Dem Holds Narrow Lead in Alaska Senate Race

0:02Bill Cassidy: Tonight, it's a source exclusive. Republican Senator Bill Cassidy here following for his first interview following the Republicans historic midterm collapse. I'm Kaitlan Collins and this is The Source.

0:27Bill Cassidy: Well, it's safe to say change is in the air here in Washington tonight. And right now, the Democratic wave is apparently still growing. This hour, votes are still being counted in uncalled races across the country. And Democrats are now on track to have more seats in the House than they've had since the early 1990s, maybe surprising Democrats more than anyone. In Mississippi right now, the Democrat Senate candidate there, Scott Colom, has expanded his lead over the Republican senator and incumbent Cindy Hyde-Smith. It went from about 1 ,100 votes last night to about 1 ,800 right now. Both sides, though, are lawyering up for a potential fight over those provisional ballots, which right now we are told number in the thousands.

1:13Bill Cassidy: Meanwhile, in Alaska, the Democrat there, Mary Peltola, is leading by a few hundred votes over Republican Senator Dan Sullivan. Both campaigns so far are projecting confidence in the ultimate outcome, which we might not know for a couple of weeks. So buckle up for that. And really though, when you're looking at the counting in Mississippi and in Alaska, no matter the outcome in any of those races, one thing is for sure tonight, the remaining two years of the Trump presidency are going to look a lot different than the last two. Before the new Congress is even seated, right now the defense secretary is facing threats of impeachment from a Republican congressman, Thomas Massey.

1:50Bill Cassidy: I've been talking to people in the president's orbit and several of them are worried that those impeachment articles, eight of them to be exact, might actually have enough votes to pass when they're introduced next week. That's what led a defiant Secretary Hegseth to post this nearly six-minute video today in response to that effort.

2:10Kaitlan Collins: Why do the Democrats and the deep state radicals really hate us? Because we tore down their sacred cows one by one and without apology. DEI is a Marxist ideology built to destroy us. Being trans is a mental illness incompatible with military service. The press is free in America, but not free to roam our classified spaces here at the Pentagon. on. Narco terrorists should die, not be caught and released. A disgruntled, defeated congressman, along with all his Democrat allies, has also dropped sham articles of impeachment against yours truly. Their obsession with political theater disguised as power drives them to try to destroy their opponents.

2:58Bill Cassidy: Secretary Hegseth's future is just one of several headaches that is facing the administration tonight. Sources say the White House officials, including senior staff members, gathered to talk about their new reality today. The president did not attend that meeting. And while his staff knew that losing both the House and the Senate was certainly a possibility on Tuesday night, we're told that they were shocked at the extent of what has happened here. Americans just voted out all of these Republican representatives. It is 32 in total so far. And the likely speaker, Hakeem Jeffries, will have at least 57 Democrats who are representing districts that were won by President Trump.

3:39Bill Cassidy: Meanwhile, he posted today while watching the stock market and said this, quote, The stock market crashed today because the Democrats had a big Tuesday. So sad to see you only have yourselves to blame. Blaming the voters is certainly an interesting strategy, given it was the president whose policies the voters themselves blamed. And it was this president who personally backed a slew of candidates that lost in huge races.

4:06Kaitlan Collins: That guy is a winner and he's tough as hell. For you he's tough. I actually think Mike Collins is a good looking man.

4:19Kaitlan Collins: And he's all man, he's all man. Michael Watley is a warrior and he's a warrior for North Carolina. He's a natural warrior for North Carolina. Michael is a warrior. I know him. He's a great guy. He's a strong guy, though. Strong. The best attorney general in the history of the state of Texas. Penn Paxton deserves to be the next senator. We are going to elect one of the greatest attorney generals any... This is in the entire country. We're going to hopefully get Darlene Graham elected. She's fantastic. She's fantastic. Mike Rogers is apple pie. He's a perfect guy for our country. Very good candidate.

5:02Very, very strong. Very good Mike Rogers.

5:06Kaitlan Collins: Very good candidate.

5:09Bill Cassidy: Well, that's what the president said about those candidates who were on the ballot. Tonight, in all caps, he wrote this and said, I just wasn't on the ballot. If I were, we would have won in a landslide. But that's not what the president told voters over and over and over again right before the election.

5:27Kaitlan Collins: But now I want you to pretend I'm on the ballot. I'm asking you to pretend that I'm running. Pretend I'm on the ballot. So I'm asking them to pretend I'm on the ballot. So please pretend I'm on the ballot. And I am actually. Pretend please that I'm on the ballot.

5:45Bill Cassidy: And we start tonight with my first source who is in his first interview since the midterms. That is the outgoing Republican senator of Louisiana, Bill Cassidy. And thank you, Senator, for being here, because I want to talk about what your time left in Congress is going to look like, the big priorities you have. You obviously, though, have served in the Senate. You know politics well. What do you believe is the number one lesson for your party coming out of Tuesday night?

6:12Kaitlan Collins: If the American people will perceive that a party is not serving them, that a party is asking the voter to serve their quest to keep in power, but the politician is not serving the people, the people are going to vote out the political party. Our brand suffered terribly because, again, I think it was perceived we were not serving the people. And frankly, politicians should be serving the people. That's why you're elected.

6:39Bill Cassidy: Do you think Republicans, do you think the president realizes that and takes that message away?

6:46Kaitlan Collins: I don't know that. This Republican, that's always been my ethic in office. But if you look at the shellacking our party took, it's pretty clear that most voters don't think that we were there to serve them. They thought once more that the politicians wanted to keep power so much that they're willing to change the rules to make the people serve the politician. That's wrong. The politicians should serve the people.

7:13Bill Cassidy: Well, I mean, when you look at the data, the Louisiana parishes that are mostly done reporting, they shifted on average 20 points more Democratic in the last two years. Why do you think that is?

7:29Kaitlan Collins: The reason it happened across the nation. They looked at government. They felt as if government wasn't serving them. They were paying more for everything. Life was inconvenient. it. They hear all these crazy things coming out of a state legislature and coming from Washington that they're thinking, this is not addressing my concerns. My concerns of high health care costs, Social Security going insolvent. Those are issues that have to be addressed, high fuel prices, and they didn't see them addressed, and they revolted against that. And by the way, if Democrats don't do it successfully, in two years, the Democrats will have their day of reckoning.

8:04Kaitlan Collins: The American people should be served, and if they're not served, they're going to vote out the party in power.

8:10Bill Cassidy: Yeah, obviously Democrats now will have to, they campaigned on affordability. Now they're going to be in position to govern on that. We'll see what that looks like. But in terms of the candidates that were on the ballot, you know, obviously you were leaving the Senate because the president turned on you and backed the person who's now taking over. I should note right now she's only up by two points. You won by more than 40, I think, six years ago. But putting that aside, I mean, the handpicked candidates from the president in Texas, in South Carolina, in North Carolina, do you think that hurt the GOP because he picked them based on their loyalty to him?

8:48Kaitlan Collins: You know, if you look at Texas, Kim Paxton, to say Kim Paxton was flawed is an incredible understatement. And so I have no doubt that that just kind of spread all over the Republican brand in Texas. If this is what's coming out of a Republican closed primary, a fellow that had all of his ethical complaints, cheating on his wife, all of these sorts of things, there's no way that does not hurt the Republican brand. I'll point out, I do think closed partisan primaries allow the person to be selected to not be very good in a general election. But that's one more example of politicians choosing a method of electing folks that serves the political party in power and doesn't serve the interests of the voter.

9:34Kaitlan Collins: That's wrong.

9:35Bill Cassidy: You know, there's a lot of questions about what D.C. is going to look like in the next few weeks. You are someone who voted for the War Powers Act. You said three times, you said the war with Iran was a mistake. What do you think this new Congress or what do you think can happen even before the new Congress has sworn in when it comes to the Iran war, given how voters seem to feel about it?

9:58Kaitlan Collins: I can imagine that a War Powers Act passes this time. I can't swear by that, because really, getting into the war was a mistake. We now know that it was supposed to be over in five weeks. It's still going on months later. Now, how you get out of it is a different story and a more complicated story. The administration is going to have to make its case. But again, I can imagine that I can imagine that a War Powers Act passes this time as much as I can prognosticate that.

10:27Bill Cassidy: If Secretary Hegseth is impeached next week, how would you vote on that in the Senate?

10:34Kaitlan Collins: You know, I have to hear the testimony. I don't prejudge. I've been in the situation before. You hear what the testimony is and then you make a decision. Clearly, there are people who I respect who feel that he's done a very poor job, and if he's the one that gave the president the guidance that we could be out of the Iranian war in five weeks, that was an incredible misjudgment. But that's what will be presented before the House, and then we'll consider it in the Senate.

11:01Bill Cassidy: Do you think he's done a poor job?

11:05Kaitlan Collins: Clearly the Iranian war. The decision to go into the Iranian war did not work out. It was presumed that the administration had information that was not shared, but that we would be out in five weeks. It has not worked out well. And we've spent tens of billions of dollars. So who's responsible for that? And why did they make that decision? That would be an interesting thing to know.

11:27Bill Cassidy: So just to be clear, it does sound like you would be open to potentially removing him if he was impeached based on what you heard.

11:35Kaitlan Collins: You know, I've been in this situation before, And I think I can have street cred to say that I'm going to listen to the testimony and make a decision based upon the testimony that's given before me. So I'd rather, Caitlin, not kind of even go there, except to say, I'm going to listen to the testimony. And I'm going to try and do what is right by the people whom I serve. You know, sometimes people don't understand my decisions, but I promise you my commitment to them is to try and do what is right.

12:00Bill Cassidy: Yeah, and you definitely spend a lot of time thinking about them, obviously. And when it comes to your time left in the Senate, I think they're in session. You're in session for 22 days before this Congress will end. Addressing the solvency of Social Security has been a major priority of yours. Do you believe that there's enough time to address something that big in this time that you have left here in Washington?

12:26Kaitlan Collins: I've been working on this for six years, and we've been working for the last several months. If I can find, we can do it. We've had the preparatory hearings. We have the legislation drafted. If we don't solve Social Security, it is an incredible failure of Congress. This is what's driving up long-term interest rates for mortgage and car notes. The fact the government borrows so much, it drives up borrowing costs for other people. If you want to do something about affordability, fix social. If you want to get financial security to folks who depend upon social security, fix social. We got to care for it like my daughter cares for my grandchild.

13:03Kaitlan Collins: And that's my goal. And if we don't fix it, Congress should be thrown out again, because it's something which is so important to our country, so loved by our country. And to ignore it for two more years would be criminal in my mind, not technically criminal, political, a political crime. And so I do think we have time left to go. I am actively working with legislators in an attempt to get it done. It should be a priority. It is the right thing to do. And the time is always right to do the right thing.

13:33Bill Cassidy: Given there is limited time and it is an issue that you've worked on for six years, do you feel like someone can carry the torch after that? Are you confident in what this next version of the Senate is going to look like?

13:45Kaitlan Collins: I'll do my best to find somebody to take it on, to take this. We've got a spreadsheet with six million lines of data to kind of convey to other people. But even though if I leave the Senate, I'll still be an engaged citizen. I'll still be out there talking about the need to fix this for the beneficiary, for the people who want lower interest rates to buy a home. It's something that I won't give up just because I leave. I do think any American that has the opportunity to continue to serve our country should. And if I can get Social Security across the line, even after I leave office, I'll feel like I'm serving my country.

14:21Bill Cassidy: Yeah, it's obviously a huge issue and big questions about what the investment fund would look like and how that would function. Just on general, I mean, the fact that the Senate went Democratic on Tuesday night and that a senator from Mississippi might be a Democrat in the race that we're watching now, obviously a few other close ones. Were you surprised by that personally, or did you hear from voters to where it didn't catch you off guard, how big the sweep was for Democrats?

14:52Kaitlan Collins: I am surprised that we lost Mississippi, although you kept hearing rumblings that might be the case. And when President Trump went to Mississippi and was doing things to support Mississippi, that shows you that they had polling that showed that was a problem. On the other hand, it shouldn't surprise anybody that our brand was so poor. I'll go back to how I started. The American people did not think the Republican Party was serving them. It wasn't taking on the big issues like Social Security to their satisfaction. It wasn't working to make health care more affordable. If you're not serving the American people, the American people, particularly when they're stressed, are going to react at the ballot box.

15:32Kaitlan Collins: That's what happened. And if Democrats don't do it, they will be out in two years. And it's the opportunity for Republicans to come up with real policy solutions, not messaging bills, not entertainment on YouTube, real policy solutions that address the needs of the American people. That's the challenge of our party. That's what we should be doing. That's our obligation, our responsibility. That's what we should be doing.

15:58Bill Cassidy: Yeah. And of course, Mississippi isn't called yet. We'll see. But the president this week appeared at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, the site of the ballroom construction and today signed an executive order to keep the Oval Office as he's redecorated it. Do you think he understands what voters are going through and what they what they registered in their discontent Tuesday night?

16:19Kaitlan Collins: You know, I can't get inside the president's head, but anybody that sees the shellacking that our party took, 500 legislative seats nationwide were lost. That's not just the president. That's that's a brand problem and a brand that two years ago was riding high. So it should be, it should just be a lesson. Serve the American people, figure out what their issues are. We know healthcare has been expensive. We know social security is going insolvent. We should just make that a marquee issue, both of those, and push, push, push for the last two years. Now we have to come up with alternatives and convince the American people that we're serious about passing our alternatives.

16:59Yeah.

16:59Bill Cassidy: And we will see what you do left with that time here in Washington. Louisiana Senator Bill Cassidy, I'm not going to bring up the LSU-Bama game this weekend. We'll just wait and see what happens after kickoff. Are you a Bama fan? Yeah, I went to Bama. Are you a Bama fan?

17:13Kaitlan Collins: Oh, that's too bad. That's okay. I'm sure your parents forgive you.

17:17Bill Cassidy: Well, they're happy. My dad's a Bama fan too. We'll see. You know, We love Lane Kiffin as, you know, Lane Kiffin as he is. Senator Bill Cassidy, thank you for your attention.

17:28Kaitlan Collins: Nobody loves Lane Kiffin except LSU fans. And by the way, my wife is an Alabama grad, so I tease about it, but it's a great school.

17:36Bill Cassidy: OK, good. Tell her I said roll tide. And thank you, Senator. Appreciate your time tonight. Up next, we are covering what's going on here in Washington. We have several Republican sources who tell us they think that vote to impeach Hexeth could pass next week. My political sources and White House Insider here next.

18:03Bill Cassidy: President Trump may be voicing confidence in his defense secretary tonight, telling reporters he thinks Pete Hegseth is doing a, quote, fantastic job, but not all of his officials feel the same way. The president's endorsement of Hegseth follows that defiant video that he posted in which the secretary defends the Iran war and himself against that forthcoming impeachment push on Capitol Hill.

18:28Kaitlan Collins: This is not about me. But of course, the other side, in case you've noticed, they're obsessed. A disgruntled, defeated congressman, along with all his Democrat allies, has also dropped sham articles of impeachment against yours truly. Just like they tried against President Trump twice. You see, their policies don't work, so their obsession with political theater disguised as power drives them to try to destroy their opponents. It's all about the politics of personal destruction. Didn't work against President Trump, and it won't work with me. You can rest assured of that.

19:10Bill Cassidy: Outgoing Republican congressman who Hegseth referenced there, Thomas Massey, tells CNN that he plans to trigger that vote on Hegseth's impeachment when Congress gets back here next week. And several Republican sources on Capitol Hill are telling my colleagues here at CNN they actually expect it to pass, raising questions about what's going to happen after that. As you just heard, Senator Bill Cassidy said he's open to hearing the testimony should that impeachment push make it over to the Senate. My sources tonight are Bloomberg's White House correspondent Jeff Mason, Democratic strategist Maria Cardona, and the former Republican Congressman Adam Kinzinger.

19:45Bill Cassidy: And Jeff Mason, I mean, you heard the president today saying Hegseth is doing a great job and he has confidence in him. Republicans seem to feel otherwise, though, after what happened on Tuesday night.

19:57Kaitlan Collins: Yeah, well, and certainly the Democrats do, too, in terms of what's going to happen next year. I mean, Hegseth is not wrong that he's got a target on his back in terms of impeachment. But super interesting if that happens now, in particular, if it ends up taking time from the lame duck session. I mean, if the Senate and the House, for that matter, are spending time on a Pete Hegseth impeachment, that takes them away from all the other things that the White House, no doubt, is hoping to push through during that two-month, six-week period before Democrats take over Congress.

20:29Bill Cassidy: Yeah, I mean, it's a real—I mean, people in the White House are asking themselves what they're going to do should this actually push. Before, they just thought Thomas Massey was doing it to show off. Now they're worried about it actually passing, Maria.

20:40Kaitlan Collins: Yeah, absolutely. I think they were worried about it passing even before. That's why I think Mike Johnson sent Congress home way early because they thought this was going to pass before the midterms. Now I think it's almost a done deal that it absolutely would pass. And look, it's so interesting to hear Hegseth on that video because it's almost as if Tuesday did not exist for him with everything that he's saying, right? And one of the things that really sticks out to me is he is sort of the poster boy of this administration's attack on diversity, equity and inclusion. And everything that happened on Tuesday night screams that this country absolutely values diversity, equity and inclusion with the record number of black women that were elected, Latinos that were elected, first openly gay senator that was elected, first woman Native American elected governor.

21:31Kaitlan Collins: I mean, so many firsts across the board from so many of our communities that it was essentially saying, look, this is America. And Hegseth, you don't understand. And you are putting this country in danger because of the position that he has.

21:46Bill Cassidy: Adam Kinzinger, I mean, you know Capitol Hill well. What do you think is going to happen next week with Pete Hegseth?

21:52Kaitlan Collins: I think Pete's not long for this world. Listen, here's a couple of things, because number one, there is going to be a lot. There's a lot of anger in the GOP right now, right? A ton. They need to vent that anger to somebody, and they still can't. They can't pull themselves yet to call out Donald Trump. There's a lot of anonymous sources that will, but you're not seeing people on the record doing it. So this is the next best option is we can take all our anger out on Hexeth, kind of let the steam out. And the other thing is I know somebody that actually worked with HexF kind of early on and said he spends truly he spends most of his day coming up with social media ideas, practicing social media ideas, having multiple runs and cuts and then bringing out the best one.

22:38Kaitlan Collins: This video today actually told me that he feels very unsafe in his position from a political perspective because he put out a very well produced video with an audience of one. That audience was not us on CNN here. He wants it to go well. That audience was Donald Trump because it's, I'm going to fight for you. We're tough. I don't back down. You don't back down. They tried to impeach you. Now they're going to try to impeach me. This video today made it seem to me that I think Hexeth knows his time is up in that position.

23:08Bill Cassidy: Well, he also seemed to be appealing to the president by saying they're trying to impeach me like they impeached him, knowing Trump obviously believes he was unfairly impeached, Jeff. I mean, in terms of the Iran war, though, that's where the trouble comes in, because the president is saying he's doing a great job. Even the vice president is out there saying Iran is the reason, the Iran war is the reason they lost the midterm elections. And Senator elect from Michigan, Abdul El-Sayed responded this way to those comments from the vice president.

23:39Kaitlan Collins: You see J.D. Vance now, he's sprinting as hard backwards as he can from this terrible, disastrous war in Iran. I'm like now's not the time my guy it would have been eight months ago You should have spoke up, but you never will because of course you have you are a coward who has Decided that whatever Donald Trump says should go until of course Donald Trump is now a loser at the ballot box And I are trying to find a different way

24:00Bill Cassidy: What are you hearing Jeff from people about how they're viewing the war inside right now?

24:05Kaitlan Collins: Number one the senator-elect is using language that is definitely going to get under President Trump's skin when he uses the word loser to talk about the man who finds that word very offensive. But to your question, certainly what we saw from J.D. Vance yesterday was an effort to create some distance on this. And the president gave him some space. I mean, he was asked about it as well when he was touring the ballroom with reporters. And he said, well, he's more or less right. He agreed that the round war was a big part of what happened for the election. Although then he differentiated a little bit by saying, well, not the war, the gas prices.

24:39Kaitlan Collins: But in any case, He's giving some room or space or leash to J.D. Vance to do that. But there's no question that the knives are out and that there is an interest right now in placing blame. But as the former congressman said, it's hard for people in the Republican Party to stick it straight at Trump.

25:00Bill Cassidy: There's a lot of desperation on the Republican side right now.

25:04Kaitlan Collins: And both of those videos and what J.D. Vance, his post and Hegseth's video, I think demonstrate that. What's interesting about J.D. Vance's post is that, yes, he talks about how it was the Iran war. And he talks about how their voters did come out, but they were so mad at the Iran war that they actually voted for Democrats. But nowhere in that post does he say that it's actually Donald Trump's fault. It's Donald Trump's fault. The fact that the Iran war is actually going on right now.

25:31Bill Cassidy: Yeah. I mean, final word, Adam Kinzinger, just in terms of how this debate's playing out. Yeah.

25:40Kaitlan Collins: I mean, look, I think there is very little chance that Hegseth survives this. And if he does, I mean, look, Massey's effort, I think, can win. And secondly, in January, the Democrats take over with a vetoing people kind of majority or impeaching people kind of majority. they're going to go right after him. I think if he was smart and he wanted to save his reputation, he would actually resign today. But I don't know if he wants to go out that way.

26:09Bill Cassidy: Clearly, he seemed pretty defiant in that video. Adam Kinzinger, Jeff Mason, Maria Cardona, great to have all three of you here tonight. Up next, we're still watching the votes come in for those two critical Senate races. Mississippi, where the Democrats got Columbus building on his razor-thin lead. And Republicans in the state are exploring their legal options.

26:38Kaitlan Collins: I'm confident about where we are. We got a lot of grassroots organizers that are in all the counties making sure they do their part and I'm so glad people are doing what it takes to get this over the finish line. I kept telling the voters on November 3rd, we're going to show the country that Mississippi matters.

26:55Bill Cassidy: And that was Mississippi's Democratic Senate candidate, Scott Colon. He's on this on that's him talking about the state of his race, because right now, as you can see here, it's still too close to call. Of course, he's going up against the Republican incumbent, Cindy Hyde-Smith, and he's got a narrow lead that sits at just over 1 ,800 votes. His opponent's campaign says it believes those thousands of votes that were made to be counted are coming from Republican counties. Time will tell. My political sources are here on this nail biter. Democratic strategist Paul Begala and former Trump campaign manager Bill Stepien.

27:27Bill Cassidy: You both probably didn't think you'd be talking about a Democrat maybe winning the Senate in Mississippi. But Paul, when you look at this and what's going on, remember Scott Columbus, someone who put out that ad saying, you know, mocking Cindy Hyde-Smith for saying pick another protein because of beef prices. He walked the line at a Trump rally in the final days trying to get those voters to vote for him. What do you think is going to happen here, Paul?

27:52Kaitlan Collins: I think he pulls it out for a couple of reasons. First, I do have a bias. I spoke at several fundraisers for Scott. I know him. He's a great guy. The super PAC, I advise, was one of the very few, I think the only one, that went in and spent money on his behalf. So I have a strong bias here. But if our viewers know that, they should know this. I called a bunch of people who run campaigns in Mississippi. Provisional ballots traditionally in Mississippi have been more black than white. And it's such a racialized politics in that state. You know, Scott, I think, has a really strong chance of gaining on his lead as they count all those provisional ballots.

28:25Bill Cassidy: Okay. I mean, so we're seeing, well, I mean, it's these provisional ballots that we've been talking about. Bill Steppi, just in terms of how this has gone and the week that Republicans have had, you had made the point before this that based on the numbers of the White House and the president's approval, it didn't look like Tuesday it was going to be a good night. Did you ever think, though, that a Democrat might win Mississippi in the Senate?

28:50Kaitlan Collins: You keep talking about my quote, Caitlin, getting me in trouble. I know, but it was such a good point. I don't put Cindy Highsmith into this category fully. Yes, she was appointed to the seat, but she won months before. But we've got to stop appointing people to political offices like their seats at the community college. These are real jobs and hard jobs with a lot of them on the line. Look, we appointed someone in Ohio, they lost. We appointed someone in South Carolina, they lost. These candidates are thrown into the fire. They weren't ready. In a lot of these states, we were never going to beat the environment, right?

29:25Kaitlan Collins: It was so bad as we just talked about. And as you keep repeating my quote, but in a lot of these states, we ran into candidate quality issues that were completely avoidable.

29:33Bill Cassidy: Well, if you don't want to be quoted, don't have a good quote. Paul, one thing that people have been asking is what's gonna happen in the Senate? Who is going to lead the Senate? Should it be Chuck Schumer? Scott Cullum was asked that by my colleague, Annie Greyer, because you're right. A lot of Democrats didn't go in until later. And this is what he told her. Would you support Chuck Schumer for leader? I thought was the last question.

30:01Kaitlan Collins: For leader, would you support Chuck Schumer? My thing is, I don't wanna get into hypotheticals. I'll tell you, we need more leaders to understand rural America. You know, it's not a good thing that both of our political leaders live in the same borough, right? So we need leaders to understand rural America, people that understand what it means if a rural area loses a hospital, understand what it means to farmers if tariffs hurt, what it means to have the president all of a sudden import chief beef at a terrible time for cattlemen. So I want people that understand our state. And so without knowing who the choices are, I can't say who I would support.

30:40Bill Cassidy: Paul, does he have a point?

30:43Kaitlan Collins: Well, he does. It's amazing that we're about to have, I think, well, certainly a Senate Majority Leader from New York City, a House Speaker from New York City and a President from New York City. I mean, can't the rest of that? I'm sitting here in Houston, which is newly blue and wonderful. Can't the rest of us get a shot? That said, I've called around. The last thing Scott said is most important. I don't know what the choices are. I don't think anybody credible or anybody at all is likely to run against Senator Schumer. And, you know, Democrats, he's often maligned. Democrats the same. You know, Bill pointed out some of these turkeys that President Trump gave his party.

31:15Kaitlan Collins: Darlene Graham, Ken Paxton in my state. Chuck Schumer ran around the country and recruited the best class of Democrats that fit their states. A fisherman like Mary Peltola in Alaska, who I think is going to win. A populist like Sherrod Brown in Ohio, a governor, Roy Cooper in North Carolina. He was one of the first national Democrats to notice my friend James Tallarico. So they owe this majority in part to Schumer's remarkable ability to recruit. But I also can't take credit away from President Trump, who has the Midas touch and reverse. Everything he touches turns to dirt.

31:50Bill Cassidy: You know, Bill, the president keeps saying he thinks that he can work with Democrats. and some people have been surprised at how he's responded to what happened on Tuesday night. He said something similar in 2018. It did not come to fruition. What's your expectation for that?

32:08Kaitlan Collins: I mean, Paul said it. I mean, you've got two guys from New York, and I think most days Donald Trump's got more in common with them than he's got with some, you know, Southern Republican who grew up on a farm. I think, you know, there have already been some behind the scenes conversations that have been reported upon. I do think Donald Trump thinks he can speak the same language, have some conversations with some guys down the block and maybe get something done. Don't count me as someone quit placing a bet on that, but he lives in hope on that front.

32:41Bill Cassidy: Yeah, we shall see. Bill Steppi and Paul Begala, thank you both for being here tonight. And up next, Democrats did not just deliver those majorities in the House and the Senate. They are one sweeping control. Harry N10 has been looking at the map. That majority is still growing tonight. Also, Democrats are soon going up to decide what to do with that power. Van Jones is here to weigh in.

33:11Bill Cassidy: If you thought election night was over, you're wrong. The new majority for House Democrats is actually still growing tonight after their historic wins on Tuesday. Now, so far, we're keeping count of all of this, Democrats have flipped total 43 seats in the House. They're on track to win at least 253, which is something that party hasn't done since 2008. And to really understand how dominant Democrats were, this is a mind-blowing stat for you. The Democrat Senate candidates in Texas, Georgia, and North Carolina got more early votes than their opponents got in total. In other words, had those Democratic voters or had those Democrats not gotten a single vote on Election Day, they still would have won their races.

33:57Bill Cassidy: I want to run the numbers tonight with our chief data analyst, Harry Enten, who is often quoted by both parties. Harry, that number is crazy. The idea that so many people showed up before Election Day to vote for these candidates, that even if no one had showed up, they still would have won, is wild.

34:15Kaitlan Collins: It's absolutely bonkers. You know, you talked about the Senate, but how about the House? How about the House? The enthusiasm off the charts, it's historic. What are we talking about here? Well, why don't we just take a look at this? We still have more votes to count in the House of Representatives, but even at this hour, I can tell you that the most House votes ever in a midterm now belong to the Democrats. They're going to get at least 62 million, at least 62 million people voted for Democrats nationwide in the House the most ever. And what was that supercharged by, Caitlin? It was by people who got off the sidelines who normally don't vote in midterm elections.

34:57Kaitlan Collins: Take a look at this one. OK, first time midterm voters, your House vote. Look at this. Democrats basically doubling up on the Republicans at two to one margin, 65 to 33 percent. And I will note, Caitlin, what a difference from a midterm ago when Republicans actually won first time midterm voters.

35:15Bill Cassidy: OK, so, I mean, looking at that and something, a stat that the White House touted, that Republicans touted before on Texas itself, Democrats didn't just win the Senate race. They didn't just win the governor's race. They won everything. I mean, Ted Cruz said, you know, it's hard to say, but he is the only Republican elected statewide in Texas.

35:37Kaitlan Collins: Who would have ever thought you'd see the day in the 21st century? You know, your producers asked me if I could potentially do this. And the truth is, I wanted to fit all of them on a screen, and I couldn't actually do it. So what we literally did was, I said it was too big to fit, and you can see it on your screen. A U.S. Senate race, governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general, controller, control of the state house, four seats on the Texas Supreme Court, three seats on the Court of Criminal Appeals. three, I mean, look at this, three seats on the Court of Appeals, the Agriculture Commissioner, the Railroad Commissioner, the control of the Tarrant County Commissioner's Court, Fort Bend County Judge, Williamson County Judge.

36:16Kaitlan Collins: They won everywhere statewide and in local county offices as well, Caitlin. I mean, the big question has been, well, one, we'll see what Texas looks

36:25Bill Cassidy: like for us in the next presidential election. But in general, for Democrats in 2028, it has supercharged a conversation that was already pretty much up there.

36:35Kaitlan Collins: Yeah, I mean, look at this. I mean, Democrats won back the Senate and the chance that they're going to hold it according to the Cal State prediction market come 2028. Look at this. 88 percent. We'll obviously see what happens come 2028. But this could be a Democratic majority that they won on Tuesday that could be here for some time to come, Caitlin.

36:52Bill Cassidy: Harry Anton, we shall see if that is true. Thank you for writing the numbers for us tonight. I have a feeling that will not be playing at the

36:58Kaitlan Collins: president's rallies like I don't think so I don't think so joining me now is my

37:03Bill Cassidy: Democratic source tonight to weigh in on what's going on with his party Van Jones is a former Obama administration official Van I've been smiling a lot since Tuesday night I'm still happy a big question you know now that we are getting into it I mean the Texas races alone are pretty crazy look I mean look

37:23Kaitlan Collins: if we were sitting here talking about California being run by Republicans that would be shocking. That's how shocking this is. And listen, Georgia, every statewide office held by an African-American woman. I mean, it's just we're on a different planet somehow.

37:40Bill Cassidy: So what do you want Democrats to do with this? Because it is a big question.

37:44Kaitlan Collins: Yeah. Well, listen, there are going to be people who want to do the accountability, what they call the oversight. I'm less interested in that. Obviously, you've got to spray these guys up with a bunch of subpoenas. If you're in there grabbing, drifting and getting money, You should sit in front of the gavels and have that. Most people, I think, in America, though, want to see the Democrats accomplish something that will help them in their daily lives. There is a big emergency coming up. These Medicaid cuts are going to be literally devastating. People are going to lose their lives because the Republicans rammed through all these Medicaid cuts that don't kick in until next year.

38:17Kaitlan Collins: I think Democrats should, on an emergency basis, grab the Republicans by the hands and say, we've got to do something. stop closing these hospitals, stop letting poor people die. And I think that should be the first thing. The second thing, to stay focused, is we do have this whole AI looming crisis in the data centers. There's a way to get some federal guidance on that so we can have data centers that don't poison people, data centers that don't drive up energy bills, and get some federal guidance there. But the big problem we won't be able to solve easily is the gas prices, because that's about the war.

38:51Kaitlan Collins: And so the real pain that's been driving this is the gas prices. We have almost no leverage on that. But I believe if we have 57 seats in the U.S. Senate, we should be able to get three, four, or five Republicans to come with us to stop these Medicaid cuts. And it's gas prices, groceries, and health care costs. We can do something about the health care costs immediately.

39:12Bill Cassidy: And you think Democrats are ready to do that?

39:14Kaitlan Collins: Well, look, I think someone -

39:15Bill Cassidy: A lead on that?

39:16Kaitlan Collins: Listen, we got a bunch of Democrats that I think ran for the right reasons. Also, it's not just about the people who are elected to office. Now it can be told. Now it can be told. How did we win the narrative on affordability? Were they just these nice little Democrats out there running for office and going to? No. The Republicans never figured out what we were doing. There's something called the American Accountability Network. Tens of thousands of online humans, not bots, coordinated to make the affordability message a winning message online. 32.5 million people hit on Instagram every day. 88.8 million hit on Twitter every single day.

40:03Kaitlan Collins: And 185 million Facebook hits every single day. And they never figured it out. The Republicans could not understand. It wasn't bots. It was actual human beings. The most effective online organizing campaign, called the American Accountability Network, flew under the radar screen, never been told.

40:19Bill Cassidy: And they were talking about the issue, or they were saying you need to elect Democrats to deal with this?

40:24Kaitlan Collins: Driving the kitchen table affordability message and tying that to Democrats on a positive and Republicans on a negative. The Republicans never figured out what we were doing. And what that meant was everywhere you go, people were talking about affordability, and they were talking about kitchen table issues. They couldn't get any traction on these cultural war issues anymore because we figured out how to get around all that. So it's not just all the door knocking that was done, which is amazing. It's not just our amazing candidate quality. We had something called the American Accountability Network.

40:56Kaitlan Collins: Don't get mad at me. I was given permission to reveal this. They never figured it out. And that network is going to continue to push for kitchen table issues and hold our Democratic lawmakers accountable.

41:07Bill Cassidy: That's fascinating.

41:08Kaitlan Collins: Yep.

41:09Bill Cassidy: Van Jones. Well, I hope you don't get in trouble, but thank you for sharing this tonight. No, I got permission.

41:12Kaitlan Collins: Now it can be told. Now it can be told.

41:15Bill Cassidy: Great to have you, as always, Van Jones. Thank you so much. Up next, it is time for source code. Tonight's source code is 158. I'll be right back with the story.

41:36Bill Cassidy: Tonight's source code is 158. That's because the historic midterm blue wave on Tuesday night is sending at least 158 women to Congress next year. It's a record-breaking number that surpasses the record that was set in 2024. Of those, 131 women will be part of the Democratic caucus. Democratic women also scored historic first outside the Beltway as they are headed to 14 different governor's mansions across the country. That includes Georgia's Keisha Lance Bottoms, who is going to become the country's first black woman governor, New Mexico's Deb Haaland, who is going to be the first Native American woman governor, and Gina Hinojosa, who will be Texas's first Hispanic governor, and also the state's first Democratic governor that they've had in decades after she ousted the three-term Republican incumbent, Governor Greg Abbott.

42:27Bill Cassidy: Thanks so much for joining us here tonight on The Source. You can join live or watch on demand anytime if you have an all-access subscription. All you have to do is scan the QR code on your screen or go to cnn.com slash watch to learn more. Appreciate you joining us. CNN Newsnight starts now.

42:45Kaitlan Collins: Let's have I got news for your ears. The podcast. I am your host, Michael Ian Black. We are talking about the final polls going into the midterms, the hot races getting the most attention. Trump's final argument. Have I got news for your ears? Check us out on Apple, Amazon Music, wherever you get your podcasts. Even better, you can watch the podcast on Spotify.