Midterm Election Eve: SCOTUS rejects CA ballot bid, Trump’s 'befuddling' speech — MS NOW Highlights

[0:00] We have some breaking news to tell you about from the United States Supreme Court. [0:06] The Supreme Court has denied Donald Trump's request for an injunction that would segregate [0:11] the ballots of 20,000 alleged non-citizen voters in California. [0:16] The order is unsigned and there is no reasoning behind the denial. [0:20] Norm, this is a big setback for Trump's efforts to seemingly disenfranchise the voters of [0:29] California. [0:30] That's right, Nicole. [0:32] And we at Democracy Defenders were so proud to represent the NAACP and LULAC, our nation's [0:41] largest, most venerable African-American and Latino civil rights organizations, in fighting [0:49] this heinous attempt right before the election to jam a junk list of 20,000 plus supposed unauthorized [0:59] voters down the throats of the state of California, L.A. County. [1:06] And we did it with our co-counsel, bipartisan, my friend Trevor Potter, the Campaign Legal [1:13] Center. [1:13] I met him when I was a Democratic election lawyer. [1:16] We went to court to say this must not stand. [1:19] Yes. [1:20] And we all went to court together. [1:23] Let me ask you this, Norm. [1:25] I mean, the Trump administration 2.0 has spent two years looking for non-citizen voters and [1:30] DHS has found none. [1:32] Is that the kind of evidence that the Supreme Court would have taken into consideration or [1:36] was it a lack of standing that there was no role for the federal government in dealing [1:40] with California's elections and their voters' ballots? [1:43] It does start with the Constitution, Nicole. [1:47] Article 1, Section 4 gives power over the time, place, and manner of elections to the [1:53] states, unless Congress varies that. [1:56] California has an elaborate procedure to assure that unauthorized voters do not cast ballots. [2:04] Congress gave the president no powers over that. [2:07] The president doesn't even appear in that section of the Constitution. [2:12] So that's the law. [2:14] Then you have the junk science behind this, where they came up with this, I have to say, [2:21] crap list of 20,000 voters. [2:23] It's full of errors. [2:25] People on there who aren't even registered to vote. [2:28] Others who are citizens. [2:30] And, you know, the people they have found, they have found a handful of people who mistakenly [2:36] cast ballots around the country. [2:38] It's such a small number, Nicole, that it doesn't even amount to a rounding error. [2:45] And these are people who, by mistake, they're naturalized citizens. [2:48] They got a ballot in the mail by mistake, or they were automatically registered under motor [2:53] voter. [2:54] They haven't shown anybody. [2:56] I'm not aware of a single case of maliciously casting a vote of the among these kinds of naturalized [3:05] citizens. [3:06] It's like the Davy Hearns story that we were talking about. [3:10] Donald Trump is preparing to lose an election, and he wants to cast blame on some of the most [3:15] vulnerable people in our country. [3:17] It's heinous, but it's also illegal. [3:20] And the Supreme Court just gave him the back of the hand. [3:24] They were totally uninterested in bailing him out after he was rejected by the federal [3:33] courts. [3:36] Norm Eisen, thank you so much for jumping back on the air with us to deal with this breaking [3:38] news. [3:39] As you just said, the Supreme Court rejecting Donald Trump's election interference attempts [3:44] in the state of California. [3:46] Thank you to you for watching and for letting us into your homes on this incredibly newsy and [3:52] consequential day. [3:53] Tomorrow, join all of us as Rachel Maddow will lead our primetime coverage for all-night midterm [3:59] results and analysis, with Ali Velshi breaking down the results as they roll in. [4:04] Special coverage begins for all of us at 6 p.m. Eastern. [4:07] Be sure to join us. [4:09] Joining us, MSNOW senior Washington reporter and co-host of The Weeknd, Eugene Daniels, managing [4:14] editor of The Bulwark at MSNOW, contributor Sam Stein, and anchor of The Washington Post's [4:19] early brief newsletter, Dan Merica. [4:21] Eugene, what's he doing there? [4:22] Who's he talking to? [4:23] What's he talking about? [4:24] I think a lot of this and a lot of the behavior that we've seen from Donald Trump, when you talk [4:28] to his allies and folks in the White House and administration, they will tell you it's [4:31] about him. [4:32] Like, a lot of resources and, like, manpower and womanpower have gone to making sure that [4:37] the president is feeling good about this, managing his mood. [4:40] And, you know, what did you say, 28 hours before we actually start getting results about [4:44] how people voted in this midterms? [4:46] The president is in front of the reflecting pool, which is a reminder to voters that he [4:50] wasn't paying attention to the things that matter to them. [4:52] Well, who decided this was a good idea? [4:53] So here's who's there. [4:54] This is according to Selena Kuznikov, employees from the National Park Service, including [4:59] the acting director, Jessica Boran. [5:02] She's sitting in the office, in the audience, excuse me. [5:06] The audience is small, just two rows of chairs. [5:11] NPS employees are seated on the right side and two rows of people are sitting on the left [5:15] side. [5:16] There's a protester outside of the Lincoln Memorial screaming FU into a bullhorn as well. [5:21] Can you bring me inside the—who's making this decision? [5:26] What's he doing here? [5:28] These are the things that he's making, right? [5:30] When you talk to him, and there's some—there's, like, some of the aides that folks know, people [5:35] probably like Stephen Chong, who's very close to the president. [5:38] Obviously, Susie Wiles is still his chief of staff, and, you know, a lot of things have [5:41] to go through her. [5:42] But what has been very clear is that he's calling more of the shots than even when he was in [5:46] that first term. [5:47] He's making more of the decisions, and everyone else around him has to kind of figure out how [5:51] to make sure that the thing happens, even if it politically looks very confusing, I think, [5:56] to voters who are probably walking by cameras, whether they're—well, TVs, and seeing the [6:01] president talking about something in front of the reflecting board. [6:04] That's if they're walking by TVs and listening to this. [6:06] I mean, Sam, he's been around the country in the past few days, lots of these competitive [6:11] races in places like Kansas and Texas and South Carolina, Iowa. [6:18] It is befuddling to try to understand what he's doing here to end this and why he thinks [6:25] people, one, are listening, and two, if they were listening, that they would be caring about [6:29] this right now. [6:30] I mean, yes, it is befuddling if you live in prior realities, but in this current one [6:40] that we are in, it actually makes a lot of sense to me, right? [6:42] It is kind of a microcosm of the past two years. [6:47] He's obsessed with the beautification of Washington, D.C. [6:50] It's one of the few things that he believes he's made tangible progress on. [6:55] Also, if you noticed, one of the first things he said was just a flat-out lie, that it was [7:00] vandals that ruined the reflecting pool. [7:03] There's been plenty of investigations and reports produced. [7:07] It was not vandals. [7:08] It was a poor installation job by his people who did it. [7:13] And so that itself is a microcosm, right? [7:15] It's casting blame for his own failures on nefarious actors that don't exist. [7:20] And then I think also the fact that it's a reflecting pool is really pretty illustrative, [7:25] too, which is he's about himself. [7:27] He's looking to the reflection. [7:31] He's made the election about himself. [7:33] He's told Republicans to vote as if he were on the ballot. [7:36] Really, his primary motivation is his legacy and himself. [7:40] And that he's ending here in front of a sparse crowd, pointing to a pool that he ruined and [7:46] then claims he fixed, really does say a lot about the state of his presidency. [7:51] Fifty-nine percent of Americans say Trump is focusing too much on the D.C. [7:59] building projects, on his pet projects. [8:02] Dan, fifty-nine percent. [8:06] When we compare that to the poll numbers that show Democrats leading everywhere, are you [8:11] surprised? [8:13] No. [8:13] I mean, I've talked to a lot of voters over the course of this year, and I can tell you [8:16] one issue that has not come up is something I want to see more of is the beautification of [8:19] Washington, D.C. [8:21] I mean, most of these people who I've spoken with, Republicans and Democrats, are plainly [8:25] just worried about their ability to pay for things. [8:28] I mean, whether it's gas, whether it's things at the grocery store, that is what is consuming [8:31] voters right now. [8:33] It's shown, obviously, in the polls, but there's also anecdotal evidence of this. [8:37] Go out and talk to voters, and that is what you hear. [8:39] There are deep concerns about their bottom line. [8:42] You know, I think Democrats are going into Election Day, especially Democratic voters, [8:46] filled with a lot of hope, but there's also this deep anxiety that I've picked up from [8:51] Democratic voters. [8:52] They are well aware that polls show Democrats are likely to have a good night tomorrow, but [8:57] they've also felt that way in 2016, when Donald Trump ran the first time, in 2024, when he [9:02] ran against Kamala Harris. [9:04] And so, in speaking with voters, I think the word I've heard the most is actually dread, [9:08] that they are hopeful, but they are filled with dread, that, yes, these polls are showing [9:13] that Democrats could have a good night, but they are not willing to believe them until [9:17] they actually see the results. [9:19] And that's why I think there's kind of this anxiety that Democrats are feeling right now. [9:23] Yes, Donald Trump is closing his campaign, you know, with a speech at the Reflecting Pool [9:27] about the beautification of D.C., but until the results come in, I don't think you're going [9:31] to see a lot of Democrats celebrating the fact that that is kind of the way he's closing [9:36] his message. [9:37] We are 10 minutes in. [9:39] He is still talking about the Reflecting Pool. [9:41] Let me put up these two numbers side by side. [9:43] First, I'll show you Donald Trump's approval rating in the key states, the key red states, [9:49] and it barely scratches 40 percent. [9:52] Texas is at 41. [9:53] Kansas is at 40. [9:56] Iowa, 40. [9:57] Alaska, 40. [9:58] Ohio, 38. [10:00] Maybe we're not showing it because the president's speaking. [10:03] We don't want to cover him. [10:04] Oh, there it is. [10:04] Great. [10:05] Now show, if you don't mind, control room. [10:07] The 50 plus one Senate races and the holistic snapshot of where it appears Democrats are. [10:17] Michigan, plus five. [10:19] Texas, plus four. [10:20] Maine, plus five. [10:22] Ohio, plus three. [10:23] Kansas, plus three. [10:25] Alaska, plus two. [10:27] Iowa, just barely point three. [10:30] Sam, again, I'm going to ask you the same question I asked Dan, which is when you take these numbers, Donald Trump's approval and the Democratic leads in all these places, and as we watch him continue to talk about the Reflecting Pool, I mean, Democrats are nervous. [10:47] Should they be so nervous? [10:48] No, I mean, it's part of their DNA to be nervous, right? [10:53] And it's like, you know, it's impossible for them not to be. [10:56] So I get it. [10:57] But they've certainly had recent history, which would lead them to not believe a single bit of polling data whatsoever. [11:04] But frankly, if you just look empirically at everything we've seen from early voting trends to the polling data to the fundraising numbers to the ways that super PACs are spending their money to where Trump's going, minus this jaunt to the Reflecting Pool. [11:21] Well, everything points to things being firmly in the Democratic Party's favor right now. [11:28] And, you know, it's just the sentiment of voters and the motivation of voters. [11:31] There's a, you know, there's a number in that New York Times-Siena poll that really stood out, which had nothing to do with any individual race. [11:40] It was about consumer sentiment around the economy. [11:42] And I think something like 53% of those polled said that the economy was poor. [11:46] And they said that's the worst number since July 2022. [11:50] I looked up what the inflation rate was in July 2022. [11:54] It was right between 9.1% and 8.6%. [11:56] It was the peak of Biden inflation. [11:59] If voters feel like that right now, I mean, that is that's death for Republicans. [12:04] So, yeah, Democrats are going to be nervous. [12:06] That's how they live. [12:07] But every bit of data suggests they'll have a big night tomorrow. [12:10] I want to take a break from him talking about the Reflecting Pool for just a moment and get him talking about all of his rich friends at his Mar-a-Lago Halloween party. [12:21] Let's play it. [12:22] Rich members, they spent all day getting ready. [12:28] And these guys, these are the big quiet for a second. [12:31] These are the biggest guys on Wall Street. [12:33] And they spent all day long getting ready. [12:36] I only had 10 minutes. [12:37] I just put on a red tie. [12:38] All right. [12:41] So we only had 10 minutes. [12:42] He just put on a red tie. [12:43] But look at all of his rich friends, all of his rich members. [12:46] I mean, he has these parties at Mar-a-Lago at just the most inopportune time. [12:52] There was the Great Gatsby Party at the end of last year. [12:56] And this was as the Senate and Congress was refusing to extend the Obamacare subsidies, [13:03] as Americans were finding out that their health care premiums were doubling, tripling, quadrupling in some cases. [13:11] Many people were forced to just forego having health insurance because they were getting so costly to prohibitively expensive. [13:19] Donald Trump is having a Great Gatsby Party at Mar-a-Lago. [13:23] Eugene, he's now having a rich friends Halloween party two days before midterm. [13:31] As Americans are telling him, they don't feel good about the economy. [13:36] In fact, they feel bad about it. [13:38] How much more out of touch could you possibly be? [13:42] You can't. [13:42] This is as bad as it gets, I think. [13:45] And I was talking to a Republican just yesterday about this exact same thing. [13:48] And they said they were disturbed by this, that they were. [13:51] And this is not someone who's usually easily disturbed, but they were disturbed by the idea that the president of the United States continues to make it harder for Republicans to do their job. [14:00] It continues to make it harder for the strategists, the operators, the advocates and activists to actually do their job and try to make sure Republicans keep the House and the Senate in just a couple of days. [14:10] And I think the thing that has been so fascinating is that while Democrats are always very nervous, like everyone's been saying, Republicans are also very nervous. [14:18] And I think that is the difference when I'm trying to figure out and glean, like, how real is the wave, how real is the trickle or the tsunami? [14:26] It's that Republicans themselves are nervous. [14:28] They're spending money in places they shouldn't be spending money in. [14:30] They're taking money out of places they should be spending money in. [14:33] And they are talking as if they have moved on from the idea, especially in the House, that they're going to keep it. [14:38] Yeah. [14:39] And that is largely going to be because of Donald Trump, who doesn't seem to care about the success of the Republican Party in any way, shape or form. [14:46] He just wants to be seen as the leader of it. [14:48] He's talking about algae right now. [14:49] Dan, is it it's midterm eve in America, usually when there are legal questions and during normal periods, they come sort of late in the day of voting. [14:58] Sometimes can we keep a voting station open for some reason? [15:00] Sometimes that evening, the Trump administration, though, has been filing a lot of lawsuits earlier than ever. [15:06] And they keep losing just moments ago here. [15:10] Late in the day, the Supreme Court dealt another loss to a White House request. [15:14] The DOJ through the White House, they're basically wanting to set aside about 20,000 ballots in California based on arguments they made, which I don't have to tell you much about them because they have now been rejected again. [15:23] They lost in lower courts. [15:25] Supreme Court is not intervening to help Donald Trump. [15:27] And that comes at an interesting time, because while we do know the history and you have to take it seriously when you have a president like Donald Trump, [15:35] who responded to his last losing election by actually fomenting an insurrection and then later pardoning all these violent criminals. [15:43] So it's all very serious living history, if you will. [15:46] Having said that, while you take it seriously at a political level, you usually don't want your side hyping the idea that you are about to lose, bracing for a loss, need to do something to avert a loss. [15:56] And that has been, honestly, the message and vibe, not only from a lot of Republicans, some of them talking off the record, as we mentioned, to kind of spin, but from Trump himself, as he talks about what if the Democrats sweep tomorrow. [16:11] Well, if that happens, I guess I'll become Mr. Vito. [16:15] I mean, this is this wouldn't be the first time you'll have a president and you won't have the House or the Senate. [16:21] Wild and also speaks to Trump's sometimes diminished verbal capacity. [16:30] He was more on message in previous election cycles than this one. [16:33] People can debate how and why, but it's observable. [16:36] Meanwhile, his frenemy ally, Elon Musk, putting in big money. [16:42] There's talk of preemptive pardons, also a sign of worry about what comes next. [16:46] This is not a closing message that's based on Trump doing what he's done in the past, which is projecting the winner vibe no matter what, or even something he's known for that we in the news wouldn't cheer on. [16:57] But I'll just remind you, he would lie a lot. [17:00] And as someone who was clearly comfortable lying, he might have said he expected to do really well tomorrow. [17:05] And yet that's not his message. [17:06] So I want to bring in someone who knows all about White House messaging and a whole lot more, our friend and colleague Jen Psaki, who, of course, hosts the briefing on MSNOW and was, we should note, White House press secretary under President Biden. [17:18] Great to see you. [17:19] Great to see you. [17:19] We're going to do a lot of this. [17:20] Settle in. [17:21] Settle in. [17:22] Get comfortable. [17:22] Yeah. [17:24] Not a strong closing message. [17:26] No, but I think you could say that for Trump's entire closing message over the last several weeks. [17:31] I mean, think about the fact that he was in Iowa talking about Ashley Hinson's diet just a day ago. [17:39] He has been talking about his vanity projects. [17:41] He did a speech in front of the reflecting pool today. [17:43] None of that is what Republicans are really looking for. [17:46] Yeah. [17:46] And we talk about vibes at our peril because when people say, oh, the vibe is this, the vibe is that. [17:52] Right. [17:52] It can be a lot of projection, can be a lot of mood. [17:54] But when you have data on the vibe, this is where I'm going. [17:58] When there's data on the vibe. [18:00] Data with the vibe is better. [18:02] Then it's clear. [18:02] Yeah. [18:02] Yeah. [18:03] This is not, you know, early vote data like I've led the show with. [18:05] But this is really interesting. [18:07] Bloomberg is a financial outlet. [18:09] Sure. [18:10] Maybe somewhat conservative coded on certain market issues. [18:13] But they're just talking about what people want to watch on the right. [18:18] Bloomberg on the Fox ratings. [18:19] Fox news viewers dip with that suggesting a kind of Republican unease pre-election. [18:27] And it's significant. [18:28] It's 28 percent decline in this month lead up. [18:32] It doesn't mean they're right to be scared of a loss and tuning out, but it does suggest they are scared of a loss and tuning out. [18:41] Yeah, I think because what they're talking about is depressing to a lot of the viewers. [18:46] I mean, there are diversity of viewers of Fox News, just like a diversity of viewers of our network. [18:51] But, you know, Fox News polls have had Trump's disapproval rating quite high, his approval rating quite low. [18:57] They have had his approval underwater on a number of key issues that helped get him elected, including on the economy and immigration. [19:04] And they've had polls that have showed Democrats winning in a lot of states. [19:07] We won't know tomorrow. [19:09] We will actually know. [19:10] Right. [19:11] Beyond the vibes and the data is actually the voters. [19:13] But it's harder to watch when it's not what you're necessarily rooting for. [19:17] And what about the gap? [19:19] Because earlier in this term, there was more of a message architecture around Trump. [19:26] There was a more going along with what I call his lying or the general spin. [19:31] And then by the last, I would call it two to three weeks, we've heard way more people who have a megaphone, whether that's, you know, actual administration folks or the sort of folks around them going, well, we get it about the economy. [19:45] I mean, prices are tough. And Don Jr. saying it's not perfect. [19:49] I mean, this is a type of rhetorical concession. [19:51] It may be too late. [19:52] But what do you think about that sort of cracking? [19:54] Because you and I, when we cover this daily, don't you feel like six months ago it was just like everything's fine? [19:59] Yes. And maybe there's there are some people who realize that the messaging that they've been running on is not the most effective, which is just stating the obvious. [20:10] But the problem is Donald Trump is the biggest megaphone of all of them. [20:13] Right. [20:14] So it doesn't really matter what Don Jr. goes out there and says. [20:18] It doesn't really matter what Stephen Chung is tweeting about or what have you. [20:23] It really matters what the guy who really invented the MAGA movement is saying. [20:28] And that is at times nonsensical, at times hard to follow, at times about women's bodies, at times about men's bodies, at times about, you know, corruption, [20:38] at times saying he might lose the House and Senate. [20:40] And so that's one of the biggest that's the biggest messaging challenge I think they have. [20:45] Yes. And it's strange. [20:48] We all live through the prior older president facing the views of his aging. [20:55] And then we had the very unusual shift in the candidates. [20:58] We all we all know that it involved a change, an effort to address the thing. [21:07] Right. Critically, a lot of people said it was too late. [21:10] There were problems with it, but it did involve that here. [21:13] We don't have that. We just have Donald Trump and the age problem just sort of out there. [21:17] And I want to show you this was just how it how it went. [21:21] Not that we want to, you know, revel in anyone's tech confusion. [21:25] I've had it before. I've had it. I've had Zoom calls go left and get confusing. [21:29] You're a youthful chap. [21:31] But here's what happened to Trump dealing with with tech. [21:36] President Trump has lost connection momentarily. [21:39] So we'll continue on with. Hello, President Trump, you're back on. [21:43] Oh, oh, how how long ago did I lose a connection, please? [21:49] Just a moment, sir. You're live with the same audience. [21:52] Glad that you're with us. [21:54] Yeah. But did. But where did I lose the connection so I know where to start? [21:58] OK, well, I hope I hope I got it. [22:01] Did I get everything about the governor in? [22:06] Yeah. Look, he's also very sleepy in the Oval Office on a regular basis. [22:11] And that is having a president who doesn't seem to be all together in public is a challenge, certainly for Republicans. [22:19] I do think what's different from a couple of years ago, for sure. [22:22] There's a lot of things that are different. [22:23] And James Carville was just talking about this, too, is the corruption message that Democrats have been running on. [22:29] I would say all across the country. [22:30] I think it's one of the things, actually, that has made some of these races in red states more competitive, [22:35] because these Democrats can go in and say, I'm running as a Democrat. [22:40] I'm running as an independent, whatever it may be. [22:41] They're not saying, I want to extend the Affordable Care Act that people identify with Obama they may hate. [22:46] Good evening from New York. I'm Chris Hayes. It's here. How are you feeling? [22:51] You excited? A little nervous? Having a kind of fight or flight? [22:55] I'm in the middle of a car crash feeling? It's OK. [22:58] A lot of people feeling that. We're almost at Election Day, just a few hours away. [23:02] And I have to say this. I'm trying to say this as dispassionately as I can, as analytically as I can. [23:07] Basically all of the data, some exceptions, but the thrust of all the data points in one direction, [23:14] which is that it's going to be a bad night for the Republican Party. [23:16] Now, as we never stop stressing on the show, the future is unknowable and unwritten. [23:21] So there's a huge range of possible outcomes here from a Republican win outright, which would be shocking. [23:27] But, you know, crazy things happen to a modestly good night for the out party, the Democrats, [23:33] where Democrats might take the House and flip one or two Senate seats to a historic drubbing of Donald Trump's party. [23:42] The likes we have not seen in about 15 or 20 years or, heck, even at the far end of the distribution, like 42 years, the post-Watergate midterm. [23:51] The polling data, including a new survey from The New York Times and Siena, generally points more towards the latter part of that distribution. [24:00] I got to say, the polling data, whether the polling data is true or not, we're going to talk about in a second. [24:04] But the poll, that last poll from The New York Times, that's just one poll, but polling averages as well. [24:10] But that last poll from The New York Times shows Democrats with leads or relative ties in basically every major Senate race. [24:16] But here's the thing. [24:18] Really, no one to the left of Trump, like in the broad center left of the country, really seems to believe the drubbing will happen. [24:25] And heck, I don't think MAGA does either. [24:27] In fact, I think no one does. [24:29] It's a weird thing about where we are. [24:32] There's a reason for that, of course. [24:33] I mean, in some senses, not exclusively, but I think in the most high salience elections, in the most high salience elections in the Trump era, the era has been defined by Republicans overperforming the polls, right? [24:46] The missing Trump voters, the kind of folks that don't respond to pollsters, the sort of low trust folks who are very, very MAGA aligned. [24:53] And we all remember 2016 and 2020 and to some extent 2024. [24:58] Again, these weren't enormous polling misses, but they were. [25:02] And even when Democrats did wind up winning a trifecta in 2021, it was by the narrowest possible margin after, let's remember, two runoff elections. [25:12] The other thing we haven't seen since Trump came down the escalator in 2015, we have never seen what you could really call a mass repudiation of the Trump Republican Party that I think a lot of folks have been waiting a decade for. [25:25] And it's true to some extent for the midterms, specifically 2018, right? [25:30] The last time Trump in the White House and a midterm election. [25:33] It's the last one we had. [25:34] It's an N of one. [25:35] That was definitely a Democratic victory, but it was hardly a generational route. [25:40] I mean, people sometimes have forgotten this, but Republicans actually gained Senate seats in that election. [25:44] And not just like one or two. [25:45] They flipped Missouri, Indiana, North Dakota, and Florida. [25:48] Meanwhile, the three Democratic stars of that cycle in statewide races, Beto O'Rourke running for Senate in Texas, Stacey Abrams running for governor in Georgia, and Andrew Gillum running for governor in Florida, all lost. [26:00] They lost narrowly, but they lost. [26:02] And so I think it's understandable. [26:04] A lot of folks are taking a real posture of, I'll believe it when I see it. [26:09] But again, we do have data, right? [26:11] We have reporters on the ground every day talking to people. [26:13] And we also have surveys, and we've got lots of information about how voters feel. [26:18] And all of that basically says the same thing, that voters are angry, that they really hate the Iran war. [26:23] In terms of modern polling, it's probably the least popular war we've seen, particularly this early. [26:28] They definitely hate high gas prices that have been caused by it. [26:32] They hate inflation. [26:33] They hate the tariffs, too. [26:34] And they uniquely hold Donald Trump responsible for them, which is true. [26:38] He unilaterally imposed that before the Supreme Court made him back down. [26:41] And while Trump's overall approval numbers have ticked up a little bit lately in the polling average, [26:47] you know, Trump himself is really sort of hovering around in the ballpark of second W. Bush term levels of unpopularity. [26:55] He's also not doing his party any favors by making himself the main character of this election. [26:59] He keeps telling folks to vote like he is on the ballot. [27:02] He spent the last few weeks barnstorming deep red states to turn on the base. [27:06] Today, he proved how little he cares about the pressing concerns of millions of Americans, [27:12] the material conditions in the country by spending Election Eve focused on a long, [27:17] very detailed, painfully detailed speech about reflecting poll renovations. [27:24] We're going to have some highlights or lowlights of that later in the show. [27:28] When that is his main focus and what he thinks Americans care about, [27:30] well, there's, I think, some reason for Democrats and people rooting for the kind of pro-democracy [27:35] coalition in America to have some optimism. [27:37] It's important, I think, to level set, too, because one of the things that happens with elections is [27:42] they are benchmarked against polling expectations, not against anything else, [27:47] not against history, not against structural factors, right? [27:50] It's against the expectations of polls set, whether it's a make or a miss. [27:54] So just remember, a year ago, I mean, certainly right after the 2024 election, [27:58] but I think even a year ago, basically no one thought the Democrats would win the Senate. [28:02] The task requires winning a bunch of states that went for Trump by double digits, right? [28:09] Even if they flip North Carolina and Maine, they've got to flip two more in Trump plus 10 territory. [28:14] And that idea now is at very least plausible. [28:16] There's some modeling forecasts that say it's likely. [28:19] I think even if we end up with a modest night for the Democratic opposition, though, [28:23] and this is important, level setting, a normal midterm, [28:28] let's say tomorrow night is a normal midterm and the out party takes the House [28:31] and flips a few Senate seats, doesn't take the Senate. [28:33] I really think it's important to see that itself as a victory. [28:39] And a victory not for the opposition party or whoever, [28:42] a victory for the resilience of American democracy. [28:44] Because, let's be clear, right, since Trump was inaugurated on the first day, January 20, 2025, [28:51] the administration has thrown everything they can at the wall to prevent a real fair election. [28:58] And they're still going to fight afterwards, and they're almost certainly going to sue. [29:01] They may even try to seize ballots or even other crazy stuff. [29:04] They may attempt to prevent Alaska Democratic Senate candidate Mary Paltola from taking her seat, [29:08] should she win and flip the state of Alaska. [29:11] They are doing and will do what they can to run what some scholars of authoritarian regimes have called [29:17] a free but unfair election, right? [29:20] Free but unfair. [29:22] But fundamentally, already this election season has shown a tremendous amount of really encouraging [29:29] resilience in American civic and legal institutions and in our political culture. [29:33] People are not intimidated, really. [29:36] I mean, they're refusing to be intimidated. [29:37] Even as Trump has weaponized the legal system against his opponents, [29:41] he raided the home of Democratic Congress members a few weeks ago. [29:46] But think about this. [29:46] People are still openly and proudly joining the opposition party, [29:50] signing up to be candidates, running for office in deep red MAGA districts, [29:54] where, you know, at some point, people worried about, like, physical threats from their neighbors. [29:58] So obviously, the outcome of this election matters a huge amount. [30:03] And it makes a big difference whether Democrats win the Senate or they fall just short, right? [30:08] But on the basic question of American democracy surviving Donald Trump, which is a pretty important [30:16] one, I got to say, a year ago, certainly two years ago, it looked kind of, it can go either way. [30:23] I wasn't so sure. [30:24] And I got to say, today and tonight, as we prepare for these elections, I think, unquestionably, [30:30] things are looking far, far better than I had feared. [30:34] Ali Velshi is the MSNOW chief data reporter. [30:36] Kabir Khan is the MSNOW director of elections and analytics. [30:38] They both join me now. [30:39] What a joy to have you two guys here. [30:43] All right. [30:43] So that's my sort of framing, right? [30:46] Well, part of it, too, is just, like, even a normal election is a win, right? [30:50] Because part of the plan of Donald Trump was not to have a normal election, right, for a million different ways. [30:55] So, you know, you've got a normal election, which is, like, thermostatic public opinion [30:58] goes to the out party, and they take one of the houses. [31:01] Like, that is a sign of normalcy in the context of a guy that wanted to get rid of normal. [31:07] And lots of people have voted early, right? [31:10] Right now, we can judge enthusiasm. [31:12] A lot of people translate enthusiasm into enthusiasm for a particular party. [31:15] And that may actually bear out that there are ways to look at the advance. [31:19] By the way, there's some serious imposter syndrome going on here, because I know 2%. [31:22] This is the guru of this stuff. [31:24] Everything I tell you comes from him. [31:26] But there's some sense of that points to Democratic enthusiasm. [31:30] But I truly don't care. [31:31] The idea that 57.5 million people have voted, which means we will probably smash actual voting records on Election Day, [31:39] that's the victory for democracy and normalcy. [31:42] How that breaks out is really interesting. [31:44] And I think our viewers will find we will all find that very interesting. [31:46] Yeah, I think people watching are going to want to know who wins. [31:48] Yes, but that alone is something. [31:50] People have gone out in this environment where they feel shut down. [31:53] They feel like they're not in control. [31:54] They're exercising the agency that they do have. [31:57] And that, I think, makes it harder to delegitimize an election that lots of people show up to fight in. [32:03] I think you're 100% right. [32:04] Right. And what you laid out as one scenario that we might see tomorrow night or in the days ahead, [32:10] a check on the party in power is absolutely within the realm of possibility. [32:15] And what we're going to be looking for is sort of the depth and breadth of that check, right? [32:18] That doesn't necessarily mean you flip five, six Senate seats. [32:22] It may mean that you make modest gains, exactly like you said. [32:24] So we should be prepared for that. [32:27] Frankly, a few months ago, it looked like the most likely possibility. [32:30] And also, as you said, we shouldn't move the goalposts so much that that is somehow a defeat. [32:35] That's actually quite remarkable from where we were a year ago. [32:38] Yes, exactly. [32:38] And I remember, and it's also a good reminder that, like, you know, [32:42] the worst kind of thing that we all do in punditry is after an election, it's like, [32:45] it's always going to be like, you know, I remember looking at the Senate map in 2026, [32:50] right after 2024 and be like, I'm going to win in Alaska. [32:53] I'm going to win in Texas, right? [32:55] You know, Ohio's gone. [32:56] We haven't done it. [32:57] Like MSNOW national reporter Rosa Flores joins us from Austin, Texas. [33:02] Also with me, senior advisor to the James Tallarico campaign and co-host of the Latino [33:06] Vote podcast, Chuck Rocha, and MSNOW political analyst and former Democratic senator from the [33:10] great state of Montana, John Tester. [33:13] We are now at the portion turnout of the program. [33:15] What does turnout, what does a turnout operation look like in a state as big as Texas? [33:19] Well, the first thing you do, very elementary, is you take that 7.7 million people [33:24] who already vote and you take them off the rolls. [33:25] You double down on who hasn't vote, but also look at who has voted and take from those [33:30] examples of the 7.7 million, about 700,000 of them, Alicia, had never voted before. [33:36] That means there's something happening. [33:37] And for all of you folks out there doing GOTV, that means to you, expand your target a little [33:42] bit. [33:42] Most of the time, we just go talk to voters who we know are off your voters. [33:45] What early voters told us, this is kind of pulling the curtain back, is that there's more [33:49] voters out there to get. [33:51] So expand out to just presidential voters. [33:53] Expand out to new voters who you normally wouldn't spend any money on, because they're [33:57] showing us in early vote that they're willing to turn out. [34:00] Yeah, the target can actually be a little bit bigger. [34:02] Rosa, this is your home state. [34:03] Tell us what you're hearing from voters with 24 hours to Election Day. [34:09] Alicia, I'm still processing the conversations, the deep conversations that I just had with [34:13] five students here at the University of Texas at Austin. [34:16] Two of them voted for Democrats, the other two voted for Republicans, and the fifth one [34:25] wanted to vote, registered, but the registration didn't get processed. [34:30] So I'm actually going to check in with that student later, because I want to tell you more [34:34] about the students who voted either Democrat or Republican. [34:39] The more that I think about it, it's a bit of a window into some of the division that we [34:44] see in this state, because these groups of students, Democrat and Republican, they were [34:52] just dissatisfied with the other side. [34:55] Take a listen. [34:58] I voted Tallarico. [35:00] Yeah. [35:00] And tell me why. [35:02] I feel like a lot more of his policies align with me. [35:06] I'm not really happy with what I've seen with Paxton. [35:08] I voted Republican. [35:10] And tell me why. [35:11] I think when it comes to foreign aid and foreign policy, Ken Paxton represented my beliefs more. [35:16] I am very hopeful for Texas turning blue, especially for Senate. [35:20] I think that we have a possibility to flip it here. [35:27] And here's one of the other very interesting things, Alicia. [35:30] One of those voters who voted Republican said that all of her friends voted for James [35:34] Tallarico. [35:35] They voted blue. [35:36] And she considered James Tallarico. [35:39] And she said that she considers James Tallarico a very strong candidate and that he probably [35:43] will do very good things for Texas. [35:44] But she said that the one issue that pushed her towards Paxton was Israel. [35:50] She said that she believes that Paxton represents her beliefs more than James Tallarico. [35:56] Back to you. [35:56] All right. [35:57] Senator, there's a lot of excitement around Tallarico. [36:00] But I think it is challenging in a state like Texas, right? [36:04] It's sort of the state that cried blue election cycle after election cycle. [36:08] There are a lot of national Democrats who think it is fool's gold. [36:12] And I do think in this final few hours, you were seeing some expectation management. [36:17] The chair of the Travis County Democratic Party in Texas said, I think James has at most [36:23] a 50 percent chance of winning, which look, in Texas, that's phenomenal. [36:27] If you told me a year ago a Democrat would have a coin flip chance of winning, I'd be doing [36:32] backflips. [36:32] Even if Democratic candidates do end up losing in traditionally deep red states like Texas [36:38] or Montana, do you see the party building on those efforts in future races? [36:43] Well, absolutely. [36:45] I think there's an opportunity to build. [36:48] I'm very bullish on this election because the candidates that the Democrats have, if you [36:51] take a look at what the Republicans are talking about, they're not talking about the price [36:55] of groceries or the price of gas. [36:57] They're not talking about a very unpopular war in Iran. [37:01] What they're talking about is socialism. [37:05] And they're not talking about the things that people are talking about on the street or at [37:10] their kitchen table. [37:11] And we've got great candidates. [37:14] You know, Schumer's done a great job of recruiting. [37:15] Gillibrand's done a great job running the DSCC and advising these folks. [37:19] And they're talking about kitchen table issues. [37:21] And I think that's really what's going to help Democrats win with the voter intensity that's [37:25] out there. [37:26] The economy is not in good shape for working families and small businesses and family [37:31] farm and ranch agriculture. [37:33] And I'm going to tell you, folks live with that every day. [37:35] And they've been living with it for the last year and a half, over a year and a half now. [37:39] And I think they're ready for a change. [37:41] And a lot of folks on the ballot are folks that have rubber stamped the policies of this [37:45] administration. [37:46] And I think that's why I think Democrats are going to do well tomorrow. [37:49] And I'm somebody who is never bullish on Democrats doing well in elections. [37:53] But I got to tell you, the economy is in the shape and the leadership that the president [37:59] has provided has not been what he offered before this election. [38:02] And I think that's going to make a difference when people go to the polls. [38:05] Right. [38:05] It's so wild to hear Paxson talking about whether or not Tallarico eats meat when most Americans [38:10] right now are having trouble affording meat. [38:12] I want to talk to you just quickly about these early voting numbers. [38:15] Do they show Hispanic turnout exploding in Texas? [38:17] Of the 1.8 million Hispanic voters in Texas so far this election, nearly 345,000 are under [38:24] the age of 30. [38:26] That's an increase of about 120 percent compared with the same point in 22. [38:30] What do you think is moving young Latinos in Texas? [38:33] Let me add one more thing to that. [38:34] Almost 400,000 of them. [38:36] This is the first time they ever voted. [38:37] Correct. [38:38] They've never voted before. [38:39] So that's excitement in the electorate. [38:41] And as an operative, it's hard to measure that. [38:43] And for those of you at home who've been thinking about the polls being wrong for Republicans, [38:47] the polls may be wrong for Democrats because those new people, I promise you, aren't getting [38:52] called. [38:52] And the reason this is happening is the economic anxiety coupled with the immigration anxiety [38:57] of ICE in their neighborhoods. [38:59] It's bad enough that folks can't afford it, have the anxiety of everyday living. [39:02] But then you fold over the anxiety of ICE being in your neighborhood all the time and [39:06] businesses shutting down. [39:08] The congressman knows this. [39:09] I mean, the senator knows this. [39:10] Senator Tester, a lot of folks in Texas, a lot of Mexicans in Texas, like me with cowboy [39:13] hats, drive big old trucks with diesel trucks. [39:16] It takes a lot of diesel for them, six and a half dollars a gallon. [39:19] That's what's driving a lot of this. [39:21] All right. [39:21] Rosa Flores for us in Texas. [39:23] Thank you so much, Chuck. [39:24] Senator Tester, you were both sticking with us. [39:27] Still ahead. [39:27] With the shocking endorsement from Democratic Congressman Haley Stevens, supporting Republican [39:32] nominee Mike Rogers in Michigan's U.S. Senate race. [39:35] Stevens, who lost the Democratic primary in that race over the summer to Abdul El-Sayed, [39:40] was in talks this week to attend an event with El-Sayed yesterday in Detroit, which would [39:43] have been their first appearance together in months, notably at a church. [39:47] But things started to fall apart on Friday after Stevens issued a statement calling on [39:51] El-Sayed to publicly condemn an ad from an outside group not affiliated with his campaign [39:55] that linked high grocery prices to U.S. [39:58] aid to Israel. [39:59] El-Sayed responded in a statement of his own, writing that Stevens, quote, seems intent [40:03] on relitigating a primary that ended three months ago. [40:06] And certainly this issue was very central to that primary. [40:10] Following the back and forth, El-Sayed's campaign asked Stevens to stay away from its [40:13] events for the rest of the race. [40:15] That's according to a Democratic source who spoke on condition of anonymity to MS Now. [40:19] Yesterday, both Stevens and El-Sayed were asked about her endorsement. [40:23] If I'm not trying to harm anyone, I've worked really hard for Democrats. [40:29] I'm not turning my back on Democrats. [40:32] It is this one vote, and I will tell you why. [40:35] Because when you see hate, when you see a standing with Hassan Piker and repeated hate, [40:41] it's not acceptable. [40:42] That's it. [40:43] It's my personal and private decision. [40:46] I still love the party. [40:47] I'm not trying to sway any election. [40:49] I'm sure, you know, all you are here. [40:51] It's too late for him to put up another TV ad. [40:54] The social media moves by the minute. [40:56] Just being honest and where I woke up this morning feeling in my heart. [41:00] At the end of the day, I actually don't think about Haley Stevens. [41:06] You understand? [41:07] None of this matters. [41:08] You know what matters? [41:09] There's a family. [41:10] You can go like 15 minutes that way, or 15 minutes that way, or 15 minutes that way. [41:14] And there are families who are preparing to send their kids to schools tomorrow [41:17] that look like they did 50 years ago. [41:20] They're worried about what they're going to feed their kids for lunch. [41:22] They're worried that if one of their kids gets sick, they're not going to be able to pay the bills. [41:26] They're the ones who matter. [41:27] The rest of this, just a distraction. [41:28] So he's saying it's a distraction, but the fallout from that endorsement was swift, [41:34] even within Stevens' congressional office. [41:36] Her chief of staff of eight years put out a statement announcing that he and several other [41:39] members had resigned, saying they were shocked and heartbroken by her decision, [41:43] and adding that they are wholeheartedly supporting El-Sayed. [41:47] I want to start there with MSNOW political reporter Hunter Woodall. [41:50] I mean, this was an October surprise that happened to happen in November, [41:54] but absolutely stunning and shocking, with multiple members that I've spoken to, [41:58] Democratic House members, saying she lied to me about what her intention was [42:02] in sticking with or just being quiet about El-Sayed, and then endorsing my trial. [42:08] I mean, again, just shocking. [42:09] Like, help us put this in perspective, and then actually how impactful you think it could be. [42:14] Well, Ali, let's unpack this, right? [42:15] So when Congressman Stevens was running in this race, you know, [42:18] she was somebody who, in the Senate race, actually had Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer's [42:22] support by the end. And all these Democratic super PACs, a lot of outside money went towards [42:28] helping her in that primary run, a lot of money. Now, she narrowly lost, right? But all that money [42:33] kind of elevated somebody who really, you know, was not a well-known name in the state, per se. [42:37] And you watch the same dynamic now. Clearly, this is somebody who feels like she can influence [42:42] things, even despite what she's saying here, just given the dynamics in this race. It looks close. [42:46] We've seen some polls here and there. But what's odd is when you look at all the tensions this has [42:51] within the Democratic Party? Moderates, centrists versus progressives, everything's being [42:56] re-litigated right now. This is so intense. And you can't help but think, no matter what happens [43:00] here, the same infighting is going to happen for 2028. I think that's exactly right. Like, [43:05] I spent a lot of time yesterday talking to Democratic strategists that have access to a [43:09] lot of the polls that we don't typically get to look at in the public. And many of them feel like [43:13] if this has an impact, it likely won't be enough to dramatically shift the race. That being said, [43:19] we won't know until voters tell us. But I think the central kernel here of the role of the statements [43:25] that I'll say it has made about Gaza and Israel, the way that Haley Stevens has said she feels about [43:29] Gaza and Israel. I mean, like that is a central tension point that is not going away. And I [43:33] think the unpopular piece of this that some Democrats have said to me yesterday is like there is a small [43:39] contingent, however small, that does feel the way that Stevens feels. And they are angry and they are [43:45] furious. And yet that kernel is continuing as a worry. And it's going to, this is going to keep [43:50] happening. I mean, that's the thing. And there's just so many issues where it did seem like for a [43:53] while, you know, progressives were ready to think, okay, is somebody trying to undercut us in this [43:58] Michigan race? Is a center trying to undercut us? And for a while, it seemed like, I mean, [44:01] Haley Stevens really was, she was doing, she was playing nice. She was, you know, playing the loyal [44:05] Democrat. That's obviously all gone away in the last few days. And it's hard to think, even when you look at [44:11] the campaign that Al-Sayed has run, he's still in a competitive position. This does not lose him [44:14] the race or anything. And you looked at how on message he was in that clip. It was very almost [44:18] Bernie Sanders-esque, you know, I'm not going to get distracted by any of this. And that's the [44:23] interesting thing. If you're progressive right now, you want to be focusing on the policy and what [44:26] you're trying to accomplish rather than all this infighting. Yeah, exactly. And there had been, [44:30] to your point, almost this continued fear that moderates versus progressives, this age-old battle was [44:38] going to come to fruition at the end of this race somehow. And it felt like it was all theoretical [44:42] until obviously it wasn't at the end. And I think a lot has been made over what conversations did [44:48] Stevens have that made her ultimately make this choice. I think a lot of people are still trying [44:52] to get to the bottom of that. And the role that her fiance did or didn't play in influencing her in [44:58] this direction, a lot of it is really personal and really messy. And I don't know, especially after [45:02] watching her on another network last night, that we're going to get a clean explanation for actually [45:07] what happened here. So that's one of the big things over the weekend. But then there was [45:11] President Trump also on the campaign trail, wrapping up his midterm campaign schedule yesterday, [45:15] holding rallies in both Kansas and Iowa. And you might be thinking, wait, weren't those initially [45:19] canceled? Nope, they were. And then they were rescheduled at the last minute as a final push for [45:24] Republicans facing tough races. Watch. For the past 32 days, I've traveled all across the country, [45:32] spoken it. This is my 30th rally and I'm closing it down tonight. This is it. [45:42] I had to come here to make sure that Roger got elected. I had to do it. [45:47] No other president, I don't believe, I'm sure, couldn't be, couldn't be possible, [45:52] has done what I've done in the last two weeks. I mean, what we've done, we have traveled far and [45:57] wide. And we've campaigned and I've enjoyed it. This is actually, this is our last stop. We close it [46:08] down tonight. But we've had a great time. The people, the love in this country is, is unbelievable. [46:14] But all I'm asking you to do is one thing, get out and vote. [46:21] And we will see ultimately what the president says after results are cast. But also in Kansas, [46:26] Senator Roger Marshall is defending himself amid continued criticism over recent reporting that [46:30] found as a doctor, he sued more than 700 patients, majority of whom were new mothers or pregnant women [46:35] for unpaid medical bills. A new 60 second video began circulating about that very topic over the [46:41] weekend. I'm Dr. Roger Marshall. And you should know the truth about Adam Hamilton's ads. [46:48] Their fault's plain and simple. When I practiced as a small town OB doctor, often serving as the only [46:54] OB in the middle of 40,000 people, my wife and I decided to take care of everyone regardless of [47:00] their ability to pay. We wrote off hundreds of bills monthly and one of every five patients received [47:05] free care. Now to ensure that 40,000 Kansans would still have access to care, we did have to keep the [47:11] lights on. So we occasionally handed some accounts over to collection agency, just like nearly every [47:16] private medical practice does. To be crystal clear, the Kansas Bill of Rights ensures that no [47:21] one can go to prison because of indebtedness. And I would never wish that on any patient I had the [47:26] privilege to serve. My involvement in any patient's account ended the minute it was turned over to an [47:31] outside agency. I never had anyone arrested, not once, and Adam Hamilton knows it. Kansas deserves to [47:37] know the truth. And now you do. I'm Senator Dr. Roger Marshall, and I humbly ask for your vote. [47:43] It is an odd ad to be the closing message for a campaign that is struggling. This is where the [47:49] process becomes instructive because four people with knowledge of the matter told the New York [47:52] Times Marshall wanted to personally push back by filming an ad responding to the attacks about [47:57] taking on medical debt. Top advisors told him bad idea. As the Times notes, the senator without [48:02] knowledge of at least some top aides arranged for his own film crew to record that video. Top campaign [48:07] leaders moved to block its release saying it would do more harm than good. Marshall didn't give up [48:12] though and began sending the video directly to people outside the campaign. That's according to [48:16] the two people who were briefed on Marshall's text. I mean, again, this is not the kind of ad that you [48:22] release, Hunter. If you feel good about where your campaign is, what you want the closing message to [48:27] be. Instead, the Democrats who are working on the Hamilton side of this race are like, I've been [48:32] wondering how I could bring this issue up in the last week. And he did it for them. [48:36] And the fact that we're even talking about Kansas, I mean, is bonkers. [48:40] You covered it for so long. I mean, it must be wild to you. [48:43] It's, you know, I was like a statehouse reporter in Topeka. You know, I lived in Lawrence, Kansas, [48:47] and watching this all play out, for this race to be even competitive right now, so much has to have [48:53] gone wrong for Roger Marshall and so much has had gone right for the Democrat Adam Hamilton. And [48:57] Hamilton, when you watch the campaign he's run, has really tried, you know, he's met every moment [49:02] really to try and make this competitive. And Marshall really has struggled. And this is one [49:06] of those things where this is a double-digit Trump state. I mean, it is fascinating. When [49:10] you look at the map, the Senate map, you know, six months ago, we wouldn't have seen this race [49:14] as competitive. Even me, who covered the state and really enjoyed it, I wouldn't have thought this [49:18] was competitive. I would have thought the governor race may be competitive but not Senate. And this kind [49:22] of, you know, move in the final days, like you said, it just injects us into the conversation. [49:26] I wonder, though, if this is a function of Marshall kind of sleeping on the idea that [49:32] he would ever have to run a competitive campaign, the idea that we here at MSNOW have reported he [49:36] wasn't paying campaign staff. I mean, his own quotes really did, over the summer, make it sound [49:41] like he had no worries in the world about the race that was happening back at home. So if this race [49:46] ultimately flips, I wonder if you think it's a function of the atmospherics, where polls are bad [49:50] for Republicans, dragged down by the president, or if this is a case of a state that's shown an [49:55] independent streak before it elected a Democratic governor in 2022, for example, what do you think [50:01] the explanation will be? I've always enjoyed my conversations with Kansas voters over the [50:06] years. They were nice to me. I'm a Missouri grad, so that's always sort of funny that Kansas voters [50:10] being willing to talk to me. But the idea was Kansas voters are more pragmatic than people really [50:14] give them credit for. I mean, it's a red state, but it's voters who clearly have this pragmatic [50:19] streak, and they like seeing people who have a clear political identity that maybe doesn't go along [50:23] with this national party flavor. Laura Kelly, the Democratic governor, you mentioned, she ran the [50:27] DGA for a little while, but she also is somebody who clearly enjoyed being, hey, I'm the governor [50:32] of Kansas. She's not somebody who's trying to be anything really other than that. And when you look [50:37] at how Kansans respond to folks, they like folks who they feel like are from Kansas, are reflecting [50:41] their values, and that's something that's shining through. And that's why Hamilton seems like this [50:44] argument has been compelling. And you've watched Marshall try and contend with it, dealing with [50:49] somebody with this religious background who's well-known in the Johnson County area and the [50:53] Kansas City area like that. That's a tough one for a Republican who has had to run pretty easy races [50:59] before this. Yeah. And I also think you watched the way that he positioned himself on stage at that [51:03] Trump rally. It was a lot of culture war rhetoric. It was a lot of red meat for the base. And again, [51:09] if the name of the game is turnout, which for many of these Republicans campaigning alongside the [51:13] president, it is. And certainly in a state like Kansas, it should make sense. We will ultimately see if [51:18] that was the right approach for a group of voters that, as you say, might be pragmatic and shock the [51:23] political system. MSNOW political reporter Hunter Woodall, thank you for coming on and starting us [51:28] off. Always great. Hey, it's Rachel. I am so glad to see you at the end of that clip because this is [51:32] where I get to tell you about a new way to watch all our clips and all of our shows and everything on [51:38] MSNOW on your phone or your tablet or your laptop. You can watch things live or recorded. Plus, [51:44] you can ask me and all the other hosts and reporters questions in our weekly live chats. You can go to [51:50] MSNOW membership or just click below. Thanks.