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Republicans Inch Toward House Control, Senate in Flux; Counting of Tens of Thousands of Votes Continues; Biden Heads to COP27 Summit; Ukraine Cautious As Its Troops Inch Closer To Kherson; Iranian Actress Posts Picture Without Hijab To Support Protests; U.S. President Will Attend Three Summits On Week-Long Trip. Aired 2-3a ET
Aired November 11, 2022 - 02:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[02:00:00]
KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to all of you watching us here in the United States, Canada, and around the world. I'm Kim Brunhuber.
Three days after the U.S. midterm election, we still don't know who will control the next Congress. Everyone expected Republicans to make big gains at least in the House, but exit polls show a slim majority of independent voters chose Democrats, averting a republican landslide.
In the Arizona Senate race, incumbent Democrat Mark Kelly is expanding his lead over Republican Blake Masters. There are still about half a million ballots yet to be counted there. Kelly's campaign manager tells CNN -- quote -- "We remain confident we will win this race."
And in Nevada, Republican challenger Adam Laxalt is still leading Democrat incumbent Catherine Cortez Masto, but new results report late Thursday about narrowing the gap.
The good news for Democrats has President Joe Biden in a bipartisan vote (ph). Here he is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'm prepared to work with Republicans. But the American people made it clear. They expect Republicans to work with me as well.
(APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER: CNN is on the scene in both critical states out west. We will hear from Gary Tuchman in Las Vegas, Nevada in just a bit, but we begin with Kyung Lah in Phoenix, Arizona.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KYUNG LAH, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Here in Maricopa County, the tedious work of democracy continues, counting the vote. Hanging in the balance is control of the U.S. Senate. Some 78,000 vote results were released this evening by Maricopa County. It did not really change the races all that much, percentage wise, but the Democrats who are currently on a razor lead -- a razor-thin lead, they got just a bit more vote pad. Now, this is a slow process and it is a careful process.
What we are hearing, though, on the edges, are some of the Republicans on this ballot who are frustrated have been talking about some of these election officials might be doing this on purpose, releasing this slowly on purpose, and we got strong pushback by election officials here.
BILL GATES, CHAIRMAN, MARICOPA COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS: Quite frankly, it is offensive for Kari Lake to say that these people behind me are slow rolling this when they are working 14 to 18 hours. So, I really hope this is the end of that now. We can be patient and respect the results when they come out.
LAH: The count continues. The election is not over in Maricopa County. Election officials are looking to start to zoom in on some of those election day ballots.
Kyung Lah, CNN, Phoenix, Arizona.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Here in the largest county in the state of Nevada, Clark County, at the Clark County election center, we can tell that the tabulators are done tabulating for the evening. They will resume on Friday.
In these 17 counties in the state of Nevada, the Democratic candidate for Senate who is an incumbent, the Democratic candidate for governor who is an incumbent, are making up ground with the counting of mail-in ballots.
Tens of thousands of ballots are still needed to be counted in the state of Nevada. Well, right now, Catherine Cortez Masto, the Democratic senator, has made up about 7,000 votes today, now behind her Republican challenger by 8,000 votes. Meanwhile, Governor Steve Sisolak has made about 7,000 votes and is behind by 27,000 votes.
So, here in Clark County alone, the largest county in the state, there are at least 50,000 ballots still to count. These are not the ballots that were done in person on election day. These were ballots that were mailed in or dropped in drop boxes on election day.
The ballots can come until Saturday. That's the rule here in Nevada. So, either way, they would have been counting. They're not counting because it's closed, but counting because that's law. As long as the ballots are postmarked by Tuesday, it can arrive by Saturday, and be counted. So, this will continue until at least Saturday. The counting will continue to last until Saturday. We still don't know who the winners of these very high-profile races will be. This is Gary Tuchman, CNN, in Las Vegas.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER: Richard Johnson is a lecturer in U.S. politics at Queen Mary University of London. He joins me now from Bedford, England. Thanks so much for being here with us.
[02:04:56]
BRUNHUBER: So, looking at the exit polls, one interesting thing that came out of it for me was, how well Democrats did with people who mildly disapprove of President Biden, the so-called (INAUDIBLE) voters? Forty-nine percent of them supported Democratic candidates for the House and 45% back Republicans. Why do you think that was?
RICHARD JOHNSON, LECTURER IN U.S. POLITICS, QUEEN MARY UNIVERSITY OF LONDON: Well, it seems that in some of the races, the president was not necessarily the forefront issue on voters' minds, which -- we have to remember that, you know, once upon a time, midterm elections were just known as elections because they are not the middle of the term with the members of Congress -- the end of the term with members of Congress. It is just the presidency often looms so large.
But the thing that struck me about these midterm elections is that the quality of the candidates in different races is massive. We've seen split ticket voting. These are things that people said were defined as America has become more what we call an executive partisan center system. That is to say that party and the president much more than else. But I think we've seen a little bit of a pushback against that at this midterm election.
BRUNHUBER: The fact that voters didn't seem to punish Biden for his unpopularity or for the economy, all the things that are going wrong, what do you think that will mean for Biden and his presidency, you know, for the next two years and maybe for 2024?
JOHNSON: I think that these results will help stabilize Joe Biden's leadership with the Democratic Party. I always thought likely that -- it would be very likely that Biden would be the nominee for the Democrats next time so long as he is interested, which I think he is.
I think that the results here remove most doubts (ph) of a viable challenger. Biden has showed himself able to hold together around the (INAUDIBLE) democratic coalition across different parts of the country.
And actually, he was able to mobilize certain elements of the democratic coalition, particularly suburban life voters at this election who will prove crucial at the next presidential election as well. So, I think he gets some brownie (ph) points for these results which are, in relative terms, quite good for him.
BRUNHUBER: All right, so we are looking at the other side for Donald Trump. He promoted candidates who either lost or are losing winnable elections in key states. So, it was a bad night for Trump, but not necessarily for Trumpism in a way because the Trump wing of the party, the MAGA wing, will have more in influence on the House if they get a narrow majority as expected.
And already, there are threats of withdraw of support for Kevin McCarthy for speaker, demanding investigations and impeachment. So, what kind of compromises, do you think, McCarthy, if he becomes speaker, will have to make?
JOHNSON: This is the paradox in these elections. The Trump-backed electors are underperformed. Again, inexperienced people supported by Donald Trump in primaries have proven not to be great candidates.
What that means, though, is that the House and the Senate is going to be much closer. You know, say, the Republicans do win control of the House, only a small majority, and that means that a small number of members of that Republican caucus can call the shots.
And so, the first challenge is going to be, who are they going to vote for to be speaker? That is the first vote when the House meets in January. Are they going to vote for Representative Kevin McCarthy, or are they going to say, actually no, or are we going to try to demand concessions? Are we going to be the tail that wags the dog? And that couldn't be the case.
So, it's going to be a big challenge for McCarthy, I think, to try and hold together possibly quite divided caucus with a small majority.
BRUNHUBER: Yeah, huge challenge. So, President Biden called it a good day for democracy. Liz Cheney said it was a clear victory for team normal. And as I said, the stakes are enormously high. As you pointed out, the Congress -- this Congress will be the Congress that certifies the results of the next presidential elections.
So, given that there was, to a certain degree, a repudiation of Trumpism and election denialism at the polls, how big of a danger is that still for 2024?
JOHNSON: It's less of a danger than it could've been in the sense that fewer candidates who denied last election were elected. But still, for example, over 100 members of the House who denied that Joe Biden was rightfully elected president were either elected for the first time or reelected. And, as you say, this is what we have now.
[02:09:57]
JOHNSON: State officers who will be managing the elections, governors and secretaries of state have an important role in the process of electoral college vote certification being sent to Congress, and Congress itself will be the Congress that certifies the electoral college votes.
I think it's really important over the next two years that the American public make it very clear to their representatives that they want their representatives to abide by the results of the election however they may go. I think that is absolutely crucial to the future of American democracy.
BRUNHUBER: Yeah, absolutely. I will have to agree with that. Richard Johnson in Bedford, England, thank you so much for being with us. We appreciate it.
JOHNSON: Thank you.
BRUNHUBER: U.S. President Joe Biden left Washington a few hours ago heading for a series of international summits. His first stop is Egypt for the COP27 Climate Conference. We will have a live report coming up next. Stay with us!
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BIDEN: It was a first national election since January 6th and there were a lot of concerns about whether democracy would meet the test. It did! It did! It did!
(APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[02:15:00]
BRUNHUBER: Welcome back to CNN special coverage of the U.S. midterm elections. That was Joe Biden feeling pretty vindicated by the stance Democrats made. The Senate races have yet to be called in Georgia, Arizona, and Nevada, but all three could go Democrats' way.
As of now, CNN projects Republicans will hold 49 seats, Democrats 48. Two hundred and eighteen is the magic number needed for control of the House. That is still mathematically possible for Democrats. Republicans are more likely to take over, winning t211 races so far.
President Biden is on the route to Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt this hour where he will attend the COP27 Climate Conference. In the coming hours, he will meet with Egypt's president and deliver remarks at the summit. Biden is expected to call on nations to -- quote -- "keep their eyes on the ball when it comes to reducing global emissions." He will also highlight steps that his administration has taken and plans to take to fight climate change.
CNN senior international correspondent David McKenzie is there in Sharm El Sheikh. He joins us now live. David, so, take us through what President Biden is expected to do over there.
DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, he'll be touching down in Air Force One here in a couple of hours, Kim, and the question will be, will the U.S. be able to lead significant climate change action here?
The talk before this meeting was that this was supposed to be a climate change conference of action. Well, we haven't quite seen that yet, I have to say. And as world leaders are ramping up their sessions here, still, we need to see evidence of action to try to cut emissions, provide financing for developing countries, and give huge amount of money to developing countries that have been smashed by climate catastrophes this year and into the future.
Biden is expected to tout his own achievements on climate change through the Congress, I am sure. Big question also is whether he will bring up Egypt's humans rights record with the president in his meeting, with President El-Sisi.
I spoke to the chief climate envoy of the U.S. That is, of course, Secretary John Kerry. One other issue here is that there has been no formal talks between China and the U.S. Most people feel that that is critical. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN KERRY, U.S. SPECIAL PRESIDENTIAL ENVOY FOR CLIMATE: We're not formally negotiating at this point. But our hope is that within a short span of time, it will become possible for us to really get together again in full measure and do the things we need to be doing as the two leading emitters in the world and as the two largest economies in the world.
China and the United States really need to cooperate on this. And without China, even if the U.S. is, as we are, moving towards a 1.5- degree program, which we are, if we don't have China, nobody else can make to that goal. And we broke through 1.5, and it will cause citizens around the world trillions of more dollars.
MCKENZIE: Politically, there is a sense that the U.S. and China will be competing in the years ahead, and some hawkish attitude towards China. Do you think that the cooperation on climate change will be accepted?
KERRY: Well, there is not any competition. It's a pretty normal thing in the world of business. Businesses always compete for market share, for product line, and so forth. What President Biden has said is we can compete, but we don't have to be confrontational, we don't have to be in conflict.
And I think that that is what is critical here, is that we deal with the issues, and there are real differences between our countries, obviously. But climate should not fit into the bilateral pattern if those issues.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MCKENZIE: Well, the big question is, if there are going to be significant actions taken at this climate change conference, I mean, I think many scientists and activists fear that there will be marginal changes, but not the significant cuts that need to happen to avoid the worst of the climate catastrophe. Kim?
BRUNHUBER: All right, thanks so much, David McKenzie, in Sharm El Sheikh.
U.S. financial markets are signaling a bullish start at today's trading session on Wall Street. We will take a closer look at why investors are suddenly feeling optimistic.
Plus, the latest on vote counting that is still underway in two battleground states that could decide which party controls Congress next year. Stay with us.
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[02:20:00]
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BRUNHUBER: Three days after the midterm elections, hundreds of thousands of ballots are still being counted at this hour in two key western states, Arizona and Nevada. The outcome, along with the runoff in Georgia, will shape the future of the U.S. Senate. Election officials say that they are processing the ballots as quickly as possible and expect to have final tallies next week.
Right now, CNN projects Republicans will have 49 Senate seats, Democrats 48, which means that Democrats would have to sweep all three outstanding Senate races to be the majority. Republicans are just seven seats away for control of the U.S. House. But it wasn't the red wave that Republicans have been predicting for weeks.
U.S. stock market close Thursday with one of its best days since 2020. The Dow soared 1,200 points on news that the rate of inflation may be slowing down after months of aggressive interest rate hikes. During the overnight hours, all three major U.S. futures have been signaling a bullish start at this opening Dow.
[02:25:00]
BRUNHUBER: And voters consistently named the economy as their top concern in this election. While Thursday's inflation report was encouraging, experts warn it is not enough. We got the latest from CNN's Richard Quest in New York.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RICHARD QUEST, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR, CNN BUSINESS EDITOR-AT-LARGE: It is always dubious to take one month's numbers and extrapolate it into a trend. But that is what the market is doing today. The welcome news is that inflation went down at 7.7%, a long way lower than more than 9% in June.
It gave the market the view that perhaps the fed would now slow down the increasing rates at the next meeting, maybe 50 basis points, possibly even 25 basis points instead of the three-quarter percent that we have seen so far. That would be perhaps a step too far because economists, one and all, pretty much agree that the fed is not done yet. But inflation has not been calmed, and what we are seeing with the exuberance of the market could well be washed away in a few days' time.
For the moment, everyone knows that there is a wall of money waiting to come back in the market. And the first sign of light that inflation may be turning is welcome news indeed, but it is not over yet.
Richard Quest, CNN, at the New York stock exchange.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER: U.S. federal judge has struck down President Joe Biden's student loan forgiveness program. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of two borrowers who did not qualify for debt relief. The Justice Department says it will appeal the ruling.
Nearly 26 million student loan forgiveness applications have been submitted as of last week, but the Biden administration has been banned from canceling any debt due to a separate legal challenge.
Payments on federal student loans have been paused since March of 2020 because of a pandemic-related benefit that is set to resume in January.
China just announced changes to its COVID-19 protocols for international travelers. That will include eliminating controversial circuit breakers on international flights which called for China-bound flights to be suspended after a certain number of passengers tested positive for the virus.
Now, under the new rules, inbound travelers will also see their pre- departure testing requirement reduced to once in 48 hours instead of twice, and mandatory quarantine upon arrival will be cut from seven days to five.
So far, markets have responded positively to the new changes. After the announcement, Hong Kong's Hang Seng index shot up 7%.
Ukrainian troops are moving cautiously as they inch closer to the city of Kherson. But why caution if Russia said it's leaving the city anyway? We'll explain that, coming up after the break. Please, stay with us.
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[02:30:00]
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KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN ANCHOR: Ukraine is about to get more air defenses to combat drone attacks as part of a new $400 million U.S. aid package. It includes four Avenger air defense systems which can shoot down helicopters and drones, as well as Hawk missiles and other ammunition. In total, the U.S. has provided $18.6 billion in security aid to Ukraine since the war began.
Now on the frontlines, caution is the operative word as Ukrainian troops close in on the city of Kherson. Russia announced a pullout from the city on Wednesday marking a humiliating failure from Moscow but Ukraine says that Russia giving up on Kherson's so easily could be too good to be true. Nic Robertson reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Speaking in a foreign language.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR (voiceover): Today, the village of Snihurivka is liberated. The soldier announces his handful of troops claiming a small victory on the road to Kherson. Well received by an apparently appreciative crowd. Elsewhere on Ukraine's cautious advance to liberate the port city, another tiny band of soldiers celebrate an objective secured. Since Russia has announced retreat, villages are being taken quickly. In Kalinyvka, Russians fled so fast, they left their flag, rapidly removed by the Ukrainians.
Meanwhile, Russian troops retreating under orders east across the strategic Dnipro River, characterize their ignominious exit as smart, noting the damage to the bridge that supplied them. Russia's defense Chiefs are also spinning the withdrawal as a smart move to save soldiers' lives but is in stark contrast to their callous and calamitous loss of soldiers in the war so far.
(on camera): What was once the jewel in Putin's conquest this year and illegally declared part of Russia less than six weeks ago, is becoming the most embarrassing setback for Putin so far. Failure to spin retreat as a smart strategy will undermine his leadership.
(voiceover): Ukrainian officials continue to be skeptical of Putin's motives, question whether retreat is also a trap.
NATALIA GUMENIUK, UKRAINIAN MILITARY SPOKESPERSON: Speaking in a foreign language.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They are simply searching for a way out of a difficult situation. The fact that they so deliberately announced that they were moving to the left bank did not surprise anyone. But we understand that we will still have to fight.
ROBERTSON: On the battlefield, Ukrainian soldiers appear to be gaining momentum. Nevertheless, officials warn it could be days even longer before Kherson is safely under their control again. Nic Robertson, CNN, Kryvyi Rih, Ukraine.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
[02:35:14]
BRUNHUBER: For more, Salma Abdulaziz is standing by in Kyiv. And, Salma, we're just learning about a deadly Russian attack in Mykolaiv. What more can you tell us?
SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, we're just getting these reports this hour, Kim, a really devastating strike on a five0storey residential building in Mykolaiv. That's a city that's very much near the front lines and heavily shelled in the past. Officials there saying that this five-story residential building was struck by Russian rockets that two people were killed and two others wounded. And of course, search and rescue operations are ongoing. So, you could see that death toll rise.
But let's also discuss Kherson. That's obviously the area now where all eyes are focused. And already we're seeing, Kim, Ukrainian forces reap the rewards of this Russian withdrawal, of this Russian pull out. More than 40 settlements have been claimed and retaken by Ukrainian forces. That's according to President Zelenskyy in his nightly address. They're also pushing up those front lines from the south they've pushed them up by seven kilometers, that's over four miles, and retaken about 260 square kilometers of territory that's about 100 square miles. So, you're seeing this advance just in the last 24 hours.
Since that announcement, Ukrainian forces able to take these large flat lands these farmlands to the south of Kherson City as they inch closer and closer. But yes, there's still very much concern about Russia's intention here. The Ukrainian commander in chief saying this is a direct outcome of our counter-offensive. This is something Moscow simply gifted us here. And we must proceed cautiously. One official is saying they're concerned that Russia could turn Kherson into a city of death, essentially, filling it with booby traps, filling it -- mining it, making it extremely dangerous for Ukrainian forces trying to move in.
And if you take a look at a map, you can understand why they're concerned. The plan here is for Russia's forces to move to the other side of the Dnipro River, the eastern side, fortify those positions there, and essentially use that as a launching pad to attack Ukrainian forces as they move forward. So the clear messaging here from Ukraine is that we're going to move forward but on our timeline based on what we believe is right not Moscow's, Kim.
BRUNHUBER: All right. Thanks so much, Salma Abdulaziz in Kyiv.
The weeks-long anti-government protest movement in Iran is getting high-profile support from a leading Iranian celebrity. The actress who starred in the academy award-winning movie, Salesman, posted a picture of herself on Instagram not wearing hijab, a move that defies Iran's morality police laws. CNN's Jomana Karadsheh has more on the story.
JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: One prominent Iranian activist outside Iran described this bold move by actress Taraneh Alidoosti as a cultural earthquake. The actress with a following of nearly 8 million people on Instagram, very popular, very famous in Iran for the role she played in the Oscar-winning film, the Iranian film, The Salesman, shocked so many around the world by posting a photo of herself while still inside Iran with a -- without her mandatory headscarf, the hijab, and holding up a sign with the Kurdish words Jin, Jiyan, Azadi, which translates into Women, Life, Freedom, what has become the slogan of the protest, the Women's Movement, and what has become this national uprising in Iran.
Alidoosti has also been known for speaking out, criticizing the regime. She is a human rights and women's rights defender in recent days. She's also posted on social media saying that she is not going to leave her homeland, that she is going to stay in Iran, that she is going to defend those behind bars and the families of those who have been killed. And she said she is ready to pay a price for that.
Now, we don't know if there's been any consequences after she posted this photo, but she is the latest in a series of high-profile figures in the country who have been speaking out, showing their support, showing solidarity with the protesters, something that is probably very embarrassing for the Iranian regime that for nearly two months now has been really pushing this narrative that the protests in this country -- in the country are a foreign conspiracy, a foreign plot that is aimed at destabilizing the country that this is not a people's movement. Jomana Karadsheh, CNN, London.
BRUNHUBER: In Brussels, prosecutors say they suspect a fatal stabbing was terror-related.
[02:40:02]
At least one police officer was killed in the attack Thursday night. The European Parliament president, Roberta Metsola says she was shocked by the killing of the police officer in the line of duty. She said the attack feels personal because the Belgian police have worked closely with the parliament for many years. Officials are investigating the incident.
All right, for those of you watching us here in North America, CNN NEWSROOM continues after a break. For our international viewers, "WORLD SPORT" is next.
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BRUNHUBER: With Georgia's Senate seat headed for a December runoff, control of the U.S. Senate is now focused on two close races in Arizona and Nevada. With hundreds of thousands of ballots still to be counted, Democratic incumbent Mark Kelly is expanding his lead over Republican challenger Blake Masters. Kelly's campaign manager tells CNN they expect to win. And in Nevada, new numbers show Democratic incumbent Catherine Cortez Masto is closing the gap on a Republican challenger Adam Laxalt, a prominent election denier. Here's what both candidates said as Tuesday's election got underway.
[02:45:09]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ADAM LAXALT, REPUBLICAN SENATE CANDIDATE, NEVADA: We are exactly where we want to be in this race. We have a lot of our votes coming in all across the state yet to be tabulated. We are going to win this race.
CATHERINE CORTEZ MASTO, DEMOCRATIC SENATE CANDIDATE, NEVADA: We are not done yet. Here's one thing I know. Our positive energy got us to where we are today. And we are going to make sure that positive energy continues to flow this week. We are going to get this done.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER: Money is pouring into Georgia's Senate runoff. Democrats are giving $7 million to incumbent senator Raphael Warnock. Meanwhile, Republican groups announced a combined $3 million donation to Herschel Walker. Both men were headed on the campaign trail Thursday. Nick Valencia has that.
NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Thursday was the start of what will no doubt be a very long four weeks for Raphael, Warnock, and Herschel Walker. The Republican challenger Herschel Walker kicked off his runoff campaigning here in Canton, Georgia in front of a very sizable crowd alongside Republican Senator Ted Cruz.
The first and what will likely be a cavalry of Republican leaders to come down here to the southern state over the next four weeks to help Walker with his runoff race, addressing a crowd -- a very sizable crowd here in a deeply red part of the state. A source close to the walker campaign tells me that it is part of Walker's strategy to get out the vote and focus on red counties where they underperform compared to Republican incumbent Governor Brian Kemp, who was able to win his midterm election outright and avoid a runoff.
At the rally, both Cruz and Walker boldly predicted a win during the runoff. We were also able to catch up with Cruz afterwards and asked him if he thought it was a good idea for Walker to invite former President Donald Trump to campaign alongside him as well.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. TED CRUZ, (R-TX): Herschel's made clear he will welcome the support from President Trump who's supporting him. He said he would welcome the support of Ron DeSantis. He'll welcome the support of anyone coming to a campaign.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VALENCIA: Meanwhile, Democratic incumbent senator Raphael Warnock also kicked off his runoff campaigning just a couple blocks away from Ebenezer Baptist Church. Standing in front of a mural of the famed civil rights icon John Lewis, Warnock appeared to make a plea to those who may not have voted for him in the midterms.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. RAPHAEL WARNOCK, (D-GA): And for those of you who made a different choice, this time, whether for Herschel Walker or someone else, I want to speak directly to you. Over the next four weeks, I hope you will give me the opportunity to earn your vote.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VALENCIA: But just how important will Georgia be in controlling the Senate, we won't know that until the races in Arizona and Nevada are wrapped up. But one thing is clear. For the second consecutive election cycle, Georgians find themselves right in the middle of the center of the political universe. Nick Valencia, CNN, Canton, Georgia.
BRUNHUBER: The U.S. will have a record number of female governors in 2023. In Tuesday's elections, Arkansas with Sarah Huckabee Sanders and Massachusetts with Maura Healey elected their first female governors. As a result, 12 women will hold the top state spots across the U.S. and that includes two races where CNN hasn't projected a winner, but all the candidates are female. So the record-setting number will represent a fraction of the governors across the 50 states. The old record of nine female governors serving currently -- concurrently was set in 2004.
President Joe Biden is on his way to Egypt now for the COP 27 Environmental Summit, it's a part of a week-long trip that will take Biden to several major summits. From Egypt, he will head to Phnom Penh, Cambodia for the ASEAN Summit on Saturday and Sunday. And then he's on to Bali for the G20 Summit. And there he's set to meet with Chinese leader Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the event and it's the first time the two have met in person since Biden became president.
Steven Jiang joins me now from Beijing. So, Steven, what can we expect to see out of this meeting?
STEVEN JIANG, CNN BEIJING BUREAU CHIEF: Yes, Kim, I think the prospect of the so-called world's most important bilateral relationship is as gloomy as Beijing's weather today. And that's something even U.S. officials has -- have acknowledged even before the meeting. A senior Biden administration official told reporters on Thursday, there's not going to be a joint statement after the meeting and they're not expecting any so-called deliverables. And we may not even see much easing of tensions.
Now, Xi still insisted the point of this meeting is to keep lines of communication open between the two sides, including at the highest level, and also saying the aim is to build rapport between the two leaders and to build the floor in this relationship that has been of course in a freefall. But the problem here is report doesn't seem -- doesn't seem to be the problem here because the two men have talked to each other five times since Biden took office via phones and video links. And they obviously have known each other for years and spent a lot of time together as vice president. Each time they talked they reminisce about the good old days.
[02:50:03]
The problem that's been driving the two sides apart is really how each side views its own strengths and the other's intentions. From Washington's perspective, China under Xi Jinping has become increasingly authoritarian at home and increasingly assertive or even aggressive abroad. That's why Biden plans to raise the issue of human rights, for example, including Beijing's crackdown on Uyghur Muslims in the Xinjiang region, and also, of course, the issue of Taiwan. But from Beijing's perspective, though, the U.S. and its allies have been out to contain China's rise on the global stage.
Mr. Biden has not only kept most of the Trump era tariffs on Chinese imports, he's been ramping up restrictions on U.S. exports -- technology exports to China including crucial semiconductors, not to mention Mr. Biden, on more than one occasion has said that the U.S. is committed to defending Taiwan militarily. So all of those obviously, reinforcing the sense of a siege meant of -- by the U.S. in the mind of the Chinese leadership that's why Xi Jinping has made no secret of trying to reshape a world order led by the U.S.
It's also worth noting both men simply cannot look weak because of their domestic situations. Mr. Xi obviously facing a growing pressure on the economy because of his own zero-COVID policy and Mr. Biden, despite faring better than expected may still have to deal with a Republican-controlled Congress. So, Kim, a lot of items are on the agenda, very high stakes, but fairly low expectations can. Kim.
BRUNHUBER: Interesting. All right, we'll be watching. Steven Jiang, appreciate it.
At least two people have died due to what was Hurricane Nicole. The powerful storm made landfall early Thursday along Florida's east coast. Dozens of beachfront homes and hotels have been declared unsafe in the wake of a storm. A video captured from a dorm room at Flagler College in St. Augustine, Florida shows streets flooded after the hurricane hit. Student Cameron Kraft told CNN the water was about waist deep. Now Nicole has weakened to a tropical depression but is expected to produce significant rainfall as it moves north.
It sounds we've got the latest now from CNN meteorologist Derek Van Dam. Derek, the pictures coming from Florida really paint a scary picture.
DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, you're right, Kim. In fact, Hurricane Nicole finishing what Hurricane Ian from the end of September began, what it actually started there. So let me take you back to the end of September when Hurricane Ian actually making landfall on the western coastline of the Florida peninsula. That also impacted the east coast where Nicole made landfall just 24 hours ago. It compromised several buildings along the Daytona Beach region.
And Hurricane Nicole came up. It was just enough to really impact these buildings and cause many of them to fall into the sea and degrading some of the outer edges of the buildings as well, just incredible striking imagery. Can you imagine if this was your home and what you would have to deal with priceless memories there just washing out, to see, really incredible?
So here's the latest from Hurricane Nicole. It did make landfall right across this area, that's the east coast of Florida, now traversing into southern Georgia. You can see that spin right about there, here, I'll draw it on the map. You can see basically right where I draw that X, that is the center of what is now a tropical depression. It is overspreading heavy rainfall across Georgia.
But it's also influencing the weather across the coastal areas of the Carolinas in the form of spin-up tornadoes. In fact, the Storm Prediction Center has a tornado watch overnight across this region, Charleston, Garden City, northward into Columbia as well. It doesn't take much for these tropical-enhanced tornadoes to spin up against that interaction with the coastline, some friction from the ground. And that allows for thunderstorms to produce a brief relatively weak tornado but the potential there to impact property and life as well.
Now the threat of severe weather for the day on Friday to start off the weekend that moves into portions of the Mid-Atlantic. Look at that, marginal risk for Washington DC, a brief tornado, damaging winds can't be ruled out this is all associated with the remnants of Nicole. Now, this is really interesting because we have a full-on blizzard and winter storm taking shape across the northern plains at the moment.
Both of these systems are going to interact. Kind of do a dance over the next 24 hours absorbing the system and also enhancing the rainfall that we anticipate over the eastern third of the country. So, we are going to see more travel delays to start off the weekend as a wet weekend is expected for places like Pittsburgh into Charlotte, Roanoke, Cleveland as well as New York, DC, and Richmond.
Now, these areas anticipate anywhere from one inch of rain along the coastline but just outside of the I 95 Corridor, up to two to four inches of rain locally. So Mid Atlantic into the northern sections of New England, you can see Weather Prediction Center there has a slight risk of flash flooding, so we want to monitor that closely. Double- check your plans.
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Lots of wind is associated with the system as well. We have wind advisories. And by the way, Kim, we're going to see the mercury in the thermometer plummet over the next coming days. It is about to get very cold, our first taste of winter on our doorstep.
BRUNHUBER: Yikes. All right, thanks so much, Derek Van Dam. Appreciate it.
VAN DAM: All right.
BRUNHUBER: Medical centers in the U.S. are reporting long wait times and a lack of facilities due to a spike in respiratory illnesses. Hospitals in Boston have been swamped with children suffering from the virus, RSV, leaving many pediatric ICU units low on beds. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, 22 states are reporting high or very high respiratory illness activity. The outbreak coincides with a flu season that's hitting harder and earlier than usual. The number of flu cases, hospitalizations, and deaths nearly doubled in the last week of October and took another significant jump in the first week of November.
Well, thanks so much for watching, I'm Kimberly Hooper, stay with us. I'll be back with more news after the break.
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