hello and thank you for joining us. i am coming to you live from washington dc and we have made it. it is election day and election day voting is underway in the small township of new hampshire with the first ballot cast on election day will be submitted and counted and it should be a quick process. let's get to gary who is there who is covering this first in the nation election day boat. i know we just had the national anthem paid on a accordion by a world champion accordion player. what comes next? walk us through the process. >> a three time world champion accordion player and now that it is midnight the voting is beginning in this county of new

hampshire. a precinct in new hampshire law allows for them to request the voting happen early. this town here, you can see they are putting their votes in the box. the entire town is in this living room right now, it is six people, six registered voters casting their votes right now. for our republicans and to our undeclared. what is allowed in new hampshire is you can cast your ballots the first minute of election day and these will be the first results. there may be 160 million votes cast in the u.s. 80,000 in new hampshire but these are the first six that are being cast right now and they will announce the results. they are going into the voting booth, the red white and blue flags over there. three booths for six

people, they have paper eyelets and a pen and they are making the choices for president, governor, congress and other local races but of course most of the attention is paid on who these six people will vote for for president of the united states. they have been doing this since 1960, this is the 17th election where they had midnight voting in this hamlet in northern new hampshire 50 miles away from the canadian border. other towns have done it as well but nobody is doing it this year. this is the longest. these are the first votes cast in the election entirely but now millions vote early in the u.s. these are the first cast on election day and they will be the first results. this box has

been used since 19 $.80 ronald reagan and jimmy carter. the signed a says first in the nation has been used since 1960. there is a lot of great customs going on here, great heritage and history. there is a lot of people in the u.s. who are upset about the political discourse in the country but in this room you have republicans, democrats and independents, not just the six that the peer but also members of the press and visitors from new hampshire and other areas of the u.s. who wanted to witness this. they will unlock the box and open it and they will start counting at the table. you can see on the left there is a board and the board says first in the nation, new hampshire 2024 and they will write the totals on the board. there is a representative from new hampshire attorney general office, they will be the first

official votes of the 2024 election between harris and trump. i am wondering if you guys have any questions for me. >> this is a fascinating window into the democratic process. as we were hearing from the town monitor a moment ago, he said the effort here is to showcase what america is all about, to inspire folks across the country as they wake up later on election day to realize that some folks already cast their ballots and also as he put it, point out if they do not vote, they are missing out, they are effectively putting somebody they do not want into the white house. it is really about not only showcasing tradition but also the sacred right to vote in this country. i wonder in your conversations with folks here what they shared with you about the meaning, the deeper meaning of what this represents.

>> there is so much pride in this room, not just among the six people that permanently live in the village but among members of the news media that are here. among others in new hampshire, vermont, maine, rhode island, connecticut and massachusetts. from people elsewhere in the country that wanted to witness it. they are refurbishing the ski resort and they are hoping to reopen it in two years. at the peak it was more than 30 people that lived here, now they are down to 6. ultimately when the resort reopens they hope to have more but they want to keep the tradition going. as i mentioned before there are other towns, hearts landing also had midnight voting for many years, they stopped because of the pandemic and they have not resumed it. so did another town

but here they are continuing it through and through from 1960, john f. kennedy through nixon, 76, jimmy carter taking the election, reagan against carter in 1980 and they have done it continuously up to 2024. let's listen to the town moderator now. >> the polls are closed and now we can begin the counting. >> the official counting is taking place now, tom is unlocking the golden lock. on the 44-year-old lockbox. he is

going to show us that the box is now empty. the attorney general probe representative is looking at it and so are we. do not drop the box tom, you will hurt somebody. >> it will not hurt the box that is for sure. >> 14 donald trump and jd vance. that is the governor and former senator. they are reading all of the races from each of the eyelets . you can hear that

trump already got one vote. 4 republicans here as i mentioned, 2 undeclared. no democrats. there is referendums here also. the second ballot, another donald trump. >> if you can hear me gary that is to votes for trump, he matches the total just now he got in the 2016 general election. you went over this a bit before, is there any historical president for the

town being a predictor for where new hampshire might go or maybe the nation might go? >> i will tell you, you talked about 2016 and 2020, trump got zero points and biden got 5. so it is different from 2016 through 2020. let's hear the ballot and then i will answer your question. kamala harris is the third voter, so now it is 2-1. so you were asking if you can draw conclusions based on voting here, the answer is no. there is no way to draw a conclusion but you can create interest in the upcoming votes that will be happening over the

next 23 hours. there is no way to know for sure. in 1960 the first time they did this, nixon versus kennedy, nixon got 9 and kennedy got zero. nixon did take new hampshire but lost to the country and john f. kennedy became president. here is the fourth ballot, donald trump, now it is 3-1. harris has 1 vote from the first 4. now she is reading the rest of the races. it is amazing all of the attention in this room, it is totally quiet except for loudmouth gary who is trying to talk like he is at a golf tournament. >> we appreciate the commentary, we know there are more reporters than actual voters there which is always a fascinating

component. let's listen to the 5th ballot now. >> kamala harris gets number 5. it is 3-2. >> confirming there were 6 total voters? >> yes six, every voter has to be here in order for the polls to close immediately after this and the results to be officially red. so it is 3-2. one thing i want to tell you, there could be a right and also. nikki haley did really well in the new hampshire primary. we were wondering if anybody would do a write in for nikki haley. the sixth ballot is about to come up. here we go. harris gets the 6th vote. 3-3. we have been

talking about how close the race is with the polls in the u.s., we can tell you officially here in new hampshire, a population of 6, it is 50-50 on the nose. 3-3. they will close the polls momentarily. this precinct will be done for the 2024 presidential election. let's hear with the moderator has to say. if you will be talking next. he will read the official results although i already told you them but unofficially. >> we are ready. for president, 3 for harris and 3 for trump. following the national trends. for governor, one for joyce

greg. >> new hampshire, the first in the nation ballots cast on election day. it is now official, eight high, 3 for trump and 3 for vice president harris. it underscores as gary was saying how divided the nation is and how close this presidential election is in poll after poll. in polls of polls cnn has found the race too close to call and you see it illustrated there. the first results leading to a tie. republican presidential nominee trump is closing the 2024 campaign with one final rally in michigan, his last stop on a multistate blitz on the eve of election day which included visits to north carolina and pennsylvania. kristin is there in grand rapids, she joins us live. trump is taking the stage

as we speak. we will bring you his comments. before we get to the microphone what should we expect to hear from trump? >> they said because he was taking the stage so late tonight, obviously after midnight in grand rapids, he will deliver a lot of closing remarks starting in pennsylvania. also sent pennsylvania is a critical battleground state. it is trump so the message may get muddled but they say he wants to talk about the three issues that they believe will propel him to the white house, inflation, immigration and crime. these are the things the campaign has tried to hammer home. they also want him to focus on the messaging that harris broke it and i will fix it on the fact that she has been in the office for 3 1/2 years. one of the things trump allies and the base believes is they can connect

harris to biden's administration. the question for trump is whether or not he will get in his own way. we saw a rally in pennsylvania with him off message saying several inappropriate and insulting things that eventually led to allies calling both the campaign managers and senior advisors and trump himself and begging him to stay on message saying if he continues with this kind of rhetoric that he would not take the election. >> sorry to interrupt let's listen to former president trump now live in grand rapids, michigan.

you are watching live as former president trump takes the

stage there, we lost our audio so we will keep an eye on this and take you back to at any moment. in the meantime trumps opponent harris delivering a different closing argument to voters. we will go back to trump. we have more on harris on the other side. let's listen in. >> doing four of these in one day is a little difficult but not really because the love at every one of them has been incredible, just like this. that makes it a lot easier. i want to say a very special hello to grand rapids. it is a special place, remember 2016 we were given a 3% chance. we came to grand rapids and i said how are we going to lose? it was just like this. we are not going to lose. it was a 3% chance and

then we won over a place called florida. went to about a 7% chance and then a 11% chance. then 17%, do you remember? it went to a 62% chance. then somebody in there was totally crazy. the woman became a fan it was going crazy, we are in very good shape. i have to tell you we are way up in terms of the vote, the republicans are never up that much. i do not want to talk too much about it because i really want you to just assume that it is even and you will turn out tomorrow and we will blow this away. you know we are

leading going and by hundreds of thousands of votes but pretend we are tied or losing by a little bit because we want to put on a display tomorrow of unity and everything. the progress that the party has made is incredible. it is very inclusive. it is inclusive of everybody. including our great mayor right back there. that is a great mayor. he came through for us. i just want to thank everybody. a special hello to michigan. we will do great things for michigan. we are going to bring the car business blazing back, you will not remember what it was like. we will make detroit greater than it ever was. i have been hearing

about the trade for a long time. they have been talking about that miracle which to be honest has not happened but it is going to happen now at levels you never dreamt possible so for the autoworkers that have been so incredible, you have been so incredible. you are going to be very happy with the things we are doing. we killed the plant in mexico as you know, the biggest plant in the world was going to be built but i absolutely killed it. i would like to begin by asking a question. are you better off now than you were 4 years ago? because over the past 4 years, americans have suffered, one catastrophic failure, betrayal you and humiliation after another. harris has delivered soaring prices. true economic

anguish at home, war and chaos abroad and a nation destroying invasion on the southern border, invasion of some of the greatest criminals in the world pouring into our country and we will not take that, we will and that immediately. i happen to think it is bigger than the economy. every poll shows the economy and inflation and then the order and the horrible things going on there and i do not agree with that, i think we need to focus on all of it, we will do it all at one time but to me when you allow thousands of murderers into our country, when you allow the drug kingpins of the world and terrorists into our country at levels we have never seen before, to me that is the bigger problem. we will solve it all but that is the bigger problem. we will have it taken care of

very quickly but my message to you and to all americans tonight is very simple. we do not have to live this way. we are not living good. for years, what did they do that was good? can you name one thing? i said to a group of people, what have they done? everything is a disaster, suppose the president of china wanted to call to ask a question about war or taiwan or anything, who does he call? we have a little problem in america , they probably end up calling me. maybe they will call me. who do you call? remember they ripped that presidency away from biden. say what you want, we are not fans of biden, i spent 150 million on him, we went to the

convention, we never mentioned harris, nobody knew who she was. all of a sudden they pick harris even though she was in last place. she came in 13, they had 12 plus harris and she was considered the 13th but then they wanted to be politically correct so they pick harris and nobody knew who she was. who is harris? it is a very nice name but it is a strange name because nobody knows who she is. she was the least popular and got no votes. she lost in the primaries to biden and everybody else. she was the first one out, out of 22 people she left, she never made it to iowa. now we are running against her. she has been exposed. she is a radical left lunatic who destroyed san francisco. we do not have to

settle for weakness and incompetence and decline and decay, that is a nice word, decay. that is a nice word. nobody will question it because it is true. with your vote tomorrow we can fix every single problem our country faces and lead america to new heights of glory. think of that statement, new heights of glory. that is what is going to happen. when we take the election . the ball is in our hands. all we need to do is get out to vote tomorrow. you get out to vote they cannot do anything about it, we will take it. one of their top people got on television as i was coming in. they said these numbers are not looking good, these numbers

for them. this is very troubling. now all we have to do, if we get out our people it is over, it is nice when you have that. in other words, to make you feel a little guilty we would only have you to blame but we put ourselves in a unusual position, and never happened where we are leading by hundreds of thousands of votes in the early stage , that has never happened before. we have always been losing by sometimes millions of votes and you keep catching them on tuesday but tuesday comes along and you make it or you do not quite make it, you are a little short and then they cheat and it makes it tougher. because when you have open borders, transgender everything, high taxes , very

high taxes, they are campaigning on the fact that they will raise everybody's taxes and you have men playing in women's sports. you have to cheat, who is going to approve that stuff? who will approve open borders with criminals pouring into our country by the millions? they have to cheat and they do and they do it very well actually. i think we are in very good shape, you show up and you will have the biggest victory. this will be the single greatest victory politically speaking in the history of our country. >> you are listening to former president trump ending his campaign in grand rapids michigan, it is where he ended all of his campaigns his final stop there so obviously a place he likes to wrap things up at. in the last few marks he has

been talking once again about how he believes democrats cheat and rig elections, again no evidence of them cheating or raking elections and that must be noted but familiar themes we have heard from trump on the campaign trail. >> he started out by delivering the closing message of his campaign, asking the crowd to a raucous response whether they are better off now than they were four years ago and then he -- >> which is a question he wants and his campaign want him asking. >> then he veered and started talking about the truth, it was not long ago that he was adjusting it harris took it the rest of the country would look like detroit and a lot of folks took that as offensive. he alluded to that by saying the miracle did not take place and he said he is ready to make the trip better than it ever was and then he ripped into democrats

for again, pushing falsehoods, unseating biden as the democratic nominee and suggesting somehow there was a conspiracy to put harris on the ballot suggesting that democrats wanted to be politically correct so they picked someone in his words that nobody ever heard of. we will keep monitoring the former presidents remarks and bring you more of them as we get them tonight. again his final stop in grand rapids. >> vice president harris is delivering a far different closing argument to voters on the eve of the election. >> oprah winfrey and lady gaga were among the stars that came out to take part in the event and harris urged voters and supporters to finish how they started with optimism, energy and joy telling them they will make the difference in the selection. >> america it comes down to this, one more day, just one more day in the most

consequential election of our lifetime. the momentum is on our side. our campaign has tapped into the ambitions and aspirations and dreams of the american people. we are optimistic and we are excited about what we can do together and to we know it is time for a new generation of leadership in america. >> the latest national poll showing harris with a slight edge as the campaign draws to a close. >> we have a panel of experts ready to discuss, it is election day in america right here on cnn, do not go anywhere, stay with us.

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my favorites. get xfinity streamsaver with netflix, apple tv+, and peacock included, for only $15 a month. welcome back to cnn's coverage of election day in america with pools set to open across the country in a few hours. we have arrived. the final pre-election poll from npr finding harris with a narrow lead over trump 51-47 among likely voters nationally just outside the poll's margin of error. >> when we incorporate that the poll of polls, harris is at 49%

to trump's 47%. this is a average of likely voters. of the latest five surveys 2 show a edge for harris and three of them show no clear leader. >> we have a great panel to talk about this and more. democratic strategist megan hayes and republican strategist shop and overture on the other side we have new york times correspondent young's in our own white house reporter stephen collinson. plus political commentator and republican strategist singleton who joins us from new york. welcome to all of you. we are glad you will stay up i think late. early ? i do not know. let's start with you, i know we have you in new york. we just saw the former president making his final pitch to voters in grand rapids where he ended his last three campaigns. superstition or strategy to end it in michigan? >> it is a important state, i do not know if the former president

will take the state , perhaps he is attempting to drive up his numbers as much as possible to make it more competitive at the last minute. i think it ultimately comes down to pennsylvania. particularly for trump, when north carolina he gets a 270. if you are harris you would like to make your roadmap to 270 easier than losing pennsylvania and having to take some of the other battleground states. i am not surprised by how close this is. you see incredible strength from the vice president as it pertains to women, you are seeing interesting strength for the former president with younger men. the question ultimately becomes for the vice president, will the women increase her odds providing a buffer for the man she will lose and for the former president will the low voters, the younger man provide a buffer for him for

the women he will lose? you are at a tie situation and i have no clue how this will work out. >> everybody is looking for signs including in new hampshire where we had a tie as gary told me a few months ago. it is not indicative of anything. i am curious from your perspective, we sell trump in three different battlegrounds today, north carolina, pennsylvania and michigan. harris spent all day in pennsylvania. what you make of that strategy? >> it is a smart strategy, if she does not take pennsylvania she does not take it. she has a lot of surrogates in different states, so i think they are covering the map but i think it is a smart strategy to spend time in michigan. >> again we are not short on contrast between the two candidates. we can all agree on that. not surprisingly in the closing messages we are seeing quite a contrast there. vice

president harris at times not even mentioning trumps name in one closing argument she made. trump obviously going right after her personally. what you make of those two? she is trying to make a wider reach. what you make of that? >> strategically trump failed at the assignment tonight. calling harris a lunatic is not winning with anyone. there is a fringe voter out there that still wants to fight and once incendiary language but in general how do you talk to people who lost their jobs , you talk to them about how they will keep more money in their pocket book and he has not done that. he has not stayed on the script for economy or talked about the political tension in a way i think is responsible and he could talk to women but he chooses not to go there because he knows he is not trusted there whether you are talking a national ban or ivf that is no good but women want

to talk on other stuff other than their reproductive rights although that is so important, he really could have gone so many steps further on the economy in michigan, pennsylvania, north carolina, nevada, arizona, i have not heard it and he failed the assignment for me because he oscillates between cheating and lunacy and all else. to make a critique we have heard equally from frustrated republicans who wish trump would stick to the message, he did get in that line about being better off than you were four years ago but then he starts weaving. >> he calls it the weight, i heard from different strategists who said there are two clear political vulnerabilities that they wish the former president would focus on, inflation which persisted for much of the administration as well as the record number of illegal crossings at the southwest

border but he does not do that. instead you have two candidates that are very much portraying the country in two starkly different ways. a former president with a increasingly dark language around the country and also very much leaning into the retribution he is seeking against his political enemies even labeling them the enemy from within and on the other hand you have the vice president who has been attempting to extend a olive branch to republicans who cannot bring themselves to vote for the former president. she is trying to portray a message of unity and that is a shift also from earlier in her campaign where she really focused on addressing the political vulnerability of the economy by talking about lowering housing prices but i think to take a step back it is worth noting, it is not just two different messages, it is describing two different realities of america that these two candidates are describing reflects how divided the country it is. i was in pennsylvania

this weekend and you would talk to voters who would also relay those two different descriptions. one person would save this country is in the wrong direction which pulling backs up, many people in the country think it is true. the next minute you have somebody who would affirm the vice president and say i cannot bring myself to vote for the former president because of abortion restrictions as well. >> that is the think that is so striking. you hit the nail on the head. americans are living in different realities depending on what they are reading, watching or consuming online. yet we all live in one country and there is going to be one winner whenever that person is named. is it tomorrow or today or three days from now? we do not know. what do you make of all of that? how we do live in different realities? >> i never covered a election in which the people on each side

think they're very way of life is under threat should the candidate they do not support his victorious. democrats are worried about democracy reproductive rights, etc. republicans see the democratic party has gone too far to the left culturally and socially, they see a decaying of traditional american values. the country is changing and some republican voters feel threatened by that. those two speeches were a microcosm of this short campaign tonight. harris was disciplined, there was not a great deal of substance but there was a lot of emotion being expressed, calling on america's better angels. it was aspirational and optimistic. trump gave that line about are you better off in every normal publican could have used it to take the election if it was any other candidates but then he veered off into extremism. the

extremism and outlandish and is an breaking convention is the thing that made him a popular candidate in 2016. it will be ironic if the darkness is what finally ends his political career. to make another thing he mentioned in the speech that strike me was this line about how the republican party has changed and as he described it, become more inclusive. i do not remember a republican presidential candidate doing as much to court latino voters and african-american voters as trump has on this cycle, notably though with some missteps and i am thinking of the madison square garden rally just a week ago where you had a comedian talk about puerto rico as a floating aisle of garbage. obviously trump trying to court puerto rican voters today, he had a number of folks as he visited communities that were compromised largely of latinos, i wonder what you make of that

effort, what grade you would give that effort and i noted he had some missteps. >> that has been the fascinating aspect of trump's candidacy, his persona as a political creature. you look at the 2012 race where he increased margins with black men in particular. the largest margin republican receives since nixon of all people. mitt romney could not do it, john mccain could not do it, george bush could not do it but somehow trump despite the rhetoric that may turn a lot of people off, was somehow able to do it. you look at the current number of african-americans in the house right now who are republicans, a large number we have not seen in quite some time. so it is interesting to see how the party has moved in a fascinating direction in terms of reaching out to men of color. i think there is a opportunity for the republican party weather trump is victorious or loses ultimately, to target those individuals, specifically men. i think women is difficult, the

reproductive issue, i think she is 100% correct, the republican party needs to figure out a way to maneuver but for men i think there is a lot of younger men of color looking at a america and future in this country that does not really include them in terms of economic attainment so the question becomes for the former president and the republican party in the long run, is there a conservative message that appeases to the discontent that many of those men are feeling. if you are going that route, what do you do about the women? some of the suburban women who may like republicans because of economic issues or they generally believe that limited government is a better way to run the country. can you get over that hurdle with dobbs being overturned? i am not convinced of that yet to answer the question but i think there is a possibility. if you change your position and say we have

gone too far on this issue, it is not enough to just say states can vote where legislators can vote on this, we should have it to states and say the voters in the states can vote and be the referendums. i am looking at a couple of ways where the party can expand its current base with men of color and also reach back to some of the suburban white women and say we understand we way over corrected and we will try to correct this. >> that has been one of the more fascinating dynamics about the election, we have seen things that were the conventional wisdom for a long time getting offended and this election is unique in a lot of ways but he was getting at one of those trends, seeing trump and republicans making inroads with voters of color, particularly men and seeing harris running historically well potentially with white women and suburban women especially that historically have been republican. they have started swinging back to democrats post trump but it is upside down in a

way. >> that lends to where we are in the country being so divided. both things can be true, people can think we are going in the right direction and still not want to vote for trump. i think that is key here because i think there are changes that need to be made but i think people are tired of the chaos and that is why she is attracting a new subset of people and attracting women and suburban women especially. they just want to get their kids to school and put food on the table, they do not want this chaos and they do not want to open the newspaper every day and see all of the chaos he created like he did in the four years of his presidency. to make the issue for me is it is not just men of color, it is if they stay home for the vice president as well. i have been reporting come across voters that feel for that for decades that they have remained at the bottom of the totem pole and been neglected by the government as well. you saw

her campaign recognized that and tried to issue economic policies specifically for black men but not just if they moved to trump. >> i think you bring up a good point. you are seeing a swath of voters that brought the coalition and who care about the elitism on display. the irony is that trump exhibits it every day of the week for the past nine years. we see him as elite but we see these voters out there that are frustrated with washington in the sense that washington never speaks to their problems. i speak to women like that all the time. childcare is not addressed. we do not have enough money to take care of the children and plan for the future and we are a sandwich generation. there is one candidate that has spoken to that well and it is harris. to make a lively conversation for the panel. thank you to all of your voices. some of the biggest names in entertainment have been making one final push for harris on the eve of the election. to make we will speak with our chief your alan media analyst on the role

that star power can play on the closing hours of this race.

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her final stop of the night in philadelphia. >> the performances rivaled that of any music festival with lady gaga headlining the performers. >> in the meantime trump is touting what he is calling a major victory in the final hours. >> joe rogan officially supporting trump and he credits elon musk making the most coherent support for trump he will ever hear. >> how will this play out once the polls open? >> for more on that we are joined by our chief meet around analyst brian. good morning. this almost 1:00 in the morning. we officially made it to election day. walk us through how big a impact these celebrity endorsements or appearances have? i think we can all agree, it is not that they are maybe

moving the needle so much about changing minds but maybe motivating turnout? what is your take? >> i think the best word is validator's. who are the validator's on each side? the most important ones for trump or rfk junior and elon musk. elon musk poured so much money into the election and rfk junior because when rfk pulled out of his own campaign and pulled his weight behind trump it did have a impact and it may have one again later today. hard to say but those are the validator's surrounding trump. joe rogan, a last-minute endorsement, not surprising and frankly most listeners of joe rogan are already with tromso to your point it is more about motivation than persuasion. i think the validator's on the harris side, the celebrities like lady gaga tonight, they matter most when they are reinforcing a message that harris needs people to hear. that is what we have seen from harris celebrity endorses in the past few days. olivia roderigo,

lady gaga, carty b, talking about the role of women in society and the rights of women in america. that is the message i have been seeing on instragram were tens of millions of people are following the celebrities. so those validations are why this matters. the most interesting endorsement i have read in the past week was from harrison ford who did endorse biden in 2020 but rarely does get involved. he said harris will protect your right to disagree with her. that is a interesting turn of phrase and reminds us of how much is at stake in the next few hours. >> we have been listening to a lot of trump's rallies lately and some of it is on message, some of it makes me want to ask myself what are you talking about? it is hard to keep track of. both at his rallies and his tv ads he has been pushing this message of fear. how effective is that especially when some of the country does not necessarily reflect that fear and it is

contrasting with the harris approach. >> know but tonight in grand rapids this is it. his final rally as a presidential candidate, he says he will never run again. the country has been living with trump now for 8-9 years as a candidate for president. for many people it is exhausting as a experience. for others it is exhilarating that we have been through it together and now this chapter is actually over. the

appeals to fear has been a big part of it and we all have to remember as we hear trump wrap it up tonight, what some people here as hate, others here as love, what some here hope, others here as fear and it is different messages and honestly it will be interesting to take a break from the game we have been playing of what did he say versus what did he mean. that is the game that has twisted people into not for a decade now. >> it is amazing. to make a exhausting game to play. appreciate the perspective brian. it is 12:56 am on the east coast. we are coming up on 1:00 in the morning and it is officially election day in america. >> we made it, we still have a while to go before we know who is victorious but we appreciate you being with us. >> we will take a break and we will have more election coverage when we come back.

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experience how great splenda stevia can be. grown on our farm, enjoyed at your table. (♪♪) hello, and thank you so much for joining us for special coverage. >> the first votes have been cast and counted in a small hampshire village and in the

hours ahead the voters across the united states will do the same. >> nearly 80 million americans have already cast their ballots and now it comes down to today. both candidates making their final pitches to voters and their closing arguments could not be more different. >> kamala harris held her last rally in philadelphia a short time ago. she told voters that they have the momentum and urged supporters to finish how they started. >> her opponent, donald trump has been delivering his final pitch to voters at a michigan rally where he focused on immigration, the economy and pushed unfounded claims of cheating on this election eve. and technically election day on the east coast. he also urged

the crowd to get out and vote. the final push coming as the last cnn poll before election day shows it right there, no clear leader. joining us now is nancy klein. tell us what the candidates have been saying. >> an intentional shift from kamala harris as she makes her closing argument in these final days. she had stopped referring to donald trump by name and that is as she is trying to cast a tone of optimism and hope. she is trying to place herself as a fresh start and we will see what the voters say as they go to cast their ballots. focusing on things like affordable care act, abortion, affordable housing and also really making a dig at former president trump on the issue of puerto rico saying that she

supports puerto ricans, really a message of unity in philadelphia just moments ago. take a look. >> america is ready for a fresh start. ready for a new way forward where we see our fellow americans, not as an enemy but as a neighbor. and we are ready for a president who knows that the true measure of a leader is not based on who you beat down, but based on who you lift up. >> of course the herres team is focused on expanding their coalition. we saw that today as she had that star-studded rally and joined alexandria ocasio-cortez on the campaign trail. we also saw ms. cheney, the conservative there on harris' behalf. trump with a

darkening of rhetoric. he has sown fresh doubt in election integrity. kind of new, unfounded claims of cheating by democrats and has aired grievances and said he should not have left the white house after the 2020 election and also that violent rhetoric we saw aimed at reporters. and some of his campaign believes are winning like those on immigration. >> over the past four years americans have suffered one catastrophic failure, betrayal and humiliation after another. kamala has delivered soaring prices. and true economic anguish at home, war and chaos abroad and a nation and

invasion of some of the greatest criminals in the world. and we are not going to take that. >> trump's allies and advisers have implored him to stay on message in these closing days but really he turned to the reagan playbook, asking voters to consider, are you better off now than four years ago. >> betsy klein, thank you so much for that reporting. let's bring in megan hayes, jeff duncan, stephen collison, sophia chai , thank you all for being with us. jeff, i am curious to get your thoughts on what you think regarding donald trump's closing messages. sort of a darkening of rhetoric.

>> she is obviously showing hope and promise and trying to be a forward-looking direction and donald trump is doubling down on anger and chaos. just in his last comments a few minutes ago, sowing more and more down in election integrity. i think it will come back to bite him and how he has landed this and i just don't think americans, especially those undecideds, if you are sitting there undecided and want chaos, he makes it very clear. >> lens, i am curious on what your take is. >> there is a lot of things that donald trump says on a daily basis that i don't agree with. but when it comes to immigration and the cost of

living, he is kind of reflecting the mood of the country. we have 75% of this country that thinks we are headed on the wrong track, largely because of the immigration issue and the cost of living. he sometimes speaks in dark terms but he is also reflecting the mood of the country. when you see 70% of the country thinks we are moving in the wrong direction, they are not happy at all and he reflects on what they are saying. >> that question of the country not being headed in the right direction, to a degree that is somewhat deceptive. generally, you can make the case because of inflation and other issues that there is sort of a shadow hanging over this administration and you can see it in joe biden's unpopularity. so for harris, the big challenge for her has been to distance herself from biting while touting his

accomplishments. >> she has had to walk a fine line of distancing herself while also owning the accomplishments. also showing people how she wants to move forward. i think she has done a really good job of saying, this is where we are and this is what we need to do to fix it. she was laying out a policy and i think she has done that in the last couple of weeks. she has only been a candidate for 100 days or so. she has not had very many missteps. >> you remind us it has only been 100 days, this election season, it feels like with each passing election that the stakes are heightened and the drama is heightened. you have had biden stepping out, two assassination attempts, kamala harris stepping in and putting together his campaign in about 100 days. this has been a lot for americans.

>> it's true. it is an extraordinary election season. you see those things once-in-a-lifetime. a president stepping down. the assassination attempts that we saw with ronald reagan. it has all come together. but what is really interesting is that all of that has not really changed the election, which two years ago was pretty much a neck and neck struggle between democrats and republicans. we've got a different democratic candidate that basically united the party and brought it back to parity but it will not solve anything. because f the country will think that if trump loses, he was cheated out of it, and elections years ago used to be seen as a way to temporarily

sell things and this election, i don't think will do any of that. >> there is one thing it makes sort of solve and it is crazy that it does not get mentioned with all the unprecedented stuff we are seeing, and that is donald trump's legal woes. if he wins, those cases go away but if he loses he is looking at a potential sentencing within weeks of election day. >> is still has to show up. and this is what is animating why he is so anxious. he knows what is at stake. i have been hearing from people close to him that say as election day gets near, he is peppering them with questions, calling them at all hours of the day asking how am i doing, what do the polls say, do they think they will

win? this is someone who privately, behind all the bluster, knows everything that is at stake. >> donald trump could have the best november of his life or at the worst if he is sentenced and he proceeds to jail. >> this is only the first case that has been adjudicated, there are others out there. you have the state one in georgia. does that at all work into the calculus of the motivation to vote for trump? when we were looking at the primaries, he had been trailing for some time. we are talking after midterms, he was trailing florida governor ron desantis but it was soon after some of these charges came down that we saw things flip. i wonder this close to election day if those charges and the cases that he faced and now the conviction if that is still a motivating

factor for some republicans. >> i was working on that presidential race for doug burgum and i remember when those indictments came down. and you saw trump's of whole numbers skyrocket. it is interesting, we have not heard a lot about that over the course of the last several months. if we look at the polling, the seven states that are the deciding factors, we are within half a point. so it does not seem to be anything factoring into the motivations of voters. if we look at polling, the number one issue is cost-of-living, number two is immigration, abortion thereafter. yes, this is going to be a big deal for him win or lose but it does not seem to be factoring in to the minds of the voters i know. >> i remember i was covering

the republican primary and i can't tell you how many times i heard the theory that when trump is convicted, that is when voters will drop him and they will be worried that we need an alternative. and quite the opposite happened. he ended up getting the nomination. but it is quite striking that he is convicted of crimes and has all of this outstanding trouble that has been put to the side. >> it really tells you where the republican party is right now. for the litmus test and for all of these things that have mattered for all these years, character, track record. but now there is this division. the republicans that are embarrassed by donald trump and those who seem to embrace him. i'm embarrassed to walk into a woman -- room full of women and that is what i have seen of the campaign trail. even in these

80/20-30/70 districts, some are embarrassed and some are not. they are drawn towards this cold figure and no matter what he does or says, it's okay. >> please stand by for more discussion. we are going to take a quick break and will be back in just a few moments. >> and election like no other and it all comes down to this. >> the way only cnn can bring it to you. election night, special coverage begins tomorrow on cnn.

most americans will say that the economy is their top issue but a gallop poll released shows the majority of americans believe that the candidates look -- input is important. >> let's discuss with economic analyst joining us live, also

the associate editor of the financial times. thank you for staying up late with this. we appreciate you. what you think the economic challenges voters are most concerned about heading into the election? we noted over and over that inflation seems to be going down but the price on everyday items as stayed relatively high. >> absolutely. really what voters care about is cost-of-living. many people feel they have been in a cost-of-living crisis over the last few years. inflation just as a metric has been going down over the last few months and is lower than i would have thought it would be given all we've seen over the last few years. from the energy and logistical issues over the last few years. but a lot of people feel this in their pocketbook. this is about food, rent, auto

insurance. these are the things that hit people hard. and when you have a double-digit increase in the course of three years, even when that number is starting to go down, it takes a wild. it is an indicator for people to feel that the situation is changing and getting better in the cost-of-living is coming down. >> i want to ask, for months, economists have been warning that the former presidents plans for trillions of dollars of tax cuts and the sweeping tariffs could really have a negative impact on the economy. help us understand that. >> if donald trump were to be elected and put into place, what he said he would do, which is not just massive tariffs on china but on all countries, that would be an enormous tax on the u.s. consumer. i think that is a pretty simple

message. i think most people understand that 100% tariffs are not just what is needed to bolster an economy. it will be highly inflationary. and i think people have kind of gotten the picture and said hey, this is not what we are looking for. tariffs, maybe as a targeted tool where we are tying to deal with chinese dumping in steel or electric vehicles, but not as an economic strategy. and that is why you are beginning to see a lot of voters question trump's economic plan. >> i am curious what you make of harris' economic vision. she has put out plans for different subsets of folks but were broadly talks about, for example, $25,000 for first-time homebuyers, guaranteed loans for businesses. she has also

talked about price gouging. people have argued that it is not exactly realistic. how realistic would her plans be for the u.s. economy? i heard some folks say that it might cause more harm than good. can you handicap for us? >> absolutely. i think the big line that kamala harris has had to straddle is how close she will stick to the biden white house and bidenomics, if you will, and how much will she go her own way. she is trying to straddle that. you can see it in her advisers, half of which would have worked in the biden white house, obama, maybe during the clinton years. i think what you will see is harris taking certain parts of the biden plan. for example, the idea that workers need to make more money. we cannot just have an asset based economy.

you need to bring down the cost of living for average people. that's what things like the child tax credits are about. you will see her kind of taking some of these were populous approaches and making them her own. focusing on issues she really cares about. children, families, racial justice, inequality. these are things that as a prosecutor has thought about. you are seeing a little bit of a grab bag in terms of what those policies will be. she is not coming out like biden did at the beginning of his tenure and say, hey, i'm about workers. this is about work, not wealth. it is more about straddling the line between bidenomics and something new. talking about innovation, freedom, freedom from regulation in some cases.

she is really taking a big mix of policies from a lot of different places and that has been a criticism during the campaign. what are we really getting? we don't have 100% clear vision but we can say she will be focused on family, children and certainly the housing market which is aside from inflation, where a lot of the pain still is in the economy. a >> thank you for that analysis. these two candidates have been on a collision course, trying to scrape up every last vote from states that matter most. >> we have a lot to discuss and we will do that when we come back. >> don't let john king have all the fun. get live results,

insights, experience the wall.

the presidential hopefuls have been delivering their arguments now that the race is

truly winding down. >> tens of millions of american voters will be waking up in the coming hours and heading to the polls now that it is officially election day. kamala harris and donald trump spent much of their day in critical grant states, making their final pitches to voters. >> we are optimistic and excited about what we can do together, and we know it is time for a new generation of leadership in america. >> my message to you, and to all americans tonight is very simple, we do not have to live this way. we are not living good. for years, what did they do that was good? can you name one thing? i said to a group of people, what have they done, everything is a disaster. >> the very first votes have been cast and counted in a tiny township in new hampshire and that is where we find gary live

with the results. six voters in dixville notch and the outcome is? >> every single person who lives in the village of dixville notch was invited to come to this living room in this house because it has officially become the voting precinct. dixville notch, for 64 years has had midnight voting on election day. the first in the nation placed to have voted on election day and the first results learned. six residents were all invited to be here. to married couples, three men and three women and what was the results, well, for president of the united states, harris, three, trump, three. talk about a close election. this is literally 50% for each.

and an interesting aside, the republican won the republican's race. and the democrat won the congressional race. what happened here is the booths over here, three voting booths, six voters, two shifts of three walked in. they then dropped their ballots inside of this box and it has been used since 1980. when ronald reagan ran against jimmy carter. the moderator of the town showed the box empty before the vote started. a representative from the attorney general's office was here to make sure everything was done hunky-dory and ultimately the votes went on that board. that sign aboard

has been used since 1960. it was john f. kennedy against richard nixon. richard nixon got nine votes in that election. is this vote conclusive today, we know it will not end up an exact type but that is what happened here. >> it should not have ended any other way given how close this election has been. i'm surprised you did not mention the three time prizewinner accordion player. >> can i show you real quickly, come here, accordion player. he is here and he is watching. he has his accordion right here. you've got 30 seconds? >> we have 30 seconds. >> warm it up. okay. we have

like 30 seconds for you. >> this is brand-new. the new accordion. >> cory played the national anthem at 11:58 before election day as a prelude and we were all very patriotic. is it ready to go? >> almost. i wish we would have talked about this. >> we did not talk about this. you can tell. just play anything you can think of. ♪ ♪ >> cory has won the

championship three times in a row. it has been a pleasure doing this live shot for you. what a patriotic and interesting night for me. >> he led off the night and close the night for us. our thanks to cory, three time championship winner accordion player. let's bring it back into our panel. i am not sure what to say about the accordion player because it was majestic. was not expecting an accordion concert. only in america. given the historic nature of this election, seeing that dixville notch was tied, it speaks to how divided the country is.

>> there were four republicans and two undeclared voters. one voter must have voted for kamala harris and the other must have voted for the other side. who knows what that tells us, probably nothing. but at least we are talking about results, right? we don't necessarily have to talk about the polls anymore or the punditry or the spin. you get through all of the rituals of the campaign and now it is down to voters. and voters will be asked whether they want a presidency the likes of which we haven't seen, donald trump is making no secret the presidency he wants to have. he wants to be a strong man and wants to use the institution of

government to go after enemies. that is a very serious question that voters can vote for or against. there are many that are attracted to the vision he has. others will try to use the traditions of democracy to support that. -- support that. so it is an indicative way and message of the election that will come today. >> to kind of continue on that thought, a beautiful thing is to watch americans vote. and it is as transparent as it can possibly be. i know that your home state of georgia, ground zero for what the former president tried to do last time and there is a lot of concern from people on all sides. about what might transpire if there are a number of days between

when we vote and when we know who the president will be. officials are now not just responsible for putting on a safe and secure election but also combat disinformation. >> i think the biggest thing out of dixville notch is that there are no reports of voter fraud. but, no, this is a serious issue and for my perspective, pushing back immediately after the 2020 election, when the completely false narrative showed up and watching it play out for the last four years, i think the most troubling part was the last few months, trying to so additional thoughts of doubt. and watching all of that getting turned back by the supreme court in georgia, but there were intentional efforts.

they wanted to take the election process back 200 years to be able to create doubt. that was the whole plan. and then listening to comments by donald trump currently, sewing those seeds of doubt. if he doesn't win, the only excuse he will give is that he lost by fraud. it is troubling. so to watch these people go full hook line and sinker, i heard some people say that if donald trump looses -- loses they will complain of fraud. >> there is one in particular that got a lot of attention coming out of iowa. i'd like to get your thoughts on how that landed inside trump world. it showed that in iowa kamala harris had the lead and she was leading 20 points above trump with women voters. this is a

relatively reliable poll that has shown to be accurate over the years. >> iowa is a red state and it did not end well with trump himself that he could potentially lose this red state. the extra sore spot is one of the reasons why the poll says what it says, is that women, especially independent women and older women were breaking for harris. trump has known that women and the issue of abortion was a bad issue for him and that is why you had people like kellyanne conway trying to advise people on this issue. and melania trump came out pretty recently saying she was pro-choice. and trump a couple of days ago said he would be a protector of women whether he liked it or not. that could have landed in either way for women listening. but if you are trump you know

this is something everybody will be watching. not just in iowa but how women vote in swing states across the country. >> if you look he needs that, iowa is a red state but what is driving harris there is independent women, women over 65 that are breaking through in big numbers. and it starts to ask the question, is abortion being undercounted in terms of fueling female voters. >> they have the six-week abortion ban that went into effect in july. as far as the polls are concerned, trump wins by about 2%, that is still a big result for harris given what it was last time, 9% or something. that might suggest trends that are taking place in iowa are also taking place in wisconsin. iowa is interesting because there was a strong pool

of nikki haley supporters and i spoke to quite a lot of them in the primary campaign. and some said they would go back to trump if she didn't win. but there were several voters who said they would never vote for trump. some were even hillary clinton voters. whether the numbers were right, the movement in that poll and what it says about voters is quite plausible. >> i think that poll speaks a lot to the whisper caucus as i call it. saying, i'm with you, thanks for doing the right thing. that poll really speaks to, we flush them out, we need to go in and vote and they are voting for kamala.

>> look, as somebody who has done a plethora of campaigns throughout that -- my career, i will let you in on a secret that pollsters don't like to talk about, and that is that there are outlier poles that go on all the time throughout campaigns. having been on campaigns with an outlier poll coming your way, it is jarring. it is a jarring moment. but when you are on these campaigns, the critical thing you need to do is say, does this match the data we have internally in our campaign? does it match previous collections -- elections? i'm not saying there is not some movement in there we might want to take a look at but if you look at those previous data points, to see if it matches where things have been and the trajectory of where it is going, my guess is that it is a true outlier. >> i think it is an outlier

poll and i do not think harris will win iowa. women remember when they did not have those reproductive freedoms and i do think we should be watching other red states and the singing if that trend is in kansas and nebraska. i don't think she will win but i do think there is momentum with women 65 and older. >> panel, thank you. hang tight, we have more to talk about. >> seemingly endless time in these late hours. >> what role, if any, star power can play in these closing hours of the the race.

vice president kamala harris is spending her final hours of her campaign in the must win state of pennsylvania and she brought with her some serious star power. oprah winfrey emma lady gaga and

others joining her on her final stop of the night. >> trump's team celebrating what it is touting an election win. joe rogan officially endorsed trump late monday after his interview with trump on his podcast. >> how will all of this play out once the polls open? >> we are joined by brian stelter. you've got all the answers. what is going to happen. i know you've been talking to a lot of journalists in battleground states across the country. how are they saying all of this is lending with voters? >> it is so good to be here. finally we are at this point. let's enjoy the release of the moment that finally the votes can actually be counted. it is interesting that joe rogan news, we have seen many celebrities lineup behind harris. oprah winfrey said to

rally goers, if you don't vote at this time you may not be able to vote again at all. but it is a reaction to donald trump s dark rhetoric. the casual nature of his lies is what is so revealing and he is able to do it because he is the biggest celebrity at all -- of all. no endorsement matters as much as his own star power. that is what is so striking in these final hours. while talking to people in swing states, i hear about a lot of the fear and fatigue among voters but also some angst and anxiety and excitement about democracy. i've been really strunk -- struck in these interviews talking about how to put these pieces back together. elections sometimes rip communities apart. neighbors can talk to neighbors, husbands

and wives voting differently. there is a lot broken by the selection in the trump era. the harder part is how to fix it, that is the harder part that starts tomorrow. >> yeah, it is hard work ahead, thank you so much. >> whether it is kamala harris or donald trump, the outcome will have major ramifications around the world. both candidates have major differences in foreign policy and could change the major perception for better or worse. >> it includes the war with russia and ukraine and the relationship with china. immigration also a hot button issue and the war between israel and hamas and escalation in the middle east. joining snow is a professor of political science, thank you for being with us. you recently wrote for prospect that if donald trump wins, "the future

of democratic institutions and the larger liberal international border are an issue." why do you see it that way? >> he is both a perfectionist and isolationist. he does not like alliances or mutual support among democracies. his economic policy is basically economic war against everybody. and so i think it signifies a very profound change in the order that has been being built since 1945. >> most global leaders are quick to say that they would work with whomever wins the oval office. but are they vying for specific candidates behind the scenes? >> i think that they all have to say they want to work with whoever is elected. you don't want to get on the wrong side

of donald trump. but i think that any ally that depends on the united states for security like nato allies, like japan, korea, they are really scared of what is in store for them. trump has said very openly that he does not like alliances. he thinks allies take advantage of the united states and it is not clear if he will be there for them if there is a big show say between taiwan and china or further attacks by russia on nato allies. >> i want to ask about something trump said during a speech earlier tonight in grand rapids. he was talking about foreign leaders wanting to call someone and speak to someone in the united states. he tried to make the argument that they could not rely on the current administration between president biden and vice

president harris, and he suggested that they might call him. it strikes me that it comes after these reports that trump has had conversations with vladimir putin since he left office. i wonder what you make of that relationship in particular and also with shooting pain. >> the relationship between trump and putin, putin is a dictator and has launched one of the most aggressive wars since 1945 and trump seems to admire him and does not like zelensky, particularly because of his refusal to help him and that has led to the first impeachment and i think lynn's main hope for winning against ukraine is to have trump elected and to have trump cut military assistance to that country. i think that trump

gets domestic credit for being anti-chinese but he seems to admire him. he does not admire democratic leaders. he thinks that he is very strong and may be able to cut a deal with him. and so it is a little more complicated of a relationship. >> it is interesting because you think about china, iran, and russia and their alignment with one another and where the u.s. and its allies and of course what we are doing with helping ukraine, israel and allies around the world, obviously these two candidates have a very different views on a lot of that. donald trump has not been clear at all if he would want to continue supporting ukraine in its fight against russia. what you make of all that?

>> i think that it weakens us tremendously. we see the emergence of an non-democratic or anti-democratic alliance between north korea, iran, china and russia. north korea troops as we speak are fighting ukraine. the only way we can defeat this kind of violence is to keep our traditional allies in a system of mutual support and that is what nato is all about. trump thinks that in purely transactional economic terms that somehow they are not paying their dues. everybody acts out of self-interest. but he really does not appreciate the value of having the alliance and is just as willing to offend one of those allies. that weakens the united states overall. >> we appreciate you sharing your perspective with us. >> thank you, very much. steve

-- >> still plenty more news to come. we will have lots more to talk about during these very first few hours of election day. >> an election like no other and it all comes down to this. >> we can now make a major projection. >> the way only cnn can bring it to you. special coverage begins tomorrow at 4:00.

hello and welcome to cnn's coverage of election day in america. we have arrived. >> we have done it, it is election day. we are coming live from the nation's capital. it is election day in america hours before the polls open in the rest of the country. both candidates have given their closing arguments in key battleground states as they are looking to energize voters. >> are you ready to do this? are you ready to vote?

>> democratic presidential nominee harris and her republican opponent trump both spinning the final day before the election in key battleground states. the vice president ending her campaign in the all-important commonwealth of pennsylvania. trump also in the incredibly important michigan and while the two delivered starkly different speeches, there was one message they agreed on and that was the importance of voting. >> let us please remind everyone that your vote is your voice and your voice is your power. so tonight i ask you one last time , are you ready to make your voices heard? >> with your vote tomorrow we can fix every problem our country faces and lead america to new heights of glory. the

ball is in our hand, we just need to get out to vote tomorrow, if you get out to vote they cannot do anything about it, we are victorious. >> the final push is coming as the last poll of polls before election day shows there is still no clear leader. it shows a 2 point advantage for harris but that is within the margin of error and in the meantime trump is still speaking at his final rally in grand rapids, michigan. he started well over an hour ago and he has been going for about eight hour and a half plus and we have been monitoring his remarks. he started the night asking supporters if they were better off than they were four years ago and then he weaved as he describes it and started talking about election fraud, falsehoods about election fraud we should point out in a number of subjects, at one point he started dancing to ymca.

>> this has been going on for a long time and if you think about it, this could be and will likely be his final rally as a presidential nominee and he is doing it in grand rapids , michigan where he ended his campaigns in 2020 and 2016 so we will continue to keep an eye on that. joining us in washington as senior white house producer betsy klein who has been monitoring both candidates and what they have been saying in their final hours. what have they been saying? >> it has been a intentional shift for vice president harris, sources telling us she has stopped naming trump directly instead opting to refer to him as the other guy casting a message of optimism and hope. she claims herself as a new way forward and a changed candidate. we will see what voters have to say about that at the ballot box. talking about key issues like attempting the affordable care

act portable housing and a message of hope in the final closing day. take a look. >> america is ready for a fresh start. ready for a new way forward where we see our fellow americans not as a enemy but as a neighbor. we are ready for a president who knows that the true measure of a leader is not based on who you beat down but based on who you left off. >> the harris campaign looking to tout its diverse and expanded coalition in the final hours. we saw that in philadelphia as we saw the star-studded rally with lady gaga and oprah winfrey. we saw it with alexandria cortez and also liz cheney appearing. meanwhile former president trump has a darkening of

rhetoric in the final hours. sewing fresh doubt on election integrity , making false claims that democrats are cheating in the selection and he is also saying he should not have left the white house in 2020 and going after his political rivals like nancy pelosi. take a look. >> she is a crooked person. evil, she is a evil sick, crazy , no -- it starts with a b but i will not say it. i want to say it. >> of course trumps allies and advisors deplored the former president to stay on message but he did ask voters to consider the question right out of the reagan playbook. >> what about tomorrow? what do we know about what these

candidates or actually today, how are they spending the election day? >> we know that vice president harris will wake up in washington and she will make the final mobilization push to get out the vote and doing radio interviews. we expect her to have a meal with family and watch the returns at howard university. trump meanwhile has one key item left on the list and that is to vote. he will be watching the returns come in with his allies and advisors as well. >> betsy, thank you for the update. i want to let our viewers know, we are getting to nearly the two hour mark of trumps speech. >> he went on at around midnight here at this time so this has been going on for quite some time. >> now let's bring in our political panel. democratic strategist as well as the former georgia lieutenant governor. >> we also have stephen

collinson, a former spokesperson for doug, the 2024 presidential campaign. a big angst to all of you for being here and for staying up really late with us. this is great. i want to carry over and talk we did not quite to finish in the last hour, this idea about what issues will percolate the most with voters. we know what they are telling us, economy, immigration, that sort of thing but my question was, is abortion going to be such a driver of women that may be we have not talked as much about it. i know you have done some reporting on that sophia. >> abortion is the number one issue for some women including women living in red states, living in states where there is a ballot initiative that codifies abortion rights. all of that will have a impact. as

i said before it is the number one concern if you are the trump campaign. there is a lot of things they can do with trump in terms of messaging on the economy, immigration -- >> where he ranks higher with voters. >> even when trump was running against biden abortion was the single issue where biden had the upper hand and now even more so with a female candidate. trump has problems here. >> is there any concern among democrats that they saw the strongest effect to this reaction of roe v wade being overturned in 2022 and the emergency of the moment has waned three years later? >> i do not think so, we do not see it in the polls or on the ground with the momentum she has, i also think women are tired of being talked to like

trump talks to them that compounds the issue of reproductive rights. i think with a female person at the top of the ticket it has reinvigorated women. they will turn out strong tomorrow. >> lance i want to get your thoughts on this, you have been watching this unfold as well. do you think the trump campaign has done a effective enough job of being able to push back on the messaging? >> i think they have done everything they can do. this is a issue, the one issue that harris leads by double digits consistently in all of the polling. if this is your number one issue you will likely vote for harris. i do think trump has done a good job of saying i am not going to support a national abortion ban and he went back through the states rights argument and that is the best place he can be throughout the campaign. is it the top winning issue for him? no but it does not need to be. the

economy, cost-of-living and immigration issue far outweigh, i am not suggesting a lot of people are not going to vote on abortion but i think he has done the best job he can in terms of trying to manage the issue. >> while you are talking we are watching life pictures of trump wrapping up i think, he has been going for a couple of hours, he is having a good time dancing with his supporters. >> it seems like a shout and response thing he is doing , we cannot hear what he is doing but he is relishing his final rally as a presidential candidate. he is grooving across the stage. to you, it is not just trump at the presidential level that has struggled with messaging on the issue of abortion. we have seen down battle races, for example, i was talking to congressman don bacon, a republican in the second district of nebraska, it

is omaha so it is purple so for years he signed onto a piece of legislation, a messaging bill that declared that life began at conception and now his opponent, tony a rematch from 2022, he is being attacked for that over and over again. bacon has essentially given up on pushing that legislation forward, he did not sign on to it this year and he erased part of his website. he is not avoiding the issue altogether but it seems like he is struggling to develop messaging around it. it speaks to down ballot races across the country. is there a path for republicans on this issue that could lead them to having more consistency with women voters down the road? >> politically speaking republicans have been their own worst enemy on the abortion issue and they continue to set the abortion policy and messaging as though they are trying to run primaries. i go back to this moment when there was eight candidates in a debate, republican candidates for a u.s. senate seat and they

talked about the definition of life and all of a sudden all eight, no exceptions. you have eight candidates in georgia that all said no exceptions. we lost the narrative on the issue and also watching trump waffle on life and when it starts and when it does not start and what ballot initiative he supports, he is confused and it creates chaos. as far as abortion goes republicans have lost the narrative and we also lost the narrative on the health side of it. harris has positioned abortion as a healthcare plate which is huge. there is a broader conversation to have about birth control but no place for republicans to weigh in on the health of the mother or child or incest or any exceptions. to make that is so much of the messaging we are hearing from democrats, this is

about healthcare and women who are pregnant in these states with abortion bands that are dying, being denied care, not having medical outcomes they should be having in the u.s. because doctors are afraid of intervening. >> the democrats have been quite successful in putting all of that at the door of trump because of the overturning of roe v wade by the supreme court that he built. i think there is a way for republicans to talk about this. you saw liz cheney when she was out with harris talking about the difference even though she was pro-life for a long time, she was talking about the health care side of this. nikki haley talked more subtly about the abortion issue when she was on the campaign trail. but trump's path to the presidency in the first place was paved by this alliance with evangelicals and the understanding that he would create a supreme court majority that would overturn

roe v wade. it was his most significant domestic achievement but head has come back to haunt him. >> one of the things that i think underpins the conversation we are having now is the approach from both campaigns to two different types of voters. i am curious what you make of the trumps campaigns approach to young men. usually low propensity voters versus harris who seems to be seeking young women who have a higher tendency to vote and there is more of them. there are more registered female voters than male voters, is that a strategy you think can be victorious? >> yes i wish there would have been more outreach to women and i think the harris campaign -- i know they tried to do some outreach to men, i am not sure how some of those ads are successful but you have trump touting the joe rogan endorsement tonight. yes he

needs the low propensity male voters to come out and put him over the top tomorrow so that is why you see him promoting joe rogan because joe rogan affects 30 million people that listen to his show everyday. most of them predominantly young man. >> just before we go to the break, we are watching video of trump ending his rally. you have covered him and his campaign. any thoughts from talking to sources on his mood as he heads into election day and also this is likely the last presidential campaign for him. >> one of the reasons why, he has gone for two hours is that is finally sinking in for him. i think the stump has been a place where he has been able to express himself , if you listen closely to what he is saying on the stump, how much time he

spent there you can get a sense of his mindset and in the closing days he has been a bit frazzled, he deviated more from the speeches that are written for him. he is inserting things that i can guarantee you his senior advisors are sitting there scratching their heads trying to figure out how to clean up after him and that is a result of just his anxiety as we come close to election day. we know he has many questions and a lot of them frankly cannot be answered. he is becoming distrustful of people because he knows that aids fluff him with poles that look good. >> fascinating to get that perspective especially as he is weeks away from being sentenced in new york for the hush money conviction. please stay with us, we have more to discuss. we will look at some other aspects to the election. >> including a showdown in the battleground state of arizona, the question is can trump

regain that state that biden flipped in 2020? we will talk about that.

early ballots are being counted in arizona, one of seven key battleground states that can sway the election to trump or harris. the average of polling done by the new york times shows trump with a slight lead while cnn's recent polling shows no clear leader. >> there is 11 electoral votes up for grabs in arizona, not the most but narrowly flipping the state blue in 2020 helped secure the white house for biden and when it was called for biden it drew the ire of trump. >> joining us now is the political reporter at the arizona republic. thank you for being here. we just went to pulls eyes you heard showing it is anybody's race out there. it is arizona though where trump tends to hold his largest advantage. that state voted republican for decades until 2021. it flipped for biden.

what are you seeing unfold in arizona as we arrive at election day? >> i think a lot of republicans i speak with still think the state will snap back to its republican history and trump maintains a advantage. they will concede it is a close race. i think democrats feel like they are within striking distance and it will depend on election day turnout. some of the extra effort they have been putting in running to the tape all the way to the finish line to bring back some of the 2020 magic they pulled out. >> i wonder what you think about efforts, especially on the trump side to bring out latino voters in arizona. as noted, biden took it by .3 percentage points. obviously every vote matters so do you think the trump campaign made enough inroads with the community to flip the state

back to read? >> they definitely made a real effort to try to sustain that conversation that they already had in the 2020 campaign. that is a real thing. a real phenomenon that the trump campaign has done relatively well with latino voters especially with latino men. especially in the southwestern corner of the state . this is a area that had been historically democratic turf. the trump campaign really turned it into a safe spot for them and they are looking to run up good numbers in the latino community. they will not take that vote share but they will do relatively well and that is one of the things they are looking at as a way to put a firewall around arizona and keep the state back in its historically republican hold. >> you guys also have the abortion measure on the ballot

in arizona. how is that factoring into all of this? >> it really seems like that is the x factor in this campaign in arizona. as a swing state, this is a state where that issue is front and center. it is literally on the ballot. after the dobbs decision in 2022, about a year or two of legal ambiguity as to whether a 19th century near-total ban of abortion was the state controlling law or a 15 week abortion ban? what you have now is a effort to put this on the state constitution so it cannot be erased on the whim of lawmakers. this is something that is seen as a way to help drive turnout for democratic friendly voters. there are a lot of groups that have shown interest in this. that measure is expected to pass and it could be helpful to democrats as they look to keep this state where biden took it in 2020.

>> i also want to ask you about the senate race there. for the seat left open by retiring democrat turned independent senator kiersten. you have a progressive congressman that moderated some of his stances for the statewide race going up against former tv anchor carrie lake who has become a full-blown mag a acolyte. she lost two years ago and still has not conceded. my understanding is that trump has to take arizona by a substantial margin for lake to have a chance at winning the senate seat. is that your read of the situation? >> i think that is right. she has been behind her opponent in nearly all polling throughout the campaign especially since march were senator cinema said she would not seek another term. i think they have been ahead in 79 out of 87 poles

since then. she has a lead that is anywhere from 3-5 points , it is something he is expected to take and it is a real conundrum for lake as well as trump , continuing to do in arizona, she is not able to match that even though she presented herself as a trump in heels. it is not translating into equal support. >> i also want to ask, when we came to you we were showing the early ballots being counted , we know the federal poll monitors and additional law enforcement has been sent to the state, specifically to that county where so much of the vote comes from. there is a real sense that officials there have tried hard to both make sure that the selection runs as smoothly as possible with as much transparency as possible and that all of the public servants, the poll workers and everybody else are protected

from any sort of potential violence. >> yes the county has done a incredible and professional job throughout this entire era of trying to manage elections despite a lot of noise that there were cheating or widespread fraud. that has not been supported by the evidence. it has not been perfect but i think it has been a honest effort to this point. there really face a challenge tomorrow. the county in particular has a two-page ballot to fill out front and back. it is a long ballot and it will take a long time to fill out. it will also create problems in counting the ballots properly and timely. >> we appreciate the work of those election workers so much and we appreciate you as well ronald, national political reporter for the arizona republic. thank you for joining us. to make the first results

of the election are in and they reflect what we have been seeing in the national polls. we go live to new hampshire for a breakdown.

san francisco's leadership is failing us. that's why mark farrell is endorsing prop d. because we need to tackle our drug and homelessness crisis just like mark did as our interim mayor. mark farrell endorsing prop d, to bring the changes we need for the city we love.

san francisco's leadership is failing us. that's why mark farrell is endorsing prop d. because we need to tackle our drug and homelessness crisis just like mark did as our interim mayor. mark farrell endorsing prop d, to bring the changes we need for the city we love.

we are going to turn our country around. i will and inflation and stop the invasion of criminals coming across the border. i will strengthen our military and restore peace in the world and i will rescue the american dream. >> ours is a fight for freedom. including the most fundamental freedom of a woman to make decisions about her own body and not have her government tell her what to do. >> closing messages from former president trump in grand rapids, michigan and harris in philadelphia. millions of voters across the country will be casting their ballots in the day ahead. nearly 80 million americans have already voted.

>> we are ready have the first results from voters in new hampshire. the tiny township already cast their ballots for president and already announced results after a quick vote count. >> they only had to count six islets. gary is covering it all live. you watched it all unfold in person. >> reporter: that is right. we welcome you to the voting precinct here. what is notable about the voting precinct, this is a living room in a beautiful house in this small village. this is a leap year this year, 366 days, this is a living room for 365 days, 23 hours and 50 minutes but for 10 minutes tonight beginning at midnight it was a official voting precinct. this small village was given permission by the state of new hampshire to have the first voting in the country on election day and do it

precisely at midnight. obviously they are not the first votes because millions of us have voted early. however this is the first voting on election day and the first results you will hear and you will hear it right now. there are six voters here and this is how they voted. the official first in the nation new hampshire 2024 board, 3 for harris, 3 for trump and it is exactly 50-50 after all of this discussion about the election being too close to call, exactly 50-50, 3-3. this is the box the people dropped the ballots in, the box has been used since 1980. the voting here has been happening since 1960, since the kennedy and nixon election. it is a

tradition and every new hampshire primary, every general election in this small community 20 miles from the canadian border has taken place at midnight on election day. three voting booths, paper and pen, they went in two shifts, and it came out 3-3. i talked to the six voters after the voting was done and it reverted back to a living room and two of them were registered republicans, one a man and one a woman. the man voted for harris and the woman voted for trump. >> it came down to is the question of loyalty. harris was willing to give me hers and trump wanted mine. i think that is backwards. the president is supposed to be loyal to the people. people are loyal to a king or dictator. at the end of the day it came back to it being a privilege to be a american, i pledge allegiance to the flag or constitution but not a person. >> i voted for trump. >> why did you vote for trump?

>> i voted for him because of the policies and those are the ones that align with my beliefs so it was not necessarily voting for the man but for the policies. >> what is really cool was that there was media members from all over the world that were here and also there were people observing from all over the united states, new england, other parts of the country and canada because like i said we're close to canada. it was a festive atmosphere. you forgot how this election has made many people angry and frustrated over the months. there was two dogs running around so everybody had a lot of fun. to review, once again the most important part of the night, 3-3 between harris and trump here in this tiny town in new hampshire, it was a wash. back to you. >> hopefully by the end of the election somebody will have more votes than the other.

gary, live from new hampshire, ink you so much. our panel is back with us now, megan hayes, duncan, sophia, stephen and lance. thank you for staying with us everybody. we appreciate it. to make i want to start with you megan, we are now technically in election day. you are with biden last year on his election day, what is that vibe like for a candidate, for campaign staff and everybody who have been pushing so hard and now you arrived at this moment. >> for us it was a relief, it was in the middle of the pandemic, we were doing car rallies so it was a different atmosphere then the former president and vice president had with their rallies. we went to scranton and all around delaware. the goal was to keep him busy and not be anxious. everybody is anxious on election day and there is not a lot for staff to do. we were

out on the road talking to press the entire day. very different from what they will experience tomorrow but it is a anxious day. there is not a lot to do when you are campaign staff. the data analytics team and senior advisors have a lot to do but everybody else is just watching and waiting. we did not get the results until saturday for us. >> do not remind me. >> we remember. >> what have these final moments been like in your experience? >> megan took the words out of my mouth. this is the time you hate. the rallies are over. the speeches are over. the advertisements are done and there is nothing else you can do but sit and wait for the next 12-18 hours and wander the streets, maybe a bar to hang out in, you have to kill that time and told 8:00 or 9:00 tomorrow night. that is the

toughest thing for any type of campaign operative. it is a and c time as you await the votes. >> i have a election playlist and the waiting is on there. i think that is aft. waiting is the hardest part. what we know about the candidates plans for tomorrow? >> we know that former president trump will have a late start. he will vote in person on election day. that is a wish of his that will be fulfilled and then he will visit his campaign hq in palm beach and we know he will go back, relax a little bit, make a couple of calls, get out to vote calls and he will watch the results from florida, he will have a small election watch party for family and friends, it is exclusive. i am hearing there is a lot of elbowing to get into that one and there will be a bigger watch party for up to 7000

people at the convention center. if things are looking good, if trump is victorious tomorrow and it is called, it probably will not be, trump will go and give a victory speech. >> to the question of timing, jeff i share your anxiety about a protracted count. i am wondering what you will be watching for in georgia. that is one of the first battleground states with polls closing. >> i think all of the battleground state, specifically georgia it is all about the suburbs. the election will come down to suburbs. specifically to georgia you look at a northern suburb , cobb county, fulton county, forsyth county, where i live, you will see especially when the early voting data comes in, what is the exact breakdown, does it break the previous projections or molds? i think that is a bellwether sign for the rest of the suburbs around

the country. >> stephen i know you have been following this all the way through. i am curious what you are watching as the day unfolds. >> to start with, wayne county in michigan, around detroit, we might get some indication about whether there is arab-american voters who are angry with the vice president over gaza, whether they are sticking with her. then looking around philadelphia, it may take a while for the vote come in that issue getting the turnout she needs in philadelphia, pittsburgh, that can align with what she is talking about in the suburbs of georgia to build her coalition. the feeling tonight, it feels like the vibes are stronger for harris but i remember 20 years ago about this time i was flying back to boston from his last rally in wisconsin, everybody on that plane thought kerry was going to be president-elect

within 18 hours and it did not happen. sometimes campaigns , their perceptions are backed up by what they are seeing in is not necessarily what is there. we have two campaigns that think they are going to be victorious in one of them will be wrong. whether it is tomorrow, wednesday or thursday or whenever. >> let's say it plays out in a way that we are in this protracted waiting period. what does that look like from a keeping the peace perspective. we heard a lot of efforts being made across the country, security amped up in certain places, specifically where votes will be counted. what does it mean for the country to have to wait for days, possibly weeks or more to find out who the president is going to be? >> the longer it goes on the more the tension builds. we saw that 4 years ago, trump will be out there on tv the entire time

creating suspicion about whether the election is fair or not. also as we have seen it opens a window for u.s. adversaries, russia, china, to start trying to cause mischief in the election. so it is in everyone's interest really for whoever is victorious to do it conclusively. >> the harris campaign has said multiple times in fact with the you with the campaign manager, they expect trump to declare victory whether or not we have called the race or any media organization has based on actual data. they have a plan for that. it would not surprise you, it is what he did last time but they certainly have thought about this a lot. >> they have hundreds of lawyers ready to be deployed, they have a legal strategy but i think that think they would stress the most, these will be safe election to they want people to cast their vote and that is important they will be safe and fair elections and that is the message they want but they are ready for that. we

were ready for it for that years ago and they are ready for it today. any scenario is up for grabs and i think they are waiting for him to declare victory and have to go through the motions of that not being true. once the votes are counted. >> jeff you are at ground zero for trump's efforts to overturn the last election and we have seen numerous changes being made not just in georgia but different states across the country in order to prevent some of the uncertainty we saw last time. i wonder if you think those changes have been enough. >> first and foremost what is different this cycle was it caught everybody offguard how willing trump was to lie and come out of the gates and create conspiracy theories. there is a huge segment of the country that saw no proof and watched this play out for 4 years so the starting point is in a different place if this game starts again. i do think we have made improvements, especially in georgia, there

was a lot of early angst to carry trump's manifesto across the finish line but really we tightened up in a bipartisan way and made things more efficient which is what you are supposed to do after elections so i think we will have quicker counts, better audits but nothing has changed with the integrity or legality of these elections. >> thank you all so much for staying with us. lance to you in la and all of you guys on the panel with us. i know it is the middle of the night. our thanks to all of you. >> let's get rest and get ready for tomorrow. later, whatever. the one thing republicans and democrats can agree on in this election is the importance of the jen z vote and when we come back we talk about how the social media strategies shaped what some are calling the social media election. >> if we do not show up tomorrow it is entirely possible that we will not have

the opportunity to ever cast a ballot again.

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i am here with 10 first-time voters for philadelphia. so phoenix i hear you did research before voting. >> i did, it was important to me that the policies that harris proposed for reproductive rights in education and equality is what led me to cast my ballot for her. >> eddie i heard you stood in line because -- >> it was a honor as a african-american to exercise my right to vote which my ancestors fought so hard for. >> that was oprah winfrey rallying young voters for harris in philadelphia on monday night. many of them have just voted for the first time. >> studies show many members of

jancey were not motivated to vote until harris joined the race. now jancey is 1/5 of the u.s. electorate. >> in this election 80 million newly eligible voters are members of generation z which means they can have a big impact on the outcome in some states. let's discuss with aidan murphy, a political activist, organizer and social media content creator who joins us live from detroit. researchers say the jen z demographic sees social media as the most authentic form of media. what issues would you say are breaking through? >> i think the key issues are climate , reproductive justice, gun violence, something to has been incredibly important in this election has been bidens incredibly unpopular support for the israeli government,

that is something a lot of young people are hoping that vice president harris will break away from but there is a lot of key issues that have been talked about on social media. >> aidan you are active on tiktok, that is where a lot of people get their news, do you think -- what is the upside and downside ? you can meet people where they are but there can be a lot of disinformation as well on tiktok. >> that is absolutely true, i think the upside is that you can see your peers react to information that they are learning for the first time and bringing it to you in a peer to peer model that moves people to support candidates more. i think this major trend that has been going around on tiktok has been young people listening to

the access hollywood tapes for the first time. we were somewhere between fifth grade and seventh grade when those steeps came out. we have gotten numb to trumps horrible words and actions however these are things we have not heard and i tiktok has really provided a way to remind and shock young people into action. >> i am shaking my head when you said that, it is so obvious but i did not think about that. if you are voting for the first time in the selection you were really young when that first came out it had no context for it. it is wild. >> celebrities have been out front in the selection, taylor swift and beyoncé getting front row for harris. trump receiving endorsements from joe rogan and other personalities, how do celebrity endorsements sit with generation z? do they

move the needle? >> celebrity endorsements can be hit or miss. what we have seen is that endorsements from trusted sources on social media , where the young people really feel like they know the people they are following, these creators, there is a level of trust you can tap into their, there is not necessarily the same level of trust between a celebrity and a fan. i think social media can lend itself really well to that level of trust. you can get young people to take action in ways that the endorsement from celebrities would not have that effect. >> quickly before we let you go, to this idea, i think there is a general idea, conventional wisdom, that young voters skew democratic but trump has been

making a lot of inroads with young man, what you make of that? >> yes it is definitely happening. i think the harris campaign has been doing a good job of trying to counter that but it is a real thing that is happening that we need to keep our eyes on. the gender gap is widening as young women are becoming more and more progressive and democratic. so i think there is a need to reach young men with white issues of reproductive justice are important to them in ways that it connects to the women they care about in their lives. >> take you for joining us, we appreciate it. thank you for joining us to kick off election day. i am jessica in washington. >> our coverage continues with erica in new york in just a few moments. thank you for joining us.

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