SCOTUS Rules Against GOP 

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1:20Just 54 days until the election and we are tracking the races, candidates and stories that could shift the balance of power here in Washington and across the country. So here's what's on our midterm radar. We begin with breaking news. The Supreme Court may have just saved a Democratic House seat. After days of electoral chaos, the justices firmly rejected GOP efforts in Missouri to bring back a Republican-friendly congressional map that the state courts had blocked. So that means Democratic Congressman Emanuel Cleaver's district will still exist, after a Trump-backed gerrymander attempted to dismantle it.

1:57It's just one seat, but in a tiny majority, every seat is going to count. Next, you get five grand and you get five grand. President Trump channels his inner Oprah at the GOP's midterm convention last night by offering voters quite the party favor if things go his way in November. Here is my promise. If the Republicans win the House of Representatives and the United States Senate, both of them, because of our economic, tremendous economic success. I will issue a dividend to every adult citizen in the United States of America for$5 ,000. So if you're trying to do the math, that's more than$1.3 trillion.

2:49The president ever mentioned how he'd pay for it. And while Republicans rally in Dallas, Democrats are looking for other ways to break through. For House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, that involves spending five figures on a new digital ad using the GOP convention as a line of attack. It's aimed at NFL and sports fans and opens with President Trump declaring we're in a, quote, golden age before the man, the hoping to be speaker, flips the script. You're working hard, but you can't thrive. You can barely survive. So who got that golden age? The wealthy. The well-off. The well-connected. Republicans party in Dallas today without a care about your tomorrow.

3:34And now to Rhode Island, where one of the last primaries of the 2026 cycle wrapped up with voters ousting yet another Democratic incumbent. Former CVS executive Helena Foulkes defeated Governor Dan McKee, making him the first sitting governor to lose a primary in eight years. Now, both ran as mainstream Democrats, but it was McKee who had to defend years of traffic chaos after the partial closure of a Providence bridge. And from the Ocean State to Tinseltown tonight, two of the Democrats' most hyped Senate candidates are hoping to turn buzz into bucks. The New York Times reports Texas nominee James Tallarico and Georgia Senator John Ossoff are teaming up for a star-studded L.A.

4:21fundraiser hosted by Shonda Rhimes and Lost creator Damon Lindelof. The price of admission, up to$27 ,000. And the Times reports that, well, the cheap seats are already gone.

4:41All right, I'm joined now by a terrific group of reporters who have been all over every single midterm dynamic, especially last night's speech, all one hour and 45 minutes of the president speaking in the primetime address, trying to set the stage, make his arguments, and also making this very point that I think Democrats are happy to hear about, And some Republicans, but maybe not all Republicans, are happy to hear that he says that voters should vote like he's on the ballot. So I'm asking you to pretend that I'm on the ballot. I'm on the ballot. I'm on the ballot. Just one more time. Because if we lose, you're going to lose your border.

5:25You're going to lose your tax cuts. You're going to lose your safety and security. You're going to lose your wealth. A vote for any Democrat this year anywhere in the country is a vote to let a small and dangerous group of extremists hold our Congress and our country hostage. So this is, you know, he's escalating that comment about voting that he's like he's on the ballot. He did that in South Carolina. That was a Republican primary. Now this is his midterm general election argument that he himself, Donald Trump, is on the ballot. Isaac, what do you make of that? Listen, history shows us that when people think about the midterms as a referendum on the incumbent president, it usually doesn't go well for that incumbent president's party.

6:09Donald Trump is not surprisingly wants to make this show all about him. This convention is all about him. That's why he's got all of his cabinet secretaries there. That's why he's got a speech again tonight after the one last night. If he wants to keep going this way, then Democrats are going to be happy about it, as you say. I think the question then becomes, is he going to campaign actually for anybody? Is anybody, which of these candidates, there are a bunch who showed up in Dallas for the convention. Are any of them going to show up on the trail with him? Do they want him there? And also, how much of all of this money that he's amassed for his super PACs and other accounts, is he going to actually be putting into the campaigns for some of the Republicans that he's backing?

6:50Yeah, and just to speak of that, there actually was news about the amount of money that he is spending from his political organization. Remember, there's more than$400 million sitting in that campaign account, and Republicans have been begging him to begin spending in these very costly Senate races and House races, too. And you can see there were just announced money from across the board. Some of the critical swing streets, of course, you see Michigan getting the most amount of money. Ohio, they have to hold Ohio. They're trying to flip Michigan. New Hampshire, a new increasing target for Republicans to try to take back that seat in New Hampshire.

7:24The rest of those are seats that they are hoping to defend other than in Georgia that they want to try to flip. Less money going there. Leanne, what do you make of that? Those early decisions that they're spending, that includes the$10 million. That does not include the$10 million announced last week for Ken Paxton. Yeah, well, as far as the spending overall is concerned, this is something that Republicans have been wanting for a long time. And Republicans were increasingly skeptical that this was going to happen. You mentioned$400 million in MAGA, Inc. That doesn't include his dark money group, which we don't know how much money is in it.

7:57But Republicans tell me they think more than MAGA, Inc. So he could have close to a billion dollars that he could potentially spend on Republicans in this midterm. We'll see if he does it. It's a little late in the game in order to do that. But the 50 million dollars so far is very welcome. The amounts that they gave was actually quite interesting. the fact that Georgia and North Carolina were given such a low amount, especially against two Democratic candidates who have a tremendous war chest, that is not going to be enough to help them. And it is a big sign that they are probably very down on those two states.

8:35One thing to watch out, though, is that some of those are for a certain duration of time. I believe that North Carolina money may have been about a week or so of ad time. We'll see if they add to it. If they don't add to it, it shows you how they're actually doing it. And Maine not on that list. Maine not on that list. Well, there's a lot of other money that's going into that. money from Maine. But just on the convention itself, Tolu, because the president gave this very long speech, right? We don't see midterm conventions. This is a presidential election. That's when you have conventions. That's when the networks take it.

9:02It's blanketed across the airwaves. It's a big event. And the question is, who is he gearing his message towards? The president posted on Truth Social this morning, it was a major sold out hit, far bigger, better, and more important than anyone thought possible. He goes on to say, the overall numbers beat the NFL. The arena, which was nice, beat its own attendance records. The place was packed. I'm not sure we have the numbers even yet to know that they beat the NFL. I'm a little skeptical on opening night in the NFL that people are more tuned into his hour and 45-minute speech. But who is he gearing this towards?

9:36General election voters, or is he just trying to get the Republican base out? Well, in part, there's an audience of one. People in Washington talk about the audience of one. President Trump also has an audience of one. And he often sort of talks to his own ego and sort of tries to build himself up and say, oh, I'm the best. I have the most highest ratings, most people coming out to see me. And the poll numbers that say that I'm unpopular are all fake news. And so he's sort of trying to talk his own book a little bit there. But he's also trying to get the MAGA faithful to show up in this upcoming election.

10:07We already know Democrats are fired up. Republican candidates know Democrats are fired up. They're going to turn out and they are saying that they might as well get Trump to fire up his base because if they don't turn out, they don't stand a chance on the Republican side. So he's trying to get his voters to show up and pretend that he's on the ballot because they do show up when he's on the ballot. They tend to turn out, not turn up when he's not on the ballot. I do want to talk about this other promise that he made, this$5 ,000 check that he wants to give Americans. You know, what he didn't really mention is how much it will cost.

10:38I mean, the estimated cost is$1.3 trillion, at least. 1.8. And remember, the deficit, that's the annual amount of money the United States government owes. That's$1.8 trillion. The cumulative amount of money the United States owes, the national debt, is$40 trillion. We didn't really hear anything about that last night. But the president's been making these promises over and over again about, He only got a rebate check for this and that and the other, and we have a bit of a mashup of his promises over the months. There's even under consideration a new concept where we give 20 % of the Doge savings to American citizens.

11:19We're thinking about a rebate because we have so much money coming in from tariffs. We're going to issue a dividend to our middle-income people and lower-income people of about$2 ,000. Will they be in time for Christmas, holiday shopping? No, no, not for this year. It'll be next year sometime. We have so much money coming in from tariffs that we'll be able to issue at least a$2 ,000 dividend and also pay down debt. Yeah, that really didn't play out, Leanne. Yeah, the funniest part of that entire thing was his lead up talking about the way that the reason they can do that is because the economy is so amazing.

11:56And the fiscal situation is so great in the United States that he's able to pay Americans if Republicans win. Look, this is not going to happen. This Congress meaning passing that. Yes. The passing the five thousand dollars. Congress is not going to do that. You're going to have fiscal conservatives who only complain really about the debt when a Democrat is in office might actually say something now. It's extremely expensive. And also, when Republicans are trying to slam Democrats as socialists, this is probably not the best message, considering that it might just be a socialist policy. But it's also, look, they are in control of Congress right now.

12:37They could do it now if they wanted, but I guess you'll have to. Trump's promise if they win, then they'll do it. Trump for universal basic income, I guess. Yes. All right, coming up. It was a convention for Republicans with President Trump at the center of it all. So why did a Senate Democrat make an appearance? And President Trump has used nearly every agency at his disposal to push his election fraud crusade. We'll bring you new reporting on how the Commerce Department is the president's latest tool.

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13:45An offer appears in minutes. Remarkable. He squints, reads it again, smiles, and says, dang, that's a good offer. The highest form of approval. No haggling. No hassle. No one called him boss. He's still on the couch. Astonishing. Sell your car today on Carvana.com. Pickup fees may apply. President Trump's midterm convention was a hoo-hoo of Republican politics and one notable Democrat who condemned socialism and praised a GOP colleague. I'm Senator John Fetterman, Pennsylvania. Yes, I'm a Democrat. Dave McCormick is the kind of senator that gets the job done and he's going to fight for Pennsylvania.

14:33I'm proud to count him as my friend. Right back over my shoulder, that's the iconic U.S. steel mill. And that's exactly the kind of thing that will work together and will work with President Trump to fight and defend the steel way of life. That appearance marks a new and major breach between him and his Democratic caucus. But he quickly swatted down speculation that he's on the verge of switching parties, saying, quote, I'm a lifelong Democrat who votes overwhelmingly with my party. And should the Senate flip in November, I will still be the 51st vote that I ran on. My panel is back. I mean, Leanne, I mean, I found that to be the actually the most interesting part of all of this is that he he's gone further and saying that he's not going to switch parties.

15:20The immediate thing that I thought when he when this news broke was that he's on the verge of flipping. And I had been skeptical about that. And he put out that statement. But is he going to change his mind again? I am 100 % with you. I was in the camp of he's not going to switch parties. Everyone I talked to says he's not going to. And actually, that video last night, I didn't think that was a big breach, really. It was more of a, you know, here's my friend, Dave McCormick. He wasn't really endorsing Republicans. But it has also brought up a lot of speculation. Adam Jentleson, his former chief of staff, was on your guys' airwaves this morning saying he just likes attention, which is very true.

16:02We are in the hallways with him all the time. And the 51st vote was what was really interesting to me, too, because if there's a 50-50 Senate and he has the opportunity to decide the Senate majority, then he might actually do that. We will see. So I am a little more skeptical than I was before about the switching. party. I'm more apt to believe that he could switch parties than I was before. If he does switch to Republican, he's not going to get as much attention. Can I just say one more thing real quick? He did have dinner with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer right before recess. And so that is a sign that the Democrats are aware of the situation and they are trying to keep him very, very close.

16:45And if he joined the Republican conference, he wouldn't get as much attention as he was. You'd be another Republican attacking a Democrat. So I weigh in on that. And also, it reminded me also of, maybe it wasn't as far, was when Joe Lieberman went and gave a campaign speech for John McCain. When Joe Lieberman came back to the Senate, he was totally as an outcast for the Senate Democratic Caucus. Yeah, well, part of the difference there is that Lieberman was speaking on behalf of McCain in the context of an election to try to get him elected, right? Dave McCormick is not up for re-election until 2030.

17:20Which makes the appearance that John Fetterman made at the convention last night, even by video, more confusing. What was the purpose of it, if not for just getting everybody ginned up about this? And what's he doing? What's going on? It wasn't to when Dave McCormick any votes. That said, look, across Pennsylvania, Democrats are quite frustrated with him. And across Washington, Democrats are quite frustrated with him. And he'll be all a primary if he decides to run. Yeah, he is the one who's up next. McCormick's not up until 2030. Fetterman's seat is up in 2028. We're going to see what happens with that.

17:55Yeah, and if he decides to run, that'll be a big question in the next cycle. There's a lot to discuss in this cycle, including last night, when a number of Republican candidates who are running for the Senate in some of the most closely contested races, they actually do decide to show up, align themselves with Trump. And obviously, clearly, their strategy is, yeah, vote like Trump is on the ballot. As the next senator for North Carolina, I will always fight for your values and I will always fight for you. I need your prayers, your votes and your support. I'm John Husted and it is my honor to fight for the hardworking families of Ohio.

18:31Y 'all, I'm Representative Mike Collins from Georgia and I am the proud author of the Laken-Riley Act. George, Texas, Ohio and North Carolina for Republican states, which they're showing up there. not necessarily the purple state candidates, although Mike Rogers from Michigan will be tonight. Yeah, and Trump won those states. And so a lot of those voters that voted for Trump have to come out in November if these candidates are going to win. And so they realize that. They realize that Trump watches who comes out in favor of him, that he watches who speaks out and aligns himself with them. And he has that huge war chest that we're talking about.

19:08And he might hold back from folks who show that they're a little bit squeamish about showing up next to him. And so they don't really have a choice in some of these cases other than to sidle up to Trump and show up when he asked them to. And you had some reporting, Leanne, about how these are the four worst Senate GOP candidates, according to Republicans, there last night. Yeah. So they I spoke to a lot of Republicans and, you know, asked them, which ones which candidates are you worried about? So we ranked them. And those are the four that people are worried about. Mike Collins in Georgia, he is almost completely written off by the Republican Party.

19:46They're going to spend a little bit. We'll see how long the spending by the national Republicans lasts. Ken Paxton is someone who everyone believes is a horrible candidate. The redness of Texas might save him. John Husted, people are really frustrated with his campaign as well, unable to break through against Sherrod Brown. And then, of course, Michael Watley in North Carolina. That's probably Trump's favorite candidate because Michael Watley was so instrumental in electing him in North Carolina, but also as RNC chair. But these are not that these are Republicans said that the candidate quality is a C plus.

20:24Yeah. And Isaac, meanwhile, while Collins is campaigning with Trump, you have reporting about how Ossoff is campaigning with Kamala Harris. Yeah. Kamala Harris is going to start doing a couple more midterm campaign events than we've seen her doing so far. She'll do two House races in California starting out at the beginning of October. And then the last weekend in October, those last couple of days before Election Day, she'll be in Georgia speaking at the Fulton County Democrats dinner. Fulton County, obviously the center of all the vote counting stuff. And then she will be stumping with John Ossoff.

20:54What's notable about this is obviously Ossoff is running for a second term here running, it seems like, ahead of Collins in a strong way. But a lot of other Democrats have put their distance between themselves and Kamala Harris. Ossoff, the statement from his spokesperson telling me that he's very proud to campaign with her and have her support. So fascinating. And Ossoff being the one Democratic incumbent from a state that Donald Trump won in 2024, making that calculation. As he has a cycle, it's a base election, rally up, fire up the base, and we'll see if it ultimately works. All right, coming up next, Republicans did very well in the Bush era by calling Democrats weak on terror.

21:3325 years after 9-11, will that still work? Michigan Senate candidate Mike Rogers wants to find out.

21:45Observe. The North American dad. 50s. Great polo collection. He enters his vehicle information on Carvana. An offer appears in minutes. Remarkable. He squints, reads it again, smiles and says, dang, that's a good offer. The highest form of approval. No haggling, no hassle. No one called him boss. He's still on the couch. Astonishing. Sell your car today on Carvana.com. Pickup fees may apply. On the 25th anniversary of the worst terror attacks in American history, we're seeing the return of a type of politics we have not seen as much of since George W. Bush left the White House, especially in Michigan, where Republican Mike Rogers is running a campaign that seems to link Democrat Abdul El-Sayed to the attacks.

22:35Watch part of this new campaign ad from a pro-Rogers super PAC. The attackers tried to divide us with hatred. It had the opposite effect. We united with courage and with resolve. But the hatred behind 9-11 did not disappear. America deserved 9-11, dude. I hate America so much. Abdul El-Sayed gives comfort to that hatred. He campaigns with it. This election, remember what is at stake. And El-Sayed's spokesman tells Axios that, quote, Abdul has always unequivocally condemned terrorism and the September 11th attacks. Mike Rogers attempts to represent Abdul's beliefs are bad faith lies. CNN's political director, David Chaline, is in his office with some thoughts on all this.

23:24So, David, does that brand of politics still work? Well, I guess we're going to find out, Manu, when we see the votes counted in this Michigan Senate race, because Mike Rogers seems to be leaning into this. I mean, we expect this is going to be a big theme of his remarks at the Republican National Convention today in Dallas. Donald Trump did exactly this attack on Abdul El-Sayed last night from the stage in Dallas. So this clearly is a theme and we'll see if it has resonance. But you are right. It does evoke like a different time in American politics. This sort of defined a generation of American politics, the politics of 9-11.

24:04Take a look at this ad that was sort of central to George W. Bush's theme for his reelection campaign in 2004. In an increasingly dangerous world, even after the first terrorist attack on America, John Kerry and the liberals in Congress voted to slash America's intelligence operations. Cut so deep they would have weakened America's defenses. And weakness attracts those who are waiting to do America harm.

24:39I mean, the menacing aspect of what George W. Bush was doing in 2004 about not trying to switch parties in the middle of the fight against terror is sort of what Rogers is trying to remind voters about now in some way with Abdul El-Sayed, that a vote for him goes in a different direction that may make you less safe. and it's something that al-Sayed is clearly going to have to work with and defend against in this cycle. But we're in a different time, so I don't know how it'll play with voters. Yeah, great flashback. Amazing that was 22 years ago. A very effective ad, too, at that point in the campaign, which is actually a closely fought one.

25:14And, David, of course, tomorrow is the 25th anniversary of 9-11. On the night of 9-11, just hours after the Twin Towers fell, I mean, I remember this vividly, Dozens of members of Congress, they gathered to sing God Bless America on the steps of the Capitol. Do you think, David, that we could actually see a bipartisan moment like this again in today's political atmosphere? You know, God forbid we have another massive terrorist attack on the United States like 9-11. But if something catastrophic like that were to happen, even in our polarized times, Manu, I'm not willing to suggest that this kind of moment that happened on September 12th may not be able to exist again in America.

25:55I do think we, you know, the country would unify in a moment. I think what we would probably see, given how polarized, how nasty our politics have gotten, maybe by two days later, it'll sort of retreat into corners. But I'd rather us avoid having to learn this at all because we wouldn't want to see another attack. But I don't rule out the notion that America can find a way in a crisis to heal across some of the political divide, even if temporarily. Yeah, God forbid it happens. Let's hope it never does. And we'll see how the country reacts if that tragic day repeats itself. All right, David Chalian, thank you so much for that.

26:32And President Trump wants to remake elections in America. And he's trusting one man to do it, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick. We'll have new CNN reporting when we come back.

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27:42The election deniers aren't knocking at the door anymore. They've been invited inside. That is how one nonpartisan watchdog described developments in the Commerce Department that are the subject of some excellent new reporting from my colleagues Gabe Cohen, Jeremy Herb, Sean Lingus, and Phil Mattingly. In the piece, how Howard Lutnick's Commerce Department became an unlikely engine of Trump's election agenda, Cohen digs into Howard Lutnick's key role in the president's efforts to reshape American elections, including meeting with a pair of prominent election deniers who want to ban most, if not all, voting machines.

28:19The Secretary of Commerce has the ability to say, hey, this can't be used. This machine cannot be used because it is a threat to our national security. That's what the message we need to get to the Secretary Lutnick. And he listened and he took notes and he called in somebody to help write more notes. And he was shocked at what we had to say. And he said he would be getting on it. So we'll see what that is. And the read author of that piece, Gabe Cohen, joins me now. Gabe, how deep into the planning is the Trump administration into potentially going over and seizing voting machines or doing something to these voting machines and actually implementing this in time for the November midterms?

29:03Well, that's a great question and one that we don't exactly know the answer to. What I can tell you is it is something that has been floated for a long time by Trump allies, including senior officials inside this administration. And as part of this reporting about the Department of Commerce, we had uncovered these emails dating back to last summer from these two conservative activists, one of whom you heard on that clip from their podcast. these emails showed that they had meetings behind closed doors with White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, as well as some other senior officials, where they made this pitch about banning voting machines.

29:41And the way they said it could be done was through Howard Lutnick and the Commerce Department, because they have a certain amount of authority over supply chains, and that because these voting machines have Chinese components, they could be declared a national security threat. To be clear, it doesn't look like any significant action has been taken. We've heard Mark Wayne Mullen talk about it. But what you heard in that podcast is one year after those meetings were happening, these two activists are saying, well, we've taken our pitch directly to Lutnick himself. Yeah, they met with him. Yeah, he gave us two hours and he told us he would be getting on it.

30:15So it could be the next shoe to drop. We don't know. But also, I think it's important to note, as part of our reporting, we really wanted to look at all the ways the Commerce Department and Howard Lutnick have been involved in this election agenda. And what we found is that he has been at the center of some really significant initiatives. Take, for example, those new mail ballot restrictions that we're waiting any day now for the Supreme Court to rule on. Well, those tie back to a March executive order from the president. And when he signed it, there was one cabinet secretary in the room, and that was Howard Lutnick.

30:46And our sources tell us that he and his team were the driving force behind that order and those directives that are already causing a lot of stress and potential turmoil for the midterms. And then there is that Census Bureau analysis that came out last month about non-citizens voting in 2020. That came from a group of partisan analysts that were installed at the Census Bureau by the Department of Commerce. So again, they've had their fingerprints on a lot of this. Voting machines, though, could be the next shoe to drop here. And Tola, this goes, feeds into reporting that you just did recently about how this is a long game, as you report, that this is not just an effort back in this election cycle in 2020, but also in 2028.

31:26Part of your story says at the very least the midterm's concerned as a trial run for this coalition ahead of the 2028 presidential race. Yeah, and that coalition includes people at the federal level, at the Commerce Department, as Gabe and his colleagues reported, also at the state level, also at the local level. You've seen election deniers that were empowered by Donald Trump, some people that were part of the January 6 insurrection who were outcast six years ago. They have slowly made their way into the election infrastructure of this country. They are serving on election boards at the county level.

31:55They're serving on election boards at the state level. They've been empowered and put into office by Donald Trump. And this is the first election where they have positions both at the federal level and at the state and local level, and they can actually make a difference. And what's interesting about Gabe's reporting, too, is that about how Lutnik is in the middle of all this. We have not really heard from Lutnik being in the middle of this before. We've heard Todd Blanche. Todd Blanche was at the Republican convention last night. You don't see an attorney general campaigning at a convention. He's there last night.

32:20And then news today about the DOJ sending a bunch of letters to states to try to seize their election records. So now we see all these cabinet secretaries playing a significant role in this effort and Howard Lutnick in the middle of it, too. Look, I remember just around this time, six years ago, someone had flagged to me something called the Electoral Count Act of 1887 and said, you should write about this. It's in the middle of the 2020 elections and people are thinking about this it might be a thing I wrote about it people said to me I was crazy to write about it that's the what January 6th was hinged on right all of these things are efforts to either create or activate on sometimes arcane bits of executive orders or legislation that exists and find ways to throw monkey wrenches into the election process and it is not for the sake of anything other than getting their candidates to be the winners of those elections.

33:13Final thought? That the President and the White House is using the entirety of government to try to undermine the elections, to perhaps try to win the elections, and that is... And if they don't, then we'll see how they respond. That's a big question as well. Great reporting, both of you guys. Thank you so much for bringing that. And up next for us, John King visits a Colorado battleground where President Trump surged with Latino voters in 2024. But now, uncertainty. Will they re-elect their Republican congressman? Has Congress done anything in his first term to help you? Not that I can feel. Nothing comes to mind.

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34:34Voters in Colorado's 8th District will choose between Republican incumbent Congressman Gabe Evans and progressive former state representative Manny Routenel. So will President Trump's 2024 gains with Latino voters stick? John King is all over the map in Colorado.

34:55Platteville, Colorado. Population 3 ,000. A frontier outpost back when the railroad spread west. Now a quiet ranching town with a giant say in the country's direction. Mico Rios took charge of the Silver Spur when his mother died last year. He is a registered Democrat and a 2024 Trump voter. The charisma caught my attention. I felt like we were a little stagnant for a while and I wanted some change. Secret recipe just like the colonel. Exactly. It gives our family our signature flavor. The margins are down and costs keep going up for everything, including flour for the homemade bread. keep going up despite Trump's 2024 promise they would come down quickly.

35:38I don't believe it has changed. The economy, I feel like right now, is hard for small businesses, and that's what our supplies, our insurance, our cost of living has gone up so much. Platteville is in Colorado's 8th Congressional District. Republican Gabe Evans is the first-term incumbent, and the race is a toss-up. Has Congress done anything in his first term to help you? Not that I can feel. Nothing comes to mind. and yet registered Democrat Rios is undecided. Would you prefer a more moderate candidate, personally? I would. Manny Routenel is the Democratic candidate, a progressive who beat a moderate in the Democratic primary.

36:14When he was in college, he criticized beef and cattle and that kind of farming, ranching. That could hurt him? I think so. Does that come up around here? It does. Our community is strong on their cattle, their ranches, their livestock, and their crops. It's something, they take it as a foundation of this country. Rutanel says his views have evolved, and he believes ranchers in the district use appropriate and sustainable methods. This is a complicated district, stretching from the fast-growing Denver suburbs to more rural farming and ranching communities like this. It is 40 % Hispanic, by far Colorado's most diverse congressional district.

36:47And Colorado 8 is among the nation's most competitive districts. A Democrat won here in 2022 by 1 ,600 votes. Then Colorado 8 flipped red in 2024 by 2 ,400 votes. Greeley is the district's conservative northern edge. Energy and food processing drive the economy here. Esmeralda Ramirez-Ray is a big fan of the president and of Congressman Evans. But beyond that, she's beyond frustrated with Washington. The rest of them just sit there and they grow stagnant and they do absolutely nothing. What do you think? What's the right word? Help me. Is it forgotten, ignored? They get in there and they forget all of their promises.

37:24They don't keep their promises. And they get very arrogant and just forget that they're there to represent the people. It seems to be that they get there and it's all self-serving. But you don't believe Congressman Evans has been caught by that spell yet? No. No, I don't. Ramirez Ray is a court translator now, but she came to the United States as a migrant farm worker, all for a secure border and all for deporting criminals. But sometimes troubled, the president doesn't seem to distinguish between the bad and the hardworking. Nobody is perfect. And, I mean, he comes from an ivory tower in New York.

38:03He's not going to understand what the common people go through on a day-to-day basis. Should he understand that? Should he try to do a better job to understand that? He should. But it isn't just the president. It's all of the elected officials. They are, they have lost their way. Adams County is the blue southern end of Colorado 8, suburban neighborhoods within sight of the Denver skyline. If you're the Democrat in Colorado 8, which is Manny Rudinal this year, this is where you need to win, and you need to win by a healthy margin. Trump ran stronger among Latinos here in 2024, and that helped Congressman Evans.

38:43In 2026, a defining question, and then in 2028 and beyond, do Latino voters continue? to trend Republican or do they swing back? The answer to that question, we'll decide this congressional district this year and we'll have a huge role in what happens in 2028 and beyond because of the growing power of the Hispanic vote. You see a lot of this year, new homes, which means construction jobs. Gas is another thing for construction. The impact of gas and oil prices, not only in the fleets that we have, but also the materials we have. So I don't know if people feel like it's not what I voted, is not what I was promised.

39:19Alejandra Spray is CEO of the Hispanic Contractors of Colorado. She describes Congressman Evans as pro-business and accessible and noted his support of legislation that would have helped undocumented workers get legal status. The House Republicans are not for that. The President of the United States is not for that. Does that put him kind of in a bind back home? I believe it does. And this is a remarkable sign of the times. Fight back is what challengers say. Gabe Evans is the incumbent. And red is usually the Republican color, not blue. There's like not that many Hispanic sign businesses catering to the Hispanic market.

39:55Manny Tejada and his wife Alexandra are active in Hispanic community organizations. He is a Republican, but knows a lot of longtime Democrats who voted for Trump in 2024 because of inflation and because of Biden immigration policies. When they opened the borders, that influxated millions of migrants that you will see on the streets. So Hispanics have been here for decades. They saw that and they didn't like that. Yeah, so the cost of the aluminum, I want to say it's three, four years, it's double or more. Now, costs are still going up and Tejada says it is Trump's immigration policy and tone driving the conversation.

40:37You think it's going to swing back to the Democrats this time? I think so. I think so. And the reasons why? People disappointed in Trump or disappointed in Evans? You know what? Trump, mainly Trump, were hardworking people. Were people of faith. So when you start attacking our community, then everybody comes together and says, hey, this is not right. You would always put an east facing because you had consistent sunrise to midday year round. Scott Bustios is a Democrat whose push for change is personal. So you've been laid off three times in how long? Three times in eight years, but two times in less than a year and a half.

41:17This is Thornton, just outside Denver. It grew 20 % between 2010 and 2020, but Bustios sees signs of a slowdown. Several houses are for sale right now. People have had to lower their asking price. They're staying on market a little bit longer. gas prices are higher, food costs are higher, insurance rates are higher, a viable industry like renewables is downsizing, the job sector is struggling. He voted for Routenel in the primary, yet Bustios is a little worried. Manny Routenel, he needs to get volunteers to go out, they need to do grassroots. You don't feel a blue wave right now? Here in Thornton?

41:53No. This one's a fight. And Manny Routenel and his team, they, I haven't had someone knock on my door yet. All right. Thank you, John. Thank you for joining Inside Politics. CN News Central starts after a very quick break.

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