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Inside Politics

16 Days To Go: Are Democrats Sensing Shift In Senate Math?; Can Democrats End 94-Year Streak And Turn Kansas Blue? Closing Time: Which Midterm Messages are Breaking Through; Vance Leans in to Personal Attacks as He Stumps for GOP; Trump Administration and Judge Spar Over Chopping Down Trees. Aired 8-9a ET

Aired October 18, 2026 - 08:00   ET

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

[08:00:20]

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(MUSIC)

MANU RAJU, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Closing time. With 16 days to go --

ROY COOPER (D), NORTH CAROLINA SENATE CANDIDATE: I'm ready to go to work.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I don't need to do this.

RAJU: As time run out for the president and his party.

Plus, no place like home.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't think I've ever voted for a Democrat.

RAJU: I hit the trail in Kansas, where Democrats hope to break a 94- year streak.

Should the president end the trade war with Canada? Should he end the trade war with Canada?

But is the state's senate seat really up for grabs?

ADAM HAMILTON (D), KANSAS SENATE CANDIDATE: I'm a slightly left of center on some issues, slightly right of center on other issues.

RAJU: And out in front?

J.D. VANCE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We can certainly do better.

RAJU: Is the V.P. struggling to make the case now and for the future?

INSIDE POLITICS, the best reporting from inside the corridors of power, starts now.

(MUSIC)

(END VIDEOTAPE)

RAJU (on camera): Good morning. And welcome to INSIDE POLITICS SUNDAY. I'm Manu Raju.

At the start of this election cycle, Democrats chances of winning back the Senate looked incredibly dire at best. Now, with just 16 days to go, Democrats have multiple paths back to power and Republicans openly acknowledge the Senate could slip away as Democrats ride a wave of energy fueled in no small part to backlash to President Trump.

New campaign finance reports showed Democratic candidates hauling in eye popping sums in the last quarter. In one case, 11 times more than a GOP incumbent in a state Trump won by 16 points.

Now, this weekend, candidates have been crisscrossing their states, blitzing the airwaves and delivering their closing arguments in a final, frenzied push with control of the Congress on the line.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KEN PAXTON (R), TEXAS SENATE CANDIDATE: James Talarico is a Democratic socialist, just like AOC, and just like the New York Mayor Mamdani.

SHERROD BROWN (D), OHIO SENATE CANDIDATE: People know that the harder they work, they just can't get ahead. They see corporations making more and more money. They're working harder. They can't get ahead.

COOPER: I truly believe that this is an opportunity for our best days to be ahead of us. And I'm ready to go to work.

SEN. JON OSSOFF (D-GA): And, Georgia, in 17 days, we'll rebuke the crook president, Donald J. Trump, with such clarity and power that no president will dare such abuses again for centuries.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: So will Democratic momentum actually turn into votes?

Let's break this all down with our panel of road warriors, CNN's Jeff Zeleny, Leigh Ann Caldwell from "Puck News"; and Zolan Kanno-Youngs with "The New York Times".

Good morning to you all.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.

RAJU: Good to see you all here in Washington. I know we've all spent some time on the road the last several weeks, but 16 days left and Trump has also been on the road, including last night in very red Kentucky Senate race there. That's really not central to the battle for control of the Senate. But that's been the story of his campaign travel, oftentimes going to red states.

And you can see on your map his upcoming travel this week, really just two Senate battlegrounds. He is going to be this week, Kansas. We're going to talk about in the next segment, Iowa, central to the Senate majority here, but also North -- South Carolina. I mean, this is a race that's gotten a little bit more complicated for Republicans. Still have an advantage there.

Jeff, 16 days out, handicap the Democrats' chances of winning.

ZELENY: Look, it's a blessing and a curse for Democrats that the final chapter of this campaign is playing out in red states. On the plus side for Democrats, they are competitive in states, as you were talking about, you were in Kansas, obviously Iowa. The Great Plains really is at the center of the fight for control of the Senate.

But just because Democrats are competitive in these red states does not mean they're going to win. So it's a blessing and a curse I would say, that it's ending in these red states. And Democrats are within striking distance in every single one of these states. I was in Texas this week and running into so many Republicans. Some are supporting James Talarico, some are worried that he could win, and others believe that this is still going to come down to the final weeks of defining them.

One sort of common theme of all of them, every single Democratic candidate is trying to outrun the Democratic brand. It is not good in these red states. They know that. So that is going to be the open question on election night. Is an Adam Hamilton able to outrun the brand? Is a Josh Turek in Iowa able to differentiate himself enough?

And James Talarico last night, San Antonio on stage with the chicks trying to make the case to a variety of different audiences that it is time for a change. But again, these red states mean that Republicans have some advantages there, too.

[08:05:01]

RAJU: That's why they're trying to -- Republicans are trying to nationalize the race in state after state, saying its all about Democratic control of the United States Senate, hoping Republican voters overlook all their concerns about Trump, the economy, and the rest that they ultimately come home here.

But the story about the fundraising tells us -- tells what's happening in this campaign, at this moment right now, because the Democratic money, if you look at the map right here, your seats -- the seats that you're seeing in states you're seeing in yellow are what "Cook Political Report" considers toss up races here. So you're seeing a lot of battlegrounds here.

But then you look at the money as I was just saying, look at this here because the Democratic fundraising in the last quarter has just been staggering. Here you talk about James Talarico, Jeff, look at this 60 million bucks in one quarter compared to 10 for Ken Paxton. And just down the line -- I mean, just all the Democrats are outraising significantly. That's a -- that's a sizable amount.

But, you know, one thing that we also look at this moment, how much money is left in the bank account. That's what's, of course, known as cash on hand. You know, the Republicans in some of these states are doing a little bit better than the Democrats there.

Oops, get rid of that. Get rid of that. Okay. I guess it's -- it's acting up.

There we go. So the Democrats are doing a little bit better. Republicans are doing a little bit better in, say, Michigan being one of them, Alaska being another Ohio. They've got a little bit more money in the bank account. So there's still some bright spots for Republicans when it comes to money, especially when it comes to the outside spending as well. But the fact that the Democrats are raising this much money shows that the base is juiced right now.

LEIGH ANN CALDWELL, PUCK NEWS CHIEF WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, absolutely. The candidate money that they are raising, as you just mentioned, is, is part of the story. I mean, it is a sign of enthusiasm and motivation for Democrats and also candidate quality that the base is really happy with the candidates that they have on the map here. But then when it comes to the outside spending, you have massive Republican outside spending from the likes of Elon Musk.

There's some money from MAGA Inc. and Trump's affiliated super PACs, although Elon Musk has spent more than Donald Trump this cycle, which very telling --

(CROSSTALK)

RAJU: As you -- as you continue here, look at the amount of money that Elon Musk has spent, $276 million. He's the biggest midterm donor in the history of this country. That's his own money. And $158 million just going to try to get Ken Paxton over the finish line in Texas.

CALDWELL: Yeah, absolutely. And this is what Republicans are hoping will help these Republicans in the final stretch. They have been begging for this outside money, and it has come in. Of course, there's all these dynamics where this outside money doesn't get the same ad rates as the candidate money, which gives Democrats another small advantage.

But the money is a huge deal. And this could very well be the most expensive midterm cycle yet. And, and just one last point to double down on what I just said is that for the last few weeks, that is the one thing that Republicans are pointing to as perhaps the thing that can help them, because they know they have not a lot else to run on, is that they're hoping that the money from these outside groups makes a big difference.

And so, yesterday in Michigan, there was a moment where Abdul El-Sayed was confronting a question about the Muslim Brotherhood. He was, of course, this issue about Israel and the way he has handled it has been central, not just in the primary that ended in August, but also as he tries to court Jewish voters in the state. Very divisive issue. We saw what happened to Kamala Harris in 2024 on the issue of Gaza, how Trump ultimately capitalized on Biden's handling of it winning Michigan.

Abdul El-Sayed was asked about this. He would be, of course, the first Muslim senator if he were to win the Muslim Brotherhood. I want you to listen to how he responded to this voter.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Will you disavow the Muslim Brotherhood?

ABDUL EL-SAYED (D), MICHIGAN SENATE CANDIDATE: Sure. Yeah, absolutely. You're asking the question because implicitly you assume that I'll have dual loyalties, right? You assume that somehow I wouldn't disavow or that I'll have some higher order allegiance than to the Constitution. For me, that Constitution is the guiding light.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: How do you think, Zolan, he has handled these questions through the course of this campaign? Here he was. He tried to go after this voter who was asking him a question. Will you disavow the Muslim Brotherhood?

ZOLAN KANNO-YOUNGS, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Yeah, yeah. Look, this is this is a tight race. And you noted this, that El Sayed has the past comments that he's had. There is -- he is facing some challenges when it comes to concerns for more moderate voters.

RAJU: He's campaigning with Hasan Piker.

KANNO-YOUNGS: That's right. That's right. Concern from Jewish voters as well. I think we can also state that and that there is concern there.

And then also state that also there has been a lot of attacks as well from the Republican Party that has dipped into Islamophobia as well, you know, specifying full name as well, trying to make these --

RAJU: Trump calling him Mohammed.

KANNO-YOUNGS: Right, right. Trump calling --

RAJU: His name is Abdul.

[08:10:00]

KANNO-YOUNGS: Right, saying that Democrats are running jihadists across the country, President Trump said as well.

Here you see him sort of leaning into this question from a voter, seemingly with an awareness of all of those other attacks and baggage that has come with this campaign. These attacks are not going to stop as well. This is the type of thing that's interesting to see at a town hall as well, where you see him leaning in and actually engaging with a voter on a question like this.

ZELENY: And it's -- if you watch the whole clip, it's unclear if the voter had a genuine question about this or if he was trying to be provocative. The voter ran out right afterward. It was a -- not that it matters, I mean, it was an interesting question, no doubt, but I think his answer is something that he is trying to get over a hurdle of saying, look, he's an American.

I mean, he is a Michigander. He supports the U.S. constitution, but there are a lot of ugly questions out there that are being fomented by the other side and other questions in general, just about El Sayed.

RAJU: Yeah, I want to another issue that happened in another race and also overnight on Friday night, the president putting out an executive order to essentially waive sanctions that would be placed on Russia, that came as a result of painstaking bipartisan negotiations that led to the enactment of legislation that both sides were cheering just in the final weeks here.

Democrats, a lot of them, voted against it because they were concerned Trump would do what he just did on Friday, which was to waive sanctions against Russia in its -- because of, of course, the war in Ukraine. Trump doing this as a way to ease gasoline and diesel prices in particular, and getting some backlash from someone you probably would not expect here.

Darline Graham, who has aligned herself very much with president Trump throughout this, because she is he the reason why she is what the Republican nominee is because of Donald Trump's support in that South Carolina race. She said, I would choose to keep the pressure on Russia to end the war and get the gas prices down, because I don't trust Putin and I don't trust Russia.

Of course, this is her brother's legislation, the late Lindsey Graham, that he helped push across the finish line, and Trump quietly trying to wave a magic wand and get -- ease these sanctions on Russia.

CALDWELL: Yeah. It was the last conversation, the last, the topic of the last conversation that Lindsey Graham had with Donald Trump right before he died was about this legislation. But it goes to show of how Donald Trump is in South Carolina. The fact that Darline Graham felt the need to distance herself from the president in a state that she should win very easily talk -- gets to the larger political environment.

The fact that South Carolina is competitive, the fact that Donald Trump is having to go down there to campaign against, you know, for Darline Graham against, you know, an upstart candidate who Democrat who has maybe a chance.

RAJU: Yeah. We'll see. And again, it gets back to that ultimate that money discussion from before. Earlier, if Democrats had money to spend, they would spend more in South Carolina right now. They don't -- they're getting outspent by Republicans by those outside groups. We'll see how that plays out.

And coming up next, it was once as ruby red as Dorothy's slippers but now, Democrats are fighting with all their might to flip Kansas Senate seat. I traveled across the state this week to see if they can pull it off. Next, what the candidates said and didn't say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: Should the president end his trade war with Canada? Should he end the trade war with Canada?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:17:58]

RAJU: Adam Hamilton is not yet a household name much beyond the state of Kansas, but he could be if he becomes the first Democrat in nearly a century to win a Senate seat in the conservative state. The pastor, who co-founded the largest United Methodist Church in the country is giving the Republican incumbent, Roger Marshall, a run for his money in Kansas. And in the final days, both sides now view the race as a toss up and central in the battle for the majority.

But what actually is happening on the ground? I traveled across the state, talked to the candidates, and filed this report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RAJU (voice-over): Republicans are on a mission in Kansas, of all places, to rescue Senator Roger Marshall. It has been 94 years since a Democrat won a senate seat in Kansas. The state has only had three Democratic senators in its history.

But the pastor turned candidate, Adam Hamilton, is seeking to change that.

MARILYN HARRISON, KANSAS VOTER: I don't think I've ever voted for a Democrat senator.

RAJU: You haven't. This will be the first time.

HARRISON: First time.

RAJU: A toxic brew is confronting Marshall here in Kansas -- high gasoline prices, high diesel prices, the unpopularity of the Iran War, the unpopularity of the president's tariff policies, and the president himself seeing his own approval sliding.

HAMILTON: I watched in Washington, D.C. after the inauguration of our president, President Trump. I prayed for him. God, please give him wisdom. And I will tell you, just because you're a pastor does not mean your prayers are answered.

RAJU: Republicans are trying to nationalize this race, trying to make it all about Democratic control of the United States Senate if Hamilton were to win.

SEN. ROGER MARSHALL (R-KS): Who do you want running this country? Do you want Chuck Schumer, the AOC, big government Democrats running this country?

RAJU (voice-over): To avoid an historic defeat, Republicans are now in an all out effort to save Marshall, launching attacks like these:

AD NARRATOR: Adam Hamilton isn't a moderate. He's a two-faced extremist.

RAJU: I caught up with Marshall in Central Kansas, a place that Donald Trump won overwhelmingly. And I asked him initially about the Iraq war. Instead, he pivoted to another issue.

[08:20:01]

Do you think that given the impact that it's having on fuel prices, that it's time for the president to end the war with Iran?

MARSHALL: You know, I think what you should be talking about is my opponent, that he's a child sex predator protector, that he's --

RAJU: He denies that.

MARSHALL: It absolutely happened.

RAJU: What about Iran? What about Iran? I'm asking --

MARSHALL: No, I think you guys need to talk about something that Kansans want to be talking about right now.

RAJU: They're not talking about the Iraq war? The Iran war?

MARSHALL: I've given you my comments on Iran before. Look, I want this war to be over as quickly as possible. I don't want to lose any soldiers -- any more soldiers like Eisenhower. I hate war.

AD NARRATOR: Sex abuse at a fall church camp.

RAJU (voice-over): Marshall now running ads accusing Hamilton of covering up a child sex abuse sex scandal from two decades ago. And Trump piling on in a Truth Social post this past week. But Hamilton says the accusations are riddled with lies.

RAJU: This is the president of United States who just said that.

HAMILTON: Yeah, the president is lying and he's -- and he's twisting the truth around. And every organization that looked into these claims four months ago said the same thing. This is a misrepresentation -- misrepresentation of what happened. It's what --

RAJU: You've done anything differently in that situation?

HAMILTON: Absolutely. Like we should have called the police immediately, but that was not our policies 21 years ago. This is desperate attempts to try to deflect from a horrible record Roger Marshall has.

AD NARRATOR: He sued more than 700 of his own patients for paying their medical bills late.

RAJU: But Marshall has faced a series of damaging stories, including billing practices associated with his medical practice. "The New York Times" reporting that he filed lawsuits against roughly 700 patients who had outstanding debt. Eighty-one of those patients later were arrested for missing court dates.

What about the billing practices? "The New York Times" -- they reported about that. When you look at those people who had about $100 in outstanding debt, was it okay to go after them?

MARSHALL: So why do you continue to repeat this lie?

RAJU: The story is not true?

MARSHALL: So why are we repeating the lie? You're repeating the lie.

RAJU: Did you guys do anything wrong? Did you guys do anything wrong?

MARSHALL: Can you -- of course we did not.

RAJU: Why?

MARSHALL: Okay. The Kansas bill of rights clearly says you cannot imprison or even arrest somebody because of indebtedness. I would want no one to ever go to jail because of anything they owe me. There were people being bused from other cities to us, knowing that I would take care of them for free.

RAJU (voice-over): And "The Kansas City Star" reported that Marshall's practice charged an unusually high 18 percent interest rate on unpaid medical bills.

RAJU: What about the 18 percent interest rate that's come out? Is that an appropriate interest rate to charge?

MARSHALL: Listen, I think what you're losing the real story here, right? So once this when and if this ever happened and we wrote off hundreds of people's of bills every month, some of those people by law have to go to collections, whatever interest rate they charge, I have no idea. This was the first lie of many from Adam Hamilton's campaign.

RAJU: Should the president end the trade war with Canada? Should he end the trade war with Canada?

RAJU (voice-over): Marshall has shown little daylight with Trump, who won the state by double digits three times and relying on surrogates like Vice President J.D. Vance, who recently attacked Hamilton's faith.

VANCE: Ladies and gentlemen, that is not Christianity. That is left wing radicalism dressed in the skin suit of our religion.

RAJU: When you look back at some of your past sermons, did you ever say things that were things that were outside of the political mainstream that you could have said differently? HAMILTON: I'm a -- I'm a slightly left of center on some issues,

slightly right of center on other issues. If you want to take a line out of a sermon, I preached 1,500 different sermons. Take a line or two words out of one paragraph, two words out of another, and you make something up, that sounds -- sounds that way.

But if it's sad and pathetic that both the president and the vice president would attack somebody's faith, I guess I would ask the question, do you know, do the policies of Vice President Vance and Donald Trump, do they reflect the Jesus of the gospels? And the answer is no.

RAJU (voice-over): Democrats have demonstrated some success here in recent years, including Governor Laura Kelly's two wins, and a ballot initiative reaffirming abortion rights in the state.

That makes Marshall's backers nervous.

RAJU: Are you worried that Hamilton could actually win this race?

JAMES NELSON, KANSAS VOTER: Oh, he could because we have a bad reputation in this state of electing liberal governors and things.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Adam Hamilton.

(APPLAUSE)

RAJU (voice-over): To win the race, Hamilton has to woo Kansas Republicans and convinced them he's a different kind of Democrat.

RAJU: There are some voters who undoubtedly have concerns about the fact that if you were to win, the Democrats are likely going to be the senate, and Chuck Schumer is going to likely be the Democratic leader. What do you say to those voters?

HAMILTON: Well, I say to them, it's possible that that's going to happen no matter what. But here's the question I ask, are you better off as Kansas if we have two Republican senators representing Kansas in - - on the Republican side of the aisle, or if we had Jerry Moran who seems to be doing a pretty good job on the Republican side, and I'm working as a moderate Democrat on the Democratic side.

RAJU: I saw you had said that you had spoken to Chuck Schumer about how he's making this race harder for you? What do you mean by that? Is it just how toxic the Democratic brand here is in this state?

HAMILTON: Yes, I think the Democratic brand is in trouble everywhere across the United States.

[08:25:01]

And Chuck Schumer becomes the sort of archetype for that, whether it's deserved or not, that's how he's seen. So what I've said is I'm not going to vote for Chuck Schumer for, you know, the Senate majority leader, if -- or minority leader, whichever it is. No -- no disrespect for him, but we need new and fresh leadership and the Democratic Party needs that desperately. They need new and fresh leadership, new ideas. And I think I'm a part of that.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

RAJU: All right. My panel is back, including Jeff Zeleny, who also has traveled across Kansas talking to Adam Hamilton, covering this race as well.

Jeff, can Adam Hamilton actually pull off what would be a remarkable upset?

ZELENY: He can. I mean, even many Republicans there are so concerned about it. The president going to Wichita tomorrow, the presidents own policies are hanging over Kansas in an extraordinary way here. That complicates this for Roger Marshall.

Roger Marshall is the weakest Republican incumbent candidate across the board. Every Republican I talked to agrees. The question for Hamilton, you are zeroing in on it. Can he out run the Democratic brand there?

And if the Democratic majority wasn't at stake, would it be easier for him? That is one of the things that voters are weighing here. But yes, he can win.

RAJU: And the amount of money that's coming in on the Democratic side actually shows you, too, because the ad spending, actually Democrats are now outspending Republicans on TV, future ad reservations. They are at the moment, outpacing them. And Adam Hamilton raised $9.9 million in the last quarter, compared to 866,000 for Roger Marshall.

CALDWELL: So Roger Marshall's inability to fundraise is one of the things that Republicans months ago started to flag to me about how this could be a problem in a bad political environment. And it is absolutely coming true. National Republicans have spent have spent about $14 million. They're trying to boost and save Roger Marshall.

Democrats have responded. And Democrats, you know, the national Democrats, the fact that they're spending money there in such an expanded map.

RAJU: And very quickly, Zolan, you could see Roger Marshall struggling on the questions of the Iran war.

KANNO-YOUNGS: On the Iraq war. And you have headlines of suing patients that were trying to seek health care at a time where Trump's big, beautiful bill also made cuts to the social safety net. That's going to add to the frustration, the economic frustration you were pressing him on.

RAJU: No question about it. It's such an interesting race. We'll see what happens.

And up next --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) STEVE DOYLE (D), WISCONSIN STATE ASSEMBLY: Please don't fall for emotional appeals. Oh, and this is my baby alpaca pasta. She hopes you'll vote for me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: Is this the kind of ad that actually resonates this year? My brilliant panel will have their thoughts as we dive into the ad was.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:32:00]

MANU RAJU, CNN HOST: More than $10 billion -- that's how much has been spent on political advertising in this record-breaking midterm cycle.

So how in the world are candidates actually breaking through all this clutter, or are voters just tuning them out?

Well, my colleague David Wright helped us analyze one theme emerging in Democrats ads -- corruption.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We know about swamps in South Carolina, but Trump was right. The biggest swamp is Washington, D.C. and Darline Graham was handpicked by it.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They call Washington, D.C. a swamp. I like ours better. It's a lot cleaner than the mess in Washington.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Desmond will fit right into the sleazy corruption in Trump's D.C. Looking out for himself while costs skyrocket for us.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Swamp. Derek Van Norden is too corrupt.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: All right. My panel is back.

Zolan are these -- are these actually breaking through with voters?

ZOLAN KANNO-YOUNGS, "NEW YORK TIMES" WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: I think it is, right. I mean, because it also comes at a time of some unfavorable headlines for the White House that speak to misuse of funds and corruption, right.

Kimberly Guilfoyle recently ousted as well. You know, the headlines around cryptocurrency regulation, and the president and his family reaping profits as well. The softening of regulation, I mean.

I saw a recent CBS poll as well that showed that corruption has risen to be a top issue for voters as well.

All of this, you can tell, is on the mind for Republicans, because look at the vice president's answer at the CBS town hall in Michigan as well, where he came out and said, I'm paraphrasing here, but that anyone who makes money off of the White House, that that there should be some accountability for that too.

Just the fact that he would have that response shows that this is on the minds of Republicans, that they know that corruption is on the minds of voters.

RAJU: Yes. And the fact that Guilfoyle was also fired.

KANNO-YOUNGS: Yes.

LEIGH ANN CALDWELL, PUCK NEWS CHIEF WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Well, we had -- we had known for a while that corruption was one of the top issues in the polls that kept rising and rising. And then I talked to a Republican who's helping to elect House Republicans a couple of weeks ago, and they said it's actually sometimes in some polls, number one behind or in front of cost of living. And then Fox News came out with a poll last week, said exactly that.

And I think that the two issues combined of, you know, the president's team enriching themselves, while I can't afford to fill up my gas tank, it really matters.

RAJU: And these are the top themes that are emerging in these battleground races from this past month. Special -- Democrats special interests are focused on health care, energy, Trump and taxations.

Republicans, mostly, crime is a big focus of this. It has been in election cycle after election cycle. Of course, taxes is something we don't see as much. Republicans talking about Trump as we see Democrats.

But there was an interesting ad, Jeff Zeleny, in Mississippi. This is a reach (ph) state for Democrats.

[08:34:49]

Scott Colom running against the incumbent Republican Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith. This is Colom's ad.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SCOTT COLOM (D), MISSISSIPPI SENATE CANDIDATE: The price of beef continuing to go up.

CINDY HYDE-SMITH (R-MI): You know, you have so many proteins to choose from.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Pick another protein. I'd rather pick another senator instead.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Pick another protein? She done lost her damn mind. I'd rather pick another senator.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Pick another protein. What the --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Pick another senator instead.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: I mean --

RAJU: That's pretty funny.

ZELENY: It's in the running for my favorite out of the cycle, there's no doubt. And there's some on the Republican side also, but this is -- it gets to the point of an incumbent Republican senator saying something offhand that is just so tone deaf at this moment in time.

Mississippi is a reach, there's no doubt about it. However, it is one of those places a Republican incumbent anywhere are checking their numbers and concerned about this.

South Dakota as well. Keep your eye on that. There are Republican incumbent senators who are so nervous.

RAJU: Your home state of Nebraska.

ZELENY: No doubt about it. The vice president going back to Nebraska this week to try and shore up Pete Ricketts.

So look, I think that ad is effective because it's funny. And it also is like, you know, it's a change election. And those voters or actors in the ad kind of exemplify that.

RAJU: And there's also -- this could be in the running for, you know, for maybe the cutest ad of the year, if you want to say.

This is a Democratic state assembly member running for reelection in the state of Wisconsin, Steve Doyle, and bringing out the alpacas in this ad.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEVE DOYLE, WISCONSIN STATE REPRESENTATIVE: Hi, I'm Representative Steve Doyle. Have you noticed how politicians prey on emotion to influence voters? They'll show you pictures of cute babies. Or use scare tactics to get you outraged over something they just made up.

Please don't fall for emotional appeals. Oh, and this is my baby alpaca Pasta. She hopes you'll vote for me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KANNO-YOUNGS: It's almost like the evolution of that Warnock ad from a couple of cycles ago, where he has all the puppies. But this time you've upgraded --

(CROSSTALKING)

KANNO-YOUNGS: -- a little bit, right?

RAJU: Yes. Did the alpaca sell? CALDWELL: It was cute. We'll see. Maybe some alpaca, you know,

enthusiasts will vote for him.

RAJU: Yes, exactly. Maybe that one enthusiast will make the difference.

KANNO-YOUNGS: Will stick in your head --

RAJU: Yes, exactly.

KANNO-YOUNGS: -- to talk about it later.

RAJU: All right. Ok.

Coming up next for us, a former VP is about to kick off a major campaign swing. Current vice president faces a tough set of questions on Iran and the economy. So can either of them get voters to the polls as we look ahead to the next big race.

[08:37:28]

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RAJU: Vice President J.D. Vance is making himself a fixture on the campaign trail, spending his time in the critical battlegrounds while taking pot shots at Democrats.

So what does this all mean for Vance ahead of a widely anticipated 2028 run, which will start to take shape soon after the midterms?

Well, last night in a town hall aired on CBS, Vance was pressed on the Iran war and gas prices and was on the defensive.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

J.D. VANCE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Now I see what Abdul el-Sayed says about the war in Iran. I see him criticizing decisions that the president has made, the military has made.

I'd like to know what is Abdul el-Sayed's solution for the problem that we have right now? It's easy to criticize something that happened seven months ago.

The biggest reason why gas prices are so high is because when Joe Biden was president, we had about 20 percent of American refining capacity that went offline. We're slowly bringing that online, but it does take a little bit of time.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's almost been two years. At a certain point, it becomes your economy, not Joe Bidens economy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: All right. My panel of political insiders is back. So while Trump -- Vance has been doing all this, how did the American voters view him? According to a recent poll from the AP 52 percent have an unfavorable view of him; 32 percent favorable.

That is not good, Leigh Ann, especially ahead of a 2028 run. He seems to be doing himself no favors. And last night he was really on the defensive as well, struggling on some of the key questions about Iran and gas prices.

CALDWELL: Yes, the biggest challenge for Vance moving forward is his ties to Donald Trump. He is his vice president. He's going to be in a very difficult situation.

RAJU: Strong ties.

CALDWELL: Yes. Yes. Trump does not like people who break with him. He's going to need the president.

RAJU: And they put Vance in charge of Iran -- dealing with Iran. And that doesn't --

CALDWELL: Yes. Yes. He's -- I mean, he's going to have the shadow of Trump over him as he moves forward. And, you know, 18 months ago, that probably could have been good for Vance. Now maybe not so much.

RAJU: Yes. And there was this moment last night where J.D. Vance took a question from a man whose wife was an -- was an American who has who died in an Iranian airstrike in march.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOEY AMOR, WIDOWER OF SERVICE MEMBER KILLED BY IRAN STRIKE: There's a failure in the leadership. And I want to know how this administration is going to start holding those leaders accountable for the actions and the deaths of the soldiers that we -- that we honor and that we love.

VANCE: We have changed a lot of our tactics to try to suppress that drone fire, to try to protect our troops, to make it so that more people don't have to pay the ultimate sacrifice.

But I want to understand what we can do better and what those soldiers are seeing, because part of the problem with this job, this job is an amazing honor, but you live in a bit of a bubble and sometimes information doesn't filter up to me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: What do you think of that moment, Zolan?

KANNO-YOUNGS: Well, one, we talk about the ramifications of this war sometimes in economic measures, but it's also very personal, right.

[08:44:50]

KANNO-YOUNGS: And the political leaders that are leading the way on these actions, they're going to have to face questions of that -- of the losses that have also occurred during this war.

RAJU: And we have not heard that really happen before.

KANNO-YOUNGS: That response also included J.D. Vance saying, I really haven't heard these reports of failures among the leadership.

I don't know if that's going to cut it when it comes to the widow of somebody asking a question saying, I want real clarity here of what the strategy is moving forward.

ZELENY: It was an extraordinary moment. And if J.D. Vance runs for president, as we expect him to do, that will hang over him, that answer there.

Yes. He expressed his concern and his sympathy --

(CROSSTALKING)

KANNO-YOUNGS: He did say, I want to talk offline.

ZELENY: He did. He did. But to say this is the first time hearing of it, I mean, really? You're in charge of the Iran war. I mean, these things are coming up through you.

I mean, it's clear that there is a failure there. But I think to your point, we talk about diesel prices and gas prices, but there's a human cost of this war. So that question really shined a light on that.

And it seemed to be one that the vice president didn't really have an answer for.

RAJU: Yes. And you'll have to answer a lot of those questions, you're right, if he decides to continue to run.

So meantime, while Trump is -- while Vance has been campaigning across the country, were going to see the former vice president campaigning across the country in the coming days ahead.

Look at your screen, there are a number of places that she is planning to travel -- Nevada, Mississippi, Georgia, Wisconsin, New Hampshire -- among those in-person visits.

Leigh Ann, is this good for Democrats?

CALDWELL: You know, I think that she is probably going to the places that the candidates there have welcomed her and said that please do come. I think it depends on state by state whether it's good.

We saw, you know, Mary Peltola in Alaska reject the vice -- the former vice president from coming. And so I think that the candidates are making their individual decisions on what she can do.

RAJU: What do you think and how likely is it that she runs in 2028?

KANNO-YOUNGS: Well, I mean, often you hear these answers from candidates at this point where they're not going to give a clear answer on that. Also, the one factor could be Newsom's response to Jake Tapper, where

he said if Kamala Harris runs, I don't know if he's going to run or he said he wouldn't as well.

All those dynamics are going to be interesting. But, you know, we've been talking about this tension between the Democratic brand that these candidates are trying to distance themselves from.

Well, Kamala Harris also represents that brand. When you ran for president on the ticket in the last presidential cycle. So seeing her ramp up travel in these days leading up to the midterms, it will be interesting if that also prompts questions of these candidates and their attachment to the broader brand.

RAJU: So meantime, while J.D. Vance was campaigning for -- answering questions from -- voters tough questions and was on the defensive oftentimes, President Trump was on the campaign trail making remarks about a body part from one of the key Republicans trying to hang on to his Senate seat, Jon Husted.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: You know, I never did that with a man before. I examined his ass, and then I looked at his shoulders. I looked at his feet. I looked at his hand. I looked at his jawline.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: Why is Donald Trump commenting on Jon Husted's derriere?

ZELENY: I mean, look, he loves the --

RAJU: This is the -- this is the second time he's done this in the last several days.

ZELENY: He loves an athlete. He loves an actor. He likes the central casting mold. I mean, look at members of his cabinet.

It's a very odd thing to say but Jon Husted would probably have him talk about that or prefer him talk about that than talking about --

KANNO-YOUNGS: Data centers?

ZELENY: -- the Iran war or data centers, exactly.

Just one of those, you know, truly vintage Trump weird things that we've heard him over the years talk about things. And I'm sure people were relieved he was not talking about a woman's body like that.

RAJU: Yes. I mean -- and he's been, but he does that oftentimes. He's been talking about jawlines of Ed Gallrein, the Republican candidate in Kentucky.

KANNO-YOUNGS: It's not a one off. It's not a one off. He talked -- he's been doing this at rallies throughout. Sometimes it's not complimentary as well. In the case of Ken Paxton at one rally too where he's making jokes.

Also, this connects sometimes to who he brings into the administration. He'll often ask folks who looks good on TV, who's central casting? It's a central theme of Trump.

RAJU: Yes, it is. And it's a little bit awkward, to say the very, very least.

All right. Coming up next, a constitutional clash over golf? Yes, that's right. Why the Trump administration is in the rough with a furious federal judge who says her orders are being defied.

[08:49:28]

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RAJU: Things are getting downright nasty in President Trump's drive to take over Washington, D.C.'s public golf courses. Yes, the president has envisioned turning in the low-cost public course at East Potomac Golf Links, making that a premier course to attract major professional championship tournaments. The cost of such a project, unknown.

In the meantime, Trump and his team were told in July by a federal judge to inform her court before sudden alterations were made to the course.

But on the Friday evening of a holiday weekend just this past month, the Justice Department said it would remove 169 trees as part of its restoration efforts, with plans to remove 529 total. The next day, 400 were removed, according to "The Washington Post".

Then, in a tense four-hour hearing just last week, the judge, Ana Reyes, was absolutely furious and tore apart the administration for defying her orders.

[08:44:52]

RAJU: And questioning whether it was linked directly to the White House, demanding to question the officials behind it.

The judge saying, quote, "What has happened has caused the government all of its credibility in this case."

Now, over the weekend, a new controversy. Trump's Justice Department wants the judge, who is a Biden appointee, off the case altogether, accusing Reyes of, quote, "animus" against the administration and writing in a filing that she had, quote, "repeatedly belittled and shouted" at a Justice Department lawyer in an unorthodox and regrettable show of judicial impropriety.

Any more demolition will have to wait until at least tomorrow, when two Trump officials have been ordered to testify at a hearing in this case.

That's it for INSIDE POLITICS SUNDAY. Up next "STATE OF THE UNION WITH JAKE TAPPER AND DANA BASH". Dana's

guests include Michigan Republican Senate candidate Mike Rogers, Maine Democratic Senate candidate Troy Jackson, and Energy Secretary Chris Wright.

Thanks again for sharing your Sunday morning with us. We'll see you next time.

[08:55:52]

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