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Florida Voters Head To Polls In House, Senate & Gov. Races; GOP Operative: Florida GOP House Primary Is "Clown Show"; Florida GOP Redistricting Scrambles Dem House Primaries; Mary Peltola Distances Herself From Kamala Harris Endorsement; Trump Votes By Mail Despite Claiming Mail Ballots Are "Corrupt". Aired 12-12:30p ET

Aired August 18, 2026 - 12:00   ET

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

[12:00:00]

DANA BASH, CNN HOST, INSIDE POLITICS: In every way, today's Florida primaries are just so Florida.

I'm Dana Bash. Let's go behind the headlines at Inside Politics.

Voters in four states are hitting the ballot box today for key governor, House, and Senate primaries in Wyoming, California, Alaska, and Florida. But the wildest races are no surprise in the Sunshine State. Florida has an open governor's race, a Senate seat up for grabs, and House races full of colorful candidates, certainly a cast there that is, we'll talk about. It's pretty remarkable, and it's made even more chaotic because of the Republicans' mid-year redistricting that left incumbent Democrats scrambling.

We're going to start with the governor's race. Steve Contorno is in Orlando, Florida, covering the Republican primary. And Steve, there is a lot of drama there with the endorsements, the lack of endorsements, silence from the outgoing governor. Tell us more.

STEVE CONTORNO, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Yeah, Dana. On paper, this should be a relatively straightforward race. President Donald Trump endorsed Representative Byron Donalds to be the next governor 18 months ago, but he failed to clear the field in part because the sitting governor Ron DeSantis has not only withheld his endorsement from Byron Donalds, but has made it very clear he does not want to see Byron Donalds be his successor. And that's made this race really dramatic, as you say, and overly complicated.

DeSantis also has not picked a successor himself, so he has sort of just been undermining candidates from the sidelines, including the person that President Trump wants to see in this office. So, this will be an interesting barometer of sorts of not only Trump's support in the Republican primary in his backyard, or his adopted home state, but also what kind of sway DeSantis still holds as, you know, a kingmaker in his own state.

And one of the other things that we'll be closely monitoring, certainly Republicans in Washington will be closely watching, is how much support goes to candidate James Fishback tonight. He has been an insurgent provocateur at times, a race baiter. He has said some pretty mean-spirited and outright racist things about Byron Donalds. He has also gotten a lot of attention, especially from the online right and from figures like Tucker Carlson.

And it'll be interesting to see whether tonight the support he has gotten and the attention he has gotten for his very online campaign manifests itself in any way in an actual Republican primary and presents itself as a potential challenge for Republicans to get their arms around going forward, Dana?

BASH: All right. Steve, thank you so much for that reporting. And I'm joined here by a terrific group of reporters. Just picking up where he left off. We have a lot to talk about just in Florida, but let's start with the governor's race and we can put back on the screen the candidates, Byron Donalds, who is a member of the House of Representatives and is a big supporter of President Trump, and that support goes both ways. He is certainly in the cat bird seat as voters go to the polls tonight.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Without question, I mean, he's a leading figure on the right. He has the president's support, and also very interestingly, he's one of the several African American candidates for governors in both parties, more than I can recall than at any time. I think up to a half dozen or so, but in Florida, you know, I was always so competitive, always the center of the universe. It really hasn't been, except in Republican primaries. So, this could be very interesting today.

But just thinking back, the governor at one point, his wife was thinking about running for office. She ended up not getting in. So, it would be a very big surprise tonight if Byron Donalds was not the nominee. But we shall see an August primary. It's unclear how many people are voting, et cetera.

BASH: You know, Steve mentioned James Fishback and the fact that he is one of the candidates for this Republican nomination. And the fact that he is getting any support is -- I'm just going to say it, it's gross, given the kinds of things that he is saying. One example, I'm going to put up on the screen. This is from December. Byron Donalds is a slave who was auctioned off for $31 million. He only wants to please his corporate masters.

[12:05:00]

TIA MITCHELL, WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF, THE ATLANTA JOURNAL- CONSTITUTION: Yeah. I think, you know, I've actually had conversations with Representative Donalds about this because he has taken such great pains to not talk about race in his campaign, to not highlight the fact that he stands to become Florida's first black governor and one of few black governors in the history of America. And James Fishback has come from kind of nowhere and kind of waged a campaign almost entirely on trolling Byron Donalds.

And you have to ask, you know, if you agree with Byron Donalds' policy-wise, he has President Trump's endorsement. He is a MAGA Republican through and through, whose origins are in the Tea Party. So, what is your problem with him, other than the color of his skin? And I think that's just an obvious question to ask Fishback and those who have aligned with him.

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: : Yeah. And obviously some people have aligned with him. And I think that that is even surprising to some of Trump's supporters who have been watching this closely, thinking that President Trump, in a place like Florida, where he is still incredibly popular in that state that they were going to be able to wipe Fishback off the mat.

And I will say, Fishback also got into it with a number of Trump aides online. He was going after them. He was attacking James Blair at one point, going back and forth, asking him to get Trump to rescind his endorsement for Donalds, or at least come out for him. It's been a real race to watch, just in the sense, as you said, if you believe in Donald Trump, you're a Republican, you are MAGA aligned, and the policies of Byron Donalds. What would then inspire you to go align with Fishback other than that?

BASH: OK. So, we saw Steve Contorno talking about the governor's race. He's also written about other races, including Florida 19. This is a Republican race to just determine who will be the Republican nominee for the House of Representatives there. And his headline kind of says it all. A clown show of carpetbaggers and characters has upended a Republican primary in Trump's backyard.

OK, so let's go through what he describes as this clown show. So, let's start with Madison Cawthorn, who -- Inside Politics viewers might remember. He had a brief and tumultuous time in the House of Representatives representing North Carolina. Again, this is Florida. He came from North Carolina. Chris Collins is running. He is from New York. And not only that, he was sentenced to 26 months in jail for his role as in an insider trading scheme.

Now let's move to Ola Hawatmeh. Did I say that right? OK. So, she is also from New York. Then we go to Catalina Lauf. She is not from New York, but she also is not from Florida either. She's from Illinois, running in this Florida race. Same with Jim Oberweis. In fact, Jim Oberweis and Catalina ran against each other in Illinois, and now they're running in Florida. Now let's not forget John Strand. Why is John Strand noteworthy here because he was in prison for what he was convicted of doing on January 6.

ZELENY: I mean, you barely have room there on the screen to write this all out. I mean, look, Florida, it's not unusual for people to come there from other places, Midwest retirees, et cetera. What's unusual is that they have run so recently in other places. I mean, Jim Oberweis is saying that he has owned a house in Florida for 45 years or so, so he's familiar with the Florida, of course, from Illinois originally. But he just ran just a couple years ago with Catalina Lauf, but she's the one who received the president's endorsement on this.

So, the president was sitting out on this, waiting to see who might win. He's very sensitive to missing the primary endorsement and choosing the wrong person here. But we will see if she actually wins this evening, but it's extraordinary. I can't think of any time when so many congressional misfits, really, and former felons and other things have arrived in the same place, the southwest corner of Florida, to run for this seat. So, it takes carpet bagging to an entirely new level.

HOLMES: Well, it also takes trying to have a comeback to an entirely different level. These are all people whose careers ended in either losing their races, disgrace, going to prison, chaos, right, both. I mean, these were people who have been written off, many of them by the party itself in their last roles, and now it's them trying to get some kind of redemption. So, you have the mix of it just being Florida, which is already chaotic.

[12:10:00]

This kind of idea that two of these people run against each. No one's actually from the state. Some of them had these chaotic tenures. There's prison involved, and this kind of redemption arc that one of them is seeking through this race today.

BASH: All right, everybody, stand by. I want to go back to Florida. Randi Kaye is there, who is in Broward County, and this is a seat that was redrawn by Republicans last year. Randi, incumbent Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz is one of the Democrats in the primary there.

RANDI KAYE, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: that's right, Dana. She is running now for a 12th time, but she's not running in her original district. That was her old district. That was District 25 because of this redistricting here. Her District 25 was basically dismantled, so she's now running in congressional District 20, which is a historically black district. It's been held.

The seat here has been held by a black lawmaker for more than 30 years. She is the only white candidate in this primary. At least one of her opponents has accused her of district shopping, trying to find a safer district to run in because District 25 is now more Republican. So, she has, of course, denied that.

But let me tell you who she's running against. One of the -- one of the opponents is Luther Campbell. He is a former rapper turned activist. He was from 2 Live Crew. Also, Dale Holness. He was the former Broward County mayor. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, she's a former congressman who, as you know, Dana, was facing this ethics -- is facing this ethics investigation. She resigned her seat, but she is running again. She says she has done nothing wrong. She's been accused of using millions in federal dollars and pouring it into her campaign.

And also, Elijah Manley, he's 27. He is a self-proclaimed Democratic socialist. He has been especially critical of Debbie Wasserman Schultz, saying that she chose to run in a district where she previously represented only about 2 percent of the voters, because maintaining her own power mattered more than whether she had any meaningful connection to the voters here. And Dana, we've spoken with some of the voters here, and we've gotten some mixed opinions about this race. So, we'll have to see what happens after the polls close tonight at 7 pm, Dana? BASH: Randi, thank you so much. Appreciate that, Tia, this is fascinating.

MITCHELL: It's fascinating, and it gets to the core of what we heard from members of the Congressional Black Caucus after that Supreme Court ruling that led to redistricting in states like Florida. You know, their concern wasn't just about party, even though we know race and party are closely aligned in American politics, but what they were saying was this. That when you get rid of majority-minority seats or reduce the number of majority-minority seats, you then could reduce the number of black representation in Congress.

And then redistricting now is leaving again because Florida redrew the maps to make them more favorable to Republicans, leaving incumbents in Florida, looking for new seats to run, and now we have Debbie Wasserman Schultz saying, listen, I want to stay in Congress, even it comes at the detriment to black members of Congress or having black representation in Congress. So that's a really interesting political calculation that she made.

BASH: Yeah. And we'll see how it plays out, what the voters decide. There's one more race that I want to get to, and that is Florida 25. This again is another district that was scrambled because of the Republican redistricting. Jared Moskowitz, the Democrat, is running in a primary against Oliver Larkin, who is self-described member of the DSA. Listen to an example of Oliver Larkin's campaign pitch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OLIVER LARKIN, (D) FLORIDA CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATE: Ready for a Green New Deal? Are we ready to end U.S. military aid to Israel and end this genocide. We are running to abolish and prosecute ICE. We are running to pass amnesty for our immigrant neighbors.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: Jeff, it's like woke one Mad Libs.

ZELENY: I mean, without question, it's really everything that really has been coursing through the Democratic Party everywhere in the country, kind of boiled down to this race here. So, we will see what happens with it. But a lot of spending in this race as well, like hitting on a lot of issues. But the underlying issue, obviously, is Israel, and that is what probably why he is running and what he is focusing on with the congressman.

BASH: Yeah. I haven't heard anybody use the word amnesty in a positive way, and I don't know, 20 years. So, we'll see how that works. All right, thank you. Next, we'll get into why the Democrat running for Senate in Alaska is effectively rejecting support from Kamala Harris. And if all mail-in ballots are corrupt, why is the president still using one? He just did. Stay with us.

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BASH: She doesn't even go here. Thank you, Tina Fey. That is more or less the message Kamala Harris got from Alaska Democrat Senate candidate Mary Peltola after the 2024 Democratic nominee signed a fundraising email supporting Peltola's campaign. That's for the New York Times. The Alaska Democrat wasted no time, separating herself from Harris. Her campaign said in a statement, Mary isn't seeking endorsements from anyone from the lower 48. Her focus is and always will be Alaska. Not a surprise why Peltola wouldn't want Harris endorsement. Peltola refused to endorse her two years ago.

But listen, this also speaks to the broader challenge that she has in Alaska. She is a Democrat in Alaska, and in 2024, President Trump won the state by 14 points. She lost her own House seat then to Republican Nick Begich, that was only by two points.

[12:20:00]

And my panel is back now. This whole question of whether or not a Democrat can actually win, I mean, we know she won statewide for the House but win in -- or at least get to the point where she could win in a red state like Alaska and represent the United States Senate is fascinating.

MITCHELL: Yeah. I mean, and clearly, she has to make different calculations than even a candidate in a different swing state, so to speak, because she's not in a swing state. She's in a red state. And also Alaska has unique voting systems, so she's got to make the calculus of how she, in this whole rank choice voting system, is able to advance.

So, I think there was a little bit of an unforced error. I don't know if it came from the Peltola camp or the Harris camp, or maybe a little bit of both. But that fundraising email was probably not a great idea, and then she had to spend some days walking it back.

BASH: Yeah. I'm guessing the things happen when you have staff just kind of churning things out, I'm guessing that was part of it. Jeff, I want to read you some analysis from our colleague Aaron Blake, and this is about the popularity of Senate Democratic candidates versus Republicans. Senate Democrats have one unpopular candidate. It's much worse for Republicans across the eight races that are most likely to determine the Senate majority. The GOP standard bearer has a net positive average image rating in just one race, Alaska, while every Democratic candidate except El-Sayed is in positive territory.

That's really telling about a lot of things, one of which is the crop of Democratic candidates. Generally speaking, are well picked by voters for the most part, and then just on Alaska, which we're talking about. Of course, this is a race that is colorful in its own sense because there are two Dan Sullivans on the ballot. The popular, as just described by Aaron Blake, incumbent Republican Senator Dan Sullivan, and then an independent, also named Dan Sullivan, who is also going to be on the ballot. ZELENY: And that adds to the confusion here. But if you look at the ballot there, there's one Dan Sullivan, and it says Dan Sullivan, Republican incumbent Daniel J. Sullivan Jr. is this person who's running against him. He's a retired school teacher. And the reason it's listed like that, because the state supreme court insisted that he be on the ballot but be on the ballot in a way that lists his name slightly differently.

So, any other place, you might say, gosh, this is going to cause a lot of confusion, and it may. But I'm thinking back to when Lisa Murkowski had to run as a write-in candidate, and she had this ad campaign hitting all 700,000 Alaska residents, how to spell her name, and that was the entire thing. She was writing it out.

So, I'm not sure there'll be that much confusion over this. But the top four candidates go to the November ballot, so even a sliver of confusion might be sort of interesting there. But look, the bottom line here. I was talking to someone who knows Dan Sullivan very, very well, and he said he's less concerned about this Daniel Sullivan than he is about the Republican environment.

It is still just a very challenging time there, but President Trump has been talking endlessly about how much he has done for Alaska, and he has done a lot. There's no doubt about it. But I would not put a nickel on the outcome of this race until November because it has so many nuances. It is fascinating.

BASH: Can we talk for a minute about President Trump? He voted in the Republican primary in Florida, which is now the state where he is registered to vote by mail. Here are some of the things he has said about voting by mail.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Mail-in ballots are corrupt. Mail-in ballots, you can never have a real democracy with mail-in ballots, and we, as a Republican Party are going to do everything possible that we get rid of mail-in ballots. Mail-in voting means mail-in cheating. I call it mail-in cheating, and we got to do something about it. The cheating on mail-in voting is legendary. It's horrible what's going on. Hopefully, there will be no mail-in ballots. Mail-in ballots are inherently corrupt.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: Now, Kristen, I know the White House is saying, and they said in a statement that the SAVE America Act, which is the federal legislation he is unsuccessfully so far pushing, which does away with mail-in voting would have exceptions for illness, disability, military, or travel.

HOLMES: They always end up focusing on this travel thing right around the time when President Trump has to vote.

BASH: But the point is, is that the look is -- HOLMES: Right. But you hear him say this over and over again that every mail-in ballot is corrupt. And then there start to be questions around every single election that he casts a mail-in ballot, and he says the exceptions. So, for a small period of time, we're going to hear from him, every time he talks about mail-in voting, and he's going to say, except for the exceptions like travel, because he is obviously making himself the exception.

[12:25:00]

And I will remind you, there was an election recently in Florida that he mailed in his ballot, despite the fact that he was in Florida during the actual election. He could have voted early. He instead went back to the White House and sent in his ballot. So clearly, that is his preferred way of voting now that he's in the White House.

MITCHELL: And I just think we need to note travel for regular people like us when we have to travel and we're flying coach and when we get somewhere, we have to stay there until our ticket says we come back. He has a plane at his disposal. He can get to Florida at, you know, the snap of his fingers, you know, in whatever time it takes to fly there, a couple of hours, so it's not like he's traveling like regular folks --

BASH: -- he has multiple planes at his disposal.

MITCHELL: Very true.

BASH: All right. Up next, it is day two of the Tupac Shakur murder trial in Las Vegas. And our next guest called the defendant to try to get him to talk about what happened. You're going to want to hear his take on this trial so far.

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