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Up For Grabs: 435 House Seats, 35 Senate Seats, 36 Governorships, 27 Secretary Of State Seats; Sources: Trump Mulls Announcing Presidential Run Tonight; Speaker Pelosi Gives First Interview Since Attack On Her Husband; Candidates Make Final Pitch With Control Of Congress On The Line. Aired 3-3:30p ET

Aired November 07, 2022 - 15:00   ET

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

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[15:00:44]

BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN HOST: It is the top of the hour on CNN NEWSROOM. Good afternoon, everyone. I'm Bianna Golodryga.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN HOST: I'm Victor Blackwell. It's good to have you.

Election Day, it's tomorrow and the biggest names in both politics - both political parties, I should say, are crisscrossing the country in a frenetic last pitch to get out to vote.

GOLODRYGA: Control of Congress is at stake here and Republicans believe they'll have what it takes to regain the House. All 435 House seats are up for grabs, 35 Senate seats in the Senate also on the ballot. Control of that chamber is anyone's guess at this point. Plus three dozen governor seats will be decided and scores of other state and local positions.

BLACKWELL: Let's start in Wisconsin and CNN's Lucy Kafanov who is in Milwaukee. Republican Senator Ron Johnson fighting to hold on to his seat from Democratic candidate Mandela Barnes, the Lieutenant Governor there, how are they making these final pitches to voters?

LUCY KAFANOV, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Victor. There is a close race for the governor as well. But all eyes on the Senate race, the outcome of which could determine the balance of power in Congress. We have two-term Republican, Sen. Ron Johnson. He's facing the lieutenant governor, Mandela Barnes, in one of this year's most competitive races, a truly purple state where President Biden won by less than 21,000 votes. Both candidates crisscrossing the state today making their final campaign stops.

Johnson joined by Nikki Haley, Barnes was boosted by Obama over the weekend. He's got several rallies today, including one with the Teamsters later this afternoon.

Now, Johnson is a close ally of former President Donald Trump. He has a history of controversial statements including spreading misinformation about COVID 19 as well as conspiracy theories about the January 6 Capitol attack. More recently he has raised concerns about the integrity of the vote before it even takes place, refusing to commit to accepting the outcome of Tuesday's elections. More recently, though, he has pushed the issue of racial divisions. Take a listen.

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SEN. RON JOHNSON (R-WI): He's talking about racism in Wisconsin. He said it's actually scarier than down south because we've institutionalized it here in Wisconsin. We just figured out how to conceal it. He call it the concealed carry racism. So that's what he thinks of you. Kind of makes you scratch your head. I mean, why would you want to represent people who have institutionalized racism?

MANDELA BARNES, (D) WISCONSIN SENATE CANDIDATE: Ron Johnson is a completely negative campaign, because he doesn't have a record to run on. He's spent 12 years serving himself.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAFANOV: And so you heard Barnes at the end there, a 35-year-old progressive. Again, Wisconsin's lieutenant governor. He would be Wisconsin's first black senator if he wins the election on Tuesday. He has pushed back against Johnson accusing him of being a danger to the state as well as the stability of the country.

But it's interesting, at the beginning of the year, Wisconsin was widely considered to be among the top Democratic opportunities to flip a Republican controlled Senate seat. Johnson was not particularly popular here, but the slight lead that Barnes had enjoyed in the beginning of the race has sort of evaporated in recent weeks fueled, in part, by a barrage of negative advertising against him.

And so it is a truly close race. The - a lot will depend on turnout, how independence votes in a state where elections really do come down to the wire, Bianna? Victor?

GOLODRYGA: One of many close races we are watching. Lucy Kafanov, thank you.

BLACKWELL: Let's go to CNN's Sara Sidner in Maricopa County, Arizona, a lot of eyes on Arizona right now. You're at the Maricopa County Election Center, what do you see in there?

SARA SIDNER, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I just want to give you an example of what people are going to see on Election Day. They were going to come, they're going to put their ID here. It will be checked and then it is printed out. They have 12,000 different ballots that are exactly linked to whoever checks in. They'll get their ballot, they'll fill their ballot out.

If they have issues with being able to see or hear, there's Braille and this all they can just put their ballot here and that will count. This is where you would fill your ballot out and then this is the machine that are in all the different vote centers. There are 223 of them here in Maricopa County, the largest most populous county in the state. They will put their ballots in here and then that will actually, eventually, end up here.

[15:05:04]

Now, I just want to let you know that when - the count is happening right now, so I want to show you the machines. This is the machine right here. She is now cleaning it, but she is about to start putting those ballots into the machine and they will be counted. You should know that in Maricopa County, about typically 85 percent of voters here vote early.

So they either vote by mail, they vote by ballot box they drop off or they come in-person early. So a huge number of the votes in this most populous county in the entire state are already in and they've been counting them already throughout the day.

Now, this count here will stop tomorrow and they will be waiting for each precinct to send in those voters who come and vote that day. And so a large number of people have already voted. We're talking almost a million people have already voted in this county, guys?

GOLODRYGA: A fascinating look at what's happening at that election center, hopefully giving voters there at least some comfort in showing transparency in what's going on. Sara Sidner, thank you.

Scott Jennings is a CNN Political Commentator and former Special Assistant to President George W. Bush. Kirsten Powers is a CNN Senior Political Analyst. She just launched a new must read newsletter called Things That Matter on Substack. Welcome, both of you.

So Scott, let me begin with you. And just - given the conversations that you have with Republican leaders and insiders, they must be feeling good ahead of tomorrow. But what are they most focused on right now and what if any are the weak spots?

SCOTT JENNINGS, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Most focused on Pennsylvania and Georgia. If you look at the big three Senate races, Nevada, most Republicans feel pretty good that that was going to go towards the Republicans. But Georgia, the possibility of a runoff still hangs out there. Most Republicans I talked to down there feel like Walker has a really good chance to end the night with more votes. But whether he gets to 50 percent, there's a libertarian on the ballot there, watching that candidates' percentage.

And then in Pennsylvania, again, the macro political winds appear to be blowing in the Republicans direction. And so everybody feels good about that, but the polling has been persistently closed. Dr. Oz has had image issues since the primary although it is obvious that he's reeled in Fetterman and move that race at least into a dead heat.

So there's cautious optimism on the Senate, on the House. It's a lot of exuberance. People really feel good about the House and I think most Republicans think if the Republicans are north of 20, that would be a great night when you compare it - when you add it to what they did in 2020.

BLACKWELL: All right. Kirsten, let's start on the other side of that with you, what you're focused on specifically in the Senate, the races you think will be most crucial?

KIRSTEN POWERS, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, I'm just going to say upfront that I'm not placing a lot of stock in the polling and so - and that's partly because of what happened in 2016, but also, because we even have pollsters coming out and saying, we don't even know if we can trust our polls, so we don't really know what's going to happen.

And so looking at it historically, if we didn't know anything, we would expect that the party in power, which is Joe Biden and the Democrats, would not do well and often even get a real drubbing in their first midterm elections. And so that that is sort of the backdrop of what is happening.

What we have to wait and see what happens is how things pan out because there are some candidates that were - what Mitch McConnell spoke about sort of quality control was not that great and could that make a difference, could that be something that could help save the Democrats, but we don't really know. We have generic ballots that have Democrats and Republicans neck and neck, if that's accurate - and there's a big if around that.

If that's accurate, then that would suggest that the Democrats are in a better position than they should be historically. But we just don't know if it's true and we won't know until votes start getting counted.

BLACKWELL: Yes.

GOLODRYGA: So Scott, we know millions of Americans have already voted, but we're expecting millions to turn out tomorrow. On this news that we may or may not hear the former president announce that he is running again in 2024 within the next 24 hours, who does that benefit more at this point, republicans or could this engage some Democrats to come out that possibly were just sitting this one out tomorrow?

JENNINGS: I don't know. I mean, I feel like people already assume he's running anyway. People in both parties think he's going to make the run, so I think it's pretty late for something like that to make a huge difference. I mean, I think clearly he's disappointed that this midterm has not been about him. I think the Republicans have run a very disciplined campaign on issues: inflation, crime, immigration, the (inaudible) to America have been really discipline. It's not been about Trump. The Democrats wanted it to be about Trump and Republicans just didn't take the bait.

This has been extremely disappointing for Donald Trump who's used to being in the center of our national political conversation. So I'm not surprised he's trying to reassert himself at this late hour and then maybe try to lay claim to some of the credit here.

[15:10:05]

But I'm not sure it's going to be an advantage or a disadvantage, just given the assumption that he's already in for all intents and purposes. BLACKWELL: Kirsten, let me ask you about this tweet that came out

from the new owner of Twitter, Elon Musk, when he tweeted out today: "To independent minded voters: Shared power curbs the worst excesses of both parties, therefore, I recommend voting for Republican Congress given that the presidency is democratic."

You've been critical of Elon Musk, what do you see here? What do you think?

POWERS: Well, he's really been playing the victim since he's taken over acting like he's being persecuted. He's been living - losing advertisers and blaming that on wokeism (ph) and all these other things. But the reality is, I think, advertisers are concerned about this kind of behavior and that his - basically that he's more like a CEO - more like a troll than a CEO.

And so it's - there is some pressure from groups on the left, though it's not about wokeism unless it's woke to believe in election integrity, which is what they're concerned about. And I think, to have the person who's in charge of this huge platform where all of these conversations about the election are going on, and where we know people go to try and interfere with the elections in terms of fomenting all sorts of dissent - not dissent that sort of create kind of chaos and things like that.

I don't think it's super reassuring to have somebody running the platform who has stated what he would like to happen in the election.

GOLODRYGA: Yes. And he's been tweeting nonstop ever since buying the company.

Scott, let me ask you about the question of voter suppression a judge rejected a bid to throw out absentee ballots in Detroit. This was after a Republican-led lawsuit led them to that. Washington Post is reporting that Republican officials and candidates and at least some three of these battleground states are pushing to disqualify thousands of mail-in ballots. What do you say to the accusation from the left and even some down the middle that say this all points to signs of voter suppression?

JENNINGS: I disagree. I think all legal ballots should be counted and I think each state should follow the rules that they have on the books and that's what any political party should be for. I think the Democrats have been arguing about voter suppression for the better part of this cycle as a distraction, when in fact, we're going to have a massive turnout. Look what's happening in Georgia, which has been the epicenter of the election suppression, voter suppression conversation, huge turnout already. We're going to have a lot of folks in both parties turning out down there, many of whom never voted a midterm before.

So I don't believe in this. I think it's largely made up as a political cudgel by the Democrats and I'm glad people are voting. I am for a higher turnout and I think that's what you're going to see all - on election night in virtually every state. BLACKWELL: But this Karamo lawsuit focused only on Detroit voters.

The blackest city in Michigan, one of the blackest - large cities in the country. If there's a new rule that needs to be imposed, why not for the entire state of Michigan instead of what would likely be an advantage for a Democratic candidate?

JENNINGS: Yes. You got me at a disadvantage on the finer legal points on this one.

BLACKWELL: Okay.

JENNINGS: But I'll just say I think if you've cast a legal ballot, it ought to be counted.

BLACKWELL: All right. Scott Jennings, Kirsten Powers, thank you.

All right. Stay with CNN for all the election coverage all day long. It begins at 4 pm Eastern tomorrow.

GOLODRYGA: Well, we turn now to a CNN exclusive, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is revealing new information about the violent attack on her husband, Paul Pelosi, in their San Francisco home.

BLACKWELL: She says his recovery will be a long haul, those are her words, but he will be well. Our Anderson Cooper sat down with the speaker to ask if this incident has impacted her future political plans.

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ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST, "ANDERSON COOPER 360": There's obviously been a lot of discussion about whether you'd retire if Democrats lose the House. I know you're not going to answer that question, so I'm not even going to ask that question.

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): I'm good. I'm good.

COOPER: But I will ask, can you confirm that you've made a decision about what you would do?

PELOSI: Well, that's like asking the question, isn't it?

COOPER: No, I'm not asking what the decision is, I'm just asking have you looked ahead and - I mean, have you made a decision in your mind whatever that decision might be?

PELOSI: Well, I have to say my decision will be affected about what happened the last week or two.

COOPER: Will it be - will your decision be impacted by the attack in any way?

PELOSI: Yes.

COOPER: It will.

PELOSI: Mm-hm. Yes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Wow. With us now, CNN's Chief Political Analyst, Gloria Borger, and CNN's Chief Congressional Correspondent, Manu Raju.

Gloria, to you first. What do you think about what you heard there?

GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: I think it was honest. I think she's traumatized. I think her husband of 59 years has been bludgeoned and I think it would be dishonest in any way to say that that wouldn't affect you and it wouldn't affect the choices you make in your future.

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And it's clear just from looking at her that this is something that was so horrific, it's affected their entire family and, of course, it's going to affect whatever she does in the future that she might feel some need to be out in California.

GOLODRYGA: Manu, what do you make of the Speaker's comments about her future leadership? I mean, she has been in office for so many years, has withstood heat from both sides, from Republicans and even her own party. What is it about this moment that you think stands out?

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it was revealing that she reflected - to answer the question that this has an impact on her decision making process, when you ask her about that decision of her future. As I've asked her several times, she often swats it down. She dismisses that.

But here, revealing that this horrific attack on her husband will have an impact on her decision. Now, she didn't lean one way or the other about what that decision may be, but there has been some expectation for some time that this is going to be her last term as speaker, the top of the House and the - top of the Democrats Caucus.

She did give assurances to Democratic members that the end of 2022 would be her last Congress. She said that several years ago as she tried to lock down support for the speakership, but she has never fully shut the door that this would be the case. And if she were to step aside, this would have a significant impact on the Democrats at large.

She has been the dominant figure within her party on Capitol Hill for the past two decades. She has a significant legacy. Both sides will argue about what that legacy means. But nevertheless, it is significant and her stepping aside would lead to a leadership shuffle within the House Democratic ranks expectation that Hakeem Jeffries of New York would be seen as the likely successor, but he won't have that easy. There are several others who might be interested in the position as well. Adam Schiff is one, potentially also Steny Hoyer who is now the current number two.

All of which will have profound implications for the Democrats down the line. But again, she did not say one way or the other what her decision would be, but significant that what happened in her home will have an impact on what she ultimately decides to do.

BLACKWELL: Yes. The attack horribly was on her husband, but we should remember that this man according to the documents released from their interview was looking for her.

BORGER: Yes.

BLACKWELL: Right. He was looking for her.

BORGER: She's been under attack for more than a decade. I mean, this is - in January of 2021, their House was attacked, somebody left a pig's head - a fake pig's head in blood on their House. The former president, even after this attack continued to call her crazy Nancy, as he does, and yet she has soldiered on being one of the most prolific fundraisers for the Democratic Party.

She's indefatigable, if that is a spoken word. She is - she's tireless. That's the way to say it.

BLACKWELL: Yes.

BORGER: And just the fact that now she is saying this would impact her decision really lead you to understand how intensely - not political, everything's political - but not political, but personal this is, because she talked about her husband's long recovery.

BLACKWELL: Yes.

BORGER: They've been married 59 years. Where do you want to be?

BLACKWELL: Yes. Yes.

GOLODRYGA: The personal side of her ...

BLACKWELL: Understandably.

BORGER: Absolutely.

GOLODRYGA: ... really just got through.

BORGER: Yes.

GOLODRYGA: Which is understandable.

BORGER: Yes. Absolutely.

BLACKWELL: All right.

GOLODRYGA: Gloria, thank you. Manu, thank you.

Well, you can watch more of Speaker Pelosi has exclusive interview at 8 pm tonight on AC 360.

Colorado is another Senate seat that Republicans are fighting to flip. I'll speak to the Republican who's trying to unseat Democratic incumbent Michael Bennet. That's up next.

BLACKWELL: And multiple dietary supplements that are commonly used for heart health are actually not lowering your cholesterol after all. Details on the new study ahead.

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GOLODRYGA: Thirty-five Senate seats are on the line in tomorrow's midterms. Many of the key battleground races are neck and neck. Democrats have very little room for error tomorrow. Republicans need to hold on to the 21 seats being contested and need a net gain of just one to win the Senate Majority.

My next guest is hoping that could be him. Joe O'Dea is running to unseat incumbent Democrat Michael Bennet in Colorado. Joe, thank you so much for joining us. This is a close race in a purple state. You say you are not a politician. You are a business man. You're a contractor. I know you employ around 300 workers. They tell you the economy is the number one issue on their minds. I'm just looking at the numbers. The state's GDP grew at a faster rate than the national average year over a year, job growth and income growth have outperformed the national average, inflation falls somewhere in the middle there. So how do you justify saying that your opponent is bad for the economy?

JOE O'DEA, (R) COLORADO SENATE CANDIDATE: Bianna, thanks for having me on here. And what I'm hearing as I go across this great state talking to working Americans, small business owners, middle class, retirees, single parents that are working two jobs is this inflation is eating their lunch. Right now they've seen 10 percent decline in their buying power over the course of just the last nine, 10 months here.

Colorado's number two, I believe, and inflation were up as high as 15.6, so it's having a dramatic effect on I'm working Americans here. Price of gas, price of groceries, we're getting our heating bills here, it's a cold state and they're up by 30 percent from where they were last month. And this is all because of the policies that Joe Biden has put in place and Michael Bennet is blessed 98 percent of the time.

[15:25:06]

We've got record inflation here in Colorado and people are feeling that pinch right now. That's why there's so much energy behind this campaign. They're with us. We built a huge coalition and we're looking for a victory tomorrow night.

GOLODRYGA: So what is your plan to tackle inflation? Do you support what Kevin McCarthy has said repeatedly now that that he is open to cutting into entitlement programs like Social Security and Medicare?

O'DEA: Look, we're going to protect Social Security. We're going to protect Medicare that's - these people have paid and I couldn't look at my mother-in-law and go to dinner here for Thanksgiving if I was going to cut that, so I just won't. What we need to focus on is the amount of growth that we've had in our government over the course of the last 22 months. And then when you look at the Inflation Reduction Act, you want to grow our IRS. Here, again, that's going to be on the backs of working Americans.

We need to focus on cutting government back. People don't need more help. What they need is government out of the way. We've also got to end this war on energy that the Biden administration has put in place, until we get the price of diesel to come down and flood the market with a good supply here in America. Inflation is not going to go away. It's key to everything. Everything that we buy is on track and so we've got to end this war on energy.

GOLODRYGA: So just to confirm, you support that cutting federal spending but not cutting into Medicare and Social Security.

O'DEA: No. We need to protect our seniors. They paid into the system. That's their money and I'm going to protect them.

GOLODRYGA: Okay. I know another issue that's important to you and voters there is crime, and that has gone up significantly from their pre-pandemic levels. What do you plan to do to address the rise in crime and can you do it without raising taxes?

O'DEA: Well, I believe you can. I think you can take some of these programs that have been initiated by the Biden and Bennett administration, divert those funds into our local police departments, give them the resources that they need to start to grow their departments.

I talked to Chief Paul Pazen, he just retired here from the Denver Police Department and he's talking about a shortage of 250 patrolman here today. And that's because we've got an attitude that defund, demoralize our police that started with this last administration and we need to make sure that we start to restore confidence in that position and we've got to start to grow the number of officers we need on the street, in our community, in order to get in front of this crime that's running rampant here in Colorado.

GOLODRYGA: You voted for former President Trump in 2016 and 2020. But earlier this month, you said that you will "actively campaign against him," if he announces a third run. He then subsequently attacked you after you said that. There is speculation we may hear an announcement from him as soon as tonight. If he does announce that he is running for president in 2024, will you live up to that pledge to actively campaign against him regardless of whether or not you win tomorrow?

O'DEA: Well, I'm focused on the next two days. We've got to get it right here in 2022. We've got a lot of energy across the state. It's MAGA supporters, it's GOP supporters, it's Independents, it's disgruntled Democrats that have gotten behind my campaign. They're excited about a change here in Colorado. I'm not worried about who's running in 2024. I'm worried about the next two days and making sure that we get the voter turnout here in Colorado to carry me across the finish line tomorrow night I'm excited about it.

GOLODRYGA: But what does senator O'Dea campaign against a president - Trump running for president 2024?

O'DEA: Look, I said what I said there's a lot of good candidates out there and I'll support one of them. But we've got to get this election behind us, 2022 is the one that's important. And we got to get this economy back on track, that's what I'm focused on.

GOLODRYGA: Joe O'Dea, we'll have to leave it there. Thank you so much for your time.

O'DEA: Appreciate it.

GOLODRYGA: And I know we invited incumbent Democrat senator, Michael Bennet, to join us as well. We have yet to hear back.

BLACKWELL: Well, you probably enjoyed that extra hour of sleep this weekend, yes?

GOLODRYGA: Well, I had a marathon but yes I definitely enjoyed it.

BLACKWELL: I mean, the extra didn't hurt.

GOLODRYGA: Yes. No, it helped. I had a good night sleep.

BLACKWELL: However, they say some experts - medical experts say that it actually if it becomes permanent, it could hurt our health, we'll talk about that.

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