Speaker 1: Live from Atlanta. This is a special edition of Sound
Speaker 1: on the Georgia runoff election. I want you to vote
Speaker 1: like democracy depends on. This is about turnout and and
Speaker 1: now that meed it, we gotta get into games. Vote
Speaker 1: like health care depends on the sideline anymore. You want
Speaker 1: to vote like yesterday Sound on Politics, Policy and perspective
Speaker 1: from DC's top name. That is the message, which is
Speaker 1: he's got to get people to turn out, and he's
Speaker 1: got to get him to turn out in huge numbers.
Speaker 1: But unfortunately for Republicans, they've been listening to Donald Trump
Speaker 1: talk about fraud and now getting out early. Well, we
Speaker 1: need people to turn out that are willing to stand
Speaker 1: in the reign if necessary. Windburg Sound On with Joe
Speaker 1: Matthew on Bloomberg Radio. Here we go again. The runoff
Speaker 1: is here. Welcome to the fastest hour in politics on
Speaker 1: a special edition of Sound On Live from Atlanta. As
Speaker 1: voters cast balanced across the state in this election that
Speaker 1: will decide if Senator Raphael Warren keeps his job or
Speaker 1: of hershel Walker can upset the incumbent, who carries a
Speaker 1: slight lead in the polls. Were joined by the man
Speaker 1: in charge of the runoff coming up Georgia's Secretary of
Speaker 1: State Brad Rafinsburger. Later our conversation with former Georgia Governor
Speaker 1: Roy Barnes, the last Democrat to hold the corner office,
Speaker 1: on the shifting political landscape in Georgia, and as Donald
Speaker 1: Trump's company has found guilty of tax fraud today in
Speaker 1: New York, will get analysis from our signature panel Bloomberg
Speaker 1: Politics contributors Rick Davis and Jeanie Chanzano with us on
Speaker 1: another election day, the candidates in Georgia's Senate runoff. We're
Speaker 1: up and out early this morning here Senator Warnock, I
Speaker 1: am fully acquainted with tired. But let me tell you
Speaker 1: my definition of tired this morning. Having to be represented
Speaker 1: by herschel Walker for six years, he's been coming up
Speaker 1: with the lines urging people to not worry about the
Speaker 1: rain and go out and vote. It has been a
Speaker 1: little murky out there today. And I'll tell you what,
Speaker 1: having been at that rally with Senator Warnock last night
Speaker 1: and rapper Jeezy? Is that Geev Jeezy? Yeah? I if
Speaker 1: that'sk Tyler again, Well, I'm tired too. As herschel Walker,
Speaker 1: he got up early. Isn't the many interviews with mainstream media.
Speaker 1: Hit a diner early this morning and took some questions
Speaker 1: in a sit down with ABC News, in this case,
Speaker 1: answering questions about accusations from Senator Warnock that he does
Speaker 1: not live by the family values he espouses. Listen to
Speaker 1: his response, Well, we're gonna talk about in voting. We're
Speaker 1: gonna write and voting and done. John, good job. I
Speaker 1: think one of the best things we did is doing
Speaker 1: the early election. I think people got out of they
Speaker 1: voted again. His answer was, we're gonna we're gonna talk
Speaker 1: about his voting. And that is true about this program
Speaker 1: right now is we're joined by the man at the
Speaker 1: center of this runoff. It's it's his job to run it.
Speaker 1: Georgia's Secretary of State, Brad Raethinsburger, finds himself doing this again.
Speaker 1: Mr Secretary. Welcome back to Bloomberg Sound On. It's great
Speaker 1: to have you on what I'm assuming is one of
Speaker 1: the busiest days of your year. And I'll start with
Speaker 1: the question everybody's asking, how's turnout? Turnouts good? It's moving through.
Speaker 1: The longest line we had just a few minutes ago
Speaker 1: was thirty minutes. The average weight time is three minutes.
Speaker 1: We just crossed the one point two million voter turnout mark.
Speaker 1: About two hours left to go for voters to get
Speaker 1: out and if they want to make a choice, make
Speaker 1: a decision on the direction of Georgia, they need to
Speaker 1: get out there. Two hours left to do so. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's right, two hours to go here. If you are
Speaker 1: listening to us, you've got time to do this. As
Speaker 1: the weather benefactor's secretary, you must be glad to see
Speaker 1: the rain pull back a little bit today. Yeah. I
Speaker 1: voted early this morning and it was raining, but it
Speaker 1: stopped and uh, it has to slow down people. We're
Speaker 1: just saying it steady about a hundred and ten, two
Speaker 1: hundred twenty thousand voters per hour all hours so far today.
Speaker 1: What does that tell you, Having you've got recent experience
Speaker 1: with this secretary, how does that compare to the runoff
Speaker 1: we saw a couple of years ago. Well, we had
Speaker 1: just a record turnout for our runoff. We had almost
Speaker 1: the same numbers that showed up for the runoff as
Speaker 1: showed up on election day of the fall election. But
Speaker 1: going back four years ago, I was in a runoff
Speaker 1: and we had about one point five million, and we
Speaker 1: already surpassed that with an early vote plus you had
Speaker 1: one point to to the one point eight worked over
Speaker 1: three million then already today, no reports and your regularities
Speaker 1: so far. No, No, it's just been you know, two
Speaker 1: minor issues. One a couple of counties we're gonna have
Speaker 1: to stay open fifteen minutes, twenty minutes just because you know,
Speaker 1: proburbial forget about a power cord or things like that.
Speaker 1: But no, it's been very calm, smooth. But you must
Speaker 1: be very excited about that. I mean, my goodness, with
Speaker 1: all the stuff we've been through, even most recently in
Speaker 1: a couple of states in the general election. Uh, it's
Speaker 1: not very often you get such a clean election. Is
Speaker 1: this the most secure round of voting George has ever had?
Speaker 1: I think people people now, not just in Georgia, but
Speaker 1: all of the country. Other in Georgia, we have honest,
Speaker 1: fair elections. They're secure and they run smooth. We're not
Speaker 1: seeing long lines. We put into SP two or two
Speaker 1: that lines had to be shorter than an hour, and
Speaker 1: right now the average way times three minutes. Longest one
Speaker 1: of the board I saw coming up here was about
Speaker 1: fourteen minutes. Yeah, we were we were at the constantly
Speaker 1: on library earlier today. And while there was a line
Speaker 1: going around the block this morning, people were more than
Speaker 1: happy to wait in in the instances that we saw
Speaker 1: as long as they knew they were going to vote.
Speaker 1: But for most of the day people were walking in
Speaker 1: and out. You mentioned the record uh in early voting
Speaker 1: very short period of time here. I feel Warnock is
Speaker 1: made a pretty big deal out of his suing to
Speaker 1: hold the votes the day after a holiday. This was
Speaker 1: the weekend after Thanksgiving. Listen to Senator Warnock. They said,
Speaker 1: you know, if it were left up we you, we
Speaker 1: let you vote. But it's in the launch right there. Sorry,
Speaker 1: our hands are tied, and so I decided to sue
Speaker 1: them and untied of hands, and we were there. It
Speaker 1: is Mr Secretaries, the Senator fairly framing the way this
Speaker 1: work has become part of his stump speech here late
Speaker 1: in the game. No, actually he's not, because four years
Speaker 1: ago I was in a runoff along with a PFC commissioner,
Speaker 1: and we had a four week run off, just like
Speaker 1: we're having this time. And so we've now with rank
Speaker 1: choice voting, moved our fellow run off to a four
Speaker 1: week run off, just like we do for all state offices,
Speaker 1: so we had a four week run off. It's always
Speaker 1: worked before. Uh, And I think that the General Assembly
Speaker 1: needs come back and say this is how much early
Speaker 1: vooting we're gonna have and set those timetables so people
Speaker 1: can't try to soothe their way to success, try to
Speaker 1: sue their weight through a progressive judge to get the
Speaker 1: outcome that they want. Well, I'm glad that we asked
Speaker 1: you that. Why is early voting dominated by Democrats still? Secretary? Well,
Speaker 1: it wasn't four years ago. When I ran, I made
Speaker 1: sure we turned out our people. My campaign, we it
Speaker 1: didn't matter if you wanted to vote, no excuse after devoting,
Speaker 1: if you want to vote early or you vote on
Speaker 1: election day. We're pushing turn out any way you wanted to.
Speaker 1: And in Georgia you can vote any way you want,
Speaker 1: no excuse. Affluently photo I d early voting or come
Speaker 1: out today, and I'd encourage all campaigns just to focus
Speaker 1: on I'll turn that to people. Today is a turnout
Speaker 1: race and we'll see who turns out the most people. Well,
Speaker 1: it sure is. We've been hearing about turn out all
Speaker 1: day long, and I know that the weather has been
Speaker 1: a little bit of a challenge here. What can you
Speaker 1: tell us, Secretary about tonight. Do you expect this race
Speaker 1: to be called tonight? You've already been counting early votes. Well,
Speaker 1: we already we again the process of scanning but not
Speaker 1: actually tabulation of all the the early received absolute votes.
Speaker 1: So that's already happened. All the early votes that we
Speaker 1: had last weekend, person, those have all been already scanned.
Speaker 1: It's easy, really quickly to press the tabulation. We'll get
Speaker 1: results up quickly, just like we did a month ago,
Speaker 1: and we'll know where we are. We just don't know
Speaker 1: how close it is because the overseas military ballots, some
Speaker 1: of those could come in and be accepted up to friday,
Speaker 1: and then there was one lawsuit in Cobb County that
Speaker 1: accepted some of the absolute ballance up to friday also,
Speaker 1: So we'll just have to see how close it is.
Speaker 1: But the bulk of it we'll get posted up tonight.
Speaker 1: The closer it is, the longer we potentially wait exactly,
Speaker 1: but that's every voice will be heard, every vote will
Speaker 1: be counted absolutely. I want to ask you about just
Speaker 1: the the prospect of runoff elections here. A lot has
Speaker 1: been made of the fact that This has has roots
Speaker 1: in Jim Crow. It was Georgia's governor Carl Sanders signed
Speaker 1: it a law shortly after the Civil Rights Act was passed,
Speaker 1: a law that that contained the majority vote runoff provision
Speaker 1: for all primary and general elections. It was it was
Speaker 1: aimed at the time, at least as I understand from
Speaker 1: my history, aimed at weakening the impact of the black vote.
Speaker 1: But here we are Secretary in a world where we
Speaker 1: have two black candidates who are running to be the U. S.
Speaker 1: Senator the next U S Senator from the state of Georgia.
Speaker 1: Why even have these runoffs at this point? Do they
Speaker 1: matter anymore? Are they still? Are they still relevant? Well,
Speaker 1: we also had in our history that if you didn't
Speaker 1: get quite fifty or sent I got over, but you
Speaker 1: won that way. So the law has changed both way.
Speaker 1: But in a democracy, people usually say the majority should
Speaker 1: rule and that means that you get fifty plus one.
Speaker 1: I've been in four runoffs over my political career, from
Speaker 1: city Council, of state House, the Secretary of State four
Speaker 1: years ago, so I support the fifty plus one. But
Speaker 1: is there something that we should look at. I believe
Speaker 1: that the General Sumbody should look at something isn't ranked
Speaker 1: voice voting, instant runoff or is it that forty five
Speaker 1: plus one? But we should look at it because because
Speaker 1: we now have paper ballots and we also do risk
Speaker 1: them at the audits, it just creates an awful lot
Speaker 1: of burdens on the counties, you know, when you have
Speaker 1: to get that already plus star early voting for you know,
Speaker 1: a four week runoff period. So, uh, General Sumbody will
Speaker 1: have some work to do the next session, and I
Speaker 1: highly encourage them to look at all the different options.
Speaker 1: Do you have support in the General Assembly or their
Speaker 1: lawmakers having the same conversation. Yeah, we're having those conversations.
Speaker 1: People really want to know figure out what is the
Speaker 1: best solution. Do we keep it as it is or
Speaker 1: do we need to look at instant rnalf Do we
Speaker 1: need to look at this forty five you know minimum?
Speaker 1: But there'll be lots of other different options. I'm sure
Speaker 1: we'll be talked about, and that's why it goes through
Speaker 1: the committee process and I'll be in the House and
Speaker 1: the Senate doing that hard work in that forty day
Speaker 1: session of you know, figuring out how do we further improve.
Speaker 1: At the end of the day, we want everyone to
Speaker 1: know that your vote counts. It's gonna be safe, it's
Speaker 1: gonna be secure, it's gonna be accurate, and we're gonna
Speaker 1: actually audit this race. We're gonna do a wrisklement of
Speaker 1: this race so we can verify the voters. Here's what
Speaker 1: the results were on the machines. Here's what they are
Speaker 1: after we did the hand count audit. This is incredibly
Speaker 1: important news that we're getting here, straight from the Secretary
Speaker 1: of State in Georgia, Brad Raffinsburger. I've got to ask
Speaker 1: you if you still pay attention to Donald Trump's legal woes. Secretary, Uh,
Speaker 1: your history with Donald Trump is rather well known, and
Speaker 1: I wonder how could this impact a race in which
Speaker 1: he has made a major endorsement, knowing today that his
Speaker 1: company has been found guilty of tax fraud. Well, let's
Speaker 1: the first I heard of it. I have to work
Speaker 1: in an election, and I think when George had been
Speaker 1: focused on the election, so I think that will be
Speaker 1: something people will talk about tomorrow whatever. But today I
Speaker 1: know that both candidates are focused on turning out their people,
Speaker 1: and we're working with the counties to make sure that
Speaker 1: everyone we keep those lines short, like I said, we
Speaker 1: have about two hours left to go, and we want
Speaker 1: to make sure that everyone that wants to vote gets
Speaker 1: out to vote. It's a very effective answer to that question, Secretary.
Speaker 1: But I'll tell you, in light of Donald Trump's recent
Speaker 1: statements suggesting he might revoke the Constitution under some circumstances,
Speaker 1: do you feel vindicated in rejecting his efforts? In Oh,
Speaker 1: I always stood on the law. I followed the law,
Speaker 1: and I followed the Constitution. Plus I followed the facts
Speaker 1: and the facts where the President Trump did come off short,
Speaker 1: and I just had to respectfully let him know, you know,
Speaker 1: as best I could. You know, sir, this is what
Speaker 1: the results are. And we did a on how to
Speaker 1: present hand recount of doubt, but that was Today is
Speaker 1: twenty twenty two. Today's a run off, and we just
Speaker 1: have to make sure that we finish up strong, keep
Speaker 1: those lines short, so both the voters, you know, both
Speaker 1: candidates know that this is what the results are. But
Speaker 1: we will do it on one how to percent risk
Speaker 1: of them audit of this race so that we can
Speaker 1: verify the voters. Here's what the results were on the machines,
Speaker 1: Here's what the audit showed, and so people have confidence
Speaker 1: in the results, and I understand that half the people
Speaker 1: won't like those results and the other half will be
Speaker 1: you know, doing handstands. True. True, That's a great way
Speaker 1: to put it, Secretary, thank you, and uh when I
Speaker 1: know your life's about to get real busy round seven
Speaker 1: o'clock tonight. Please let your elections workers know, your volunteers
Speaker 1: and those who actually are paid to do this how
Speaker 1: much we appreciate the work that they are doing today.
Speaker 1: And yet another historic runoff in Georgia. Thank you, Secretary State.
Speaker 1: Brad Raffinsburger with us on the fastest hour in politics.
Speaker 1: We gotta hear from the panel. Rick Davis and g. D.
Speaker 1: Schanzano are here our signature panel. It's happening. I hope
Speaker 1: he doesn't go any further near the road. But Rick,
Speaker 1: what do you make of what you just heard there?
Speaker 1: In terms of the weather today, in terms of the
Speaker 1: need for turnout in this race, on both sides of
Speaker 1: this race, well, the key number that I heard was
Speaker 1: one point two million voted today about an hour as
Speaker 1: of an hour ago. Um his chief operating officer earlier today,
Speaker 1: Gabe Gabe Sterling had said he expected there to be
Speaker 1: somewhere between one point one and one point three. So
Speaker 1: that's smart smack dab right in the middle of and
Speaker 1: uh and if that's the case, I think Warnings gonna win.
Speaker 1: Because we were looking at these numbers over the week,
Speaker 1: and with almost two million early votes, especially where those
Speaker 1: votes were coming from, we could analyze that Democrats might
Speaker 1: have had a pretty sizable league going into election day.
Speaker 1: And of course Republicans always turn out on election day.
Speaker 1: But uh, you know, our calculations were that, you know,
Speaker 1: if if herschel Walker was gonna win, he was gonna
Speaker 1: need something close to one point six million, And so
Speaker 1: if they're three thousand votes short of that number, I
Speaker 1: would I would say that it's looking pretty good for
Speaker 1: for warnox reelection. Fascinating stuff here, Genie. I was asked
Speaker 1: by a lot of people over the course of the
Speaker 1: day to day how much the candidates mattered in this
Speaker 1: race versus the D and the R. Knowing that the
Speaker 1: control largely control of the Senate at least in terms
Speaker 1: of the majority, has been settled. Here this this would
Speaker 1: add another seat, obviously if Democrats can keep it. Republicans
Speaker 1: want to maintain the status quote of the extent that
Speaker 1: they can. Is that what people are deciding on or
Speaker 1: is it the individual here and the issues they stand on.
Speaker 1: You know, it's tough to say. We have to really
Speaker 1: see exit polls to know exactly what voters have in minds.
Speaker 1: But you know, we've seen the Republicans. We've seen Walker
Speaker 1: try to make this a referendum on Joe Biden. We've
Speaker 1: seen Warnock try to make it a choice on character
Speaker 1: and competence between him and Walker. And yet there's other
Speaker 1: issues that we haven't talked a lot about. But early
Speaker 1: turnout numbers fifty six per son of that was women
Speaker 1: and abortion was a big issue in November eighth. It
Speaker 1: was the top issue for people who voted for Warnock
Speaker 1: and the second most important issue at in the exit polls.
Speaker 1: And one of the reason is because the Georgia Supreme
Speaker 1: Court voted to reinstate the six week ban. And so
Speaker 1: there's other outside issues, if you all, outside of party
Speaker 1: and outside of character and competence, that could play into
Speaker 1: this turnout and into these votes. So I don't think
Speaker 1: we know the answer yet, but hopefully we'll be able
Speaker 1: to see some polls and see what people had in
Speaker 1: mind when they came out and another you know number
Speaker 1: that I would just throw out there is seventy five
Speaker 1: thousand people voted early this time around that didn't vote
Speaker 1: on November eighth. That number sticks out enormously because it
Speaker 1: says other issues are on their minds that got them
Speaker 1: out this time for the runoff and not on November eight, Rick,
Speaker 1: do you think it's time to do away with the
Speaker 1: runoffs in Georgia? It sounds like the Secretary of State
Speaker 1: is ready to get rid of it. It's not the
Speaker 1: only state that's got run off South Carolinas like that,
Speaker 1: some other but um, you know, I was really surprised
Speaker 1: by Secretary Rafsenburger's uh apparent interest in ranked choice voting.
Speaker 1: How about that they just did that in Alaska. I
Speaker 1: think people are still scratching their head trying to figure
Speaker 1: out how ranked choice voting works. Um, it doesn't happen overnight.
Speaker 1: It takes, you know, weeks to count. But at the
Speaker 1: end of the day, it sounds like they're looking for
Speaker 1: an option to it. The fascinating part of the conversation here,
Speaker 1: We're gonna hear a lot more about that. And by
Speaker 1: the way, as we were spending time in front of
Speaker 1: the polling place today in Atlanta, the constantly owned Library.
Speaker 1: There was a group of demonstrators out there promoting ranked
Speaker 1: choice voting. So hang on, things change around here. More
Speaker 1: of the panel. Next, This is Bloomberg. This is Bloomberg
Speaker 1: sond On with Joe Matthew on Bloomberg Radio. With only
Speaker 1: a short time left, what about ninety minutes here until
Speaker 1: the polls closed in Georgia. We've gone through a lot
Speaker 1: already today, a lot of rain, a lot of fog,
Speaker 1: a lot of clouds. The rain's been pulling back a
Speaker 1: little bit here, so maybe we get a little afterwork pop.
Speaker 1: I think that's what both campaigns might be hoping for.
Speaker 1: I'm Joe Matthew joining you live from Atlanta and a
Speaker 1: special edition of sound On that you can only get
Speaker 1: here on Bloomberg Radio, and of course our signature panels
Speaker 1: in place. What a perfect day to spend time with
Speaker 1: Genie Chanzano and Rick Davis. Genie, I want to get
Speaker 1: to something that you just mentioned here as we consider
Speaker 1: is it is that the personalities? Is that the issues?
Speaker 1: Is that the parties? Maybe it's a combination of the mall.
Speaker 1: But I was struck by Senator Warnock this morning as
Speaker 1: he stood outside talking with supporters in one of his
Speaker 1: earlier events, and he struck the chord that you hit
Speaker 1: in our conversation a couple of minutes ago, reproductive rights.
Speaker 1: Listen to Senator Warnock. The people of Georgia deserve to
Speaker 1: have someone who understands the concerns of ordinary people and
Speaker 1: who will just be present with them. President, with workers,
Speaker 1: present with farmers, who will listen to women knowing that
Speaker 1: they have listen to the understanding that you know, the
Speaker 1: women who were in these patients rooms tend to know
Speaker 1: more than the politicians who are mostly male. In Washington,
Speaker 1: people are saying thank you women who were holding Warnock signs, Jennie.
Speaker 1: How important I know this was difficult to quantify in
Speaker 1: the general, at least going into it. How important is
Speaker 1: the row ruling going into this RAF It seems to
Speaker 1: be very important in several key states in Georgia is
Speaker 1: one of them. In Raphael Warnock and his team can
Speaker 1: read the exit polls the same way we can. Will
Speaker 1: you look at the exit polls from November eighth? What
Speaker 1: do we know? Young voters went for Warnock by like
Speaker 1: over sixty percent to thirt for Walker. He also obviously
Speaker 1: overwhelmingly with the black vote and the female vote. And again,
Speaker 1: the issue of abortion was the most important issue on
Speaker 1: the minds of his supporters and second for voters overall.
Speaker 1: And so you couple that with the fact that that
Speaker 1: issue has played throughout this campaign as it pertains to
Speaker 1: his opponents both views of abortion and also what we
Speaker 1: are hearing reports from women he had relationships with about
Speaker 1: paying for abortions. And so it's an issue that he
Speaker 1: keps coming keeps coming back to in the campaign for
Speaker 1: good reason. It plays and it resonates with his voters
Speaker 1: who want to ensure that it is protected at the
Speaker 1: federal level. We also heard Barack Obama talk about it
Speaker 1: when he was down in Georgia. So what does that
Speaker 1: tell us Rick then that that this is an issue
Speaker 1: no matter what in a state like Georgia, or this
Speaker 1: is a herschel Walker problem because of the many stories
Speaker 1: of of his prior relationships and and and and accute,
Speaker 1: you know, the accusations that he he urged I'll use
Speaker 1: the term at least two women to get abortions. Well,
Speaker 1: I would say that I think the fire around abortion
Speaker 1: in this election cycle, going back to the general election,
Speaker 1: was much higher than either Republicans or Democrats probably were
Speaker 1: willing to admit. I think Democrats sought as their key issue.
Speaker 1: Republicans were clearly focused more on crime and the economy.
Speaker 1: Uh and and and so definitely abortion played strong. I
Speaker 1: think herschel Walker's conduct that issues around you know, his
Speaker 1: lifestyle and and the choices he's made recounted to us
Speaker 1: by other people UM, all of whom he's denied having
Speaker 1: these these these relationships with UM just was like gasoline
Speaker 1: on that fire. Right. So, so, there was nothing that
Speaker 1: herschel Walker did to build that fire. That was done
Speaker 1: by the Supreme Court in the summer that put this
Speaker 1: firmly as a as an issue for voters in this
Speaker 1: general election. But herschel Walker's story around abortion has definitely
Speaker 1: added flame to that fire. Well, it's really something to
Speaker 1: watch this particular issue. Unfull genie. What else is there?
Speaker 1: You know? Rick mentioned crime? Uh, Inflation is something that
Speaker 1: herschel Walker has been referring to a lot. Let's listen
Speaker 1: to herschel Walker from earlier today on one of his rounds.
Speaker 1: I want to thank them for what they've done. Right now,
Speaker 1: we're gonna get out of win this election. Herschel Walker,
Speaker 1: gonna be your senator. We're gonna get things change. But
Speaker 1: that's usually what you hear, not a not a deep
Speaker 1: dive into an issue. He'll mention things like high prices,
Speaker 1: riding bikes, gas guzzlers, vampires and werewolves. But then you
Speaker 1: get this kind of stuff. Is there enough? Is this
Speaker 1: a matter of substance? I guess is my question? Gene, Well,
Speaker 1: there are several substantive issues, and you know he is,
Speaker 1: you know, he's it's not unusual for somebody who's a challenger.
Speaker 1: He doesn't have to defend a record, unlike his opponent,
Speaker 1: who has to defend his record. And who he is
Speaker 1: trying to say, is you know, voting for Joe Biden
Speaker 1: percent of the time, which he is. So he's trying
Speaker 1: to make this about Joe Biden, and he'll raise all
Speaker 1: those issues, but he doesn't have to, you know, defend
Speaker 1: any record, so he can, you know, merely mention these
Speaker 1: issues everything from inflation and gas and immigration. And he's
Speaker 1: talked a lot about issues involving gender and athletics and
Speaker 1: all of these issues that do reservate, resonate with conservative
Speaker 1: voters that he wants to get out to the polls,
Speaker 1: and I would just say, you know, the conventional wisdom
Speaker 1: going into today has been that Democrats have the advantage.
Speaker 1: But it was very possible and still is for Walker
Speaker 1: to catch up. You know, I agree with Rick, they
Speaker 1: needed probably closer to one point six one point seven
Speaker 1: million out today to get there. But the math is there,
Speaker 1: so conventional wisdom be damned, We've seen it before. He
Speaker 1: still could take this thing. It's going to be a
Speaker 1: close vote. Well, let's consider this for a moment here, Rick,
Speaker 1: because obviously the voting is not done and anything could
Speaker 1: happen here. How is herschel what what's the success story
Speaker 1: for him? How is he picking people out of out
Speaker 1: of the suburbs, in many cases rural areas, white Republicans.
Speaker 1: How does he mobilize them today? Is that this check
Speaker 1: on Joe Biden? Is that what the message comes down to? Yeah,
Speaker 1: for sure, I think that, Uh, it's base Republicans turning
Speaker 1: out because that's what they do, right. They want to
Speaker 1: support anybody with a GOP sticker on them, and and
Speaker 1: and they are fearful of you know, federal overreach sponsored
Speaker 1: by you know, Joe Biden and the Democratic leadership in Congress,
Speaker 1: I would say the one big disadvant image for herschel
Speaker 1: Walker is that it doesn't make a difference in the
Speaker 1: control the Senate his election. If if there was one
Speaker 1: other race that had turned Republican and the story today
Speaker 1: was Republican control or not, I think that would have
Speaker 1: had a significantly different impact on turnout today. But he
Speaker 1: felt one race short of having that wind at his
Speaker 1: back about that, And yet people aren't walking around talking
Speaker 1: about a power sharing agreement and what this means for
Speaker 1: the committees in the Senate ge It just doesn't have
Speaker 1: the mobilizing effect, does it. It does not, And that's
Speaker 1: the question, you are you really going to get out
Speaker 1: in the rain when it doesn't really matter to who's
Speaker 1: going to control the Senate? And so, you know, it's
Speaker 1: not really the check on Biden that conservatives may want.
Speaker 1: So as much as people like Obama and others, even
Speaker 1: Joe Biden have been talking about how important it is
Speaker 1: too Democrats and Republicans on the other side, it's a
Speaker 1: really hard in the Weeds case to make two people.
Speaker 1: You know. The other thing I would just say is
Speaker 1: we have you know, sort of all of us have
Speaker 1: understd amiated Walker before I was just thinking back to
Speaker 1: his performance in the debate. He did far better than
Speaker 1: many people thought. He's performed better in the general election
Speaker 1: than a Loffler did last time around. So he is
Speaker 1: somebody who, despite all his flaws as his candidate and
Speaker 1: a campaigner, has performed better than many people expected. And
Speaker 1: so I really do think Democrats have to be very
Speaker 1: careful about celebrating a bit too early. Now. I haven't
Speaker 1: seen that badge around for a while, I'll say that much.
Speaker 1: They were giving him out at the rallies for a minute.
Speaker 1: But speaking of law enforcement, you heard me ask Brad
Speaker 1: Raefensburg about this Donald Trump story. This is pretty big deal.
Speaker 1: This would be our lead on any other day. Donald
Speaker 1: Trump's company found guilty of engaging in tax fraud over
Speaker 1: more than a decade, in which executives, including Alan Wiselberg,
Speaker 1: evaded taxes on company paige perks like free apartments, like
Speaker 1: luxury cars. Rick, you may have seen this coming. I
Speaker 1: don't know, but but it's it's hard to place this
Speaker 1: in the catalog of criminal cases against Donald Trump. How
Speaker 1: big of a deal is this? And will he just
Speaker 1: appeal it? You know, we've been talking about all these
Speaker 1: cases all year I mean half a dozen major cases
Speaker 1: against Donald Trump, and I would say this is the
Speaker 1: least likely to do any damage to Donald Trump's political fortunes. Well,
Speaker 1: he he used to brag as president about cheating on
Speaker 1: his taxes, so, uh, if you know, believe what he
Speaker 1: told us, right, he cheated on his taxes. I mean,
Speaker 1: this basically was the easiest way to do it. He
Speaker 1: he and his family will not have a specific prosecution,
Speaker 1: but it certainly reinforces what we know about Donald Trump,
Speaker 1: which is, you know, if he can circumvent the law
Speaker 1: in any way, he can um you know, he will.
Speaker 1: I think today by the Justice Department of these subpoenas
Speaker 1: that they're issuing in Arizona, Michigan, and Wisconsin of officials
Speaker 1: you know, who are associated with the Trump campaign about
Speaker 1: conversations they were having with Donald Trump as it relates
Speaker 1: to the January six capital attack. I think that announcement
Speaker 1: is much more impactful to Donald Trump because that is
Speaker 1: a prosecution where Donald Trump himself be indicted. Fascinating, Uh,
Speaker 1: and yes, how true, this is the special counsel making
Speaker 1: that move. How how would you uh, how would you
Speaker 1: analyze these genie that you know, people start to just
Speaker 1: laugh when you start talking about court cases against Donald Trump.
Speaker 1: Does this have any impact on his campaign? You know,
Speaker 1: I think it does. You know, I think it's this
Speaker 1: culminating effect of losing, losing losing. He lost the mid
Speaker 1: terms for Dempford Republicans. Rather he's losing court cases. Sure,
Speaker 1: it's not going to take down the Trump organization. It's
Speaker 1: not enough money, it's not him personally. Now you couple
Speaker 1: that with the subpoenas that Rick was just mentioning. But
Speaker 1: also let's not forget the January six Committee announced today
Speaker 1: they are going to make criminal referrals to the Department
Speaker 1: of Justice. You've also got several other you know, investigations
Speaker 1: and lawsuits going forward. So to me, this does have
Speaker 1: an impact because one thing Donald Trump doesn't want to
Speaker 1: be known as as a loser. He lost today and
Speaker 1: he may you know, keep losing, and that is a
Speaker 1: big problem for him. To make this case that he's
Speaker 1: gonna you know, win so much that will be sick
Speaker 1: of winning. His supporters have got to be thinking, yikes,
Speaker 1: you know, at what point did we start winning again?
Speaker 1: Because I haven't done it lately. Well, yeah, you can
Speaker 1: read about that on the terminal as well as Jennie mentions, Uh,
Speaker 1: the jan six Committee, we'll recommend criminal prosecution for people,
Speaker 1: possibly including Donald Trump. We don't know this yet, over
Speaker 1: efforts to reverse the outcome of the election. Bennie Thompson
Speaker 1: was already going there. The chair Liz Cheney wasn't so
Speaker 1: sure about that. And it'll be very curious to see
Speaker 1: how all of this adds up in the end. Our
Speaker 1: signature panel continuing here on Bloomberg Sound On, Rick Davis
Speaker 1: and Jennie Chanzano with us. This is Bloomberg So Long
Speaker 1: with Joe Matthew on Bloomberg Radio. As the world watches
Speaker 1: Georgia for the way forward in Washington. Welcome to Bloomberg
Speaker 1: Sound Honest US an edition live from Atlanta on this
Speaker 1: run off election day as we try to bring you
Speaker 1: a range of voices from across the state to help
Speaker 1: frame this contest. That's our job, this contest and what
Speaker 1: it will bring. And we're joined out by Georgia's former governor,
Speaker 1: Roy Barnes. Governor, Welcome to Bloomberg. It's great to have you. Well.
Speaker 1: Thank you. You were the most recent Democrat to serve
Speaker 1: in the Governor's mansion here in Georgia. Knowing that Republicans
Speaker 1: won every statewide race but one last month, Why is
Speaker 1: this Senate race different? Well, there's several reasons is different.
Speaker 1: Warnockfield Ruffiel. Warnock is one of is an extraordinary candidate
Speaker 1: and herschel Walker, uh is not that great a candidate,
Speaker 1: may be the worst I've ever seen. And so that is, uh,
Speaker 1: one of the main reasons candidates do matter. And where
Speaker 1: Warnock has been talking about messages of messages of health
Speaker 1: care and controlling insulin costum trade and other things like that. Uh,
Speaker 1: We're still waiting to see what herschel Walker would do
Speaker 1: if he went to the United States Senate. And lastly,
Speaker 1: we had uh, some crossover votes. About two hundred thousand
Speaker 1: Republicans voted for Warnock as they voted for Brian Kemp
Speaker 1: our incumbent governors. So all of those things I believe
Speaker 1: will make this a different outcome. I'm assuming that that
Speaker 1: you're going to tell me Senator Warnock wins this runoff.
Speaker 1: Here he did win. We should know the general by
Speaker 1: thirty seven thousand votes, but of course the runoff has
Speaker 1: triggered either way. You're suggesting then that it is candidate quality,
Speaker 1: it's it's it's less about issues, less about the balance
Speaker 1: of power in Washington. No, I think it's a dumb
Speaker 1: think it's about the balance of power, definitely, But I
Speaker 1: do think that it's about Uh, there are some issues,
Speaker 1: and like I said, Warnock is no one's talking about
Speaker 1: hard issues. Uh, and Warnock is income. I think you
Speaker 1: always have some uh you know, push from incumbency. I
Speaker 1: think Warnock wins between three and five points. Okay, they
Speaker 1: call it tonight or we have to wait till tomorrow,
Speaker 1: you'll call it tonight. Uh. There was we had a
Speaker 1: heavy early turnout, you know, one point eight me and
Speaker 1: that's just unreal. I was electric governor in with less
Speaker 1: than a million votes. I showed how much the state
Speaker 1: state has grown. But you've got you've only got this
Speaker 1: one race, and uh, the early votes should be prepped,
Speaker 1: ready for scanning as soon as the polls. Indeed, So
Speaker 1: what's happening beneath our feet here? You're you're talking to
Speaker 1: a Yankee who came down to cover this race in
Speaker 1: Georgia Governor. I keep hearing George is a purple state.
Speaker 1: I keep hearing that Stacy Abrams reinvented the architecture here
Speaker 1: for Democrats, but it's also looking pretty red when you
Speaker 1: look at the results from last month. It is, and
Speaker 1: it's not purple yet. I would call it a lighter
Speaker 1: shade of reread it's it's it's not purple, it's it's
Speaker 1: it's not pink, but it is a lighter shade of red.
Speaker 1: And I think that the trend that is in is
Speaker 1: to make it a purple state. And I think that
Speaker 1: happens in the next four years, four to six years.
Speaker 1: I think that happens. And the main reason is the
Speaker 1: Atlanta region is such a growth region and it attracts
Speaker 1: people from all over the country and a lot of
Speaker 1: those people are younger UM. And what's happened is it's
Speaker 1: primary earlier because of Donald Trump. UM, highly educated, college
Speaker 1: educated women. We're fearful of Trump and he's they've he
Speaker 1: almost single handling, has moved them to the Democratic side,
Speaker 1: or at least to the independent where you can you
Speaker 1: can get them to, you can persuade them. And so
Speaker 1: that's the reason that it makes Georgia uh in play nationally,
Speaker 1: and it will it will take a little longer time,
Speaker 1: but it'll make Democrats statewide in play again. It goes
Speaker 1: back to Canada quality and issues and people that think
Speaker 1: that you can just depend on demographic trends and party identification.
Speaker 1: They're wrong. And the most important people in Georgia right
Speaker 1: now are the ten to twelve that labeled themselves independent
Speaker 1: and that they and go either way. That's when these
Speaker 1: two campaigns are chasing. Certainly, I'm assuming in your time,
Speaker 1: Roy Barnes as governor, you met herschel Walker. Going back
Speaker 1: to your time, he was a huge star right as
Speaker 1: as a as a celebrity athlete. What did you make
Speaker 1: of him in person? Well, I met him, and of
Speaker 1: course I'm graduate of the University of Glids. I love
Speaker 1: herschel as football player. I'm concerned at that and being
Speaker 1: a United States Senator. He's a personable guy. Uh and uh,
Speaker 1: but he's just not He's not been here for twenty
Speaker 1: five years. I mean, you know, he moved to Texas
Speaker 1: and we haven't seen him on a regular basis for
Speaker 1: twenty five years. And then you know, last year he
Speaker 1: comes up and he says you're gonna run for the
Speaker 1: United States Senate, pushed by Donald Trump, and none of
Speaker 1: that has helped. Governor. I know you were ahead of
Speaker 1: your time when you took executive action to remove the
Speaker 1: Confederate battle emblem from the Georgia state flag. It was
Speaker 1: considered very controversial that and of course we've seen Domino's
Speaker 1: fall ever since. Is it time now to end the
Speaker 1: runoff election system? As as some remember that it was
Speaker 1: created to suppress the black vote. Absolutely, and particularly in
Speaker 1: the general election. There ought to be a you know,
Speaker 1: a a floor. H North Carolina has a pretty good system.
Speaker 1: They say that you have to get at least in
Speaker 1: the primary, and I think it's forty five percent in
Speaker 1: the general to avoid a runoff. But it's time. There's
Speaker 1: no question. The runoff system was put in intree and
Speaker 1: sixty four, uh, to suppress the black vote, to keep
Speaker 1: it from as they called it back then, the block
Speaker 1: vote African American vote from controlling elections. But listen, we're
Speaker 1: way paced there. And uh, it's so a relic like
Speaker 1: the Confederate flag that should be done away. Well, I
Speaker 1: guess it didn't work though. Right here we are in
Speaker 1: you've got two black nominees vying for a seat in
Speaker 1: the United States Senate. Well that's true. Uh, it is true,
Speaker 1: but it's still there, and it generally suppresses votes and
Speaker 1: what happens is you can get folks to come back
Speaker 1: out if you spend a hundred million dollars to get
Speaker 1: them out. But where it hurts is in the dawn
Speaker 1: ballot races that people forget about and you let a
Speaker 1: very small minority come back to the polls and runoff
Speaker 1: and act and become the majority. That's where it hurts.
Speaker 1: Probably in these high stakes, high dollar races, it doesn't
Speaker 1: have an effect, but it does on the lower, lower
Speaker 1: ballot races. Farmer Georgia Governor Roy Barnes in a fascinating conversation, Governor,
Speaker 1: I'm told I talk a lot, That's what I do
Speaker 1: for a living. But if I had your accent, I
Speaker 1: just keep talking and talking and listening to my voice.
Speaker 1: Thank you for your insights. We'll reassemble the panel next
Speaker 1: on this runoff election day. This is Bloomberg. This is Bloomberg.
Speaker 1: Sound on with Joe Matthew on Bloomberg Radio. If you
Speaker 1: happen to be listening to us in Georgia and you
Speaker 1: haven't voted yet, you know what you gotta do. Right,
Speaker 1: come on, We're talking about this while you're waiting in line.
Speaker 1: But you still have to finish the job, and we'll
Speaker 1: be bringing your results later on this evening Daybreak Asia.
Speaker 1: But I don't know, maybe tomorrow Daybreak Asia. That's the
Speaker 1: thing we don't know. As we heard from the Secretary
Speaker 1: of State himself, Brad Ravensburger, although Roy Barnes there, I'll
Speaker 1: tell you what the former governor. He says, we get
Speaker 1: a call tonight and we've heard that for more and
Speaker 1: more people just comes down to turn out. As we
Speaker 1: spend a couple of remaining moments here in some final
Speaker 1: thoughts with our panel, we have to turn to what
Speaker 1: happened today in Washington. Of course, the outcome of this
Speaker 1: runoff election is going to send somebody to Washington, d C.
Speaker 1: To represent the state of Georgia. And there was an
Speaker 1: important ceremony today, Congressional Gold Medal Awards ceremony at which
Speaker 1: Capitol Police members who were working and in uniform and
Speaker 1: in many cases fighting for their lives on January six,
Speaker 1: we're honored and it was a dramatic moment. The family
Speaker 1: of Officer Brian sick Nick, who of course died after
Speaker 1: being injured in the attack, refused to shake the hand
Speaker 1: of Senator Mitch McConnell. They went by one by one
Speaker 1: by one, big double handshake with Chuck Schumer. This is
Speaker 1: like a reception line. If you will write, you get
Speaker 1: up to get the metal. Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer in
Speaker 1: this order, Mitch McConnell, Kevin McCarthy, every one of them.
Speaker 1: McConnell stuck his hand out and no one shook it,
Speaker 1: refused to shake the hand of Senator Mitch McConnell, of course,
Speaker 1: criticized for not denouncing President Trump at the time for
Speaker 1: his role in the insurrection. And there's not a lot
Speaker 1: of love lost there. He doesn't like Trump. Trump doesn't
Speaker 1: like him. But this spilled into the hallway later. We
Speaker 1: all saw the visuals, you know, and I wanted to
Speaker 1: hear from someone like Mitch McConnell. He was asked about
Speaker 1: it in the corridors following the snub. Here's the minority leader. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I would respond by saying, today we gave the gold
Speaker 1: medal to the heroes of January six. We admire and
Speaker 1: respect them. They laid their lives on the line, and
Speaker 1: that's why we gave a gold medal today to the
Speaker 1: heroes of January six. That was it. Gladys sick Nick,
Speaker 1: the mother of Officers. Sick Nick was asked by CNN
Speaker 1: why she did not shake McCarthy's hand or McConnell's hand.
Speaker 1: They're just two faced, she said. Rick Davis and Geennie
Speaker 1: Chanzano with us. Was this a good moment in Washington, Rick,
Speaker 1: or was this a troubled moment? Well, it's troubled because
Speaker 1: the reason that everybody was gathered there is a good moment,
Speaker 1: because there was a overwhelming recognition of the service and
Speaker 1: sacrifice that these individuals and families made. McConnell deserve that.
Speaker 1: You know, it's tough. Um, yes, he called January six
Speaker 1: of violent insurrection at the time. Um, but he did
Speaker 1: you know, he voted against the Trump impeachment. You know,
Speaker 1: he voted against the January six committee formation. So look,
Speaker 1: I mean, all these guys know when they make a vote,
Speaker 1: there making some people happy, and they're making some people upset.
Speaker 1: And and and I would say it's it's a little
Speaker 1: bit sad that, um, that that we we saw this
Speaker 1: kind of event today overall, But um, you know, I
Speaker 1: think it should make Mitch McConnell and and and and
Speaker 1: McCarthy think about what their relationship has been for the
Speaker 1: last five years with Donald Trump. Yeah, yeah, it's not
Speaker 1: just miss McConnell here, Jennie. Kevin McCarthy never looked so
Speaker 1: uncomfortable I think in his life as he stood there
Speaker 1: with the medal, and I mean they wouldn't even look
Speaker 1: at him, never mind shake his hand. Was it deserved?
Speaker 1: You know it was. These are leaders of a party
Speaker 1: of which twenty one of their members in the House
Speaker 1: refused to vote in favor of giving these police officers
Speaker 1: these gold medals, these congressional medals. These are the leaders
Speaker 1: of the party. You have people like Willie Gohmer who
Speaker 1: goes to meet this uh, this Dr Simone Gold after
Speaker 1: she's released from prison she was at January six. He
Speaker 1: calls her a political prisoner and gives her a flag
Speaker 1: that flew over the Capitol. This is the party they
Speaker 1: lead and they have to be responsible for that, and
Speaker 1: rightly so. A lot of lessons to be learned around here.
Speaker 1: With the help of Rick and Genie, we can understand that.
Speaker 1: Let's meet back here tomorrow we talk results and if
Speaker 1: you haven't voted yet, get to it live from Atlanta.
Speaker 1: I'm Joe Matthew. This is Bloomer