that's going to be closely watched as are statewide races in virginia as special attention is being paid to the state senate there. it's narrowly in republican control. that could change overnight. races in mississippi as well, we'll get returns throughout the evening and cnn will bring it to you aulg you all as it happens. now i'll turn it over to chris cuomo for "prime time." >> this is a very significant story unfolding in the state of kentucky. why? it probably wasn't supposed to be happening. i say probably because there's always context in poll ex. but if kentucky goes from red to blue and we understand why it happened, it will be an excellent window into the state of play in the 2020 election. is the president relevant here? is impeachment relevant here? big questions, big results, probably on our watch, so let's

get after it. >> why does kentucky matter. i'll tell you all about the state. we're doing our homework right now to make it more relevant as a picture of our country. but here's the headline. our president won kentucky by some 30 points in 2016. he killed it. he does very well there. he just went to the state. now, he is seen as almost indominable when he comes to stump as a republican and he went for government matt bevin. he's been running for reelection on a platform of cozying up to the president. he actually took a shot at mcconnell, i think, in like 2014 or '15, wanted to run against him for senate. didn't work out obviously. but if the turnout is very big, and we believe it is, bevin losing despite that push by the president could very well be relevant. we got to look in a little bit

more. why? we'll talk about it throughout the night. here's what we know -- he is trailing the state's democratic attorney general andy beshear. if that name sounds familiar, it's because it is. his father of the governor of kentucky from 2007 to 2015. bevin took over in 2015. the president won by 30 points, he ran by 10 when he -- he won by 10 in 2015. so he's no trump in his open state. so what is the state of play in this race? why is it happening this way and most importantly when can we call it? let's bring in cnn's john king. nobody works the wall like he does. we've been watching you meticulously go through it. what would be and who makes the call and at what point? >> we have some excellent people on the decision desk. they're waiting because they play it safe here. 10,565 votes is the lead, 99%

reporting. we're missing western, rural, conservative red kentucky. we're waiting. a little tinny county, we don't have any votes in yet. when they come in, they tend to all come in at once, it could happen right in the middle of this conversation. but we're waiting to be cautious, are there enough votes out here? mccracken county, the final votes came in and they weren't enough to cut into the lead. if you click around out here, you see a 91% here in livingston county, bevin winning pretty healthy but you see the overall counties here. there's not a lot of strots do that. it's a small, not that populous county. but we're going to wait and count them as they come in. why is the democrat in this red state, 10,000 votes, almost 11,000 votes ahead? first and foremost you start here. we've had the same conversation during the trump presidency. democrats win in the cities and

they are increasingly running up the margins in the close-in suburbs, jefferson county, louisville, 67%. that's just shy of a 100,000 vote margin right there. i want to go back in time. yes, the democrat carried this last time but with 58%. you want to win an election and you're a democrat in a state like kentucky, you got to run it up here, andy beshear did that. it's a small are county, franklin county, you keep wandering the neighborhood here. you're talking about suburbs here. these are not big cities in kentucky, smaller cities, you come in here, lexington, you see it here. look at the percentage, 65% to 33% tonight. go back, the democrat won this four years ago but not by a margin like this. and y beshear outperforming ja conway.

number one, look up here and number two, look out here. this is the suburbs up here, the cincinnati, ohio suburbs in northern kentucky right here. they're blue tonight for andy beshear. this was matt bevin four years ago. a little blue. look at tonight, a lot more blue. you made the point when you were talking to anderson earlier that he went out into these small rural counties and worked it, said i can give you better health care and a better deal. he is a well-nope namknown name polarizing governor. there's nasty play here tonight but it's unmistakable and because of the president's visit last night. if you're the president of the united states and you won this state by that, wow, then you're not happy tonight that your candidate, the guy you wouldn't have gone down last night if you didn't think he was going to eke it out and he was going to win so could you take credit for it

in the morning tweets but right now it's a major story for the democrats, your state attorney general within striking distance to be the next governor of kentucky. >> he's got cover here because he can say bevin wasn't popular, i tried to help but he was way behind so the fact that it was even close is cover. when you're looking at raw vote tote as, john, does anything stand out for you? do you think we can say at this point that turnout is at all significant? >> your biggest point about that, the point you just made, a, the people are turning out to vote tonight and the democrats clearly were motivated and did a good job in a state where they have struggled operationally in the past. to your point about the president, if you're matt bevin or a republican anywhere, as much as we say haha, the president went in, his guy lost, he did go in to try to help. bevin was behind and closed

late. so the president is going to make the point i tried to help, the guy was toxic. >> that will feed the narrative. then again, there are a lot of other insights to hear about, turnout, issues, what worked and what doesn't. this isn't the clearest picture for us because beshear has history in the state, his father was governor, he's the sitting attorney general. you get in my ear if you have anything that changes, i'll come to you right away. thank you, my brother. let's bring in david axel rod and cnn political director david chalian. when we talk about this state and why it matters, we look at the state boiler plate. there's no automatic recount in this state but a candidate can request one in court at any level. so we're not looking for a threshold number as we sometimes are. bevin can ask at any level. if the court says yes, he can go. kentucky, overwhelmingly white, 58, 8 -- 85, 87% white. a big issue there is medicaid.

bevin said you got to work harder for medicaid, made him unpopular. beshear said i will not change those. where's the lesson? >> steve beshear, his father was someone who embraced the affordable care act. he rebranded it. i think they called it kentucky connect so as not to call is obamacare. but it was quite popular. this became an issue for bevin. he had other issues as well. y clashed with the teachers. his personality frankly was pretty prickley. he did go in at a big disadvantage in this race, but it is a republican state at this point. the president wins by 30 points. i agree the president went in there to try and save this guy but he wouldn't have gone in there if he didn't think he could save this guy. and so we saw the limits of his coattails here and you saw it particularly in those suburban areas and that continues a trend that we've seen since 2016 that should be worrisome, not frankly

to him in the state of kentucky. he's going to carry the state of kentucky, but if you extrapolate to other places around the country, this could be a concern for him. >> david, is there a lesson not just in what beshear talked about but what he didn't, given this list of what was in this five-minute sell of his, medicaid, schools, not unusual. i'll get away from this divisiveness we see in washington, does not talk impeachment, does not mention the president. what's the lesson in that? >> if you're a 2020 democrat running for president, you're trying to court your democratic base and the nomination but you're probably paying attention where sometimes the conversation is dominated by trump or impeachment or the news of day headlines. beshear made it very clear from the get-go in this case, he saw his only path was to localize this. talk about health care, education, jobs and really not try to talk about donald trump. it was bevin trying to use trump

to his benefit. it was the republican incumbent who was trying to sort of bask in -- again, there are only 10,000, 11,000 votes apart. we don't know how this will end up finally, but i do think, chris, you raise a point. i think there are going to be a lot of democrats that do extrapolate, hey, what kind of democrat do we need to win in, again, not kentucky, that's not a battleground state next year, but in some of these areas where democrats have made inroads, you can see democrats asking what kind of democrat, what does beshear teach us about the kind of democrat that can make further inroads in the suburb, maybe pick up trump voters, make some inroads there and if beshear is the model, that plays out in that warren versus biden kind of ideological -- >> let's talk about how. one quick beat before we go to break. one, they're putting a lot of

money on impeachment. the country is divided on it at best and it's not even a real split because the party numbers are so different. it's all the democrats, like 70 something and like a third to 25% of republicans think even the inquiry is worth it. this guy doesn't mention impeachment. he is nothing like any of the people on the stage for the democratic nominees. so is this a warning or is this a good signal? >> well, first of all, you're right. he didn't talk about impeachment, the republicans did and their whole campaign down the stretch was to try and attach him to the impeachment in washingt washington. if he wins tonight, that will have failed as a strategy. >> that's interesting. that's a better point than mine so let's flesh that out. >> i just want to linger on that last point you made. he didn't talk about impeachment butch you think there may be an equal opposite at play there, that they talked it up a lot and maybe people didn't want to hear it in that context either.

>> if beshear wins, he will have won by localizing it and the nationalizing on the race would including using impeachment to - try and mobilize their voters. but, look, generally, as david fbs s was saying, there is a big debate as to whether you just pump up your base and win that way or whether you need to appeal moe a appeal more broadly as they did in appealing in suburban areas. this is going to play out over the next couple of months. >> let's take a break. as we get some more was in, we'll have to understand it. we also have to put it in the context of stay-te-by-state pol. kentucky shouldn't be in play but there may be lessons to it. we have a former dnc chair who

can add value on the possibly historic races in his own home state of virginia. he's also the former governor of virginia. we've got senator tim cane is with us tonight to talk politics on a big night. stay with us. [sneeze and sniffles] are you ok? yah, it's just a cold. it's not just a cold if you have high blood pressure. most cold medicines may raise blood pressure. coricidin hbp is the... ...#1 brand that gives... powerful cold relief without raising your blood pressure.

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lead has been cut in half. we are told the last county was just counted. so we're going to have to see when they're ready to say, okay, all votes are in and we'll look at that level. may well happen on our watch. we'll keep you going, no rush. we're going to talk about what the implications are if this does go that way, what does it mean, what does it not mean? another big night in virginia. all 140 seats in the state senate and house of delegates are up. imagine that, your entire state government is up. democrats are trying to pull off a big feat, something they haven't done in a quarter century, take control from the gop in all three houses. why is that so big? if for no other reason, you get to draw the district. all you hear about gerrymandering and all that stuff, that's why. it happens at the state legislative level. let's bring in one of the best known democrats, senator tim cane, do i have it right in that senator, do i have it right that districting and drawing matters

and why? >> it absolutely does. and i'm in a barn out in prince william county, which is the like the battleground of the battleground and this legislative election sets the stage for redistricting in 2021 where we will have a democratic governor and two democratic houses. and we won tonight. it looks like we're going to pick up both houses. we won on the maps that the republicans drew back in 2011 on their maps, we did something we haven't done for a quarter century with great energy and enthusiasm picked up both houses. >> why did do you it? >> the reason we won is democrats in virginia, we run as the practical problem solving progressives while the republicans run as the ideologues and what virginians see is they see a state, they like the way democrat runs things. they know we know how to govern and when they see it and when they see these young dynamic

candidates we have, we basically in the last 15 years have gone from having nothing to if we do pick up both houses and it looks like we will, we'll have everything, every statewide, both senators, electoral votes of the last three presidentials, the last elements we needed with majorities in the two legislative houses and tonight we're going to get them. >> interesting how the fates of politics can change. northam look like he was done. he decided to hold on, didn't buckle to pressure. now he'll have both state governments at his behest and he'll be able to do things that have not been done in a generation, certainly not by democrats. kentucky. your friends say don't be so happy about kentucky. bevin wasn't popular, the president went down to help him, the other republicans killed it in that state. the president is fine. this means nothing about him. your take. >> well, look, virginia borders kentucky. my wife is from big stone gap,

virginia, which is just a few miles from the kentucky border. any republican that tries to downplay andy beshear's win and it looks like he will win, they are whistling past the graveyard. kentucky is one of the most republican states in the country. president trump put it all in by going down there last night to try to get kentucky to do what they always do, which is go red. mitch mcconnell, who is up for election next year in kentucky, i think the virginia result tonight and the kentucky result are both very, very strong signs of hope to people around this country that going into 2020 we can restore our country to the kinds of progressive values that we need to be known for. >> so the elections in virginia hyper localized. in kentucky beshear's strategy was doesn't talk impeachment, doesn't talk about the president, talks about medicaid

accessibility and bevin made a step on that and wanted to condition it more. so what is the lesson for you democrats? you don't have any andy beshear on the stage fighting for this nomination. don't talk impeachment? stay away from the president? offer something to people at home? >> how about this, how about if you want to provide health care solutions for your citizens, which democrats do, democrats expanded medicaid in virginia a year and a half ago and governor beshear and now attorney general beshear are running on the same thing. if you want to expand health care solutions, run on that against a president who again and again and again even if court right now is trying to take health insurance away from tens of millions of americans. i think that is a great link between kentucky and virginia. republicans try to take health care away from their own people while democrats fight to provide health care even for the voters

in the other party. that's something you can run on all over this country. >> senator tim kaine, appreciate your insight on an important night. thank you very much. got to keep covering this election. as i said, we are told the last county was counted in kentucky. where does that leave us? the number we just saw on the screen was half is what we've been told a few minutes before. we'll get the latest calculat n calculation, latest expectation. we have axe and dana bash. whenny co we kol backcome back about what this means and it doesn't.

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breaking news out of kentucky. the gop governor, matt bevin, trailing in his reelection bid but just barely. we have dana bash, talking to republican sources on the ground there. da dana, great to have you we heard the last county was counted. we're waiting to see what that means. we've seen ranges in the difference from 11,000 to 6,000. bevin is down currently. what's the spin? >> reporter: well, republicans who i'm talking to in kentucky and nationally are not hopeful and already leading into today's election we heard the expectations being pinned if he did lose on governor bevin's personality, on the fact that he is so unpopular, probably the most unpopular governor in the country, even and especially among his fellow republicans in kentucky. i just was texting with a veteran republican strategist in kentucky who said the

following -- well, we found out that being an a-hole is slightly worse than being a liberal, about bevin and pointing out that other republicans in kentucky, all of the other republicans there have done very, very well and that bevin is an aberration. having said that, chris, just before coming on with you, i got a text from a different republican strategist who was involved broadly in party fund-raising and planning for this who said very candidly this is a blow because republicans were all in on this from the rnc to the rga, the republican governors association to the president and vice president, despite the fact that the governor is a very flawed candidate, that's the reality they're going to have to face. >> he won by ten points, bevin, the last time. the task for the republicans is to say the republicans who run are more like this president than bevin, but bevin connected

himself to the president more than any of the other candidate, more overtly anyway. so it's a little bit of a tough sell. but fact's fact is that the president won by 30 and is very popular in kentucky. dana, very useful information. thank you very much as always. let's bring back in the davids, axelrod and chalian. we were talking about what the lessons are. that's why this matters. sure incrementally it matters. where does it take you? what i was just saying to dana, you know, was it that bevin was too much like trump or was it that he wasn't seen as trumpy as the other ones? >> i don't think it was that. i don't think he was seen as trumpian. he may have been trumpian to a fault in the minds of some voters. he was a very disagreeable guy and took off on some very unpopular issues there. but, you know, as you point out, trump won the state by 30 points, he parachuted in on the

last night. i think he did so with the expectation that he could pull out a vick industry for bevin, and there were weaknesses that are not just limited to kentucky that we've seen now for election after election. what we're seeing in virginia, you look at the suburbs around richmond virginia and washington, d.c. and republicans are getting pummelled in those areas. so this is formerly republican strongholds that are no longer in the republican kol ucolumn. that's a trump legacy. >> college educated -- you only have 23% college educated in a state that's 87% white. that was at play there. so ax was trying to help me understand something, david, in the break. the role of impeachment and the debate over whether or not this is a good thing or a bad thing for the democrats. we keep hearing tim kaine, what we saw in beshear, keep it

local, talking health care here, talking jobs, talking local concerns, not talking impeachment, nobody's asking us about that, yet it is the dominant narrative in washington, d.c. how do you have reconcile? >> well, i think you are hitting on, chris, exactly why nancy pelosi was as reluctant as she was to move towards impeachment because of concern that by doing this in a partisan fashion, as the vote on the inquiry indicated this is in this partisan polarized era of american politics, for the democrats, if you're not bringing over republicans, if you're not bringing overwhelmingly independents to your cause, what ends up happening is this gets just completely put in its partisan corners and, by the way, that could be beneficial to the president because it gives him that partisan base of sport to put his foot on. that was the concern here that there would be potentially seen by voters as democrats just

trying to undo the election. now, the facts of the impeachment are what they are. it seems poised each day the democrats seem closer and closer to moving ahead with impeachment but, chris, i haven't seen anything yet. maybe tonight's kentucky results will be a data point that the senate republican conference all of a sudden weighs in a different way here. to this dant i haven't seen anything that shows me 20 republican senators are about to bail on the president and join democrats in trying to remove the president. >> and beshear didn't even talk about it. >> democrats won in 2018 by raising health care and the attempt by the president to gut the affordable care act, take protections away from people with pree preexisting conditions that was the basis on which they did very well. it wasn't on the basis of universal coverage, medicare for

all, ending private insurance. and, you know, in those -- i mean, a big discussion, a big debate within the democratic party is are you going to run on those grounds that were so fertile for you if 2018 that helped andy beshear in kentucky tonight, or are you going to forge this other trail on the siri that can you pump up your base and that will be enough? i think it's a very dangerous path to take but that's a debate that democrats are going to have to have. >> governors have it a little easier on the health care they have to ask for waivers and money from the fed. in a state that's vulnerable like kentucky -- >> for both beshears, it was a signature issue. steve beshear was a national leader. he took uninsurns down in his state down from 21% down to 8% or 7%. >> by embracing the expansion.

>> and that was upon lar. so being dogmatic on this issue for republicans didn't work. it could be praebs being dogmatic could take the republicans off the hook. >> the davids always give us deep analysis and i thank them both on the show and dana bash but politically it has big questions around it. how doesy see tonight. tom perez on a big night. what does it mean next. ♪ ♪ all around the wind blows ♪ we would only hold on to let go ♪ ♪ blow a kiss into the sun ♪ we need someone to lean on ♪ blow a kiss into the sun ♪ we needed somebody to lean on ♪ ♪ ♪

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kentucky is the key story of the night. john king crunching the numbers. we have been told the last county has been counted. so as soon as we get new information, we'll give it to you but the right now is the governor there, matt bevin, is down to the attorney general andy beshear. beshear's father was governor from 2007 to 2015, an issue that made him popular seems to be working for andy beshear tonight, medicaid expansion. he said you were going to have

to work harder to get it, beshear was capitalizing on it. not the only lesson and not the on major contest tonight. let's bring in the head of the dnc. look at that smile. you're feeling good tonight. tell me why. >> i do feel good, chris. we're a 50-state party again. i vowed we would be that when i was elected, sir, in 2017. we elected doug jones senator in alabama in 2018, we won elections across the country and here in 2019 in kentucky, here in virginia, we're winning and we're winning because we're fielding great candidates, we're organizing early, we're organizing everywhere and we're fighting for the things people care about. you've talked about the issue of health care. i worked very closely with steve be seesh and in the category of if it ain't broke, break it,

matt bevin proceeded to break it. and the people of kentucky remember that. that's how we're winning everywhere. we're showing people what we're fighting for, fighting for health care, fighting for good jobs, fighting for an american that works for everyone. we just elected the first muslim american to it the state senate here in virginia. our diversity is our greatest strength. mr. president, when you divide the nation, you're doing wrong and the voters are going to speak up. i'm very excited. we still have to see what's happening in mississippi, we invested in kentucky, we invested here in virginia and we're investing everywhere because we can win everywhere. >> so when you look at the national picture, often the national picture different than state by state. for example, we've been seeing polls where several of the top nominees currently in the party beat the president in a contest

in the country, but we saw the state by states come out to the states that will be battle grounds, he's doing much better than the national polls suggested overall. so when we look at the states, what may have worked for beshear, what worked in virginia? keep it local. talk health care. get off trump, get off impeachment. how do you reconcile in the national picture for president an impeachment that seems to be so consuming of the energy in dc for the democrats with what's been working state by state? >> i think we succeed by pointing out that democrats can walk and chew gum. we have passed laws to stabilize health care, raise minimum wage, reduce gun violence, make sure you're judged in the workplace by the content of your character, restore our democracy and so many other things.

dealing with the issues that got us elected so we can do those things. memo to file, mitch mcconnell, we're going to keep organizing in kentucky. we have to move on impeachment. it's not about politics, it's not about polling. it about principle approximately a -- and the principle of the matter is it's illegal for a president to ask someone to dig up dirt, dirt which does not exist, i might point out, against your perceived opponent. we ran the table in equipmenwis michigan in 2018 and all the statewide races because we were able to show people we had their backs on the issues that mattered most. we're going to continue to do that, not only in the industrial midwest but across the country. >> the challenge is translation.

how do you turn what's working for you there into that national picture. organizing is key. i don't want to you lose your voice. >> we're going to check back with the election king. john king has an update on where the race stands, what is the implication? we'll get it all rounded up in the break. come back on the other side. more coverage. it's a network that gives you... with coverage from big cities, to small towns. introducing t-mobile's 600mhz signal. no signal reaches farther or is more reliable. and it's built 5g ready.

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rounding, it's a very close rate. the democrat is on top by 5,400 votes. now we wait. we know there are several thousand absentee ballots to be counted, the lawyers could get involved. there's no automatic recount in kentucky. >> there is none. you got to ask the judge. >> matt bevin could ask for it. when you look at the map, i want to show you something. it's not a huge difference here, but this is tonight. keep an eye on this and look at the blue. i want to go back four years ago when matt bevin won. there's more red, right? not a ton more blue tonight. now you come forward. it's not a ton more blue, but it's significant in a couple of ways. you talked about this early on. here you have a democrat who proved he could go out into rural areas that have become more and more and more republican, especially in the trump age. it was happening anyway but federal budget more so in the trump age, thee and he went out

and competed and picked up a few more counties over here. that's one reason he's likely to be the next governor of kentucky. and then you come here, this is not just about donald trump, matt bevin was a polarizing governor. of course the democrats are winning, but they are running it up in the closed in suburbs. will be you go back in time here, go back to the 2016 presidential race, you look in this area, yes, hillary clinton won it, but donald trump was in play because donald trump was more competitive out in these suburban areas. that is being wiped out in the trump age. fire away. >> i don't understand this. so if he wins by 30 points, what changed? bevin won by ten. if a democrat then gets in, yes, there's history.

there's family history. beshear was a popular governor, 2007-200015. he expanded medicaid a lot. a lot of governors did not. those who did, some succeeded, some didn't. he succeeded with that. how did it change? >> it's a very complicated state, and you know this. you've been around politics all your life. so we can't just say it's the trump factor. but without a doubt, number one, the president, he may have made this closer. he may have helped matt bevin and come up short for that. but the president went in last night thinking he could pull it across the finish line, and that did not happen. number two, you look at the cincinnati suburbs this part of the state, the suburbs around lexington, around louisville, even down in bowling green, the democrats are gaining. that is happening during the truffle presidency. it happened all throughout 2018. it's a warning sign. does it change kentucky politics a lot? no. donald trump will most likely win kentucky quite easily next year. however, if you're a house republican in any place that looks like this or looks like this and you've been thinking

maybe i'm going to retire. maybe i'm not going to be on the ballot next year, you might get a couple house retirements out of this. mitch mcconnell has a lousy relationship with the governor, matt bevin. if matt bevin loses tonight as looks like it's happening as of now, mitch mcconnell is going to have a celebratory bourbon and never admit it in public. never. he's happy that a protege of his is winning the state attorney general's race. >> by like 20, right? >> all of the other republicans on the statewide ballot are overperforming their governor. this is not just about trump. this is about an unpopular governor, a democratic candidate with a family name that is well known who ran a good campaign, and as you discussed with the davids earlier, who made the bet. i'm going to make this about kentucky. i'm going to make this about health care. i'm going to make this about local. he's going to make it about impeachment and about trump. and in kentucky tonight, not by a lot -- let's not overread this. this is a very, very close race. but in a state that is becoming more and more red, when i first

started doing this, kentucky was more of a swing state. we used to have democratic senators, democratic governors in kentucky. those days have been fading. if you're a democrat and as the chairman just noted, tom perez, you won in alabama last year with doug jones. you're winning in kentucky here. you're feeling better. does that mean the south and border states are swinging back to the democratic party? no. but remember in the obama years the republicans won almost everything. in the trump years, the democrats are winning whether you're talking about legislate everybody races in virginia, the 2018 midterms, and it looks like the kentucky governorship tonight. during the trump presidency, we're seeing very much like we saw in the obama presidency, the other party making giant gains at every level. >> i mean we're really going to have to take a look and figure out what the turnout was and where and what that suggests as you're talking about in the suburbs. we do believe that we can say that the house in virginia has gone back to democrats. so that's one prediction that cnn is comfortable with. the house in virginia is now

democratic. they're trying to get a sweep. the governor is obviously governor northam, democrat. they're trying to get both houses of the state legislature, and that then leads to being able to lead with the districting, which can give you a generation of change. but i think that the narrative tomorrow morning if this holds, john, is going to be this weird paradox where, oh, not the virginia house. the virginia senate has gone democrat. we're still waiting on the house. the virginia senate has gone democrat. we're waiting on the house, and obviously the governor is a democrat there. that matt bevin was talking so much about how close he was to trump and yet he didn't get the boost that we have seen, so was it that his popularity was so much lower than even a trump bump could help, or did it have anything to do with his connection to trump? but the other republicans are doing well. there's going to have to be some after-action report here once we get all the numbers. john king, you are the best. thank you. let me know if something changes. again, we don't know what's

happening in kentucky yet. john king says 99% of the vote is in. we're going to wait, wait on the secretary of state. we're reaching out to the secretary of state there, alison lund gren grimes because, you know, secretaries of state are in charge of officiating the election. what does she say about how many votes she's waiting on? we're reaching out. if she gets to us, i'll bring her to you. what we can tell you right now is virginia can be called. the state senate has gone democrat. the governorship is democrat, ralph northam. now it's about the house. the republicans have been in control for a while. slim majorities, but they've had them. and the big key here is, yes, there will be projections into what this means for the national picture but i've got something for you on that in a second. but what it means specifically that does have national implications but we never really talk about it is that you get to

draw the districts when you control the legislature. if you draw the districts, you can play to advantage. that means that democrats are pulling off whatever they pull off in virginia tonight with republican-drawn sections. you see what i'm saying? those districts. so that's a big deal. we'll stay on that. we got the kentucky secretary of state alison lund gren grimes. thank you so much for coming to us in this urgent hour. what can you tell us, secretary of state, about the state of the race? >> well, we sure appreciate the coverage tonight, and obviously despite the president coming here to the commonwealth of kentucky to rally for the top of the ticket, we have attorney general beshear, andy beshear, who will now be governor-elect beshear, succeeding tonight in ousting an incumbent in what has been a very narrow race over the past year. >> secretary of state, just to be clear, you are calling the race? you are saying that you are confident that it is over? >> at this point, we have, with

over 99% of the vote in, the margin is still within about 10,000 votes, and here in the commonwealth, we have called it for attorney general beshear to be the kentucky governor-elect for the commonwealth. we will have a second governor beshear here in the commonwealth come 2020. obviously there are still options available for recounts to be requested should bevin want to do that. at this point based on the results that we are seeing coming in, especially not only from fayette county but from jefferson county as well, the lead is substantial enough that we believe unlikely to be able to be made up by governor bevin. >> one more question about process and then i want to talk to you about the why. process question is this, what about absentee ballots? what about any other kind of outlying aspects that you have to take in consideration that may take you through the night

or any kind of challenges? what are your feelings about that? >> well, obviously a re-canvass request, we have official results that are certified to us from our county board of elections friday. a re-canvass is requested by next tuesday and would then be conducted the following thursday if that's necessary. in terms of absentee vote totals that could be outstanding, that's obviously something that governor bevin could take into account but not something we see as a significant indicator here in calling this election. in terms of the why, obviously i think this is a return to civility. we have one of the most unpopular governors, if not the most unpopular governor in the nation who has been unseated by democratic attorney general. and despite the efforts of president trump to come and rally the commonwealth, it was not enough to help the top of the ticket actually succeed. >> now, you just said something that may throw a little bit of the audience in terms of parlance. in your state there is no automatic recount, but either candidate can go to court to

request one, full or partial. so this is on governor bevin to make that decision, is that correct? >> that is exactly right. and the first process is known as a re-canvass, which does not involve the court. a second process is known as a recount, which would actually involve the court system. >> what's the difference between a re-canvass and a recount? >> re-canvass is a relook at all of the vote totals, making sure there was no human error and entering them in terms of tabulation. recount would actually relook at every vote as it was tallied on election night and certified by our county board of elections coming up this friday. >> you ever had one this close? >> i have. i've had numerous re-canvasses in my eight years as kentucky secretary of state, approaching over 20-plus. i think it's worth noting governor bevin actually got here by less than 84 votes, winning his primary against then-commissioner comer, who is now congressman comer. he's no stranger to slim

elections and slim margins. obviously not the successor in tonight's election. from our understanding, not just here in the commonwealth, but the a.p. as well has called this election. we will have our county board of elections certify these results to my office this friday and await any requests that might be made by any candidate, including governor bevin by tuesday, close of business, 4:30. >> you sound pretty confident about it just for you guys if you're just tuning in. secretary of state grimes from kentucky says they're calling the race, that they're confident there are enough votes in right now to say that the sitting attorney general, andy beshear, has beaten the incumbent governor matt bevin. we have not called it. i know that will seem unusual that yuou've got the secretary f state saying it but not us. but we have our own standards we have to follow here. secretary of state, i'm saying you sound confident about this in this regard. have you had a governor's race this close? what gives you the confidence? >> well, in terms of watching the vote