please join us when our trumpet sounds again, next sunday morning. ♪ washington. this week on "face the nation," midterm elections are just hours away and candidates are barn storming their states with some of the biggest names in politics. democrats argue democracy on the line. republicans say the party in power is wrecking the economy. it's a mad dash to get out the vote and the stakes are high as both parties vie for control of congress for the next two years. it's all just ahead on "face the nation." ♪

good morning and welcome to "face the nation." the most important and probably most competitive midterm election in years is now down to the wire. more than 39 million votes have already been cast and across the country, candidates are out in full force, hoping to persuade the persuadable, turn out their true believers and, perhaps, their most difficult challenge, explain to people why this election is so important and why they need to vote. in their words, here is what it comes down to -- >> they came into office and they created the worst inflation crisis that we have seen in four decades. >> the republicans like to talk about it, but what's their answer? what's their economic policy? they want to gut social security. they want to gut medicare. they want to give rich folks and big corporations more tax cuts. >> young couples want to make that first investment for a starter home. they can't afford the interest

rates. we have families all over the commonwealth worried about crime, so much so they won't send their kids outside. >> your right to choose is on the ballot. your right to vote is on the ballot. there's something else on the ballot -- character. character's on the ballot! >> you heard him say it, the biggest threat to democracy is voting for the republican. are you serious? the biggest threat to democracy is having joe biden in the white house. >> the main event is tuesday. control of the house, which has been shifting in republicans' favor in these last weeks, they need five seats to take over and control of the senate, where just one turnover will put them on top. we are tracking ten key battleground races, five of which are hotly contested tossups. our kris van cleave is in arizona. nikole killion is in georgia and robert costa has been reporting in pennsylvania, and that's where we begin this morning.

>> it's a choice. a choice between two vastly different visions of america. >> reporter: it's a choice that's as competitive as ever. right now the senate race between republican mehmet oz and democrat john fetterman could not be closer. three presidents barnstorm the state this weekend. >> if you want to stop the destruction of our country and save the american dream, then this tuesday you must vote republican in a giant red way. >> reporter: on the road from the campus of penn state to the suburbs of philadelphia, voters told us that the economy is front and center. are you feeling economic pain in your life? >> yes. i'm, you know, on a fixed income. >> reporter: fetterman, recovering from a stroke in may, says voters who want to blame democrats for inflation should think again. >> what i woul say to them is that you need a senator that is going to push back against corporate greed and the kind of price gouging. i mean, this is my point.

>> reporter: oz has courted frustrated voters. last night near pittsburgh he urged his supporters to win over neighbors by asking them if they're happy with the nation's direction. >> i want you to contact ten people. do it at church, do it before the steelers game, just fine the time. >> reporter: the pittsburgh steelers don't play this week and the remark gives oz's critics another chance to claim he is out of touch. this is kris van cleave in arizona where both the senate and governor's races appear to be in dead heats. battling for political life, senator mark kelly rallied in phoenix with first lady jill biden. >> women have lost a constitutional right and that is taking us in the wrong direction. >> reporter: republican challenger blake masters has closed the gap by hammering kelly on the economy, crime and the border. >> mark kelly, joe biden, they've opened up our southen border. they've given our sovereignty over to the mexican drug

cartels. >> reporter: kari lake is one of three election deniers at the top of the state's gop ticket. democrats have seized on that. >> democracy, as we know it, may not survive in arizona. >> reporter: that is quite a statement that you are a threat to democracy. >> i wonder what he would call hillary clinton because she's denied so many past elections and she's already denying the next election in 2024. we have -- >> reporter: she's not running for governor. >> we have the right to question our government and our elections. it's called the first amendment and i intend to continue that. >> reporter: katie hobbs. >> whether it's the issue of abortion, whether the 2020 election. >> reporter: starkly different campaigns on a collision course over the future of arizona. >> i think the opportunity -- >> reporter: nikole killion in georgia. >> from georgia, herschel walker! >> reporter: it was a homecoming for herschel walker at the university of georgia, where the former football star was game ready. >> just like the dolls are going to win today, that's what's

going to happen on tuesday. >> we have a voice in a democracy is to have a vote. >> reporter: democratic senator raphael warnock and walker are in a heated battle that could take control of the senate. >> rorter:cey abramsyou, brian polls tell us this tig ra. >> w a big turnout on election day. >> reporter: more than 2.5 million georgians have already voted, but here in cobb county, more than 1,000 absentee ballots were never mailed, calling it a critical error. they blame overworked staff but say that's no excuse and working to contact impacted voters. margaret? >> nikole killion, kris van cleave and robert costa, thanks to all of you. we turn to keisha lance bottoms, former mayor of atlanta. she now serves as senior adviser to president biden but this

morning she's appearing only in a personal capacity. good morning to you. >> good morning. thank you for having me. >> you said last month you were concerned about a lack of voter enthusiasm in georgia, but the secretary of state says there is historic level of turnout. what does that signal to you now? >> well, i'm glad that people are turning out to vote. when i said that last month, i was sounding the alarm. we have seen a record number of peopl turn out in early vote, but we still have an election on tuesday and we cannot let up until this election is over. i was on the ballot five years ago, seven points down going into election day. and i won by less than 800 votes. it doesn't matter what the polls say. people still have the ability to show up to vote on tuesday and to make a difference in georgia. the thought of herschel walker going to the senate is frightening. >> that is a republican candidate for the senate.

black voters helped turn georgia blue back in 2020 and send two democratic senators to washington. how do you explain to black thy shoup pphe part when democrt for these past two years, top priorities like police reform and voting rights really haven't been addressed? >> well, we have to remember that there's been a very thin margin, but there have been a number of issues that have been addressed that impact not just african american voters, but voters across this country. student debtli00efre, $20,000 if you're pell gr ant eligible. a vast majority of african american students are pell grant eligible. there's also been a reduction in prescription drug costs, insulin will be capped at $35 a month, $2,000 a month -- >> starting in january.

>> absolutely. >> and the loans are -- the student debt relief is caught up in the courts. you know a part of dispute. >> they are caught up in the courts because republicans are pushing back against relief to american families across this country. african american voters are key in georgia. 29% so far have shown up in early vote. that means that there are a lot of people left out there, not just african american voters, but voters across the state who can still show up on tuesday and make a difference in this election. and that's what democrats will need in georgia for us to continue to send raphael warnock to the senate and also have stacey abrams elected as governor. >> in our polling we see consistently that it is the economy and inflation that are top of mind for voters. the president said just a few days ago that he has passed so many good things, but people haven't realized how good they are yet.

congresswoman elissa slotkin said democrats have done a poor job with our approach to the economy. dnc richmond said the message of what the president has been able to accomplish has not gotten out there. hillary clinton said the work done by democrats is impressive but we have to get that message across more effectively. if the policies are so good, why is communicating them such a problem? >> well, it's been a very difficult couple of years. we have been in the midst of a pandemic. there's been a lot of misinformation flooding the airwaves. we see it not just on television, but we're seeing it through youtube, we're seeing it on other social media platforms. it is more difficult to get the message. but i'm sitting here today, getting the message out. this administration, democrats in congress, have delivered for the american people. and to turn back the clock and

not allow us to keep pushing through will be devastating for people across america. we want preskrupgs drug costs to remain low, then we need democrats in congress. if we want voting rights finally passed in congress, we need democrats in congress. if we don't want a national ban on abortion, and for doctors and health care providers to be sent to prison for offering an abortion to a woman whose life may be in danger, then we need democrats in congress. that's the message we will continue to push out not just through elections day but beyond because we know that elections happen quite frequently. we can't have people so discouraged that they think their votes don't matter. >> president biden said this week at a fund-raiser, if demcrats do lose in the midterm, so he's entertaining it, is a real possibility, he said it will be a horrible two years. the good news is i'll have a veto pen.

is complete gridlock what america needs to prepare for? >> well, we know that president biden ran on being able to work across the aisle. of course, american people want us to be able to get things done, but when you have republicans say that they will pull back aid to ukraine, that their entire platform is based on doing what joe biden doesn't want done, that's not what the american people want. we want progress in this country. and we want leaders who believe in democracy. we don't want leaders who deny elections. i heard kari lake say people have a right to question their government. they absolutely do. but they don't have a right to overthrow their government the way we saw that on january 6th. when you have election deniers who have -- who may go to congress, who may be elected to statewide office, we have one in georgia, bert jones running for

lieutenant governor, an election denier, that's not just a danger to democrats, that's a danger to everyone who believes in what this country stands for. >> keisha lance bottoms, thank you for joining us this morning. and we go now to newfield, new hampshire, and that state's republican governor, chris sununu, up for re-election on tuesday. welcome back to the broadcast. governor, our public polling we're looking at indicates you're likely to keep the governor seat after tuesday. back in 2021, you canceled your own inauguration due to security threats. you personally experienced the threat of political violence. i'm wondering, how concerned are you in this moment now? and will you hold an inauguration if you win again? >> yeah, so a couple things here. obviously with speaker pelosi and what happened recently, i think that is kind of

relooking -- everyone is looking at what this political violence is on both sides, it's everywhere. the heat is too high all across america. good leadership holds that down. i'll hold my inauguration, plan to do so. we have to as leaders bring the temperature down. it's okay to disagree, but at the end of the day, you have to move forward. we fully intend to do that in new hampshire. >> i want to come back to that topic in a moment, but first inflation is top of mind. new england is facing its highest energy costs in more than 25 years. could be a cold winter. your largest utility in the region is asking the white house to prepare emergency measures to prevent a natural gas shortage this winter. what's the federal response been so far? and are you at the state level prepared for what could be a safety threat? >> yeah, i'll say the federal response so far has been very underwhelming. all the governors got on the phone recently with the secretary of energy and tried to

talk about what those opportunities were in terms of increasing natural gas. of the line for natural gas, right? all of our natural gas comes through albany. in previous years if there was a high demand, a cold snap, folks come home, turn heat on, marcela would increase production. there's no opportunity to do that right now, and i think that's where a lot of the utilities, and rightly so, are telling this administration, you put policies in place, it's having a very drastic affect on energy and fuel oil prices today, and likely is going to get worse. so, we need to see something across -- there's nothing political will energy prices, right? but when you have all the ability in the world to produce your own fuels and refuse to do it, obviously folks in new england are quite frustrated. >> there's record production right now, as you know. but this is a very real problem. >> yes. because of the jones act, because -- and because of the jones act that is this antiquated 100-year-old union-driven policy that president biden refuto

rid of, we have very minimal opportunity to bring natural gas from even parts of our own country and land it right here in new england. so, it's not just new hampshire. it's massachusetts, it's maine, it's all of these states that are feeling record high prices because, again, we've shut down natural gas plants, disincentivized fossil fuels. look, we all want to transition to renewables, but it must be a transition. this administration went all or nothing. so, that's why you see it costs twice as much to fill your gas tank, fuel oil, energy prices. in new england when it gets cold, there's going to be some real pain for all of us. again, we're just asking the administration to reverse some of these policies, incentivize more production and more natural gags through albany, new york, to get us what we need. >> president biden in one of his closing arguments is framing this election as protecting democracy against extreme republicans. listen. >> the extreme maga element of the republican party, which is a minority of that party, which i said earlier, but it's this

driving force. it's trying to succeed where they failed in 2020 to suppress the right of voters and srt the electoral system itself. >> do you agree that parts of your party are emboldening violence and posing a threat to democracy? the democrat party, which is now using the president of the united states, not as leader of our country but leader of their party, as a political tool, right before the election to drive, effectively tell half of america that they're too extreme for america. the republican party is half of america? i wouldn't necessarily put you in that half. >> no. well, definitely not. but again, to say that extremism belongs in one party and it doesn't appear in the democrat party is nonsensical. >> you're saying the party is all one now, unified? extreme maga is part of the republican party's ideology?

>> no, absolutely not. absolutely not. no. >> it seemed like that -- >> it's a minority. what i'm saying -- no, no, definitely not. extremism is on both sides. for the president of the united states to come up and be more of a political tool as opposed to a uniter. remember, he got elected because he said he was going to unite folks, not threaten them. he was going to bring everybody together and get stuff done and not polarize this country, which is exactly what's happened. if that was not the reality, then democrats wouldn't bethe a going to come tuesday. it's coming. not because of politics. because of what is happening in people's homes, what's happening at their kitchen lot of responsibility for that. it's easy to blame extremism but most of us are not extreme. >> former president donald trump is expected to announce his candidacy for the presidency. cbs is reporting that that could be within a matter of days. what does that do to your party? does anyone have a chance of beating him in a republican primary? >> what does it do to our party?

nothing, nothing. it will have no effect on anything. i mean that quite sincerely. announcing you're going to run for office between an election and christmas is a terrible idea. one thing i'll say for america, we'll all be really happy one way or another we'll be happy the election is over come tuesday. everyone will want to re-engage with their family, take a breath and politics gets back into the mix of things in early '23. if the former president decides to run again, won't make a difference. he doesn't keep anybody out of the race. so it's still going to be, i think, on both sides -- i don't think president biden is going to run again. i think on both sides of the aisle you'll have a dozen individuals over the next six to nine months decide to come out and run. >> your name is floated as potentially one of them. i know you won't give me an answer to that now. you did turn down the invitation to run for senate. mitch mcconnell has voiced some

concern over candidate quality in the midterm election. you told the washington examiner that the republican majority would just obstruct president biden until 2024. you didn't want to be a roadblock for two years. you're setting pretty low expectations for what a republican majority it would actually mean. is that what we should expect, just nothing for two years, gridlock? >> i think both sides of the aisle in washington have set a horribly low expectation for washington. think about it, they pass -- one way or another, they pass a bill, republicans or democrats or both, and we cheer it. it's supposed to be this great success because they got something done. it is just an absolute gridlock mess on both sides of the aisle. as a governor, i can have so much more impact on what is happening on the ground level, redesigning systems, implementing better mental health services, implementing better opioid services, whatever it might be. this is new hampshire. anyone who spends ten minutes in

new hampshire, knows it's not an easy place to lead. i'm sure it's going to get something done and you can do that far more effectively as a governor than senator. leadership can change that on both sides of the aisle and i think that's what americans are looking for. >> sounds like we'll be talking to you again, governor. thank you for your time. we're joined by chris krebs, former director of cyber security and infrastructure security agency. good morning, chris. good to have you back. how do you react to this idea of president biden characterizing the maga element of the party as an extreme threat to democracy? >> the area that i'm most focused on right now is the undermining of the legitimacy of american elections. and governor sununu mentioned leaders need to stand up and speak truth to power, particularly the elements of the gop, that continue to repeat countlessly debunked claims.

we even have the gop candidate for governor kari lake in arizona just the other day making a joke about there's no way that president biden got 81 million votes. in fact, he got more than 81 million votes. but the point here is that we do need leaders like governor sununu to stand up and say that this is not acceptable behavior in american democracy. and that we need the -- those that continue to push these narratives for clout, for political influence, for money, for fund-raising, that they need to let it go and we need to move on if this american experiment is going to continue. >> well, we're going to continue that on the other side of this. to your point, there are 308 republican candidates who have raised doubt about the validity of the last election. there is a reason they are using that as a political message. we'll talk about that in a moment. stay with us on "face the nation."

just between us, you know what's better than mopping? anything! at the end of a long day, it's the last thing i want to do. well, i switched to swiffer wetjet, and it's awesome. it's an all-in-one, so it's ready to go when i am. the cleaning solution actually breaks down dirt and grime. and the pad absorbs it deep inside, so it prevents streaks and haze better than my old mop. plus, it's safe to use on all my floors, even wood. swiffer wetjet? so worth it. best. decision. ever. love it, or your money back. tune in tuesday for our cbs

election coverage. we start at 5:00 p.m. on our streaming network and then go on the air at 8:00 p.m. on our broadcast network. join me, norah o'donnell, gayle king, john dickerson and the whole cbs political team, chris krebs will be there, too, full coverage of the midterm elections. down with rybelsus®. man tc: my a1c wasn't at goal, now i'm down with rybelsus®. son tc: mom's a1c is down with rybelsus®. song: a1c down with rybelsus® anncr vo: in a clinical study, once-daily rybelsus® significantly lowered a1c better than the leading branded pill. anncr vo: rybelsus® isn't for people with type 1 diabetes. anncr vo: don't take rybelsus® if you or your family ever had medullary thyroid cancer, or have multiple endocrine neoplasia syndrome type 2, or if allergic to it. anncr vo: stop rybelsus® and get medical help right away if you get a lump or swelling in your neck, severe stomach pain, or an allergic reaction. anncr vo: serious side effects may include pancreatitis. gallbladder problems may occur. tell your provider about vision problems or changes. anncr vo: taking rybelsus® with a sulfonylurea or insulin increases low blood sugar risk.

anncr vo: side effects like nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea may lead to dehydration, which may worsen kidney problems. mom tc: need to get your a1c down? song: a1c down with rybelsus® anncr vo: ask your healthcare provider about rybelsus® today. (fisher investments) it's easy to think that all money managers are pretty much the same, but at fisher investments we're clearly different. (other money manager) different how? you sell high commission investment products, right? (fisher investments) nope. fisher avoids them. (other money manager) well, you must earn commissions on trades. (fisher investments) never at fisher. (other money manager) ok, then you probably sneak in some hidden and layered fees. (fisher investments) no. we structure our fees so we do better when our clients do better. that might be why most of our clients come from other money managers. at fisher investments, we're clearly different.

join me tuesday, norah o'donnell, natalie morales, on monday. we'll also have a twitter space conversation about the role of women in the midterm elections. that's monday at 3:00. you can listen live on the face the nation and cbs news twitter handles. tuesday, full election coverage. i've been telling everyone... the secret to great teeth is having healthy gums. crest advanced gum restore.

detoxifies below the gumline... and restores by helping heal gums in as little as 7 days. crest. the #1 toothpaste brand in america. for adults with generalized myasthenia gravis who are positive for acetylcholine receptor antibodies, it may feel like the world is moving without you. but the picture is changing, with vyvgart. in a clinical trial, participants achieved improved daily abilities with vyvgart added to their current treatment. and vyvgart helped clinical trial participants achieve reduced muscle weakness. vyvgart may increase the risk of infection. in a clinical study, the most common infections were urinary tract and respiratory tract infections. tell your doctor if you have a history of infections or if you have symptoms of an infection. vyvgart can cause allergic reactions. the most common side effects include respiratory tract infection, headache, and urinary tract infection. picture your life in motion with vyvgart.

a treatment designed using a fragment of an antibody. ask your neurologist if vyvgart could be right for you.

>> coach, it's game time. >> there's chubb, the linebacker came via trade. he looks to put