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GOP Wins Control of Senate; Louisiana Senate Race Headed to Runoff; Tough Field for Gubernatorial Incumbents; Ballot Measures on Minimum Wage, Legalizing of Marijuana Decided; Can Democrats Rebound Ahead of 2016?

Aired November 05, 2014 - 06:00   ET

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

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JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST, "THE LEAD": This one's going to leave a mark.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST, "THE SITUATION ROOM": A huge, huge win for the Republicans.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you, Iowa.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm going to Washington to get something done.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Regardless of what happens here tonight, I have one thing that has come true, that Harry Reid is the minority leader.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The country was counting on us, to help deliver a Republican majority to the Senate and we delivered.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everyone. Welcome to a special edition of NEW DAY. It is Wednesday, November 5th, it's 6:00 in the East. It's been a long night for many. I'm Alisyn Camerota.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Chris Cuomo with Michaela Pereira here for you all morning long, telling you what happened. And here's your headline, the USA votes GOP. Angry voters handed control to the Republicans, giving the party it's largest Congressional majority since World War II. Take a look for yourself. Democrats had enjoyed a 55-45 advantage. That's before, in caps, last night's election. Today, Republicans have picked up at least seven seats. They clenched control, period, Alisyn, the question is, by what margin? Still some races in play.

CAMEROTA: And, Chris, it's also the same story in the nation's governors races. This is what the U.S. looked like Tuesday morning, take a look at your screen and that map. Well, today the GOP has slipped at least four states, including typically blue strongholds Maryland and Massachusetts. Democrats picked up just one governor shift in Pennsylvania. We have reporters live on the ground, covering the pivotal races that shaped this Republican juggernaut. But first, a look at where we stand on all of the big Senate contests. CUOMO: Voters are seeing red. It means Republican, and it also means

that they have a significant amount of anger. And as we said, several states still undeclared, including Alaska. That's not about a recount or any kind of runoff. That's about just counting votes. That's ongoing as we speak. When we get the results we will give them to you.

The hotly contested Senate race pitted Democrat incumbent Mark Begich against challenger Dan Sullivan.

We also have another nail-biter in Virginia. Democratic Senator Mark Warner is claiming victory. However, his challenger, Republican Ed Gillespie, says, "No way, not conceding the race. We want a recount." We'll find out if it actually goes that way.

A lot of these run-offs are going to take time.

CAMEROTA: Sure.

CUOMO: In Louisiana, for instance, December 6 is the day. That was a very hotly contested Senate race between incumbent Mary Landrieu and Republican challenger Bill Cassidy. They battled to a draw, essentially. Neither got 50. You need that, obviously, for an outright win. But look at that third line, Rob Maness, 14 percent. Viability of the third-party candidate, and where do those votes go on December 6?

CAMEROTA: It's going to be a long way to a decision there.

But history was made in Iowa, Joni Ernst becoming the state's first female senator. She tops Democrat Bruce Braley to succeed retiring Democrat Tom Harkin.

And over in Kansas, CNN projects Republican Senator Pat Roberts keeps his seat. Polls showed a very close race with independent Greg Orman there, but Roberts managed a safe win.

And Republican Congressman Cory Gardner has won the Senate race in Colorado. CNN projecting that he defeats incumbent Senator Mark Udall. It is a significant pick-up for Republicans in a state that twice voted for President Obama.

CUOMO: Arkansas, CNN projects Republican Tom Cotton defeated Democrat incumbent Mark Pryor. This was a decisive win for Cotton, despite White House hopes that Pryor could keep the seat in Democrat hands, another place where the polls didn't tell the story.

The GOP keeps the Senate seat in Georgia, thanks to a surprisingly easy victory for Republican David Perdue. He beat Democrat challenger and, really, Georgia political scion Michelle Nunn in that Senate race. It was thought to be a toss-up. Remember, that's why we kept telling you: It's all about if you get out and vote. Polls are not enough.

New Hampshire, CNN projecting Democrat Jeanne Shaheen will hold on to her seat she was supposed to be in a dead heat against Republican Scott Brown, the challenger there. He was criticized as a carpetbagger for moving to New Hampshire to run. That played some kind of role. But Jeanne Shaheen had a pretty strong machine there in place, also.

CAMEROTA: Yes, true. North Carolina was the clincher for Republicans, late last night. Thom Tillis defeated incumbent Democratic Senator Kay Hagan, officially giving the GOP control of the Senate at that point.

Now Montana has a new Republican senator, as well. Steve Daines easily defeated Democrat Amanda Curtis to win the seat held by Max Baucus, who has been appointed U.S. ambassador to China.

And Senator Mitch McConnell easily wins re-election in Kentucky, defeating Alison Lundergan Grimes to win a sixth term in the Senate. With Republicans taking control, McConnell is expected to become the next majority leader -- Chris.

CUOMO: The question is how much support will he get among his own?

The Republicans also maintaining control of the House. No surprise there. It wasn't really a question. However, they did pick up 14 additional seats to extend their majority. We're still looking at some of the calculations. They may have only lost one seat, too, which would be notable.

Speaker John Boehner beating his rival in Ohio's 8th District. Boehner is expected to run again as speaker of the House.

And history in Utah, where Republican Mia Love won the 4th District. She becomes the first African-American female Republican ever elected to Congress. So there was some notable history, as well, Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: All right, Chris. We still don't know the answer in some places. The tight race in Alaska is still up in the air at this hour, Democratic incumbent Mark Begich trying to hang onto the seat against challenger Dan Sullivan.

Let's go to CNN's Drew Griffin with the latest tallies, live for us from Anchorage. Drew, what have you got?

DREW GRIFFIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Alisyn, we just got word from Gail Fenumiai, the director of elections, that she's posting the final, unofficial results. And I'm looking at them right now.

And it shows that Dan Sullivan, the Republican, has got 48.74 percent of the vote, and Mark Begich, the senator -- Democratic senator, 45.13. So it looks like, based on 100 percent of the precincts reporting, that Dan Sullivan is going to be the new U.S. senator here. These are unofficial results posted by the secretary of state's office, the division of elections. So that's what we have to go on.

Believe it or not, nobody is still calling this race. I've just reached out to both campaigns. I haven't heard back from neither one. So we continue to wait, even though it now appears that all the votes, at least all the precinct votes have been counted. CAMEROTA: Drew, that is hot off the presses. Thanks for that

breaking news. And what will make it official? What's the moment that that, those numbers you just read become official?

GRIFFIN: You know, I don't know. I'm going to call. I'm going to get off the phone and call the elections division right now. These are unofficial results.

Sometimes they wait now a couple of weeks, actually, before all the mail-in ballots come in. You can mail in your ballot. You could have mailed in your ballot in today, and it might take a week to get in.

But this -- this vote count may be beyond that of the number of ballots that are outstanding. So while these are unofficial results, this may be very close to the final results. But we're going to get into the nitty-gritty in the next few minutes and try to figure out what is left to count, if anything, and try to get back to you.

CAMEROTA: And Drew, is that what polls were predicting? That the Republican would win in Alaska?

GRIFFIN: Yes, yes. All the polls. There was one very oddball poll that showed the Democrat winning by almost 10 points here. That was kind of thrown out. When you threw that out, all the polls, especially recently, were showing two, three percent win by Dan Sullivan.

Certainly, we can see what happened in the rest of the nation. This is a -- basically a Republican state. Even though most of the people here are not affiliated with a party or undeclared.

But also, this was a state and is a state where President Obama has a very, very low approval rating. And Dan Sullivan, the Republican, ran a similar campaign that other Republican winners have run, which is, "I'm going to pin Barack Obama on my opponent, Mark Begich. I'm going to tell people that Mark Begich voted with Barack Obama. And I'm going to ride that right into Washington, D.C." And that appears to be what Dan Sullivan, the former attorney general of the state, has done here in Alaska this morning.

CAMEROTA: OK, Drew Griffin with breaking news for us. It appears that the Republican has won Alaska. That's just after 2 a.m. Alaska time. We thought we might have to wait longer for that, Chris.

CUOMO: Well, it's also relevant that it is 2 a.m. Obviously, it's all empty behind Tom [SIC] there. There's probably -- they have a state official who's in charge of doing the tabulation calling the race. The question is are those officials up and at it right now? Probably are. So we'll get an official result soon.

Now, there were two key Senate races that were thought to be headed for run-offs. One of them is in Louisiana, pitted incumbent Democrat Mary Landrieu against Republican challenger Bill Cassidy. The winner is yet to be determined. That's going to happen on December 6.

CNN's Suzanne Malveaux is live in New Orleans for us. And you know, we're talking about the main two, and obviously, by law

they move into the run-off, but third-party candidate, 14 percent loomed large here. Should not be forgotten, Suzanne.

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Of course not. Because the Tea Party candidate, you're talking about the retired Air Force Colonel Maness. I mean, he is able to really determine what's going to happen in the next 32 days. What his supporters do. Where they go, if they decide to sit this one out. Because Cassidy is not considered conservative enough, and perhaps he doesn't get enough support.

But if they decide that they would rather go with Cassidy, the Republican congressmen, then Senator Landrieu is in big trouble.

What did she do? I talked to her yesterday. She was confident initially in the beginning of the day, saying they thought they had that 50 plus one. That didn't end up happening. So she had to pivot fairly quickly to take on a very aggressive approach towards Congressman Cassidy. She challenged him to eight debates, and she also made it clear, Chris, that this is not a race from this point forward; that she wants to have comparing herself with President Obama.

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SEN. MARY LANDRIEU (D), LOUISIANA: This race is not about who the president is, who the president was, or who the president will be. Or which party controls Congress. This race is about the future of Louisiana.

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MALVEAUX: And Congressman Cassidy took advantage of it, once again, saying that she votes 97 percent of the time with the president and that 60 percent of the voters in Louisiana voted for change -- Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: Suzanne, thanks so much for that update. We'll get back to you.

And Georgia's Senate race also looked like it was going to be a toss- up. But in the end, it was not. David Perdue winning his race against Democrat Michelle Nunn rather handily. CNN's Nick Valencia is live at the CNN Center in Atlanta with more on the race to replace Saxby Chambliss -- Nick.

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Alisyn. Yes, this is not what people expected to happen. Most pollsters didn't think that either candidate was going to get that 50 percent plus 1 vote to avoid the run-off. But just a couple of hours after the polls closed, at about 7 p.m. Eastern here yesterday, it became increasingly clear that David Perdue, the Republican candidate, was pulling away; and that's exactly what happened.

But despite her loss, Democratic candidate Michelle Nunn, she was upbeat in her concession speech.

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MICHELLE NUNN (D), GEORGIA SENATE CANDIDATE: We have exceeded every expectation of what was possible in this race. I just want to remind you all that just about 15 months ago all of the political pundits said that Georgia was not in play. And we put Georgia in play.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VALENCIA: Now Republican candidate David Perdue said Georgia voters made their message very clear, that they're unhappy with Barack Obama's presidency. He did a good job in his campaign of attaching Michelle Nunn to President Obama. Saying that she would basically be a rubber stamp for his agenda. And that eventually hurt her in this. David Perdue, the victor in this Senate race here in Georgia -- Chris, Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: Nick Valencia, thank you.

CUOMO: You know, we keep saying that it is pretty obvious, if you look at the polls and all the exits, the voters are unhappy. That's the nicest way to put it. Right?

But I think there's also another message in it, which is "Help us." That's being said also, that the voters are saying, "Help us. Do your job." And we got to see that even popular Democrats like Wendy Davis, OK, who stood up and literally took on abortion rights on the mantle of her shoulders and really exalted for that, she fell in her gubernatorial bid in Texas. So this question is why? What went wrong here for the Democrats especially? And can the GOP take advantage of that and actually lead? Lead. I know it's a word, a little surprising.

Let's bring in Karen Finney, the former communications director for the Democratic National Committee; CNN political commentator Margaret Hoover; CNN political commentator Carl Bernstein; and CNN political -- guess what? -- commentator Marc Lamont Hill.

Let's go with this point. We're talking about the Republicans. They deserved their due; they are in the power position, well-earned. Why it happened, giving the Democrats so far a little bit of a pass. Yes, voters wanted change. Yes, they were pro-Republican, clearly. But didn't the Democrats, Ms. Finney, do this a little bit to themselves? Didn't they run away from their base, run away from who they really area, run away from their president and took a beating as a result?

KAREN FINNEY, FORMER COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR, DNC: I think we saw a couple of things. No. 1, Republicans, you hear -- I heard this from every Democratic campaign I talked to. Republicans did a good job making it about President Obama, which put a lot of Democrats on defense. And they didn't do a good enough job making it about the issues.

And I'll tell you, look at how many states where minimum-wage increase passed. That is an Obama agenda item.

CUOMO: Yes. FINNEY: So that tells you something about running away from some of these core issues, was not a good strategy. Saying -- not being willing to say whether or not you voted for the president. Not such a good strategy if you're a Democrat.

You also saw, though, some of the Republicans like a Cory Gardner totally back away from personhood, and that was part of what helped get him elected. So in terms of the issues, I do agree with you that I think Democrats should not have run away from some of those core issues. And again, they were fighting Republicans who did an excellent job making it about and tying them to President Obama.

MARC LAMONT HILL, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: But I hear Chris saying something -- I hear Chris saying something a little bit different.

CUOMO: Tell me what I'm saying.

HILL: That -- you're saying not only should they not run away from the issues. You're saying they should not run away from President Obama.

CUOMO: That's exactly what I'm saying, because I believe you have to...

Look at the board, look at the points up on the board.

HILL: That's not the point.

CUOMO: It almost calculably couldn't have been worse for you. You guys keep saying, "Oh, it should have been worse. How so?"

HILL: They may have lost those races, but if Alison Lundergan Grimes, said, "I voted Obama. I went hard for Obama," she might have...

CUOMO: It's called honesty.

HILL: No, it's about losing by 8 points instead of 17 points where you're still not the senator.

CUOMO: But you embarrass your base when you run away from what you are. And I think that you're going to see that.

HILL: You embarrass your base when you have a 10-point swing in positions in the Senate, whether you win by 10 or 20.

CUOMO: How you lose matters.

FINNEY: But Marc, all she had to say was, I voted...

CUOMO: How you lose matters.

MARGARET HOOVER, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: You cannot win by -- you cannot win by tethering yourself to a president who has approval ratings of 40-42 percent.

To Karen's point, what's interesting to me, actually, is that in Colorado, you talk about Cory Gardner and how he articulated his message. The Democrats way overplayed their hands by doubling down on the war over women. And we've seen in multiple states in this -- in this election cycle, it didn't work. I mean, the "Denver Post," when it came out to endorse Cory Gardner, joked about this euphemism that Mark Udall had been called Mark Uterus, because he so talked about women's issues to the demise of the issues that actually mattered to Coloradans. They care about wages. They care about a stagnant economy. They wanted to see other issues talked about, and it back- fired for Democrats.

CAMEROTA: Carl.

CARL BERNSTEIN, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Look, there was no leadership by the candidates. Tell me which of these candidates on either side is a real leader and campaigned as a real leader? Particularly the senatorial...

HOOVER: I think...

(CROSSTALK)

CUOMO: Hold on a second.

BERNSTEIN: Why is it -- why is it that so many -- what did Obama promise to do? That he was going to end gridlock. What did not he do? He did not end gridlock. I think that's a bottom-line of this election, and that's a lot of what the electorate is telling us. We want the end of gridlock. We want leadership.

And at the same time, the reality of this country is we are an ideologically divided country. And until we get some leaders who are going to find a way to lead that says, we have got to involve ourselves in problem-solving, we can have great philosophical and even ideological beliefs.

HOOVER: Isn't that the story of the gubernatorial wins, though? That you have -- you have Republicans winning in blue states. That shows they're not ideological. But they're actually -- maybe there's this new breed of moderate Republican that's reemerging, that's socially liberal and fiscally conservative.

BERNSTEIN: Hogan in Maryland? Hogan in Maryland?

HOOVER: Charlie Baker.

(CROSSTALK)

BERNSTEIN: Well, you have a couple.

FINNEY: John Kasich won in Ohio, in part because he supported the president's Medicaid expansion. So again, it's really about the issues, and I agree with what Chris was saying. People are saying, "What are you going to do for me?" Because I have to tell you, I spent a lot of time in focus groups this last season, and people are so angry. They're so angry at both sides. They just want something to get done. There were, you know, some voters said, "I don't even watch it any more. I have to just keep my life going."

CUOMO: There's a disconnect not only with the politicians. There's a disconnect between voters and the media. When you go around and you work an actual election, which so many of us are blessed to do, they say, "I don't care what you talk about with the who's going to win and the this -- and this guy's mad at this one and this is the caucus. I'm dying here. I don't know what my country is about. I don't know what I'm about. You guys haven't even -- we're in a war all of a sudden. You didn't even talk about that. I wonder if that will change with this new change in control."

They just want things to get done. And I think that is what you see in the governors' races, because the governors can get things done at home in their states. You can put ballot items on. They can pass. We saw progress that way.

BERNSTEIN: Where are "they"? Where are "they"?

Talking -- talking about the American electorate as a single "they" is a very difficult thing to do.

CUOMO: True.

BERNSTEIN: Because we have a 30, 35 percent of the electorate seems to be independent. And then we have huge ideological division among the rest. And how do you bring leadership to bear that gets things done with that equation?

CAMEROTA: Hold that thought. Hold that thought, panel. We owe you one, Margaret and Marc. We'll be back with you momentarily.

But we want to tell you that Republican gains also extending to key governors' races, as we've been talking about. So we will break those down for you next.

And New York Congressman Steve Israel won his re-election bid. But the Democratic debacle has most of his party in a rut. Where do Democrats and the president go from here?

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CAMEROTA: Welcome back to CNN's breaking news coverage of the 2014 mid-term elections. In case you're just waking up, there has been a stunning shift in the balance of power in Washington. Take a look at the board. Republicans picking up at least seven seats to seize control of the Senate from Democrats. Three races are still outstanding, one of them headed to a runoff in Louisiana. And the GOP now enjoying the largest majority in Congress since World War -- the Second World War, I should say -- Chris. It's an historical morning.

CUOMO: Yes. I mean, one of the really interesting things that we saw here is that, yes, there's anger at Congress. So what does that mean at the state level? We know a lot of state legislator seats have already flipped over the last couple of years. But now governors' races. A number of blue strongholds, Democrat strongholds, turned red. And we begin with a big money battle in Florida, where voters re-elected Republican Rick Scott to a second term as governor. Very stinging blow to now-Democrat Charlie Crist.

But listen to this: Scott pumped nearly $13 million of his own money into his campaign in its final days, and it helped.

Now, in Illinois Republican Bruce Rauner, he defeated incumbent Governor Pat Quinn, according to a CNN projection. We have that one.

In Texas another closely watched battle for governor. You had attorney general Greg Abbott there defeating state senator Wendy Davis. Remember, people had such high hopes for Wendy Davis about reproductive rights. And now this.

In heavily Democratic Maryland, a stunning upset. Republican businessman, a newcomer, Larry Hogan wins the governor's race, defeating Democrat Anthony Brown, the state's lieutenant governor.

OK, another deep blue blow -- meaning for Democrats -- Massachusetts. Republican Charlie Baker wins the governor's race over Democrat Martha Coakley. Not easily to do. It comes after eight years of Democratic rule in Massachusetts under Governor Duvall Patrick.

Now in Wisconsin, Republican Scott Walker, he is a name to watch. He easily won re-election to a second term. Double-digit margin over Democrat Mary Burke. Now, this victory keeps him in the mix for a possible presidential run in 2016. I know, why are we already talking about that? Because that's where we go next.

The lone bright spot for Democrats, I guess you would say, businessman Tom Wolf, new governor of Pennsylvania. He is a Democrat. he defeats the Republican incumbent Tom Corbett. Corbett had tough times with policies in state. Also still has the Sandusky investigation hanging over his head. Does not get re-election, making a little negative history in that state.

So let's get over to Michaela. She has a look at some of the ballot referendums that brought voters out to the polls. Another sign of voters wanting to get things done, one way or the other, Mick.

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: Yes. I feel like they have an impact. I find these interesting, really, really interesting, these ballot initiatives.

Let's start with minimum wage, historically a progressive cause embraced by conservative -- conservative-leaning states this election cycle. Based on results that have come in so far. This is what CNN can report. We'll start with a few states looking at moving to increase minimum wages.

In Arkansas, minimum wage, it will rise from the current $6.25 an hour to $8.50 by 2017. South Dakota workers, they'll also see their hourly minimum wage rise. It's going to increase to $8.50 next year from the current $7.25 an hour, which I should point out is the national minimum wage.

Meanwhile, Nebraskans will see their minimum wage rise to $9 by 2016 from today's $7.25.

We should point out that Illinois voters also approved a rate hike, but that vote is nonbinding; it's purely advisory.

Now of course, we're still watching those votes in Alaska to be tallied. We'll keep you updated on that.

Let's turn to marijuana now. It was on the ballot in a total of four states, Oregon appeased legislation activists by approving its measure allowing for recreational use of the drug.

Meanwhile, the Sunshine State of Florida, the electorate there voting against a measure that would have allowed marijuana use for medicinal uses.

Lastly, Washington, D.C., also approved recreational use. However, we want to keep an eye on this. It could be blocked by Congress, which has the right to review and knock it down.

Interesting to see there, Alisyn, that in D.C. this issue kind of got mixed with race and civil rights. Some 88 percent of those convicted of medical -- or of marijuana possession were blacks, even though usage among blacks and whites is the same. So again, interesting to see how things are changing.

CAMEROTA: Absolutely. That will be a sea change, Michaela. Thanks so much for that.

So the Republicans have added to their majority in the House of Representatives, and they've also gained control of the Senate. What does this mean for Democrats for the final two years of the Obama administration and, of course, looking ahead to 2016?

Joining us now is Congressman Steve Israel. He's a Democrat from New York and the chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, who won his own re-election bid last night. Congratulations, Congressman.

REP. STEVE ISRAEL (D), NEW YORK: Thank you. Thanks very much.

CAMEROTA: All right. So Congressman, I know that, other than your personal win, it was a rough night for you and for your Democratic colleagues. How do you explain what went wrong for Democrats last night?

ISRAEL: Well, rough I think it putting it mildly. It was a long, sleepless and ugly night for Democrats. And, you know, we wish that we had a better outcome.

But, you know, I'm a fan of my beloved New York Mets, and when you root for the Mets, you have to find that one good inning in a 10- nothing loss. And we had some bright spots. No. 1, this was a wave election. In 2006, when it was a wave against the Republicans, they lost 30 seats. In 2010, a wave against us, we lost 63 seats. This wave election, we contained the losses to about 15 seats. We still have some races outstanding. And so the wave swept lots of senators, Democratic governors. We were able to contain that wave.

And secondly, we did win in some pretty tough red areas: in Florida; it looks like we may have a win in Omaha, Nebraska. It looks like we may flip a district in California. That's the good news.

The bad news is they won seats, we lost seats. We have to do better in 2016.

CAMEROTA: And look, I recognize that hindsight is 20/20, but looking back, so many Democrats rejected President Obama on the campaign trail. Alison Lundergan Grimes in Kentucky famously refused to say whether or not she had voted for President Obama. In hindsight, does that seem now as though it was the wrong strategy for Democrats?

ISRAEL: Well, frankly, it didn't seem like the right strategy then. I mean, I think people just want to know where you stand on certain things. And my view is that, if people are going to vote against you, because you happen to have cast your vote in a polling place for President Obama, chances are they weren't with you to begin with.

I think people, they want authenticity. They want transparency. Tell people what you're for, what you're against, and let them make a judgment.

CAMEROTA: So Congressman, what do you now as a Democrat expect to be able to accomplish in the next two years?

ISRAEL: Well, I hope that we will accomplish what we've wanted to accomplish in the past six years. I think one of the messages in this election, Alisyn, is that the middle class just has kind of this seething anger. They have uncertainty, instability. And they want Washington to work. They want Washington to address their problems with solutions.

And I hope we can find middle ground with Republicans in sensible ways to strengthen and make the middle class more secure. That's my No. 1 priority. I hope it will be for this new Republican majority in the Senate and my new colleagues in the Republican caucus in the House.

CAMEROTA: You know, you talk about the general public, and we're trying to keep our finger on the pulse of how the public is feeling this morning. We've been monitoring social media.

Let me read to you one of the Facebook posts that sort of represents how many people are feeling this morning. And this is from Tom Yanno. He says, "The president had better learn a new word" -- quote, "compromise. Or we'll get nothing done in Washington for the next two years."

What are the Democrats willing to compromise on now? ISRAEL: Well, we've already established what we're willing to

compromise on. We've talked about a compromise on comprehensive immigration reform. Sixty-eight senators from the most conservative to the most progressive in the Senate voted for a comprehensive immigration bill, sent it to the House. Not only would Republicans not compromise; they wouldn't even let us vote on that bill. So I think that's one example of something that we can get to quickly.

There are other things that we can do. We can compromise on ways of making sure that middle-class families can refinance their college debt. We can compromise on things like trade and growing our economy.

The people want solutions, and I'll say something else. I think Republicans misread these results at their own peril. If they believe that this was the middle class saying to the Republicans, "Double down. Let's have more shut-downs. Don't compromise," I think that puts them in a very dangerous position.

CAMEROTA: The president has announced that he'll be holding a meeting this Friday, a bipartisan meeting with the House and Senate leaders. What will you tell the president about moving forward?

ISRAEL: Well, first of all, I'm not sure I'll be at that meeting, and I'd like to get some sleep before the meeting if I'm invited.

But look, the election is over. No more D-triple-C emails asking for money. No more attack ads from the super PACs. No more negativity. It's time for us to put politics behind us and find ways of producing for the American people.