PBS News Hour full episode, Nov. 2, 2026

[0:04] good evening i'm amna navaz and i'm jeff bennett on the news hour tonight with election day just [0:10] hours away candidates are pulling out all the stops from surprise endorsements to last minute [0:15] rallies and a final push to win over voters ukrainian president volodymyr zelinski on the [0:21] state of the war with russia his relationship with president trump and the plight of the ukrainian [0:27] people as winter rapidly approaches so if we speak about pragmatic things we have to [0:33] support ukraine because it has to be strong because otherwise putin will go further to europe [0:40] and the trump administration plans to deport more than 100 afghan immigrants to afghanistan where many [0:46] could face persecution under taliban rule major funding for the pbs news hour has been provided by [1:05] the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions and friends of the news hour [1:11] including leonard and norma glorfine and the judy and peter bloom kovler foundation a life with [1:24] impact in this moment and into the future a raymond james advisor can help craft a wealth plan with your [1:30] goals for today and all the possibilities of tomorrow in mind raymond james friends of the [1:39] news hour including the carter and melissa k fritz charitable trust dedicated to the pursuit of truth [1:46] and margaret and john ruttenberg and with the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions [2:32] this program was made possible by the contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you thank you [2:39] welcome to the news hour on this election day eve candidates spent the day making their final [2:48] pitches to voters following a weekend of last-minute rallies and a high-profile democratic defection in [2:55] michigan president trump delivered his closing message here in washington dc today at the lincoln [3:01] memorial reflecting pool after days of campaigning in mostly red states lisa desjardins has our report [3:07] today president trump's closing message from a place off the trail but close to the white house [3:15] democrat party has nominated the most extreme and dangerous slate of candidates in american history [3:22] these are the president chose the location to tout the newly reopened lincoln reflecting pool [3:27] despite all that we went through the reflecting pool right now looks better than it ever looked [3:33] and it is better but trump's effort there has mostly made headlines for problems peeling paint and [3:38] algae blooms after spending millions on repairs a symbol of a polarizing president who is off the ballot [3:45] but heavily on voters minds this election as in new hampshire this morning i'll stick with our republican [3:51] governor kelly ayotte and and every other office i'm going to vote democratic to uh to counter trump [3:58] and kansas which has become an unexpected senate battleground i'm a registered republican but i voted democrat [4:06] in the um the senate race because i wasn't happy with the way our republican senators have just been [4:15] bowing to the wishes of donald trump across the country early voting is surging this center in wichita [4:21] saw long lines today some in other states waited hours over the weekend time is running out for [4:27] candidates making their final pitches including in texas i'm not exaggerating when i say if we lose texas we [4:33] lose america this election is about whether you want a senator who puts money in your pocket or who [4:39] puts money in their own and maine they're unicorn where democratic senate candidate and former logger [4:46] troy jackson dressed as a cord of wood for halloween people are coming out in droves because they know [4:53] this government is broke and they it has to change the costume served as a rebuttal to an attack ad from [4:59] his opponent republican susan collins's campaign but we're not talking about buying a coat of wood here [5:04] we're sending someone to the u.s senate and troy doesn't have the tools he needs to be effective [5:09] meanwhile in michigan a striking reversal that ignited a political firestorm sign a proud democrat and [5:18] i am endorsing mike rogers for the united states and democratic representative haley stevens announced [5:24] sunday she's backing the republican in her state's senate race for weeks stevens has supported her [5:30] progressive primary opponent abdul el-sayed after narrowly losing to him but tensions rose including [5:37] over his outspoken criticism of israel she demanded specific statements from him and then was disinvited [5:44] from an event with him i'm a really proud democrat something she referenced in an interview last night [5:50] people change their mind i'm just wondering this is look this is about abdul getting angry and angrier [5:59] and saying i don't want uh these people in my campaign stevens has been a fierce critic of president [6:05] trump but yesterday he praised her decision alongside house speaker mike johnson it's a smart thing to do [6:10] because el-sayed would destroy our country so i thought that was fantastic i've spoken to her [6:17] encouraged her to stay safe and uh and keep speaking the truth and i think she's doing that very well [6:24] for his part el-sayed said he's more focused on the issues at the end of the day i actually don't [6:29] think about hailey stevens i'm just less interested in the politics of it all than i am in the policy of it [6:35] all a final new york times sienna poll taken before stevens's announcement shows el-sayed leading [6:41] rogers by a whopping 11 points that poll has democrats in the lead or virtually tied in all [6:47] seven of the battleground states that will determine control of the senate including texas maine ohio [6:53] kansas iowa and alaska and regarding alaska a federal judge over the weekend rejected a trump [7:00] administration lawsuit aiming to block the results if republican incumbent dan s sullivan loses also today [7:08] the doj announced charges for 63 individuals in connection with election related crimes it's part [7:14] of the administration's months-long effort to crack down on voter fraud which multiple studies [7:19] and audits have shown to be extremely rare a major election with high turnout and high drama to the [7:26] end and in another legal development late today the u.s supreme court declined to block california [7:33] from counting 20 000 ballots that the trump administration alleges were cast by potential non-citizens [7:39] more than 57 million americans have already cast their ballots ahead of election day [7:44] our lisa de jardin is back with more on what those early votes can and cannot tell us so lisa how does [7:50] this year's early vote stand as compared to recent election cycles let's start with that comparative [7:56] figure from the last midterm election 2022 46 million early votes that's in person and also mailed in [8:03] early votes now as you say 57 million americans have voted early that is a midterm record and it is [8:10] 24 percent higher than we saw just four years ago what's interesting about this there's another [8:15] difference in the way people are early voting if you look at the data from the university of florida's [8:20] election lab in 2022 the greater portion of early votes was done by mail that has changed this election [8:27] now more people are early voting in other ways in person especially now i know a lot of people want [8:32] to know where is the early vote the greatest we saw lines over the weekend as we reported look at this [8:38] we saw some record increases in places like south carolina and texas in terms of early vote but the [8:44] states that are seeing it the most in these key states no coincidence jeff i'm sure you and our [8:49] viewers know these are places where there are key senate races and these states are turning out [8:55] in force to voice an opinion does this data suggest anything about which side has the momentum right [9:01] always the big question so we looked at the university of florida again looked at what is known about [9:06] registered parties of those who are casting early ballots not every state reports this but from what [9:11] we know right now 43 percent of those casting early ballots are democrats what's the figure for [9:17] republicans 31 percent of the early vote for sars we know it republican that's an understandable gap it's [9:24] not a shock especially president trump someone who talks about how he doesn't trust things like mailing [9:29] voting so we wanted to look at the comparison again for past recent years look at this this percentage [9:35] for democrats in the early vote is similar to 2022 different from 2024 of course this is a year that [9:42] republicans want to target more what we see from all of this of course is that we're seeing high turnout [9:48] it could be a close election and a reminder that the early vote is counted differently in every [9:54] state so results will depend on how the states count isa desjardins our thanks as always we'll see [9:59] you back at the super screen tomorrow night you're welcome and we start the day's other headlines in [10:15] south florida federal investigators say parts of a private jet appear to have broken off before it [10:20] crashed yesterday killing all nine people on board this image from a driver dash cam captured the moment [10:27] of impact which caused a massive explosion and left behind a crater near west palm beach national safety [10:33] officials say they're looking far beyond the crash site for evidence of what went wrong we do have [10:40] um some indication that the aircraft was breaking up before impact and so um some of this is yet to [10:48] be determined we may find parts of the aircraft some distance away from the actual impact site [10:53] the pilot of the bahamas bound learjet 60 reported ice and turbulence to air traffic control before it [11:00] rapidly descended officials have not released the names of the victims in washington dc a federal judge [11:06] dismissed the charges today against two former fbi officials saying the case against them can only be [11:13] described as weaponization nikki flores and bradley benavides had been accused of lying to congress in [11:19] 2023 about their knowledge of efforts to investigate hunter biden's laptop last week the same judge [11:25] criticized prosecutors for trying to add additional charges without going through the proper procedures [11:31] those two were dropped the justice department could still pursue a grand jury indictment against the [11:36] two former officials in massachusetts a federal judge dismissed the trump administration's lawsuit [11:42] against harvard university today over whether it uses race as a factor in its admissions the doj had [11:49] sued the ivy league school earlier this year for access to years of admissions data the administration [11:55] alleged that harvard was not complying with the 2023 supreme court decision that prohibits race-based [12:01] admissions programs but the judge sided with harvard whose lawyers said the case was intended to [12:07] punish the school for refusing other administration demands turning overseas now supermarkets across [12:14] europe reported a new wave of cyber attacks targeting their refrigeration systems today at least one [12:20] store said hackers remotely raised temperatures in refrigerators and freezers to as high as 122 degrees fahrenheit [12:28] forcing employees to throw out spoiled food incidents were reported in several countries including [12:33] belgium ireland the netherlands and sweden some organization hacked into the temperature monitoring [12:42] system it's insane i don't see what they stand to gain from it it's a form of terrorism really it follows [12:49] a similar cyber security incident in france last month authorities have not identified who was behind [12:55] the attacks and no one has claimed responsibility the fda has approved a generic version of the world's [13:01] only twice yearly injection to prevent hiv the medication is called lenacapivir and it's expected [13:07] to cost around 40 per person each year that makes it comparable in price to daily medications but [13:13] experts point out the convenience of only needing two doses a year it's a major step toward making the drug [13:19] more available in around 120 low and middle income countries the kennedy center has announced its [13:26] latest group of honorees as the ceremony prepares for the first time ever to be held off-site this [13:33] year's honors will recognize pulitzer prize-winning playwright david mamet 16-time grammy-winning producer [13:38] and composer david foster legendary singer-songwriter paul anca country music hall of fame artist barbara [13:45] mandrell and oscar-nominated actor andy garcia the kennedy center itself has been closed for months [13:52] amid a legal battle over president trump's plans to renovate the building and add his name to it [13:57] forcing the december 7th ceremony to move to washington's capital one arena today a 57 year [14:03] old british man completed an extraordinary journey walking 31 000 miles across the world over nearly three [14:10] decades carl bushby embraced his mother as he returned home to hall that's in northern england [14:22] after his extraordinary journey the former paratroopers set out from the southern tip of chile [14:27] in november 1998 at just 29 years old inspired by an idea from his father who was an army veteran [14:34] bushby's journey took him through some 30 countries across four continents along the way he reflected on [14:40] what kept him going it's a mix of the the mission that the challenge um you know behind the scenes [14:49] there there was the wanderlust a guy who had an affinity for horizons bushby was determined to make [14:57] the entire journey on foot never hitchhiking or relying on transportation but his trek was delayed for [15:03] long stretches by the covet pandemic border restrictions and other obstacles on wall street today stocks ended [15:10] mixed amid ongoing concerns in the ai sector the dow jones industrial average managed a gain of about [15:16] 200 points but the nasdaq dropped more than one percent the s p 500 also started the weak and negative [15:22] territory and milton coleman a pioneering editor at the washington post who broke racial barriers and [15:28] helped shape generations of journalists has died coleman was the first black journalist named to the [15:34] paper's masthead and rose to become its highest ranking black editor he oversaw the post's local [15:40] news coverage mentored generations of journalists and championed efforts to make newsrooms more [15:45] representative of the communities they cover milton coleman was 79 years old still to come on the news [15:51] hour muslim communities and candidates face growing anti-muslim hostility during this election season [15:58] amy walter and tamra keith discussed the state of the races on the eve of election day [16:04] and we examine how the associated press makes critical race calls on election night this is [16:13] the pbs news hour from the david m rubinstein studio at weta in washington headquarters of pbs news [16:24] ukraine's president blodemir zelinski announced this evening that a russian strike on an aid station and [16:29] shelter killed at least 26 people in southern ukraine today it was the latest in an unceasing series of [16:36] russian attacks on ukrainian cities and the civilians living there before that bombing i spoke with [16:42] president zelinski from kiev for a wide-ranging interview as the war remains at a stalemate both [16:48] on the battlefield and at the negotiating table president blodemir zelinski welcome back to the [16:54] news hour thank you for joining us thank you very much for an invitation amna so i want to begin with [16:59] some news just from last night the air raid alert app that most of ukraine relies on to alert them to [17:07] incoming attacks that was seemingly hacked it was sending out false alerts about chemical and nuclear [17:13] threats in ukraine russian authorities then said today that their emergency mobile app was also hacked [17:20] and sending out fake alerts do you know what happened did russia hack your system and did ukraine hack them [17:26] back yes it's true yeah absolutely right amna they checked our system it was cyber attack one of the [17:34] hundreds and hundreds and thousands of those uh been made by russians before on banking system on [17:40] pensions social support a lot of different uh support for for civilians and also of course they [17:47] want each day to make chaos in ukraine in all our cities one of such steps by russia and of course we [17:56] as always we said and i underlined it several times we only respond on their attacks so of course after [18:03] the attack when we it was very clear for all our people and for all our personnel and the intelligence [18:11] that it's their personal attack against our people civilians of course we responded so you're confirming [18:19] you did hack them back and was that hack limited to this emergency mobile app yeah absolutely we just [18:25] responded on the attack i see okay i do want to ask about news over the last few days as well because [18:32] ukraine has now resumed strikes on russian energy strikes sites rather as you know president trump [18:39] and his envoys have long been pushing for some kind of energy ceasefire he's also repeatedly blamed you [18:46] for the rise in global fuel prices because of those attacks tell us why ukraine resumed those strikes in [18:52] russia we always respond as i said the same like on these uh cyber attack the same with the energy [19:01] but also with energy we've been very clear and open to president trump when he said that uh he asked us [19:09] not to attack refineries i said okay we will not if russia will not attack our energy system and russia [19:18] did it several times and it was awful attacks massive attacks very tough against our people we had huge [19:26] problems with electricity and that's why we responded what is painful for them first of all is refineries [19:33] oil energy gas and etc and diesel yeah so that's why we we did it and we asked president to give [19:42] phone call to putin and ask him to support energy fire because trump proposed it but as we understood [19:50] the russians delayed i said it publicly we will not attack their refineries i hope that they will [19:56] at the end they will at least support not to attack our energy system but they attacked all these days [20:04] they attacked us and at the end of these four days we responded i want to ask you about your ongoing war [20:11] effort and the degree to which it depends on this starlink and star shield system satellite communication [20:17] system that elon musk owns you have said that that system is back to a normal speed after there was a [20:24] slowdown late last month i'm sure you saw reports that elon musk who owns the system ordered the slowdown [20:31] he had said president trump was responsible president trump denies that it's very unclear to many [20:38] people what happened here i'm asking what is your understanding of who was behind the slowdown what [20:43] do you believe happened between us i think that it can't work without one of the side technically elon [20:51] and spacex can can slow down can stop it and uh and and and then tactically bring back yes and now it [21:01] works so it means that i mean this both sides decided to block or to unblock i don't know whose [21:09] first when you say both side just to clarify you say it would take both the president and elon musk to [21:14] slow it down or do you believe musk acted alone no no he he could act alone i don't know i i don't know [21:20] the rules do you believe he did i'm not sure that he can do it with star shield because it's military [21:26] it's uh government version i'm not sure that he could do it personally uh alone without uh any [21:34] representatives from american government but i don't know who from american side from the government [21:39] did it who allowed him i think it was a dialogue between some people and in during this dialogue [21:45] the decision was negative for us do you believe that elon musk supports ukraine that he wants ukraine [21:52] to win the war how worried are you if he was behind this lowdown that could happen again i don't know [21:58] really between us i wanted very much to speak with him about different issues we had conversation at [22:03] the beginning of the war we spoke about different things and then after i gave so many positive [22:09] messages about him i i was very thankful for starlink and we are really very thankful for this we've been [22:16] very thankful for this but sometimes he's all signals about us about ukraine his i mean it's not [22:23] pro-ukrainian position um yeah this is what what i hear so you've not spoken with elon musk since this [22:30] slowdown is that correct yes of course and before we spoke i think at the beginning at the very beginning [22:35] of the war uh elon has communication with putin and with me but i wanted to speak with him after after [22:42] all these actions from spacex yes but they uh didn't connect with us i want to ask you about [22:49] the degree to which your war efforts do depend on this system and we should remind people that that [22:55] system comes with limits for ukraine if those limits were to be lifted which i believe according [23:01] to reporting you've discussed with president trump before what would change for ukraine and for the war [23:07] russia will not have opportunity to use each day ballistic missiles against us because we will block [23:15] their launches it's all about weapon it's all about ballistic attacks against our civilians but those [23:22] are defensive actions you're talking about absolutely what a raising of the limits also allow you to carry [23:28] out attacks further inside russia because you've already been doing that with drones so why would these [23:34] limits being lifted on star shield or starlink make a difference when we speak about star shield they [23:39] don't want to uh uh lift restrictions yes uh for us it's it's a bit because we raised this topic [23:47] several times with president i think four i had three or four meetings exactly about it i said to president [23:54] look you will never have enough uh patriot missiles to give middle east and us because we knew that he will [24:02] give and he is giving more to middle east and i said that only one thing open for star shield and we [24:09] will block their ballistic launches it will be very helpful for civilians to save lives so you're saying [24:15] you've asked president trump at least three or four times to lift those star shield or starlink [24:20] restrictions what's been in his response each time yeah he said that he will try it doesn't depend [24:25] on him he said that it depends mostly on spacex he said that he's supportive and i was very thankful [24:33] i said that if they will leave we will use this we will use this opportunity to use star shield in russia [24:41] just to find the points where ballistic launches uh are so this is for this just to attack launchers because [24:49] if you don't have star shield i mean it's very dangerous to um to make massive attacks we don't [24:56] work like russians we can't use massive attacks because a lot of civilians can be died so you know [25:02] so this is very important thing i said that it's about precisely steps of our military guys [25:09] it's all about this and it's how to defend us ourselves so you're saying you would only target [25:16] the ballistic missile launch sites not energy sites if those limits on starlink or star shield [25:21] were to be lifted mr president so much of this seems to ride on your relationship with the u.s [25:27] president with president trump and now you have seen as he has eased restrictions on russia he's cut [25:33] a deal to buy their diesel fuel his envoy steve whitkoff has called president putin a humanitarian [25:40] meanwhile mr trump has said that you shouldn't be president he said that you're not interested in ending [25:44] the war he has called you not a good guy i mean how would you describe your relationship with president [25:51] trump today what's the word to describe it uh emotional emotional why because i mean it's sometimes [26:07] we need to be pragmatic in this war who is an enemy who began this war putin don't find good words to [26:14] describe him i'm not sure that it will be helpful diesel deal if you are really about money business and [26:21] pragmatism so don't speak that it will have influence on the price in the united states no it's not true [26:27] it doesn't work so if we speak about pragmatic things we have to uh support ukraine because it has [26:34] to be strong because otherwise putin will go further to europe and to the different parts of nato countries [26:41] and in this situation america will decide difficult things it's very dangerous it's very dangerous so better [26:49] to make ukraine stronger because we are really defending europe not only ourselves better to push [26:58] stronger on putin not on me not on me it's not me who is aggressive it's not me it's emotional that's [27:05] what i wanted to say last time we spoke i was in kiev and we sat down and you shared with me about [27:11] your family in particular i know you have both a daughter your son was quite young when we spoke two [27:17] years ago he was just 11 years old i remember this because he's the same age as my older child but [27:22] you said you hadn't seen him in a while that he was asking many questions about the war it's been two [27:27] years since we last spoke this war has now gone on for nearly half his life i just wonder what kinds of [27:34] questions he is asking you now and what do you tell him interesting that our children like adults [27:41] um it's a pity it's a pity that they lost because of russians because of one person because of putin [27:49] they lost their childhood i mean these years i'd have to be very you know energy years very sweet years [27:58] we remember our childhood but at the same time our children teach us how to be strong how to love [28:07] our country how to love our freedom because our children not mediate us between what is good and [28:14] what is bad who is aggressive and who is not and they're very clear more fair that's why i learn each [28:23] time when i have possibility to speak with my son he's 13 but he knows maybe it's a pity but he knows [28:31] everything about this war like all the children i mean this it's all not about my child and my children [28:37] and my son it's all about sons and daughters of our ukrainians civilians and soldiers they are adults [28:45] they are clever they are very patriotic they carry light in them yeah so they help us to live and survive [28:54] that is ukraine's president volodymyr zelinski joining us today mr president thank you so much for [28:59] your time thanks so much thank you for your time and thanks to all your nation god bless all the best and [29:07] peace the trump administration is preparing to deport at least 150 afghans over the next 48 hours [29:27] first to pakistan and then to taliban-controlled afghanistan many of those facing deportation are [29:33] relatives of those who worked alongside the u.s and they could face severe retaliation from the [29:38] taliban upon their return here's nick schifrin jeff attorneys and advocates for afghans here in the [29:45] u.s and those stuck in limbo overseas say the u.s has not done enough for years for those who fought [29:50] alongside or are family members of those afghans who helped the u.s during its 20-year campaign in [29:56] afghanistan tonight a group of more than 60 members of congress are calling on the departments of [30:01] homeland security and state to cancel the deportation and now they say the 150 afghan deportees fear for [30:08] their lives if forced to return to their country of birth we now turn to sean van diver president of [30:14] afghan evac an organization which aids in resettlement efforts sean van diver thanks very much welcome [30:19] back to the news hour tell us about these afghans who are being deported today tomorrow what are [30:24] their stories the simple fact is that these are family of people who served alongside our military [30:30] these are women we know of reportedly three women who are supposed to be on this flight these are [30:35] there's a police officer former police officer and it doesn't even matter what their job was the fact [30:41] is that these folks have been here in the united states for a long period of time and now they're [30:45] in grave danger being sent back to certain death at the hands of the taliban talk about that certain [30:51] death there are some judges who have ruled no the the risk isn't that high what do you believe the [30:56] risk is to these afghans if they are forced to return to their country well the horrifying pictures [31:01] in my phone of afghans who were killed because of their service alongside us since the fall of [31:07] kabul would tell otherwise we know that people are being taken people are being uh harmed by uh rogue [31:13] members of the taliban maybe but certainly uh people are being harmed and uh that those judges [31:20] frankly don't know what they're talking about they should read the country conditions reports that exist [31:25] out there and are surely uh attached to those cases and in fact the state department says that there is [31:31] a risk uh to everyone going back to afghanistan as they as they call it level four uh i talked to [31:37] uh the state department the white house they referred me to the department of homeland security [31:41] dhs uh declined to provide any details for the deportations but the administration has argued [31:47] that they are uh deporting criminals from the country including those who arrived here illegally [31:53] and that some of the deportees do have felonies what's your response to that overall argument [31:58] even if the deportees have felonies which most of these folks don't have crimes we know that [32:04] but even for those who do whatever their crimes were the sentence is not supposed to be death [32:10] and that's why afghan evac is working alongside congress and others to lead our campaign to stop [32:15] the flight and your viewers can go to afghan evac.org to learn more and help us out and finally you have [32:21] you and i have been talking about this for years how do you think today's deportation reflects a broader [32:28] policy approach by this administration u.s in the past uh part of a trend or not well you know when [32:35] this administration took over uh we had some hopes that they would continue uh the safest most secure [32:42] legal immigration pathway that we had built during the biden administration called enduring welcome [32:46] they shut it down on day one and every day since afghan evac and our partners have been working uh [32:52] against a hostile administration uh an administration hostile to afghans it's been horrific these folks [32:59] do not deserve to live in this limbo uh it is quite literally killing them and i just can't imagine as a [33:05] parent for example not having held my baby for six years almost six years because whoever sits behind [33:13] the resolute desk doesn't think we're good enough to be reunified with our family sean van dyvers [33:19] president of afghan evac thank you very much thank you michigan congresswoman haley stephens decision to [33:35] back republican mike rogers in the u.s senate race has sent shockwaves through the democratic party for [33:41] for more on the shifting dynamics in the senate race michigan democratic congresswoman debbie dingle [33:46] joins me now congresswoman it's good to see you thanks for joining us thank you it's good to be with [33:52] you 24 hours we're gonna be done on another day another day but in the meantime there's some big [33:58] headlines today as we just noted you have said that you spoke with haley stephens multiple times [34:03] over the last week she told you she would not endorse mike rogers and then she did i'm sure you've [34:09] seen in some of her latest interviews she said she did it because she believes rogers loves this [34:13] country from your conversations with her does this explanation make sense to you i was stunned when [34:19] it happened on sunday haley is a human being she's gone through a very difficult race in the primary [34:28] i don't know what changed her why she did do this and i think this has become a has been and continues [34:36] to be a huge distraction from what the issues are when people go to the polls tomorrow congresswoman no [34:44] doubt the economy cost of living remains the number one issue but this is a key state that democrats need [34:49] to win and as you mentioned it was a very tight primary race a very heated and divisive primary [34:55] race there we know this issue of the u.s approach and policy towards israel deeply divided these two [35:01] candidates in haley stephens and abdul al-sayed stephens is a stalwart supporter of the state of [35:06] israel al-sayed has sharply criticized the state i mean it's fair to say your party has not dealt with [35:12] this issue how do you reckon with that the hate that we have seen in this state for the last few months [35:19] that ads on all sides are despicable they are full of hate they have contributed pitting of people in [35:28] michigan against each other and they're unacceptable and i condemn every last one of these negative ads [35:34] the jewish community has always been important that i hear them that i talk to them that i understand [35:41] what they're saying because i lived in dearborn for 30 years and arab american and muslims were my next [35:48] door neighbors they were my friends and yet i i had lunch with a group of arab american leaders on [35:55] saturday you should have heard the fear in their voice of what they want a bill to win but they're [36:02] afraid of the violence that could be directed at them everybody deserves no matter what their faith [36:09] is no matter what their cultural background is to live in this country feeling safe and to be treated [36:17] with respect and with dignity congresswoman as it relates to this senate race though which is democrats [36:22] fight for control of the senate is critical for your party are you worried that haley stephens [36:27] endorsing the republican means voters who were unsure about el sayed feel they have permission to vote [36:33] for the republican too you know i was trying to figure this out when it just happened i did feel [36:39] on saturday that this is leaning towards abdul it's going to be a tight race but as i was out yesterday [36:48] naacp the uaw disability dinner canvases this put a lot of energy into people you saw several members [36:57] of our congressional delegation put out strong statements of support for you think this has tipped [37:02] the race in el sayed's favor i do i think it's backfiring well let me ask you then before i let you [37:09] go i know democrats say that it is a big tent party is there room for someone like haley stevens in the [37:13] democratic party haley has hurt herself with many democrats and i think there are people that can [37:24] that have strong feelings and need to be part of the democratic party but i think the way that this [37:30] was handled has left many people uh upset not thinking that they can trust her uh it's just been [37:39] a very difficult weekend that's michigan democratic congresswoman debbie dingle joining us today congress [37:45] congresswoman know it's a busy day for you thank you for making the time thank you in the run-up to [38:02] tomorrow's midterm elections experts have documented a surge of anti-muslim rhetoric and xenophobia in [38:08] political ads and speeches special correspondent fred de sam lazaro brings us a report on some of the [38:14] targets of that language and the impact it's having it's part of our series race matters people are [38:21] choosing tribalism over humanity immigrants are blamed muslims are blamed black and brown [38:29] communities are blamed during a recent prayer service at the dar al farooq islamic center outside [38:34] minneapolis imam abdullahi farah had a pointed message both for politicians and his own community [38:41] whether it's oppression whether it's hate whether it's injustice whether it's done by someone you know [38:49] or someone from outside you have to take action minnesota somali population has been in the national [38:56] spotlight since last year amid a series of massive fraud scandals evacuated because of a shooting but [39:04] the community is now again under intense scrutiny over a rash of gun violence that authorities blamed [39:10] on gangs of young somali men minnesota republicans seized on the events these criminal gangsters [39:17] which i would argue are enemy combatants more than anything they're not holding them accountable this [39:22] is not who we are we need safe communities not somali gang shootouts like the one that happened here [39:29] so did president trump who said minnesota is being quote taken over by somali immigrants and the state [39:35] needed to fight back the president has also singled out minnesota congresswoman ilhan omar i think she's a [39:42] sick a very dishonest person but who hates our country and she comes from a country that is essentially not [39:52] even a country somalia it's a real shithouse okay federal investigators raided omar's home last month [40:02] as part of an investigation into whether she or family members committed immigration fraud [40:08] omar has denied any wrongdoing we can't let radical left jihadists but this election cycle [40:15] the president and his allies have widened their attacks on muslim candidates [40:19] abdul raises money from dangerous people who finance terrorist networks and his family has been [40:25] linked to the muslim brotherhood and al-qaeda in particular michigan's democratic senate nominee [40:31] abdul el saeed linking him without evidence to extremist groups we don't want to have a jihadist [40:38] we're going to have to get a special metal detector for abdul we have to understand what happens when our [40:47] nation gives in to these kinds of people to young men with zero attachment to its land or to its [40:55] history the rhetoric though has gone well beyond el saeed himself health and human services secretary [41:03] robert f kennedy jr spoke at a campaign event for el saeed's opponent former republican congressman mike [41:10] rogers there's 500 million arabs in the world and yet they don't produce science they don't win the nobel [41:17] prize they don't win the field prize they don't win the wolf prize they don't produce literature in [41:23] fact arabs have won all of those awards anti-muslim sentiment was also widespread at the republican [41:31] midterm convention in september islamism likewise produces murder and oppression sharia law has no place [41:42] in america islam doesn't have the same principles and values that we do as christian all the mosques [41:50] that are being built it's it's out of control the rhetoric certainly is something that i haven't seen [41:58] since 9 11. saher salad is the director of research at the institute for social policy and understanding [42:05] a think tank focused on america's muslim community salad has tracked islamophobia in u.s politics i've never [42:13] seen the level of anti-muslim political ads that we're seeing during this campaign cycle the fact [42:21] that it was already somehow acceptable to run on this type of racism and animus means that it's trending [42:30] to a certain extent within the general population if it was so unpopular then they wouldn't they [42:36] wouldn't feel like that this would be a successful strategy back in minnesota officials are trying to [42:42] navigate the political realities of the moment while searching for real solutions a lot of this [42:49] outside rhetoric unfortunately is political and it's not helping population booker hodges is police [42:55] chief in the minneapolis suburb of bloomington last month suspects fired over a hundred rounds on a [43:02] residential street in the city a shooting hodges linked to somali gangs i know that it's not the entire [43:09] community that's doing this but i we do ourselves a disservice if we don't call it what it is we get [43:15] caught up in the name and as opposed to dealing with the issue and i think now we got to deal with [43:20] the issue and right now it's just somali american gangs that we're dealing with but at the dharal farooq [43:26] mosque which is in bloomington and was the site of a bombing by an anti-government militia group in 2017 [43:32] some community members said they felt targeted especially by the president's comments [43:37] i do respect the president he is my president and i would love for the president to respect me as [43:43] well as a voter as a citizen but that is not coming from this white house and i feel threatened are you [43:50] afraid for your security yes for sure i'm afraid i'm a mother of my four daughters being a woman and [43:56] outwardly being muslim i'm wearing my hijab and i'm already portraying my faith in my community so yes [44:01] i am very much afraid fear that could linger across minnesota even as the heated election messaging [44:08] comes to a close for the pbs news hour i'm fred de sam lazaro in the twin cities and fred's reporting [44:17] is a partnership with the under told stories project at santa clara university well if it's the day before [44:35] election day that means it's politics monday and here with us is our usual duo amy walter of the cook [44:41] political report with amy walter and tamra keith of npr it's great to see you both so on the eve of [44:47] these midterms president trump is relitigating the damage done to the lincoln memorial reflecting pool [44:52] even though his own justice department we should say concluded that the botched construction not [44:58] vandalism was responsible for the the damage there but amy what does it tell us about the president's [45:03] priorities that he's still focused on this when voters are focused on the economy and the direction of [45:08] the country yeah i mean you really the split screen between voters concerns and what the president [45:13] wants to talk about is not just apparent today in this press conference but it's been apparent to [45:18] voters for quite some time and you can see that opinions about how the president is handling the [45:24] economy driven of course by inflation and the cost of gas but also driven by this frustration that [45:31] voters have that they don't think the president cares enough about it or is working hard enough on [45:36] these issues we hear it from voters all the time that they feel like wait why is the president talking [45:41] about this and not talking about the things that he campaigned on which is lowering my costs i also [45:47] think it's notable when i'm listening to other republicans how they're closing out their campaign [45:52] again you said the election is going to be about the economy we all know that that's a top issue [45:57] but when you listen especially in these red states republicans are closing out their campaigns [46:02] not on talking about what they're going to do to improve the economy but how terrible the democrats [46:08] are um it would be very problematic say a number of them in places like texas and kansas if you elected [46:14] this democrat because then it means democrats are in charge of the senate so hoping not not really [46:20] trying to sway swing voters just trying to turn out their base which as we've talked about all year [46:26] still seems very very um uneager to vote and tam when the president in his remarks was talking about [46:33] tomorrow's election he didn't sound entirely optimistic i mean you heard him use that same [46:38] refrain about how the midterms are often tough on the sitting president's party he was almost [46:43] telegraphing defeat yeah he was talking in the past tense saying like we gave it a good try uh and [46:51] and and certainly the president and his allies did everything they could to tilt this playing field [46:56] in favor of republicans redrawing congressional district lines uh just huge amounts of money like [47:03] truckloads of money being spent on the air but part of this is also decisions that president trump [47:09] made along the way candidates he chose to support that are now creating major headaches for republicans [47:16] like republicans should not have to have spent something like 400 million dollars on air in the [47:22] state of texas to hold on to a senate seat there and it's not clear they're going to be able to hold [47:27] on to it let's shift our focus to what's happening in michigan where the congresswoman there hailey [47:32] stevens who lost to abdul el-sayed in the senate race she at senate primary rather she abruptly endorsed [47:38] the republican mike rogers amy is this last minute spectacle surrounding hailey stevens is it likely to have [47:45] any real impact on the outcome of the race or is this more about the personalities involved yeah [47:49] i do really think it's much more about the personalities than the than any sort of ideological [47:54] piece to be fair there is an ideological divide between the two of them and specifically on the [48:00] issue of israel and this isn't a real issue and concern within the democratic party writ large so not to [48:06] minimize that but the the frustration i think that stevens has and she's been communicating in the last [48:14] 24 hours seems much more personal than it is about policy that feeling as if el-sayed and his campaign [48:23] sort of rebuffed her did not treat her well um i don't know if you know this but politicians sometimes [48:29] have egos um and they can get bruised rather um much so i think on both sides uh of this debate that [48:38] there are two egos um we actually at the cook political report shifted this race as a matter [48:44] of fact into leaning democrat we believe that ultimately when you look at all the data that's [48:50] out there especially when you look at how el-sayed has consolidated the democratic base we just don't [48:56] think there are enough democrats out there or democratic leaning voters who were thinking [49:02] should i vote for el-sayed should i vote for rogers that are going to be moved enough to tip this race [49:08] and tam stevens defection appears to have had the opposite of the intended effect which is that it has [49:14] galvanized michigan democrats largely around el-sayed and el-sayed and he's raised like 2.5 million [49:20] dollars in 24 hours yes he has raised a lot of money and this you know so many people have already [49:26] voted have already made up their minds this is a really late move yeah it was absolutely a november [49:32] surprise that maybe we weren't expecting yesterday um but in terms of actually moving votes changing [49:38] the outcome of the race it it feels too late is there a particular race that you're paying close [49:43] attention to tomorrow as a as a bellwether let's say oh oh so many jeff i can't wait to talk to you about [49:50] all of the races that i'm watching but there's one in particular in texas uh it's the 35th district [49:56] down around the rio grande valley one of those districts that was drawn specifically by republicans [50:02] to gain a seat um and right now it it is a state it is a district that voted pretty overwhelmingly for [50:10] donald trump right now that that race is a toss-up where it goes i think it's going to tell us a lot [50:17] on election night about just how deep into red territory democrats may go how about you tim or what [50:22] is the white house watching too oh well uh we'll go with what i'm watching which is the uh the first [50:28] congressional district in north carolina and the 25th congressional district in florida these are [50:32] also redrawn districts by republicans aimed at taking out incumbent democrats and these races have been [50:40] hugely expensive the most expensive house races on the air and yet uh democrats look to be in a pretty [50:47] good position in in both of those and we'll get results early which is why i'm watching it to see how the [50:51] rest of the night is going to go right and notably the florida and texas rates also it's latino voters [50:56] that are going to make the difference here which was the group of voters as we all know that moved [51:00] so dramatically in 2024 and seem to be moving against republicans this time tamra keith and amy [51:06] walter amy we'll see you back here tomorrow night indeed thank you the 2026 campaign has been the most [51:22] expensive in u.s history and it's all leading to tomorrow night when the votes are counted [51:28] dima zane has a look at what happens next millions of votes have been cast in this midterm election [51:34] traditional battlegrounds have expanded in the fight to control congress it all comes down to one [51:40] question who won this year the news hour is again relying on the associated press to call winners in [51:46] critical races for a closer look at how the ap makes i'm joined by david scott vp of election services at [51:53] the associated press david thanks for joining us happy to be here so i want to jump right in people [51:57] watching results on election night want to know the winner so tell us how do you know when the race [52:02] is over and which candidate won so the thing that we're looking at primarily is the vote count we are [52:07] reflecting the choices that americans have made at the ballot box as they make their choice about who [52:12] they want to lead the country who they want to represent them in congress or in the state house [52:16] and so we start there and really the question we're asking ourselves is are the trailing candidates [52:22] or a trailing candidate able to catch the leader and when we've determined based on all of the evidence [52:27] primarily the vote count but other things that we take into account what happened in the advance [52:30] vote what's the history of a state what our poll shows about what took place and what voters were [52:36] thinking about on election night but really the vote count when we see and we are certain that the [52:40] trailing candidates can't catch up that's when we declare a winner and who makes that ultimate [52:45] decision we've got a big team at the associated press that makes up our decision team and they're [52:49] all journalists they are people who cover politics they are data analysts they are experts in political [52:55] science they are folks who study this year-round full-time we have folks who focused on turnout [53:00] and what the expected vote is what's the denominator how many votes are going to be cast in this [53:05] election and then of course the numerator what are each candidate getting and again we're trying to [53:10] answer that question when we look at all the votes that have been counted so far what do we see about [53:15] what's outstanding and have it has a candidate reach the point where none of the others are able to [53:19] catch them and they will be the winner and that's when we declare a winner and not until that moment [53:23] not until that moment our certainty is our standard we're not trying to be first we're not trying to [53:27] race to a decision we are looking at what's coming in but we also feel an obligation to let the voters [53:33] know to let america know this is who you've chosen to lead and so we're being swift but always focused [53:38] on accuracy first our standard is certainty we are certain when we declare a winner that the trailing [53:44] candidates can't catch up do bad calls actually happen and basically why should americans trust ap [53:50] to get it right we've been doing this literally since the founding of the associated press 1848 [53:55] was the first time that we counted the vote and declared winners two years after the founding of [53:59] the cooperative it's part of who we are as a news organization we think that the choices that americans [54:05] have made is a news story it's really important in this year's primaries we declared winners in more [54:10] than 11 000 races and we made three mistakes and one was because of bad information from election [54:17] officials for example and another one was because of a technical problem so they do happen but they're [54:23] very rare david scott vice president of election services at associated press thank you so much [54:28] happy to be here and remember to join us and our team of reporters and experts for live election [54:34] coverage right here on pbs tomorrow evening beginning at 7 p.m and that is the news hour for tonight [54:42] i'm amna nawaz i'm jeff bennett for all of us here at the news hour thanks for spending part of your [54:46] evening with us major funding for the pbs news hour has been provided by since 2008 jitassa has [54:54] provided accounting bookkeeping and cfo services to nonprofits nationwide what's inspiring about my work [55:00] is the ripple effect that it has for the nonprofits that i'm supporting jitassa numbers for good the [55:09] judy and peter bloom kovler foundation upholding freedom by strengthening democracies 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