House Battleground Expands Into Trump Territory

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0:48Red states, blue ships. A new report shows the battle for the House is pushing even deeper into Trump territory. I'm Dana Bash in Portland, Maine today. Let's go behind the headlines and inside politics.

1:08There are 18 days until the election, and we're tracking the races, candidates, and stories that could shift the balance of power in Washington and all across the country. Here's what's on our midterm radar. First up, the Cook Political Report just shifted 11 more House races, all in Democrats' favor. Nine of those races are in states President Trump won in 2024. Montana's first district, which Trump carried by 12 percentage points, is now a toss-up. The five other districts, four of which Trump won by double digits, are moving from likely Republican to lean Republican. Several of those House shifts are in Ohio, Nebraska, and Kansas, where we're also seeing unexpectedly competitive Senate races.

1:53Now to Michigan, where the razor-tight Senate race is leading to some very personal attacks. Here's what Vice President J.D. Vance said about Democratic candidate Abdul Al-Sayed and Al-Sayed's response. You deserve better than a little weasel who should shut his mouth and show a little gratitude to the country that gave him everything. I got a front row seat to what my life might have been had I not been born in America. So don't lecture me about America. I know America. Yeah, I'm Muslim. But I also understand that my allegiance is to a constitution. And that constitution guarantees us all the right to pray how we choose to pray or not pray at all.

2:46In Alaska, there was a heated clash on the Senate debate stage last night as Republican incumbent Dan Sullivan brought up allegations about his Democratic challenger, Mary Peltola. She treats young Alaskans horribly. Twenty-five staffers quit on Mary Peltola because she abused them physically and emotionally. Let's have some decorum here, candidates, please stop. It's the New York Times. Read the article. It's unfounded allegations. It's a real sad statement that I'm such a threat as a candidate that they're just willing to do and say anything about me to help Dan win. Despite President Trump winning Alaska by double digits two years ago, Republicans are clearly worried so much that the president traveled thousands of miles, more than 4 ,000 miles, to campaign in Alaska for Republicans this week.

3:39And in Ohio, Republican Congressman Max Miller is out with a new ad focusing on his divorce as abuse allegations from his ex-wife, which he denies, derail his re-election campaign. Too many of us know the pain of divorce. It's messy and complicated. For two years, my family's heartbreak has been dragged onto your TV because, well, that's politics. New documents reveal Miller is nearly$2 million in campaign debt to himself. And Cook rates his seat, a seat that he won by 15 points just two years ago, a toss-up. I'm joined by a terrific group of reporters here today. Hello, one and all. Happy Friday.

4:23I do want to start with the Cook ratings. And luckily, we have Aaron Covey, who is the person at the Cook Political Report who does these ratings. Aaron, talk to us about the decisions that were made to move so many of these House seats, many of which are in double-digit Trump territory, at least one step towards Democrats. And as you do, we'll put up on the screen, again, the ratings that you have out this morning. Yeah, it's increasingly clear that the center of the House battleground are these seats that Trump won by high single digits, even low double digits. The vast majority of seats that are being contested this cycle are seats that Trump carried.

5:10But the fact that we have seats that he carried by double digits now fully on the board is quite remarkable. A lot of the shifts were also happening in these Midwestern red states where Trump is particularly underwater. And we're seeing very competitive races at the top of the ticket that have trickled out effects on all of these House races as well, particularly some of those races in Ohio that we are shifting left. But it's increasingly clear that Democrats are in a very good position to take back the House. We now have 214 seats that favor Democrats, 200 that favor Republicans, and 21 toss-ups, the bulk of which are held by Republicans.

5:50And we're going to show another graphic that really also helps illustrate what we're talking about here. This is with the ratings and the races that you have out this morning, but showing how much Donald Trump won by just two years ago. And you see that starting with Ohio's 15th, Trump won 10 percentage points, going all the way down to New York 21. People remember that is Elise Stefanik's seat. She's she's leaving. That is a district. The president won by almost 21 percentage points. And Aaron, just real quick to you again. Is there an overall theme in the movements other than what we have all been hearing about and talking about, which is the cost of living, affordability?

6:37Yeah, look, I think some parts of the country are going to swing further left than others. We are definitely seeing disparity in the amount of swing in some of these places. And I think districts where Trump has made some of the biggest gains between 2016 and 2024 are the places where Democrats are doing best, because these are districts that voted for Trump because they believed he would be able to handle economic issues better. And now that that hasn't been the case, they're shifting left. John, what are your thoughts on these new ratings? And as you talk, I do want to put them back up, because there's a lot of numbers, and I want people to be able to digest them, particularly how these House races fare compared to how the President did two years ago.

7:19Dana, you see it, you feel it, you hear it every time you travel. I've been on the road for the last two years, and every trip I come back, I say it's getting worse and worse for Republicans when often you think late in the campaign, especially with their financial advantage, with the bully pulpit of the presidency, they should be able to at least stabilize it, but it keeps getting worse. And you see that in those arrows, in those rankings right there. There's a lot of overlap also in these House races or in places where there are big Senate races in a lot of cases, in places where there are big governor's races in a lot of places.

7:48Look, I was in North Carolina recently. I was in Ohio not too long before that. I was in Georgia and I'm just back from Texas. The Speaker of the House was in Texas desperate to try to solve the Republican enthusiasm gap. Remember, months ago, The Texas Republicans redid the map at the president's request. That was supposed to be plus five Republican seats locked in. So why is the speaker there in the final days begging Republicans to get energy and turn out? And the rhetoric, you showed the J.D. Vance rhetoric. I just want to read you something. This is the Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, trying to get Texas Republicans to get energized.

8:19You go to a Democratic county headquarters, there are dozens of people there working the phones. Republicans are having trouble getting volunteers and canvases. Elon Musk is paying canvases in the districts I was in down in Texas. But this is the speaker warning about Marxism and socialism. He says they take away private production. There'll be no more private property. It begins with the premise there is no God. And because of that, it ends in misery, suffering and poverty and famine and death. I mean, I've been doing this for 40 years. Normally, the Republicans say the Democrats are going to raise your taxes or lately maybe they're going to defund the police.

8:51Misery, poverty and death. It just tells you the desperation. Yeah, and I'm glad you brought up the Elon Musk of it all, because we started this week on the show talking about the fact that his Forget It, I'm Done With Politics pledge is totally out the window. And David Challion, we understand a figure on how much money he has just spent just recently, $276 million. dollars, much of that is going towards super PACs who spend much of that in the state of Texas that John was just talking about. And you can just see the comparison to the new numbers that we've gotten from Democrats. This is so-called hard money.

9:34So this is campaign money just in Q3. They've raised a lot of money, 231 million combined. But this is what they're up against in somebody with an endless checkbook. Yeah. Elon Musk doesn't have to raise any of that money to spend it, right? He just writes a check. And as you noted, what was so fascinating to learn out of these reports is, you know, Elon Musk singularly, I mean, he is the richest man in the world, so he can do this. But like this one person is trying to save that Texas Senate seat for Republicans. Ken Paxton, the outside group money, is being single-handedly funded in large part by Elon Musk in this potential sort of rescue operation for the Republican Party after Donald Trump got involved with that primary and helped defeat John Cornyn, despite many, many Republicans in Washington thinking Cornyn would have taken this race and just moved it off the map entirely.

10:35Yeah, and John, money doesn't always buy you love or enthusiasm. And what you just described that you just saw in Texas would mean that it would maybe take that plus plus to overcome the enthusiasm gap. It's a fascinating question. Remember, Musk spent a lot of money in the Wisconsin judicial elections last year and the off year elections, and it didn't work. One of the big themes in politics this year is get the money out. Democrats, Abdul El-Sayed, but Democrats all across the country are running against the money. So the question is, Democrats are trying to make Musk an issue in a lot of these places.

11:05Now, in Texas, where the race for governor, the race for Senate, several of those battleground house districts are so close. Let's be honest, that money just might help. But it does tell you that Republicans are having to buy their canvases, pay for people to knock on doors while Democrats are going through the neighborhood. We'll see in the end. Again, you spend a few days in Texas, you turn on the TV. I mean, you need a shower. The ads down there are incredibly nasty. It's incredibly personal. But I'll tell you, we sat down with a bunch of Republican voters who say Ken Paxton makes them sick to their stomach.

11:35They think he's an ethical quagmire. They can't look at their kids and say, I voted for this guy. That's the problem they have. The Republicans, especially in that race, it doesn't mean Paxton won't pull it out. It doesn't mean the Musk money won't help and all the outside money won't help. But Republicans have a problem with their candidate, especially in that race in Texas. Yeah. So you have that. And then going back to where we started this conversation, you have these House races continuing to move competitive deeper and deeper and deeper into Trump territory. Thank you for bringing that to us.

12:05Aaron, John, and David, stick around. Up next, I am in Maine, where there is, of course, a very tight Senate race. There was a fiery debate last night, and there is a lot of cash coming in. Plus, I'll speak with the Democrat who's also raising a lot of money, millions of dollars. And she's doing it in now deep red Florida, trying to pull off a Senate upset one few thought was possible.

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13:43Welcome back to Inside Politics, live today from Portland, Maine. Senator Susan Collins says she's not afraid to stand up to President Trump or her party. But has her opposition to a Trump policy ever actually changed an outcome? That was one of the tough questions she got last night in the final of four debates she's had with her Democratic opponent, Troy Jackson. Listen to her answer. There are several examples of that. At one point, I had organized people to vote against Secretary Hegseth. As you undoubtedly have read at the very last minute, one of our Republicans changed his mind. Otherwise, he would have been defeated for that job.

14:33So that didn't change the outcome.

14:39That was Phil Hirschkorn, one of the moderators last night, and he's here joining the panel. Also one of our dear former CNN colleagues. Yes, we still work together. Taking the state of Maine by storm. What was your takeaway? Well, I think both candidates, by the time they got to this fourth debate, were pretty sharp. They knew what they wanted to say and how they wanted to say that. And I think that's largely what we heard for the hour. Our goal, and you've been in the hot seat for many debates, was to try to ask something new that would elucidate new information, as well as help the voters hear some differences between the candidates.

15:14Okay, one of the other moments, and there were many, was the question of where Troy Jackson gets his money based on a pledge that he made not to take money from quote unquote billionaires. Let's watch that. You've also said that you would take no money from billionaires. That's not accurate. You've also said that you would not take any corporate PAC money. That's not accurate. As far as the billionaires that I might have on my campaign, that is accurate. But I haven't made any deals like Senator Collins has with those billionaires. I don't owe my votes. I'm going to tax those billionaires when I get the U.S.

15:57Senate. What was your takeaway from that? And more importantly, as you cover this race, as you do every single day, how much does that kind of issue matter? I don't know that voters really care about campaign finance, to tell you the truth. That's something that political reporters care about. But I think voters do care about it in this way. There's just an onslaught of ads paid for by the campaigns, but more so by the outside groups. Maine right now per capita has more spending, per voter more spending than any state in the country. It's crazy. It's been over$100 million on its way to$200 million.

16:29That's just the outside spending. And so we're inundated. So I think voters are probably sick of the fact that there's so much money in the politics. You know, Collins has gotten grief because something like 100 billionaires have given money to her or committees supporting her. But you heard Troy last night admit that 28 billionaires perhaps have given his campaign. He just filed his first report yesterday, 200 ,000 contributors. Most 95 % were$100. But look, we know there's wealthy Democrats, too. If I could just take another second, I didn't fully answer your first question. That was important because Troy's line, Graham Plattner's line, the Democrats' line all year has been Collins votes too much with Donald Trump.

17:05It doesn't stand up to Donald Trump. So that's just on things like the bills that come before Congress, but also his appointments, the justices, the cabinet secretary. So that's why we focused in on that. I thought the Hegseth comment didn't play well for her. That's why I also pressed her on RFK Jr. Exactly, meaning she decided to vote for him because she knew it wouldn't change the outcome. Well, I can't say that, but she did vote against him, and it didn't change the outcome. Forgive me, against him. I think she couldn't remember. I think it was Iowa Joni Ernst who threw the vote on that one.

17:34Yes. Now we know she didn't name her. But that's the kind of thing we've heard a lot, that she's a rubber stamp for Donald Trump. Of course, you heard her rebuttal to that, that, well, actually, if you look at a broad sweep of ratings, she is the most bipartisan. Which matters so much because this is a very blue state on a presidential level and there hasn't been a Democratic senator here since 1988, which is really remarkable. I want to bring in John and David and Phil mentioned the money. David, Troy Jackson has raised$20.4 million. This is in these new filings we got. Susan Collins,$3.9 million.

18:13dollars. What are your thoughts on that and also on the debate? Well, this candidate to candidate fundraising, you know, if you look at the nine most competitive Senate races, you've seen that kind of trend where the Democratic candidate is significantly out raising the Republican candidate in this third quarter. It doesn't mean they have an overall financial advantage obviously because we've discussed the outside spending. But I do think it speaks to what John was saying before as well, you see the enthusiasm play out there with a lot of the grassroots donations as well into these campaigns. Excuse me.

18:46But Dana, I would say the debate sort of speak to me, sort of spoke to the overall question that hangs over this main Senate race. Is this, Susan Collins knew she was getting into what was going to be the toughest re-election battle of her career as she is seeking this sixth term. Is the environment just too bad for Republicans in a state like Maine that even Susan Collins' well-established relationship with Maine voters, is it just too bad of an environment that that itself overwhelms what Susan Collins has repeatedly done in her career? Or can her relationship with voters in Maine actually withstand the environment?

19:28That's the question that hangs over the main Senate race. Yeah. And John, you've spent time here talking to voters as well. And I remember that is the question that voters were asking themselves out loud in your piece, whether it was about Susan Collins, who they like, or about trying to get a Democratic Senate. Democrats, I can tell you, the Democrats I've been in touch with up there feel better at the end of the debates than they did heading into the debates. They were worried about Jackson, but they think that the more voters get to see Collins, that it reinforces what both Phil and Greg, Phil, it's great to see you and David have been talking about, which is, look, the national dynamic, the biggest dynamic in the election in the country right now is change.

20:04This is a change environment. And she's standing up there. She's been in the Senate for 30 years and she's asking for six more. That is a hard wind to walk through. And then she's walking through that wind where people want change and they want new and they want different in a state that Kamala Harris won, in a state where President Trump is unpopular. Is Troy Jackson the best candidate? Democrats have been worried about that. They do feel a little better now than at the end. It's a classic race in many ways, a newcomer versus someone who says, look, you might be disappointed with my Brett Kavanaugh vote.

20:31You might be disappointed. I don't yell at President Trump more often, but I bring home millions, if not billions of dollars to our state. You will miss me if I'm gone. So it's one of the classics heading to the end. But again, Democrats think the national climate for change, even though they were nervous a couple of weeks ago, they do feel a little better today. All right, Phil, thank you so much for having us here. Appreciate it. Happy it worked out. Yes, me too. All right, everybody, please stand by. Up next, we are going to check in on the horrible shooting in the state of Oregon. Don't go anywhere.

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21:44A 5-year-old, an 8-year-old, an 11-year-old, and a teacher. Those are the victims murdered at Silver Rail Elementary School in Bend, Oregon. Police say a 16-year-old forced his way into the school by shooting at locked doors using a long gun. An armed bystander saw the gunman go into the building, followed him and shot and killed him, ending his rampage. A fifth-grade teacher at the school says she saw the shooter enter the building through her classroom window. She then warned the main office and gathered her students into a corner of the classroom. She spoke to reporters last night. I'm sure that every teacher at the school thought today is the day that I'm going to die, saving my kids.

22:28They were so afraid to look on their faces. It was really hard to see. It's trying to calm them down, you know.

22:39And some kids were praying. Some kids were consoling other kids. And so what they were doing so quietly because they know you don't make any noise. CNN's Nick Watt is live in Bend, Oregon. Ben, excuse me, Nick, what is the latest on the investigation? Well, Dana, what CNN is hearing from a source is that investigators have executed a search warrant at this alleged shooter's home, taken away electronics, computers, etc., and also spoken to the parents, who are described as being cooperative. Now, we still don't yet have a clear motive, but according to the parents, we're told, this 16-year-old did attend Silver Rail Elementary.

23:32Now, let's hear from one of the kids who was inside the school, a 10-year-old, who spoke to ABC just a little while ago. Take a listen. We didn't really take it in as a gunshot. And then maybe 10 to 20 seconds later, we heard more gunshots. And that time we definitely knew it was a gunshot. I locked the door and I went back behind our lockers as all my classmates did the same. all of my classmates and my teacher were safe but we were definitely scared and most people were crying and it was really hard now you heard that little innocent voice talking about locking the door now a few years ago in 2022 they installed new locks on the doors here at this elementary so that they can be locked from the inside.

24:33There's also a vestibule at the entrance to the school where you have to be buzzed in. It's unclear how far into the school this shooter got before that local community member who followed this person in and shot that shot the shooter before perhaps this rampage could get even deadlier. Now we hear it was picture day here at the elementary school so kids dressed up in their finest, only to have a gunman come in and shoot three of them dead. Another seven-year-old still fighting for life in the hospital, along with a 54-year-old teacher. And Dana, you know, speaking to people around here this morning, they talk about the quiet.

25:15They talk about the sound of children playing, being replaced by the sound of sirens while it was happening. And then yesterday afternoon, just this blanket of silence. There weren't kids out playing this morning. There were not kids and parents walking to school. It is a community waking up, as so many American communities do, to a disaster, to a school shooting. Dana. When are we going to stop having to report on these horrible, horrible shootings? And you're right, that sweet boy's voice, it just, it spoke volumes about how ridiculous this is and how tragic. Nick, thank you so much for being here.

25:56Coming up on Inside Politics, we are going to go to Florida, which hasn't sent a Democrat to the Senate in over a decade. Up next, I'm going to talk to the candidate trying to change that.

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27:00Give it a try at mintmobile.com slash switch. Upfront payment of$45 for three months,$90 for six months, or$180 for a 12-month plan required,$15 per month equivalent, taxes and fees extra. New customer offer for initial plan term only. Greater than 50 gigabytes may slow when network is busy. See terms. Democrat Angie Nixon surprised a lot of national Democrats when she won the primary for Florida's Senate race eight weeks ago. But now she is the Democratic nominee for Senate, and she is trying to unseat the Republican incumbent, Senator Moody. And Democrat Angie Nixon joins me now. Thank you so much for being here.

27:41I appreciate it. Hopefully you can still hear me. Thank you so much. I wanna ask about the race for sure, but I do wanna start with the breaking news that we were sadly talking about in the last segment, and that is three children and a teacher are dead after shooting at an elementary school in Bend, Oregon. The suspect was a 16 year old with a long gun. And that's all the information that we have now. If you are elected to the United States Senate, what will you try to do legislatively to stop these horrible mass shootings? So, first of all, my condolences go out to the families, the parents.

28:28No parents should have to bury their child and, you know, the families of the teacher. Listen, I lost two of my cousins to gun violence. And so I know the impact and devastation that it has on families. And I know that gun violence is a public health crisis and we need to work on preventative measures as much as possible. We need to make sure that we are passing common sense gun laws. We also need to make sure that we are providing children and people with the mental health services that they need. And also making sure that parents don't have to work two and three jobs and that they can honestly spend more time with their children and build better relationships with them.

29:10And so I am welcoming all folks, you know, not just the gun violence prevention groups, but also some of the gun owners to to have conversations on what we can do to address this issue. Talking about your race, you are set to campaign all weekend with Senator Bernie Sanders. I think you're going to have four events across the state. You can't win in Florida now solely with Democrats. Just to explain to our viewers the imbalance on the voter registration, there are about 1.5 million more Republicans than Democrats now in Florida. The last time your party won the Senate seat, you Democrats outnumbered Republicans significantly.

29:52So there's been a big shift to the right, as I don't need to tell you. How does campaigning with Bernie Sanders help reach out to those voters? Yeah, for sure. So listen, we are traveling all across the state of Florida from the panhandle to the Keys. And the message is very clear. And my proven track record of fighting for hardworking everyday people is pretty clear. Look, the message is that Ashley Moody, my opponent, is a part of an elite corrupt D.C. club of insiders who actually sit on committees with insider information and then they profit off the stock market. And they also take big profits.

30:30They take big donations from health insurance companies and they vote along their interests and not the interest of regular everyday people. And that message has been resonating to the point where we were in Putnam County and what was supposed to be a meeting with seven to eight people turned out to be a town hall meeting. It was supposed to be a roundtable, a town hall meeting of over 100 talking about Medicare for all because people are frustrated. And it was half Republicans in that in that room. And so folks are fed up with what's happening in Washington, D.C. They are ready for people who are in Washington, D.C.

31:12to be held accountable. We see Ashley Moody and Donald Trump working less and less and less and getting richer. and everyday folks are working harder than ever and struggling with their most basic necessities and needs. And so I'm letting them know that I have their back. I'm going to put them first and make sure we get rid of some of these working family taxes that are in the form of tariffs. We wind down this thoughtless war that is driving up the cost of gas and diesel prices and making everything unaffordable. And that's been resonating. We have Republicans and NPAs, independents that are on our campaign, volunteering, and that's how we're going to win.

31:51Okay, so you mentioned Medicare for All. That's just part of your unapologetically progressive platform. And on your website, you list other priorities, a national rent freeze, abolish ICE, universal jobs program, higher minimum wage, including for incarcerated workers, direct payments to households earning under$150 ,000 a year. As I mentioned, you are running in a state that has not elected a Democrat statewide in almost a decade. A lot of voters are unhappy right now, and you just gave some anecdotes of what you're experiencing when you meet those voters. But can you win in Florida with some of those proposals that I just mentioned?

32:38We can absolutely win in Florida. We've been winning in Florida with very progressive proposals. We had tons of citizen-led ballot initiatives that I helped lead and spearhead across the state of Florida where we won or we came close with over 55 percent, right? And so the problem is that people have divested from the state, particularly around like Democratic candidates. But in this moment right now, we are letting folks know that with good old fashioned grassroots organizing and building diverse coalitions of people and going out and actually having conversations with voters that we can, in fact, win.

33:15I am not just targeting Democrats. Like I am having conversations with Republicans, with libertarians, with all of those folks. Republicans are OK with abolish ICE and a national rent freeze. You think that there will be enough? Republicans are upset with the corruption and chaos that's happening in Washington, D.C., and they realize that ICE has become an agency that is weaponized and that is terrorizing people in their homes. They realize that they are kidnapping children from elementary schools and using them as bait and locking their parents up in cages only to benefit the campaign donors of Donald Trump and Ashley Moody because they are these for-profit detention centers.

34:02It's the biggest shakedown that we have seen ever in my entire lifetime from a sitting president and from senators and governors here down in the South. And so they are tired of the corruption. They are ready for a government that works for people and not against them. and that's been resonating. And that, again, is how we're going to win. One last question, which is on a similar vein on taxes. You support a billionaire wealth tax, taking capital gains as income, raising corporate taxes. And this is a state in Florida, a lot of people are flocking to Florida from other states because they are anti-tax.

34:44How are you sensing that voters there who maybe are on the fence are responding to these proposals that you want to push in Washington to raise taxes? The majority of Floridians understand and they feel squeezed in this moment, and they know it's because the policies that are coming out of Washington, D.C. are only helping the ultra-wealthy. They aren't helping the teacher. They aren't helping the firefighter. They aren't helping the nurses or the fast food workers. And so they're tired of that. And folks are ready. Our message is cutting through. Our message is cutting through and letting them know that we want to repeal that big BS bill.

35:30We want to remove these working family taxes in the form of those tariffs. And we want to put people first. And so folks are agreeing to that. They're joining our people power campaign. Folks who are watching now can join us at AngieNixon.com, sign up to join us, follow us on social media, Angie for Florida, and we're going to win. Angie Nixon, thank you so much for being here and thank you for your patience. There's a bit of a delay in the signal today. We have invited Senator Ashley Moody on the program as well, and we hope she will join us before election day. And up next, the Texas map was redrawn.

36:11Five seats where Republicans thought they were definitely going to add, right? Well, the House Speaker, Mike Johnson, is now warning Texas the path to majority is in your hands.

36:41All I want. Right. Okay, we can afford that. You know what? Forget the music budget. We're going to stick with whatever's in the public domain. Give it a try at mintmobile.com slash switch. Upfront payment of$45 for three months,$90 for six months, or$180 for a 12-month plan required. $15 per month equivalent. Taxes and fees extra. New customer offer for initial plan term only. Greater than 50 gigabytes may slow when network is busy. See terms. When Republicans redrew the map in Texas, they saw a clear path to gaining five seats. But now, not so clear. In fact, House Speaker Mike Johnson was there again and said the fate of the House majority could lie in South Texas.

37:20Almost everybody agrees. Twenty-two seats that would decide the fate of the republic, that would decide whether we keep the Republican majority, to keep moving the Congress forward. Of those 22 seats, three of them, three of the most important seats are standing right behind you. Thank you.

37:40I hope you understand that I'm not exaggerating, okay? South Texas will literally decide the majority in the Congress. Carolina Peguera of CNN Español is there in McAllen, Texas. Carolina, thank you so much for being here. You were at that event with the House Speaker when he was rallying alongside Republican candidates. John King was just down in Texas, and he was saying earlier in the program that it's remarkable, And it is remarkable that the speaker is down and trying so hard to get Republican voters out in these districts that they actually moved. They moved the lines thinking that it was a no brainer and suddenly it's not a no brainer.

38:23Are the comments that we're hearing from the speaker and more importantly from the Republican candidates, are they moving the needle? Dana, this is a very important district. And yes, Speaker Mike Johnson came here to support the Republican candidates, including Congresswoman Monica de la Cruz. And they believe and say they don't want to listen to the polls. They don't believe in the polls and are urging Trump voters to turn out like they did for President Donald Trump in 2024, where he won in this district by more than 18 points. Now, like I mentioned, this is a very important race. Most of the Democrats, according to the Texas Southern University poll, are leading in three of the major races here in Southern Texas and have more than 48 % of the Latino vote.

39:15And in this race specifically, it's going against Democrat and Mexican Tejano singer Bobby Pulido, who is also leading by five points. And this, again, is a very populated community in the valley of more than 80 percent of Hispanics just alone in this district. And while there was a new redistricting plan, it could be a challenge for Congresswoman De La Cruz. You're talking to voters. Is there a common issue that comes up that's going to determine their vote? Dana, there's several issues and most of the concerns for the Latino voters here are the economy, high diesel prices, affordability and immigration enforcement.

40:01A lot of illegals, like I said before, they're committing a lot of crime. But are you okay with the ICE detentions here with immigration enforcement? Yes. And why is that? Like I said, they're committing a lot of crimes. They're taking Americans' jobs. It's scary for people who are just trying to live their everyday life. I know that there's been multiple raids at targeted areas, like the flea markets and stuff, and I think that that's really insanely crazy. And I think that our administration should be doing something about that, and they should be trying to help change and protect our people, especially locally.

40:42And Dana, I've spoken to voters of all ages, students, local business owners, and they all are saying that this election is very crucial for them. They are some considering to shift blue, those who are Republican and independent as well. While early voting starts here on Monday, both candidates are continuing to make stops to get momentum and support from these voters. Dana. Carolina thank you so much for being here it's it's really wild the Republicans redrew the lines especially where you are in the hopes that the gains that President Trump made with Latino voters would stay that way for Republicans and you know that's the big question whether they were right appreciate it thank you for joining Inside Politics also big thanks to WCSH News Center where we are in Maine for hosting us today join me on Sunday on State of the Union I'm going to speak with Maine Democratic Senate candidate Troy Jackson, as well as Michigan Republican Senate candidate Mike Rogers.

41:45I hope to see you this Sunday at 9 a.m. Eastern right here on CNN. CNN News Central starts after a quick break.

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