cultural issues and so far, it does not look like dms have the answer for the cultural war arguments or the economy at this point, if you look at inflation, the price of gas and usuals like sglampt yeah, i mean, i mean, that is what people are talking about right now. the gas prices are too high. inflation is costing me. what are the democrats doing about that. we have not talked about the message being sent on this. bergen county has a democratic national representative. a moderate. and a place that democrats have performed well in last time we looked. the republican ciattarelli is winning in that county. >> represeublicans i'm talking n new jersey are surprised and democrats are very, very concerned for lots of reasons. you talk about bergen county, when i grew up there, there was

a moderate republican. it's a swing district. >> 60% of the vote in, ciattarelli still up. not a lot of people saw that coming. it's still 40% of the vote to be counted but still. >> still a lot of the vote to be counted. david can speak to it too, he is also from new jersey and talking to his people from back in his hometown. we are seeing numbers on the gubernatorial level, if you look down in the counties that we are talking about and those local officials, democrats are losing. >> yeah. >> that happened in paramus, and not to get too provential? it's the local issues, and the people are making their voices heard and some examples they are making their voices heard by getting rid of the democrats even in the local level. >> it's an anti-incumbent mood.

and democrats in new jersey and virginia are the incumbents. they are the incumbent party. i want to explainer for our viewers right now, why cnn has not yet called some of the races. here is the latest from the govern's race of the commonwealth of virginia, 90% of the vote is in, and youngkin is up, he is a 92, 112 vote lead. we have 6% of the vote yet to come in. it is still a tight race. i mean, things obviously to state the obvious look positive for glenn youngkin and the republicans. we are waiting for more votes to come in before we call it and that is the status of that. >> jake, can i say, it's worth noting. remember earlier in the evening we saw an 11 point lead from glenn youngkin, right? this is now a three -- you are right, it is hard to see the math from mcauliffe right now and democrats will tell you that too. i'm not trying to suggest

otherwise. but what i'm saying is, this is why you don't make a projection when there's mathematical possibility. you want to make sure that as much of the vote gets in. he is now up by 3% points. he was up by 200,000 votes and now up by 92,000 votes and still having a good night. we are being cautious because there's votes to count, john king. >> still votes to count. that's what i'm doing now s is going county by county by county to see. here we are, 51-48. we knew it was going to be a tight race. 92,000 votes with 94% reporting. you start thinking okay, is it possible? so, you are up here, 95% in loudoun county, one of the more populated suburbs near washington, d.c., mcauliffe is winning. may pick up votes there. not winning by a ton. you are not going to pick up a

ton of votes. you move to fairfax county, it's the number one basket votes. mcauliffe is running well. but they are at 95%. so, again, this is where you may see as many as 20,000 votes coming in. even if mcauliffe is winning 20% of them. and he is not, if you think it's close, you make up ground but not enough to make up a statewide lead of 92,000 votes. you keep looking on the map in the blue areas. you come down to the city of richmond, the mcauliffe campaign has mentioned this, yerks the -- yeah, there's votes to come in. add a couple thousand, a few thousand. when you come back out to 86,000. here, we are getting close. >> the lead is shrinking. he comes in. i keep looking and you come through. again, you know, norfolk 75%, here's a place where you are going to see more democratic votes come in, the question is,

you know, 25% more, okay, so, maybe, you know, there may be, you know, several thousand. it's possible. terry mcauliffe picks up several thousand votes there. the represeublicans pad it, can mcauliffe come back late? we can go through every one of the 100 plus counties. you know, 133 of them. 86% here, youngkin is going to pick up a few more votes as you count the last 14% in a heavy represent are can county. you look at the dynamic it's most unlikely for mcauliffe to make it up. mathematically impossible? no, but when you get up to 95%, it's hard when your major democratic population centers here, again, 95% in a place where you are winning but not hugely is coming in to fairfax city, 95%, this is fairfax county, 95%.

move over here, arlington county, 95%. >> yeah, it's important to point out you run out of buckets at a certain point. >> and 86% in alexandria, where you are winning by 24,000 votes. shy of that right there. as the other 14% come n you can anticipate terry mcauliffe will cut in to it, cut in to it more. the question is, is there enough to cut in to, you know, 84,000? an hour ago. it was 111,000. so it's has been shrinking. that's a fact f you say, you are a democrat and you want to wait to the end of the finish line. it's mathematically impossible. >> the 84,000. it's a shock to the system. >> we are talking about improbable, going up to 95 for

jersey. with 62% of the vote in. and that's where that number now gets significant. you have a healthy margin in percentage wise and totals. now you are closing in on a third of the vote. it's the same experiment. the countys s are bringing them in. it's the number one county in the state. 10% of the population and this at the moment is flipped and we are up to close to 68%. 67% of the vote four years ago. that tells you that the murphy map is in trouble when you have the republican leading here. you come down to hudson county, which is jersey city, and we were talking earlier, jake, they were not at 65%, you look at the

big places, potential for more democratic votes. more votes have come in, but now you are up to 65%, so, how much for? you know, a third of the vote left. you are shy of 50,000 vote difference there. so, yes, phil murphy has the potential to make up votes here. this is the one we have been waiting on for a long time. this is where you start to get on the phone to local election officials and say, why? why have we been at 18% which is newark for a very long time. elections are hard to administer anyway. they are more hard to administer in the covid pandemic. these are mostly incredibly good public servants and there's times when you look at 11:07 in the evening and you think, why are they stuck at 18% f yo-- if are in the murphy campaign, you may know more about it. buts essex county, the third largest county in the state. if you are the democratic candidate, and you are right

now, down 72,000 votes, your fate, to put it in to -- >> your fate lies in newark and the vicinity. again, you can come over to trenton, phil murphy is winning. ten points. half of the vote in. >> how did he do four years ago? >> there are votes here. >> way under performing by 10 points at least in lots of the places. much worse in bergen county and the republican is over performing. it's important to remember kind of the backdrop here. the backdrop is that president bid biden's approval ratings are underwater. inflation is up. prices rup in terms of home heating oil, the economy has not bounced back the way people want. people are struggling with covid, a lot of frustration in schools in new jersey and in virginia with mask policy, vaccine policy, parents frustrated because schools were

closed to in person learning for so long. there's a discontent. you look at the wrong track, are right track voters, you ask them if the country is on the wrong or right track, they say, it's the wrong track. who knows who's fault, but there's a anti-incumbent mentality. democrats benefitted all the years from trumpexhaustion, particularly in suburbs like that. the democrats benefitted. now you have 19 months in the covid pandemic. you have covid exhaustion, whether it's from what about work, what about the schools and why hadn't the economy bounced back. when joe biden did that in new jersey, he said, elect me, the economy will come back, we will have calm and progress and we will get things done in washington. we are coming back and we will

have no trump chaos. what do we have? a lot of democratic chaos in washington. they have not produced at the rate biden promised. they may yet. but if you are phil murphy or taray mcauliffe. one thing you are saying and mutters to yourself as you watch, both campaign aed with joe biden. terry mcauliffe made clear his displeasure with the state of play in washington. i'm guessing phil murphy is watching this come in tonight and thinking how much of this is me , and how much of this is out of my control? >> yeah. y i mean, i think they would have love today bipartisan infrastructure bill, some tangible result. we happen to have the good fortune of two children of the guarden state. two new jersey residents on the panel this evening. as a philadelphian, i would take

umbrage, are you surprised rg, first of all, what part of new jersey are you from? >> monmouth county, central new jersey. >> are you surprised by what you are seeing? >> yes, obviously it's surprising. againe er again, you went through the math. it's not that long ago in the history of the states after barack obama had the big win in 2008, chris christie in 2009 in new jersey, made their mark. but, what you are looking at here and to the point earlier, you are just hearing, on at least i'm hearing from local folks in monmouth county that even at the township level will, some town council seats like seem to be going republican in sweeping fashion. so you are seeing something that's happening at the local level that you are also seeing narrowed at this gubernatorial level. you are right, john, to say murphy must be wondering how

much of this is me and how much of it is out of my control? if you looked in the recent preelection polls, phil murphy's approval rating was far out performing joe biden's approval rating. joe biden was underwater in new jersey, but phil murphy was a brand of his own. that's what they thought going in to this election night. well, it doesn't look like democrats have individual brands right now the way that the vote totals are coming in. so, if indeed, and i know there's more vote to come. john, you said earlier tonight. bergen county, you are going to start saying if it's still ready when 55% of the vote is in -- what is it at? >> 58%. ciattarelli is up -- >> that's a chunk there. >> and so, just to make your point. to make your point, the repres

republicans 58%. four years after a democrat won with 57%, right. let's move down to monmouth county. this is a republican county. it was carried by the republicans four years ago. but the republicans got 55% of the vote. the republicans tonight got 60% of the ro vote. republicans are over performing and coming out of the woodwork to vote and you saw it in the exit polls, they are getting help from independents. especially suburban independents that went democrat you in the t years and a year in the biden presidency and re-thinking where they stand. >> one of the things that phil murphy had going for , him, the were almost a year to the trump presidency. there were a lot of independents that were turned off by donald trump and a lot of independents that were motivated to vote. and now we are a year in the biden presidency and you have the opposite happening. >> yes, and what we are seeing

is the historical trends staying true to those trends. in that, you know, again, we have not called either of these, but in seeing that they have been moving west virginia have a specially, that is a place where the voters tend to do the opposite of what happened in the presidential the year before. and new jersey is not that different. again, we don't know what's going to happen in the end. just th the fact that there's trends that the departments did not expect and quite honestly the republicans did not expect to be this robust in the countys. it's a real indicator and interesting. a lot of the issues with new jersey and virginia are the same. they are the same. they are about parents. they are about education. they are covid exhaustion, they are bread and butter and economy

issues. but also wanting to get away from political debate that maybe they cannot connect to or relate to and more swinging back to the middle. remember, new jersey in particular, this is a state where chris christie won not one, but two terms and you had several other examples back further back in history from c christie to others that won two terms. it's the democrats that have trouble keeping the governor's mansion for more man one term. so, there's the pendulum swinging back a bit. no matter who wins in each of the states. just the indicators in all of these counties. >> and so, if it continues. if it continues, it was a point made that stirred my memory. and i'm not sure if i have all the historical data loaded. a point about chris christie winning in 2009, the reason we pay attention to the off year

races do, they foreshadow the mid term mood? you can get too far ahead of yourself and you have to be careful to not read too much in any one or two elections. in 2009 -- so let me see if i can do this. >> on oh, you are going to do the house. >> i'm going to try it. barack obama wins the presidency, democrats take a lead in the house. 2008, this is 2008, after the obama win. fast forward 2009, david noted, mcdonald the republican wins, christie wins and in 2010, keep your eye on the blue. that happened. again, again. look, look. 63 seats. >> it was tsunami of red coming over the country.

we have no idea what will happen in the mid terms next year. but were one to be a democrat and looking at the results this evening, one would think even if murphy ends up pulling out out in new jersey and we still don't know what's going to happen there. we would think the mood of the country is not with the democratic party. it not. >> that's the point. that's where i was making it earlier tonight. look, the president's on air force one and on the way back now, and over the atlantic ocean, air force one has cool technology, he has every idea what is happening here. he will land to, there's supposed to be a house vote, thursday? thursday? or friday? we will see on the two, there's going to be a ton of conversations in the democratic party tonight about what this means. again, we are not done here. even if this turns around. you know, if phil murphy pull it out, it will be that. >> in a state that biden won by 16 percentage points a year ago.

let's go to new jersey, we are with governor murphy headquarters. this is not the night that governor murphy thought he was going to have, what are you hearing? >> well, basically what the her if i campaign has been saying for a while is that the northern more democratic counties still have not come in. so, they feel they are still waiting for the votes to be counted and that so far in the evening, the more heavy republican areas have come in. so, when those areas do start reporting they believe their numbers will start turning in a more favorable direction. as you can hear around me, cnn has been playing here inside the murphy event all night, and just to give you some color about the mood in the room. earlier in the evening, wherever, you all were showing the numbers for new jersey, you heard a lot of cheering. we have not heard that kind of cheering in a while though,

obviously, right now, they are cheering because they see themselves on the screen. we expect that the lieutenant governor is going to be coming on stage in a few minutes to deliver remarks. but, i can tell you the room has thinned out a little bit since the event opened to 8:00 in the evening. and a lot of those in the room kind of i think, had hoped that at this point in the evening they had seen murphy, the governor himself come, and deliver a victory speech. obviously that has not happened quite yet. >> thank you so much. and let's go to the ciattarelli head quarters in bridgewater, new jersey where evan, is, tell us what's going on there? i'm getting some people are surprised how great this is going? >> well, jake, that is right, a couple of hours ago, diane allen the republican nominee came out

ande and said, hey, it's early, it could stay good. couple hours later she looks like she was right. it has stayed good. we don't know what's going to happen yet. but that lieutenant governor nominee came out a few minutes ago to tell the audience, we are feeling good. we are seeing ballot numbers that we like. we are seeing results that we like. and just hang on, and this could be a really, really good night for us. you know, it's amazing to see how the race turned around. it's not that they have a lot of national attention up until tonight. it was not long ago that governor murphy's campaign was running ads about how low the name i.d. projection was. making a joke about it. but it looks like the republicans feel they may get the last laugh here tonight. jake. >> tell us the issues that has has been animating the ciattarelli campaign, why people beyond the anti-incumbent mood, why so many who voted for murphy

last time and biden a year ago, why so many turned out for the republican jack ciattarelli today? >> well, as we heard earlier from the reports, the race, a rot lot of it was about covid. obviously it's a place that was hit hard by it. the place had a lot of debates and controversies about how to deal with it. things like reopening schools. things like masking policies, things like that. these are the kind of things that all over the country, republicans have been taking advantage of and they tried to do it here as well, jake. >> interesting, thank you so much. evan, we will come back to you in a bit and with 66% of the vote in. that is 2/3 of the vote out of new jersey, jack ciattarelli ahead. i mean, it's looking good. again, a lot of votess outstanding, 2/3 of them in.

>> the murphy campaign said, the suburbs in the early part of the state, they believe a lot of votes are still out. when a campaign says that, you put it to the test. here is a democratic suburb, 37% of the vote in. a ten point margin for phil murphy right now. just to go back in time and look -- >> yeah. >> 22 points last time. so, now, that is a win is a win. he won in a blow-out, and he will take a close win this time if he can come back there. again, they talk about the suburbs of northern new jersey, this is the largest one. bergen county where they are losing. it's gotten closer up to 71% right now. i say a little closer, in a place that the republican was ten points lower last time, and phil murphy got 57%. >> let's go statewide. >> there you go, it's down to 22. >> down you to 22,000 votes with 70% reporting. so, still a lot of votes to count.

30% outstanding and jack ciattarelli's margin has shrunk considerably. it's less than one percentage point. >> so now you are in play. we are look at, 18% now. and this is where they came from. i said a short time ago, you wonder where the votes are. they went from 18% to 72% in essex county, it's the third largest county in new jersey and home to newark and the area around it. it's a urban democratic area and suburbs when you get up this way. 73% of the vote, that's where your big vote switch came from. and so, what about the other counties? 65% here, still democratic votes to come here. middlesex, which important is important, this is union. you move down to middlesex, which is important for phil murphy. 80% of the vote is in. it's in the northern part of the state where we are waiting for votes to be counted but that, that made it closer but in some

ways it takes potential additional votes off the board. still more than 25%. if this trend line continues. look at the gap there. >> right. >> look at the gap there, that's a lotity of iof the raw votes. >> he can make up the loss ins essex county? >> yes. exactly. >> he can make up a loss, what he is behind in essex county. >> he can make it up alone in essexity c i ity -- essex count. >> the thing is, nobody in the republican and democratic party thought it was going to be competitive. it is competitive. it's a competitive night. phil murphy the deparmocratic governor may pull it out. ciattarelli with 70% of the vote in. >> i don't know what i did. >> you touched it. >> i don't think i touched it.

i think i youhave a magic what wrong with this county? >> i love it, it's the smallest county, it's 0.7% of the state population. if you have been through with us in the nights, there's one, where you need every vote. >> it's a small county. a small board of elections. a few people working hard. and a lot of times the smaller counties they count it all and do it all as once, where you see in other places the vote jump up, up, up. now, statewide, that goes closer to 100,000 down. >> it was down to 22,000 lead and going back up to 27,000 lead. the votes, the outstanding votes are not only coming from the democratic counties they are also coming from the republican leading counties. >> absolutely no this is a republican county, 28% of the voting is in. they are up to 90% here. but it's the margins. it's the margins.

if this is tonight at 90%. 61%. the republican, four years ago, just 55% for the republicans. so on the republicans are coming to play. again, yeah, we look a bit more closely. i'm guessing with the assistants of independents as well. as a reminder. look down here and up here and you go back four years ago. >> it was a sea of blue and now it's not. >> you want to flip a state, you have to flip big counties and you are starting to see, especially here and down here. not insignificant. the republican candidate, can the democrat come back? no, it's 88%. you can make it closer. but are you not going to flip a 12 point lead. just shy of a 12 point lead when 88% of the vote is in over here, it's ten points with with 91% of the vote in. it's counties that the republican candidate is slipping. you watch a democratic candidate, you are right, two moss ago, anybody thinking we are talking about phil murphy

tonight? no, that was 6 point race, and they thought it was a bad poll or week. guess what? 19,000 votes now. we are doing a bit of seesaw. 65% here , stuck at 72% and another place where phil murphy is going to make up votes. he is running 55%. if that continues to come in at that rate. there's votes to be made up here and 71% here. bergen county staying red. we will watch, 30% of the vote to count there. just come back out and look, 19,000 votes. this where are it's interesting. 19,000 votes. 70% counted. >> it's ticking in. let's go to virginia for a second. >> you can go down yourself. >> you didn't like when i touched it. i want to compare how youngkin did compared to when the last

republican won, was that 2009? >> we don't have it in in. >> what is interesting, whether it's chris christie in new jersey or mcdonnell in virginia. we are talking about the last 15 years. when a candidate with an appeal to moderates. the conservative, a center are right candidate or right center candidate, or in virginia, or christie, and those, these two states are looking like virginia and new jersey. they are not -- it's not transformed in to san francisco. they have a history of acceptaccepted i -- of sending a message to the other party when the other party is in the white house. mcauliffe was the exception.

>> in 2013. >> the state has essentially said a warning to the president in power. they have been called a contrarian, both state have always been states that like to is send a message. democrats did not think because of the growth they made throughout the trump years, because of the increasing diversity especially of this state, they just didn't think it was possible or as possible as it has been in years past. this state this state has changed so dramatically. you will see, we will bring it up again. look at the size of the circles. that's where the population of the democrats winning. and i turn that off, and he just looked. he is defying demographics. the darker green and the countys that are losing population, the lighter you see here, light

green. >> you are gaining population. >> if you are yellow, that is loudoun county. this is fairfax up here. losing population down here and gaining population up here. turn it off and come back to the map of the race. turn it off and losing population down in here, and gaining population up here. if you look at the presidential race, and you do it in that context where trump won big is shrinking. where biden won big is growing. and a year after joe biden. won virginia by ten points. we have that. >> and there's a significant lesson, i think, here for the republican party when it comes to how to be a post trump era. we are in a post trump era and we don't know we are because he may run in 2024, how to run and win in a post trump era, right now, in a purple, let's call it a purple state. and that is, you don't insult

trump, but you don't embrace him try to be the second coming of donald trump. >> that's something that we will be talking about. as they try to navigate that challenge. i would say that you are right and yet, you have to take in to account, a wealthy man who can self finance. that is part of it. so he is a different candidate. yes, he did manage. again, i was asking this question of anybody i ran in to. name me a republican candidate who has been right, politely so, to keep trump at a distance, and trump keeps praising and endorses him. and told the voters to turn out and flood the system is. don't just turn out. flood the system. that's the way to change the election. youngkin did something that i've not seen a republican in the trump years do. where he made clear that you are

right, politely so, that he was not a giant fan of trump. but yet managed to keep trump support and keep not only get trump voters but to just light out up. lighting it up. >> i don't think he ever said he was not a huge fan of trump. he said i'm my own man, i will run my own race. he did not criticize trump or say i would not do it that way. he just did not engage. >> it's about me, not him. >> he just didn't engage and that worked. that wouldrked. >> but trump historically did not like that and can he let it go in virginia. >> no, it's true. it's a map, a blue print for a republican running, you know, maybe you can't do it in alabama, i don't know, or south dakota or ohio. i have no idea. in ohio the senate race, the republican senate race they are jumping over each other who can be more trumpy. but glenn youngkin.

i saw ross the from the new york times a conservative columnist, i assume tongue and cheek tweeted, youngkin 2024. but i mean, it's a little early and ross is cheeky, let us say. the point is, this is a map for conservative policies winning over suburban voters, the democrats have lost. not sweeping, but winning over enough of them, keeping the trump voters and delivering the state that hillary clinton won. >> right. and if it keeps up. he gets a chance to governor and we see who does the governing model. the other key point i make, republicans will study this. how did he manage to thread the needle in wherever, the post trump era a. trump is not in office anymore. >> democrats are going to say, terry mcauliffe thought joe biden won by saying you know me.

i've been there, i can do this. >> it did not work. a year later it did not work to go to a familiar name and a guy that was in power before. democrat-s will think about it. why are we looking at it, 85,000 votes. 95%. well, we just want to. >> what are the countys we are waiting for. 65, 35, in you round it. there's votes to come in here. is there enough to make up the statewide dinfference, no. no republican won this state since 2009, by nature you are going to be cautious. plus, what is the purpose of trying to get ahead of something when you have the drama. we will finish it. prince william county. still waiting. a healthy margin for the

democrats here. if you go back in time. still under performing what the democrat was four years ago when he hand-- he won handily. here's the challenge. if you are at 75, 78, you think boy, when you see so many of the places at 95, it's getting hard. >> true. >> it's richmond city, 95%. and 95% here. you come down here to charles city county. the last thing you are looking at is down here, we have talked about it tonight. you flip the playbook, look at the democratic areas. 75%, so, there's more votes here. you are looking at 59,000 vote margin where we are now. >> what is the margin right now, what is it statewide? >> that's the point. 85,000.

assuming you get 5,000 votes there, and 5,000 votes there. you have to do it so many times that you run out of counties. >> right, you run out of counties. you look at the blue spot, r roanoke. >> it's kind of teeny. >> so, you can look and find, you know, maybe 700, 800, a you thousand here a couple thousand here. you piece it around and think, can you get there? most improbable. >> one other thing that i wanted to note, one of the things youngkin had going beyond his campaign that deserves the strong showing. the sentiment in the air, one of the things the top democrats have said to me last week was look at how the top three candidates do. not just for governor but for lieutenant governor which is a separate race. they run separately and attorney general. if the lieutenant governor and

attorney general candidates win, terry mcauliffe loses, it may be specific for him not being the ablist campaigner. if all three, we don't know about the house of delegates. it's a larger message about the democratic support. what that message is will be interpreted differently by progressives and moderates and the like and it's for them to sort out. tell me about the lieutenant governor's race. where are we? >> we will walk through and do it in the context of remember, 51-48 youngkin. or look at the youngkin vote total. lieutenant govern or. >> almost the same vote total. >> almost identical, the major ip the same. >> 94% in. we have not called it yet. if it holds we will go down in history as the first lieutenant governor in commonwealth virginia, that was going to happen no matter what.

what about the incumbent attorney general? he losing. 1.5 million, and 51-49, the incumbent, so, this was a rejection of the democratic slate is my point. in addition to everything that he did right and everything mcauliffe did wrong and biden and the anchor down on him this is we want change, we don't want democrats. >> it was, he ran against him and against washington and he said republicans we need to send a message about schools, about the commonwealth and about the country and yes, he brought republicans with him in a unified republican ticket. we are not quite to the finish line yet, the math is convincing and republicans have not won a statewide office in the state of

virginia since 2009. he is an incumbent and former attorney general. friend of the clintons. a prominent figure in the national democratic party and the commonwealth of virginia appears to be saying we want to turn the page. >> it's also, it's predictable in the sense that these off year election-ss are often anti-incumbent. right? you look and say, which is old and which is new. voters like a fresher face, more familiar face. change, more of the same. that's what, that's what voters went to the polls and judged in a really not that complicated

way. >> any party will tell you if you can be the candidate of change in an environment people being tired and frustrated. the people want to feel safe sending their kids to school. it's been a long time. it doesn't mean you don't have the patience to bear it out. 19 months in, the country is tired. one year after biden won it in a walk. it's where we are. >> indeed, indeed. anderson. >> jake, fascinating. scott genejennings, we have bee talking about the progressives and the moderate wing of the democratic party. democrats need progressives to get people to come out and same time, progressives turn off people that may otherwise vote for democrats. the republicans have a problem of the former president,

obviously he motivated a large part of the base. is this the solution for the problem. >> now is where we try to solve for x and republican politics we are trying to solve for t, for trump. youngkin figured it out. he kept trump out out of the race. he did not wake up every day talking about it or felt the need to respond, he focused on the usuals and heretofore, some republican candidates would have said, well, you run the risk of the maga voters not turning out. look at the map. the rural counties not only came out and, they came out huge. so, it turns out that youngkin has solved for this problem be in that you can run a race based on issues. continue to attract the traump base, get a path back in the suburbs and take advantage of the enormous collapse.

that's how we win. that's how we are successful. put it back with the rural areas. >> what does it do for donald trump? >> i think the republicans have a huge chance to win in 22, and '24, trump is the least likely republican to give them a chance to win back the white house. somebody who can do what youngkin did. put the coalition together. rural counties and tlook at the ticket. people who look like america, the african-american woman we just elected to lieutenant governor, the hispanic that we just elected to attorney general. republicans have solved the coalition problem in virginia. suburbs, white, black, rural, his hispanic, it's how we win fumpt follow the youngkin blue print, you c can do it.

>> the question is, he did not have to run a protractedly primary. he paid tribute to trump but it was not a lengthy process. the question is, can candidates run in primaries without getting entangled with trump and identified with trump to the extent that youngkin did not. the second issue is trump himself. he is watching the shows tonight. i can obviously imagine how he is process this, when you are saying that youngkin kept him out of it. as you pointed out, he sent out ten statements tonight trying to claim credit for the victory. the idea that donald trump because he is so self aware is going to say, you know, i think i will just sit out out because i think i would hurt the candidates if i came out and campaigned. boy, i don't see that happening.

>> no, he is never going to do that. everything has to be about donald trump and even tonight, when mcauliffe tried to make it donald trump and it was not, donald trump made it about donald trump. the head of the republican party made it about donald trump, and said youngkin would not have won otherwise. i think there's no way for the candidates to say, you know, mr. president, really, is it okay if you don't come to my state? that's not going to work. this was a special case. he did not have a divisive primary and it's the state of virginia, look what is going on on in ohio? . and in the other candidates who mitch mcconnell would rather not have running for the nields senate. but donald trump has endorsed and so they are going to hang like an albatross there, because they may not be able to win. if you think that, the question is, and i don't know the answer

to that. does donald trump have the juice that he had a year ago? and it depends whether he announces that he is going to run. it depends whether you look at virginia and say, you know, the voters that did not like trump last time, liked youngkin, and said, you are yesterday's news. we don't know the answer to that. we really don't know how trump is going to impose himself >> it's hard to know, here is what i think taking the bigger picture back. it's clearly, if you look at the past couple of elections. it's not a left wing period for the country. it's not a right wing period for the country. it's a turbulent period. when you see this much emotion in a short period of time. so, i think democrats have to look in the mirror now. because, the new jersey situation you don't have a bunch of credit are cal race theory there. you don't have a bunch of trump, you don't have terry mcauliffe doing -- there's something happening out here, it could be

just anti-income bunt, i think that's a part of it. i think there's something else happening. i think the democrats are coming across in way withes that we don't recognize that are aannoying and offensive, and seem out of touch in ways that i don't think show up in our feeds when we look at our echo chamber and i feel it's a message here. scott was -- >> when you are talking about our, you are talking about democrats. because it seems annoying to a lot of people. >> i'm just saying, if you look at how they construct the argument to ourselves? >> i see it in my feed a lot. just so you know. >> i'm trying to make a point here, which is that there's an opportunity, i think for democratic party to take this

seriously. to say, it's the rural folks and suburban folks and it's the coalition they have to win. we have got to win a different way. but it goes through the same suburb is an voters and we have to have a bigger outcome in the urban area. here's, you know, i think whits all over, you are going to see the suburban, what we thought was a democratic coalition are anti-trump coalitions. we don't have right attitude yet to support them. >> we have become the democratic party what you have seen is it's become a more college educated urban party.

in coalition voters. and the message is moralizing. it's we will tell you what is right and no connection to people who work with their hands. people who work with their backs. rural voters. so that is part of the problem. as you know, race, courses through this as well. i want to make a couple of points. one is, while we nationalize all of this, and clearly something national is coming up here. and there's a property tax revolt in new jersey and that was part of what motivated that, so, we on should not try and reduce everything to, to national politics. it's not to say, it's not a stunning result in new jersey, however it turns out. i also think that, you know, what john king said earlier is important to keep in mind. i think democrats have on work to do. i do think there's soul searching that democrats have to do. it's also true that if the virus

is subdued, if the economy takes off, then 2022 may be different than i remember 2010 very well. i knew two years in advance that it was going to be an ani annihilation for the democratic party because we were told by the economists we're still going to be feeling the effects of this recession, no matter what you do by 2010. and democrats were holding seats that were really sort of -- they were not friendly ground, they were big democratic majorities in 2006 and '08 because of the war. so it stood to reason democrats were going to be beaten badly in 2010. this economy may turn around a lot faster, and if you can avoid inflation and the economy can -- well, you laugh about it.

>> avoid it? how about get out of it. >> we know that there are supply chain issues and a lot of things animating this. i'm not saying this is all going to happen. and you're feeling good tonight. you should feel good tonight. this was a big night for the republican party. i'm just saying i would not -- i would not rule out the possibility that circumstances will be different a year from now. and joe biden will be trading higher and the democratic party will be trading higher. >> i think the party has to take inventory right now. they spent the last year arguing, what do you want? what do you believe? what's number one? again, covid is a part of this. delta variant was a part of it. now you have to take a step back and say, wait a minute, what can we deliver that the people want? we can't say it, and this is what you should want.

this is what we think is good for you. and that's where terry mcauliffe got in trouble saying, you know, oh, i know you shouldn't be involved in your kid's education or whatever that misstep was. but instead saying this is -- we have a couple of things that we think is going to help your life, whether it's family and medical leave, or changes in medicare. focus on these things that affect people when they feel bad, because inflation is bad. and they go to the grocery store, the prices are high. they don't like it. they're not earning what they think they should be earning. they discovered during covid they didn't like their jobs very much. so there's this uncertainty -- >> the democrats would say to you that's a lot of what this build back better package was about. the problem was, because of procedural demands, they had to load this all into one big

collosous, that took -- the parts are more powerful than the sum. the parts are popular. the sum is not. the big debate over whether it's $3.5 trillion or $1.7 trillion leaves people cold. >> exactly. >> and the inability to explain what is actually in it, and what would touch people's lives has hurt democrats here. i think that was how biden thought he would be spending his summer, but instead he was fighting the virus and dealing with afghanistan and issues that took him away from this. >> the danger of us as democrats falling between the two chairs are on the one hand biden holds out the promise, i can bring people together and get stuff done. that is the $1 trillion infrastructure bill, hard infrastructure. so that's the part of biden that some like. that bill hasn't gotten passed. the other part of biden, maybe

he cares for our pain enough, he might do something bold to help us, send economic relief. he also hasn't gotten that done. so when you fall between who chairs, you leave us in a great deal of danger, because some of our base voters are tired already. in other words, you got people who say listen, i stood in long lines, i believed i worked hard. i'm an african-american. i'm a latino, this and that. i haven't seen anything on voting rights or anything on police reform. i haven't seen anything at all. and i don't feel the help is coming to me, why should i keep participating? so the stakes are high for biden to deliver. he's got to deliver for somebody, otherwise the moderates walk away, the progressivies sit down. >> he did deliver on the america rescue plan without republicans on that. and people gave him credit for that. but then it kind of ran out. and now you're moving to another step. i think the question is, people

get in their car and they would like to see the infrastructure changed. >> people want to pay less for gas. but you know something, gloria? i don't think he got credit for the rescue act. he passed this sort of historic child tax credit. people were getting checks. they have no idea -- everybody ridiculed donald trump for signing every check. he's nothing, if not a marketer. he understood -- people said well, donald trump sent me a check. nobody really recognized where the -- well, i mean, i think a lot of democrats are asking that question. >> at some juncture, you have to ask yourself when you're trying to pass a policy agenda, is what i'm trying to passage actually popular? i think democrats may have talked themselves into believing the -- ultimately, if what

people care about, gas prices and it cost $11 to buy bacon, when it's available. do i think this $1.75 trillion, whatever it turns out to be, do i think this is really germane to the day-to-day stuff? and it doesn't seem to me from the polling out there that people do believe that it is germane. at the same time, i also think this, i believe while i'm -- while voters are worried about the day-to-day economic issues, they're being brow beaten in saying if you don't support these democrats, if you decide to go with the republican in virginia, then you're voting for a racist, you're voting for white supremacist, you're voting for donald trump all over again. and people out there do not believe that about themselves. they don't want to be tolthemset

believe america is full of who terry mcauliffe and biden said america was full of. and democrats are going to have a difficult election if they continue to paint america in such a negative life when republicans will say, we all want the same thing and we have an issue set that will appeal to you. >> fair enough, but part of the reason progressives continue to fight so hard for the reconciliation package is because not only is there stuff in there popular, it's desperately needed by whites, blacks, brown folks, red states, blue states. when you talk about getting hearing aids for your grandma, talk about getting pre-k for kids so that kids have a better shot, that is not left or right, that is massively popular. i think the frustration from the progressives is, we put forward substantively popular stuff and then get hit with crt.

what the heck are you guys talking about? we're trying to deliver you real stuff and we have to go with the nonsense. so i think that's why. we may overreact to that, and i may be guilty of that myself. but the problem is, we're trying to deliver stuff that's good in appalachia as well as the hood, and then we get hit with the crt stuff and that makes it hard to participate. >> on the school issue, the crt issue is just one of several education issues that have been building over time. >> the one thing about that, when you have somebody who runs for governor and wins, attacking tony morrison, and african-american pulitzer prize winning national treasure, that lands very, very badly. you might say there's a whole bunch of stuff in there. but that's what the ad is in there. >> i have to go to jake in d.c. jake? >> we have a key race alert for you. let's check in where we are on

these two incredibly competitive gubernatorial races. first, to new jersey, the garden state, in a shocker, jack ciatterelli is up with 50.2% of the vote, and phil murphy, 49% of the vote. ciatterelli, 23,420 votes ahead, with 73% of the vote in. it is too close to call. 27% of the vote is left to count. but this is a result very few people saw coming. in virginia, the commonwealth of virginia, with 95% of the vote in, republican glenn youngkin is up with 51.2% of the vote rngs terry mcauliffe has 48.1%. there is a 96,000 vote lead for glenn youngkin, still 5% of the vote is out, and we're waiting

for that to come in. but still, a shockingly great night for the two republican gubernatorial candidates that were on the ballot this evening. >> where do you want to start? >> let's go to new jersey, because it's more of the shocker. >> it is a shocker, but we're not done here. virginia, we'll get to in a minute. it is hard to go around the state, even though terry mcauliffe has not conceded, it's hard to go through the state and make a case that he can come back. if we look at this, i'll show you the path. >> so ciatterelli is up by 23,000 votes. >> 73% of the estimated reporting. it's an estimate. it's an off-year election. but the answer is, yes. you ask why? let's just start right here. passaic county, new jersey, less than half the vote in. a place where governor murphy is winning. you come down here, 72%. you think that's most of the vote in essex county, but it's

the third largest county. nearly 30% of the vote out and you see the big margin there. so if murphy's margin continues, the big chunk of change, he could make that up there. and 25%, in hudson county, look at the margin. so if you go back to 2020, you remember trump was ahead in pennsylvania but we were still waiting for some of the votes in philadelphia or you go to georgia where the counties around atlanta. you see a big number like that, 25% of the vote still out, there's still a lot of votes to be made up for phil murphy. union county, only 19% left. but 61% to 38%, with more votes to come in. so you could come out statewide and look at this map and say 23,000 votes, is it plausible? yes, it is more than plausible. >> just do the math for me. 2 million votes have been counted. that's 73%.

so what does that mean, about 700,000 votes still out there? >> somewhere in that ballpark. >> and mostly in blue leaning counties. >> these are republican counties and you're at 95% and 90% here. and you come over here, 62%. so a little bit here. the surprises have been down here, not a surprise maybe historically, but the last couple of elections, phil murphy won this county last time, 91%. so it's possible jack ciatterelli picks up a little there. they're closer here. so there are more votes to come in, and by no means is it guaranteed that phil murphy can come up. but you can look in these populous counties up here. even in bergen county, you still have 30% of the vote out here. if ciatterelli stays on top, he's adding as more comes in. but the murphy campaign, they're saying keepen eye on this with

30% of the vote still out. they think this can perhaps flip. we'll see if that's true. sometimes it's true, sometimes it's not. but, again, half of the vote still to come in here, in a place where -- what is that, 5,000 votes, a little shy of that. so it's possible you pick some up there. but then the larger counties where there is still -- 28% of the vote still out, you can do it right here. >> phil murphy, the democratic incumbent down by 22,000 votes. he could make that up just in essex county. so what you're seeing basically is, there is a plausible path to the governor's mansion for either of these candidates right now? >> yes, a very strong performance by the republican candidate right now. some more votes to come in. but i can give you a plausible scenario for either to win, but i can give you a quite plausible scenario for the democrat to come back here. i cannot do the same if we move

down here. it just gets very hard. i was just showing you those big democratic counties. we're cautious here, but to the point, remember, i was just showing you counties where you had 20% of the vote still to be counted. you don't find that here. >> it's a deficit of 100,000 voits and how many votes are outstanding? >> this is about what was estimated, about 3 million votes. >> whatever you feel about the results oh of this race, more than 3 million virginians voted today. that is to be celebrated. democracy depends on people participating. >> you're adding voters. we added voters in the last presidential election, we want people to participate. >> to be celebrated is all i'm

saying. this is 3.1 million with 95% in. how many votes we're waiting for? >> you might have 20,000 votes here in fairfax county, which is the largest county in virginia in terms of population center. so you might have 20,000 votes, a little shy of that. but how do you make up 96,000 when maybe in the largest county, there might be 20,000 still out? you move over here where it's more competitive, there's a little out, not very much. the difference between your virginia and new jersey, the blue places in virginia most of the vote is in. in new jersey, a lot of places democrats can still make up ground. >> all right, john king. dana bash, this is one of the great things about election nights is, as i said earlier, polls and pundits can predict what they want, and then the voters get their say. right now, we still don't know

somewhat's going to happen. if you look -- it's tightening even more in new jersey, 49.9% for to jack ciatterelli versus 49.3% for for murphy. 11,000 vote. there's a plausible path to the mansion for either candidate right now. and who knows? we'll see what the voters have to say. but generally speaking, if i'm joe biden, i'm not feeling good tonight. >> absolutely not. anecdotally, i was in northern virginia, alexandria, on saturday. 7:30 in the morning, this past saturday, jake. and it was for a youngkin event and it was packed. the streets were overflowing with people. and this was an area where joe biden won by 80%. 8-0, a year ago. and it wasn't -- >> he won 80% of the vote. >> 80% of the vote in this area of alexandria, virginia, one

year ago. so did that mean that that was going to be determinative? no. but i have been to enough events like that, as have you, where you feel what george h.w. bush used to call the big mo, you feel the momentum. that was a suburb, and you were talking about that, talking about the northern virginia suburbs, bergen county and the other suburbs around new york city in new jersey. and they have a lot in common that are sort of a telltale sign. >> dana, as you guys know, the battle in american politics, like in electoral politics, has been the battle over america's suburbs. that's the period of america's politics we're in. and that's sort of the swing areas that we look at and a lot of critical contests. that is what new jersey and virginia have in common. they are big suburban states. there are lots and lots of suburban vote in these states. and what we saw in virginia in the exit polls tonight is that

youngkin won the suburbs, by the way, we say 60% of the vote was from the suburbs. it's categorized, but by six points. just a year ago, also they made up 60% of the vote. joe biden won the suburbs by eight points. that is a 14-point swing in the opposite direction! that's the story of what we're seeing tonight in these two states. >> this is also a story about race, right? we talk about the suburbs, about 70% white. if you see a lot of these vote who have switched sides, some of the data is suggesting that this is white women who are swinging back and forth. so i think what we know about white college educated voters in the suburbs is that they are susceptible, with economic issues of course, but also some of these cultural issues as well, and you don't have a party in the democratic party that has

a coalition that is easy to keep together, because it's white college educated voters, it's black voters of all socioeconomic backgrounds. young voters, latino voters, and aapi voters. that is an unwieldy coalition, and it's hard to target a message to all those voters who don't worship together by and large. they often don't send their kids to the same schools either. and so finding one message that is going to bring those voters out consistently is incredibly hard for democrats. we see a failure tonight in some of these races to do that. again, we don't know what's going to happen. but it looks like this is a big problem for the democrats. >> i would add a broad idealogical spectrum in the democratic party, as well. >> one other thing i'm hearing from moderate democratic lawmakers this evening, who are

obviously panicked, they are the ones most likely to feel the effects of this anti-democratic wind if it continues to blow next year. one of the things i'm hearing is that their voters, and don't shoot the messenger, i'm passing on what i'm hearing talking about what their voters feel, their voters feel looked down upon. i'm not talking about republican voters looking down on them, i'm talking about moderate to conservative democrats, feeling like they're looked down upon by progressives, by other people who say that -- if they express a feeling that maybe the schools should open, even if the teachers don't want them to, maybe teachers should listen to parents more often when it comes to what they're hearing. this is from a virginian, maybe joe manchin has a point when he says $1.5 trillion or $1.7 trillion is a lot of money,

let's take our time with it, they think that makes sense to me, and they don't want to be insulted by progressives, called whatever names for that. >> yeah, that's a lot of it. and i'm hearing similar things from democrats two are probably among the most worried. it's that, and there's no question race is a -- it's always a component. that's the reality. but it's -- right now in this day and age, it is also a covid hangover. it is the -- in the suburbs that david was talking about, it is the school board meetings that we have seen in a lot of these places where parents are just angry and fed up and exhausted about school closures, about, you know, a lot of them don't want their kids to wear masks. that's a debate that's going on. but it is causing so much angst and frustration and anger with

incumbents, with people who are in charge. in virginia, terry mcauliffe was, for all intents and purposes, an incumbent. one of the things that was so fascinating that glenn youngkin did, when i saw him on the stump, on the issue of, you know, the culture wars. yes, he did the red meat to which terry mcauliffe called a dog whistle about critical race theory. but before he did that, he also said, look, there is a broad, complicated history in virginia. there is good history, and there is bad history. and we should teach it all in virginia. that is an appeal to people who consider themselves, you know, kind of independent minded parents. but then he went to the next step and said, but -- he had the -- [ overlapping speakers ] but the broader message was, i

understand that there are people who are extremely frustrated, the history of their culture has not been taught, but i also understand the culture is moving so quickly, that people are very, very concerned about it in a lot of corners. and the biggest corners where that is true is the suburbs, and that's where the voters are. >> white voters do have aennxie about a changing america. it is blacker, it is browner. people who always didn't have a say to what their children should read are now having a say. i told you, i went to school for 12 years in a blacktown in south carolina, in a black school, and i had one book assigned by an african-american author, that was "invisible man" in the 12th grade. but things are changing now, and it is causing some anxiety among white people. and that is to be expected, right? and it's sort of normal, and it

speaks to the history of this country. and democrats don't really know how to do it, to figure that out. and they also don't have a way to speak to black voters consistently. some of the black pollsters and strategists i've been talking to are blaming terry mcauliffe for not engaging black voters early and often and enough. and that's often what you hear from democratic strategists, complaining about the democratic party. you've got this base of african-american voters that you don't know how to consistently court and deliver to, and then you got this other issue of white swing voters who are moved by some of these very potent cultural issues. >> i think one of the points that we were talking about earlier is, and you can credit him or blame him, glenn youngkin didn't call for the banning of tony morrison's "beloved." what he did was, there is a

woman in virginia who was uncomfortable with the book. because her son, who we should note was a senior in a.p. literature, read it and she thought it was too salacious or too sexual. it didn't necessarily have to do with race based on the contemporary coverage i read about it in 2011 or something like that. and what glenn youngkin did was, feature this woman in an ad talking about how her son brought this book home and it was shocking and terry mcauliffe doesn't even want parents to have a say in what their kids read. now, glenn youngkin -- she didn't mention the book or that her son was a senior in a.p. literature. but it was an ad, and obviously the media covered this is what the book was, it was a pulitzer prize winning book by tony

morrison, and it was a slavery, and an incredibly important book. the woman in the ad was in favor of at least temporarily banning the book, at least temporarily. glenn youngkin is not in favor of banning "beloved" according to his campaign. but there was -- it's politics. and an interpretation by van jones, by you, by lots of people, that this was a wink and a nod, and he was trying to have it both ways. featuring somebody who wanted to ban a book without mentioning that she wanted to ban a book, without mentioning the kid was 17 or 18 years old, et cetera, et cetera. terry mcauliffe returned to his dog whistle politics -- >> racist, he used the word racist. >> yeah, et cetera. and the question is, where are the lines here? you're certainly identifying

something going on in american politics, which is the fact that the demographics are changing and people feel uncomfortable with it. glenn youngkin was not calling for banning tony morrison's book, but he was using a woman that wanted to at least temporarily ban the book. does it make it better or worse, does it make it deft? does it make it cynical? >> i think it makes it deft. he can have the dog whistle but sort of pretend not to. i think this is sort of the lesson of this campaign. if you think about ed gillespie, he tries to go into some of these adds with ms-13, killers are going to be turned loose in the suburbs. this was a bull horn. but glenn youngkin played the race card for a reason, because he knows it works on certain

white voters, white college educated voters, as well as white rural voters have anxiety about the changing demographics of this country. even if you think about the history of the suburbs, part of the history of the suburbs is about white anxiety, white flight. schools are contested sites around racial issues. of course, he's going to play this card that he's been dealt in this campaign, certainly didn't help that terry mcauliffe walked right into it. >> it's race, it's gender issues. it's changing. it's major change in a way that it's generational, that the younger generation, our kids, and i think kids across the country don't see it the same way as their parents do. but that's the history of this country. that always happens. parents who wouldn't let their kids listen to elvis. that's somewhat happens.

>> swinging hips too much. >> to get your point about youngkin, where it worked is because it was dual tracked, right? the critical race theory was all about -- if you ask the campaign, that was base motivator. that was keeping the trump base enthused while keeping at arm's length with trump. that's the critical race theory. but they also understood that the education piece of parental rights and having a say in your kid's education, and being concerned about what is being targeted or not, that could have a more independent appeal and appeal maybe some of those voters who were in the middle and did not like trump, drifted to the democratic party, get some of them back. by doing this education piece, he got to do both simultaneously, which just from a pure politics, as you say deft, that's how you build a majority. base, try to win back some folks that drifted the other way. >> i agree.

it was deft politics. that's not a moral judgment. that's a judgment about a political strategy, not whether it's right or wrong. the idea that critical race theory is not being taught in virginia schools -- >> makes it that more disingenuous. >> you were saying we need to keep critical race theory out of our schools, but then do a nod to the people that understand this country also is built on a foundation of some very ugly things, including slavery and genocide of native americans, et cetera. >> he would say that history is complicated and we need to teach it all. so he would give a nod to -- i wouldn't say wokism, but he would come up to the line to try to convince people who are interested in having a more fulsome discussion in education

for children in a way that you didn't have, in a way i didn't have. but also kept the other side at bay. >> which, as you say, is politics. john king, what's going on in new jersey? >> we have -- fascinating is what's going on. we have the republican in the lead, very close, 22,184 votes. last time you were over here, there was one county that had not reported any votes, the smallest county in the state of new jersey. it's now reported most of its votes. that's part of the reason jack ciatterelli, his lead was 11,000. now back up to 22,000. in part because of salem. in part because one of the places the murphy campaign told us to keep watching is passaic. a piece of that vote came in just a few minutes ago and it flipped the county from blue to red. a place where the murphy campaign believed it would pick up votes, at least at the

moment, has lost some votes. 58% reporting there. ciatterelli ahead, just barely. but a democratic suburb in recent years. right now, jack ciatterelli leading in the suburbs. but, and here's the most important but, 75% of the vote reported statewide, the question is, are there enough votes out there in blue areas for phil murphy to come back? the answer, this is not definitive. but there are more than enough. essex county, newark, 72% of the vote. look at the giant lopsided lead. so if the margin stays close to that, and the rest of that vote comes in, right there alone, there's more than enough votes to make up the lead that the republican candidate has right now. ditto almost in the sense of hudson county, which is jersey city, the suburbs are

surrounding it. again, about a quarter of the vote still to count. look at the big margin. so if phil murphy continues to run with a lead in that ballpark, there are a lot more votes to come in for the democrat here. not quite as big here. only 20% of the vote here, 19% left estimatedunion county. but look at the margin. if that holds up close to that, as the rest of that vote comes in, you get the point i'm making. there are more than enough places for phil murphy to make up 22,000 votes. that doesn't guarantee he will, just means there's more than enough possibility on the map. even so, as we wait for more votes, the fact that we are standing here at 12:23 a.m. in the morning and the republican candidate is ahead in the state of new jersey, and then you pull out wider and the republican candidate is ahead more comfortably in the state of virginia, where it is getting

improbable to find a democratic comeback. that tells you tonight is a message. that message is not complete yet, but there's a clear message coming out tonight. how loud? still to be determined as we count votes here. >> john, let me just ask you, because we're waiting for the last 5% from the commonwealth of virginia. what is the holdup? what is going on? are these absentee ballots, write-in ballots? what is the issue? >> we have people asking those questions. what often happens is there is a different answer depending on which county. this is an estimated vote. it's an off-year election, we're in the covid pandemic. we had the covid rules left in place in virginia, where you had much more early voting this time than in previous gubernatorial elections, because they didn't have expanded early vote. so we're asking that as we go through. we say this is an estimate. so just take fairfax county. it's by far the largest county in the state of virginia. you see terry mcauliffe 64% to

35%. you look again at the statewide total. can he -- is there any way the democrat can make up, with about 95% of the vote counted, 87,000 plus votes? the answer is probably not. we just like to be extra cautious, given the volatility of the age. so you say oh, it would be here. let's assume maybe, there might be 20,000 more votes to be counted in fairfax county. again, terry mcauliffe is getting 64% of them. if he got 100% of them, if it's 20,000, it couldn't be enough. are there other places where you can say here, loudoun county, i've gone through this dozens of times during the conversation. it's just very hard. it is not impossible, but highly improbable when you go 95% in portsmouth. 75% in norfolk, 25% of the vote still to be counted.

but with 75% counted, terry mcauliffe has a net 15,000 roughly vote lead there. so if you extrapolate that, maybe he gets 5,000 more votes out of there. so i can find you 5,000 here, 10,000 here and get there. so because we could -- just because you could conceivably cut that lead, we're being cautious. and, again, when you look at 12:25 in the morning, it leaves open the possibility that's pretty clear, the path back for terry mcauliffe is improbable. but you can bet, he's talking to his lawyers, they're looking at the recount laws in virginia. and they're just going to wait and see as more trickle in, in the early morning hours and then have some very difficult conferences a around the breakfast table in the morning. >> what about new jersey? >> let's see if it has changed at all? 75% state wide. there's excitement in election nights, and we have had a lot tonight, and sometimes there's just that area where you're

waiting and waiting. and it usually happens when you get up to here. here we're at 75%. so we're saying you're looking around and saying okay, where is the rest, right? again, we live in pandemic times. most of these county election officials are understaffed. we talked a lot in recent years many have faced. it's hard. it's hard, especially when you are understaffed. even though we kick the can, we should also have some grace. 77% here in camden county. you move over here, only 28% in burlington county, where the republican is winning quite big. it's in the middle. we're waiting for more votes here. here is a place where the ciatterelli campaign is saying hold on, we may pull some more votes out, too. we have to wait. we go to trenton, which is mercer county. that's a lot of votes still to be counted. so as you move around here, again, middlesex county, a good area for phil murphy.

20% of the vote still to be counted. it's simply sometimes -- >> john, i have to interrupt. we're listening to phil murphy right now speaking to his supporters. >> thank you all so much for sticking around. we're going to have to wait a little while longer than we had hoped. we're going to wait for every vote to be counted, and that's how our democracy works. for almost four years now, our focus has not been on trying to do more for those two already have much, but to do much for those in the middle. and at the bottom. so that they have more opportunity. our cause has not been looking out for people gathered around a corporate board table, but for the family gathered around their kitchen table, like mine growing up. our mission has been simple -- to build a state where every child, regardless of race or gender, creed or zip code, has the opportunity to live out

their hopes and achieve their american dream. these are the values we've put to work. we're leading with compassion and empathy, not anger and despair. we're following science and facts, not the political winds. we may not always agree, but when we disagree, we sit down and we treat each other with respect and understanding. always seeking common ground. our shared values are far more important than any one person. what we can already take from tonight is knowing that many of our friends and neighbors like us do not want to go backward. to lieutenant governor sheila oliver, chairman -- >> we interrupt the governor of new jersey to make a major projection in the virginia governor's race. cnn is projecting that republican glenn youngkin has been elected governor of

virginia, defeating democrat terry mcauliffe! youngkin pulling off a critical victory for his party. this is the first time republicans have won an election for virginia's top office in 12 years. again, cnn projecting glenn youngkin has been elected governor of virginia, and dana bash, this is the announcement that joe biden will not be happy to hear, and it also shows how incr incredibly divided this country is. >> and joe biden, he and other high profile democrats went to try to help terry mcauliffe. terry mcauliffe tried to nationalize this race by bringing in help from national democrats, while glenn youngkin made it incredibly virginia focussed. he said this is about me and the people in virginia. that gave him the added benefit of being able to say no, mr. former president, donald trump,

you can't come here. i don't want you to come here. so that strategy worked for him. but i think that what you saw in glenn youngkin is going to be, for sure, the playbook that republicans are going to try to emulate going forward in 2022, and then also in 2024. the question is whether it is possible to emulate, because he is a very unique person. he's never been in public office before. i saw him on the stump. he was really and is a very good candidate for what he was trying to do. >> david, you made this point earlier, didn't have the baggage that a lot of republicans serving as trump was in office, he didn't have that baggage, because he's sort of a blank slate and new to politics. can republicans find similar candidates in all of these races we're going to see in 2022? listen, democrats were panicking a lot before tonight. they were going to panic

anywhere. if terry mcauliffe won, because it would have been a narrow margin if he had won, and we see obviously that he is -- he will lose and he won't be the next governor of virginia. so democrats have to figure out how are they talking to these voters in 2022? what are the deliverables? how are they saying your life is better now under biden and the democrats? that is the big puzzle that democrats have to figure out. and it's hard when you think about inflation and oall of thee issues. >> you're right, this will be the playback available to republicans and they'll see if they can replicate it in blue or purple areas. on the democratic side, they're going to have to figure out if they need a new playbook, because trying to make glenn youngkin donald trump clearly didn't work. you know, i know we saw it in the california recall, right?

with larry elder and what gavin newsom was trying to do. but glenn youngkin is not larry elder and virginia is not california. and neither are these districts that will determine control of the house and the senate races that determine control of the senate. they're far more closely contested. so democrats will have to think, is this notion of trying to inject trump as a way to motivate democratic voters to turn out, is that well dry with donald trump no longer in office? >> yeah, one of the other things that is important is what are democrats delivering? democrats control the house of representatives. democrats control the senate and the white house. and what are they delivering right now? that's the question for voters. you just saw -- i mean, democrats are not doing well tonight. you have the democratic candidate who is now the new mayor of new york city, is a more moderate democrat.

a former law enforcement officer. in buffalo, the socialist democrat that won the nomination, it looks like -- we haven't called it yet, but it looks like the incumbent, more moderate democrat will win a write-in campaign. we have that minneapolis -- the elimination of the police department losing in minneapolis. that is a very liberal town. and then you have terry mcauliffe, basically democratic royalty in this country, losing the governor's race to glenn youngkin. i don't know what's happening in new jersey. but it's anybody's race, including a guy whose name we're all still learning how to pronounce, especially me, jack ciatterelli. this is a bad night for democrats and they control everything. it is -- i don't know if it's a rejection of the democratic party or the party moving too much to the left or not delivering on progressivism. but sit a rejection. >> yeah. i don't remember if it was david axelrod or van jones saying it,

but i'm hearing similar sentiment from democrats who are on the ballot in 2022. the party is not where those voters are in terms of the issues that they care about right now. having said that, look, on the legislation that they're talking about now, there are hugely popular pieces of policy in there, whether it's helping people out with child care, paid family leave is no longer in there. but there are popular things democrats say they want to do, but that's all getting lost. >> jack ciatterelli is speaking now. let's go to new jersey where he is speaking. >> like all of you, i love this state. and i realize it's broken, you know it's broken, and i'm convinced, i'm convinced that, together, we can fix this state! we can fix it. so here's what we're going to

do. sometime real soon, when we can declare unequivocally a victory, we will begin to fix the state of new jersey and make this state someplace where everyone feels confident they can live, work, retire, start a business, raise a family . >> let me say one other thing w when we declare victory, diane allen is going to be one hell of a lieutenant governor. [ applause ] and you know that woman that won the primary for me because she took care of the guy in the primary studio? she's going to be one hell of a

first lady. [ applause ] now, there's close to 1,000 of you here, and i wish i could come out there and give every one of you a hug and a kiss. chris, you give good hugs. last time you hugged me, i was sore for a week. but here's what i need to do. we've already got to go in and begin the planning, what needs to be done, to make sure we can declare this victory. and so you can watch us closely over the next week or so, in order for us to do what needs to be done, to certify this win. the great news is we have sent the message to the people of new jersey. what i love about this state. [ applause ] and although it was not my intention, we have sent the message to the entire country, but this is what i love about

this state, if you study its history. every single time it's gone too far off track, the people of this state have pushed, pulled, and prodded it, right back to where it needs to be. so listen, sometime real soon, we're going to do this again. like we're doing it right now, and we will declare a victory. guys, hang in with me. thank you all so very, very much. thank you. [ applause ] >> jack ciatterelli in bridgewater, new jersey. the republican nominee. not declaring victory, but certainly expressing a positive message for his campaign's chances. it's entirely possible we will not know this evening the results of the new jersey governor's race. it is so close. and such a surprise. and yet there you have the democrat incumbent phil murphy

speaking to his supporters. the republican jack ciatterelli speaking to his supporters. what a wild night. >> what a wild night. i mean, really, republicans will tell you that they didn't -- no matter what happens in new jersey, from here on out, no matter who is declared the winner. given where they are right now, such a close race, especially compared to where they thought it was. it really is -- it's a wakeup call for democrats and republicans. now, again, there are a lot of reasons why these particular states might be different than others, but like david was saying, there are pockets in each state, the commonwealth of virginia, that are emblematic of what you're going to see, particularly in the 2022 midterm. because that will term not just the majority but how deep the majority is. >> and that feeling that

americans have of fear, stress, anxiety, frustration, about all sorts of issues, right? they might not have the same kind of anxiety about the same issue, but there is this feeling of dread, of discontent, of a country that's sort of stalled out and not delivering in the way that biden promised, that democrats have promised as well in this last election. so -- >> and that americans are -- depending on what either party's vision is, but out of this stalled moment you're talking about. >> remember the moment when joe biden came out and linked the bipartisan infrastructure bill with his larger build back better act, which has expansions of social programs and clean energy efforts, et cetera. when he linked them, that was a

decision, right? that was a decision the progressives want me to do this. and that gave the progressives momentum to keep saying, we're not going to vote for the bipartisan infrastructure bill unless you moderate democrats can commit to vote for the build back better act. that was a decision by joe biden. now, if he had made -- of course, i'm doing 20/20 hindsight. if he had just said let's pass the bipartisan infrastructure bill, that's what i pledged, we will do the other expansion of social programs, et cetera, in a different process. i mean, i'm not saying we wouldn't be where we are today. he might not have been able to get it done. we don't know if the progressives would have rebelled any way. >> was it a decision or a tactic, because he thought that was the way to get both of these bills done? >> exactly. maybe that's it.

but whatever the math, and whatever the strategizing, and maybe you're right, alternatively, maybe you're not. but if, for example, they had the bipartisan infrastructure bill passed right now and people were starting to hammer in new jersey roads or virginia or whatever, i don't know that things would have been different. we still would have had inflation and home eating oil prices and the like going up. but there would have been something to point to beyond the stalemate in washington. anderson? >> jake, we are waiting for glenn youngkin to speak in the commonwealth of virginia. until then, david axelrod, is the message tonight -- you have eric adams winning in new york city. you've got to socialist candidate losing in buffalo. minneapolis ballot initiative to defund the police, that did not get voted on.

the gop candidate winning in virginia, new jersey, the race there. what is the message to democrats that they should think about in the morning? >> the issue of public safety in some of these communities is paramount on people's minds. you know, the issue in virginia relative to schools, although education was the second most important issue. the economy was the first most important issue. what was interesting is terry mcauliffe, who had a good record on the economy when he was governor, did less well among voters than youngkin did on the issue of the economy. >> but the debate among democrats tomorrow is going to be the same debate that has been had now forever, the liberal wing is going to say, you see what happens when we backtrack from our principles and the moderates will say, we're just -- it's too far to the left. >> it's a tedious debate.

we should point out, because the news wasn't uniform. progressive candidates won in boston and cleveland and cincinnati and turned back attacks that -- some of which in those cities were based on public safety. so there's still a big progressive core in the party, certainly in the city. but we had this discussion earlier. obviously, a democratic party needs to reassess here. and some of it is beyond their control. jake said that they have total control and, you know, and things are not going well. the fact of the bmatter is, you don't have total control over events. you don't have total control over the virus. but there's no doubt that there is a sense right now of di disorder, and the fact that they have narrow majorities in both

houses, which are obviously hard to navigate, still doesn't absent the democratic party from responsibility for that in the minds of voters. and so, you know, they're going to have to i think try and pass these bills. it's going to be harder now. but pass these bills and show progress and be able to come back and say, we can get things done, we are moving on these issues. and i think -- i would also advise them, if i were there, that i would focus on these sort of day-to-day issues, the price of gas, the supply chain. i would emphasize those things that are affecting people. >> if you're joe manchin or kyrsten sinema watching this -- >> you're saying, i'm right. look at the voters in virginia, 53% of the voters in virginia think the democratic party ask too liberal. there you go. we're on the right side of this.

if i'm a moderate running for re-election, i'm a little nervous. let me say one thing here, which is important about virginia, which is that there was a record shattering turnout for an off-year election in the state of virginia. so the good news here for everyone is that despite the fact that donald trump is still trying to relitigate the last election, people came out to vote because they thought that their votes would count. and maybe it's because it's so-called easier to vote now. we made it more convenience for people. i think that's a good thing. but people did vote. no matter how dysfunctional the political system we're seeing, they're saying we've got problems, you need to fix them and they thought that glenn youngkin was going to be the guy. >> there's not an enthusiasm issue. you raise a great point about turnout. you could argue, well, democrats are demoralized that biden hasn't gotten things done, so

why show up? well, they did show up. it looks like terry mcauliffe is going to get 1.6 million votes. northam got 1.4 million votes and won running away. it's not about enthusiasm, it's about persuasion. a bunch of democrats who once voted for northam and joe biden a year ago, showed up and voted for glenn youngkin tonight. and obviously in new jersey, the same thing happened. so you have people who are motivated to show up. it's never been easier to vote, but you had people who showed up, who had been voting democrat and said this country is off the rails and i have to send a message. i can't change what's happening in washington, but i can send a message. where do they go again next year? i don't know. but right now, the message is, there's a leadership vacuum in the united states. >> and the question is, donald trump. they showed up to vote, and it wasn't about that they really

wanted support -- wanted to support donald trump. what they wanted to do was support glenn youngkin in this race. no matter how many press releases donald trump sends out -- >> or they wanted to -- or the trump voters wanted to vote against joe biden. >> van? >> first of all, there is no such thing any more as a low turnout election. you have that much pent up desire for civic participation, than an -- this is an off, off year election. you have record turnout. so that means the audience is paying attention. that's a good thing. i'm waiting to hear now about voter fraud. i'm waiting to hear about it. because voter fraud, i don't want to hear about it. people are participating, the system works. but i think what david said just a few minutes ago is really important.

this is a big deal. these numbers are bad. this is not some -- these are our voters. these are voters that came to us in 2018, came to us in 2020, and have abandoned us in droves in two states that should be in our column. that's a big deal. that's a -- that is -- that is a five-alarm fire. and i think that -- look, i hope we can pass these big bills. bill clinton was able to turn his ship around and survive after the shellacking in '94 by doing a lot of small stuff. he was talking about school uniforms and v-chips. for ordinary folks, that guy cares about me. that guy understands what i'm going through. if this party doesn't wake up tomorrow morning and figure out how to run back to regular

folks. some say we've been talking about good stuff, helping grandmas and kids. but it's been lost in this d.c. conversation about tral trillio dollars. otherwise, we're a year out from the trump election, looking back. and we're a year out from the midterms looking forward. you see how much to turn in 12 months. that's the good news. we have to take this seriously tonight. >> i wonder. you make powerful arguments for your party's ideas. and you're counsel to democrats is to show up and have a debate about ideas, programs, plans and policies. what mcauliffe did tonight was show up and tried to turn youngkin into trump and make the entire thing about white supremacy, racism, trump, and

glen youngkin. they were talking about the fact that he is wearing a fleece vest. that's the new uniform for -- what you're saying is we need to have a debate over policies and ideas. i agree with. i think that's healthy. and the democrats did the exact opposite. they're paying for it tonight. will they learn that lesson going into the midterms? >> the political system is so dysfunctional. the margins are so small. and the republicans are not voting for anything. how do you get anything done? >> that's not entirely true. >> on the infrastructure bill. there's a lot of stuff that is interesting for republicans. and how do you get -- how do you get any of that done? >> no democrat should fair a debate on the issues. but in these races tonight, no democrat wanted to debate the issues. they want to talk about donald trump.

and i wonder, if it's as popular as you say, why aren't they willing? >> i appreciate that you do want to talk about the issues. i think you've been true to that your whole career. i will say, it's not just democrats that sometimes wanders off. the republican party, mix in. i don't think that the argument stops there. it really lands badly with me. it's good. i think some of the stuff is dougdog whistles. there's a way forward. this guy was more substantive and less inflammatory than donald trump. and for democrats, we have some ideas that we have not even been able to communicate, in terms of making some errors herselves. >> in a healthy republican party, i assume republicans would look at this and say, you

know what? the there's a path away from the former president. we don't need to be beholden to this guy. your happiness tonight is that because donald trump is not front and center right now in the republican party, glen youngkin. >> i'm happy tonight. i'm happy tonight because the republican party proved you can run an issues-based campaign, compete in a blue state and win. that's what i'm happy about. glen youngkin or somebody else. the fact that he had a wherewithal on the issues that people care about and have confidence to run in a blue state. i have conservative solutions to the problems you care about. he did it in a blue state and won the race. trump never did that. let's be honest. he had ideas about certain things. it touched nerves.

this race, it was an issue agenda. it was put forward and the voters responded. >> he was a good candidate. he ran a good campaign. candidates and campaigns matter. i look at the campaign and think, who is that resonating for? and youngkin seized control. he scooped up the football when mcauliffe fumbled it on the issue of parents and schools and took out of context what mcauliffe said and did do what van said, which was dog whistling. to the extent that republicans take away the message that you can have a p.g. version of trump, arouse his base and have a good outcome. >> this idea, you keep saying it's dog whistling and they're

touching on the race issues. glen youngkin ran around the state of virginia, with an african-american, who is the first lieutenant governor, and candidate for attorney general. it looked and sounded like america. and you keep saying, the only reason he is winning is because of racist dog whistling. >> i didn't say that was the only reason he was winning. >> you did pick on tony. >> you see the good in your candidate, that's great. you have to acknowledge, if you want to one issues, what does tony morrison have to do with anything? why do you think he decided to jump on toni morrison? >> he did not like or approve of the content in the book or think that it's appropriate for children. that's why. >> it's a pulitzer prize-winning author. a national treasure.

>> could you read it on the air? >> it would be very, very long. it's a very long book. we wouldn't have enough time. >> there's lots of great books you couldn't read on the air. >> i know. that was the issue. >> is it appropriate? >> was it the decider of the race? but that's why he put it forward. >> i can't believe that you believe there's a reason this tough works. he's poking at stuff. for all of the good he did, he also did that. you should apologize for the dynamic. it's happening. you have to get more of that out of your party. i have to get that out of my party. i have to get the demoralizing out of your party. you have to get the racial dog whistling out of your party. >> when we talk about schools, parents should be involved in the schools. but politicians shouldn't be involved in the schools. you have a legislator down in texas, who has a list of 825 books that he thinks are

inappropriate for the schools and calling school boards and investigating which -- and some of the books are classic books. that's not where we want to be as a country. and i'll tell you something, if you push that too hard, you're going to kick the suburban voters right back to the democrats. i would just be cautious about this. >> here's another thing -- youngkin was an outsider. not involved in politics. didn't have a long political resume. didn't know a lot about him. looked passable enough. hard to say he's donald trump. he didn't appear like donald trump. that helped him tremendously. towards other races, donald trump was an outsider. as you look to other ways, what happens to professional politicians versus people who are coming into a dysfunctional

vehicle system. i think youngkin in another way may be a template for 2022 for republicans. or democrats, for that matter. willrs the works. joe biden has been in the senate for 36 years. >> one of the reasons that republicans did well in 2020, in the house races, is they recruited in a different way. all-male, all-white, basically. and in the house, with very few exceptions, they recruited a bunch of candidates, women, candidates of color and so on.

you're touting the diversity of the ticket. the question that looms over all of it, is what do you do about trump? what do you do about trump? i agree with you, you would have to say that the strategy failed. it failed -- it will end up failing narrowly in virginia. there's a real issue. where do you stand on trump? trump is clearly setting up to run again. he's made that clear. ultimately, do you feel any obligation to stand up to someone who is basically suggesting that the -- not basically, suggesting that the election is stolen, that the system is corrupt. he is encouraging, you know, insurrectionists or has. you've been outspoken of tn the things. and i think the idea that you can, as a party, say we're going to put that aside and not talk about it. if we don't mention it, it's all right, even as he is the most --

anybody would acknowledge this -- the most powerful force in the party. you can't be a nominee. that's why glen youngkin accepted him, when he was a capped date at the beginning of the campaign. >> but he refused to let the race be defined around the frame you just put forward. >> he did well on the politics. >> he clearly and flatly stated he rejected january 6th. he rejected the rioters. he said joe biden is the president of the united states. all of the things that democrats say. joe biden won, i reject january 6th. i agree with you. i think republicans should do what he did. acknowledge reality and run your own race. and not let democrats force you to talk about it. >> there's a 4,000-vote lead between the governor candidates

in new jersey. >> we have to have election integrity. joe biden was duly elected. if that can work for other candidates in primaries. do you believe that joe biden is the freely and fairly elected president of the united states? and if a republican candidate cannot answer that -- >> you raise a great question. glen youngkin answered that question. turn out massive. they were voting for him in huge numbers. i'm just saying, they turned out big. it didn't bother them one bit. if i'm looking at running a

race, i'm looking at how he handled it as a template. he made a clear answer, a fair answer and a legitimate answer. >> he didn't have to run in a primary. >> that's the thing. >> that's the toll you have to pass through to be a republican nominee. you have to acknowledge there's something wrong with the last election because that's what the vast majority of republican voters believe because that's what they've been told again and again and again by the president and the former president, and the amen chorus out there. >> i want to say a couple things. scott's right about a couple things. we can't just keep getting blown out in these rural areas. losing by 70%, and a bunch of those counties, versus 90%. >> yes. >> that's hard to overcome. you have to recognize it's a double-barrel threat.

you're losing 80%, 90%, all of the rural counties in every state. you can't do that. at the same time, they are nibbling our cookie when it comes to urban voters and african-americans. in virginia, the first time i've ever seen, the republicans had a bilingual voters. than the numbers paid off. we're sitting here, in our circular firing squad, complaining all night, you have a republican party that's got a double-barrel attack on our ability to put together winning coal coalitions. at the end of the day, these guys are serious. we have to take these guys more seriously. it's over. anti-trump resistance is the only rationale for us to be a party, that is dead tonight. dead, over. what is our rationale going forward? what is our governing commission going forward? and what are the things we put together?

if we can't figure out the tough problems, we'll be sitting here in 12 minutes with our hands in heads. >> the erosion of the democratic party in the rural areas can't be ignored. it goes to something we were talking about before. you have to approach voters with respect. you have to show up and listen and how to respond. and that hasn't been done. that is clearly part of it. and you have to recognize, the reason that democrats have lost, even at the margins, voters, in the african-american community, voters in the hispanic community. these are working-class voters, who look at the democratic party and see it as an -- we have to have a dialogue with the voters and make the case. you know. >> glen youngkin is about to appear in virginia. let's watch.

♪ >> yellow. [ cheers and applause ] ♪ [ cheers and applause ] ♪

[ cheers and applause ] ♪ >> wow. wow. [ cheers and applause ] wow. >> glen. glen. glen. >> thank you. wow. amazing.

all righty, virginia. we won this thing. [ cheers and applause ] how much fun? how much fun? first of all, thank you for waiting. waiting longer than we thought. breakfast will be served shortly. amazing. well, first, let me thank suzanne. let me thank suzanne. just -- [ applause ] i have said many, many times that the lord knew what he was doing because i need her a lot more than she needs me.

when i told you on that fateful friday afternoon, that a conviction in my heart to serve virginians, you did respond. you responded with grace and support and unconditional love. thank you. thank you. [ applause ] i have to thank my amazing kids. i'm not sure they were all onboard at the beginning. guys, i want to thank you. grant, anna, john, thomas. i love you guys. i love you guys. i want to thank my beloved commonwealth of virginia. [ applause ]

my fellow virginians -- [ cheers and applause ] we stand here this morning. at this defining moment, defining moment that, yes, started with two people on a walk. and a defining moment that is now millions of virginians walking together. [ cheers and applause ] walking together, sharing dreams and hopes. just like the ones that have always been planted on my own heart. dreams and hopes for a virginia that soars, a virginia that never settles, a virginia where the virginia promise comes alive. for everyone that calls this virginia home. [ cheers and applause ]

together. together. we will change the trajectory of this commonwealth. [ cheers and applause ] friends, we are going to start that transformation on day one . there's no time to waste. our kids can't wait. we work in real people time, not government time. [ applause ] so, on day one, we're going to work. we're going to restore excellence in our schools. [ applause ]

we will invest the largest education budget in the history of the commonwealth. we're going to invest in teachers, new facilities, special education. we're going to introduce choice within our public school system. [ applause ] how about that? choice within the public school system. we're going to start with 20 charter schools. and we're going to make a downpayment and close the gap on giving parents an opportunity to select where their kids go to school. friends, we're going to embrace our parents, not ignore them. [ applause ] we're going to press forward with a curriculum that includes listening to parents input.

a correurriculum that allows ou children to run as fast as they can, teaching them how to think, enabling their dreams, to soar. we're going to re-establish excellence in our schools. [ cheers and applause ] we are fighting for parents and students and tuchers in our schools. we will reduce our cost of living on day one. we will declare the largest tax refund in the history of virginia. we're going to eliminate the grocery tax. suspend the most recent hike in the gas tax. double everybody's standard deduction. and we are going to cut taxes of

the retirement income of our veterans. [ cheers and applause ] we're going to save virginia families $1,500 year one. we're going to keep our communities safe. we're going to comprehensively fund law enforcement because they stand up for us and we are going to stand up for them. higher salaries, better equipment, more training. programs like unit and the community to work to build trust between law enforcement and those they protect and serve. we're going to invest in our behavioral health system. and finally, we will replace the entire parole board on day one.

[ applause ] on day one, we're going to jump-start our jobs and lift up this economy. we're going to get this economy moving again, growing 400,000 new jobs, fostering 10,000 start-up businesses. friends, virginia will be open for business. [ applause ] it's time for virginia to be the place where everywhere wants to live, not leave. a place where the relentless pursuit for a better life, for prosperity is not burdens or blocked by self-interested

politicians, who are more focused on their futures than those they were elected to serve. [ applause ] over 100,000 miles on the campaign trail, i heard stories that were unique and powerful. but the reality is, the challenge of overcoming a culture where the state overwhelms self-empowerment is all-too common. for too long, we've been expected to shelve our dreams, to shelve our hope, to settle for low expectations. we will not be a commonwealth of low expectations. we'll be a commonwealth of high expectations. [ applause ] and, friends, all of that has changed tonight.

[ applause ] a campaign that came from nowhere. but we were joined by neighbors and friends of all races, of all religions, of all ages, of all political ideologies. and it turned into a movement. [ applause ] this stopped being a campaign long ago. this is the spirit of virginia coming together like never before. the spirit of washington and jefferson and madison and monroe. standing up and taking our commonwealth back. [ applause ] my fellow virginians, this is

our moment. it's our moment for parents, grandparents, for aunts, uncles, neighbors, to change children's lives. it's our time to turn that vision into a reality. a vision where virginians have power, the power that resided in the marbled halls hoff richmond, at the kitchen tables, held together with the bond of spirit, liberty and freedom. [ applause ]

especially kitchen tables where breakfast is eaten after a midnight shift. it will be to the people, for the people, it will be of the people. [ applause ] from the farms of the shenandoah valley, to the docks and shipyards of hampton roads, to the coal fields of west virginia, to the banks of the st. james river, to the memorials in arlington international cemetery. [ applause ] this is our virginia to build together. and we are going to go to work on day one. there are always those -- there's those that say that hill is too steep to climb. we are empowered.

we're empowered by a conviction, a righteous conviction. we're strengthened by our collective belief in the virginia promise. let's climb that hill together. let's reinvigorate our future. let's reinvigorate our amazing commonwealth of virginia. together, together. together. together. we can build a new day, a new day for virginians, where, yes, we soar and we never settle. a new day where all virginians, all of us, can deserve to look forward to grabbing, to aspiring, to dreaming, and then achieving, that great virginia

promise. god bless you all. god bless the commonwealth of virginia. and let's go. [ applause ] >> the next governor of the great commonwealth of virginia, glenn youngkin, accepting victory at 1:19 a.m. on wednesday. we saw the split-screen there. the republican declaring victory, just as president joe biden touched down in the united states, back from his trip. the president had predicted they would be calling the race around 1:00 a.m. he just said that it would be the democrat who would be declaring victory. he was a little bit wrong about that. we should also note, history was made this evening in the whon wealth in virginia.

winsome sears is the first woman elected lieutenant governor in the history of virginia. you saw and heard -- i saw some liberals and democrats on twitters saying that glenn youngkin didn't run on policies. that was inaccurate. they were vocal, getting rid of the grocery store tax, public school choice, apartments to have more of a say in their kids' education. >> absolutely. he campaigned on issues that mattered to virginians. some of the issues were national sensibilities, like education. that's an issue that is resonating across the country, because of the pandemic, really. he saw that, his campaign saw that and he seized on it. it was relevant in virginia

because it was already there. he did that with such a contrast with terry mcauliffe, who made it a national campaign. he made it about not -- about donald trump. >> right. >> and use glenn youngkin as a foil for donald trump. it didn't work. >> listening to youngkin, he sounded like a garden variety republican. the kind of republicans we used to cover prior to donald trump. he is pro-business, he is pro-school choice. he threw in references to the unconditional love and grace, signaling his faith, the way republicans do. there was a bit of the culture war there, but it wasn't the dominant factor in the way we've seen with other republicans running, in the trump era,

particularly donald trump. this is a blueprint you will see republicans follow, going back to their dna. >> american politics is a both end proposition. we live in polarized times. he got the republican base out. that's clear in the returns across the commonwealth. but you got to win the middle. when you look at youngkin tonight, he wan independents by nine points, one year after joe biden won independents by 19 points, over donald trump, a 28-point swing, of the electorate in the middle, the independents. and that's what is going to scare democrats more than anything else. >> absolutely. meanwhile, i'm still curious what's going on up i-95 in new jersey. john king, what's the latest there? >> the big wow, you're talking about virginia. will we get a double-wow or a whoa out of new jersey?

81% reporting. the republican candidate in the lead by a narrow 21,000 votes. but jack ciattarelli, trying to do what would be a bigger upset than youngkin did in virginia. 49% for the incumbent democratic governor, phil murphy. is it possible for terry mcauliffe to come back, once youngkin pulled ahead in virginia this is it possible for phil murphy to come back? it is possible. we're down 81% of the estimated vote in. looking at the republican leader where can that come from? the republican was leading in bergen county. that's flipped the last hour or so. this is the biggest county of the state. move to essex county. this is newark and the area around newark. it's a huge democratic area. you see 73% for the incumbent

candidate. 30% of the vote, shy of that, in essex county, a deep blue county. phil murphy can make up votes there. hudson county, jersey city. a strong democratic area. he is pulling 74%. no guarantee. phil murphy could say 74%. if he stays anywhere close to that, you see the big margin there. there's a possibility, again, of making up where he is shy right now. a few other places you walk through. looking, 79% in middlesex county. 54% to 45%. another place that is blue, has been blue all night, where murphy can make up votes. move down here to mercer county. only 61% of the vote counted here. trenton, big suburban area. little more competitive up to the north. still, a blue county, where a lot of votes are coming in, if the margins stay there. there's room for phil murphy to make that up. there's room. it's not guaranteed. we know the votes that are

counted, have the republican ahead. we know because the democrat goes deeper and deeper in the morning. you look at the red virginia and the shakiness of the democrats here in new jersey, this off-year election night is sending a giant message to the democrats. the question is whether this is overwhelming or whether they can eke this out in new jersey. looks like we will be counting after breakfast to solve that one. >> plausible paths for ciattarelli and murphy in new jersey. election night coverage continues with don lemon right now. ♪ here we go, everyone. late but important converage. i'm don lemon. cnn coverage continues on a very big night for republicans.

and a major wake-up call for democrats. this is what cnn is projecting. glenn youngkin has defeated terry mcauliffe in virginia's governors race, a state that joe biden won easily a year ago. youngkin is giving republicans a playbook for how to run in 2022 and 2024. we have a lot to cover, including new jersey, as well. the governor's race is one that no one saw coming. jack ciattarelli and phil murphy neck and neck in a tight race. watching votes come in tonight. there's a lot more to get to. in new york, that's happening, as cnn projects eric adams has won the new york city mayoral race, after defeating more progressive candidates in the primary and running on a public safety message amid worries in rise of violent crime. boston, the mayor candidate

there and michelle wu being elected mayor of boston. buffalo, new york. the moderate democrat and four-time mayor, byron brown has a wide lead over his opponent, self-described socialist india walton. brown was a write-in candidate. assuming the write-in votes are for him, he is looking strong. in minneapolis, voters clearly rejecting a policing overhaul after protests against george floyd's killing spread across this country and the world last year. we go to jack ciattarelli headquarters. what are you hearing from the team? this is a tight race right now. >> well, don, that's right. it is really tight. you can see, at ciattarelli headquarters in bridgewater,

new jersey, the party is over. they're taking stuff down. but the election is not. about an hour or so ago, jack ciattarelli came out and told his supporters to hang on, that votes are still coming in. every time it's gone too far off track, the people of this state, have pushed, pulled and prodded it right back to where it needs to be. real soop, we'll do this again. >> the fact they were here having that conversation is an

absolutely huge blow to phil murphy. the republicans here at this event, they felt good about their guy. they felt good about this campaign. but nobody thought it was going to be a night as good as it looks like it might be here in bridgewater, new jersey. don? >> ciattarelli and murphy saying, let's count every vote. want to get to m.j. lee, at phil murphy's headquarters in asbury park, new jersey. this is not how murphy's team thought it would go down, right? >> that's right, don. the murphy team is not trying to sugar-coat the fact that this is not the evening they had hoped for. this is a tougher night than what they were hoping to see. at the end of the night, this is what advisers are telling me. they expect still that the governor is going to pull it out. the numbers will ultimately

flip. and here's the thinking behind that, don. the thinking is that the campaign right now feels like they have a good grasp of where the outstanding votes are. they know where the votes that haven't been counted are coming from. and at the end of the day, they think the votes will be breaking for them. that's why they have confidence, for now, this race is going to break for the governor. the big question that they don't know the answer to, that they don't have a great sense of, is when that race might flip, when the numbers might flip. behind me, the election night party, what was -- what they were hoping would be a victory party, has broken down. that's why we're set up outside. and we heard the governor come into the evening and speak to his supporters who had come to show their support, hoping to see a victory speech. and he apologized that this was not a celebration this evening. take a listen.

we're all sorry that tonight could not yet be the celebration that we wanted it to be. as i said, whenever vote is counted and every vote will be counted, we hope to have a celebration. >> murphy, also in his speech, talked about being the campaign following the signs and facts. clearly a jab at his opponent, jack ciattarelli. this was not the evening that murphy was hoping for. at least for the time being, they believe that in the end, they are going to pull this one out. don? >> m.j., thank you very much. from new jersey, a closely watched race. one happening now in virginia -- it's over. we go to chantilly, virginia. glenn youngkin finished speaking and talking about his plans for

day one. a very rousing speech, as a matter of fact. >> yes, it was. republicans who have long felt that the governor's mansion was out of reach, just related tonight, con. and youngkin reached out to broad problems. he appealed to moderates and trump voters and appealed to some disaffected democrats. he was able to peel away some folks who said, there's been more than a decade of democrats in the governor's mansion. and i don't believe they are delivering for the state. he was palatable to enough voters to pull out a victory here. it's worth noting, that in the last several weeks, the issue of critical race theory, even though it's not taught in public schools became core in this race. youngkin mentioned it in every stump speech. he was going to ban it, even

though it was not being taught in virginia public schools. he didn't mention it. he didn't mention crt or dr. king, only a mention of charter schools. it was an issue that he used to rally and turn out voters, but it wasn't mentioned tonight in his victory speech. don? >> appreciate that. want to get to jeff zeleny. jeff is at terry mcauliffe headquarters. terry said he did not concede, but they know what's happening. >> they do know what is happening. look at the empty ballroom behind me. that's a pretty good metaphor, when we just saw eva in chantilly, right after the glenn youngkin, is processing now. terry mcauliffe is not declared

or admitting defeat. the defeat is settling in to the democratic party. what a split-screen it was, president biden landing on air force one from a week abroad, at the same time glenn youngkin was walking on the stage. this is a major defeat for the democratic party and a referendum on biden and so much more. a lot of fathers to this blame here. dysfunction in washington is part of that. underestimating glenn youngkin is part of that. for now, terry mcauliffe was trying to win a second term of governor of virginia. virginia, allowing its governors to run for one term at a time. he was trying to run for his old job back it's a close race. the votes coming in from the suburbs of washington.

but the reality is, the independent voters swung dramatically, from president biden a year ago to glenn youngkin. seen as a rejection of the biden policies, the democratic policies. what does this pmean for both parties going into 2022? it's easy to judge what the off-year races mean. no question, there's big questions for both parties. one question, donald trump's role in all of this. he was on the sidelines of this race. will he stay on the sidelines in 2022 or be part of the action? many important conversations to come here. tonight, a very despiriting defeat for democrats. >> that will with hard for the former governor. we'll get straight to the magic wall. john avlon.

we saw that in the moment. what is happening in new jersey right now, this was a very, very tight race. no one expected it to be this close. >> let's take them in order. they tell a story. virginia, democrats won every statewide race since 2009. glenn youngkin pulling off a big win for republicans. let's look where youngkin is overperforming donald trump. everywhere. every county. glenn youngkin doing better than donald trump. what does that mean? he kept the trump base and brought back moderates, suburban voters, people that stayed away. let's return the favor for terry mcauliffe. where does he overperform joe biden? nowhere. not a single county. you can say there's a different turnout for gubernatorial or

president. let's go apples to apples. >> it's the campaign you're running, as well. let's do apples to apples for the governor. these are all counties that northam won just four years ago. you can see that youngkin has pulled some of them back. pay special attention to the southeastern part of the state. this is where youngkin is from. this is a huge population center. 2017, what's it look like? all-blue. this year, glenn youngkin making inroads. and john king says, the margins matter. this is the story. youngkin winning back moderates and independents and pulling back counties that the democrats thought were safely in their pocket. that's the tale of the tape. >> to new jersey now. new jersey is too close the call. we know what's happening in

virginia. youngkin is the governor-elect. in nmg nj, murphy, got a big lead. going to be okay. but the republican is winning now. >> yeah. he's winning. this is tight. >> at this point. >> 0.8%, less than 20,000 votes. this is a shocker. murphy's people in the polling show him well ahead, in states that biden walked away with. that is not the case. 82% of the vote reporting. a lot of the votes are out in the blue counties. that's among the most populous counties. i want to show you a tale of two murphys. it shows what changed. 2017, murphy gets elected. easily, 15 points. look at where his strong points are. top of the state, bottom of the state. pretty easy. see where things are tonight. boom. a lot of the blue counties

flipped red. this is tight. it is still too close to call. a lot of votes are out in places are democratic. phil murphy, his support has eroded big-time. that's where we are, in republicans versus democrats, in states that democrats thought they could take for brgranted. >> we're watching new jersey. we'll get back to the magic wall. we're here to the foreseeable future. we don't know when they will let us go home. we're highly caffeinated and ready to go. hello, good evening, good morning, all of you. >> what a night. a wake-up call for democrats. >> is that the message? what's the message? >> the message is that the liberal policies being pushed through washington are not

successful. they are not successful because they vice president been able to get through anything. joe biden's agenda really stalled. and you see the voters, what new jersey and virginia are looking at washington. these races are greatly influenced of what is happening in washington or what is not happening in washington. and you're seeing candidates that are running with the blessing of trump but not trump candidates. that's what we saw happening in virginia. i live in virginia. the momentum for youngkin, old republicans, were putting yard signs out. >> we could see it in the reporting. you live there. we could see it in the reporting. we could see in the polling, as well. glenn youngkin had the momentum. and terry mcauliffe is struggling. i'm sure it's a shocker and a surprise for inside the beltway

for democrats there. for most of us, it was not a shocker. for most around the country, if you saw the news, saw that glenn youngkin was pulling ahead and probably was going to win this. ten percentage points. now, cnn is projecting that youngkin is the winner tonight. gave his victory speech. what is happening here? >> it may be a wake-up call. there's a lot of us warning democrats. and democratic leadership pressing press ing snooze button. this is a referendum on the fact they haven't gotten anything done. this is -- my problem is, this lies in the lap of nancy pelosi, jim clyburn, steny hoyer, chuck schumer, and the list goes on and on. >> how can you say this is about

progressives and -- >> we elected you not to have chaos. donald trump was a president of day chaos. you have manchin and sinema. we put democrats in power and nothing is being done. sure, no question. the covid relief packages are great. no doubt about that. however, the transportation package, the reconciliation package. it looks like -- and i hate this term. demes are in disarray. your momma says it, and my momma sauce it. democrats think their stuff don't stink. and joe manchin gives a self-serving press conference where he says absolutely nothing. but he reinforces the narrative that demes are in disarray. my problem is not with the

progressive ring. not with the moderate ring. my problem is with them all. one more point that i can't mention -- i can't forget to mention. lee atwater, wherever he is, is smiling. his southern strategy, the race-based political ideology and politics of identity, that the republicans ran in virginia, was a master class. and i think the combination of the master class of identity politics, plus the ineptitude of congressional democrats, led to glenn youngkin to pull this off. >> this is a messaging problem for democrats. if democrats messaged it properly, they could have gotten it across. >> we haven't done anything right. >> here's what was a success for the youngkin campaign. he started out in this race making sure that the people of virginia understood who he was. he demonstrated that he showed

them that he cared. people don't care -- aren't concerned with what you know until they know you care. once he conveyed that to him, that was a key emphasis. he wasn't focused on the issues. he was focused on jobs, the pocketbook issues, education. >> anytime you say you're going to ban critical race theory, is something that glenn youngkin doesn't know what it is. it is not taught k through 12. i appreciate the way he attempted to thread the needle. i saw a speech where he quoted king and said he was going to ban critical race theory. he talked about the grocery tax and the local issues. he did all of those things. when it is a nationalized race, and i'll use a coloak weial

issues, every day. >> this is the thing. it not be taught. but democrats, including the former president barack obama went to the state and said, these things don't matter. basically saying that these things aren't real. maybe they're not real to them and maybe the critical race theory is not being taught. but for the people of virginia, they felt that the issues were important. >> no, no. a particular section -- >> what is not being taught there. >> for a white voter that feels they're going to be replaced. the angst was amped up by talking critical race theory. toni morrison's book, that's absurd. he didn't mention it here. you will be the first one i come to after this break for news. there's a key race to tell you about.

we're looking at the great state of new jersey. it is tied, neck and neck, 1,971 votes between them. jack ciattarelli and phil murphy, the incumbent. let's look at the magic wall. what is happening here? >> it does not get tighter than this. tied 49-6, 49-6. ciattarelli just under 2,000 votes. how has it changed? look at where the outstanding votes are. 77% reporting. a quarter of the vote coming in, particularly in the populous urban areas. that means there's a lot of room for murphy to grow and close this gap and maybe pull away. this is a long way from being done. don't make any mistake. you see the closing over the course of the night.

look where the votes are still out. you see democrats not coming in close. >> let's hope they are staying away. john, i want to get back to you, alice. i promised you would be the first one. regardless of what happens here, what is the message? what is the wake-up call for republicans? >> to do exactly what glenn youngkin did. you have to read the room. you have to run your race. and you also have to do the math. read the room, what are the people in virginia concerned with? they are concerned with pocketbook issues. they are concerned with education. they are concerned with public safety. he focused on those issues day after day after day. you have to realize that politics is a game of addition. you have to keep the trump base onboard. you have to do so and you have to engage in addition. go out to the independent voters. go out to the voter bloc that typically would not come to you.

>> they didn't expand the base. they didn't have addition, but subtraction and firing up. >> they were deep but not broad. and youngkin ran on a surrogate. he did not alienate trump. but he also did it in a way where he focused on the policies, not the penalties. the problem with democrats is they made this about trump and trump was not on the ballot. and mcauliffe is the canary in the coal mine. the fact he died today, is a signal ahead for democrats. >> republicans played honestly. this is the race that democrats and republicans are tired of talking about. they're sick of the news media talking about trump and every one else, the news, the

candidates, everyone talking about trump. we had an interesting conversation of what this he may be trying to take credit for it but it may not be so. laura lopez is standing by. what did you think? bakari is saying this isn't about the progressive or moderate ring of the democratic party -- or moderate wings of the democratic party. >> what this race comes down to, joe biden has low approval ratings right now. and that impacted terry mcauliffe. >> is he the alba tros? >> i don't know if he's the albatros. biden has time to rebound his numbers before 2022. but right now, his approval ratings are really low. voters in virginia and in other states are very focused on the economy, on the fact that prices are up, on covid, how covid has impacted their schools. look, does what is happening in washington and the squabbling between democrats, is that

potentially also hurt? yes, but ultimately the race was not about those things. it was about the economy and covid. >> laura, look at that wall over there. i mean, you don't get any closer than that. i mean, that is pretty close. no one thought that jack ciatterelli would do this. everyone thought that phil murphy would sail into re-election. new jersey is blue, right? >> yeah. >> but it shows maybe not so much. what do you think that means for -- >> again, it's that democrats are in power right now, and this is historically what happens when the majority party is faced, the incumbent goes forward and the opposing party gets an edge. >> but this, when you're in charge of the senate, the house, and the white house? >> it's a 50-50 senate, which is also to bakari and mark's point, which is why not much is getting through. a lot of the things that biden

promised he wanted to get done have yet to be pushed through. it's a three-vote majority in the house. so this isn't a supermajority where, you know, in the time of lbj or even fdr they had. biden is dealing with a very different makeup in congress, which is complicating factors as he's trying to get all of these provisions through. democrats are telling me do they think that passing infrastructure and the big social spending package is it going to save them in 2022? they don't know if it will. they could still not do well, because the math is stacked against them in the house. but if they don't pass anything, they're not going to have much to run on. so they won a lot of those popular provisions that are in the packages to be able to run on them. >> mark, we're in the new jersey media market here in new york city. and i get to watch the news and they talk about the folks in new jersey, we're tired of these liberal policies.

we want the -- our state to go back to the say it was. new jersey is -- listen, there are more of those people out there than i think the pollsters took in and the pundits took in. even the political campaigns, especially phil murphy's campaign, that they considered. >> a couple things. i was talking to a republican consultant. >> i was looking at the numbers, but i was talking to a republican consultant that was involved in all of these races that said ciatterelli can't run a good campaign, that ciatterelli ran a bad campaign, not to take any wind out of his sails tonight. >> nobody knew his name here. >> still thought it was going to be close. this is hours and hours ago. but it's not surprising, don. the new jersey suburbs are right outside of liberal new york city. you walk out on these streets tonight, the new york city we knew a couple years ago is a little different than the new york city we know right now.

so the party in power is going to take the brunt of the anger of the voters, because they're not seeing anything done when it comes to crime. all they're seeing is big government checks being written. they're seeing people not going back to work, choosing to continue to get the dole, so to speak, the welfare checks, and you're getting people that are angry. >> to your point, as much as -- this is a point that alice would make, as much as we want to talk about the identity politics that were played in virginia, you look at what's happening in new jersey, and it pushes back on that narrative just slightly. but it goes to my earlier point is that democrats have to do something. the fact is, you can't tell me what phil murphy and terry mcauliffe ran on. i mean, that is one of the larger problems that the democratic party has. it's an identity problem. the question that we have, as

much as republicans have to ask themselves what do they do in the era of trump? what do democrats do when trump ain't on the ballot? >> we had this conversation. i don't think anyone, democrats or republicans, have figured out how to run in a post trump era. i don't think this is good for donald trump, because basically, i've been use thing analogy for weeks now, basically what glenn youngkin did was handled donald trump as my grandmother would say, with a long handled spoon. the way you stir your gumbo, with a long spoon so you don't get close to it. but you still need to get down to the ingredients in there. that's what he did. he didn't want to embrace donald trump. not at all. >> and i think it's a very simple lesson. look, democrats kept him at the center of their campaign, and they lost. republicans kept him at arm's length and they won. it doesn't take a rocket

scientist to figure out the message moving forward is to keep the policies front and center and keep donald trump and his base on board. but the key is, for democrats, they have to give the democrats to run for, not just something against. >> amen. >> and when you have a president with a 42% approval rating, and independents in this country believe -- 70% believe we're headed in the wrong direction, that's tough road to get out of. and you have to focus on getting independents on board. that's the key electorate to go after is the independents. >> here's what people -- here's what i hear people saying. where is joe biden? where is kamala harris? where are the democrats? i don't know what their message is. i don't know what they stand for. today, as a matter of fact. we were talking about this. today was the first day the dow closed above 36,000. like the dow is soaring today. did anyone say hey -- but it

doesn't matter. it's messaging. >> that's the frustration. i've been saying this for a long period of time, and no, i won't be invited to the white house christmas party this year, and that's fine with me. but we can't run on lowering prescription drug costs because we ain't there yet. we can't run on many of the things that are in the build back better plan because we have been fumbling the bag. we can't run on infrastructure, because we're not there yet. we look like we're a hot mess. we welcome like we're in disarray. jayapal and ro khanna are fighting against the white house and joe manchin and kyrsten sinema. you have the house, senate and the white house and haven't been able to produce. >> i'm just asking, maybe there's something in what manchin and sinema are saying. >> then you tell black voters who are the base of your party, who are in that southeast

virginia area, saying we'll pass these voting bills and then get to criminal justice and voting rights. so this is just not conducive. >> we are just getting started. a lot more to come with this nail biter of a bite. a big win for republicans in virginia and new jersey now a dead heat. look at that. 49.6, 49.6. 84% of the vote in. less than 2,000 votes between them, between the republican jack ciatterelli and the democratic governor phil murphy. our special coverage of this continues. that's next. as a dj, i know all about customization. that's why i love liberty mutual. they customize my car insurance, so i only pay for what i need. how about a throwback? ♪ liberty, liberty, liberty, liberty ♪ only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty, liberty, liberty, liberty ♪

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