welcome back to "face the nation." we turn now to anita dunn. she's a senior adviser to president biden and she joins us this morning from chevy chase, maryland. good morning to you. i assume it nig forhatocave defied expectatons, you still will have only a thin majority in the senate. republicans still have a shot at gaining the house. what becomes possible now? >> you know, the precedent and the democrats accomplished a huge amount with a 50-50 senate and extremely narrow house majority in the first two years of president biden's term. you know, the president's been clear, as he was in his press conference this week, margaret,

which is he's going to reach out his hand to work with the republicans. the question is whether they will reach out their hand to his. given these narrow majorities, obviously the senate, democrats will control. the house is still up in the air. voters in this country are going to expect their leaders to work together. >> the president has said he wants to take it slow in terms of defining priorities over the next few weeks in this lame duck session. what's the business you need to get done? >> well, margaret, as you know, we have to keep the government open and funded. that is obviously priority number one. then -- and it's going to take a little while still for lame duck priorities to really be set given the uncertainty about the outcomes of the elections still. i don't think anybody would be predicted we still would not know who would control the house of house of representatives. additional funding for ukraine which has been, and the president says he hopes will continue to be a bipartisan

issue in the united states congress. you know, obviously, emergency funding for the natural disasters that florida and puerto rico suffered earlier this year. and additional priorities for the administration as well. but keep the government open and running is the number one priority. >> it looks like democrats owe a big part of their better than expected performance to young voters who turned out. about 26 million americans are now stuck in limbo because they've been promised student debt relief. now it's caught up in the courts. if you lose in court, i know you're waiting for that, will this just be a broken promise? >> margaret, we believe we're going to prevail in court because the arguments that -- and the law are on the administration's side. and make no mistake about it, you know, president biden made this commitment to people in america. it's not just young people. it's also people of every age. we've gotten letters at the white house from people who have

retired, who are talking about what a difference loan forgiveness is going to make. >> but is there a plan b if they strike it down? >> we believe we're going to prevail in court. at that point we will swiftly move to make sure that the over 26 million people at this point who have -- whose information this administration has, they'll move swiftly for loan forgiveness. >> voters in key states like pennsylvania rated abortion access as a top concern for them. but if republicans take the house, what is it that the president can actually do here? and is there room for compromise on restrictions with some of the republicans who have said they're open to securing abortion access. >> the president has been very clear. he believes congress needs to codify roe versus wade so it is the national law of the land. he has said if democrats control the house, he will send a bill to codify this nationally.

he will continue to work, as our administration has, since this ruling came down, to make sure that the travel of women who want to go to states where abortion is legal is not impeded. that people are able to get reproductive health care. that women who have other medical issues aren't denied care, which is happening, margaret. and at the end of the day, you know, the president said when this ruling came down, it was going to be a political issue that voters needed to go to the polls and make their voices heard. there's a huge amount of evidence that's exactly what happened. so, the real question is whether the republicans will listen to those voices. >> well, we'll see if there's any compromise there. what happens if the republicans do get this slim majority, it ups the chances of all of these investigations that kevin mccarthy has promised are coming. would you say today that the white house will comply with them? the trump administration was heavily criticized for defying

congress's request for appearance and documents. will the biden white house comply? >> you know, margaret, many of the republicans who have been talking about these investigations and even potential impeachment have made no secret of the fact they have a political agenda, that they are trying to advance through these. obviously, the white house has and will continue to apply with fair and legitimate oversight because we are a white house that respects norms and the rule of law. but i think that, you know, the american people didn't vote for congress being used to conduct political vendettas over the next two years they voted for. >> i know we're still counting votes from this election, but as you know, former president trump plans to announce he's running in 2024 this tuesday. you've already been involved, as you said, just being prudent, in planning for president biden to also run. does the trump announcement change any part of your planning or calculus?

>> you know, the president has made it clear he intends to run. and that he will make a formal decision later this year or early next year. you don't run for president because of what the other side is doing or what another candidate may be doing. the president will run because he feels that he is the best person to continue the progress that we have made in this country. >> we'll be watching and listening. anita dunn, thank you for your time this morning. we'll be right back. so we gave swiffer a shot. if we don't love it, we get our money back! spoiler alert: love it! sweeper's heavy duty dry cloths grab dust and hair and lock it away, better than my broom that can push it around. it even gets into hard-to-clean grooves and grout lines! cool! and swiffer st gets in all e hard-to-reach-places... trapping 3x more dust. heeh yah. switching to swiffer. totally worth it. love it, or your money back. hi, i'm angela. i've lost 58 pounds with golo switching to swiffer. totally worth it. and i've kept it off. i suffer from autoimmune hypothyroid

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everything that happened. brendan, i want to start with you. we were just hearing about how slim the majorities could be if the gop does pull off this win in the house. conservative republicans from within the freedom caucus made your last two boss's lives very, very difficult. what is it that kevin mccarthy would face if he steps into leadership of the republican party in the house? >> yeah, it's a really difficult moment. when we had trouble sometimes keeping everybody in line, we had a healthy majority. sometimes 10, 15, 30 seats. this is a potential situation where you could have two seats to play with. that's almost impossible. being republican speaker of the house is almost impossible to begin with. with a two-seat majority, that means every member has leverage over the speaker of the house. that's what they're trying to assert. if you want to be speaker, you have to do things the way i want things done. and that makes a weak speaker. each one doesn't care about

leadership. they get a lot of power -- rank and file republican gets power by attacking leadership. it plays to the base and the grassroots. we're in this cycle where they're just going to keep attacking each other. they're going to benefit. all it's going to do is hurt the speaker. ultimately, i don't know much will get done legislatively. these oversight investigations will still be going forward. all you need is one more seat. i still think it's going to be an active, busy house. >> ashley, to that point, you know, one democratic strategist said to me, because of what brendan described, it's going to be a knife fight for two years. you don't put someone untested in the leadership role on the democratic side. that sounded to me like speaker pelosi at 82 years old is staying in congress. >> well, i'll just say this, take a step back, i was thinking how to describe -- >> you don't want to say if she's staying or not. >> no, no. as a democrat i want to absorb this moment we'reot aylg wis bus to be something worse than a shellacking that happened on twice. i think that the speaker is in

the power position. i've always known the speaker to be in a power position but after the results we overperformed in the election, there was no wave. this really solidifies her legacy as the most accomplished speaker in american history, in my opinion. i think there's no doubt about that. but you know, she recently gave an interview, and she basically said this morning, listen, we're still in this fight. let's not make any assumptions. let's hold off on it. i'm always willing to bet on the speaker. there are two things i know about her. one, she's going to make the decision on her own terms and, two, she's going to keep us all guessing. >> on her own terms after this horrendous attack on her husband recently. >> absolutely, yes. >> which says a lot. joel, we were talking with senator cotton about the other question of leadership over in the senate where democrats have this razor-thin majority. what is going on, from your understanding, within the ranks? i want leslie to jump in, too. of leadership on the senate

side. >> i think it's pretty stable on the senate side. if you're a democrat, you have to feel good about chuck schumer delivering on that democratic agenda, particularly in the last kind of quarter of the last congress. you have gary peters, who ran the democratic campaign machine to a lot of aplomb. you have a experienced leadership core. i think for maybe, gosh, ashley, we've got relative peace, peace and prosperity in the democratic leadership ranks of the senate -- >> and the house, by the way. >> and the house, by the way. she knows i'm a senate guy. i think it's a time of a lot of peace. by the way, chuck schumer probably among the winners when you look at what happened this week, leaning into that kind of democratic agenda. by the way, biden democrats did well. there's a lot of biden democrats in that senate caucus. >> the best he can get done, if republicans take the house, is to confirm some judicial nominees, is that it? >> i've been talking to some high-ranking democrats and they say we'll double down on

prescription drugs, insulin pricing, codify roe -- >> they don't have the votes. >> that's why that race in georgia becomes really important. joe manchin and kyrsten sinema and dianne feinstein, a little older, it helps to have that extra insurance of another vote. >> i think the only insurance is going to be judicial appointments because everything else will be difficult, especially if you're talking about an economic agenda and getting republicans to come on board. i'm going to jump in -- >> please. >> -- on this part. i want to say about tuesday, republicans are expecting a revolution. they got a revelation. the revelation is a lot about the mpact of women voters in this area and how they are activated. we know from 2018 and 2020, with a sense of urgency, you see women run, donate, you know, protest, and get engaged. come the dobbs decision in june, it did have that impact that a lot of republicans are not talking about in areas that

matter, whether it was a ballot initiative or suburban area like pennsylvania. we did see positive sides with women and the republican party when it came to strong governance or would governors who look like they were holding the line, whether male or female, they were rewarded by those suburban white women and also working class latino and white women. so, i think there's a big takeaway that gets lost in this conversation, and that will be part of the agenda moving forward. >> let's talk about that and the governor's mansions. in addition to governor desantis, other governors who signed abortion restrictions into law also won re-election. i'm thinking of ohio's dewine, kemp, greg abbott in texas. they won by significant margins. you look at those with a healthy backing from women, desantis, abbott, sununu, dewine. these republicans won women. >> absolutely.

>> and it wasn't about abortion. what was it about? >> the economic issue overall. single issue voters, people that were voting on abortion in those critical swing areas, t dienbut if you back up and take aggregate view of a state like florida when it was important to get people back to work, you have a lot of working class families who didn't have the luxury of working from home, that realized their small businesses need to keep moving and tourism was a big part of florida's industry. getting that going helped -- he was rewarded dramatically and you have small business owners who are women that care about that issue. that's a good model. if it's an extreme model on one side or the other, when you get a lot, mostly white, college educated women who come out against those extremes. in many cases, the extreme can be a donald trump. he activates women to respond. the counterresponse is visceral one way or the other. i've been speaking to some maga

supporters, loyalists on his side, and they say, well, they still love the former president. the thrill is gone. they are tired of the big ego and the name calling. i think it's a caution for the republican party. >> i was going to say, leslie, i think that's the top takeaway. the question remains, when are republicans going to learn the lesson? the maga movement has been a loser since day one. you've lost three cycles now in a big way. you know, there's calls inside and outside the party for republicans to take back their party. rupert murdoch and all his properties are sort of abandoning the president. for me, it's, you know, the party, the republican party is at a crossroads now. the question is what are you going to do? i think the challenge for them and problem is, you can't win with the maga movement but you can't walk away from them. as you said, margaret, there's 150 in the house caucus and president and former president suggesting he's going to run again. he's omni present in this whole debate. that's the challenge. in the next week it will be interesting to see if the maga

movement loosen its grip on the gop going forward. it's a big, big week for republicans next week in terms of organizing. that's the question, when do you learn the lesson? >> i don't know we will. how many times have we been given the opportunity to learn the lesson after january 6th. mitch mcconnell was on the senate floor, kevin mccarthy was on the senate floor saying, it's time to move on. every time that runs into voters. voters aren't ready to move on. we can have another moment where all the people in washington say, we want somebody else, but if voters don't, they'll probably backtrack quickly. i thought your interview with tom cotton was fascinating. he was saying, he wants somebody else to be the nominee. he was name-dropping people he wants to be the nominee but he wouldn't say they're tied to trump. you can't do that. you'll lose base republican voters. an example in the senate race, joe day running in colorado was running a great day, and he was doing it different. he was saying, i'm not a trump republican. was trying to say, i'm appealing

to a middle. he pissed off donald trump. donald trump attacked him and he lost significantly because trump voters ran away from him. >> trump adviser i asked, because they are planning this announcement on tuesday for the former president to announce his candidacy. i asked, don't you need to show unity with the party since you have the senate race in georgia? the answer was, it's unity with the base that we are showing. so, is he forcing a question? >> i just think that's a mistake. also, look, i love all this, you know, deep intro specs of the republican party but you should think about democrats, particularly president biden. talking to folks who are familiar -- >> you're saying they didn't lose. you won. >> that's what i'm saying. if you talk -- >> that's a curve, though. >> i am. they will tell you the biden coalition is pretty durable. it showed up, obviously, in 2020. it looks like it showed up mostly here. college educated, young voters, latinos, particularly in some of those areas we thought they wouldn't show up, african-americans, independents

being competitive with them. that coalition showed up in '20, showed up in '22. i think they they think it can show up in '24. candidate quality matters. some of the folks you referenced, those are some of your better republican candidates. the reason why republicans struggled, i would say, is because the candidate quality imbalance was way in the favor of democrats. >> most of those candidates endorsed by the former president. >> i was going to say, on the fundamentals, people would say that the trump coalition very much to this point is going to show up, that it is very strong. what i'm saying is different. 2016 it was refreshing to have someone elect donald trump and now it is more like fatigue. post-pandemic. these are their words, not mine. that's why i think the cautionary wind -- >> pick up on what joel was talking about with hispanic voters. you've been looking at this carefully in texas. you think democrats shouldn't bank on that. >> absolutely not. because what we saw, there's a transformation with working class latino families. they're not necessarily on the education line but on the income

line. if they're moving out to the suburban areas, rural areas in red precincts, they are breaking the way of republicans increasingly. married families, very traditional in that sense that feel -- they may still identify as a democrat but they feel the party has left them. that's an opportunity and republicans closed that gap by 50% this last cycle. >> i agree with that. republicans do have an opportunity there. by the way, both sides would be -- they would be wise to not overcorrect to either of their kind of far bases. there's an agenda, the biden agenda that works, that's proven towork. i think you'll see a lot of democrats who are maybe late adopters who will be a little more eager to jump on that biden agenda. i actually think there's probably a muted biden coalition out there that doesn't get represented in the public opinion polling, in a lot of the public discussion, but it does show up pretty reliably. >> let's talk about what actually did work for the republicans. tom cotton mentioned kemp and desantis. both of those two candidates and

governors ran away from trump and ran away from the maga movement. so, as -- i love that we're having this debate, but it seems divorce of the reality that there was not a wave and there doesn't need to be some correction on the part of the republicans in that the playbook has been laid out. i think desantis and kemp have laid it out. >> ashley, let me ask you about 2024, democrats' playbook. >> feels good. >> vice president harris was talking a lot about reproductive health. did she deserve any credit for this? we don't talk about her much in the realm of 2024. >> yeah, she actually -- a, i will start by saying, i expect the president will run in 2024 and i think he should. he has an incredible record. he's defied all expectation, all odds. he's probably the most underestimated politician in recent history. but in terms of the vice president, she did yeoman's work in -- i think the number is like 36 states, talking about abortion and women's rights and

reproductive rights and democracy. so, she had a really big impact on the ground that doesn't really bubble up to washington, but really drove people out and drove local stories, you know, energy on the ground. so, i just expect the president will run and he should. >> with the vice president on the ticket. >> oh, absolutely. yeah, of course. >> just have to ask. we're talking a lot about 2024 since it starts really right now, frankly. >> definitely. >> gets under way. very quickly, before we go, joel, closing thought from you on what clinched it in pennsylvania. >> well, what clinched pennsylvania looks like was abortion. if you look at the exit polling, abortion outperformed inflation. doesn't mean inflation is not important but it shows democrats did hit a chord with abortion that really resonated with voters. >> good to have all of you in person no talk. we'll be back in a moment.

jim mansfield: my job was more important to me than my family, and i started drinking a lot, staying out of town. it took a toll on me. dr. charles stanley: you may be as low as the prodigal, but you are not hopelessly, helplessly lost if you will listen to what i'm about to say. jim: sitting on that couch, watching that sermon, something had happened to us. i'm talking about the joy and love in our hearts. i want more of that.

in these challenging times, we pause to reflect and thank those in the military for their service and sacrifice as we do each november. at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918,

fighting in world war i stopped. the war to end all wars did not prevent a global one 20 years later. again and again and again, american servicemen and women have continued to sacrifice. defending against all enemies, foreign and domestic. today less than 10% of american adults are military veterans, according to the va. just 1% of adults serve on active duty. that makes it hard for most to relate to combat survivors battling traumatic stress. retired army colonel chris who served four combat missions in iraq says he lost more to substance abuse than he did to enemy fire. how should people ask veterans about their service? >> tell me about your service. what was the best experience you had? what was the most awesome thing about your service?

i mean, those are very safe questions, very positive questions. just easy ones that get people talking. >> simply trying to understand is one way to honor the dead and serve the living. we'll be right back. welcome to ameriprise. i'm sam morrison, my brother max recommended you. so my best friend sophie says you've been a huge help. at ameriprise financial, more than 9 out of 10 of our clients are likely to recommend us. our neighbors the garcia's, love working with you. because the advice we give is personalized. hey john reese, jr. how's your father doing? to help reach your goals with confidence. my sister told me so much about you. that's why it's more than advice worth listening to. it's advice worth talking about. ameriprise financial. are you tired of washing dishes? well flip the way you clean'em with dawn platinum ez-squeeze. it's an upside-down bottle with no cap. you just grab and squeeze. dawn platinum's more powerful formula breaks down and removes grease 4 times faster. nice!

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that's it for us today. thank you for watching. until next week, for "face the nation," i'm margaret brennan. 98 people were killed when this condo collapsed in news, nw

york. >> announcer: this is the "cbs overnight news." good evening. jericka is off. i'm lilia luciano. we begin with new fallout from the midterm elections. after predictions of a sweep that did not materialize, republicans face a week that will be critical in deciding the future direction and leadership of the party. set to grab the spotlight tuesday, former president donald trump. he's been teasing for months that he'll run again for the white house. tonight ballots are still being counted in several states with some races still too close to call. cbs's natalie brand is on capitol hill tonight. natalie? >> reporter: good evening,