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President Joe Biden Pushes Bipartisanship After Modest GOP Gains; "Red Wave" Fails To Materialize For Republicans; Nicole Nearing Florida As Category 1 Hurricane; Control Of Senate Hangs In Balance Amid Georgia Runoff. Aired 12-1a ET

Aired November 10, 2022 - 00:00   ET

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

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JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, welcome to our viewers here in the United States and all around the world. It's just gotten midnight here in Atlanta, Georgia and 10:00 p.m. in Phoenix, Arizona where votes are still being counted from Tuesday's midterm elections.

Hello, everyone I'm John Vause.

Counting is still underway in a number of close races for both the Senate and lower House, which means we still do not know which party will control the next U.S. Congress.

Republicans were expecting a huge red wave of support, easily taking control of the Senate and in the lower House picking up 30 or more seats.

While the GOP is on track to win the House, the majority will be razor thin, and results from Senate races in three states are yet to be called, leaving Democrats holding 48 seats in the upper chamber Republicans 49.

In Arizona, the incumbent Democrat Mark Kelly is leading Republican Blake Masters with hundreds of thousands of votes still to be counted.

In Nevada, Republican Adam Laxalt is leading incumbent Democratic Senator Catherine Cortez Masto. State officials say final results may not come until next Thursday.

And in Georgia, the race between incumbent Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock and Republican Herschel Walker will not be known until next month. State rules require a runoff if no candidate gets at least 50 percent of the vote.

Once again, Georgia will be the center of the political universe for the next four weeks and Republicans pulling out all the stops for Herschel Walker.

Texas Senator Ted Cruz campaigning in Georgia in the day ahead. Votes can -- voters rather can already be cast, absentee ballots and early voting must begin by November 28th. Senator Warnock says the journey is not over. And there's still much more to do.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. RAPHAEL WARNOCK (D-GA): Whether it's later tonight, or tomorrow, or four weeks from now, we will hear from the people of Georgia.

HERSCHEL WALKER (R), SENATORIAL CANDIDATE FOR GEORGIA: If you can hang in, hang in there a little bit longer, just hang in there a little bit longer. Because something good, it takes a while for it to get better, and it's going to get better.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: This lackluster performance by the Republicans means President Biden is breathing a little easier. But GOP control of either House of Congress will make his job a lot more difficult over the next two years.

More now from CNN's Senior White House Correspondent Phil Mattingly.

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PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Less than 24 hours after election results rolled in that made the White House feel far better than they thought they were going to going into President Biden's first midterm election. The president spoke laying out in detail in kind of calibrated approach or recognition. The Washington is about to be reshaped. Republicans are very likely to take the majority in the House and then voters are still largely not happy. There's still real problems, obviously with inflation that remains sky high and just a general discontent in the wake of the worst pandemic in more than a century.

But the president also making clear that there was a little bit of vindication in those results. Take a listen.

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: While we don't know all the results, yet, least I don't know them all yet. Here's what we do know. While the press and the pundits are predicting a giant red wave, it didn't happen.

MATTINGLY: President Biden spoke in a wide ranging news conference. Really, his first formal news conference in almost 10 months walking into foreign policy issues, detailing how his White House is going to view the next several months with Republican leaders that he's going to have to work with more than he did in the past.

One in particular, House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy, the likely next speaker, he and Biden don't have much of a relationship, they know each other somewhat, but not a lot, that is probably going to have to change.

In fact, the president and McCarthy spoke by phone on Wednesday night and underscored the dynamics of what's to come and dynamics that are going to be far different than most Republicans thought heading into Election Day.

In fact, that Republicans are going to have a majority, that was never really a question. What they're only going to have at this point what looks like a few seat majority that could be potentially very problematic for McCarthy and for Republicans and an advantageous issue for the White House.

One Biden alluded to saying he believed with a very small majority, that perhaps there were efforts, or at least options in peeling off Republicans for some types of bipartisan legislation.

Overall, though, as the president gets set to head to Asia for a two week long foreign trip, things are simply better than White House officials thought they were going to be in this moment. There's no denying that the vindication they feel is very real, the validation.

The president said he feels based on his agenda and how it channeled into the results also very real. What this means going forward? Well, Washington will most certainly be different, and not nearly as different as White House officials and just about everybody else thought heading in to Election Day.

[00:05:10]

Phil Mattingly, CNN, the White House.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Live now to CNN Political Commentator Scott Jennings who worked for the George W. Bush Republican administration, and Bakari Sellers, Democrat and former state representative in South Carolina. Thanks to you both being here.

OK. Right now, the U.S. economy is struggling, inflation anyway, wages and living conditions. President Biden's approval rating has touched historic lows. The stage was all set for this great big Republican win.

But as a Republican mega donor told Rolling Stone magazine, we (INAUDIBLE) the bed so bad. If we can't win under these circumstances, when can we win?

So, Scott, first to you, where did it go so wrong for Republicans? Who's responsible for doing something in the bed?

SCOTT JENNINGS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: That's a funny headline. Well, I think the CNN exit polling that we conducted told the tale. As you pointed out, Biden wasn't popular, his policies weren't popular. There's a lot of pessimism and anger in the country.

But independent voters behaved unexpectedly. Normally, you'd expect them to break against the party in power. And they sort of split and in some of the key Senate races actually backed the Democrats. And I think it's because Republicans have a Donald Trump problem.

I think as long as key Republicans are associated with his brand, independents were willing to stick with Democrats because they liked Joe Biden just a little bit better than they liked Donald Trump, whose favorability ratings in our exit polls were quite low.

The Republican candidates who did well are the ones who developed their own brand, Ron DeSantis. And Florida Governor Kemp in Georgia, Mike DeWine in Ohio, they were fine. But if your brand was really linked with Donald Trump, you got punished by independent voters and we got to deal with it now or face another rough go in 2024.

VAUSE: So, Bakari, was this just a bad night for Republicans who shot themselves in the foot with a Donald Trump gauge shotgun? Or was there also a good night here for Democrats? Did they do something good?

BAKARI SELLERS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I think it was a combination of both. I think you saw a vindication of many of the president's policies and although, you listed a lot of things going wrong with the economy. I mean, this has been the most job growth of any president in first two years of their term. And so, you have to balance those things out.

But there are a few things that happened last night. And I think Scott may agree with some of these. One is the polling was off. And I think the polling was off because we begin to see posters oversample the number of Republicans that will participate in the process so that they could catch up to the wave of 2016, that's first.

I think that the President of the United States actually knew something that we didn't pay attention to, which is that his closing message, the democracy was on the ballot was a very, very, very important message. And it actually hit the tenor and tone of many of the independent voters out there.

The last thing is candidate quality really matters. I believe if the Republican Party didn't have Herschel Walker, didn't have Blake Masters, didn't have many of these other election deniers, didn't have Mehmet Oz, we'd be in a totally different situation tonight.

VAUSE: So obviously, this is a good result because of Biden. He talks specifically about the hard right mega MAGA Republicans, here he is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: I don't think we're going to break the fever for the super mega MAGA Republicans. I mean, but I think they're a minority of the Republican Party. I think the vast majority of the members of the Republican Party we disagree strongly on issues, but they're decent, honorable people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: (INAUDIBLE) the wider party, obviously, with the GOP because according to account by Axios, at least 80 people who've questioned the 2020 election results, one seats in the House last night, commenting a sizable MAGA caucus.

In fact, they will now be more than 90 House members endorsed by Donald Trump. So Scott, how much influence will this hard right group actually have especially how much trouble can they make if the GOP majority is expected to be so thin?

JENNINGS: Oh, quite a lot. I do think the Republicans are going to take the House. But as you point out, it'll be a thin majority. And so, the speaker of the House to be likely Kevin McCarthy of California, he's going to be constantly getting demands from these people.

You know, if 20 or 25 of them get together on any given day and say, you know, we demand only green M&Ms and the candy jar, he's going to have to do it because they really hold a lot of sway when your majority is so thin.

Right out of the gate in January, the United States is going to have to deal with raising its debt limit. And I suspect that group you reference is going to have some things they want in that.

And so, right out of the gate after McCarthy becomes a speaker, if that all comes to pass as I expect it to, he's going to have some real governing challenges.

So, the last few Republican speakers have faced this problem. But they didn't have such thin majorities. This is going to be even thinner than what the previous speakers had. So, we'll see how skillful Leader McCarthy can be.

VAUSE: So, Bakari, what are the evidence here for Joe Biden can he use to divided government to run against Congress, President Obama did that, President Clinton at some point?

SELLERS: Look, I think that what we're going to see is Joe Biden do many of the same things he's done before and we're finding out that you know, in his -- in his age and wisdom, he's actually right. There are many of us who thought that he was decently naive about breaking the fever of the MAGA Republicans but here we are and Republicans all around the country today are talking about having a divorce from Donald Trump.

[00:10:11]

The same goes with his thought about bipartisanship. We thought that that was something that was naive and foreign in the past. But we saw that, you know, the infrastructure bill, the COVID relief packages, the Inflation Reduction Act, all of those things were passed in a bipartisan fashion.

I expect him to be willing to work with Kevin McCarthy and, you know, try to cobble together a few Democrats here and a few Republicans there and still have a very slim majority in the United States Senate, which is what I'm expecting after the next couple of weeks.

VAUSE: And Scott, if there is a divorce in the Republican Party between the GOP and Donald Trump, how messy will that be? How much damage could divorce between someone like Donald Trump and the Republican establishment be? JENNINGS: Well, this is what presidential primaries are for. And I

suspect Donald Trump is going to run but I also suspect he's going to face a primary. You look at some of the conservative media and voices that are coming out tonight, the New York Post, The Wall Street Journal, prominent people and organizations that have largely supported Donald Trump since he came on the scene. They've had enough and so, if you were like Ron DeSantis, the governor of Florida who's really the Republican that had the best night, this is the time to strike.

You've never been hotter and Trump's never been weaker. Trump was weak on January the sixth, and no Republican or group of Republicans had the courage to take advantage of the weakness in that moment.

And he was able to refortify himself and fill that void. There's a void now, he's weak, the time is now and if DeSantis or Glenn Youngkin or anybody else wants to jump on it, I wouldn't wait because it doesn't take long for him to regenerate as we get ready for this presidential primary.

VAUSE: I hadn't thought about it quite like that. But Scott, you're right. Scott Jennings and Bakari Sellers, thanks to you both.

SELLERS: Thank you.

JENNINGS: Yes, thank you.

VAUSE: Later this hour, is Donald Trump still the kingmaker he thinks he is, after the court showing by many Trump back Republican candidates. We'll look at whether Tuesday's results could spell the end of the Trump effect.

Also in Florida, braces for a red November hurricane will have the very latest forecast for Hurricane Nicole. Mandatory evacuations now underway. You're watching CNN.

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VAUSE: As Hurricane Nicole strengthen to a Category 1 this was the scene Wednesday in Nassau, capital of the Bahamas. Waves spilling over the shoreline crashing onto roadways.

Nicole's next stop is Florida where some parts are already seeing shoreline erosion ahead of landfall. See homes teetering over the edge here, dangerously close to crashing into the water below. Some residents have been evacuated to shelters after their homes were deemed unsafe.

Officials say the coast is still vulnerable and recovering of the Hurricane Ian swept through six weeks ago.

Let's go live to Cocoa Beach now in Florida where CNN's Chris Nguyen standing by live. So, Chris, what are the conditions they're like right now? CHRIS NGUYEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Hi, John, high winds, heavy rain and significant flooding are expected through -- are expected throughout the night. You can see here in Cocoa Beach that conditions have been deteriorating over the past hour, the intensity of the rain and wind have certainly gone up. And that's why officials are urging folks to stay home as the hurricane gets ready to make landfall here in Florida.

Up in Volusia County, officials there have already deemed at least 22 homes unsafe. And so, coastal erosion and high tides are some of the major concerns that they're looking at there, John.

VAUSE: Are you getting a sense of people taking this seriously, all the safety precautions and the evacuation notices going on?

NGUYEN: Yes, earlier today we were at a local supermarket where you could see everyone stocking up on the necessities, preparing for the possibility of power outages for the next day or two.

At least 16,000 utility workers are currently on standby if and when their efforts are needed in terms of power restoration.

We've also been told by Governor Ron DeSantis that 600 members of the Florida National Guard are also ready to assist with search and rescue efforts.

Now, here in Brevard County, residents here do not -- they were not put under a mandatory evacuation order. It was simply an advisory. But you could sense that they were taking the warnings seriously. Those folks who chose to stay back of course again stocking up on the necessities.

But overall, the roads were very bare today as people heeded the warnings, John.

VAUSE: The mobilization of resources and emergency personnel for Ian just six weeks ago was massive at the time. Is there a sense now that you know, these first responders, these emergency workers, is there a sense of I guess fatigue that's coming in but yet another hurricane they're having to deal with?

NGUYEN: Yes, that's a really great question. I think you know, A lot of folks had been thinking, OK, like we're past hurricane season, you know, this situation that's unfolding here in Florida, obviously, you know, quite new, you know, we haven't seen a hurricane here in the United States during the month of Florida in nearly 37 years.

And so, you know, people were realizing that this could be an issue, of course, the severity of the storm, a few notches down compared to Hurricane Ian, but you get the sense that despite some of the fatigue, that people really were paying attention to the officials and the warnings coming out, not wanting a repeat of some of the devastation that we saw, you know, during Hurricane Ian in terms of, you know, those rescues that took place, John.

VAUSE: Chris, thank you, try to stay safe. Try to stay dry if possible. Chris Nguyen there with the very latest.

Please stay with us, we're expecting a new update for the National Hurricane Center later this hour. Check in with the CNN Weather Center for the very latest.

Still to come though, the hotly contested Senate race in Georgia now headed to a runoff. How could it impact which party controls the U.S. Senate? That's next.

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VAUSE: Hello again, and welcome to our viewers joining us here in the United States and around the world. I'm John Vause.

Now, it's a case of deja vu all over again with Georgia heading for a runoff that might decide control of the U.S. Senate.

Less than a month from now, Democratic incumbent Raphael Warnock once again face off against Republican challenger Herschel Walker.

Neither candidate received more than 50 percent of the vote on Tuesday, which means they head to a runoff. Planning already underway for early and absentee voting.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRAD RAFFENSPERGER, GEORGIA SECRETARY OF STATE: Our team and the counties have shown that they can perform at the highest level. I would stack up Georgia against any state in the union. I think our team is the best and I put it up against anyone.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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VAUSE: More now from CNN's Nick Valencia reporting in from Atlanta.

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NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Well, the election has come and gone and with neither candidate getting 50 percent of the vote, this Senate race is headed for a runoff.

The runoff here in Georgia will look different than it has in years past because of a 2021 law that cut the length of the runoff from nine weeks to four weeks. That's significant because anyone that wants to register that didn't vote in the midterm election that wants to vote in this runoff has already missed the deadline. There's no telling how that will impact the final outcome of this race, but it will no doubt have an impact.

Meanwhile, on Wednesday, the Secretary of State's office held a press conference during which they said by Wednesday afternoon there was about 10,000 ballots remaining but that number not significant enough to get either candidate over the threshold to avoid the runoff.

Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger did say that the office is already making preparations for that runoff election on December 6th, prepping ballots to be sent out to counties for them to get signed off on by November 14th.

Additionally, the absentee portal for anyone that wants to vote that way has been opened. Early voting could begin as early as November 26th.

If there's one thing that is clear here, is that for the second consecutive election cycle, Georgia will continue to be in the center of the political universe, at least for the next four weeks.

Nick Valencia, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Tia Mitchell is the Washington correspondent for the Atlanta Journal Constitution. And she is with us live from Atlanta. Good to see you.

TIA MITCHELL, WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT, ATLANTA JOURNAL CONSTITUTION: Hello.

VAUSE: So anyway, you know, it's 2022 all over again. How will the dynamics change though if Donald Trump was to announce a run for the White House, maybe next week, before they actually go to vote here in Georgia in that runoff?

MITCHELL: I think it really depends on what Donald Trump has to say about the runoff. We know in 2021, he was saying, you know, he didn't trust the election system. He didn't trust that Georgia knew how to count votes accurately. And we think that caused some Republicans to stay home. And that helped Democrats win both of those front offs, including Senator Warnock.

So, if President Trump comes back around and again, kind of cast doubt on, you know, either the integrity of Georgia system or the need to participate at all, that could cause some Republicans to stay home.

However, what we think might happen this time is the opposite. He might encourage Republicans to support you know, his chosen candidate Herschel Walker, and that might help encourage Republican turnout, but that also might make Democrats just as enthusiastic as well.

So, in the general election, President Trump stayed out of this race, he could have an impact on enthusiasm on both sides if he chooses to weigh in during the runoffs.

VAUSE: There's no doubt the outcome will be significant of this runoff, but just how significant it depends on the outcome of two other Senate races, one in Arizona, and Nevada? So, explain how this all works together.

MITCHELL: Yes, so Democrats need to win two of the three between Arizona and Nevada in Georgia in order to keep control in the U.S. Senate.

So, right now, neither the Arizona nor the Nevada race is settled, it could take several more days for either or both.

So, in the meantime, you know, Georgia remains a seat that Democrats need to hold on to if they want to hold on to control of the U.S. Senate.

So, again, that does put a lot of attention on this Georgia run off right now. It's a race they can't afford to lose.

Now, if that changes, if perhaps Democrats win in both Arizona and Nevada, by, you know, this runoff election date on December 6th, then that could again, perhaps change a little bit of the energy surrounding Georgia's contest.

VAUSE: It's interesting how Florida seems obviously now a lost cause for Democrats, whereas Georgia is now the state which has favored Democrats, you know, potentially in two key elections.

MITCHELL: Yes, and it's interesting, I used to work in Florida, if you would have told me, you know, 10, or even, you know, five years ago, that Georgia would be the swing state and Florida would be the solid red state. I don't know if I would have believed you.

But a lot of it has to do with candidate quality. Organizing the Democratic Party in Georgia is much stronger than what the Democratic Party is in Florida right now. The party is very weak in Florida. They have not been building great candidates statewide. They don't have much of a machine or an apparatus. They have not been able to do that outreach in particularly with the Latino community.

So, the demographics are a little bit different in Florida with the Latino community being a bigger chunk of the electorate. But again, just the party and the organizing is just not there in Florida anymore.

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VAUSE: The sitting governor of Georgia and well-known target for Donald Trump's ire, Brian Kemp, he won reelection. Listen to this. Here he is.

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GOV. BRIAN KEMP (R-GA): People in high places, who thought tonight's victory would never happen, but just like so many times before, you all in Team Kemp proved them wrong. We kept chopping, and tonight, we stopped Stacey and saved Georgia.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Hmm. "People in high places." Could he be referring to Donald Trump? Who, after doing all this --

MITCHELL: I think he was. VAUSE: Yes. And Trump did almost everything he could to turn voters

against Kemp, but later he endorsed him Monday night in a very half- hearted sort of endorsement at that. So what does this actually say about Trump's influence over Republicans in Georgia?

MITCHELL: Yes. I think Trump's influence over Republicans in Georgia remains strong, but it is not the end all, be all. Most of the Trump- endorsed candidates did not win their primaries. Really, only one Trump-endorsed candidate won statewide in Georgia, and that's his chosen candidate for lieutenant governor.

So yes, I think you can't completely alienate. And, you know, Kemp avoided talking about Trump at all. He didn't antagonize Trump. He didn't necessarily distance himself from Trump directly, but he avoided talking about Trump.

Of course, Trump was not invited to campaign with Kemp or Herschel Walker, which of course, also had Trump's endorsement. So it shows that, particularly in the general election, he's not seen as someone who helps with the winning message.

But we know in primaries, you know, there's still a big chunk of Republican voters that do consider themselves MAGA Trump Republicans, so you can't completely alienate yourself from them. And that's something Brian Kemp was able to manage, although he did refuse to overturn the election the way Trump wanted him to.

VAUSE: Brian Kemp seems to be walking on both sides of a barbwire fence, with regard to this campaign.

Tia, thanks for being with us. We really appreciate your time.

MITCHELL: Thank you.

VAUSE: Well, when we come back, a great setback for Vladimir Putin in Ukraine. How Russia intends to withdraw from a key city captured early on in the war, the only city, major city it was still holding until now.

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VAUSE: Russian forces have been ordered to withdraw from the strategic Ukrainian city of Kherson, as well as other areas West of the Dnieper River.

It comes as Ukrainian forces are approaching from the South in two directions. There are reports Russian troops have already abandoned some villages in the region.

Ukrainian officials, though, say there say the Russian military will go quietly into the night. The NATO secretary-general had this to say about Russia's latest moves.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) JENS STOLTENBERG, NATO SECRETARY-GENERAL: What we do know is that Russia has been pushed back, first from the North around Kyiv, then in the East and on Kharkiv. And then actually, we see slowly how the -- how the Ukrainians are able to push back the Russian forces also in the South around Kherson. So, it is encouraging.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, is taking the Russian announcement about a pullout, though, with a grain of salt. Along with Ukraine's first lady, Olena Zelenska, they sat down for an exclusive interview with CNN's Christiane Amanpour.

Zelenskyy says Ukrainian troops will continue to proceed with caution around Kherson, without taking any unnecessary risks. He also told Christiane Russia has been sending mixed messages about his real intentions.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): So they're ready to defend this region, and they're not ready to leave the city.

And the fact that they are in these homes means that they are seriously preparing. But we are also seriously prepared for these developments. But we're not considering this as just one single operation. We have a strategy and different directions.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: The full interview can be seen on "AMANPOUR" on Thursday night. That's 6 in the evening in London, 8 p.m. in Kyiv, right here, only on CNN.

Let's go live now to Kyiv. Salma Abdelaziz has more now on what is happening with the fighting, especially around Kherson. I mean, they do appear that there is a bloody looming. And it could either be a bloody battle of the war, or maybe go out with a whimper.

SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: John, this is a very significant setback. Moscow saying that they have to withdraw, tactically withdraw from the city of Kherson.

It's important to remember just what that city means to President Putin. It is the only regional capital that his forces have been able to capture since the start of this conflict in February.

And it's part of those annexed territories, part of lands that President Putin claims are a part of Russia. So this is a major blow.

And what we are seeing on the ground, according to Ukrainian officials, is that's already taking place. Ukrainian officials saying that Russian forces are pulling back from some of these villages that they are preparing to pull back even further to the East side of the Dnieper River, that they're blowing up the bridges all along that river to make it more difficult, of course, if Ukrainian -- when Ukrainian forces enter for them to cross.

But this is going to be something that's going to take time, John. This tactical withdrawal probably involves thousands of Russian soldiers. It will be a complex operation to pull them back.

You can expect that they might leave mines behind, so that means Ukrainian forces can't move in immediately. That would take time. So don't expect that they'll enter the city right away.

But yes, you are hearing also from the Ukrainian president that we are taking this a little bit with a grain of salt. We're not going to move too quickly on this.

But again, a major setback, a major blow to President Putin's war. We'll see what's happening on the ground and keep you updated, John.

VAUSE: Salma, we appreciate the update there, live from Kyiv. Thank you.

We'll take a quick break right now. For our viewers in the United State, I'll be back with more coverage of the midterm elections in just a moment.

For our international viewers, stay with us. WORLD SPORT is up next.

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[00:45:05]

VAUSE: Right now, Hurricane Nicole bearing down on Florida. Some coastal cities are under mandatory evacuation notices. Two Conway (ph) buildings in Smyrna Beach were evacuated after being declared unsafe because of seawall erosion.

With the state still recovering from Hurricane Ian six weeks ago, many schools and businesses announced they would close Thursday. And when Nicole arrives, it will make history, the first hurricane to make a November landfall in the United States in nearly 40 years.

Let's get more on this. Meteorologist Pedram Javaheri standing by with the very latest.

Wow, this hurricane season, it started late and going late.

PEDRAM JAVAHERI, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Absolutely. You know, it ends on November 30th, and just when you think it's quieting down, coming to an end, John, this is what we see, a hurricane.

That we haven't really seen one in the month of November, as you noted, since Hurricane Kate back in 1985. It's the second largest hurricane on record, too, to make landfall across the U.S. Kate in 1985, the only one to do it, was back on the 21st of November.

Of course, we're pushing into on the 10th of November this morning across the East Coast. But about 30 miles away from the center -- from the East coast of Florida there, with 75-mile-per-hour winds. So it is a low grade Category 1 hurricane.

But you look at this, and the presentation's certainly not impressive. The eye wall itself not very tight. We do have about a 60-mile spread between the eye wall. So very large large, broad feature there within at the center of this storm system.

And you notice the hurricane warnings. They've been prompted across the Southern tier of Florida, while off towards North, as far North as coastal Carolina there into Charleston, we have tropical storm watches in effect.

And the reason for that is, although this is only a Category 1, compared to a storm that made landfall 42 days ago -- that was Hurricane Ian, Category 4. The wind field of that particular storm as far as tropical-storm-force winds, John, extended 300 miles from the center.

When it comes to Ian [SIC], tropical-storm-force winds indicated in yellow here extend 500 miles away from the center.

So the impacts, even though it's a weaker storm, are going to be wide- reaching here. So portions of Georgia and even the Carolinas will feel tropical-storm-force winds from a landfall that's happening in South Florida. Pretty impressive storm here for any time of year.

VAUSE: Yes, especially late, this late in the season. Thanks, Pedram. Appreciate the update.

JAVAHERI: Yes.

VAUSE: Republicans widely expected to regain control of the U.S. House following Tuesday's midterm elections, but the predicted red wave of Republican support never happened.

Control of the Senate now depends on three undecided races. In Georgia, the race between incumbent Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock and Republican Herschel Walker, that will not be settled until next month's runoff election.

In Nevada, Republican Adam Laxalt is leading incumbent Democratic Senator Catherine Cortez Masto. State officials say final results not expected before next Thursday.

In Arizona's Senate race, the incumbent, Democrat Mark Kelly, leading Republican Blake Masters, but there are still hundreds of thousands of votes to count.

The governor's race in Arizona also still too close to call. Trump- backed Republican Kari Lake, who's narrowly trailing Democrat Katie Hobbs, had this to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) KARI LAKE (R), ARIZONA GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE: I kind of feel like it's -- it's like "Groundhog Day." We had November 3, 2020. That was called Incompetency 101. Then we had August 2, 2022. Incompetency in Elections 202. And now we're at Incompetency in Elections 303. We need honest elections, and we're going to bring them to you, Arizona. I assure you of that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: An update now on the number of ballots still to be counted in Arizona from CNN's Sara Sidner.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SARA SIDNER, CNN SENIOR U.S. CORRESPONDENT: As of late Wednesday night here in Maricopa County, Arizona, there are somewhere between 400,000 and 410,000 votes left to count in this county.

Why is this county so important to the state? Because it is the most populous county in the entire state of Arizona.

And, why is Arizona important? Because there are several races that are being watched nationally, including the Senate race. The Senate race important because, if the senator is Democratic that wins here, that could tip the balance of the Senate. If it is a Republican that wins here, that could also have an effect on who controls the Senate, whether it be Republicans or Democrats.

There's also the issue of several Republican candidates who have been backed by Donald Trump, who are election deniers. They do not believe that Donald Trump lost the 2020 election, even though every single time that has gone to court, it has been proven that Joe Biden won the election.

So that's why this is being watched so closely. This county is very important because of the number of people that live here and the number of people who vote here.

As of right now, about 46 percent of the vote has happened in the -- in the governor race, and similar in the Senate race.

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We will have to wait and see. They have until Friday, they say. They'll have about 99 percent of the vote counted here in Maricopa County.

Sara Sidner, CNN, Phoenix. Arizona.

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MEHMET OZ (R), PENNSYLVANIA SENATORIAL NOMINEE: As a heart surgeon, I spent my life focused on big problems. In my case, broken hearts. And we address them, we repair them, we heal them by uniting people together.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Dr. Mehmet Oz there. who Donald Trump handpicked for the Senate race in Pennsylvania. He's made a very un-Trumpian-like gesture, actually conceding defeat after losing to Democrat John Fetterman on Tuesday night.

This is a theme which we've seen station [SIC] wide, Trump-backed candidates underperforming in very competitive races. A Trump advisor who's been in contact with the former president's inner circle describes him as livid over the failure to produce a wave of Republican wins.

Trump denies that characterization, claims most of the candidates he endorsed did very well. And for those Republicans who lost, despite his backing, Trump said this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I think if they win, I should get all the credit, and if they lose, I should not be blamed at all.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Elaine Kamarck is a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, specializing in governance and electoral politics. Thanks for being with us.

ELAINE KAMARCK, SENIOR FELLOW, BROOKINGS INSTITUTION: Thank you for having me.

VAUSE: OK, so the midterms did not go well for Donald Trump and the candidates he backed, but it seems it was a bad night made worse because of this man. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. RON DESANTIS (R-FL): Thanks to the overwhelming support of the people of Florida, we not only won election, we have rewritten the political map.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Bloomberg now reporting that Republican leaders are moving on from the former President Trump, embracing DeSantis as the party's best hope for retaking the White House.

So are we watching the political map being redrawn here? Is this the end of the Trump era, the beginning of the rise of DeSantis?

KAMARCK: Well, it's hard to say. There's no doubt that Donald Trump did not have a very good night last night. There's no doubt that his interference in the Republican primaries overruling, in some instances, the preferences of more established Republicans, probably is going to cost the Republican Party a seat or two and in an evenly- matched Senate, that's a lot.

The number of investigations into his both, both his personal conduct and his conduct in office, are getting to be overwhelming. He's had a pretty bad year. And this just caps off that bad year.

And then, as you know, in any democracy, when a politician has a bad like year like that, somebody comes and tries to challenge them.

VAUSE: Well, there are multiple reports, including from CNN, that Donald Trump is in full-on temper-tantrum mode. "The New York Times's" Maggie Haberman adds this unique detail: "Trump is indeed furious this morning, particularly about Mehmet Oz, and is blaming everyone who advised him to back Oz, including his wife, describing it as not her best decision, according to people close to him."

You know, overall, though, at least 14 Trump-handpicked candidates lost on Tuesday. Apart from proving the fact that, you know, the quality of candidates still matters, did Donald Trump inadvertently help save Joe Biden and the Democrats by stopping -- at least partly stopping -- you know, the so-called red wave?

KAMARCK: He certainly did. I think the first issue, however, that stopped the dread [SIC] -- the red wave was the abortion issue. I think there's no doubt that that was primarily responsible.

But I think, right up there after that was that Donald Trump, who can't make anything not about himself -- he is all about Donald Trump -- he made this campaign about himself. And I think that, had Trump been more in the background, a lot more people would have felt comfortable voting for Republican candidates.

VAUSE: What about the strategy that the GOP seems to have braced embraced, of demonizing mail-in or absentee ballots and insisting that the only votes that count are the ones that are sort of made on election day, which sort of is to their advantage right now, but you know, what happens if it rains? What happens if it snows, and you have a low turnout?

KAMARCK: Well, that -- that's been bizarre ever since the beginning. First of all, before 2020, when we had a pandemic, absentee ballots were never an issue. And if they were thought to advantage anyone, they were thought to advantage the Republican Party, not the Democrats.

Donald Trump single-handedly turned absentee ballots into a campaign issue in 2020, because he was looking for an excuse to blame something if he lost.

And the point -- fact of the matter is the reason that America went from voting in person to voting early or absentee has everything to do with the fact that, in the 2020 election, we were in the middle of a pandemic. And people didn't want to go stand in a school auditorium in line with other people and catch COVID. So, that -- that was the -- that was the genesis of this.

[00:55:04] But Trump turned it into something that no one ever thought someone could turn it into, which is an attack on the absentee ballot process. And he was clearly looking for some storyline to protect him if he lost the election.

VAUSE: And the results here, it's looking likely these midterms will result in divided government. So does that mean it's back to the future? Political gridlock? Battles over the debt ceiling and brinkmanship?

And is there a way for Joe Biden to try and avoid that? Can he -- is there a run-around for him?

KAMARCK: Well, it's interesting. Because the margin in the House of Representatives is clearly going to be very small. It will most likely go to the Republican Party to be -- and Kevin McCarthy, or some other Republican, will be speaker. But the margin is very small.

So it's not clear that they can do much of anything. They certainly won't have 60 votes in the Senate to overcome a filibuster.

So, my guess is that something will happen. Frankly, something happened in this last Congress that had some Republican votes. So, it was a very powerful CHIPS Act. There was also the Infrastructure Act.

So, you know, you can, in fact, get some things done with -- with both parties participating.

But my guess is that it's nothing significant on either side of the aisle will happen in the next two years because of the gridlock.

VAUSE: Elaine, we'll leave it there. But thank you so much for being with us. We appreciate it.

KAMARCK: Thank you for having me.

VAUSE: Thank you for watching. I will be back after a very short break with a lot more coverage of the U.S. midterm elections. You're watching CNN.

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