the january 6th select committee says that they're not messing around. congressman adam schiff confirming criminal contempt charges will be filed quickly for anybody defying their subpoenas. plus global supply chain issues jacking up prices for consumers as a record number of americans quit their jobs. what does this all mean for the u.s. economy? and growing fallout after raiders head coach jon gruden resigns following his racist, homophobic and misogynistic emails coming to light. so why are some claiming that he's being canceled? i want to bring in cnn senior legal analyst laura coates and max boot. laura, just over 24 hours away from the deadline for some of trump's key allies to appear

before the january 6th select committee. as i just said, schiff says, look, we're not messing around here. criminal contempt charges will be filed quickly if anybody defies a subpoena. how do you see this playing out, laura? >> well, you know, unlike last time when you had thumbing of the nose of people who had previously been subpoenaed, you have a very different white house, a very different attorney general right now, who has been very adamant about the idea of the rule of law coming first. and what this means, of course, is that subpoenas are supposed to be complied with. the average person couldn't just say, nah, i don't feel like doing that and ignore it. remember, anytime somebody wants to challenge the validity of the subpoena or the questions they want to respond to through privilege, you have to still do that on a question-by-question basis. you can't just say executive privilege might be extended. therefore, i'm not going to come at all. you have to address it. so the idea of using the department of justice now to be able to, through a criminal

referral, get people to comply is actually something that could in fact happen, unlike a very protracted litigation on the civil side as we've seen before. >> laura, trump is still pulling the strings, i mean telling his former aides to ignore their subpoenas. is this obstruction of justice? >> it is. it's obstruction of congress, which is why you have the idea of how you can be held in contempt of congress. that actually means being able to obstruct what congress is supposed to be doing. they have a legislative initiative in terms of trying to understand what happened leading up to january 6th. it's a valid legislative purpose. they have expressed it through a select committee, and the idea of telling someone to just say don't show up at all because i might assert executive privilege here, again, it's a question-by-question privilege. you don't get to say, i'm not going to answer any question. privilege only relates to those questions that might be responsive and could have a valid exercise of the privilege. there is a former president we're talking about. that privilege belongs to the

current incumbent of the white house, and that is joe biden although that's much debated apparently through the big lie. that is in fact joe biden holds the privilege, and he is not the one asserting it. >> so, max, adam schiff said the committee will move as fast as possible. here he is. >> the former president of the united states is still out pushing the big lie, the same big lie that led people to attack this building and beat police officers and put our lives at risk. so, yes, we feel a sense of urgency. >> you know, and just today a trump crowd that was four times larger than the local police expected gathered in the michigan state capitol to demand an audit of the 2020 election because trump told them to. what does this tell you about the dangers ahead? >> i think it tells us, don, that the danger to our democracy is growing because these protests are not really about overturning the 2020 election. that's impossible. there's no way for biden to be

shoved out of office right now. what this is really about is setting the stage for 2024 and preventing biden from winning another term or any other democrat from winning another term and basically getting trump back into office by hook or by crook. and this is essentially conditioning the republican party to throw out votes that don't go their way and intimidating republican officeholders so that fewer of them will stand up to the trump coup next time than occurred after the last election. so i think this is a real danger signal for our democracy, the fact that trump is still out there pushing the big lie that he is conditioning the republican party to go along with him. and, in fact, something like 60% of republicans still want him to be their leader. 60% still think that trump was legitimately elected. that's a huge blinking warning sign for the next several years

of our democracy. >> you have a new piece out explaining that you're not a democrat, but you will vote for them no matter what. here's what you write in part. i'm a single-issue voter. my issue is the fate of democracy in the united states. simply put, i have no faith that we will remain a democracy if republicans win power. you say the choice is trump or our democracy. are democrats doing enough to explain what's really at stake in these elections, and are they paying close enough attention, meaning democrats other than the folks in washington? >> i think even the folks in washington, a lot of them, it's very easy to get wrapped up in the current political battles. so there's a huge, you know, donnybrook going over the build back better bill. is that going to be $3.5 trillion? is it going to be $2 trillion or what have you? i think a lot of people are losing sight of the larger issues. it's not a matter of how much we're spending here and there. it's really a much more basic, fundamental question.

are we going to have a democracy or not? and what i'm saying is that if republicans can win elections in 2022, that is going to set the stage for a republican coup in 2024 that could well be more successful than the one they attempted in 2020. and really the only way to prevent that from happening is to vote for democrats at all levels in state lengislatures, governors' house. i'm saying that as somebody who is not a democrat. i have disagreements with democrats on a number of issues, but i think right now all small "d" democrats have to unite and support big "d" democrats to safeguard our democracy from increasingly authoritarian republican party that donald trump is leading. >> laura, abc's jonathan karl is revealing new details about the video trump posted to twitter hours into the insurrection where he said the election was

stolen, called his supporters very special. you know the one i'm talking about. according to karl's new book, trump boasted about the crowd size and had to tape that message several times because he neglected to tell the rioters to leave the capitol. what does that tell you about his state of mind that day? >> well, isn't it coming full circle that a presidency that was obsessed with crowd sizes was equally concerned at the end of his presidency after he had already lost the election and the focus should have rightly been on what was the attack on the citadel of our democracy. one thing that's been very curious for people about the former president has been the idea of a focus almost exclusively on his own incumbency as opposed to what the presidency is supposed to be about -- the future successors as well, the presidential administration going forward. and so you see here somebody who had to be coaxed essentially and persuaded to try to call off a crowd, which included, by the way, people who were calling for

the hanging of his own vice president. and i don't recall any of the republicans who were on the floor that day, who had to be taken away, who had to go to safe shelter, opening the arms to the people who were coming in. why? because they knew that they were there to do no good and to actually harm. so if the president of the united states with the power, the person who's able to answer the question, you and what army, if instead of focusing on trying to ensure the safety of our democracy, he was focused on how many people were willing to join the orbit of yes men and women, then that's really cause for concern as max was speaking about. just to underscore one point, if you're really concerned frankly about democracy, you have to also be concerned about the attempts to avoid or be -- or make sure people cannot get to the polls with the rolling back of voting cases and rolling back of voting rights in this country because that's just as much about what we need to preserve

as anything else. >> all right. thank you both. thank you, laura, max. appreciate it. i want to turn now to fareed zakaria, host of fareed zakaria gps. it's clear our democracy is in peril. even establishment republicans are going all in with trump and his big lie, and trump is trying to purge anyone who comes out against him and install supporters in key states. do you see this as a slow-moving coup or a medium-moving coup or fast-moving coup? how do you see it? >> it's very fast-moving in the sense that the republican party is now completely taken over. it's not just that it's a personality cult. it's, as max said, it's essentially become an anti-democratic party because it is vindicating, it is repeating these lies about what happened in the election. it is trying to purge from the ranks anyone who dared to tell the truth from secretaries of state to local officials to, of

course, people like liz cheney. it's slow-moving in the sense that it's not happening today. what is happening is they're putting in place building blocks of a coup. what we have going on is a slow, methodical effort to create the conditions in which the election of 2024 can be contested. so in a sense, it's a very -- you know, we would only have ourselves to blame if we were to be surprised in 2024 when the republican candidate, donald trump, will declare victory no matter what happens in the election because they are signaling that that's is what they're going to do. now, you know, is it certain that it will happen? no. but it's -- i think it's fair to say, you know, this is a very difficult time, don, because everyone wants to talk about everything else that's going on. and as max said, you know, there's debate about whether the

democrats are spending too much or too little or that biden got out of afghanistan well or badly. it's all fair game, and it's all important. but there is this one elephant in the room, which is that there is a slow-motion, systematic effort to try to undermine america's democratic institutions. and i know it sounds like constantly harping on it, but it's kind of a big deal. >> it's absolutely a big deal. biden -- you know, fareed, biden has been telling the world that america is back, democracy is back. he obviously wants that to be the case. but were those comments early on in his term -- was that premature? >> well, it's premature because everybody that i've talked to around the world says, how do we know this doesn't happen in 2024? how do we know that biden is not a -- you know, a brief respite

between two trump terms? how do we know that, you know, the american people won't vote for somebody just like trump? i think the big wake-up call for people around the world and frankly for people in the united states, i think it's fair to say for people like you and me, was that 60%, 70% of the republican party is going along with this. that means -- i don't know -- 35%, 40% of the american people are going along with this. and, you know, you never get everybody. i mean 35% of people approved of joe mccarthy after the senate censure. 35% of people supported nixon after watergate. but it does feel like we're closer to 45% now than 35%, and i wonder whether you can have a functioning democracy with almost half the country, you know, accepting what is deeply

anti-democratic practice and an authoritarian figure like trump. i want to make one point, don, which is whatever you thought of trump as president -- and i was not a fan, but there were occasionally things he did that i agreed with. the point now is what we are talking about is what donald trump did on january 6th and the weeks before that. that is of a wholly different cloth. and, again, that's not a debate about policy. did he cut taxes too much? did he too few troops out, too many troops out? this is a debate about what he is doing to american democracy. we really have to not confuse these issues. you can agree with trump's tax cuts but you still have to believe what he did on january 6th may be in historical terms the single greatest assault on american democracy since the civil war and its aftermath. >> there's no nuance anymore. it's all or nothing when it comes to the trump party.

there is a potential crisis brewing between china and taiwan. taiwan is showcasing missiles, a war of words. how worried should the u.s. be that we're going to get dragged into a military confrontation there? >> i think right now there isn't an imminent danger. some of what's happening, the media is overreacting. this always happens. there are these dueling speeches. china's national day, then taiwan's national day. the chinese are escalating. i think china clearly feels taiwan is kind of escaping from its grasp. you know, it feels like it had always thought it would be able to keep this renegade island under control, and it's not easy. taiwan is an amazingly vigorous and vibrant democracy. but remember one thing. first of all, there's the olympics. china is not going to do anything before the olympics because it wants to make sure it has a very successful olympics.

but there's a larger issue there, which is china knows the price it would pay if something like this were to happen. and the task of american diplomacy is to rally the world and to make sure that china understands that if it were to engage in something like an invasion of taiwan, that's the end of normal relations with the united states, with europe, with most of its asian trading partners. that is a very big cost. remember, china is a big part of the world economy. so i think we have a lot of leverage. i think the biden administration is handling this reasonably well. you know, the problem the biden administration has is it has all these complicated foreign issues, but at the same time it is dealing with a challenge to american democracy at home. >> fareed zakaria, thank you. i can't wait to see you in person, soon. >> me too. >> thank you very much. for more with fareed, make sure you tune into fareed zakaria

gps. so gas prices are high. supplies of basic products low in stock, and people are quitting their jobs in record numbers. what is going on with the economy, and how is it going to affect you? but my real question is, where did all the workers go? why are all the signs up, everybody's hiring? where did all the workers go? that's next. but... i should've called yesterday, but... would've, could've, should've. we hear that a lot. hi. i'm jonathan, an insurance professional and manager here at colonial penn life insurance company. sometimes, people put off calling about life insurance. before you know it, another year has passed. and when they do call, they say, "i wish i'd called sooner." call right now for free information on the $9.95 plan. are you between age 50 and 85? you can get whole life insurance

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okay. let's talk about the economy. there are warning signs when the u.s. economy. inflation concerns already growing and now consumers facing the highest prices at the gas pump in years with the global supply chain out of whack. what can the biden administration do to right this

ship. let's discuss with kai ryssdal, the host of public radio's marketplace. kai, thank you. i want to get to the overall picture and then talk about something specific. we've got to talk about what americans are feeling at the gas pump, supply chain completely out of whack. what's happening? >> you said the magic word, right? supply chain. look at gas prices. oil closed today above 80 bucks. the global benchmark, $83. we're seeing that at the pump. it's like $3.28. there it is on the screen. $3.28, says aaa. highest it's been for oil in seven years. there's no more supply coming. you see the biden administration asking to pump more. there's huge demand. we want to drive and get out and go around and what happens is supply/demand, you wind up paying more. that's that. >> it's a sign of the recovery because more people want to get out and they want to be driving,

but there's -- yeah, there's a catch to it. >> you bet. you bet. >> the chip shortage, let's talk about the congestion at the ports. a lot of truck drivers. moody's is warning supply chain disruption will get worse before it gets better. so can they do anything to fix this? is biden to blame? >> well, look, nobody's to blame unless you want to look in the mirror, right? we global consumers want what we want when we want it, especially after a year-plus of being stuck at home and ordering online, and now we can spend money on goods and experiences and it's not coming fast enough. i was at the port of long beach the other day. 66 ships waiting at anchor. average wait time to get in to unload their stuff, 11 days. >> wow. >> the usual average, zero days. >> wow. >> these guys hit their arrival times. they're out on the water for two weeks. they hit their arrival time within 30 minutes after two weeks on the water and now

they're waiting 11 days to unload. the supply chain thing is going to go on for a while and nobody should expect once we get through the holidays, it's all going to be better. it's going to be around for a while. >> it's interesting because i always say that the democratic party bad at messaging. it's interesting because there is demand from consumers that want the economy to turn around. they're investing in their homes, all of this stuff, trying to buy stuff, and it's just so much of a demand, right, that it's backed up. >> yeah. look -- >> this is a sign of the recovery. we're doing great. you know -- >> it's not a messaging failure, right? the economy is doing reasonably well. growth is slowing down. we've seen that. unemployment, while the unemployment rate is going down, we're adding fewer jobs the last couple of months. >> i want to talk about that. >> that's also a thing people are worried about. but you could have -- pick your president. you could have anybody in the white house and this would still be happening. >> i want to know where are all the workers. everywhere i go, it doesn't

matter what business i'm talking about or i go or i see, wherever. everyone is hiring. people say, i can't get workers. americans are quitting their jobs at a record pace. 4.3 million people quit their jobs in august. that's nearly 3% of the workforce. >> think about that. >> where are the workers, kai? >> 3% of the american workforce in august said, i'm out. i'm not doing it anymore. here's where they are. number one, they're afraid to work depending on what line of work they're in. restaurants is tough. education is tough. they lost people. people are afraid to work. people still have child care concerns from the pandemic. wages, people are seeing that there are -- this is a worker environment, right? there are so many open jobs, workers are saying, i'm going to hang out and wait for a better paycheck. then there are some who are saying, and i'm seen it in my own professional life. people are saying, i don't nen necessarily want to do this anymore. i want to take a minute, think about what i want to do. it's been a really rough year and a half, and let's regroup. >> i have a short time here, but

does that -- i don't think we realize how covid has changed the job market because the numbers we're looking at for the unemployment rate and all of that, do they actually fit the actual times we're in when it comes to -- >> that's a really good question. what are you giving me? 30 seconds to answer that one? here's the thing. the way this pandemic is showing up physically with open storefronts and people not being able to get what they want when they want it, right, and the supply chain question, it's showing up even more in the psyche of the american and global work herb er because the taking this time to re-evaluate and see what they want to do. and that gets reflected you go to your favorite restaurant and they say, i'm sorry, i can only seat two tables outside because i don't have enough waitstaff. >> you're talking -- that's my life, kai. i appreciate it. i'll have you back to talk about this more. maybe we should rejigger the way that we talk about employment and unemployment because i think this is -- >> or capitalism, right?

i mean, look, capitalism has been stress tested the last year and a half. >> thank you, kai. we appreciate it. so a black president, a gay player, a female rep. take a look at former raiders coach jon gruden's targets, and you'll see a pattern. that's next. dishwasher. but it may not be as clean as you think. built up grease and limescale could be hiding in your pipes. try finish dishwasher cleaner its dual action formula hygienically cleans hidden limescale and grease in your dishwasher. finish. clean dishwasher. clean dishes.

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las vegas raiders coach jon gruden resigning after emails come to light showing him using homophobic, racist, and misogynistic language. the emails written while he worked as an espn analyst. but is this more than a sports story? my next guest certainly thinks so. mike freeman, "usa today" editor for sports, race, and inequality, says that gruden's emails are not just an nfl problem but symbolic of white grievance. he joins me now. good to see you, sir. >> don, good to see you. how are you? >> i'm doing very well. thank you for appearing. explain why you believe gruden's email scandal is much bigger than sports, it's actually white grievance? >> well, i think it's he sits on all of these right-wing talking points you've heard really since obama was elected in 2008. and a lot of this, to me, is a reflection of sort of the changing dynamics, the changing racial dynamics, the changing power structures in the country. and if you look at all of gruden's emails, it reflects all

of that. he rails against colin kaepernick. he rails against the increasing power of women, gays asserting themselves, transgenders asserting themselves. he really goes against all of those things, which represent to me -- i don't even think this is controversial, don -- which represents just the way the country is changing and the way people of color, the way women are asserting power, gaining power, and that makes a lot of people like jon gruden very uncomfortable. and you see a straight line between all these things in gruden's emails and, most importantly to me, how they parallel a lot of these things that the right wing have been saying for a long time. >> mm-hmm. >> and they're just almost identical, the things he talks about when you compare them to some of the things that the right wing have been saying. >> yeah. you say that gruden was possibly supercharged by the nfl environment. but isn't the league really just a microcosm of the rest of the

country? you say it's the right wing, but look at the reaction to social media protests -- social justice, excuse me, protests. >> there's some truth to that. what happened with colin kaepernick, he was really sort of the energizing force for people like gruden, who just hated the fact that to them, football was their game, and colin kaepernick was disrespecting their game, and colin kaepernick was disrespecting police and their american flag. years later, of course, we see the irony of people who hate colin suspect storming the capitol and attacking police officers with american flags. but he really got a lot of people, i think, more republicans, people like jon gruden really upset, and he represented again, to me, the sort of changing dynamics of how

the country is just shifting. it's changing racially. it's changing -- the power structures are changing. all of it is shifting quickly, dramatically. in a big way, kaepernick represented that shift. he was the center of that shift. he caused a lot of people in the nfl to get mad. you're right about how it's a microcosm. but when you look at the nfl, it really, really energized some of the more real conservative elements in the league, and gruden is one of those guys. >> the criticism of the former president barack obama and the current president and former vice president, calling him all kinds of names as well. so, yeah, you're right. the tampa bay buccaneers have announced that gruden has been removed from the team's ring of honor membership. he led the team to its first super bowl title. the shoe brand skechers terminated its deal with them. >> i think you talked earlier on your show about cancel culture

and how people saying he's being canceled. cancel culture doesn't write emails last i checked. he canceled himself. he did this. this is his responsibility, and this is all on him. i will say, don, one of the most interesting parts of this to come next, i think, are these emails. hundreds of thousands of them. the nfl so far is refusing to release them. but i think -- and i think you may agree with me. like there's a thousand pandora's boxes in those emails, and there's probably a lot more grudens in those emails. that's the next big part of this story. gruden is a significant part of it. he's sort of the beginning of it. but the next big part of it is what happens with these emails? do they get released? what's in them because in those emails, i guarantee you, are a ton of bombshells, some of which may make gruden just look small. >> do you think there are some nervous people out there in the nfl going -- or just in

professional sports going oh shit -- shoots. >> the first thing you said, absolutely. >> that part. thank you. i enjoyed reading it. usa opinion, jon gruden's emails not just an nfl problem. they're symbolic of societal white grievance. thank you, sir. you be well. >> thank you. have a good one. a nonpartisan election official forced out by trump supporters and replaced by someone who posts election conspiracies. that election official speaks out right here next. unlike ordinary memory supplements, neuriva plus fuels six key indicators of brain performance. more brain performance? yes, please! neuriva. think bigger.

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forced out of office. an elections administrator in north texas resigning after trump loyalists spent months attempting to remove her from her job. she is now going to be replaced by an elected county clerk who has been promoting conspiracies and allegations of voter fraud, including stop the steal and impeach biden memes on her social media. michelle, i'm so glad you're here. i can't kwait to hear what you have to say about this. you took this job about two months before the presidential election. since then, you have been bombarded with false accusations and attempts to force you out of your job. explain to our viewers what's going on. >> well, hi, don. thank you for having me here

tonight. basically i've been asked this question a lot today and i'm really excited to share this with you. basically what has happened here is i was brought in seven weeks before the biggest election in hood county history. i was able to get everything put together. it went off without a hitch. we even received a glowing report from the texas secretary of state's inspector stating that i had done fairly and accurately. but unfortunately that wasn't enough for a lot of the people here. >> yeah. your job is to be an independent elections administrator, but you say that when you emphasized to some officials that you are nonpartisan, they actually told you nonpartisan means democrat. >> that's correct. it has actually been said in the commissioner's court meeting and taken into minutes. >> really? i mean these are republicans, trump supporters, going after you, right? did you think that they'd be content since, you know, trump

won 81% of the county? what is it about how you go about your job that is so concerning to them? >> well, to a lot of them, they don't feel that i am loyal to the republican party. as a nonpartisan elections administrator, it's my position to treat everyone the same, and that was frowned upon. they wanted me to do as they say, and i always follow the texas election code, but to them, that wasn't enough. >> can we talk about your replacement, katie lang is the county clerk, right? she made headlines in 2015 after she refused to issue a marriage license to a gay couple. i said earlier she has been sharing election misinformation online. what do you think of her filing -- excuse me -- filling your job? >> actually, they haven't appointed anybody yet. i mean they have posted my job as an elections administrator to be replaced with an elections

administrator. i know that there has been talk about abolishing my position and placing it back under katie. at this time, the county still is still looking for an elections administrator. >> yeah. you have got over 14 years, more than 14 years of experience overseeing numerous elections. have you ever seen anything like this? >> never. i have never been in this type of predicament ever. this is -- coming into hood county was an experience i never imagined i was going to have. when you walk into a location and you pull off their biggest election in less than seven weeks, you're able to get everything done, you have glowing reviews from the secretary of state, you're following all of the best practices. you know, anytime there was an issue, i would check with the secretary of state for their advice. unfortunately, a small group of people here in hood county feel as though i should not be listening to secretary of state, that i should be listening to

them. >> what's the danger here if this was to -- if someone in your position felt differently than you and was to be beholden to one particular party? >> well, i mean first off, it's illegal. when we take the elections administrator position, we come in as a nonpartisan. you know, we treat everybody the exact same whether you're republican or democrat, independent. no matter who you are, we treat you the exact same. so unfortunately i don't know honestly how to answer your question other than it's against the law. it's not something that we can do. >> well, let's hope folks are listening. michelle, thank you so much. best of luck to you. we appreciate you appearing. >> thank you. thanks for having me. the former president barack obama getting ready to stump for democrats in virginia. the governor's race coming down to one key issue, how much control parents have in schools. stay with us.

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democrats raising the alarm over the tight race for governor in virginia, and in the closing days of the campaign, the role of government in schools becoming a key issue as voters begin casting their ballots. more tonight from cnn's jeff zeleny. >> i'm historically an independent voter. i have voted every which way you could vote. >> reporter: amy dodson is not defined by political labels. >> i was not a fan of president trump. i didn't vote for him, and i didn't vote for biden, but i did vote. >> reporter: that makes her an important wild card in virginia, where she cast her vote early this week for one reason above all. >> what led me to vote for glenn youngkin this time around was education. >> reporter: education is a central issue in the final stretch of the closely watched virginia governor's race where the power of the parents movement is suddenly front and center. >> you work for us.

>> reporter: in dueling tv ads -- >> terry mcauliffe, putting politics over parents. >> glenn youngkin would bring donald trump and betsy devos' education policy to virginia. >> reporter: terry mcauliffe, the state's former democratic governor, and glenn youngkin, a republican businessman, are locked in a bitter fight over the role of government in schools. >> my name is amy dodson, i have two untstudents at the high sch. >> reporter: during the pandemic, she became an unlikely activist, attending school board meetings, arguing students should be in the classroom, not learning virtually. >> by myself, i felt very powerless. as a collective group, your voice is stronger and holds more power that we never had before as just an individual parent lining up to speak at a school board meeting. >> reporter: the power of that collective voice is alarming some democrats like michael carabinos. >> i am here again. >> reporter: who has also been attending school board meetings to provide a counterbalance.

>> they're doing a good job of stirring up anger and emotion. when it comes down to actually walking into the voting booth, that there are enough of us who are able to look at the science, look at education with a level head, and look at this race with a level head. we don't need somebody as extreme as youngkin in the governor's mansion. >> reporter: as early voting is well under way, that view is being tested here in chesterfield county, a sprawling suburban stretch of virginia just below richmond. >> thank you. >> reporter: the longtime gop stronghold has gone democratic in recent elections. this race could signal whether republicans are resurgent. with trump on voters' minds but not on the ballot. renee schuman cast her ballot early today, saying it's still a vote against trump. >> if you are not actively against him, i feel like you're for him, and i in no way feel that youngkin showed or has

stated that he is firmly against him. >> reporter: but amy dodson says many voters also see this contest as a check on full democratic control. >> i always like to see a little bit of blend. i don't like any party to roll through without having any sort of challenges. >> joining me now is jeff zeleny. jeff, good evening to you. this parents movement seems like it's playing a big role there in virginia. is this the key issue for the race right now? >> reporter: don, it certainly is one of the driving issues with three weeks remaining in this very close contest. certainly there is anger at the government from some parents over the mask mandates, but there's also, you know, anger on the other side at these parents who have been standing up to this. so it's unclear how this is going to turn out. but there definitely is a driving sense throughout this parents movement, if you will, that's animating the final chapter of this race unlike most political races we've seen. >> yeah. how nervous are democrats? it's just three weeks before the

election, jeff, election night. >> reporter: don, significantly, three weeks from tonight will be election night, and they are really sending in everyone. we learned earlier today that former president barack obama will be coming to richmond, virginia, in about a week and a half or so. first lady jill biden coming. a lot of other surrogates. democrats are very worried about this. they thought virginia was a solidly blue state. they're learning that may not be the case at all. of course terry mcauliffe has been around a long time. glenn youngkin, the outsider, the newcomer, is really catching on here. so the next three weeks are very critical, at least in the eyes of democrats, don. >> jeff zeleny joining us from virginia. thank you very much. i appreciate it. and thank you for watching, everyone. our coverage continues.

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hello and a very warm welcome to or viewers joining us in the united states and around the world. i'm isa soares in london here on "cnn newsroom." >> good-bye trump, hello vaccines. we're so glad to see you, joe biden. now people look at him in