Trump Revives Rallies; Alaska Ballot Probe Intensifies; Dems Gain Momentum

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0:44There's a reason millions of companies like Mattel, Heinz, and Allbirds continue to trust and use them. With Shopify on your side, turn your big business idea into... Sign up for your$1 per month trial at shopify.com slash special offer. Happening now, breaking news, campaign rallies back on. President Trump is planning to add back two red state campaign stops he previously scrapped. The last minute decision and the new reporting straight ahead. Also, the Alaska ballot controversy, the president weighing in again just moments ago. The Justice Department now issuing a flurry of subpoenas over the alleged Democratic scheme to recruit another Dan Sullivan to run against the incumbent with the same name.

1:28We'll talk to the Alaska Democratic Party chair just ahead. And then later, CNN exclusive one-on-one with the head of one of the largest voting systems in the country. You might remember its previous name, Dominion Voting Systems, how the company is preparing for its first nationwide election. Welcome to our viewers in the United States and around the world. I'm Pamela Brown. Will Blitzer is on assignment and you're in the Situation Room.

2:07The final countdown is on. Four days until Election Day. 45 million votes already cast. And there's new indications this morning. Democrats may fare better than expected. In a brand new forecast, Cook Political Report is moving 12 House races in nine states toward Democrats. And predicts Republicans will lose the House. And just now we're learning that President Trump is reviving his previously scrapped rallies in deep red states. He will also hold as many as 20 tele-rallies. The Situation Room is in nine states this morning, covering the countdown to the midterms tracking critical key races in battleground states from Georgia and Maine to Alaska and Kansas.

2:47And our correspondents are fanned out across the country, bringing you the key issues, talking to voters and following the candidates' closing messages. Let's start with President Trump's last minute schedule change in Kansas and in Iowa. Betsy Kline is at the White House for us. So, Betsy, this new reporting just broke. What's going on here? Well, back from the dead just in time for Halloween, Pamela. President Trump had announced that he was going to be canceling planned rallies in Salina, Kansas on Saturday and Dubuque, Iowa on Sunday. And we are just getting word that those two rallies have been revived, according to a White House official and a Republican official.

3:21The president now plans to travel to both Kansas and Iowa on Sunday. These are both states where there are very critical, tight races for the Senate. And the officials said that these rallies were rearranged to accommodate about 20 tele-rallies that the president plans to hold in the coming days. Of course, we should note the president has held 26 midterm campaign rallies just this month. He's going to be in Daytona Beach, Florida a little bit later today. We'll see if he addresses any of that. But for some perspective here, this is unusual because back in 2018, the president held seven rallies in seven states in the final 72 hours.

3:58We do not yet know his final campaign schedule for Monday. We also do not know what prompted this change. Of course, we should note that the president is an avid consumer of news coverage. But the president said that he was canceling Kansas because, in his view, Roger Marshall, the incumbent Republican senator there, was, quote, doing really well. Of course, there has been this open question of whether a presidential visit in these battleground areas can be helpful. The president's approval rating at just 34 percent. And when these rallies had been canceled, one Republican strategist said that it gave some cover to candidates like Ashley Hinson and Roger Marshall, where it might not be helpful for the president to rally his base.

4:38It could have the opposite effect, Pamela. Interesting, because he said Roger Marshall was doing really well, and then he went on a radio show and said it was such a close race in Kansas. Now he is back on going to Kansas for a rally. I also want to talk about Alaska's Senate race. The president is weighing in on that again. What is he saying? Yeah, so in that same radio show from Kansas City, Missouri, the president called into earlier this morning, He weighed in on this Alaska race and questioned whether voters in Alaska are smart enough to differentiate between the Dan's Sullivan. He suggested that voters aren't smart enough to understand the Senate ballot.

5:16Listen. You need about 190 IQ to figure out the ballot. They put a ballot down where they're talking about incumbent Republican and the other one. Most people don't know in Alaska and a lot of other states, too. What does incumbent mean? I don't know what incumbent means. He should have been thrown off the ballot. And actually, he was thrown off the ballot. A reminder that President Trump's Department of Justice has already filed a lawsuit seeking to block certification of that race if the incumbent Senator Dan Sullivan loses. Pamela. Betsy Kline, thank you so much. And happening now in the battleground state of Georgia, data shows the Peach State has surpassed the midterm in-person early voting record set during the last midterm election cycle in 2022.

6:04The state has attracted a number of high-profile leaders from both parties in this final sprint to election day, including President Trump and former President Barack Obama and former Vice President Kamala Harris. So here's a look at the number of early ballots cast in the state as of this morning. More than two and a half million. The in-person early voting has set a record compared to other midterms and early voting in Georgia is set to end when the polls close tonight. So let's go live now to CNN senior national correspondent Ryan Young, who is on the ground in Decatur, Georgia. Ryan, what are you seeing and hearing from voters there?

6:40Well, Pam, a lot of energy around here. Of course, this is Decatur and people always say this is Decatur where it's greater. That's what people who live here like to say. There's been a lot of energy around voting and we've been talking to people all morning long. People have been gathering here and going through why they want to vote. And a lot of things that people have been talking to us about is the fact that we're not talking enough about affordability. They really do believe they're feeling the pinch in their pockets at this point. And just to show you this, we've been seeing buses pull up here all day long.

7:07That orange cone right there is as close as we can get. They're keeping us at a distance from the actual polling center. But from people who have been telling us as they've been walking over, this really means something to them. They want to see an impact in D.C. They want to see change. Take a listen to two of the voters we talked to with just a few minutes ago. It's about everyone. You know, some people, the gas prices don't bother me. And it's like, it may not bother you, but it bothers and it affects the broader group. And I think that's really important. So for me, Keisha Lance Bottoms spoke a lot to that.

7:37John Ossoff, they spoke a lot about that, you know, wanting to make it affordable for everyone, not just that 1%. It's important to remember how and why our country was founded and that we are, in fact, a nation of immigrants. And if we want to enforce laws, we need to enforce them correctly. and we need to respect the values, the dignity, the rights of our citizens, our residents, and anybody that's on our soil, honestly. Yeah, Pamela, one thing that you can avoid here is the weather is fantastic all across the state. So really, the get-out-to-vote efforts will be pretty strong. A little later on here this afternoon, they're planning to have a pretty big rally in terms of the get-out-to-vote.

8:11We've seen people show up with senior citizens to try to get them, to motivate them to get out to vote as well. And I was talking to some of them who said they remembered not having the right to vote, the 1965 Voting Rights Act. They thought it was very important to be here. They want to send a message to D.C. that, look, they can't afford medicine, they can't afford insurance, and it's hard for gas prices. So when you have all that combined, you have a lot of energy around this, and people who are really frustrated about this, and at the same time, they said they can't even watch games because all the commercials from the politicians are just flooding them.

8:41So people want to see some change here in the state of Georgia. Yeah, a lot of people are tired of those political commercials. Ryan Young, thanks so much. And Stella Head here in the Situation Room, early voting surge, 45 million ballots and counting. What we're learning about who's voting ahead of Election Day and what it could mean for the balance of power. We have some new reporting just in. And midterm alarm bells, new reporting on the GOP's challenges, mobilizing President Trump's coalition, what the party is doing to tackle enthusiasm concerns. You're in the Situation Room and we'll be right back.

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10:23Conservative leaders are urging voters to go out and vote as the party struggles to match the energy coming from likely Democratic voters. Enthusiasm among voters leaning Democrat is surging. In a recent CNN poll, it shows it's up 61 percent from 34 percent in 2022, while Republican leaning voters are up just four percentage points from the last midterms. Here's what one undecided voter in Texas told CNN's Ed Lavendera. I think the Republicans didn't really put up a banger of a candidate. He comes with a lot of baggage. I like what he's done as an AG, but I'm liking, as time has moved on, I'm beginning to like Tallarico more.

11:05I think someone like you makes candidates very nervous. Yes, and they also like us. I mean, it's very obvious they're going after us right now. All right, let's go live now to CNN senior reporter Steve Conterno in Chicago for more perspective here. Steve, what have you heard from party officials about this uphill climb? Pam, you have increasingly heard warning bells coming from Republican leaders across the country, Florida, Texas, Ohio. All these battleground states and even some that were never anticipated to be in play are all saying the same thing, that Republicans are failing to match the enthusiasm that they are seeing from Democrats in these early voting numbers.

11:47You mentioned that poll showing Democrat enthusiasm and the highly motivated voters just surging among Democrats compared to four years ago. We've seen that in Texas, Kansas, Michigan, and Maine, where we've pulled that question as well. But let me throw another data point at you, this one coming from Pew, showing that Republicans are far less likely to say that winning the House of Representatives matters. And that, too, is a reversal from four years ago when Republicans said it was more important to hold the House. Now, what does this actually mean in terms of voting? Because motivation is only one factor.

12:29Well, in places like Kansas and North Carolina, you are seeing Democrats open up an early lead, a significant early lead among people who did not vote in one of or both the last two elections. And that is striking because if you remember, Donald Trump built his coalition in 2024 in part on people who don't typically participate in electoral politics. And now they are seeing a challenge in getting those people to show up when he is not on the ballot. Now, this is something that they always anticipated and that was going to be one of the headwinds they face, but they did not expect to have to do so in such a challenging political environment.

13:12I talked to the head of the Milwaukee County Republican Party, and he said, quote, it's not necessarily that they're angry at the president, but you're going to find most people just don't understand why it's important to show up in a midterm cycle. And last, I'll just say, Pam, I talked to one GOP official who said this is something that they know they have to deal with in these final days and quote, we just have to bother the crap out of these people. All right, Steve Conterno in Chicago. Thanks so much. Coming up, new subpoenas. The Justice Department is escalating its investigations into the critical midterm election in Alaska.

13:48We'll be right back.

13:54Just four more days until the midterm elections end this morning. The Justice Department is ratcheting up investigations of election issues in two states. In California, the department has issued grand jury subpoenas to election workers in Los Angeles. The administration says it's trying to identify non-citizens on the state's voter rolls. And in Alaska, the Dan Sullivan investigation intensifies. Sources tell CNN the Justice Department has issued more than 40 subpoenas and is homing in on potential new charges. At issue is whether state Democrats sought to intentionally confuse voters by recruiting a Senate candidate with the same name as the Republican incumbent, Senator Dan Sullivan.

14:32Joining us now is David Becker, the founder and executive director of the Center for Election Innovation and Research, a nonpartisan nonprofit that works with election officials to build confidence in elections. David, thank you for coming back here to the Situation Room to put all of this in perspective for us. So you are a voting rights lawyer, right? You're a former voting rights lawyer for the Justice Department. I'm wondering what you think about this alleged recruiting scheme of Dan Sullivan and whether you believe a federal crime has been committed here. You know, it's not good when the parties try shenanigans like this.

15:06We've seen this in a lot of different contexts by both parties, whether I don't know if the facts are true in Alaska, but if they are true, that's been done. You know, Elon Musk bankrolled Cornel West presidential campaign in 2024. We've seen both parties try to recruit candidates that might try to sneak some votes away from their opponents in various ways. It's not good. But those are handled under state law. And Alaska state law has already ruled on this, the Alaska Lower Courts and the Alaska Supreme Court. They considered the possibility of confusion. They considered the possibility of shenanigans.

15:36And they ruled under Alaska state law. Both Dan Sullivan's should be on the ballot with appropriate designations. And the ballot is extremely clear. We heard the president really cast doubt on the intelligence of Alaska voters, and I think it's pretty clear that Alaska voters can tell the difference between Dan S. Sullivan, Republican incumbent, and Dan J. Sullivan with no designation next to his name. Also, with ranked choice voting, it's very likely that's not going to have any impact on the election whatsoever. So there doesn't appear to be any kind of federal claim here. But the previous litigation in Alaska, what's going on in California right now, with subpoenas being issued five or four days before an election, to election officials who are incredibly busy right now, just rips the mask off of what the DOJ is doing.

16:18It's pretty clear this is a political effort to interfere. A federal court judge said it was a political effort to interfere. The DOJ has very strict written rules about doing anything that could interfere or be perceived as interfering with the election. And you don't have to believe me on that. So I've gone out the window. Of course. But, you know, probably the most eloquent statement on that was made by private attorney Todd Blanche. back in September of 2024 when he said to the court, departures from these practices preventing interference with the elections should never be countenance because they risk allowing prosecutors to impact national elections.

16:51And now he's overseeing that very same effort. And honestly, we should all be outraged that taxpayer dollars are being used this way. And it shouldn't matter which party you belong to. I mean, if a Republican president can do this with a Republican attorney general, then surely a Democratic president with a Democratic attorney general can do the exact same thing in the future. And what does this do to election workers who have already been under so much strain? They've had threats for years now. What does this do? Well, I've talked to a lot of them in the last few days, and they're exhausted, and they're weary of it.

17:21Some of them are angry. As you pointed out, well over 45 million people have already voted. The reason we know that is because election workers are busy working around the clock, not only processing all of those ballots and facilitating early voting, but reporting it out to all of us so we know what's going on. In Texas alone, 6.5 million people have already voted, and that's 80 % of their record turnout ever, and there's still four days to go in the election, and we don't even have Election Day voting in yet. The voters in the United States are not buying this. They are showing up to vote regardless of the interference, and the election workers, despite all of the efforts to derail them and distract them, they are doing their jobs admirably, not just in California and Alaska, but nationwide.

18:01I want to just drill down a little bit more on Alaska, because you have this lawsuit from DOJ to potentially block the certification of the election results. And now you have Alaska's Republican-led governor saying he may not certify the results, depending on how this investigation shakes out. He said that on News Nation last night. How concerning is that to you? Well, it's pretty concerning. I mean, he has an oath to perform the ministerial task of certifying the election as his division of elections under the lieutenant governor determines that. I don't know if he's serious about that or not.

18:35I think we'll have to see. Of course, this should be resolved under Alaska state law, and he is the highest elected official in Alaska, and that's appropriate. And I expect he and other officials in Alaska will review this under Alaska state law. But what's very clear is that the federal government has no role here. The Constitution clearly states that this is under Alaska state law. Alaska courts have already ruled. And I think the Supreme Court denied to take it up, right? Right. I mean, in Missouri, remember, there was an effort by the courts there to try to install the gerrymandering. The Supreme Court rejected that.

19:07I think the courts are going to stand firm here. We've seen that repeatedly. I think we're going to get an order in the Alaska federal court case very soon regarding the DOJ's attempt to stop certification. I think that's going to be rejected pretty soundly. So I think everything is holding firm. I would put some of the rhetoric aside right now. Hopefully the governor will act responsibly once his division of elections reviews all of the election results and sees what it is. Alaska voters are going to decide who goes to the Senate. And whoever gets the most votes is going to take the oath of office on January 3rd.

19:37Just in California, you talked about that. DOJ claims it has a list of as many as 20 ,000 ballots of non-citizen voters. And there's been the judge you saw clearly rejected their argument, said they would wreak havoc, that they haven't shown proof that this is a list of non-citizens. But based on what you know about non-U.S. citizens voting in elections, does that number even make sense to you? Oh, it doesn't at all. We keep a tracker of claims of non-citizens voting on our website, electioninnovation.org, state by state. And what we constantly see are these broad political claims of large numbers of non-citizens on the voter list.

20:17And when they're investigated, they get reduced to a very small number. And, again, you don't have to trust me. You can trust the government's own data. In Nevada, that went from 16 ,000 alleged noncitizens to 185 to zero. In California, it went from 190 ,000 in July. Three months later, they're claiming 20 ,000. And as you've noted, the courts and the counties have demonstrated that's not true. And then they only arrest 28. So we know the numbers are very, very small. States, honestly, are trying to do as much as they can to remove noncitizens from the list. But the numbers are tiny. And it can be a felony, right, potentially.

20:47It's a misdemeanor under federal law. It's a misdemeanor, but they can do things, so the charges can make it a felony. That's exactly right. And it's also against state law in many cases. So look, almost no one here illegally is going to shine a spotlight on them by casting one ballot. Very, very quickly, early voting is still going on. Early voting is just off the charts right now. I just want to say, if people haven't voted, early in-person voting is a great way to do it. 42 states in D.C. still offer early voting today. The only states that don't are Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and Alabama, which have stopped, and Alabama, Mississippi, and New Hampshire, which don't have early voting.

21:20Every other state still has early voting today. In many states, including Texas and Georgia and Arizona, today is the last day of early voting. So check with your local election officials. Get out there and vote. Join about 50 million of your fellow Americans who have already done it. All right, David Becker, always great to have you on. Thank you so much. Well, coming up, CNN's Omar Jimenez is hitting the road, traveling to key battleground states and cities. Omar, tell us where you're at today. We are in Cleveland at the oldest and largest market in the city. As we start day five of our road trip, we're talking to voters, but I'll tell you what we've heard from voters so far coming up in a few minutes.

22:06Observe. The North American Dad. 50s. Great polo collection. He enters his vehicle information on Carvana. An offer appears in minutes. Remarkable. He squints, reads it again, smiles, and says, Dang, that's a good offer. The highest form of approval. No haggling. No hassle. No one called him boss. He's still on the couch. Astonishing. Sell your car today on Carvana.com. Pickup fees may apply. With just four days to go until Election Day, It's time for quite possibly the best live report of the morning. CNN's Omar Jimenez is on a road trip through the Rust Belt. He's talking to voters, candidates, and visiting historical sites, all to give us a sense of what life is like for some Americans.

22:53Omar is live for us this morning in Cleveland, Ohio. So, Omar, we've seen you with a cow, a cannon, the Liberty Bell, a pumpkin patch. What do you see now in Cleveland? What's going on there? Look, now we figured we'd start at a market, the West Side Market. It is the oldest and largest public market here in Cleveland. Been open since the early 1900s. It's really this cross-section. If you just walk with me for a second, I mean, look around. These are all people, locals who come through here, locals who buy from here consistently. We were talking to someone who comes here weekly just to get great food.

23:27We got this skull bread a little bit earlier. I took a little bite of that because obviously we're close to the election, but we're also a day away from Halloween. You talked about what we've seen prior in this road trip, too. Earlier, yesterday, we were further south in Ohio, outside Canton, and we met this farmer who is right on the edge of a property where a proposed data center is going to go, and they are so worried about the effects of what that data center could bring to the farm where they've lived for more than 40 years. So we stopped by to ask them about what they're seeing, and I just want to play a little bit of that conversation for you now.

24:04Do you feel resigned to the fact that one is just going to go in? Do you still feel like your fight is worth it right now? No. You don't? I think she finally gave up. I'm really very... Disappointed. I'm going to get emotional for it because it is not what I expected. I expected to come out to the country and live out our life. At 70 years old, this is all going to go away, and we're going to see nothing but destruction. And it's going to be bad. And I'm really sad about it. Sorry.

25:04And she's been trying to raise signatures to stop that data center from going in. And the data center, Midwest Digital Gateway, has described it as a responsible data center. And as far as any environmental effects, said they'll be using modern systems that increasingly run on closed loops so that they don't have to pull continuously from the groundwater. But at the same time, they talked about light pollution and noise pollution. And some of that that we've been trying to capture over the course of this road trip. We've talked about affordability, walking up to voters, but people are also dealing with various aspects of what is the new world in 2026.

25:39That data center fight, those data center installations are happening in places across the country, and that's just obviously one snippet and one perspective of who's dealing with it. After this, though, we're here starting in Cleveland. We're going to head over to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and explore some of those unique things that make these places unique. But again, a wide range of things on this trip so far, Pamela. Some happy, some serious, but of course, some just trying to step into people's lives a little bit. Omar Jimenez, you've been doing a great job on the road, giving us perspective from so many different Americans.

26:08Thank you so much. And new this morning, the Cook Political Report, an elections forecasting newsletter, is now predicting that Democrats will fare better than previously expected in 12 House races. It projects that Democrats will ultimately win a majority in the House. And this is the same group that shifted two Senate races toward Democrats and one toward Republicans last week. So this right here is their current prediction map. With us now to discuss is CNN political commentator Alyssa Ferry Griffin, former Trump White House director of Strategic Communications. All right, Alyssa, we're four days out from Election Day.

26:41What is your reaction to that report that Democrats could fare better than previously expected in these 12 House races? It tracks with what I'm hearing from a number of operatives and just some of the early voter turnout that we're starting to see. I mean, we have the most data that we have had to date. We've had, you know, millions of votes cast in some of these critical battleground states. So I strongly suspect that the House is going to flip for Democrats. But now we're starting to see that it could be a double digit win for Democrats in the House. The Senate is just such an open game. I mean, I've talked to Republicans who think that, yes, Democrats have more optionality to get there.

27:17The fact that Kansas is potentially in play, Iowa, Texas. But they're really watching Michigan closely, which Mike Rogers has been neck and neck there with El Syed. And that would be a net loss for Democrats if Mike Rogers were to win. So the bottom line is nobody knows when it comes to the Senate. There's a lot of surprises that could happen. But the two things I'm watching are the demographics of early voter turnout. You've seen a heavy Latino turnout, especially in Texas. And then you've seen a lot of young voters turning out. Those are both positive signs in this moment for Democrats. But we really won't know anything till Tuesday.

27:51What do you make of that in terms of young voters, that Democrats are pulling in a lot more young voters in these early votes compared to Republicans? As a Republican, it's frustrating because Donald Trump made pretty incredible inroads with young voters in 2024. You know, he reached out to some of those low propensity voters. He went on podcasts and sort of the manosphere and got a lot of particularly young men to turn out for Republicans. But in the two years since, I think the policies of this administration have really alienated some of those voters and pushed them back into Democrats' arms.

28:24So the cost of living is the biggest issue for young voters and frankly, all voters. But also no new wars really resonated. If you're, you know, my generation and you grew up in the global war on terror, a lot of voters were just motivated for no new wars in the Middle East. And now we're in Iran, something the president ran against doing. So those issues and I think heavy handed tactics with immigration have really created quite a bit of a break with younger voters and the Trump administration. Let's talk a little bit about President Trump's schedule. He's basically been all over the place. He canceled these two campaign stops, one in Kansas and one in Ohio.

29:01Those rallies are now back on, according to a White House official and a Republican official. Trump went on a radio show this morning to question why the Kansas Senate race was so close. This is after he said he thought Roger Marshall was doing well. Polls in both states show there is no clear leader. What do you think is behind the flip-flop here? You know, this is purely speculative, but I saw Caitlin's reporting that the events are back on after being pulled down. I think that the president was nervous about going somewhere where, frankly, Republicans may not perform well on Election Day, but he also might not be able to pull as big of a crowd as he usually would in a deep red pocket of America.

29:40I think it's probably for the best for him to show up. If you're in Kansas, the way for Roger Marshall to win, frankly, is to turn out the Republican base. We're kind of past the point of swaying independents and moderates. It's really about getting, you know, reminding people why they love the Trump show and trying to get those three time Trump voters to turn out, because we know that Democratic turnout is outpacing Republicans. But this this Kansas race has become really a sleeper race. Kansas hasn't gone hasn't been won statewide by a Democrat in more than 50 years. But I think it's a mix of you have a very good Democratic candidate and then you have Roger Marshall, who's really been sort of plagued by I don't know if I want to call it scandal.

30:18But these practices that he practices practices a doctor when he was billing patients, you know, as they're still recovering from giving birth, that just broke through statewide in a really significant way. And I don't think people were prepared for how big of a vulnerability that would end up being for him. Alyssa Farah Griffin, always great to have you on. Thank you so much. And we're going to hear much more from our Kyung Law and voters in Alaska next hour. Coming up here in the Situation Room, where's the beef? Turns out the price of it over the past few years is on the rice. Rise ahead. We're going to take you to a burger joint to talk about the impact of those prices.

30:53Turning out the vote. Early voting data is pointing to a new trend on youth turnout. CNN's Tom Foreman is tracking it all. Tom, tell us more about what the numbers say. What they say, Pam, is that across the board, younger voters, older voters, voters who vote a lot, voters who only vote now and then, they're all leaning toward the Democratic side. And that trend has not broken with the election just around the corner.

31:45We'll see you next time. in just three months. Learn why over 16 ,000 of the fastest-growing companies use Vanta at Vanta.com. You're listening to a quick ad. You know what else is quick? Selling your car on Carvana. Just put in your vehicle information, and we'll give you an offer. Done. No hassle. No negotiation. No guy from an online listing lowballing you. Which means, by the time I'm done explaining this, you could have basically done it.

32:17Still haven't started? Hey, better late than never. Sell your car today on Carvana. Pickup fees may apply. The final stretch for early voting. More than 45 million ballots already cast for this year's midterms and clear trends are starting to emerge. So for more on that, let's bring in CNN correspondent Tom Foreman here in the Situation Room. Tom, what patterns are you seeing from early voting data? Well, remember, we could hit somewhere around 120 million votes. We could go even higher than that. So we're not at the end yet, but the pattern we've clearly seen over and over again is that the Democrats are getting the nod.

32:55Take a look at some of the numbers here as we break down who's showing up and the way that they appear to be voting. We don't know exactly, but we have an idea. All those darker green states, that's where you're seeing the pre-election ballots cast by Democrats at the highest level. And you'll note that some of those are battlegrounds. Some of them are not, but they're showing up in great big numbers out there. And if you look at this question of low propensity voters, meaning people who don't really show up a lot, and high propensity voters, look at this. If you are both, the Democrats, they're 45 percent, Republicans are 31 percent.

33:27They're showing up more if you're both. If you're one of those two categories, 42 percent versus 25 percent. And if you're neither one, if you don't qualify as low propensity or high propensity, again, the Democrats have the nod there. So this is what we have been seeing, Pam, week after week as we've looked at this early voting. The Democrats have that enthusiasm gap, and it is really holding firmly, as much as Republicans keep hoping that it will break. Let's talk about the age here and break it down by that and what you're learning about different age groups, particularly among younger voters.

34:00Yeah, younger voters are really showing up for this. Take a look at those numbers, too, because they're very much worth examining at this point in the process. Younger voters very much energized about the idea of moving past the Trump years. Look at that. If you look at the youngest age, they're 47 % to 16%. That's huge. But then look right down the line. Every single category shows an advantage to the Democrats in this. And I look particularly at that 39 to 49, 50 to up to 64 there. Somewhere in there is really the sweet spot of the Trump movement. That's where a lot of his support has come in the past, and it is anemic this time.

34:42It's just not showing up the way you might expect it to. And if you compare it year to year, again, you can see a huge difference there in decline among the Republicans and an edge to the Democrats and in an election that can be tight, as these can be. Pam, that's going to make a big difference. So far it has, unless the next three days, Halloween. If there's a Halloween surprise in all of this, then I suppose... You never know. something could be different and republicans are sure hoping there will be but right now it doesn't look that way more will show up on election day yeah right now right now this is a haunting election for the republicans and and in large part because of the three c's with uh with the president cost conflict the war in iran and the growing story of people believing that this is a corrupt administration those three c's that is what donald trump painted this election map with and this is the result.

35:35Yeah, that polls show that those are the top concerns for voters. Tom Foreman, thank you so much. And here's what's coming up all new at the top of the hour, the world's largest crypto exchange hit by the world's largest heist. New details on the$6 billion crime. And a CNN exclusive, the voting machine company at the center of false claims about the 2020 election is under new ownership. Our interview about the equipment that might be counting your ballot. That's all new next hour.

36:12happening now beef prices on the rise this is the average price of lean ground beef per pound over the last 10 years and this overall uptick is having a big impact on businesses and burger lovers alike here are cnn's david goldman and koi wire there is nothing more american than a hamburger. Maybe a hot dog. Okay, maybe a hot dog. Either way, the prices of ground beef have been absolutely ridiculous up to about seven dollars a pound from under four dollars a pound in 2021. Yeah, it's a good time to be a vegetarian. Maybe. My buddy Dave and I are here outside the legendary Atlanta burger joint Grindhouse.

36:51We brought our questions, our appetites, our wallets. Let's see which one gets cooked.

37:02All right, I'm getting the OG, the original burger, grindhouse style, double and fries. What are you getting? Okay, I'm going to get the impossible burger, I think. David, that's not even beef. You're such an unk. That's what my kids tell me every day.

37:18So what is up with the beef prices right now? Yeah, I mean, American beef production prices have exploded higher in recent years for a lot of reasons, but most of them actually have to do with climate change because drought conditions have forced farmers to figure out other ways to feed their cattle, mostly with expensive feed as, you know, grass has dried up. Yeah, and then in some ranchers, they're just, from what I've seen, are throwing in the towel. They've herd sizes are the lowest they've been in 74 years. That's like almost as old as you. Where's our waiter? One, two, three. Hey, Coy, check it out.

37:49Six, seven.

37:53So, David, value is a huge part of the fast food game, too. Yeah, I mean, burger prices have been surging. at chains like McDonald's, Burger King, Wendy's. So much that customers have been turning away from fast food in favor of fast casual restaurants like Chili's and Applebee's. And they cost just a small amount more than McDonald's, but they offer what they perceive is a much better value. Thank you. Excited, all right.

38:26Perfect. David, was I lying? You are not lying. This is excellent. Thank you, Koi. You know, it's interesting because burger places, even legendary ones like this, they want to keep their prices low because burgers are considered a value food, right? You can come get a nice meal without breaking the bank. And that's the squeeze though, right? Especially for restaurants like this. Since 2023, burger prices are up 14 % and ground beef prices are up 42%. You just wonder how places like this are managing. You know what? Let's go find the owner and ask. Yep. All right, let's go.

39:04The customer only wants to pay so much for a burger. They're not going to be able to absorb all of our price increases. Fortunately for Grindhouse, we've been able to sell a lot of beef. So we lock in, we try to lock in an annual contract. And so we usually feel the pain around January 1st when we find out what our new price is. I know last year was about a 10 % increase from last year to this year. Your cost. Our cost just for the beef itself. There's a lot of other things that go into it. You know all of our costs are going up these days with the cost of fuel, cost of labor, health care that we provide for our employees.

39:43Everything's going up. So how much of a headache does that create for you and like trying not to hurt your customers keeping that entry-level you know burger right. Sometimes you can't find another supplier that maybe they'll have a better deal or you know change your product because maybe you know if you're using Chuck and maybe you want to switch to sirloin because Chuck is more expensive so there's always things you can look at but at the end of the day the price is probably going to go up. We know that as long I just look at it like this as long as we are competitive in the market I feel good about how the customers will view Grindhouse.

40:20So sometimes yes it'll be, well the beef went up but we haven't raised our milkshake prices in five years so maybe if we add another 25 cents to the milkshakes it'll kind of help us out. So there is a little bit of that but you know it's it's mostly just across the board hey we got to go up 10 % this year because all of our products went up. It's not just beef, it's everything. So he raised some interesting points right I I mean, if he can't raise the price of burgers because people aren't willing to pay for it, he's got to raise the price of other things. Yeah, well, let's check the damage. All right, my burger.

40:53And fries. And fries. And Coke. And Coke. And whatever that is. How did mine come in under yours? Not used to losing, are you, Coy? Dude, that's the point. You can still get an affordable burger. I want rice. Give me a fry. Bumble! All right, the next hour, More of The Situation Room starts right now. Happening now, did the president just insult Alaska's voters? He is weighing in on the drama involving the Senate race there. And we're going to ask the chair of the state's Democratic Party whether he thinks voters will understand the difference between the two Dan Sullivans. The rallies are back on.

41:36President Trump revives two campaign stops that he previously scrapped with four days to go until the midterms. Welcome to our viewers in the United States and around the world. I'm Pamela Brown. Wolf Blitzer is on assignment and you're in the Situation Room.

42:03Four days from Election Day and the controversy in Alaska is heating up. The Department of Justice is now accelerating its criminal probe into whether Democrats there sought to confuse voters to skew the election. It's all over this ballot. You can see there are two people named Dan Sullivan. One is marked an incumbent. There are now allegations of a Democratic scheme linked to Democratic Senate candidate Mary Peltola's campaign to find someone with the same name as the Republican senator to dilute the vote. And President Trump is weighing in once again. You need about 190 IQ to figure out the ballot.

42:39They put a ballot down where they're talking about incumbent Republican and the other one. Most people don't know in Alaska, in a lot of other states too, what does incumbent mean? They don't know what incumbent means. He should have been thrown off the ballot. And actually, he was thrown off the ballot. CNN senior investigative reporter Kyung Law traveled to Anchorage to speak to Alaska voters about these latest allegations.

43:07This is a line to early vote in Anchorage, Alaska. You can see the back of the line is all the way over there. And then we're going to walk over this way. Again, this is early vote. And this polling place has been open since October 19th. And the people who work here say this is one of the busier years that they've ever seen, in part because a lot of people are motivated to vote. We're hearing about things like the price of milk, the price of gas. What we are not hearing directly is what's happening with the Senate race and the New York Times investigation and what the ballot looks like until we ask them.

43:46And what people here will tell us is, yeah, it really does bother them, but it may be too late. I think that it has gotten way out of proportion. It's become very toxic and the average Alaskan already knows who they're voting for. And as you can see, the turnout on early voting is showing that, that we want to express our opinion. And I think that what you're seeing nationwide right now doesn't really relate specifically to us Alaskans because we're a whole different world here. Yeah, I really think it's shade to cover up a lot of the other issues that need to be addressed as to why we're here voting today.

44:25Did it impact your vote at all? The latest news? Not a bit. I knew who I was voting for months ago. There have also been some voters who tell us that this does bother them a lot, that they wish politics wasn't that way. But unfortunately, that's what they are now used to. Kyung-Lang, CNN, Anchorage, Alaska. Our thanks to Kyung. Well, the Situation Room is inviting Democratic and Republican state party chairs as we count down to the midterms. And on that note, we want to welcome in Eric Croft, chair of the Alaska Democratic Party. Eric, good to see you. I want to start by getting your reaction to some new reporting from my CNN colleagues.

45:05People familiar with the investigation say the Justice Department is dramatically accelerating its criminal probe into whether Democrats in your state sought to confuse voters intentionally by recruiting a Senate candidate with the same name as a Republican incumbent, Dan Sullivan. What are you hearing about this? And have you been subpoenaed? No, but before getting on, first of all, it's a pleasure to be here. Thank you for reporting on My Little State. We seem to be in the news a lot. No, I agree with the voter you interviewed, who says it doesn't relate to how they're going to make a decision that he's already made.

45:44And not a bit when asked. I mean, I think what the national media is missing about this is we've been talking about this for four or five months, and we'll get into it some way. I don't think there's really any chance of confusion at all. But this is something – it reminds me of in 2010 when people were saying, Alaskans won't know how to spell Lisa Murkowski. There's no way she can win a write-in. And a lot of us up here are like, we know how to spell Lisa Murkowski. Like, it's still a tough road, but the president saying that we don't know what an incumbent is, sir, you may not, but I beg to differ.

46:26Yeah. What is your message to the president on saying that people don't know what incumbent is in Alaska and you have to have a 190 IQ to be able to get this right? Well, you know, he's so proud of recognizing giraffe or whatever he does on those tests. We know how to spell Lisa and Murkowski. We know what incumbent means. But I mean, the main message I'd like to give to people out there is we've been dealing with this for four or five months. This isn't news to us. I think that's why that voter reacted that way. And the Alaska Supreme Court did a very logical thing. They differentiated on the ballot in three or four different ways.

47:06So what we call Petersburg, Dan, up here, I don't know the man. And for the record, the Alaska Democratic Party had nothing to do with this. I haven't met him. We don't have anything to do with either Dan Sullivan. We criticize Ohio Dan, as we refer to him up here, because he was born there and that's where his fortune comes from. It's kind of a big deal up here where you were born. So, you know, everyone knew that Ohio Dan was going to court to kick Petersburg Dan off the ballot. It's kind of like in a small town if you got two Joe Smiths. You know, are we talking about fat Joe Smith or skinny Joe Smith or bald or with hair Joe Smith?

47:45and they differentiated in very clear ways on the ballot. I think you showed it a second ago, but Petersburg Dan is Dan Jr. and with a J and has no party affiliation, even though he's been a Republican, a moderate Republican for a long time. The incumbent Ohio Dan is Dan S. And it says incumbent, which we do know both how to spell and what it means. And that says a party affiliation. So we did practical things that kind of small towns, small states do. And then the final thing I'd say that is not getting reported a lot is we have ranked choice voting. So if you have this hypothetical that Mr. Trump, that President Trump is talking about of an uninformed, hadn't heard about all the stuff over the last four or five months, has been out fishing, not only in the summer, which is normal, but all fall for some weird reason.

48:40and doesn't know what the word incumbent means, in Alaska you can vote for both of them if you're confused. And that vote will get to Ohio, Dan, pretty directly. So I think Alaskans aren't confused. This isn't new. And we're fixed on bigger issues. Even if this isn't strictly illegal, what is your message to Alaskans? And you heard Kyung also say this, who are tired of the politics like this, who might question the ethics behind recruiting a spoiler candidate, like what was described in the New York Times report, especially one who is allegedly supposed to intentionally confuse voters. Whether or not they're confused is a different issue.

49:25Well, you know, that was the lead with your person up here. Appreciate you sending a person up here. That's not what the voters said. The voters said not a bit. She was talking about other voters she talked to. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I'd say a number of things. First of all, this is happening all over. So, you know, just Ohio, there's a socialist candidate that the Republicans are boosting. Nebraska has two minor candidates that are appealing to the South. This happens everywhere. wear. I'd say also that I spend a lot of this week, you know, it's getting to the end of this week, but I spent a lot of this week fighting in our lone congressional candidate.

50:06We have a great independent candidate there, Bill Hill. He's a fisherman and all this stuff. The Republicans are running not only a false flag Democrat and spending all kinds of money on it, and not only has this person, Hafner, never visited the state, he's in jail in New York for 20 years for threatening to blow up federal judges. And I have to spend my time telling my people, don't vote for him. He's never even been here. So I think the pearl clutching on this, it's not news to us. So you've mentioned that you weren't involved at all or the Democratic Party there in Alaska wasn't involved in this alleged scheme.

50:45But were you at least aware of it? well i mean we've been aware in the sense that it's been litigated up here for four or five months uh i know but like aware of the effort to put another dan sullivan on the ballot like aware of the effort hey let's recruit someone with the same name to try to confuse voters were you aware of that effort that recruitment effort no um until it hit the papers right until it hit that hey this uh other guy petersburg dan might be out there, and then it really hit the news when Ohio Dan tried to kick him off, and that was rejected. But there's, let's be clear, there is no legal issue here.

51:29Trump's lawsuit that he directed the DOJ, that's not normally how things are supposed to go. The DOJ is supposed to investigate on their own, but this was done for political purposes, weaponizing the DOJ, and there's no legal there there. You can encourage people to vote. You can encourage people to run. I reread all of Alaska's statutes. I'm kind of a recovering attorney up here. And there is nothing, there's no legal issue to it. And on your, you know, sort of dirty tricks thing, I think Alaskans have a different take there too. We know to bring a gun to a gunfight. And so if the criticism is, hey, the person running for this may use foul language, may really take a fight seriously and bring a fight.

52:23I mean, Alaskans' biggest concern usually is that we're going to get forgot. Half the maps leave us off the map. And so we kind of want elected representatives to push hard and use every tool they got. So I'm just not hearing that level of outrage. Do you support this move then? Do you support this tactic? No, I think it's funny. I don't, you know, running somebody who's in jail in New York for threatening to blow up elected officials, I think is disgusting. Having somebody with the same name run, most of Alaskans I think is, yeah. I don't have that level of outrage. For us around a coffee table, it's, did you hear Ohio Dan's trying to kick Petersburg Dan off the ballot?

53:16Isn't that funny? So you think, so it sounds like you're approaching this with a sense of humor, but there could be real consequences potentially. Because in addition to the federal government's probe, Alaska Republican Governor Mike Dunleavy said he was, you know, ordering an investigation into whether civil or criminal penalties should be brought, and that he's now floating that he may not certify the results if Peltola wins. How are you preparing for that possibility? Absolutely. So let's differentiate between there's very little chance of electoral impact for the reasons I said. The Alaska, it's been well known.

53:53There's very few people here who don't know about this controversy. The Alaska Supreme Court made various differentiations on the ballot. And then we have ranked choice voting. So the electoral impact is minimal. But the legal impact of what the Republicans are doing is huge. You're absolutely right. They're weaponizing the DOJ. I mean, before I said, yes, sure, I'd love to talk to you, Pamela, on this show, you know, I got a call after that. I got a call from our lawyers here that said, even though you didn't have anything to do with this, it could raise your profile enough that you get a subpoena, Eric.

54:36So be careful. I mean, that's the point of this. Not real confusion. Not that we can't spell Lisa Murkowski or know what incumbent means. It's they want to intimidate the vote or decertify a legal vote. And that's the scary part of where we are now, that we have a federal government. And in Alaska, currently, that we're about to replace this governor, a state government that will use their power to try and get the political result they can't get at the ballot box. So you made the calculation, regardless of the lawyers' warnings, to come on to do it, because do you want to send a message that you're not going to be intimidated?

55:14I think we all at this point have to send that message. So, yeah, proud to be part of it. It makes my fabulous executive director nervous. You know, but the lawyer said, it's my job to get you out of trouble. And I said, no, it isn't. It's to help us do our mission. And this advances the mission. Getting the word out that this is dangerous where we are, not because two guys with the same name or similar names ran and the courts did what they should, differentiated, and ranked choice voting did what it should, allowed a fix for that. It's a dangerous time, not because of that. It's a dangerous time because we have a government that will weaponize its power to try and stop a result.

56:02Mary Peltola is frankly kicking Dan Sullivan's, Ohio Dan's ass, and they're trying to find a way around that. Okay, as we wrap up, I just want to ask you this final question. We've been asking every state chair, but given what we've seen historically, will you commit today to accepting the certified results of next Tuesday's election regardless of the outcome? I will. So elections here and across the nation are, you know, fair and we want to keep it that way. And we think you should certify the will of the people. Eric Croft, thank you so much. We appreciate you taking that risk. Thank you. Coming on the show.

56:42Thanks. It was really important to hear your perspective. Well, still ahead, the voting machine company that spent years fighting false claims of 2020 election fraud now set for its first major test under a new owner. and a renewed effort to keep things on the up and up. Plus, brand new information about suspected impersonators posing as federal DOJ election monitors at early voting sites. You're in the Situation Room, and we'll be right back.

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57:48Trump's allies falsely and infamously claim Dominion's machines rigged the 2020 election. That company has been acquired and rebranded Liberty Vote, and its new owner says his company is, quote, on democracy's side. As he prepares to lead the company for the first time during a midterm election, he says he is not on anybody's side but the American people. Senior reporter Marshall Cohen is here in the Situation Room. You spoke to him. What did he tell you? Hey, Pam, you know, you've probably never heard of Scott Leindecker, but there's a good chance that you voted on one of his machines. His companies have equipment in 45 states across the country, including critical battlegrounds in the Senate race this year, like Texas, Alaska, and Michigan.

58:29Like you said, he acquired Dominion Voting Systems last year, which was falsely accused of rigging the 2020 election, rebranded it. But the conspiracy theories and the disinformation has been pervasive. And so I talked with him about election security going into Tuesday's midterms. And he wanted to send a very clear message to any election skeptics out there. He says the system is secure. A lot of people are looking at just one election, right? And that's the November election. This equipment's out there. It's been out there for this year probably five, six, seven times, you know, depending on what state.

59:08Tested and proven out there every single time. That's just not us, but that's other vendors as well. Elections are run locally. They're run by your neighbors. They're run by your family, your friends, you know, people that you see in the grocery stores, you know, things like that. That's who's really running these elections. And they test this equipment. They have mock elections prior to it's called L &A. They run a mock election to make sure the ballots that are being used out in the field are tabulating correctly and being counted correctly time and time again. Such a critical point there. elections are run by local officials and state officials, not the White House, and that is a critical check against any possible federal interference, which a lot of officials are concerned about.

59:52But I also asked him about possible foreign interference from foreign adversaries messing with the machines. He has said that they have seen nothing of the sort so far this year, but he is concerned about a lack of support from the Trump administration on the cybersecurity front. Check this out. I have not heard one thing out there at all. It's been fairly quiet out there. We have security meetings on a daily basis, and we ask all those questions. What do I need to know? Have we heard anything? Is there anything that we need to report over to CISA or any federal authorities or anything like that?

1:00:27And how has the information flow been from your federal partners this year? That's one thing that has been a little disappointing. I would say we haven't had the same, you know, interactions that we've had in the past. You know, I'm hoping that that dialogue will be improved, you know, in the future. But, you know, that has been one thing that I have noticed. Pam, he said that his team obviously will be working around the clock on election day, just like us. While we're projecting the races, his staff is going to be answering calls from local officials, putting out fires, troubleshooting problems.

1:01:01The goal that everyone shares is they want a smooth election day and a smooth election night. I think we can all agree that would be great. Marshall Cohen, thank you. Just ahead, what we know about reports of individuals suspected of impersonating federal monitors and who are sent to polling sites in Florida.

1:01:22All right, we have some breaking news. The Justice Department says there are reports of suspected impersonators posing as election monitors at early voting sites in South Florida. This is according to an email obtained by CNN. At least 4.2 million people have cast early ballots in that state so far, almost up 9 % from the same point in the 2022 midterm. So let's go straight to CNN correspondent Gabe Cohen. What are you learning about these concerns that are raised by DOJ? Yeah, so Pam, this is actually the email that you're talking about that we obtained this morning that went out from the Department of Justice to election leaders in Miami-Dade County in South Florida.

1:01:58The subject line says, update from DOJ potential impersonators. And I'll read you an excerpt from it. It says, we would like to advise you that we have heard reports of individuals going to early voting sites in South Florida and representing themselves as DOJ monitors. Such individuals are not affiliated with the DOJ. Again, alerting them that DOJ monitors are only going to be out in Florida and across the country on Election Day. They should have identification on them. But this is really a worse nightmare for election officials and for the federal government. There are always concerns about people going to polling places, impersonating law enforcement.

1:02:39We've seen incidents of that in the past. This is a really unique situation where they're impersonating these DOJ monitors. We did get a comment from a Justice Department spokesperson who said, we do not have any monitors in the field right now. We encourage anyone who encounters individuals falsely representing themselves as DOJ monitors to report such incidents. And one of the reasons this is going to get a lot of attention is because we have been talking a lot about the Department of Justice's election monitor efforts in this particular election. The Trump administration has said it's going to be the biggest election observation effort that this department has ever had.

1:03:17More than a thousand monitors who are going to be out in every state across the country. the most they have ever sent out. To be clear, there's no evidence at this point there will be any sort of disruptions at polling places, but there have been a lot of concerns given that this is the same Justice Department whose senior officials under this administration have been talking about rigged election, voter fraud, widespread cheating. And so there have been questions about whether or not they'll follow those longstanding federal standards that we've seen from the DOJ over many years as they've sent these monitors out.

1:03:52Obviously, this just adds an additional wrinkle where they're telling local officials now, at least in Florida, and we're asking around to other states, they're warning, you know, we have seen people who are pretending they work for the federal government. They do not. Interesting. All right, Gabe Cohen, thank you so much. More news when we come back.

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1:05:25Well, new this morning, President Trump has revived two rallies that were previously scrapped in the final days of the midterm campaign. According to the White House, the president will hold events in Kansas and Iowa on Sunday. Here with us in the Situation Room is Terry Schilling, president of the American Principles Project, and Ashley Etienne, former communications director for Vice President Harris. Good morning to you both. No shortage of topics here. First, let's just start with the president's thinking. I know no one can get inside of his head, but what's going on here, you think, where he scrapped these two rallies in Kansas and Iowa and then put him back on?

1:05:59And he's also doing these tele-rallies. Well, look, obviously we're in for some rough elections going ahead. I think everyone recognizes that on the Republican side. But the base of the Republican Party is primarily married voters. And we saw this in 2024 play out where 20 million more married voters showed up at the polls than they did the previous election. And that's why President Trump won. Married voters right now are not going to rallies. They're going to be better reached in other places like tele-town halls and all of that. These rallies are great, but they take a lot of work and they take a lot of energy and money.

1:06:30And so I think that's primarily what's driving it. And there's better ways to reach all of these voters. So, but why do you think he, go ahead, Ashley. No, Ashley, I love the spin. That is fantastic. I mean, here's the real reality is he's doing more harm than he is good in these places. If you look closely at the polls where he shows up, soon as he leaves, Republican polling drops and Democratic polling goes up. Here's the problem. He's not making a closing argument. He's talking about everything at these rallies other than the economy from Nicki Minaj's butt to how much he's making it for in terms of a fortune on gas prices.

1:07:02And then I would say sort of the final point is that, you know, he doesn't seem to be rallying that base. Enthusiasm among the Republican base isn't increasing where he goes. So the reality is I'm sure all of these Republicans are thanking God that he's off the campaign trail because, again, who wants— But he's going back on now Sunday. But I think that's only an ego issue because you guys are going to ask him—he's being asked these questions, why aren't you going to Kansas? So his ego is involved in it. But the reason why he's not going to Kansas or Iowa is because we're within striking distance there.

1:07:31And all of his policies, again, all of his policies have made all of these races toss-ups for us and have put them in the D category. So there's nowhere he can go to actually advance an argument about his agenda and what he's going to do to improve the lives of the American people. So when news broke that the president had canceled two campaign stops, one top Republican said, thank God, when asked about Trump's canceled rallies and said that the president hasn't moved the needle anywhere. What do you make of a top Republican seemingly happy that the president was going to cancel those rallies, Terry?

1:08:03Well, this is not new. There's been a lot of Republican pushback against President Trump. He's obviously been a disruptor in the Republican Party. But listen, I'm going to go back to the married vote, the working families and young people vote. The parties, these demographics are going to keep switching between the two parties until one of them solves the economy for young people and working families. If you look at 2024, what happened was President Trump did so well with young people, we actually hadn't seen someone perform that poorly since Al Gore. John Kerry, by the way, did better than Kamala Harris when it came to reaching young voters.

1:08:37And it's because they're tired of it. Since 2007, the economy for, this is my generation when we're graduating college, young people have been on the wrong track for the country in saying that America's heading down the wrong track since 2007. We have been saddled with a mortgage level worth of student loan debt. Our job prospects are dwindling and diminishing. They need to fix the economy for young people. And young people and working families are fed up. And so they're going to keep going back and forth. But President Trump in 2024, he had, they had Democrats who were crazy on the culture and Democrats that were screwing up the economy for young people.

1:09:10Now the blame is being put on Republicans and they need to do a lot more to fix the economy for them. And it's interesting because Vice President J.D. Vance was asked about the affordability issue by a young voter. Let's listen to that and talk on the other side. Republicans, I would say everybody, but certainly my side included, that we don't pay enough attention to the affordability problems that are affecting young people. And I would say you're absolutely right. Most Republicans don't. I think that I'm an exception, but I think that our entire party, our entire movement, and certainly I think the president of the United States is very focused on how do we make it possible for young people to afford the basic components of an American dream.

1:09:49You had a reaction to that, actually. Yeah, no, I mean, what struck me is that he put himself in a separate category. He's like, me, on the other hand. Republicans ignore you, but me, on the other hand, I actually don't. But here's the real reality is more than half of young people under the age of 35 are still living at home. They're still living at home because they cannot afford to buy a house. They can't afford to thrive in this particular economy. So we don't, we agree 100%. There's a lot of voters that are swinging on the economy. Black and brown voters, men are swinging on the economy. and young people are swinging on the economy.

1:10:21But what we're seeing right now is because the economy is so bad, that coalition that Trump built in 2024 is fractured. It doesn't exist anymore. More than half of young people are polling against Donald Trump and are coming to our category. So here's the real question that I think we have to ask ourselves going into the election is, what do those voters do? Do they stay home or do they switch over and vote Democrat? Either way, it's a bonus for us. And what we're seeing is younger Democrats are far outpacing younger Republicans in midterm early votes. Now, this is early. We don't know what's going to happen on Election Day.

1:10:52But how much of a difference do you think that could make in the outcome of these tight races? Oh, I think it could absolutely make a huge difference in the outcome. It could absolutely get more seats for the Democrats. And again, they're going to keep going back and forth. And I think where this all comes down to and where this has been leading is the 2020, I'm sorry, the 2020 election, right? Which is the next president, the next nominees have an opportunity to solve this. And I agree with J.D. Vance. I actually think that he does stand apart from the rest of the Republican Party. He still needs to build out that brand and actually give— But he owns this economy, though.

1:11:22He has to own this economy as a vice president. One thing that I think— Trust me, working for a vice president, you own it. No, no, I appreciate it. You have to, but you also have to distinguish yourself from the president you're serving under. And I think that's where J.D. has an opportunity to really hone in and address this with young people. It's still a jump ball for young people in solving the economy for them, but who are the Democrats going to nominate in 2028? Are they going to have a compelling vision economically for young people working families? I think they'll give more checks. I think they'll hand out more dollars to working families, young people.

1:11:50But that's going to keep making the K-shaped economy worse because the more our federal, and this is what I've been saying, our economy's broken because of what we've been doing with the dollar. We have a weak dollar. We print and pump in trillions upon trillions of dollars that we don't have. And it's been taking away money from people that work and people that don't own things. It's making it harder for them to afford to buy a home. That's why the median age for a first-time homebuyer is 40. It's because we're printing and pumping trillions of dollars without paying for it. And that's because of Donald Trump's policies.

1:12:18I mean, you know, Republicans. Well, Biden did his fair share. The Republicans dig us in debt consistently. All right, we're going to take this one offline here. Ashley, Terry, thank you so much. We'll be right back. Thank you.

1:12:33A new Women's Health Watch this morning. The Department of Health and Human Services has just approved updated labeling for three additional hormonal menopause treatments. The Trump administration, through the FDA, approved updated labeling that removes box warning statements as part of an ongoing effort to expand U.S. supply of hormone therapies. HRT supplies the body with hormones that drop during perimenopause and menopause. Joining us now with more insight is Dr. Dorothy Fink, Deputy Director of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. Dr. Fink, we should also note you're an endocrinologist as well.

1:13:07So why should our viewers watching this right now care about this? Why is this so significant? It's so important because for over 20 years these black box warnings deterred women from getting the hormone replacement therapy options that they need. So in last November it was announced that they would be removed. What's new about this? Because I think a lot of people thought, wait I thought this has been addressed already. We've been working so hard over the past year to ensure that every estrogen product has these black box warnings removed. And so I can tell you as an endocrinologist, I had so many women who would come into my office, show me that warning and say, these aren't for me.

1:13:44I don't want to have cardiovascular disease, breast cancer, dementia. And now we're giving women the best evidence. And so we're working with all of the different manufacturers to make sure that women have clear information on hormone therapy. So today's specific approvals apply to three estradiol transdermal patches from two different drug applicants. What can you tell us about these specific products and the patients that they're intended to treat? We want women to know that there are so many options for hormone replacement therapy at menopause. And so patches are one of them, but there are estrogen gels, there are creams, and there are many ways, like vaginal estrogen, to really make sure that women know how they can best get treated during menopause.

1:14:28So today's announcement also includes a push for increased manufacturing capacity. the FDA's drug shortage database does not currently include the patches, but we've been speaking to manufacturers, to pharmacies, to women across the country who are telling us that they're having trouble accessing their patches ever since that announcement was made last November. So what more is the administration doing to address that? Absolutely. So the FDA is working with the manufacturers. They've doubled production of all these estrogen patches, and we know that that still needs to translate into women and getting their treatment at the pharmacy.

1:15:04And we want everyone to know that we're doing that. It's so important to note that really the Trump administration has made such progress in women's health. For the past 20 years, women have suffered in silence because hormones were, they were told they were bad. But the Trump administration has done more for women's health than the past 20 years just alone in this past year to get women access to estrogen therapy. And so when for the woman who is at the pharmacy saying, my estrogen patch, it's not in yet. But we want them to be able to go to their doctor and say, what are the other options in the meantime?

1:15:35And really think through whether they would benefit from an estrogen gel formulation, an estrogen pill formulation. There are all these different options too that we want to make sure that every one woman across America knows. And I also want to add in First Lady Melania Trump has done so much. We just had this amazing executive order to bring in women's health to the forefront. and she has been pushing on estrogen and making sure women have access it to it over the past year. So you mentioned the estrogen gel. We're hearing anecdotally that that's also people are having trouble accessing that.

1:16:08Just help our viewers and women across the country understand. The FDA says there is no shortage of estradiol patches, and yet women across the country are saying they're going to the pharmacy and the patches aren't available for them. How does that square? For sure. And so as you can imagine, when the FDA first put that black box warning on in 2003, over 20 years ago, there was basically a drastic drop in demand for estrogen patches. And estrogen patches have not seen the demand they've had over the past year and over 20 years. And so companies are, we're working with all the manufacturers. They've doubled production.

1:16:42That doesn't mean that we have enough to get to every single woman just yet, but we want women to know that we are going to push and leave no stone unturned in both the manufacturing and supply chain for years to come. But in the meantime, we really want women to think about, you know, so many women do well on estrogen throughout their whole lives, taking it by mouth, right? And so at menopause, taking estrogen by a pill can be a good option. Estrogen gels are an option. And we're really pushing too at HHS to make sure women are aware of vaginal estrogen. Because you know so many times we get caught up in, oh well, you know, you can only start taking hormone replacement therapy at menopause within 10 years.

1:17:22Guess what? Vaginal estrogen, you can take that your entire life. Because it's not systemic, right? My grandma's in her 90s. She takes vaginal estrogen and guess what? It stopped her urinary tract infections and she's no longer being hospitalized with urosepsis. Wow, that's incredible. Well, thank you so much, Dr. Fink. We really appreciate you coming on to talk about this important subject. And make sure to check out my new series, Body Language, from perimenopause to egg freezing to breast reductions, we get you answers to the biggest questions in women's health. Catch Body Language by CNN, now streaming on All Access.

1:17:53We'll be right back.

1:18:13Well, that music cues Omar Jimenez and his road trip that he's been taking through the Rust Belt. He's been getting a sense of how life is for many Americans. While we saw him do everything from playing football at the Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio, to visiting the floor of an olive oil factory in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, there's also a lot that we didn't get to see. Omar Jimenez is now joining us from Cleveland, Ohio. Omar, what was going on behind the scenes that didn't make it to air the first time around? A whole lot of eating, a whole lot of connectivity issues in the middle of nowhere driving through these highways, a whole lot of my team behind the scenes just squatting to get a little bit of rest as they've been walking and our photographer Deb has been carrying not just the camera but also the live gear which allows us to beam in live from anywhere.

1:19:09So round of applause to Deb who's been crushing it around the clock for us. But you know, one of the fun things about this is that we haven't just gone to the places where, yes, we've talked to voters, and yes, we've talked a lot about politics in these days leading up to the midterms, but we've also really been just trying to find what makes these places unique. So for example, we were in Canton, Ohio, and Canton, Ohio, what do you think of? What do you do there? The Pro Football Hall of Fame. We couldn't leave Canton without stopping there. So we went, we got a great tour. I told this story about how I was on a group trip recently, nobody wanted to throw a football with me.

1:19:41It's a sad, long story. And so my producer, Sam Guff, got them very nicely to give me a football. And we went out and threw a football. Another one of our producers is from Italy, had never thrown a football before and got to do so for the first time at the Pro Football Hall of Fame. So I think we set the bar pretty high for her. But then also, you know, we started this back in eastern Pennsylvania. And outside of Philadelphia, we went to Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, which actually has a history of steel making over decades and decades. We, though, stopped at an olive oil factory, basically because we wanted to show what people who are dealing with tariffs are actually dealing with in this economy.

1:20:22Obviously, things are more expensive across the board. Tariffs sometimes compound on that. And so to hear sort of how they are pushing through and changing their financial plan based on last year into this is just one element of kind of how people are thinking about these midterm elections. And that area of Pennsylvania, very much a swing district, part of a swing district as part of the swing state of Pennsylvania. And then we made our way through Pennsylvania, long state, basically took up three days of this trip. And we made it to Ohio. This is day two of Ohio. And we started in Cleveland. Yeah, we're a few days from the election, but we are also one day from Halloween.

1:20:58And so we're walking through this market, the West Side Market. It's the oldest and largest public market in Cleveland. And we see this bread that looks like a skull. And so we had to walk up and grab it. And I wasn't sure exactly how you were supposed to eat it, but I just took one bite out of the head like an apple, and it felt right to me. And that's been the vibe of this. You know what? As long as it feels right to you. If it feels right, you just go for it and learn along the way. Do what's in your heart, Omar. Do what's in your heart. Great to see you. Great live shot. Thanks to you for bringing us a week full of great people, great live shots, stories from Americans across the country.

1:21:33Thank you all for joining us this morning. We'll see you back here Monday morning at 10 a.m. Eastern. Inside Politics, our friend and colleague, Dana Bash, starts now.

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