14 days to midterms: Tur interviews Talarico, Vivek's ad gets BACKLASH — MS NOW Highlights

[0:00] Early voting has started. [0:01] Yes. [0:01] Two weeks out. [0:02] You just walked out of this rally here. [0:04] How are you feeling? [0:04] I'm feeling great. [0:05] The momentum is unbelievable on the ground. [0:09] And it sounds like we broke early voting records today all across Texas. [0:13] So I think people are stepping up and demanding an end to this corruption. [0:18] And they're looking for a senator who's actually going to fight for the people of this state. [0:22] I heard about lines that were an hour and a half long. [0:24] You think all those voters are yours? [0:25] I think a lot of them are. [0:26] But I want everyone to make their voice heard, even if they're not voting for me. [0:29] This is what this country is all about. [0:33] It's a gift, all of us being able to choose our own leaders and shape our own destinies. [0:38] It's a very fragile gift that a lot of people around the world desperately wish they had. [0:42] You had two rallies today. [0:44] This is the second one. [0:45] What's the most surprising thing you heard from voters today? [0:47] I mean, I'm hearing from voters across the political spectrum who say for the first time in a long time they feel hope. [0:54] And that's such a rewarding thing for me. [0:56] You know, I'm in seminary studying to become a minister. [0:59] And when I was deciding whether or not to run for this Senate seat last summer, you know, I was debating between finishing up my seminary work or doing this campaign. [1:08] And it does feel like, in a way, we are doing ministry work out here, giving people hope, especially people who have felt disillusioned in this political system for a long time. [1:21] You talk about your faith a lot. [1:22] I was talking to a couple of voters yesterday in Houston, Chad and Nikki, and they were talking about the economy. [1:28] I asked them, what are they thinking about? [1:29] They talked about gas prices. [1:31] They talked about the grocery bill. [1:32] They've got five kids, groceries do not last the week, $180 to fill up his diesel truck, which is a ton of money. [1:40] But then when I asked them what they would be thinking about when they walked into the voting booth, they said Christian values. [1:46] And I took that to mean in the moment that they were not going to vote for you. [1:50] So you've talked about your Christian faith so much and so authentically, more authentically than a lot of lawmakers out there, a lot of politicians. [1:58] What is it going to take in these last two weeks to convince those who are still a little skeptical that your values aren't their values? [2:04] Well, you know, I hope people can look at my record in the Texas House because you don't have to wonder what kind of senator I'm going to be. [2:10] You can just look at what kind of state rep I was. [2:12] The best indicator of future behavior is past behavior. [2:14] And I was named by Texas Monthly as one of the top 10 legislators in the state of Texas because of my bipartisan work, my accomplishments, my ability to deliver from my constituents. [2:26] I passed 60 bipartisan bills over my four terms. [2:29] And these were bills that lowered costs, lowered the cost of housing, the cost of child care, which is now more expensive than college in the state of Texas, especially for young families and the cost of prescription drugs, including insulin. [2:41] I ran for office to love my neighbor through public policy, to make my neighbor's life easier and better. [2:48] And my faith teaches me servant leadership, the idea that being a leader means being a servant, that to be first, you have to be last. [2:54] And I'm applying for this job of U.S. senators so that I can serve the people of the state in Washington. [2:59] And that's in clear contrast to our opponent. [3:01] Can you get that message out there in this last two weeks there? [3:04] I mean, you raised a whole lot of money this third quarter, a record. [3:07] And they're all it's all grassroots money, you say. [3:09] Yes. [3:10] But there's a whole lot of money being spent against you. [3:12] You mentioned that they're on stage. [3:14] Two hundred million, you said, in attack ads. [3:15] Elon Musk has poured a lot into the GOP pack. [3:19] A lot of the I mean, I was watching the Cowboys games game yesterday. [3:22] And a lot of the ads were attack ads against you on transgender issues, on calling God non-binary. [3:28] I know you've addressed this. [3:29] Do you have enough time to combat that flood of money? [3:33] I mean, it's why we're barnstorming the state. [3:35] It's why we're holding multiple rallies a day. [3:37] It's why our our 60,000 volunteers are out there knocking doors and making phone calls and sending text messages. [3:42] By the way, anyone watching can sign up to volunteer on our website, James Tallarico dot com. [3:47] Big money is powerful. [3:49] I don't want to sugarcoat that the richest man in the world is coming after us. [3:52] But it is nothing compared to people power. [3:55] I really do believe that. [3:56] And I think Elon Musk wants out of this race. [3:59] Well, Elon wants our land. [4:01] He's already trying to buy one of our beautiful state parks down in in South Texas. [4:06] He wants our water for these AI data centers. [4:09] He wants our taxpayer funds like when he ran that crazy doge process. [4:14] And he wants his very own personal United States senator. [4:17] And that's what he thinks he can get with Ken Paxton. [4:20] Ken Paxton, I know you want to debate him. [4:23] You've offered to debate him. [4:24] He says he can't make the scheduling work or something. [4:27] I heard that you can't make the scheduling work. [4:29] You say that's not true. [4:30] I'll meet him anywhere, anytime. [4:32] If you were standing here with Ken Paxton, what would you be pressing him on? [4:35] I mean, I would ask Ken how he increased his net worth by twenty seven million dollars as a public employee. [4:40] I would ask him how he owns 15 homes on a government salary. [4:45] I would ask him why he was impeached by his own party and reported to the FBI by his own staff. [4:50] And I would ask him why he's taking bribes from wealthy donors while he blocks our overtime pay and guts our health care. [4:57] I mean, this Ken Paxton represents everything that's broken in this corrupt political system. [5:02] You implied he wasn't even a Texan. [5:03] Well, I mean, he's a Californian. [5:05] No offense to Californians, but he's not from here. [5:07] And I think what's what's more important than whether or not he grew up in Texas is that he doesn't understand what this state is all about. [5:14] I mentioned at this event that Texas used to be known as the friendly state. [5:18] Hospitality is is a core value of ours. [5:22] Friendship across lines of difference. [5:24] Friendship amidst diversity. [5:25] Ken Paxton weaponizes that diversity to score political points. [5:28] We need a senator who will celebrate that diversity and remember that friendship is our core value as Texans. [5:33] If you are able to get to the Senate, other Democrats as well, what is the one thing you can definitely deliver to the people of Texas? [5:41] Well, I've talked earlier about the first bill I want to file is anti-corruption. [5:45] I want to go after these these corporate PACs and super PACs. [5:48] I want to go after members of Congress trading stocks. [5:51] I want to go after gerrymandering. [5:52] And the reason I want to do that is because we're not going to make progress on costs or pay or jobs or education or health care until we get the big money out of our politics. [6:03] That that is what I've seen over four terms of being inside this broken system, you know, as well as I do, you're going to need a super majority to do that. [6:11] You need a majority in the Senate. [6:12] You need a majority in the House. [6:13] You're going to need the president to sign on to that. [6:14] So what is the thing that you can actually do in this next two years while Donald Trump is still in office? [6:19] Well, I will say I'm for abolishing the filibuster to get this done. [6:22] So we don't need a super majority. [6:23] I think a majority should be able to govern. [6:25] And what happens if you get it? [6:26] Well, so you're right. [6:28] With Donald Trump in the Oval Office, we're going to find areas where we can work together. [6:33] I mean, the president has has been supportive of housing reforms and building. [6:38] He's a builder himself. [6:39] And I hope we can work together on housing costs, because here in Texas, it is almost impossible to buy a home in your 20s and even in your 30s. [6:48] So many young people are locked out of the dream of homeownership because we have a supply problem. [6:53] We don't have enough housing in this state, in this country. [6:56] So I hope that's an area we can work together. [6:58] Criminal justice reform. [6:59] I was a fan of of his criminal justice reform in the first term. [7:03] I hope we can do that together. [7:04] He's for legalizing marijuana. [7:05] And so am I. [7:06] And so I hope we can do that together and expunge the records of people who have been locked up for a crime that doesn't hurt anybody. [7:14] Those are some areas where I think we could work together with the president. [7:16] That's interesting. [7:17] Let me ask you about your I was watching your Instagram today and I found the most compelling thing I heard you say was about billionaires. [7:25] And you said the minority that is most dangerous to the country are billionaires. [7:30] That's right. [7:31] It's not the immigrants. [7:33] It's not Muslims. [7:34] It's billionaires. [7:35] That's right. [7:35] Sounds a lot like Bernie Sanders. [7:37] Was he right all along? [7:38] Well, I do think that we've all been focused on the wrong one percent. [7:41] You know, you've heard a lot about trans people in this race. [7:44] They're one percent of the population. [7:46] You've heard about Muslims in this race from Republicans running statewide. [7:49] They're one percent of the population. [7:51] Even undocumented immigrants are one percent of the population. [7:54] We are focused on the wrong one percent because the only minority destroying America is the billionaire class. [8:01] And it's time that we tax them, make them pay their fair share so we can invest in education and health care and lower our costs. [8:07] We have to limit their influence in our politics. [8:10] They deserve a seat at the table, but they don't deserve every seat at the table. [8:14] I mean, this is crazy what's happened in this country, not over the last five years, but over the last five decades. [8:19] Billionaires have bought our political system and then they've rigged the rules of the economy in their favor. [8:24] Do you think if Democrats stuck to that message against the billionaire class, stuck to Bernie's messaging earlier on in 2016 and beyond that we'd be in this position? [8:35] I think too many Democrats have joined Republicans in preaching the false gospel of trickle down economics. [8:40] The idea that all we got to do to get the economy on track is to let the rich get richer and forget about everybody else. [8:47] And and that trickle down economics is not a theory. [8:51] It's theft. [8:52] They have been stealing from working people in Texas and across the country for 50 years. [8:57] Now, our pay has remained stagnant for those five decades. [9:00] The middle class has disappeared. [9:01] I mean, we once had the strongest, largest middle class in the history of the world in the middle of the 20th century because we made the wealthy pay their fair share. [9:09] We invested in education and health care. [9:11] We built homes and highways. [9:13] We protected workers' rights and workers' paychecks. [9:16] We can do that again. [9:18] We can rebuild this American dream. [9:20] We can rebuild this middle class so that hard work pays and people can get ahead. [9:24] It's got two more for you. [9:25] Donald Trump's going to be in office for two more years today in the news. [9:28] Everyone's talking about this deal he's making with Russia, not going through with the sanctions that he signed just recently. [9:35] Andrew McCarthy writing in the National Review all but called him, accused him of treason. [9:40] Are you worried about what he's going to be like in this next two years if the Democrats win, if the Republicans win? [9:46] Well, I think appeasing Vladimir Putin is a mistake. [9:50] And I hope the president changes course and stands up to Russian aggression. [9:54] I think over the next two years, President Trump has a choice to make. [9:58] He can listen to the people of this country and take the feedback that I think he's going to get in this election and work with Democrats to actually deliver for working people. [10:07] Or he can go down that dark path that we saw on January 6th, 2021. [10:12] I pray every night that it's the former instead of the latter. [10:15] And I'll be ready to work with President Trump on a lot of the issues that we agree on to help working people in my state. [10:22] And I'll stand up to him when I need to. [10:24] We need a senator who can do both of those things. [10:27] Ken Paxton will be a lapdog. [10:28] He's going to do whatever President Trump, whatever Elon Musk tells him to do. [10:32] I'm always going to do what's right for the 31 million Texans that I'll represent in the U.S. Senate. [10:37] I'm going to finally I got a three hour drive to Austin. [10:38] Yeah, yeah. [10:39] Give me your best Texas plan. [10:42] Playlist. [10:42] What should be on it? [10:43] Oh, my gosh. [10:44] Well, you got to have Willie Nelson. [10:45] Yeah. [10:46] You got to have Casey Musgraves, who I got to see in concert a few nights ago. [10:50] I also got to see the chicks. [10:52] Yeah, I saw them. [10:53] And then, of course, Beyonce, who is our Texas treasure, our gift to the nation. [10:57] And then I'll add Selena for some Tejano music. [11:00] Some Selena, yeah. [11:01] There's your Mount Rushmore of Texas music. [11:03] I like that. [11:04] I like that. [11:04] Thank you so much for talking to me. [11:05] Thank you for being here. [11:06] I really appreciate it. [11:07] I'm grateful you came. [11:08] Thank you. [11:08] Two weeks. [11:08] That's right. [11:09] That's right. [11:09] Good luck out there. [11:10] I have confidence in the security of this election because I know the work that we've [11:20] done for four years in support of our state and local partners. [11:23] We spent something on the order of three and a half years of gaming out every possible [11:31] scenario for how a foreign actor could interfere with an election. [11:38] Countless, countless scenarios. [11:43] Hi again, everyone. [11:44] It's now five hours in New York. [11:45] Right after Chris Krebs, that's who that was, was fired by Donald Trump for making sure the [11:51] 2020 election was secure, Krebs, the former director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure [11:56] Security Agency, or CISA, provided some insight into the work that he did, that his agency did, [12:02] speaking to how much and how many years go into protecting America and our elections from [12:10] meddling or attacks from foreign powers or rogue actors. [12:14] But now, six years later, as we look ahead to the midterm elections, they're two weeks from today. [12:21] What happens if the interference comes from within? [12:24] Startling new reporting and ProPublica reveals that the very agency that guy, Chris Krebs, used [12:29] to lead was asked to do something employees there felt amounted to participating in election [12:35] interference from that reporting, quote, a few months into Donald Trump's second term, political [12:40] appointees at the Department of Homeland Security made an unusual request of its agency focused on [12:47] cybersecurity, secretly acquire a voting machine and hack it. The appointees wanted CISA to procure [12:55] the machine, examine it, and report back the findings so they could be given to the White House. [12:59] That's according to two former administration officials with knowledge of the request. [13:04] The White House didn't answer ProPublica's questions about the hack, but in a twist of irony, [13:11] ProPublica reports this, quote, the CISA employees repeatedly told the political appointees [13:16] that their request was impossible, in part because the agents capable of pulling off such an operation [13:21] had just been laid off by Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency Initiative. So because Trump [13:30] destroyed the government through Elon Musk's dough, she couldn't hack voting machines, [13:35] even though the request was not ultimately fulfilled, the fact that it was made in the first place [13:41] shows how emboldened Trump is in his efforts to undermine our democracy. Worries that Trump will [13:48] interfere in this year's midterms are so sizable that the Washington Post reports this, quote, [13:53] a small group of U.S. national security officials has been discreetly advising state governments [13:58] and congressional lawmakers and had to prepare for the possibility that the Trump administration [14:03] will attempt to interfere. The group includes about 10 current and former officials with [14:09] experience in the Defense Department, some of whom previously focused on countering authoritarianism [14:14] abroad. Guarding against interference from the inside is where we begin the hour with ProPublica [14:20] investigative reporter Andy Mannix, who was bylined on that bombshell CISA report. Also joining us, [14:26] voting rights attorney and democracy docket founder Mark Elias is here. And with me for the hour, [14:31] PUC News senior political columnist and national affairs analyst John Heilman is here. I always start [14:38] with Mark Elias, but Andy Mannix, this story is so chilling and blood curdling. I have to start by [14:44] asking you to take all of us through what you're reporting. Yeah, you know, you mentioned the request [14:53] that came to some CISA folks that, you know, as you say, they didn't act on or didn't come to pass, [14:59] but were really disturbed by, you know, for, you know, CISA does do what they would call penetration [15:05] testing where, you know, like they might go to a state like Minnesota or California and have engineers [15:13] who are essentially trying to hack into their systems to show where their weaknesses are so they [15:18] can then patch them. This was not that, you know, this was a request that was made surreptitiously [15:24] to get their hands on a voting machine. Um, you know, one, one of the, the sources that we talked [15:31] to, um, you know, believed it was, uh, you know, they wanted them to ask like a friendly jurisdiction [15:37] or Republican jurisdiction that, you know, that might give them one. They wanted them to hack [15:41] and report these findings only to the white house. Uh, so this would be a break of protocol that, [15:47] you know, they didn't want them to, for example, share the findings with the voting machine vendor [15:51] so they could then patch them, which, which would have been their protocol. Uh, you know, [15:55] the, the bigger picture though, is, um, I think what's happened to CISA, you know, you, you, [16:00] you quoted Chris Krebs who had a hand in, in creating CISA during Trump 1.0, uh, you know, [16:08] spent a lot of time trying to get the trust of the, the state authorities who run these elections [16:14] and did so successfully kind of against, you know, some, some pretty high odds. I think there's a lot [16:19] skepticism at that time. And, you know, what we've seen in the past two years, it's just the [16:25] decimating of this agency. Um, and, and I think that this is indicative of, of how the Trump [16:32] administration looks at, at CISA as just sort of another tendril of this conspiracy obsessed [16:37] white house, rather than being an independent nonpartisan agency. I think there's also another [16:42] example of, of the Trump administration saying one thing and doing the complete opposite. Uh, you know, [16:48] Trump in, and most notably maybe on the July 16th speech talked about how the cyber threat to our [16:55] elections is so grave that, that, you know, they, they may not be safe yet. The, the very agency, [17:01] you know, as, as you just said, that is supposed to be in charge of protecting against cyber threats, [17:06] an agency that was built by George W. Bush and, um, and, and Donald Trump in his first term, [17:13] uh, you know, again, this isn't like a Biden or, or Obama agency is, is being gutted. Uh, you know, [17:19] they cut it by a third, they've cut the, the people who are, you know, working most closely [17:23] with election officials. So, you know, I think that a lot of the story looks at how those two [17:28] things just, just don't really quite make sense. The rhetoric versus the action. [17:32] So I appreciate the big picture. Look, I want to just dive into something really narrow though, [17:39] that you report, because it seems like the smoking gun of their intent of their state of mind. You [17:43] write this, the proposition was shocking to CISA's career staffers, according to one of the former [17:48] officials. CISA typically worked to thwart hackers. Moreover, the agency had been directed not to alert [17:56] the voting machine company if it uncovered flaws, contrary to its standard practices. The request made [18:02] the CISA employees fear they were being asked to take part in political interference. My thought was [18:07] they could keep it in their back pocket to invalidate any election results they don't like. [18:11] One of the former officials said this goes against everything CISA represents. I mean, [18:16] I have a hard time arguing it's anything else. If quote, the agency was directed not to alert the [18:22] voting machine company, if it uncovered flaws, if you wanted to protect the country from election [18:27] interference, you would alert the voting company so it could fix the flaws. How is there any other [18:32] interpretation of not alerting the voting company if it uncovered flaws, end quote? [18:39] You know, it's a great question. And obviously, we're not in their heads. But, you know, we have [18:44] seen the Trump administration's fixation on voting machines, you know, before and after this request. [18:50] And in fact, we saw, you know, Tulsi Gabbard essentially enact a pretty similar plan to this [18:56] in Puerto Rico, you know, a few months after CISA declined to do it. You know, we've in that case, [19:05] you know, the research contractor basically didn't find the evidence of some kind of smoking gun [19:10] related to 2020 being rigged. And, you know, as it's been reported, the Trump administration cut the [19:19] contract with them after they weren't able to find what they were looking for. So I think it's, [19:23] you know, I think it's safe to say, you know, that the Trump administration has a vested interest [19:29] in trying to get their hands on voting machines and sort of prove to the American public or at [19:33] least make the case enough to sow doubt that they are, that they're safe as the midterms approach. [19:41] So, Mark Elias, we know they're safe because Bill Barr said that all of the claims that they [19:48] weren't were quote BS. We know they're safe because John Solomon, kind of on par with what Bill Barr was [19:58] in the first term, a special government employee brought in to examine the intelligence, said this [20:02] to Vaughn Hilliard, that there were no votes flipped in 2020, 2024, or 2022. So from Bill Barr to John [20:14] Solomon, figures nestled up at the highest levels deep inside the crusty MAGA coalition, [20:19] said that no voting machines switched any votes. One in Trump 1.0, one a couple of months ago. [20:26] What I ask you on earth would, would, would this would explain this sentence from the reporting [20:33] quote, the agency had been directed not to alert the voting machine company if it uncovered flaws. [20:39] What on earth could that implicate other than a plan to pack into the machines themselves? [20:45] Yeah, look, I mean, this is an administration that has shown over and over again, that it wants to [20:52] make it harder for people to vote and easier for them to cheat. And one of the ways you make it easier [20:56] to cheat is you learn how to hack into voting machines if you're the federal government, and you [21:01] don't tell the suppliers of the equipment how to that this has happened so that you that can patch it for [21:07] So this can't happen. I mean, there are now, in my view, at least three proof points. The first was [21:13] the raid on Fulton County, which at the time, Nicole, you know, there was a lot of speculation why [21:18] it happened. And I came on your air and I said they are doing this because they want to learn [21:22] how to seize ballots. Like the Department of Justice doesn't have any history in seizing ballots. So what [21:27] better way to be set up to seize ballots in the future, but to practice seizing ballots with a past [21:33] election. Number two, what we have seen just recently in California, right, we are watching them in [21:40] real time, practice in California, how you can force a state through threats and intimidation and [21:47] litigation to disenfranchise 10s of 1000s of voters and disregard state law, because Donald Trump sends [21:54] you a list or his administration sends you a list of people they want removed. And if they are able to pull [21:59] that off, that will be a powerful tool in the post election. And then this is number three, [22:04] right, where they are essentially trying to commission hackers within the administration [22:09] to figure out ways to infiltrate voting equipment, which would also be useful, not only because they [22:16] might want to do the hacking, but also because if they decided they needed to to cause panic and mayhem [22:24] and force the decertification of voting machines and mass and disrupt elections that way, being able to [22:31] show that they were hackable and that they had been hacked is a perfect way to do that. So I mean, all of [22:36] these are directionally, Nicole, towards setting up a way for the Trump administration after the [22:43] elections, or even now, and perhaps in the days leading up to the elections, to suggest that these [22:49] elections are not free and fair, because Donald Trump didn't get his way and be an excuse for the [22:53] federal government to do something dramatic, and I should add, unconstitutional. [22:57] And what is the defense against all of that? [23:01] So the defense against it is threefold. First of all, it's exposing it, right? So the fact that [23:05] we talk about it and we lay out what they are doing makes it harder for them to do the thing. [23:11] The fact is that this pro publico report makes it harder for them to achieve that goal. The fact that [23:17] we are examining in real time what's going on in California makes it harder. The second is we need [23:22] to be prepared to litigate. My law firm is already litigating in the California case. And, you know, [23:28] I expect in the coming hours or days, you'll hear of more litigation that we're involved in to take some [23:34] of these issues on. And then the third is we need the local and state election officials to learn from [23:40] this and be prepared to stand up tall where too many have before not when the administration comes and [23:48] tells lies and wants to take extraordinary measures. Look, it's abundantly clear the Republicans are [23:54] in a bind this election. They have no agenda to run on. Their fragile president is political [23:58] kryptonite. And his only positive message on the campaign trail seems to be some version of [24:04] this guy never skips glute day at the gym, everyone, which is why Republican candidates and the leaders [24:11] in their party seem to be turning increasingly toward a kind of a vile gutter politics as the solution to [24:17] their problems. I mean, in Michigan, both Mike Rogers and the Trump administration have spent the last [24:22] few weeks doing everything they can to attack Democrat Abdul El-Sayed over his Muslim heritage. [24:29] And they are not being the slightest bit subtle about it. You have a Manchurian candidate running [24:38] in Michigan, somebody whose allegiance is not to this country, but to jihadist violence. [24:45] His name is actually Abdullah, it's Abdullah, Muhammad El-Sayed. And he's a Muslim Brotherhood guy, [24:55] 100%. He has taken money from groups associated and support the Muslim Brotherhood, the Muslim [25:01] Brotherhood, Muslim Brotherhood. He passes the time sending letters to Muslim Brotherhood aligned [25:07] foreign regimes. Don't vote for Muhammad El-Sayed. He's not for us and he hates our country. [25:14] There are no more dog whistles. They're doing this with bullhorns. We've seen also a similar style [25:23] of gutter politics in the campaign against James Tallarico. There was the completely concocted story [25:28] that Tallarico had fled the state seeking mental health treatment. There was J.D. Vance implying on [25:34] the campaign trail that Tallarico is secretly gay. And there have been attacks like this one from [25:39] Stephen Miller implying that Tallarico is transgender. Every day, the Republican Party seems to stoop [25:45] lower and lower in their desperate quest to hold on to power. And today we saw one of the most vile [25:52] attacks on a Democratic candidate yet. Amy Acton is a Democratic candidate running for governor of [25:59] the state of Ohio against Republican Vivek Ramaswamy. And sometime in the past 24 hours, [26:04] this political ad appeared online. It shows Amy Acton's birth mother calling her a liar and urging [26:10] Ohio voters not to support her. What the ad does not tell you, which is incredibly important context, [26:16] is that Amy Acton and her brother were removed from their mother's custody when Amy was just 12 years [26:22] old after their stepfather was criminally charged with raping and sexually abusing Amy. Amy and her [26:28] brother have been estranged from their mother ever since. And for most of the day, the Ramaswamy [26:33] campaign would not confirm they were responsible for making this ad, nor did they denounce it. So that was [26:38] kind of weird. But then just before we came on the air tonight, the Ramaswamy campaign finally [26:43] confirmed to Axios that they did in fact produce the ad themselves. That's disgusting ad. In fact, [26:49] sources told Axios they plan to spend $4 million, that is a lot of money in Ohio media markets, [26:55] on a statewide campaign promoting it. Today, Amy Acton's brother responded with a video of his on, [27:02] and here's what he had to say. I received a lot of abuse, but Amy always got the worst of it. [27:11] She continued to receive that abuse because she knew she had to protect me from that. And that [27:18] if she hadn't done that, who knows where I would have ended up. And she's 11 and 12 years old. [27:25] And to think that that's somehow a talking point, shame on Vivek. It's the contempt he has for Amy, [27:30] it's the contempt he has for Ohio. He's not fit to lead. It is astounding that Republicans like [27:39] Vivek Ramaswamy think that voters will respond well to this particularly vile brand of politics. [27:46] And today, just seconds after taking the stage at a campaign event, Ramaswamy was interrupted by a [27:50] protester who confronted him over that ad. This is the choice. I mean, that is a defining choice right [27:57] there that voters are facing this November. Do you side with a party who is trying to win by [28:02] energizing voters across the country, bringing new people into the process, bringing them to events, [28:07] helping them register? Or do you side with the party so desperate to hang on to power [28:11] that they will smear their opponents in sleazy, dark and downright disgusting ways? [28:17] Joining me now is Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock of Georgia. He's also the senior pastor [28:21] of Atlanta's Ebenezer Baptist Church. He's joining me from Michigan. He's been all over the country. [28:26] Senator Warnock, thank you so much for being here with me tonight. [28:31] Great to be with you. Thank you. [28:34] Let me start with this. I mean, this is what happens, I think. I mean, [28:37] you have run tough campaigns. You have been, as I noted, campaigning all across the country. [28:43] And when you don't have a real platform to run on, sometimes campaigns make the choice to do what [28:49] is happening now. I mean, there's a campaign that is insinuating that James Tallarico was at a mental [28:54] institution or that he is gay. There's a campaign suggesting that Abdul El-Sayed is a terrorist. [29:00] Apparently, even there's a campaign resorting to this disgusting new Ramaswamy ad against Amy Acton, [29:06] that reportedly they're going to put $4 million behind. I mean, we know this is because they don't [29:11] have other things to run on. But what does it tell you, as you've digested this all, about their [29:17] closing message? [29:20] Well, clearly, as you said, they don't have anything to run on. This is the politics of division and [29:27] distraction. And I have to say that where the Amy Acton ad is concerned, run by Ramaswamy's campaign, [29:36] that is about the most vile and disgusting thing I've seen in a long time. There are far too many [29:43] women, far too many children who know the awful tragedy of rape, of molestation, sexual assault, [29:56] and then to gaslight the victim when you know it's a lie. Vivek Ramaswamy has shown us who he is. [30:07] This ad alone is disqualifying. And I hope that the people of Ohio will send them a very, [30:15] very clear message. But the Republicans, they don't have anything to run on. They certainly [30:20] can't run on this economy. Every now and then, Donald Trump, apparently unaware of what cycle [30:25] he's in, calls it the Biden economy. Here he's been in office two years. This is how you know that [30:33] he knows it's a terrible economy, because if he thought this were a good economy, he'd be taking [30:38] credit for it. But two years later, he and his cabinet members keep calling it the Biden economy. [30:42] Why? Because this economy is crushing people. They can't afford gas. They can't afford groceries. [30:48] They can barely pay their utility bills. Health care is inexpensive and out of reach for so many [30:56] people. And the people want change. I am feeling that fury on the ground. That's the momentum that [31:03] you're seeing in this in these early voting results. [31:06] Good evening from New York. I'm Chris Hayes. We are two weeks from Election Day. And every day, [31:11] election forecasters, the people that crunch the numbers, the people look at this stuff are shifting [31:15] more and more races towards Democrats. Republican campaign committees are pumping more money into [31:21] House districts that Donald Trump carried two years ago by double digits, plus 12, plus 14. Donald Trump [31:27] is still touring red states to try and shore up the MAGA base, relying on waves of super PAC [31:32] billionaire money to keep things close. And right now, again, if the polls are right, if the data we [31:39] have in front of us is accurate, it doesn't look like it's working. And so now, well, now it's time [31:43] for dirty tricks. And by dirty, I really mean dirty. I mean, I have covered politics for a long time. [31:48] There's an old saying, politics ain't beanbag. Things can get pretty rough and tumble. I've seen [31:52] people pull really crazy stunts down the stretch. But this week, we are seeing some of the most [31:58] genuinely desperate tricks I've ever seen in my career. And none are as despicable as this one ad [32:05] going around in support of Vivek Ramaswamy. He's the Republican candidate for govern Ohio. Do you [32:11] remember him from the Republican presidential primary debates? The anti-woke tech tycoon, utterly [32:18] insufferable, that Trump named to help lead the so-called Department of Government Efficiency [32:22] with world-richist Manny Elon Musk, only for Ramaswamy to step down 69 days later so he could do this, [32:28] prepare his Ohio governor run. Well, things are not going great for Ramaswamy's campaign. He trails [32:35] in Ohio, a state Trump carried by double digits. He trails Democratic challenger Dr. Amy Acton by five [32:40] points in 50 plus ones poll polls to state that Trump won by 11 percent in 2024. And now we're two [32:47] weeks away. And so how desperate is Vivek Ramaswamy? He is this desperate. [32:54] My name is Donna Arthur, and I'm Amy Acton's mother. Amy has a serious problem. She is a liar. [33:05] She lies about her past. She says she grew up living in a tent. None of that is true. She's lied her entire [33:14] life. Don't vote for people who lie. Don't let her become your governor. If you think she'll make [33:21] your life better, you're fooling yourself. It will only get worse. Now, you see an ad in which a woman [33:28] like that calls her own daughter a liar. It gets you to thinking, right? That's Amy Acton's mother [33:33] calling her daughter a liar. When you see something like that, you think, there's got to be a story [33:38] here that I don't know, right? That's weird. That's a really weird thing for a mother to do about her [33:42] daughter. What? I wonder if I Google. Well, what neither she nor the makers of that ad mention [33:46] is that that woman, Amy Acton's birth mother, as Amy Acton calls her, has not spoken to her daughter [33:51] since 1978. And that's when she lost custody of her children, Acton's and her brother, after years [33:58] of documented abuse. In fact, today, the Conservative National Review examined evidence that Acton's [34:05] stepfather was indicted by a grand jury on charges that he sexually molested Amy Acton when she [34:12] was 12 years old. She testified to that grand jury as a child, and the stepfather fled before his [34:20] trial. Acton's mother, the woman you saw in the ad, went with him, disconnecting from her own [34:27] children. And she remained married to the man until he died in 2004. Acton's campaign responded to the [34:34] ad today with another one featuring her brother, Philip Stearns. I received a lot of abuse, but Amy [34:43] always got the worst of it. She continued to receive that abuse because she knew she had to protect me [34:50] from that. And that if she hadn't done that, who knows where I would have ended up. And she's 11 and [34:57] 12 years old. And to think that that's somehow a talking point, shame on Vivek. It's the contempt he [35:04] has for Amy. It's the contempt he has for Ohio. She's not fit to lead. None of this was a secret. [35:09] Amy Acton has talked about her abusive childhood a lot, including today. [35:17] I won't normalize somebody who has said that my childhood is something I'm just complaining about, [35:22] who today just released an ad using my birth mother, who I was removed from at the age of 12 for [35:30] severe abuse and neglect and sexual abuse. My brother and I were removed. The words are leaders, [35:36] leaders use matter. And I think it's going to take courage right now from all of us to stop [35:43] normalizing the sort of rhetoric. Now, as you can see, Amy Acton, [35:49] her brother, clearly attribute the attack ad to Ramaswamy. But here's the thing. Whoever made it [35:54] is not taking credit. Did you notice that there was no fine print on that ad saying it was paid for [35:59] by some campaign? It was not run on TV or online. It's only been shared by right wing influencers on [36:04] social media, including Donald Trump Jr., who shared it with the line, yikes, Ohio, watch this [36:10] and think about what it means. A spokeswoman for the Ramaswamy campaign did not answer questions [36:15] about who made the ad you'd think they could probably find out or they can say one or the [36:18] other. They said and said this. Ready for this? We don't know what happened between Amy and her [36:23] mother, who first spoke out about Amy in 2020. But we know that Amy Acton is a serial fabulist [36:29] who has some serious problems of the truth the public needs to be aware of before deciding to [36:34] to entrust as governor. Does that sound like a denial to you? Well, I saw this ad this morning [36:41] and I saw the kerfuffle and I thought to myself, you know, this happens a lot in the day we live [36:45] like is this will people react this way the way that I hope they will? Right. We were still better [36:51] than this. Well, I will. I'm glad to say the backlash to the ad was overwhelming, even among [36:57] some Republicans. The chief strategist for Utah Center, Mike Lee, who loves to post really like [37:01] disgusting trolley stuff online, posted an apology for sharing the ad quote after researching it and [37:07] disturbing allegations. I deleted the video post. James Fishback himself, who's trafficked in really [37:12] disgusting white nationalism and racism, a far right former gubernatorial candidate in Florida [37:17] posted. I've seen enough. Amy Acton has defeated Vivek Karamaswamy and is elected the next governor [37:22] of Ohio. And Sherrod Brown, the former Democratic senator who is running for his seat, posted that [37:29] the ad was disgusting, adding that everyone, including his opponent, Republican senator John [37:34] Husted, should be willing to condemn the ad. Husted has yet to comment. This seems like a layup, [37:38] senator. That ad is truly one of the most despicable things I've seen in politics. It's also totally [37:45] par for the course for today's Republican Party. I mean, again, it sounds awful to say, but it's true, [37:50] right? It comes from the very top. You know, it's this president who claims Democrats are communists. [37:55] They want to train your kids and Muslim candidates are terrorists and jihadists. He's going around [38:00] calling the Muslim man running for Senate in Michigan, Mohammed, Mohammed, and telling women [38:07] of color to go back to their country, going after Ilhan Omar with, you know, armed agents in the state [38:14] at her door. I mean, they are pounding on bigotry and the lies as their hopes of gaining votes dwindle [38:21] with two weeks left. Now calling a child molestation survivor, a woman who says she was raped by her [38:28] stepfather when she was 12 and that her mother stayed with the stepfather. And getting that mother [38:34] in an ad to call her own daughter a liar. Can you freaking imagine? Truly the bottom of the [38:45] barrel. And believe me, they're going to be scraping away it for the last two weeks of this campaign. [38:49] Are you happier today than you were last year? I'm dying. I'm dying. How? Diesel is $6 a gallon. [39:00] I can't do it. Is that affecting your vote? Oh, it is. It sure is. Affecting my business, [39:08] my vote, my lifestyle, everything. Are you changing the way you voted in the past? [39:12] Yes, I am. You feel good about it? I do. You want to send, you want to teach them a lesson? [39:19] Oh, I'm going to teach them a lesson. I'm going to teach you a lesson. Whoever's watching, [39:25] it's going to be, it's going to change. Things are going to change. The whole ballot? [39:30] Oh yeah. I'm not the only one. Everything's changing. Guarantee it. [39:36] Things are going to change, he says. Good to be with you. I'm Katie Chair live here in Austin, [39:42] Texas. That's right. That right there, by the way, was a conversation I had with Benjamin at a sports [39:48] bar watching the Cowboys game. Out of kindness to Benjamin, we won't talk about how that game went, [39:53] save to say that he probably felt the same way about the score as he did about the economy. [39:58] We got here on Sunday and have been hightailing it through the state, [40:01] trying to get a sense of what's on people's minds. It is the economy. Yes, everything costs too much, [40:07] but it's also the community. Listen to what two first-time voters told me about what is motivating [40:13] them. They've never voted, but they're going to. Is this your first time now? Yeah. It's actually [40:21] my first time voting. Wow. How old are you? Can I ask? I'm 29. 29. So you could have voted and you [40:29] decided this year is your year. Yeah. What is it about this year? Look at our environment. [40:33] You tell me. It speaks for itself. What in particular? It's affected my family a lot. [40:45] Immigration? Oh. Dad, job cuts, the economy. My first time voting. First time voting? How old are you? [40:53] 27. In this election? Because I need to do it for my people, the people that can't. What's driving you? [41:04] Is it immigration? Big time. How's it affected you? My parents can go out. They're always scared. So [41:13] I'm scared for them and I'm from here and I got to make a change. I got to speak up. [41:20] Those Democrats or the Democrats are hoping those voters, the first timers, the independents and the [41:25] folks who have had enough will do what has not been done here in Texas since 1988, put a Democrat [41:32] in the Senate or what hasn't been done since 1994, put a Democrat in the governor's office. [41:37] Both races are a toss up right now and it is impossible for me to tell you which way this thing is going to [41:43] land. But hopeful Democrats like Lynn believe this is it. [41:50] Is this year going to be the year? Is this year? I think so. I think it's a close race. [41:56] What did you do when it was Beto versus Cruz? [41:59] I did vote for Beto. [42:02] Were you disappointed? I was, yes. [42:05] Does it feel different or the same? It feels different. It really does. [42:08] Why? Just tell Rico is the candidate. I think he's the one who can change things in Texas. [42:16] People are ready for a change. They're tired of high prices, gas prices. [42:20] You know, I'm on social security. So it's a fixed budget. Fixed budget. [42:28] Here's the other X factor. According to ad impact, which tracks ad sales for political campaigns, [42:33] more than five hundred and twenty seven million dollars, five hundred and twenty seven million [42:38] worth of ads about the Senate race are flooding the airwaves. [42:41] A hundred and twenty million on the governor's race. [42:45] I've seen them since I've been here. They are everywhere. They're heavy on culture. [42:49] Democrats like James Tallarico and Gina Hinojosa, they're not like us or for us. [42:55] Therefore, they them. You know that ad. It worked for Donald Trump pretty well in 2024. [43:00] Is it going to work again? And will Donald Trump coming back here again help or hurt? [43:07] In other words, will frustrated voters continue to dance with the one who brought them [43:12] even if they step all over their figurative toes? Joining us, investigative reporter of the Austin [43:18] American statesman Tony Pletsky, Shauna Thomas and Eugene Daniels are still with me. I do have to [43:24] shout out my friend Gary, who I danced with at Neon Boots. I stepped all over his toes and he still [43:30] danced with me. So thank you very much, Gary. Tony, you know the state so well. [43:34] Is it wishful thinking for folks like Lynn? I don't think it's wishful thinking. [43:39] I'm not saying it's going to happen. But what we know from weeks and months of watching this [43:44] is that it is far different in terms of the polls and what the polls are showing. [43:49] And let me tell you this. The Republicans are running scared. And we see that by the amount of money [43:55] that they have infused into this race. We see that by launching conspiracy theories, [44:00] as they did last week, that James Tallarico, instead of having the flu, was at a mental [44:06] institution in Ohio. We see that with Vice President J.D. Vance coming to East Texas, [44:12] East Texas. Anyone who knows anything about Texas knows that East Texas is a Republican stronghold. [44:19] So the fact that that was chosen as his destination, I think really underscores where [44:25] Republicans are right now and how they're feeling about this race. [44:28] They say they feel so good. So is it a matter of looking at what they do and not listening to [44:32] what they say? 100 percent. Because just like you said, the Democrats, you know, they always say that [44:37] we feel good about Texas and they end up being loose with the football. But Republicans were not running [44:41] the way they did against Beto and how they're running against Tallarico, right? That's where the difference is. [44:47] I know you're going to inject some skepticism here because that's a whole lot of money. [44:50] A lot of money. It's a whole lot of money. And it is every commercial. There's a lot of football [44:55] being played right now. A lot of football being watched. Donald Trump played the They Them ads [44:59] during the World Series in 2024. And I remember seeing them and wondering what the impact was going [45:04] to be. And it was a big impact. Is that going to affect things here? I mean, I think you have to [45:09] remember that the money goes to, yes, the ads that we've seen blink at these airwaves, but also goes to [45:13] paying canvassers, also goes to getting people out. Both parties know where their voters are. [45:19] They know whose doors to knock on. And I do, injecting a little bit of, I don't know, Texas [45:26] hometown sanity here. This is different. This does feel different than when Beto was running. I agree [45:33] with that. But I also think you have to remember the demographics of the state. I think you also have [45:38] to remember, once again, Ken Paxton, seniorly bad candidate. So even if Tallarico wins, and once again, [45:47] that is an if. This is a toss up. Even if Tallarico wins, I'm not sure the lesson from Texas is that [45:53] it suddenly turned blue. I think the lesson is the Democrats did the work that they needed to do [45:58] to get over the hump when they had a candidate that was a little bit easier to run against than [46:02] a Senator John. But Gina Inahosa is within striking distance as well. And Abbott is not Ken Paxton. [46:08] Abbott is not the same sort of candidate. He's got a long track record. He's been in office for 12 [46:13] years now and voters will decide whether they want to give him four more. But does that defy Shana's [46:18] argument that this is about Paxton and not about a movement here in Texas towards something new? [46:25] Let's be clear. Ken Paxton is anything but an ideal candidate. It has been said that if you tried [46:32] to create the most flawed candidate in a lab, you would get Ken Paxton. But to your point, yes, [46:39] I think that the issues that Texas voters are confronting are far different and in many ways [46:46] have turned conventional wisdom about Texas politics on its head. So, for example, the economy, [46:54] of course, is number one. But also, and I keep coming back to this because in many ways, [47:00] the whole data center issue came out of nowhere and has roiled not only more suburban electorate, [47:07] but also people who live in rural communities across the state. They are big mad about this issue. [47:13] And they feel like the state really threw open the doors to the development of these centers and that [47:20] now they are living with the consequences. And so some voters will tell you that issue alone is their [47:26] number one issue. And we're going to talk about that later in the hour because we have Josh Heinecker [47:29] here who's been covering it so well for us. And he did a deep dive on how it's affecting the race here [47:34] in Texas. I keep thinking about Benjamin. I thought about him a lot and what he told me at that sports [47:39] bar. We started with him up top. How are you doing today versus a year ago? And he said, I'm dying. [47:45] And he's looking for change and he wants to change the whole ballot. He wants to send a message. He was [47:51] strong. But I talked to a lot of other voters who said that they're still thinking about it. They're [47:56] still doing their research. But I mean, it didn't sound like they had so much more to think about [48:02] it. Let me play Sarah, who's a mom who was explaining why this election got her engaged for [48:07] the first time. I would have said he just turned 19 today. It's his birthday. And so we've been talking [48:15] about it. Yes, we've been talking about it and everything. Is it important to you? [48:19] It is. I mean, I just got into it recently. Just recently? Yeah. Why? I guess just more, [48:27] I don't know. I guess I never really just thought more about what's happening in the world or what's [48:32] going on lately. Was it the Iran war, gas prices, immigration? It was everything. It was everything. [48:39] And so it's just because I didn't, I guess growing up and just not caring about it because like my mom [48:45] doesn't take care of it and everything. So I'm telling them the same thing. Like, this is what y'all have to [48:50] you know, look and and think about. Yeah. And so that's just kind of what you're just talking [48:58] about. Do you vote every election or are you just starting to vote? I just started because again, [49:01] I just got into it. She's my mom. She told me. Yeah. Yeah. So this is your first election you're [49:07] going to vote for? Yeah. Of your life? Of my life, yeah. Of your life? Of my life. [49:14] Eugene, you thought that was you? Just for a second. [49:16] I was like, wait a second. Was I in Houston yesterday? [49:21] She's voting for the first time and she's saying she's voting for the first time and she could have [49:24] voted in other elections. After all, she is a mother. And she says it's what is happening right [49:30] now. Doesn't that say everything? I think for her, it does say everything in that the economic [49:35] situation is making people pay attention. It's making people pay attention. The question is, [49:40] once they start paying attention, once they figure out who is running, who actually identifies with [49:45] them, what is the thing that they actually vote on? Is it the economy or going back to that couple you [49:50] talked about earlier? Is it something about Christianity and morality and does that work? [49:56] But I do think there is an enthusiasm here. And I'm going to shout out Kabir Khanna, who does all [50:00] of polling and election stuff. You know, he told me today, remember to point to the primary and that [50:06] more people voted in the Democratic primary in this state than in the Republican primary. We don't, [50:11] they don't register by party here, but there was an enthusiasm during the primary. [50:16] And we are seeing enthusiastic turnout, at least for the first day in the large counties in Texas. [50:22] Hey, it's Rachel. I am so glad to see you at the end of that clip because this is where I get to [50:26] tell you about a new way to watch all our clips and all of our shows and everything on MSNOW on your [50:33] phone or your tablet or your laptop. You can watch things live or recorded. Plus, you can ask me and [50:39] all the other hosts and reporters questions in our weekly live chats. You can go to ms.now [50:45] slash membership or just click below. Thanks.