Speaker 1: President Biden lives down from the East Room of the
Speaker 1: White House. I'm Joe Matthew in Washington. Thanks for being
Speaker 1: with us on Bloomberg Radio. As we just listened to
Speaker 1: the day after news conference. As promised by President Biden,
Speaker 1: he did not make any major announcements. Did did weigh
Speaker 1: in though, on what was a better night at least
Speaker 1: than expected for Democrats. Well, we don't know all the
Speaker 1: results yet. At least I don't know them all yet.
Speaker 1: Here's what we do know. While the press and the
Speaker 1: pundits are predicting a giant red wave, it didn't happen.
Speaker 1: And I know you were somewhat missed by my my
Speaker 1: obsessing optimism. But uh, I felt good during the whole process.
Speaker 1: I thought we were going to do fine. While any
Speaker 1: seat lost is painful, some good Democrats didn't win the
Speaker 1: last night. Democrats had a strong night, and we lost
Speaker 1: fewer seats in the House Representatives than any Democratic president's
Speaker 1: first mid term election the last forty years. Part of
Speaker 1: his opening remarks, he did acknowledge some of the challenges
Speaker 1: faced as well, but the voters were also clear that
Speaker 1: they are still frustrated. I get it, I understand it's
Speaker 1: been a really tough few years in this country for
Speaker 1: so many people. Bring in our panel, Rick and Genie
Speaker 1: or with us Rick Davis and Jennie Chanzano Bloomberg Politics
Speaker 1: contributors as we get Bloomberg sound on off and running
Speaker 1: a little bit differently this evening. You want to start
Speaker 1: with the panel having heard from the president. Now we
Speaker 1: waited for for a little bit of time he gave
Speaker 1: us what was that about forty minutes? I guess a
Speaker 1: number of questions. Maybe he was a little bit more
Speaker 1: than that. He started about twenty minutes late here as
Speaker 1: the White House did promise a little encounter with the president. Uh,
Speaker 1: he said he would take ten questions. I don't know
Speaker 1: if he actually made good on them. Here must have
Speaker 1: been at least ten. Genie, How did he do? How
Speaker 1: was the posture? The confidence following a night like we
Speaker 1: know he had, Well, you know, we were at least
Speaker 1: some of us were expecting, you know, forty eight hours
Speaker 1: ago maybe that he could potentially be talking about some
Speaker 1: kind of shellacking. And here the president who got to
Speaker 1: go out in a mid term in his first term
Speaker 1: and talk about a pretty good night for his party.
Speaker 1: So that was a very positive thing, and he went out,
Speaker 1: he took questions, and he stressed that he is going
Speaker 1: to continue to work for the American public. He expressed
Speaker 1: sensitivity to the fact that people are feeling, as the
Speaker 1: polls showed us last night, very frustrated with the direction
Speaker 1: of the country in the economy. And he talked about
Speaker 1: the fact he's going to continue to try to work
Speaker 1: across the aisle. As he heads out overseas tomorrow and
Speaker 1: then comes back, he said he's going to be meeting
Speaker 1: with people from both parties to try to address the
Speaker 1: issues addressing the American public. So I think, all in lall,
Speaker 1: he did a good job. But let's not forget you know,
Speaker 1: for most reporters, we don't hear from the president in
Speaker 1: these venues enough. So it's the first press conference he's
Speaker 1: had in a long time. January was the last real
Speaker 1: big one, and he hit the two hour mark. As
Speaker 1: I'm sure you well remember, having been in this studio
Speaker 1: for it, Rick, it's been framed by Democrats while the
Speaker 1: House is up and called as the most successful mid
Speaker 1: term election cycle for a Democratic president going back a
Speaker 1: long time, maybe any president going back along time. Does
Speaker 1: Joe Biden have something to brag about Uh. Look, I
Speaker 1: think he actually had a good tone today. He wasn't
Speaker 1: really bragging about anything. He you know, sort of spelled
Speaker 1: it out as as it is, which to have that
Speaker 1: kind of stability and not demagogue. It was refreshing, frankly,
Speaker 1: Um and look, I mean, you know, verse to remind everybody,
Speaker 1: George Bush in two thousand and two or two thousand
Speaker 1: two had gained eight seats. So uh, in twenty years,
Speaker 1: it's the best performance of any president president. Were there? Yeah,
Speaker 1: And uh, but like presidents are presidents, right, I mean, like, okay,
Speaker 1: so yeah, he's a very successful Democratic president. Can't can't
Speaker 1: can't help but say, gee, Republicans have been more successful
Speaker 1: in the last twenty years. But but the bottom line
Speaker 1: is he seemed very he seemed very uh settled with
Speaker 1: the idea that he's gonna have a divided government. You know,
Speaker 1: he didn't didn't commit to that. Obviously, he doesn't want
Speaker 1: to throw anybody under the bus right now, and we
Speaker 1: don't know what control of Congress is looking like. But
Speaker 1: the fact that he's committed to sitting down with party
Speaker 1: on the opposite side and and and trying to create
Speaker 1: a dialogue to see if he can move forward the
Speaker 1: second half of his administration is a real positive. Right,
Speaker 1: we would have never heard this from Trump, right, it
Speaker 1: would have been we won big, and like it's the
Speaker 1: greatest victory in the history of the world, and and
Speaker 1: and like he would have been throwing Democrats under the bus,
Speaker 1: right and left. So the fact that the Olive branches
Speaker 1: out is huge. I think that's what Republicans will be
Speaker 1: looking for, especially those Republicans who actually still want to
Speaker 1: put in a good day's work in Congress. A great
Speaker 1: point that you make. The President says he will sit
Speaker 1: down with the Republican leadership when he returns from his
Speaker 1: foreign travel. UH. You mentioned Trump. Let's play that against
Speaker 1: Trump and in his remarks in a Newsmax interview going
Speaker 1: into the UH the night last night. It's just an
Speaker 1: incredible contrast from what we heard from Joe Biden, the
Speaker 1: posture that he chose to take here and Donald Trump.
Speaker 1: Knowing that Trump endorsed UH dozens, if not several hundred
Speaker 1: candidates affect across the country in this midterm site the
Speaker 1: results for Republicans, um how much of that will be
Speaker 1: because of Donald Trump? Well, I think if they win,
Speaker 1: I should get all the credit, and if they lose,
Speaker 1: I should not be blamed at all. Okay, but it
Speaker 1: will probably be just the opposite. When they win. I
Speaker 1: think they're going to do very well. I'll probably be
Speaker 1: given very little credit, even though in many cases I
Speaker 1: teld people to run. Is he getting enough credit today, Gene,
Speaker 1: I don't think he's getting much credit. I think he's
Speaker 1: getting a lot of blame. The great spots for the
Speaker 1: Republican Party were people who are against Donald Trump or
Speaker 1: with whom he has had issues, namely Brian Kemp in
Speaker 1: Georgia and run to Santis in Florida. Potential rivals is
Speaker 1: certainly run to Santis for four. And I think, you know,
Speaker 1: as we look at President Biden's press conference that to
Speaker 1: me was the elephant in the room. The reporters tried
Speaker 1: to get him to go there. He sort of shied
Speaker 1: away from it. But you've got Trump, you know, teasing
Speaker 1: a possible announcement on Tuesday for twenty four, and the
Speaker 1: big question is does Joe Biden follow in any you know,
Speaker 1: does he follow suit at some point? And of course,
Speaker 1: um you've got the exit polls also showing us that
Speaker 1: these are two incredibly unpopular leaders of their respective parties,
Speaker 1: and so that sort of is the elephant in the room.
Speaker 1: Does Joe Biden run and how does he deal with
Speaker 1: the calendar? And he's going to have a lot of
Speaker 1: questions to answer about that issue. Interesting the way he
Speaker 1: answered this question. Listen to this Rick he was asked
Speaker 1: by by Steve Hoffman at Reuter's. But you know you're
Speaker 1: gonna run again? What's the deal? Here's what he has.
Speaker 1: I think. My guess is, I hope Joe and I
Speaker 1: get a little time to actually sneak away for a
Speaker 1: week around between Christmas and Thanksgiving. And my guess is
Speaker 1: would be earlier next year. We make that early next year,
Speaker 1: I should say, Steve Holland, the great White House correspondent,
Speaker 1: is that the way you do this? You know? He
Speaker 1: don't you just say you're running? Ri? No, definitely not um.
Speaker 1: I think he is. He understands the political process as
Speaker 1: well as anybody you know. And he's gonna assemble advisors.
Speaker 1: He's going to reach out to mayors and governors and
Speaker 1: members of Congress and ask their opinion and build a
Speaker 1: little momentum behind it, because right now he doesn't really
Speaker 1: have any momentum. He had he had obviously a good night.
Speaker 1: He's probably gonna lose one House of the Congress, and
Speaker 1: so you know, he's got to redefine himself as create
Speaker 1: the person he wants to be to run for president.
Speaker 1: If he wants to run for president. I mean, I
Speaker 1: don't think it's a foregone conclusion, but I think the
Speaker 1: the public would would benefit from that kind of introspection.
Speaker 1: In other words, it's not just automatic, I'm gonna run
Speaker 1: no matter what. I think. He wants the party to
Speaker 1: ask him to run, right, You know, there needs to
Speaker 1: be people out on the public square saying, oh, Joe
Speaker 1: Biden's our best chance of you know, winning in four
Speaker 1: I would say, on the contrast, you know, Donal Trump's
Speaker 1: not asking anybody's opinion about whether he should running, right exactly,
Speaker 1: And and and I think one of the things you're
Speaker 1: gonna start seeing in the Republican Party is a lot
Speaker 1: of people scratch their head and publicly saying, now, wait
Speaker 1: a minute, he's sitting on a hundred million dollars and
Speaker 1: we just lost these seats by a couple of thousand VOTs.
Speaker 1: What the heck is he doing? Uh, Jennie, does the
Speaker 1: president want to let that trump announcement simmer for a
Speaker 1: little bit, so Democrats are screaming for him to announce
Speaker 1: something by the end of the year. Yeah, he wants
Speaker 1: to let that simmer. He wants to let run to
Speaker 1: Santis donald Trump battle it out, as Donald Trump has
Speaker 1: already said that he will he will go straight forwar
Speaker 1: round to Santis. So he wants to let that go
Speaker 1: and he can then has the benefit of deciding when
Speaker 1: he is going to put himself forward if he does, um,
Speaker 1: you know. And the reality for Donald Trump, of course,
Speaker 1: as Republicans look at this is most are many of
Speaker 1: his candidates in the upper echelons. Many of them lost,
Speaker 1: you know, Bullduck, Mastriano, Oz Dixon, Cox, Zelden, Michael. It's
Speaker 1: a big you know, he had a couple of bright spots,
Speaker 1: maybe j d Vance. You know, we're still waiting on Arizona, Nevada.
Speaker 1: But you know, these are big losses for Publicans. So
Speaker 1: they're really going to have to grapple with Is anybody
Speaker 1: in the Republican Party in a position to stop him
Speaker 1: from announcing and sort of taking the party? It seemed
Speaker 1: to be Ron de santist Rick would no better than
Speaker 1: I do. But Ron de Santist so far hasn't chosen
Speaker 1: to do that because he's busy playing god in Florida,
Speaker 1: worried about It's a great opportunity to work in. Nathan Gonzalez,
Speaker 1: a voice we've been looking forward to adding, editor and
Speaker 1: publisher of Inside Elections, who joins us on this day
Speaker 1: after Nathan, thank you for being here. We talked in
Speaker 1: advance of election night here and you know, the narrative
Speaker 1: this morning is red ripple, no red wave. Kevin McCarthy
Speaker 1: has declared victory. Nathan, how's this going to end in
Speaker 1: the House? Well, I don't think the House majority is
Speaker 1: a completely done deal. There is actually a path for
Speaker 1: Democrats to maintain control. It's it's a narrow one. And
Speaker 1: this is a conversation. I don't think anybody really expected
Speaker 1: the idea that Democrats could lose the Senate and hold
Speaker 1: the House is a scenario that no one was talking
Speaker 1: about for the last two years. Based on historical trends,
Speaker 1: based on where President Biden's job approval rating is um
Speaker 1: right now, it looks like when you break down what
Speaker 1: see what's been called, and what's yet to be called,
Speaker 1: it looks like Republicans will gain between four and eleven seats,
Speaker 1: so they need five. So the lower end of that
Speaker 1: range is just under what they need. But you know,
Speaker 1: if you really pin me down, it looks like Republicans
Speaker 1: will get it by a handful or less of seats.
Speaker 1: And that makes it That means that speaker, that speaker
Speaker 1: McCarthy is not a given that there could be a
Speaker 1: leadership leadership fight and caused some chaos early within the
Speaker 1: within the Congress. That's going to be an interesting conversation here.
Speaker 1: Listen to Kevin McCarthy. It was two o'clock in the morning.
Speaker 1: I thought we had been I thought we were done
Speaker 1: with the speeches, and well, Kevin McCarthy is about to speak,
Speaker 1: and boy, is that we are going to take the
Speaker 1: house back. Interesting way to handle this. He pointed to
Speaker 1: Sean Patrick maloney as well, who in the race was
Speaker 1: called for his opponent. That was kind of a trophy
Speaker 1: win for Republicans in the Hudson Valley of New York.
Speaker 1: They had a couple actually, uh in New York here,
Speaker 1: Uh that said, are we in for a major leadership
Speaker 1: battle here? Because the margin won't be much greater. Nathan, Well,
Speaker 1: you have to McCarthy has to be viewed as a
Speaker 1: front runner for speaker, but it's not an undeal. And
Speaker 1: then you say, well, who who if not him, who
Speaker 1: who can be acceptable to all elements of the Republican caucus?
Speaker 1: And Steve Schalez is going you have to, but I
Speaker 1: would include Patrick mckennry at least the phonic Jim Banks
Speaker 1: of Indiana. I think you have to include those folks.
Speaker 1: But the kind of what what McCarthy did last night
Speaker 1: was something we called cherry picking. Right. Yes, Republicans won
Speaker 1: some seats uh last night, but it wasn't as expected
Speaker 1: in right now, the toss up races which we expected
Speaker 1: to break for Republicans because of independence and undecided voters
Speaker 1: prioritizing the economy and not liking Biden, those tossib raises
Speaker 1: have been breaking disproportionately for Democrats and that has really
Speaker 1: changed the overall outlook on how many seats Republicans are
Speaker 1: going to gain, with of course the exception of this
Speaker 1: Democrat not only a member of the Democratic House, but
Speaker 1: the share of the D Triple C, the man tasked
Speaker 1: with getting Democrats reelected. I don't want to make this
Speaker 1: about me, Um. I don't like in New York as
Speaker 1: know that that I want to There's not one seat
Speaker 1: on that board that I don't I don't want the
Speaker 1: loss of um and and be And it is that
Speaker 1: competitive nature that will also, you know, allow me to
Speaker 1: answer your question honestly and say, I don't like to lose.
Speaker 1: But my opponent won this race and he wanted fair
Speaker 1: and square, and that means something, and so I'm going
Speaker 1: to step aside and I had a good run. I
Speaker 1: thought that was interesting, Nathan. He's not the only Democrat
Speaker 1: we heard that from last night. It so haunded a
Speaker 1: lot like Congressman Tim Ryan's concession speech in the the
Speaker 1: Ohio Senate race. Here. I'm assuming that that there was
Speaker 1: a kind of a meeting on this there there was
Speaker 1: an agreement among Democrats that if you lose your race,
Speaker 1: that you do it properly, that you concede, and you
Speaker 1: even call it an honor. Did you sense that last night? Yeah.
Speaker 1: I think there's been a sense even coming into election
Speaker 1: day about election integrity in the process and this leading
Speaker 1: by example and with Maloney. There was a confluence of
Speaker 1: events where overall Republicans are doing well in New York
Speaker 1: in part with Congressman Zeldin's closer than expected run for governor.
Speaker 1: But Maloney also chose to run in this newly drawn district.
Speaker 1: He only represented of the district, so he was not
Speaker 1: a true incumbent. It's some of those advantages that come
Speaker 1: with and come and see, and then you add in
Speaker 1: the Republican spending in and that ends up with a
Speaker 1: high profile loss on an otherwise disappointing night for Republicans.
Speaker 1: We're going to turn to the Senate in Georgia in
Speaker 1: just a minute here, Nathan, and we have to wait
Speaker 1: a month before we know who controls the Senate. Well,
Speaker 1: you know, right now, it's coming down to Georgia, Arizona,
Speaker 1: and Nevada. If if Republicans or if either party wins
Speaker 1: both Nevada and Arizona before we get to Georgia, then
Speaker 1: we will know control. But if those break, you know,
Speaker 1: with one party each winning one of those, then yes,
Speaker 1: it does come down to Georgia. And you know what,
Speaker 1: We've been talking about this for months now. We've been
Speaker 1: through multiple cycles where everyone said, oh, everything was way off,
Speaker 1: and no, we've been telling you for months that it
Speaker 1: could come down to a runoff in Georgia. And we
Speaker 1: are on the on the precipice of that. Well, I
Speaker 1: suspect we'll talk again in the next month except for
Speaker 1: December six. And yeah, that race is herschel Walker Raphael.
Speaker 1: We're not going to a run off of that is
Speaker 1: for sure. Nathan Gonzalez, thanks for being with us. Thanks
Speaker 1: for being patient as we dealt with a little bit
Speaker 1: of a delay from the White House Today, editor and
Speaker 1: publisher of Inside Elections, he probably hasn't slept much like
Speaker 1: our panel. Can I ask quickly, Rick and Jennie while
Speaker 1: you're here, Uh, the the idea of Sean Patrick Maloney
Speaker 1: giving that trophy, that the victory that Kevin McCarthy was
Speaker 1: so thirsty for. How significant is that loss in the
Speaker 1: Hudson Valley Genie that that was? That was one we
Speaker 1: waited hours and hours to hear about. It's significant. I
Speaker 1: think it's the first time I understanding about forty years
Speaker 1: that the head of the party is lost in their seat. Um,
Speaker 1: as you were just talking about the thing to keep
Speaker 1: in mind, many Democrats in New York were frustrated with
Speaker 1: John Patrick Maloney for switching districts and running there the
Speaker 1: first place. It was not his home district, so he
Speaker 1: had only about twenty were, you know, thinking of him
Speaker 1: as re election. He was new to the district and
Speaker 1: he lost it, but he lost against an onslaught of
Speaker 1: Republican money. We're gonna talk more about the battle here
Speaker 1: for the gavel with Rick and Jeanie and we'll bring
Speaker 1: in Billy House from Georgia next. I'm Joe Matthew. This
Speaker 1: is Bloomberg. We turned out a Georgia and the headline
Speaker 1: Warnock Walker had to potentially decisive Senate runoff. Potentially decisive. Indeed,
Speaker 1: this is the one that could decide at all in
Speaker 1: the Senate. And doesn't this feel a lot like a
Speaker 1: couple of are we really doing this again? Waiting around
Speaker 1: a month to find out what Georgia does? Senator Warnock,
Speaker 1: despite all this, says he's feeling good. We we always
Speaker 1: knew that this race would be close, and so that's
Speaker 1: where we are. So y'all just hang in there. I'm
Speaker 1: feeling good. Okay, they love that, and I'll tell you
Speaker 1: I'll feeling good. Where's Ricky? Bobby at Lee? House picked
Speaker 1: the right race. Billy, you're gonna be moving into like
Speaker 1: a waffle house or something for the next month. Are
Speaker 1: you staying down there for this it's the race of
Speaker 1: the cycle. As it turns out, Warnock Walker, how does
Speaker 1: this work? Nobody got fifty and so we've got the runoff, right,
Speaker 1: that's right, it's uh. By the way, I did he
Speaker 1: get waffle house this morning? Going to uh? But yes,
Speaker 1: it's like groundhog day. Uh. In two thousand twenty one,
Speaker 1: Raphael Warnock one in a run off, and here we
Speaker 1: are again now face him facing herschel Walker. So uh.
Speaker 1: Rick Davis, who's with us as as usual on the
Speaker 1: broadcast tonight, has been making the point that you take
Speaker 1: Brian Kemp away, right, You've got that sort of there's
Speaker 1: no there are no coat tails for herschel Walker. He's
Speaker 1: got to do this on his own. And Raphael Warnock
Speaker 1: has got a lot of a lot of OPO to
Speaker 1: dump on him. We've already got two allegations that he
Speaker 1: paid for abortions for former girlfriends, even though he is
Speaker 1: in favor of an abortion ban. This is gonna be
Speaker 1: APO central for the next month. Right. Oh, that's absolutely correct.
Speaker 1: But you mentioned the governor Brian Kemp who one uh
Speaker 1: and outperformed obviously Herschel Warnock on in last night. He
Speaker 1: across the board Herschel Walker underperformed other Republican candidates in
Speaker 1: Georgia's statewide But the big pressure probably will be on
Speaker 1: the governor to you have come out and and finally
Speaker 1: show a little love for Herschel Walker that he did
Speaker 1: not do so do so in the general election. And uh,
Speaker 1: who knows what the governor will do, but there's talk
Speaker 1: that he is going to open up a little bit
Speaker 1: and maybe, especially if the Senate is and at at stake,
Speaker 1: come out and help him on the trail a little
Speaker 1: bit more. It's an interesting concept because this is a
Speaker 1: Trump pick, right, Bryant Kemp, Well, he'd love a Republican
Speaker 1: I'm assuming to represent the state. Doesn't probably feel much
Speaker 1: of a need to help Donald Trump. No, he's probably
Speaker 1: now he's actually feeling like he doesn't even at all now.
Speaker 1: But but Walker might And and that's the other big
Speaker 1: kind of unstated question is will Trump stay away? And
Speaker 1: and if he doesn't, does that hurt Walker? Well, he
Speaker 1: certainly learned a lesson, uh in with that, I guess
Speaker 1: it was technically twenty one uh, with the Georgia runoff
Speaker 1: that sent John ass Off and then of course Herschel
Speaker 1: Raphael Warnock to Washington here. Uh So, look, I understand
Speaker 1: we've got a month. How do you fill that time
Speaker 1: for these two campaigns? Billy? Uh, given what's happening in
Speaker 1: the Senate and if this truly is the determinative race
Speaker 1: for control, Uh, you feel you filled this month with uh,
Speaker 1: incredible amounts of money once again pouring into a single
Speaker 1: state from all over the country. Uh. Incredible number of
Speaker 1: events with people from outside the state, celebrities coming in
Speaker 1: and in appearing at rallies for both candidates, and in
Speaker 1: in in the television blitz and other media blitz on advertising,
Speaker 1: unlike you've probably seen very many other places that happened
Speaker 1: in one It was incredible and it looks like it's
Speaker 1: going to happen again. Billy. Thanks for great reporting this week.
Speaker 1: I can't wait to have you back in Washington. Let's
Speaker 1: talk to you more about it in person. Billy House
Speaker 1: live in Georgia Forests. On the fastest hour in politics.
Speaker 1: Everyone here is, you know, punch drunk or something like that.
Speaker 1: We've all basically been awake for forty eight hours. And
Speaker 1: I mentioned you Rix will bring you back in here.
Speaker 1: The idea of this, uh, this runoff taking place with
Speaker 1: just one race, just the two candidates on the ballot.
Speaker 1: What does that mean for herschel Walker? Is that a
Speaker 1: much tougher climate? And he was already in well, you know,
Speaker 1: he shared the stage with an entire country full of
Speaker 1: interesting races, right, and now the entire country is going
Speaker 1: to share themselves with herschel Walker. And so talk about
Speaker 1: a spotlight, right, I mean, like you never have an
Speaker 1: opportunity like this, and and a real question is a real,
Speaker 1: real spotlight on herschel Walker. How's he going to perform
Speaker 1: on that? Right? I mean, he he did better than
Speaker 1: most people thought he was gonna do through this election,
Speaker 1: and he made it a real go, right. I mean,
Speaker 1: this is a really tight election, so you have to
Speaker 1: give him some credit. But like this is it, Right,
Speaker 1: We're gonna spend a month doing nothing but seeing and
Speaker 1: hearing everything that man says, what he does, and how
Speaker 1: he lived his life and what his reactions, and by
Speaker 1: the way, a lot more than the incumbent, uh Raphael Warnock,
Speaker 1: because like we already know him, right, he's been vetted,
Speaker 1: he's been in the in Senate for a couple of
Speaker 1: years and and he's just not as interesting a character
Speaker 1: as herschel Walker and so you know, waking up every
Speaker 1: morning to herschel Walker Cereal is going to be really interesting.
Speaker 1: My god, I presume it involves badges. I don't know,
Speaker 1: maybe some NASCAR if you could get you know, a
Speaker 1: NASCAR endorsement and really get this Ricky Bobby thing together, Genie,
Speaker 1: it might go somewhere. That's right, Maybe go meet Billy
Speaker 1: House at that waffle Head. Right. The fact of the
Speaker 1: matter is the he had Tom Cotton there, he had
Speaker 1: Lindsey Graham there. Everybody showed up form Rick Scott and
Speaker 1: he doesn't look like a candidate who is mired in
Speaker 1: scandal if you look at these numbers. No, he doesn't.
Speaker 1: And you know, the challenge I think from the Democratic
Speaker 1: perspective is, you know, there is always a concern that
Speaker 1: if Democrats had a better than expected night, do voters
Speaker 1: want to get out again? Whereas Republicans may feel, hey,
Speaker 1: we didn't perform the way we wanted to, were a
Speaker 1: little bit in the whole. Potentially are we more motivated
Speaker 1: to get out there? So if this is really a
Speaker 1: push for turnout, both sides are going to have to
Speaker 1: bring out you know, they're big weapons, and I think
Speaker 1: in Georgia. On the Democratic side, that's going to be
Speaker 1: Barack Obama. And let's not forget there was a libertarian
Speaker 1: candidate in there who got about one votes, Chase Oliver.
Speaker 1: So the question is where did those votes go? And
Speaker 1: that is an open question. Coming up, we'll talk more
Speaker 1: about some of the other races that have yet to
Speaker 1: be called, and by that I mean Arizona and Boy,
Speaker 1: I'll tell you what Carrie Link is laying it down.
Speaker 1: We'll let you know what she said last evening. She
Speaker 1: said she spoke with God out the outcome of her race.
Speaker 1: And we'll get into the leadership challenge in the House.
Speaker 1: Is this Kevin McCarthy's gavel or not? Emily Wilkins is
Speaker 1: on the way. This is Bloomberg. You're listening to Bloomberg
Speaker 1: who sound on with Joe Matthew on Bloomberg Radio. As
Speaker 1: you've been hearing over the course of the hour, nothing
Speaker 1: has been called, not the Senate or the House. So
Speaker 1: why is Kevin McCarthy declaring victory the night before? He
Speaker 1: was out there at two o'clock in the morning Eastern time.
Speaker 1: It is clear that we are gonna take the house
Speaker 1: back in New York. We defeated the Democrat campaign chairman,
Speaker 1: Sean Patrick Sean Patrick Maloney, which will be the first
Speaker 1: time in over forty years a deep triple C chair
Speaker 1: lost his reelection. And that part is true. The question is, well,
Speaker 1: who else is gonna lose here and what is the
Speaker 1: actual balance going to be in the House with still
Speaker 1: a path at this point for Democrats to keep the House.
Speaker 1: It's unlikely, but it's possible. And now this is bringing
Speaker 1: in the whole idea of a challenge to Kevin McCarthy's
Speaker 1: potential leadership here because as they say, Emily Wilkins, they
Speaker 1: smell blood in the water. Emily, is great to see
Speaker 1: you back from Bloomberg. Government has also been up for
Speaker 1: two days straight or something like that. You cover the leadership,
Speaker 1: this is your specialty. Kevin McCarthy thought this would be
Speaker 1: a layup. He even decided to declare victory or claim
Speaker 1: victory prematurely. Is he going to be the person holding
Speaker 1: the gavel if Republicans take the House or is Steve
Speaker 1: Scalise making phone calls right now among others. Well, at
Speaker 1: this point we know that Steve Scalise has already sent
Speaker 1: out a message to all of his colleagues saying, hey,
Speaker 1: I'm going to run for that number two spot. So
Speaker 1: he clearly doesn't think that he has what he needs
Speaker 1: right now to put out a viable challenge to McCarthy.
Speaker 1: And from the folks who I've talked with today, there
Speaker 1: are a lot who say, you know, McCarthy has led
Speaker 1: us through to this point, we're not quite sure who
Speaker 1: another challenger will be. Doesn't mean that one's not going
Speaker 1: to emerge, but at this point, at the end of today,
Speaker 1: it does seem like there's a path forward to Kevin
Speaker 1: McCarthy still holding that gavel. The question becomes what is
Speaker 1: he going to have to sacrifice to get it? Because
Speaker 1: there are rules that govern how the legislative process works,
Speaker 1: how power works. Those are all going to be decided
Speaker 1: in the next couple of weeks, and the far right
Speaker 1: House Freedom Caucus has already come up with their demands.
Speaker 1: They want more power, they want McCarthy to give it
Speaker 1: to them. And if there's not some sort of give
Speaker 1: and take here that might thing make things really really
Speaker 1: complicated for any McCarthy speakership, then what what kind of
Speaker 1: influence would he have if he essentially trades places with
Speaker 1: Nancy Pelosi gets a majority of say five seats, still
Speaker 1: has a Democratic president. The other round of Pennsylvania Avenue
Speaker 1: doesn't really matter what happens in the Senate. In that world,
Speaker 1: he's not getting a lot done right, a lot of messaging. Well,
Speaker 1: when you ask Republicans what they wanted to do with
Speaker 1: control of the House, the thing that they always pivoted
Speaker 1: to his investigations. And he can do as many investigators.
Speaker 1: He can do as many investigations as he wants with
Speaker 1: two eighteen members, as long as he has control of
Speaker 1: the chairs. They can go after Hunter Biden. They can
Speaker 1: go after immigration, they can go after the origins of
Speaker 1: COVID nineteen. There's such a laundry list there, but they
Speaker 1: can do it. That can be a thing that they do.
Speaker 1: The question, of course, becomes those narrow margins. What happens
Speaker 1: when you hit that must pass legislation, What happens when
Speaker 1: you hit the debt sailing, what happens when you need
Speaker 1: to pass government spending bills? Those things. You have a
Speaker 1: caucus that you can't necessarily keep together on issues like
Speaker 1: I mean, you have the House Freedom Caucus. They they
Speaker 1: are inviting new potential members to an orientation and they
Speaker 1: have all these little modules for them to attend, and
Speaker 1: one of them is a big policy upcoming issues and
Speaker 1: they actually say, like, this is how we're going to
Speaker 1: teach you how you can use these debates to leverage
Speaker 1: to get conservative priorities passed. And so they they're they're
Speaker 1: gearing up for a fight. Here are you invited to
Speaker 1: the orientation? I mean, I'm always welcome to stand outside
Speaker 1: of whatever room. That's a little bit different. Um, when
Speaker 1: do we know? When do we find out the house?
Speaker 1: I mean I realized we have a number of races
Speaker 1: that have yet to be called. When does Kevin McCarthy
Speaker 1: get to say that with authority? So my crystal ball
Speaker 1: is currently broken in the shop and there since about um,
Speaker 1: I mean McCarthy was saying at two am that, like
Speaker 1: when we all woke up in the morning, that it
Speaker 1: would be called. And if you have Kevin McCarthy making
Speaker 1: claims like that which you know hours later reproved untrue,
Speaker 1: I mean, California is going to take a while. We
Speaker 1: knew that Oregon is going to take a while. Oregon's
Speaker 1: fifth that's one that Republicans think that they are going
Speaker 1: to be able to pick up Washington, Alaska. I mean,
Speaker 1: these are all ones that are going to take a while.
Speaker 1: I mean certainly, like I feel like I hope, and
Speaker 1: you hope, and everyone who's trying to figure this out
Speaker 1: in DC hopes that it's sooner rather than later. But
Speaker 1: it could have really take sometimes more days at least
Speaker 1: maybe by this weekend we have a sense maybe maybe
Speaker 1: by I mean like election was called on on a Saturday,
Speaker 1: just crashing into everyone's weekend like that. So so you're
Speaker 1: not making you're not you're not, you're penciling in plans
Speaker 1: for this weekend. Emily, thank you. It's great to see you.
Speaker 1: Happy election day day after even though election days technical
Speaker 1: election week, absolutely happy election week. As we reassemble the panel,
Speaker 1: I want to hear from Rick and Genie on this,
Speaker 1: uh the idea of a speaker McCarthy, what a Republicans
Speaker 1: saying here, Rick, because there's a lot of different reporting
Speaker 1: about who might be, uh, the other potential speaker in
Speaker 1: waiting to Steve scalise make that run. Yeah, I think
Speaker 1: if there is a run, it's probably Steve Scalise. Um.
Speaker 1: Everybody else sort of lowers their threshold of desirability, you know,
Speaker 1: quantity significantly past Steve Scalise. The other thing that might happen,
Speaker 1: and we've seen this happen before, is McCarthy could run
Speaker 1: and potentially even get elected, but not get a mandate
Speaker 1: from his own caucus and quit, right. I mean, like
Speaker 1: that's how he got elected speaker. They went through like
Speaker 1: three different or not speaker, but majority. They went through
Speaker 1: like three different guys before they got damn so um.
Speaker 1: These elections are messy affairs and uh, and so they'll
Speaker 1: be campaigns waged to beat him up a bit. Whether
Speaker 1: or not that means uh Schoez can take advantage of
Speaker 1: it or not is yet to be seen. But I
Speaker 1: think that it's worth watching this space because I don't
Speaker 1: think there's anything decided at this stage. Speaking of races,
Speaker 1: not calls. We have to go to Arizona. Uh, we're
Speaker 1: waiting for the Senate. We're waiting for the governor's race
Speaker 1: to be called as well, and carry like the Republican
Speaker 1: of course, who was behind the last time I saw
Speaker 1: the numbers, at least behind Katie Hobbs doesn't care. You know,
Speaker 1: I did a lot of praying to God. I've been
Speaker 1: praying to God every day all day and I said
Speaker 1: to him, you make this victory come whatever way you want.
Speaker 1: If it comes decisive on election day, then bring it
Speaker 1: to us that way. If we have to fight through
Speaker 1: the bs and the garbage, then we will fight through
Speaker 1: the b s and the garbage. But how do you
Speaker 1: get fair and free elections? You have to fight and
Speaker 1: win to make them fair and free. And we needed
Speaker 1: another stark reminder that we have incompetent people running the
Speaker 1: show in Arizona. Okay, So there, now we're getting to
Speaker 1: the heart of the matter here. We're gonna be bogged
Speaker 1: down no matter how this ends in lawsuits. That's right.
Speaker 1: I'm just looking now, sixty of the vote and it's
Speaker 1: been like sixty six sixty seven all day, and they
Speaker 1: are it looks like to me within you know, nine
Speaker 1: oh six to nine ten, Katie has narrowly, narrowly has it.
Speaker 1: And as Rick has told us many times, they're gonna
Speaker 1: have a trench of votes out. I think at like
Speaker 1: seven pm, one one dump and Carrie Lake could definitely
Speaker 1: go for But this thing is going to go on
Speaker 1: for several days and then of course you have you know,
Speaker 1: you know, a contest that go on and certifications and
Speaker 1: all those kinds of things. But she's gonna fight because
Speaker 1: God told her too, and she's gonna fight to win. Joe,
Speaker 1: she says, the tabulators or whatever something we're working that
Speaker 1: we we already that's been debunked essentially, Rick, But this
Speaker 1: is gonna be a fraud case no matter what, right,
Speaker 1: well unless she wins, right and I don't know, my God, Yeah,
Speaker 1: but she won't investigate it. Yeah. Look, I mean, they've
Speaker 1: got almost a half a million votes still left to
Speaker 1: be counted in a bunch of them are gonna come
Speaker 1: out tonight. And what's really hilarious is these are drop boxes,
Speaker 1: the same drop boxes that they were trying to keep
Speaker 1: people from running ballots in, and so she could wind
Speaker 1: up being the recipient, if not maybe even the loser
Speaker 1: because of people getting driven away from these drop boxes.
Speaker 1: So it's, uh, it's it's just a quirk in the system.
Speaker 1: We heard so much about drop boxes and and even
Speaker 1: the Justice Department getting involved, and now it's all coming
Speaker 1: down to those ballots that were stuffed in the drop box.
Speaker 1: You mentioned the come to Jesus yes today that we're
Speaker 1: going to have over all of this. When does the
Speaker 1: Republican Party have a come to Jesus with the Lakes
Speaker 1: and Trumps who are telling voters not to take advantage
Speaker 1: of this rick. Well, you know, part of it's gonna
Speaker 1: start at the top. I mean Ron McDaniels had a
Speaker 1: the chairman of the Republican Party, had a conference call
Speaker 1: with their members today all around the country and said, oh,
Speaker 1: this is a great outcome. And I the ones I
Speaker 1: heard from were scratching head, going what planet does that
Speaker 1: woman live on? So, I mean, I think it's again.
Speaker 1: I mean, the party is very hierarchical. They're gonna wanna
Speaker 1: get a signal from the top, and that wasn't a
Speaker 1: signal they thought they were gonna get. So the party's
Speaker 1: in a bit of a turmoil right now, I would say,
Speaker 1: and leadership is gonna matter. And frankly, the only person
Speaker 1: who came out of this, you know, smelling like a rose,
Speaker 1: was Governor to Santos, who had the best time and
Speaker 1: and you unbelievable returns in Florida and turning that state red.
Speaker 1: So let's get to that matter. Then let's let me
Speaker 1: ask you about Donald Trump. He's got this thing set
Speaker 1: for next week November Mara Lago. But again, as I mentioned,
Speaker 1: blood in the water, Genie, does that clear the field
Speaker 1: or does it? Ted cruise or run the Santas say,
Speaker 1: you know what, No, I'm gonna I'm gonna run against you.
Speaker 1: I think we're going to see a battle here. Um.
Speaker 1: You know, maybe would not so much had the night
Speaker 1: gone differently for Donald Trump. But as Rick was just saying,
Speaker 1: what did we see last night, we did see a wave.
Speaker 1: That wave was run to Santis in Florida. He won
Speaker 1: Miami Day. It's been you know what twenty years since
Speaker 1: Republicans have taken that. He took the Hispanic vote down there.
Speaker 1: That's a huge accomplishment for the Republicans down there. That
Speaker 1: is a red state required so you can win the
Speaker 1: electoral College or almost required. And now you've got, you know,
Speaker 1: Donald Trump with all of these losers that he supported
Speaker 1: and so that you know, but but still remains the
Speaker 1: head of the party and really popular with the base.
Speaker 1: So there's gonna be a fight, and you know, then
Speaker 1: you add in other people like Greg Abbott. He had
Speaker 1: a pretty good night. Brian Kemp had back off Rick.
Speaker 1: If Donald Trump announces next week or is this Trump?
Speaker 1: This the future of the Republican Party of the governors.
Speaker 1: So we're gonna get together and decide what they're gonna
Speaker 1: do about Donald Trump and watch DeSantis in the meantime, right, amazing,
Speaker 1: You guys gonna get some rest. Say yes, Rick and
Speaker 1: Jeannie the best panel in the business. Thanks again. We'll
Speaker 1: do it again tomorrow in the fastest hour in politics.
Speaker 1: Maybe some races will be called. This is Bloomberg.