Speaker 1: Now from our nation's capital. This is Bloomberg Sound On.
Speaker 1: There's some cases we won't know the winner of the
Speaker 1: election for a few days. We are going to end
Speaker 1: crazy Nancy Pelosi's political career. Don't get lazy, don't feel
Speaker 1: like this is in the bag. Get out there and
Speaker 1: make your make your voice. Bloomberg Sound On Politics, Policy
Speaker 1: and Perspective from DC's top name Mercha Walker is neither
Speaker 1: ready nor fit to represent the people of Georgia. They
Speaker 1: said make America great again. Like that is a bad turn.
Speaker 1: Have y'all heard Ricky? But I think if Democrats can
Speaker 1: keep the losses in the low twenties, that is a
Speaker 1: good night. She had five, a margin of five, and
Speaker 1: they got a lot done. Bloomberg Sound On with Joe
Speaker 1: Matthew on Bloomberg Radio. Now that's up to you. Welcome
Speaker 1: to the fastest hour in politics on what is Christmas
Speaker 1: Day for wants like us? Election Day two, Here we
Speaker 1: are and you know we've got you covered on Sound
Speaker 1: On with reports from battlegrounds of ross America. For this
Speaker 1: next hour, we'll hear from Bloomberg's Kaylee Lions in Pennsylvania.
Speaker 1: From Bloomberg's Ed Ludlow and Arizona National political reporter, Marketiquette
Speaker 1: in Ohio tonight, and Bloomberg's Billy House in Georgia. The
Speaker 1: states that will decide the balance of power, and of course,
Speaker 1: our signature panel in place to help make sense of
Speaker 1: it all. Bloomberg Politics contributors Rick Davis and Jeannie Chanzano
Speaker 1: are here for the hour and back with us for
Speaker 1: special election night coverage. The headline at five thirty Gate
Speaker 1: says it all the forecast. It's more or less back
Speaker 1: where it started. Nate Silver writing on this election day
Speaker 1: that when they launched mid terms in their forecast on
Speaker 1: June thirty, Republicans had a fifty three percent chance of
Speaker 1: taking over the Senate from Democrats and a seven percent
Speaker 1: chance of taking over the House. He writes, we could
Speaker 1: almost have turned off our servers and let the forecast stand. Today,
Speaker 1: Republicans have a fifty nine percent chance of winning the Senate,
Speaker 1: in eight percent chance of winning the House, and we've
Speaker 1: got a lot of toss ups around the country. This
Speaker 1: is going to be a late night and early morning,
Speaker 1: a long week, and potentially a long month as we
Speaker 1: wait for results from states, including Pennsylvania, which is where
Speaker 1: we find Kaylee Lyons, We're gonna be hearing from the
Speaker 1: best minds in politics at Bloomberg over the course of
Speaker 1: the hour. Kayley is in Philadelphia right now, John Fetterman,
Speaker 1: of course, and Dr Oz. This is one that we
Speaker 1: have been tracking very closely, right through the big rally
Speaker 1: over the weekend with Donald Trump closing arguments from the
Speaker 1: candidates today. Sometimes I'm gonna miss some words, sometimes I'm
Speaker 1: gonna mush two words together. But one thing I absolutely
Speaker 1: will always get right is making sure that we stand
Speaker 1: for the important things in Washington, d C. The Lieutenant
Speaker 1: Governor John Fetterman, still recovering from a stroke and speaking
Speaker 1: to supporters earlier. Doctor Oz as well within a point
Speaker 1: now again endorsed by Donald Trump, the Republican trying not
Speaker 1: to fully embrace him at times. They'll found himself on
Speaker 1: stage with Trump over the weekend. Pay Ways that a
Speaker 1: very clear bestage to Washington. We want that's radicalism for this,
Speaker 1: so I encourage less your dramadicalism, he says as he
Speaker 1: went out to vote himself. Kaylee Lions again is in
Speaker 1: Philadelphia and has been reporting all day there. Kayley, it's
Speaker 1: great to have you with us this is one of
Speaker 1: the states, and of course we could say that about
Speaker 1: a couple of them that could decide the balance of
Speaker 1: power in the Senate. It is and the reason why
Speaker 1: is because the Senate seat in question is that of
Speaker 1: retiring Republican Senator Pat Toomey. So this is seen as
Speaker 1: the Democrat's best opportunity to flip the seat. Of course,
Speaker 1: John Seederman would have to win in order for that
Speaker 1: to happen, And as you alluded to, this is an incredibly,
Speaker 1: incredibly tight race. Settlement had been leading for pretty much
Speaker 1: the duration of the campaign, but in recent weeks, after
Speaker 1: a debate performance in which he really unfold of display
Speaker 1: showed he is still struggling from the effects of that
Speaker 1: stroke you mentioned earlier type material and if I thirty
Speaker 1: eight now has odds a head by about half of
Speaker 1: one percent. So this is absolutely going to be a
Speaker 1: nail biter, but we're not actually gonna know to ultimately
Speaker 1: run this race, probably for several days. Pennsylvania as a
Speaker 1: state in which they can't begin counting mail in ballots
Speaker 1: until seven am on election day, so this morning and
Speaker 1: election officials have learned they will not have all of
Speaker 1: those ballots counted tonight or even necessarily tomorrow. And as
Speaker 1: we know, Joe, the majority of mail in ballots tend
Speaker 1: to be Democratic. One point two million mail in ballots
Speaker 1: have been returned here in Pennsylvania. Of those, about seventy
Speaker 1: percent were from registered Democrats. So that could be why
Speaker 1: we may see a red mirage effect where when in
Speaker 1: person voting is made public more quickly those results it
Speaker 1: could look more red, and as the mail in ballots
Speaker 1: begin to be counted, it could turn more blue. And
Speaker 1: of course there's a lot of legal issues around mail
Speaker 1: and ballots in this state as well. After the state
Speaker 1: Supreme Court ruled last week that unless the date was
Speaker 1: printed on the outside of the envelope, that ballot could
Speaker 1: not be counted, Fetterman and other UH National Democratic groups
Speaker 1: has filed the lawsuit to challenge that, So there could
Speaker 1: be a lot of litigation around this. And Joe, we
Speaker 1: may be talking about this race and what the results
Speaker 1: of it could be for days to come. Yeah. Well, yeah,
Speaker 1: you ought to get comfortable up there. It's softly nice
Speaker 1: this time of year, Kaylee. You guess you could call
Speaker 1: this a week by the time we're done. But you know,
Speaker 1: we saw this race start to narrow before following the
Speaker 1: stroke and before the debates when a lot of money
Speaker 1: went in for Dr Oz, a lot of ads that
Speaker 1: really focused on issues like crime. Is that what you're
Speaker 1: hearing people talk about? Yeah, it definitely is top of
Speaker 1: mind for a lot of voters, and Odds has been
Speaker 1: really pushing the narrative that Setterment is stoft on crime,
Speaker 1: highlighting his role on the board of proles and commuting sentences.
Speaker 1: Settlement of course says he just is about giving people
Speaker 1: second chances. But crimes front and center here in Philadelphia
Speaker 1: as well. We're just days ago over the weekend in
Speaker 1: attending to neighborhood there was a mass shooting in which
Speaker 1: nine people were injured. So it's definitely a big issue
Speaker 1: for voters, as is abortion. I was outside of polls
Speaker 1: here in Philadelphia, which of course is heavily Democratic leaning,
Speaker 1: talking to voters about what they were thinking about as
Speaker 1: they went into the polling station, and a lot of
Speaker 1: them said women's reproductive right. So that is top of
Speaker 1: mind too, and as well as we know true here
Speaker 1: in Pennsylvania. Really across the country, the economy and inflation
Speaker 1: also weighing heavily on the minds of the American people
Speaker 1: on this election day. Killy, thank you joining us live
Speaker 1: from Philadelphia, and we'll see you starting at eight pm
Speaker 1: Eastern time in our special election night coverage, turning our
Speaker 1: attention to what's happening as well in Arizona, another awfully
Speaker 1: important state here that has has kind of worked its
Speaker 1: way to the top of the conversation here following allegations
Speaker 1: of fraud by Carrie Lake, of course, the Republican gubernatorial
Speaker 1: candidates backed by Donald Trump. I woke up this morning,
Speaker 1: and within minutes of the polls opening up, I started
Speaker 1: getting people calling voters and tears, calling my personal number,
Speaker 1: saying what's going on. The tab leaders aren't working. They
Speaker 1: told me to put my ballot into a box and
Speaker 1: they would drive it downtown to count it. This is
Speaker 1: not normal stuff. Kind of an interesting concept here. Now.
Speaker 1: I'm pretty sure that everyone has a specific precinct that
Speaker 1: they're set to vote in, but she says they went
Speaker 1: to when other precincts where the machines were more trustworthy.
Speaker 1: We switched from a Republican area to vote. We came
Speaker 1: right down at the heart of Liberal Phoenix to vote
Speaker 1: because we wanted to make sure that we had good
Speaker 1: machines and guess what, they've had zero problems with their
Speaker 1: machines today. She wanted to say that there would be
Speaker 1: a come to Jesus about voting law in Arizona. Very
Speaker 1: unclear what in the world that means. And it's a
Speaker 1: good thing. We have Ed Ludlow on the ground right
Speaker 1: now in Phoenix. Bloomberg's Ed Ludlow there to cover all
Speaker 1: of the races that we're going to be tracking tonight.
Speaker 1: And Ed, I appreciate you're giving us sometime. Can you
Speaker 1: tell us what in the world actually is happening in
Speaker 1: Maricopa County. Yeah, I think it's it's worth stating in
Speaker 1: the first instance that the claims carry Lake is making
Speaker 1: about elections fraud or unsubstantiated, and actually Maricopa County elections
Speaker 1: officials have been out ahead of this for most of
Speaker 1: the day. Very early on on Tuesday, they said they'd
Speaker 1: identified twenty of voting locations that were having tabulation and
Speaker 1: issues where if a ballot does not successfully get passed
Speaker 1: through the tabulator the electronic machine, there's redundancy in those machines.
Speaker 1: If a ballot is not passed through successfully, it can
Speaker 1: be added to a safe box built into the tabulator,
Speaker 1: removed after polls closed, which is seven pm local here,
Speaker 1: and then tabulated manually, but specifically addressing one of Lake's
Speaker 1: claims about the locations. If a voter who's already checked
Speaker 1: in casts the ballot that is not successfully passed through
Speaker 1: a tabulator, they could actually check out an elect to
Speaker 1: go and cast their ballot another location if they so choose,
Speaker 1: under the laws of this state. So Maricopa County has
Speaker 1: been communicating this pretty concisely for a number of hours now,
Speaker 1: and they say they found a fix for the tabulators
Speaker 1: that are being impacted. And she says carry like that
Speaker 1: that she's going to be journalists worst nightmare for the
Speaker 1: next eight years. Have you bumped into her yet? Do
Speaker 1: you have something to worry about? You know, I've not
Speaker 1: bumped into her face affair ace. I've seen plenty of
Speaker 1: videos that she and the rest of the media have followed.
Speaker 1: I mean, I think what's really interesting right is that
Speaker 1: there's a really tight Senate race here in Arizona, and
Speaker 1: the Republican Party is confident that they can tip the
Speaker 1: balance of Senate split here in Arizona through Blake Masters,
Speaker 1: who has really narrowed the gap, but really it's the
Speaker 1: it's the gubernatorial the governor's race that is putting Arizona
Speaker 1: on the map because if Carrie Lake wins, a big
Speaker 1: part of her campaigning has been based on unsubstantiated claims
Speaker 1: the Democrats told the presidential election, and a big part
Speaker 1: of the strategy if she's successful is to keep that
Speaker 1: narrative going into presidential election. And of course we expect
Speaker 1: next week former President Trump to make a special announcement.
Speaker 1: Carrie Lake is a Trump GOP candidate, and she's made
Speaker 1: no secret of that. There may well be his running
Speaker 1: mate if he runs again. And thanks so much. We'll
Speaker 1: see you in our special election like coverage starting a
Speaker 1: pm Eastern time. Ed Ludlow live from Phoenix. I'm looking
Speaker 1: at Mr Arizona right now. That would be Rick Davis
Speaker 1: and Jeanie Chanzano is here. Of course, we couldn't do
Speaker 1: this broadcast without our signature panel. Rick, after everything you've heard,
Speaker 1: and I know you've been in touch with your sources
Speaker 1: in Arizona, is it that Carry Lake would like to
Speaker 1: create a narrative if she wins or if she loses. Well,
Speaker 1: she famously declared fraud when she won the primary, and
Speaker 1: so she won and it was still a fraudulent election.
Speaker 1: And we know, as you say, she claimed fraud in
Speaker 1: the election, and my guess is she'll claim fraud if
Speaker 1: she wins or loses in this general election. So I
Speaker 1: do know that the Democrats have done a really good
Speaker 1: job of getting early voters in a in a in
Speaker 1: a percentage that they typically don't get. In other words,
Speaker 1: they were exceeding uh their standard amount, which means that
Speaker 1: it puts a little bit more pressure on carry Lake's
Speaker 1: campaign to turn out the vote on election day today.
Speaker 1: And they've been telling people all throughout the selection don't
Speaker 1: vote early, right, and so that's even added more pressure
Speaker 1: to today. So I can imagine that if the machines
Speaker 1: aren't working correctly, and your entire campaign strategy was have
Speaker 1: people show up on election day, you're feeling like you're
Speaker 1: under enormous pressure. Well, she had some things to say
Speaker 1: about journalists as well, Jennie, as you might have heard,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna do two terms. I'm gonna be your worst
Speaker 1: freaking nightmare. So is that that's the way to work
Speaker 1: the base in the media, right, You're making friends already.
Speaker 1: That is she is going to be your worst nightmare.
Speaker 1: Joe Matthew, I know, um, you know, I don't think
Speaker 1: this is much of a surprise. Uh. We've had forty
Speaker 1: five million Americans vote early, many of them by mail,
Speaker 1: some of them in person. As Rick just mentioned, her
Speaker 1: strategy has been same day voting for her her supporters,
Speaker 1: and when you're in that situation, there is a real concern.
Speaker 1: When it's Kaylie mentioned of state like Pennsylvania, seventy of
Speaker 1: those early turnout voters are Democrats. So she's got to
Speaker 1: get her base out to vote, and they got to
Speaker 1: have machines on which to do it. Million. It's an
Speaker 1: incredible number. Rick and Jennie with us. We turned to
Speaker 1: Ohio next. This is Bloomberg. This is Bloomberg Son on
Speaker 1: with Joe Matthew on Bloomberg Radio. On to battleground Ohio.
Speaker 1: Although it's not quite the battleground, it used to be
Speaker 1: trending red quite a bit lately. And that's a good
Speaker 1: thing for j d Vance, who actually has cleared a
Speaker 1: couple of points in the polls in his race against
Speaker 1: Congressman Tim Ryan. J d Vance out today to cast
Speaker 1: a vote, well, of course, for himself, something he's never done.
Speaker 1: But pretty cool feeling for guy's never run for office before,
Speaker 1: to cast cast a ballot for yourself in general election,
Speaker 1: I guess for the first time, it's a very good feeling.
Speaker 1: But I feel very good about today. We'll see how
Speaker 1: it goes, but I'm feeling pretty confident. And we bring
Speaker 1: in to Ohio right now with Bloomberg National politics reporter
Speaker 1: Mark Niquette, continuing our stretch across the country. Mark, You've
Speaker 1: been writing about a number of different races. This one
Speaker 1: is awfully important when we consider again the balance of
Speaker 1: power in the Senate and in this case, an attempt
Speaker 1: by Democrats to flip a seat that looked more promising
Speaker 1: a couple of weeks ago. What's the latest year. Yeah,
Speaker 1: this was a seat that Republicans thought at the beginning
Speaker 1: of the cycle would be safe. It's replacing retiring Republican
Speaker 1: Senator Rob Portman. And as you said, Ohio has been trending.
Speaker 1: Republican Donald Trump won the state twice pretty easily, but
Speaker 1: the Democrat Tim Ryan really made it a competitive race.
Speaker 1: He outraised and outspent j d vance Um. He ran
Speaker 1: a campaign running against his party and trying to appeal
Speaker 1: to moderates and independence Um. But in the in the
Speaker 1: last few weeks here the polls are shown that Judy
Speaker 1: Vance has has opened up a lead, and well Tim
Speaker 1: Ryan is still projecting confidence that he can pull an upset. Here.
Speaker 1: The Republicans are pretty confident Vance is gonna win tonight
Speaker 1: pretty comfortably. Yeah, that's really incredible. I mean, this is
Speaker 1: somebody who would not be nominated without Donald Trump, right,
Speaker 1: I mean j d Vance was not the pick of
Speaker 1: the establishment, yet here he is to win. Mark. Yeah,
Speaker 1: he was running in the middle of the pack. It
Speaker 1: was a crowded Republican primary in May um and it
Speaker 1: was only with Trump's endorsement that Judy Vance spandage to
Speaker 1: to win the nomination. In fact, he only also won
Speaker 1: because he had support from the billionaire entrepreneur Peter TiO,
Speaker 1: who put fifteen million dollars into a super pact at
Speaker 1: support Advance. That was really the funding that carried Advanced
Speaker 1: to the nomination along with Trump's endorsements. Fascinating. We're gonna
Speaker 1: be watching the governor's race as well here that that
Speaker 1: should not be a major problem for Governor Dwine from
Speaker 1: the way you're looking at this, right, No, the poll
Speaker 1: show that Dwine is going to win pretty comfortably tonight
Speaker 1: by eight. And interestingly, there was some some tickets splitting
Speaker 1: going on in Ohio to which which gave the Ryan
Speaker 1: people some hope that they could still pull an upset
Speaker 1: here where the polls were much tighter in the Senate
Speaker 1: race than in the governor's race. So some Republicans we're
Speaker 1: voting for Dwine, but not for advance. Mark. Thanks for
Speaker 1: being here. Thanks for being part of our coverage on
Speaker 1: a very busy day for you. Mark Niquette is Bloomberg
Speaker 1: National politics reporter and joining us live from Ohio. Rick
Speaker 1: and Genie or with us. Now as you consider this race,
Speaker 1: it wasn't lost on me, Gennie to see Tim Ryan
Speaker 1: drinking a Miller light out of a can on MSNBC
Speaker 1: last night as he held the can up and said
Speaker 1: shears and asked people for their vote. He really tried
Speaker 1: to rewrite the Democratic plan here for beating a Republican
Speaker 1: in Middle America. It just doesn't seem to be getting
Speaker 1: them quite far enough. What do you make of this race? Yeah,
Speaker 1: the numbers in Ohio may just be too much for him,
Speaker 1: But I think everyone who has watched this race um
Speaker 1: has to agree that he has run, as you were
Speaker 1: just talking about, a really competitive, strong race. He may
Speaker 1: not be able to pull it over the finish line
Speaker 1: if the polls are to be believed, but he has
Speaker 1: He is really, in my mind, laid out a playbook
Speaker 1: for Democrats as they struggle to try to reconnect with
Speaker 1: the working class people in the Midwest and people in
Speaker 1: the central part of the country who he seemed to
Speaker 1: have lost. This sort of working man that Joe Biden
Speaker 1: was supposed to appeal to and they seemed to have lost.
Speaker 1: And Ryan has really shown we can get these people back.
Speaker 1: And the Democrats are going to have to if this
Speaker 1: is close. I think they're going to have to really
Speaker 1: think about why they didn't try to put more money
Speaker 1: into this races. He has said many times when he's
Speaker 1: drinking beer and not this race was well underfunded by
Speaker 1: the Democrats. He raised money, Democratic Party did not put
Speaker 1: much money into it. And same thing in North Carolina.
Speaker 1: They're going to have to reconsider if Beasley is close
Speaker 1: there as well. He's Vance is up by a little
Speaker 1: over six points on the composite here five eight Rick.
Speaker 1: This really broke in favor of of j D. Vance.
Speaker 1: But and again as we were discussing with Mark this
Speaker 1: was a Trump candidate, right, This wasn't someone who was
Speaker 1: supposed to be that competitive. Yeah, I mean when he
Speaker 1: first got into the primary, everyone thought he was sort
Speaker 1: of a nuisance candidate. And by the way, he was
Speaker 1: a Trump candidate late. I mean, he ran his campaign
Speaker 1: most of the way through the primary in third place,
Speaker 1: and all of a sudden, you know, Trump endorsed him
Speaker 1: and boom here here he came on. So it does
Speaker 1: show an incredible ability, uh for Trump, and especially states
Speaker 1: like Ohio and Pennsylvania where he pulled over Oz the
Speaker 1: same way to tol impact the state's primary. The question
Speaker 1: tonight is whether or not, as Genie was saying, um,
Speaker 1: Democrats can get more competitive in these rural, blue collar districts,
Speaker 1: and so looking in places like Putnam County where Republicans
Speaker 1: have held a pretty big edge, is Ryan gonna cut
Speaker 1: into that at all? If not, I'm not sure they're
Speaker 1: going to learn any lessons from the Ryan campaign about
Speaker 1: being able to pull those votes. What does the governor, uh,
Speaker 1: the governor's race do for j D vance. If the
Speaker 1: wine is gonna have a big night, how does that
Speaker 1: work on the ballot work? Well? It only helps Vance, right.
Speaker 1: I mean, there's no such thing as you know, a
Speaker 1: top of the ticket candidate like Mike the Wine running
Speaker 1: well ahead of his opponent, hurting the Republican down ticket. Uh,
Speaker 1: it's only gonna help and uh. And so part of
Speaker 1: his cushion is the fact that he knows that he's
Speaker 1: gonna get a big push from the top of the ticket.
Speaker 1: And I and I think that frankly, that's probably one
Speaker 1: of the reasons why you've seen Republicans coming home to J. D.
Speaker 1: Vance recently, which has ballooned up his margin. One of
Speaker 1: the things Tim Ryan ran on Jeannie was pushing back
Speaker 1: on Nancy Pelosi. Sometimes he talked about her like a
Speaker 1: Republican did up there. Do we then learn that that
Speaker 1: type of infighting does not work on the trail? Well,
Speaker 1: you know, he he ran against Nancy Pelosi. He tried
Speaker 1: to knock her out as ahead of his party as speaker.
Speaker 1: You know, this is somebody who reflects the views of
Speaker 1: the people in his home state and some moderate, independent
Speaker 1: thinking Democrats across the country. And I do think there's
Speaker 1: a lesson for Democrats to learn there, as they seem
Speaker 1: to have veered too far to the left for many
Speaker 1: of the voters in these states. There's gonna be a
Speaker 1: long post mortem on this one. We'll do it with
Speaker 1: Frick and Jeannie. As the days passed, I'm Joe Matthew
Speaker 1: and Washington. This is Bloomberg. We throw the mics open
Speaker 1: on a special election day edition of Sound On. I'm
Speaker 1: Joe Matthew in Washington, as the President himself has to
Speaker 1: room find you as well. This is it the same
Speaker 1: advice we're giving everybody, just slow down a little bit.
Speaker 1: More and more ballots are cast in early voting or
Speaker 1: by mail in America, and we know in many states
Speaker 1: don't start counting those ballots so after the polls closed.
Speaker 1: And remember eight if that means in some cases we
Speaker 1: won't know the winner of the election for a few days.
Speaker 1: Until after few days after the election. It takes time
Speaker 1: to count all legitimic ballots in a legal and orderly manner.
Speaker 1: It's always been important for citizens and democracy to be
Speaker 1: informed and engaged. Now it's important for citizens to be
Speaker 1: patient as well, so have patients. It's gonna be, as
Speaker 1: he just said, probably days until we have a real
Speaker 1: sense of what went on tonight. But that is not
Speaker 1: going to keep us from trying to project a bit
Speaker 1: and look for early indicators reading the the leaves along
Speaker 1: the East coast here and through other time zones as
Speaker 1: we make our way through the night. That's why I
Speaker 1: wanted to spend some time with Zach Cohen, who specializes
Speaker 1: in Congress and in this case, the election of members
Speaker 1: of Congress. Bloomberg Government Reporter, Zack, it's great to have
Speaker 1: you with us. Happy election Day, Happy election distin morning
Speaker 1: for all of us wants. As I said, now, we've
Speaker 1: spent a lot of time talking about a couple of
Speaker 1: districts in Virginia. Abigail Spanburger comes to mind in the
Speaker 1: seventh district. Why is that the case because they are
Speaker 1: so closely contested or because of factors in their districts?
Speaker 1: Are both, It's a combination of a couple of different things.
Speaker 1: These there are three really competitive races, some more than others.
Speaker 1: You've got Abigail Spamburger in the DC suburbs. Watching the
Speaker 1: World Series last week, I was just bombarded with ads
Speaker 1: for that South District race. Um, and then you know
Speaker 1: she's running against yesli Vega in a really contested race,
Speaker 1: and Spamburgers is nearly not even an incumbent because of redistricting,
Speaker 1: a lot of these new lines. You know, you've got
Speaker 1: voters who are looking at new members of Congress that
Speaker 1: they have never represented them before. But really the race
Speaker 1: to really watch is down to Virginia Beach where Confers
Speaker 1: Woman Elaine Laurias in the January six Committee is up
Speaker 1: against Jen Kiggins to the Republican there, and she looks
Speaker 1: like she's in some trouble. Yeah. I mean, the Virginia
Speaker 1: second is really the like the median race in the country.
Speaker 1: If you look at the most competitive and the least competitive,
Speaker 1: Virginia Second is right down the middle of that. So
Speaker 1: what extent does January six inform that? Because Lauria has
Speaker 1: not been hiding from this, She's been running on you know,
Speaker 1: this election is about saving democracy, where her candidates are
Speaker 1: an opponent rather's telling a very different story. Yeah. I
Speaker 1: think actually Lauria is probably one of the few candidates
Speaker 1: Democrat or Republican that's talking about January six and or
Speaker 1: you know, paid media advertising because it's so intrinsically linked
Speaker 1: to her biography and it's something that Democrats have talked about.
Speaker 1: I think something like a fifth of advertising has sort
Speaker 1: of mentioned, you know, the insurrection or election denialism, what
Speaker 1: have you. Um, But certainly you know that if you're
Speaker 1: gonna pick one candidate that's going to really make a
Speaker 1: make their point on on that issue, it's gonna be her.
Speaker 1: Most of the ads are focused on the economy and
Speaker 1: abortion and whatnot or else you're looking tonight. In in
Speaker 1: these first couple of hours, you mentioned New Hampshire in
Speaker 1: North Carolina as well. Yeah, New Hampshire, I think will
Speaker 1: be interesting. Is obviously a really competitive center race up there.
Speaker 1: Senator Maggie Hassan is for reelection facing Republican Don bulldock
Speaker 1: Um was not really seen as very terribly competitive, but
Speaker 1: a lot of outside money has exactly, and it's one
Speaker 1: of these races where Republicans have sort of made some
Speaker 1: momentum at the at the last stretch here, and in
Speaker 1: a really good Republican year, you could see Hassan, who
Speaker 1: only one by a thousand votes in her last race,
Speaker 1: to actually get kicked out of the Senate after just
Speaker 1: one term. That would said tell us a lot about
Speaker 1: what's about to happen for the rest of the night,
Speaker 1: right exactly. And then there's a House race to that
Speaker 1: sort of overlaps with that the first stich with the
Speaker 1: Congressman Chris Pappas that's also based in that sort of
Speaker 1: Manchester Sea coast area of New Hampshire, the most populous
Speaker 1: part of the state, and so I think that that
Speaker 1: state is really going to hinge on that area particularly.
Speaker 1: It's pretty incredible when you think, and we've talked about
Speaker 1: this a lot with our panel over the months here
Speaker 1: that you know, when Chris and NWN who decided not
Speaker 1: to run for that Senate seat, Republicans kind of threw
Speaker 1: it out, well, geez, you know that. I guess that's
Speaker 1: the beginning of the end here. Maybe we only get
Speaker 1: the house. Von Baldin has just proven to be a
Speaker 1: very competitive force, and it really came late in the game,
Speaker 1: and I saw it when I was on the ground
Speaker 1: actually a couple of months ago during the primary where
Speaker 1: establishment forces were coming in for a guy named Chuck
Speaker 1: Morris who's the state Senate president up there, really trying
Speaker 1: to get him over the line because they thought Buldock
Speaker 1: was it was too radical or too extreme to win
Speaker 1: a general election. And despite spending basically no money to
Speaker 1: win the primary and is basically spending very little money
Speaker 1: now has sort of this grassroots energy, some of it
Speaker 1: I think built up for He ran for Senate in
Speaker 1: twenty against Senator Geane Shakeen and didn't do as well.
Speaker 1: He didn't get through the primary. Um, but Um clearly
Speaker 1: has some sort of grassroots support in New Hampshire that
Speaker 1: has got him through the primary and potentially into Senate.
Speaker 1: I understand that you have been obsessed with one particular race,
Speaker 1: and it's one that will You'll have to talk to
Speaker 1: Rick about this effort. I am a mama grizzly and
Speaker 1: all were up on my high lets. Somebody comes after
Speaker 1: my cos she's running Sarah Pale in Alaska? What is
Speaker 1: it that has your attention? How long are we going
Speaker 1: to have to wait this one? I'm probably gonna be
Speaker 1: filing stories from my in law's house in Michigan before Thanksgiving.
Speaker 1: That's the deal, right, exactly. Yeah. Alaska is a very
Speaker 1: strange state in many ways, and one of them is
Speaker 1: the way they sort of conduct their election. It's one
Speaker 1: of the few that does ranked choice voting. When you
Speaker 1: go into the ballot box, you don't just pick your
Speaker 1: preferred candidate. You also talk about your second and your
Speaker 1: third choice. And so in Alaska, former Governor Sarah Palin
Speaker 1: is running again after losing a special election this summer
Speaker 1: for a House seat there a lask only has one
Speaker 1: House seat, but it flipped the Democrats over the summer
Speaker 1: in a special election, making one more go of it.
Speaker 1: You've been writing about this. Palin has been for Congress,
Speaker 1: hinges on voters liking her second best, and that is
Speaker 1: the deal when it comes to ranked choice, right. So
Speaker 1: I think if we see similar results as we saw
Speaker 1: in the special election, you'll see the Democrat, the incumbent
Speaker 1: Congresswoman Mary Pultola, actually get the most support because there
Speaker 1: are multiple Republicans of the race, both Palin and a
Speaker 1: guy named Nick Bagott who actually comes from the Bigots
Speaker 1: family um while though it is a Republican and not
Speaker 1: a Democrat like the rest of his family. Uh. And
Speaker 1: so what I expect expect to happen is that Paltola
Speaker 1: will get the most on that first ballot question is
Speaker 1: do enough voters say, well, my first choice didn't get through,
Speaker 1: whether it's Nick Bagas or the libertarian on the ticket,
Speaker 1: and then vote for Sarah Aileen instead. And so that
Speaker 1: will take a couple of weeks to figure out if
Speaker 1: Peltola does not win on the first ballot, what's the
Speaker 1: first three you're writing tomorrow about how we don't know
Speaker 1: who has control of Congress. I've been working on all
Speaker 1: the spending that we've seen in this election. It's billions
Speaker 1: of dollars that have been spent, billions with a B.
Speaker 1: And you know, when you're talking about races with six
Speaker 1: seven million dollars being spent exactly, I mean hundreds of
Speaker 1: millions in some of these Senate races. And you know,
Speaker 1: when you think about it, you know, control of Congress
Speaker 1: comes down to trillions of dollars every two years. So
Speaker 1: it's not a bad investment if you think about it.
Speaker 1: It's order of a billion. I believe in Georgia and
Speaker 1: that's where we're gonna go. Imagine that. That's where we're
Speaker 1: gonna go. Next. Billy House will be with us from
Speaker 1: Atlanta and we'll bring in Rick and Genie. On the
Speaker 1: fastest hour in politics, zac CO and thank you. I'm
Speaker 1: Joe Matthews. This is Bloomberg. This is Bloomberg. So on
Speaker 1: with Joe Matthew on Bloomberg Radio. He's somewhere between Raphael
Speaker 1: Warnocks elect and Night party and herschel Walkers. But isn't
Speaker 1: that the whole state of the race in Georgia too
Speaker 1: close to call a toss up? Which one do we
Speaker 1: go to tonight? And that is the question right now
Speaker 1: for Billy House Bloomberg Congress reporter is making his way
Speaker 1: across Atlanta, having been trailing Senator Warnock today and now
Speaker 1: headed to the herschel Walker party. Raphael Warnock trying to
Speaker 1: make the case in the closing hours that herschel Walker
Speaker 1: is not your man. I mean, he thinks he's a
Speaker 1: police officer, he's not. He thinks he's an FBI agent,
Speaker 1: he's not. He thinks he was valed dictorian of his class,
Speaker 1: he was not. You think he graduated from the University
Speaker 1: of Georgia, he did not. Just goes on by the way.
Speaker 1: I could do a minute of this. Another one he
Speaker 1: said he started a business that does not even exist.
Speaker 1: He has another business, he says, that has eight hundred employees.
Speaker 1: It only has eight. Yeah, so you got the point.
Speaker 1: This goes on by the for quite a while. Uh,
Speaker 1: herschel Walker. All the while he's leaning into this thing.
Speaker 1: They asked me why I'm running. I'm running because I'm
Speaker 1: sick and tired of people not loving this country. And
Speaker 1: then they said make America great again? Like that is
Speaker 1: a bad turn. Have y'all heard of Ricket Bobby? That's
Speaker 1: what they need to get back to it. You're not first,
Speaker 1: you last, and America does not last. I can tell
Speaker 1: you that right now. Billy House is gonna be seeing
Speaker 1: him in just a little bit here, Billy, you are
Speaker 1: Rickey Bobby fan? Oh yeah? Are you? I mean? Who is? Well? Yeah?
Speaker 1: I mean I love the movie. It took me a
Speaker 1: couple of weeks to figure out the reference though. It's
Speaker 1: the if you're not first, your last? I get it now.
Speaker 1: He repeats it it up so you could have looked
Speaker 1: it up. So sometimes I'm slow, Billy? Are you being redeployer?
Speaker 1: Are you just following both candidates today? I don't want
Speaker 1: to say there was ever any uncertainty, but I moved
Speaker 1: out him now almost at the herschel Walker Camp Pauler
Speaker 1: Venue by the way, then the Warnock Senator Warnock has
Speaker 1: set up what do they have waiting for you? A
Speaker 1: cramped little bunch of rows for reporters to sit on
Speaker 1: our way in the back? Does that tell this sounds fun?
Speaker 1: This is the real stuff. Okay, Billy had to get
Speaker 1: out of some hotel somewhere to to go chase Herschel Walker,
Speaker 1: and this is what he's doing tonight. Would that indicate
Speaker 1: maybe an early word and then and then you go
Speaker 1: home early because we don't know how this race is
Speaker 1: gonna end. I think that's absolutely maybe the case. I mean,
Speaker 1: that sounds like I'm iagine, well I am, but keep
Speaker 1: in mind we have that caveat in Georgia that the
Speaker 1: winner has to have plus one and and that's a
Speaker 1: wrinkle that adds to the closeness of the race as
Speaker 1: it is. Uh. The closing arguments have been interesting, and
Speaker 1: I understand where Raphael Warnock is coming from as a
Speaker 1: sitting UH senator. Here, he's got democratic talking points. He's
Speaker 1: trying to poke holes in the Herschel Walker story's essentially
Speaker 1: calling him a liar every time he gets in front
Speaker 1: of a microphone. What's Herschel Walker's clothes? I mean, he's
Speaker 1: he's doing. You know, he was quoting JFK earlier today.
Speaker 1: What is the closing argument for the Walker campaign? Well,
Speaker 1: the coaching argument is this, First of all, in response
Speaker 1: to Warnock that, uh, I've opened up all my events
Speaker 1: with prayers. Uh, my people, and it is true. Know
Speaker 1: that I've been forgiven for all my sins and uh,
Speaker 1: and that I represent uh, somebody who doesn't foul or
Speaker 1: cow tow to Joe Biden, does not vote with him
Speaker 1: of the time. That's kind of his comeback, but it
Speaker 1: seems to be working. This thing is too close to call,
Speaker 1: right Uh, Paul's show that actual with all his baggage.
Speaker 1: Herschel Walker has been kind of making inroads in the
Speaker 1: last couple of weeks. Yes, are you covering the governor's
Speaker 1: race while you're there as well? Billy. This is one
Speaker 1: that's obviously getting national attention, and Brian camp is looking
Speaker 1: pretty good at the moment he is. And Uh, I'm
Speaker 1: not covering it directly, but I'm watching it certainly because
Speaker 1: it's going to have an impact. The experts here say
Speaker 1: in Georgia on herschel Walker. In other words, we're talking
Speaker 1: hotels whether they're gonna be strong enough to get him
Speaker 1: over the line or not. Uh. A lot of people
Speaker 1: think that you're just simply going to a runoff. We'll
Speaker 1: know in a couple of hours. We will know in
Speaker 1: a couple of hours that's the sixth of December, if
Speaker 1: that happens, Billy, is that right? It is? And that's
Speaker 1: a shorter time frame than in two thousand twenty one
Speaker 1: when Raphael Warnock one a runoff in January. They've condensed that,
Speaker 1: and the Democrats have suggested that that, of course is
Speaker 1: a GOP move to limit organization. Uh and and voter thought.
Speaker 1: But you know, say what you want. It's a shorter
Speaker 1: period and December six would be the runoff. If they
Speaker 1: have one great to talk with you, Billy, come see
Speaker 1: us when you're back in town. Billy House Bloomberg, Congress
Speaker 1: reporter joining us live from Atlanta on his way to
Speaker 1: the herschel Walker party. That governor's race, by the way,
Speaker 1: five thirty eight has Brian Kemp up by eight points
Speaker 1: seven point nine points over Stacy Abrams. Uh, you were
Speaker 1: probably ahead of me on the rickey Bobby stuff, right,
Speaker 1: Rick Davis if your eight first year last, it took
Speaker 1: me a minute first your last, you know, don't talk
Speaker 1: about that praise trademark, not about producer Ricky Baby. I
Speaker 1: hope that herschel Walker's banned the trademark Genie. That's all
Speaker 1: I can say. You lost me with this whole discussion. Sorry,
Speaker 1: if you're not a NASCAR fan, you are a comedy fan,
Speaker 1: and it is truly a funny movie. Uh. This is
Speaker 1: one that we've maybe talked or at this round table,
Speaker 1: on this panel about more than any other Georgia Senate. Rick,
Speaker 1: how do you make sense of the closing arguments here?
Speaker 1: Does it even matter? Is this Trump versus Biden? Uh?
Speaker 1: It's a little bit of Trump versus Biden. I mean,
Speaker 1: there's no question that being an incumbent senator has put
Speaker 1: Warnuck on the defense and he's had to, you know,
Speaker 1: respond to the questions about things like, you know, criming
Speaker 1: the economy. That the downside for Repolken's is herschell. Walker
Speaker 1: really hasn't talked that much about crime in the economy.
Speaker 1: You know, he's talking about his history and his reputation
Speaker 1: and of course he's got a hundred percent name I
Speaker 1: d because he's a football superstar and and why step
Speaker 1: on that? Um, I would say one of the things,
Speaker 1: you know, Billy House was talking about this that you know,
Speaker 1: you've got this short period of time between the election
Speaker 1: and the runoff, and but you don't have Bryant Kemp
Speaker 1: on the ballot at that point, and he said, Kemp
Speaker 1: has coat tails. That makes sense to me. He's blowing
Speaker 1: out his opponent and and and herschel Walker is not
Speaker 1: going to get the benefit of those coat tails. Come
Speaker 1: run off, and he's gonna have to earn all that
Speaker 1: vote himself, and it'll be interesting to see whether or
Speaker 1: not that poses a problem for him. We'd also have
Speaker 1: weeks of listening to reminders Jennie or voters certainly would
Speaker 1: about these allegations that he paid for abortions for not one,
Speaker 1: but two women at least have come forward so far. Uh, boy,
Speaker 1: this is a survival story so far. If nothing less,
Speaker 1: it is. And of course we're all having flashbacks to
Speaker 1: when we had, as Billy said, lived through this for
Speaker 1: you know, a couple of months. And we're not in Georgia.
Speaker 1: I mean, imagine the poor voters in Georgia. This has
Speaker 1: been going on and on, inundated with millions of dollars
Speaker 1: worth of advertisements. That is this goes to a runoff
Speaker 1: is going to intensify. Boy, their thanksgiving will be impacted
Speaker 1: by this race if it goes to our runoff. But
Speaker 1: that could also be very damaging. Ricky, remove the top
Speaker 1: of the ticket there, Brian Kemp coat tails. You get
Speaker 1: three weeks of NonStop abortion talk. Maybe another woman comes forward.
Speaker 1: We've got the card, We've got the check. Glauria alright
Speaker 1: has involved good lord, the walls are closing it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and I don't even think that's the biggest. Donald Trump
Speaker 1: says he's going to be a president a week for
Speaker 1: now and then shows up in Georgia to campaign for
Speaker 1: herschel Walker. I mean, he ran off too good Republican
Speaker 1: senators last time he did that. Is he gonna do
Speaker 1: it again? And and and how do you keep him
Speaker 1: from this race if he's an announced canidate for president?
Speaker 1: That okay, So let's go there. We haven't even mentioned
Speaker 1: this yet. I was going to bring it up with
Speaker 1: Mark Niquette, who was there at the JD Vance rally.
Speaker 1: This is the Ohio rally where Donald Trump sucked all
Speaker 1: the auction and out of the room and they were outdoors.
Speaker 1: I'm going to be making a very big announcement on Tuesday, November, Florida. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I have to admit I thought that he would do
Speaker 1: the magic escalator thing. He loved that escalator at Trump Tower.
Speaker 1: Rick is going to do it at marl Lago and
Speaker 1: is that what he's talking about. I don't think they
Speaker 1: have a sand bank. They don't have an escalator. Mar
Speaker 1: Lago trap would be kind of interesting. Does he come
Speaker 1: out with flip flops and you know beer? Can you? Hey,
Speaker 1: We're gonna get off the beach today and run for president.
Speaker 1: That's what he's saying, though, Right do we do we
Speaker 1: expect an announcement GNI or is he playing with you? Oh?
Speaker 1: We expect it. And I don't know. Joe Matthew you
Speaker 1: call it. You said it was a j D Vance rally,
Speaker 1: but I'm not really sure. Did j D vince? I
Speaker 1: don't know that anyone saw Trump. But he's in good shape.
Speaker 1: Right even if Trump stepped on the headline. Uh, that's
Speaker 1: gonna be a very different matter. To Rick's point, if
Speaker 1: this goes to a runoff in Georgia, it will now
Speaker 1: so far, I can't believe him to use these words
Speaker 1: in the same sentence. The Trump has been disciplined about Georgia.
Speaker 1: He has not been down there monkeying around so far
Speaker 1: in this race. But if he doesn't, if there's a
Speaker 1: runoff and he does, that could have a real impact,
Speaker 1: especially if he is announced for president as a Tuesday.
Speaker 1: Next week, we will officially be in campaigning and he
Speaker 1: will be down there, and that's going to have a
Speaker 1: huge impact. And let's not forget he's announcing in the
Speaker 1: home state of his home state now and where Rond
Speaker 1: Sanctimonious lives. And he's after Ron De Santis as of today,
Speaker 1: saying he's got unflattering information, he better not run. Pretty
Speaker 1: remarkable piece in the Wall Street Really he voted for him, Jenny,
Speaker 1: hours after he voted for Rhonda Santis, he started talking
Speaker 1: to the Wall Street Journal about this, uh, suggesting that
Speaker 1: he's got dirt on Rhonda Santis. This it's just a
Speaker 1: little preview of what might be to come. Uh. He
Speaker 1: didn't pull back on Nancy Pelosi last night. Either said,
Speaker 1: please don't call them animals. They human beings. I said, no,
Speaker 1: they're animals. Of course, I think she's an animal too.
Speaker 1: You want to know their crells. Wow, big round of
Speaker 1: a pause for that. Just listen to it go. They'll say, oh,
Speaker 1: what a horrible thing she said about she impeached me
Speaker 1: twice for nothing. Nothing. They'll say, oh, these people, the
Speaker 1: fakers back there, They'll say, what a horrible thing he
Speaker 1: called Nancy Pelosi an animal. This came after or within
Speaker 1: hours of her appearance on CNNA, which she got choked
Speaker 1: up brick talking about learning of Paul Pelosi being attacked.
Speaker 1: She said this would impact her decision though to retire.
Speaker 1: She wouldn't say what it was. But does this embolden
Speaker 1: her or make her want to call it quits? Well, certainly, Um,
Speaker 1: She's used to being insulted by Donald Trump, so whether
Speaker 1: or not it even makes a bit of difference would
Speaker 1: surprise me. I think she's very much focused on her
Speaker 1: family and what's going on in at home right now. Obviously,
Speaker 1: her legacy plays an important role in what she does
Speaker 1: from this point on. Uh And look, I mean, Donald
Speaker 1: Trump is gonna be Donald Trump, and you can never
Speaker 1: expect anything more from him than what you just heard.
Speaker 1: Does Nancy Pelosi retire next, Gene? I think she does,
Speaker 1: and I think she does, And I think Trump's use
Speaker 1: of this phrase is what authoritarian leaders do. They dehumanize
Speaker 1: and he's trying to do that. The best panel in
Speaker 1: the business there with us in our special election like
Speaker 1: coverage on Bloomberg TV and radio starting a p of
Speaker 1: Eastern time, Rick and Jeannie, I'm Joe Matthew, this is Bloomberg,