Alaska Senate Race Too Early to Call

0:12A live look at the U.S. Capitol tonight. It looks the same as any other night, but there has been a drastic shift in the balance of power over just the past 24 hours. Welcome back to CNN's Election Night in America continued. I'm Jake Tapper. Democrats handily won back control of both the House of Representatives and the Senate. And Democratic majorities could still get even larger. 45 races are still left to be called in the House. And in the Senate, we're tracking these two remaining key Senate races. First, in Mississippi, the race is too close to call. You see Democrat Scott Cologne has 49 % of the vote.

0:54Republican incumbent Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith has 48.9 % of the vote. Cologne with a roughly 1 ,100 vote lead with 96 % of the vote. And in Alaska, the race too early to call. Democrat Mary Peltola, 48.2 % of the vote. Republican incumbent Senator Dan Sullivan with 47.9 % of the vote. Peltola with a 637 vote lead. But that's with only three quarters of the estimated vote in 75 percent. And Anderson, you're about to speak to reporters on the ground in both of these lovely states. I certainly am. In fact, let's go to Annie Greer, who is in Jackson, Mississippi. Annie, what's the latest there?

1:40Well, Anderson, I'm told that Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer is really doubling down in the backup that he's offering Scott Cologne in this critical period as Democrats try and make history by flipping this Senate seat. I'm told that Schumer has called Cologne to offer support and that he is sending resources to the state, election observers and lawyers to spread out across the state as Cologne is already scattered in every county across the state to be there to observe ballots being counted and follow this process all the way to the finish line. And I caught up with Colom earlier tonight at a campaign event at a local college where he was surrounded by young people, a very diverse crowd.

2:20And you could really feel the energy in that room. And Colom told me that he is confident that he is going to win this race. He says he has the resources that he needs. I spoke with him just as his lead had breached over 1 ,000 votes. So the votes continue to trend in his direction. And he told me that he thinks it's going to continue to move that way. Meanwhile, Cindy Hyde-Smith's campaign is confident that she will remain, she will be victorious in this election. No one is conceding at this point. And we are just going to be counting ballots all the way to the end here. There's about 15 ,000 provisional ballots that the state has to address.

3:01And these are ballots where people have either to address certain voter ID issues, and that's going to take some time to figure out. But both candidates are remaining confident in this very critical race that Democrats did not think they were going to have a shot at just a few weeks ago. Great. Thanks very much. Appreciate that. I want to go to Kim Law, who is in Chickaloon, Alaska. What have you been seeing in Chickaloon? Well, something that we have been trying to track across the state, Anderson, is whether or not the DOJ investigation on the ground was expanding or not. Ahead of Election Day, FBI agents had been spotted in multiple areas, especially in the areas where Dan J.

3:41Sullivan lived, where he might have supporters. He's the independent who bears the same name as the Republican incumbent Dan S. Sullivan. Those agents on Election Day were not on the ground. People were not seeing them. We weren't hearing reports of them knocking on any doors. And the day after Election Day, today, nothing as well. There haven't been any new filing. So as far as an expansion of any sort of DOJ action here on the ground in Alaska, simply not hearing about it from multiple sources. Now, what they are watching, though, are these numbers. And take a look at this race. 637 votes separate Democrat Mary Peltola from the Republican incumbent Dan S.

4:23Sullivan. But we should warn you, even though it is close, it is does look like the Democrat is ahead. There's a lot of votes still outstanding. Those are areas that are going to take 10, 15 days before they have a deadline of being counted, of returning into the vote centers. And it is not until November 25th, Anderson, that this vote may be certified here in Alaska. Wow. Camelot, really appreciate it. Thanks very much. Jake? All right. In the buildup to last night's election, there was one Democrat who was not on the ballot, rallied across 38 states for 70 different Democratic candidates. And that individual is former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who joins us now.

5:05Secretary Buttigieg, you've said that Democrats cannot simply offer voters a return to normal. So what do you think Democrats should be doing or should do in the House and Senate when they convene? And what, well, let me start with that. What do you think Democrats should do in the House and Senate when they take over? Well, I think Democrats need to recognize that they were elected not just because of disgust with Donald Trump's behavior and Republican policies, but a deeper disgust with the status quo that we've been living with for such a long time. And so I think it's going to be very important to come out of the gate with a rapid fire of legislation that is going to make a positive, concrete difference to put money back in people's pockets, deal with this affordability crisis, everything from raising wages to dealing with those Medicaid cuts and the tariffs that are costing us so much.

6:00But at the same time, also start to show an understanding that the political system has to change. It's time to ban partisan gerrymandering. It is time to take real action on money and politics. Because if you look at how voters connected the broader questions around corruption to the specific frustrations around the cost of living, I think for for anyone to be credible in responding to that message that the voters sent loud and clear, we have to show that we understand the need to tackle both the economic problems people are feeling and the political system that has created them. So as is normal for a majority party, you have a lot of different kinds of Democrats that won last night, both in terms of policy.

6:47You have more conservative or moderate Democrats and then DSA types. You also have in terms of tone, very different types in terms of Tallarico and Hamilton in Texas and Kansas. And then feistier Democrats, let's call them, in Michigan with Abdul Syed and Troy Jackson in Maine. Did what happened last night give any lessons as to what kind of Democrat you think would be the right Democrat to run and win the presidency in 2028? Well, one thing I'll say is that, you know, there were lots of different styles, of course, of successful candidates. But one thing that so many of the successful candidates had in common was they understood how to motivate diehard Democrats and reach out to Republicans at the same time.

7:37I think about somebody like Rob Sand, who went to every single county in Iowa, including ones that, you know, the consultant or the textbook answer would say that a Democrat shouldn't even bother going to. I think about Scott Colombe, who may be on the cusp of winning a Senate seat in Mississippi, would have been considered unthinkable even just a few months ago. You know, part of what he did was motivate a lot of Democratic voters to turn out. But when Donald Trump came to town to campaign for his opponent, he worked the line and shook hands with the people lining up to see President Trump. So they've demonstrated that you can do two things at once.

8:11And I think that's going to be very important, not just for winning, but for maintaining the kind of governing coalition and governing majority that we're going to need. And when it comes to how that translates into policy, remember, there are so many things that a vast majority of Americans and all Democrats agree on. Those are the things we should be pursuing right out of the gate. Vice President Vance wrote a long explanation or long for Twitter anyway of what he thinks prompted Tuesday's results. And he said, quote, the reason we lost is the war, unquote. What do you make of that?

8:47Well, one reason they lost is the war. I think the bigger reason is that the Trump Vance administration broke faith with the American people. So many voters who believed them when they said they were going to lower costs, only to watch them actively increase costs with tariffs, the war, and more of their choices, felt betrayed. So many people who believed them when they promised there wouldn't be a war and then saw us get into a war. People who even believed the Trump Vance ticket when they said they would drain the swamp. only to watch corruption in Washington reach epic proportions. Now, obviously, Vice President Vance is in a very awkward position.

9:21I mean, you know, so many of the candidates that we saw for Congress and Senate desperately tried to rid themselves of the stink of the Trump brand, and they just couldn't get it off them, and that's part of why they lost. Even more difficult for you to do that when your name is on the administration. But you can see J.D. Vance doing anything he can do to try to create some sense of distance from this administration, even though he's in the beating heart of the White House that created all of these problems that were rejected by voters at the ballot box this week. Speaking of Twitter, your feed is essentially a stream of photos of you campaigning with candidates who went on to win.

10:00It seems like you feel pretty good about your track record, the time you spent in the last few months campaigning. Perhaps you see that as a selling point in a potential future presidential race. Well, look, the candidates earned these victories. Their teams did great work. I was proud to be out there in the trenches with so many of them traveling the country to help. You know, if there was ever a year for us to win in some of these places that were considered bright red, this was it. And so when candidates asked me to help, to join, to do what I could to be there, of course, I wanted to do that.

10:35I felt a responsibility to be part of that. And just absolutely extraordinary in places from Reno, Nevada, Teresa Benitez Thompson winning a seat that has literally never, ever gone to a Democrat, to Western North Carolina, where Jamie Ager represented a kind of Democrat, visited him on his farm, somebody who's a little different than what people picture when they picture our party. But he really, truly reflected his district and earned that win. Thrilling to be part of that process. Exciting to see all of their victories. And I think, again, part of a chance to really prove out something that I've been preaching for a long time to anybody who will listen, which is that there is no such thing as a permanently red seat.

11:17All right. Pete Buttigieg, former Secretary of Transportation in the Biden administration. Thanks so much for joining us. Thank you. Good to be with you. So, guys, I think there's going to be no shortage of Democrats running for president. I'm not really sure about Republicans, to be quite honest. I could probably name five or six, but Democrats, there's a, I could name 30. Yeah, I mean, on the Republican side, it depends what happens with J.D. Vance. I mean, how much what he did today is going to have legs, how much what happens in the next two years or even the next year is going to determine how viable he is.

11:59And then if he's not, I think then it's off to the races for especially Republican governors. Well, the president was asked about that today and he said, who knows if he's going to run? I don't know. And you mentioned J.D. Vance's very lengthy post this morning that basically every White House reporter took note of. Ted Cruz has issued his own lengthy post kind of what's going on with those Republican losses last night. And at one point he said Texas is blue. That is a hard sentence for him to utter. And he noted, Jake, Ted Cruz is the only Republican who is elected statewide in Texas as of this moment, which obviously would have been unthinkable a couple of months ago.

12:36And so there's a lot of different Republicans offering their takes of what went wrong last night. And that could be, you know, a launching ground for, you know, early part of next year, those 2028 runs. You had Ron DeSantis on earlier, the governor of Florida. Different tone from Ron DeSantis in that interview than Ron DeSantis, who was in Iowa trying to run a couple of years ago. Look, look, the Republicans in this campaign, let me use a baseball metaphor. Donald Trump was their starting pitcher. He traveled all over the country. He got roughed up pretty good. So they went to the bullpen. Right.

13:04So what did they do? They did communists. They did socialist. They did jihadist. They did watch out for the trans threat of the Democrats. None of it worked. Their playbook just failed completely. So if you're the general manager of that team, you need a new starting rotation and you need a new bullpen. The question is who can do that and go out and do it in the country. Your conversation with Senator-elect Andrews, I think, and Secretary Buttigieg just mentioned Jamie Egger. I've been to that district three times. He's a farmer. When he talks about diesel prices, people understand he gets it.

13:34He's authentic. She's a pediatrician. She talks about health care. She gets it. Can you be authentic? Can you be relevant to people and the struggles and their challenges? And the interesting thing for me is all across the country, and Trump voters want this too, is the reform part. Term limits, money out of politics. What about the billionaires? The billionaires bought these AI centers and popped them up in my communities. So if you can be relevant and authentic, but talk reform, you'll get some ears. We'll see if the Democrats, when they take control of the House and Senate, pass the Stock Act to ban stock trading.

14:07Another big one. And how does Trump veto that if they do? If that's successful, he says he's going to be Mr. Veto. Can he veto something that's really popular? That could have a veto-proof margin. They should do that, and they should add the executive branch, too, in terms of stocks. Can I add one other quick thing here? So you go and interview voters since 2024. A lot of Democrats who love Kamala Harris, voted for Kamala Harris, say we can't do that again because we can't elect a woman and we can't elect a woman of color. That conversation changed last night. The state of Georgia elected an African-American woman to be governor.

14:38The state of Texas elected a Latina to be governor. I'm not saying Kamala Harris is going to run. She's going to make her own decision. But the conversations in her camp about can we do this are a lot different today than they were 48 hours ago. Coming up, who could be the first victim of the Democrats' return to power? Republicans are turning on Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. Might Secretary Hegseth be impeached? Stay with us.

15:07Hey, I'm Anderson Cooper. On my podcast, All There Is, we explore grief and loss in all its complexities. My guest is Lil Jon. He's a rapper, DJ, and producer known for hits like Get Low and Turn Down for What. In February 2026, his 27-year-old son Nathan went missing near Nathan's home in Georgia. Three days later, his body was found in a pond nearby. Lil Jon has a memoir that just came out called I Only Shout So You Can Hear Me. It takes time to heal. And I kept myself busy that I didn't let myself mourn. I needed to laugh again. I needed to be silly and interact with people and feel other people's energy and make people happy too.

15:52We have to share so other people can see that they can get through it too. Talking grief, building community. That's what the podcast is all about. This is all there is. Listen and follow wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Dr. Sanjay Gupta, host of the Chasing Life podcast. You may have noticed gambling doesn't require a casino anymore. You can just open up your phone. It's designed to keep us coming back or maybe never even leaving in the first place. We're going to talk to Dr. Timothy Fong, co-director of UCLA's gambling studies program. You're going to learn what your brain is really chasing when you place a bet.

16:30And also importantly, how to keep the game from playing you. Gambling addiction, gambling disorder is the hidden addiction. You can't smell it. You can't taste it. You can't see it. You can't have a urine drug test. Who are we talking about here, Professor? Who's the most likely demographic to be affected by this? Literally any single human on earth. Listen to Chasing Life. Streaming now, wherever you get your podcasts. And welcome back. You're taking a look at the latest votes in Mississippi. It remains very, very tight. The Democrat Scott Cologne is in the lead by a little over a thousand votes right now.

17:05I want to dig in more into the final outstanding votes. Pamela Brown is at the vote, looking at the vote counting process. Yeah, I have been on the phone with so many different clerks and election officials of Mississippi today. Anderson. I'm being told that they are really feeling the intense pressure to get through these provisional ballots. They are literally in cubicles with monitors staring over them as they go through each one. And as a reminder, these provisional ballots are the ones that voters, their eligibility couldn't be determined at the polls, and so they have to be vetted later.

17:39So here's what I'm learning about that. A Mississippi state official tells me that today alone, 2 ,632 provisional ballots have been processed. Now, we don't know how many of those were accepted or rejected after being vetted. But in a race as tight as this, every single ballot could be consequential. And for context of what that number means, it is a small percentage of the amount of projected provisional ballots. So there is a lot of work ahead because the projection is that there's around 15 ,000 to 20 ,000 overall provisional ballots across the state. That's What I'm hearing from people connected to the Cologne campaign, lawyers on the ground and the NAACP.

18:17Each ballot takes tedious work to call the voter and sort out the issues. So if you can imagine how much work it is to process just one, you can start to understand why the count is going to take so long. Commissioners are under the time crunch of five business days to get it done. And I'm also learning that as of 5 p.m. today, 3 ,595 mail-in ballots are still yet to be returned. Those could make a difference, too. They are allowed to be accepted up until next Tuesday, November 10th. The final what if in the state is what would happen if this race ends up in a territory where a candidate wants a recount.

18:53Mississippi doesn't have an automatic recount. So the agreed party would have to go to the court. The court would make the ultimate decision. There's a lot of what ifs right now and a lot of people focused on this race for good reason. But the bottom line, Anderson, is that we might be on the edge of our seat for a while. No doubt. Pamela, thanks very much. I want to bring in Aman Araju, who's on Capitol Hill. You're getting some new reporting on Democrats' plans. Yeah, in the new Congress. But first, we have to deal with something that's happening in the current Congress, still under Republican rule.

19:21Expect next week a vote in the United States House to impeach Pete Hexeth as Defense Secretary, that being pushed by the outgoing Republican Congressman Thomas Massey. And I'm hearing from Republican and Democratic sources that that actually could pass the House Plus, next week, given the widespread Republican concern over hexa-democrat opposition as well, it won't be approved in the United States Senate, but that would be a very significant rebuke of the Defense Secretary. And then the plans being formulated for next year, when Democrats want to do everything from extending those expired subsidies under the Affordable Care Act, end President Trump's tariff policies, limit his war powers, when it comes to Iran and reverse those Medicaid cuts that went into effect as part of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.

20:06But here's the challenge for Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries, who is poised to become next Speaker of the House and the likely next Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, is that these bills that they're going to try to attempt will not have enough votes to overcome a presidential veto, much less in the Senate, some may not even overcome a Republican filibuster. Those are going to be the challenges and the major hurdles that both Jeffries and Schumer will confront, despite having big majorities that have to confront that in the new Congress, Anderson. All right. Manu Raju, thanks very much. Appreciate that report.

20:38I want to go over to the panel. Scott Jennings, how likely do you think it is that Pete Hegseth is going to remain as Secretary of Defense? I think there's a definite chance he could be replaced. I mean, the political problem for Secretary Hegseth is he doesn't have a deep well of support among even Republicans on Capitol Hill. And the math problem for the president is that if you wait to replace him until the Democrats take control in the Senate, confirmation becomes a big issue. It might be that the president would want to go ahead and eliminate that political headache now and try to get somebody confirmed while Republicans have control during the lame duck.

21:13And, you know, that's a that's a decision the president has to make. This is one of the most important. Do you think it's going to get impeached? Oh, yes. Yeah. Well, I think I think I think they're definitely voting for it or on it. It could pass. And then just remember the rules. If it does pass the House, it is a privileged motion in the Senate, which means they have to take it up immediately. So if you're the president, you have to ask yourself, how much time do I want on this impeachment trial when I could just get somebody new and say, here's here's my new leadership and here's the reset.

21:43And here's how we plan to end the war in Iran. Excess is a piñata for us. He has messed up everything. He starts off putting all our secrets on signal. He doesn't protect our troops. He's firing good generals. He doesn't want blacks and women to make any advances. This dude is going to be a piñata for us. And I hope Trump keeps him. Another element. I hope he keeps him because it's an opportunity to put on trial the complete recklessness of Trump and HECS with regard to our military. Another thing is that there may be business that the Congress and the president, there are some must pass bills that they have to get through.

22:18So being tied up on an impeachment would be really inconvenient for them. So I would think they're going to think hard about this. Yeah. And if Republicans don't do it now, I mean, Democrats will do it when they take over and they'll run straight into the problem you point out. Yeah. And the pool of people you could replace him with gets a lot smaller when Democrats are in charge than when Republicans are in charge. He could probably get, you know, any number of people confirmed right now in January. that becomes a really small number. And, you know, it may be that he also just wants some fresh eyes on this.

22:52I mean, we've been at this with Iran for a while now. He's been relying on Secretary Hegseth. And, you know, I remember after the 2006 midterms in which we took a thumping in the Bush White House, Secretary Rumsfeld was fired the next day. Yeah, appreciate that. Let's go up next. We are heading back down to Texas to check in with our group of voters who are sharing barbecue with CNN's Ed Levin. What changes did they expect to see with Democrats in control? And what actually, wow, that looks yummy. Stick with us.

23:30Welcome back. And we can now make another projection. And this is the first Republican pickup of this midterm election. CNN is projecting that Republican Jace Yarbrough will win the race in Texas's 32nd congressional district, defeating Democrat Dan Barrios. The seat is currently held by a Democrat, Julie Johnson, who ran for re-election in a neighboring district after Texas Republicans redrew the lines to make the seat more GOP friendly. This is a GOP pickup because of Governor Abbott's, soon to be ex-Governor Abbott's, redistricting. Let's look at the balance of power here. There are 245 Democrats, including 35 pickups, 147 Republicans, including one pickup.

24:17Forty-three seats remain. John King, tell us what we just witnessed. What you just witnessed is the one Republican victory. And remember the president pressured, you mentioned Governor Abbott, the president pressured Texas Republicans to do this at the beginning of the cycle, knowing it would be a tough cycle. The goal was to get plus five just in Texas, right? Plus five just in Texas. Well, there they are. The Democrats held four of those seats, four of those seats. Two of the Democrats they targeted actually won this year by a bigger margin than they won two years ago, even though they turned their districts into much more on paper Republican districts.

24:50So this is the reverse minus touch of President Trump. He wanted five in Texas. He got just one. They wanted 15 nationally. They got just two. This was their big plan to tilt the scales. One of many things that failed miserably. OK. And Ed Lavandera is in Dallas for us, I believe. Ed, tell us what's going on. Well, Jake, the good news is that we have completely killed the Lockhart's smokehouse barbecue main course. So we're going to keep talking politics. Now we're going to talk about what this means for the future of Texas. I want to start with Rodrigo. You're a conservative voter, MAGA. You don't want to be called Republican.

25:30I can't imagine that you did not imagine a world where Republicans would lose the governor, lieutenant governor, flip the Texas House, every other state race. That's crazy. I'd imagine. So my thought going into tonight was there was a good chance that Paxson would potentially lose and maybe Abbott. But it seems like it went down party. That's crazy talk. It's crazy talk because now we're not. Why do you think that happened here? Um, that's a great question because I've talked to a lot of folks who said they're conservative and they were going to vote against Paxton. But there's no world where I see they would have said, hey, we're all going to vote down blue down ticket.

26:14That's crazy. Yes, that is absolutely crazy. If you're going on gas alone, that's crazy. So Tina, you're a Republican conservative voter. Why do you think this happened? Well, I believe that it happened because the campaign rhetoric was not in line with what the American people and Texans are feeling. So I think that even though we have a conservative state, you still have to listen to what people want and make them feel heard and take action in that direction. Did Republican leaders just forgot about that? I think that, I mean, if you look at what the campaign messaging was, it looks like they just forgot about that.

26:58So all of the messaging was against Tallarico. A lot of that messaging was against Tallarico. But I think what happened, in my opinion, I think Tallarico's messaging was hitting even me as a conservative. I'm like, how am I, like, believing what he says? You know, I'm a conservative. But his messaging was hitting home. And I think that the Republican messaging just was not hitting home. was not addressing what needed to be said. Let me throw this out at our Democratic voters here. Democrats haven't been in any kind of control in more than 30 years in the state. Now they control almost everything.

27:32And it's a party that hasn't been in power in more than 30 years. Are you worried about how they're going to handle it? Just because they haven't been in control, to me, doesn't mean they don't know the strategy they need to put together to go forth. I think, like any party, they're going to meet and decide what the priorities are. And right now we're getting to the point where our nation is getting to some sense of normalcy of getting back in the gray. It is not black or white. You have to have and or, but also inside of making decisions. And so for a long time, you know, in Texas, you just had one option for 30 years.

28:10It's a new day. It's a new dawn. Now let's see what this blue wave is going to produce. Rabbi Holly. I agree with that, that it's a new time and it's really exciting because we haven't had a governor since Ann Richards that's female and that is a Democrat. And so I think that's pretty exciting to see what's going to come with that. We don't know exactly, but I think that there's a lot of good things that were said and talked about in our state. And I think I agree with how the rhetoric was just so ugly that was out there in the ads and everything else. And I think that James Tallarico did have some ads that were really genuine kinds of things that people need, like the one where he's talking about diabetes and insulin.

29:00Paul, let me end with you. Do you think Democrats have a chance here? Is this just a blue wave that lasts for a couple of years or are they going to squander it? I think a lot of it is going to be how do they play. And like we mentioned, they're going to have those strategy meetings right there. They're just going to walk into it. I think there's a chance that this blue wave could maintain, especially if, for example, we see a lot of compromise across the aisle. We were talking about compromise before we went on. And I think the more compromise we can see across the aisle, that we can kind of see these voters getting together, not voters, but senators and representatives kind of getting together and compromising.

29:40I think that we can see some long-term growth, and I would love to be a part of that long-term growth. And I think that that can happen long-term. Awesome. I want to thank all of you for making this happen. Thank you to Lockhart Smokehouse. Jake, I know you guys are incredibly jealous. because we're going to keep devouring this trough of food, and we may or may not be alive tomorrow. I don't know. Ed, you have some entire beast on that plate in front of you, and I assume there will be some leftovers. It's really embarrassing. People mail food these days. This is not... Look, being the biggest guy at this table, this is not all mine.

30:17Let's just be crystal clear about that right now. Well, I think there will be leftovers, And I'm looking forward to that care package from Texas. So, Dana, let's talk about Texas, because I'm old enough to know that for decades since Ann Richards, Democrats are saying, oh, we can bring it back. We can bring it back. And it seemed like now, like at one point, it seemed like Texas going blue was improbable as the notion of California going red. Yeah, no, it's true, especially after the election two years ago, which is why the sort of whiplash of the last 24 months is so remarkable, because it wasn't just that it's been red.

31:03It went redder with what had been traditionally Democratic voters, with younger voters, with Latino voters. They won. Trump won Latinos last time in Texas. One Latino voters in Texas, which is why one of the reasons why he was so bullish on changing five of those districts, forcing Greg Abbott and Republicans there to change the districts due to the mid decade redistricting in the hopes that this was a permanent new coalition that Trump had. Obviously, we see that that is not true. But listening to those voters, I just I loved it because I loved the Tallarico Town Hall and watching the way that those voters who were really genuinely thinking about the issues, thinking about what mattered most to them, struggling with the answers to those questions and then being able to ask the candidate and now talking about the process.

31:59You know, it's what it's all about. I know that sounds really corny, but it sounds great. But also it's all self-inflicted. I mean, everything that happened in Texas is self-inflicted by the president's team. They were the ones who went into this. They were so sure about their plan when it came to redistricting. Even as some other people were saying, are you sure about this? Is this going to backfire? The president's aides and outside advisors were saying no, that they weren't worried about it. And then, of course, he goes after Ken Paxton. He puts his full weight behind him and endorses him in that primary.

32:31There was a period where the president was about to endorse John Cornyn. And then Ken Paxton came out and said, no, unless we pass the Save America Act or you pass it, then I'll drop out. And it appealed to the president, one of his base instincts, something that he cares about the most, even though Republican leaders had told him there was no chance of it getting passed. And by putting that his weight behind a scandal plagued candidate, I mean, that's what resulted in last night. And so, I mean, I talked to a lot of people who are in Trump's inner circle who are just dumbfounded today. And they're not using excuses.

33:01They're not blaming Democrats. They're only blaming themselves. It is so interesting to see how the president has acted and reacted over the last 24 hours. I've never seen anything like that. Because, yes, because usually when he is backed into a corner, shellacked, whatever it is, he will lash out more and more and more aggressively. And today he talked about his Corinthian columns and the veins in the marble that he's putting in the ballroom. And, you know, kind of did a shoulder shrug to J.D. Vance saying the war was his war was part of the problem. And I like what's going on there? I mean, it is night and day from 2018 to 2026.

33:44The president came out the day after 2018, after Republicans took a beating, even though he was doing better in all of his numbers when it comes to the economy and whatnot. and he was in this combative press conference with reporters he was interrupting them in the middle of a question he was going back and forth he was insulting them he was going after the republicans he said didn't embrace him and that's why they lost he was calling them out by name going through a list he came out today he spent 20 minutes at the site of the construction of the ballroom without even mentioning the midterms i mean it was like they did very worried somebody was going to get hit by a beam yeah well it's always secret service but it was like they didn't even happened last night.

34:18And I just talked to people tonight who were saying, you know, the president has led the party for so long. We have followed him ever since 2016. And today he came out and basically was, had nothing to say about that. Can I just say one other thing about Texas? You were talking about the candidate quality with Ken Paxton. And I think we can all agree, whatever would have happened last night if John Cornyn had been the Republican nominee, it would have been much closer, if not Cornyn winning, just because he was a known and respected establishment president. One other presence, one other candidate in Texas that I want to talk about just briefly is Beau French, who was running for Texas Railroad Commissioner.

34:58He was the Republican nominee. And he was racist and anti-Muslim and anti-Semitic, and proudly so. And I think we have to acknowledge that is also something that has come out in the open in this era in the last decade in the Republican Party, different issues in the Democratic Party. he at one point a year ago put a poll like which is the greater threat on his Twitter which is the greater threat to America Muslims or Jews and it was a poll it was widely decried as horrific anti-Muslim anti-Semitic etc he lost to a Democrat coincidentally named John Rosenthal so I guess we know which was the bigger threat to Beau French's ambition if not to the United States of America up next we're going to be joined live by one of the candidates who made history last night.

35:46Republican governor-elect Byron Donald is here. Fresh off his victory in Florida, the very first black governor of Florida ever. Don't go anywhere.

36:03And welcome back. Tonight in America continued. I want to go over to the White House and bring in our Kristen Holmes. Kristen, what are you hearing about finger pointing? What is going on right now at the White House? And also, do you have any word on Pete Hegseth? Well, knives are out for Pete Hegseth. I mean, we knew that President Trump, that aides allies around Trump were looking for someone to blame. And certainly they are placing that blame squarely on Pete Hegseth. And now we are learning that as early as next week, the House could vote to impeach Pete Hegseth. Now, just keep that in mind.

36:38This is not the new Democratic controlled house. This is the current house in which Republicans still have control. And that's because you're seeing these Republicans flip on Hegseth and really because of the loss feel empowered to do so. We're hearing from lawmakers who are saying that Hegseth misled the president. He misled lawmakers. He said that it was going to be quick and easy to get in and out. He told President Trump he was the number one cheerleader for President Trump to go in there and strike Iran without any exit plan. And now those same Republican lawmakers and allies, they want to see Pete Hegseth gone.

37:12Now, President Trump, he is still supporting him publicly, saying he's a good guy. We were told by the White House that just two days ago, President Trump was saying, he's my best man. But we were also told by a number of allies and advisors, and that circle, by the way, as the day has gone on, has gotten wider and wider, that President Trump has been calling up and saying, how do they think Pete Hegseth is doing at his job? What do they think Hegseth's role in Iran was? So these are the things that are circling Hegseth right now. We'll see if Trump ultimately cuts the cord. Right now, they say he's still standing by him.

37:46All right. We shall see Kristen Holmes. Appreciate it. The White House. Dana? A historic victory in Florida last night. The Sunshine State electing its first black governor. Here with me now is Florida governor-elect Byron Donald. Thank you so much for being here. You did make history last night. You will become, as I mentioned, the first black governor. What does that moment mean to you, sir? Well, first, it was a high honor. I think it says more about the people of our state. Florida is a state that's come to be known as a common sense conservative state. I think the people of Florida wanted that to continue and do this campaign prompt campaign process.

38:27We constantly just talked about the kitchen table issues that matter to the people of our state. lowering insurance costs, obviously lowering property taxes. The voters approved that. But I'm really honored. It's a high honor for my life. But it's really about the people of Florida and what they're showing the rest of the country that they just want great leadership to lead their state into the future. Your current governor, Ron DeSantis, said if not for Florida, your win and others wins, the election made the Republican Party close to extinction level, that kind of event. Do you agree? Look, it was no sugarcoating.

39:07It was a tough night last night. The Democrats won big in places that nobody saw coming. That's just a fact. But I think also, I don't want to be a prisoner of the moment either. What we're really seeing, especially in elections in the last decade or so, is that there are big moves and big swings going both sides. I think for Republicans, It's about getting back to all the basics, gas and groceries. When I was traveling the state of Florida, talking to voters in every county of our state, that was the number one issue on their mind. Gas, affordability, housing costs, food. And I think that as a party, we need to be laser focused on those ideas, on those issues and lowering those costs for the future of the country.

39:45And I think elections will take care of themselves. Did the president just not do that enough and that hurt people in your party? uh well i mean look let's be very clear i think four dollar gas is four dollar gas and that was something that is what does was just on the mind of voters no doubt about it i knew it talked about it all the time on the trail when i was engaging with voters it was the number one thing that was on their mind especially when you talk about insurance costs and everything like that so we just have a responsibility now to go back to the drawing board look at the idea sets make sure we're pushing the policies that are going to help people's lives better gas prices going down will be a major step in the right direction.

40:25And you feel confident that's going to happen anytime soon? I do. I think, look, the conflict in Iran, I think that's going to come to a close at some point. That's always been my position. I will add, obviously, the Iranians were weaponizing the Shredder Hormuz against Americans and against, frankly, the world for political purposes. That's clear if you look at what they were doing, especially as it was coming towards Election Day. But you you know, you can't look backwards and say, you know, we should have done this. You should have done that. It's about looking forward. And what are you going to do?

40:55How are you going to accomplish that? And how are you going to represent and work for the people of our state in Florida and for the American people overall? You did win, obviously, but it was a much narrower margin than Ron DeSantis four years ago or, of course, President Trump two years ago in Florida. And I want to drill down on one particular group, and that is Latino Floridians. You lost them by 11 percentage points. What is your message to those voters today and maybe others who didn't vote for you last night? Well, first of all, my message to all voters in the state of Florida, even if you didn't vote for me, is that my responsibility is going to be making sure Florida is affordable for everybody, regardless of your background, regardless of your party.

41:41we are going to make sure that the Sunshine State's affordable. I will tell you that we were looking a little bit dicier a couple of months ago, and a lot of the hard work we did on the ground, my campaign knocked over two million doors all over the state of Florida. We really made it a city-by-city, county-by-county campaign, as opposed to an overarching campaign. And that work we did on the ground, we believe, closed that gap with Hispanic voters in Miami-Dade County, in Orlando, in Tampa, and throughout the states. And so, you know, we did the work that was necessary on the ground, going door to door, community to community, holding town halls, engaging voters.

42:17And I believe that's why we were successful last night. Before you take over that role, you are still focusing on Congress. And there is a not slim chance that the defense secretary, Pete Hexeth, may be impeached by the House next week. For the record, how will you vote if that happens, if there's a vote? I'm not voting to impeach Pete Hegseth. I'm not sure about what that issue is in terms of what's going to come forward. Obviously, you've been really focused here in Florida. So when I get back to the Hill, I'll look at that matter and see where we are. But I'm not voting to impeach him. Would it be a mistake for any of your fellow Republicans to vote to impeach him?

42:59I mean, first of all, Pete Hegseth is the secretary of war. He is doing his job following the directors from the commander in chief. So again, these impeachment things that come up, I just don't agree with that. That's what Congress should be focused on. Obviously, we're seeing tweets from Democrats now talking about lawyer up and subpoenas and all this other stuff. But I'm here to tell you, as somebody who campaigned incredibly hard all across Florida, the people of our country. Even when you talk to Democrat voters, and we talk to a lot of Democrat voters in our campaign, they're not focused on investigations and impeachments.

43:33They're focused on affordability and lowering costs and making sure they can afford their lives. Florida Governor-elect Byron Donalds, thank you so much for being here. Congratulations again, sir. Thank you. And his name is frequently mentioned on the list of 2028 contenders. Senator Mark Kelly will be here live next to share what he thinks Democrats should be prioritizing with their new power.

44:24Even better, you can watch the podcast on Spotify.