 percent of the vote, only had a 45 percent approval.

And what you get, particularly in midterms, especially when a president is sagging, is that the party that's out of the White House is just enraged and ready to vote. And you saw enormous turnout for Youngkin, who was a pretty mild-mannered candidate in many ways, in those more red parts of the state.

And then you see kind of discouragement and disappointment among the other side, among Democrats. And compared to when Democrats won the state in 2017 or 2020, this electorate was older, wider, less college- educated, more Republican.

So, on one hand, I think you can say, yes, Democrats have to show their base voters that they can deliver more than they have done so far. But on the other hand, I think it's also clear that many voters in the middle don't see the debate in Washington as particularly relevant to what they are worried about right now, inflation, economic uncertainty, the persistence of the pandemic.

And so, in many ways, it's important for Biden to get this done both to show some results, but also to get -- allow him to get back to focusing I think on what people are focusing themselves on more right now.

BLACKWELL: And let's talk about issues. And let me correct myself. People don't typically like dog food. It's usually the dog that either likes it or doesn't.

(CROSSTALK)

BLACKWELL: S.E...

BROWNSTEIN: The dogs won't eat the dog food. I knew what you...

(CROSSTALK)

BLACKWELL: Thank you very much, Ron.

S.E. Cupp, let me come to you with, what is transferable from the Youngkin win yesterday? We know that -- as we heard from Ron, that his campaign was focused on the economy, was focused on education, and, of course, he played into the culture war, but he kept the distance from former President Trump.

That may not be an option in 2022, certainly not 2024. How much can Republicans really extrapolate from this win?

S.E. CUPP, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes, I think if we look at the rejection of Trump as a series of baby steps, this was a baby step.

We didn't see a candidate who disavowed Donald Trump. We didn't see a candidate who was ashamed of Donald Trump. We saw a candidate who very sort of politely avoided Donald Trump while trying to get some of his voters.

And so that is a baby step that I think should certainly be encouraging to people like me, who really kind of left the party because of Trump, but should also signal to Republicans at the RNC and other races coming up you don't have to be a mini-Trump or embrace Trump so giddily, as other candidates have, to win. You don't have to do that.

[14:10:22]

So, I think there is a there is a good lesson there. And it will certainly be transferable in states that look like Virginia.

BLACKWELL: S.E., let me stay with you, though, on the former president, because he is taking credit for the win, I mean, as one would expect.

CUPP: Well, yes, of course.

BLACKWELL: I mean, read what he told a Virginia radio show host this morning.

"I have heard Virginia is blue, but I have never believed it was blue. Without MAGA, Youngkin would have lost by 15 points more or more. Instead of giving us credit, they say, oh, he's more popular than Trump."

So, to your point, I mean, it was a baby step away from the former president, because he won't allow his party to get too far away from him.

CUPP: I know Trump wants to take credit from this win. And, sometimes, he deserves credit for candidates winning in disparate races.

I think the person who gets credit for this win is Terry McAuliffe for losing it. I mean, I can't imagine having the gall to tell Virginia voters -- I was a Virginia voter -- that they shouldn't have a say in their kids' education. That did not go over well, obviously. And by looking at the exit polling, women really turned out for Youngkin.

And so I think the lesson there is, you don't mess with moms. Trump learned that as well. Suburban women left the Republican Party in droves and voted for Biden because they didn't like the message that Trump was sending.

For Terry McAuliffe not to have learned that lesson in Virginia is bizarre to me. So, I think there's lots of reasons why Youngkin one. I think, to me, that is the most salient reason and least kind of mysterious.

BLACKWELL: Senator, to you, Terry McAuliffe brought in the cavalry. He brought in President Biden and Vice President Harris, former President Obama.

How much of that matters when gas is $3.35 a gallon or when beef is up double-digit percentages over a month, the last four weeks or so, getting to those, in some cases, quite literal, kitchen table issues that we didn't hear from the former governor?

He was saying Youngkin is Trump, vote against Trump.

JONES: As Tip O'Neill said, all politics is local. And I think a lot of people brought in to try to get the base turnout up, which I think succeeded to some extent. It was a base turnout. I think, overall, the turnout was there.

But the fact of the matter is, when people -- those folks that decide it, the people in the middle, when they go to the polls, they're looking at -- going to be looking at those kitchen table issues, and they want to see things and get things done.

I really think that what we're seeing with Donald Trump right now, my belief is, despite what he said on the Virginia radio station, that he -- right now, he is seething. He is seeing the media and everyone else talking about this race being one by distancing from Donald Trump.

And on that radio station, he's already beginning to double down. This is not going to be a walk in the park for the Republican Party, because Donald Trump will double down. At the same time, Democrats just can't run against Donald Trump. We have got to put things out there. We have got to put proposals out there that affect people's everyday lives and have a message that gets to those people where they are and not where we want them to be wrong.

BLACKWELL: Ron, what is the lesson from New Jersey? This was expected to be, as I said at the top, not necessarily a guarantee, but a smoother path to victory for Governor Murphy.

And this is within less than a point at this point, of course. BROWNSTEIN: Yes.

Well, I think the lesson from New Jersey -- I'm going to contradict the senator -- is that all politics is local is not really true anymore. It's that all politics are national. And a receding tide lowers all boats.

I mean, New Jersey did not have the big flash point issues or intense national focus that Virginia did. And yet you see the Democratic vote share decline, at least -- potentially, at least as much as it did in Virginia.

And I think what that tells you is this atrocity of the president's approval in modern U.S. elections. In 2013, when McAuliffe won the first time, Obama's approval in Virginia was also underwater in the election, but McAuliffe was able to win because only about 80 percent of the people who disapproved of Obama, according to the exit poll, voted against him.

Well, this time it was over 90 percent of the people who disapproved Biden voted against him. And that was the same share of people who disapproved of Trump who voted Democratic in 2018.

[14:15:00]

And I think this is a big red siren telling Democrats that they really can't run away from the president in their own party no matter what they do personally, and that, ultimately, both the White House and the Democrats in Congress have to figure out a way to rebuild more public confidence that Biden has the big problems of the country under control, because, if they don't, this is a preview of what they can look forward to next November.

BLACKWELL: All right, Ron Brownstein, S.E. Cupp, Senator Jones, thank you all.

CUPP: Thanks.

BLACKWELL: So, Democrats in Congress said that they were making progress. Now Speaker Pelosi is now adding an element back to the social spending bill, bucking key Democrat Senator Joe Manchin.

Also, Minneapolis rejects a ballot initiative aimed to overhaul the city's police department. We will take you there live next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:20:15]

BLACKWELL: We all woke up to some history-making mayoral election results today.

Let's go to Boston first, where voters elected the first woman and person of color for mayor there.

Aftab Pureval will be the first Asian American mayor of Cincinnati. Pittsburgh voted for its first black mayor. Durham, North Carolina, will have its first black female mayor, Elaine O'Neal. And in Buffalo, New York, incumbent Mayor Byron Brown declared victory in his write-in campaign for a fifth term.

Now, Brown lost the Democratic primary to socialist India Walton. But he claims that he's won the race with write-in ballots. Now, the county won't actually start counting write-in votes for two weeks, so CNN cannot yet project a winner in that race.

In New York City, former NYPD Police Captain Eric Adams, who campaigned on law and order, claimed a resounding victory. Adams promised to both beef up and reform the NYPD amid worries over a rise in violent crime. He's also stressed that public safety is the prerequisite to prosperity. In a city with so many factions and agendas, Adams managed to walk the line between moderate and progressive.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ERIC ADAMS (D), NEW YORK CITY MAYOR-ELECT: I am progressive in my policies. When you go online and see my 100 steps forward for New York City, you see how progressive I am. But we have to be practical.

But let's be practical and progressive, not preach to people, but provide services to people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Well, Eric Adams is only the second African-American to win New York's mayoral election.

Next to Minneapolis now, where, in the wake of George Floyd's murder, a call to reimagine policing became the focus of a ballot measure. But last night, voters rejected that measure, which would have scrapped the police department and replaced it with a department of public safety.

CNN's Omar Jimenez is in Minneapolis with more.

So, what do we know about the numbers? Was it close?

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, in short, Victor, it wasn't as close as some may have thought it was going to be leading up to Election Day.

This is the first electoral test here in Minneapolis since the murder of George Floyd a little under a year-and-a-half ago at this point. And as these results came in, 56 -- a little over 56 percent of people voted no to this ballot question, while just a little over 43 percent voted yes to this question.

And it to be clear, this was never going to get rid of police officers with a single vote. But one of the things I heard from people who planned to vote no in the days leading up to Election Day was that they didn't believe this ballot language was specific enough in what this public safety department would look like and what it would do for the city of Minneapolis. And, in the end, the ballot language failed.

BLACKWELL: All right, Omar Jimenez for us in Minneapolis, thank you.

Millions of Pfizer vaccine doses are now available for kids as young as 5 across the country. What parents need to know about the vaccine next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:27:57]

BLACKWELL: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is adding four weeks of paid family and medical leave back to the social spending bill, even though Democrats just dropped it from the framework, what, days ago.

CNN chief congressional correspondent Manu Raju is with us now.

So, Manu, why is the speaker bringing it back?

MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, this is a sign of a shift in strategy.

For some time, Nancy Pelosi has been saying that she will only move a bill in the House that will essentially pass the Senate, the same bill, because she did not want to have some of her members cast difficult votes twice. He wanted to have the same version essentially be approved and sent to the president's desk.

That is no longer the situation here, because Pelosi is struggling to get the votes behind the scenes and is trying to take action to try to win over people who may be holding out. And putting in paid leave certainly is supported by virtually all of her caucus, including some who may be skeptical about backing this measure.

But even though it's added -- it will be added into the House, and assuming it's passed by the House, the larger $1.75 trillion bill, it will almost certainly be stripped in the Senate.

That's because of Joe Manchin, who has told me earlier today that he is opposed to including this in this bill, says he wants it to go in a separate piece of legislation done along bipartisan lines, but not this legislation.

Now, this all comes as the moderate and progressive wings of the Democratic parties are having essentially a debate about exactly how to proceed in the aftermath of last night's election results that went poorly for the Democrats. Some of the liberals are saying this shows that Congress needs to act and deliver on both bills immediately.

But moderates like Joe Manchin are saying it is time to take even more time to vet the bills and deliver it to our -- its messages and explain it to our voters. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) RAJU: Senator, what went wrong last night?

SEN. RICHARD BLUMENTHAL (D-CT): Failure to deliver. Congress has to deliver. Window's closing. We have no more time. We need to get it done.

And as one who will be running for reelection in 2022, I need results that I can show the American people that Congress can deliver.