Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

GA Race Pits Trump-Backed Perdue Against Kemp, A Target Of Trump; Trump-Backed Hice Faces Off With Raffensperger In Georgia GOP Primary For Secretary Of State. Aired 3-3:30p ET

Aired May 24, 2022 - 15:00   ET

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

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN HOST: It's the top of the hour on CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Alisyn Camerota.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Victor Blackwell. Good to be with you. It's Election Day in America and the latest test of the power of a name not on any ballot today. That's Donald Trump. Right now people are voting in primaries in five states; Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Minnesota and Texas.

And the races across the south will be the biggest chance yet for Republican voters to break with Trump, especially in the battleground State of Georgia. There Trump has endorsed a slate of 2020 election deniers to run for statewide offices that oversee elections: Secretary of state, attorney general, of course, governor.

CAMEROTA: The primary for governor is one big race to watch today, that's incumbent Brian Kemp. He's Trump's number one target in what some even Republicans call President Trump's vendetta tour, meaning a mission to bring down Republicans who refuse to go along with his 2020 election lies.

Now Trump endorsed Kemp rival David Perdue and headline a rally for him yesterday on the same day that former Vice President Mike Pence stumped with Kemp in Georgia.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE PENCE, FORMER VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: When you say yes to Gov. Brian Kemp tomorrow, you will send a deafening message all across America that the Republican Party is the party of the future.

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: David is the only candidate who can beat Stacey Abrams because I don't believe Kemp can do it. He's got too many people in the Republican Party that will refuse to vote. They're just not going to go out after what they did to two senators and to a presidential election.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Let's go to Atlanta now, Eva McKend is there. So Eva, former Sen. David Perdue is facing some controversy over comments he made not about Brian Kemp, but about the Democrat to beat in this race Stacey Abrams. EVA MCKEND, CNN NATIONAL POLITICS REPORTER: That's right, Victor. The

race has been much quieter on the Democratic side because Stacey Abrams is running unopposed. But she's still apparently on the minds of many Republicans, including former Senator David Perdue, who is taking on incumbent Gov. Brian Kemp. Perdue facing scrutiny for these comments.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. BRIAN KEMP (R) GEORGIA: Hey, she ain't from here. Let her go back where she came from. She didn't like it here. The only thing she wants is to be President of the United States. She doesn't care about the people in Georgia, that's clear.

When she told black farmers, "You don't need to be on the farm," and as she told black workers in hospitality and all this, "You don't need to be" - she is demeaning her own race when it comes to that. I am really over this. She should never be considered for material for a governor of any state, much less our state where she hates to live.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCKEND: When Stacey Abrams addressed us this morning at a polling precinct, she seemed to sort of brush this aside. She is a black woman running for governor in Georgia who has spent a long - had a long political career here in this state and has likely heard this type of rhetoric before.

She shifted gears quickly and argued that both Perdue and Kemp are spending more time attacking her than talking about the issues she deems beans of consequence to Georgians like maternal mortality, like ending gun violence and also Medicaid expansion. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STACEY ABRAMS, (D) GEORGIA GOVERNOR CANDIDATE: Challenge I have is that the answer from Republicans, from our former senator to our current governor is to fight me instead of fighting the problems that are facing Georgia, and I urge everyone to pay less attention to rhetoric and more attention to the record and to the results. And I'm here to provide results for the future of Georgia.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCKEND: Georgia activists tell me that the way that Abrams can insulate herself from some of the challenges that Democrats face across the country is by keeping her race local, staying hyperly focused on local issues.

CAMEROTA: Eva, let's talk about what's happening with Secretary of State, because that is a really important race. So former President Trump is pushing for one of his election deniers to become Georgia's top elections official and then what happens? I mean, tell us about that race.

MCKEND: Well, Trump has gone all in for Congressman Jody Hice, essentially because Hice is - has completely endorsed this election lies that the 2020 election was somehow stolen or rigged from the former president. And Secretary of State, Brad Raffensperger, he refused to cheat on the former president's behalf. So that is why Trump with a bone to pick going all-in in support of Hice.

But what I will say is that Republican voters here seem more concerned about other issues than re-litigating 2020.

CAMEROTA: Okay. Eva McKend, thank you very much.

Joining us now for more on the Georgia races, we have former mayor of Atlanta and CNN Political Commentator Keisha Lance Bottoms. We also have conservative radio host Erick Erickson. Great to see both of you. Erick, I want to start with you.

[15:05:00]

What did you think of David Perdue's closing arguments to voters where he talked about Stacey Abrams and he said, "She ain't from here. Let her go back to where she came from." Is that effective?

ERICK ERICKSON, HOST, THE ERICK ERICKSON SHOW: Yes. I'm not sure that someone who lives in the gated community of a gated community on a private island needs to engage in that. It was an embarrassing comment in the very embarrassing campaign.

BLACKWELL: Your thoughts, Mayor, on those comments?

KEISHA LANCE BOTTOMS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes. I don't think it's ever a good idea for a white man to tell a black woman that she needs to go back to where she came from. I've watched David Perdue give a 25-minute speech without notes. He is a masterful communicator. He's a former CEO, in addition to having been a senator. So he knew exactly what he was saying and he knew to whom he was signaling those remarks.

CAMEROTA: So Erick, what are you keeping an eye on in that race?

ERICKSON: How early The Associated Press calls the race for Kemp. I mean, the polling he's pretty dominated around the state. He's been in media markets where Perdue has just stopped running, stop running ads, stopped showing up for appearances. At the Kemp events, he's been getting hundreds of people, Perdue has been getting 10s of people.

So I don't think this is going to be a big long night for Republicans. We're not going to have to wait for Fulton County as we often do, as the mayor notes down here, often every one; Democrat and Republican, waits for Fulton County and I don't know that we're going to have to do that tonight.

My concern is what happens tomorrow. If Kemp wins, does Trump come back and try to stir more (inaudible) he's already said he would prefer Abrams to Kemp.

BLACKWELL: Look ahead, Erick, to potentially a 2024 race, does a Kemp win help Pence as much as a Perdue loss hurts Trump? ERICKSON: Oh, that's a good question. I'm not sure. I do think that

Pence clearly has 2024 on his mind. He's definitely had a team with him. Last I was at the event, I emcee the event and he had a team from evangelical circles that clearly works for getting voters out. He's very interested.

At the same time, I thought it was very interesting how Pence on stage last night really embraced the Trump record economic growth, foreign affairs, made it very positive, never mentioned David Perdue at all. And I actually do think when it comes to looking at Trump in this race, incumbency matters more than Trump. All of the Republican incumbents, with the possible exception of Raffensperger, are expected to win without runoffs because voters know them. Trump's influence came in races like, for example, the lieutenant governor's race where there wasn't an incumbent.

CAMEROTA: Mayor, let's talk about that race that involves Brad Raffensperger because Congressman Jody Hice is running. He's an election denier. What happens in Georgia, if he becomes Secretary of State, ultimately?

BOTTOMS: It will be catastrophic if Hice become Secretary of State, every line that was put forth about the 2020 election would have materialized as reality in this state. Many decisions were made by the Secretary of State that's made the difference in where the State of Georgia stood in terms of the 2020 election.

I am very interested to see how this independent swing voters turnout. We have seen a higher number of independent voters pulling Republican ballots. It we'll see if that plays out through Election Day. We know that turnout has been significant. I think that likely bodes well for Raffensperger.

But I don't anticipate that he is going to escape without a runoff. But I do think there are a lot of people on both sides who applauded what he did and I think you have seen many of those people show up and vote for him in this primary.

BLACKWELL: Eric, you've - you said that Herschel Walker in the Senate primary could be Roy Moore 2.0. Of course, Roy Moore was the Republican nominee for Senate in Alabama, lost to Doug Jones after the accusations. But Herschel Walker has the endorsement of Mitch McConnell, has the endorsement of a former President Trump, how far do those - plus the national championship and Heisman Trophy take him potentially?

ERICKSON: Listen, this is one of those years where a bad Republican can get elected over a good Democrat and Herschel Walker is extremely popular in the state. The only thing Donald Trump did was convinced him to run it. Donald Trump came out the day after that and said don't vote for Walker. He'd still win because he's Herschel Walker.

I didn't grow up in the state but a lot of people are UGA fans historically. They won the national championship last year. They love Herschel Walker. He's a dominant force in the state. He'll transcend party lines, but he does have a lot of baggage that has been unexplored.

[15:10:02]

The Republicans didn't have the money to explore it. The Democrats will because they're playing for control of the Senate.

CAMEROTA: Mayor, there's this new CBS polling that shows that voters basically think both parties stink. I mean, the adjectives that voters are using to describe Democrats weak, out of touch, more than 50 percent, basically - well, out of - yes, out of judges more than 50 percent. And then to describe the Republicans, extreme and hateful, I mean, a pox on both their houses, it says. So how do you fix that?

BOTTOMS: Yes. It's been a tough couple of years for everyone and for Democrats even further back than that. I think that we have to make sure that we perfect our messaging that we remind the American people of what was inherited by this administration, by the Biden administration and also what has been done well. There's been a lot that has been done well in addition to the extraordinary circumstances that the President and Congress walked into.

So it is all about messaging, we have to communicate, we have to communicate not just on platforms like CNN, but we've got to do it where people are getting their information. I'll give the example of my 20-year-old son. I doubt that he's ever seen me on CNN, because he doesn't watch cable television. He's on a device getting his information from non-traditional platforms and I think that's where we will do best taking our messaging. And I think it's reflective of what the American people feel right now, but I think it's something that can be addressed.

BLACKWELL: All right. We need your 20-year-old son to watch cable news. Keisha Lance Bottoms, thank you very much.

BOTTOMS: I agree.

BLACKWELL: Erick Erickson - yes, good to have you both.

ERICKSON: Thank you.

CAMEROTA: That's a different issue, of course.

BOTTOMS: Thank you.

CAMEROTA: Great to see you, guys. All right. So in Alabama Senate GOP primary the power of a Trump endorsement or in this case lack of is being tested today.

BLACKWELL: Congressman Mo Brooks is looking to advance to a runoff if not win outright without the support of the former president, who rescinded his endorsement two months ago. CNN's Dianne Gallagher is in Huntsville, Alabama.

DIANNE GALLAGHER, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Victor, Alisyn, all eyes in Alabama are on the Republican primary for the U.S. Senate seat and whether Mo Brooks campaign is really back from the dead. Of course, this comes two months after former President Donald Trump rescinded his endorsement of the Congressman saying that he'd gone to woke because he suggested Republicans should focus on the future elections instead of 2020.

Mo Brooks said that his campaign is back on track because people know his voting record and is still not willing to criticize the president for pulling his endorsement.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. MO BROOKS (R-AL): The president's endorsement, President Donald Trump, it does have an effect in Republican primary as evidenced by Republican candidates across the country seeking that endorsement. Nonetheless, the President has not endorsed anyone in the State of Alabama at this point, which means we're all on the same level playing field. And quite frankly, I like the odds under those circumstances, particularly in a runoff.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GALLAGHER: And that right there is key, a runoff, in Alabama a candidate must get at least 50 percent of the vote to win on primary night if not, they advanced to a runoff election four weeks later. Now, the two top opponents for Bo Brooks, Katie Britt and Mike Durant have basically been beating each other up on the airwaves since Trump rescinded his endorsement.

So really Victor, Alisyn, that may have inadvertently helped Mo Brooks' campaign find a lane here at the very end. Many say it counts.

CAMEROTA: Really interesting. Dianne Gallagher, thank you.

BLACKWELL: In Pennsylvania, counties have two hours more to send an unofficial vote counts. The state's GOP Senate primary is still too close to call. This of course is between Trump-backed candidate Mehmet Oz and David McCormick.

CAMEROTA: McCormick's campaign has filed a lawsuit to have undated mail-in ballots counted. CNN's Athena Jones is in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Athena, could this change the race?

ATHENA JONES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Alisyn, it's so close. It's really hard to know. And it seems like any amount of - a large amount of votes could change the race. As you mentioned, we're waiting for the unofficial count from all 67 counties. Those results are due at 5 pm. Dr. Mehmet Oz is still leading Dave McCormick by about a thousand votes, that's within the 0.5 percent margin of error that would trigger an automatic recount. And we should know by tomorrow if that recount will be ordered.

But I can tell you, the Acting Secretary of State expects it to happen. Here's more of what she said about the process and what we're waiting for.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) LEIGH CHAPMAN, PENNSYLVANIA ACTING SECRETARY OF STATE: Right now it's

looking like we're within 0.1 percent, so as far as timeline, as we mentioned today at five o'clock counties are sending me the unofficial returns. Part of that will also be the undated ballot counts.

[15:15:01]

Then tomorrow, Wednesday, at noon, that's when candidates can wave whether or not they want to have a recount. And then on Wednesday, tomorrow, I'm also expected to announce the recount and issue an order on Thursday with the recount to start as early as Friday this week.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JONES: And remember, there are also some ballots that remain to be counted. There's this issue about undated ballots. People are supposed to date the outside of the envelope when they send their ballot back. There are a bunch of undated ballots that the Pennsylvania State Department, the Department of State is telling counties that they should count.

This is, of course, what Dave McCormick wants. He has filed a lawsuit calling for those undated ballots to be counted because they were received in time. As long as they were received in time, he argues they should be counted. Now, on the other side, Oz and the Republican National Committee are arguing that under Pennsylvania law, there is a requirement that the voter date the envelope, and if they didn't, those ballots should not count and that you shouldn't be changing the rules in the middle of the contest.

So we'll see how that plays out, but as I said the department - the State Department of Pennsylvania is telling these counties to go ahead and count those ballots. Not all of them are doing so. I've spoken to at least one county saying that they want to wait for more guidance. So there's still quite a bit of uncertainty here. Alisyn? Victor?

BLACKWELL: Athena Jones in Harrisburg. Thank you.

CAMEROTA: And stay with CNN for our special coverage when the polls start to close. It's Election Night in America, it begins tonight at 7 pm Eastern.

BLACKWELL: More countries are reporting cases of monkeypox and the CDC warns the U.S. caseload will likely grow. Who's most at risk? That's next.

CAMEROTA: And the manhunt for Kaitlyn Armstrong. This is the woman wanted in connection to a murder of a pro-cyclist. We have all of the latest search details ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:21:14]

BLACKWELL: The CDC says it's down monitoring six probable cases of monkeypox in the U.S., although only one in Massachusetts is confirmed. And we're just getting this from Sacramento County health officials. They say that California may have its first case from someone who recently returned from travel abroad.

CAMEROTA: The outbreak has now reached 16 countries and the U.S. is working to get the vaccine out of the Strategic National Stockpile. There are roughly a thousand doses in there and it's estimated to be about 85 percent effective against monkeypox.

BLACKWELL: CNN Medical Analyst Dr. Jonathan Reiner is with us now. He's a professor of medicine and surgery at George Washington University. Doctor, welcome back. So one confirmed case, six probable but urgent enough to now mobilize the doses of a vaccine at the stockpile. How urgent is the concern of this potential spread?

JONATHAN REINER, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: Well, I think it's important for public health officials and the CDC to track all of the cases because there are things that can be done to limit or contain or even stop any further outbreaks. So what is known is that monkeypox is sort of a cousin to smallpox and the old smallpox vaccine is actually quite effective against this virus.

There is a specific monkeypox vaccine, which is also obviously very effective. That's available in much smaller numbers, as you said about a thousand doses. The national strategic reserve has about a hundred million doses of smallpox vaccine, which, if necessary, could be used to provide what's called ring immunity. Basically immunize close contacts of people who have been confirmed with monkeypox thereby containing the virus within a small central ring.

CAMEROTA: Dr. Reiner, is monkeypox spread through casual contact or intimate contact?

REINER: Well, the virus is spread by both droplets. So you have to be relatively close to get droplets in the air. This is not aerosolized. It doesn't hang in the air like the coronavirus. It's much less contagious than the coronavirus. It's thought that Omicron for instance will - an infected person can infect up to about seven other people. Monkeypox, that number, which is called the reproductive number are not, it's thought to be less than one. So it's much less contagious.

It can also be spread via physical contact, it can be spread via sexual contact and it's thought that this outbreak may have started potentially at Gay Pride - large Gay Pride festival in Europe last month, which is why many of the earliest confirmed cases are - have been found in men have sex with men. But it can also be spread via contact with infected linens and things like that.

But this is not a virus that spreads easily in a community. It is by no means not coronavirus, but it's something that our public health officials should take very seriously.

BLACKWELL: So for most Americans, this is not enough at this point to change anything about daily life.

REINER: No, not at all. Also, if you were born before 1972 and sadly I fit into that category, you have been vaccinated against smallpox and that's vaccine is felt still probably quite effective at preventing severe illness in people exposed to monkeypox.

[15:25:07]

CAMEROTA: Well, then, maybe you should be happy that you were born before 1972. Maybe that's the silver lining, Dr. Jonathan Reiner.

REINER: Gray hair has its benefits.

CAMEROTA: There you go. Thank you very much for all the information.

REINER: My pleasure.

CAMEROTA: Okay. Amber Heard's defense team rests its case. And now, the attention turns back to Johnny Depp and who his team may call as a rebuttal witness. We'll discuss this really ugly case next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)