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America's Choice 2022; Russia's War on Ukraine; Hurricane Nicole Claims at Least 5. Aired 12-1a ET

Aired November 12, 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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MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Hello and a warm welcome to all of our viewers watching across the United States, live from Studio 7 at the CNN Center in Atlanta. I'm Michael Holmes. Appreciate your company.

Well, there have been, as we've been seeing, dramatic changes in vote results over the past several hours in two key Senate races in Nevada and Arizona, both favoring the Democratic candidates.

CNN now projects incumbent Democrat Mark Kelly will win re-election in Arizona against Republican challenger Blake Masters. Hundreds of thousands of ballots still remain to be counted in the state. Final results expected perhaps early next week.

Now in Nevada, that Senate race virtually tied; Republican Adam Laxalt has watched his narrow lead slip away with the Democrat, Catherine Cortez Masto, now less than 800 votes behind.

Approximately 68,000 ballots in the state are yet to be counted. An election official in the state's largest county says they are working to verify vote totals as quickly as the law allows.

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JOE GLORIA, CLARK COUNTY REGISTRAR: We're not purposefully holding this process back. We're doing everything in our power to move ballots forward as quickly as we can. But the statutory deadlines that we have in place, I can't do -- finish all the mail until it all comes in.

That's a very small number but, still, I can't finish until Saturday even if I wanted to. Monday, we have the cured deadline. I've got to wait for those voters, to give them an opportunity to get their ballot cured.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Now Mark Kelly's projected win in Arizona will give the Democrats 49 seats in the Senate. And a win in Nevada would secure Democratic control of the Senate. A Democratic win in the Georgia runoff would give the party an

outright majority without needing the vice president as a tiebreaker, as has been the case in the last couple of years.

Democrats have also picked up more House seats, though Republicans only need seven more to retake control of the lower chamber. For more let's bring in CNN's Manu Raju, live in D.C.

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: No question about it now they're just one seat away from keeping control of the Senate. Now Mark Kelly was viewed as one of the -- certainly a vulnerable Democrat coming into this election cycle.

Republicans saw him in this state, a Republican leaning state, traditionally a more conservative leaning state, someone who could be vulnerable, given we're in a first midterm of a new president and given the fact that the president's approval rating is underwater.

Inflation has been obviously a huge issue throughout this campaign season. They thought tying him to the national environment would be enough to knock him down. But he played in what turned out to be an underperforming candidate in the election.

Blake Masters, someone who'd been endorsed by the former president, Donald Trump, who'd been propped up because of that Trump endorsement but someone who never got the full support of the Republican establishment.

People are very skeptical in Republican leadership circles that Masters could ultimately beat Mark Kelly because of Masters' own vulnerabilities. Mitch McConnell decided not to spend money late in that campaign to try to prop up Blake Masters, instead spending money in other areas, other races they thought would be more winnable.

But now the focus is shifting squarely to Nevada, where Catherine Cortez Masto, the Democrat, has been cutting into the lead of Adam Laxalt, the Republican challenger.

After a day of vote counting, they're within 1,000 votes right now, with a number of other votes still outstanding.

There is hope among Democrats that Cortez Masto could exceed Laxalt, catch up to Laxalt, ultimately ensure Democrats have control of the Senate going into the Georgia runoff, where they could potentially even pad their majority and have 51 seats, something virtually seen as unthinkable heading into Tuesday, when Republicans believed they could take 52 or even up to 55 seats in the Senate.

So all shows going into this election on Tuesday, Republicans had such high hopes but they're walking away wounded, soul-searching and pointing fingers about what went wrong, as the Senate could be now out of reach.

And we'll see what happens in the House as their majority, if they do get a House Republican majority, much smaller than they anticipated. HOLMES: Unthinkable just a matter of a couple of weeks ago. When you

talk about tactics and what went wrong how much did -- you know, abortion rights as an example factor in Arizona.

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HOLMES: Something Mark Kelly focused on. Blake Masters took a very conservative position on. And for that matter, that goes across the board, Nevada and elsewhere as well, right?

RAJU: No question about it, it was such a huge issue. For Masters himself, he sort of tried to rewrite his position on abortion. He took a very strong position on anti-abortion stance during the Republican primary.

But he tried to recalibrate that stance during the general election as he was getting hammered on this issue. And you see this all across the country. Republicans in Nevada, in Pennsylvania, Georgia and elsewhere, being hit hard by Democrats, who believe that this is an issue that could galvanize particularly suburban women voters, who are essential in all these key races.

Republicans ultimately decided, for the most part, to sidestep issues about this; instead believing that they put all their eggs in the basket over attacking Joe Biden, trying to tie the Democrats to Joe Biden, tying him to crime, inflation, gas prices.

Polls showed that abortion did not rank as high as economic issues. They gambled those issues would carry them across the finish line. But it appears they may have put all their eggs in that basket and it just didn't pan out.

HOLMES: And, of course, former president Trump endorsed and campaigned for Masters.

I mean, in retrospect, was that a good or bad thing for him?

RAJU: There are a lot of Republicans today pointing fingers at Donald Trump for these late appearances, not just in Arizona but also in Pennsylvania. He had a late rally with Dr. Mehmet Oz, the Republican nominee there, who fell short in that race.

That is more of a swingy state than Arizona is. So that move caught a lot of Republicans by surprise, when Oz agreed to appear at that rally. But Trump also appearing in Arizona.

What Republicans are concerned about, when they look back at that, is they see Donald Trump coming in and essentially changing the narrative, undercutting the case that the Republicans wanted to make about Joe Biden, about the Democratic policies in Washington, not about Donald Trump.

Donald Trump inserts himself late in this election cycle and, all of a sudden, it's a contrast election, a contrast between Trump and Biden, between Trump and Democrats. That is exactly what Democrats had hoped for and what a lot of

Republicans did not want. And at the end of the day perhaps that could have changed some things. Maybe in Arizona but certainly potentially in a state like Pennsylvania.

HOLMES: Yes, Republicans had their hopes for the Senate, of course. And now we're seeing some of that unravel. But I'm really curious about the House. And you've wandered the halls of Congress for a living and know how it works.

The very fact that it could be as close as it could be at the end of it -- I mean it's not over yet -- but if the Republicans have a razor thin majority in the House, what does that mean for the potential of the Biden agenda going forward?

You'd only have to pick off a couple of Republicans potentially.

RAJU: Yes, even if the Republicans have a narrow majority, it's going to come to a standstill because the Republican Speaker of the House, presuming it's Kevin McCarthy, would have a say over exactly what legislation comes to the floor of the House.

So it's only going to be what Republicans want. But there will be things Biden needs to get done and they need to avoid a debt default, for instance, next year. Kevin McCarthy, if he's the Speaker, needs to figure out how to do that.

Need to avoid a government shutdown, fund government agencies. Kevin McCarthy as the Speaker needs to figure out how to do that, even though he'll face pushback from his Right flank and also contend with a Democrat in the White House and potentially a Democratic Senate.

But then a narrow majority will create such headaches for Republican leaders, because of the fact Kevin McCarthy, if he is the Speaker, has to deal with the Right flank of his conference that will want to go take things to the far right.

And he'll have to deal with moderates -- and lots of moderates who won in swing districts, Biden districts, districts that they're at risk of losing in the next election cycle. They'll want to moderate and not go as far as the far right wants.

He'll have to balance all those issues and he's got the initial problem. He's got to get the votes to become Speaker to begin with; 218 votes he needs in the House. And if he only has a majority with 220 seats or 222 seats, that means he can only afford to lose a handful of seats when it comes time in January to pick the next Speaker of the House.

And already several of those are starting to vote against him unless they extract some concessions from him. So already we're seeing signs of the real challenges of governing for Republicans if they do take the House majority.

Even if they can rein in the Biden agenda to a degree and investigate the Biden administration, they'll have a very difficult time legislating with such a narrow majority.

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HOLMES: And before I let you go, because the whole Right flank is such a fascinating thing. I mean the Speakership is going to need that Right flank, the Freedom Caucus, I mean the likes of Marjorie Taylor Greene and so on.

What could they demand for their loyalty to him, to get him into the job?

What are they going to want from him?

RAJU: So a lot of things they want is to essentially make him weaker. They want to empower themselves, empower the rank-and-file members and make the Speakership a much weaker institution.

One of the things they want, some of these members say, is a red line, is to essentially make it easier for them to force a vote on the House floor to oust a sitting speaker.

Now that is something that McCarthy simply does not want to do because that rule -- they changed the rules after John Boehner, the Speaker of the House, resigned his speakership because the speaker didn't want to make it easy to push out a speaker.

Those easier rules that made it easy to push out a speaker, those existed when John Boehner was speaker. And because of those rules that is why he stepped down because he was concerned, he was going to be ousted by the Right flank of his conference.

So the Right flank of Kevin McCarthy's conference wants similar power over the Speakership and McCarthy is not willing to go there. So those are issues they have to negotiate behind the scenes.

We'll get a first taste of how this starts to play out next week, when the House members return to Washington. They'll have internal conference meetings, nominate their candidate for speaker. McCarthy will win that nomination but that doesn't mean he'll get to 218 votes on the House floor in January.

That's 218 votes out of the full House. Those are questions he'll have to sort out over the next few months, winning over that Right flank but not doing something that could make him even more vulnerable in the Speakership.

HOLMES: Yes, incredible day and another long day for you, Manu. Thank you so much for making the time, Manu Raju in D.C. Appreciate it.

RAJU: Thanks, Michael.

HOLMES: We want to talk about Nevada now, where about 800 votes separate the two candidates in that crucial Senate contest. Here's CNN's Gary Tuchman with our report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The U.S. Senate race here in the state of Nevada is so very close. Let us tell you where the mail-in ballots are that still need to be counted in this state.

First of all, in Washoe County, that's northern Nevada, where Reno is located, there's about 11,000 ballots still to be counted.

And Douglas County, a small county in Western Nevada, the county seat is Minden; the population is 50,000. It's very Republican. That county hasn't elected a president -- a Democratic president -- since before World War II. They have about 2,000 ballots outstanding.

But this is the big prize, this building behind me. This is the Clark County election department. Clark County is where Las Vegas is. About three-quarters of Nevadans live in this county. There's still 23,000 mail-in ballots to count inside this building.

And an additional 15,000 ballots are provisional ballots or ballots that need to be cured. What that means is some people don't put their signature on the ballot. As long as they put their signature on the ballot, it then gets counted.

So that's a total of 38,000 more ballots. So there's still a lot of counting to do in this race that's really tight -- this is Gary Tuchman, CNN, in Las Vegas.

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HOLMES: The Ukrainian city of Kherson is enjoying the first full day of freedom after months of Russian occupation.

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HOLMES (voice-over): Coming up after the break, celebrations underway after Russian troops leave that strategic city.

Plus we'll have much more on the midterm elections, including a surprisingly close race in Colorado. Why the Republican incumbent has been unable to take the lead. We'll be right back.

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HOLMES: Welcome back. A reminder of our top story this hour: Democrats just one seat away from retaining control of the U.S. Senate. CNN now projects incumbent Democrat Mark Kelly will win re-election in Arizona against Republican challenger Blake Masters. Now this gives both parties 49 seats each with two races remaining. A city that President Vladimir Putin said would be Russia's forever

now firmly back in Ukrainian hands. And its residents couldn't be happier about it.

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HOLMES (voice-over): Now that is how the people in the city of Kherson welcomed Ukrainian troops Friday following months of Russian occupation. Hours earlier, Moscow announced it had pulled out from the west bank of the Dnipro River, conceding 40 percent of the Kherson region to Ukrainians, including the city itself.

Ukrainian troops also swept through other towns in the area, holding up their flags to mark the end of Russia's occupation. At the same time, they also displayed ammunition and other military gear that the Russians left behind.

That contradicts Russian claims they took all their equipment with them. Ukraine says Russian troops did destroy critical infrastructure on their way out, including at least seven bridges. President Zelenskyy saying Ukrainians endured hardship because they always knew the Russians would be driven out.

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VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): The people of Kherson waited. They never repudiated Ukraine. They were right to pin their hopes on Ukraine. And Ukraine always returns its own.

I'm glad to see those people, despite all dangers of repression and suffering inflicted by occupiers, held onto Ukrainian flags, believed in Ukraine.

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HOLMES: CNN was quick to go into some of the newly liberated areas of southern Ukraine. Nic Robertson, the first reporter to arrive in one town, less than 48 hours after the Russians left, he found the residents there overjoyed the occupation was over.

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NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Their long-awaited liberation, sweet, savored with the soldiers who gave it to them. Moments for all those who survived rushes repressive rule in Kherson, to celebrate, a day like no other.

Putin's forces vanquished across the river. Freedom like this, coming in cities and towns all around. Arriving at Snihurivka on the road to Kherson, remnants of Russia's rapid rivers under fire two days ago.

Lots of unexploded ammunition here, deadly mortar rounds, indications they could have fought longer if they hadn't been told to retreat. Driving in everyone, waving. So many feelings all at once. Celebration, relief and traumas relieved.

It was terrible, she tells us. The Russians threatened to kill me, to smash out my brain.

Raw emotions everywhere, tearful relatives embrace saying, knowing each other survived.

And stories of survival, bone-chilling.

A few days ago, the Russians kidnapped me. This 15-year-old girl tells us. They put a hood on me, took me to a house, asked me about the Ukrainian troops. Told me, they had cut my fingers off. I thought I was going to be raped.

They behave like animals in the last few weeks, she says. They took people away for interrogation, beat them, accusing them of being, Ukrainian spies.

They stole cars, looted too.

At the town's bank, the security doors ripped off, the cash too.

You can see inside here, the bank is completely trashed, looted, there are money boxes. They're forced open.

At the town square, people gathered and jubilation part in uncertainty. The city, without water and electricity, for months. The newly arrived Ukrainian administrator, telling them, humanitarian supplies are on their way.

On the outskirts of town, residents benefiting from Russia's rapid retreat, abandon ammo cases, collected for winter firewood.

Nearby, the bridges to the south, destroyed. The Russians blew these bridges up just two days ago, trying to slow down the Ukrainians advance south toward Kherson.

The tactic doesn't seem to be working. Ukraine's advance has been cautious, pauses to regroup and re-energize but still relentless.

MYKHAILO, UKRAINIAN SOLDIER (through translator): Everything that's happening according to the plan. Russians are leaving so fast they're losing their boots on the run. We'll take Kherson in two or three days.

ROBERTSON: It may be even sooner. Seconds after we talk, they get the call to move forward. On their way, it appears to join the liberation and celebrations in Kherson -- Nic Robertson, CNN, Snihurivka, Ukraine.

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HOLMES: Control of the U.S. House still up in the air. But Republicans are already making plans for a victory. Ahead, their front-runner for House Speaker.

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HOLMES: A reminder of our top story this hour: Democrats just one seat away from retaining control of the U.S. Senate. CNN projects that the incumbent Mark Kelly will win re-election against Republican challenger Blake Masters. This will give both parties 49 seats each with two races remaining.

Democrats also hoping they'll keep their seat in Nevada. Right now, pretty much a dead heat, as you can see there, with the incumbent Catherine Cortez Masto trailing slightly to the Republican Adam Laxalt.

Meanwhile in the House, Democrats have picked up more seats, although Republicans only need seven more to control the chamber. Clearly no one, however, expected the Senate race to be this close. But somehow Democrats exceeded expectations. Our CNN panel breaks down how we got here.

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ABBY PHILLIP, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: It's really an extraordinary development, just that we are sitting here, talking about Democrats potentially retaining control.

But really what we're talking about then is the potential they could even expand a majority in the Senate, in part because this is a big piece of that puzzle. And when you think about Mark Kelly, he has always been a target for Republicans, really from day one, to take this seat back and put it back in Republican hands.

And he has been walking this tightrope as a senator, trying to distance himself just enough from Washington Democrats, from President Biden, dealing with inflation as an issue, dealing with the border, which is a huge issue for him.

But got a huge boost because he was running against a very Trumpy candidate, someone who -- you know, Donald Trump really inserted himself in this race. And I think both parties would agree, there's no question that helped him in this race.

KASIE HUNT, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: No, it absolutely did.

And when Mitch McConnell has talked about candidate quality, much to the chagrin of Rick Scott and other Republicans who were trying to win the map over for Republicans, he's talking about people like Blake Masters, boosted by the billionaire Peter Teal (ph), but there was a lot of infighting among McConnell and others, pulling money out of the race. [00:30:00]

HUNT: Because they didn't think he could win. And this is now borne out. And quite frankly, this is one of those seats where it's likely now that Mark Kelly has won this term, he could hold this seat for many, many years. This was really their absolute best shot at potentially putting this Arizona seat in Republican hands.

But look at the map. If they win in Nevada, that's it. The runoff in Georgia doesn't matter. If Cortez Masto doesn't pull it out, we're still going to --

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RAJU: But where we were coming in, I mean, the Republicans were so bullish coming into Tuesday. They thought they were going to take the majority, 52 seats. Rick Scott even said, back in October, 55 seats was even possible.

Now they're looking at the possibility of losing a seat. It could be a 51-49 Senate. That is a realistic possibility for the Republicans.

When you look back, looking at this cycle, it reminds me a lot of what happened to Republicans in election cycles like 2010 and 2012, where they did nominate these candidates, who turned out to be lackluster, underperforming candidates in the general election, costing them the clear chance of taking back the Senate majority in those two cycles.

That is what senator McConnell had been so concerned about and that's what happened with Pennsylvania, what happened in Arizona and it's a concern it could happen in Nevada as well.

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, and we're talking about what this means on a national level and when it comes to the big picture in the Senate.

But I just want to take a moment also to note that the only reason Mark Kelly ran for office in the first place is because he got involved in politics with his wife, Gabby Giffords, who was the one who people were looking at all those years ago to potentially -- she was in the House -- to potentially ultimately run in the Senate.

She didn't get to do that. She was shot, almost killed -- others were killed -- when she was just doing her job. She was meeting with constituents in her district in Tucson.

So while we're talking about where we are in the body politic, where we are in the electorate, I think it's just -- it's important to take a moment and note that he's only there because of violence against a politician, who happened to be his wife. That's what made him want to run.

PHILLIP: Very much so. And you think about Gabby Giffords, she is now, I think for the country, a really beloved figure, just someone, we, as a country, watched her recover from that horrible accident. And when we saw at the end of the campaign, Mark Kelly really leaning

into that storyline, a lot of these currents were happening at the same time. Democrats, remember were trying to make an argument to voters that you cannot trust the Senate, you cannot trust the country to the other party.

The argument was that they were too extreme. And the problem, if you were Blake Masters, is that he, as candidate, did almost nothing to push back against that argument. And I think that Kelly, who he is, up against who Blake Masters was, I think that was a huge contrast.

BASH: And this is one other example, just to bring it back to where we started, of the Trump wing, somebody who was trying as hard as he could to kiss Trump's ring -- to keep it clean -- he --

(CROSSTALK)

PHILLIP: Literally on camera --

BASH: -- he didn't win and it didn't serve him well at all.

HUNT: And it was Mark Kelly who was embracing the legacy of John McCain here.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's true.

HUNT: And I think that's important to not lose sight of.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: Now another race we're following, a close one, is the contest for Colorado's 3rd Congressional District. Republican incumbent Lauren Boebert barely edging out her Democratic challenger Adam Frisch. It is a much closer election than many expected. CNN's Lucy Kafanov explains.

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LUCY KAFANOV, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, this race now taking a surprising turn. We could potentially be looking at the possibility of a recount, something that's not going to be more clear until at least next week, in part because government offices here are closed for the Veterans Day holiday.

And also because outstanding military and cured ballots have yet to be returned and counted. That deadline November 16th. But Lauren Boebert was trailing behind her opponent until early Thursday morning.

As of Friday afternoon, she was ahead by roughly 1,100 votes. A mandatory recount in the state of California is triggered if the margin is 0.5 percent or less. Here's the state's secretary of state weighing in on the possibility of a recount.

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JENA GRISWOLD, COLORADO SECRETARY OF STATE: It's too early to tell. We need to be able to process the rest of the ballots. And then after that we will do a bipartisan risk limiting audit which confirms the results followed by a bipartisan canvas and then only then do I certify the election and it's determined whether we go into recount.

There's two ways to do a recount in the state of Colorado. One is mandatory, which you just mentioned. But then candidates can also pay for a recount if they so choose.

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KAFANOV: But the fact we're talking about this race, the fact that the margins are so very thin took at least political experts by surprise. Lauren Boebert entered this race in a strong position, the 3rd Congressional District she represents was made more favorable to Republicans when its borders were redrawn last year.

Unlike most of the Colorado delegation, she entered the race with a sizable campaign war chest and she also had national name recognition, making headlines as a staunch ally of former president Donald Trump, a major big gun rights advocate.

Which when she was sworn in, she released a video of herself walking around Capitol Hill with a gun. She's promoted conspiracy theories, for example, about the outcome of the previous presidential election.

And some analysts say one of the reasons why this race became so close is, in part, because her opponent used her behavior against her. Now Adam Frisch served on the Aspen city council. He ran a pro-business, pro-energy platform.

He also asked voters if they wanted two more years of what he described as her angertainment brand. It also didn't hurt that he outraised and outspent Boebert. She, for one, is expressing optimism about her chances.

She blamed the closeness of the race on a lack of voter enthusiasm for the Republican candidates for Senate and governor. But she did start fund-raising for a possible recount on Friday -- Lucy Kafanov, CNN, Colorado.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: U.S. President Joe Biden says the climate crisis is a matter of human, economic and national security and that the world must rise to the challenge. His remarks came at the COP27 climate conference in Egypt on Friday.

Mr. Biden highlighting his administration's recent environmental victories as evidence that the U.S. is ready to be a good partner in the fight.

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JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The United States is acting. Everyone has to act. The United States government is putting our money where our mouth is to strengthen accountability for climate risk and resilience.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Mr. Biden also met with Egypt's president during his brief visit. He's now set for summits in Asia and will have a meeting with the Chinese leader, Xi Jinping, next week.

Our own Will Ripley is in Cambodia, where President Biden will attend the ASEAN summit of Southeast Asian nations in the hours ahead.

Good to see you there, Will. An important trip for the U.S. President.

What are going to be his priorities there?

WILL RIPLEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, you know, he's really arriving here in Asia on the heels of a much better than expected showing in the U.S. midterms, where he really hammered in that message of the importance of preserving democracy in the United States.

That's certainly is a message that rings true here in this region, where there's this growing narrative of authoritarian countries -- i.e. China and the United States -- and his democratic message kind of increasingly at odds with each other.

And here in Cambodia, this is one economy on the front lines of that, because yesterday you had the Cambodian prime minister meeting the Chinese premier. And I was walking around here yesterday, so much Chinese investment.

China announcing even more infrastructure investment in the coming years ahead. So they're pumping lots and lots of money. And as a result you have Cambodia coming out publicly and saying they support the Chinese position on Taiwan.

And President Biden in the coming hours will be holding his own meeting with the Cambodian prime minister. This gives you a sense of the economic geopolitics at play. When you talk about the United States, China and their influence in the region.

When President Biden does meet with Chinese president Xi Jinping face to face at the G20, it's going to be very important. And, of course, this is the first face-to-face meeting between the two since President Biden has taken office.

Before that happens, here in Cambodia, another important issue on the agenda: North Korea. And Biden will be meeting with the Japan prime minister and the South Korean president here. They'll talk about ways to put pressure on North Korea in light of the barrage of missile tests and the possibility of a nuclear test in the coming -- well, we don't know when it's going to happen, Michael.

We thought it might be possible, basically most of this year. It hasn't happened yet. But when North Korea does conduct a nuclear test, President Biden hoping the United States and its allies have a plan in place to respond effectively.

HOLMES: Yes, absolutely. Busy few days for you. Thank you, Will Ripley there.

All right, well, Florida's governor becoming increasingly popular among Republicans. Ahead, why his wife is playing a big role in his success. We'll be right back.

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HOLMES: And a reminder of our top story this hour. Democrats just one seat away from retaining control of the U.S. Senate. CNN now projecting incumbent Democrat Mark Kelly will win re-election for a full term in Arizona against Republican challenger Blake Masters. This gives both parties 49 seats each, two races outstanding.

In three days, former U.S. President Trump is set to make what he calls a special announcement in Florida. His team has hinted that he could declare a presidential run for 2024.

But some Republicans are urging him to hold off, especially after the party underperformed in the midterms. Some conservatives say Trump is to blame for their losses and want him to hold off the announcement at least until the Senate runoff in Georgia.

Others say it's time to move on and support Florida governor Ron DeSantis instead, be done with Donald Trump. Some Georgia Republicans also believe DeSantis could help them on the campaign trail, citing his lopsided win last week.

And the governor's wife is playing a big role in his success. Casey DeSantis has been working behind the scenes and in front of the camera to help her husband. Here's CNN's Randi Kaye.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CASEY DESANTIS, WIFE OF FLORID GOVERNOR RON DESANTIS: Hello, everyone and welcome to First Coast Living. I'm Casey DeSantis.

RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Long before she became the first lady of Florida, Casey DeSantis was a fixture in Floridians' homes.

[00:45:00]

KAYE (voice-over): She was an anchor and reporter for two Jacksonville, Florida, TV stations but she left it all behind to raise her children and support her husband's run for governor for Florida.

C. DESANTIS: I was going to take a break from the show. I was going to be able to spend time with my family.

KAYE: Casey DeSantis was born in Ohio as Jill Casey Black. She's a golf enthusiast and equestrian who graduated with an economics degree from the College of Charleston in South Carolina. She first met Ron DeSantis on the golf range at the University of North Florida. C. DESANTIS: So I kept looking over my shoulder because I wanted the bucket of balls that somebody had left. Ron is over there. And so he thinks I'm looking at him.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Was there an attraction at all to him?

C. DESANTIS: Yes, of course, he was cute.

KAYE: The couple married in September of 2009 at the Walt Disney World Resort. In 2010, Casey worked as a host for PGA Tour, appearing on the golf channel. A couple years later, Ron DeSantis was elected to the Florida's sixth congressional district, the start of his political career. Ever since, Casey has reportedly been part of a very tight inner circle, relying on her T.V. experience to advise her husband on media strategy and appear in campaign ads, including this memorable one from 2018.

GOV. RON DESANTIS (R-FL): Build the wall.

C. DESANTIS: He's teaching Madison to talk.

R. DESANTIS: Make America great again.

C. DESANTIS: You want to know who Ron DeSantis really is?

KAYE: More recently, Casey recorded this campaign ad for her husband, focusing on how he helped her after her 2021 diagnosis with breast cancer. She's now cancer-free.

C. DESANTIS: He was there to pick me off of the ground when I literally could not stand. He was there to fight for me when I didn't have the strength to fight for myself. That is who Ron DeSantis is.

KAYE: When she isn't busy with their three young children, Casey DeSantis can be found at her husband's side, on the campaign trail.

C. DESANTIS: Ron, again, I want you to know is running for the right reasons, not because he wants to be somebody, it's because he wants to do great things.

KAYE: In the aftermath of Hurricane Ian, where the disaster relief fund she oversees, brought in upwards of $50 million.

C. DESANTIS: All I can say is, you know, our hearts and our prayers are with so many people who are suffering, which is why about 24 hours ago, we launched the disaster relief fund.

KAYE: And, of course, on election night this week, as he basked in the glow of his reelection victory, the governor shining a spotlight on his wife. R. DESANTIS: And most important of all, thank you to the greatest first lady in all 50 states for being a great wife, giving unwavering support, being a tremendous mother to our three young children. She is remarkable.

KAYE: Florida voters really seem to like the fact that Casey DeSantis is no-nonsense. She's focused. She's driven, a devoted wife and mother and that plays well with Florida voters certainly those in the DeSantis camp.

She's also started this initiative called Mothers for DeSantis, where she's successfully signed up more than a million parents to "keep the state of Florida free," in her words. And, of course, she's had this very public battle with breast cancer.

She's been now a champion for cancer research in the state of Florida. She's helped secure about $100 million in funding for cancer research in the state and she goes around the state talking to patients and certainly is getting the message out about early detection.

And that, of course, playing very well with women across the state of Florida. That is a benefit for Casey DeSantis and for the governor -- Randi Kaye, CNN.

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HOLMES: Donald Trump has sued the select committee, the House Select Committee, investigating the January 6th attack on the Capitol in 2021. What he's doing is challenging their subpoena for his documents and testimony, saying he should be immune from testifying about his time as president.

He's also challenging the committee's actual legitimacy, which multiple courts have upheld.

In the lawsuit, his attorneys argue, quote, "The subpoena's request for testimony and documents from president Trump is an unwarranted intrusion upon the institution of the presidency, because there are other sources of the requested information.

"Because of this obvious availability to obtain testimony and documents from other readily available sources, the subpoena is invalid," unquote.

A spokesperson from the January 6th committee declined to comment.

Meanwhile artifacts have been found from one of the darkest days of American space history. Coming up on CNN NEWSROOM, we'll tell you where pieces of the doomed shuttle Challenger were found.

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HOLMES: A reminder of our top story this hour. Democrats just one seat away from retaining their control of the U.S. Senate. CNN now projects incumbent Democrat Mark Kelly will win re-election in Arizona against Republican challenger Blake Masters. This gives both parties 49 seats each, two races remaining.

At least five people have died due to what was hurricane Nicole. The powerful storm made landfall early Thursday. Dozens of homes and hotels have been declared unsafe in the wake of the storm and thousands of homes and businesses across the state are still without power. One resident spoke with local news shortly after returning home.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was hoping it would be a little bit better of a sight. I was hoping just the two back bedrooms fell this morning but it tore out the living room walls and the ceiling.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So there's going to be some major rebuild going on.

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HOLMES: Remnants of Nicole continue to move north. High winds and significant rainfall expected in parts of the U.S. East Coast.

For the first time in a quarter century, pieces of the doomed space shuttle Challenger have been discovered. A 20-foot long part of the spacecraft's belly, including installation tiles, were found off the Florida coast by a documentary crew from the History Channel.

They were looking for a plane that had disappeared in the so-called Bermuda Triangle back in 1945. The shuttle exploded shortly after launch on January 28, 1986. O-rings exposed to extreme cold on the solid rocket boosters were blamed for the disaster.

When the Challenger broke apart, it killed all seven crew members, including schoolteacher Christa McAuliffe.

Thanks for spending part of your day with me. I'm Michael Holmes. Do stick around. I'll be back with more news in just a moment.