it's the top of the hour you're watching cnn "news central" and it is election day in the united states. we're closely watching several key races on major issues that could reverberate all the way into november 2024 either though joe biden and donald trump or any other republican presidential candidates are not on the ballot today there are issues that fire up their party's respective basises and here they are, abortion.

democrats have seen win after win in red states over abortion rights. in virginia one republican is leaning into the abortion fight, convinced he can snap the republican party's losing streak on that issue. we're covering those votes and more. let's start with sunland tracking the virginia race. abortion is not on the ballot in virginia neither is governor glen youngkin, but those two things weigh heavily on the minds of voters. >> reporter: that's right. the governor has been involved in this race, and made his abortion proposal front and center in this campaign. they have invested considerable time and money to rally republicans around the messaging on this in the quest to flip the senate for republicans favor had he's pushing for a 15 week ban on abortions with exceptions for rape, incest and life of the

mother. youngkin has been trying to frame this on the campaign trail as the solution to a very polarizing issue. here's what he said this morning on the campaign trail. >> we've been very, very clear about one of the tough topics in america which is abortion. what the other side has been saying is simply not true. we're very clear. i will support one bill. one bill that will protect life at 15 weekends. -- at 15 weeks. a bill with exceptions for rape, s incense and life of the mother. to call it a ban is a mistruth and misinformation and they should be ashamed of what they said over the campaign because none of it has been true. >> if republicans hold the house and retake the senate that means republicans have full control

since 2013. youngkin is clear if it happens, he's intending to sign this into law. this is a big test for youngkin's future on presidential stage. >> presidential aspirations for the governor. there's a reason we started in many virginia, a lot of eyes on it because it could give us clues about 2024. >> a lot of you clues here what happens in the commonwealth. there are off year elections in virginia typically the last few cycles have been shown to correlate with what happens in the following year's election. so a good showing for either democrats or republicans today would bode well for that party in the next year. we've seen both parties on the campaign trail trying to test out messages, themes that potentially we'll see on a grander scale next year. for democrats, especially in virginia the key is coming out of the tonight with their campaign on abortion rights. were republicans able to

neutralize that message from the democrats so the results of tonight could provide hints for what portrays to the future. we want to take you live to ohio because we have tracking the fact that abortion is on the ballot there. she's at a polling location right now. what does it look like? >> reporter: when you talk to the people who are actually here at this polling location -- a reminder this is one snapshot we don't know what the rest of the state looks like. but here in the one polling location in columbus, ohio, these people in line, a lot of them are here because of issuee throughout the day, people who have been lining up, it's a diverse voting base in this particular polling location they're picking up their ballots and heading to vote in the voting place. so what they will tell you is that when you stop and chat with them is that it is issue one

enshrining abortion rights into the state constitution that has motivated them to come out here. and a lot of them are quite passionate about this issue. i want you to listen to a couple of people we spoke with today. >> i think people feel strongly about people's personal choices and ability to make choices for their own. so just respecting each other and making sure everyone has the ability to do that on their behalf it's important and speaks highly of us as a community. >> i think from the personal experience sometimes you don't feel heard. i feel we're all hoping we can change things for the better. >> reporter: and when you talk to the advocates on either side of issue one what they will tell you that neither is superconfident as they head to the finish line. until they close the polls, both

15 sides are out knocking on doors trying to get people to the polls. they think in a red state trying to shrine the abortion rights, something that would be a first for a republican state to do that, they feel it will take every single vote. boris. >> a big test for advocates on both sides of that issue. thank you so much. at big race is happening in kentucky, and evan mckennd join us live from louisville. >> reporter: borsis we see a careful optimism from democrats they are feeling good going into the evening thinking governor bashir is well positioned but recognize the realities of this state. governor bashir has been at the helm during several natural disasters, during the pandemic,

through some tragedies here,e h branded those efforts as everyone being on the same team. so that is why you even hear some trump supporters in the state say they like the governor. still, he has a credible challenger in attorney general daniel cameron. cameron is endorsed by the former president who is very popular if had this state. cameron has also worked overtime to try to connect governor bashir to president biden who is not popular in this state. and what we have seen him also do is confront the governor on issues when it cams to public safety, education, and the economy. to give you a sense of how close things were the last time, that was in 2019, just four years ago, governor bashir only pulled off a victory here by 5,000 votes. so that is why we see democrats have this cautious optimism. republicans, though, they tell me they're feeling good as well

and hope that cameron can pull off an upset this evening. boris. >> eva thank you for an update in louisville. we want to bring in harry enten, i know you've been watching the kentucky race and a lot of others on our radar. >> that's right. this is one of my favorite days, election days, maybe not my favorite election day but still gets me up with a smile. as eva was saying in kentucky, an interesting race between andy beshear, the democratic governor, and daniel cameron the republican attorney general there. eva noted trump won kentucky easily, by 26 points back in 2020. i should note that kentucky ha a democratic edge to it, there have only been three republican governors in the state in 75 years so andy beshear is hoping to win back some democrats who

has swayed from the party over the last few election cycles. another governor race is mississippi, tate reeves, the incumbent governor, is taking on brandon pressley, the democratic governor. no democrat has won mississippi since 1899. he may be aided by the fact that he's elvis' second cousin and democrats are trying to taint reeves with a welfare scandal involving brett favrer so we'lle what happens down there. >> 2024, 360-plus days away but right around the corner when it comes to campaigning. talk about the races you're watching that might give us implications towards the next

presidential election. >> it's interesting to me as i'm looking towards what's going on. a if you have things i'm sort of noting. we spoke about virginia. there's also toe me an interesting ballot measure in the state of ohio concerning marijuana. the reason i'm interested there, it would be the 24th state to legalize marijuana recreationally. all of these states have done so since 2012. they've done it in red states, blue states. ohio being a red state so it's not just blue states it's happening. and you noted, boris, guess how many days we are now until the iowa caucuses. we are, in fact -- get this, we are very, very close to the iowa caucuses. we're less than 365 days until the next presidential election cycle, 68 days until the iowa caucuses. so i'm quite excited if you couldn't tell from i was going.

this is my day, my jam. i can't wait to see the votes cast and counted today. >> we'll have to watch closely we know you will be too. thank you, harry. >> of course. still to come, we're one month into the deadly war between israel and hamas and prime minister benjamin netanyahu has shared details about israel's potential long-term plans to control gaza. we'll take you live to tel aviv in moments. later, ramping on pressure on senator tommy tuberville. senators meeting today to resolve his block on military promotions. that and more on cnn "news central" in just minutes.

one month ago today, hamas unleashed terror on israel. candles in tel aviv memorialize the 1,400 people slain on

october 17th. a short time ago, prime minister benjamin netanyahu gave an update on the offensive against hamas in gaza. saying enforces on the ground have encircled gaza city and are now operating within it. >> translator: so far we eliminated thousands of hamas above ground and under ground all of them murderers who executed and planned the massacre on that black saturday a month ago. we eliminated many posts, bases and tunnels of hamas. hamas realizes we reach places it didn't think we would reach. >> we want to warn you some video we're about to show you is disturbing. since israel's air strikes began more than 10,000 people have been killed inside of gaza, more than 7,000 of them children, women and elderly. that's from sources inside of gaza. cnn is not able to independently

verify those numbers. let's take you to tel aviv with jim sciutto. netanyahu talked about how israel would maintain control of the gaza security for a time after the war for an indefinitely period. what has the response been to that? >> reporter: i think one clear message here, boris, this country despite divisions we saw politically including deep oppositions to netanyahu's government, it is unified now as what it perceives its right to pursue hamas to every end in gaza including with long-term military operations there and with the prime minister's statement tonight with a long-term military presence inside gaza. we heard it from netanyahu and also the defense minister to political opponents who are on the same side in effect. they said they're putting aside

their political divisions to fight what they see as a threat to israel's very existence, very safety. one month into this since those october 7th attacks, that was part of their message tonight as well. this was an attack unlike any they've ever seen, the state of israel and they're in a war now unlike any that they have waged. when you think politically here, when you speak to folks in the military, when you speak to israelis from all ends of the political spectrum, what i hear from them is they're unified in that. they have a tremendous amount of support for that military action inside gaza and perhaps even beyond because another message we heard tonight was this could very well be a multi-front war not just in gaza but also the north, southern lebanon where iran-backed hezbollah is present. that's not an uncommon position either when i was in the north,

they would said openly once military operations are done in gaza, whenever that is, not clear, they support military action inside southern lebanon. one thing clear being inside this country is you have a tremendous amount of cross political spectrum public support and political support for ongoing military operations in gaza and perhaps beyond and even in ways, boris, there are differences between israeli leaders and u.s. leaders, for instance a question on humanitarian pause. there is a country that feels it has a battle to fight and a battle it's got to win. >> yeah. as prime minister netanyahu has put it a battle for its very survival. thank you very much. let's pose some of those questions to an international spokesman for the israeli defense forces. lieutenant-colonel thank you for being with us. i want to repeat what the defense minister for israel said

today that israel would maintain complete freedom of action after the war in gaza. and you heard prime minister netanyahu talking about security for an indefinitely period. what exactly do you think that would look like? is there a distinction in your mind between security responsibility and an occupation? >> yeah the -- i think it's -- first of all, thank you for having me. but i think it's clear what we're focused on is security. ever since october 7th we've come to the understanding, the hard, sad understanding that we cannot allow a return to preexisting conditions before october 7th and that we have to significantly change the entire security environment. we're in the first stage of implementing that now by dismantling a steady and methodical dismantling of hamas infrastructure ongoing as we

speak in gaza now and once we're finished doing that and there's no more military threat then the process of rebuilding will start and, of course, that will be something that the national elected echelons will lead we'll implement it. but i think the interest here is to make sure that everybody understands that we are not, again, going to allow any terrorist entity to establish itself and strike root inside the gaza strip after we eradicated hamas. >> i'm cure i don'ious how you that, if it is an indefinite period, how do you measure the hamas? isn't it likely an extended period of israeli troops on the ground would lead to more action against those troops by groups like hamas? >> more action than the attack on october 7th you mean?

>> well, more -- potentially. hamas has essentially said they're going to carry out similar attacks over and over again until israel is gone. i'm wondering how an extended stay for israeli troops in gaza doesn't lead to a situation where there is more action against israel. perhaps not by hamas, if you eradicate hamas but a group that then takes its place? >> i'm not following the logic really. but what i want to say, hamas executed the worst terror action on october 7th. we're responding to that and we're going to dismantle hamas. how could dismantling and making sure they won't rebuild be counter effective, i can't really understand. but i will say we are not looking to establish long-term control over gaza.

those are not the directives given to the idf. what the idf is tasked at doing, dismantle hamas and once that is done, hopefully that will be done the fastest and best possible way with the minimal loss of life for our soldiers and civilians included. and once that is achieved, then i'm sure the international community, together with israel and other important stakeholders will start looking for solutions for permanent stability. my business is security for israeli civilians. and our number one priority is to make sure that our civilians, our displaced israeli citizens more than 250,000 of them today will be able to return to their homes and the hostages return. that is the number one priority. >> let me rephrase the question because you're getting to the issue that i'm bringing up. the idea is if the israel military is on the ground in gaza for an indefinitely period,

there's going to be more insurgent action. we'll likely see a reaction from groups like hamas in the area -- >> hamas won't exist. >> potentially. >> hamas won't exist, boris. i'm sorry for interrupting. >> what i'm getting at is, what ultimately would let you feel as though the security of israel is guaranteed if you have troops on the ground in gaza that likely will be attacked by some sort of insurgency, call it hamas or something else. but what's being set up is insurgent warfare, is it not? >> no. first of all i would call it terrorism. that is what exists and has been festering in gaza for all too long since hamas took control in 2007. we understoand we cannot allow that situation to return where gaza is governed by any terror organization and what we're going to do is first dismantle

hamas and other terrorist organizations that exist there and make sure they don't return. i think we're getting ahead of ourselves. there's still intense fighting in gaza, i know it's interesting to speak about the future and comments have been made by elected officials. what will say we will execute whatever policy the president says we need to do. and the number one thing we are concerned is with the is the safety of our civilians they can go back to their homes in the communities around gaza and live peacefully in their homes. that's what we're focused on. how that will be done we'll see. i can assure you we'll do it while thinking of all the international components and thinking long term not short term. >> to your point about the situation on the ground. netanyahu has rejected calls for a general cease-fire but said he's open to tactical little

pauses up to an hour at a time. how would the idf carry that out? how would you decide when and how to take those pauses? >> we already are. it's only regretful that i cannot see the visuals on cnn. but really we already are. for the last four consecutive days we have windows of transport of civilians of safe zones from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. where the palestinians are informed ahead of time by us that we are going to hold our fire in order to allow them to evacuate safely from the north, the combat areas to relative safety in the south. that is ongoing every day. and there's footage coming out of gaza which you can see and show to the world. it's happening despite the fact that hamas is trying to keep those civilians there in order to use them as human shields but

we are relentless in our plea and our demand, our advise to the palestinians, the civilians, evacuate northern gaza because it is an area of main combat operations and you will be safer in the south. many more, thousands are listening and heeding our warning and that's a good thing. without committing to it, i can anticipate that tomorrow again we'll open this humanitarian corridor a brief few hours for civilians to evacuate. not because it serves our tactical aims against hamas it means we're not firing at the time but it serves the strategic aim of what we want to achieve. we want to fight hamas and hamas only. the civilians are not our enemies and we would prefer them to be out of the battlefield and we want them out of our focus so we can get on with the business of dealing with hamas. >> we appreciate you answering our questions, thanks for the time, lieutenant colonel.

>> thank you, boris. still to come. republican senators holding a special conference meeting right now trying to figure out a strategy on how to move forward with senator tommy tuberville's military holds. stay with us.

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senator tommy tuberville continues to hold up military promotions over a pentagon abortion policy. the blockade now impacting 450 military nominations. that's according to the pentagon. cnn anchor and chief congressional correspondent manu raju joins us now. anger is boiling over at tommy tuberville among senate republicans but he's not caving. >> reporter: that's right. in fact, this is new that senate republicans going public with their frustration, anger, trying to pressure tommy tuberville to back down. last week going to the floor trying to convince him to agree to move forward on the military promotions saying no he will not back down unless the pentagon pulls the policy for abortion services. so they're trying to figure out if the there's any way moving forward, talking to tuberville yesterday he's making it clear, he's not going to cave. >> i'm willing to go down there,

stand with democrats, republicans, makes me no difference. you know, you got to fight for what you believe in. >> you heard dan sullivan say this is a national security suicide mission he said. what gives you the belief that he's wrong? >> well, you're talking about 300 people out of 2 million. come on. this is -- it's the department of defense. it's cq brown, it's all the other generals who have jobs. it's secretary austin's job to get people ready. people are still in the game. they might not be making a call somewhere, they might, after i give them promotion but all jobs are filled. you can't tell me that our military is not functioning the way it should function at a high readiness, especially with what's going on now. >> reporter: so you can see from those comments tuberville is not concerned about the impact on military readiness even though

republicans and the defense department say there are vacancies, people have to do multiple jobs and that has a real national security concern. but no concerns from tuberville who indicated earlier he's trying to figure out if if he can figure out a compromise with senate republicans, but unclear if he'll get there or republicans will affect a rules change for all these nominations in one fell swoop. >> now to cnn national security reporter natasha bertrand at the pentagon. you have reported on growing concerns among senate republicans and other leaders over readiness. >> yes. a number of positions are being held up and that includes the commander of fifth fleet, the deputy commander of fifth fleet. fifth fleet being responsible, of course, for u.s. naval operations in the middle east, as well as the defense attache

to israel. all key positions, of course, being filled by people with lesser experience or in some cases, experience people are holding two jobs at once. that's not only affecting military readiness but it's affecting mental health. just last week it was said there were tragic consequences to this hold, including the commandant of the marine corps holding two jobs and just had a cardiac arrest last week. but speaking to the number of nominations still on hold. >> as of yesterday there are now 452 nominations, which concern 448 general and flag officers at the senate for consideration and impacted by senator tuberville's holds. some of the positions stalled include the fifth fleet commander, deputy fifth fleet

commander, attache for israel and the list goes on. it has a direct effect on military readiness, national security and military families. >> reporter: there are positions to the command in the middle east right now that are still not filled. and the pentagon has not said if they support a rules change to make sure the nominations go forward. they want to see all the nominees at this point confirmed, boris. >> thank you so much, natasha. coming up we'll share the story of an 8-year-old girl whose father believed she was killed by hamas on the october 7th attacks. he said she was relieved when he thought she was dead. turns out she may be alive and a hostage. we'll hear from her father in a few minutes.

more than 1,400 people were killed in israel one month ago when hamas terrorists attacked the country. for weeks, he thought his daughter was one of them, it brought him relief as he felt being a hostage was a fate worse than death but now israeli officials have told him his daughter is a hostage and is still alive. ed, you spoke with the girl's father what did he share with

you? the. >> reporter: boris on this night where israelis are marking the one month anniversary of the october 7th attack hundreds gathered here in jerusalem to pray for the hostages and 8-year-old emily is now one of them. >> from the morning of the 7th till now is a nightmare roller coaster, tragedy. >> reporter: the anguish he's about to describe has left him trembling for weeks. it's a journey of death and a hope of resurrection he said is impossible to imagine. >> on the day it was russian roulette. >> reporter: on october 7th hamas fighters stormed the kibbutz, killing roughly 130 people and ravaging the community of 1,100 residents that morning thomas' daughter emily was at a friend's house.

he could not reach her. days after the attack, the irish born father spoke with clarissa ward about the moment he was told his daughter had been killed. >> thomas waited two agonizing days before getting the news. >> they just said we found emily. she's dead. and i went yes. i went yes. and smiled. because that is the best news of the possibilities that i knew. she'd be in a dark room filled with christ knows how many people and terrified every minute, hour, day, and possibly years to come. so death was a blessing an absolute blessing. >> reporter: thomas says leaders of the kibbutz community today

him emily's body was seen in the jam math. but almost a month from the aftermath he said the israeli army told him it's highly probable emily is alive and a hamas hostage. >> how were you told the news emily was alive? >> that was official from the army with all the information that they have, the intelligence that they have, it's very likely that she's been taken to gaza. >> reporter: thomas said he's told emily's body is not with the remains of victims and there was no blood found inside the home where she slept the night before. thomas also says that cell phones belonging to the family emily was staying with have been tracked inside gaza. >> when you spoke with clarissa ward a few weeks ago you said death would be a blessing in the this situation.

>> that's how i felt at the time yeah. >> reporter: how do you describe where you are now? >> extremely worried obviously. what conditions she's held in. she's more than likely in a tunnel somewhere under gaza. your imagination is horrible. and it's her birthday on the 17th of this month. she'll be 9. she won't even know what day it is. she won't know what day it is. she won't know it's her birthday. there will be no birthday cake, no party, no friends. just be petrified in a tunnel under gaza. that's her birthday. >> reporter: thomas is now flooded with the hope and disspare of what his daughter might be doing. he prays she can somehow hear these words to her.

if emily is watching just to let her know that we love her. we're all waiting for her to come back safely. >> reporter: the survivors of the kibbutz are temporarily living in a hotel, in the lobby there's a vigil to all the kidnapped hostages. now emily's family said the young girl's photo will be placed next to the others. you described being a hostage as worse than death. >> i believe so. it's the -- the unknown is awful. the waiting is awful. but that's what we got to do now. just pray and hope she comes back in some broken state. but we can fix her. we'll fix her somehow. >> reporter: do you allow yourself now to think about holding emily again? >> in my head, i can see, you know, like a beach scene her running to me and me running to her. just picking her up.

never letting her go. >> reporter: and boris, thomas hand says that remarkably despite the roller coaster of emotion he's been on in the last month he doesn't hold any ill will or anger towards anyone. he believes the leaders of the kibbutz the that told him emily had been killed were doing the best they could in those chaotic and terrifying moments on october 7th. >> ed la vvandera, thank you so much for that report. stay with cnn. we'll be right back. .. ..

here's some unwelcome news for homebuyer. we're now living in the most unaffordable buying market since 1984. it those the monthly principal and interest payment pushed so high it now takes more than 40% of the median household income to cover it. matt egan has been covering it. what does the new report tell us? >> well, boris, the last time homes were this unaffordable, ronald reagan was in the white house. the problem is people have been hammered by high borrowing costs. because of this one-two punch, when you look at principal and interest payments, they're swallows up almost half of median household income.

40.6% to be exact. that's the highest level since 1984. keep in mind, that does not even include taxes or homeowners insurance, or non-housing costs like daycare. why does this happen? look at mortgage rates. they're now at almost 8%. some context, that's basically double where mortgage rates were back in 2019 before covid. layer on top of that the fact that -- you look at that chart, we had mortgage rates well under 3% in 2020 and 2021. it feels like a lifetime ago. the other problem is, despite borrowing costs, home prices are at record highs. if you own a home, the fact that prices have gone up, of course, is a good thing. it's adding to your net wealth. the problems is a lot of younger americans are on the outside looking in. boris, a lot of them feel like the dream of home ownership is getting further and further

away. >> it is a serious concern for millennial. matt, thank you for the update. we appreciate you spending part of your afternoon with us. obviously it's a big day. it's election day in the united states. we are special coverage with kaitlan collins and wolf blitzer. stay with us for that.

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