this sunday it's joe biden. celebrations break out around the country as joe biden takes pennsylvania and the presidency. >> came here to celebrate democracy. we are proud americans! >> i am so excited! i was so nervous the last couple of days. >> i can breathe for the first time in 4.5 years. >> last night in delaware -- >> let this grim era of demonization in america begin to end here and now. >> may be the first woman in

this office, i will not be the last. [ cheers ] >> president trump insists the election is not over, making baseless claims of fraud. >> if you count the legal votes, i easily win. if you count the illegal votes, they can try to steal the election from us. >> the president's allegations of large-scale fraud and theft of the election are just not substantia substantiated. >> launching lawsuits. my guests republican senator mitt romney of utah, democratic congressman james clyburn of south carolina, and biden deputy campaign manager kay bedingfield. >> this is not what the democrats dreamed. >> disappointed democrats lose seats in the house. >> we had a very good day. most pundits thought we would lose the senate. >> two georgia runoffs in january will decide control of the senate. joining me for insight and analysis, nbc news washington

correspondent andrea mitchell. democratic pollster cornell belcher. "wall street journal" columnist peggy noonan. and david wasserman, house editor for "the cook political report." welcome to sunday and a special election edition of "meet the press." >> from nbc news in washington, the longest running show in television history, this is a special edition of "meet the press" with chuck todd. >> and a good sunday morning. one side of a deeply divided country is celebrating this weekend. [ cheers ] a nationwide block party broke out from coast to coast yesterday. spontaneous celebrations mostly in cities moments after television networks called the election for joe biden. >> we won, joe biden! the election of our lifetime. it impacts our future so much, and it just means so much that it's happening. we did it. we did it. >> ecstatic. i'm ecstatic. that's it. like -- like electricity going

through my body at this very moment. >> last night in delaware the new president-elect and kamala harris addressed supporters and the nation. >> now let's give each other a chance. [ cheers ] it's time to put away the harsh rhetoric, lower the temperature, see each other again, listen to each other again. >> perhaps by now you know the story. biden won by rebuilding, barely. the democrats' northern industrial blue wall taking wisconsin, michigan, and pennsylvani pennsylvania,wisconsin's technically going to be a recount. more importantly adding, it looks like perhaps, two sunbelts states, georgia and arizona. of course those races are not called, but biden leads in both. biden is heading for a solid if unspectacular popular vote victory somewhere in between barack obama's 2008 and 2012 wins. but the raw vote is quite impressive. the big lesson of this election

-- 2016 was not a fluke. it was a signal. while voters rejected president trump the individual, he still won far more votes than last time, and it was hardly the wholesale intersection of trumpism that democrats had anticipated. still, the president who has yet to concede, is refusing to admit he lost. he's claiming that illegal votes put joe biden over the time, which is false. he's claiming that joe biden is rushing to faultsly pose as the winner, that is not true. and that he actually won the election and did so by a lot. well, that's wrong, and as you can see by the numbers, by a lot. and in that spirit they've launched lawsuits. we've got the story covered from the presidential election to the senate control to the house. we'll start with two reports beginning with nbc news white house correspondent kristen welker at biden headquarters in wilmington i wilmington, delaware. they want to signal that the work of the presidency begins now. what are you learning?

>> reporter: that's right, chuck. that is very important right now. president-elect biden aiming to show action on a key campaign promise, winning the fight against covid. we're told he is going to officially launch his transition tomorrow and also announce a task force that will be led by three co-chairs including former surgeon general vivek murphy. he will also, we're told, that on day one biden will sign a slew of executive orders aimed at reversing key parts of the trump agenda, among them rejoining the paris climate accords, revursing the withdrawal from the world health organization, repealing the ban on immigration from muslim majority countries, and also reinstating daca. it is notable that several of those are focused on restoring the united states' relationship to its traditional allies on the world stage. so chuck, the work begins immediately. >> and kristen, i am curious, what is it that joe biden and the biden campaign, how quickly do they think they're going to

be able to start having a cabinet ready to go, at least present to the country even if they don't know what senate they're going to be presenting it to? >> reporter: yeah, it's a very good question. we are told likely in december or late november. so that is going to be a key focus moving forward. and of course trying to find people who will be confirmed if in fact the senate is controlled by republicans. and that's really going to be a key part of what president-elect biden is trying to do, his most urgent challenge in addition to all of his policy initiatives and goals that we just talked about. he's going to try to unify what is a deeply divided nation. he knows that his challenge will be reaching out to the 70 million people who voted against him and for president trump. he's going to do that with his messaging. we saw that on display last night in his remarks when he said he was going to be a president for all people. and he's also going to aim to reach across the aisle to work on legislation, also to build

his cabinet. while biden did have a number of calls on saturday, he's not yet spoken to senate majority leader mitch mcconnell. but i am told that he does plan to have several calls with republicans in the coming days, chuck. >> you just answered yet another question that i was about to ask the biden campaign. kristen welker in wilmington, thanks very much. let's go to kelly o'donnell. she's at the white house, also obviously with the latest on the trump campaign efforts here. and i guess the question, first question i have is in the statement on saturday that they released after the media projected joe biden as president-elect, they talked about that starting monday that they would have a whole slew of challenges ready to go, that they would begin this process. any hint what this looks like? >> reporter: what has not changing in this very long week is the president himself. he is doing the trump way of doing things, there's no concession and fight is on the agenda. so the trump team is using a

different clock. the president sees room to pursue this battle because states have not certified election results. so they claim to be ready to take the action tomorrow based on varied circumstances. relying in part on tips coming from voters and election workers who have signed affidavits, and the issues include whether mail-in votes were separated properly in pennsylvania to incorrect elections software being used in michigan to out-of-date voter rolls in nevada. those are some of the issues they're looking at. the trump campaign is raising money for this effort, but it's important to know the fine print also says any funds that come in can be used to pay off campaign debts, not litigation over the result. and chuck, this morning the president is tweeting about what allies are saying, supporting his desire to look for errors or fraud that could somehow change the outcome. outside the gates here at the white house, construction is already under way for the viewing stands for the january inaugural parade. so that's a reality that the

time in this president's term is limited. that's something he'll be able to hear the banging and the sawing today. >> very quickly, i know that the president's chief of staff got covid. that must only add to sort of what is the mood in that west wing right now. >> reporter: in talking with some of the staff members here, you get the sense that there has been an exhale. the mood is certainly quiet, and many have not been in the offices. we expect that the president might get some more fresh air today. one might think he would go back to his virginia golf club. that is something that the president likes to do. yesterday we saw him on the links, and certainly when he was traveling in the city, he saw that there were a lot of people out celebrating the victory of president-elect joe biden. motorcade had to drive through that. so that's another reminder of how his circumstances have changed so abruptly this week. >> kelly o'donnell at the white house for us this morning. before that kristen welker in wilmington. thank you both. joining us from the biden

campaign in wilmington is deputy campaign manager kate bedingfield. welcome back to "meet the press." first of all, congratulations. >> thank you. >> you're in a small club of folks that have successfully won presidential elections and no one can take that away from you, so kudos. >> thank you very much. an exciting time for the country. >> i -- i'm sure you feel relieved and euphoric today. let me start with this -- the president-elect last night said this about his mandate, "they've given us a mandate for action on covid, the economy, climate change, and systemic racism." i feel like he laid out four pillars there was his focus. explain how -- how will we see that in the next couple of weeks during this transition? how will the public see that focus on this -- on what the president-elect believes is his mandate? >> sure. well, the work starts right away. you know, those are promises

that he's campaigned on throughout this entire campaign. he's addressed these four crises that we're facing. you're going to say, for example, he's going to launch the coronavirus task force tomorrow. it's going to be read by vivek murphy and david kessler, who have been advising the campaign since the virus emerged back in march. so you're going to see the work get under way. he -- i think you saw last night in his remarks he really laid out a commitment to, you know, not just address those mandates that you just -- that you just referenced, but also to address a mandate to bring the country together, to unify, to lower the temperature, to set aside the harsh rhetoric of the campaign and get to the hard work of governing. and he's going to begin transition work in earnest this week. he'll be making calls. he'll be making announcements to the american people about how he's going to make good on these campaign promises. i think, look, we saw the biden/harris tick get the most votes of any presidential ticket in the history of presidential

politics. people are hungry for change. they want to come together. that's how president-elect biden is going to lead. >> do you -- has your focus on personnel, on policy initiatives that you might take on early in this administration, how much does that get tempered a bit by the fact that you might be dealing with a republican senate? >> well, look, vice president biden now president-elect biden is going to make his case and work to get them through if it's a republican senate, which we don't know yet that it will be, he's going to work to get them through a republican senate. i would go back to this is what the american people voepted for what they want to see. for members -- republican members of the senate, they're going to feel that pressure, too. people want the country to move forward. they want to see president-elect

biden and vice president-elect harris move forward on their agenda and have the opportunity to do the work, to get the virus under control and to get our economy back together. you know, that's what the american people voted for. and that's how vice president -- old habits die hard, president-elect biden is going to lead. >> it's interesting you said what the american people voted for. they voted -- the results are mixed if you look up and down the leadership of washington, if you will, right. democrats lost some ground in the house. the senate is an open question, but i'm sure you guys were hoping you'd already have control and not have to worry about the georgia runoffs. so do you think the country sent a message of we don't want to give one party all the power. hey, joe biden, your job is to work with everybody? >> well, joe biden believes his job is to work with everybody. so that is -- if that is the message for the american people, that's how joe biden views governing. he got into this campaign in

april of 2019 making an argument that the president of the united states should work with everybody, and that that's the kind of leadership we should demand and expect. so that is his intention. he is going to work to bring people to the table, to try to find consensus. you know, he has a track record of doing that. you know, if you look back at when he and president obama came into office in 2009, in an economic crisis similar to the one that we're in now. he was able to persuade republican senators to vote for the recovery act. a massive investment in our infrastructure and jobs. so he has a record of being able to do that. and that's how he's going to lead. >> all right. some people hear the word consensus on the left and think it means you're going to sell the left out. alexandria ocasio-cortez said this in an interview about her expectations on how the biden administration will be to the left of the party. she says, "the history of the party tends to be that we get really excited about the grassroots to get elected and then those communities are promptly abandoned right after an election."

let me ask you this -- do you believe that she's going to be disappointed or not when she sees the agenda of the biden administration in the first six months? >> no. i think that vice president biden campaigned on an incredibly progressive and aggressive agenda. take a look, for example, at his climate plan. it's the boldest, biggest climate plan that's ever been put forward by, you know, by a nominee running for president and now a pinellas counresident. he's going to make good on those commitments. he spent time during this campaign bringing people together around -- around this climate plan. he was able to get the endorsement of group like the sunrise movement and the endorsement of labor for this plan. it's a big, aggressive plan, it's the perfect example of the kind of, you know, big effort that he is going to make to meet this moment and to meet these crises that we're in. >> kate bedingfield, the deputy campaign manager for the biden/harris ticket. thanks for coming on.

again, congratulations. we'll see you soon. >> thank you very much. thanks for having me, chuck. and joining us now is republican senator mitt romney of utah. senator romney, welcome back to "meet the press." >> thank you. >> let me start with a simple question. what did you learn from the voters on tuesday night? >> well, i learned that republicans picked up seats in congress, held on to the senate, picked up state houses across the country. but we lost the presidency, and so it's a bit of a mixed message. i think people are saying that this conservative principles still account for the majority of public opinion in our country. i don't think the american people want to sign up for the green new deal. i don't think they want to sign up for getting rid of coal or oil or gas. i don't think they're interested in medicare for all or higher taxes that would slow down the economy. but they do want to say a change in leadership in the white house apparently at this stage, and so it's a message which says, all right, a change in leader, but we're not going to be turning a

sharp left turn in terms of public policy. >> what do you believe joe biden's mandate should be? you heard what he thought his mandate was last night, bringing the country together, number one. then he talked about some issues he wanted to focus on. what do you believe his mandate is? >> well, i believe he said it last night which is he does want to bring the country together. he wants to bring honor and respect in the white house, the way he sees it. he wants to be a man of character -- he is a man of character. these are things he thinks are very important both here and around the world. in terms of policy, i'm sure he'll have his own agenda. but he worked in the senate long enough to recognize that there are two parties, that things have to be done on a bipartisan basis, and the more extreme wing of his party is not going to take over policy in this country. that's not where the american people are. if he tries to go that direction, why, i think he'll fail. we conservatives will make sure and stand up for the great majority in my opinion of the

american people who believe that conservative principles serve us better. but we'll -- he indicated he wants to work in a bipartisan basis. we're ready to do that. >> what would you like to see president trump do this week? you've been here. you've lost an election. you've lost a close election. in fact, in some ways i've -- i feel like there's some similarities and very tight and various battleground states just like yours in 2012. how would you like to see president trump handle the week going forward? >> well, the way i would handle the week and the way president trump would handle the week will be different because we're very different people. we're not going to change president trump or his nature in the waning days of the presidency. and so i don't think i'm going to be giving him advice as to what to do. clearly people in the past like myself who have lost elections have gone out on a way that said, look, i know the eyes of the world are on us, the eyes of

our own people are on the institution that's we have, the eyes of history are on us. and a setting like this, we want to preserve something which is far more important than ourselves or even our party. and that is preserve the cause of freedom and democracy here and around the world. but the president is going to do what he has traditionally done, what he's doing now. i don't think that's going to be a surprise for anybody. by the way, he has every right to -- to call for recounts because we're talking about a margin of 10,000 votes here or less in some cases. and so a recount could change the outcome. he wants to look at irregularities, pursue that in the court. but if as expected those things don't change the outcome, he will accept the inevitable. >> is there a point where pursuing that strategy undermines the democracy? >> well, i'm more concerned about the language that's used. i think it's fine to pursue every legal avenue that one has, but i think one has to be careful in the choice of words.

i think when you say that the election was corrupt or stolen or rigged, that that's unfortunately rhetoric that gets picked up by authoritarians around the world. it also discourages confidence in our democratic process here at home. and with the battle going on right now between authoritarianism and freedom, why i think -- i think it's very important that we not use language which can encourage a course in history which would be very, very unfortunate. >> and maybe this seems obvious to maybe you and i, but there were people whose ballot may have voted for joe biden and may have voted for, say, control -- may have voted for a republican senate senate candidate in new hampshire. certainly looks like to me that happened. so if you're saying one vote is rigged, are you also saying the other votes are rigged? >> well, i think that's a pretty fair point. i understand by watching rick santorum the other day that actually the president did

better in philadelphia this cycle than he did four years ago in terms of the percentage of the vote he received. so there are some arguments which auger against suggesting that the election is going to get reversed. at the same time, i think you make an important point which is a lot of republicans, a lot of voters voted for republicans but did not vote for the president. and that suggests to me that conservative principles are still in the majority in our country. >> it's interesting you say that. i want to tell you about cobb county, georgia, senator romney. when you were on the ballot in georgia in cobb county, you won that county by 12 points, suburban county of atlanta. joe biden won it by 12 points eight years later. so you're talking about you feel good about the fact that you say there's a majority in this country that wants conservative principles, but your party took a beating in the suburbs. and that, you know, that's why it looks like he may not win georgia. if that is a pattern, you might not control the senate because

of that. do you believe your party has a problem in the suburbs? >> well, my party has challenges as does the opposition party. but i think i'll let people like yourself make a call as to why people voted the way they did. i think if you look at the numbers and look at the pickup that republicans had in state houses across the country, in congress, and holding the senate so far, versus our loss in the presidency, you'd suggest that the presidential race was more a referendum on a person and that when it came to policy we did pretty well. it's not like -- what's going to happen in georgia, this will be a race primarily about policy. i don't think the american people want to sign up for the green new deal and more medicare for all and so forth. i think we'll do well in the georgia race, but it's going to be a challenge. do we have challenges as a party? absolutely. and do we need to do better with young people and minorities in particular? absolutely. can we bring back suburban women into our party? i believe so.

but we've got some work to do. >> is this still duonald trump' republican party? >> he is without question the most powerful voice in our party. he will have an enormous impact on our party going forward. i -- i believe the great majority of people who voted for donald trump want to make sure that his principles and his policies are pursued. so yeah. he's not -- he's not disappearing by any means. he's the -- you know, the 900-pound gorilla when it comes to the republican party. >> senator mitt romney, republican from utah. pressure you getting up earl -- appreciate you getting up early and spending time with us. thank you, sir. >> thanks, chuck. when we come back, whatever happened to that blue wave that was supposed to give democrats the senate and grow their house majority? congressman james clyburn joins me next. >> our first time voting, this is our first election. it means so much to us voting for equality and the future. >> we're all finding ways to keep moving.

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welcome back. despite joe biden's win, republicans are asking themselves some hard questions. so far the senate democrats netted only one seat, the senate control to be decided by two runoff elections in georgia. i have to tell you folks, the amount of money and effort thrown into that is something else. republicans actually gained seats in the house, by the way. queue the democratic finger pointing, progressives and moderates blaming each other. and joining me who could be considered the godfather of the biden presidency because it's his early endorsement of biden that sent him on his way to the nomination and something the history books will never forget,

congressman clyburn, it is great to see you. welcome back to "meet the press." >> thank you very much for having me back. >> let me get you to respond to something senator romney said. he said he thought this election was a referendum on a person and that's why donald trump lost but it turned out it wasn't a referendum perhaps on policy directly because has his explanation for why republicans did better-than-expected down the ballot. that's your response? >> i think he's part right about that. but i think you ought to take a look at georgia. i said at the full election that the state we have to focus on to see what is happening in georgia. and great things are happening in p georgia. to demonstrate, they were not just about the person but philosophies going forward. so i think that's why you got the kind of vote in suburban areas around atlanta. if you go all the way back to the primary, you see joe biden

picking up votes in south carolina, in areas where democrats had not been getting votes before. so he's right about the country being much more -- we use the term cautious than we expected it to be. so i'm not upset about the results. a little bit disappointed that we lost seats. but i also recognize, look back two years and see where we picked up seats in the house, we knew going in it would be tough to hold on to those seats. whether winning or not, we will see what happens going forward. >> i'm curious. we heard the reports there was sort of a call with the democratic conference last week. and some of the more centrist democrats that survived but barely complained about the socialism label, the phrase defund the police.

you were somebody -- i remember the day you came on this show and said let me tell you something about traa thhat phra defund the police and were very aggressive pushing back on it. but do you think that cost you house seats? the socialism label, particularly south florida, those two seats and defund the police? >> i'm going to look back on and see and talk to the people in south florida. they told me that's really, really a problem down there. but i can tell you about the first congressional district of south carolina, and i believe that's what caused the seat there. and i can tell you about here in south carolina, jimmy harrison, when defund the police showed up with the caption on tv right across his head, that stuff hurt jimmy. and that's why i spoke out against it a long time ago. i have always said that these

headlines can kill a political life. we're all about making headway, and i just hope they're going forward. we will think about each one of these congressional districts and let people represent their districts. joe cunningham cannot get elected in zplikt and i cannot get elected in his, so recognize that people should reflect that diversity in our country. >> let me get you something to something congresswoman alexandria oscasio-cortez in an interview this weekend. the last two years have been pretty hostile. externally we're winning and there's been support but internally there's hostility to anything that is progressive. that's about how things worked signed the democratic congress. how would you respond to her? >> smixz you haometimes i have

trying to figure out what progressive means. my father was very conservative. he was a minister. i never heard him to ask his prog ra gags to give conservatively. he always asked for liberal offering. so i believe it's good to be conservative at times and in many ways but it's also good to be liberal at times in many ways. so you have to balance all of this out. some people refer to me as being moderate. i have been called conservative. and i have been called a flaming liberal. what do we call john lewis? any time you challenge the st e status quo, you're not looked upon being liberal. no, you just want to be a part of what's going on in this great country, a country you hope to help make great and that's all this is. i don't get hung up on labels. i don't know what i am. i'm an american, very proud american. and i'm a democrat, i'm a very

proud democrat. i just want us to be democrats in the big tent and these labels i reject. >> right now you've been my guest here on meantime. democratic congressman jim clyburn from south carolina, i always appreciate when you come on and share your perspective with us, sir. joe biden, look, he was your guy from the beginning. congratulations on that, sir. >> p thank you very much. when we come back, what did the election just tell us about our divided couple and our chance of healing? analysts are next. after my heart attack, everything changed. but i got a second chance to be there for the people i love. when i had a heart attack, my doctor chose brilinta. it's for people who have been hospitalized for a heart attack. brilinta is taken with a low-dose aspirin, no more than 100 milligrams as it affects how well brilinta works. brilinta helps keep platelets from sticking together and forming a clot. brilinta reduced the chance of having another heart attack or dying from one.

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the panel is joining us. nbc news senior washington correspondent andrea mitchell, democratic pollster cornell belcher, wall street journalist peggy noonan, and this week we commandeered an important member of our decision desk, mr. wasserman. i'm going to start with you because you're a guy who looks at american politics granularly from the ground up. and in some ways you're also able to i think answer this question. you heard mitt romney essentially make one argument that said, hey, this is a referendum on the president but it was -- it was a confirmation that this is a country that still has -- may be leans to the right there. is that what we learned from this election? what did you learn from this election? >> first of all, chuck, after all we've been through in the country in the past year, there are many parts of the country where the vote didn't change very much. and for all of the talk of

wanting to bring the country together, this election resulted in more polarization in a lot of states. i kept track of the past 20 years elections of what percentage each major party nominee won of counties with the whole foods market and cracker barrel old country store. in 2016 when donald trump won the white house, he carried 76% of counties with a cracker barrel and only 22% of counties with a whole foods, 54-point gap. the gap had been 19 points in 1992. this election based on my preliminary calculations, joe biden won only 27% with cracker barrels and that's 57-point gap is even wider than 2016. the irony of democrat attacks in those cities is places where joe biden's vote shares were higher than in 2016. philadelphia, detroit,

milwaukee, early evidence suggest he actually narrowed the margin, not by much, but there are some reckoning signs for democrats moving forward with regard to share of the hispanic vote in particular. >> cornell belcher, i know, you do a lot of work in south carolina. you've done work in some of those races. to hear congressman clyburn talk about the mixed results and it sure looks like we just reran the 2016 election and gary johnson voters voted for joe biden. the. >> i think that's right. in a certain except, we rewrite the same election over and over. donald trump got 57% of the white vote, which was just in line with what he got in 2016. what did george bush? 57%. ronald reagan? 59%. what is changing are the

demographics. 57% of the whoite vote in 1984 was a ronald reagan land slide. 57% of the white vote now is different. we can talk about economics all we want. but what you see is two americas coming to the and fighting over the future. there's certainly an ascending american versus a culturally anxious america. i think that is sort of the two battle lines that they were looking at right now in this country as we face perhaps a cold civil war between those who are anxious about the changes that are happening in america and those who are part of the changes that are happening in america. >> andrea, doesn't this mean we shouldn't expect a lot of change in washington because in some ways it's just, you know, the ball got moved a couple of inches to the left but we're -- the fight over that one or two yard lines is still the fight over one or two yard lines? >> in some ways, yes, but i think there will be a lot of change, simply because of the

way the trump white house broke lots of norms that went well beyond policy. these are not issues that will be determined by the balance of power in the senate. these are issues that are determined by the affect, the way a president handles the white house. the way he communicates to the american people, the way he treats people, the empathy, the compare. certainly the most important issue, i think, is the way he handles the pandemic and i think that was a defining issue of the campaign in fact because if joe biden had not cared about masks and about science and about people suffering and had big rallies and super-spreaders, i'm not sure this election would have turned out this way. yes, he was hurt by doing a virtual campaign and not having rallies along the largemargins very important but he represented suburban women and others who cared about the

bullying noises and communication, which peggy noonan knows more about than anyone else for the speechwriter she was for the most impressive president we had as a communicator. i think a lot has changed in ethics and in care of people and in empathy. >> peggy noonan, i was thinking a lot about your former boss you wrote for. aft light when i w last night when i was listening to joe biden, in some ways he has to do what ronald reagan was called to do. we can argue about the policy and which ways things are moving but there's a sentiment that needs to be uttered out there. what did you make of joe biden's remarks last night? >> i think it signaled as we all have noticed and see coming, which is a very -- a different tone. a different way of speaking and presenting yourself politically.

i found it hopeful. i found it rather deft. i really loved it when he quoted on eagles' wings, which is a song, a hymn, that all of the evangelical churches in america know and catholic churches too. i just found it sweet, a good beginning. the entire election, in a way, was somewhat triumphant. and you can see reverberations last night, so anxious about it, fighting at the polls. it worked. there's no credible widespread charges of malfeasance or corruption. it yielded up an outcome that was inherently moderate. everybody got something. democrats got the presidency, republicans state legislators house, maybe the senate. we will see. and the ultimate result struck

me as inherently mod rift and centrist-divided government. i think most people would say that's not the worse thing. >> we will see. it's interesting if there's an award trying to work in the middle. that's the problem, country throws divided government at them and doesn't reward those who try to work in the middle anyway. let me pause the conversation there. when we come back, the group that powers joe biden's election and what that could mean for future elections. stay with us. >> i'm so excited we have a female that is going to represent women of color. >> i'm actually still trying to mornings were made for better things than rheumatoid arthritis. when considering another treatment, ask about xeljanz... a pill for adults with moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis when methotrexate has not helped enough.

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"data download" time be closer look at joe biden reclaimed the big blue wall for democrats. biden flipped all three, wisconsin, pennsylvania and michigan by bumping up support for three key groups, younger voters, sue bburbanites. we will start with younger voters, specifically college towns and look at that in wisconsin. many president-elect biden won wisconsinly les than 20,000 votes. but look how well he did in dane county. not a surprise he would go well there, home of university of wisconsin. biden got 75 1/2% of the vote there, 4 points better than hillary clinton from four years ago as you can see and it basically combined gary johnson and still vine voters with that and he also got a bump-up in the raw vote. so the result was biden netted 45,000 more votes here than

hillary clinton did four years ago. by the way, 20-000-vote margin, he needed everything he could get. you can see similar bumps in college town counties in michigan and pennsylvania. what about urban votes? we said ul year biden would return upon hillary clinton's turnout with black voters in the midwest. let's look at that vote in the state of michigan and specifically wayne county and detroit. obviously, he won michigan by 2 1/2 points and expected heavily democratic wayne county home to detroit. this is what hillary clinton did and he basically did it by the same margin, as you can see here. but margins, raw votes matter a lot of the of those raw vote increases, he netted 33,000 more votes out of wayne, while four years ago president trump carried the state of michigan by fewer than 11,000 votes. finding 3,000 votes here mattered a lot. then the suburban vote, which president trump tried hard to win back in the final weeks of the campaign. where should we go take a look

at that? none other than pennsylvania and those philly suburbs specifically, montgomery county. this is easily what put joe biden over the top here. the checkmate state. you can see the suburban vote increase for joe biden, again, hillary clinton plus gary johnson gives you this biden margin here and it allowed him to win the suburb of philadelphia by 26 points. better than clinton, another place where gary johnson peeled away those votes. in raw votes, biden got about 30,000 more than clinton. not a huge influx, but enough. and president trump's voters turned out too, making this race much closer than we thought it would be, is meaning without these three core groups narrowingly increasing, is biden probably would not have clinched 270. 270. when at fisher investments, 27we do things differently and whother money managers

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welcome back. the panel is back with us. looking at the senate now it is tied 48-48. four races are still to be decided. most likely outcome control of the senate will be decided by two georgia runoffs, republican incumbent david purdue against jon ossoff for the six-year seat and georgia special election, this was where johnny isakson retired, democrat rafael warnock will face off against the republican senator kelly leffler. by the way, the prize for that runoff will be have to immediately start running for re-election in 2022. cornell, is i want to start with that and question of georgia, we looked it up, since 1992, democrats are 1 for 10 in general election runoffs of every level in georgia, 1 for 10. that said, i want to show some

movement, i want to compare colorado from 2000 to 20008, when barack obama carried it. democrats did not target it. eight-point win for republicans in 2000. five-point win for republicans in '04 and by '08 it became a blue state -- we thought a purple state and turned out, nope, colorado pretty blue, double-digit this win for biden. look at the georgia pattern. i want to go back eight years. 2012 mitt romney carried it by under eight points. in 2016 donald trump carried it by over five points and in 2020, .1%, but went blue. are we seeing georgia just pass through swing state land, a la colorado and virginia, or is this a new reality for a while that is going to make georgia just a knockdown, drag-out fight every cycle? >> that's a very important

question and million dollar question. look, joe biden is going to win georgia while garnering just 29% of the white vote and that sort of speaks to the changes we are seeing all across this country, especially out west with the latina vote and south with african-american votes. chuck, you've been around a long time. no democrat has won just garnering 29% of the vote. but looking how democrats run up the score in metro and metro atlanta and as you pointed out the ring collars around atlanta, that seems to be the majority here but what you're seeing is georgia, like colorado and nevada and to a certain extent like north carolina, there's jolts and there's backlash but there's a long trendline here of states becoming more competitive and blue you are as our

democratics shift. >> andrea mitchell, this fight for the senate, no precedent, two seats, one battleground state. the control on the line. my gosh, it's -- i almost feel sorry for georgia voters for the deluge of advertising that's coming. >> it's an epic battle, and i think mitch mcconnell and the republicans are going to throw so much at it because they're going to make the argument, and you've seen this in ticket-splitting throughout the country at other town ballot races, that people seem to want divided government. they were not voting so much for joe biden but against donald trump. they want some moderation. a lot of republicans were voting for joe biden and wanted some way to validate they're still republicans. but i would not discount what stacey abrams has accomplished in energizing the vote. >> good point. >> you see that particularly in the warnock race. >> peggy noonan, is there any

risk here for mitch mcconnell to be as defiant to joe biden as he was to barack obama? is that -- he could look at it and say, hey, it worked for me politically, i'll keep it up. should that be the way he handles joe biden? >> well, i'll tell you they are two gentlemen at the ends of long and significant careers. they're old friends. they've made deals together and talked together for years. it would just feel to me that it would be in their benefit and in their party's benefits and the country's benefit to get together and put together some things you can make work and then make it work, get it through the system. america does not love -- we love drama and division, i guess, we have so much of it, but america loves it when things work, both parties have a real something to gain in making things work again. >> david wasserman, if donald

trump is not on the ballot, what does that mean in georgia? >> there's no question there are a couple blind spots as analysts. donald trump being on the ballot was helpful to republicans in their 2018 performance in two ways. first of all, it meant he was drawing out a lot of pro-propensity conservative voters who would not normally show up for a down ticket republican in a midterm. and there were voters free to take out their anger on president trump at the top of the ticket and still vote for who they liked down ballot. the sunbelt is becoming more metropolitan. that is a big reason why georgia is where it is. but we will see. >> we shall see. what a terrific panel, thank you. that's all we have for today. thank you for watching, just remember, we're 14,061 days away to election day 2024. start the clocks and television

timers now. we will be there though and next sunday, because if it's sunday, it's "meet the press."

this morning the biden/harris administration begins to take shape with some key appointments and plans are set forth 72 days before the inauguration president trump says not so fast this morning his legal teams will lay out their challenges in multiple states. with no sign of a concession speech anywhere on his radar. this morning we say good-bye and remember the man with all the answers and the questions. the one and only alex trebek >> if you have no personality then you can't be a contesta