Dems Prepare to Govern After Midterm Wave

0:02Happening now, Abdul El-Sayed speaks out. We will bring you the CNN's wide-ranging interview with the senator-elect, what he said about working with the Trump administration, and his message to those who didn't vote for him. GOP reckoning, the Republican Party is now asking what went so wrong after the midterm blowback. This is close to an extinction-level event for Republicans in many parts of the country, as we have seen probably in the last hundred years. What top Republicans are saying about why their party lost? And Trump's war strategy. Will the President of the United States resume attacks in Iran now that the midterm elections are over?

0:46We have new insight into President Trump's thinking. and Supreme Court's future. The blue wave is now sparking GOP anxiety over the future of the conservative majority on the high court. We have new CNN reporting on whether any of the justices are now considering stepping down. I'm Wolf Blitzer with Pamela Brown. We want to welcome you to a special edition of the Situation Room, Election Week in America.

1:25And we begin this hour with CNN's interview with Abdul El-Sayed. The Michigan senator-elect is speaking out and laying out his priorities and his message to those who didn't vote for him. He's also directly addressing the president's attacks against him throughout the campaign. So let's go live now to CNN anchor Kate Baldwin, who just interviewed El-Sayed. Kate, what's it out to you from your conversation with the senator-elect? It was fascinating. It was very clear he wanted to focus on priorities as a new senator heading in to Washington and laid out very clearly his priorities going in are ending the Iran war, ending Trump's tariffs on Canada, which is obviously important to everyone in Michigan specifically, and all in pushing what he has campaigned on, which is Medicare for all.

2:08He did also say that he wanted to investigate the HHS secretary, RFK, over staffing cuts at the FDA and CDC. The cyclospora outbreak hit Michigan so hard. I found that quite interesting. And I did ask him, as you mentioned, guys, I asked him about J.D. Vance and how during the campaign, those two especially had traded a series of attacks against each other and even getting personal at times those attacks and asked him how they're going to work together now. Listen to this. My question now is, as senator-elect, how are you going to approach working with or not working with the vice president and the president?

2:49Yeah, well, in his role as vice president, if he's interested in advancing things that are going to get money out of politics, put money in pockets, pass Medicare for all, I'm looking forward to working together. He is the vice president. Donald Trump is the president. I'll work with anybody to serve the people of the state of Michigan. And if they're serious about doing that, let's get some stuff done. In their political roles, in the ways that they behave outside of their actual roles as president and vice president, I find them odious. They've taken us down the path. You see J.D. Vance now.

3:15He's sprinting as hard backwards as he can from this terrible, disastrous war in Iran. I'm like, now's not the time, my guy. It would have been eight months ago. You should have spoke up. But you never will because, of course, you are a coward who has decided that whatever Donald Trump says should go. until, of course, Donald Trump is now a loser at the ballot box, and now you're trying to find a different way. And I also asked him about, well, what had been seen throughout the campaign, and what voters in Michigan felt, which was fear, which was hate, the rise in Islamophobia, and the rise in anti-Semitism, and the fear that voters told and spoke to CNN on the ground in Michigan on Election Day, Democratic voters saying what they have felt and experienced is why they were not.

3:59Democratic voters not voting for El-Sayed. I understand what it's like to be demonized because of how you pray. And I want a Michigan where nobody feels that way. Where you drop your kid off to day school or the synagogue and you know that they're going to get home safely and be respected in their community. That's something that we can all work on together. A lot of the frustration that people felt has more to do with my position on Israel. And even then, that is about love. I believe that our tax dollars should not be used to subsidize weapons, military, that is used to do the worst things to Palestinian children.

4:35You can love and appreciate and revere Palestinian children and love and appreciate and revere Jewish children. In fact, I believe that you have to do both. And so when it comes to Jewish safety, I am as committed to the safety of the Jewish community as I'm committed to the safety of my own children. And I hope that I can lead in a way that over the next six years they can folks even who didn't vote for me say, you know, he was a hell of a senator. He worked really hard and he was there when I needed him. And he says, you know, he says he has six years to show that and prove that. And you know that voters, people who voted for him and also did not vote for him in Michigan will be watching that very closely.

5:08Yeah, they will. Excellent interview, Kate Baldwin. Thank you so much. Thanks, guys. And thanks for me as well. also happening now, CNN can now project that Democrats will win at least, at least, 245 House seats, flipping the balance of power in the House and taking control of Congress in 2027. We're still waiting for results in two critical races, including in Mississippi, where Democratic candidate Scott Colombe is slightly ahead of Republican Cindy Hyde-Smith. And in Alaska, Democratic candidate Mary Peltola is leading Republican Dan S. Sullivan in that highly contested race. President Trump is responding to the ongoing vote count there, saying this this morning, and I'm quoting him now.

5:53The vote totals for the fake Dan Sullivan plus the other slug that the Dems put on the ballot should be immediately given to the real Dan Sullivan. And the election is over. He easily wins. There is no other fair solution. Joining us now here in the Situation Room is CNN's Lauren Fox. Lauren, as Democrats prepare to take control of Congress, CNN has learned that the Senate Democrats have issued document preservation letters to private companies and Trump administration officials as well. What more are you learning? Yeah, this comes from the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and they had put out these preservation notices to officials and corporations related to the Russian diesel deal and other issues pertaining to their committee.

6:35And it does give you an early warning sign, Wolf, of what Democrats are hoping to do in the months ahead. They now have subpoena power going into January in the Senate and in the United States House. Obviously, we also have heard from Robert Garcia, who would likely become the incoming chairman of the House Oversight Committee. He makes it clear that he is going to be going after Trump administration officials and investigating even Donald Trump's family. He also makes it clear, though, that he's trying to link accountability to the issue of affordability, which you've heard from Hakeem Jeffries is going to be top of mind for Democrats.

7:13And this is a really delicate balance. Democrats have been here before, right? Back in 2018, they unleashed all of these investigations into the Trump administration. And what Democrats have to be careful of is not overreaching in these moments. They're very cognizant of that in conversations I'm having with people on the Hill. but they also realize that they have some work to do because a lot of these voters who came out and were so enthusiastic to support them expect them to hold the Trump administration accountable. So that is going to be the delicate dance that you see over the next two years as Democrats are both trying to hold the Trump administration accountable and also set some groundwork for whoever their 2028 presidential nominee is.

7:50We'll see how delicate it becomes. It's going to be significant. All right, Lauren Fox, thank you very, very much. Pamela. All right, well, still ahead here in the Situation Room. did the Republican redistricting efforts backfire? And just ahead, we'll be joined by Florida Democratic Congressman Jared Moskowitz, who was reelected despite the heavy GOP targeting of his state, of his seat, I should say. And later, massive protests. Hundreds of thousands of people are taking to the streets across France amid serious economic unrest. What they're now demanding, we have details, that's ahead. Stay with us.

8:24You're in the Situation Room.

8:36the mississippi senate race still too close to call this morning democrat scott colomb is just a few votes ahead not very much of senator cindy hyde smith this race underscores a seismic shift toward democrats in a deep red territory i want to bring in cnn's annie grayer who is live from Jackson, Mississippi, where Scott Colom just spoke with reporters about the latest on the race. What is he saying this morning, Annie? Well, Pamela, we're here in a diner in Jackson, Mississippi, where Scott Colom is meeting with supporters and voters to thank them for their hard work. And I just spoke with him and he told me that he is feeling very confident that he is going to be able to pull out this win.

9:18Right now, he only leads by over a thousand votes, But he says that as more votes are counted, he's confident that it's going to tip in his favor. Right now, there are thousands of provisional ballots that county officials are pouring through to rectify any issues to figure out if they can be counted. Lawyers from both parties are observing this issue. And Cologne said that, yes, he's heard some issues as this has unfolded across the state. But he said that he believes these ballots are going to come back in his favor, that provisional ballots he predicts are going to be for Democrats. And he talked about what this win would mean for him and why he believes he is deserving of it with how he has campaign and talking to so many voters across the state.

10:01Take a listen to how he frames his race just a moment ago. Mississippians were promised America first. They were promised on day one lower grocery prices. That did not happen. On day one, we got the greatest increase in sales tax through tariffs that we've had in decades. And Mississippians felt that at the grocery store everywhere they went. Farmers were hurting. I mean, the farmers in Mississippi, they were betrayed. The tariffs hurt them. The war in Iran hurt them. And then the president imported chief beef from a foreign country, and our junior senator did nothing to stand up for him.

10:38And we are really in an unprecedented situation here. Mississippi is a state that President Trump carried by 23 points just two years ago. Democrats have not sent someone to the Senate in nearly four decades. But Republican Senator Cindy Hines-Smith is also confident that she will be able to pull out a win. Neither candidate is conceding in this race, but neither has officially declared victory either. So we are waiting to see how this process plays out. It is still too close to call, and it could be days, Pamela, before a final result is determined here in Mississippi. All right. Andy Greyer will be watching closely.

11:17Thanks so much. Wolf. Very important race indeed. Also happening now, Republicans redistricting efforts proving unsuccessful in the 2026 midterm elections. Democrats will maintain control of at least 11 of the 15 districts that were targeted by the GOP redistricting efforts. And that includes, of course, in Florida, where Democratic Congressman Jared Moskowitz is projected to win his district that was redrawn by the Republicans. With us now is Congressman Jared Moskowitz. He's a key member of the Foreign Affairs and the Judiciary Committees. Congressman, thanks so much for joining us. Congratulations on your win.

11:52CNN projects you will win Florida's new 25th district, which, as you know, was redrawn under Republican redistricting efforts earlier this year. What message do you think this sends to Republicans? Well, good morning, Wolf. It's good to be with you. We can finally have that Wolf spritzer together and celebrate me winning 25. When you come to Washington. Look, this when I come to Washington, absolutely. So, you know, this redistricting plan that they had blew up in their face. We won all four seats in Florida that they redistricted. We won four of the five in Texas. And we won the Shamari figure seat in Alabama, you know, that was redistricted.

12:36And so these were the voters around the country weighing in on the fact that they don't like redistricting. They don't like when politicians pick their voters rather than the voters picking their politicians. They don't like the fact that they're struggling in America and they see the president building monuments and saying affordability is a hoax while they're struggling. They see the corruption going on in the administration. And so the American people said enough. They had enough of this. And now Democrats like myself and the others that got elected around the country, we have to deliver results.

13:13We have to deliver restoration. We cannot just deliver revenge. The American people are giving us an opportunity with major margins in the House and the Senate to do something for them, to put our heads down, put in the work and bring down costs for the American people. As you probably know, CNN is projecting that Democrats will control at least keywords at least 245 House seats. 218 is the majority number you need. In the Senate, the party flipped seven races so far, two still to be called. Did you expect the Democrats to perform as well as they did? Well, look, I felt pretty confident we were going to win the House with a good margin and that we were going to win the Senate.

13:57But no, I don't think anyone expected to see these margins. We felt the pain because we hear it every day when we're on the streets in our districts. We hear it from our constituents wherever we go. They are hurting, you know, whether it's gas prices or grocery prices or rent or home insurance. You know, it's hard to get a mortgage. They feel like the American dream is slipping away. And then you talk to students, you know, coming out of college who are afraid that, you know, they're not going to be able to have the same sort of opportunities their parents had. They're worried about, you know, obviously, AI.

14:28And so you can feel that anxiety when you talk to people on the streets. And this was America weighing in in dramatic fashion and, again, giving Democrats the opportunity now to bring down the cost of health care, to deliver for the American people. And so, look, this was absolutely, as Ron DeSantis said, an ELE, an extinction level event for the Republicans. You're looking at historic numbers in the House, historic numbers in the Senate, you know, over the last several decades. We've got to use that majority for positive change for the American people. The vice president, J.D. Vance, is blaming the Iran war for the Republicans' midterm losses.

15:10Here's what the president said about that. Listen to this. I think it's largely true because it drove the gasoline up a little bit short term. and probably that's, probably it's true. But at the same time, if I had it to do again, I'd have to do it again because long-term, it's the only answer. You can't let Iran have a nuclear weapon. Probably that's the primary reason. The price, not the war, the price. What do you make, Congressman, of the president's comments? Well, I mean, look, there's no doubt that the price of the Iran war has drove up prices. Absolutely. But, you know, let's not, I'm not letting the administration off the hook.

15:50that is the price, the tariffs drove up prices even before the Iran war. I mean, they have driven up the prices, both J.D. Vance and President Trump. They said they were going to lower prices. It was the reason why they won the election two years ago. And the reason why they lost the midterms is because prices are more expensive than when they came into office. But look, J.D. Vance sounds like Tucker Carlson. I mean, you know, he's just on the Tucker Carlson talking points, you know blaming this and blaming that take some responsibility you guys said affordability was a hoax you said that everything was great the iran war would only take six weeks you denied the struggle of the american people you didn't want to admit uh that people are facing increased costs okay they know it they see it every day when they go to the grocery store they don't they don't see partisanship or parties when they go in the grocery store they see prices and so you you know they tried to do this, you know, sales pitch to the American people.

16:46But, you know, the bill comes due every month. And the people saw what was happening in this country and they ignored it and downplayed it while they were, you know, obviously, you know, spending hundreds of millions of dollars wanting to build arches in Washington, D.C. As I mentioned, you're a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. What's the appetite like right now to launch a full scale investigation into the Trump administration over the entire Iran war? Well, look, Wolf, I think we have to focus on affordability. That's what this election was about. I think the reason why we're winning races in places that we haven't won in 90 years, like Kansas, is because the American people are giving us an opportunity to make sure that we work for them and bring down costs.

17:33Again, you know, they want restoration. They want results. This is not about revenge. Now, that doesn't mean there shouldn't be oversight. There will be oversight because at the end of the day, if people are struggling and they see the president get a free plane from Qatar, they got questions. You know, if you're struggling out there, you're working two jobs, you can barely pay your bills, and you see, you know, people in the administration making billions of dollars, they have questions. And so oversight is related to affordability. And so, but I think we got to go to Washington And we got to, in the first hundred days, pass bills in the House, pass bills in the Senate, put those bills on the president's desk to bring down costs for the American people.

18:15And he's threatening to veto a lot of that legislation. As you well know, you need a two thirds majority in the House and the Senate to override a presidential veto. You're going to get enough Republicans to join the Democrats in trying to override his vetoes. Well, that'll be up to them or they can join their friends in two years. But look, if the president really wrote the book, The Art of the Deal, he has a unique opportunity to show us that he can make a deal. We'll put bills on his desk that can lower the cost of the American people. It's his choice to sign him or veto him. If he signs him, great.

18:49We have a policy win for the American people. If he vetoes it, we'll hold Republicans accountable in two years. But we got to put those bills on his desk. And let's see if we can make a deal. Let's see if he actually wrote that book. That's clearly your priority right now. All right, Congressman Jared Moskowitz of Florida, thanks very much. And once again, congratulations on your win. Thanks, Wolf. Pamela. All right, Wolf, coming up, MAGA Media Reckoning, new CNN reporting into how right-wing voices are reacting to the country's rebuke of President Trump's policies in the midterms. We'll be right back.

19:31We have new CNN reporting this morning here in the Situation Room. After Democrats' truly stunning victory on Tuesday, conservative media had its own reckoning on election night. Listen. It's not a red wave. I don't think we're going to get our$5 ,000 checks. If we as a country did not go into the war in Iran and that was not on the agenda tonight, is this a much different race tonight? I think 100 percent. I don't think there's any doubt about it. I would argue on Iran, there was, unfortunately, it's the best thing for our children and grandchildren. But higher gas prices, how people feel, I think, is the more dominant feeling force right now.

20:18All right, let's go live now to CNN chief media analyst Brian Selter. So, Brian, tell us more how the pundits and conservative and mega media are talking about Tuesday night's results. Well, in the five stages of grief, it starts with denial. And we are seeing some denial and disbelief followed by anger. So it's following the five stages of grief. Notably, we're not seeing voter fraud lies or outright election denialism, the kind that characterized Trump's 2020 loss. You might say this was too big to rig. That's what some of those right wing commentators are claiming. So they are accepting defeat and they are in disbelief and angry about it.

20:55There's also some disagreement about the best path forward. Sean Hannity, for example, last night discouraging the GOP from finger pointing and circular firing squads. But there are some signs that finger pointing is underway. And notably, although most outside analysts are blaming Trump for his party's loss, MAGA media commentators are tiptoeing around that idea. They're being very gentle. They're acknowledging that the Iran war and the trade war and the economy all contributed. but they're largely faulting the people around Trump for the loss, blaming lazy GOP lawmakers who didn't do more when they were in the majority, or blaming Trump's aides in the White House.

21:33This is a default setting for MAGA Media, saying that Trump's not wrong, the people around him are wrong, that Trump can't be wrong, but he can only be wronged. So we're seeing some of that narrative yet again in the wake of the midterms loss. But there are some right-wing figures, like Tucker Carlson, who were celebrating what he calls the end of the Trump era. So there are some signs of that GOP civil war underway on the podcasts, on TV and online. So let's listen to what President Trump had to say on election night when he called into Fox News. And then I read at Fox that I'm not popular. You know, I mean, the Fox polls are terrible.

22:09You ought to get yourself a good pollster because your pollster is the worst. But tonight, actually, the results are pretty close to what the Fox polls show. Well, I don't know about that. I can just tell you about speaking for myself. and the results with Fox with me were wrong for 12 years. I mean, they've gotten me wrong for 12 years, but I don't care. It doesn't matter. So what does that tell you about the shifting relationship with the media, especially organizations that are typically in his corner? Well, on that night, Trump was railing against Fox all evening long, but at the end of the day, at the end of the night, he called into the network because he needs the network's attention more than the network needs him.

22:47Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch are already thinking about a post-Trump era, thinking about the 2020 election, and they're starting to move on. So Trump certainly wanted the network's platform on a night like election night. There's something I think even more interesting about Trump's claims about the polls. We heard a lot ever since 2016, 2017, when Trump first won office, about this being a post-truth era, about Trump imposing his own truth, his own reality, calling real news fake, calling real polls hoaxes, recently pushing reporters out of the White House. Well, in some ways, truth has reasserted itself this week, kind of like political gravity has reasserted itself.

23:22You know, up until Tuesday, you could have suggested, this is what Nate Silver wrote in his blog earlier this week, you could have suggested that all the approval rating polls showing Trump's unpopularity might have been off, that maybe Trump voters were not picking up the phone when pollsters called, that maybe it was a huge polling miss. Well, now we know, through the voter polls, through the election results in these red states, that Trump really is deeply unpopular. It's harder to deny that reality. So it seems to me all of this is a reaffirmation of some core truths. As much as Trump has tried to deny those, as much as he lied about the polls, well, this week, it's very clear what's happened, and the truth has been reaffirmed in some ways.

24:00It totally seems like a vote of no confidence as far as Trump is concerned. Brian Stelter, thank you very, very much. All right, still ahead here in the Situation Room, Wolf, widespread flooding, rescues and evacuations are underway right now in northern Georgia and southern Tennessee. We are following the very latest.

24:23Happening now, flash flooding is hitting northern Georgia and southern Tennessee. Evacuations are underway and water rescues are in progress. Officials are reporting, quote, widespread flooding. Also underway right now, massive protests in France. Up to 700 ,000 demonstrators are expected to participate. The general strike is fueled by economic unrest and will likely cause disruptions in education, health care and public transportation. And it's the end of an era for Cristiano Ronaldo. The soccer superstar is retiring from international soccer after a record-breaking career. The 41-year-old played a record number of times, 234 times for Portugal, scoring 146 international goals.

25:11What a career. Yeah. Well, Democrats are preparing for a shift in power on Capitol Hill and the investigative powers that come with it. Congressman Robert Garcia is putting people on notice with this post on election night that simply read Lawyer Up. This is notable because he's currently the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee. So let's discuss all of this with former communications director for Vice President Kamala Harris and senior advisor to Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Ashley Etienne and CNN political commentator, Republican strategist and pollster Kristen Soltis-Anderson. Ashley, I want to start with you.

25:44Now that Democrats are going to regain control of Congress, is this really what people want, more investigations into President Trump? Absolutely. If you look, and Kristen can speak to this, if you look at the exit polls from Tuesday, 90 % of the country, this is the highest number, 90 % of the country said that they think corruption, addressing corruption is crucial. So the challenge for Democrats, though, is going to be, and we know Trump to be the most corrupt president in American history. So the challenge is going to be how do you balance these investigations? You can't over index on focusing on Donald Trump because you run the risk of feeling political in an environment where people want you to focus on their economics.

26:20And how do you balance that with investigations that I my advice to them is that really get at following the money and get at issues that are addressing people's pocketbooks? I think the best investigation would be on tariffs. You've got these corporations that get paid twice with high cost and the refunds. And you can actually drill down on the issue of tariffs and localize that issue and create more pressure. Because the key for Democrats is not just getting blood, drawing blood from Donald Trump, but it's also going to be laying the foundation for 2028. Kristen? So it is absolutely true. Not only was government corruption one of the top issues, it was actually rated as crucial to the votes of more people even than cost of living.

26:58I mean, it was very close, but that just tells you how important this is. Now, for some voters, when they're thinking about the type of government corruption they want investigated, they're thinking about Donald Trump, his family, the people around him, how have they personally benefited. But there are a lot of people that think about this more broadly. They think about it as we live in a society now where if you work hard and play by the rules, you don't get ahead. People who break the rules or can bend the rules or have power can use the rules to their own advantage. And so they're not just looking at one family, one person in the White House.

27:29They're looking more broadly at how is corruption making my life more expensive? How is corruption making my taxpayer dollars used incorrectly? You know, some of the people, about 40 percent of the people who said that corruption was crucial to their vote wound up voting for Republicans nevertheless. So corruption is a bigger thing than just being about Donald Trump for a lot of votes. It's bipartisan, to your point. Yeah. And what about those voters who voted Republican, voted for President Trump in the last election and then flipped him this election? How much was corruption a driving force for them?

27:58So I think it was a big a big force. You know, I did a focus group a few weeks before the election of voters in Texas who voted for Donald Trump in 2024, but then said they were not going to vote for Ken Paxton. They were open to Tallarico. And they said the things about, you know, gas prices are high. Cost of living is high. But they also would say things like, I don't understand why he's building the ballroom. Or it feels like he gets to evade, you know, things like the Epstein files would come up in focus groups as there was a cover up there and Donald Trump's protecting himself. That these sorts of things really eroded Donald Trump's brand as I'm this outsider.

28:31I'm going to drain the swamp. A not insignificant number of his own voters said, it sure seems like you've just built your own gold swamp. And I don't love that either. It's interesting because I know we were talking about all these projects here in Washington. we wondered how much are voters out in the country paying attention to this? And it sounds like they really were paying attention to it. And it factored in to their vote. And just to follow up, you know, you have more Republicans speaking now. They're trying to explain what went wrong. So I want to play some of the reaction and then we'll talk on the other side.

29:042026 was not simply a blue wave. It was a blue tsunami. It was an ass kicking. It was not simply a bad 2006 midterm election. It was a Watergate-level repudiation. I mean, to my fellow Republicans, this is not the time to whine, complain, or point fingers. The bottom line is Republicans didn't listen to the American people. This is close to an extinction-level event for Republicans in many parts of the country, as we have seen probably in the last hundred years. So I wonder what you all think about what we're hearing there. And also, we've got to mention J.D. Vance's ex-post, where he says this was about the war.

29:51That's why we lost. So starting with you, what is your reaction to what we're hearing from these Republicans? This is positioning for 2028, and it is a fight for what will the Republican Party be after Donald Trump. And there are folks like J.D. Vance who are going to have a harder time breaking with Trump than maybe others who have been critical of him all along. What I wonder is to what extent investigations of Donald Trump and this sort of pursuit of him by congressional Democrats, will that actually wind up rallying Republicans back around Trump in a moment when a lot seem to be trying to distance themselves from him?

30:22We've seen this movie. That's a fair point, because in the past, when Democrats have investigated Trump, that has galvanized his supporters. Yeah, but the difference between then and when I ran those investigations in 2018 is Trump has no prospect of being back on the ballot. And then also we've seen a bigger repudiation of Trump this cycle than we saw in 2020. And so so that's what I think makes this this moment very different. But I will say this and Chris and I were talking about this in the green room. The key is that you've got so much more opportunity to investigate. You don't have to just primarily focus on Trump.

30:56You've got corporate corruption. You've got these data centers, which was a big issue in Texas, where, you know, voters are feeling like these companies are getting all the benefits at their expense. So you've got more area to investigate that I think will be more fruitful for Democrats going in 2028 than hyper-focusing on Donald Trump. And now, bottom line is, the pressure is on Democrats to deliver, right? Americans put them back to have power of Congress be in control. So how do you think they should prioritize moving forward, especially when you have a president who's already threatening vetoes?

31:31I mean, that's going to be the tricky, tricky place for Democrats is that you've got this pressure to deliver, this pressure to govern, the pressure to draw some blood with Donald Trump, to land some punches on him, to hold him accountable. And then you've got an environment where he has dug in his heels saying basically that he's not going to legislate against his own priorities and what he's already passed. So it's going to be a tough area for Democrats to figure out. I don't know that there is an answer at this point, but I can tell you an aggressive, proactive economic agenda that puts people at the center of it is going to be a winning strategy.

32:06Really quickly, do you expect more Republicans to break with Trump now and maybe join Democrats to override a veto with a two-thirds majority? What do you think? I think it'll depend heavily on what the issue is. And I still think, if you think about the types of Republicans who got washed out in this wave, it's most of the moderates. You know, everybody who's left in the House on the Republican side is in a district that Donald Trump won by 10-plus points. So the makeup of who's still left in Congress on the Republican side may make that a little bit more difficult. All right. Thank you both.

32:36AASHLEY AND CHRISTEN, GREAT CONVERSATION. WOLF? EXCELLENT CONVERSATION, DIDN'T I? I LOVE THAT. AS I SAID BEFORE, I LOVE THE NECKLACE. THANKS, WOLF. HAPPENING NOW. COMING UP, THE BLAME GAME. VICE PRESIDENT J.D. VANCE SAYS THE IRAN WAR IS WHY HIS PARTY LOST THE MIDTERM ELECTIONS. WHAT WE'RE NOW LEARNING ABOUT THE PRESIDENT'S STRATEGY FOR THAT WAR. NEW INFORMATION COMING INTO THE SITUATION ROOM.

33:04The war with Iran was certainly one of the biggest factors that influenced the outcome of Tuesday's midterm elections. A voter poll showed that for 74 percent of American voters deciding on the congressional House race, the war with Iran played a major factor in their decision. President Trump says the war was partly to blame for Republican losses. The House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries told me that ending the war will be one of the Democrats' main priorities when they take over the majority in the House in January. Listen. Well, one of the first things that needs to happen now, not even waiting until we get to January 3rd of the new Congress in the new year, is that the president and the administration should end this reckless and costly war of choice in Iran.

33:52There was never a reason to get into this war, and we need to get out of it immediately. Joining us now in the Situation Room to discuss what's going on is Michael Allen. He's the former Special Assistant to President George W. Bush for national security. He's also a former Majority Staff Director on the House Intelligence Committee. Michael, thanks very much for joining us. After seeing the outcome of these midterm elections, the dramatic Democratic wins that we're all watching, What do you think Iran and the U.S. is at war with Iran right now? What do you think the people, the leadership in Iran is thinking this morning?

34:28I think the leadership is celebrating. I think they believe that they imposed a political cost on the president for his war against Iran and the way he has conducted it. So I think that makes them less likely to compromise. I believe they'll assess that the president is more desperate for a compromise. Now, I think we'll have some maneuvering here in the next few days. There'll be intermediaries that come forward and the president's going to have to decide then, am I ready to go the diplomatic route or am I ready to go into the use of force again to condition them to come to the table willing to make a compromise that's meaningful to us?

35:06With President Trump's party losing the midterm elections, could there be a risk for the president right now? Oh, I think so. I think the American people probably are upset with the war for a couple of reasons. We've always talked about populism coming out in part because of the endless wars here. But I also think that the president probably didn't do a great job of articulating what the national interest was with a second war against Iran. The first one was very clear. It was one and done. Let's go after these very sophisticated nuclear sites with an enormous conventional bomb. The second campaign, it was sometimes about regime change.

35:45Other times it was about nuclear weapons. And so the American people, I think, rightfully didn't understand what the national interest was. But the most tangible thing they could feel was oil and gas prices. And that's the way they voted. And I think that was to the president's detriment. As you know, the president is expected to travel to China later this month. Do you think it will continue to be business as usual for him and his relationship with the Chinese leadership? Or are Chinese officials right now bracing for changes? I wonder if they're bracing for changes. All presidents, no matter what their party composition is in the Congress, tend to be more activists in foreign policy in the last two years of a presidency.

36:23They have a greater range of action. They're more comfortable with the job. So if I were the Chinese, I would think, you know, this period of good relations and stability, projection of stability on the world stage, Maybe it's going to come to an end and maybe the president returns to the policy head in his first term where he was much more hawkish on China and much more cognizant of the great competition that the United States is in for honestly just global supremacy in the next 30 to 50 years with China. You think a Democratic majority in Congress will put more pressure on Beijing when it comes to the security of Taiwan?

37:00I think so. I think that they are rightfully worried about where the president is on this. the president hasn't articulated U.S. policy definitively on whether we would protect Taiwan. They may sense a political opening, not to say it's all about politics, but they may say to themselves, you know what, the president's been really not very hard on China these last couple of years. We're not sure about where the arms package is. So maybe they're going to pressure the president, try to get to the right of him in light of the new presidential election, and just keep coming back to the same point over and over, which is, what are you doing to ensure that Xi Jinping wakes up every morning and says, today is not the day I'm going to do a cross-straits invasion against Taiwan.

37:41All right, Michael Allen, as usual, thank you very, very much. Thank you. Pamela. All right, Wolf, here's what's coming up all new at the top of the hour. All eyes are on the Mississippi Senate race, now shockingly close, where the outstanding votes are and how long it will take for the state to count them. Plus, one-on-one with the Alaska Democratic Party chair, we're going to discuss the yet-to-be-called Senate race there and his reaction to President Trump's latest True Social post about the race. And then later, the future of the Supreme Court. New CNN reporting on the growing Republican anxiety about the conservative majority on the high court.

38:16That's all new next hour.

38:24Happening now, still too close. Could Mississippi have its first black senator since the Reconstruction? We are following the incredibly tight race that could extend the democratic shift even deeper. Plus, catastrophic floods, water rescues, evacuations, and homes swallowed by floodwaters. Our crews are in North Georgia as emergency teams are now working to try to keep people safe. Welcome to our viewers in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer with Pamela Brown. And this is a special edition of the Situation Room. Election Day in America continued.

39:14Happening now, counting the votes, two, two major outstanding Senate races are still too close to call right now in Mississippi. Democrat Scott Colombe is slightly ahead of Republican incumbent Cindy Hyde-Smith. Both candidates spoke about this very close race. But I tell you, the Democrats got out and worked. They really got out and worked and they, a lot of them showed up today, but it wasn't enough of them. I can just tell you that right now. It wasn't enough of them. It's been competitive for months. It's been competitive for months. The country is just starting to pay attention. But I knew it was competitive because I did over 60 town halls and at the town halls I saw Mississippians of every stripe and they were all telling me we love your values You're representing our values and we love your vision because you're talking about the issues that actually matter We're also keeping a very close eye on the Senate race in Alaska Democrat Mary Peltola is ahead of Republican incumbent Dan Sullivan S.

40:14Sullivan we should say by fewer than a thousand votes and this morning President Trump is weighing in, posting, quote, The vote totals for the fake Dan Sullivan plus the other slug that the Dems put on the ballot should be immediately given to the real Dan Sullivan. And the election is over. He easily wins. There is no other fair solution. All right, let's go to CNN's Tom Foreman over at the Magic Wall for a closer look at these two very tight races. Tom, let's start with Mississippi. How long will it take, do you think, to get a final result? A final result could still be days away. Let's look at the votes that were settled on Wednesday.

40:52Provisional ballots, 2 ,632 on Wednesday. Provisional ballots are ballots that have to be in some manner checked before they can be admitted as being valid. So, for example, if you showed up and people questioned your ID and said somehow you maybe weren't a registered voter or you didn't show up on the registration rolls, you might be able to cast a ballot, but then they have to decide whether or not that's actually the way it should be. About 15 ,000 provisional ballots are pending verification. So you start seeing how the numbers are mounting here. They have voted in Mississippi. They've counted somewhere around a million votes, something like this.

41:24So these are actually small numbers for that, especially when the gap between the candidates at any given moment has been down to the tens, the tens in terms of how many people are in there. And there are about 3 ,600 outstanding mail ballots. This is tricky because if you get a mail ballot and then you decide to post it by election day, it's supposed to count. That's why this could take so long, because in Mississippi, the waiting time for those to come in goes up till the 10th. So until the 10th, you can't say that these aren't coming in or that people didn't post them. And if by chance you had a mail-in ballot or you didn't get it or you forgot that you sent it and then you cast a provisional ballot, they have to sort out which one actually gets counted.

42:07So if you look at the next steps there, there's no automatic recount for elections, not for Senate races like this. It's only done through a court order and must be requested by a campaign. So these are additional steps that would have to come into play. And again, the only reason this is happening is because it is so close. If it were more like a normal election where somebody won by several thousand votes, probably all of this would go out the window. But that's not the case when you're down to dozens of votes. Tom, as far as Alaska is concerned, the president suggested this morning that votes for Daniel LeJay Sullivan and Mary Peltola should be given to incumbent Senator Dan S.

42:48Sullivan. Can that really happen? The only way that could happen is if the ranked voting system led you to that. When you look at the official Dan Sullivan, he's not a fake Dan Sullivan, he's a different Dan Sullivan. and Peltola over here, the Democratic candidate, in ranked voting, because a lot of us don't deal with it, remember, you're going to rank the candidates in whom you want. So if you voted for the person who finished last as your first choice, that person goes away. But if your second choice was this person, this person, or this person, that person gets your vote. So when the president says they should all go to him, the only way that would happen is if all of the ranked choice votes chose him as their second after they lost their first.

43:33Let's look at the ballot dates here because they do matter. The first batch of ballots, the early votes, and the in-person votes. This is where the timeline comes in. Updated ballot counts. November 10th, November 13th, November 18th. If they have to keep calculating this until they have the clear winner, the winner who has such an advantage that they cannot be beaten, you could be looking at November 18th before you get a response here. And, of course, the GOP is going after this hard. The campaign arm is preparing for possible recounts. That's happening in Mississippi, too, for Democrats and Republicans.

44:02Same up here. Would focus on the tight center races, including Alaska. And the Department of Justice is trying to weigh in and say, what can we do to stop all this? Important to remember in all of this. Why does this matter? Two races here. Two races. But Democrats, with the independents, who would caucus with them most likely, could push up to 56 votes here. if they get that close, they're four votes away from being able to override a White House veto. That's why these races are so important to both parties. So important indeed. All right, Tom Foreman, as usual, thanks for that excellent, excellent analysis.

44:37Pamela. All right, Wolf. Eric Croft is the chairman of the Alaska Democratic Party, and he joins us now from Anchorage. Welcome back to the show. So President Trump suggested, as you heard there, that incumbent Dan Sullivan should be awarded all the votes for the Democrat. he calls the fake Dan Sullivan and the other candidate on the ballot. What is your response to that? I think grandpa's confused again. We already have a process to do this here. And we know something about it. You know, the Division of Elections released not just the ballots they had so far. And we're still counting up here.

45:14We take a kind of different approach. We treat this process more like sex. Finishing first and early is not the main goal. We prefer to take it slow, kind of do it right. And hopefully at the end, everybody involved is satisfied. I was not prepared for that analogy, I'll have to say, Eric. Well, yeah, we think Florida finishes a little quick. But we have a process and we know something about it. And again, Trump is either misleading or misunderstanding. Let's give him the benefit of the doubt and say he just doesn't understand. Dan, and let's get our terminology right. Petersburg, Dan, a very fine, I don't know the man, but appears to be a fine school teacher there in Petersburg, retired.

46:01And then what we call either incumbent Dan or Ohio Dan, he's from Ohio, everyone up here knows that, and he kind of came up looking for a Senate seat to run for. But Petersburg Dan is going to have his votes after all the votes are cast when we get to the ranked choice voting part. He's low person on the totem pole, and he's going to be reallocated. But we know they released what the voters actually wanted. So instead of doing what Trump wants, which is reallocating people's votes the way he would like, we'd prefer to reallocate them the way the voter actually wanted. And they've told us 33.6 percent of Petersburg Dan, there on your screen, votes, they ranked Mary second.

46:45And 23.1 percent ranked Ohio Dan second. And then 43 percent-ish didn't have a preference after that. So we know what they want already, and we're about to do that if Trump would let us. Have you personally received a subpoena or letter from the DOJ related to this reported Democratic involvement in the recruitment efforts for Dan J. Sullivan? No, and I haven't yet. The party hasn't yet. But, you know, we talked last time about every time you raise your head, you're taking the risk that you'll have this weaponized DOJ come after you. And, you know, our attorneys up here for the party saying, be careful of that.

47:29But, no, we haven't received it yet. We've been trying to ask around a little. We were a little busy yesterday post-election. But I'm trying to find out who has. So far, just the lawyer, I guess. What is your sense at this point of how this is all going to shake out? Yeah, I'm glad he has because I think as you're reporting, which was very good on that, most other states aren't very used to rank choice voting, so it's a little unfamiliar. They haven't – a lot of places haven't called the governor's race up here. The governor's race is done. We've elected a Democrat for the first time in 28 years.

48:02It's just that it's hard to see through rank choice. He has a 20-point lead over his closest Republican, and we know a lot about what the other Republicans ranked next. So we know that race is done even if other people are having trouble calling it. I think as I've been talking to data experts up here, and they all say, the best ones, I'd rather be Mary Peltola than Dan Sullivan in this situation. We think when all the votes are counted, we're going to take our time doing it. She'll win by about 3 percent and may or may not need to go through the full rank choice voting. I kind of think when Petersburg Dan's votes are cast after we've gotten all the votes collected and we've still got about 50 ,000 absentees out.

48:54So when it's all said and done, we think Mary's probably three, two to three point winner. We may not even need a rink out. Okay, well, we will see. Eric Croft, thank you so much. All right, let's turn to the Mississippi Senate race now. Democrat Scott Colombe is leading incumbent Republican Cindy Hyde-Smith, barely. With us now is former Mississippi Democratic candidate for Governor Brandon Presley. He also campaigned for Colombe. Good morning to you. So we chatted on the phone yesterday. You have a lot of experience in Mississippi politics. You're a supporter of Colombe. As I said, this race is neck and neck.

49:30At last check, he is up by just more than 1 ,100 votes with 96 % of the estimated vote in. Who do you believe will come out on top? Scott Colombe. I told you on the phone yesterday he needs to be dusting off his family Bible and getting his suit pressed. He's going to be the next U.S. senator in Mississippi. He's ahead, and I think that when the votes are all counted, Scott's going to come out on top. What makes you so confident with so many outstanding provisional ballots? And I believe it's nearly 3 ,600 outstanding mail-in ballots that could be returned. Well, Pamela, as you and I talked about yesterday, I'm not new to a close race.

50:11You know, I got within an eyelash of winning the governor's race three years ago. And look, I'd love to have been one to two days out from the election in 2023 sitting where Scott Colombe is sitting right now. Now, if you look at the votes that are out, Hines County is a big enchilada. That's where Jackson, Mississippi is, and the votes that are there are in the thousands, and Scott is going to take those by an overwhelming majority when they're counted and they're cured and the county election commission is able to go through their process. Those will be largely Scott Cologne votes. Hines and other places throughout the state, good counties, good people.

50:52I know I know a lot of them, but those are small counties and there's small batches of votes that are out there. Claiborne County down on the Mississippi River down toward Natchez. I think there's a 10 or 15 percent left out in Claiborne County. That's one of the highest concentrations of African-Americans in the state. Claiborne County is not a big county, but when those votes come in, it's going to be a big net gain in the hundreds for Scott Colon. He's up right now a couple of thousand votes statewide. I'd rather be him than the other side in this race. But more than anything else, where the votes are coming from and just having gone through this myself, I feel like barring something we don't know right now, Scott Colom will be the next U.S.

51:33senator in Mississippi when the votes are all tally. I've spoken to so many different clerks and election officials there in Mississippi. And I spoke to one in Hines County who just said there's it feels really intense there. They're going through those provisional ballots. It's a very tedious process. You have one commissioner that's assigned to several precincts and they have to go through each ballot one by one and verify, call the voter and so forth. Have these provisional ballot results ever felt so consequential in an election? Oh, well, we call them affidavit ballots. I know, but for the layperson, I think provisional may understand.

52:13Same thing. Same thing. Look, in 2014, if you remember, we had a contested Republican primary between Senator Thad Cochran and Chris McDaniel. It was a tight race. These clerks, that's distant memory for some clerks because they're new or maybe weren't in office or working in the office at the time. This is a stress test of much of the electoral process in Mississippi. And look, you're talking to a guy that lost the governor's race, said just barely and Hines County ran out of ballots on election day in my race for governor. There's no other way to characterize this as a system that is somewhat been set up over the years for voter suppression to keep people from wanting to vote, not encouraging people to vote.

52:55And so we're seeing that stress tested right now. But I've got great confidence in our circuit clerks and their offices in Mississippi, both Democrats and Republicans. I know a bunch of them and They're honest people. They know that the eyes of the nation is on their process. And I fully expect to see them follow the law just as it's supposed to be. And at the end of the day, Scott Colon will end up on top. You've seen this before, Pamela, in races like this, when you're up a couple thousand votes, usually that person ends up being the ends up being the winner of the race. Looking at the counties, knowing those counties, when you and I talked yesterday on the phone, We were waiting on Clay County.

53:33That's West Point, Mississippi. They had about 22 percent of their precincts in. And I told you he ought to net about 800 votes out of Clay County. He netted 1100 votes out of Clay County last night when it totally reported. That's the other thing. We've got a good grasp of the ground in Mississippi, just having come from a governor's race in 2023 that was so close. So I think that knowing where the votes are coming from, the 3600 that you mentioned statewide that are out to put that in context those are people that or the other contributor mentioned the other people that have requested a ballot be mailed to them that that process in mississippi is hard as a dickens to try to get through and get your ballot mailed you got to get somebody to come in with this laborious many of those probably won't get return just simply because of how tough the process is, is to get your actual vote counted.

54:28So don't look for 3 ,600 to be mailed in. I talked to the circuit clerk here in my home county, Yalla Bush County, Mississippi, and I think he may have about half of maybe six they think will come back. That's not going to be a big number. Small number. All right, Brandon Presley, thanks for coming on. We appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you. And still ahead, Americans expressed their disapproval of the war with Iran with their votes. So what will President Trump do now? And we'll also have a live look at the markets. Matt Egan is standing by in the Situation Room to explain why the Dow right now is down.

55:12All right, breaking news. Water rescues and evacuations are happening in North Georgia after what the National Weather Service calls a catastrophic flood event. There's also dangerous flooding across the border in Tennessee. So let's go right to CNN's Isabel Rosales in McKaysville, Georgia. Isabel, what are you hearing about rescue efforts? What's going on there? Hey, Pam, we're in the city center of McKaysville here in northern Georgia, a town that has been devastated by these flash floodings overnight. The Toccoa River is, we're actually walking right now on this tour with the police chief right up there, Michael Early, who is taking the media now to see the devastation of what has happened here overnight as people were sleeping.

55:54Here he is. He's saying, I don't know if you heard that. Take a look at the building. That's the water line. How quickly the Decoa River rose overnight, 15 feet, rising two feet per hour. That's a record. This is catastrophic flooding. As you can see, this has taken businesses, homes underwater. It's forced mandatory evacuations and even water rescues overnight. Currently, the chief just told us that they have gotten reports that people are still stuck on rooftops. So they have water rescue experts and crews out there searching to see if there's anybody else who needs help. So far, They've had 30 to 40 water rescues.

56:38Thankfully, nobody that has been harmed. But just down the street over here, they had a propane tank that also exploded in the midst of all of this. A firefighter was injured, but supposedly, according to the chief, is doing okay. But look at this. Look at the impact of these rushing floodwaters turning this town completely upside down. You can see all the debris everywhere, how quickly the waters rushed into these buildings, bringing down glass, taking people's lives upside down. And what's heartbreaking, too, is that this is a community that was on the up because they just had another devastating event just in August.

57:18Floodwaters rising all the way up, taking down City Hall, taking down a majority of their buildings that they had just fixed up literally a week ago. just brought them back up and renovated them, ready for the town to open back up. And now they've had this, this one in a 200-year flash flooding event and rainfall. Listen now to what the chief also told us. They call it the 100-year rain or flood, and we've had two in three months. I don't know what God's trying to tell me, but we've had two in the past three months. within within five hours the town was actively flooded

58:03yeah and what's making this worse is an intense number of barriers from comms being down they shut down the power they shut down the water to a warehouse that the chief told me had crucial heavy water rescue equipment bulldozers the things that they need to get this out of the way and get any person that might need help all of that is inaccessible because of the floodwaters so as we whip the camera around this way you can see what's going on really the ward has spread and they're getting help from other nearby towns from state agencies bringing in these boats these inflatable rafts trying to provide and fill in the gap of what they don't have here to make sure above property that people are okay.

58:45Guys. Wow. We just wish them the best as they recover. And as you said, some people are still on rooftops waiting to be rescued. Isabel, thank you. Wolf. All right, there's more breaking news, Pamela. The Dow Jones is now tumbling. It's down more than 2 % since the markets opened earlier today. It's a sharp swing from Wednesday when the Dow had its best post midterm trading day in more than 40 years. CNS senior reporter Matt Egan is joining us right now. So, Matt, what's happening? What's going on? Wolf, what a difference a day makes, right? That election rally from yesterday has completely vanished, and it has morphed into a steep sell-off, one that is driven in large part by AI stocks.

59:27So you see the Dow is down about 1 ,100 points, 2.1%, giving back most of yesterday's 1 ,600-point surge, which, by the way, was the best one-day post-midterm election increase for the Dow since 1982. But the real action is elsewhere. The S &P 500 is down by almost 3 % on the day. Look at the NASDAQ, down almost 4%. Earlier, the NASDAQ was plummeting more than 5%. The NASDAQ has plunged into correction territory, which means it's down by more than 10 % from the previous high. As you can see on that chart, this is a steep loss in recent weeks for the NASDAQ. and yet it is still up significantly over the past year.

1:00:08So what's happening? Well, a lot of these losses are being driven by AI stocks. When you look at companies like NVIDIA, SpaceX, Oracle, Palantir, CoreWeave, all of them down steeply on the day. You can see all of them down by at least 6%. That is a big loss in one day. Now, investors have grown more concerned about the fact that this blue tsunami has changed the leadership in Texas, And the Democratic governor-elect of Texas has called for a moratorium on new data centers in that state. That's significant because about one in four of the new data centers that are planned, they are planned for Texas.

1:00:45And data centers, they've been a major driver of economic growth. I talked to a veteran investor, Ed Yardini, and he told me that today investors are losing their confidence in the AI trade. And he noted how important data centers have been to the overall economy. But Yordani sees a silver lining here. He says that he thinks that some of the build out for the AI trade and the AI infrastructure has just gotten out of hand. It's been too frenzied. It's been too speculative. And so he says it's better to let some of the air out of what he's describing as an AI bubble than have it all burst at once.

1:01:19So bottom line here, Wolf, the election is largely over. But Wall Street is still making sense of what all of this means for the economy, for the stock market, and for AI in particular. Back to you. And it has a huge impact on a lot of people who are watching right now. All right, Matt Egan are reporting for us. Thank you very, very much, Pamela. All right, Wolf, up next, new video from inside a Florida bank complex where a gunman drove into a building and started shooting. Right here, right here. North Charlie 1.

1:01:55This morning, Republicans assessed the political casualties of war.

1:02:07The vice president, J.D. Vance, was the first top Republican to blame the war with Iran for his party's catastrophic losses in the midterm elections. And President Trump himself soon followed, sort of. I think it's largely true because it drove the gasoline up a little bit short term. And probably that's probably it's true. But at the same time, if I had it to do again, I'd have to do it again. Because long term, it's the only answer. You can't let Iran have a nuclear weapon. Probably that's the primary reason. The price, not the war, the price. David Sanger is joining us right now. He's a CNN political and national security analyst and the author of the important book entitled The New Cold Wars.

1:02:51David, thanks very much for joining us. Let me ask you about your new analysis today in The New York Times. You write this, and I'm quoting you now. The results across the country in Tuesday's midterm elections drove home how deeply unpopular the war was among Americans and how much backlash Mr. Trump could face if he renewed major strikes against the country, end quote. David, a regional source is telling CNN that the risk of war with Iran is now lower after the midterm election route. Do you agree, first of all, with that? Well, great to be back with you, Wolf. I do agree with that. I think that the president has pretty well indicated he is in no rush to resume the kinetic side of this war.

1:03:38That doesn't mean he ultimately won't do it. But I think we've learned a few things in the past couple of months. The first is the president had no theory of the case about how resuming the bombing of Iran would actually help his cause. The United States bombed Iran for 38 days, starting in late February, then took a long ceasefire pause, then started up again briefly. None of that seemed to make a big difference. And I think the message of the Vance statement, we long knew he opposed the attacks. But when he came out and said it in public, what he was basically saying was that the administration didn't think through what the long-term political costs could be.

1:04:31And they were rapid. This is a war that only began in late February. And it cost them the House and the Senate, if you believe Vance, by November. Yeah, it's an important point indeed. The world, the entire world seems to be watching what's going on right now as President Trump and the Republicans reel from their huge midterm losses. And China is assessing as a possible meeting could be taking place soon between President Trump and President Xi of China, as well as possibly Russia's Vladimir Putin as well. Will these losses prompt Beijing, first of all, to adjust the political calculus of meeting with a lame duck U.S.

1:05:11president? Well, I think the meeting will go ahead. The president is going to the APEC summit, which is being held in Shenzhen. This will be his second trip this year to China. He took one in May to Beijing. But this three-way meeting was initially conceived by the president, I think, as sort of a modern-day Yalta, that you would have the heads of the three major superpowers talking about dividing up the war of the world and how they would handle the war in Ukraine, how they would handle the war with Iran, both of which have put Russia and China on the Iranian and Russian sides. Now this looks different, Wolf, because, you know, no one senses weakness, political weakness, faster than the Chinese do.

1:06:10And I think that Xi Jinping is probably going to think, well, I'm just going to put my head down and just drag things out with the U.S. Do these dramatic election losses affect President Trump's efforts to try to pressure Ukraine to accept the terms of ending Russia's war? It may well. I mean, I think now that Republicans are freer to speak with the election over and they're not dependent on the president's endorsement, which didn't seem to buy them much. I think you're going to see more Republicans come out and object to the president's essentially switching sides from Ukraine to Russia in recent months.

1:06:55And they're going to call for more aid to the Ukrainians for enforcement of the Lindsey Graham Act, which would have put new tariffs and other sanctions on Russia. But it may also embolden President Putin to sort of just try to make his way through the winter, bombing the Ukrainians in hopes that it will ease up their negotiating position by the spring. We will see. David Sanger, thanks so much for your excellent, excellent analysis. Appreciate it very much. Pamela. All right, Wolf, coming up, Democrats in Congress are promising investigations into President Trump and his allies. But will they be able to balance that with making good on their other promises?

1:07:37We'll discuss with our panel after the break.

1:07:44Democrats are preparing to take the keys to Capitol Hill with the majorities in the House and the Senate. But they still have to contend with the president and his administration. Democratic Senator-elect Abdul El-Sayed of Michigan tells CNN he's prepared to work with the Trump White House. Listen. In his role as vice president, if he's interested in advancing things that are going to get money out of politics, put money in pockets, pass Medicare for all, I'm looking forward to working together. He is the vice president. Donald Trump is the president. I'll work with anybody to serve the people of the state of Michigan.

1:08:17And if they're serious about doing that, let's get some stuff done. in their political roles, in the ways that they behave outside of their actual roles as president and vice president, I find them odious. And joining us now, CNN political commentator and former Democratic South Carolina lawmaker Bakari Sellers and Terry Schilling, president of the American Principles Project. Bakari, these are very different seats that the Democrats have won, very dramatic developments. How does the party manage the priorities right now? What are the major priorities? Well, I actually think for the very first time, Democrats are extremely disciplined.

1:08:50Yesterday, I heard you speak to Akeem Jeffries. We've heard Chuck Schumer, and they're all singing from the same sheet of music, which is not a democratic norm. I hope it remains the norm, but it's not normal. Right now, you hear things like cost of living. You hear things like ethics reform. You hear things like affordability. You hear things like Iran war trying to rein in those war powers. So I do think even though we have a big tent, We have everybody from Abdul Al-Sayed to Roy Cooper, who are different shades of the left paradigm politically. I think that that Big Ten is going to be really effective in pushing big, bold ideas.

1:09:23But they all center around those few things like ethics and affordability. As you know, Terry, Republicans, they're looking to explain what went so wrong for them and what happens now. I want to play some reaction from various MAGA influencers. Listen to this. One of the things you have to ask yourself is, is it possible now that Republicans turn to an outsider in the 2028 presidential election because Marco Rubio and J.D. Vance, the two strongest candidates inside Trump world, may own a big part of these failures. There's a cold place in hell, folks. That's all I can tell Trump and his family.

1:09:58And that Jared Kushner and those degenerates and all the insider trading, all of it, just them, them all. So what do you think the identity of MAGA is right now? Well, it's an open field, and that's very true. Look, I think Republicans lost their pulse of where the American people are at, specifically when it comes to the economy. We saw in 2024 President Trump build a great winning coalition that was basically built of nontraditional Republican voters. These are people that show up when there's something compelling, when they are really hurting. I think that Republicans are trusted with voters still on the culture war.

1:10:38We saw the transgender sports amendments in Washington, keeping boys out of girls sports. That passed in Washington state. It actually outperformed Katie Hobbs in Arizona by five points. It won in Colorado. So on the culture, Republicans are still winning with voters, but it's the economy. And what's happening is the median age for a first-time homebuyer is 40 years old. People don't have enough money in their bank accounts for a down payment on a home. And leaders in our party were saying things like the cost of living crisis is a hoax. They were saying if you didn't have enough money to afford a home, maybe you didn't work hard enough.

1:11:11That type of mentality has to change. And there's a huge open door to take this opportunity with the voters. I am doubtful Democrats will solve it. So that means the Republican Party has to rebuild a family-first economy that prioritizes young people and working families so we can afford homes, we can afford families, and get married and have kids again. Bakari, take a look at some of the reaction that we're getting in from various Republicans, a lot of different Republicans, including former Senator Mitt Romney, who wrote this, and I'm quoting him now. Bad policy, bad character, make bad politics, end quote.

1:11:42That went on to mention tariffs, the Epstein investigation, corruption, and ice brutality. How much of all of this will result in the Republicans' continuing unpopularity right now versus the message that will eventually come from the Democratic leadership in the House and Senate? Listen, the best thing that happened to Democrats was Donald Trump. Donald Trump was an opening message. Donald Trump was a closing message. And Donald Trump is still on brand for who he is. The next two years, while Republicans try to rebuild, you know, you have these kind of postmortems that they'll go through. The fact is, Donald Trump is still going to have the bully pulpit.

1:12:18He's still going to be the messenger. He's still going to control the Republican primary. You've got to have his endorsement if you're going to run for office in 2028 for all of these Senate seats. You've got to have his endorsement probably to be the next nominee for president of the United States. With all that being said, Democrats do have to do something which is deliver for the American people. And I think that's why you're going to see them just hit these issues and stay away from culture wars. I mean, for a long period of time, we got drugged down in culture wars, and they tried to do that in places like Texas, and it was just unsuccessful.

1:12:50I think the American public has turned the page on that. So it's refreshing. Let me follow up, Bakari, with you. The Democratic senator-elect of Minnesota, Peggy Flanagan, is calling for new leadership in the U.S. Senate. Listen to this. I am tremendously grateful for Chuck Schumer's leadership and what he has done over the last many years. And I think it is time for new leadership. One of the things that we heard last night resoundingly across the country is that we are in a point of a new movement. What do you think? Your leadership? Listen, I love Peggy Flanagan. I think she has the swag. What about Schumer?

1:13:29Oh, I love Schumer. I was about to get there, but Peggy's dope and she's going to be a great member. Peggy's also wrong, right? I mean, look, Chuck Schumer and Nakeem Jeffries, I don't know, back when you played basketball, Wolf, and people were talking trash to you, you look like somebody who would just point and say, scoreboard, right? Right. Like Chuck Schumer put the numbers up. So scoreboard. We got 56 senators. Well, 54 that we're calling. We'll add two more later in the week whenever you project it. But I mean, he's done the work necessary during this time to be the leader. He's earned.

1:13:56He's earned that. It's interesting, Terry, because polls showed a Democratic advantage in some of these key races, but not to the extent of the final results that we have all seen. Did the polling miss the mark this time? Look, I think it did, obviously. And, you know, on the Republican side of things, we hadn't considered that maybe the polling was wrong in the other direction. Right. But I do think, though, Wolf, that that's more insider baseball. The bigger picture is whether or not these political parties have their pulse on where the voters are at. And obviously, I think Democrats had the pulse of the American people better this cycle.

1:14:32I saw a clip of Abdul El-Sayed talking about how Republicans want to have people getting married and having kids again, but we don't want to help them afford it. Well, the whole base of the Republican Party actually does. And I know that because I've seen the polling, but it's the politicians. And so Republicans got wiped out. There's going to be a whole list of open seats in 2028 and in 2032. We have an opportunity now to reshape the Republican Party from the party of major corporations in corporate America to be about reviving the American family. That has to be central to the Republicans' economic agenda.

1:15:07If it's not helping families, if it's hurting families, we don't do that economic reform. And that's the opportunity. So I'm actually excited. I'm happy for Bakari and all the Democrats. My dad got elected in 2010, a huge wave year. I remember how exciting that is. But Republicans right now, what I'm excited for for them is we have a real opportunity to completely reshape the Republican Party and shove off all of the unpopular economic reforms that are so libertarian and corporate centered. You're the happiest man I've ever seen at a funeral. Well, I don't think it's a funeral yet. I think we lost maybe one member of the family, but there's going to be a lot of birthday parties down the road.

1:15:41Terry Schilling, Bakari Sellers, to both of you, thank you very, very much. More news when we come back.

1:15:51All right, CNN is ready to make some more projections in some House races. So here they are. Democrats pick up four seats in VA 1, NC 6, NC 13, NC 14. The GOP pick up in Tennessee 9. Wolf? All right, dramatic developments indeed. We're continuing to watch all of these projections as well. Looks like the Democrats are still doing excellent right now. Yeah, and we also just want to make sure we mention the GOP holds in New York 1, New York 2, Tennessee 7, UT 2, VA 5. But bottom line, you have the Democrats expanding their lead in the House, and we're still waiting on these two Senate seats. So far, they've picked up seven Senate seats.

1:16:37We're waiting on two others. It's such a close race there in Alaska, Mississippi. We're keeping a close eye on those two races. We're watching all of this very, very closely dramatic development still unfolding. And to our viewers, you can see right there, right now the Democrats have 249 seats in the House of Representatives. The Republicans have 153. The majority is 218. So a very, very significant majority for the Democrats. 39 Democratic pickups at least so far and more potentially on the way. That's right. Well, thank you all so much for joining us this morning. You can keep up with us on social media at Wolf Blitzer and at Pamela Brown CNN.

1:17:16We'll see you back here tomorrow morning, every weekday morning for two hours, 10 a.m. Eastern Election Day in America continues now with Dana Bash right after a quick break.

1:17:33Let's have I got news for your ears, the podcast. I am your host, Michael Ian Black. We are talking about the final polls going into the midterms, the hot races getting the most attention. Trump's final argument. Have I got news for your ears? Check us out on Apple, Amazon Music, wherever you get your podcasts. Even better, you can watch the podcast on Spotify.