nineteen eighteen not true got w.'s november focus. it is it's the u.s. east coast the results coming in from today's mid-term elections and a shift in the balance of power is looking likely democrats taking control of the u.s. house and that early call coming from the unlikeliest of sources who says g w news special coverage of the u.s. midterm election. i'm not safe again.

america is at a crossroads i. was what it texans want we want to build the wall character of our nation is on the back we. got great and thank you missouri thank you. to the battle for control of the u.s. congress has under way as polls close on the east coast and in the midwest with voters still waiting in long lines on the west coast a republican hold on the u.s. senate is more likely that according to fox news as wins in key battleground states of tennessee and indiana are being called but it's possible that the democrats could take control of the house as they pick up crucial seat.

i'm burnt off in berlin it's good to have you with us tonight much of the world shifting its attention to the united states waiting to see if there will soon be a shift in power there tuesday was the most closely watched midterm election in modern u.s. history voters are choosing a new congress with all seats in the house of representatives up for grabs and a majority of seats in the senate as well let's take a look at the standings right now in the house of representatives with some of the states reporting right now as you see the magic number two hundred eighteen that is what both parties are striving for right now and the prediction from fox news already early on this election night is that the democrats will take retake control of the u.s. house let's see how the u.s. senate is looking right now that is not looking very good for the democrats at this hour with the republicans as you can see the move in red there towards the

fifty the magic number of fifty there in favor for the republicans as it stands right now with the ballot counting under way our let's take this now to the capital of the united states our washington bureau chief alexander phenomena joins me now from capitol hill good evening to you alexandra a very important part of our coverage comes from the capitol as everyone knows invest where you are what are you hearing in terms of these exit polls reflecting or telling is that voters went to the polls because they were motivated by double strong. yes who writes the president wanted it to be old about him with every willie he was calling upon his supporters to pretend that he's name is on the bell that and to votes republican and i was traveling across the country in the last weeks talking to many people to many trump

supporters and they told me that they believe that he is the republican party and therefore all day wants to custer votes to support he's pull the c.s. and he's agenda but this president is also a very polarizing figure and a divider and many of his critics told me that so many issues are important to them but they also want to send a strong message to the white house that they are very upset and very angry with what's the president and with he's been divisive rhetoric and let's take a listen to what the house democratic leader nancy pelosi what she had to say just a short while ago with these results coming in. so i asked all of you here are you ready to pay take that the house for a working man and my memo it would be are you ready to help more democratic

candidates when. are you ready for a great democratic that you're a. i think right now our way to their fury god bless you and god bless america thank god. are you can hear right there that poll is his voice is obviously straying from the campaign in this speech is i mean should nancy pelosi though should she be worried for the democratic party tonight. well maybe she's just exhausted want to be seen right now maybe not the big blue wave to democrats were hoping for but according to old projections it seems dead the democrats have good chances of taking over at least one chair member of congress to host of representatives they were apparently able to pick four republican seats and they need of course nineteen more to take over the control of

the house of representatives but there are apparently the leading in more than thirty of the races house races that are too close to call right now in the senate we have a different picture that might be a reason for the democrats to be worried. it seems that they don't have much chances at the moment to take over the senate with the republican victory in tennessee and with one democratic incumbent in indiana who apparently lost his seat there. what about what these exit polls have been telling us that people were more concerned about health care then the issue of immigration when they voted today does does that tell us that trump maybe got on the wrong horse in this campaign it could you right

this issue is very important health care is very important for the democrats of course and for many u.s. citizens who are afraid that they are going to lose their coverage to trump administration is determined to roll back obamacare all right or washington bureau chief i was under phenomenal the story force tonight from capitol hill in washington thank you roger. well voters who turned out to record numbers now this should have been celebrated as a victory for democracy is dead in some states it's turning into a travesty voters have had to wait in line for hours but we stations are battling with broken voting machines is like a broken record. he's been tracking this story for us it is a broken record they're going to show you see this right i mean you know the majority though of the voting is going smoothly of course but we are seeing some problems in at least five different states reports of major issues there in fact

voters have been of course documenting what they've been seeing posting this stuff on social media at their local polling stations one of the most common problems brand we mentioned earlier in the show is these long long lines we can zoom in on a few of these areas across the u.s. first your home state branch of north carolina carolina this is a video of a two to three hour long wait to get inside the polling center there some eight thousand registered voters in this district going to separate stations along wait there this is atlanta georgia a battleground states a night moco reporter took this video saying hundreds of voters waited hours this morning they were only three voting machines and they were also here in georgia a local voter look at this video missed goes all the way down the hall judges in fact in georgia ordering the precincts to stay open longer for that exact reason there's lots of people still waiting this is brooklyn new york people just giving up their they've had enough a two hour long way feeling. reportedly some voting machines there were broken

mausam overcrowding you know we've seen reports of even bigger problems not just lines some broken scanners a shortage of voting materials even faulty voting machines take a look at this this voter took a video he's trying to select the democratic candidate it keeps defaulting back to the republican candidate so that machine just not working. some machines might have even been tampered with look at this one we see a voter taking a picture inside his. he writes i feel something must have gone wrong to have access to the us the stick here in the voting machine. ability to quote close polls just by pressing a button you can see the compartment there's been open this amazing thing going wrong clearly of that machine a lot of the talk runs after twenty sixteen was about foreign interference in the elections you know tampering by the russians but clearly there are issues right here at home in the us with domestic infrastructure to get the vote and to have it we don't really i thought that in the united states they had this discussion back

in two thousand with the hague chad story a whole different problem was a problem yeah we know that we've got a whole starting to close now so what's going to happen to the voters who are still waiting to cast their vote that's a question when there's an effort underway now to inform these voters of the rights essential it comes down to this if you are in line when the voting booth closes or that station closes you will have the right to vote and that's the message is now being spread to many of these voters to let them know that they still have the right to vote and so you see a lot of celebrities out there this is lady gaga on twitter she's telling her followers you know if you're in line stay in line every vote counts and stay in line is a trending hash tag now you see politicians spreading that message as well hillary clinton here telling voters specifically in georgia stay in line democracy never easy of course but always seems to be a little bit more difficult in the u.s. sometimes lots of people this time it's for the big rush that's right you've got a lot of people and it's easy for lady gaga to say that it's probably not as easy

for you know eighty five year old lady to stand in lines not everyone has three hours and i'm i think they're going right kronos and as always thank you interesting reporting. or we've been through this already the midterms are a referendum on double trumps presidency that's what he wanted them to be a large number of voters that have turned out indicate that the president polarized opinions across the u.s. our reporters now take a look at the trump factor in the u.s. midterm elections. on the complaint where my dad in north carolina nevada arizona although his name is not on the ballot donald trump wants these midterms to be about his firing up his supporters by grabbing some of the most divisive issues and using them to keep his base afraid and furious the democrats are becoming angry unhinged mob determined to get power by any means necessary everything we do they can destroy very quickly a democrat victory in november would be

a bright flashing invitation to every traffickers buckler drug dealer and illegal alien on the planet come on and. his supporters love what they describe as telling it like it is. i love him i think he's chosen by god to help us hopefully he'll build a wall and do it quickly keeping his base angry with this strategy carried him to the white house in twenty sixteen trump is hoping it will work this time as well donald trump has built his political career on railing against other people telling crowds whom they should fear and hate he is president not despite his nasty rhetoric but because of it in recent weeks however trams tone has increasingly come under scrutiny after an outspoken trump supporter was charged in connection with an attempted bombing spree that targeted high profile critics of the president and

c.n.n. and after an anti-semitic mass shooting at a synagogue in pittsburgh. the suspect had to rant online against use and my gran's words do matter says to ron as it director of the anti-defamation league in washington and organization fighting anti-semitism and he believes that public figures like the president should be aware of that fact it's very difficult to divorce some of the philosophy in the espousals of a people as being enemies or people as being threats to the actual actions that have taken place it is words have implications and they unfortunately sometimes lead to violent action says mike immediately after the latest attacks the president did make a point of decrying political violence calling for national unity and more civility

in public life and his press secretary fiercely defends him very much as a temporary first thing that the president did was condemn the attacks both in pittsburgh and in the pipe bombs the very first thing the media did was blame the president and make him responsible for these ridiculous acts that is outrageous that nevertheless trump refuses to tone down his rhetoric blaming the media for what is going on in the country and continuing his campaign fear mongering about issues such as i mean gratian and phrase he hopes that will pay off on election day oh. well i'm joined tonight by a most by her she is a member of the truck twenty twenty advisory board that is a board to advise the u.s. president on his reelection she is former finance co-chair of the republican national committee as well because good to have you on the program on this election

this midterm election night let me ask you though i mean is it way way premature to even begin thinking about twenty twenty for donald trump. donald trump has forward thinking the day after his inauguration he filed the paperwork for twenty twenty so the campaign has been going full steam ahead since february of last year and that's one of the reasons that trump has been out campaigning so hard is that he understood that history is not with the party in the white house during midterms and it's really entrusting because normally people can't be bothered to vote during a midterm election and this time just with early voting in the twenty two states that allow it we saw a twenty one percent increase already over twenty fourteen and sixteen percent new voters so a lot of that is a trunk factor would be that it is a trump factor but you know your remember this is well as i do that two years ago

during the campaign trump said that he was going to drain the swamp and he was going to get rid of all of these established he's established it politicians and yet as soon as he was elected he started campaigning again that's what the establishment politicians have been doing as long as i can remember so why is he different then the rest of the the stuff that was in this wall here is the great disruptor and remember he was underestimated by pundits people were taken by surprise i thought that hellery clinton would win in two thousand and sixteen and what he has done is absolutely amazing it's always been about the economy the very famous political strategist under clinton james carville said it's the economy stupid and in this case trump has delivered results three point seven percent unemployment four point zero four one has an anomaly it's about what is it he talked about that the president was

a honest why he was almost ignoring the good economic data and he said it's because people get bored with good news. yeah well i think that that is true that people become complacent and they don't get out and vote and they're motivated by anger and if you'll remember in twenty sixteen he tapped into the collective anger in this country he kind of threw a hand grenade into the establishment and people felt disenfranchised and left behind and we've had many walk away individuals from the democratic party so that's a wildcard tonight are the end of pendants and also the millennial and their registration. and they normally as a voting bloc don't show up to vote in stormily older people and you know the most important block tonight will be suburban women and we've seen already that this is a year the women and we've got a record number of female candidates running in the democratic party and so that's

an interesting electoral part to watch but these are not but they came out for trump and i don't think the help me to understand your calculus here because you do we've got a lot of women a record number of women running for public golf is in the united states but most of those are in the democratic party and they say they've been motivated because of their disdain for donald trump. yes well of absolutely i mean trump is technically not on the ballot but people are motivated on both sides to come out there either for donald trump or against donald trump we're a very polarized nation i will say that i think that the contentious kavanaugh hearings has been a factor to motivate both sides there were women who felt that they need to move men had gone too far that a innocent man in the united states could be accused by

a mere accusation of sexual misconduct on the other side it galvanized democrats who were all for the me too movement that what i think that was really about was a conservative agenda with trump because trump if if we prevail and we absolutely could during this midterm i realize history is not with us now whatever if we did prevail it does provide the opportunity for two more supreme court justices to be nominated in the next couple of years ok unfortunately our time is up but we certainly appreciate you taking the time to talk with those tonight maybe most barker joining us tonight from washington d.c. lesser think you are aides here at the big table with me is tyson barker used program director and fellow at the aspen institute germany here in berlin ties and also once worked with the u.s. state department is good to have you here on the program size in your this vote.

we're hearing that it could have huge consequences for the united states abroad. really i think that there well it's a mixed vote obviously and you know what we're looking at is something where it looks likely that the republicans will extend their control of the senate and then lose control of the house what will happen most likely is that the democrats will use that check to really employ investigative powers investigative authorities and those will primarily focus on the russian investigators the moeller investigation the other way that it could change relations abroad particularly with europe as i can see the democrats nancy pelosi as leadership looking to put conditions in budget passing budget passage that would require essentially compliance with the paris climate accords that would be a hard fight obviously the president has withdrawn and i can see them putting in those kind of positions the. watch for more investigations watch for

links between russia trump other countries to really come into play or does it because we haven't heard much at all from robert mueller lately that is true you know there have been kind of rumors in the back pages of newspapers that he is going to release his report sometime after the election before the new congress comes into power that is one could say that's a where a little bit of the tension is released from politics also be a time where the tension is even greater because if you do lose control of the house for the republicans they might want to push through an agenda very quickly when it was controlled white house spokeswoman sarah huckabee saying and she spoke to the wedding present a short while ago to go. i think james carville said it best when he said anybody that was in to supporting a blue wave tonight it's not going to get it maybe you get a ripple but i certainly don't think that there's only way or behind him right there i don't think we're ready for. it so we may get a ripple rather than a blue wave is that means you're right well i mean the truth is if you look at the

structure of the electorate if you look at the mandate coming from the voters it is a mixed mandate i mean in the house we are seeing a big turnover but even if the democrats win the expectations is that they'll have only about ten to twelve seats in the majority that's a very thin margin and for a lot of those people eleven to twelve of them have pledged not to vote for nancy pelosi as speaker so that will send a lot of you know you're not going to have that kind of diverse decisive bloc that you could expect if it was a wave election so what about the notion that this vote has been a referendum on dog will trump. if you believe that what's what's the what's the grade that he's getting from the voters he's getting two different grades he's getting an a plus from his base and he's getting an f from those who don't support him and the nation the country is divided basically fifty fifty the differences is where those voters are located so those voters that are giving them a plus are located in rural states

a lot of those senators coming up for election this round and a lot of them frankly are looking in peril we already have losses in indiana we have looks like we have a loss in florida. it's not looking good for heidi heitkamp in north dakota missouri is going to be tough montana's going to be tough for democrats to keep control so that mandate from the rural states from crum space is going to be a plus for the president on the other side you're seeing some turnover in the house but of course democrats have a structural disadvantage there because of gerrymandering from two thousand and ten yet in speaking of gerrymandering we were talking about this earlier in the evening whoever wins especially in the gubernatorial races as well as aggression rises they're going to be in power. we're in twenty twenty with a great us since this is take it and based on that since is the new voting district lines will be drawn and that whoever is in power than that has a lot of power that's right you have in your redrawing you're basically rewriting the rules of the gate exactly i mean the rules were to use

a trump word rigged against democrats because in order to gain control of the house they had to win for five million more votes in tea districts in order to even come through with a very majority you know if there is a mandate coming out of this election the states to watch what they call what kellyanne conway would call the blue wall states that have gone traditionally for democrats but went for trump in two thousand and sixteen states like pennsylvania michigan wisconsin if those states ohio if those states are all voting for democratic governors and democratic state legislatures that are then able to draw those districts that is a game changer for democrats ok and that may definitely be be the case. is the writing on the wall for twenty twenty in terms of the next presidential election we had someone on the show you know just before before he said now with you talking about you know advising the president on his campaign in two thousand and twenty

yeah i mean it well it's no doubt that this is the president is a storyteller right he is used to kind of producing the apprentice he is producing his presidency is it go over goes well and what is the story that he's going to go into two thousand and twenty with this story he's going to go in with is what he's done for this election which was a midterm referendum on his presidency it was a half time vote on his presidency and that story which for him is promises kept him but he is ready to frame that narrative he's ready to produce that story are ready the question is what is the story that the democrats are coming with as we saw from the polling and commentators here have said you know the number one issue for people going to the polls was. health care that's a major issue this election brought out a lot of non voters more non voters than in two thousand and sixteen but you know who is that democrat who can galvanize a counter narrative to the story that trump is trying to tell me was asked why didn't he focus on the good economic data that he she would be able to at least

brag about if you wanted to his answer was would that does it galvanize people they find it boring they find good news to be more i mean news follows is you know tends to follow disasters there's a lot of reports about natural disasters of course. and you know he is a base candidate he his whole tactics his whole strategy since the beginning and his dud says when i need to do his inner thighs my base and for him in this election in those rural states where he had structural advantages to win democrat senate seats that are in a red state it's worked i mean it is. it is amazing it can we say with this thin winning margin that the democrats may have in the u.s. house would be able to say that this midterm election has been a victory for the democrats or is it more of a stalemate it's a stalemate again it's that mixed mandate you're getting i said two different

narratives i would even say three different narratives you're getting a plus from states like even like florida in this case but also like indiana like probably north dakota and they're getting the f. minus from a lot of these suburban districts these suburban white women that are turned off by the return of the again back to its old swing position is these midwestern states which voted for trump and now voting for democrats tyson barker thank you very much we'll be talking with you we're going to the top of the hour and let's take one more look at the standings right now in the house of representatives first and see how things are going to that house as we've been saying. it looks like that it will end up in the hands of the democrats two hundred eighteen seats is the magic number there and we're seeing the democrats move more closely to that let's take a look now at the situation in the u.s. senate. right now and that is not looking so swell for the

democrats the republicans look set to hold onto control with at least fifty seats in there you see right there the red moving closer to that line of fifty all right this is d. w. new special coverage of the midterm elections we'll be back in about thirty minutes from now for more results stay with the w. needs. some love and. others hate him like. why do disappointed supporters still back donald trump. two years after his election we take stock. usa the term phenomenon.

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