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Critical Elections Across the Country Could Set the Stage for 2026; CNN Poll Shows Trump's Disapproval Rating Hits All-Time High; Candidates in Key Races Make Final Push Ahead of Election Day. Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired November 03, 2025 - 10:00   ET

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

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[10:00:00]

PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now, final election push. Candidates are fanning now, right now, rallying voters in key races that are both a referendum on President Trump and could determine the future of the Democratic Party.

Food stamp uncertainty, the 42 million Americans that use the SNAP program are not getting those benefits right now as the legal battle is escalating.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Historic disapproval rating, CNN brand new polling shows more than six in ten Americans disapprove of Donald Trump's job as president. We're going to break down what's behind this new number.

And later, victory lap, Dodgers fans are still celebrating their truly stunning World Series win in just hours, a parade for the back-to-back champs. Welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world.

I'm Wolf Blitzer with Pamela Brown, and you're in The Situation Room.

Happening now, candidates in critical city and state elections across the country are in a final, urgent push right now for votes with the election now less than a day away. Races for the mayor of New York and governors in New Jersey and Virginia are all in play. Voters will be going to the polls with a government shutdown on the verge of becoming the longest ever, and an imminent U.S. Supreme Court case that could end up -- could wind up ending President Trump's tariff strategy around the globe. Some are also seeing this week as a referendum on President Trump's performance so far in this, his second term.

And the results of tomorrow's votes are likely to lay the groundwork for the 2026 midterm elections just a year away.

BROWN: We have full coverage of these crucial closing hours of these campaigns. CNN Correspondent Gloria Pazmino is in New York. CNN Correspondent Arlette Saenz is across the river in New Jersey. And CNN National Politics Correspondent Eva McKend is covering the race in Virginia. Arlette, New Jersey will have a new governor after tomorrow. What is the last pitch we're hearing from the two main candidates?

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Pam, Republican nominee Jack Ciattarelli is kicking off his day here at Murph's Tavern in Totowa, New Jersey, as he is hoping to energize voters heading into Election Day. Now, he is campaigning here in Passaic County, which is actually a county that President Donald Trump flipped back in 2024, and Ciattarelli is hoping to replicate that in his campaign.

Now, both candidates, Ciattarelli and the Democrat, Congresswoman Mikie Sherrill, have put cost of living issues at the center of the campaign, but they've also worked to make this election a referendum on who is in power. For Sherrill, she has tried to tie Ciattarelli to Trump, saying that he would just be a yes man in continuation of his policies, while Ciattarelli argues that Mikie Sherrill would be an extension of the Democratic policies, which he believes are failing here in New Jersey.

Take a listen to a bit of their closing message for voters.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. MIKIE SHERRILL (D-NJ): Everything my opponent is going to do, he's either done before when he was in the assembly and voting against all of us, or he said he is going to do. He's given Trump an A. He said there's nothing he disagrees with him on it.

JACK CIATTARELLI (R), NEW JERSEY GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE: We cannot afford another day for those four failed policies. And make no mistake, if my opponent's elected, okay, it's more the same, only worse. She is Murphy 2.0. We cannot let this happen.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAENZ: Now one person who has not been in the state is President Donald Trump. He has not campaigned with Ciattarelli here, but he will be holding a tele-rally for him a little bit later in the evening. But in just a short while, we do expect Ciattarelli to be arriving here, possibly pouring some heights as he is looking to win over those last- minute voters.

BLITZER: All right. I want to go to Eva McKend. She's joining us from Richmond, Virginia, right now. As you know, Eva, Virginia's about to get its first female governor no matter who wins the race tomorrow. What issues are they hitting in this, the final few hours before tomorrow's vote?

EVA MCKEND, CNN NATIONAL POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, Democratic nominee Abigail Spanberger's campaign bus just pulled up here in Richmond. She is greeting her supporters, the volunteers with her campaign, before they set off to do the all important work of door knocking. And I can tell you that the Spanberger campaign is feeling confident in the final hours because of the strategy that they have employed, focusing heavily on the cost of living and the economy.

[10:05:02]

And she has fashioned herself as someone that can speak directly to the concerns of deflated federal workers in this state.

But meanwhile, Lieutenant Governor Winsome Earle-Sears, the Republican candidate, she has long maintained that she is best suited for this moment because of the economy in Virginia, in her estimation, is doing well and that she wants to continue to promote the policies in place. Take a listen to how they're making their campaign arguments.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ABIGAIL SPANBERGER (D), VIRGINIA GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE: And we need a governor who, despite all of the bad policies coming of this White House and this Republican-led Congress, we need a governor who will work to mitigate every harm, stand up for Virginians and put good policies in place.

LT. GOV. WINSOM EARLE-SEARS (R-VA): Yes, Virginia is competing for jobs. We can't afford to lose, not one. And Eli Lilly said, Virginia, you get the lottery ticket. You get the $5 billion. You know what you're doing. We want the come there, jobs, jobs, there will be jobs. Under Abigail, those jobs will disappear.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCKEND: And, Wolf and Pam, the challenge for both Spanberger and Earle-Sears is that more than a million Virginians have already voted. Still, though, they are trying to make their case all over this state. Spanberger primarily doing these small events, door-knocking, driving out student support, while Earle-Sears will hold a big final rally this evening in Manassas, Northern Virginia. Wolf, Pam?

BROWN: All right. Eva, thanks so much.

I want to bring in Gloria now. The New York mayor's race may be the most closely watched votes, and these candidates are pitching sharply different views of the city's future. They're crisscrossing the city today. Where do things stand?

GLORIA PAZMINO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's why, Pamela. You know, the Democratic mayoral nominee, the frontrunner in this race, Zohran Mamdani, there's a lot of symbolism and potential for history-making tomorrow. If he wins this election, he would become the city's first Muslim mayor, the first South Asian, the first immigrant mayor in a very long time, and the youngest in more than a century. And so he has taken all of those elements as he campaigns.

And this morning, he walked over the Brooklyn Bridge and down to city hall, where we are now, sort of trying to close out his election, talking about the fact that he believes there's a new dawn that's about to rise here in New York City, making sort of that symbolic last speech as the sun was coming up early this morning, calling on his supporters to continue to go out. He said he's feeling very confident, however, not complacent. Now, we also heard from President Donald Trump. He has loomed very largely over this election. He has referred to Zohran Mamdani as a communist, even though he is a Democratic socialist. And he has said that he would cut back on the city's federal funding if Mamdani is elected.

Now, during his 60 Minutes interview last night, he also gave some tepid support to Andrew Cuomo, the other independent candidate in this race who is second behind Mamdani. Here's how Zohran Mamdani responded to that tepid endorsement.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ZOHRAN MAMDANI (D), NEW YORK CITY MAYORAL CANDIDATE: You know, we have long known that Andrew Cuomo is Donald Trump's puppet in this race. What we did not quite expect is for him to become his parrot in the final days as well. We have heard words from a former governor of the state that we would imagine they were coming from the president of this country.

And I think what President Trump's remarks show us last night is what many of us have long known and feared, which is that when you are too busy cashing the checks of the billionaire donors who gave us the second term of this president, you will not be able to stand up to that same president.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAZMINO: Zohran Mamdani has tried to cast this election as a choice between democracy and oligarchy. Oligarchy, his reference to the many billionaire, millionaire donors that have funded the super PACs that are opposing his campaign and Andrew Cuomo. All of the candidates, including Mamdani, Cuomo, and the Republican, Curtis Sliwa, while all of them making their way across the five boroughs today as a campaigning wraps up an Election Day is tomorrow. Pam?

BROWN: All right. Gloria Pazmino, thanks so much.

BLITZER: And Arlette Saenz, let's thank her, and Eva McKend as well. The three reporters are going to be very, very busy over the next day and two, as we watch these elections unfold.

BROWN: We certainly will.

And new this morning, Wolf, President Donald Trump's disapproval rating hits an all-time high. 63 percent disapprove of how President Trump is handling his job. That's according to a new CNN poll that was out just hours ago, and it's higher than the 62 percent disapproval rating he had when he left office back in January of 2021.

So, let's go live now to CNN Senior White House Reporter Kevin Liptak.

[10:10:01]

Any reaction from the White House on these new poll numbers, Kevin? KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yes. You know, it's interesting. White Houses oftentimes shrug off these kinds of poll numbers, and I think what you've been seeing from President Trump is really entrenching on some of the policies that Americans in this poll say that they disapprove of. And just for example, on immigration, 57 percent of Americans in this CNN survey said that they thought that the president was going too far. But it was notable in that interview that he conducted last night on 60 Minutes, the president was asked about some of these striking images of immigration enforcement operations around the country, whether it's agents deploying tear gas or breaking glass in cars or throwing a young woman to the ground.

But the president really sort of doubling down on the strategy here, saying that he doesn't think that they've gone far enough, essentially saying that he made this promise to the American people to get, quote, the worst of the worst out of the country, and that in his view, his immigration enforcement initiative still could be ramped up. And so you see the president really kind of shrugging off the disapproval ratings there.

Separately, on the issue of the government shutdown, you know, polls showing that Republicans and Trump gaining most of the blame there, but the president really sort of entrenching in the strategy, saying that he won't be extorted by Democrats and calling on Republicans to get rid of the Senate filibuster, essentially saying that they should eradicate precedent in the Senate to reopen the government without participation from the Democrats.

BROWN: All right. I want to ask you about something else that happened over the weekend. On social media, President Trump ordered the Defense Department to prepare for possible military action in Nigeria. What more can you tell us about that?

LIPTAK: Yes. And this is really striking. It's not a conflict that we've heard the president talk about much at all until this weekend, but he seems to be suggesting that Christians are being persecuted in that country and that the U.S. will use the military to go in and to protect them.

And it was interesting on Air Force One last night, the president was asked very directly whether that could include sending U.S. boots on the ground or conducting airstrikes, and the president declined to rule it out. You know, in that social media post, he said that the U.S., quote, may very well go into that now disgraced country guns ablazing to completely wipe out the Islamic terrorists.

And, you know, Nigeria is a country that has suffered the plight of Islamic militarism, including from Boko Haram. But when you look at the facts on the ground, they are targeting both Muslim and Christians and the leadership of that country saying essentially that the U.S. should not intervene.

BROWN: All right. Kevin Liptak live for us from the White House, thanks so much. Wolf?

BLITZER: I'm still ahead, it was the worst weekend for air traffic control staffing, and it may not be over by any means. The new warning from the transportation secretary straight ahead.

And later we've been held back, a direct quote from President Trump. He's now pushing for even tougher immigration tactics.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: Well, I think they haven't gone far enough because we've been held back by the judges, by the liberal judges that were put in by Biden and by Obama.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You're okay with those tactics?

TRUMP: Yes, because you have to get the people out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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[10:15:00]

BLITZER: Happening now, candidates around the country right now are campaigning in this, the final push ahead of Election Day. Tomorrow's races mark the first major tests for President Trump since he started his second term, and for Democrats, as the party determines how to oppose him. This as the nation hurdles toward a record for the longest ever government shutdown. The Trump administration faces a noon deadline to respond to last week's court ruling requiring it to fill the gap on funding for the SNAP food or food stamp program. 42 million Americans are missing out on this critical assistance.

Joining us now to discuss is Republican Congressman Mike Lawler of New York. He serves on the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Congressman, thanks as usual for joining us. As you know, this new CNN polling just out this morning finds President Trump's disapproval at a two term high of 63 percent. 63 percent of the American people right now, according to this poll, do not think he's doing -- his handling his job correctly as president. Does that concern you at all just ahead of tomorrow's important elections?

REP. MIKE LAWLER (R-NY): No. Look, there's lots of polls that come out and polls are a snapshot of a given time. I think right now, the focus obviously is on getting the government back up and running. When you look at this situation, House Republicans passed a clean C.R. well over a month ago, Wolf, to fully fund our military, our Border Patrol, our air traffic controllers and critical programs, like SNAP and WIC.

Chuck Schumer and Senate Democrats have shut the government down and have been playing politics for over a month now. And it seems, according to some reporting, that post-Election Day, Wednesday or Thursday, they're finally going to acquiesce. Hopefully, they do because this is absolutely shameful that they have used the American people as hostage in this high stakes game that they have played. It was unnecessary. Chuck Schumer should have been consistent with what he has done every time during his 44 years in Washington, which is to vote yes on a clean C.R. Instead he chose to play politics.

[10:20:01]

So, I'd like to see this come to an end. We want to make sure that the funds are there for all of these critical programs, including SNAP and WIC, and make sure that the American people get the services and benefits that they rely on.

BLITZER: But it didn't fully fund healthcare, the Affordable Care Act, for millions of Americans who are relying on it. That's going to go up really significantly, the cost.

LAWLER: Well, look, I've been a co-lead on legislation to extend the ACA subsidies for the last two months. I went down to Washington, asked Leader Jeffries to support that legislation. He chose not to. He outright refused when I asked him multiple times to sign on to the bill. The fact is this was a crisis of the Democrats' own making.

Obamacare has not worked the way that they said it would. Healthcare premiums have skyrocketed 60 percent since 2010. And, obviously, this ACA subsidy that was put in place during COVID that the Democrats slated to expire at the end of this year, is having an impact on premiums.

So, I want to see us address that in the short-term by passing an extension for a year, but also longer term, we need to actually address the fact that Obamacare has not reduced the cost of healthcare. It has not increased access. It takes people months to get a doctor's appointment. There's a lot of challenges with healthcare that we have to work in a bipartisan way to address.

BLITZER: But why not talk about it now?

LAWLER: Because, Wolf, as Democrats said, from Chuck Schumer to Nancy Pelosi, to Hakeem Jeffries, you don't negotiate at the barrel of a gun. You don't use the American people as hostages in a government shutdown. Open up the government and let's do our job. This isn't that complicated. But, unfortunately, what Democrats have done is try to exert the only, quote/unquote, leverage they have, as Katherine Clark said, the Democratic whip in the House, that this is the only chance they have to exert any type of leverage in a policy negotiation is to shut the government down. It's wrong.

And it's not how we govern in America. I've been against it when Republicans have tried it. I voted eight times under Joe Biden to keep the government open and funded because this is not what you do. You don't put people SNAP and WIC in jeopardy trying to exert policy changes.

BLITZER: We've asked everyday Americans on this program who rely on food stamps what their message to politicians in Washington is, as this shutdown drags on and on and on. I want you to listen and watch what they told us. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NAJEE KINARD, SNAP BENEFITS RECIPIENT So, you guys should both to come to whatever consensus that needs to be done in order to put the American people first.

SHARI JABLONOWSKI, SNAP BENEFITS RECIPIENT: You really didn't think this through very well. You really didn't. You all get paid. We don't. We're counting on that and you took it away.

LASHANDA PALMER, SENIOR TRANSPORTATION SECURITY OFFICER: I want everyone to do their job. Do what they have us doing, our job, unpaid, because at least they're receiving a paycheck and their families aren't affected by this. Ours are.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: So, Congressman, what do you say to these people? And I should note, we've asked the same of a Democratic member of Congress the other day as well.

LAWLER: They're 100 percent correct, and they have every right to be frustrated and angry and outraged. And as part of the reason why I have foregone my pay during this shutdown. Because if the American people are not receiving the benefits, they're entitled to, if our federal employees are not being paid, Congress certainly shouldn't be paid, and yet, Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries seem perfectly content continuing to receive their pay.

I think the fact is that this could all be resolved immediately if the Senate Democrats would do their job and pass the clean C.R. that has been sitting in the Senate for well over a month. They voted 14 times not to fund the government. It is shameful, it is wrong, and the American people have every right to be angry and upset about it. Nobody should be suffering because of the incompetence of people in Congress.

The fact is that this is very simple, very straightforward, pass the clean C.R., fund the programs, and let's get back to work and do the things we need to do to address all the challenges facing the American people, from healthcare to immigration, to housing, and to the cost of living.

BLITZER: Let's see what happens this week.

Congressman Mike Lawler of New York, thanks so much for joining us.

LAWLER: Thanks, Wolf.

BROWN: All right. Coming up here in The Situation Room, 90 minutes with 60 Minutes, we're going to break down President Trump's interview with CBS one year after he sued the network over that interview with former Presidential Nominee Kamala Harris.

[10:25:03]

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BROWN: In a new interview, President Trump tells 60 Minutes he will not negotiate with Democrats about rising healthcare costs until they give Republicans the votes needed to end the shutdown. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You have helped end these government shutdowns in the past when they came about. And you did it by bringing them --

TRUMP: I'm very good at it.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You brought members of Congress.

TRUMP: I'm not going to do it by extortion. I'm not going to do it by being extorted by the Democrats who have lost their way.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It sounds like it's not going to get solved, the shutdown.

[10:30:00]

TRUMP: It's going to get solved, yes. Oh, it's going to get solved.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How?

TRUMP: We'll get it solved. Eventually, they're going to have to vote.

(END VIDEO CLIP)