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Analysis: Nearly 11.8M+ In 43 States Have Voted Before Election Day; AZ Blake Master Gets A Boost From Trump's Super PAC; Driver Guilty On All Counts In Wisconsin Christmas Parade Attack. Aired 2- 2:30p ET

Aired October 26, 2022 - 14:00   ET

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

[14:00:00]

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VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, I'm Victor Blackwell. Welcome to CNN NEWSROOM.

BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Bianna Golodryga.

Nearly 12 million Americans have already voted across 43 states in the midterm elections. Inflation, crime, and abortion were the topics that dominated fiery debates last night. In Pennsylvania, Senate race, the most high profile of the midterms, another factor came into play and that is the health of one of the candidates. The performance of Democrat John Fetterman, who survived a stroke has put a new intensity into the matchup. Some Fetterman voters are saying after seeing him struggle, they're now worried about on-the-fence people like independents and undecided voters.

BLACKWELL: Another told CNN. "It was tough to watch Fetterman. It's kind of like looking at a car accident. You want to look but you don't want to look." However, the Fetterman campaign says that he raised more than a million dollars in the hours after that debate. And Fetterman's Republican rival, Mehmet Oz, is also getting some negative feedback for his response to a question on abortion. The Fetterman camp is highlighting Oz's remarks in this just-released campaign ad.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is who Dr. Oz wants in charge of women's healthcare decisions.

DR. MEHMET OZ, REPUBLICAN SENATE CANDIDATE, PENNSYLVANIA: I want women, doctors, local political leaders, --local political leaders -- local political leaders.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oz would let politicians like Doug Mastriano ban abortion without exceptions.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: CNN's Dan Merica is here. Dan, we have these quotes from Fetterman supporters because of your reporting. Tell us more about what they said about his performance.

DAN MERICA, CNN NATIONAL POLITICAL REPORTER: Yes. I spent the morning talking to folks who I had met on the campaign trail covering Fetterman who actually attended Fetterman events. So these are hardened Fetterman supporters. And to a voter, they all plan to vote for him in November. Most said very disparaging things about Dr. Oz that they couldn't imagine voting for him.

But also to a voter, they're deeply concerned about the health questions that that debate raised, particularly when it comes to friends, family, coworkers they have, who are swing voters who they know have questions raised about the debate last night. There's a lot of compassion among these voters for John Fetterman, but there's also a lot of concern.

Now, neither candidate was far -- you know far from perfect in the debate last night, that numbers stumbled over a number of issues. Fetterman got into a very tricky position when he was pressed on his opinion and his position currently on fracking. Take a listen to what he said when pressed on his one-time opposition to the oil and gas extraction.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN FETTERMAN, DEMOCRATIC SENATE CANDIDATE, PENNSYLVANIA: I've always supported fracking and I always believe that independence with our energy is critical.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There is that 2018 interview that you said "I don't support fracking at all." So how do you square the two?

FETTERMAN: I do support fracking. And I don't -- I don't -- I support fracking. And I stand. And I do support fracking.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MERICA: It was that moment actually that riled the most Fetterman supporters that concern them about how swing voters could view that. Now, Mehmet Oz, the Republican candidate in this race also failed to give a concrete answer on abortion. And as you noted in the lead-in, allowed the Fetterman campaign to cut an ad when he said that local politicians should be involved in making abortion decisions. He also didn't take a firm position on the Lindsey Graham bill that would ban abortion after 15 weeks. That's a federal bill that would deal with abortion. Take a listen to how he struggled with the abortion question last night.

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OZ: I don't want the federal government involved with that at all. I want women, doctors, local political leaders, letting the democracy that's always allowed our nation to thrive to put the best ideas forward so states can decide for themselves. I am not going to support federal rules that block the ability of states to do what they wish to do. The abortion decision should be left up to states. I've been very clear on my desire as a physician not to interfere with how states decide.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MERICA: Victor and Bianna, the real question leading that debate is whether enough voters especially swing voters watched and whether they care. That's a question that we're going to have to spend, you know, the days leading up to the election to get the answer to because it's really unknown at this point, whether it will swing the smaller and smaller, smaller sliver of swing voters that will likely decide the election between Oz and Fetterman in November.

[14:05:01]

GOLODRYGA: Yes. And that was a question, Dan Merica, and -- for us here at the table is discussed later on is that these debates are held rather late this year.

BLACKWELL: Yes.

MERICA: Yes.

GOLODRYGA: So, whether it's Pennsylvania or other states, what that really means for undecided voters for the few that are left out there?

BLACKWELL: Hundreds of thousands of people in Pennsylvania already cast their ballots before the two candidates up the stage last night.

MERICA: Yes.

GOLODRYGA: Yes. Dan Merica, thank you.

MERICA: Thanks.

BLACKWELL: Let's go to New York now, gubernatorial debate, also very contentious, incumbent Kathy Hochul and Republican Lee Zeldin, their big issue, the state's growing crime problem.

GOLODRYGA: CNN's Athena Jones has been covering the New York race. Athena, what were the big takeaways from the candidates' debate last night?

ATHENA JONES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's one of them. I mean you would expect to see a little bit more focus on things like the economy and inflation. These are also issues at the top of voters' minds, but it's very clear that Congressman Lee Zeldin wanted very much to focus on crime. This is what we've seen from him over the last several weeks and months showing up at various locations where there has been a violent incident. He himself was attacked or nearly attacked on the campaign trail in July. But Kathy Hochul tried to push back by focusing on guns and gun control. Take a listen to that exchange.

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GOV. KATHY HOCHUL, (D-NY): There is no crime-fighting plan if it doesn't include guns -- illegal guns, and you refuse to talk about how we can do so much more. You didn't even show up for votes in Washington when a bipartisan group of enlightened legislators voted for an assault weapon ban.

REP. LEE ZELDIN, (R-NY): Unfortunately, Kathy Hochul believes that the only crimes that are being committed are these crimes with guns. And yet you got people who are afraid of being pushed in front of oncoming subway cars. They're being stabbed and beaten to death on the street with hammers.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JONES: Now both candidates have a point here, of course. Kathy Hochul wanting to highlight the effort she's made on gun safety, things like passing a law after the Tops Supermarket shooting raises the age to buy a semi-automatic weapon to 21, getting 8000 guns -- handguns -- illegal handguns off the streets, and that sort of thing.

When it comes to other issues, Hochul tried to tie Zeldin to Trump. He is a longtime supporter of the president. He voted not to certify the election in Arizona and Pennsylvania in 2020. And she's also hit him on abortion. He is someone who has celebrated the Dobbs decision, calling it a victory for life. And she pointed out you're the only one who has his name on a bill that says life begins at conception.

Zeldin, saying this is moot. This is New York. This -- the right to abortion are codified in New York law. But the thing is, a lot of New York voters support abortion rights. And so this is one of the reasons Kathy Hochul wanted to highlight this on the part of Zeldin's record.

BLACKWELL: All right. Athena Jones, thank you. Joining us now, the king of the Commonwealth though, Pennsylvania, and CNN political commentator, Michael Smerconish. He anchors "SMERCONISH" on CNN Saturday mornings. Michael, good to see you. Let's start with the Senate debate and this question of how much this matters to voters. You just heard Dan Merica's reporting that even his supporters said that they're worried about what this means for those undecided voters. How much do you think this performance matters?

MICHAEL SMERCONISH, CNN HOST: Well, there's consensus, Victor, as to what went down. It was a bad, bad night for John Fetterman. Sure, there were some answers that were poor on the part of Oz, I thought Oz looked slick but Fetterman was terrible. And you just have to say that. The issue now and you and Bianna both address this, this is my Pennsylvania mail-in ballot. I've not yet mailed it in. But half of those voting by mail in the Commonwealth already have voted. Today's the 26th of October, it's so damn late. And maybe the cake has already been baked.

The one thing we all ought to be able to agree on. There should have been several debates. It's the most significant race in the country. The idea that there was one debate candidly, it was very hard for some people to find it, and others were shut out because of an issue with Verizon Fios. So, for a whole host of reasons, I'm just lamenting the fact that like this was it and it was only 60 minutes long. So, I wish there had been more. But so many people are now voting based on what they want in terms of control of the Senate or control of the House and overlooking their own local candidates. Example, it's reported that another Herschel Walker accuser is about to come forward. A lot of Republicans in Georgia who are pro-life, they're overlooking his shortcomings because they want there to be Republican control of the Senate. So, is that the way it's going to go down in Pennsylvania? I don't know. We'll find out in 13 days.

GOLODRYGA: So, you're making the argument that it could just be all about power. But when it comes to swing voters, whatever -- however many, there are still undetermined voters and undecided voters in Pennsylvania. I'm curious, just going back to Dan's reporting where he said that Fetterman supporters felt like they were watching a car accident, it was tough for them to stomach watching him but they still support him. Their concern is whether swing voters will vote for him. Does he need those wing voters to beat Oz?

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SMERCONISH: He does. And, Bianna, here's something else that's going on in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. We have a rich history of ticket-splitting. You know you think of Al Gore winning in 2000. At the same time, voters were putting forth Rick Santorum, Arlen Specter, John Heinz, Republican senators, and Bob Casey, father of the current senator, a Democratic governor. So, Pennsylvanians have a history of voting for Rs and Ds.

I have this theory that the better that Josh Shapiro does running for governor as a Democrat, meaning the worse Doug Mastriano does, it actually helps Oz because people can go in there and they can say, well, I'll vote for Shapiro, he's a D. I'm not going to give the Democrats both. I guess I'll go for Oz. Maybe that plays out as well.

BLACKWELL: You know, John Fetterman said that transparency for him was showing up. Now he was there last night, we saw the performance. The fracking answers specifically, we don't need to play it again, we just heard it, didn't make sense. We don't know if that was because of some of the auditory challenges from the stroke recovery or if he just didn't have a good answer, or if he was nervous, but the transparency step would be releasing those medical records, which last night again, he said his campaign would not do.

SMERCONISH: Your heart has to break for the guy. He's worked hard, whatever his politics may be. You know, he earned the opportunity to be the Democratic nominee. But now we're left wondering, is it simply an auditory processing issue, or is there something cognitive going on? To your point, he could probably clear it up by releasing those records.

I think he can't be silent for the next 13 days. At a minimum, he's going to have to sit down with a journalist who's prepared to question him in a -- in a pretty straightforward and difficult manner so that we can get another look at him. Because otherwise there are just too many questions that were raised about what we saw. GOLODRYGA: Well, both candidates have taken the opportunity to campaign on certain moments from last night whether it was Oz saying that there would be local politics -- politicians -- elected political leaders there in the decision-making process for a woman having an abortion, and then obviously the fracking issue with Fetterman. Which do you think -- which candidate benefits from campaigning on both of those fumbles?

SMERCONISH: Oz. There's just no doubt about it. I mean, I thought -- I thought that Oz was loose with his language when he said local control. I gave him the benefit of the doubt and thought that he meant that in a post-Roe world, it'll be settled by the state. I don't think he meant that your county commissioner needs to make an abortion decision. He needs -- you know, clean up on aisle five, for sure. But I just don't think there's parity between his performance and Fetterman's performance last night.

GOLODRYGA: Michael Smerconish, thank you as always. What did you say, king of the Commonwealth?

SMERCONISH: See you, guys.

GOLODRYGA: I like it.

BLACKWELL: Thank you, Michael.

SMERCONISH: I'll take it.

BLACKWELL: All right, let's go to Arizona next, the Senate race there. Republican nominee Blake Masters is getting a boost from Donald Trump. The former president's Super PAC just launched a blistering new ad against Masters' Democratic opponent, Senator Mark Kelly.

GOLODRYGA: Video from a new documentary shows the former president calling out Masters for not pushing election fraud claims hard enough.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: If you want to get across the line, you've got to go stronger on that one thing. That was the one thing, a lot of complaints about it. Look at Kari. Kari's winning with very little money. And if they say how is your family? She says the election was rigged and stolen. You will lose if you go soft. You're going to lose that base.

BLAKE MASTERS, REPUBLICAN SENATE CANDIDATE, ARIZONA: I'm not going soft.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GOLODRYGA: CNN's Kyung Lah is in Phoenix. So, Kyung, these allegations have been repeatedly disproven. What is Masters saying now though?

KYUNG LAH, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, he's essentially saying what Donald Trump suggested he do in that video out, it is -- we don't know the exact timing of it but it certainly appears that Donald Trump watched the U.S. Senate debate and was not pleased with what do he heard from Blake Masters about the 2020 election. In the primary, like Masters was promoting the lie that Donald Trump won and that -- Donald Trump won in 2020 and then he won the state of Arizona. We saw that shift in the general. Now what I want you to listen to here is the before and after that, we heard from Blake Masters separated by just four days this month. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TED SIMONS, HOST: Was that election stolen?

MASTERS: If big tech and big media and the FBI didn't work together to put the thumb on the scale to get Joe Biden in there.

SIMONS: But not vote counting, not election results?

MASTERS: Yes, I haven't seen evidence of that.

HARRIS KIMBERLEY FAULKNER, HOST, FOX NEWS: Well, at one point, your website had featured this statement. If we had a free and fair election, President Trump would be sitting in the Oval Office today. That comment no longer sits on your website. Why not?

MASTERS: Well, I still believe it, that's for sure. And like I said in my debate last week, I think if everyone followed the law, President Trump wouldn't be in the Oval Office.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[14:15:03]

LAH: So he said in the U.S. Senate debate that he didn't see evidence of any sort of interference in the election and then four days later, it appears to be about four -- it was four days later that he said that he still believes in that election lie. Was the Trump call in between that? That is unclear, Victor and Bianna, but certainly, it does appear that Trump -- Donald Trump is getting involved again. He has put some money forth in an ad for his Super PAC throwing some money into this state to support Blake Masters.

And I just want to add one last thing. In that Tucker Carlson Fox clip that was released yesterday, he also -- Blake Masters also disparages rhinos, Republican in name only. That's moderate Republicans who the far-right disparage by calling rhinos. And you know, I've talked to a few Republican operatives here in the state of Arizona who say that is also very disturbing to them because a third of the voters in the state are independent and they need to win moderates in order to win that Senate seat, Victor, Bianna.

BLACKWELL: Yes. a crucial context there for us. Kyung Lah, in Phoenix, thank you.

GOLODRYGA: Well, two big verdicts in today. In Wisconsin, a jury has convicted the man who killed six people during their Christmas parade attack.

BLACKWELL: In Michigan, three men were found guilty of plotting to kidnap Michigan's governor. Details on both of these cases, next.

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JENNIFER DOROW, JUDGE, WAUKESHA COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT: We the jury, find the defendant, Darrell E. Brooks, guilty of first-degree intentional homicide, as charged in count one of the information.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GOLODRYGA: There, you just heard of a Wisconsin judge announcing a jury's decision finding Darrell Brooks guilty on all counts stemming from last year's Christmas parade attack.

BLACKWELL: Six people were killed, dozens of others injured when Brooks drove his SUV into the crowd that lined the streets for the annual parade there. CNN's Josh Campbell joins us now. So, Josh, explaine the jury's decision here.

JOSH CAMPBELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, this jury decision came after a truly tragic and unusual trial tragic because of the number of victims that you mentioned there, six killed dozens and dozens injured, unusual because we saw the suspect -- the defendant here actually representing himself. He previously had an attorney, fired that attorney, withdrew a insanity defense, and decided to represent himself. And we saw three weeks of this unusual trial where he was often combative with the judge, with witnesses, with the prosecutor. At times the judge had to actually move him to a separate courtroom because he became so disruptive.

Yesterday during closing arguments, he appealed to the jury saying that he didn't intend to do this but the jury ultimately deciding that yes, this act was intentional. He was found guilty on six counts of intentional homicide as well as a host of other charges. It's worth noting that those counts of intentional homicide require a mandatory life sentence. Now, we just heard moments ago from some of the victim family members speaking to the press about today's verdict, including the son of Jenny Sorenson, one of the victims killed that day. Take a listen.

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MARSHALL SORENSON, MOTHER KILLED IN WISCONSIN CHRISTMAS PARADE ATTACK: This morning, my five-year-old daughter came up to me and hand me -- hand me -- handed me this necklace with my mom's ashes in it and she told me to take my mom with us for the sentencing. So she was with us today. And it -- I just want to thank everyone for what they did today. And one last thing, my mom always used to tell us when we were kids, and our family that she always said angels watch out for you guys. So I just want to say angels watch over you guys and turn on those blue lights tonight.

(END VIDEO CLIP) CAMPBELL: Now prosecutors thank the jury for their verdict in this case saying that justice was served. But of course, the officials here also noting that nothing can bring back the loved ones of these family members that are here today, including the six that were killed, the dozens and dozens that were injured. It's worth noting that some of the people who were injured that day are still recovering from those injuries, Victor.

BLACKWELL: Josh Campbell, thank you for the reporting.

A jury in Michigan has found three men guilty in the plot to kidnap the Democratic governor Gretchen Whitmer in 2020. And they were members of the Wolverine Watchmen. And each was found guilty of providing material support for a terrorist act, gang membership, and felony possession of a firearm. They could face up to 20 years in prison when sentenced later this year.

GOLODRYGA: Back in August, a federal jury found two other men guilty in this scheme. They're facing up to life in prison on charges for conspiracy to kidnap Whitmer.

BLACKWELL: The St. Louis School superintendent says that students will now have to study a new subject after that fatal shooting at the St. Louis High School.

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DR. KELVIN ADAMS, SUPERINTENDENT, ST. LOUIS SCHOOL DISTRICT: Unfortunately, we are working with our outside partner to add into our curriculum gun safety. Of all the things to add on not just reading, writing arithmetic, but reading writing, arithmetic, and gun safety.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GOLODRYGA: Tragic reality in schools today. Police a 19-year-old Orlando Harris was armed with an AR-15-style rifle and more than 600 rounds of ammunition when he opened fire inside the school yesterday. He shot and killed a teacher and 10th-grade students before police killed him. He left a letter in his car calling himself an isolated loner who had no friends. Police say Harris's mother is cooperating and that she had been seeking mental health support for her son before the attack.

[14:25:04]

Well, scientists now say the moves that helped keep us safe during the COVID pandemic may be the reason behind the unprecedented surge in RSV and flu in children. More on the immunity gap ahead.

BLACKWELL: And a month after Hurricane Ian hit southwest Florida, there are a lot of people and neighborhoods still struggling to recover with some people still living without power and without running water.

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