Trump in Ohio for GOP Rally 6 Days to Midterms

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1:15Just six days left. More than 38 million votes already cast. The red state races that might once have been cakewalks now looking like toss-ups. Good evening. Glad you could join us. There are two rallies happening right now. The president for the third time this month in Ohio. Former President Obama is in Georgia about to speak, where both men are, says a lot about how this election is going. Mr. Obama trying to extend what has so far been Senator Ossoff's popularity in the polls to other Democratic candidates. Most notably, Keisha Lance Bottoms, who's running for governor. And President Trump has gone back to the state he won by 11 points because Vivek Ramaswamy, the Republican candidate for governor, is facing bipartisan blowback from the ad he made featuring his opponent's estranged mother.

1:59Also because Republican Senator John Husted, whose ass the president admires, is in a tight race against his Democratic opponent, Sherrod Brown, with no firm indication of who's out front and who is bringing up the rear. The president just moments ago talked about Husted's backside yet again. I was examining that man for his physical prowess and I got it. When he stood up, I looked at him, I looked him all over the place and I should have never said what I said. But I said I started by looking at his ass and it was strong as hell. The fake news, they didn't wait for this. They said, I looked at his ass and they cut.

2:41And then they all night long, they say, why did he say that? In other words, they just went cut and it didn't look good for me now. It's okay. We know why you said it. Again, the former president is in a formerly red, now increasingly purple state, trying to build on Democratic momentum there. President Trump is in a state he won by 11 points in part to do damage control. And where he goes tomorrow also speaks volumes. Deep Red South Carolina, which he won by nearly 18 points. But where Republican Senator Darlene Graham is now pulling dead even with Democrat Annie Andrews. I've seen public polling and private polling.

3:20Some polls have Darlene Graham up. Some polls actually have Darlene Graham down. And that is a very tough situation to be in a very bright red state that has supported President Trump. I don't know why this is a toss up right now. It's baffling. Well, Congresswoman Mace might be baffled. Not much of a mystery. The president whose party controls the House and the Senate has record low job approval. Gas prices are high inflation has been heating up and voters are unhappy with all of it. Fair or not, Republican candidates, even instantially Republican places, are paying the price for it and she is a new candidate, leaving the president scrambling from red state to redder state all month.

3:55Even to Alaska, where the Democratic Senate candidate Mary Paltola has been leading the polls but is now under renewed scrutiny after the New York Times published a blockbuster report just today linking her campaign to the effort that ended with a second person named Dan Sullivan on the ballot in Alaska designed to siphon votes away from her main opponent, Republican Senator Dan Sullivan. We have more on that from the reporter who broke the story ahead on the broadcast tonight. But first, our panel, Executive Committee Chair of the New York State Democratic Committee, Christine Quinn, host of the Off the Cup podcast, S.E.

4:27Cupp, former Secretary of the Interior in the Obama administration, former Democratic Senator from Colorado, Ken Salazar, and Republican strategist, Brad Todd. S.E., first of all, the president going back to Ohio, what does it tell you about Ramaswamy's chances there? Not just Ohio. Chilicoat County, sorry, Chilicoat and the county that it's in voted for Trump by 70 percent in 2024. I think Republicans, leaving Vivek out of it, I just think Republicans and Democrats are playing a very different game at a very different map right now. Republicans are going to places to turn out every last Republican-based voter that they can.

5:06And Democrats seem to be going in places to get new kinds of voters. We've seen James Tallarico in Texas going into parts of rural Texas. Abdul El-Sayed was going up to the UP in Michigan. I just think things are very different. And I don't know that Vivek is in a position to be helped at this point. I think Trump is there to maybe just boost Husted and some of those other down ballot candidates. Secretary Salazar, how are you looking at this midterms? You know, it's a change election. I mean, it's enthusiasm all over the country. I've just been in Texas and places like McAllen and San Antonio and all over Colorado.

5:43And I can tell you the enthusiasm on the ground is nothing like I have ever seen since 2008 and 2012. Really? I think people are fed up with what's happening and the project of Erasure underway by President Trump. And I think at the end of the day, that message is going to be delivered loud and clear in Texas and Colorado and other states. Christine, do you believe in the polling that shows, I mean, obviously shows good stuff for Democrats? Are you confident in that? Well, the polls, you never know anymore, right? I've lost a little bit of faith in polls, I have to say. But there is a consistency to these polls.

6:19And that's what gives me a great deal of faith and hope that we Democrats are going to do incredibly well on Tuesday, because we are seeing the same kind of positive momentum of the Democrats over and over and not just in candidate to candidate, but in how voters talk about what they feel about the party, how angry they are at Trump. how angry they are at everyone who is associated with him. So there's kind of a broad-based nature of where voters are and who they're angry at that I think speaks well to validate the numbers. Brad, do you expect the president in Ohio to revisit the controversy over the ad with Ramaswamy?

7:00I don't think so. I think the president's job, and it's Chillicothe, Ohio, is where he is today. The job there is for him to activate those voters who like him more than they like the regular Republican Party. You know, if you look up and down the map of the Ohio River, that eastern stretch of Ohio up in the river counties like Chillicothe, the president did much better than any other Republican has done. So his job here today and the reason they've chosen this spot is not to do with anybody's ad or anybody's ass. It is about turning out the Republican based voter to the Trump based voters who like him more than other Republicans.

7:35When you see Mr. Secretary, your former boss, President Obama, when you see him out on the campaign trail, do you think he is still as effective a campaigner for Democrats as he may have been in the past? Absolutely. And maybe even more so. I mean, he is really the template really of our modern times in terms of hope and aspiration and good things for all people and inclusive America. And in contrast, what you get on the other side is someone who really is a champion of chaos and confusion and distortion and distraction. The things that he says, you don't, I mean, I'd never thought I would ever, and I've worked Anderson with presidents and friends of George W.

8:16Bush. I worked a lot with Gerald Ford on inclusivity, a lot of different things at the University of Michigan. I've never seen anything coming out of a president's mouth like we are seeing now with this person in the White House. On the other hand, if you think back about the Obama years, those were years of great hope, where the world really was looking at the United States as this example of democracy, of good economics for everybody, about standing up for rural America, about standing up for our planet, for conservation, for climate change, for telling America's story. And I got to say, I am offended personally by what's happening in this country.

8:57And I was proud to be a part of and still a part of the Obama team and the Obama aspirations. And I think that's what's on the ballot right now in 2026. You know, are we going to continue on this sometimes painful march towards a better America? Or are we going to turn the clock back to where we were, you know, to 100 years ago? And that's basically what's on the ballot today. And, you know, just to add to what the secretary said, I think another issue there is also the rampant corruption in this administration. You see Trump and his family just getting richer and richer by like bucket loads of money while Americans literally are lining up at food pantries to be able to have enough food to put on the table.

9:41And I think people are just sick and tired of that corruption that is so benefiting him and his family, clearly at the expense of Americans. Brad, when you see corruption, number two in some polls about voters' concerns, what is that? A, are you surprised by that? What does it tell you? Well, both parties are in disrepute right now with the voters. You know, Democratic Party's favorable numbers are 28, 29, 30, you know, at their historic lows. And for the public to be skeptical and think that politicians are corrupt partly means they think they're incompetent. And I think that they believe Washington's gridlocked as it is right now.

10:20And of course, it takes 60 votes to do anything in the Senate. Democrats have blocked everything in the Senate because of that. When they see very little things coming through legislatively, they tend to think that the politicians are focused in the wrong direction. And I'd like to push back a little bit respectfully on Secretary Salazar there. You know, President Obama was not popular in his second midterm. In fact, he was so unpopular that no Democratic Senate candidate wanted him there. Or he didn't care enough to go out and campaign for the team. He campaigned for zero Senate Democratic candidates in October in his second midterm.

10:51Think about it. Zero. And President Trump's campaigning in many states, and I don't agree with everything he's doing as he's campaigning down the stretch here. I don't think his message is all right. But he is leaving it all on the table and trying to campaign for the team. And that's something Obama did not do. We're going to take a break. We've got a lot more coming up. Coming up next, the Alaska double Dan Sullivan story from The New York Times. We'll talk to the reporter. We've got some remarkable new details on the links to the Peltola campaign and how the scheme came about. Later, Senator Bernie Sanders, who has been campaigning for Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed this week.

11:26He'll join us live.

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12:37People are going, oh, there's two Dan Sullivans, isn't that funny? No, it's cheating. His whole purpose of running is to confuse Alaskans, to make him, make them think, Alaskan voters, that somehow he's me, so they could rig the vote in favor of Mary Peltola. That's Alaska Republican Senator Dan S. Sullivan, earlier this year, not happy with the fact that he was sharing the ballot with another candidate named Dan Sullivan, Dan J. Sullivan. Ever since, Senator Sullivan and his allies have alleged the Democrats recruited Dan J., who is there on the right side of your screen, in a deliberate attempt to siphon votes away from Dan S., the senator who's on the left.

13:16Today, The New York Times published an exclusive seeming to confirm those allegations and detailing how it was done. The headline already says a lie. Quote, Inside Democrats' secret effort to stack Alaska's ballot, operatives aligned with Mary Peltola, the Democratic nominee for Senate, spent months recruiting candidates to peel votes from Senator Dan Sullivan, the Republican. The report, citing 12 sources who participated in or were told of the plan, details the effort that found Dan J. Sullivan in a tiny fishing village along the Alaska Panhandle, reachable only by air and sea. Quoting now, The endeavor, which was internally called the Ballot Composition Project, involves secret trips to far-flung Alaskan communities and the appearance of a mysterious Midwestern operative who traversed the state using a fake name and made his pitch to would-be candidates over beers at brew pubs.

14:09According to the Times, it involved lawyers for the Peltola campaign as well as senior aides at the National Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. Both the DSCC and the Peltola campaign denied participating in efforts to recruit spoilers to the ballot in Alaska where the top four candidates in the primary advanced to the general election. Interestingly, Mary Peltola herself faced a version of this when she ran for re-election two years ago. At that time, the state Republican Party helped a Democrat, an inmate who ran his campaign from a New York prison, stay on the ballot. This time, however, it is the president of the United States who is taking exception to it all.

14:45The Times report comes just two days after the Justice Department filed suit to block certification of the election if Senator Sullivan loses. And today, Mr. Trump went further. Mary Peltola should resign from the race. They said they didn't do it and they did do it and they got caught. And in fact, it was a plot by the Democrat Party. I think they should be prosecuted. To me, that's voter fraud at the highest level. I spoke with the Times reporter who broke the story, Kellen Browning, about this earlier. So, Kellen, you have been working on this for months. What have you found out in your reporting?

15:23Who came up with this idea? Yeah, what I found was that this was a scheme that went back to last year. Top Peltola campaign aides talked with top Democratic operatives nationally to come up with a plan to pack the Senate ballot on behalf of Mayor Peltola with candidates who could potentially split Republican votes. so other Republicans on the ballot. We have text messages and other evidence showing their communication over the course of months as they got updates from an operative in the field who was making contact with potential candidates. And they had a variety of plans basically to ensure that Mary Peltola would not be on the ballot with somebody who would take votes away from her.

16:07So this is people from the campaign in Alaska and also the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. Is that correct? Yeah, that's right. Did Marie Peltola herself know about this? My reporting suggests that she did know, she was aware of these activities, she was kept abreast of them by her aides, but that she was not directly involved in these kinds of recruiting efforts herself. So who found, according to your reporting, the other Dan Sullivan? So a Peltola campaign aide put together a list of Dan Sullivans in the state, but the person we, my understanding, has actually made contact initially with this Dan J.

16:54Sullivan of Petersburg was a Democratic operative named Jared Kurtz. This was the guy that the Peltola people employed, you know, worked with on the ground to recruit candidates and try to convince them to enter the race. At one point, he reported back to this group that he had made contact with the Dan of Petersburg and that this guy was amenable to running if it would help Mary Peltola. So the Sullivan who he recruited, according to your reporting, is he actually a Republican? Well, he was for a long time a member of a third party in Alaska. Then he was an unaffiliated voter. He registered as a Republican at the same time as he launched his campaign back in May.

17:44And he told me I spoke with him back in August. He said he was a moderate Republican who was running in good faith, was just unhappy with the state of the Republican Party. I believe now that he has since changed his affiliation back to unaffiliated. So I have not heard from him on this new story, and I don't know that he's spoken about it yet. So but so what evidence do you have that he was recruited by by Jared Kurtz? Yeah. Well, the biggest thing is that a former top aide of Mary Peltola, the former campaign manager who was fired, she went on the record telling me about meetings she was in and with Jared Kurtz told these aides that he had made contact with Dan Sullivan.

18:27We also know that Jared Kurtz at one point spoke with a member of the Peltola team and told that person he was in Petersburg. And this was just before Dan J. Sullivan announced his campaign back in May. So the former campaign manager, Alyssa Rios, she gave multiple interviews to you? She did. She was ready to expose this scheme and she felt that Alaska voters needed to know. And we corroborated her account. She'd been fired by the Peltola campaign and she was talking to you after she'd been fired. Correct. Yes, she had been fired from the campaign, was now coming forward with what she knew had been on these meetings for nearly a year.

19:05and we later then corroborated much of what she told me with our own reporting, with text messages, documents, and some of these interviews, again, with some of these would-be candidates in Alaska. It's fascinating reporting the New York Times. Kellen Browning, thank you so much. Yeah, thank you very much. Back with our panel, joining us also CNN senior legal analyst, Ellie Honig. Ellie, let me start with you. Is this legal? Well, there absolutely is a political scandal here. Remarkable reporting by the New York Times. That said, important to know, this has no impact on DOJ's lawsuit seeking to block certification of the election.

19:41Because, again, to refresh everyone's memory, only two entities control election processes, states and federal law passed by Congress. Blanche said before, and he was wrong then and he's wrong now, that there's this federal law that lets us intervene. The federal law he cites has to do with voter registration, nothing to do with the scenario here. That means it's up to Alaska. Now, this went all the way up the Alaska courts to the Alaska Supreme Court. If you look at the Supreme Court's decision in Alaska, what they said is it is not the job of us as state courts. It is not the job of the division of elections in Alaska to look into good faith, to look into the motives of the candidates.

20:15We don't care. And it doesn't matter for our purposes if he has good reasons or bad reasons. Bottom line, is it legal to do this or not? So Todd Blanche was asked that exact question a few hours ago, and he said it should be illegal. Now, that's different than saying it's illegal. So to your point, to your question, I think they - I'm not talking about sleazy. I'm just talking about like - Well, it's definitely sleazy and worse than that. A very aggressive prosecutor might try to put together a charge saying this was a deprivation of the voters' rights of Alaska to cast their votes and have it counted.

20:45If there was an intentional effort to confuse people, but that would be a stretch in all likelihood because deception and misdirection is part of campaigning. And so there would be a real First Amendment. So there's never been a prosecution that matches up with this exactly. But I'm not saying an aggressive prosecutor couldn't try it. So we'll see what Blanche does. It's a difficult call here. It's also just, I hate it. I absolutely, I hate this for two reasons. One, I don't love the idea of tricking voters. Like, I don't like the idea of manipulating voters to vote for you or to vote for someone you want.

21:20We've been through enough with all of this. and we need to be restoring faith in our elections, not undermining it. And two, it just gives Trump and his goons the argument that they will lean into that elections are rigged, and that's not true. And so I just hate this. I hate that whoever was involved tertiarily or secondarily or primarily, whoever was involved, awful. Don't do this. Brad, what are your thoughts? Well, first off, there's another legal problem that was not even in that barely touched on the New York Times. And that is a gentleman by the name of Alan Harris, who turned in Dan Sullivan's papers, statement of candidacy to the Alaska, Alaska Division of Elections, also appears in a super PAC ad attacking Senator Dan Sullivan.

22:09It is illegal for campaign personnel to coordinate with super PACs on their needs, plans and strategies. And so there's also another legal angle there with the Federal Election Commission. And lest you blow that off, remember, an alleged Federal Election Commission crime is what they used in New York. Alvin Bragg used in New York to elevate President Trump's charges to a felony. So that federal election thing could be plenty hot water as it is. It's also you can't defraud people. That's going to be the allegation. I think it's going to be a civil rights case or at least an attempt to investigate where there's a civil rights violation to defraud people.

22:43The New York Times story reporting said that they actually did focus groups to see if they could fool voters about it, see if they could convince them it's the other Dan Sullivan. So and this is there's a pattern. Democrats did this something similar in Montana where they tried to offer the Democratic nominee a job to drop out because they thought the independent had a better chance of winning with their help. They're backing an independent in Nebraska, where also a Democratic nominee ran, secured the nomination and dropped out to ensure that there was not a Democrat siphoning votes away from Dan Osborne, who's the independent.

23:16And these charges go all the way up to the head of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. This operative they talk about is a professional Democratic operative employed nationally. So it's more than dirty tricks. This is an effort to defraud the voters. Secretary Selzer, what do you think? You know, Brad, I think this is part of the political stench that this president and this administration has brought in. You're part of the Department of Justice. There was a time when the Department of Justice stood up for the rule of law. The White House stood up for the rule of law. I've been in a lot of those meetings, and what this president has done is basically throw out the rule of law in our judicial system.

23:53It is weaponizing our whole political process in a very bad way. And Brad, I will say to you, you know, Barack Obama is in Georgia. but he goes where he needs to be a messenger. And right now, America needs a messenger like Obama because what we're seeing on the other side is taking our country absolutely the wrong way. I disagree with you on 2014. I was there with Obama in 2004, in 2006, in all these campaigns. He goes where he is needed the most. Well, actually, President Obama is speaking right now to rally in Moro, Georgia. Let's listen in. I'm borderly and secure. And in fact, when I was president, I got criticized by some Democratic allies for tightening up enforcement at the border.

24:37But I don't recall anybody asking this administration to send masked agents running through our streets. I don't recall anybody talking about law-abiding citizens getting arrested and detained and shot and killed and children being taken away from their parents. We did not ask for that. That's not how we get our border under control.

25:08But let's be honest. Does anybody really think that this... That's the right answer, but let me ask my rhetorical question here. Does anybody really think that this guy is spending all that much time focused on the issues that matter to you?

25:36Because I don't know if you've noticed, he's very focused on home renovations. Should have a show on HGTV. The guy is building a ballroom that is bigger than the White House. He's paved over the Rose Garden, put a helicopter pad on the South Lawn, and there is gold everywhere. So much gold. Hey, he is spending time. This is true. This is a fact. I'm not making this up. He, the President of the United States, is spending time supergluing gold medallions to the mantle in the Oval Office. I am not making this up. He is literally doing arts and crafts while we are fighting a war and trying to deal with out-of-control prices.

26:37Now, look, I heard the President was not happy when I joked over the weekend that he's got the White House looking like Saddam Hussein opened a Cheesecake Factory. And listen, first of all, let me get this on the record. I am the father of two daughters. Do you think I could have survived their childhood without going to the Cheesecake Factory? I lived at Chuck E. Cheese and California Pizza Kitchen. and the Cheesecake Factory. That was my jam for about a decade.

27:30Of course, the real problem is price has gotten so high, a lot of folks can barely afford to go out to eat.

27:39So you would think that this administration wouldn't be spending time worrying about that. But that was the interesting thing about how the administration responded to the speech I gave the other day. They did not dispute what I said about them being directly responsible for rising prices. They did not argue with that. They did not deny terrorists were contributing to higher costs for families. They didn't say anything about that. I accused this administration based on the facts that they were engaging in unprecedented levels of corruption. They didn't say anything about that. The president wasn't even mad about the Saddam Hussein comparison.

28:31That part didn't bother him. But he was very upset about the Cheesecake Factory comments. He took great umbrage.

28:47He said, I didn't understand the work of the artisans in the White House. And they mobilized, this was, I mean, it's all crazy, but this was the really crazy part. They mobilized a whole of government response to that joke. Not to inflation, but to that joke. the White House even called the Secretary of the Treasury. This is the man who is in charge of the economy. The person who's supposed to be figuring out how to make your life more affordable. The guy who's supposed to be figuring out how to lower inflation and reduce interest rates. They told him he should hold a press conference in front of the Cheesecake Factory.

29:46No, y 'all didn't see this. This really happened. That was former President Obama taking the stage, speaking, making headlines, no doubt, tonight from Georgia. President Trump is taking the stage in Ohio. Let's listen in.

30:08Now, think of it. Oh, I caused problems. You know what happened? Secret Service runs. He's leaving early. So I have to be a little bit. Look, what do you have? You have a little crown. Are you a beauty queen? Look at that. That's very nice, the crown. Wow. That looks great. You know, I owned the Miss Universe contest long ago. I decided I had to sell it when I became a politician. Owning the Miss Universe was not good when you're being president. as how would it be Bernie how would it be owning Miss Universe and being president to the United States but I had a great time I had 22 years I owned it and it was great but you look every bit as beautiful as any Miss Universe thank you and just yesterday so I went over those big picture things and then sometimes I'll have a little fun and I'll just say all right I'm leaving because Honestly, what am I going to say beyond that?

31:02Everything is the best it's ever been. So I say, okay, good night, everybody. But I can't do that because I have to call these guys up. I have to introduce a couple of people that are here. But think of it. You don't have to say much more. Just yesterday was announced that consumer confidence is up 7.5 percent. One of the biggest increases in year.

31:28and very importantly with our republican congress i signed the great big beautiful bill delivering the largest tax cuts in american history and these guys helped me a lot including no tax on tips no tax on overtime and no tax on social security for our great seniors

31:50and we made interest on car loans tax deductible but only if the car is made in america okay that's a big thing because we're setting record business with cars you know that all the car companies are moving back into the united states you know why they don't want to pay a 25 percent tariff. They're all coming in from South Korea, from Japan, from Germany, from Mexico, and from a place called O Canada. O Canada has been ripping us off for many, many years. They're not ripping us off anymore. We made the largest ever investment in the United States Armed Forces,$1 trillion in this month. I announced, because of John Eustad, really, This was his baby.

32:40The Department of War has selected the new home of the Navy's Future Component Repair Center, which is a big deal to work on all new and existing submarines right here in Ohio. That was John.

33:08That was John, that was Bernie too. They'd call, Sir, we speak to him like two times, three times a day. I said, these guys keep calling. What the hell? They wanted it. I gave it to you. I gave it to you. Just leave me. President Trump campaigning in Ohio, supporting Vivek Ramaswamy. Now to Michigan, where Democrat Abdul El-Sayed and Republican Mike Rogers were both campaigning. El-Sayed has become a frequent verbal target of the president, members of his administration. Mr. Trump has specifically been attacking El-Sayed over his Muslim faith, and the president is not alone in that. HHS Secretary RFK Jr.

33:43has not only been bashing El-Sayed, but he's also spread untrue claims about Arab history and culture. There's 500 million Arabs in the world. Some people call him Abdul, I call him Mohammed. And yet they don't produce science, they don't win the Nobel Prize. His name is actually Abdullah Sabtadala. They don't ruin the field prize. Abdullah, ba-ba-ba-ba-ba. They don't win the Wolf Prize. He's a jihadist. They don't produce literature. He's a vicious, violent jihadist. All of that tradition has been destroyed by the Muslim Brotherhood. Would be the only senator that will have to go through a metal detector before he's allowed to go into the Senate.

34:19They've created stagnant societies. I think Abdul El-Sayed is a little bit of a psychopath. And do one, two things. People that we have here now in Somalia. Hatred. Low IQ. And war. Shithouse countries. And victimization. Joining us now is Senator Bernie Sanders. He has endorsed El-Sayed and has been campaigning with him this week. Senator Sanders, thanks for being here. I'm wondering what does the level of attacks against al-Sayed signal to you about how close this race has gotten? What it signals to me, Anderson, is that Trump and his Republican allies have nothing significant to say about the most important issues facing our country.

35:02Nothing about massive income and wealth inequality. Nothing about a broken health care system. Nothing about a corrupt campaign finance system. Nothing significant about AI or climate change. Nothing about the fact that 60 % of our people are living paycheck to paycheck, while the very richest people are getting richer. So when you have nothing to say of relevance to the working families of our country, what do you do? You go back to what demagogues always do. Not a new thing. Existed in our country before all over the world. What you do is go racist. And you tell people that Abdul, who is an MD, a medical doctor, who has worked in public health for years, who's been a citizen of Michigan for his entire life, You go after him because he is a Muslim.

35:59That's how you go after him. And you call him a jihadist. And you call him a terrorist. And frankly, that is disgusting. And I think on election day, the people of Michigan are going to tell Donald Trump and all of these racists that bigotry in America is a thing that we will no longer support. We're going to vote for candidates based on their views on the issues. And on the issues, no question that Abdul is the superior candidate. And that's why he's going to win. You've campaigned for El-Sayed as well as has Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. I'm wondering, what would it say about the strength of the progressive wing of the Democratic Party going forward if El-Sayed wins or if he loses?

36:46Well, I think, you know, I think it's going to be a close election. I think Abdul is going to win. And I think the reason that he's going to win, Anderson, is over the years, the people have begun to understand in a very fundamental way, there is something wrong when the top 1 % in America owns more wealth than the bottom 93%, when Elon Musk, one man, owns more wealth than the bottom 53%, while tens of millions of people are struggling to put food on the table or deal with a decent, put away enough money for a decent retirement. And people understand that you've got billionaires who control our economy, increasingly control our media, and now are trying to buy our political system.

37:32And the reason the progressives are doing well is they are making it clear they're going to stand up to the oligarchs. They're going to fight for an economy and a government that works for all of us, not just the 1%. That's why progressives are doing well. I want to ask you about the New York Times reporting today that the campaign of Alaska Democratic Senate candidate Mary Peltola was involved in recruiting a candidate with the same name as the incumbent Senator Dan Sullivan in order to confuse voters. Do you support that kind of politics? No, I think that's kind of dumb. And I certainly don't support it.

38:04But I will tell you, there was also a piece of the paper very recently that in Ohio, where Trump is right now, a Republican super PAC is putting several million dollars into supporting a socialist candidate in the Senate race. Republicans are supporting a socialist. That sounds pretty weird. Why are they doing it? obviously to try to take votes away from Sherrod Brown and support Mr. Usted. So those things happen. I am not sympathetic for those type of efforts. If Democrats retake the House, what do you want to see happen? I'll tell you, Anderson. Thanks for the question. Look, I happen to think, as I mentioned, that Trump is extremely dangerous.

38:52And what this campaign is about is ending a rubber stamp House and a rubber stamp Congress and a rubber stamp Senate and finally holding Donald Trump accountable. But the campaign and what Democrats do when they take over the Senate and the House must be much more than take it on Trump. The American people are hurting economically. Rich getting richer, millions of people struggling. What we need to do is fight for an agenda that works for working families. A last poll that I saw, Anderson, 63 % of the American people now support Medicare for All. They know the current healthcare system is broken, dysfunctional, and wildly expensive.

39:39Nobody can afford healthcare in America anymore. We've got to pass Medicare for All. Millions of workers are trying to survive on starvation wages, $12 an hour,$13 an hour. We've got to raise the minimum wage to a living wage, in my view,$20 an hour at least. We have got to end this corrupt campaign finance system, which is outrageous. Right now, Elon Musk himself, the richest guy in the world, is spending$400 million to make sure, to try to make sure the Republicans continue to control the House and the Senate. That's insane. We've got to get billionaires out of the American political system and Citizens United and get super PACs removed from the political process.

40:24Those are some of the things we've got to do. Senator Sanders, I appreciate your time. Thank you. Thank you. As the senator mentioned, we have been watching the president campaigning in Ohio tonight for his third time this month with tight races there for Senate and Governor. Senator John King is hitting five states in five days this week. Tonight he's in Columbus, Ohio. John, are there any signs that Ramaswamy's ad changed the race in Ohio? Yes, in a word, yes, Anderson. Let me just use the map as I walk through the answer. I just want to tell you, we're in Franklin County. That's Columbus. You see, it's one of the few blue counties.

40:56It's the state capital that Kamala Harris won back in the election. I just want to show you where the president is, and then I'll get directly to your question. He's here in Ross County. Look, he won Ross County with 69 percent of the votes. So why is he there? The MAGA base is disenchanted, and the president is not spending his time trying to court swing voters or undecideds. He's trying to get his past voters to come out. and we know that traditionally some of them have stayed home in midterms. Now directly to your question because I can connect the dots for you. We've talked to some conservative voters here who don't like it.

41:23This is a common sense conservative state. Mike DeWine is the current governor. John Kasich has been a past governor. George Voinov is the past governor. Those are not chumpy politicians. Those are not politicians that are getting into personal issues like a childhood trauma like the Ramaswamy did against Amy Acton, the Democratic candidate. We've had a number of people here say it's just outside of the realm. It's crass. It's horrible. And yes, they say to them it reveals Ramaswamy's character. I'll tell you this also, Anderson. I've talked to a number of longtime Republican strategists here.

41:52The president is here for the third time. He won this state three times comfortably. They've not elected a Democratic governor here since 2006. I should not be here. The fact that I am here and that there are so many competitive races tells you how bad this environment is for Republicans. And Republican strategists here who have run successful campaigns here, when Ohio, excuse me, was much more competitive, think that Ramaswamy already was in trouble. Other Republicans are already in trouble. They think this ad has been a disaster for them because they think it reveals his character. And they say it's not only his campaign that is going to get hurt.

42:24They're worried about the Senate race, and they're also worried about three Republican House incumbents here, and they think the ad made a bad climate even worse. What are voters in Ohio telling you about their choices? So it is fascinating. Again, why am I here, right? To win in a state like this, Democrats have not elected a governor since 2006, a noteworthy year, 20 years ago. What was happening at this time 20 years ago? Opposition to the Iraq War was at its height. America revolted against the Bush administration and elected a lot of Democrats, including a governor here in Ohio. This war is very different, but gas prices are up, diesel prices are up.

43:01The remark Senator Sanders was just making, you can agree or disagree with Senator Sanders on some issues, But a lot of people you talk to, even conservatives, say, why the billionaires? Well, Vivek Ramaswamy in that Senate race is a tech billionaire, right? So is this the right climate for him to be running in number one? I want you to listen to a combat veteran, Dale King, fought in Iraq, lost friends in Iraq, thinks the commander-in-chief now does not have a plan. He doesn't think he had a plan when he started the Iran war. Doesn't he think he has a plan to get out of the Iran war? Has voted Republican in the past, has even voted for Donald Trump in the past.

43:33but he's going to vote Democrat for governor and Democrat for Senate. Listen. It's over. I mean, the big orange balloon that's kind of been hovering over America is that the air's finally popped out of it. And he's, you know, it's just. He only fake it so long. And he's had a good run. You know what I mean? And I hope that's a message. I hope it doesn't embolden the more radical side of the Democratic Party either. It should be a message to both sides, like America wants common sense, middle ground, united leadership. And I hope that's kind of the main message and that people will, you know, these career politicians who hung their hitch to Trump will start to realize, like, I need to start voting in the best interests of my people instead of the president.

44:33Just a fascinating conversation, Anderson. Again, a combat veteran, scars from Iraq, thinks the Iran war is a horrible mistake by the president. But if you heard him right, he wants to vote for Democrats to send a message to President Trump, but he's not embracing the Democratic agenda. He doesn't trust that Washington is going to help him in any way, but he does think it's critically important to stop Trump and stop him now. John King, thanks very much. Now to Texas, the Senate race between Democrat James Tallarica and Republican Ken Paxton. The president in Lubbock last night campaigning for Paxton, Elon Musk.

45:01So we've been talking about pouring money into that race, getting less attention, but no less significant is the race for governor between Democrat Gina Hinojosa and longtime incumbent Republican Greg Abbott. CNN's Ed Levandera has more. Are you guys ready to keep Texas red? We are going to keep Texas, Texas. A few months ago, few would have predicted that Republican Greg Abbott would find himself in a real fight to secure a fourth term as Texas governor. We will have secure borders in the state of Texas. But the 2026 midterm election is proving to be a nerve wracking time for Texas Republicans.

45:37While the Texas Senate race has garnered the most attention, polls now show Abbott is facing his toughest political challenge yet. Just how radical is Gina Hinojosa? Abbott has a massive campaign fund war chest and he's using it, spending$115 million on ads and new campaign finance filing show Elon Musk pumped$5 million into Abbott's campaign as well. We are in the fight of our lives, a fight we cannot afford to lose. His Democratic challenger Gina Hinojosa is a state lawmaker from Austin. Politics is in her blood. They have been voting for Democrats. Her father was a Rio Grande Valley politician and former head of the Texas Democratic Party.

46:21This is a change election year. Hinojosa has tapped into anger over data centers, corruption, and a school voucher program Abbott pushed into law. Greg Abbott is the most corrupt governor in all of Texas history. Hinojosa also accuses Abbott of catering to the state's billionaires, even suing the governor to access a trove of emails between him and Elon Musk. Greg Abbott will not release to the public because he claims they are, quote, intimate and embarrassing. Greg Abbott is embarrassed that those emails are going to show that he sold us out. On the campaign trail, Governor Abbott highlights his conservative record, focusing on jobs he's brought to the state and boasts of cracking down on crime and illegal immigration.

47:06Texas is the only state ever to build our own border wall. He paints Hinojosa as too radical for Texas on law enforcement, immigration and transgender issues. This race is a contrast between common sense and crazy. She is totally crazy. While Abbott is a public ally of President Trump, he has not appeared at any Texas rally with the president in the last month. The governor has said he's been busy meeting with voters. How long were you in the Texas legislature? I was in two terms. Former Republican state representative Glenn Rogers says Abbott has reason to be nervous because he's alienated many rural Republican voters.

47:45Do you really think Governor Abbott is in trouble? Well, he's not in as much trouble as I had hoped he would be. I mean, I hope he loses. We need a new governor. Abbott helped push Rogers out of office because the Republican rancher opposed the governor's school voucher plan. I'm a very big public education advocate, and I think Governor Abbott is the most anti-public education governor we've had in the history of this state. He's somebody that I had always respected until I saw his true color. But at the polls, Abbott's message still resonates with many Republican voters. I trust him a whole lot better than I do the opposition.

48:21I don't really believe that it's that close. I like the way Texas has been moving along in the last several decades, and I like to keep it that way. While Democratic voters dream of an upset, but many still think a Gina Hinojosa victory is a long shot. I don't know. It's tough. It's tough. I feel that Abbott needs to move on. We've had many years of him in power, and I don't see much positive stuff coming from it. I just hope there's a big change.

48:54And Anderson, Gina Hinojosa's lawsuit against the governor to access those emails with Elon Musk is tied up in the courts right now. An appeals court has ruled that the governor's office does not have to turn those over just yet. The governor's office calls the lawsuit a sham, but Hinojosa continues to make that a central point of her attacks against the governor in this very close election. Anderson? Levandero, thanks so much. Joining us now to Texans, CNN political commentator and Democratic strategist Paul Pagala and conservative talk radio host Mark Davis. Paul, Democrats have been optimistic about other Texas campaigns over the years only to fall short.

49:28Does this feel different to you? Yeah, it does. I mean, look how hard the governor is pressing. This is not an anti-incumbent year. It's an anti-Republican year. Incumbent governors in Pennsylvania and Maryland, Illinois, Democrats all are winning in landslides. This governor's had 12 years and he's had 100 million bucks. he can't close a deal. And I think it is, it goes back to data centers, public schools, the stuff that Ed had in his report. So he's in big trouble. It's been all the long time since Democrats have won anything, but I think Gina Hinojosa run about a perfect campaign. Well, Mark, in terms of the Paxton-Talarico race, I mean, if the president had endorsed John Cornyn, do you think the Republicans would be in this situation in Texas?

50:09It could be, it could possibly be worse. First of all, Greg Abbott is going to win and win comfortably, there's no reason for him not to. It is one of the greatest mythologies being told on the campaign trail that if only we had the magic of John Cornyn. Listen, Cornyn had his era, and it was filled with a lot of quality service to the state, but it was made clear in the primaries this past year that the page has turned past him, so this notion that Cornyn would be running much better is probably outright false. Ken has his issues, to be sure, but how he will vote as a senator is not one of them, and up against an anti-meat, anti-gun cheerleader for child sex change.

50:44Paxton's going to win, too. Paul, what do you think about that? Oh, I'm just watching all these court-in voters, Bush voters, endorsing James Tallarico. It's astonishing. They've got an ad out now saying they're taking a pass on Paxton. The chief justice of the Texas Supreme Court, retired, Tom Phillips, very conservative jurist, has endorsed Tallarico. You're seeing it across the state. in the most Republican part of Texas, up in the panhandle. The state senator from there also retired, Kel Seliger, who's a guy I know, even though he's very, very conservative. He's a friend of mine. Towering integrity and very, very conservative.

51:20He's endorsing the Democrat. I've never known him to do that. I've known him for decades. So something is going on in Texas. And I think what's going on is people are really fed up and they want change. And Mr. Paxing has his problems, Mark. That's a pretty nice euphemism. That boy about as crooked as a Brazos River and twice as dirty. Yeah, Mark, I mean, you... One of the problems he doesn't have is how he's going to vote. Is that all that matters to you in terms of a candidate? It's just how they vote as opposed to... I think we've learned. We learned, it's a great question. We learned in the era of a guy Paul knows well, Bill Clinton, that personal stuff can be important in personal life.

51:57And we'd all like for all of our leaders to be wise philosopher kings, free of sin. And we don't usually get that. So ultimately, the most important question is, what kind of senator are you going to be? What kind of president are you going to be? When Texans are faced with the votes to be cast by Ken Paxton and the votes to be cast by James Tallarico, despite these embittered establishment losers whom Paul can invoke, Paxton's going to win. Paul, is it embittered establishment losers? No, look, I think I want Mark to keep saying that because I want the Paxton people to just relax. And the hay's in the barn, boys.

52:32It's done. But the truth is, Tallarico is whipping him, despite the fact that the most powerful man in the world, Donald Trump, and the wealthiest man in the world, Elon Musk, are trying to help Paxton, the crookedest guy in the world. Tallarico is doing an amazing thing. And he's reaching out. You saw that town hall meeting he did on CNN. He's respectful. He's not very partisan. He's reaching out. I thought he did a great job of talking to people who deeply disagree with him on issues like abortion, as he did in that town hall meeting. So he's building the kind of broad coalition you need to have to win there.

53:03And if Paxton thinks it's over and it's all done, like Mark says, that just makes me happy as a Democrat. I didn't say that. Didn't say that. Mark, do you think Paxton, no doubt, is going to win? Listen, anything is possible. There's simply no reason to believe that in a state like mine, in Texas and like Paul's, where two years ago Trump swapped Kamala Harris, where Greg Abbott, Dan Patrick, Ken Paxton, won by large margins four years ago. And Ken was embroiled in a lot of these controversies four years ago. There's simply no reason to believe that Texas has sufficiently flipped to hand over this Democrat pipe dream.

53:40Anything's possible in the future, but it ain't happening this year. And we shall see. Mark Davis, appreciate it. Paul Pagal as well. Thank you. We'll be right back.

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