Sources: Trump Fumed at Coverage of Sudden Rally Cancellations

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1:15Well, good evening. Welcome to a special edition of Laura Coates Live Countdown to Election Night. President Trump is pressing the undo button. Two canceled rallies suddenly right back on the calendar. And it's all adding to the pressure, the panic, and public finger-pointing just days from Election Day. In just a moment, my panel will join me for the hour to discuss where we stand in the state of the races. And we want you at home to be a part of our coverage. So send me your questions. Give me your comments. Go to CNN.com slash Engaged Politics. I'm going to answer them live on air this hour with the panel.

1:49You know, it turns out that President Trump isn't quite finished with the campaign trail after all. He was in Florida tonight. And as of last night, it was supposed to be his final in-person rally before Tuesday. That's because just yesterday, he canceled his weekend rallies in Kansas and also in Iowa. But then less than 24 hours later, he revived them. I got a call from both states, Kansas and Iowa, and they said, if you could go, it would be better than a tele-rally. And I tried to talk about that. I said, what about a teller? But they asked me, so I'm going to do two on Sunday. And I was a little bit concerned about Saturday because it's a college football.

2:38It's Iowa. It's Kansas. So he says he was worried about football distracting from his rallies. But, you know, our reporting suggests otherwise. We're told he was fuming over coverage of the rally cancellations and so ordered them back on. Oh, and speaking of football distractions. I'm right now heading to Ohio to campaign for a great senator who nobody knew this, one of the best football players around, All-American. And I told the people they didn't know this. He has a great ass, very powerful ass. His shoulders, his hands, his arms. And you know what happened? He went up 12 points in the ratings.

3:23Ohio loves strong football players. The Ohio State, people. Okay, jokes aside for just a second, because by most available metrics, the overall picture for Republicans heading into Tuesday is not looking as good. You've seen the polling that gives Democrats the momentum. You've seen the deep red states where Trump is campaigning. And now you're hearing the warnings directly from Republicans. Texas is excruciatingly close. We could lose Texas. And by the way, not just the Senate race. We could lose every single statewide race in Texas. Even the top Republican donor is sounding the alarm. The man who's dropped some 450 million bucks into this election.

4:13And Elon Musk is leaning into fear. He says if Democrats sweep the House and Senate and win the presidency in 2028, it will spell, quote, the end of democracy. Nothing like an election to bring out the apocalyptic predictions. But last I checked, 2028 is still two years away. Republicans have a much more immediate problem on their hands, one that's just, well, four days from now. Let's bring in our panel this evening. We've got the former special assistant to President Biden, Megan Hayes, CNN's senior political commentator, David Urban, Senate and governor's editor for the Cook Political Report, Jessica Taylor, and senior editor of In Focus and Restoring America at the Washington Examiner, Peter Laffin.

4:58Glad to have all of you guys here, as apparently there's apocalyptic predictions being made. I thought the AI thing was three weeks ago, but okay, we'll get back to it. Jessica, I'll begin with you, because Charlie Cook describes Tuesday as a, quote, unicorn election in red America. He says the results will hinge on what reliable Republicans who typically don't vote for Democrats actually do. Is that what you're seeing? It is because you could see Susan Collins hang on, but you could see Roger Marshall in Kansas lose. I mean, or Texas flip to Democrats and somehow Mike Rogers in Michigan win. I think it really comes out because remember, these are such red states and we're more partisan.

5:36We're so much more polarized than we were even 20 years ago. I mean, this election feels a lot like 2006 to me when you had another unpopular war, a president with his approval ratings failing. And we saw Democrats overperform the partisan baseline by about 13 and a half points. If they do that, then they're on track to win Iowa. They're on track to win Alaska. But there's still a lot of Republicans, I think they're deciding, do they come out or not? We're seeing heavy Democratic turnout right now, but at the co-political report, we definitely, not definitely, We very almost certainly think that Democrats will take the House.

6:08The Senate is certainly trending in Democrats' direction, but the Senate is going to come down to whether those Republicans, even if they're unhappy with Trump right now, if they still can't stomach Democrats and they come out and vote for Republicans anyway. You have to wonder, we heard a lot about mandate, right, when Trump took office again. And if the win comes with Republicans not coming out, can Democrats successfully talk about a mandate? I don't think so. I think that Democrats need to be really careful here and they need to understand that this is a referendum on Trump's economic policies and not that Democrats are everyone's still in love with Democrats all of a sudden.

6:46You have to come up with solutions here. The American people are hurt and I don't think they care whether you're a Democrat or Republican. They want something different. They want lower gas prices. They want to be able to afford their health care. They want to be able to afford their milk and their eggs. And right now they can't do that. And so they are going to come out and vote for whoever they think can do that better and whoever's going to do it and give them solutions. But again, if the Democrats win and they do not provide solutions, this is going to flip right back in 28. The pendulum always shifts in politics for that very reason.

7:12Why are you chuckling, David? I'm not chuckling. I'm just agreeing. I find myself in violent agreement with my colleagues. Violent agreement. So, you know, it is one thing to campaign and one thing to govern. I challenge, you know, all my Democratic friends and colleagues to tell me, Democrats say they want to focus on affordability. And focus on driving down health care costs and ending the war. But when I say, tell me what's HR1? What's the first thing you're going to do to drive down prices? Do you think Hakeem Jeffries has some magic button that he's going to press? The IRGC is going to say, the straits are open.

7:48Please, oil flow free again. There's this almost like mythical imagination of what's going to happen if Democrats win. It's going to be really difficult. And I say Democrats are better if they just win the House. If they win the House, if they win the both chambers, they're going to be expected to do a lot of things. And as Republicans have found out, we've got all three. And it's hard to do. When you need 60 votes, it's very tough to get things done. It's hard to govern. And so Democrats, if they do win, if they're successful enough that they win in Michigan and some of these places, that means Ahsan Piker won.

8:24That means, excuse me, there's a Freudian slip. Abdul El-Sayed. Abdul El-Sayed won, right? And the progressives want, and they'll be very emboldened to push for things that won't never get to the Senate. I don't think, well, first of all, I don't think Democrats are going to go fall for the, you don't want all this heat. You don't want this pressure. Just take one of the changes. No, no, I'm not just saying be careful what you ask for. I hear what you say. You can't legislate yourself to lower prices. We have the national media. We like to think of these races in terms of the big trends. But a lot of these races just come down to candidate quality.

8:53That's right. They're all their own races, and they're all a different set of circumstances. So, for instance, you have races in New Hampshire. You have John Sununu against Chris Pappas. You can be sure that New Hampshire Republicans are all going to turn out for John Sununu. But that's not the case in a place like Texas, where James Paxton, or excuse me, Ken Paxton, that was a slip. Ken Paxton has crossed so many boundaries that so many normal Republicans don't want to come out and be a part of this. Think about Beau French in Texas. He's running for the Texas Railroad Commission, who just, you know, endorsed outright racism over and over again, where, you know, what you're saying, what you're seeing at Cook, that's what I see in conservative media every day.

9:30That tracks that the Republican coalition is having a hard time keeping together for this election. And I think it goes down state by state. So why do you think Trump has decided to put the rallies back on? Is it because of these concerns? I think it was the Barack Obama White House dinner redux, right? Remember when Barack Obama I stood up there and laughed at Donald Trump, said you'll never be president, never be up here, whatever. When that Reuters reporter said, what, are you tired? Why aren't you going on campaign? There's something wrong with you? It wasn't that antagonistic. I get your point.

10:03I've traveled a great deal with the president on the campaign. There's one thing that Donald Trump does not do, get tired. He's the energizer bunny. You may not like him, but the guy's an incredible, incredible campaigner. He gets energized, loves it. People on the plane are sleeping. He's ready to go for another rally. And so when that Reuters reporter poked him like that, that hit a nerve. And so that's like, you know, basically said, hey, you're too old to do this, old man. Nothing's going to get Trump motivated like that, telling him that he can't do something. And so I think he said, put him back on.

10:34I think that's what it was. Just like Barack Obama said, you're never going to be president. When this guy said, you're too, something wrong, Donald Trump said, I'm going to show. So what I'm hearing you say is it was about him, not the candidates he's going to actually campaign for, right? My ego was bruised. He has said, pretend I'm on the ballot. That's what Democrats want their voters to do. They want these independents and disaffected Republicans to say that, OK, if I want to send a message to Trump, the only way I can do it was with my vote. And so, you know, I've heard from sources there were some Republicans that were almost relieved, I think, that he wasn't going there.

11:09It's a double edged sword because he can he can he he can excite the base and get some of those low propensity voters out, but we typically don't see that they come out in midterm elections. But he also excites Democrats to want to turn out more and independence that we see breaking toward Democrats right now, too. Does Elon Musk excite voters? I mean, he has this comment. And of course, he warned his millions of followers on X that a democratic suite means open borders, a packed Supreme Court and the end of democracy. I mean, is that the closing message? You know, I just want to say I'm sick of this.

11:40If my side loses that the world's going to end. Elon Musk is one of the most innovative, genius tech people we've ever had in the history of our country. This is the least innovative thing possible to do with politics. It's to try to scare somebody, to say the world is going to end if our side does win. That, to me, speaks to a lack of faith in the American system of government to begin with. It's not a patriotic thing to say. And it really, it never comes to pass. I wish we would just get past this. Yeah, we tried it in 24 and it didn't work. It was people didn't understand it was not motivating to voters to get out and they didn't understand what we were talking about of ending democracy.

12:17But the economy is something that everyone understands and they are all underwater. And that is what is turning people out. Is it really that black or white, though, when you think about for voters and you talk about the nuance and locally in every election, are they seeing the big picture? Are they looking at their own particular, you know, their checkbooks, their their pocketbooks? I mean, no one has checkbooks, I know. I just use it myself. But you understand what I'm talking about. The idea of, is it what's in front of them? Or are they thinking about these larger issues about democracy more broadly?

12:45That was a big issue a few years ago. Is it still? I think there's corruption that is a big issue. That we see Democrats, in Democratic polling especially, they see that as a motivating issue. It's still a huge umbrella topic. Right, right. But they see that politicians are getting ahead. And I'm struggling. I'm struggling to just make ends meet. And I also think that voters, they know that beginning of March date when the Iran war started and their gas prices started going up and they've gone up and up and up since. And it's especially been magnified in places like Iowa and Kansas and Nebraska with farm, with the agriculture industry, because this closure of the Strait of Hormuz has also driven up fertilizer prices and diesel prices.

13:22And so I think that even even if this, you know, I was talking with some sources a couple of weeks ago and they were sort of speculating, well, maybe if things magically came to a close, probably that wouldn't even be enough. Because I think it's so ingrained in the voter psyches right now that they know for for six, nine months that that it's just been higher prices that they don't understand why they're paying. Jessica, to that point, though, again, if Republicans were smart, the argument they're making is, OK, candidate, if I'm running against Megan, tell me the three things you're going to do to make gas prices.

13:53What is Hakeem Jeffries going to do on day one to make my prices? I've not heard anybody articulate a plan, right? How are we going to end the war with Iran? What's going to happen? Well, you know, no one's articulated it. People say we're going to do it. These are our objectives, but nobody's laid on a plan. And if I were Republicans, that would be my closing argument. I'd say, look, give us we know we've screwed up a little bit. Give us a little bit more time and we're going to fix this. But is that part convincing? If you're saying, you know, you don't have a solution to a problem I created.

14:21Yeah, but I think it's better than saying there's nothing going on. Your pocketbook is not empty. Like acknowledge the problem. There is a problem. People feel it. They know when they pull that 20 bucks out, they're going to get a pizza or fill up their tank. You know, you used to be able to do a little bit of both. You can't. So you've got to acknowledge what's real in their life and say, look, we understand that. And we think we've got a plan. We're going to get the war is going to this war is going to end. What's not going to end is the Democrats war on an energy in America. You know, you have to have it.

14:50You have to be able to articulate some self-awareness, maybe a little look of the man in the mirror. We'll see. Stand by. Everyone is getting messy in Michigan. The already tense relationship between Abdul El-Sayed and Haley Stevens has imploded. The 11th hour attempt at unity. Well, that's gone. And now a war of wars is breaking out with critics claiming that Stevens is sabotaging his chances at winning. I have no idea what the hell Hailey Stevens is doing.

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16:10Well, in Michigan, the day started with a pledge for unity, but it's ending with a very public and messy breakup. It started when Congresswoman Haley Stevens pledged to campaign with Abdul El-Sayed in the Senate race if he did two things. Condemn an ad she said was anti-Semitic and apologize and take down an ad from his campaign that featured Tucker Carlson. If he did that, Stevens said she would campaign with El-Sayed at a black church in Detroit with Congressman Jim Clyburn. Tonight, we have El-Sayed's answer. No. A source says El-Sayed has told Stevens to stay away from all future campaign events.

16:50Not the message of unity Democrats in Michigan want to send with four days to go. And by the way, sources tell CNN El-Sayed will still campaign with Clyburn on Sunday. My panel is back with me now. You're chucking over here. Of course, Jim Clyburn, he needs to win African Americans. That's where he's sucking wind. By the way, if you're Abdul El-Sayed, you had Barack Obama come in, like the most popular president in the modern era. Why don't you run some ads with that guy instead of Tucker Carlson? I'm not a genius, but I think there's some real missteps on his part there. And, you know, you have a congresswoman who's trying to drag the party back to the middle there and help him across the finish line.

17:33Well, she's accused of being a saboteur, not just helping. Yeah, but I'm not so sure he's a saboteur. I think he's just trying to recognize the cracks in his coalition. He's in trouble with African-Americans. If you're a Jewish voter in the state of Michigan, I can't imagine you're casting a ballot for the guy who says that Israel is a greater threat than Iran. I mean, I just don't see it. So I think he's really making a great. Listen, he made he made a mistake at the beginning where he put his flag in the ground and said, I'm going to run this super progressive race with with Hassan Piker, who I made the slip earlier, with some of these things that he said about hurt people, hurt people and all these missteps he's made along the way.

18:12He's never kind of fixed that. Right. But what are the polls actually? I mean, I hear a lot of people. We had CNN reporting last week about an anonymous black person in a community leader in Detroit having a problem with Abdul Al-Sayed because he did not get an invitation to a community event. You hear Mike Rogers talk about the absence of support for Abdul Al-Sayed. But I'm not seeing actual public figures come out and say he has a problem with black voters in Michigan. What do the polling say? I mean, I've seen some private polling that does show that he is soft with black voters. And I think the concern is that he's going to underperform the Democratic nominee for Governor Jocelyn Benson there.

18:50And I think there is the concern that these black voters leave their ballot blank. I still think, you know, probably voting for Mike Rogers for some of these are going to be a bridge a little bit too far. But certainly I think this rift with Haley Stevens is not helping right now because that you're right. But you're right, David, that, you know, Barack Obama, Jim Clyburn, all of these people coming in. But Haley Stevens, that's where she did the best in the primary, was in Detroit with these black voters. And so I think that they want to sort of see him heal that rift a little bit. So I don't think it's helping him.

19:23I mean, neither, I think, comes off great in this right now. But it's sort of it's not the closing message that you want. Haley's not running. Well, I want to hear about it. Is Stevens the right messenger, one? And number two, what do you think of the comments that David said in terms of his choice for Clyburn versus Obama, which, by the way, both have a very important role in this election? I think you're saying to have them in ads over Tucker Carlson, which is absolutely what he should be doing. I think it's really hard for moderate Democrats, including Haley, is to see him just it's so slow to condemn anything that's hateful.

19:55And a lot of these things he was slow to say anything negative about Hassan Piker, the Israel versus Iran thing being a bigger threat. But now this ad, he's like, no, I'm not doing it. I think that's offensive to a lot of people. And I think it gives them pause of like, is this somebody I want to vote for? And I think that is what Haley is trying to draw attention to. Whether this should be their closing argument is probably not accurate. They should probably be talking about how they're going to lower costs for people in Michigan and how they are going to help people in Michigan. But it seems that this is kind of taken over.

20:22And that's really the shame because I think it will suppress voter turnout. People just won't turn out. I think there's something much more fundamental at play when it comes to the disconnect between Al-Sayed and black voters in Michigan. And it's the fact that black voters historically in the Democratic Party have been the most pragmatic faction of the Democratic Party. You think, speaking of Jim Clyburn, when Jim Clyburn delivered South Carolina to Joe Biden in 2020, away from Bernie Sanders. Bernie Sanders, who had won the first two, who had just come off a win in the New Hampshire primary.

20:52Black voters have to live with the consequences of socialism. more than white Democrats. And they have to think about this harder. And a lot of El-Sayed's, his proposals are extremely radical. And I think black voters in the Democratic Party are historically less likely to make that leap. Well, what's interesting about this, especially, obviously, black voters are not a monolith. We absolutely understand that. But the idea of, is the choice either Rogers or Abdul El-Sayed ultimately to address the concerns you're talking about. And that's where the concerns about Haley Stevens at this point in time, doing what she's doing and making the demands after having lost in the primary, albeit a closer race.

21:33But the former Senate candidate Mallory McMorrow is questioning why Stevens is doing this now. First of all, I have no idea what the hell Haley Stevens is doing. This is a moment where we have to recognize the stake. People are not talking about ads. They They are talking about the price of gas and groceries and the fact that Donald Trump lied to them. So what? Go ahead. Well, I think just to respond to that, when she talks about you don't understand what the stakes are, I think a lot of people think the stakes are we don't trust this person, Abdul El-Sayed, to get into the Senate. He's got some very disturbing associations that he's never really addressed.

22:14There's people in his immediate family who have really strong links to the Muslim Brotherhood. But he has to savout it. I know people criticize the chronology, but he has on this show. He also, as David was saying earlier, had Hassan Piker campaigning with him early on. In the back of Hassan Piker's background for his show is a picture of the Twin Towers exploding. Now, that's really disturbing to a lot of people. And so I think, you know, what the stakes are is different from which perspective you're looking at it. From McMorrow's point of view, the stakes are we need to take the Senate, we need to rebuke Trump.

22:49But for a lot of people, the highest stakes are something else here. And also, let's not forget that in the black communities, saying defund the police will disproportionately affect black people in Detroit negatively, more negatively than any other suburban area in Michigan. And I think that we take for granted some of these positions that he's taken will disproportionately affect black people and the Jewish population in Michigan. And I just think when you talk about not condemning ads or you talk about Haley's too moderate, this is why you need to unify because she sees something and attracts a different coalition.

23:20So you need to lean on her. So pushing her off to the side and being disrespectful. And Mallory was part of their they had a pretty contentious primary. So I understand why she's also frustrated here because she was pushed out of the primary with some polling that probably wasn't accurate. If we all want to go back to the early summer on that. Well, and you think Al-Sayed is disrespectful to Stevens because she's making a demand on his campaign? No, I think he's disrespectful to her coalition that he had. And I think that just outright dismissing her is just kind of saying to her coalition and her voters, like, maybe, like, you don't matter.

23:49I'm going to win this without you guys. And he very well might. I don't know. Her fiance has already said he's voting for Mike Rogers. She's giving people permission today. She's giving people permission not to vote for Elsa. You could be, it's okay. Jump on in. The water's fine, right? I'm a Democrat. I'm not voting. How hard is it to condemn that ad? I just don't understand how hard it is to condemn these things. I mean, in some of this with Stevens, this should have been settled right post-primary. I mean, the primary polls were wrong. This is another reason why we still have Michigan in toss-up, because those primary polls underestimated her strength with black voters.

24:24And so I think that they should have had this sort of unity moment post-primary, not trying to do it, you know, almost in November. Right. And very publicly. Right. I mean, it's Friday. Good for Republicans. There you go. He's raising the roof, everyone. Stand by. Still ahead, Ted Cruz warns Republicans that Texas could be on the verge of a political wipeout as he tries to get out the vote for Ken Paxton. Well, my next guest is a lifelong Texas Republican who says, no thanks. You'll hear him explain why next.

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25:19All right. Today was the last day to cast a ballot early in Texas. And tonight, a growing number of Republicans in the state are refusing to back Ken Paxton, instead throwing their support behind Democrat James Tallarico. One of those people is my next guest, a lifelong Republican who served nearly 20 years in the state Senate. He's also the former mayor of Amarillo, Texas. Cal Seliger joins me now. Senator, thank you for joining us this evening. Why is voting for Ken Paxton a line you're unwilling to cross?

25:56Because integrity is important and honesty is important. And people need to feel that the other people that they put in office are there for their needs and necessities. And James Tallarico has always been honestly empathetic with the people who needed him in the Capitol the most and need him in Washington the most, people who need health care, people who are having trouble affording groceries, are concerned about their schools. And a lot of people are voting for Democrats. It's not so much that we are in wholesale numbers becoming Democrats. It's what we're voting for. It's what we're voting against.

26:37And we've got a growing problem in this country, the compromise, the cornerstone of our constitutional system, which is the separation of powers. And we're seeing that going away. We have another problem in Texas, in this country. where it's developing is a Russian-style oligarchy where people with lots and lots of money have discovered that why would you contribute to a political contest when you can buy it? And you then own your seat. I want you to listen to what one Texas official told voters just yesterday at a rally with the vice president, J.D. Vance. It is not going well. You need to know that and you need to be scared and you need to be concerned.

27:24The early vote is not in our favor. It is ugly right now. We need every single Republican to get out there and vote. And if you're mad at a Republican, I had to hold my nose and vote for John McCain. I had to hold my nose and vote for Mitt Romney. I was a delegate to the National Convention. I still voted for him, right? What do you say to people who are holding their nose and voting for Paxson, even if they do not like him? I admire the inclination to honesty and loyalty, but the stakes are too high with the people that we send to Austin and send to Washington. And what we would like our children, in my case, grandchildren, to see are examples of honesty, integrity, and honestly working for the people of the state and the people of this country and their needs.

28:26And what we have are a lot of people who get elected, and their goal is to support whatever the programs or the inclinations are of people like Donald Trump and not the people in Texas who are just working for a living, who want to feed their families. want their kids to go to good schools. So do you think this race might come down to, well, people like yourself, Republican voters willing to break ranks with the party and Trump and seemingly, sounds like, vote your conscience? Oh, I don't think there's any question that there will be races around the country that will be determined by people who want to see changes and want to see candidates with real moral fabric.

29:11And I think you'll see a lot of that. I think you'll see a lot of cases where elections will be decided about Republicans voting for someone who are not Republicans, but who deserve that vote and deserve that kind of faith and confidence. Quickly, do you think that Republican voters would opt to stay home rather than hold their nose? I think that's quite likely true in a lot of cases. and people would look at a candidate and say, I just cannot do it. That's one of the beauties of our system. We have a right to vote any way we want and keep it a secret. But I think you'll see that a lot. Cal Seliger, thank you for joining.

29:51Thank you for having me. Still ahead. Tuesday may mark the end of this election, but it'll also be the start of, you guessed it, the 2028 race. And one columnist says it could very well reveal who the Democrats pick for president. Plus, can Vice President J.D. Vance overcome some of the early heat that he's catching already? He is going to reek with the stink of Donald Trump.

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31:15Now, we may be four days away from Election Day 2026, but we're also 739 days away from the 2028 presidential election. I know, I know, do not shoot the messenger people. But the political reality is the presidential race begins as soon as the last ballots are cast on Tuesday. And some Democrats think the results should influence who they choose as their nominee. One columnist for The Washington Sun points to Rob Sand, Iowa's Democratic candidate in the governor's race. And he says the Democrats, quote, need a nominee that at least doesn't reflexively repel or embarrass guys like this. Well, my panel is back with me now.

31:56Peter, what do you think about that? If Democrats do pull off a blue wave, do they need to rely more on, say, a Rob Sands to possibly win in 2028? Well, I think a little too much is made of this when it comes to the results dictating the outcome of the primary. And especially we look at Michigan for that. If El Saeed pulls off a win there, that that somehow is going to be a boost for AOC. Or if he doesn't, it'll doom her. I don't think that's the case. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, I think, is just a very talented politician. And I don't think El Sayed is. And I think her fortunes will be dictated by her and not by whatever happens on Tuesday.

32:37But we're going to read the tea leaves. This is what we do. And we're going to try to make sense of it. But I think probably it's going to be overblown until we see these candidates go head to head in debates next year. Interesting. If Democrats win the Senate, it will be because they've nominated some very centrist candidates like Roy Cooper in North Carolina, like a Mary Peltola in Alaska, like a Adam Hamilton in Kansas. And so I think that the Democrats that are more centrist, like Rob Sand also, I've met with him several times and he opens his rallies with seeing America the beautiful and opens them with a prayer.

33:12I mean, he's trying, and that's why I think that he is, we have that race-rated lean Democrat, that he's going to flip the Iowa governor's race. So, I mean, I'm also looking at someone like Andy Beshear that's been able to win in Kentucky. Josh Shapiro is expected to have a big night. I would look at some of these governors that if they have big wins on Tuesday, then they have a case to make that they might be more electable. But is that going to make a difference with voters? The electability argument has often fallen short. You sound skeptical. Well, no, the Democratic primary electorate is never going to nominate Josh Barrow or Annie Besher.

33:46That's just not where the Democratic is. Is that right? I don't necessarily agree with that. I do think that we're going to have a governor as our nominee, unless it's someone that we don't know yet. I do think a governor will be the nominee. I just think that they don't have to answer for all the votes they've taken in the House or the Senate. It's a different game when you're an executive. It shows that you have leadership and you're running a state. I think that someone like a J.B. Pritzker is really popular right now amongst the center Democratic establishment party. So I just there's a lot of really great governors out there that will be great nominees.

34:14It would be a great nominee. You know, you I want to talk about the fact that the Republicans are also looking beyond Trump and they're looking toward 2028. And some think that Vice President J.D. Vance is in the poll position to be the nominee. But at least one Fox News host doesn't think so. I just don't think that Vance is as popular as he thinks he is with Republicans. Is he? Look, Brian Kilmeade, he's got a lot of guts. He goes on Fox, speaks truth to power all the time. Got a great deal of admiration with him. And I think he's probably correct, right? I mean, this is the problem J.D. Vance or any Republican candidate's going to have.

34:56they're going to have to answer the Kamala Harris view question. Right. You remember this? What's the one thing you would do differently than Joe Biden? And she kind of looked at her shoes and said nothing. Right. And so that question is going to be posed to whomever the nominee on the Republican ticket is. And if it's if it's J.D. Vance or if it's Marco Rubio or if it's Chris Christie, they're going to be asked that question and they're going to have to answer it. What's the safe answer? So here's a safe answer. There is no safe answer because Donald Trump, until he draws his last breath, is going to loom large like the colossus at Rhodes over the Republican Party.

35:35I think there's a little nuance to that, though, David. I think that we were talking about this in the green room a bit. Vance's base is a bit different from Trump's base. Vance's base hates the Iran war passionately as much as anybody on the left does. And Vance's base, you know, also has some different economic ideas than traditional Republicans. Vance needs to keep Trump and his base happy. Just thinking about talking about the Iran war, it gives me a headache how the pretzel he's going to have to tie himself into saying signaling to Donald Trump, you're a genius and you did this just right.

36:09And to his base, I don't really like this. I think his path to the nomination is a lot more fraught than people realize. Is that because he's right? Because when you have to answer that question, everybody knows what J.D. Vance wants to say is the Iran war. That was the big mistake. He was opposed to it before this. He talked openly about it. And so everybody knows he's opposed to it. If he doesn't say that, he's doomed. If he says that he's doomed. This safe assumption, I think here is that Trump is going to want to weigh in to whoever would be the next nominee. And he's keenly aware of that.

36:45Are there others, though, who might play a kingmaker in the nomination for Republicans? I think that Trump is still the biggest figure. I mean, are there, you know, maybe if Republicans somehow still hold on to the Senate, John Thune can weigh in there. I think there are potential Republican governors that I would look at, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, if there's some of these new Republicans that are elected, like Byron Donalds in Florida or something. I think there are. Ashley Henson, she could be a potential star if she wins in Iowa. So I think there's some, like Katie Britt in Alabama, but I still think no one looms as large as Donald Trump and that it's ultimately going to be a question, do you want to continue the MAGA movement?

37:28I'm intrigued by Marco Rubio because he has sort of one foot in the MAGA world, but he was the original Tea Party. And can he sort of bridge that pre-Trump and post-Trump divide? And how does he do that? How indeed. Stand by, everyone. It's almost time to get your questions at home. Send them to me at CNN.com slash EngagedPolitics. We're going to answer them next.

37:55All right, it's that time of night where all of you get to join the conversation with my panel. If you haven't yet, send us your questions, CNN.com slash engage politics. OK, I got a question here. Republicans are overplaying their hand in Alaska. Yes, it was a dirty trick to put another Dan Sullivan on the ballot. It reeks of Russia to say they will not certify the election if Sullivan doesn't win. Heda, what do you think? Well, I think Democrats just got caught, and I can't believe that they thought they wouldn't. I mean, how did they ever think that they could get away with this? They thought they would have the most pliable media in the world that would never look into this.

38:31And as somebody from conservative media, I want to say kudos to The New York Times for actually following through and digging this up and getting the story. Because, you know, that's just a dirty trick they tried to play, and I'm glad they're called on it. Here's another question from you out there. I'm tired of hearing that Abdul El-Sayed needs to apologize. Donald Trump had Laura Loomer on Air Force One. Megan? One, two wrongs don't make it right. And the other thing is Laura Loomer is not running for anything. Abdul El-Sayed is, and he needs to convince the people of Michigan that he's worthy of a Senate seat.

39:01Okay. How about this? Why does it feel like the Republican closing message is something like, things may not be great right now, but at least we aren't communists or letting boys play in girls' sports? David? Yeah, look, I think that was the message they closed with right on the president's, you know, on the famous they ran, we're for you, therefore they, them. That was salient last election, not this election, because people are pulling out that$20 bill. And it's like half as big as it used to be. So the economy is a much bigger issue than social issues in this campaign. And it's just not as it's not as resonant.

39:38I wonder if it will still be in 2028. OK, here's another one. There's a term that goes, as Ohio goes, so goes the nation. Is this still applicable today? Jessica, what do you think? It hasn't been for the past. It hasn't been the center of the universe for the past few political cycles, but it might be on Tuesday night because I think that that really could be Democrats' third or fourth seat. And then I'm watching to see how that governor's race impacts the Senate race, too. That ad has majorly backfired against Vivek Ramaswamy. And is that going to hurt John Husted? That's a very interesting point.

40:08All right. How is this one? we don't, more like a comment, we don't care if Democrats have a solution to every problem. We are tired of the lies and lack of integrity of the current administration. You talked about this earlier in the night, the idea of you haven't heard one person say what they're going to do on day one. Yeah, look, I think it's a problem for, this would be my closing argument for, Republicans should be using this argument the entire campaign, right? Tell me three things, just three that you're going to do on day one that are going to make people's lives better because that's what you're running against.

40:35So tell me them. And I think it would have been effective. It's a little too late, you know, two days before the campaign to start. Too late for Republicans as well? Too late for Republicans. Well, I think Republicans should use it. That would be by closing. Like, when you think about it, you go to the ballot box, remember, how is Akeem Jeffries going to end the war? How are you going to roll back tariffs with your executive, you know, or EOs, right? I would pose those questions because maybe most voters don't understand, but that's what's really at stake. But, David, he did. You're going to get$5 ,000 if you vote for Republicans.

41:04There's that. By keeping the counter is always going to be, you mean solve the problems you created? But anyway, here's another one. Can Republicans admit that J.D. Vance is a terrible surrogate? Sounds rhetorical. Oh, you want to take it? Go ahead. Listen, if you compare J.D. Vance or anyone to Donald Trump, it's tough because Trump is one of one. He's a unique politician. So anybody's going to fall short. It's an unfair comparison. All right. How about this one? Who thinks Musk or Trump is in touch with the average American? I mean, I think this just goes to sort of the they're getting ahead and you're not argument that Democrats are making.

41:40And I think it is one that is salient. What about us? What about us? OK, well, here. What makes Darlene Graham qualified to be a senator? She was 35, a U.S. citizen. I think those are only qualifications in the Constitution. So I will see what happens on obviously Tuesday. And finally, I think Obama and Ossoff are effective campaigners because both have been able to go after Trump in a way that gets under his skin. Why don't more Democrats follow this playbook? I just don't think a lot of Democrats have that sort of personality and charisma. And I think you need to be authentic to yourself if you're going to win.

42:14So if you're a serious person like Rob Sand, it's just not his style to do that. And I think people need to campaign how they're authentic. When in doubt, Cheesecake Factory. Thank you, everyone. And remember, you can stream my show live on the CNN app. We're now streaming in the United States, Canada, and the UK. Scan that QR code on the bottom of your screen or go to CNN.com slash allaccess to learn more. Thank you all for watching. It's time for The Story Is with Alex Michelson. It's next.

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