Negotiating the Trump Election Challenge 

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1:00Distributor Here's a dilemma. Can Republican candidates embrace the president to win his diehard base without turning off the majority of voters who are just plain tired of him? I'm Ani Cornish in for Dana Bash. Let's go behind the headlines and inside politics.

1:24Today is Labor Day, a holiday that traditionally marks the beginning of the general election campaign, the moment when non-political junkies start tuning in. And this year, it's also the turning point for President Trump. He's ramping up his personal involvement in many races. His super PAC, MAGA Inc., is finally doling out some of its$400 million war chest, promising to spend$10 million to help Texas Senate candidate Ken Paxton, for starters. And on Wednesday, the president will head to the GOP's midterm convention, already being branded Trump-a-palooza, featuring dozens of administration officials and battleground Republicans.

2:04And the goal is basically juice Trump's base for people who need to be persuaded to show up at the polls without him on the ballot. So could that come at a cost? Right now, CNN's poll of polls has his approval rating standing at just 35%. This is matching the lowest of his second term. I'm joined by a terrific group of reporters. We have here Sarah Fisher. Can I start with you? Because this is a big branding exercise, and the brand is Trump. Yes. And he says the brand is good, so he can spread it around. And there are some people who are like, is it good? And aren't so sure. They either want to attend this or have them in their districts.

2:42And is it stronger than, let's say, the NFL? Because the counter-programming during this rally is really tough to compete against. You've got the Patriots-Seahawks NFL opener on Thursday night when Vance is slated to speak. So it's a difficult time to be doing this rally. I also think a lot of Republicans are questioning right now President Trump's selection of Ken Paxton over John Cornyn in Texas. And they're saying, why aren't you bringing us more dollars, more advertising resources? This is the candidate that you chose who was trying to come behind right now because he entered this political fray a little bit later than if it would be John Cornyn, the city senator.

3:16I'm going to show the ad spending while you're talking right now. We've got the numbers for August and September. just to give people a sense of what Paxton has been up against when it comes to Telrico spending. Yeah, so the question is, President Trump, you hand-selected Paxton in this seat. Why aren't you delivering more resources? And I'd be remiss not to note, Audie, yes, they've committed to$10 million. MAGA Inc. says they have a$400 million war chest, and this is a really important seat. The Senate hangs in the balance. I'm questioning whether or not they're going to be spending even more.

3:46Fear not, Sarah. I have an ad from MAGA Inc., which is what they're going to be running against Tallarico. Take a look. Tallarico supports a radical health care plan that could close rural hospitals and cost thousands of new taxes. Ken Paxton supports tax cuts and has a plan to let you deduct medical expenses and the down payment on your home. The tax cut thing is where they're leaning in, it feels like the White House. No tax on tips, tax, tax, tax, tax, tax. There's like no mention of the war. We haven't changed our position in the world. Talk about that strategy. Yeah, it's like, look over here.

4:24But, you know, there had been so much anxiety amongst Republicans about whether the president was going to tap into this very sizable war chest. And to Sarah's point,$10 million in Texas is not a lot of money. Compared to just the GOP primary, $130 million was spent. You have 20 major media markets, including Dallas and Houston in the top 10 in this country. It's really not going to make the difference here. So what makes a difference going to the convention? When I look at the Senate speakers, we've got Ken Paxton, of course, who needs the help. Mike Rogers arguably needs the help. Mike Collins in Georgia.

5:00They're taking time out from the campaign trail to be at Trumpapalooza. So they definitely believe he has tailwind somehow if you make it a referendum about him. And then when I look at the House speakers, it's Mike Lawler, Carlos de la Cruz, Mike Bouchard Jr. Do these names have anything in common? Are these just MAGA hardcores or people who need MAGA help? They need the Republican turnout to be there. Mike Lawler is one of the ones that stands out from this list. He's one of three Republican congressmen in the country who represents a district that Kamala Harris won in 2024. So his decision to be there, if there is political calculation behind it, it is calculation that he needs to get Republicans in that district to be jazzed up, even more jazzed up than they were in 2024 when they were voting, when they had the option of Donald Trump on the ballot.

5:51And we'll see if that works, right? The trap that a lot of the Republicans are in is that they feel like they need to stay as close as they can to Donald Trump so that he doesn't post negative things about them and that maybe even says something in support of them, but also distance themselves from him because, as you point out, his approval rating is so low, and it is low not just with Democrats and with independents. It's low even than he would want it to be compared to what it has been for Republicans. And so all of them are trying to figure out how they navigate around this, and then Trump insisted on this midterm convention dropping in the middle of September.

6:29Now they're going to see what happens when they go. You're not excited about a random convention? I'm anti-convention as a rule. I just don't want to be trapped with that many people for any reason. But this is the first time we're going to have one of these, right? And it feels like in this media environment, is that a drop in the... You mentioned football, but it's not just football. There's a lot of other things to capture our attention. Of course. But I think what's happened in politics is that local elections have become very nationalized because of the access to so many different media, whether it's TikTok or streaming.

7:02One little campaign quip can go viral. And I think a lot of local candidates see showing up at a rally like this as an opportunity to attract national donors and national dollars. Remember, a lot of the spending that's supporting these races, it's not just from the traditional, you know, NRSCs or NRCCs, the sort of Republican traditional groups that allocate the spend. It's from outside big PACs, and those PACs are oftentimes funded by Trump allies. So there's a huge incentive for the candidates themselves to want to go. Do I think everyday people like us are going to be tuning in to be watching every single moment of this the way that we would a traditional convention?

7:37Probably not. Especially because when you look at ratings, you know, President Trump's first convention in 2015 or 2016 was blockbuster in terms of the viewership on those speeches. and it just hasn't been as big since. It's not because these candidates aren't as interesting. It's just because there's nothing like that moment. I think Donald Trump himself is no longer the spectacle that he was and I think that will probably impact the amount of people that tune into this as well. It's also like another big spectacle that has to be secured, so to speak. I'm thinking of this incident in Ohio where Dr.

8:12Acton, who's a Democratic candidate, somebody lunged at her, But we've had a lot of political violence in the last couple of months, attempts on Trump. It feels like this is another place where people could be vulnerable. Certainly. And I think we have seen the very high cost of public service on both sides of the aisle. Charlie Kirk, President Trump himself. And I should say the other candidates, right? But if Labor Day is the starting of, like, get out there and you see the first weekend a lawmaker in danger, I mean, a lot of these campaigns must be. I mean, they're going to be in a closed space.

8:48So I think the danger on this is less of a factor. However, it's definitely the case that it's a lot of money and a lot of logistics support that is going into this. And that when the president travels, that's taken care of by the Secret Service. So that's not coming out of anybody's campaign. Although we were in a closed room in the White House correspondence. That's true, of course. And look, being out on the trail anywhere I am in the country, people who are running for Senate, candidates who would always in the past years be able to be out and about doing things are all traveling with security now.

9:16It's a much different environment. Yeah. Okay. I want to turn to something else on the Democratic side. Senator John Fetterman of Pennsylvania versus his own staff could be the political fight of his life. And we've got exclusive new reaction about sources who say he just doesn't like his job. And then deep in the heart of Texas, do Democrats have a shot at flipping the governor's seat?

10:02By the time I'm done explaining this, you could have basically done it.

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10:48All right, so Pennsylvania Democratic Senator John Fetterman is fighting back. In brand new comments to CNN's Manuraju, Fetterman blasted a Wall Street Journal report that alleged he's more interested in ingratiating himself with conservative media than doing the work of a U.S. senator. Fetterman told Manu, quote, Per usual lies, half-truths, innuendos, smears, and anonymous, no matter how many smears or stories, I'm proud to continue to deliver for Pennsylvania. Now, Fetterman may have to do more than that statement to defend himself. There's a group of former campaign and Senate staffers. They're promising to share stories, screenshots about Fetterman on a new X account.

11:31And they say they'll start posting the goods next week. My panel is back. It's all fun and games until there's a branded social media post. Still anonymous, though, I just want to say. And there's just been this steady drip, drip, drip, drip, drip. And he's always pushed back. And now they're promising more. So what's different about this latest batch? Well, what's different here is that this has accumulated a significant following in the last three or so days. There's 160 ,000 followers. It hasn't even provided any of the so-called receipts yet. And it does seem like he is accumulating disgruntled staffers very quickly here.

12:12And this is different from, I think for a while there was reporting of like, how is he handling his health and recovery? And how does that affect how he does his job? This is trying to have receipts, as you said, about what that looks like day to day. How, when he hears someone's coming to his office to meet with him, how does he react? He reacts in one of the cases that was reported in the Wall Street Journal by saying that he was sick and then showing up and going to do a television appearance. Like, John Fetterman is someone who has been, long before he had the stroke, was sort of a cranky guy, to put it mildly.

12:48and then he had the stroke. He went to get treated for depression because of the physical impact that it had on him. He still has to use a phone to hold up when people are talking to him to watch the transcriptions of it because his hearing has been affected. And he has also positioned himself politically into a place that is very much antagonistic to where a lot of the Democratic Party is on a lot of issues. But isn't the main issue Israel? And whether or not to support Israel? He's almost become a single issue candidate even though he did not start out that way. Yeah, and to give people a sense of how far John Fetterman has shifted, I mean, there's some hope in the Republican Party that he might even switch or become an independent.

13:28You see him actually doing fundraisers with Dave McCormick, the Republican senator of Pennsylvania. That is unheard of. Yeah, McCormick actually said, these stories are the latest example of outrageous disloyal staff and forces on the left using anonymous leaks to cancel my friend John Fetterman. They hate that he's an independent thinker who refuses to fall in line, so they want to silence him. I know there's been a lot of questions about whether or not he'll just switch parties. But it's also, there's a limited time frame on this. It's 2028 is when his term is up. It is hard for a lot of Democrats in the state to believe that he would have any real chance of being able to run a winning campaign, even with the help and fundraising.

14:11And if he can't get Democrats there and he's not switched over to a Republican, Pennsylvania is a, a battleground state in every which way. But what I mean is if it comes down to it, is there a benefit to him to suddenly switch parties and make the party in power, right? Like help tip the balance and engender goodwill in the process, right? Because now you're not locked out of committees. You're not all of these things. I know that's what Republicans are hoping happens. I mean, that's why you're seeing McCormick and others come out on his side. I think I want to just go back to your point, though, about the health.

14:43I think the challenge that we're facing with some of the text messages that have been leaked is what is the difference between this being a challenging health situation, standing up at an event for three hours versus you being disinterested? And I think that what we're looking to understand is, is it actual disinterest versus it being a health thing? Because those are two very, very different type of scenarios in the voters' eyes, right? And in the constituents' eyes, you not being able to meet with the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, if because you yourself are sick, I think there's a lot more empathy for that.

15:11But it's because you don't necessarily care. I think he joked. He said he joked that it wasn't a big deal. That's not going to go over as well. Yeah, that's what these receipts are all about. In terms of that one you mentioned about the children's hospital, he's in this case asking, why do I have to keep meeting with them? Like, what's the point? Don't know why. And they give him an answer. They're worried about vaccines and Medicaid cuts. And he's like, yeah, I don't know about that. Which I'm sure there are jokes abound Washington mocking lobby groups and lobbyists and people who come up. but children's hospital is not great, right?

15:47The police funeral, not great. Like some of this feels like the basic foundation of retail politics. That's right. And other people who could run for his seat in 2028 are smelling blood in the water. They are coming out very strongly. We heard from Chris Deluzio. He says he has no sense of duty. Brendan Boyle called him a disgrace and a lazy trust fund baby who is too lazy to do the job. Which we know is the ultimate insult in democratic circles right now, right? That you are not the working man you're pretending to be. But that's been an issue his whole career. Yeah, exactly. But yeah, them's fighting words.

16:17Those are like, we're getting ready to run. Do any of those people have a shot? Meaning, do they have the kind of standing in the state to... Deluzio is a congressman. He's a veteran. He is from right outside Pittsburgh. He's got a lot of strength in that area, which also overlaps with Fetterman's geographic home base. He's got support from both moderates in the party and was endorsed for re-election just recently by Bernie Sanders. So he's got all that coming together. Brendan Boyle from the other poll in Pennsylvania politics in Philadelphia has been in the statehouse in Congress now for a long time and has got a lot of support, too.

16:55Those are just two of the options that are there, and there are others that are going there. I'm glad you said that because I actually have one of the options you just said. Delusio was on Sunday on News Nation, of course, and here's his take on where the senator is. John Fetterman is nowhere to be seen on the campaign trail. him to, again, be very blunt. I don't think there's any Democrat in Pennsylvania who wants him campaigning with them, even if he would show up. So I'm focused on doing what we can do right now to win. And I'll deal with 2028 when we get past the election. But he's out there ready, just in case.

17:26But I mean, it's a competitive election year in Pennsylvania. There are a lot of House seats that are up. The governor, Josh Shapiro, who's maybe going to run for president, is running for reelection. And Deluzio is right. No one has been appearing with Fetterman. And that may be some combination of he is not offering to appear and they are not asking him to appear. I almost always see him alone. Yes. Like photographed alone, on the Hill alone. That's been his MO. So I can't imagine sharing the spotlight on the campaign trail. All right. I want to talk more about what you're going to be seeing in the next couple of weeks.

17:55Because those on the far left, they've got some momentum. And now they want more. New CNN reporting on the squeeze facing Democratic House leader Hakeem Jeffries.

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18:55But after this red-hot summer for the left, the heat is shifting to House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries. And CNN's Sarah Faris reports, quote, Far-left Democrats had a huge summer. Now they have big demands for party leaders. Sarah joins our smart group of reporters here. All right, so tell me how this is different from the days when AOC and the squad showed up and Nancy Pelosi was the person being told, get out of the way of progress because the youngs are more progressive. What's Hakeem getting? So this has been really huge to watch all across the country. Of course, we saw big upsets in places like Michigan when we have Senate races that have been totally transformed by the progressive energy.

19:35But what I've been watching is the House races across the country. You have sub in Michigan. You have a lot in New York, California. These are places that are saying that the Democratic Party's, the ground is shifting beneath leaders' feet and that their leadership are simply not recognizing all of the demands of their movement. And so they're going to be coming in next year. And, you know, most of them are on track to, these are deep blue seats. They will be winning in November. And they're coming to say, we want to see things different. We're an anti-establishment wave coming in to take on that establishment.

20:04And that establishment happens to be Hakeem Jeffries. So he has a really big problem on his hands. And there are some specifics there. So when you think about democratic or kind of progressive democratic priorities, I'm going to add a couple. Someone will write in and tell me I'm wrong. I understand that. Medicare for all is one, for sure. Ending weapons sales to Israel, for sure. These are two almost litmus test issues. Abolishing super PACs. I remember Bernie Sanders writing a letter to the party about that. Affordable housing, universal child care and pre-K. Let me come to Medicare, because this is an example I want to play for you earlier in the month where Hakeem Jeffries is actually asked about this issue and how it plays out kind of reflects what's going on in the party debate right now.

20:48You co-sponsored Medicare for all legislation from 2013 to 2021. You've not co-sponsored it since you became Democratic leader. Will you put Medicare for all up for a vote if you become speaker? Well, listen, these are all conversations that the House Democratic caucus is going to have to have. Right now, we're focused on November 3rd, not January 3rd. Do you personally support Medicare for all? No, as you indicated, I haven't co-sponsored the Medicare for all legislation that has been introduced over the last several years. So having covered Congress, that voice says, yeah, of course not, because that wasn't a thing, right?

21:30Like we didn't used to really support that. And now when you look at the polls, independents in particular, a majority of them actually support government-provided health care for all. They also definitely support increasing taxes on corporations and billionaires. And also when it comes to Israel, though, the number is not as high. That issue is still up for grabs. These are questions that Hakeem Jeffries is going to be facing because he is going to, if the Democrats win the majority and he is Speaker, he is going to be the most prominent Democrat in the country for at least a year until the presidential race starts really settling out.

22:07And he is going to be having to guide Democrats through some of these things. Medicare for all is something that might have, with the Democratic majority, enough votes to pass the House. It does not have the votes to pass the Senate. Right. But his bigger problem, as Sarah gets into some of her story, is the numbers of actually getting to be speaker in the first place if the Democrats win, right? There are enough of these likely incoming members of Congress who may try to either hold up his ascending to be speaker or be a thorn in his side as they go through procedural votes. It really depends on what the margin is.

22:41How many of these people are? That's what would happen to AOC. And she became kind of a team player, right? Going from pro to am I misremembering the history here? I've seen some of this history before. There's a smaller number of people ideologically aligned with her who were elected in 2018 and a bigger margin for Democrats than what may come after November. I want to ask also about what the candidates are saying. Are they being asked like, do you support Jeffries or not? This is a question that will decide my vote. Yeah, so for example, one of the potentially incoming members I talked to, Dr.

23:16Adam Hamowy, I did ask him, are you planning to support Mr. Jeffries? Have you had these conversations? And he said he's not willing to say that at this moment. And he says he does not think that the Democratic Party is – he said people are electing people like me because they don't think the Democratic leadership is meeting the moment. They don't see themselves reflected in the leadership in terms of the priorities that you outlined, particularly the Israel issue is really resonating. Dr. Hamowy was a surgeon in Gaza. I think it's very clear that many of these people, their backgrounds themselves are going to really determine some of the huge issues.

23:49There's another one of the big insurgent candidates she defeated, a sitting congressman. This is Daryl Lisa Avila-Chevalier. And she told me as well that she has had a, quote, positive conversation with Jessica. Mr. Jeffries, this is a new development. We haven't heard her speak in that way before. But she also said she's not willing to commit. And I said, what's going into your mind when you're thinking about this? And she said, this is going to be a really important conversation. I need to talk to my, if she's elected, talk to her constituents. And she said, this is going to be the very first vote that I have as a member of Congress.

24:22It's really important. I don't think I got a full appreciation of this until I read your story. And the first flag up for me that was like, oh, okay, this is a thing, is when he met with Jared Kushner. And the blowback online was unreal and overwhelming. I mean, people were just like, why are you meeting with this guy? This is bad. Whether you were James Carville or whatever the little baby progressive version is of James Carville, people were upset. 100%. And their defense here on both sides is that they have an existing relationship. This White House - You mean on the White House as well? The White House as well as Jeffries.

24:55This White House understands that they're going to have to work with Jeffries. There are a number of must-pass bills. They're going to have to work together with some cooperation to raise the debt ceiling. But they've alluded in the past to not having any relationship with him. So was this trying to defrost, or was Kushner the best person to offer the olive branch? I think this was a strategic communications misstep saying that this meeting even happened for both sides. Okay. Hold on. Stay with us, guys. I want to talk about this next, the Texas governor's race. If Democrats win there, they're probably going to have data centers to I think that's because anger over AI could carry Gina and Hossa to an upset wind.

25:33So we're going to hear from her next.

25:57basically done it.

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26:43Now, Texas hasn't elected a Democratic governor since Ann Richards. It's way back in 1990. But Gina Anahosa thinks she can ride mounting frustration with President Trump and anger over data centers into the governor's mansion. So Dana interviewed her yesterday on State of the Union and asked about whether the president's new ad and his new ad spending in Texas to help Paxton's Senate bid could also hurt her gubernatorial hopes. No, actually not at all. If you look at the polling, President Trump is underwater, Greg Abbott is underwater, and people are tired of this politics as usual. People want change in Texas.

27:23They're galvanizing, organizing. We're building real momentum in this race. So I welcome the attention on Texas. Texas is battleground in 2026. If you don't believe it, look at what Republicans are doing. But that's what I hear every day on the campaign trail. Governor Abbott, your opponent, changed his position on data centers and on flop cameras over the past few weeks. Public opinion has shifted. You made it a centerpiece of your campaign. He has now placed a temporary pause on new data center approvals and ordered an audit. You say there needs to be a moratorium until regulations are in place, but proponents of data centers point to a boom in construction jobs.

28:04Is it worth potentially losing some jobs to stop data centers? I think that is a false choice. I think we can have good jobs and we can protect our communities as well so that people understand Texas is the wild west of data centers right now. We have hundreds that have descended upon us with the richest tax breaks in the country given to data centers by Greg Abbott. And people are angry because they're not protected when it comes to their water, their electricity. I was sitting in a living room filled with really MAGA supporters this last week in Red Oak outside of Dallas, this small rural community where they have seven data centers coming in and there's just no rules.

28:49These are massive hyperscale data centers in communities that just don't have the infrastructure and people just want a seat at the table to decide if and how these data centers come into their communities. They deserve that. We need to pass laws to protect the people of Texas. What Abbott is doing is just trying to protect his own reelection chances, but people see right through it and it's not working. How is it a false choice between construction jobs and data centers? Right. Well, to give you some examples, in Texas, for instance, there is no requirement that the people of the community, the residences, be prioritized when it comes to water consumption.

29:31And in many places in Texas, we're suffering from drought. So people are really concerned. We can have laws in place that say Texans residents, citizens get priority over water. We can have laws in place that say we won't subsidize the electricity. We can have laws in place that say local communities can decide if and how these data centers come into their communities. We do this with every other industry. We have laws, common sense laws that protect people and we build jobs. Listen, Texans are pro-business people, but we're talking about these hyperscale data centers that have hyperscale impacts on our communities, and we just need to get this under control.

30:14I want to play part of a very personal ad you just released. 23 years ago, my husband and I were overjoyed expecting our first until an unimaginable diagnosis. And the doctor said, I need you to understand she's not going to live. But I did understand. But I was making that choice. I chose her. You said your baby was born shortly after her due date. She did not survive. First of all, I'm sorry about that loss. I do want to ask about, since this is a campaign ad, the politics of this, since you're telling the story and you say you chose her. And that is striking language because it's the kind of language the self-described pro-life movement would use.

31:05It seems intentional.

31:09The point of that ad is to say who I am. What is my motivator? What gives me strength in what is a heavy lift in this election cycle to run for governor in Texas? and so it was important to me to share that story with voters. I believe in a woman's right to choose. I have a voting record that shows that that's where I stand, but I think that people need to understand these choices that we make in our lives make us who we are, and they are crossroads that kind of determine the future of our lives. That was my crossroads. That was my choice, and it was important to me to share so people understand what motivates me.

31:50And abortion is banned in Texas with very limited medical exceptions. If elected governor, how would you change abortion laws? It's going to take more than one election to change these very extreme abortion bans in Texas. I think where we can start, I think where there is bipartisan support, is to do away with the 99 years imprisonment that doctors face when they choose to terminate a pregnancy with a mother to save her life. And right now, doctors can be second-guessed by political boards, and they face 99 years in prison, and so they're afraid to touch women, and women are having to wait until they're at death's door, and too many women are dying in Texas because of it.

32:38I think there's bipartisan support to start there to do away with these criminal penalties for doctors. All right, up next, we're less than two months to the midterms, but some top Democrats might already be looking 16 months ahead to 2028's first primary. We're going to tell you who next.

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33:33Outgoing California Governor Gavin Newsom spent his weekend in the newly minted first Democratic presidential primary state of South Carolina. The case he made to voters that he knows how to fight Republicans and win and has some important friends. The poll showed only 47 % of Californians supported mid-decade redistricting as a response to Texas. But I'm sitting here reflecting on what was going on. And we'll lose this place. I really believe it. Unless we do things differently. But I call Obama because I'm like, come on, you know, we go, hi, Michelle. I'm like, oh, geez. And I was like, it's like a coin toss.

34:13I'm like, oh, please, please, please. And I'm sitting there and I wish I could tell you exactly what he said. I didn't even have to do why I was calling. And he just said, I mean, let's just say green light. OK, Isaac Travere traveled with Newsom over the weekend and asked him why visit South Carolina. Now, here's a sample.

35:00I love going where no one else is going. Okay, nothing says I may be running than going to South Carolina and dropping Obama's name and Michelle's name as though you're friends. Can you talk about what he's doing down here? Because I guess he is first out of the gate, and South Carolina is going to be first. So why isn't it more crowded? Well, he's not the only potential 2028 candidate who's gone to South Carolina. Pete Buttigieg was there a couple weeks ago. Mark Kelly has been there. Oh, yes, yes, yes. I was there on the ground with him Thursday and Friday as he went around to places that very specifically were not the major media markets, the big Democratic centers.

35:35Like where? Well, he didn't go to Columbia. He didn't go to Charleston. He didn't go to Greenville. He was in places like Jasper County, Aiken County, places where there just are not a lot of Democrats and not a lot of Democratic energy. But he was getting crowds of at least 100 people at each event, so much so that a bunch of these events, they had to put out more chairs and were there. One of the events was quite hot because the air conditioning couldn't keep up with the people that had showed up. And he made not really a case for himself. He just talked about why Democrats should feel resilient in this moment and the need to have a different kind of democratic approach.

36:08And it was extremely well received. Can you help me process those? So when you mentioned these counties, just because I covered the South for a long time, are these more white rural counties? Are these black? Like, who am I talking about here? What he was getting mostly, as I get into the story that's up on our site, he was getting crowds that were mostly white retirees. And I asked him about this, because even one of the places we went to in Aiken was at the African American Cultural Center. And I said, even at this event, there are not a lot of black people that have showed up. And some of the people that I had spoken to said to me, there was one man who said that he, a black man, who said to me that he had just said to his wife at the event, I'm looking around and wondering, where are our people?

36:51And when I pressed Newsom about this when we were speaking backstage after the event, he said, look, I think that it's because it's during the day, a lot of people are working. But this is a really important question for Gavin Newsom. Can he get black support? Can he get black support specifically in South Carolina? Because that is the first primary state, the electorate in the primary is majority black. That's a question for all of them, right? That's why Buttigieg was there, that's why Bernie Sanders didn't. And it was driving the Newsom decision to go again now. It's his fourth trip in about a year and a half there.

37:22So it is very much on his mind. And they're looking at it. What does it mean if Kamala Harris runs? What does it mean if John Ossoff runs? How does he compare on that? And as you play in that clip, he is not being very subtle about that this is very much on his mind to run for president. To your point, Buttigieg has been there before. I think over the weekend he was in Ohio. Ro Khanna, New Hampshire. holding out for New Hampshire, even though back of the line. Mark Kelly, also New Hampshire. And meanwhile, Governor Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania, he was on a hike on the Appalachian Trail, so he's not exact.

37:58Okay, we don't need any Washington jokes for this. Okay, we have photographic proof that is actually G-rated of a couple hiking on the Appalachian Trail. An actual hike on the Appalachian Trail. I'm seeing all these names because these are all the names that people are going to hear over the next couple weeks, and someone will go, he's running, and then everyone will laugh. And I'm saying he because there's like no ladies on the list. What's the deal? Yeah, there was actually a really interesting passage in your piece where there had been a car accident, so Newsom was about an hour late. And so the state party chair is trying to like vamp for time, and she asks the crowd who should be running.

38:30And they list Ossoff, Buttigieg, Mark Kelly, Josh Shapiro, Andy Beshear. These are all moderate candidates. They're all white men. There was no mention of AOC, no mention of Westmore. Somebody shouted AOC later on. Okay, okay. Did a woman get in there? What happened? What else happened at this event? Sarah, I'm sorry. We're just going off. What do you see as people are starting to, and yes, sorry, as people are starting to be serious in visiting these places? Well, I'm always looking at what's the media angle. It's one thing to visit. It's another to post these glowing pictures of yourself visiting and making it known nationally that you're going out on the trail because you're trying to rally support.

39:07You're trying. This is a huge thing that people forget. Data matters a lot with elections. So you want to start to collect emails of supporters, and that's what doing this media tour does. You use that email address database to then be able to target ads later. It's not something you can just decide later. In fact, even if you decide you don't want to run for president, you kind of have to start doing the media gathering now to prepare yourself in case you do run. And so I think that's why you're starting to see a lot of these people also, by the way, launch podcasts, launch sub-stacks, go on other people's podcasts.

39:38It's not just on the left. Ted Cruz has long had a podcast, and he's starting to do a lot more media as he considers a possible run. And so I think leading up to 2028, you're going to have this huge, wide swath of people who are doing things that make it look like they might because they have to. And that will probably narrow itself down to people who actually do. And I think what's really interesting is that what you hear from these folks, as you mentioned, Isaac, talking about what Democrats need to do, big picture, appealing broadly to the party. We're not seeing how they want to shape the agenda.

40:06when that will happen is after everyone figures out exactly who do Democrats want to elect in November. I think we're seeing Democrats overall be very careful. We talked about the Medicare for all issue. We've talked about a lot of the other, you know, contentious issues like Israel, depending on which candidates win in November. If El-Sayed can pull out a win in Michigan, every single Democrat running in 2028 is going to sound a lot more like him. And I know that if If he does not win, we are going to see all the names that you mentioned, all of these more moderate folks. They are absolutely going to be the names that we keep hearing.

40:39Especially if he does not do well with black voters in that state, which is something people are talking about now, right? It's not just about white rural voters. And I'm going to be interested to see if some of the issues that are affecting black communities, specifically disenfranchisement, will finally be talked about, right? Because it's forcing these candidates to be in that state and find a way to have the conversation. You guys, it's awesome for you to be here on Labor Day. We appreciate you. Thank you so much. And thank you for joining Inside Politics. CNN News Central starts after a quick break.

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