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Balance Of Power In U.S. Congress Still Undecided; Joe Biden To Meet With China's Xi Jinping At G-20 Summit; After Russia's Retreat In Kherson, Residents Work To Rebuild; Suspect Arrested in Blast that Killed Six, Injured Dozens; Biden and Democratic Party Defy Midterm History; Warnock, Walker Push Ahead to Georgia Senate Runoff; Benjamin Netanyahu Invited to Form New Government; 6 Confirmed Dead in Dallas Airshow Crash; Millions in U.S. Under Freeze Alerts; Banksy Unveils Work in Ukraine. Aired 1-2a ET

Aired November 14, 2022 - 01:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[01:00:27]

MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, and welcome to our viewers watching us all across the United States and indeed around the world live from Studio 7 at the CNN Center in Atlanta. I'm Michael Holmes. Appreciate your company.

OK, nearly a week after Election Day in the U.S. a balance of power in Congress still undecided but Democrats are still celebrating. Thanks to Catherine Cortez Masto's victory in Nevada on Saturday. They will keep control of the Senate for at least two more years and they could even add a seat depending on the results of Georgia's runoff next month. Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said Democrats did well because they delivered on issues that matter.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY) MAJORITY LEADER: We won because we had a really good agenda that we actually passed that helped the American people on things they cared about.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: But the question remains who will control the House of Representatives it's still up for grabs. Republicans though closing in with 218 seats needed for a majority. CNN projects and Republicans currently have 212, Democrats 204. A hundred -- at 119 races rather still to be called.

Now the governor's race in Arizona is still too early to call right now. Democrat Katie Hobbs with a slight lead over the Republican Carrie Lake one of the most prominent election deniers on the ballot this year. And with the number of ballots left account dwindling Lake's path to victory is getting increasingly thin and comments from Lake put into question whether she would accept the result were she to lose this race. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KARI LAKE (R) ARIZONA GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE: I consider someone's vote their voice. I think of it as a sacred vote and is being trampled the way we run our elections in Arizona. I've been sounding the alarm for two years. Nothing got done, very little got done last legislative session. And we need to get in there and restore faith in our elections. We can't be the laughingstock of elections anymore.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Officials say she is wrong when she makes those assertions. The Republican Doug Mastriano by the way, has finally conceded in the Pennsylvania governor's race, CNN called the contest for a Democrat Josh Shapiro on Tuesday night with nearly all the votes counted Shapiro beat Mastriano with a solid 14 point lead.

However, Mastriano, who was a leading proponent of falsehoods about the 2020 election, refuse to admit defeat for days. On Sunday, though, he changed course and accepted the loss.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DOU MASTRIANO, REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE FOR PENNSYLVANIA GOVERNOR: But as difficult as it is to accept the results, there is no other course but to concede, which I do and I look to the challenges ahead, Josh Shapiro will be our next governor. And I asked everyone to give him the opportunity. And I pray that he makes the decisions that are beneficial for the state and not necessarily for his party, and that he leaves well, because it affects all our lives.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Now, if Republicans win the House get ready for a battle within the party. With so many House races still yet to be called the Chamber's leadership also up in the air, and some members have said they will not support Kevin McCarthy speakership bid. Earlier on Fox News, McCarthy addressed some of the criticisms against him.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. KEVIN MCCARTHY (R-CA) MINORITY LEADER: I think I accomplish the goal that we want it to. People can have input, we want to have a very open input process. We're going to have a smaller majority. Remember in the House, they don't give gavels out by small, medium and large. They just give you the gavel and we're going to be able to govern it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: CNN Melanie Zanona with more on what is likely to be a tough few days for the GOP.

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MELANIE ZANONA, CNN CAPITOL HILL REPORTER (on camera): Republicans are gearing up for a tense series of meetings this week as they return to Washington for the first time since their disappointing midterm election results. Republicans want to figure out what went wrong, why a red wave never materialized and they must also decide the fate of their political leaders.

In the House, GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy is facing a revolt from his right flank. I'm told there are dozens of hardliners starting to vote against him for speaker if he does not give in to their demands, and they will have significant leverage since Republicans will likely have a razor thin majority if they do win the House. Our Dana Bash asked Speaker Nancy Pelosi, whether she thinks McCarthy has what it takes to become speaker. Here's a response.

REP. NANCY PELOSI, U.S. HOUSE SPEAKER: But why would I make a judgment about something that may or may not ever happen.

[01:05:04]

No, I don't think he has it but that's up to his own people to make a decision as to how they wanted to be led or otherwise.

ZANONA: Meanwhile in the Senate, GOP Leader Mitch McConnell is also facing some backlash. A small but vocal group of Republicans is pushing to delay their internal leadership elections, which are set for this Wednesday, and former President Donald Trump has been calling Republicans and trying to blame McConnell for their underwhelming performance.

However, based on our reporting, McConnell does have enough support to become leader once again. Still, the internal GOP blame game is sure to heat up this week. Melanie Zanona, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

HOLMES: Ron Brownstein is CNN senior political analyst and senior editor at The Atlantic he joins me now from Nashville, Tennessee, not on the West Coast. Good to see you, Ron. The National Republican Senatorial Committee Chairman Rick Scott, he was saying in late October, he said, quote, I think we can get 53, 54, 55 Senate seats. If the GOP wins the House, it'll be with a handful of seats. What do these midterms leave the GOP as a party?

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Michael, It's an astonishing result. Because first of all, there have been very few first term midterm elections in which the party holding the White House has done as well as Democrats did this year, you know, potentially lose as few as seven or eight House seats and gaining in the Senate and gaining in the governorship. So that is very rare to begin with.

I think it is essentially unprecedented for the president's party to do that well, while the President himself was facing majority disapproval from the country. The only examples we have of anything like this are years like 1934, with FDR, 1962 with JFK after the Cuban Missile Crisis, 1998 with Clinton after impeachment, 2002 with Bush after 9/11. All of those presidents were extremely popular at the time that their party defied the usual midterm trend. That was not the case this year.

And the only way to explain Democrats avoiding the kind of losses that have been typical when a President's approval rating is as low as Biden's is that voters, even voters disappointed in Biden are simply reluctant to give power to the Republican Party is an unequivocal message of resistance, I think, to the Republican Party, as it is now been redefined in the Trump era.

HOLMES: And to that point, it has been argued that Trump destroyed what the Republican Party used to be, but do the conditions that led to his rise persists today. I mean, does Trumpism survive Trump? Or could we see the start of a new build user friendly GOP? Or I guess there's a third option too soon to say?

BROWNSTEIN: I think the dominant impulse in the Republican Party is toward Trumpism with or without Trump. You know, other candidates don't have the unique personal vulnerabilities that Trump does, in the sense of suburban voters who see him as uniquely unethical, or now post a January 6 as dangerous in terms of violence.

But you know, you look at someone like Ron DeSantis, who was the -- who was the leading alternative. And he is running on a very Trump like agenda on, you know, waging war against woke America kind of leading with the cultural war. And again, I mean, we're talking about at a moment where 75 percent of the country say the economy is in bad shape. Republicans made only minimal gains in the House, lost ground and the Senate did not win any of those blue state governorships that they target. They targeted it.

And that I think is a very clear signal that in those places, voters are resistant to this vision of what America is and should be. And I think that is a challenge for Republicans now. Certainly, they consolidated their hold on red America, in this election. I mean, all those states that banned abortion, for example, Republican governors cruise to reelection, but they -- the magnitude of the wall that they the solidity, maybe of the wall that they ran into. Even with this tailwind behind the enormous dissatisfaction with the economy and the President's performance, you really can't avert your eyes from that if you're going to seriously compete in 2024 as a Republican Party.

HOLMES: It's going to be interesting to see what how Ron DeSantis does if he turns to the national stage, a lot of people say that he's Donald Trump without the crazy. I did want to ask you this and see what you think of the importance of it, given the abortion issue and the like an interesting aspect of this election was the turnout of Gen Z. young millennials under 30, which who appeared to vote in great numbers. I saw a college campus polling place. I think it was in Arizona 96 percent voted Democrat. What's the significance of that?

BROWNSTEIN: Well, it doesn't appear that young voters turned out quite as high as they in 2018. The 2018 was the modern peak.

[01:10:02]

And, you know, they turned out relatively higher certainly than they have in most midterms. And they voted nearly two to one for Democrats on the national basis and at least that high in many of the key states. Look, 2020 -- in 2020, for the first time ever, millennials and Generation Z, which now really extends young adults for about 18 to 40 exceeded the baby boomers and older as a share of eligible voters.

HOLMES: Right.

BROWNSTEIN: In 2024 for the first time ever, Gen Z and millennials will exceed the baby boomers and older as a share of actual voters. And you can see the trend line that Republicans are dealing with there, some of these voters necessarily love Democrats. And certainly, Biden's approval rating has lagged among them, really from the beginning, even into the Democratic primaries in 2020. But they are the most diverse, the most secular, the best educated generations in American history.

And you can see them visibly recoiling from a Trump style cultural agenda that in many ways is about restoring the America of the 1950s. And before all of the rights revolutions that began in the 1960s. That is a challenge. And it'd be more of a challenge in a presidential year than it was this year, because they will always are a bigger share of the vote in the presidential year than they are in the midterm year young voters.

HOLMES: Great analysis as always good to see you, Ron Brownstein, not used to being on this side of the country, but still good to see you.

BROWNSTEIN: Yes. Thank you.

HOLMES: Well as the election drama plays out here in the US President Joe Biden is in Bali, Indonesia for the G-20. Summit. He met with the Indonesian President earlier but his highly anticipated meeting with the Chinese leader Xi Jinping is grabbing the headlines.

The U.S.-China relationship in its worst shape in decades, with tensions on a number of fronts, including of course, Taiwan, as the U.S. says it will defend the self-governing island from any Chinese invasion. Washington has also spoken out against China's human rights violations against ethnic Uighurs. China on its end is concerned Biden may change U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods.

The two sides could also potentially discuss Russia's war in Ukraine, North Korea's missile test and climate change. We're covering the story from all angles. Of course, Kevin Liptak and Ivan Watson live in Bali, Indonesia. Kevin, let's go with you. Given the state of U.S.- China relations, at just how low our expectations?

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, I think expectations are low for any kind of specific takeaway, there's not going to be a joint statement, for example, laying out areas of agreement. But I do think American officials expect something to come out of this meeting, which is to sort of have these two leaders speak to each other face to face, and sort of define where they see this relationship now in 2020, to add a moment of deep tension between these two countries.

And when you talk to officials, they do actually have fairly high expectations that at least that can come out of this meeting later today. And of course, it comes at this highly contentious moment between the U.S. and China that really began when the House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan over the summer, Beijing reacted furiously cut off channels of communication. And it was within that context that American and Chinese officials were trying to arrange the logistics of this meeting, the agenda for this meeting.

And what American officials say is that actually those communications proceeded a pace that they were able to speak relatively, frankly, with their Chinese counterparts and nailed down the specifics of this meeting. And part of that was because there was a real desire from both sides to finally get these two men in the same room talking, seeing eye to eye on at least some things.

And so those talks continued over the fall in what officials says that they were still talking late last night to come up with some of the agenda for what these two men will talk about, things that they wanted to emphasize, things that they wanted to deemphasize. And so that will kind of come into play later today.

For his part, President Biden has been reading up. He's been talking to his advisors. He's been kind of running through scenarios for how certain parts of this meeting might go and how he might respond to what Xi will say.

So, I think that they do believe that something can come out of this, whether it's something that they can go home and say we achieved XYZ, I don't think that they expect that. But they do want to come up with sort of a list of tasks that they will assign to members of their staffs to start working on together.

And so they didn't lay out specifically what those would be. But you can imagine things like climate change North Korea items where they do feel like they have the potential to cooperate to be on that list. And we do expect to hear from the President afterwards, he will convene a press conference and so we will be able to hear him in his own words to describe how this meeting went.

[01:15:02]

Now, those press conferences have proved somewhat contentious in the past when President Biden talks about Taiwan about other issues. So it will be interesting to see how he characterizes this meeting later today, Michael?

HOLMES: Yes, absolutely. Ivan Watson, let's go to you. Give us a broader sense of Mr. Xi's aims there in Bali. Taiwan, obviously a prickly issue, anything to talk about there or just a hardening of positions?

IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it is hard to see where the two sides could find some compromise there, Beijing views. The White House position right now is basically a betrayal of a series of communiques, joint communique that was signed between the two governments in the 70s and 80s, establishing formal diplomatic relations, in which the U.S. basically conceded that Taiwan is part of China and when the U.S. sends top level government officials to visit Taiwan when President Biden on multiple occasions now has said that he would seek to defend Taiwan if China was to attack the self-governing island, that China says is a betrayal of those agreements.

So in fact, you've got a state media saying there's no room for compromise on this issue, especially when the White House says it's trying to set new guidelines for the difficult relationship between these two countries moving forward.

But as you heard from Kevin, there are other areas where they could potentially find some cooperation. Climate change has always floated as a relatively apolitical area that's in kind of the global interest to try to find some compromise. North Korea very much on the agenda and the White House has been trying to create an incentive for Beijing to try to rein in North Korea arguing, hey, if North Korea is going to set off a seventh nuclear test, that's just going to provoke the U.S. to invest more militarily in the region, which is something that China doesn't want. So there's an incentive to try to rein North Korea in.

Another area of trade, you know, the White House imposing this ban on the transfer of semiconductor technology to China seen very much as an aggressive move. We have yet to see China's response to that. So keep an eye on that. And then there's the war in Ukraine.

China is -- Xi Jinping declared himself before Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine as having a friendship with no boundaries with the Russian president. But the war has had enormous ripple effects on the global economy. And Russia has made threats about using nuclear weapons. That is the kind of stuff that is uncomfortable for China

Is it possible that these two leaders could, in the privacy of their meeting, find some kind of common ground to perhaps ease some of those tensions with this escalating Ukraine war, which the Russian side is not doing well at and it must be embarrassing to some degree for the Chinese government to see its ally, withdrawing in just the last week from a key city that it had captured in the first days of the war. Michael.

HOLMES: All right, Kevin Liptak, Ivan Watson, both of you appreciate that. Thanks so much. We'll check in with you as the hours tick by for that meeting.

All right. From a liberation to restoration, a free Ukrainian city tries to rebuild after it was ravaged by Russia. Ahead way the road to recovery could be long and exhausting. And police have arrested a suspect in connection with a deadly explosion in the heart of Istanbul. We'll have the latest on the investigation when we come back.

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[01:22:19]

HOLMES: Three days after liberating Kherson from Russian forces, Ukraine taking stock of the widespread damage left behind. Authorities say the invaders destroyed most of the city's critical infrastructure, limiting people's access to water, bread and electricity. They're also accusing Moscow's military of atrocities, including hundreds of possible war crimes.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): Investigators have already documented more than 400 Russian war crimes, bodies of both civilians and military are being found. In the Kherson region, the Russian army left the same savagery behind as in other regions of our country, where it managed to invade. We will find and bring to justice every murder, without any doubts.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Russian forces have retreated to the east, across the strategically important to Dnipro River. They're now trying to beef up their defenses in the areas they still control. According to Ukraine, Russia gave up almost 180 settlements this week alone, and that covers about four and a half thousand square kilometers. As Ukrainians celebrate the liberation of their territory, they're also trying to repair the destruction in Kherson. CNN's Nic Robertson is there and shows us the daunting task they face.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR (on camera): While people are still celebrating their liberation, we were down in the main central square on Sunday people gathering there, there was somebody playing the trumpet playing the national anthem, people singing along cheering and clapping. But you know, there's a real sense of now the city is liberated. But how is it going to reconnect and reintegrate with the rest of Ukraine. The Russians on their way out destroyed so much. They destroyed the phone connection, the internet connection. So in that central square, you had people with their cell phones out trying to get Wi-Fi connection to the satellite connections that some of the soldiers had there.

Also by late in the day on Sunday, as well, the government was putting up a temporary cellphone service tower in the square in the middle of the city so that people can get connected with loved ones across the country. But the government has a message for people, it's still not safe to come back. There's still the possibility of mines, booby traps, so stay away.

But there are so many problems here. The electricity is off. It's dark all around. There's no water. We went down to one of the places where people are getting water in the city. It's a well that's being pumped right next to the river.

[01:25:00]

The river, of course isn't clean. The water that's coming out it's not safe to drink. People have been going there. Now they taught us for the past four days since the Russians left, and destroyed, you know, destroy the water system in the city. This is water that they can use to wash but not to drink. So the problems here are huge. The government says they want to tackle the electricity problem first, get that up and running, get the water up and running. We went to the hospital as well, Sunday, and then the doctors told us that that their equipments been taken away. They don't have electricity either. They told us when they do surgeries, it's from the light of their cell phones. So the situation here still really difficult. People happy to be liberated. But wondering about how they're going to be reconnected, reunited with the rest of the country. Nic Robertson, CNN, Kherson, Ukraine.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

HOLMES: Let's discuss this now with Mick Ryan, a retired Major General of the Australian Army. He joins me now live from Brisbane and good to see you again. The Institute for the Study of War says on its website that Russia's withdrawal from Kherson City is igniting an ideological fracture between hardline figures and President Putin. That confidence in Putin is eroding. What's your read?

MAJ. GEN. MICK RYAN, AUSTRALIAN ARMY (RET.): Good day, Michael. I think this withdrawal because of its timing and how it was conducted, may not be seeing the significant rupture that we're -- that's been portrayed by esto (ph). But certainly there is some concern by the hard right wing about this withdrawal. The reality however, is that if there hadn't withdrawal, there might have been a larger catastrophe, catastrophe for the Russians where they lost all their soldiers on the West Bank.

HOLMES: Eroding confidence is one thing, what's the potential for a real schism or a genuine threat do you think to put a Putin's rule? And I guess with that to happen, the risk could be who would replace him someone to reduce tensions or someone even more hardline and there's plenty of them?

RYAN: Well, that's the real problem, isn't it? Even if he was replaced, it doesn't mean that would be someone who would feel the need to withdraw from Ukraine, it might be someone who doubles down. Now I don't think we can rely on Putin being replaced for the end of this war. We have to rely on the Ukrainians winning fight after fight like this one and continuing to support them in the West.

HOLMES: Many believe the approach of winter will bring the battlefield to a standstill of sorts pause and regroup and so on. But Ukraine and Russia for that matter, they know winters, is there reason to believe Ukraine will surrender momentum or push forward?

RYAN: I think you're dead right, Michael. I mean, Ukraine and Russia have no one winters for eons. They know how to fight in a winter and while it might slow things a little bit. Ukraine has the momentum in this war. They've seized the initiative from the Russians at every level. They are not going to squander that. They are going to continue fighting and there's no reason to believe they won't be conducting other offensives in the very near term.

HOLMES: Yes. I read an article you wrote in the Sydney Morning Herald, which was fascinating. I just want to quote for a minute, real quick. You say, ultimately, this Russian defeat Kherson is a validation of Ukraine's military strategy of corrosion and the approach taken by its senior leadership. They are succeeding and the Russians know it. How then in this context, is the strategy of corrosion work?

RYAN: Well, what the Ukrainians have done almost from the start of the war, they have targeted the Russians indirectly. They target their logistics. They come up and target their command and control. And what they do is hollow out the Russian forces from within. And then that, you know, has an impact on Russian morale and the psychology of their troops. And then and only then do, they go into these large scale battles. So they seek to corrode them from within physically, morally and intellectually before they attack them directly.

HOLMES: Very effective so far. There is, however, a new Russian commander, and he's a pretty brutal one, given the territorial losses. What do you think the Russians might do tactically? Can you see more of these devastating attacks on Ukrainian infrastructure, again, as winter approaches in the impact of those attacks grows because of the weather? What could you see him potentially doing?

[01:29:35]

RYAN: Well, I think General Surovikin has proven himself to be reasonably effective from a Russian point of view at this point. He conducted the withdrawal with pretty good discipline compared to what happened up in Kharkiv. He got the vast majority of his force out of that part of Kherson.

What we'll see next is probably some expanded strikes on Ukrainian infrastructure and power. I mean they went on a wholesale destruction (ph) campaign in Kherson. But I think, too, we should watch where he deploys these forces that have come out of the west bank of Kherson. Where he sends them will give us a good indications of his next moves.

HOLMES: And that's instinct too because the Russians going across the Dnipro River to the east side -- that makes that a front line of sorts. But as I understand it there are Ukrainian forces north of the Russian forces on the East Side as well.

Can you see those forces moving south? I guess, where do you see the next major moves for the Ukrainians?

RYAN: Well, I think the Ukrainians are plucky. They're canny. They're very clever. They're not going to attack directly into the main defensive positions that the Russians have been established on the east bank.

But there are a range of areas, even further east, where they might be able to attack the Russians where they are weaker. That's what the Ukrainians have done throughout this war.

And I can pretty much guarantee one thing. Whatever the Ukrainians do, it'll probably surprise us.

HOLMES: Yes, indeed. Always fascinating to read your analysis, Mick. Thank you so much. Mick Ryan there in Brisbane for us. Appreciate it.

RYAN: Thank you.

HOLMES: Well, a suspect is now in custody in connection with the blast in Istanbul which Turkish officials are calling a terrorist attack.

You see there the explosion going off and the terror it leads to. Turkey's Interior Ministry blaming Kurdish separatists for carrying out the attack on Sunday.

At least six people were killed, more than 80 wounded in the explosion. It happened on a busy street is the heart of Turkey's largest city, Istanbul.

Turkey's health minister says about half of those injured remain in hospitals. An eyewitness describing what he saw. And a warning some of the details are disturbing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TARIQ KEBLAOUI, EYEWITNESS: There was a fire on the ground that scattered beside it were a few dead bodies, missing ligaments, one man missing a leg. It was a very gruesome site. Everyone around me was totally scattered and panicked.

And several people injured, bleeding from their ears, bleeding from their legs -- and several people crying all around.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

We'll take a quick break here on the program. When we come back, no red wave, but Republicans are still hoping they'll have at least a razor-thin majority in the House of Representatives.

We'll bring you up to date on the latest midterm election results.

Also, as Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu gets ready to form a new government, he looks likely to lead one of the most right-wing governments in the country's history.

We'll be right back.

[01:32:44]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: And our top story this hour, fresh results from Tuesday's U.S. Midterm elections in Oregon's 5th congressional district. CNN projects Republican Lori Chavez-DeRemer beat Democrat Jamie McLeod-Skinner. This is a pick up for the Republicans, a big victory for them.

But votes are still being counted, of course, as control of the House remains up for grabs. This, nearly a week after polls closed. Republicans needing six of the remaining uncalled seats to take the majority in the House.

Meanwhile, Democrats are celebrating a big victory too after retaining control of the Senate with that win in Nevada on Saturday.

CNN's Harry Enten now takes a look at how the Democratic Party defied midterm history this year.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HARRY ENTEN, CNN SENIOR DATA REPORTER: Although votes are still being counted, the 2022 election will go down as historically good for the Democratic Party. Normally in midterms, the president's party does poorly. But in this midterm, we saw the Democratic Party have a net gain of gubernatorial seats, not lose any Senate seats and they may in fact gain one, and a net loss, it looks like right now, of less than ten House seats. The last time that happened in a midterm election, 1934.

So how did Democrats pull this off? Well, despite high inflation, the issue of abortion was also on the minds of voters. In fact, a look at our exit polls show that about as many voters said that abortion was important to their vote as inflation. And those "abortion first" voters, they voted overwhelmingly Democratic.

And of course, Joe Biden's popularity had sunk considerably over the course of his presidency. And indeed, our exit polls show that only about 41 percent of voters had a favorable view of Joe Biden.

But when you also asked them whether or not they had a favorable view of Donald Trump, Trump's favorable rating was right around the same level.

Indeed, there was a solid portion, just a little bit less than 20 percent of the electorate, that did not have a favorable view of either Donald Trump or Joe Biden. And those voters, who you might have expected to go overwhelmingly for the Republicans, because Joe Biden is the president of the United States, in fact, basically flipped the tickets fairly equally, only slightly going for Republican candidates.

Of course, It's not just about Biden and Trump. It's also the fact that there were a lot of candidates running for the United States Senate who in the minds of voters were extreme. Indeed, in pretty much all of the key battleground Senate races, more voters said that the Republican candidate was too extreme then said that the Democratic candidate was too extreme.

Lastly, in the governor's races, there were a lot of Republicans running who denied that Joe Biden legitimately won the 2020 election, which of course, he did. All of those candidates who were running in either swing states or in blue states currently with GOP governors are either trailing or lost.

The only one who's currently trailing who CNN has not been able to project as a loser yet is Kari Lake in the state of Arizona, who right now is trailing.

Back to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE) HOLMES: Harry Enten there.

Democrats have already secured control of the Senate, of course, but a win in next month's Georgia runoff would give them a valuable boost. Democratic incumbent Senator Raphael Warnock will face off against Republican challenger Herschel Walker on December the 6th after neither man garnered 50 percent of the vote needed for an outright win.

On Sunday, Warnock was on the campaign trail in Atlanta, contrasting his experience with that of his opponent.

[01:39:56]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. RAPHAEL WARNOCK (D-GA); The people of Georgia need a champion and a champion for working people. That's the work I've done my entire life. It's the work I've been doing in the Senate. It's work I'm actually able to do.

Herschel Walker is not. He's not able to do this work. He's demonstrated that he has neither the competence nor the character.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Herschel Walker also campaigning, traveling to Atlanta's suburbs to urge Georgians to return to the polls in December.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HERSCHEL WALKER (R), GEORGIA SENATE CANDIDATE: If you voted last time, go vote for me again. But tell the people that didn't vote for me they need to vote for me, because if they didn't vote for me, they're going to have the government running their lives.

I'll tell you what, the government can't even run its own life. You don't want to have them running your life.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Israel's president has invited Benjamin Netanyahu to form the new government, paving the way for him to hold the top job for a record sixth time. But Netanyahu isn't in for an easy ride, as he is now likely to lead an ever polarized country and possibly one of the most right-wing governments in the country's history.

CNN's Elliot Gotkine with more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ELLIOT GOTKINE, CNN JOURNALIST: Less than two weeks after Israel's fifth elections in four years, Benjamin Netanyahu has once again been asked to try to form an Israeli government. He appeared alongside on the podium behind me here at the president's residence in Jerusalem. He was alongside President Herzog. Both men spoke to the throngs of journalists who had assembled here. They didn't take any questions. Herzog did make a number of comments to Netanyahu, particularly trying to address concerns of some Israelis, and some in the international community about the makeup of Netanyahu's government, which is likely to be the most right wing in the country's history.

Herzog saying, for example, that we as a people have no room for critical mistakes, adding that "your success is the success of the entire people".

Now, Netanyahu brushed aside concerns from some that the election of such a right-wing government would be the end of democracy in the country. And he also said that he hopes that his government will be a stable, successful, and responsible government of all of the people of Israel.

From today, he has 28 days within which to try to form a government. There's a possibility of a two-week extension. But after that the speaker of the Knesset, by then likely to be a Netanyahu ally, will call a vote of confidence, and if all goes to plan, Netanyahu could be prime minister in time for Hanukkah on December the 18th, the Jewish Festival of Lights and Miracles.

Elliot Gotkine, CNN -- Jerusalem.

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HOLMES: Well, the U.S. is still weeks away from winter but millions of Americans may need to bundle up this week. The latest on the freeze warnings and winter weather advisories right after the break.

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HOLMES: Six people have now been confirmed dead after two World War II era military planes collided during a Dallas airshow. All of the people killed were on board the planes. No fatalities on the ground.

CNN aviation correspondent Pete Muntean with the latest details.

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PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: The hard work of investigating what went wrong here is only just beginning. Investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board are now on the scene at the Dallas Executive Airport documenting the wreckage of not one but two planes involved in this mid-air collision. Both part of volunteer organizations that keep World War II planes flying.

The larger airplane, a B-17 Flying Fortress -- you've seen it in the movies, famous for the daylight bombing raids over Europe. The other airplane, an extremely rare P-63 King Cobra. Single seat fighter plane. In both cases, only a handful of examples flying worldwide. Airplanes like this do not have a flight data recorder or a cockpit

voice recorder though investigators now say they'll listen to the recordings of radio traffic that took place during the airshow.

They're also asking for witnesses to come forward with photos and video. More examples of that horrific scene keep getting posted online by spectators. Thankfully, nobody in the crowd was hurt. In fact in the U.S. an airshow spectator has not been killed at an airshow in more than 50 years.

Airshows like this are heavily regulated, highly planned, very choreographed, and the pilots must have special qualifications. They are the ones who accept the most risk in the name of keeping history alive.

Pete Muntean, CNN -- Washington.

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HOLMES: We are still more than five weeks away from the official start of winter in the U.S. but for many the frigid temperature's already here. About 28 million people under freeze alerts from the northeast in Washington D.C. and Philadelphia, down to the southeast in Atlanta, where we are where they've opened a warming center for the homeless community. There are also winter weather advisories in parts of the Midwest and Southwest.

Let's bring in meteorologist Pedram Javaheri. We'll both be wearing thick jackets when we leave here tonight.

PEDRAM JAVAHERI, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes. you know, these first couple of cold waves of the season definitely get a lot of people's attention. It's a shock to the system as well.

HOLMES: Yes.

JAVAHERI: That is exactly what's happening across the southern U.S. where incredibly cold air, given the time of year it is, even in places such as Montgomery, Alabama, Atlanta Georgia, middle 30s. Compare that to a more -- mild set up there across New York City, comparably speaking, of course. In Boston and a New York City sitting around 40 or so degrees. But not often do you see November temps that are colder down along portions of the Gulf Coast and parts of the northeast.

But that is the story tonight and it's frankly here to stay for the next week or so. And notice the wind chills in Minneapolis, 17 degrees, compared to Atlanta, 29 degrees there. So incredible cold air locked in in areas of the southern United States.

And notice the multi day forecast here in Atlanta. It just gets cooler for the afternoon highs, running 15 degrees below average.

St. Louis should be at 57 this time of year -- by Wednesday afternoon, the best we can do for you around 37 degrees, through Chicago after a day into the 60s, just about a week ago, dropping down into 30s over the coming several days.

Let's kind of show you exactly where this shapes up, where it's compared to in Atlanta, for example, on Monday. The average high temperature that we're going to expect on Monday afternoon will be actually something we usually see in late January.

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JAVAHERI: St. Louis is high tomorrow, about 45 degrees. Usually we see that on December 14th. Washington D.C. 50 degree afternoon, usually into around early February. Mid February in Chicago's 42, happens in early February.

But again this dramatic shift in temperatures is what's most impressive. Michael, it was 73 degrees in Nashville, Tennessee on Friday afternoon. It dropped to 43 for a high on Saturday, the coldest day since March 12th.

Yes. So these first waves of cold air this season always are (INAUDIBLE) to a lot of people.

HOLMES: That'll get your attention. 30-degree switch, boy. Well, it was a lovely autumn.

JAVAHERI: It was.

HOLMES: I did enjoy it. It's on its way out now. Pedram, thank you. Pedram Javaheri there.

All right. Quick break here when we come back, art among the rubble. We'll show you world-renowned artist Banksy's creations from Ukraine. That's when we come back.

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HOLMES: As Russia's war on Ukraine continues, the street artist known as Banksy appears to be sending a message to the world that the Ukrainian spirit is stronger than any of Vladimir Putin's explosives.

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HOLMES: The bombed-out buildings of Ukraine -- the latest canvas for street artist Banksy. Murals in the secretive artist's signature style have been spotted recently in Kyiv and nearby towns. This one in Borodyanka (ph), which was besieged by the Russians in the early weeks of the invasion until Ukrainian forces retook the town in April.

Banksy confirming his handiwork by posting pictures of it on his verified Instagram account. The murals drawing a steady stream of visitors, many with their own interpretations of the artwork.

This man says he thinks the gymnast balancing on a pile of rubble is Ukraine. He says it's a symbol that we are unbreakable, and our country is

unbreakable. And despite the fact that it's destroyed, we will rebuild everything.

There is a trail of murals throughout the area, though these haven't been officially claimed by Banksy. Like the scene of a child flipping a man in a judo uniform, who some say looks like Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Another mural in Irpin shows a gymnast performing a rhythm routine despite wearing a neck brace.

Other scenes of not-so-ordinary life painted on buildings that seem unfit to live in in towns also destroyed by the Russians. Possible calling cards from the anonymous artist, whose trip to Ukraine might -- but his message in this war zone is clear.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: Thanks for spending part of your day with me. I'm Michael Holmes, you can follow me on Twitter and Instagram @HolmesCNN.

CNN NEWSROOM continues with Rosemary Church just after the break.

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