has been signed to end a law called section $230.00 it allows social media sites to edit content that they deem inappropriate if this is repealed these companies could actually be sued for blocking and changing content from users like trump's tweets but interestingly joe biden also wants to repeal that law it may be one of the few things the presidential hopefuls agree on. and yet thank you very much it is now midnight g.m.t. and voting is ending in fiction states on the east coast this hour c'mon is here the early numbers and projections yes it's like trying to think to talk about i didn't pm but well let's temporary expectations not that much but we have got real coming and hello everyone 7 pm on the u.s. east coast it is now as far as said midnight g.m.t. 6 states are closing let's take you through him they are indiana kentucky georgia south carolina virginia and vermont a mixture of states there some of them are swing states some of them very solid in

days of the projections we have for you at this hour starting in kentucky with 8 electoral college votes they go the way of donald trump that is exactly as we would expect but just have a look at some of the detail on it of the popular vote and it's solid isn't it 53 percent with 14 percent and this is just how to understand it even with 14 only 14 percent of precincts reporting it is enough for us to be able to make a solid projection for donald trump also looking at vermont which is going to the column of joe biden the 3 electoral college votes which the democratic candidate pretty much always gets at this time of the night and just running through a few others now the polls are close but that doesn't mean we can actually decide at this point indiana too early to call in indiana with its 11 south carolina as well if it's 9 it's too early to call as is virginia more on offer in virginia 13 that should be blue when the time comes but it was

a swing state in past years and finally we will look at georgia which very much is one of our swing states this year 16 electoral college votes to early to call let's have a look at the breakdown the state profile as we like to call it on georgia to give you a little more information about what we can expect have a look at the close up. we'll show you the numbers there that one pretty convincingly a good 5 percent win in 2016 romney and mccain easily before him but the fact is this time around it is very much in play a lot of it to do with some of the suburban areas around atlanta these are places which have been going blue. over the past few years and that includes. midterm elections and local elections so it is a case of how blue those areas can turn as to whether joe biden and the democrats can flip that let's have a look at the state of the race. and 3 so that's how you expected at this point

just a few numbers that we are able to confirm at this point however this hour midnight is when we do have some states closing on the half hour doesn't happen that many times in the night so in about 25 minutes time you'll see me back here again and we will talk about ohio west virginia and north carolina important ones there are they ohio of course which always picks the winner and north carolina which is in play as a swing state as well there you go for. a number of states that have close polls but too early to call in for and we're looking forward to ohio of course in about 30 minutes or so we'll see if you for the moment let's get reaction from our white house correspondent kimberly to these early numbers president donald trump watching the results kimberly mike hanna is also with us in washington delaware. democratic candidate joe biden let me start with you. first polls closing is there one

particular state the campaign will be looking at early on to see how things are going. well we've just gotten off a call with the campaign and what i can tell you is that 2 states they're feeling good about right now are michigan and also arizona now they say that they are feeling positive they say that the turnout there has been very solid and you have to remember that well we see how an enormous surge an early votes that favor joe biden donald trump was counting on his supporters to stand in line so we've even seen his son eric to rather donald trump jr saying make sure if you're in line you stay in line and get your chance to vote even if the polls have closed it's an awareness and understanding by this campaign that this could be decided on a razor thin margin in just a handful of states michigan being one of them of course the campaign also trying to flip for a 2nd time pennsylvania but we may not know that result for some time but again

this white house watching these in the returns come in in the white house behind me they are preparing the east room for some sort of statement from donald trump but again we don't know when to expect it or what he will say only that they continue to express optimism. in washington d.c. let's cross over to mike hanna now in wilmington delaware mike as you heard kimberly say that the campaign very confident about michigan and arizona what is the biden camp confident about this hour what states do they think they have. well joe biden in the course of the day made very clear that he's not going to be saying anything until as he put it he's got something to say you spent the day in pennsylvania a very very close state this is part of the blue wall pennsylvania wisconsin and michigan now we heard my colleague kelly how curtseying about the trump campaign feeling confident about michigan well i'm hearing from the biden campaign very

quietly that they are also confident about michigan now these are key states that blue wall absolutely key the other areas that the biden campaign are going to be watching very very carefully of course with everything else and that's a sunbelt texas arizona and georgia in particular georgia where we are waiting for some results to start trickling out of there within the next hour or so now these are states that have been traditionally red they have been republican for decades however georgia is now in play the biden campaign spot it that they sent vice president elect vice president nominee carla harris there they've said joe biden there this is a critical state for them because to get this kind of momentum early in the evening is something that could translate as are the results come in throughout the course of the night but as i was saying the biden campaign very quiet at the moment joe biden himself sitting at home we are told watching results with his family the

convention center behind us here you heard a brief spurt of music but everything very quiet very self contained at the moment everybody watching waiting closely but watching as i say both that a blue wall and that sudden belt because results out of those 2 will give a very strong indicator of which way this election's going to go we're waiting for the results from ohio in about 23 minutes from now mike hanna in wilmington delaware thank you for the moment we have. a report from august harris was in jordan now rounding up election day so far take a look. at the polling place lines that formed early and seem to go on forever but this is just one of the things americans will tell their grandchildren about the presidential election of putting 20. don't forget that. bill also talked about the partisanship bordering on hatred and had come from

a communist country and i disagree with joe jackson as a part of the 4 i'm watching it comes to watch i saw the crowd supporters over there and i decided to go over and i've got this thing and i've been standing here with it in the last hours or where you get that from from the ground at. the roadside rallies and hours long waiting to vote were the highlights of this final day of voting for us president in some states residents have been voting since september in part because of local efforts to stem the spread of covert 19 the result more than 100000000 ballots over ready cast before november 3rd setting up possibly the highest voter turnout in more than a century but health quickly can poll workers count the vote and announce who has won the white house the department of homeland security is trying to reassure the

public rest assured however our partners at the state and local level or working around the clock to make sure that each vote is counted properly it is important. to recognize that this process may require time. but much of the uncertainty has been stirred up by the president himself who has questioned the legality of early voting and a lengthy vote counts has accused democrats of trying to steal the election and has threatened to sue if he loses the whole world is way this country is waiting but the whole world is waiting and a lot of shit out it gives a lot of bad things happened with ballots when you say oh let's devote days and days and all of a sudden the ballot count changes the. democratic rival stuck to a more optimistic message when he thanked supporters in philadelphia. 0000 or further. per.

their current. product. as the polling places start to close americans and the world now wait hoping there will be once again a feast full transition to the next president and administration in the united states rosalyn jordan al-jazeera. hi let's go now to the crucial battleground states of florida where the polls will be closing at one g.m.t. and began again in miami for us and the miami a predominantly democratic stronghold where biden needs of course a big lead if he has any chance of winning florida. you know i mean what the biden campaign wants more than anything else decisive results in this the biggest battleground state in the entire election 20 nala traill college votes only texas and california how small but the importance of florida okami

overstated. scuse me because how florida goes the nation tends to go as well because the demographics is so the precincts are starting to report now very slowly ok excuse me sorry so we will be getting the results i think in the market going to call for an hour or so ok andy we'll check in with you a little later for the moment thank you andy gallica in miami and now we've heard a couple of times tonight already from alan lichtman and he's with us again from bethesda maryland is a professor of history at the american university and the author of the keys to the white house a system that's correctly predicted the outcome of u.s. presidential races since 1984 and it's not one sided i have to say professor you're a democrat and even predicted donald trump's win in 2016 tell us about your reaction. i didn't really did well done so how are you feeling

in 2020. what's a prediction of 2020 is the most unusual election and i've been doing this the nylon shortie years ever since i predicted ronald reagan's re-election in 1982 and by the way going into this year i've predicted 4 republicans 5 democrats as nonpartisan as you can get but here's what happened in this most bizarre of elections my 13 piece system measures the strange than performance of the party holding the white house and of 6 on the or go against the white house party they are predicted losers well at the end of 2019 although i had made a final prediction things were looking good for donald trump he was down only for keyes right but then we were hit in america right with the pen demick and the. crisis social and racial justice and rather than dealing substantively with them now that he's the incumbent donald trump reverted to his challenger playbook and tried to talk his way out of them and he lost 3 more keys the short term economic

the cost as an election year recession the long term economic aid because of negative growth despite the 3rd quarter spike which rose from up very low base compared to the 1st $2.00 quarter declines and the social unrest that's raging across the way and so he is now down 7 keys right one more that is needed to predict his defeat ok so you know prediction is that he will lose eastern action i just out of curiosity professor out of all the indicators did anyone ever get a perfect score 131 person dead and it was a republican scandal roosevelt in 1904 when he ran for reelection did rack up an absolute perfect score on all 13 keys. now it's worth mentioning how as a great. the great republican hero back that attended well deserved it's worth mentioning oh ever that in 2000 you predicted that on gore would win the election

he did win the popular vote of course but not the electoral college so you were off how how was bush able to win that election should gore have won the lottery simply . i came as close as a human being can be given the election right i did predict gore would win the popular vote then he lost florida by 537 votes but the wrong person was chosen in florida it was a stolen election al gore should have won florida going away as i proved in my 2001 report to the united states commission on civil rights tens of thousands of 95 percent plus democratic african-american voters people who voted had their ballots needlessly discarded by a subsequent follow up study by a political scientist who i don't know in 2004 estimated that al gore should have won florida by over 30005 so i think i got 2000 as right as

a human being possibly could you talk about voter suppression though it's also a concern in 2020 we've heard president trump encourage his supporters to commit voter fraud fraud in north carolina in september to test the system in his words and they've been millions of course of man in ballots that could decide the results in the swing states how concerning is it to you and how do you see it affecting the final outcome. you know i've been doing this for 940 years i'm 73 and i still get butterflies in my stomach every 4 years and the butterflies a flapping most vigorously about voter suppression look here's what's going on the republicans depend upon old white guys like me can create more of us where the most shrinking part of the electorate unfortunately can't make us live to be 150 so a trump and his allies are doing is more powerfully than at any time since the bad old days of jim crow discrimination in the south we had the poll tax and the

literacy test they are trying to suppress the vote of the rising democratic base of minorities and young people they filed lawsuits all over the country to make it harder to vote and to count the vote just yesterday a republican appointed judge had to reject a republican effort to wipe out 127000 ballots in texas just because they were cast to drive up the polling places we know donald trump has falsely attacked mail in voting they put their guy in to slow down the mail they've called on intimidators to flood the polls all that seems to a full and so i don't think voter suppression is going to decide this election but it's something we've got to be very vigilant about because even after the election you might expect trump to file all kinds o. lawsuits to invalidate legally cast votes yet it had both campaigns have in fact indicated that this could go to the courts thank you professor as always very good

to talk to you on a next me professor at the american university in washington d.c. let's return to in miami florida florida where the polls will close in 45 minutes or so what counties in florida and they should we keep a close eye on early on. we should really falling keep a close eye on those counties that go across. are you for car all the road you hear people talking about all the time it runs east to west through places like tampa and orlando and in that corridor you will find lots of independent and swing voters demographically it's very representative of the entire country which of course the entire state is we can predict to a degree which places will go blue and which places will go red but as florida goes so goes the nation of course this battleground state in particular is vital for the president he really needs to take florida once again remember in 2016 only one here

by about 112000 votes of course florida back in the summer was the epicenter of the covert 19 pandemic we had about $25000.00 cases in one day at its peak so that is something people here are extremely concerned about now if florida goes for joe biden that will really be a jewel in his crowd in the early moments of this presidential election because if we can flip florida that may be an indication of how the entire country goes we're also looking at georgia just north of us that's a state the president won by about 5 percentage points in the last election democrats think they have a chance said airport a great deal of resources money and time into that state as well of course as florida and we're also keeping a close eye on the latino vote in florida and the donald trump we know has called mexican immigrants rapists and drug dealers under his presidency we've had immigrant children separated from their parents in crowded detention centers but

he's doing better in the polls with latino voters than he did in 2016. he is and there is a very good reason for the president charm for his relief push the idea that vitamin is about socialism that is something that scares latino voters in florida are a great deal because they're from places where the dictators that were running those countries or the leaders of those countries were socialists and they suffered under those governments so that idea and that push by the trump campaign that biden is a socialist and there are plenty of people in the democratic party that are way to left that seems to have taken hold here are definitely spoken to the democratic party people here who are themselves latino who sit down with these people and try to explain to them that that isn't true but it's taken hold in remember in miami alone there are a 1000000 cuban americans and they are for the most part republican backers so donald trump could very much count on their vote tonight but it things might change

differently when you get up into central florida and you think about the number of puerto ricans in that area they tend to be democratic voters they concert of course vote on the island of puerto rico but when many of them get to florida the 1st thing they do is register they could be here as well and they're also in that same i 4 corridor right around orlando that's a very vital vote i think the people we're watching closely in the next kind of half an hour or so. andy gallagher in miami florida the state of florida where the polls will close at one g.m.t. in a little over a half an hour we will check in with you. as soon as those polls goals as we been talking about what the night these elections are happening of course during a global health crisis the coronavirus pandemic a health crisis on a scale that we haven't seen in a 100 years adele infections are rising in the u.s. in 47 of the 50 states the numbers are rising the death toll is higher than anywhere else in the world and the response of the rival candidates and their plans

to deal with a corner virus on demi have been stokley different take a look at the virus they're working hard looks like by april you know in theory when it gets a little warmer it miraculously goes away i hope that's true rob that is a tweet could somehow stop the recruit of our wired news for donald trump like the rest of us this virus is not impressed by his tweets i think wearing a face mask as a great presidents prime ministers dictator is kings queens somehow i don't see it for myself earn a mask is not a political statement it's a scientific recommendation social distancing business political say it's a scientific recommendation to see the disinfectant it not say that in a minute one minute is

a way we can do something like the. injection. or almost a cleaning as you say gets in the lungs and it does a tremendous number of so be interesting to check that i trust vaccines i trust scientists but i don't trust donald trump. this move with the american people kid either i'm amused and i could come down or so i kiss your. ass every guy. anyone is responsible for that money does she not remain as president of the united states of america right over now to she have returned the annies guests to discuss the controversy and war of words over the handling of the pandemic she has. and so many ways it's just it's so perplexing because to have a national emergency like this could have been such a gift perhaps to a president of incumbent president to show leadership to act forthrightly that it just didn't seem to be the gift that don't really want it so let's discuss this

a bit further and further facts have jennifer victor she is a professor of political science at george mason university is school of policy and government in show burn we have a shot at her saying he's a political strategist and former executive director of howard dean's political organization democracy for america once thought of as a as a progressive the democratic party's moved on since then perhaps joining us from al jazeera is washington bureau howard dean. steve clemons joins us now from from well there in set the host of the bottom line the rest of it good is it possible to overstate just the impact of covert on this election i'm having said that we should remember george w. bush on iraq he had hurricane katrina he still won reelection. yeah of course presidents who monitor reelection during times of war are typically re-elected so that's a pretty different situation nobody alive has lived through it and then it. really

is a it different kind of critical situation and could 19 presented donald trump well i think you're correct to call it a possible opportunity to become presidential and you're going to have made a difference for american people and by most measures he really didn't step up to the plate there and i think you know it comes down to the 2nd but could 19 he has a lot of the policies that donald trump is simply not comfortable in we are not he's got to do something not include 19 lead up to be a health policy expert he'd have to get into the science and you have to really show empathy and be focused on policy and these are not the areas the donald trump has really excelled at in his presidency if we don't go but get a bit more specific. in the swing states for example we're seeing a huge outbreak in wisconsin. that sort of talk about the why there's a blue color workers what colors the green you know they may have been disappointed by trying to go to big enough to make them go back to the democratic party and joe

biden because he is seen as a career politician but if there is a resigns then that code was the last straw seems to be the message we're all saying in the midwest. well it's been an extraordinarily left failure of leadership is not pretty here and jennifer said during the show is an entity that also really shows that when we all come together we can overcome any him or greatest disasters and challenges so instead what voters have decided is they're all going to come together and turn out in enormous numbers including in the swing states the one thing that we know as of the search just coming in is that turnout here has been extraordinary and i don't think that's a good thing and it's very clear that depend on it has been top of mind from us to cover that yeah we would push. through the edge discipline of the drug he didn't bring back the job he didn't bring back and he did perm go to wall street and with enormous tax cuts manufacturing and come back outsourcing continues but you don't hear about joe biden but now it's well coded it's covert coca-cola number one but

let's also remember the history as it was at the beginning he knew how bad it was he did not want to shake up the nation and yet when he was forced to because some of his own officials came out and talked about how deadly and substantial and consequential this could be he was forced into a different mode so he began monitoring those daily coronavirus reports he was getting 60 percent plus favor ability ratings about how he was managing the coronavirus until what i call clorox day the day he talked about injecting disinfectants and then those were suspended and then it just plummeted so he did switch and we have operation warp speed billions of dollars thrown into fast vaccine development in production so there's stuff there what's interesting to me about donald trump is you just said. he didn't talk about those things he hardly talked about them other than that we would have a vaccine by election day which just about every sane person knew was going to happen so yeah he missed this he missed this chance this crisis to to look

presidential but he did have moments where he was on the right track it hasn't been a total disaster for him but then he feared way off track of it or what part of the narrative of the ultram certainly most democrats though is his potential for authoritarianism and yet if that was the case then surely this would have been the perfect opportunity to bring down the shutters to go to curtail democracy to try and extend his power but he didn't do that either. yeah that's an interesting point i mean while he does have it there are number c's that mean illiberal are anti-democratic and he also tries to use a fair amount of populism to stoke it is his base to his supporters and that requires him to focus on the liberty side of democracy and not the equality side i just took a lot of spirit and sense of security and threats and it's a there's a lot of messaging around these things that you know potentially could have been

used to help enforce particular policies associated with colin but he wound up leading or on the libertarian side as things and immediately wound up politicizing mass clearing of all things you know so it would have been easy to have made policy choices or even strategic political choices it seems like they would have been better both for the politics and for the policy and things but they weren't his natural play his natural place to be a bit contrarian is to be a bit go against the narrative of what the science and what the sort of popular these are sending out of us on about foster biden is concerned there what do we know really about his policy if for example bernie sanders had been the counter that we've heard he'd be pushing for universal health care so people lose their jobs they wouldn't lose their health care he'd be pushing for enormous stimulus through the i mean joe biden says it will be different but because of his policy positions on health care for example on or ferritin stimulus which want to go for

we still don't quite know how far he'll be different. well i guess all of these are pretty well outlined in detail on the website on his website but that's not really what he runs on he doesn't run as a policy wonk or idea lot he runs on a couple different bills one he certainly running on the basis that she which is what i think most voters are angry or period but he's also running on empty which is a huge contrast to the president that we have now and again i think what he's doing is presenting these contrasts telling voters that they have a choice and then we do something different than a better future is possible so i think for most voters we're not really winning tent camps and coming to the voting. initiative we're really looking for a change in leadership written march steve the faultlines exposer all those off the united states who has have these enormous problems well before donald trump

so we have the picture in the summertime of heavily militarized police officers with billions of dollars of the trip attacking protesters meanwhile medical workers having to having to wear it i have ever put for protective equipment with trash bags and so on these these predate these these sorts of problems. you know partly going on but on the ropes on the job on the obama and biden themselves several of these felt like well this doesn't bite enough to address that i think that actually i think he has to but i think some of them more of a done i think that they outlined in the plans that we saw you know various various kinds of plans to address a potential pandemic and to bring that in but i think that the bigger issue you talk about which i completely agree with is that there are deep divides in this country and deep divides in the democratic party one you talk about militarizing the police you know is joe biden for so-called defunding the police or not defunding the police he funding the police is not taking money away about what i

did social programs right or you know what are we going to do with that sort of elizabeth. one agenda on finance there's a big divide in the democratic party so you've hit on the fact that there's a giant fault line there that is going to have to be reconciled at some point or another thing if i just i want to look at those topics in the coming hour swing states in the next hour we're not about to fall or chad thank you is there a 30 g m t polls closing in north carolina ohio and west figure virginia let's bring in our numbers guy once again and you've got a projection to you know we don't want to rejection and then we'll just have a look at what's happening in some of these other states said the polls closing at midnight 30 g.m.t. which is half past 7 in the east coast of the united states they are ohio west virginia and north carolina at this point we can make a projection that donald trump has one or is the projected winner i should say of west virginia with 5 electoral college votes the other 2 states at this stage too early to call but we do have to keep

a close eye on them the 1st of the north carolina with 15 electoral college votes very much in play in the swing states and let's actually have a little look back at how things have gone in north carolina more recently donald trump carried it by 3 percent. in. i'm sorry in 20 t. 16 was keeping up with my notes this is the kind of area which should be should be more reliably red but again you have to look at these areas and if they are going to turn a little more blue and ohio i'd like to have another look at as well which is too early to call at this point with its 18 electoral college votes once again we'll look at the profile there now i've been saying earlier will have a look at that don't trump 52 percent hillary clinton 44 percent 4 years ago now remember i keep saying and a lot of us keep saying about how it was the bellwether that reliably predict the winner well it's done that for some time but that does suggest things have been

swinging more towards the republicans so again obviously a swing state we have to keep an eye on but maybe not as reliable as we would have thought previous they will know later on florida florida the polls have not closed entirely but we are getting early numbers in from all those huge numbers of mail in ballots we have got 14 percent of precincts reporting at the moment and joe biden is ahead by 3 percent is a very encouraging numbers i would say for joe biden at this stage with 14 percent of precincts reporting but we still waiting for the actual close of florida which comes all the rest of the state i should say the western side of the state which will be at over 100 hours g.m.t. so let's put our latest numbers on the map not much movement donald trump at 13 joe biden at 3 again as you would expect at the moment but still so many. states that are simply too early to call and here is what is coming up in half an hour this is

when we're going to get very very busy with me we'll have a little look at what's coming up a lot of southern stage which will be reliably red a lot of states in the northeast which will be reliably blue and fact 17. states which will close their polls in half an hour's time and we will be watching pennsylvania and florida 2 massively important states and as i said before when we're looking at a scenarios the ones that donald trump needs to hold on to if he wants a shot at another 4 years in the white house as we say already in florida we're getting an indication with 14 percent of precincts reporting and a 3 percent lead to joe biden that is that's very interesting at this stage and my god so far things are going as expected in a one g.m.t. is when you know they could be some movement yes again we'll have a predicted ones we'll have a reliable ones going on but so much to watch really really close we'll see later

come on let's check in with your pastor now in houston texas. which is traditionally republican as we've said but the race also very close most polls in texas will close in about 25 minutes or so from now at one g.m.t. there's been unprecedented early voting in texas heidi but there's also been attempts to suppress the vote. that's right foley that's the accusation of democrats who pointed to efforts by texas republicans the latest being a lawsuit that was filed in federal court seeking to invalidate 127000 ballots that had already being cast many of them had tried in polling locations like this one behind me in the argument of those republican activists was that because the ballots were cast from a card which of course is an accommodation given the pandemic they argue though

should be illegal will the conservative judge in that case tossed it out giving a win to democrats and in typically a year of $127000.00 votes that may not make a big difference in texas which is reliably red having supported only republican presidential candidates going on for decades but perhaps this year that number of votes might make a difference because joe biden is polling just 3 percentage points behind president bush is within the margin of error and certainly even if he does not win texas today most political experts are saying he probably won't even if he comes just close or even if he does come in just 3 percentage points behind that would be a massive growth for the democratic party in texas and telling of times to come because the trajectory in this state is clear from 2016 to 2018 to today that margin of victory for republicans is getting narrower and narrower and certainly

that is one of the biggest reasons that's driving the massive voter turnout that we've been seeing here in texas. kimberly. ok we're going to go to kimberly in just a moment heidi texas we've been talking about texas of course and a lot of people as you said there wondering if texas would turn blue in 2020 what have been the issues for the voters day what is the main. and we've been talking about cold feet of poise but what is some of the what are some of the concerns of voters in texas. well for trump's supporters here in this day this is certainly a referendum on his presidency and his support and more rural areas of texas is strong and very much alive in fact the trump campaign considers this the texas rural firewall and they say that they're not concerned at all about losing the state the president himself saying this morning that he expects to win

a tremendous victory here in texas however democrats who are concentrated in these metropolitan areas like houston that lean democratic they say that the coronavirus like everywhere else in this country is the top issue here and it doesn't help the president that texas is currently going through get another wave of the virus in different distinct corners of this state in el paso for example we know that patients there have been reportedly dying faster than they can even be diagnosed with those horrendous images that we've unfortunately grown accustomed to seeing across the country of work trucks etc so certainly her on a virus is not something that trump wants to talk about but it is an escape a hopeful particularly here in texas all right. in houston we've got another results coming in now the polls in virginia close at 0 g.m.t.

and the u.s. networks are saying that joe biden has won the state of virginia 13 electoral college votes going to joe. biden projection in fact 13 electoral college votes going to joe biden in virginia and go and live to kimberly how kate white house correspondent until this virginia results can believe things were going as expected by a win for biden in virginia why did significant. well it's significant because this is once a state that was solidly republican but what we have seen in recent years is because of changing demographics the fact that much of virginia borders washington d.c. which of course is very liberal but in fact we've seen this increasingly leaning democratic so this is something that wasn't totally something that the trump

campaign wanted to see but again won't be surprised at the same time they had hoped that they would have a very strong turnout at the polls and could potentially get this state but again this is not one that they will be completely surprised about no one important thing we should note in there is that we know that mark warner senator there are democratic senator who has been very prominent on the senate intelligence committee we're also hearing from the state of virginia it will be reelected so that is certainly something that many democrats will see is encouraging in fact i want to quickly mention what we're seeing behind me as we continue to hear that crowd noise is that as these returns start to come in the crowds that are amassing in black lives matter plaza just outside the white house are becoming increasingly excited in fact at times they have been breaking into chants of vote him out they've also put a huge banner across the street that says remove trump now very quickly one other point i want to mention is that much as we saw in 2016 with hillary clinton talking

to her supporters were seeing the same thing from the trump campaign at this hour they're continuing to tell people ignore what the mainstay. the media as they call it is saying don't get discouraged if you were a line your vote will be counted don't be discouraged by these early projects jackson's may not look favorable for donald trump can really help kids at the white house let's get reaction from mike can a host covering the biden campaign in his home state of delaware so a projected win for biden in virginia 13 electoral college votes came but he was saying not entirely surprising but i imagine something that they will very much welcome. well indeed yes surviving campaign obviously very pleased about that projected win the junior very important state to them as every single one is in a race that is going to be so narrow as all these early indications are telling us

president from so virginia is very important to in fact that's the state in which he spent much of the day while joe biden was canvassing in. pennsylvania president trump is spending some time in the genya visiting his campaign headquarters kaley seeing it as is all the others as a very important state the binding campaign still not over confident at this particular stage there's been very little coming out of the campaign headquarters behind me here joe biden earlier in the day saying that when he's got something to say then he'll say it and that's obviously a message that has trickled down to his campaign staff as well but you know it's very important it's maybe another victory according to those predictions at this particular point but what it also indicates is a change in this election that is very different from elections past and that is the shift in demographics within the united states the way in which traditionally republican areas or traditionally democratic party areas have shifted as the

populations have shifted have morphed into different things than they were even 4 years ago but jimmy a very good example of this a solidly republican state for a long period of time now it appears as though it's going to be pulling in joe biden's map and an indication of the way in which populations have changed within that particular state now if that is part of the touch in that we're going to be seeing in other areas we heard my colleague andy gallegos speaking about florida for example how democratic city shifted there how the demographics have shifted so we are seeing perhaps part of a pattern still too early to tell but a state like virginia is going to donal's to choke. bided a very clear indicator that this demographic shift that has been happening with the united states is starting to have an impact on the electoral map well all indications are is that that could be good for joe biden is kind of playing as i say being very quiet at the moment just watching and waiting and seeing these

results coming in but want change again what they are looking at very close and very easy florida that's a key state for them watching and waiting and we wait for florida of course but if you're just joining us just remind you of the early projections we have so far the polls have closed in indiana kentucky virginia vermont and donald trump projected to win indiana kentucky west virginia as well while biden has just picked up the 13 electoral college votes in virginia according to the early projections and he's picked up vermont as well 3 electoral college votes stamp now let's discuss now donald trump and joe biden of course the 2 oldest presidential nominees in american history and that means that their running mates have become more important than ever mike pence and common harris couldn't be more different from their politics so their personalities his mom a john john with more on that senator harrison vice president pence thank you for

being here when vice president mike pence and sen kamel harris took to the debate stage in october viewers around the world witnessed a study in contrasts but when you see what the american people have done over these last 8 months hasn't worked it's a great disservice the circle for us is the american people of maine so let's talk about caring about the american people the american people have to sacrifice far too much because of the incompetence of this administration on the republican side 61 year old vice president mike pence who over the past 4 years has proven himself president donald trump's most loyal ally. known for his opposition to abortion the former governor of indiana is an evangelical christian and champion of the religious right critics say pence has been a driving force in the trumpet ministrations efforts to roll back protections for lesbian gay bisexual and transgender people before being chosen as trump's running mate in 2016 pins had openly questioned some of trump's policies after joining the

ticket though pins transformed into an adept 2nd in command who always defer to his boss because thanks to your leadership from early on not only are we bringing a whole of government approach to confronting the coronavirus we're bringing in all of america approach even as head of the white house coronavirus task force pince wouldn't let the news that members of his team a tested positive for covert 19 keep him off the campaign trail. continuing to campaign for trump even as public health officials criticized the decision greetings and america on the democratic side 56 year old senator harris the daughter of immigrants from jamaica and india harris in 2016 became the 1st south asian american and 2nd african-american woman elected to the u.s. senate where she represents the state of california in 2020 as the democratic vice presidential nominee she became the 1st woman of color to be included on

a major party's presidential ticket that i'm here tonight is a testament to the dedication of generations before me women and men who believe so fiercely in the promise of equality liberty and justice for all known as one of the toughest interrogators in congress harris has repeatedly used skills honed during her tenure as a prosecutor and a former attorney general of california while questioning trumpet administration officials during harris's short lived presidential campaign critics questioned her shifting positions on policy issues and her record as a prosecutor but as a barrier breaking running mate to joe biden harris an advocate for racial and social justice has proven popular with supporters applauding harris's pledge to offer a path to citizenship to millions of undocumented immigrants living in the u.s. in the final weeks of the campaign members of harris's team also tested positive for colbert 19 after learning the news harris temporarily stopped traveling at

a bracing reminder that for america's 2020 vice presidential candidates differences in politics policy and personality could not be more stark looking. at. or let's look at foreign policy again now during his presidency donald trump has ended traditional lines his and been accused of getting too close to authoritarian leaders and this is thrown america's global leadership into question during 3 conflicts in the middle east and north africa donald trump has continued u.s. support for saudi arabia and the u.a.e. in their war in yemen and he failed to act against crown prince mohammed bin salman for the murder of saudi journalist. joe biden says he'll end support for the conflicts in yemen stop weapon sales tucson's arabia and hold its leaders accountable for killing. claimed victory over i saw in syria after its territorial defeat in 2019 he then abruptly announced the withdrawal of all u.s.

troops from syria drawing condemnation at home and abroad he partially backtracks keeping some personnel to protect oil fields biden meanwhile has opposed the drawdown of u.s. forces from northern syria and accused of betraying kurdish allies generally avoided getting involved in libya's civil war he did however make a surprise phone call to all italy for half time during his failed military campaign to seize tripoli last year libya has also not really been a talking point for joe biden he did say the that he warned the obama administration against the $27.00 intervention that brought down longtime. years of chaos as you know fought or let's bring in our panel now to discuss this further in new york we have sorry leah whitson who is the executive director for the world now a nonprofit funded by the slain saudi journalist. nancy soderberg is back with us former clinton national security official and senior political analyst marwan

bashar. sarah leah whitson let me start with you the middle east of course riding on this election as someone who's worked on human rights in the region for many years how would you judge trump's approach to the wars in this region whether it's libya syria yemen and do you think if joe biden is elected it will be better for this region necessary. in terms of the conflicts in trying to sneak in a largely hands off approach exactly under. state department reduced direct u.s. military support for a sorry read his comments on the arms sales have continued he has tried to reach our troops from syria. part of the opposition and he has largely of dealing with libya and all i think terms of musicians is actually

reflective of what both parties will probably do or what. a new president might amuse like the key which is an attitude that the middle east is a place the united states should with the least sex presence of u.s. military troops. by himself personally many continue to. support an interventionist position in the 1st he did support the war in iraq. the more our approach in washington right now is encouraging more so called withdrawal as the coach as to who will be better in the long question for the weekend i think that the presidency will certainly be incrementally better and he has stated that he will prioritize america's relationships according to the human rights records of the people interacting live but i don't expect any

very makes the dramatic changes in lots of moves to the middle east nancy soderberg we have syria and libya yemen 3 wars that started during what is known as the absa praying and next year will be the 10th anniversary of this movement has the u.s. under president trump had a real strategy when it comes to this region and do you think they'll be a kara one under biden presidency. well 1st of all you have a dramatic shift in american values in trying to make sure that we are on the right side of history i think handling the arab spring is a bipartisan failure i 'd don't think we've gotten it right we're way too optimistic and. made a lot of the states and i think a presidency offers a chance to reset our approach there get out of yemen look at how we're handling saudi arabia president bragged about having saved m.v.s.

and what why are we turning the other cheek when they slaughter and dismember. a saudi individual who worked for the washington post 'd and was a resident of the united states and completely swept under the rug so i think you'll see a real shift in him standing up her values 'd and working her interest these are tough problems and i don't pretend that joe biden will come in and wave that one there 'd that are decades in the making and it will take decades to reset but i think we under a 'd divine ministration can begin to have those tough conversations of what are real interest here as we get off of oil we have more flexibility to try and challenge some of it stays 'd as they try make sure 'd that we don't have more wars in the in the region libya is a festering 'd. crisis and we've got a completely incoherent policy there so i do think we need to have

a reset there 'd reset with saudi arabia and we need to address the war in yemen which is the worlds 'd of worst humanitarian crisis kerry carried out u.s. weapons right my one as we mentioned in the other previous panel was supporting what needs tolerating abuses by strong men who have had close ties with washington has been a keystone maybe of american foreign policy in this region for decades now under both democratic and republican administrations do you expect any policy changes if biden he's elected. well you see that's the thing i mean you're right to to note and to underline that in fact this has been a a long. you know policy of the united states but under trump something more happened he didn't just tolerate the hitters he didn't just walk out of them and closed and turned up his nose and what he did was work closely with them

he'd be friended them he'd justify their horrible actions in fact you know when it came for example to saudi arabia he continued to sell them arms even when congress wanted to stop 'd arming the war in yemen he could do to defend them even when the entire country the united states knew all too well that that there is even was behind the killing of. the same goes for egypt the united states dollar rated the more radical regime but it did not and that's including president obama it did not justify the imprisoning of 60 or $70000.00 political prisoners so president trump took it all up several notches by justifying defending supporting arming the taters against the people's money to support his marwan will tell you that what he has done is not taking the u.s. into any further wars in the region. that is that is that

is largely true to his credit but that's also something that obama wanted to award because we all know after the gulf war fiasco and i would say the afghan war that america want to stay away and yet president trump did deploy some you know a few 1000 more soldiers in the gulf and a few 1000 more soldiers to iraq and syria and then he pulled them out and the overall he did try to impose a certain restriction if you will or where the so-called never ending wars that is again to his credit but i think into intensification of tension and conflict with iran that's not theirs and i think we're in biden and we have not yet mentioned that right or biden can make a difference is by resorting that nuclear deal after the iranian elections next year sarah leah whitson what do you think should be the priority for the next

administration when it comes to this region is there a particular area they should be focusing on in trying to restore you know after the damage has been done over these last few decades. well sadly i would it would be hard pressed to say there's one priority given to many many christians nugent but i think the 1st priority has to be just stop doing. and what do you not states and i hope our next administration comes of charo it is the extent to which the us military sales of a us military guests sorry reading here to israel to egypt is dramatically harming them heal of the region and as a 1st priority america has to stop contributing to human rights abuses contributing to silence of rights we are not a neutral actor in the region just because we don't have to subsume a country by providing military support to these governments we are aiding and

abetting there is as a 1st priority that is what needs some talk. but frankly i'm not very hopeful that a new president biden will actually make this a priority nancy soderberg. is not very hopeful and is sore that the u.s. has been absent from diplomacy it is russia and turkey now have taken control of the situation in a number of countries both in libya and in syria as we've seen recently fighting on opposing sides there. are you hopeful at all that things might change under a new administration. i am i have the honor of being your optimistic panel and. i think i would i would say i would i would not minimize the challenges here but i would i would hope we could do more the just do you harm i would look at trying to stabilize the region in the 1st term of ministration really trying to stabilize 'd live the yemen us make it clear that we're not going to 'd abandon the kurds in

syria and trying to get some semblance of protection for them there and then of course as i said earlier take on some of the greatest actions saudi arabia which we are clearly facilitating stabilize it so that we can. progress in you know it takes time so perhaps a 2nd term and for that lucky thank you very much to all 3 of you. nancy soderberg and marwan good to talk to you about these issues it is coming up to almost one g.m.t. and voting is going to be ending in a number of states at one g.m.t. 16 of them process district of columbia or washington and crucially they include the battleground states of florida and pennsylvania take us through these states that i don't see how they thank you so much you know we are just coming up to the top of the hour 30 seconds until we open up the results for you with the projections for you but these are the ones we're going to be looking at 718 different states reporting their numbers and they are well you can see them on the

map over the phone so the ones we're going to be watching the most florida and pennsylvania you have a large swathe through here which will be reliably red republican states you have a big group up in the northeast corner which we are which will be off reliably blue states goodness gracious me forgive me it's very early here in the morning and. sometimes the words get a little bit confused but these are the ones as i say 17 states in all we are past the point. of the top of the hour so we can now make a bunch of projections and we're going to fly through these for you connecticut the state of connecticut has 7 for joe biden delaware as well his home state is 3 for joe biden illinois interesting that this got called very very early 20 we knew they'd be blue but they did come in very very quickly maryland as well was a similar one which was able to declare and report very.