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CNN Live Event/Special
CNN Monitors Super Tuesday Turnout. Aired 11p-12a ET
Aired March 05, 2024 - 23:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[23:00:00]
MITCH LANDRIEU, NATIONAL CO-CHAIR, JOE BIDEN 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN: This race is going to be a very close race, it's going to be very hard fought, as I want to remind everybody again, the only guy standing in this country that's ever beat Donald Trump is Joe Biden, and our expectation is he's going to be able to do it again.
We're not taking anything lightly, we're not taking it for granted, and we're going to fight really hard, and I think we're going to do well, and I think the President will demonstrate that in the State of the Union on Thursday night.
JOHN KING, CNN HOST: All right, I've got to cut you off right there because we're hitting the top of the hour. Mitch Landrieu, thanks for your time.
LANDRIEU: No problem.
JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: Thanks so much, and voting is about to end in the critical state of California and in the Utah Republican caucuses. We are deep into Super Tuesday with the biggest prize of the night on the line, and we can now make a major projection, and we are projecting that Donald Trump will win the Republican primary in California with its delegate-rich 169 delegates. Donald Trump will win the California Republican primary.
Let's look at all the states that Donald Trump has won to date. This is from the beginning of the contests with Iowa. We're going to do them in alphabetical order. Alabama, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Idaho, Iowa, Maine. That's just the first column.
Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina. That's the second column. Third column, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and the Commonwealth of Virginia. Quite a haul.
We do have another projection for you right now, and this is Vermont, and we are going to call Vermont for Nikki Haley. The Republican primary in Vermont and its 17 delegates go to Nikki Haley. Nikki Haley picks up her very first state. She won the Washington, D.C. primary over the weekend, and Vermont is the very first state that she has won. Nikki Haley, again, projected to be the winner of the Vermont Republican primary. Let's look at the votes there. It is 50.4 percent for Nikki Haley,
33,684 votes. That is 3215 votes more than Donald Trump, 45.6 percent of the vote. That's with an estimated 89 percent of the vote in, but CNN is projecting that Nikki Haley will be the winner of the Vermont primary.
Now, a Democratic projection. CNN is projecting that Joe Biden will be the winner of the California Democratic Party with its huge haul of 424 delegates. Joe Biden, again, the incumbent President will be the winner of the California Democratic primary CNN is projecting. Let's bring you a key race alert now.
TAPPER: All right, let's take a look at what's going on in Utah, where the polling just closed, the votes just closed, and it's too early to call in Utah, where there are 40 delegates at stake. Nikki Haley has high hopes for Utah. We're going to be keeping an eye on Utah, but as of right now, the Republican caucus is in Utah. It is too early to call. You might remember, historically, Utah was a trouble spot for Donald Trump, theoretically, during the Republican primaries and caucuses in 2016.
Let's turn now to David Chalian. This is obviously some delegates heading towards Nikki Haley. Not enough, but some. Give us the board.
DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Jake, you are right to note that Nikki Haley will get some delegates out of the Vermont win, but not many. Let's start with California. California had 169 delegates at stake tonight. You projected Donald Trump the winner, and he gets all 169 delegates.
Why? Because his campaign engineered a change in the California Republican Party rules this year, that if somebody got over 50 percent of the vote, they would get all the delegates. That's the kind of campaign work Donald Trump was thanking his campaign manager, Chris LaCivita, for earlier tonight when we heard from him, 169 to nothing in California.
Where are we to date tonight on this Super Tuesday night? Donald Trump has been awarded 617 delegates of the 865 at stake tonight. Nikki Haley has only got 23 out of tonight. Now, yeah, she got nine delegates out of that Vermont victory, but she's at 23 to Donald Trump's 617.
And how about the quest for his overall nomination? Where is he to date? Eight hundred and ninety-three. He needs 1215 to secure the nomination. He is well on his way. Eight hundred and ninety-three delegates for the former President. Nikki Haley is up to 66 delegates. Not in the same ballpark as Donald Trump at all.
What does he need? What has he won? He's won 92 percent of the delegates to date. Nikki Haley's only won 6.8 percent. Ninety-two to 6.8 percent. What's left to get for Donald Trump? What does he need of the remaining delegates? You see it there, 22.1 percent. That number has been going down all night as he's steamrolling through these victories. He now only needs 22 percent of the remaining delegates. Nikki Haley needs 78.8 percent of the remaining delegates to secure the nomination.
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Jake.
TAPPER: Very interesting stuff, Dave Chalian. John King, So, Nikki Haley does get a W on the board, but still, I mean, look at the delegate here. The delegate math.
KING: Just to reinforce what David said. Number one, you see the math. You see the one Haley victory in Vermont. Congratulations. But you see just from coast to coast so far. And again, what David just said. I mean, you know, the challenge, if you're Donald Trump tonight, you're getting 92 percent of the delegates.
Remember in 2016 there was talk of would there be a contested convention. That's why he picked Mike Pence to satisfy Christian conservatives and evangelicals. He was fine. Donald Trump does not head to formally clinching, which will be next week, and then and beyond in a position of quote-unquote weakness when it comes to the Republican Party.
This will be his convention unlike 2016, obviously 2020 was his convention. If you pull that up, you just look at the breadth of it. Now, the question just now is just when. You know, does he get over a thousand tonight? Most likely yes. And then he can clinch next week.
So, you're looking through it. And that's just, that's the issue of it, right? Maine, a very different state than California, he's getting 71 percent of the vote, right? Vermont is his weak spot tonight. He's 50 percent of the vote for Governor Haley there. He loses this one. He almost lost that one in 2016 to John Kasich.
So, it's never been a great state. You mentioned we're still waiting. Another state that's always been a little quirky when it comes to Donald Trump because of its own Republican traditions is here. Be interesting to see what happens here. But now that you've taken, you know, and then Alaska, as well. So, are there possibilities for Governor Haley to add a little bit to that? Yes, but it's game over.
It just is. And so, that the challenge is if you're, A, trying to convince yourself, you know, she's a very smart politician. The math doesn't lie to you. And if you're trying to convince the donors, even donors who are never Trumpers, I believe he said the words himself, I am your retribution. He watches these things. And so, there's a conversation among anybody who still wants to fight him. You're tilting at windmills. The math tells you that. And is it worth it?
TAPPER: Something else that's interesting as you talk about this, because I think about Vermont and I think about the governor who was a Republican, Phil Scott, and I think about what the Republican Party has been just in our lifetimes.
We're in the middle of a great realignment right now in the United States with educated voters becoming Democrats, wealthier voters becoming Democrats, the middle class becoming Republican. And one of the things we're seeing here, I think, is Donald Trump has in many ways, he's a key part of it.
I don't know that he's the only part of it, but he's a key part of changing the make-up of the Republican Party, which is why Nikki Haley, who last won an election in her home state in 2014, I think, when she ran for governor the second time, lost South Carolina, but was able to win Vermont because he has remade the Republican Party and Republican voters in his image.
And, in fact, he has said publicly that if you're a Mitt Romney Republican or a Nikki Haley Republican, he doesn't want you in the party. That's a good way to make the party in your own image. I don't know it's a good way to win an election in November, but it's a good way to win a primary and remake the party in your own image. David Chalian, you have some new exit polls.
CHALIAN: Jake, as you know, there's also a Senate race primary underway, a top-two primary in California. This is to replace the late Senator Dianne Feinstein, and I just want to note here, this is the context of a primary in a Democratic state. Overall in the electorate, about 20 percent of the electorate in this primary is Republican today, 43 percent Democrat, 27 percent Independent.
So, what does that mix of voters think about the state of affairs? Well, look at Joe Biden's approval rating. The President in California, if they add up strongly approved and somewhat approved, sits at 50 percent in heavily Democratic California.
Now, that's significantly over performing where he is nationally, and you see here 49 percent disapproved. So, he's split in half with his approval in California. We ask people, what do you think of your family's financial situation?
Again, this is in that California primary, 59 percent of the voters in that primary say they're holding steady. A quarter, 22 percent say they're falling behind. Only 14 percent voting in the California primary for Senate say they're getting ahead.
Feelings about Roe vs. Wade being overturned. Only nine percent of voters in that primary are enthusiastic about it. Look at the bottom of that. Fifty-three percent are downright angry about Roe v. Wade being overturned, and another 18 percent are dissatisfied. This is why Joe Biden and his team believe Democrats continue to be animated by this issue.
And feelings overall about the way things are going in the U.S. -- among the California Democratic primary voters, again, look at the bottom two here. Thirty-six percent dissatisfied, 34 percent angry.
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That is 70 percent. Seven in ten voters in this California, basically a Democratic primary with over-representation of Democrats in the electorate, and seven in ten are dissatisfied or angry about the way things are going in the U.S., Erin.
ERIN BURNETT, CNN ANCHOR: All right, David, thank you very much. And David, what do you make of that? And just to be clear, as David was laying out, right, you're looking at these numbers in the context of who voted today.
DAVID AXELROD, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes. Yes.
BURNETT: According to the exit polls, 43 percent of the people who voted today were Democrats, 37 percent Independents, and 20 percent Republican in the state of California.
AXELROD: Yes, I have a mixed primary, so everybody is reflected in those numbers. But California is obviously a more progressive state. Van Jones is a resident of California, that speaks to that.
VAN JONES, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: And I'm considered a moderate there.
AXELROD: But a 50-49 approval rating in California is a warning sign for the President. You would expect him to be doing much better there, and that reflects the lower number across the country. Let me just say, parenthetically, I know we're talking about the presidential race. The Senate race was really fascinating there, because Adam Schiff made a play in this campaign.
He basically decided he had a better chance of beating Steve Garvey, the former baseball player who was running as a Republican, than he did Katie Porter, a Democratic rep who could have been the second contender.
And he went after Garvey on television for weeks and weeks and weeks and said, you know, he's too conservative for California, and so on. Lifted Garvey in this primary. We'll see what happens, but it very well may end up as a Schiff-Garvey primary, and Schiff will win that general election.
BURNETT: You know, Scott, just also looking at these exit polls, though, when you look at the issues, again, plurality of voters, but more Democrat than anything else, the 43 percent. What are the issues that matter? Cost of living, number one.
Homelessness, obviously a very big issue in California, a California issue there perennially. Immigration and then crime. Climate change was after that. But the point, simply, it seems to be that the immigration cost-of-living economy, that cuts across the party lines.
SCOTT JENNINGS, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Everybody is worried about it. I mean, it's why Joe Biden's job approval is in the high 30s. I mean, there are bushels of Democrats who are unenthused about his re-election campaign because of these issues, because they don't think he's up to doing anything about it. Or worse, they think his policies have actually caused it.
What I've been looking at and thinking about all night is, for him to win, for Biden to win, he's going to have to get a bunch of people who disapprove of his job, who believe his policies have fundamentally hurt them, to somehow put, set all that aside on core fundamental day- to-day, affect-my-life issues and say, you know what? I just can't do it.
It is a hard argument to make, particularly when there is, to a point you made earlier, some nostalgia, some nostalgia for when Trump was in, I didn't feel like I was treading water. I felt like I was getting ahead. There didn't feel like chaos in the world.
And until the pandemic came along, things seemed pretty good. I mean, that's the fight they're in, is to get people who don't like you and don't think your policies work to come around and hold their nose and do it anyway.
AXELROD: Yeah, but this is going to be a brutal comparative race. And let me say, there was one statistic in a kind of downbeat set of polls for the President this weekend, and that was people who had an unfavorable rating of both candidates. And there were plenty of them. And Biden was leading among that group by 10 points. So, that was a -- you know, important.
BURNETT: Just to pause, because we're going to come right back here in a moment. I want to go to M.J. Lee at the White House here, of course, as Biden's watching this and preparing for his speech, obviously, this week. M.J.
M.J. LEE, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, you know, we've just gotten a statement from President Biden where he says, tonight makes clear that voters have a choice between moving forward and letting Donald Trump, quote, "drag us backwards".
He mentions in this statement that he decided to run for President four years ago because of what he sees as this existential threat that is Donald Trump, and that if he is re-elected, that is Donald Trump, then the progress of the last three years would be reversed.
This is a part of the statement from the President and it says, "My message to the country is this. Every generation of Americans will face a moment when it has to defend democracy, stand up for our personal freedom, stand up for the right to vote and our civil rights to every Democrat, Republican and independent who believes in a free and fair America. This is our moment. This is our fight. Together we will win." Erin, this is the Joe Biden general election statement.
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This is the reason that he is seeking a second term. And as you rightly noted, this is the theme that I think we are going to see so much of in his state of the union speech on Thursday evening. You know, this is the President saying, look, we're at a crossroads right now. The country faces an existential choice, and that is defending democracy and freedom versus not. And it is clearly not a coincidence that the statement references Republicans, Democrats and independents.
BURNETT: Right.
LEE: He's making the case that this isn't just about a Republican versus a Democrat, but that he believes that there should be enough Americans, regardless of what their political party is, what their political leaning is, that should be for what he is fighting for. And that is, again, defending the threat that he sees in Donald Trump.
BURNETT: All right, M.J. Kate, in that context of the democracy issue, and I know we've been talking about this even off camera tonight, but look at California. Fourteen percent of the people who voted today feel that their family is getting ahead. Fourteen percent.
That's abysmal. Can you tell people that the democracy issue, while existential, is more important than that actual experiential issue that people are facing, which is they don't feel that they're moving ahead?
KATE BEDINGFIELD, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, but the President is also talking about the economy, and I would expect that you will hear that in the State of the Union on Thursday night, as well. Certainly you will hear the freedom argument, which encompasses, you know, Republicans encroaching on the freedom of a woman's right to choose, which we've seen, again, has been an incredibly motivating issue for people over the last two years.
But I would expect that in the State of the Union, you're going to hear him talk a lot about his economic case. He will, I'm sure, talk about everything that he's done to bring costs down. But he will also, I would expect -- I know this from having worked for him for a long time -- he will talk about how he is growing the economy from the bottom up and the middle out.
He will talk about how he is helping working people, how he's making sure the economy doesn't just work for the rich, but that it works for working people. And, you know, yes, is there a case that needs to be made? Yes. We've talked a lot tonight about, you know, the Democrats are happy the election's not tomorrow.
But you know what? He has eight months to make this case. I think he is going to make it very effectively. But don't forget, these other issues combined, and I do think that the freedom argument and the democracy argument is significant.
JONES: I feel a little bit differently.
BEDINGFIELD: Again, we've seen time and again that it has turned people out to the polls.
JONES: You're right on that. I do see it a little bit differently. I think that for people who went to college and who are doing okay, I think that's a big motivator for us, the democracy piece. But I think that there's another set of people for whom the kitchen table argument is more real. And I think he has a big opportunity on Thursday to talk about that.
If you look -- people don't feel good. We can be factually honest, but emotionally dishonest if we don't point out that whatever numbers we throw at you, whatever bills we pass, people don't feel good. And how are they going to feel better?
Right now, gas prices are down. That's good. Unemployment is down. Stock market's up. Student loans have been cut. Inflation is down. But people still don't feel good. Why? Food prices are too high and rents are too high. And so, until you can go to the grocery store and come out with --
BURNETT: Well, not paying twice -- what people --
JONES: Yeah.
BURNETT: I'm not saying I'm paying twice the amount to get the same amount of stuff, that's how they feel. Yeah.
JONES: The emotional truth of not feeling good, despite all these numbers that we throw at you, has got to be addressed. Now, I think Biden can hit that now, because by him going after these greedy grocers -- these grocery chain stores that are keeping food prices too high, he is putting forward a commission to go after them.
I hope he hits that hard, because if he can drive food prices down and show he gets it, that's important. And number two, I think it's important, number two, rents are too high. Housing's too high. You can't buy a house. You can't buy a car. That's because of interest rates.
Now, rather than having Janet Yellen out here telling people nothing's going to happen, Janet Yellen should be beating the hell out of the Fed, saying, cut these interest rates. He should be going after these corporations.
BURNETT: But he's got an inflation problem.
JONES: I just want to finish. I know I'm talking a little bit more than I usually do. But Biden has already done something incredible. They said he couldn't have a soft landing. They said it was either going to have high inflation or a recession, and we haven't either. The only way that miracle, frankly, matters to real people, though, is when food prices come down and housing comes up, and you should focus on that.
ALYSSA FARAH GRIFFIN, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I could not agree with that more. Listen, I'm not voting for Donald Trump because I think he's a threat to democracy. I think he'll take the country the wrong direction. I think he sides with the authoritarians. But I recognize I have the privilege of kind of being a one-issue voter on that.
Most voters don't. They are living, there are too many Americans living paycheck to paycheck. There are many Americans who feel like they're not getting, doing better off than the generation before them, and that's a reality. And I would also add one issue we've not really talked about tonight is abortion. I worry that Democrats are betting too big on abortion being an animating issue.
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Trump's going to find a way to moderate on it, and at the end of the day, voters recognize Biden's in the White House right now, and he cannot restore your reproductive rights. So, you're not getting those back, necessarily, by voting for him. You're just supporting someone who happens to agree with you on the issue. I don't think you can bet the whole baby on abortion rights.
UNKNOWN: Yeah.
BURNETT: That they are trying to get on the ballot instead.
AXELROD: Can I just say one thing? I couldn't agree more with Van. If you're sitting around the kitchen table, as I do, and you're talking about democracy and the future of democracy, you probably aren't worried about how much you paid for that dinner that you put on your table. And that speech on Thursday should, and I think his remarks tonight, frankly, should have focused on the future that people are going to live in their daily lives.
UNKNOWN: I was going to say you're going to need something like very powerful, maybe the Cookie Monster in the gallery at Thursday.
BURNETT: All right. Thank you all. Jake.
TAPPER: Thanks, Erin. And we have a key race alert for you now. I want to go to Boris Sanchez, because very important Senate primary in the state of California. It's a jungle primary. I mean, the top two vote- getters are the ones who will face off, whether they're the same party or not. Boris.
BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: Yeah, precisely, Jake. Very important, very expensive Senate primary in the Golden State, as well. One of the most expensive we've ever seen. Let's get a key race alert on where things stand right now. Congressman Adam Schiff has pulled into the lead. He stands 26,000 votes ahead of Steve Garvey.
Schiff, of course, well-known for leading the two impeachment inquiries -- the two impeachments, I should say, of former President Donald Trump. Garvey, the most well-known Republican in this race. He's a former Major League Baseball star, played for the Dodgers and the Padres.
Going with a more moderate platform, as you would expect in a statewide race in California. Notably, Garvey hasn't put a single ad up on the air. Most of his ads have come from Adam Schiff, as a matter of fact, who's been critical of him, calling him way too conservative.
That's part of where the money has been spent. Millions of dollars by Schiff to promote Garvey in this race, partly because he's going up against two incumbent Democrats, as well. And Katie Porter and Barbara Lee right now. Porter and Lee, distant third and fourth place in this race.
Again, as you mentioned, Jake, the top two vote getters here wind up on the general election ballot in November. Still early, though, 17 percent of the vote in right now. Adam Schiff sitting 78,000 votes ahead of second place, Steve Garvey. Jake.
TAPPER: All right, let's go to Nick Watt in Santa Ana in Orange County, California. Nick, you've been talking to voters all day. There you are. Nick, you've been talking to voters all day. What have you been hearing? Okay, his audio is not working. Audio is not working. So, let's head over to Dana Bash.
We thought we'd worked out the kinks, but let's talk for a second about this incredibly interesting, and I'm sure Katie Porter and Barbara Lee fans would call devious strategy of Adam Schiff running in the Senate in this jungle primary. So, whoever is the top two vote getters, they face off. And he boosted Steve Garvey.
He boosted Steve Garvey by calling him a MAGA Republican, calling him too conservative for California, juicing his name recognition, letting MAGA Republicans and conservatives in the state know about him. So, they turned out for him because he thinks he will have an easier time, Schiff, beating Garvey than he would beating Katie Porter in the general election.
DANA BASH, CNN ANCHOR: And he's almost certainly right that he will have an easier time in the very blue state of California running against a Republican. And, you know, yes, it is devious. As one politician we were talking to recently said, it's unfortunate, but it's politics. And we've seen different versions of this in the past with Democrats using their very big war chests, and Adam Schiff has a huge war chest to try to sort of play games on the other side.
And when it comes to Steve Garvey, what Republicans are worried about on a sort of broader level is that if more Republicans, if it turns out that it's the two of them on the ballot in the fall, that Republicans are not that many in California anymore, but enough of them will come out. And it could change the dynamic in some of these really competitive House races that could change the majority in the House of Representatives.
KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Yeah, go ahead.
JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: It's potentially a huge thing because the House majority, as we all know, runs through California. I mean, that is one -- it's kind of odd this year.
I can't recall a time when the House majority sort of is as dependent on New York and California. I don't think there's been a time, at least in the last couple decades, where that's been as explicit. But I think that that is a worry there.
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So, there's always a risk when Democrats sort of engineer primaries, and Republicans have done it too, of the unintended consequences. And that could absolutely be one in Central California and other places.
ABBY PHILLIP, CNN ANCHOR: And one of the other things at play here is that you have two pretty well-known incumbents in Katie Porter and Barbara Lee, whose careers are basically ending here.
Barbara Lee became well-known for her anti-war position. She ran on that in this race. She wanted to be the sole black woman in the Senate by running for this race. That's going to be, I think, a pretty significant loss for the institution of the House.
And Katie Porter was a huge rising star in the Democratic Party, someone who really kind of connected with younger voters through basically going viral with all of her videos. So, this has been a pretty bruising primary for the Democrats. It's pitted actually quite a lot of popular Democrats against one another.
Ultimately, it looks like Adam Schiff -- it's pretty early and California is going to be super slow tonight, and they have a lot of votes to count.
BASH: Super slow always.
PHILLIP: He's super slow always. But he's trouncing his Democratic competition right now. So did he need to boost Garvey? Maybe. But you could argue that he's doing pretty well. He's far and away ahead of Katie Porter, who's about 16 percent.
AUDIE CORNISH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, it's a kick in the face to those wings of the Democratic Party. I mean, with this primary system, you could have had a choice between two Democrats, and obviously Adam Schiff made a different choice.
But it means that those people who were sort of the Elizabeth Warren wing that Katie Porter appealed to, Barbara Lee really representing, as you said, anti-war votes in a moment where the party is struggling with ceasefire activists.
And you basically tell all those people to go home because a guy who fought against Trump is the best option. I just think there are a lot of voters in the party who are not going to find that all that appealing in terms of direction of the party overall.
COLLINS: He also had a lot of congressional firepower behind him though. I mean, he had Nancy Pelosi on his side helping tip the scales. That was an immense thing and factor here. He had a lot of congressional endorsements from the House. Typically you wouldn't always see that, but it clearly was a result of who Democrats in the House at least thought was a better person to have there. And he was really well-known.
He was a nightly presence on cable news when Donald Trump was in office, and more so than Barbara Lee. Katie Porter obviously newer to the scene than both of them on Capitol Hill. And I don't know that her career is over. I mean, her time in the House obviously, she's not going to be in the Senate. But clearly she is someone, if you read her book, she definitely is going to be someone who wants to have a very long political life.
PHILLIP: I do think just one thought, you know, as we were talking here, that we talk a lot about the kind of shifts in the Republican Party. But it almost feels like this race represents, for the Democratic Party, a similar kind of divide. It's sort of like, you know, Adam Schiff basically became famous by taking on Trump. And then in both Katie Porter and in Barbara Lee, you have two different elements of the Democratic tent.
Katie Porter is someone who kind of focused a lot on kitchen table economic issues. Barbara Lee represented the sort of left-wing anti- war kind of movement. Both of those kind of pushed to the corners in this particular moment when Trump is the main focus. And the thing that energizes the Democratic base maybe brings in the most money as a fundraiser, Adam Schiff able to do that pretty effectively.
BASH: I just want to switch gears because we have joining us Doug Burgum, who is the governor of North Dakota. Thank you so much for being here. We appreciate it. Let's start with your thoughts on what happened this evening. Obviously, Donald Trump has had huge victories everywhere except for one state in Vermont, but he is well ahead in the delegate count. Is it your sense as somebody who was a competitor of Donald Trump's that Nikki Haley is looking for an exit ramp at this point?
DOUG BURGUM (R) FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, Dana, great to be with you and everybody on the panel tonight. But yeah, the primary race is over right now and the general election starts immediately. It starts tomorrow morning. And I think that what you're seeing in the victories that Donald Trump is racking up today is that there's a high amount of energy for Donald Trump and people are concerned about some of these issues you've talked about, whether it's inflation, the border, the world being at war.
But there's a lot of support for Donald Trump right now. And everybody's getting -- everybody in the Republican Party that I know is looking to let's get united and let's get focused on the general election.
COLLINS: Governor, you obviously are someone who has been rumored to be on Donald Trump's short list for vice presidential options once he does, as he appears like he's on track to do, become the Republican nominee.
[23:30:00]
Just yesterday, he was talking about how he thought you would be great at that job if you took it. I'm just curious if you -- if you were Trump's Vice President on January 6th, would you have done what Mike Pence did?
BURGUM: Well, I think that all the speculation about who's going to be in the Cabinet, who's going to be Vice President is a distraction from what has to happen, which is the party's got to focus on Donald Trump winning in November.
I mean, he's got to have so many people that want to serve in this administration that he's going to be able to pick the people of his choosing at the time that makes sense for him. And I think Republicans need to stay focused on that.
COLLINS: I understand that, but you are on the shortlist. You're a name that I hear from sources that they talk about. Do you think that Mike Pence did the right thing that day? BURGUM: Well, I don't know if I'm on the shortlist or not, but I do
know that what this election is going to be about, it's going to be about the things that matter to Americans. And when you've got our economy right now that's been juiced by the trillions of dollars of spending, I mean, the actual economic growth of the actual economy of the goods economy is flat.
I mean, the reason why we're seeing economic growth is because of what the federal government is spending. And I think Americans are feeling it in what they're paying for their food, what they're paying for the price at the pump. And they know that this is not sustainable and they see the wars breaking out all over the world because of the weakness of the Biden administration.
And then the border -- in 2016, the border was about immigration. Now, the border is about national security and it's about public safety. And that's a huge change in sentiment compared to what we were eight years ago. And these are the issues that the general election is going to focus on.
BASH: Thank you so much, Governor. We really appreciate your time on this big, big political night. Thank you. Now we want to go to another governor who had a contest in his state tonight, the governor of Minnesota, Tim Walz. Thank you so much for being here.
My question for you is looking at how the President did tonight. Let's just start with what happened in your state, given who else was running. There was a Congressman -- there is a Congressman from your state running, Dean Phillips. Talk about the dynamic of how the Democratic electorate showed up for Joe Biden versus any kind of traction for somebody within the Democratic Party to challenge him.
GOV. TIM WALZ (D) MINNESOTA: Yeah, well, thanks for having me. Can we all just acknowledge that your previous guest would not answer the question about certifying a legitimate election? Look, that is really at the heart of this. Joe Biden won tonight. We knew months ago this can be a binary choice between decency, protection of democracy, protection of reproductive freedoms, and the absolute chaos you see of a Trump administration. And having a governor on and being asked a very simple question about constitutional responsibility and pivoting to some non-sense.
Here in Minnesota, we're a broad party. I've been through this. We know that there's folks expressing their opinion. We're not even Democrats. We're Democrat Farmer Labor Party. And so I'm really pleased with the way the President did. We're going to work hard for him here. We know that the path to the White House leads through the Great Lakes states and Joe Biden will win in November.
PHILLIP: Governor, it's Abby Phillip. Thanks for being here with us tonight. I want to ask you as we're seeing these votes rolling in from your state. We're seeing a fairly sizable, about 40,000 votes right now, 20 percent of the vote going to uncommitted. And we've seen that already in this primary in Michigan. What message are voters in your state trying to send to President Biden? And what do you want to see President Biden do in response? WALZ: Yeah, look, they're engaged. We're really proud of Minnesota
civic responsibility. We have some of the highest voter turnouts. These are voters that are deeply concerned as we all are. The situation in Gaza is intolerable.
And I think trying to find a solution, a lasting two-state solution, certainly the President's move towards humanitarian aid and asking us to get to a ceasefire, that's what they're asking to be heard. And that's what they should be doing. We've gone through this before. And we know that now we make sure we've got eight months.
We start bringing these folks back in. We listen to what they're saying. That's a healthy thing that's happening here. But I would note that the former President lost twice as many votes here in Minnesota to Nikki Haley.
And I've seen some of these exit polls out of North Carolina and others, 80 percent of folks said they're not voting for him who voted for Nikki Haley. We'll get these folks back. I think it's take them seriously. Their message is clear that they think this is an intolerable situation and that we can do more. And I think the President's hearing that.
BASH: Governor, thank you so much for joining us this evening. We appreciate it. Good to see you.
WALZ: Thank you all.
BASH: And a very winning Super Tuesday for Donald Trump and for President Biden as well, catapulting them both closer to their expected rematch in November.
[23:35:00]
We're going to get reaction from voters in a crucial general election battleground state, Wisconsin. That's ahead.
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TAPPER: And we have a key race alert for you now in that really interesting California Senate primary. It's a jungle primary, meaning everybody runs on the same ticket, Democrats, Republicans, independents. And whoever the top two vote getters are, those are the two that face off in November, even if they're both Democrats or both Republicans. Let's go to Boris Sanchez with that key race alert for us. Boris.
SANCHEZ: Yeah, Jake, and this key race alert shows the trend moving in a very specific direction right now. Incumbent Democratic Congressman Adam Schiff sitting in a very strong position, nearly 37, it just updated 37 percent of the vote in right now for Adam Schiff, 219,000 votes ahead of the second place candidate in this top two primary, Steve Garvey, the Republican. He has about 29.4 percent well above, well above third place, Katie Porter, the incumbent Democrat in the House of Representatives.
[23:40:00]
We should point out, as you said, Jake, this is a race to the top two. It looks as though it's trending in the direction that Adam Schiff and Steve Garvey are going to be on that general election ballot come November. Forty-one percent of the vote in so far in California. You can't ignore the money in this race, as well, Jake. More than $70 million spent on just the primary.
TAPPER: Fascinating stuff. Let's go to Kylie Atwood now in Charleston, South Carolina. She's covering Nikki Haley's campaign. And Kylie, we have projected, I think, 10 or 11 states -- 12 states for Donald Trump, though we are projecting a Vermont for Nikki Haley. So that's 12 for Trump, one for Haley. We still have some outstanding. Have you heard anything from the Haley campaign?
KYLIE ATWOOD, CNN ANCHOR: Jake, we just heard from the Nikki Haley campaign responding tonight for the first time. We've heard from them in a few hours. I want to read to you what the spokeswoman is saying, quote, "We're honored to have received the support of millions of Americans across the country today, including Vermont, where Nikki became the first Republican woman to win two presidential primary contests."
And then she went on to say that unity is not achieved by simply claiming we're united today in state after state. There remains a large block of the Republican Party voters who are expressing deep concerns about Donald Trump. That is not the unity our party needs for success. Addressing those voters concerns will make the Republican Party and America better."
Clearly not addressing head on what Nikki Haley plans to do with her campaign, she said. Heading in tonight, she wanted the results to be competitive. By all measures, these results are not competitive. She did pick up some delegates thus far.
But of course, she only has won one state thus far. And so we'll watch to see when we will next hear from Nikki Haley, because as of right now, there are no plans for her to speak publicly this evening. We'll watch to see if she does that tomorrow. Jake.
TAPPER: All right. Kylie Atwood in Charleston, South Carolina, covering the Haley campaign. Obviously, we're all looking forward now with the results indicating that Donald Trump is well on his way to becoming the Republican presidential nominee.
So, let's see how tonight's presidential primary results are playing with voters in a state that will be one of the handful that will be really up for grabs in November. I'm specifically talking about Wisconsin. Gary Tuchman is with voters in Wales, Wisconsin, which is outside of Milwaukee. And Gary, who are you with and what are they thinking as this race moves forward?
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Jake, we're with 11 politically active people here in the state of Wisconsin. We're in Waukesha County, which is between Milwaukee, the biggest city in the state, and Madison, the state capital of the state. And by the way, Wales is called Wales because this village where we are was settled by people from Wales in the mid 19th century. Are any of you Welsh? Okay, we can move on then.
But anyway, it's a beautiful town. I want to ask all of you, we have some Biden supporters here, some Trump supporters, some Haley supporters. If the election were today, how many of you would be voting for Donald Trump? One, two, three, four.
How many of you would be voting for Joe Biden? One, two, three, four. Is anybody still ready to vote for Nikki Haley? One, two, three. So, that leads to my next question. Do any of you think that Nikki Haley still has a shot? But you're still going to write her in if the election were held today? Both of you feel that way and you feel that way also? You don't. So, who would you vote for?
UNKNOWN: I would vote for Trump.
TUCHMAN: You would vote for Trump. So, people who are voting for Donald Trump, raise your hand again for a second. I'll start with you because you said you're voting for Trump. Why do you think you'll vote for Donald Trump?
UNKNOWN: I would vote for him, just his strong stance in American patriotism. He's got the backbone that America needs desperately. So, he has my vote.
TUCHMAN: And do you not think Joe Biden is a patriot?
UNKNOWN: Not certain.
TUCHMAN: Not certain. Okay. What about you? Why are you going to vote for Donald Trump?
UNKNOWN: I think he's the man for the country right now. I don't like him personally, but I know that he --
TUCHMAN: You don't like what personally?
UNKNOWN: Yeah, his personality. I can see past that towards like policy. So, I think his policy is for economic growth. I'm concerned about border security and economic independence.
TUCHMAN: Question, we've been asking in polling today, is he fit to be President if he's convicted of a felony? What do you think? Who's another one of our Trump supporters who wants to answer that question? What do you think?
UNKNOWN: I do.
TUCHMAN: And why do you?
UNKNOWN: That wouldn't bother you if he was convicted of a felony being President?
UNKNOWN: It would bother me, but it would bother me more to vote for Biden.
TUCHMAN: And why is that?
UNKNOWN: I just, I think when the press is saying things about him and what I see, too, that he's incapable of speaking, that he probably has Alzheimer's.
[23:45:00]
TUCHMAN: Well, that's speculation, but yes, he does make mistakes speaking, but so does Donald Trump. Right?
UNKNOWN: Right.
TUCHMAN: And that doesn't bother you though?
UNKNOWN: It's not in the same way.
TUCHMAN: Okay. Our Biden supporters, raise your hand. Why Joe Biden?
UNKNOWN: Because I'm not worried that he's not going to leave office.
TUCHMAN: What does that mean?
UNKNOWN: I think that Trump may want to stay in the office or may make changes that precludes his leaving. I'll leave it at that.
TUCHMAN: And regarding both of you who are saying that you're going to write in Nikki Haley at this point? And because she doesn't have a chance to be President, why would you do that?
UNKNOWN: Well, I think like many in this country, I feel like we have to vote between the lesser of two bad choices. I mean, really bad choices. And I just feel like in my conscience, while I do think that President Trump did some good things that I am very concerned about what a second term would mean.
TUCHMAN: Well, I want to thank you all for talking with me. We're going to talk to you a little later in this evening or early morning, depending on what time zone you're in. Jake, back to you.
TAPPER: All right. Gary Tuchman, thank you so much. Appreciate it. We're going to take a quick break. And when we come back, we're going to have more of the votes coming in from all over the country. Stay with us.
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[23:50:29]
TAPPER: And we have another projection for you this evening. We've been paying a lot of attention to the California Senate primary. Let's go to Boris Sanchez for the latest on that, Boris.
SANCHEZ: Yeah, Jake, CNN making an important projection in that California Senate primary. We're projecting that Democrat Adam Schiff will advance to the general election come November. Remember, California is a top two primary state, meaning the top two vote getters in the race wind up on that general election ballot.
So, we're projecting that Adam Schiff will be there come November 5th. The race for second place right now is on Republican Steve Garvey leading the way there. He's got almost 29 percent of the vote and a substantial lead over third place, incumbent Congresswoman Katie Porter.
This is going to be a tough race. Garvey's running a more moderate platform, as you would expect for a Republican in a statewide race in California. He's promised to protect reproductive rights. He's also promised to push for programs for the unhoused.
Meantime, Porter made a name for herself, grilling financial executives during hearings on Capitol Hill. She's been endorsed by Senator Elizabeth Warren, but right now she's trailing substantially in third place, 42 percent of the vote and so far in the Golden State, Jake.
TAPPER: Very interesting. Boris Sanchez, thanks so much. Well, let's take a look at the Golden State, whatever you can show us, John King. Adam Schiff -- we have projected he will advance, just to remind people, it's a jungle primary, meaning all the candidates are on the same ballot. If you're a registered voter, you can go in there and whoever the top two vote getters are, they will square off, even if they're both Democrats or both Republicans.
KING: And so, the California Republican Party has had, I'm going to say a decade, it's more than a decade of struggles to field candidates. So, you see their candidate at number two. Well, we haven't projected the number two yet. The number one will be him. You're going to have a very angry Katie Porter, Barbara Lee. These are two House Democrats who, forgive me, the map just, let me see that. When you catch your sleeve on the map, you can make --
TAPPER: The world is over.
KING: You make the whole country disappear. Catch your sleeve on the map. There you go. But Adam Schiff is going to advance and it sure looks like, we've got half the vote still to count, a little more than that, but it sure looks like the way it's played out early anyway, that Steve Garvey, the former Dodger, former Padre will advance, as well.
And as everyone has been noting, Adam Schiff helped engineer this by spending a boatload of money promoting him. So, his fellow House Democrats will not be thrilled with that. They'll find it cynical. But look, just, let's walk. Let's start at the southern part of the state. We can go down to San Diego. You see in the more Republican areas of the state, you see Garvey's actually winning and Schiff's coming in second.
But then all the way up the coast, obviously the number one basket of votes is Los Angeles County, the biggest population center.
TAPPER: That's where he's from.
KING: In the state, yes. And so he's getting 42 percent there. And then you just march up the coast, right? We're up the Ventura Highway. Here we go, right? Sing an Eagle song for me. We can do something, up through Santa Barbara. Adam Schiff is just running.
It's his blue all the way up the coast, right? And so, what do you see happening there? It's a very blue state. Joe Biden beat Donald Trump there by five million votes in 2020. So, the Democratic nominee for Senate has a pretty optimistic chance to be a full-time senator from the state of California.
And Adam Schiff has helped with, you know, again, smart politics. Democrats won't like it, but just look at it. The question is, is there any way, you know, any Republican, great name I.D., can it be competitive in California? The odds are against that highly. So, Adam Schiff, in winning tonight, puts himself on a path to be a United States Senator, replace, you know, the legendary Dianne Feinstein.
TAPPER: Yeah, Adam Schiff boosting Steve Garvey in his ads because he was more worried about defeating Katie Porter in the general than he is about Steve Garvey. And as people out there might remember, when our Vice President Kamala Harris was running for Senate, she was in a jungle primary. She was from northern California.
KING: San Francisco area, right.
TAPPER: And she was an Attorney, the Attorney General, running against a Congresswoman from southern California. And it was a competitive race. David Chalian, you have more on the delegate front.
CHALIAN: That's right, Jake, as we count more and more of these votes, we are able to allocate more delegates on this Super Tuesday. Look at where we are tonight, so far. Remember, 865 delegates at stake tonight. Donald Trump has been awarded 617 of them. Nikki Haley, only 23 of them, just a dominant night for Donald Trump.
Take a look at what that means where Donald Trump stands to date in the delegate race. Remember, up there in the right-hand corner, it's 1215 delegates needed to secure the nomination.
[23:55:00]
Donald Trump sits at 893 delegates -- 893, Nikki Haley at 66. Boy, has Donald Trump just stretched his delegate lead on this biggest night of available delegates. Take a look at what this means for Donald Trump's amassing of delegates to date. He's got 92 percent of all the delegates awarded compared to Nikki Haley's 6.8 percent. That is not even a close contest in the thing that matters most for winning the nomination.
So, what does Donald Trump need of the remaining delegates? He's down to 22.1 percent, that green highlighted number there. That's all he needs of the remaining delegates. Haley, she needs 78.8 percent of the remaining delegates, a monumental task for somebody who's clearly not winning that many contests, Jake. TAPPER: All right, David Chalian, thanks so much. CNN's Super Tuesday
coverage continues after this break. We'll be right back.
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