you talk nerdy to me. guy, guys, guys, we're still in session. and i don't know what the heck you're talking about. ♪ ♪ ♪

>> hello, and welcome to our viewers joining us here in the united states and all over the world. live from washington, i am kasie hunt. we are following big news for democrats. the reelection of u.s. senator raphael warnock. cnn projects the georgia incumbent will defeat his republican challenger, first-time political candidate herschel walker. warnock's victory in this runoff election gives democrats a 50 1:49 edge in the senate. but it is a critical advantage, as democrats will not have a majority in all of the senate committees. here is a part of senator warnock's victory speech. >> i want to say thank you from, thank you from the bottom of my heart. [crowd cheering] and to god be the glory. [crowd cheering]

after a hard-fought campaign, [crowd cheering] or should i say campaigns [crowd cheering] it is my honor to out of the four most powerful words ever spoken in a democracy. the people have spoken. [crowd cheering] >> and herschel walker, his challenger, was quick to concede after warnock's projected victory. it should not be noteworthy, but it is. he told supporters he believes in the constitution and elected officials. >> and when they call -- i said, those numbers, they look like they aren't going to add up. full on the things i want to tell you is we never stop dreaming. i don't want any of you to stop dreaming, to stop believing in america.

there are no excuses in life. and i'm not going to make any excuses now, because we put up one heck of a fight. >> let's bring in cnn's john berman, who is at the magic wall, up in new york, to walk us through senator warnock's path to victory. first of all, john, it's great to see you. thank you for being here at this middle of the night hour on the east coast. let's talk about how warnock won this election tonight. >> you know, very nice to see you kasie, along with doug flutie, introducing herschel walker at his concession speech last night. the first thing i want to point out, kasie, was the margin. warnock ahead by 91,000 votes. obviously, that is more than the general election one month ago, where raphael warnock had an edge of 37,000 votes. so, right, now walker head by 91,000. that could still grow as more votes trickle in. one thing i want to point out, that 91,000 vote margin, it's basically the exactly the same from his special election runoff two years ago. and in fact, the map that warnock won, the special

election worn a -- runoff two years, ago exactly the same as today. look at all these counties. these are the counties warnock won this time. exactly the same as the runoff two years ago. , now where did the race get decided this time? this is interesting. let me show you where herschel walker hundred performed. okay? he underperformed, herschel walker did, you can see obviously, importantly, in the atlanta area. all they can do that in just a moment. but also the other urban and suburban areas. around columbus, augusta, savannah. herschel walker did fine. in fact, he outperformed some of his general election results in rural counties. let me just show you a few. dade county, herschel walker got 82% in the general election, he got 80%. he actually grew that margin. next door in walker county, herschel walker, in walker county, just got just about 80% this time. one month ago, it was 77%. so, he actually grew some of the margins in the rural areas.

but it was not nearly enough, because there are not nearly enough votes there. and to counter what happened in the urban and suburban areas. take fulton county, which is the heart of atlanta here. you can see raphael warnock with 76.5%, herschel walker, 23.5%. one month, ago you can see it was less than that. walker at 73%, he went from 73% to 76.5%. and there are so many more votes here. you are dealing with tens and tens and thousands of votes. so, warnock cleaned up in these urban and suburban areas. and there's one fascinating trend i want to point out, you kasie. i think you will appreciate this as a student of history. and it really gets to what is a challenge to -- . let's look gwinnett county at, gwinnett county is atlanta but also atlanta suburbs right now. you can see senator raphael warnock won gwinnett county by 25 points. i'm going to put plus 25. here

now, go back to the presidential election in 2020. you can see gwinnett county, joe biden won gwinnett county, but it was by 18 points. now, let's go back to hillary clinton in 2016. hillary clinton won, but it was by six points. raphael warnock just one gwinnett county by 25 points. now i'm going to blow your mind. let's go back to 2012. and here, mitt romney actually won gwinnett county by almost nine points. again, suburban atlanta, romney won by nine points. this time, raphael warnock won by 25 points. so, you can see, that's a challenge as you look at republicans now facing some of these areas nationwide, kasie. but >> it's a great, an absolute great point. mitch mcconnell and his team are obsessed with the voters that are making those very changes that you just outlined. and it's likely white democrats currently control the senate. john berman, thank you very much, my friend.

we will see you in an hour. we really appreciate you being here. here to talk with the georgia senate runoff is our distinguished panel of guests, paul begala, democratic strategist and cnn political commentator, alice stewart, republican strategist and cnn political commentator, laura barrón-lópez, white house correspondent for the pbs news hour, and april ryan, correspondent for the green, they're all cnn political analyst. we also want to bring into the conversation cnn political analyst ron brownstein, who joins us live from los angeles. ron, we're all jealous. it's a couple hours earlier where you are. [laughter] early on wednesday morning here on the east coast. but let me start with you, because i mean, for viewers, and we've got a lot of people watching from around the world, because we're also on cnn i tonight, who are not familiar with your amazing work, i mean, you have looked at these kinds of demographic trends, the way our politics has evolved over the decades in a really in-depth and detailed way. and georgia is such an interesting example. >> yeah.

>> what do you think here -- help us understand how much of this is a fundamental shift or a demographic shift versus these individual candidates themselves. and of course, the elephant in the room, donald trump. >> yeah, well, look, every election is an intersection of long term and near term factors. so, all of those figured in. but to go back to the point that john berman finish on, what we are really seeing is the impact of the conscious choice republicans have made in the trump era to reorient the party toward the cultural preferences and grievances of effort ominously white, non-urban, non-college often evangelical electorate. and the impact that is had on suburban areas that once reliably voted republican. i mean, there are five states, kasie, as you, know that decided the 2020 election by shifting from trump in 16 to biden in 20. they were arizona, michigan, wisconsin, and pennsylvania. with walkers loss tonight,

republicans have lost all seven republicans in those states who were nominated for governor or senator, with trump's specific endorsement, have now lost. >> fascinating. >> and they have lost in a very consistent way by having this suburban areas sharply go against them. it was not just gwinnett county cobb county, it was oakland in, michigan maricopa in arizona, and dane county in wisconsin. so, there is a consistent pattern here of these big, populists, thriving population centers in the metro areas rejecting the trump era definition of the party. and their increased strength in the rural areas not quite be enough to overcome that. >> yeah, no, it's such a good point. alice stewart, as the republican at the table, i have to bring you in. because the reality is the people live increasingly in cities and suburbs. and the party is increasingly, as ron clearly laid out, focusing on a message that appeals to rural voters. and they're simply not enough

time to win national elections. and you know, we're seeing it in control the senate. obviously, there's very narrow control the house on the republican side. almost not enough that [laughter] i'm not even sure what we can take away from the way the house which this year. but how do, and how can, republicans win back these voters that they need to win if they want the white house? back >> well, they can start with nominating quality candidates. candidate quality was the big factor in a lot of these races that ron mentioned that we lost. people that were flawed candidates, that were backed by trump, election deniers, we're okay with the january 6th insurrection at the capitol. that did not sit well with voters. so, getting quality candidates that focus on issues that are important to voters is really important. and this, i think, will go a long way to what i'm going to say next. lana mcdaniel, chairman of the republican national committee, she was put in that position in

2017. since she has been in a position, we have, republicans have not won across the board in any races since she has been in office. i think change starts at the top. in order for republicans to do well moving forward, change needs to be done at the top. and therefore -- >> it's true. >> there, for someone like her in a position as head as the rnc, get candidates in the primary process that can win in the general election. >> yeah, i mean, look -- >> this in about winning primaries, this is about winning the general election. >> i get your. point and at the end of the day, paul begala, i'm interested in your take on this, at the end of the day, the best people in the republican party have not want to put themselves in positions to run for these offices, run for senate. we had chris new in new hampshire, there were others across the map that mitch mcconnell really wanted to run, and who did not run, because nobody wanted anything to do with trump. how do they solve that problem? >> we're not talking about the maryland senate race. because the incumbent one in the landslide, because larry

hogan, incredibly popular republican governor, one of the most democratic states, did not want to have anything to do with politics in the time of trump in the usa. >> he's got to run for president, but yes. >> and we wish him well. but the problem is not just geographic, right. they do have a problem in the cities and in the suburbs. but it's what they say. you know, right after the civil wars, henry adams, historian, writer, diplomat, he described american politics in his day is the systematic organization of hatreds. that is donald trump's politics. if he was going to rule america and say i'm going to help save rural hospitals, you know, one third of all rural hospitals in america are risk of closing. that is a crisis. there's a crisis on the farm. god knows there's a crisis in every part of america. city, rural. but if he was going to do that with ideas and solutions for their very real problems, that would be one thing. but instead he's going with grievance. look at mr., walker running ads

attacking trans kids. of which i think in high school athletics in georgia, there are two. and we know that trans kids have spectacular higher suicide ideation and self harm. >> yeah. >> and that just has failed politically. but i also think morally it is wrong. it is better to come to voters with something you will do for them, then just i hate to say people you hate. >> all, right let's push pause on this. we're gonna come back to our great panel in just a second. cnn's special coverage of the georgia senate runoff continues after this quick break. take a picture. i'm stuck! is that the new iphone? yup, i just got the new iphone 14 with its amazing camera at t-mobile. wow! at t-mobile, get four iphone 14s on us. and 4 new lines for $25 bucks a line.

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♪ ♪ ♪ >> you got me for six more years. [crowd cheering] >> that was u.s. senator raphael warnock, celebrating his major win in the final race of the 2022 midterm election. cnn projects he will defeat republican trouser herschel walker and that very close runoff election. neither candidate got above 50% of the vote in november's general election, which sparked this runoff. warnock's victory gives democrats a 51 to 49 seat

majority in the u.s. senate. and it brings to an end the marathon midterm election cycle that we are still covering, which saw democrats defy historical trends, limiting their losses in the house. and tonight, getting a seat in the senate. but cnn political analyst van jones pointed out tonight that senator warnock's victory -- in his view, was not big enough. >> just because republicans have done done stuff, does not make democrats mark. there is a danger if we get to triumphalist about what happened, he should've been beat by 50, points he should been beat by 80 points. there are problems and flaws in our party. i want to make sure we fix those. because 2024 is around the corner. >> all right, let's talk about this more with our esteemed panel. april and laura, let me bring you into this conversation. i'm not sure i agree with van entirely, considering the state of our politics. this was always going to be close. the reality was, warnock, laura,

we keep calling a close race, yes, almost every race in a competitive state in american politics right now is close. but this margin was pretty significant for a state that is a swing state at the end of the day. >> it was. and it still is georgia. and i know we're just talking about all of the shifting demographics in georgia. but it still just became a swing state in 2020. so, because of that, i think that there are a lot of things democrats can learn from this election cycle and carry on into 2024. one thing we have not talked about yet is abortion. when i was down there in georgia, yes, it was the runoff. but a lot of female voters i talked to mentioned abortion access and mentioned that issue. and so, i think that is going to be something that, especially as we potentially see in 24, a number of states bring up abortion access ballot measures, that democrats could potentially use, which they did in a number of states the cycle, to try and bolster turnout. >> yeah, one of the things, april, that my sources said to, is abortion is one the reasons

why, perhaps, history was defined as election cycle. meaning that there were a lot of voters who looked at -- normally they say, the party is in power, we are going to say, it we're going to check on them, change things around a little bit. because of the way the supreme court intervened so aggressively, instead, voters actually felt like republicans needed a check in a sort of different way. what's your -- >> yeah, most definitely, when you have a conservative court that's going to overturn the law of the land. i mean, the nation came out saying that they did not want to change roe v. wade. and the supreme court did that. and then you have a candidate who has accusations about him paying money to a former girlfriend with a get well card. that, you know, he's denying having an abortion. that his son comes out and says you are lying. that brought a whole neither layer and conundrum on this very sensitive issue in the nation. do you believe this candidate?

where does he stand on issues? and can you trust what he says. and it goes back, kind of, sort of, also, to what charlie said earlier. about the fact that he was not a good candidate. he was someone who -- he couldn't three sentences together. >> there are a lot of questions, vampires, where we'll see, et cetera. >> among other things. but issues matter in a state that's trying to figure out where it is, and a party trying to figure out who it is. >> ron brownstein, as we think about this kind of in the big picture, this really was the mid term, the whole midterm, not just what happened in georgia, it was not necessarily the kind of change wave election that we saw kind of swinging the country back and forth and back and forth in previous midterm elections, like 2006 in 2010. instead, most incumbents won their elections, the house did not swing very far.

yes, kevin mccarthy, kevin mccarthy's party is going to be in charge of the house. but it's by barely. and basically by the same majority that nancy pelosi held, four, five, seats are so. and then you have the senate, again, basically evenly split. they hand the democrats one seat. what do you think it is that drove this sort of maintenance of the status quo almost in this election cycle? >> you know, what i wrote in mid october, kasie, i thought that was becoming a double negative election. and i think that produce the environment that gave us that result. on the one hand, you had a majority of voters who were negative on biden's performance and negative on the state of the economy. in fact, the exit polls, we saw that borne out. i normally, that would produce big gains for the party out of power. but that first negative, i think, was curtailed and limited by the second negative, which was that there was a substantial number of voters who view the trump era

republican party as a threat to their rights and to democracy self on a number of other issues. and they were reluctant to trust them on power, despite their doubts about the democrats. and that led to this extraordinary set of results, which included democrats narrowly winning independents in the national exit poll. no party holding the white house has won independents in a mid term since 1980. two democrats, of course, won by even bigger margins in the swing states. and the other thing that i think is really important recognize though, is this is really different to different elections in the blue and swing states than it was in the red states. because, you know, in michigan and pennsylvania, wisconsin, in states were -- colorado, washington, in states where abortion is still legal there is still a clear and unmistakable signal from voters that they wanted to remain legal. and you saw overwhelming percentages of voters who identified as pro choice voting

for democrats. on the other hand, on the red states that have actually banned abortion, like florida, texas, even georgia, iowa, with the sole exception of arizona, we really did not see much of a backlash. so, in some ways, what this election is deepen and widen the chasm between red america and blue america. the challenge for republicans, is when you look at the electoral college, the states that lean democratic, really leave them with an uphill climb for 2024, unless they can change the dynamic in the suburban communities we are talking about. >> this is why we love talking to you, ron. really fascinating analysis and looking forward. the future has huge implications, as you point out. our panel will stick around with us for the next hour. you are all watching cnn's special coverage of the senate runoff in georgia. we will be back with more on raphael warnock's win after the short break.

♪ ♪ ♪ >> u.s. senator raphael warnock remains undefeated after winning a close georgia runoff just a few hours ago. that's either neither he nor republican challenger herschel walker are in the necessary 50% of the vote in the general midterm election last month. and we had to go to this runoff, but warnock is now secured, his full six year term, giving democrats a credible edge in the senate. the white house is thankful, posting this photo of president joe biden calling warnock congratulate him. in the caption, they write tonight georgia voters stood up

for our democracy, rejected ultra maga, and most importantly, send a good man back to the senate. a short time, ago u.s. president barack obama tweeted, quote, georgians have proven that when it comes time to vote they will show up and vote for a leader that will fight for. that no reaction yet from former president donald trump, who of course, handpicked herschel walker. and a series of other controversial midterm candidates hunan lost their elections. the losses do reflect pretty badly on trump, who has already launched his 2024 presidential bid. and it's been a rough day for team trump in other ways, with major developments in the capitol riot probe. the general house six committee plans to make a criminal referral to the justice. the panel says they have not yet narrowed down everyone who will be referred to what charges they'll recommend. but those decisions will have to come soon, as the committee is set to wrap up its probe and publish a final report by the

end of the year. time is running out, because republicans are set to take control of the house and sure to dismantle the committee. there's also, this a new york jury has found to trump organization company guilty of multiple counts of tax fraud. the case was over a 15-year scheme carried out by top executives who kept lavish perks and bonuses off of the books. a high-ranking executive pleaded guilty to 15 different felony charges, admitting that he failed to pay taxes on nearly $2 million of income. it comes as donald trump is pursuing the republican nomination for president yet again. and while he and his family were not charged directly in a, case the verdict could have further impact on their businesses. attorneys for the trump organization say that they will appeal. our panel is back with. us we've got paul begala, democratic strategist, alice stewart, republican strategist, both cnn political commentators. we've also april got ryan and laura barrón-lópez.

laura's white house correspondent for pbs news hour. april is with lug rio, both cnn political analysts. we also have ron brownstein with us, senior political analyst from los angeles. this has been a conversation, guys, that we hear onset have been having on the brakes and throughout the past couple of hours. paul, i have to tell you, the thing about trump, and i have been convinced for many months that if he were going to get an, it would be a situation where -- i mean, he was going to be the man to beat. he was probably the most likely future republican nominee. it does seem to me that there has been a shift. yes, part of it is the elections. part of it is republicans who were, you know, willing to say privately for a very long time that they thought trump was a loser. now they're more willing to say in public, fine. but also the things that the president himself has been doing seemed further afield in a way, whether it's the dinner with kanye west and the holocaust denier, who i don't even want to name. or the tweet, the truth, what

we call the things on truth social? that came out where we should terminate the constitution. i mean, the degree to which -- i'm not sure i thought the absurdity could get even worse than it was. but somehow it has. and in some ways, it does seem to me like it is less likely that he is going to be taken seriously as the next nominee. but i don't know, what do you think? >> i think he will be. i think he will be the nominee. i'm often wrong, it's not my party. alice probably knows better. but republicans have this winner take all system, which favors a plurality candidate. and while trump does these things that are so offensive even to most republicans. they make him beloved to a core of maybe 25, 30% of republicans. and as long as he has them, and you have a vast field, keep in mind, when he ran the first time in 2016, he did not win a majority in any primary caucus until the 33rd state, new york, his home state. >> yes, that is. true >> he never had 50%

support even a single day as president. he never beat a democrat once by getting more votes. so, he is a plurality candidate. that is where he is comfortable. so, he will keep doubling and tripling. down but i would not bet against that in a multi candidate field. >> sure, but alice, go ahead. >> i will say there is a little bit of difference. i would beg to differ with paul. now in 2016, 2016, a lot of us held our noses and went behind him. he went into the white house with very low expectations and he failed to deliver. but we gave him the benefit of the doubt. he came in with low expectations, we gave him the benefit of the doubt. six years later, he failed to deliver. we now have the benefit of options. there are other republicans who are going to come forward and stand up to him. it might be a fractured feel to begin with, but between these legal challenges, january 6th, the constitutional comments, the dinners with antisemites, people are saying it is time to turn the page. he is becoming increasingly irrelevant in the republican

party day after day. and republicans are saying it is time to move on. >> let me get ron to weigh in here. because, look, what paul is saying is if you plurality candidate in a winner take all situation, he can, you know, get his 20% in iowa, new hampshire, and if there's not another candidate who can best that, then we are going to see that fragmented field. he can then potentially clear through. basically what you saw in florida from ron desantis, do you think that's likely to happen again? i mean, what is your rue about -- what is your view about what we're talk about? >> i think that is right, that is trump's biggest asset. the republican rules favor whoever has the biggest piece, even though that piece a small little jordy. as he points out, he was over the presumptive nominee in 2016 before he reached 50% a vote in any state. what happened in 2016 is trump consolidated the half of the party who are non-college republicans, many of them evangelicals, much more than anyone else consolidated the

other half of the party, who are college educated republicans, to the point where he effectively ended the race in 2016. he was only winning about a third of college educated republicans. and that sense, he's not in that sort of position right now, where you've seen polling, only about a third of college educated republicans say they want him again, or say they would support him. the question is whether anyone can consolidate that piece of the party more effectively than kasich, rubio, cruise, adel did in 2016. i think that will be the special. what i'm trying to puzzle in my head, i don't have an answer, maybe else does, if you think about most of the candidates who could get into this race, i think more of them are more oriented towards that college side then a blue collar side that really help trump. you think of -- or youngkin, pompeo, it may be that the field faces the same problem. not only a lot of candidates, but a lot of candidates fishing primarily in the pool other than the one that trump is

going to be strongest in. >> yeah, and i mean, laura, this does seem like the central challenge. because how many times does trump get declared politically dead, only to end up being the primary, and again, the primary force in a republican nominating contests? we already know, and we've seen, we've got so much evidence we've been talking about all night that shows he cannot win general elections anymore based on his time in the white house and other issues. but when it comes to winning republican primaries, they are in this position. and all of these other candidates, to ron's point, would potentially split up the other types of republican voters. >> when we talk about whether or not republicans are saying collectively we want to turn a page, one thing that i think is important here is that when reporters are asking republicans after the meeting with kanye west and the white supremacist, nick fuentes, whether or not they would condemn it, a number of republicans eventually came out and said they condemned it. they still would not say that it was disqualifying or they

were not going to support trump. the same thing with the latest truth social tweet from trump where he says we should terminate the constitution. republicans, again, said i don't agree with that. that's not okay. we defend the constitution. but then you go the step further of, okay, are you done with the former president? are you going to not support him? and they do not take that step. and mcconnell, you know, the senate minority leader has said before that he would potentially support trump if he were the nominee again. so, this idea that republicans were going to totally sever their ties with him, i think, i don't think it's going to happen. >> april, brief last word. >> if last word? the elephant in the word that no one is talking about is that he's going into this weekend, but if there is a indictment, he could wind up being a martyr. and he could rally the base and rally republicans yet again to become the nominee. that is my take. >> oh boy, all right.

>> [laughter] it's true, it's real. >> i do not disagree with you. i do not disagree with you at all. in the runoff to the -- in a runoff -- single day voting record was repeatedly broken. we're going to look at how voter turnout impacted the results. y-better skikin from dry to moisturizezed in just 12 days. be f fearless with olay hyaluronic body wash and body lotion. hey guys, detect this: living with hiv, i learned that i can stay undetectable

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♪ ♪ ♪ >> i don't want to be that one vote that took at the other way. i want to make sure my vote. count >> it's important to my children, my grandchildren, and most of all, me, well i'm still here on this earth. >> i think it's an important race. >> those are some georgia voters, laying out the stakes in the critical u.s. senate runoff that was won by democratic incumbent, senator raphael warnock, a high-ranking state official told cnn told cnn 3.3 million ballots were

cast. a record turnout on tuesday. early single day voting smash records last week. prior to the runoff, democrats had already won the senate, but only by the narrowest of margins. warnock's when you give them more control over the chamber. and we're back with our coverage of the georgia runoff election. let's continue our conversation with our esteemed panel. april, on this question of voting in particular, this is something democrats particularly in georgia have worked really hard on in recent years. but it also highlights the fact that republicans, namely donald trump, scared republican voters away from entities very legitimate ways of getting out to the polls in a way that, you know, created a problem for herschel walker. if you've got a vote that has been bank early, you can spend your money and focus getting somebody else to the polls, and you don't have to worry about the previous person, you don't have to -- i think one source, i told one of my colleagues on cnn, you don't have to be the weather reporter on election day, right. when it's raining, and your

turnout is down. >> let me say this, and this is one thing, when there is any kind of effort to suppress or change the vote, it's not just basically aimed at one group. other people are impacted and affected. if you say, no, we are going to shut it down for weekend voting or saturday and sunday voting, you know, there are not just black but white people who have jobs that they need to work on a saturday or sunday, and they need to get off as well. so, here's the issue in georgia. this runoff situation, the first time they ran against each other, neither one of them got 51%. to go back again was to suppress the vote, because they realize that certain communities do not come out on the second try. they thought it was going to be the black community. they were wrong. they came out. but the larger issue in voting, we are now voting without the full protections of the 1965 voting rights act that was

gutted in 2013 by the united states supreme court. it pulled out something called preclearance. and preclearance is exactly what is happening, an issue that is linked to what is happening in georgia. preclearance is when the states would have to go to the justice department to get approval for their changes. and georgia, you cannot -- if my auntie is in line waiting for three hours to vote, i cannot bring our food. if i, do i go to jail, she goes to jail. that is suppression, et cetera, et cetera. in georgia is now the test case for how we move forward to have blanket voting laws, so everyone has the right and freedoms to vote. >> sure. that's fair enough. but i mean, alice, really, the issue in georgia was actually more on the republican side if anything because there were -- people were just not willing to do, to utilize these avenues

that were made available to them. >> i will say this. and looking at a selection with record voter turnout, we had very few incidences of any irregularities, certainly no widespread voter fraud. and i just want to take a moment to hat tip to brad raffensperger, the secretary of state's office, the election workers, in every county in the state of georgia that worked really hard to make this a fair election. and look, the most important thing is that every state has their own election laws, elected officials and every state determine the election laws in these states. and that's what the republican legislature did in this case. some regulation with regard to the elections were affected due to covid, drop boxes in such. now that covid is gotten through, some regulations have chains. to a false point about the water in the, line i think it's also important to point out

that the law stipulates that while individual campaigns or issues cannot give out water or food, if you are in line and need water, affliction officials at the sites can distribute water. >> look, i'm glad you made that. point i think what i'm trying to get out here and what i think is an important piece of the puzzle in georgia and also across the country as we deal with election deniers, paul, is that these people, voters, are willing to believe leaders who mislead them about what is safe and effective in terms of their voices being heard. and it has become more of a -- in georgia, it was more of a cry for republicans than it was for democrats in this particular case. but, i mean, i think it's important to call out when people are saying i can't trust voting earlier or dropping my ballot off. there are people who believe leaders who tell them those things, those people's voices are not going to be heard. >> and paradoxically, it hurts the republicans ueno's

republican leader, mr. trump, who is saying these untrue things. reverend warnock made an important point tonight when he said there was photo suppression laws in place. don't think because we had high turnout that those laws do not exist. what he said was basically his campaign and others organized around. he's got a ground level reality here, for campaigns in two years, he knows more about georgia elections than anybody. even more than the secretary of state. so when he says that, i believe. but i guess because he is a minister, it made me think of genesis 15 20, man made for evil, god made for good. i think that's what happened. >> where at church. >> you got a backlash. >> civil war history, bible quotes from paul, i love it. >> kasie, i want to go back to something that alice said. alice said voter fraud. let's talk. you're going right back into that trumpism. where is the voter fraud? let's talk about voter suppression. >> i think in fairness, and i apologize, we have to cut this short cause we have to go

internationally, i do think alice was saying that in fact we did not see evidence of voter fraud in this election. >> right. >> there is none. >> okay. but [laughter] >> we're gonna leave it there for this. our alice stewart, paul begala, april ryan, laura barrón-lópez, are all going to stay with us. we'll be right back.

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>> hello everyone, i'm rosemary church with you top international headlines. following away for protests, china is easing more of its covid-19 restrictions. authorities have announced a sweeping set of new guidelines. they largely scrap the controversial health code system, and allow people to quarantine at home. and for, more we want to go and cnn's anna coren, who joins us live from hong kong. good to see you, anna. so, protests clearly played a significant role here in easing these strict covid measures. so, what is included in the new guidelines? and what will this mean for

china's zero covid policy? >> rosemary, this is a really positive step in china moving to dismantle its zero covid strategy. it has yet to downgrade its covid status, which at the moment, is on par with the bubonic plague and cholera. but certainly, the national health commission announced these ten new covid guidelines which will make living with covid a lot easier for people in mainland china. let me run you through them. they will allow people who have mild symptoms, who are asymptomatic, to quarantine at home. there is going to be no further mass lockdowns of neighborhoods, and said they will target specific buildings or apartments. they are going to reduce mass testing, which we have seen, those pcr tests that people need to do everywhere. whatever they wanted to travel, unless in high-risk areas. that will now be scrapped.

they, very importantly, want to accelerate the vaccination program for the elderly. now, china has a problem here. two thirds of people over the age of 80 are vaccinated. and there's obviously real concern that once there is a covid wave, it's the elderly who will potentially die. but certainly, this is china, you know, looking at the off ramp, looking to move away from zero covid, rosemary. >> all right, her anna coren, joining us live from hong kong, many thanks. and thank you for joining us. i'm rosemary church. our special coverage of the runoff in georgia continues after a short break. do stay with us. we're here today to set the record straight about dupuytren's contracture.

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