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Inside Politics

Trump Won Iowa 3 Times. Now GOP Faces Multiple Tight Races; Kamala Harris Talks 2028 As She Hits Midterm Battlegrounds; PA Gov. Josh Shapiro Hits Road For Re-Election Campaign; Gov. Shapiro Discusses His Evolution On Data Centers. Aired 12:30-1p ET

Aired October 26, 2026 - 12:30   ET

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

[12:30:00]

JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: -- I don't think so. Iowa gave Trump a resounding yes, and you mentioned he also carried this state three times. So how is this state in play? We got the mini-magic wall in the road with us.

Look at 55-56 percent if you round that up for Donald Trump in 2024. A Republican governor, two Republican senators, all four, we go to the House districts here, all four of the House districts in Iowa held by Republicans. And yet, and yet, the governor's race is in play.

That Senate race to replace the retiring Joni Ernst is in play. And at least three of the four House seats Democrats believe are competitive as we head into the final days. How is that? Let's go back to the presidential race.

I just want to show you something. We've never used this before, so this is the first time we've used this on television. How is it possible? Well, look at this map. Let me explain the code to you.

When you see the purple counties, those are counties in Iowa where the price of gas since the start of the Iran war has gone up more than 70 percent. You see the more pinkish-purple color. There, the price of gas has gone up since the start of the Iran War 63 to 73 percent.

If you're in the orange counties, your price of gas has gone up 54 to 63 percent. That is all of Iowa, 99 counties. Gas has gone up only one county where it's gone up "only," quote unquote, 45 to 54 percent. That is the punishing issue for the President here.

It's a tough environment anyway because it's the midterm standard, but the war the President start and the President's tariffs, and, in fact, they have a water, a big water issue here as well, the cancer rate in Iowa second in the country, all of these issues mounting up to have Republicans on their heels just two years after Trump, Dana, won this state, as you know, in a cakewalk.

DANA BASH, CNN ANCHOR: I love this new part of the map that you can actually overlay the issues.

KING: Yes. Well, this is -- Yes, and come out -- look at this. Just look at the full country, right?

BASH: Wow.

KING: So we're going to spend much of our time on this five days in five states. We're going to be in Michigan. We're going to be in Ohio. We're going to be in Iowa. Look at Middle America.

Whoops, it moved on me there. I've got to bring it back there. You've got to make this lock down a little bit. Let me use green.

Look at Middle America. So why are we talking about Nebraska? Why are we talking about Kansas? Why is Ohio, why is Iowa in play? Why is Michigan in play two years after Trump won it? Look at the middle of the country.

The purple is over 70 percent. The pink is over 60 percent. The orange is over 50 percent. The gas price increase, and remember, this is the price of gas since the Iraq war started. A lot of these people in the Midwest use diesel. That has gone up even more.

BASH: Yes.

KING: And so I'm in West Des Moines right now. There's another big factor. West Des Moines is the fastest growing metropolitan area in the Middle West. The suburbs in Donald Trump do not get along. Remember the 2018 midterms? These suburbs are fast growing.

So voters here in the third district, that's Republican incumbent Zach Nunn. He's in trouble. That race has gone. When we started even in this cycle, never mind 2024, that was a lean Republican that's gone toss up that is now lean Democrat.

Why is that? The Iran war, the price of gas, the Trump tariffs, Trump policies have put Trump states in peril.

BASH: Yes, and you definitely have seen it. As you mentioned, that was your first stop when you started this project three and a half years ago --

KING: Yes.

BASH: -- in Iowa. And you just really explained --

KING: Yes.

BASH: -- how and why it's so different. We'll see you tomorrow, John. Thank you.

KING: We'll be in Michigan.

BASH: See you then.

KING: Up next on Inside Politics --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) KAMALA HARRIS (D), FORMER FIRST LADY OF THE UNITED STATES: Never let anybody else's, somebody else's limited ability to see your capacity to be a limitation on your ambition.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: Who exactly is Kamala Harris talking about? CNN's Isaac Dovere chatted exclusively with the Former Vice President about her plans for 2028.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:37:58]

BASH: The midterm election is in eight days. That means the 2028 presidential campaign starts in nine days. And the Democrats last nominee says she's not going anywhere. CNN's Isaac Dovere hit the campaign trail with Kamala Harris, who's making stops from Nevada to New Hampshire, Mississippi to Wisconsin.

And in an exclusive interview with Isaac, she responded to her Democratic critics who don't want her to run again.

HARRIS: I'm sure there are many who think that I should, you know, just sit at home and, you know, eat bonbons and, you know, cook Doug's favorite food.

EDWARD-ISAAC DOVERE, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Right.

HARRIS: And I can, you know, I can cook Doug's favorite foods and do this.

DOVERE: Do you have a lean of which way you would decide for another presidential run?

HARRIS: I go back and forth.

DOVERE: Yes.

HARRIS: Honestly, I go back and forth.

DOVERE: Because of what?

HARRIS: Oh, there's so many factors, but I'm not going to talk about that right now but good for you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: Fascinating, Isaac.

DOVERE: Yes, it was a looser Kamala Harris than maybe we've seen for a little while. I spent a little time with her on the trail in Mississippi on Thursday in rural Mississippi, far from the kinds of places that politicians ever go. In fact, one of the things that came up is that she is one of the, if not the highest ranking public official who's ever been to the Mississippi Delta like that. BASH: Wow.

DOVERE: And she then -- she had a rally at a high school, the high school where Scott Colom, the Democratic nominee, actually went to school in the gym where he played basketball. And we spoke backstage about what she's doing in 2026 and how she has decided to throw herself in. This feeling that she says she has, that she knows that she can help, she can draw attention, she wants to help, but also about what the future holds and where that goes.

BASH: And what about her answer to people who are saying, you had your chance, don't do it?

DOVERE: Well, what I know from behind the scenes of what she's been saying is it's convenient that a lot of those people, especially the ones who are maybe thinking about running for president themselves, are saying that because it gets in the way of them if she does run.

[12:40:00]

She didn't really get into that specifically, but what she did say to me -- and it was interesting, we had a moment, we did the interview, and then we turned off the recorder and were saying, thanks for the interview and getting up to go, and she said, I actually want to say something else. She told me to turn the recorder back on. And what she said is, a lot of people are running just to look in the mirror. We need people who are going to look at the American people --

BASH: Wow.

DOVERE: -- and what they want.

BASH: That's --

DOVERE: But she also said -- and I will say that one of the things she said to me also was that she doesn't want to run to go up against other Democrats, beat other Democrats. She said, I'm only going to run to do the job. So that's the way she's thinking.

BASH: Let's listen to a little of what she's saying on the trail.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: It doesn't have to be this way.

It doesn't have to be this way.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, yes.

HARRIS: We deserve better.

CROWD: Yes!

HARRIS: We have power, and the power is with the people, and the people are done and ready to say we deserve more, and it doesn't have to be this way. (END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: Nia?

NIA-MALIKA HENDERSON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes, you know, listen, I did a story six or seven months ago about Kamala Harris where I talked to a lot of black women who love Kamala Harris, respect Kamala Harris, wish that she were president, and these are people who don't want her to run, right?

And it's not because they don't think she would be a good president, it's because they -- she obviously lost her 107-day run. They don't think America would elect at this point in America's history that she would be the most competitive person to run in 2028 --

BASH: Because she's a black woman?

HENDERSON: Because she's a black woman, because of sort of the racism that has kind of been unleashed and stirred up. And so that is, I think, part of the feeling that a lot of people who would be part of her base, right, that's the conversations that I've had with a lot of black folks. It's like, you know, they want to sort of -- it's almost like, you know, when Biden ran, part of that was, let's go with the safe white guy. And I think a lot of Democratic base voters feel that way going forward.

DASHA BURNS, PLAYBOOK CO-AUTHOR: The look in the mirror quote really struck me because I actually -- from what I heard from voters, they're frustrated that Democrats have not looked in the mirror enough and have not been clear-eyed enough with the mistakes of the past that have led them to this point that Kamala Harris is saying it doesn't have to be this way. But a lot of people are pointing the finger at her and at Democrats at large in the National Party for the reason that it is this way and want to see a little bit of that accountability and reconciliation.

JONAH GOLDBERG, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I just thought that look in the mirror thing was just casting shade at Gavin Newsom.

BURNS: Well, that too.

GOLDBERG: Because he's --

HENDERSON: And probably Josh Shapiro in all such of people.

GOLDBERG: Because he's got such important hair, you know?

HENDERSON: Yes.

GOLDBERG: But, look, I certainly grant you, there's racism and sexism out there in America today. I also -- you also talk to a lot of people that say it's not her race or her gender that is the issue, it's that just a lot of people don't necessarily like Kamala Harris that much.

And some of it comes from the fact that she grew up in progressive Democratic politics in California and never learned how to basically dribble left, about going after being able to sort of distinguish herself from the progressive wing of the party, which is why she flamed out in the primaries in the first place. And there are a lot of people who think maybe it makes more sense to find someone who has some experience carving out a more moderate middle-of-the-road thing, sort of like, you know, Hamilton in Kansas, because that's what the Democratic Party needs to be --

BURNS: Who told me by the way that Kamala Harris should stay in California, he did not want her anywhere --

GOLDBERG: Yes.

BURNS: -- near his race.

GOLDBERG: Yes.

DOVERE: Yes, look, this -- the question about Hamilton and other people who said stay away, I put to her and she said, I'm not naive, that's what they need to do to win their races. That's what they should do. But, you know, one of the things that really struck me was when I was in Mississippi, one of the people I ran into at that event that you showed a clip of and at the rally was a guy named Patrick Gaspard, who people may remember was Barack Obama's first political director in the White House, DNC executive director. He's also, in more recent times, become an informal adviser to Zohran Mamdani, very much connected to that part of what's going on in Democratic politics.

And he was one of the voices in the kitchen cabin around Colom who said, bring Kamala Harris to Mississippi, even though other advisers for Colom were saying, no, don't nationalize this race, and she's a loser, keep her away.

I spoke to Gaspard afterwards, and he said to me, very much in the way that Harris is thinking about it, although a little bit more colorfully, he said, look, when people were saying when Muhammad Ali was going to come back in to try to get the heavyweight crown back, and they were saying, don't come back in, it wasn't because they were worried he was going to get knocked down, it's because they wanted to get the crown themselves.

BASH: Fascinating. Thank you so much. Really, really interesting. Great conversation to all of you.

Up next, Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro has some choice words for Vice President JD Vance. Talk about 2028. We'll show part of my interview with this swing state Democrat. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:49:30]

BASH: Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro is working not just for a re- election win, but a resounding win next week, trying to boost his numbers even in the reddest parts of Pennsylvania. That's where his bus tour for the final stretch started in Crawford County, where President Trump won by more than 30 percentage points just two years ago.

I caught up with the Democratic governor there for State of the Union. Part of what we discussed was his change in position on data centers.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: I want to ask you about data centers, because I have never seen an issue spread like wildfire as fast in my covering politics as this issue has. You welcomed data centers. You said they were a great economic opportunity. Then you tighten the rules after you heard from the community.

GOV. JOSH SHAPIRO (D), PENNSYLVANIA: Yes.

[12:50:16]

BASH: Just candidly, did you change your position because of political backlash?

SHAPIRO: No, I changed my position -- not really changed, but, you know, I addressed the needs of the community after listening to them. And let me be really clear. These projects employ thousands of people. And so the comments I made initially, I stand by.

Then I took the time to travel across the Commonwealth. And in the beginning, some folks would grab me and say, Gov., I want to talk to you about my concerns about data centers. And I listened.

And then I showed up in community after community, including a small borough just outside of Scranton called Archbald, where you saw more and more developers who were trying to run roughshod over these communities and take advantage of them and were not adhering to both the local zoning nor the requirements of bringing more power.

And so they were depleting power from the grid or would deplete power from the grid and drive up prices. And so, actually, after I left the meeting in Archbald with some of the activists, I went over to see with my own eyes where this rogue developer wanted to put the data center. And it was on the left field line of a kid's baseball field.

And I just thought about me as a father of four standing on countless sidelines watching my kids play. No developer should take that away from a community. So I came back to Harrisburg after listening all across Pennsylvania, wrote the strictest guardrails in the nation, made clear that unless a developer could get the support of the local community, we would never even consider their application for a data center.

And if they got the support of a local community, because we should allow local communities to be able to say what they want in their backyards, if they got the support, then we would have very strict standards on needing to generate new power, ideally clean energy, pay for that energy, protect our air and our water, and have a local benefits agreement that supports the community where they want to construct this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: I also talked to Governor Shapiro about the controversial ad Republican gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy is running in Ohio.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: We are less than 20 miles from Ohio. We're so far up north and west here in Pennsylvania. The Republican candidate for governor, Vivek Ramaswamy, is under fire for putting the estranged mother of his Democratic opponent in a TV ad despite claims that she had and some issues went through the courts about childhood sexual abuse.

President Trump and Vice President Vance have defended it. The Vice President even admonished Republicans for calling Ramaswamy out on it. You're shaking your head.

SHAPIRO: You know, I've prosecuted dozens of people for sexual abuse. And the cases where they are familial -- you have a parent, a step- parent -- abusing their own child are maybe the ones that upset me the most, the ones that would keep me up at night as we were going through those cases. Those are so unbelievably painful.

The idea that a guy who wants to run for governor would weaponize that, that the Vice President of the United States, who does this phony preacher nonsense about morality every day, would double down and say, not only is it an acceptable ad, keep running it, and admonish Republicans like Mike DeWine, who actually had the courage to speak out and call it out, I think it just speaks to how, you know, profoundly and pathetically weak of a human being JD Vance is.

And it speaks to the character, frankly, lack thereof, of Ramaswamy to attack a victim like that, to attack a victim and take the side of the perpetrator, the enabler of that abuse. It's disgusting. And you know what, I'm hearing more and more from Republicans, along with Democrats and Independents, is they're just tired of this. They're tired of the politics the Trump and Vance practice.

And remember, Ramaswamy, he really is just a product of that Trump- Vance politics of the lowest common denominator. I think you're going to see Americans of all stripes, Democrat and Republican, come out in states all across our country and reject that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: Thank you for joining Inside Politics. And as you're on the go, starting today, you can watch Inside Politics in more locations.

[12:55:00]

CNN is streaming in the U.S. and now also in Canada and the U.K. You can watch live anytime. Just visit CNN.com/AllAccess for more.

CNN News Central starts after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: Fueling frustration. President Trump bragging, quote, "We're making a freaking fortune as gas prices soar." But who is we? I'm not seeing any of that money.

Plus, locked and loaded, the Pentagon --