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an ohio special election becomes a crucial new litmus test on abortion rights here in america. they voted down the effort to make it harder to amend the state constitution. >> it's the most political issue for women on the left. >> this is a wakeup call to republicans. the problems politically in a post world have not gone away. district attorney fonny willis will present her case to the grand jury next week. >> the prosecutor has been lining up witnesses in the investigation of donald trump and his allies who are are trying to overturn election results in georgia. >> it's trending in that direction.

>> i'm sitting in a courtroom on [ bleep ] because his attorney general charged me. >> ron desantis continue his staff shakeup. the problem is when things go badly with a campaign, you usually get blamed for it. >> montgomery, alabama, police department identify suspects in the chaotic brawl on a boat dock. >> three many white men have been charged with third degree assault. >> you see stuff like that on tv, but to see it live, it's highly likely more individuals will face charges. the artist and rapper maega the staalon faced attacks and reported a shooting where she was the victim. a judge sentenced tori lanes to ten years in prison. >> the punishment fits the crime. this is accountability, finally. good morning, everyone.

it's the top of the hour. we're so glad you're with us on "cnn this morning." there's a lot of news to get to. >> things happening right now. we'll talk about ohio. borgt right advocates are celebrating a crucial victory after a high-stakes special election. 57% of ohio voters rejected a measure that would have made it harder to change the constitution and protect access to abortion when it goes on the ballot this november. >> 60% would have been required instead of a simple majority. this comes after law makers in ohio and other republican-controlled states passed abortion bans. critics of this measure called it a power grab. the voter turnout here was massive, especially for an august election in an off year. more than 1 million more ohioans voted in this election than in last year's primary. cnn's chief national affairs correspondent jeff zeleny is live in columbus.

message received from the voters there in ohio. >> reporter: good morning. a loud message and a rare rebuke of republican power here in ohio. republican leaders scheduled this special election on a tuesday in august. many critics said to try to slip this through. people weren't noticing that the opposite happened. a record turnout for an august election, not much precedent for that in recent times. but suburban voters, urban voters, a coalition of independents and republicans rejected this amendment that would have raised the bar for an amendment in november to put abortion rights on the ballot. that will go forward. but this was also about more than abortion. certainly, the issue was the driving force here, but also a minimum wage proposal that is likely coming next year. and simply just a power grab, as many critics saw it. as a victory party last night, that coalition had this to say.

>> ohio, we did it. we did it. tonight is a major victory for democracy in ohio. the majority still rules in ohio. >> together, we have delivered this unbelievable and amazing, but yes, absolutely true result of what ohioans really want. >> reporter: this all started because hundreds of thousands of petitions were signed to put that issue of the abortion ballot on the measure in november. and this was an effort to raise the bar and make it more complicated. that failed. the november billiallot issue g on. >> in november, this will be on the ballot in ohio, a crucial state, not to mention, in the general election. what would it change there?

>> reporter: there was a 2019 law passed here that effectively banned abortion after six weeks of pregnancy without exceptions for rape or incest. that law has been on hold by the courts, but if this constitutional amendment on abortion rights would pass in november, it would simply make ohio fall in line with several other states that we have seen like michigan most recently enshrine abortion rights into thinsticonstitution. saw in our national poll yesterday that 64% of americans disagree with the supreme court overturning roe vs. wade. it's the latest example where if the citizens have their say, they are voting on the side of abortion rights. but again, this was about more than that here in ohio. it was about trying to change the rules in the process. we don't know how the percentage here will line up with the question in november, but now

they simply need a simple majority of 50% to put abortion rights in the state constitution. what it also means, though, that republicans certainly have some thinking to do about how abortion plays into their party platform because the voters here have spoken. this will be a driving issue, democrats hope, going into the 2024 election as well. >> certainly, jeff zeleny for us there. thank you. we're getting our first look at a key piece of evidence into the investigation into former president trump and the efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election. "the new york times" obtained a memo written that his attorney the fraudulent elector mem mope was first mention ed in the indictment. it came down last week, but we haven't seen the memo until now. while we know the contours of the fake elector scheme, this shows how it evolved and how it was discussed behind the scenes. in it, the supreme court would

likely end up ruling that the power to count the votes does not line with the the president of the senate, meaning mike pence at the time. but even if it failed, he wrote it would do two things. buy the trump campaign more time and would deprive biden of electoral votes or add to trump's column. he also suggested what he was writing here was a bold and controversial strategy. in this indictment, prosecutors say the memo shows the orchestration of a fake controversy would derail the proper certification of biden as president-elect. this morning cnn has learned that fullton county district fani willis will be presenting her case against donald trump. sources say she may seek several indictments as she eyes a racketeering case that could cast trump as operating a criminal enterprise to up end georgia's 2020 election results. sara murray joins us live from washington, d.c. sara, for some time now, we have

seen the barricades go up around the county courthouse. the security profile increasing. now we know potentially the timing of taking it to the grand jury. >> we're going to get a better sense of the timing. it is looking like fani willis will make her presentation before the grand jury at some point next week. she's already been lining up these witnesses and telling them essentially you need to be on a 48-hour notice to appear and testify before the grand jury. these are people that already testified before a special grand jury that spent months investigating this case. so prosecutors already know what these witnesses are going to say. it's not about gleaning new information from them, but it's about using them to craft a narrative before the grand jury that they are going to seek indictments from. people who talk about the fake elector scheme, people who can talk about the presentation, rudy giuliani and trump allies made before lawmakers that was riddled with conspiracies. when i was talking to legal

experts for our story on this, they said, look n a case of this magnitude, her indictments are probably already written and have been done for weeks, if not months. if anything, she's making the finishing tweakingses and touches ahead of the grand jury presentation next week. >> trump spoke about this last night at the rally in new hampshire. pretty much what we expected him to say, yeah? >> yeah, he's been very harsh in his criticism of this black democratic district attorney from the south. we saw more of that last night. take a listen to what he said. >> they say there's a young woman, a young racist in atlanta. this is a person that wants to indict me. she has a lot of problems. but she wants to indict me to try to run for some other office. >> now this is nothing that the district attorney's office or the public has not heard from donald trump before, but it obviously comes at a time where there's a heightened security presence. she's been very clear she and

her team have faced a number of threats as a result of this tenor around this investigation. they have inclined to brush off what trump says publicly, although she has said previously to reporters that she draws the line, and if trump comes out with direct threats against her, her staff, her family. >> sara murray, thank you. possible shark sightings shut down several beaches in new york yesterday. this is a day after a shark attacked a 56-year-old woman. we got this photo of first responders treating her on the beach. she was standing in the water, just standing there when she felt a sharp pain on her leg and fell back ward. miguel marquez is live from rockaway beach. this is in queens. this is in new york city. >> reporter: there are sharks here as well. this beach is closed. you can see the beach is open, but it's closed to swimming. you can see the red flags. there were two possible shark

sightings just east of here yesterday and one confirmed sighting west of here. those beaches shut down for a short time. usually for an hour when they have a shark sighting. then they open them back up. this one they have closed. they may open it up later today because they are going to have drone patrols over the beach. i want to show you this. this is the beach where that happened. first time in 70 years, as far as we can tell, that a shark has bitten somebody here. look at all the birds. i don't know if you can catch that. there are lots and lots of birds out there feeding on school of fish and that's what brings sharks to this area. there's very few people -- we saw a couple surfers in the water, which they are not supposed to be, but this is the beach. she was standing waist-high water. the shark came up and bit her left thigh, bleeding very badly. it was a very serious injury.

thanks to the lifeguards out here, they put a turn kit on her and able to get her to emergency care. it looks like she's going to make a recovery. the question now for new yorkers, it's summer. just when you want to go into the water, are they going to be able to open up the beaches today. back to you. >> hope she's going to be okay. really scary. thank you. if you know somebody in neptune beach, florida, send them a text message this morning. because that's where one ticketholder is a lot richer after winning the $1.58 billion mega millions jackpot. here are the winning numbers. 13, 19, 32, 33, 14 is the mega ball. it's expected to be the largest prize in the game's history. it was sold at a supermarket in neptune beach. that's where we find a reporter

from our cnn affiliate. aaron, i used to live there. i know that publix well. tell us about the excitement there after selling this ticket. >> reporter: there's a lot of buzz here. people are just excited that there's some history that happened inside this building behind me. the doors opened about ten minutes ago. some people didn't even know what was going on. they stopped us and said, hey, what's the excitement going on here. when they heard that winning ticket was sold here, some people were a little disappointed and wish it was them, but they were excited for whoever this person was. they are out there now $1.58 billion richer. i'm going to show you as people are starting to go inside shopping. i'm pretty sure they are talking with each other inside and also the workers as well. but whoever that lucky person is, they have about 180 days to claim that prize there are a couple things they should do immediately.

excited. they are probably not even realizing the severity of what happened to them. once all that wears off, there's some things they should do immediately. they should document that winning. they should take pictures of the front and back of that ticket. and store that somewhere where only they know it is. they should strongly consider hiring an attorney or some type of financial adviser to walk them through this process this should be someone who is a specialist in dealing with this kind of wealth. those same people on that team should also review the lottery rules for this winner before they sign the original ticket. that person has 180 days to claim that ticket. they have to do that over in tallahassee, the state capital, or at the florida lottery head kwquart ers. they can do that in person or set up an appointment to meet with official there is to claim their ticket. in florida when it comes to the mega millions, you cannot remain anonymous. so we'll know this person, but we don't know when.

they have six months or so to do it. >> victor is hoping it's a buddy of his. >> i'm telling everybody to text or call your people in neptune beach. my advice for the person who won, don't answer any texts after six years away. >> reporter: that's right. change that number. >> aaron farrar from wjxt, the local station in jacksonville, thank you so much. police say more arrests could be on the way after shocking video showed a group of white voters brawling with a black river boat cocaptain in alabama. the city's mayor will join ugh live. we're also going to be joined by the lieutenant governor of hawaii, where a hurricane is whipping up huge wildfires. people are actually jumping in the ocean to escape the flames. . mlb partners with t-mobile to not only enhanance the fan experience,

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stop waiting. go to innovationrefunds.com you really got the brows. breaking news, 41 people have died in a migrant ship wreck off the coast of italy according to the red cross.

this happened where the ship left tunisia several days ago. it's unclear how many people in total were on board. a 3-year-old child and a pregnant woman are among the dead. rough seas and 13-foot waves are said to have contributed to the wreck. passengers were wearing life jackets and survivors were able to fall on remnants of different ship wreck boats there. almost 94,000 people have arrived in italy by boat this year, according to the government. we will continue to follow this story and get you more as we get it. now to this breaking news out of hawaii. a state of emergency in effect this morning as wind-fuelled wildfires are burning dangerously close to homes. officials say strong winds from hurricane dora are fueling the fires that have burned multiple structures in maui. evacuations are ongoing right now. the coast guard says a dozen people were rescued after they

jumped into the ocean to escape the flames. joining us is the lieutenant governor of hawaii sylvia luke. is this unprecedented in the history of hawaii? >> thank you for doing this. it is unprecedented. when we deal with hurricane and disasters following hurricane, we're usually dealing with heavy rain and flooding. the fact that we have wildfires in multiple areas as a result of indirectly from a hurricane is unprecedented. it's something that hawaii residents in the state have not experienced. the fact that we have winds in the high 70s and still in the low 80s quickly spreading wildfires across highways and to different neighborhoods, this is

the last time spoke to cnn, it has turned very serious and very dire. >> lieutenant governor, we're looking at pictures and these really tell the story of just how dire this is. often when we talk about these wildfires, we're talking about damage to agriculture, maybe some structures, but there are injuries related to these. the hospitals are being stressed. explain how this is hurting people physically. >> absolutely. our hospital system on maui, they are overburdened with burn patients, people suffering from inhalation. we are already in communication with other hospital systems about relieving the reality is that we need to fly people out of maui to give them burn support because maui hospital cannot do burn treatment.

so we are dealing with because we're an island state, in addition to dealing with disaster, we're dealing with major transportation issues as well. >> we have heard that 911 is down, not working at least in some parts of western maui. is that correct? >> absolutely. 911 is down. cell service is down. phone service is down. that's been part of the problem. the maui county has not been a you believe to communicate with residents on the west side. what we are trying to do is deploy individuals to go into areas with satellite phone service. we have only been in contact with perhaps one hotel because the one hotel, the people in charge of that hotel have satellite phones. that's the only way to make connection. it's impeding communication efforts to evacuate residents.

and we are very concern ed abou that. >> also the tourist who is are there as well. what is the plan? i know this is a fast-moving situation, but what's the plan to get to those people who are there for just a short time? >> absolutely. so one of the things that happened is we worked with the airports to ensure that airlines are not fly ing into maui. and one of the things that we are doing is making contact with the hotels to get them e evacuated. we are already working with local airline to see if we can get tourists off the island to at least house them on another island so we don't overly tax all the resources that will be going to maui. >> what do you need from the federal government? >> one of the things that we

need, we have already made contact with the white house to declare an emergency. we're going to need fema support. we're going to need national guard support. we're going to need a lot of foot traffic and foot support in order to go into neighborhoods. the only way of communication is either satellite service or talking to individuals. our shelters had to be moved because of fire. these wildfires are moving very quickly, even as we speak. >> we appreciate it. we wish you will luck and thinking of all of you. thank you. >> thank you so much. thank you for your concern. new overnight, the police chief in montgomery, alabama, is telling cnn he expects more arrests after an all-out brawl

on the city's river front on saturday. >> we are surely looking at every piece of evidence. we have hundreds of vid owes and witness statements at this time. i would say at this point, it's highly likely that more arrests, more individuals will face charges. >> cnn affiliate wsfa obtained this mug shot yof one of the white men accused of attacking a black cocaptain. he's facing assault charges. it shows a video of hitting and punching the river boat co-captain while he's there on the ground. more people joined in. police say it happened after he asked the men to move so the river boat could dock in its resident ugh nated spot. >> joining us is the mayor of montgomery. thank you for being here. i'm sorry it's under these circumstances. it's appalling to see what happened. some have been charged, but it was very clear from the police chief on cnn there will be

additional charges for maybe those people and also more people charged. can you detail what you're expecting? >> sure. thank you for having me. it's certainly disturbing video. and consequential, we're not leaving any stone unturned in this investigation. we're looking at everything we have seen, everything that has been reported to us by witnesses as well as those that have been sent in by other bystanders. this is a very serious situation. it's important that people understand we're a welcoming community. we we enjoy the tourism that cos here because of our civil rights history, but you have to obey the law. and what we saw in that video was someone that a group of people did not. >> you mentioned the city's civil rights history. that is important context for what we saw on that video. when you saw it for the first time and called it disturbing, give me more.

what did you feel and think when you first saw it? >> i was surprised. certainly, shocked even. to see someone doing their job get attacked just by asking a person to move their vehicle. in this case, it was a boat. it shows a lack of respect for an individual. and i just didn't appreciate someone this is working to secure the safety of others on that boat being approached like that. that's an issue. i think our police department has done a great job in putting aside any emotion or what could have been -- we're looking at the facts. that's what led to the arrests. two others were supposed to turn themselves in. we have to pick them up and give them a ride. >> have you spoken -- let me first confirm. the black man who was attacked, he's a city employee? >> these are contract employees.

>> have you spoken with him? >> i have not at this time. >> do you plan to? >> yes. we'll speak to all of those that were working. we have to go through this investigation. it's something for us to make sure we're dotting our i's and crossing our t's as we go through this. we expect to do that as well as some of the ohs. the police have spoken to him and gotten testimony about what took place. he was one of the people who signed warrants. >> the captain of the boat said he believes, in his opinion, this attack was racially motivated. there's a hate crime statute in your state. do you expect that hate crime charges maybe brought? >> i think it's important for us to understand that there was a

young white dock worker who t tried to help. and who was attacked as well. with that, we're looking at this from all angles. and again, we are working closely with state and federal authorities. the fbi at this time does not have enough information to make it a hate crime, but we're continuing to ask witnesses and those who were there with video to share them with our police department. and then we'll be able to take those next steps. but i'll tell you this. we take this seriously. and it's important to understand that justice will be served and justice will be served. >> a part of the conversation we have not had on air that i think we should is the reception and response by black people online on social media. maybe not exclusively black people, but a lot of black people who see this video and while police are looking for the man who used that chair as a

weapon, that man is being hailed as a black man coming to the defense of another black man attacked by a grouof white men. we have some of them that have happened on social mia i looked at some of the montgomery, alabama, the folding chair and the data tooed on their arm. this is a collective defense argument for black people. how do you respond to that interpretation of what we saw that the people came to the aid are seen as heroes? >> i haven't been able to keep up many of the things on social media. we thank all the people who had video of this incident. it's helped our investigation tremendously. i'm a former judge. so in that case, i looked at these base d on the facts and evidence presented, i do the same as mayor here. and so when you consider that, the main thing for us has been what happened, why it happened,

when it happened, how it happened. and that's kind of the approach that we take. i have been in touch with our police chief every day. so i haven't been able to get into some of the proriff ri of thoughts and responses that taken place. for us, the main thing was bringing the people responsible for this to justice. i want to commend our police department for doing just that and commend the community and those in the public for assisting us. >> so let me press that a bit more. you watched the video and described it. you say you haven't seen what happened online. i understand that. you got a lot going on. what would be your message to people who did jump in to help mr. pickett? the man swinging a chair, the people who helped to join the fight. do you think they should not have? what should they have done? >> i understand that. i certainly understand that. whether it's a police officer,

first responder, ems,s i certainly understand that. we would have preferred maybe they break it up, but i understand emotions taking place when you're trying to dock for 40 minutes and you have someone who is not obey ing the rules ad the warnings they are being given. certainly seeing a colleague being attacked like that, it brings about a different response. so it's easy to monday morning quarterback the situation when you're not in it, but i understand those that took the notion to try to defend their coworker and someone they thought was being mistreated. >> he was just trying to do his job and tried to get them to move this boat for 45 minutes. they came in to support him. i thank you so much for your time. >> thank you very having me. ahead a new study shows this

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may reduce the risk of heart attack by 20%. that's according to a new study from the company that makes the drug. it comes as use of weight loss in diabetes drugs skyrocket. but also as we continue to learn more about the potential side effects both good and bad. meg terrell is with us. so sometimes you hear this is great. sometimes you hear about stomach paralysis. >> that's what i was thinking. >> is that something you want to risk? what do we need to know? >> people hear about of a new class of medicines that are really transrming the way doctors think about treating

weight loss. so the ones that are out on the marketow include wegovy. they are approved for type 2 diabetes. wegovy is e only one approved for chronic weight management. you can see in trials, they have led to weight loss between 5 and 22%. it's for the trial in obesity. they are waiting an fda indication there. but now we're starting to see the data emerge showing in addition to weight loss, they have procte effects against heart atta a stroke and potentially heart-related death. 26% in a previous trial and people with diabetes, but as mention ed, for the first time, we're seeing this protective effect with weight loss drugs alone in people that don't have diabetes. >> is it because of the drug or is it because of the weight loss you have associated with it? >> it's not clear exactly what the mechanism is. doctors say it could be improved markers of blood pressure,

cholesterol, inflammation, also insulin sensitivity, but it's been the wisdom that weight loss should be good for you, but this is the first time we have seen a drug prove it out in a clinical trial. >> meg terrell, thank you. we have exclusive new cnn reporting that the former head of the coast guard covered up a secret investigation into sexual assaults at the academy. >> when the cnn investigation started asking questions, that was when i first became aware of the totality of the situation. so, we switched to verizon business internet. they havave business grade internet, nationwide. (vo) make the s switch. it's your business. it's your verizon. tens of thousas of customers wrote about carvana being easy in their five star reviews,

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the former head of the coast guard spent years covering up an exemployeesive investigation into rape and sexual assault at the coast guard academy. that's according to a new cnn investigation. cnn was the first to report on the investigation's cover-up in june and revealed a dark history of sexual misconduct at the academy that leaders covered up in favor of protecting the coast guard's reputation. cnn's chief correspondent pamela brown is live in washington this

morning. so pamela, you spoke exclusively with the predecessor. what did you learn? >> reporter: we did speak with the admiral to launch, but left before it was completed. he braefed his successor about the importance of this investigation into sexual assault. he said he expected it to be made public. but when the investigation wrapped up in 2020, the report with the dus tushing findings of systemic sex abuse at the academy was buried. >> when the head of the coast guard was nearing retirement in 2018, he prepared the admiral, who was taking his place. >> so i sat down with my successor and said here are all the things. this was a big one. >> reporter: the big one was a massive scandal that was only starting to be understood. an explosive investigation into sexual assault at the coast guard academy. >> i said, hey, we have this investigation going on. there was no confusion of the

priority placed upon this. >> reporter: the admiral told cnn in this exclusive interview that there was no question the results of the investigation he launched would need to be made public. >> it was my intent to be the public face of this event as the senior leader of the coast guard. and i regret we were not able to complete it during my watch. >> reporter: but once the investigation was completed a couple years later, his successor did not release the results as expected. instead, a cnn investigation found the leader of the coast guard at the time helped cover up the whole thing for years. shultz would not speak to cnn. the report found dozens of cases of sexual abuse and rape at the academy from the late '80s to 2006 that leaders i ggnored or mishandled. it was kept hidden until cnn reported it in june. by keeping the report secret, the coast guard avoided the

scrutiny that could have forced more. >> it was completely toxic and devastating to my sense of self. >> reporter: cnn has talked to more than two dozen women and men who were sexually assaulted while at the coast guard academy, including this former cadet, who recently graduated. >> if they released this report, you wonder if they had done more to crack down how your experience would have been different. i often find myself wondering what my future would have been like. time and time again, the academy and the institution don't protect their people. >> all the a bare at a bare minimum, we owed it to these victims to provide some sense of emotional closure. >> reporter: exactly why shultz didn't release the report is still a question. there were plans for a capitol hill briefing on the operation in late 2018, according to a

memo viewed by cnn. but that apparently never happened. >> for an investigation of this magnitude and the number of events, this rises to the very top of the organization. this isn't a mid-level staff decision. >> reporter: members of congress even asked shultz about sexual assault in the coast guard in a remote hearing in 2021, but he still failed to mention the investigation. >> we want to bring accountability to all members, we want to prevent sexual assaults. >> reporter: according to source, he and his team kept the report hidden from leaders at the department of homeland security, which oversees the coast gard. >> i apologize to each victim. >> reporter: the coast guard didn't come clean until just over a month ago when shultz' successor testified in a heated hearing and announced she was launching a 90-day investigation. >> we failed the committee when we did not disclose in 2020.

when the cnn investigation started asking questions, that was when i first became aware of the total ity of the report. >> reporter: in a let tore the coast guard, that failure to disclose conflicted with legal requirements for reports on sexual assault at the academy to be shared with congress. >> this episode is probably the most disgraceful cover-up of sexual assault that i have seen in the united states military ever. >> reporter: ironically, the final report on operation anchor showed the reputation took p precedence over concern for the victim and former officials tell cnn that's exactly what happened again when the report was hidden. >> if you read through there were cautious decisions made by leaders at the coast guard academy, maybe trying to protect the image of the coast guard. you know, loyalty to an institution and not doing what's honorable to a victim of sexual assault.

>> the coast guard officials did not comment on shultz's involvement but want to make clear that the current commandant was not briefed on the investigation when she took office. cnn's reporting shows that there are other people who currently work at the coast guard who were involved in the operation. >> pamela, some really important reporting there. thank you so much. and as we heard, it was when you started reporting that they really came forward and started their own investigation. pamela brown, thanks so much. >> thank you. >> hats off to pam and that team on that remarkable reporting. florida governor ron desantis shaking up the campaign, replacing his campaign manager. and we got new information on the format of the first republican presidential debate. details ahead.

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in ohio voters rejected issue one, that would have allowed an amendment to the constitution driven by republicans be with an upcoming november vote that has abortion rights on the ballot. two people whoe have a long history of running presidential campaigns, nina turner the national co-chair of bernie sanders 2020 presidential campaign and former ohio state senator in kevin madden, former top aide to mitt romney, running his presidential campaign in 2012. huge amount of money. $32 million poured in. huge amount of attention. who thought that many people, more than in the last election, would come out for this? but they did. what does it mean for the state and the country? >> yeah, they did. it's a win for ohioans. it's very clear that the gop

efforts to take away freedom, take away the right of the people, people of this great state had that right to put referenda on the ballot since 1912. they were rejected and they were rejected soundly. so, hopefully, they have learned their lessons. also reminding me of 2011 when they tried to take away collective bargaining rights and were soundly rejected there as well. so ohioans showed up and showed out and did the right thing. >> kevin, what's the message to your party? every time the people have been asked since dobbs about abortion rights, they have voted to support them, to extend them, to protect them. however, the republican party is still fumbling over an answer on this. what's the takeaway for republicans from the ohio vote? >> yeah, no, it has -- it sends a message that republican leaders and pro-life leaders have not really positioned themselves very well for a

post-roe world. if you look at what democrats have done, and progressives, they have done a good job of activating their base around this issue, they have now built a coalition that also involves a republican moderates in the suburban areas as well as independents. if you look at the backdrop of the politics of this. republicans have to go out there and pro-life advocates go out there and find a better message for what the post-roe world looks like state by state and they have to build a coalition that sorts of addresses the concerns that many republican moderates who may have voted with republicans who are pro-life before, but are now worried about this post-row world because that's the key to the sort of bigger, broad toer political coalition they need if they are going to prosper going forward. >> the raiepublican debate, the second one will be on fox business. i know you are a conservative.

you ran romney's 200 # 8 and 2012 campaigns. does this surprise you? >> you gave me a promotion. i was senior advisor. somewhere the campaign manager is like, hey, madden works for me. look, yeah, i think that this is -- the republican candidates and the republican campaigns are going right where they want to go, base activist voters that matter in places like ohio, new hampshire, south carolina, and florida and they want to speak to those voters. that platform is a very, very big platform with those voters directly. the competition for those voters is going to be fierce. even as you see, you know, former president trump take a very sizable lead and have a stronghold on the nomination, many of these candidates that are fighting each other to break out as the trump alternative, this is the best place for them to go. >> kevin, question two informs

question three. when we asked you to republicans trying to come up with a message and then you go on fox and fox business for your debates, are you just talking to the same people? at some point of this you have to come out with a nominee, and what we've seen is that some of these positions that you are in this kind of silo are not reaching voters outside of it. >> yeah. it's a big concern if you are looking at how do we win a general election where the ball game for a general election is going to be moderate voters, independent voters, suburban voters in these big wbattlegroud states. one of the challenges that every campaign has is how is it that you appeal to a base activist voter now but then you have to find a way to get our ever the bubble and have a broader appeal on a broader set of issues. health care, the economy,

energy, national security, rather than just playing to these sort of very limited -- base voter issues that have a will imted appeal in a general election. >> nina, i want to ask you about shake-up number two in ron desantis's campaign. he replaced the person rung his campaign. it will nowen james uthmeier who ran shom before, was successful when it came to work in tallahassee but doesn't have -- there is a lot of political experience on the national stage but nose desantis' family extraordinarily well. is this enough to make him a mccain-like turnaround, or no? >> not at all. the person he picked also helped him with culture wars. this man, having governor desantis, he traffic in divisive and racist ideology. his strategy is out-trump president trump. it's not working for him. he is not spending time on substantive issues, like health

care, environment, economic disparities. one donor said the way you are going is not going to work. this man is violent. he talked about slitting throats in new hampshire. can you imagine if then-senator barack obama said on day one, two, three, four, five, day 365, as president he would start slitting throats? he would have been called a very violent man. desantis is violent. there are people suffering. children are suffering in the great state of florida. instead of dealing with the 45% of working florida europeans living near or at poverty, children living in poverty, 70% of the kids are kblak or heat indicies. instead of dealing with those issues, he has made it clear that blacks need apply, no women need apply, no immigrants need apply, and he thinks that these culture -- >> we lost nina. it is 8:00. sorry about that. a technica