judy: good evening' i'judy woodruff. on the "newshour" tonight, the election approaches -- the stark divide in visions for america'sa futu on full displ as the candidates continue their final sprint in critical swing states. then, the inrmation war -- the heads of google, facebook, and in american politiout their role disinformation abounds ahead of the election. plus, battle for the senate --t the tice in montana between a sitting senator and a governor has more ads ruing than any other contest. and, in protest, a trumpap pointee resigns from his position in opposition to an executive order targeting federal workers.

>>rv career civil ts take an oath to the constitution and the rule of law. they should be able to speak for their jobs.thout fearing "udy: all thatnd more on tonight's "s newshour." ♪ >> major funding for "pbs newshour" has been provided by -- >> moving our economy bnsf, the engine that connects us.

♪ >> csumer cellular. johnson & johnson. financial services firm raymond james. >> supporting socialur entrepre and their solutions to the world's most pressing problems, skoll foundation.org. >>em theson foundation. on the web at lemelson.org. supported by the john dee and catherine t macarthur foundation, commitd to building a more just, verdant, and peaceful world. morenformation at macfound .org. and with the ongoing support of these institutions.

this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasng, and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. judy: on day when the coronavirus continued its surge and as u.s. financl markets took a dive, millions more americans headed to the polls to vote early. the intensity of the cn heated up and the candidates hit the hustings -hard -- again, trying to win over any who have yet to vote. lisaesjardins reports. reporter: it's getting close now. less than a week left and today, the presidential campaign trails intersected in battleground arizona. president trump hosting rallies near phoenix and in the north, bullhead city. >> with your vote, you can sendl the y liberal hypocrites a message that they'll never forget, under biden's cruel and senseless lockdowns, countss americans will die.

the bin plan will crush you, will crush yr family. we will crush the virus and you will have an economy the likes of which we've never had before. lisa: meanwhile, democratic vice presidential candidate senator leaders in phoenix and spent the morning with latina business owners in the southern corner of the state , tucson. >> we've seen how women and smbusinesses have suffered in the midst of the covid virus, but joe and i are coted in supporting them and giving them more resources. reporter: president trump carried arizona in 2016 by three and a lf points, and polls showt may be even tighter th time. in delaware, it was voting day for democratic nominee joe biden and his fe jill, who cast early ballots in wilmington. that's also where biden held a briefingnd gave remarks on his ggest argument against mr. trump, his response to the coronavirus epidemic.rt

>> we will sn day one doing the right things. we'll let science drive our decisions, we will deal honestly with the american people. and we will never ever, ever quit. the americaneople deserve so ch better than this. just look at what happened last night in omaha after trump, after thtrump rally ended. lisa: biden was talking about this. president trums event yesterday with thousands in omaha, nebra sa. the campaiaid it asked the audience to wear masks, but many did not. the issue making headlines happened after the speech as shuttle buses to parking arera got stuck inic and didn't arrive leaving hundreds in hours.zing temperatures for today in the midwest, vice president pence spent the day running defense in michigan and wisconsin. two other key states he and the president won narrowly four years ago. >> just six days away from a

great victory all across the e of wisconsin and all across america. when we reelect president donald trump for four more years. lisa as candidates scramble, : millions of voters stand still in lines that keep setting early , voting records, and in some places are raising questions about access and tests of patience. like in indiana, where rain or shine -- early voters are waiting in up to seven hour lines to cast their ballot. >> in the rain, in th cold, wi[l complaining. ghter] lisa:at legal bes over voter suppression have piled up across the cotry as states grapple with voting changes amid the coronavis pandemic. in texas, the state supreme court yesterday upheld republican governor greg tebott's order limiting counties to one drop-off or absentee ballots each.

it is shaping up as a national barnburner and six more days are left. for the "pbs newshour," i'm lisa desjardins. judy: in a related development, a former homeland security department chief of staff announced he was anonymous -- 20e official who claimed i to be part of an internal resistance to president trump. miles taylor said today that mr. trump's failings h le cost americes. the white house, in turn, branded taylor a liar and a coward. stephanie: i'm stephanie sy with "newshour" west. the supreme court has weighed in on ving access in north carolina rejecting a request by president trump's campaign to xtblock ansion of a deadline for receiving mail-in ballots.

this means the ballets in the baound state can be counted up to nine days after election day. in another key swing state, the supreme urt's refusal to rule was another when favoring nidemocrats in pennsyl republicans had challenged a state court ruling that ballots received within three days of election day must be counted. new justice amy coney barrett sat out for the deliberations on both voting matesrs with a sprson saying she didn't have time to review the court filings. hurricane zeta has crashed ashore and is lashing southeast louisiana and southern mississippi with winds of 110 miles an hour and life-threateni storm surge. slamming the new o areais and left nearly 400,000 homes and businesses without power and some coastal roads under water. officials say one person has been hospitalized with minor injuries after a structure collsed in new orleans this

evening. storm and flood warnings reached as far as northern georgia and the carolinas. the city of philadelphia has imposed an overnight curfew after two nights of protest and violence over the police killing of a lack man on monday. about 500 people marched in west philadelph and some clashed with police. on the others of the city, looters broke into businesses. this morning, stores lay ruins, leaving some people angry. >> it makes me feel mad. it makes me feel upset because why tear up your neighborhood? you know, this is the people's community. stephanie: the family of the slain man, walter wallace, has appealed for calm. new covid lockdownsin intensifid urope after a record 2 million infections worldw the last week. in germany, chancellor angela merkel announced a partial closure of bars, theaters, and

restaurants. in france, presicrnt emmanuel announced nationwide restrictions with me extensions >> wherever possible, working from home should again be the but, economic activity will continue with more intensity. public services will stay open, facties and construction wor will continue. the economy should not stop. stephanie: the uni sdtes announced more than 500 with increases in 48 states. today members of the white house and coronavirus tasks for said it is not just due to more testing, as president trump has repeatedly claimed. >> we do believe and the data show that cases are going up. it's not just a functio of yes, we're getting more cases identified, but the cases are actually going up. red we know that, too, because hospitalizationsoing up. stephanie: separately, infectious disease expert dr.

anthony fauci said that covid vaccines will not be available in the u.s. until january at the old -- rliest. that new wave of infections and lockdowns sent stocks o and prices into a meltdown. right now, asian stocks are falling in early trading. u.s. markets closed wednesday with major indexes down some 3.5% or more. the dow jones industrial average lost 943 points, the most since june, to close below 26,520. the nasdaq fell 426 points, and, the s&p 500 slid 119. overseas and, demonstrators yssed for a 7th straight against a court ruling that banned abortions of fetuses with even severe abnormalities. crowds turned out in warsaw and other major cities. the nationwide strike is a rare unshow of opposition in a y that's long been influenced by the roman catholic church.

back in announced plans to lift restrictions on logging and road-building across the tongass national forest in alaska. it affects more than 9 million acs that have been protect since 2001. alaskan elected officials have pushed for the change. nservation groups vow to fight it. the winds were calmer today in southern california, giving firefighters a chancendo gain gr two big wind-blown wildfires had left nearly 100-thousand people -- 100,000 people under evacuation orders this week, some of the orders have now been lifted. still to come, the heads of giant tech companies testify. and the tight race for senate montana.a trump appointee resign protest of an executive order usrgeting federal workers, much more.>> this is the pbs "n"

from weta studios in washington, and in the west from the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university. judy: one of the ways this election is different from 2016 is the level of attention and scrutiny around social media platforms and how they cabe manipulated to spread misinformation. but greater attention and new measures have not stopped those practices entirely, either. the battles over censorship and content moderatioare increasingly partisan. as john yangor r, that was the subject and tone of a highly charged hearing on capitol hill today. reporter: social media plays a big role in shaping modeou political die. today, senate commerce committee republicans pressed their case that big platforms are biased against them, as they questioned the ceos of facebook, twitter

and google. senator john thune of south dakota. >> are the democrats correct that you all are the legitimate referees over our political speech? mr. zuckerberg, are you the ref? >> senator, i certainly think not and i do not want to have that role. reporter: republicans complained about twitter's treatment of unfounded tweets from presiden trump. senator cory gardner of colorado , who is facing a tough battle for reelection this year, questioned twitter ceo jeyk do >> mr. dorsey, do you believe the holocaust really happened? yes or no? >> yes. >> so you would agree that onsowho says the holocaust may not have happened is spreading misinformation? yes or no? >> yes. >> it is strange to me you flagged the tprets from the ident but have not hit the ayatollahs tweet on holocaust denial or wiping israel off that map.po er: there was also anger

over twitter and facebook's initial restrictions on t new york pticle. it made unproven allegations about democratic presidential nominee joe biden and his son, hunter, which the biden campaign f s denied. senator ted cruzxas. >> your position is that you can sit in silicon valley and demand of the media that you can tell them what stories they publish and you can tell the american people what reporting they can hear, is that right? >> no. every person, every account, every organization that signs up to twitter agrees to a terms of service. reporter: democratsaid the hearing -- less than a wk before the last day of voting in the election -- was all politics. wisconsin senator tammy baldwin called on the platforms to be more aggressive in poling content. >> the tech companies here today need to take more action, not less, to combat misinformation, including misinformation on the election, misinformation on the covid-19 pandec, and

misinformation and posts meant to incite violence. looming over social media, calls to limit or repeal the law called section20, which gives online compaes broad legal immunity for user-gene decide what does asn'tude to appear on their platforms. facebook ceo markuckerberg. >> the reality is that people have very different ideas and views about where the lines should be. democrats often say we don't remove enough content, republicans say we remove too much. ldme say that ending 230 w solve all the internet's problems. others say it would end the internet as we know it. reporter: issues that will continue to be topics of debate long after the election is resolved. for the "pbs newshour," i'm john yang. judy: le's dive deeper into concerns around spreading misinformation, its consequences, and securing our votes.

some of the most pointed attacks during today's senate hearing included examples of how the leading social media platforms have been used to spread misinformation. william brangham explores how that misinformation can be transmitted easily by american voters and influence thinking. afterwards, he has an interview with one of the top officials from theepartment of homeland security. wiiam: have you heard that voter fraud is rampant in the u.s.? well, it isn't. or that bi gates is going to microchip americans using the covid-19 vaccine? that's also false. or that president trump didn't really have the coronavirus. wrong. he did. none of these are true, but they have been read and spread by millions and they represent just drops in a vast ocean of misinformation. >> good morning, everybody. we have a busy day. william: it's become such a pervasive problem thmall industry of fact checkers -- like the people here at politifact -- is working

overtime to debunk them. >> amy has a good fact check on whether biden is a socialist or suorts socialist policies. william: all the major social media platforms are trying to flag false or misleading claims posted on their sites. there are online courses teaching citizens how to distinguish truth from ftion. >> try to think what your inherent biases or lenses might be that are causing you to see news in a certain way. william: we sat in on one for senior citizens, run by a group called senior planet. >> it really impacts everyoness when people inate fake news. >>eople who are susceptible to misinformation includes anyone about anything.sting opinion anyone. willia dannagal young of the university of delaware studies misinformation.she says the pany made it worse. >> when you think about this in terms of evolutionary

psychology, we are hardwired for survival, especially when we are under conditio that mimic fear d threat. so, you know if you are encountering a tiger in the jungle or something, you're not going to do a slow procon list of the different courses of action that you might take. instead, you'relly just going to make a decision quickly based on emotions and intuition. and the person who writes the procon list willtie eaten by the r. william: do you suspect there is some foul play going on? on the issue of the pandemic, retired veteran kell bales from wisconsin has real questions about whher the official ronavirus death toll is accurate. >> i feel strongly that there's a lot of political motivation behind a lot of these kind of numbers being pushed out there. william: bales is an ordained pastor, and essupporter of ent trump. in his media ecosystem -- which is largely conservative voices -- anything but a trump win would be evidence of foul play >> if biden were to win, the presidency seems to be clear, pretty clear evidence of fraud.

we're all skewed, right? my particular blcebook feed is n up with conservative, with like-minded individuals. we're all going to do that. we're going to surround ourselves with circl like-believers, like-thinkers. >>re don't listen to anlar tv news because it's not telling everything out there.wi iam: arlene lehew lives in the villages, in florida -- it's a large retirement community. she's a grandmother and enjoys riding motorcycles. >> i go online to newsmax. parler, i follow dan bongino. william: so those are all fairly, what people would argue are conservative news sites, or from a right perspective. >> yes, i don't agree with that, i just feel it's truthful. i don't, i don't know if it's nservative or not. i think people that are on t democratic sidea democrat, so

people that are on the democratic side don't really wa to hear the truth sometimes. and they believe the fake news that's out there. william: misinformation is nothing new. abe lincoln back there, like every other president, was tarred with all kinds of lies and untruths. the difference is, back then, misinformation could only travel as fast as the railroads could carry it now, all it takes is a few seconds and this, and it's everywhere. kell bales shafas posts to his book page -- like this video of president trump falsely alleging that there's widespread fraud with mail-in ballots. >> t this election will most rigged election in history. william: if all these organizations that say that there might be iredibly ra instances of people casting votes illegally, but it is .0000-something percent of votes cast -- that doesn't give you >> if that's truly the number , t there, i'll have ain, do my own research. m sure there are dependent organizations out there doing the research, and that's great. i applaud them for it. but ultimately, against that, my

personal gut check. they found a lot of ballots like that's in the ocean and trunks and garbage cans. dead people are getting ballots. animals are getting ballots. my friend got one from a dog down the street. his dog's name is charlie. he got a ballot. ballot?: the dog was mailed a >> yes. well, his name'dos charlie the so is charlie, whatever their last name is, and he got a ballot. william: it may sound prepterous, and of course, pets can't vote, but often misinformation starts with a kernel of truth. and one voting group did mistakenly mail a registration form to a deceased cat in atlanta.ng but dannagal yays fact-checking alone isn't likely to address this ocean of misinformation. >> people connect on the very needs and desires that are beliefs in the first place. right. create those connections. that's where we create an inroad. it's hard because, you know, a

we'ing you to have empathy for individuals who might be holding beliefs that could undermine your own freedom o undermine certain aspects of social justice. but if the goal is to correct misperceptions, then thoseve relationships o come first. william: with just days to go before the election, u.s. security officials anticipate millions of americans will be exposed to even more christopher krebs of. them. he is the director of the cybersecurity anseinfrastructure rity agency at the department of homeland security and he joins us now.u great to have ckn the "newshour." we will get ton misinformation a moment, but first i want to talk about voting systems. llions have already voted. millions more will vote next week. how confident are you that our

myriad voting systems all over the country are ready for next week? >> i'm glad you started with this because this is what we ve focused on, working with officials for three and a half years,thetting t bottom of where vulnerabilities might be. we have made remarkable progress. the evidence supports. that the security syis improved. most importantly, the resilience of the system has dramatically improved. what that means.s pap paper is more prevalent in the voting process. in 2016, 80 something percent of votes cast, but now we are on track for something like 95%. with the paperthanalog, it is keep it simple approach. it allows us to do audits and make sure the count is accurate. that is the level of confidence i have, based on the paper, the

security of the systems that has proved with your vote, that the american voters vote, is secure, the count is secure, and the certification is secure. william: you put out a statement aythe otheroting that tens of millions of americans have already voted with no inference for -- interference. that?rious, how do we know you and the fbi, the director of national intelligence, arted us last week to this iranian and russian interference, some of which targeted voter registration. if we know about those attacks, do you worry at all that there might be infiltration we might not be aware of? >> iis certainly possible. but at this point, 70 llion odd folks have voted. when we think about what we have accomplished in terms of improving security, we also improved the ability to detect compromises or a anomalous activity.

that is through cybersecurity systems we deployed. the improved cybersecurity in state and local s rtems as well orting from law enforcement and intelligence community and state and local departments. ev if there were something out there, we would be able to get on top of it as soon as we detected it and mitigate it. is would like to highlight the fact that so many have voted early, i think like 73 million at this point, that stretches out the window of opportunity for bad guys to get in the way. detect it earlier, get on top and mitigated it so we are not piled on november 3 and overwhelmed. william: a l of your work is also targeting misinformation. in some ways,re yourying to teach americans how to be immune to thisin type of mrmation and falsehoods. as next week looms large, what are the key things you want voters to think about? >> first off, we have thought

through a number of different scenarios, focusing on cybersecurity but also gaming out howht m cybersecurity and disinformation intersect? one thing we came up with is you might see various foreign powers claim they were able to accomplish something like hack a database. it is simply not true. there's going to be a lot of noiseen in the next wea half or so. what we have done thrgh rumor control is try and intify these possle issues and give facts oican people t what foreign actors might try to do so they are presented with these claims and unverified claims, they can think, i was expecting this. it is st not true and i need to keep calm and vote on. william: as we reported e olier, the cethe major tech

companies were on capitol hill da trying to talk about their efforts to put a lid on falsehoods and misinformation and criticism on both sides. you are in partnership with those tech companies try and stamp out misinformation about the election. do you think theriare doing the t thing? are they taking this seriously enough? >> what aisleways try to do is compare and contrast. how re we operating in 2016? ihi it's fair to say everyone was caught by surprise, whether the government or the social media space, even the american people. that's what made the 2016 pressure andfe intnce so scary, made it resonate. nowe have had this four year intervening period where everybody has improved. the government has improved, che intelligenmunity, law forcement, but there's no question social media platforms have improved their ability to detect foreign interference activities.

we areen making advanc and improvements as go along. there will be lessons learned coming out of 2020, so 2022 or this is a generational struggle as i see it. william: quickly, you recently warned voters, "to be repaired for efforts to call into question the legitimacy of the election." i certainly understand that, especially if the vote count protracted. but the one person who regularly does cast doubt on the legitimacy of the election is the preside. am i wrong that his rhetoric seems 100% opposite your mission? >> he's on the ballot. he wants to win, he wants to know q asckly as possible, ideally next tuesday, who is going to win, but it might not happen that night. it may take time. the unofficial process -- rather the official process in a state little longer.t it takes a

we are just asking people t have a littl patience. to the expanded absenteer due ballots. it may take longer to process and get certification. more than anything, the earlier count, it is production anyway. have a little patience. we will get to the end of this one soon enough. william: christopher krebs, thank you so much for being here. >> thank you so much. judy: president trump is on the dismantle the fedeise to government's administrative state. he's made moves in that direction, but hasn't gone that far, yet. even so, just this week, one of his executive orders prompted a political appointee to resign in protest.or amna nawaz has amna: ron sanders is a life-lonw republic served under both

democratic and republican presidents during his nearly 40-year career as a civil servant. he was appointed by president trump lead the federal salary council in 2017. stt he recently resigned from that post in pro- over the president's executive order that could strip some protections from federal workers. ron sanders joins me now. mr. sanders, welcome to the "newshour" and thank you for taking the time. that executive order fm president trump could essentially reclassify thousands of career civil employees, essentially turn them into political appointees and stripti away some prots. you said that fored you was a line. why? what worried you about that? >> you used the rildt word. it c this is more about potential than reality. but this is a very sharp stick. and that's that. that sharp stick is essentially what drew that red line for me.

this could be used by any administration to hold political appointees into the civil service. that's a coon practice usuallymb done in small s. the executive order could enable that on a grand scale. and then the flipside of that is just as problematic, maybe more so. and that is that it talot of career civil servants, civil servants who are protected so that they could speak truth to power without fear of their jobs , and curtain them into at will employees, essentially like political appointees, so that if -- wants them gone, they simply say be gone without any notic or due process. it was particularly that latter possibility that frankly drove me over th redline we talked about. amna: you wrote in your ioresign letter that the executive order is nothing more than a smokescreen for what is ltearly an attempt to require the political loof those who advise the president, or failing that, to enable their reueval with little, if any, process. i guess the pushback from that from the white house is that this is an executive order that can increase accounty, increase efficiency in

washington. and shouldn't the president be folowed to have people wor him that he wants? what do you say to that? >> it all depends on your definition of accountability. civil servants should be hel h accountable h performance standards. if accountability is a performance standard, i'm all for it. i don't believe this is the case. in this case, a pound to ability is defined -- accountability is while a president should have the right to have political loyalists around him or her up to a point, you also need a career civil service, and a political neutrally competent civil service, that can provide advice and assistance, technical expertise, and importantly, speak truth to power without fear of bs. the political appointee doesn't need to accept thate, advut they should not turn their back on it. they should not why -- try to

quash it or chill it by placing these kinds of restrictions on amna: can i ask about the dtiming? we as away from an election. if this behavior concerns you or you find it alarming, isn't it a little late to be raising red flags about that? >> the timing of the whole thing is odd. the timing of dee executive is odd, etc. personal action is that this was a matter of conscience. i sa that in the letter. i had no intention of making this a cause celebre. d i intention of the letter even going public. this was intended to be a letter from me to the white house personnel office saying enough, i can't serve this administration anymore.in it wasn'nded to garner a lot of attention. amna: briefly if i can, the president has been known to people who criticize him.icize are you worried about backlash? >> no, look, iet the point in

my life, as you can tell, i have been around the block several times. i don't depend on the federal salary council for any income.so t was easy for me, frankly, to draw a red line. not easy as a matter of conscience, bueccertainly my omic livelihood was not at stake. for others whose livelihood may be at stake, that is much moan problematic. again, that goes to the heart of why i'm so concerned about this executive order. you don't want people who are givi advice to the president, whether that president likes to hear it or not. you don't want those people to fear for their jobs. and again, i don't care whether they're speaking to a republican president or a docratic president. it is all the same. career civil servants take an oath to the constitution and the rule of the law. they shoulbe able to speak truth to power without fear of fearing their jobs. that's just my personal view. amna: thats n sanders, the now former head of the federal salary council. thank you for your time. >> thank you.

judy: in the battle to controlth u.s. senate, one of the most hotly contested races pits an incumbent republican against a two-term democratic governor. anna rau of montana pbs reports. reporter 2000 miles from the u.s.e capitol, it's one of least densely packed states in the country. but this election year, montana has a new distinction. it's one of the top senate races in the country for political vertising. >> i won't answer to party bosses. reporter: in a recent two-week period, nearly 32,000 ads flooded the airwaves, according which tracks political ads. >> more jobs and lower taxes or bigger government and sialism. that's your choice. reporter: it is also becomg e most expensive campaign in state history. candidates and outside groups

have spent more than $140 13llion. that's more thanper resident, the highest per capita spending of any senate race in the country.on he ballot -- >> the airwaves are flooded. their mailboxes are full. reporter: first-term republan senator steve daines. >> i don't think many montanans are real impressed with that. reporter: he's facing two-tercr deic governor steve bullock. >> i hope, just like my family, that most montanansee through it and say, we know this guy. reporter: it's a'ttate that haoted for a democrat for president in more than 20 years. but montanans are known r their independence and their ticket-. when donald trump won the state by 20 points in 2016, bullock was running on the same ballot and he won his race by four points. it's something bullo made a centerpiece of his campaign for the 2020 democratic presidential nomination before dropchng out and lag his senate campaign. that's one reason daines says montanans shouldn't trus >> he said over and over again, lookin of the american people and

straight in the eyes of montanans and said, i'm not running for u.s. senate. i have no interest in the job , over and over equivocally. >> i don't think d.c. works very well. i really think it's become a place that's so hyperpartisan and they've replaced talking about an issue with doing something. so i did have some reluctance. reporter: the candidates have sharp disagreements on issues key for montana vote from public lands -- >> senator daines has cared about public lands for five >> they call me the conservative conservationist. reporter: two guns. >> you look at his track recordi it's tely been a threat to the second amendment. >> as governor, i've expanded gun rights in montana. reporter: recent polling shows the race is a dead heat with est polls putting the rac within the margin of error. despite the heated campaign, the two men have found common ground during the covid-19 pandemic.

>> i reached out and called steve shortly after the pandemic hit, just picked up the one, called him directly on his cell phone. and just told him, this is a tough time and you'ugve got some decisions to make. i just called and talked about schools and so forth. you know, two steve's having a conversation. >> o he gave me a ca day and he didn't have to do that, actually said some really nice things. and it was a conversation with just two of us. and i appreciated that. reporter: with early voting underway, the conversation expands to the voters, who are set to decide which steve .hey'll send to the senate for for the "pbs newshour," i'm anna rau in missoula, montana. : juxt, we get a sense of how this final election sprint is playing across the country in some critical battleground

states with tom hudson of wlrn public radio and television infl ida, alex samuels of "the texas tribune," and zoe clark of npr member station michigan radi so good to see all of you. i should say battleground states an 2016.hich president trump won alex samuels, i will go to you first. are we really talking about texas being competitive right now? what does it look like in the lone star state? >> there's definitely chatter of texas being competitive. there's a lot of enthusiasm on both sides of the aisle. when wevo look at earlng numbers and then poll after pol shows a clce at the top of the ticket. either joe biden ahead or president trump winning by single digits or within the margin november. i think there's a lo of excitement we have not seen in years prior and i hope at least

for democrats that the state will fliplnd cook politi report today moved the state to a tossup. vethat hasone anxious for tuesday. judy: remarkable for atate that has been read for so many presidential elections. zoe clark, what does it look like? president trump won it closely both ndidates competing hard. similarly to texas, michin --' t's where michigan was in 16. shockwaves that after six presidential cycles, the state went red. now sort of the heart of michigan. fulks saying is this a blue state still? is it more pure? we are seeing candidates crisscrossing. we had the president in michigan yesterday. the vice presint is here today . joe biden will be intu michigan

saay. and just announced hours adeo, former pre barack obama will be joining joe biden in michigan,ir apparently tirst joint appearance here in michigan saturday. judy: that got a lot of attention that they chose michigan as the place to show up together in the last hours before the election. tom hudson, what about florida? florida, florida, florida. both campaigns would l have it. fair to say president trump needs . ut>> absy he needs appear the road back to the white house for the president leads directly through s adopted home state here in florida. fit's very difficu president trump to see his way to an electoral college victory without the 29 electoral college votes florida has to offer. former vice president joe biden has multle routes that may or may not include florida. thatrt is something watching, certainly as we move into november 3.

if it tips to trump, it becomes a more certain. route for h if not, it becomes much more difficult for the president to win reelection. florida is a 1% staten the best of years. this year, these polls are less th 1% when you consider the margin of error. judy: interesting how much money has been poured in by mike bloomberg, and former president obama is the campaigning for e biden in the last few days. alexl amuels, i wme back to you in texas. if the democrats have a shot, what is driving the boat? what are the factors that voters are saying is getting them out to show up and cast their ballot >> on the democratic side, especially the oopthe ticket, there is interest on tting president trump out of 'fice. that'a lot of the enthusiasm and what the state party is pushing for reasons for democrats to go out and get their vote ear s. on the othe for

republicans, the president is getting a lot of his base out of e polls and republicans are excited to reelect him. what makes texas more interesting besides the pridential race is that even if there is a close race between them, if it is close enough, that could help down ballot demoarats. democratlooking at the texas state house which they are nine seats away from flipping. the race is closer than it was in 2016 when trump won by nine percentage points. if he only wins by four or five, it could help down ballot democrats and they could potentially flip the statehouse. judy: and those ste ehouse races important in terms of redistricting and reapportionment cich affects the look of future members ogress. so we clark, in michigan, the pandemic haseen surging in a number of states, and you're

part of the country. how much ishat a factor? what are voters saying is driving them? >> the pandemic is a huge factor. ie other factor of course our governor, gretchen whitmer, who has very much been the fus of the pandemic countrywide. she has become sort of a national face of democratic governors taking on donald trump. the president has taken her on. you will remember on twitter "that woman from michigan." the pandemic is something absolutely top of mind and very much here in michigan, this idea that it is really a vote for or agait trump. that is where the enthusiasm is. neither enthusiasm for the president or again t. he is at t of the ticket and the same down ballot here in michigan will have a lot of cause and effect. judy: and tom hudson, down to florida, what do you sense is

driving voters? is it donald trump and that's it? whatlse? >> that's it. it's the top of the ticket and the only part. there is no statewide political office on the ballot in flor.a here in 20 no governors race, no senator race. there are some statewide referenda questions that are interesting, but it is the president's race that is consuming almost all of the oxygen and sunshine here in florida. it is all about the top of the ck. issues matter, certainly health care, jobs. but it also is all about ideology. you hear this in the presidentz, characte former vice president biden as socialist or communist. we have seen the former vice president and now democrats and others come out in the past coupleee to very intentionally engage ont tha mischaracterization and pushback very hard, like ways we did not

see earlier in this campaign. judy: i want to ask each one of you about earl voting. i was looking at the pictures of long lines in florida. alex, what about texas? what are you looking at? the numbers are huge. >> as of today, of route -- about 40% of the states voting population has already cast their ballot. so texas i believe has already surpassed a total early voting turnout from any other presidential election. and that is with three days left of early voting to go. judy: and zoe clark, what about michigan? >> we can begin to see how many absentee ballots havbeen turned in. . this is the first presidential race in michan where no reason absentee ballots are allowed. we have seen record numbers, both in terms of requests of ballots already returned, we are

looking for historic turnout here in michigan in election 2020. judy: and in just a few seconds tom hudson, what does it look like inlorida? much. the same 45% of registered voters have already cast ballots for in person and vote by mail. early in person has set records and is ed to continue for sunday and of course on election dy: just a remarkaioe ele in so many ways. these three states, much interest in what's going to happen in your states. in florida, tom hudson. in michigan, zoe clark. in thank you all.uels. the protests in philadelphia against police violence are the latest in a year of nationwide demonstrations against racism and police using excesve

force. amna nawaz is back with more on how the protest movement of today takes a page from history. amna: to help us put this moment into context, i am joined by peniel joseph founding director of the center of the study of race and democracy at the university of texas at austin and auor of "the sword and the shield: the revolutionary lives of malcolm x andngartin luther r." welcome to the "newshour."op a lot of are turning to history to better understand what we are seeg right now at this moment in history. when you compare the protests as you see them today and the protests in the civil rits movement, do you see more similarities or differences? >> tha you for having me. i see both. in the context of the 1960's, we lad massive upheavals for rac justic much of it was peaceful, but at

the same time, both during the kennedy, johnson, and nixon administrations, we sought urban rebellions in los angeles, detroit, new jersey, and harlem that spilled oto violence. whene think about the comparisons though, the number of whites who are participating is unprecedented in. 1963, there was a 10 week period where we had over 700 racial justic demonstrations and almost 15,000 arrested. this year alone, we have had over 7000at sep antiracist social justice demonstrations in over 2400 different locations. anywhere upwards of 20 million people have hit the streets to mobilize, organizing at the grassroots level and in terms of corporate americahigher education, labors, union nba players, both black-and-white and in between. this isde unpreed.

we have never seen this kind of white involvement in any social justice movement in american history, let alone racial justice. amna: as you mentioned, decades ago, there was a tension between those calling for peaceful, civil disobedience and those pushing for more aggressive effos. and when we talk about the black lives matter marches, we say they are largely peaceful because they are, but they have not been entiry without violence. when you look at that tension what happened then, how do you view that? >> tre has always been a tension between those advocating peaceful nonviolence and demonstrations. at timeth -- a time, we saw that between malcolm x and martin lher king jr. at the same time, the attention on violend social justice movements is overblown. of course you wil have some fringe activists and some folks who will say violence will be used to strategically use it as

a weapon of change, but by and large, most people are hugely nonviolent. the biggest violence have summer is law enforcement and state sanctioned violence. whher that is coming from homeland security portland, s oregon, whether itps in buffalo who fractured the skull of an elderly person, and atti s white vigilante violence in kenosha, wisconsin. demotrators for the most part and grassroots organizers all pretty much know theay you get social change in the united states is nonviole pressuring different institutions to transform public policies. amna: let me ask about public support. there has been a shift we should note. if you look at wiscoblin where jacoe was recently shot, back in june, we saw 61% approval for the protest. by september, it dropped to 47%.

we saw something similar in history. in 1963, 20 7% of people thought that the protests would help racial equality. a year later, it dropped to 16%. professor joseph, how do you view the role of public opinion? >> public opinion absolutely ours, but at the same time, historically, public opinion has lagg behind social justice. so the public opinion on gay marriage or women haven't the right to vote, or antiracism has always lagged behind some kind of national consensus. those numbers aren't that bad. we always have these watershed moments like this spring where yoare going to have a lot of support for something and those numbers are of course going to take down. what's important in those numbers is about half of

americans really support the blm movement. that is mrh big support and broader support than we still saw for raci justice in 1964. if anything, this is a new national consensus about black dignity and citizenship, one that reverberates to all groups, all corners ofouhis country the world in a positive way. those numbers showiss we do have enerational opportunity to end systemic racism, to defeat white supremacy, and achieve our country in a new and different way for the first time. amna: that is professor peniel joseph from the university of texas at austin joining us tonight. thank you for your time. >>ng thanks for hae. judy: so helpful to have that historical. perspecti that is the "wshour" for drnight. i'm judy woof. thank you, please stay safe and see you soon. >>di major fun for the pbs --een provided by >> for 25 years, consumer

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