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in the united states and around the world. i'm wolf blitzer. "election night in america" continues. right now the eyes of the nation are on nevada, and your eyes are seeing the vote counting unfolding right now in washoe county. at any moment now we are expecting a new ballot count from clark county. that's home to las vegas, and the vast majority of nevada's population. the new numbers could push us closer and closer to knowing the winner of nevada's pivotal u.s. senate seat. republican adam laxalt holds a razor-thin lead over the democratic incumbent senator catherine castro masto. the margin is a mere 863 votes out of nearly a million counted so far. if cortez masto wins democrats will achieve what seemed almost unthinkable a few days ago. they will keep control of the united states senate, having won at least 50 seats. it is now deadlocked, and with

republicans and democrats holding 49 each. in arizona rights now, new vote counts have trickled in over the past hour adding more drama to the governor's race there. it is still too early to call. democrat katie hobbs maintains a lead over republican kari lake. we're also following all of the key races in all of the latest developments. our reporters are in battleground states and john berman will break it all down for us over at the magic wall. let's begin with cnn's rosa flores. she is joining us from nevada right now. she is just outside the clark county collection center in north las vegas. rosa, what, four days after the elections we may now be approaching the decisive moment for control of the senate. so what's the latest? what are you seeing? what are you hearing? >> reporter: wolf, the stakes are high, the margins are razor thin, and all eyes are on nevada and on clark county right here where i am, where we are expecting results at any moment. we are refreshing our computers

and we'll bring those to you as soon as we have them. now, here in clark county we're expecting the results of 22,000 battle to be registered, to be posted online at any moment right now. the breakdown of those 22,000 battle are a mix. they're a mixture of election day drop box battle and also mail-in battle. i mention that because the distinction is important. we don't know how many of each, but we do know that election day battle usually lean towards republicans and mail-in battle usually lean towards the democrats. right now we don't know what that split is looking like. we are waiting for those results. the margins of this election are razor thin. right now adam laxalt is in the lead by .1%. that's 863 votes. we have seen him in the lead since the morning after the election when we woke up and he

was in the lead by more than 22,000 votes. that advantage has been shrinking to 15,000, to less than 10,000, to right now 863 votes. wolf, adam laxalt in the last hour taking to twitter, encouraging voters to cure their ballots. what does that mean? we know that thousands of ballots also need to be cured. the deadline for that is monday. laxalt at the last minute taking to twitter, asking voters to please cure those battle. of course, i'm assuming, wolf, he is meaning the ones that voted for him. wolf, back to you. >> yeah, they want to make sure that the battle have the right signature. they want to make sure the ballots have the right dates and all of that. that's what it means when you have to go cure those battle. rosa flores on the scene for us. thank you very, very much. cnn's john berman is joining us from the magic wall. john, walk us through what we know as far as the senate contest is concerned right now. >> well, what we know is that there are two states left where we have not yet projected

winners, nevada where rosa is and was just talking about, and also georgia. georgia will have a run-off on december 6th. if either one of these states, if the democrat wins in either one of these states, they would get to 50. they're 49/49 now. if either of these states go blue the democrats would have 50 votes in the senate. vice president kamala harris would break the tie and they would maintain their majority. let's talk about nevada and let's talk about where we are and what we're expecting, maybe in the next few minutes. clark county, the most populous county in the state where catherine cortez masto holds a lead of about seven points, we are expecting to receive about 22,000 votes. the tabulations from a count of about 22,000 votes. now, how much of a difference could that make? let me remind you that right now adam laxalt leads in nevada by 863 votes. it is very close there. let's do some math. bear with me.

i did this before. some simple math that will show you what difference these 22,000 votes could make. 22,000 up here. now, catherine cortez masto in clark county, which has been leaning democratic in the vote, which is more democratic than most of the votes there, she has been winning about 60% of the vote there. so 60% of 22,000 is 13,200. 13,200. 40%, which is what adam laxalt would win is 8,800 there. the difference -- and this is what is most important -- is 4,400. so if catherine cortez masto is able to win 60% in this batch of 22,000 we're expecting, she would net 4,400 votes. 4,400, which, wolf, is more -- a significant amount more when you are talking about the margins we

are in right now, more than 863, and would give her the lead for the first time since election day. she's been behind in some cases by as much as 22,000 votes by then. so this would put her into the lead there. let me just also tell you that these aren't the only votes we're expecting tonight to get new counts from. also in washoe county, which leans a little bit democratic, about plus four in the last presidential election. about 12,000 votes. we will get the results from the counts of those 12,000 votes. cortez masto has been doing better in washoe county. the margins in the mail have been coming in less favorable for her than in clark county. but, again, she could net 1,000 votes if she maintains the margins she has had. we are waiting to see. we've been told now that the clark county vote could come at any time. we are told that the washoe county vote will come about an hour from now. needless to say we are watching very closely. things could change and soon in nevada, wolf. >> yeah, these numbers could be really, really significant,

john. don't go too far away. i want to get some more on this very, very tight and critical senate race in nevada right now. joining us now, elizabeth thompson, the editor of "the nevada independent." thank you for joining us. first of all, tell us what you are looking for when these new numbers come in. >> well, if catherine cortez masto can land 65% of the ballots that are about to drop in clark county, she will be very close to the finish line if not over it. my team has got a bunch of spread sheets going, right, we're crunching the math every which way just as your team, wolf, is there at cnn. i think something between 63% and 65% is kind of the magic number for her in clark. having said that, as we discussed earlier, we have thousands of provisional ballots and signature cure battle still waiting to be processed. we've got the issue of washoe county. we will have to wait about a half hour from now i think to get those numbers. so hoping we can call it here

soon. if not after the clark county data dump, then hopefully after washoe county reports. >> elizabeth, you just heard our correspondent rosa flores report the results we're waiting for are a mix of what are described as election day drop box ballots and mail-in battle. explain why this potentially is si significant. >> well, it is so tricky, wolf, this year because it is only the second cycle nevada has had universal mail voting. we have always allowed voters to drop those mail ballots into a box on election day or prior to during early voting, and we're still figuring out here in nevada as analysts who votes early, who waits until election day, who does it in person, who mails it, who drops it in a box. we don't know. that's one of the reasons why we are kind of on pins and needles here with these votes we are waiting for because we just don't know how those lines are

going to break down. we do not have enough data from past cycles to be able to predict these trends. it is making things pretty dicey. >> you know, clark county, which is what we are talking about expecting right now, we were told that the votes would be announced as early as 7:00 p.m. eastern time last night. that's exactly when they came out, almost on the dot. tonight now it is, what, 9:10 eastern time and nothing. you know, any sense of what the delay is if, in fact, it is a delay? >> it is not a delay because this "morning joe" gloria, the registrar here, told us that we should not expect our data dump today to come until between 4:00 and 6:00 or 6:30 p.m. west coast time. we are coming up against the end of that window right now. so they're later than yesterday, but not later than expected. if they go much past the bottom of the hour, then we will be

able to complain that they are indeed late. >> and what kind of visibility do you have on the red rural counties here, which lean heavily, heavily republican? how much vote is known to be left there? >> we don't think there's much. we are guessing there are between 2,000 and 4,000 battle at the most in the rest of the rural counties, probably most of them of course in the larger counties we are watching, douglas in particular, that sit just south of washoe county. it may not matter. depending on how many votes she can pick up, cortez masto, the democrat, can pick up from the clark and washoe drops, we may not have to wait to see the rural count. we may not have to wait on these provisional or signature battle either. i want to caution people though, if this race remains tight after this next two vote drops, we may have to wait until monday because that is the deadline for curing signatures.

i think they've even got into tuesday to look at some of the provisionals. i hope that doesn't happen. immae n i'm not trying to scare anyone, but if it stays super tight we will have more counting and waiting to do. >> elizabeth, we have seen adam laxalt's lead continue to shrink and shrink over the past couple of days as more votes have come in. what more are you learning about the mood in the laxalt campaign? >> well, according to your inside sources, wolf, the mood is not great. that doesn't surprise me one bit because although they did get a bump a couple of days ago when some votes dropped, it has basically been a downward trend for laxalt pretty much since election day. i think part of the frustration there, wolf, is this. joe lombardo, the republican candidate for governor, was already declared the winner, which means that he pulled in many more votes than republican adam laxalt. i crunched the math today. he's -- laxalt is about right now as it sits he is about 6,000

votes behind where lombardo is. if you add the 1,000 that he has got in his pocket, that means that he's trailing the other statewide republican candidate by about 7,000 votes. so ticket splitting definitely happened. laxalt did not pull as many votes as our republican governor elected. >> interesting, elizabeth thompson, the editor of "the nevada independent." thanks for joining us. we appreciate it. to our viewers, we could get new votes literally at any moment from nevada right now, and control of the united states senate could be decided tonight. it is election night in america, continued. stay with us.

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our dell technologies advisors can provide you with the tools and expertise you need to bring out the innovator in you. all right. this is what we've been waiting for. cnn's rosa flores is just outside the clark county election center in north las vegas for us. we understand, rosa, you have the new numbers. they are just coming in right now, is that right? >> reporter: they are, wolf. here are the new numbers. this is according to the clark

county registrar's office. catherine cortez masto -- >> hold on a moment, rosa. your microphone doesn't seem to be working right now. we are going to fix that and make sure we can hear all of the new numbers. john berman, you are watching, you are waiting for the numbers. have you gotten those numbers already? >> let me tell you, wolf, i don't have the exact number from the county. we will wait for rosa to fix her microphone. i can tell you the results of whatever numbers just came in have given catherine cortez masto, the incumbent democrat, the lead of 4,982 votes. a lead of 4,982 votes, which means she netted, netted total of 5,845 votes there. rosa, her microphone is now working. she can give us the break down. >> rosa, go ahead. >> reporter: yes, here is the breakdown, wolf. catherine cortez masto, a total of 350,825 votes.

adam laxalt, 300,326 votes. now, this widens catherine cortez masto's margin here in clark county to 7.53%. it was 6.91% before. so she, again, widens her lead. this is not as big of a lead as president biden had in 2020. that was 9%, but she is getting closer. again, these numbers fresh off the presses here. catherine cortez masto with 52.82% of the vote and adam laxalt with 44.75% of the vote. wolf>> that's in clark county, right? >> reporter: and this is in clark county, correct. >> yeah, it is not statewide because we are seeing in some of the statewide numbers up on the screen right now. all right.

john. give us your analysis. hold on for one moment. as a result of these new numbers, right now we have a huge projection to make. look at this. the projection in the high-stakes battle for the united states senate. cnn now projects that democrats will keep control of the united states senate, holding on to the majority they narrowly, narrowly won two years ago. this is an extraordinary victory for the democrats as the battle for control of the house continues to play out. we are making this call because we can now project that democratic senator catherine cortez masto will win reelection in nevada. cortez masto defying expectations and beating back a very strong challenge from republican adam laxalt. once again, cnn projects that senator catherine cortez masto wins reelection, salealing the democrat's control of the united states senate for another two

years. our david chalian, let me get your reaction. that's major breaking news. >> major breaking news. since tuesday we have been waiting with the battle for control of the house of representatives and battle for control of the senate, hanging in the balance no more. democrats will maintain their majority in the united states senate. as was said earlier, this is very good news for the biden administration because things like judges and cabinet appointments and what have you, that will not be under the purview of mitch mcconnell to navigate through the senate. that will be under the purview of chuck schumer who will maintain his role of majority leader. in terms of the balance of power shifting in washington, with this senate projection it doesn't because the most vulnerable democratic incumbent figured her path to victory here. i got to tell you, wolf, on wednesday morning in the wee hours after election night democrats were calling me and saying even with laxalt's big lead they were saying, we think catherine cortez masto is going to get there with what is outstanding, when that late mail arrives. we have a very high level of confidence. they were right about that. >> a huge win, gloria, for the

democrats. >> oh, a huge win. i think one of the things when we take a long view of this is that this may be the moment that we discover that donald trump is not a king maker any longer. this is it. his candidates did not do well. his election denial was not a big issue in this campaign, and i think that republicans are going to have to do an awful lot of soul searching about whether they actually ran on issues that were geared to them and how they could have lost the senate with an election that was about inflation, that was about crime, that was about immigration. yes, it was also about abortion rights, but i -- and democracy, but i think that the fact that the republicans couldn't pull this off is going to force them to go to the couch and have a little bit of therapy and say, why did we do this. were we following the wrong

leaders? how can we fix this? one short-term answer might be to tell your voters that they should vote by mail because maybe it is easier and maybe more people do it and, you know, if you don't want to show up on election day as donald trump wants you to show up, just vote anyway you want. >> you know, i think what is interesting too is we think about the problems that kevin mccarthy is going to have in the house of representatives regardless of what happens. republicans -- look what is happening in the united states senate right now. you have the head of the campaign arm calling, questioning mitch mcconnell and the future of the conference. you have josh hawley doing the same thing, a missouri senator. you have marco rubio from florida as well, somebody you would think would be lining up behind mitch mcconnell. republicans are going to have their own issues in the senate right now trying to stay together. mitch mcconnell, who has been bullet proof now for decades because he has really done such a very good job of keeping the republican conference in order, has done an amazing job getting judicial nominees through, now

he is going to have a fight on his own hands within his own conference. >> they were complaining of mitch mcconnell, among others, about the quality of those republican candidates who won the primaries and now they're paying the price for it. >> that's right. they were talking about candidates in georgia, they were talking about candidates -- not so much in nevada, but certainly in arizona, in new hampshire as well. we see what happened with that. we're going to enter into this period very quickly where donald trump looks like he is going to announce for president. what does that do to the calculus that republicans have been making so far? essentially they've been afraid of the base of the republican party, which has been bonded to donald trump over the last couple of years, but now we see some of that frame. you see some sniping at donald trump. the idea that maybe he shouldn't even announce heading into tuesday given the fact there's a georgia run-off coming up on december 6th, but we know he is a person who likes to suck up all of the oxygen. he likes to take credit. he likes to have sort of the roar of the crowd.

so far, even though there is this distancing i think from some republicans from donald trump, it doesn't seem like that has necessarily trickled down to the base of the republican party. >> of course. >> and now it will be the big question. >> we should just note that december 6th run-off in georgia, it is an entirely different race. battle for control of the united states senate is not going to hang on that. it will be a little lessen gauged and probably not as much money spent, not that it is not important to the people of georgia and not that chuck schumer would rather have 51 rather than 50 and not have to go to joe manchin for every single thing or a power sharing agreement with mitch mcconnell. it has ramifications, it is important, bus without control of the senate hanging on georgia it will be a different race. >> one thing, one republican victor in all of this as we look back on all of this is rick desantis. >> ron desantis. >> sorry, rick. ron desantis. >> the governor of florida. >> yes, someone who won

overwhelmingly, double digits, and lots of republicans are now talking about as the heir apparent. so we don't know how that's going to turn out. we don't know what donald trump's future holds right now, but i would have to say that ron desantis is somebody who rises above the pack after this election. >> let's get more reaction. this is major breaking news. we have just projected that senator catherine cortez masto will be reelected, defeating the challenger, adam laxalt. as a result we have now projected that the democrats will maintain their majority in the united states senate. ashley alison is joining us right now. let me get your reaction first, ashley. >> i'm excited for our country. i think americans showed up. if there was ever a question whether your vote mattered, these tight races tell you that every single vote matters. i'm so proud of young people. i'm proud of my generation, the millennials who showed up, gen-z who showed up, women who said you cannot take our constitutional rights away.

it is an important moment. it is an historical moment in our country that we were able to hold the senate, but i also think it is an opportunity for democrats, particularly if republicans hold the house, to draw a stark contrast. while republicans may try to do oversight hearings and not really do things to improve the quality of life, for the senate now that it is still controlled by democrats to push an agenda that is for the working person, it is going to improve our economy. it will continue to solidify our democracy. so not surprised we were able to do it because so much was at stake and voters were very clear on that, but it is an important night for the party but also our country for sure. >> let me get scott jennings into this conversation. what is your reaction, scott? what happens here? >> well, number one, we did have candidate quality issues. i don't think that was really the issue so much in nevada,

which is the race that's just been called. but you look around the map, and quite clearly moderates and independents just revolted against republicans and voted for democrats that they didn't really like. i mean joe biden's approval rating in our exit polls was low. most people said his policies were hurting and not helping the country. there's a lot of anxiousness and anxiety about the direction of the country, yet they stuck with the party in power despite all of their fears about the direction of the country. this ought to be a wake-up call to republicans that if you want to be a majority governing party you have to appeal to a majority of the american people. we nominated a lot of candidates who were not able to do that at the behest of one person, donald trump. you know, we're heading into 2024. he is going to announce for president, and we're going to go through this whole thing again. we will see if -- we will see if the lesson will be learned. i hope it will be. >> let's get hilary rosen to weigh in as well. go ahead, hilary. >> well, let's look at some practical realities here, which

is that, you know, with the democratic senate we can continue to confirm judges. joe biden has been very successful at confirming judges for the federal judiciary. he also gets to continue to govern, which means that he gets his cabinet and sub cabinet officials confirmed when he needs them. we were looking at, you know, a scenario where that might get a standstill. i agree with ashley. this is a great moment for our country. i disagree a little bit that, you know, that means we are going to get a big proactive legislative agenda. i just don't think the house of representatives is going to let that happen under a republican majority. but i think what we have with this back stop in the senate is that the president will get to continue to govern, that, you know, the bad things won't happen, and we're going to walk into 2024 with, you know, a positive story to tell. >> kristin, a huge win for the democrats in the united states senate right now, maintaining their majority.

what is the message that sends from your perspective? >> it is fascinating that in a year when you have only a quarter of americans saying that things are headed in the right direction that you are going to have -- if alaska and georgia both turn out preserving their incumbent senators, every incumbent senator up for reelection will be going back to washington. it was not a change year even though there were so many signs that people werae agitated and frustrated with the status quo. i think part of this is you had a lot of voters, as scott mentioned, didn't necessarily like joe biden, they didn't necessarily love the way the economy was going, but it wasn't enough to get them to pull the lever for some of these republican candidates in some of these big races. i want to throw some numbers at you, wolf. back in 2010 in the exit polls republicans won 67% of voters who said that they somewhat disapproved of the job president obama was doing. if you didn't like obama, you voted republican that year. this time around, if you somewhat disapproved of joe

biden, you broke for democrats by a slim but four point margin. that's an enormous difference and it really suggests that republicans can't just coast on being negative and talking about how much they dislike democrats. they have to prove and earn the trust of the american people who are looking at them skeptically and saying, i don't like what we've got but i'm worried it can get worse if we hand things over. they need to earn that trust. >> wolf, can i comment about the trust and candidates? >> go ahead. >> absolutely, everything she said was spot on. there were a few republicans that followed the model. ron desantis in florida, brian kemp in georgia, mike dewine in ohio. you did see some republican governors create their own brand and set aside extremism and set aside, you know, the things that turned off these moderate and independent voters. they just governed like you would expect somebody to govern, sort of between the 40 yard lines of american politics.

that's the lesson here. so although it was a glum sort of midterm election for the republicans, there were a few bright spots that offer lessons for the future. so the question is now are republicans going to adopt those lessons or set those aside and keep going down this path that's really a path for losing more elections. >> that's a good point. gloria, it is going to be a huge, huge disappointment for mitch mcconnell in the united states senate right now. chuck schumer is going to be very, very happy at the same time. >> i'm sure we will hear from him immediately. mitch mcconnell has a right to be disappointed, to be very disappointed. he's raised hundreds of millions of dollars that he's given to republican candidates. they're complaining, some who have lost like blake masters was complaining that he didn't get enough money from mitch mcconnell. mitch mcconnell warned people about candidate quality, and donald trump triumphed and his candidates became the nominees.

>> in the primaries. >> in the primaries. well, and then in the general, and they didn't win. it is a lesson about extremism, and the republican party is reaching the proverbial fork in the road. which what do they go now? how do they govern in the house, number one, because people are going to be watching m mccarthy and seeing if he can herd his cats and get them all in order. they will be watching the democrats to see what happens in the senate and maybe whether there's anything they can do together, because governing now -- i think one of the lessons of this election is that governing is important. people want you to govern. so let's see what happens. i don't want to be pollyanna-judiciary at all. but let's see if mccarthy can overcome his right flank. let's see what happens in the democratic senate. let's see if they can get something done on some issues

like opioid addiction. there are issues. >> gloria, it is not the first time we have seen republicans arrive at a fork in the road. they were at a fork in the road at 2018. >> that's right. >> they were at a fork in the road in 2020 when donald trump lost the election and lost two senate seats. they were at a fork in the road after an insurrection on our united states capitol, and at every time in all of those forks -- how many prongs are there on a fork? >> four. >> the republican party chose to go with donald trump. they kept going down the other road. they're at yet another fork in the road. >> right. >> and will they take a different path. i don't know we have the answer to this. >> i would argue this, ron desantis in florida, let's see if there will be a coming together of the mitch mcconnells of the world and ron desantis of the world. right now to your point, david,

fool me once, shame on me. fool me twice -- however that goes, the other way around. basically, shame on me. but, you know, the fact is if you look at candidates right now and you look at where republicans, who they could have ran, they could have ran doug ducey, a fairly popular governor in arizona who would have been a more formidable candidate against mark kelly. you look at what happened in pennsylvania where david mccormick would have been a more formidable candidate. he might not have -- yes, he did have as much money as mehmet oz. he probably would have been embraced and run that race. new hampshire -- >> listen, republicans made terrible choices and blew it but democrats made smart choices. i think there was a lot of scrutiny on joe biden. he obviously has very low approval ratings. he had a hell of a summer in terms of getting popular legislation through, infrastructure reform, the inflation reduction act, which hasn't even kicked in. it will kick in at some point

around student loans. that also was very popular with voters. there was a lot of question about whether or not they would be able to keep sort of the anti-trump coalition together. african american voters, latino voters, young voters, asian voters and college-educated voters as well. they were able to do that. they were able to meet voters where they live with key issues, whether it was abortion, whether it was student loans. there's any number of issues. we should give democrats some credit. they ran a smart race. also, i think by really doubling down on the incumbents, there was this idea maybe they should reach into other senate races. they really spent a lot of money on these key senate races and it turns out they were right to do that. >> yeah. >> that's right. >> they were smart -- >> go ahead, gloria. >> you know, to get back to your question is it going to be different this time for republicans, having reached the fourth fork in the road, i think now it is about self-preservation. you can make the argument that after january 6th when they all said -- when lindsey gram stood up and said, i've had enough and

they all seemed to change their mind, they thought it was preserving their political futures to stick with donald trump. now the question is self-preservation about abandoning donald trump or is it about sticking with him. we don't know how that is going to play out. >> but they have a legitimate off ramp now. you said it before, in ron desantis. ron desantis gives you the off ramp to get off the donald trump highway because he still does play very well with the maga voters. that's why we have seen donald trump come after ron desantis even before the election. >> he doesn't play as well right now as donald trump plays with the base that he created, right. i think there are going to be a lot of attempts to sort of make ron desantis happen, particularly in sort of studios and around the consultant class. i don't know that the consultant class has consulted with actual voters yet in terms of ron desantis. >> right. >> we'll have to figure that out. >> i want to get back to your point about the path to the democratic majority here for the

senate, because there was so much pressure on democratic outside groups, on chuck schumer, what have you, you are not investing enough in sherry beasley's race in north carolina, you are not investing enough in tim ryan's race in ohio. these are people, strong democrats, great candidates. they have a shot in these redder states and you are not investing. what you heard from the democratic campaign committee, from the outside groups all the time is, we have to make choices. it isn't about we don't like this candor donidate or don't t they're doing well. they made smart choices how to pursue and get to 50. they did it by doubling down on the incumbents and protecting them rather than trying to expand the map. they took a lot of heat for that but it is paying off now. i just also would note when you look at the exit polls, independent voters delivered the senate majority to the democrats again. >> absolutely. >> fetterman beat oz by independent voters by 20 points,

58 to 38. kelly beat masters by 16 percentage points by among independents. warnock bit walker in the first round. all double digits among independent voters in this political environment. >> what is so impressive for the democrats to maintain the majority for democrats in the united states senate, going into the election if you looked at all of the polls is the country moving in the right track or the wrong track, the polls overwhelmingly showed the country is moving in the wrong track. despite that, despite the democrats being in the white house, the house and the senate the majority, the country decided, at least in so many of these important senate races, that they wanted the democrats to continue to be the majority. >> they did. and this comes as the leader of the party, the president of the united states has a 55% disapproval rating. we always talk about his approval rating in the 40s. how about you just flip it and

it really crystallizes a little bit more, you know, in your mind. look, the democrats -- in fact, as we are talking here i'm getting texts if democratic strategists telling me we actually could have done more. we could have done better. our message wasn't as sharp as it should have been. that argue, you know, there's probably something to be said about that. having said that, democrats have to be pretty happy where they are. >> let me go back to some of our political analysts as well. kristin soltis anderson, what is the main lesson republicans should take away from what has happened at the senate's win, the democrats win the senate? >> that in order to win elections you need to put together a majority coalition. you can't just rely on turning out your base. you can't just rely on getting your most reliable, most ardent supporters to the polls. you have to win those who are a little skeptical of you. groups, for instance, younger voters. if preelection polls we saw for instance voters under the age of 30 were the most likely to say

they thought joe biden was focused on the wrong issues, et cetera, et cetera. they're not in love with the democratic party, and yet by unbelievable margins in this election younger voters were breaking forti democrats. that's one group they can't take for granted and say it is okay we will just run up the numbers for the base, that's not a strategy moving forward. >> if you are going to win the contest you have to find some of the independents and get them to support you as well, not just your base, right, scott? >> oh, absolutely. in 2024 the republicans have a favorable map for the u.s. senate. there's a lot of democrat defense to play. if we hit ourselves in the head with a tack hammer again over and over and over, we're going to bleed to death. we have to learn the lesson about candidate quality, candidate appeal, and we also need to learn it for the white house. look, this is a midterm. we elected a congress now. we're trying to take back the white house. the republican party hasn't won the national popular vote since

my old boss, george bush did it in 2004. kim reynolds is one as well. she figured something out as did members of the iowa congressional delegation out there. there are people in this party who seem to know how to attract the base, the independents, hispanics, you know, that coalition that you could see would be a national governing coalition. who are we going to listen to, the people who just won in that fashion or the people who just fell flat on their face? i think it is a pretty easy choice. >> i think you make a good point. hilary rosen, go ahead. >> so i can't help but thinks there's a little bit of over reliance on the trump blame here on the republican side, because when you look at actual policies ron desantis and donald trump are not that different. i mean ron desantis is, you know -- has done everything around abortion, has been, you know, attacking kids in schools and curriculums and families.

so i think what we're going to see in the next two years is going to be very telling. we have still a 6-3 conservative supreme court. there are more decisions to come down. there are more things that the supreme court has promised to undo. i think, you know, we may have the benefit of donald trump announcing he is running for president again, but these republicans are going to have to stand up for themselves and not blame donald trump for their losses because their policies are just not popular. that's the thing that we've been seeing and that's the thing we'll continue to see. whether or not donald trump is in the mix or not. >> ashley, i want to get your thoughts as well. you speak as a former national coalitions director for biden/harris in 2020. go ahead. >> i agree with what hilary is saying. i mean the one lesson that i take away every cycle is don't forget your base. black voters, people have forgotten that young -- they just have thrown away young voters as though they aren't

going to vote. we have seen young voters turn out in record numbers since 2018, demand change and slowly and surely things have been happening that they are asking for, whether it is student loan relief, whether it is the bipartisan gun reform bill that was passed this congress. i think dems cannot forget their base and they didn't this cycle. they need to double down. in georgia they cannot let that coalition fall apart because we still want to win that senate race. that will play well in 2024. i also think, to hilary's point on the big decisions coming out of the court, democrats need to continue to say what they are for and what they are going to do for the people and fight. even if we have a split government, show the people that you are trying to improve their quality of life. it is not always just saying that i don't like this person or i don't like this candidate. people are snarmart and voters smart and they're living their lives every single day on the backside of this pandemic after essential workers being on the

front line and had to make some really, really tough decisions. it is not just one issue. it is a comprehensive agenda. i think dems are landing that plane for this cycle. if they continue, even with a split government, if they continue at least in the senate and in the white house to put forward policy agendas that will improve americans' lives, i think it will fare well in 2024 and hold the coalition together. >> do you think, scott, the republicans are learning the right lessons right now? >> i don't know yet. that's what primaries are for. we are fixing to have one. donald trump is going to run. i think others are going to challenge him. if ron desantis does, i heard nia malik henderson saying maybe the voters haven't been consulted. with all due, the florida voters were consulted and he won hispanics, he flipped miami-dade. there are republicans who can show republican voters there's a better way. i will give you all of the fight you want but something you didn't get out of donald trump

and that's competence governance, no drama governance, no constant anxiety. i will give you what you want but i will take away the anxiety. that model exists and that's what primaries are for. we will see if we learn the lessons, but this is the battle that the republican party is going to have with itself over the next couple of years. if it wants to compete in 2024, and i think this may be for the democrats too, new may be better than old. another lesson for this election for me, wolf, is i think americans with -- you know, would rather pick two names out of the peoria phone book to run against each other than trump and biden. it may be both parties need to look for a new generation next time around. >> it is interesting. we are learning chuck schumer, the democratic leader in the senate -- >> i predicted. >> as you predicted, is about to make a statement. he is not waiting too long. hold on a second. i think he is speaking. is he speaking already? he was about to start but then he walked away. he is about to start speaking

very soon. we will hear what he has to say. stay with us. you predicted this. >> i don't blame him. >> now here he is. >> here is schumer. >> okay. yes. >> all right. we will come back to schumer when he finishes his phone call. >> anybody who knows chuck schumer knows he will take a gazillion phone calls. that guy never gets off the phone. >> as soon as he actually starts to make his statement we will hear what he has to say. but he's going to gloat obviously. he will be thrilled. >> well, he might not gloat, but he might congratulate his candidates saying congratulate the president of the united states and talk about the democratic agenda and what they will be able to do now that they've retained control of the senate. look, this is a moment for him that a lot of folks were saying that democrats weren't campaigning the right way, they weren't bragging about all the work that they had done on

infrastructure and the american rescue plan and all of the rest of it. i think now it is going to be a moment for him to say, look, we -- you know, we succeeded because of what we did for you and here is what we're going to do in the future. this enables us to do a lot. now, it is difficult to predict what chuck schumer will say in any given moment. >> i think he is speaking. let's listen. >> american people, with the races now called in arizona and nevada, democrats will have a majority in the senate and i will once again be majority leader. this election is a victory, a victory and a vindication for democrats, our agenda and for the america and for the american people. there are three things that helped the senate secure the majority. one, our terrific candidates. two, our agenda and our accomplishments. three, the american people rejected the anti-democratic extremist maga republicans.

let me talk about each quickly. our candidates, catherine cortez masto, mark kelly, maggie hassan and john fetterman and raphael warnock are just fine human beings who really care about people, who have the understanding of how to get things done, and those who have been in the senate have already accomplished great things. they believe in our democracy and public service, and they're going to get a lot done for their states in the next six years. contrast our candidates with some of the people they ran against. our strong candidates beat some very flawed challengers who are no faith in democracy, no fidelity to the truth or honor. even when the polls looked bleak our candidates never gave up and never lost faith. as the maga republicans stoked fear and division, democrats were talking about how we delivered on issues that

mattered to people. i think one thing the pundits and prognosticators missed was that in all of the incendiary ads that blanketed the airwaves for weeks people knew that democrats were getting things done for them. so that's the second reason we won. our accomplishments and achievements. the american people believed in what we got done and it stood in contrast to the other party. so many of the things we did, getting the cost of prescription drugs lower, taking on the big oil companies and getting home heating prices lower, taking on the nra and doing something rational about guns, helping our veterans who were exposed to the burn pits and getting the chips act done, which is going to bring thousands and thousands of jobs to america and stop china from dominating that industry. so we got a whole lot of things done. we took on the special interests

and we delivered for the american people and they knew it. finally, the third reason -- oh, and one other thing we did which i cannot forget, we staunchly defended a woman's right to choose, because the american people turned out to elect democrats in the senate there's now a firewall against a nationwide abortion ban threat that so many republicans have talked about. so we got a lot done and we'll do a lot more for the american people, but, finally and maybe most important of all, the american people rejected, soundly rejected the anti-democratic authoritarian, nasty and divisive direction the maga republicans wanted to take our country in. from the days of the big lie which was pushed by so many to the threats of violence and even violence itself against poll workers, election officials and

electoral processes and, of course, the violence on january 6th, all of that bother the american people. another thing that bothered them just as much, too many of the republican leaders went along with that, didn't rebut that violence, and some of them even aided and abetted the words of negativity and other things. when i talk about violence, i mean violent language. i mean violence against other people. where was the condemnation from the republican leaders so ofte n so the american people are not happy with republican leaders, who condoned and even supported this nasty poisonous rhetoric. i making a plea to my republican colleagues, we can

disagree on so many issues, that's fair. but let's not have this kind of divisive negativity . let's not have the condemnation of viciousness and violence against poll workers, so many others. let us try to come together. finally some thank you's. thank you to our senators who ran a great campaign and a welcome to peter welch and john fetterman who will be our new senators. and i'm confident in georgia, that reverend warnock will be reelected and back in the senate. he's done so many good things already. i want to particularly think gary peters, the chair of our democratic committee and all the great staff of the dsc see, without this, it would have happened. and finally, my friend harry reid, he may be gone, but he is

still with us. his legacy, in nevada, continues to shine bright as the lights on the vegas strip. also, thank you to all the grassroots groups that stood for america, that said we are going to get things done. thank you to the millions of people who supported us, and the thousands of volunteers and organizers who were there. i look forward to working with president biden, vice president harris and god willing, i democratic majority in the house , to continue delivering meaningful results for american families, as we continue in the new senate. i'm ready for a few questions, if anybody has them. thank you . thank you. [ inaudible ] >> we always have much greater

faith in our victory than a lot of the pendants and prognosticators. the people understood that inflation is a problem that they understood it's a worldwide problem. all over the world, not caused by joe biden, caused by covid and the bottlenecks that covid caused, and they saw democrats were doing something against inflation, getting prescription drug prices lower, lowering the cost of healthcare, and in the longer run, dealing with the supply chain problems that caused the cost of cars and other things to go up. we were talking about with you american people really cared about and we knew the negativity, the nastiness, the condoning of donald trump's glide, and saying that the elections were rigged, when there's no proof of that at all. would hurt the republicans, not help them. too many of them and their candidates fell into those traps. okay? [ inaudible ] i feel good. i feel good for the country because so many people worried,

i did, about this democracy, with all the negativity and all the threats and even some people doing violence not, you know, not the party leaders but some of the people in the republican party didn't seem to condemn it very hard. america showed that we believe in our democracy, that the roots of democracy are deep and strong, and it will prevail as long as we fight for it. [ inaudible ] >> i always tried in the last senate. the majority of the important bills we password bipartisan. the largest infrastructure bill that's ever happened, the bill that helped our veterans with the burn pits, the gun control bill and maybe most important, the chips bill, which is going to create billions of good paying drops in america, so important to the future of our economy, back to america, so we did a lot of things bipartisan

but when we couldn't get things done with bipartisanship such as things like climate change are going after the prescription drug company so we could lower costs, we did it on our own. so my first choice is always to do it bipartisan but for issues that matter to the american people, but then we try and do it on our own. thank you everybody, have a great night. take care, we love america. >> clearly a very happy chuck schumer, the majority leader in the united states senate, presumably he will remain as the majority leader in the united states senate as a result of the democrats huge win today. cnn has project the democrats will maintain their majority of the united states senate after democratic senator cortez masto defeated laxalt. a huge win for the democrats. schumer cited these three reasons, strong candidates, a

strong agenda and a compass mints, and describe the opponents as maga republicans and extremists. >> i think he kind of summed it up, and away, he also, you know talked about democracy, and he didn't say thanks to joe biden and your great popularity for getting us through this but i think you know, he makes very valid points. one thing i want to point out is chuck schumer is not going to be challenged. as the leader, and before the election, that of the republican campaign committee for the senate, rick scott, of florida, was thinking of challenging mitch mcconnell as leader, and somehow, that has vaporized, because of course, he was not as successful as he thought he was going to be, and lots of folks are saying well he's the one who let donald trump pick the candidates instead of letting mitch mcconnell really get more involved with it. and so, i think there isn't

going to be a leadership fight with mcconnell but that's because they weren't victorious >> it's a huge embarrassment for the republicans. >> we see chuck schumer on television and he has a sigh of relief right now. that i s what it is, they at least have some control over congress, going into the new year. you have mitch mcconnell right now, who, you know, hundreds of millions of dollars that he invested, that he went out and raised, to try to take back the senate majority, at the same time being attacked, time and time again, not only by donald trump but by his allies, forced to take candidates that he knew because he knows this game better than anybody, would not win or they would have a difficult time of winning, you have mitch mcconnell right now, trying to figure out how are we going to operate next year. that's what they are thinking

right now. they are not thinking, oh my gosh, we've lost, mitch mcconnell, i guarantee, was thinking, how are we going to operate over the next year, and right now, he won't have a majority, that's for sure. and he is incredibly angry, and i think we are all even going to see the incrimination between the maga party and the establishment, come back together, and it is going to get very ugly. >> do you think there will be a split split split between mcconnell supporters and trump supporters? >> i think that's right. we know how mitch mcconnell himself feels about donald trump. he hasn't talked to him through the full cycle. i think since the january 6th incident, he hasn't talked to him and in some ways, that created the landscape that we saw which was all of these trump candidates and mitch mcconnell talking about candidate quality. i want to get back to biden, right? we say oh, biden might have been a drag but i think if they had lost,, we should give some credit to joe biden for some of the choices he made of labeling, maga, ultramodern, and framing those folks as a threat to democracy, he got a

lot of blowback from democrats for doing that, and kind of broke with his sort of bipartisan agenda and his bipartisan manner but i think it helps, right, to brad republicans as a threat, the maga republicans, you know, essentially as a problem, and you see some of that in the polling, voters concerned about extremism, the fact that they win independent voters . i think biden himself, had a real sense of what the american public was feeling, it was a bookend to why he ran, this idea that there's a battle for the soul of the nation, and his argument, ultra maga was on the wrong side. i spoke in the final weeks of the race to senior white house advisor, it was two-pronged, the biden strategy. it was sort of, half the strategy was geared towards localizing in the races that he

could go and visit, and highlighting the agenda item in there. so katie porter's district and highlighting prescription drugs, very localized pocketbook issues from the agenda. that was 50% of what they wanted to do. the other 50% was, to make everybody aware that the republican party was no longer the republican party but it was now the maga republican party. that was the other piece of the strategy. and that had real residence. i mean, we talked about the independent voters pushing this way. that is what this is in response to. why did independent voters go to these candidates? because the republican party was indeed seen as extreme, and i think that is of concern to those voters in the middle, and a pretty significant way. >> i think what happened