midterm elections used to be like boring, didn't they? now it's like the hottest thing. >> making sure working families get a fair shot, that's on the ballot. but most importantly, the character of this country is on the ballot. >> election day is finally here. more than 35 million americans have already voted. the balance of power in congress is at stake, and with it the direction of our nation's future. >> breaking overnight, dangerous storms raging across several states in the south, including possible tornadoes. bill karins will have the latest. >> a russian fighter jet intercepts a u.s. navy recon se. why did it get so close? >> are we one step closer tomaz putting their two new

headqurst man alive. "early today" starts right now. good morning and welcome to our special election day coverage. i'm phillip mena. >> and i'm marlie hall. in just hours, the polls will open across the nation and the stakes couldn't be higher. this historic midterm election is widely seen as a referendum on president trump. will voters reinforce his divisive brand of politics? or will a blue wave douse his fiery rhetoric and give democrats momentum going into 2020? we'll have the answer by the end of the day. right now we know this. enthusiasm is high, with early voting totals nearly doubling the 2014 numbers. and in the final national "wall street journal"/nbc news poll, democrats hold a 7 percent edge on the question of who should

control the next congress. >> on the eve of the election, both president trump and his predecessor, president obama, delivered their dueling final arguments. >> our opponents have been on a relentless campaign to obstruct, resist, demolish, dee fame, and destroy. but you can stop them with your votes. >> one election is not going to change everything. but what it does mean is things start getting better. and better is really important. [ applause ] better is really good. >> you can tell by his voice the man has been campaigning quite a bit. meanwhile, the spectre of foreign meddling hanging over the midterms, facebook revealing overnight it has removed a network of more than 100 that may have to influence the elections. the social media network says the pages were in french, and r. the company set up an elections war room after coming under fire for failing tolection.

>> republicans are fighting to maintain control of congress today, but could shift the balance of power. democrats need to flip 23 seats to take control of the house. the party only needs two seats to flip the senate. but chances are slimmer since only nine of the 35 on the ballot are held by republicans. we have team coverage this morning with nbc's lyanne caldwell in d.c. and vaughn hillyard in arizona. let's get straight to lyanne for more on where we can see signs of whether it's a blue or red wave today. >> reporter: sure, marlie. well, it's finally election day. there's a lot of people who have been waiting for this day, not just us as journalists, but voters as well. and it is evident in the fact that 35 million people have already taken to the polls and voted. that's approaching presidential level years. what that is showing us is that enthusiasm is super high among republicans and democrats,

they're breaking re so wha d mean? we do noah corresponding to the latest nbc news/"wall street journal" poll the democrats do have an advantage heading into election day. there is a 7-point advantage among democrats, but we also do know that it comes down to individual races, and that's really what's going to matter. and the voters that go to the ballot boxes in the districts in states across the country, what we're going to be watching tonight is that democrats will have a good night if they can win in some of these suburban districts that are currently held by republicans. we are going to be looking at new jersey. there's a whole bunch of republican seats that could be won by democrats there. we are going to be looking at georgia, atlanta suburbs, georgia 6 is the race. if a democrat can win there, democrats are going to have a very good night. but i also want to say that regardless of what happens on election day, if the democrats

take control of the house and republicans maintain control of the senate, which is, of course, the big picture story we're going to be looking for, there's also a lot of barriers being broken. we could see the first african-american woman to run a state in georgia. we could see the first transgender person to be governor in the country, but that's happening in vermont. and we also know that there's definitely going to be a record number of women serving in congress this year, purely based on the number of women who are running in these races, marlie. >> one to watch. lyanne, thank you. >> thank you. >> there are 35 senate seats up for grabs today with closely watched races in ten states including florida, texas, and especially arizona. that's where democrats are fighting to flip retiring senator jeff flake's seat. and the latest nbc news marist poll democrat, kyrsten narrow l

mcsally. our own nbc's vaughn hillyard is watching that race closely in a morning. vaughn, good morning. it is going to be a close one today.ter: yeah, good morning, phillip. it is going to be a close one. it was interesting to hear leigh ann mention the notes across the country. the suburban areas, congressional districts, in a lot of the senate races, particularly here in arizona, it's going to be those types of suburban areas, those voters, those more moderate republicans, those independent voters that could switch over to democrat and particularly here in arizona, that would be democratic kyrsten sinema who is trying to play more bipartisan independent mavericky sort of candidate here over the last year on the campaign trail. i want to play you a little bit of sound. asct, arizona. these are the steps behind us of the county courthouse where republicans, including martha mcsally held her last campaign event last night. before martha mcsally spoke, though, cindy mccain was

actually here on-site, and she actually spoke. she did not endorse martha mcsally. she has notably stayed out of this race. but she called for republicans if they were to win or lose to stick together, and to be working with their allies and with their opponents. he want to play you, though, that mcsally sound bite i was referencing where she called out kyrsten sinema. this is what she said last night. >> my opponent, she doesn't actually want to be seen with the other democrats on the ticket. it's actually kind of funny to watch. no, no, get out of the shot, man. you know what i mean? she's in the liberal witness protection program right now, right? she doesn't even put a d next to her name. >> i vote for issues the president agrees on when they're right for arizona and i vote against the issues that he supports when they're wrong for arizona. >> reporter: this is a state that donald trump won by just 3 percentage ts mar na mc -- martha mcsally has stood behind him. and even don junior this week.

phillip? >> joining us from a cold part of what is a warm stated to. thank you so much for joining us, vaughn. >> one thing pollsters are sure to look at after today, how did women vote? the latest nbc news "wall street journal" poll show women favoring democrats in what may be one of the biggest gender gaps we've ever seen. and this year women are running for office in record numbers. nbc's kristen welker takes us inside one critical senate race to show us the massive power women hold this election day. >> reporter: if there's any doubt, this is the year of the woman, look no further than arizona. the razor-tight race between two female congress women, republican martha mcsally, and democrat kyrsten sinema. >> we know what's at stake. >> i know why i ran. >> reporter: mcsally, a former fighter pilot, is in lockstep with the president's general da, from health care to the border wall. does the president help you or hurt you? >> he won arizona. he energizes republicans.

>> reporter: sinema has voted to fund the border wall but opposed thete. >> reporter: why should voters who agree with his agenda vote for you on election day? >> well, i vote for issues the president agrees with when they're right for arizona and against issues when they're wrong for arizona. >> reporter: women around the country are running in record numbers. 23 women on the ballot for u.s. senate and 235 in house races. and while there's a lot of focus on female candidates, even more critical could be female voters who are shaping up to possibly be one of the most consequential voting blocks this year. a recent national poll shows women voters are breaking for democrats by a margin of more than 2 to 1. a history-making contest with control of congress at stake. krist night coverage with lester holt, savannah guthrie and chuck todd leading the way. it all starts tonight at 8:00 eastern, 7:00 central here on

nbc. dangerous storms have ripped through parts of the south with several reported tornadoes touching down overnight. let's bring in nbc meteorologist bill karins to fill us in. good morning, bill. >> good morning, we have confirmation of the dangerous night. in tupelo, mississippi, an apparent tornado has gone through. sirens going off. this is 2 to 3 miles north of the downtown area when it went through and some significant damage there. also we are hearing from christiana, tennessee a couple houses were destroyed and people missing. there could be the potential for injuries and fatalities. we'll get them in here with the breaking news and storms of tornadoes overnight. areas of eastern tennessee. later on today we'll see the storms heading through areas of the chesapeake. it looks to be east of i-95. gun, we've narrowed this down. mostly wind damage, isolated tornado pretty much at work. election dayeas.

we'll also see a rainy forecast in new england with a pretty good soaking this afternoon. when we come back, i'll let you know how it will impact some of the senate races up for grabs. >> thanks, bill. businesses are encouraging people to vote through election day deals. lyft and uber are offering discounts on rides to the polls. wear your i voted sticker to participating twin peak ands get an order of chips and queso. that same sticker can get you free fries with any purchase at shake shack. thais valuable. >> at all participating democracies. just ahead, a close call between a u.s. navy recon jet and russian fighter. what made them get so close to each other? new details ahead on this special election day coverage here on "early today."

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the russian fighter jet fle states navy recon aircraft on monday. according to a statement from the navy, a u.s. ep-3 aircraft was flying over the black sea when it was intercepted by a russian su-27. the navy says that while the russian military is within its rights to exercise within international air space, this action was unprovoked and irresponsible putting pilots and crew at risk. now for a look at florida and the big races there on this election day, joining us is andrew de sada r tallahassee. latest nbc news marist poll puts democrat andrewlu ahead of ron desantis by 4%. quinnipiac has gillum ahead by 7. is that enough to pull off the big question. gillum's goal is to mobilize enough voters so he'll

essentially expand the electorate, turnout a lot of first-time voters for this i didn't tell calle alexis here. desantis folks are confident. president trump visited this state twice in the last week. he was in the ft. myers area. on wednesday night i was there for that. he also was in pensacola a few nights as well up in the panhandle. so, you know, both sides have a lot riding on this and it's really going to be a game of turnout and getting their most ardent supporters to head to the polls and encourage others to head to the polls on their behalf. >> gillum's rise here have any affect on thnate race also goine state of florida? >> well, look, i think, you know, gillum is running what i think is an obama-like campaign, right? he's trying to energize new americans. and that's something that he's going to, i think, be successful at tomorrow whether he wins or loses. >> both of these candidates

here, going back to gillum here and desantis, they are both very unlikely. a few months ago, six months ago, we weren't even expecting them to be in this race. what does that say about the state of politics there in the state of florida? >> well, look, it says that it's a big state. it's a diverse state. and it really, you know, both parties have really great operations down here. that's something i've noticed being here over the last week or so. andrew gillum in particular was a long-shot no one expected him to win. he wasn't even close in the polls. we were expecting a woman named gwen graham to be the democratic nominee. same thing goes with desantis. he's a long-time congressman, he ran for senate a couple years ago and did not make it out of the primary. you have two sort of under dog candidates who have gained national attention for different reasons. obviously president tru loyalist. he's running as someone who is going to try to advance the trump agenda ander work the

results that the president says that he is bringing tort country. whereas andrew gillum is on the complete opposite spectrum. he's more in the mode of bernie sanders in terms of his policy views. it's really a fascinating race to watch here and to see both of these have such high profiles. >> what do you think, desantis, what needs to happen for him to prevail and pull off this upset against gillum today? >> it's going to have to be turnout. there are pockets of florida where president trump did really well up in the panhandle, around pensacola and southwest florida as well. they need to increase their urnout as much as they ca desantis to, i think, pull this off. >> all right. andrew de sada rio from the daily beast. thank you so much. i know you've been following it for a long time now and we're going to see what happens. big day ahead. appreciate it. thanks for joining us. >> thank you. >> just ahead, we do not know who is going to win the midterms today, but we do know who the world's sexiest man is. plus amazon primed and ready to

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will "reduce homelessness" by creating affordable housing, expanding mental-health services, and providing clean restrooms and safe shelters with independent oversight, open books, and strict accountability measures to make sure every penny goes to solving our homeless crisis. vote yes on c. endorsed by the democratic party, nancy pelosi, and dianne feinstein. ladies and gentlemen, this year's sexiest elba! >> jimmy, how are you? >> you saw it there, jimmy fallon announcing idris elba as people magazine's sexiest man alive for fwa2018. he gets my vote, too. the avengers affinity star told fallon his mom will be very, very proud. i wonder if she'll be more proud

of that than his acting accolades. >> i guess it's a consolation prize for not being 007. i think he'll be great. good nightly news from the spice girls. plus a stunning move from the u.s. olympic committee in the wake of the scandal that is rocking usa gymnastics. you're watching "early today." are you headed in the right direction? we are. we have postmenopausal osteoporosis and a high risk for fracture. so with our doctors we chose prolia®. only prolia® helps strengthen bones by stopping cells that damage them with 1 shot every 6 months. do not take prolia® if you have loit, or take xg®tighess; face, lip or tongue swelling, rash, itching or hives have happened. tell your doctor about dental problems, as severe jaw bone problems may happen or new or unusual pain in your hip, groin, or thigh, as unusual thigh bone fractures have occurred. speak to your doctor before stopping prolia®,

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races. the ones in yellow, about so, are still up for grab. here's the weather forecast for those states. you can see where the blue is, a bit of snow in montana, also north dakota. the green shows you rain and storms that will be pushing through the south. florida, much of the state will be okay. western extreme, pensacola, panama city areas will have to deal with rain and thunderstorms. there's some of that snowy weather in mont mobt frana from missoula. cold and almost like winter. >> expect that around those parts. bill, thank you. still to come, one of the most popular musical groups in the world is getting back together. we'll tell you wlho when we com back on "early today." ck yeah i! it concentrated detergent plus stain fighters plus odor flighers that fight for clean. boom! ugh... tide pods.

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district party break downs in local texas neighborhoods. here we go right here. sorry, that is not a touch screen. can we roll in a touch screen, please? thank you very much. not a touch screen. can we -- thank you very much. that is not a touch screen. that is not a touch screen. still not a touch screen. let's to the texas senate race. we have the incumbent -- >> jimmy doing his best impression of msnbc's very own politics guru steve kornacki. and a reminder today we will have full election day coverage later this morning with correspondents all over the country. that's when you know you've made it, when you get imitated on the late night shows. >> yeah, or s you have made it. in today's top stories, amazon could have i reports in w york times," the tech giant could be splitting its second headquarters between long island city in new york and crystal city in virginia. the company has been searching

for a home for its h q2 for a year. the "wall street journal" first reported that amazon had locked in the two-city plan, but the company has not yet chosen those two cities. they are reported to be finalizing plans to employ 25,000 people in each city. >> pipe bomb suspect cesar sayoc will a poor in federal court today. he is facing charges for mailing more than a dozen explosive. devices to democrats, cnn and critics of president trump. they will ask him to be held ifndal involving olympic team doctor larry nassar, the u.s. olympic committee has taken the first steps toward taking control of the olympic program away from usa gymnastics saying in a letter usa gymnastics has continued to struggle to change its culture to rebuild its leadership and to effectively serve its membership. in a statement usa gymnastics said it is carefully reviewing the contents of this letter and

evaluating the best path forward for our athletes. >> well, it's finally confirmed. the spice girls are back with a new 2019 tour. i know you're excite ed about that. >> oh, yeah. >> ahead of their first tour in over a decade, the girld group announced six dates via social media. tickets go on sale this saturday. the ladies will reunite without posh spice who see victoria beckham in her cat suit any time soon. you can look at victoria secret's million dollar bra at the unveiling. that bra will sparkle down the runway. we, thanks forllit )s election !

voting has already begun in other states. right now, 4:30, election day. voting is already started in other states. brand new video, in fact, from miami, florida. up and at 'em already. good morning and thanks for joining us for this tuesday morning, a big day for voters. i'm laura garcia. >> and i'm marcus washington. mike has a look at your traffic

in a bit but kari has a look at our election day forecast. >> it is cold this morning. grab a warm jacket. look at some of these numbers. we dropped down into the upper 30s. now in the north bay, napa 38 degrees, and it's 39 in half moon bay. we're at 48 in san jose, and 43 in livermore. so after this chilly start, our evergreen temperatures will head from the upper 40s to the low 70s today, and it's going to be a warmer than norma