judy: good evening. i'm judy woodruff. on the "newshour" tonight a growing lead, joe biden pulls ahead in pennsylvania. and slightly ahead in georgia. leaving the presidenth an ever-shrinking path to -election. then the falsehoods fly. disinformation abounds in the wake of the election with the president and his followers espousing baseless claims of fraud an election theft. plus it's friday, mark shields and david brooks give their take on a tumultuous week and what to expect next. al that a more on tonight's "pbs newshour."

announcer: imagineor funding f the "pbs newshour" has been provided by -- -- major funding for the pbs "newshour" haovs be prided by -- [music] e moving ourconomy for 160 years. bnsf. the engine in a connects us. -- ttst connecs. >> architect. bee keeper. mentor. advisor tailors advice to help you live your life. life well planned. announcer: consumer cellular. johnson & johnson.

>> fostering informed and engaged communities. more at kf.org. announcer: and with the ongoing support of these institutions. and friends of the "newshour." this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by coributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. judy: the end is drawing closer in the presidential race tonight with democrat joe biden on the verge of wning. is now ahead in pennsylvania, nevada, and narrowly in georgia. three of the remaining five states still not caldy the

a.p. as counting continues. our white house coronrent yamiche alcindor reports. yamiche: just six more electoral college votes. that's what joe biden needed to get the required 270 when he took the lead in georgia and pennsylvan according to the associated press count. president even clo the ultimate prize, the white house. president trumpost his narrow lead in battleground pennsylvania as election officials processed historic amounts of mail-in balts and there's more history happening. senator kamala harris is even closer toe becoming first woman and the first black and asian-american to become vice president. the vote count continued throughout the day with both campaigns waiti it out. this after president trump took last night to make a slew of false claims. he outright rejected the integrity of the election. president trump: if you count the legal votes, i easily wou. if count the illegal votes, they can try to steal the

election from us. yamiche: thee is no evide of widespread irregularities or fraud. but the attacks by the president on the democratic process continued. president trump: they're finding blots a of a sudden. oh, we have some mail-in ballots. ballots are s one-sided. il-in they refuse to include any requirement to verify signatures. identities or even determine whether they're eligible or ineligible to vot yamiche: there's also no evidence of that happening. thtrump campaign is also alleging misconduct in pursuing lawsuits in georgia, nevada, pennsylvania and michigan. judges quickly tossed out cases in michigan, pennsylvania, and georgia. and the president has made clear he wants the election decided in the courts. in a statement today, the campaign said, quote, this is about the integrity of our entire election process. we will pursue this process through every aspect of the law to guarantee that the american people ha confidence in our government. but again today, state and cal electio officials

assured americans that votes are being counted fairly. from georgia -- >> in georgia, this process is and will remain open and ansparent toonitors. we are committed to doing anything and everything to maintaining trust in our elections process for every georgian regardless of partisan preference. thank you very much. yamiche: to nevada. >> we're not interested in movi as fast ase can. we want to be accurate. we're confident that the work is beinccg doneately. and that's what our main goal is. yamiche: meanwhile, the t presid getting back up from his allies on capitol hill. among them south carolin senator lindsey graham who repeated the president's unfounded claims while also calling tor proof. >>ink you're going to see in the next 48 hours realid evce ofti syste voting irregularities and it is incumbent on the trump administration to make specific cases of voter irregularity. ey're looking through th voter files now, did people

vote that were not legal residents of pennsylvania. did people vote who were dead. thoseype things i think are be spetching. g but it has to yamiche: some republicans are and president trump and calling n r faithe process. republican senator pat too maniey of pennsylvania reiterated -- toomey of nnsylvania reiterated th the president's rhetoric was wrong. >> i saw the president's speech ylast night and it was v hard to watch. the president's allegations of the election are just not substantiated. i'm not aware of any significant wrongdoing here. yamiche: but for democrats, the results are clear. this morning house speaker nancy pelosi said biden's win was imnent and called biden president-elect without titing forhe election to be called in his favor. >> president-elect joe biden, happy day for our country. because joe biden is a unifier. because he is determined to

bring people together. because he respects all points of view and this has been ade life oath fight for the fate of our democracy as he sayshe soul of our country. >> what have you done? yamiche: in thele 2020ction some partisan lines have softened but many seem cemented. judy: and yamiche joins us from ndoutside the white house john yang in wilmington, delaware. so yamiche, to you eirst. whctly are the president's legal arguments now and what are his potential paths now that joe biden has drawn ahead in several more states? miche: well, the president spent much of today angrily to re-election get narrower and narrower. and that has made t president kick up his misinformation campaign as well as push a campaign - people around him to come one legal strategies to try to wrestle this back now.ff campaignials tell me that they really feel like the only way the president can win this is if he tries to get recounts in every sing the math is not on his side.

he would have to run the table, judy, for him tnow be re-elected. he would have to win georgia, nevada, pennsylvania, and northd carolina t this because he has at this point by the a.p.aries couot 214 -- electoral college votes and another thing to note there are two schls of thought in the white house right now. there are the people who want to fight, that's jed kushner the president's son-in-law as well as mark meadows i'm told that the president's chief of staff. and they're looking atin h david bossie to oversee a lot of this legal strategy. he's a conservative who is heading up the citizens united and worked on the president's 2016 campaign. people who feel like this is a white house that's already winding down. i talked toeron smith, meist ranking african-american -- es hiranking african-american in the white house and today was his last day and planning to leave the administration but there are people looking at that and saying people are already deciding white house aides already thinking about the future, seeing this white house as one that's winding down and coming to an end. the tough thing is who is going to break the news to president

trump? because he is not anywhere near wanting to talk about losing at this moment. judy: so john, over to you. how is vice prt biden and the people around him, how are this? ealing, responding to all john: well, judy, the biden campaign says they see nothing, they see nhing, no lawsuits, no recounts, nothing that would change the fact or they say the fact that once all the votes e counted, joe biden will be the president-man elect. they -- even when you ask senior bidendvisors about the razor thin margins that we're seeing in sese st they just say, a win is a win. they say j it'st a matter of time. and as a matter of fact, they're even making plans for the former vice president to speak to the nation from here at the chase center in wilmington, delaware, perhaps as soon as tonight. still last time i checked in, they were still debating whether to do it tonight.

you know, this -- at this site, sinday, before the election and before the final day of voting they have u s fireworks. and they would dearly love to use them as soon as possible. judy: interesting. and so yamiche, back to you. what about this disinformation that you laid out in your report a mite ago? what -- what exactly are they saying and how are they bacng it up? yamiche: well, as joe biden is preparing to really celebte possibly winning this election, president trump is leaning in on people tk k up this misinformation campaign. last night, we saw the president deliver what might be his most dishonest speech yet. and i say that objectism scause almost every sentence that the presided was false. he talked about votes being magically appearing and talked about democrats stealing back and coming in the middle. night to find votes and that's why he was losing and losing his lead in critical states. we're also seeing the president do something that he did after the access hollywood tape in

2016. 's taking names and wanting republicans to come out and support him. especially his family is also saying that peop need to go to war. those are the words used by donald trump jr., the presid sentaries. and this is -- a lot of misinformation and a lot of things that are just simply not true. but the president is really hoping that republicans get behind him so he sto sena lindsey graham as well as senator ted cruz start to talk about whether or not there were things that looked nefarious in this election but as we noted election officials in every single state, the president is trying to s something happened. and that was not right. they're saying the votes are ing counted faiy. that nothing is happening that part of a campaign against the president. so we'll have to watch this space becaus the president continuing to not only say things that are wrong but requiring other democrats, i'm sorry, requiring other republicans to come and back him i this misinformation. judy: well, it's a fascinating andin fast-mstory and we thank both of you. yamiche alcindor at the whi jte

houshn yang joining us from wilmington, delaware. thank you both. and now we want to turn to the l crittate of pennsylvania. our daniel bush is still in he philadelphiae the vote counting is taking place. so dan, tell us where things stand right now with the count and also with the lawsuits. daniel: well, judy, right now, pennsylvania is looking at unting roughly 100,000 or so 6.7 million have alrea been cast. we do know that a majority of ot the ba that are still being counted are here in philadelphia as well as in le eny county which includes pittsburgh. those are two areas that are expected to do -- vote in large numbers for joe biden. we also do know that of these outstanding ballot o the majori them are mail-in ballots and knows have been breaking heavily for joe bid as well. he has a lead right now of roughly 14,000 or 15,000 or votes. that margin is expected to grow as these final vots are counted. officials here are being very

careful about when they think this counting might conclude. they said earlier in the week tonight be as early as or even friday. now they're cautioning it could take a little bit more time. you're right about the there have been m here in pennsylvania in the weeks and ft days the election as well as a lot of legal interest here with republicans looking at provisional ballots in court and whether or not some of those could be challenged. looking at these votes that came in after election excuse me. before election day. but are now being processed because under the law, they can be counted if they're recved by that point. so there's a lot going on here, judy. but again, officials are urging patience here because it will take some time. judy: but dan, given that it's hearing about how the two sides plan to move forward in pennsylvania? daniel well, judy, this state is so divided.

and if you jt look at the map islands both in pennsylvania e and across many states, joe biden has done very well in cities and some suburbs. donald trump h done very he, very well in rural partsf the state and some suburbs and there's a very big divide. i've been gh both of thoe parts of the state and conservative voters, progressive voters, just they see very different realities. they disagree on the pandemic. they disagree on president trump's first term. how he's handlednohe e. they disagree on race and policing. and we're seeing that divide continue to playve out after election day as the vote counting concludes and you can see behinde ere's a lot of activity. this is sort of the centeror action philadelphia here and just on opposite sides of the ttreet there aremp supporters and biden supporters dueling rallies, dueling protests every single day. and tensions are high. are very high as they wait for

judy: we can certainly hear them. dan bush, standing his ground in philadelphia. thank yo dan. now, in one of the more rprising turns, joe biden is now leading in the state of georgia.ar ete narrowly and that is where we find our miles o'brien. so miles, this is a state where we know most narrow of allhe margins out there. tell us what you know, latest on the cnt and how that's going, the timing of all this and what'happening with the military ballots and other ballots outstanding? miles: judy, i'm in gwinnett county. this is the moster d county in all of georgia. it's very blue. t ab 18-point margin for joe biden here. behind me, still have aot of rk to do. take a look. we're going to pan over to my right in that corner over

there. workers are going thrgh ballot that either need to be cured and probably the signature. there are militaryallots to be counted. overseas military ballot and there are provisional ballots which also require them to do some research. the ballots make theirhi way me in some cases they have to actually copy themca ov e someone might have voted in the wrong precinct. and they have to vote on their home precinct ballot. all of that amounts to about 900 military, 800 cured ballots, about a thousand pr isional. now, earlier in the day, they finishedee up their abse ballot work. their mail-in ballot work. they sent in a tranche of about and that changed the numbers significantly here in georgia. it was about 1,500-point rg , 1,and after gwinnett tuheed in that trancf ballots, it's now a 4,200 vote margin between the two

candidates. five million ballo cast.nearly so that is .08% difference between the two of them. that is as razor thi as it gets. and that is why people here in georgia are not making any statements about any firmti confir of who won here for quite some time. we mightet some numbers out of here tonight or even into tomorrow morning. but the counties have until november 13 to certify. d then the state has until november 20, in between that time, they will run an audit on all of the ballots to see if they have an accurate count and it's of course all but a certainty that after 2heh, there will be a recount here in georgia. this is the sl mest of all margins in the nation right now. and it's still very dynamic, judy. judy: no question about it. we've been listening to some of the state officials today stress how long this is going to take a thenhe recount.

all right. miles o'brien in gwinnett county in georgia. thank you, miles. now, there are tw unresolved contests out west. our stephanie sy isn phoenix to walk us through what we know about arizona and nevada. so stephanie, we know the a.p. did call couple of days ago arizona for joe biden. but the votes are still being counted. so what's the latest? stephanie: they are still being counted herin maricopa county and counting right behind me in this building. and biden hasai maid his edge over president trump since election night in arizona. but to the trump supporters, gathered behind me, arizona is still very much in play. now, here is where the count stands. earlier today, there were some 200,000ts bal statewide that had yet to be counted. 115,000 of them are in maricopa county. and in general this county has

been mixed. but right now, biden is ahead in maricopa county and we expect to get a f countm here in about two hours. the remaining ballots in arizona are in other counties in arizona. and they are more conservative and obviously taking advantage bu i'll try to continue. g live i want to move to -- >> not wearing a mask. stephanie: can i finish this report? in neighdaring nejudy, there's a very similar situatio. bin has less than a 2% lead in nevada. and that's only about 20,000 votes. so focus in nevada is on clark county. that includes las vegas and its surrounding areas. as of this morning in nevada, judy, there are 63,000 outstanding mail-in ballots in clark county. that's out of 100,000 ballots statewide. and we do expect to get an

date from them in about an hour. the other thing about nevada, judy, that's different than arizona is by their state law, any ballot postmarked by election day can still be received up to 10 days after november 3. about 260 votes today. so not only are they still counting in n but they are still receiving ballots. judy: and just quickly, stephanie, we see protesters veryoulose. andave also been talking to voters. can you sum up what you're hearing? stephanie: well, yeah. one woman said she's mad as hell. and she is mad at the media. she's even mad at fox news which also called arizona for biden on election night. they feel like they are not being heard. and what you hear the most consistently is anecdotes about voting discrepancies that they hear repeedhrough the news outlets that they consume here.

and so a lot of voters here feel like they do not trust the voting process. i both her arizona and in other states. and when i push them on whether if biden were to win the presidency they would accept that result, aot of people here feel that this is not a legitimaterocess. judy: well, disturbing. disturbing to hear that.me ing that if he's declared the winner, something he's going to have to deal with. stephanie sy reporting from phoenix. thank you, stephanie. unlike other elections, thi hs we been marked by a flood of disinformation. much of it comin from the president and his allies. william brangham tries to separate facts from falsehoods and he joins us now. so william, i know you are back from michigan. but i want to ask you about what apprs to be a flood of allegations the president and the people around him are making, charging conspiracy

theories. us through exactly what they are saying and then what the facts are. william: that's right, judy. i did hear a lot of these allegations and conspiracies when i was in michigan this week. i want to talk specifically about some of e things that the president has said given that he is the president. and first,re let's a this issue that he has said that son election night, he was allegedly the winner of the election but that somehow suspicious votes were added to the vote count and that stole the election from him.pr ident trump: if you count the votes that came in late, we're looking at them very strongly. but a lot of votes came in late. we were way up in michigan. won the state. and in wisnsin, we did likewise. fantastically well. and that got whittled down. in every case they got wttled down. william: for the record, michigan, wisconsin, joe biden won both of knows states. but this larger issue that mehow these late votes came in, there is no truth to that

whatsoever all mail-in balance spots had to be postmarked by november 3 e or the not counted. also just this general idea that the president is making that these are somehow late votes. ballots, the vast majority of those were votes that were cast well before anyone stood in line on election day. so this idea that they're late is not true. they were cast days and weeks before election day. it's because of stategi atures setting the rules as to when those ballots could be processed that we're seeing delays. t i mean republican governor of texas, greg abbott, likes to brag that they were able to count all 11 million ofvo their s on election night. but that's because their state legislature allowed that. so the president is has also pointed out that the mail-ins balance pre suspicious will he one-sided. and that they lean mostly toward democrats. ain, many people say hepent months demonizing them and scared voters away from using them. judy: william, we heard the

president also allege that the public opinion polls which we know many of them were quite wrong this time again. that they are part of a conspiracy against him. president trump: as everyone now recognizes, media polling was lerks interference in the o truest sen that word. by powerful special interests, these really phony polls i have to call them phony polls, fake polls, were designed to keep our voters at home and create the illusion of momentum for mr. biden and anyonish republicans' ability to raise funds. they were what's called suppression polls. everyone knows that now. william: i mean, this is another allegation the presidngt has been ma there's no basis for this whatsoever. and his allies have been repeating it all wee long. i mean, yes, as you said, judy, the polls were wrong. long reckoning wih the polling industry. but the idea that somehowth all polling organizations,

that's all the media organitions, including fox news, all the private polling firms, and all the universities that do polling, sehow were conspiring to make the plls eem that biden was ahead in order to suppress trump supporters, again, there is no v ence for that whatsoever. judy: and finally, william, n what we've shis week is the social media, not this week but throughout t election, as it's -- we've gotten closer to hard to -- they say to block anything that is demonstrably not true. how successful have they been? william: it's true. they have been trying to do it. it's not clear how effective this has been. twitter has been putting these flags and markings on any tweet that they think is. misleadi if you look at the president's tweets over the last few days, they are pockrked with these flags. facebook tried to put the brakes on some of this misinformation as well. they stamped out a page that was known ashe stop the steal

face booker page. but by the time they stopped it, it had alrad hundreds of thousands of people had been visiting it. the reeflt is this is very ity is this is al very difficult stuff to stamp out. there are so many sites on the internet and so many voices out there in the world. and niece untruths have also been echoed by some vy powerful voices. you got leading g.o.p. senators and commn echoing this. the president's own family. prime time hosts on fox new d have beeng this. and of course the president himself. the real fear that i have heard echoed overnd over again is if a significant slice of the population this that this derks was stolen, illegally, how do they resp to that? would we see threats of violen? would we see actual violence? that's an enormous concern. and it'sorth noting that over the last four years, the u.s. government halve spent an inordinate amount of money and time and manpower trying to stamp out foreignon misinforma from infecting

our elections process when in fact we now see that there was a domestic threat here all along. judy: witho much flying ound as you say, really important to try to separate what's real from w is not. william brangh, thank you. and we turn next to amna nawaz and lisa desjardins for a closer look at the map and some of the most iortant data points we have been watching y. , asma. amna: we want to bring together everything you've been hearing fr some of those reporters in the field into one place. so you can easily see. check is out. here's a look at the latest electoral count. you'll see vice president biden with 264, president trump with 214. but still a few key states as yet uncalled of course. nevada, you see georgia, north carolina, and pennsylvania. let'sake a closer look at pennsylvania first, lisa. 20 electoral votes ther up for grabs. we heard dan bush reporting earlier, razor thin marginst riow. take a look at this. 98% of the expected vote in so

far. and just less than 1% i believe separates them at this ment. but lisa, if there's a clue about where this is going, where is it? lisa: i think a lot of america woke up this morning and saw joe biden had overcome president trump here. and one reason why is philadelphia where dan bush is. that's also where -- they are counting more ba ollots. ther place they're still counting ballots near you, pittsbur, allegheny county. 36,000 ballots left and just last hour or so, they have dicated that could take them another day. and in allegheny county.e but whd this come from? how did joe biden make up the gap? let's look at erie county, and that's right there on lake erie. look at that. that's where joe biden is leading almost exactly b his statewide percentage. rd we're talkingt belt. white working class and it is something that joe bidewon over perhaps thanks to his pennsylvania roots and his message to white wking class. amna: georgia. lisa: we heard miles o'brien reporting from gwinnett county

there earlier. if vice president biden who now has a naird, poe l manages to pull it off the first democrat to carry the state since 1992. where -- lisa: if you look at a map of georgia you can see what's ening there is similar to what's happening in pennsylvania. and we want to talk specically about what put vice president biden over the top in this state as well incredibly narrow margin. about 1,500 votes right now a we don't know where we'll end. but right up around athens i for one county, cl county. s it is so small, you really almost can't see it. it's rig in here. clayton county is the second. there it is. at is the third smalles county in the state of georgia. but it put joe biden over the top with that percentage. this is where congressman john lewis represented. it is a mority black county. and that percentage and the black turnout in at county helped put vice president biden over the top in georgia today. amna: and georgia home to the two senate races and the senate balance of power is very much

in question. if we look at where that stands right now, lisa, what does that show us? coming up in just a moment. and -- lisa: going into the fourth quarter, yeah, balance o power in the senate still tied. but we also want to talk about what's goingn in the house. so we were talking about the democrats having unexpected losses in the house. of incumbents who will not be coming back. why they may have lost. this is iowa's firt district. we're talking about the nortast corner of iowa. dubuque, cedar rapids. and ashley hintz the republican won a a tv anch state representative. over abby finchenauer, second youngest woman elected to congress and generally votes ag moderate butd as being a radical part of radical democrats. tagged with this idea that she also didn't support pbeice use she supported police reform. she will not be returning. let's look at anotonhe florida. carlos jimenez in florida 26 we're talking about miami dade he had a big advantage. he's the mayor of miami dade. er but we seee this margin

with powell, this is about the turnout of hispanic votes. and what republica feel sure is a backlash against the idea that democrats may be moving into a socialist direction. and let's lookt one more that is still pending. this has been mcadams race in utah the democrat. right now outpaced just barely by burgess owen who i a former nfl player. we're going to be watching this closely. and if you look at e house full 217, 218 they need to run the house. but they will be down by less amna: maybe ale more races to call. >> a couple more dozen races and new york will take a while to come in but democra know they will be close on their margin on the ruse. nobody does it better than lisa desjardins. thank you.

judy: in the day's otherews the u.s. economy clawed back more jobs lost to the pandemic. the labor department r employers added a net of 638,000 newio pos in october. the unemployment rate fell a fu p percentagent. to 6.9%. he numbers raise new questions about a possible economic stimulus package. but repundblican democratic leaders had sharply different takes. >> i think it reinforces the argument that i've been making the last few months that something smaller rather than throwing another $3 trillion at this issore is appropriate. >> it doesn't appeal to me at all because they still have not ed to crush the virus. if you don't crush the we're still going to have to be dealing with the consequences of the virus. judy: overall, the u.s. economy has recovered roughly half of the 22 million joshes lost when th pandemic hit last spring. the wave of new covid9

infections in the united states is still building. more than 120,000 cases were reported in the last 24rs h another record. and pushing the nation total pa 9.6 million. with more than 235,000 deaths. meanwhile, in eur pe, atial lockdown took effect today. in four regions across italy. reants of hurricane eta moved across the caribbean after ravaging central america. parts of guatemala under water from three feet of rain. officials reported landslide may have killed more than 100 people in oneown. eta could regain tropical storm status as it heads t caa and southern florida. in austria the govener closed two mosques that were gunman isited by th that killed four people in vienna on monday. he in turn was killed by police. authorities allege the mosques acted as a breeding ground for

a dangerous ideology and radicalized the shooter. >> all inform is not an tarkston religion. -- all of this is not an attack on religion but a fight against extremism. it is not an attack against members of a public faith but it is a common fight against the abuse of religion forli radi. judy: meanwhile police in germany raided the homes and businesses of fouren linked to the vienna attacker. and back in this country, wall street paused after a big run-up this week. the dow jone industrial average lost 66 points. to close at 28,323. the nasdaq rose four points and the s&p 500 slipped one point. but for the week, the dow and the s&p rose about 7%. the nasdaq gained 9%. still to come the "newshour," mark shields and david brooks look ba at an election still in the balance. we remember some of the many markable lives lost to covid-19.

plus fir time voters describ their hopes for the country's future. announcer: this is the "pbs newshour" from weta studios in washington. t and in the w from the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizonat suniversity. a judy now to the analysis of shields and brooks. syndicated columnist mark shields and "new york times" columnist david brooks. so hello to both of u. we don't have a result yet. but the votes are being cnted like mad. we know the results in a lote'f states waiting, david, what do you make of what we know so far? da wd:l, if there ever was a campaign that was going to be a blowout i thought this was it. i thoe had an unpopular president that people were ready to get rid of. i expected a large margin and i was wrong. it was about a 2.8% margin nationally.

and learned is that we are a very evenly divided nation, two groupsf people in non-overlapping universes. for a time i it seemed a think people in both compamps thought well, the people on my the other team and my team will get to rule. i think we now have to face the reality. that's just never going to happen. the other side is never going to go away. f and we've got d a way to live with each other. so to me that's the biggest takeaway of where we are right now. judy: mark, divided country. rk: divided country, judy. but if you look at it, historical perspective, in the last century only three presidtial challenges. minees have defeated an elected president seeking re-election. and it's a pretty impressive group if you t ankbout it. it was franklin roosevelt. it was ronald reagan. and it was bill clinton. two-term presidentt least one was a four-term president.

successful presidents. so joe biden joins an awesome pl group of p he will end up in my judgment with a 547 popular vote. percentage. decisively. and decisively in theal elect college. david's right. it was close. we are divided. what surprised me is -- as much as anything was tt the loyalty and the enthusiasm of donald trump's constituency. they turned out in surprisingly impressive numbers. and donald trump h ife got over his hisy fits and sort of silly ctactions since the en, could take credit for the republicans picking up house seats in 2020 and retaining the majority in the senate. with t exception of susan collins, every other republican senate candida who won, won with donald trump.a susan collin 17-point split

in maine. the only ticket-splitting state in the country. judy david, you've ha chance to look inside some of these numbers. why voters voted, who voted how and why people voted the way they did. and even as we're waiting for na the numbers, what does that tell you about the country,bout who we are? david: well, i mean, the surprise is where the gains that republicans made among latinos and african-americans.ha donald trum a higher share of the non-white vote than any republic in 60 yea as he said. and that was a surprise to me. he doubled his support among the lgbtq community. l and so a of people are voting by different narratives. was a certain narrative that he's a racist and that he's just a force for i think there's a lot of truth to that narrati but othe people have different narratives. so people -- we should be humble aut generallyizin across groups of people. especially people we've never met. and so i think that -- the

second thing is that the republican party really is the party offhe -- o people without college degrees. much more so than ever before. we saw swings of moderates, swings of college educated suburbanites, to the democratic party. and i think t republican party can -- if nare going to feel g d about in election they can see the potential of a future party as a multiracial y.working class pa if they can win support across racial lines among those without college degrees, then that's a very viable party. and they should really focus all their attention on what can we f do people without college degrees of all groups. judy: what about that, mark? nd as you look at how people voted, which way they went, what do you see? what does it tell you about us? mark: pick it up on what david said, you can't make generalizations about people you do know david. you have to make generalizations about people you don't know. [laughter] the point is that did touched on it on the white blue collar

male vote. one out of three voters in the country. this was the backbone of the democratic coalition that elected franklin rooselt and harry truman and jack kennedy. it was the message of th entire new deal, fair deal, and new frontier. that government had a responsibility to guarantee jobs, and weren't a nation of self-reliance and independence completely, especially in the ce of a great depression. but the important thing to remember is that -- the 346 firefighters who walked into the jaws o death in the fires of hell on september 11 s toe strangers that never met and were white non-college males for the most part. those whoee voluntr to defend our country, whether it's armed forces and fight and die, it's their families ae they are families of white wh

ovmingly white not college educated males. and the democrats' problei think one of attitude as much as it is a platform. the democrats, oce a shotnd a beer party have become a sauvignon blanc party wondering about which wine is -- a problem for democrats and has ch to be appr with some humility. this very important constituency which donald trump beat the almost 2-1 and beat joe biden who is really probably the personification of what the new deal was in terms of personal style, personal values, and personality. so it wasn't beating an elitist ivy leaguer. so i think that's a real r democrats. and i would add the hispanics,

i think we learned painfully to democrats, that they're nirg but a monolithic -- they're anything but aol mhic constituency as most proved by the results in florida. judy: i urwant to you, david, to the president's reaction so far to the results of the lashing out, the rest of it. of fraud and the does the delay in knowing the result, how much will that matter in the end? david: i thought the president p and hss conference last night was awful, smor irving u we werend -- horrific, if we weren't used t them and looked wan and not fighting and constructing rationalizations for a man who can' can lose at anything. i've been heartened, as -- from william and others, that there is a lot of crazy stuff going on around the internet and conspiracy nearies as if the democrats have this elaborate vote rigging and lose the vote

and doesn't pass even surface plausability. what's heartened me so far our system seems to be holding better than any -- many people feared. many republicans are happy to see trump gond ushrk statements or just non-statements and not getting on this train. and state legislatures and places likee pennsylvania h said we're not getting involved in this. and the nightmare scenario was thet you wouldompeting slates of electors from places like pennsylvania. but tt would require the complicity of a lot of the politicians in niece states. and so far, they don't want to get involved. so that's -- i think the system is doing way better than we could have feared. judy: you doin havesey graham out there echoing what the president is saying. david: for sure there are some and fox is divided, the all-important fox newsems to be divided. but so far, we have not seen violence tt much in the streets. so far it looks like calmer than manyredicted. judy: mark, what's your -- what is your take on the psident

and how he is reacting so far and what it says? mark: he's younger -- david, thunger and more optimistic and i haven't foun many good germans among the republicans who are resisting -- just think, judy, the president g before the lest audience in the history of museumkind according to him took an oath to salemly preserve, protect the united states.stitution i mean, i just wish hou wld reflect on that for -- for 30 seconds. what he is doing is undermining confidence in a trust, in each other. in our country. and our ways. i have been incredibly impressed by the quality of the secretaries of state who have come on, almost overwhelming women, republicans and democrats, who have explained what they're doing, have donen it thoughtful and informed

and intelligent way. i' been impressed by the o seriousnesf -- purpose the but you know, i'm waiting for the republicans. i'm waiting for rob portman of ohio, who eve says is such a good guy. i'm waiting for him to stand up and say m no, president. this is wro. and hea from the usual sugrects. lindseam, you know, makes tont. to look like an independent spirit when it comes to president trump. judy: and david, here at the the fact that -- we don't know how long it's going to take. i mean, there may be a call tonight for all we know. but it is taking days. do you ve concern that that leaves a -- casts a pall over this somehow? david: well, for sur there will be a large number of americans who -- if biden wins who think joe biden is an illegitimate president.

we shouldn't pretend that we're ending an age of polarization. i'm just hopeful we're having a different sortf polarization. donald trump was a cultural figure. he was not a policy person. not aso government p it was always my tribe is good. your tribe is evil. and so we've had that kind ofri potion. i'm hopeful that if donald trump is off the scene, at least the won't be a guy at the top waging a holy war ns aganother identity group every single day. and so i'm -- i'm stiing with my blind and completely unreal particular optimism no matter ay what mark. judy: all right. we're going to let you do that. david brooks and we're all going to wait and see what david brooks, mark shies. thank you. although much of the country's focus is on this week's election, tonight, as every friday, we honor the individuals who have fallen victim to the coronavirus that

continues its grip on our communities. shorty ortiz scored his firs hit song at 19. skyrocketing to the top of the tejano music scene in austin. after decades of touring with his band, shorty and the corvettes, he started a new group with his grandson, a mariachi -- the mariachi corbetas. offstage, the 78-year-old worked tirelessly to help others. the careen and vietnam war veteran -- korean and vietnam war verne hoested music stivals to boost other artists and at the time he passed was plaing to open a soberin lhome. 85-year-old william wescott w i alwa touch with his inner child. his sons said he was an active, fun, fathernd grandfather with a high wattage smile.t william who wy bill,

followed in his father's s, footstraduating from villanova to polarity work as a civil engineer throughout the east coast. he also served in the marines and the marine corps reserves in the 1950's and 1960's. bill eventually found his home in historic preservation. where he combined his expertise in structures and materials with his love fohir art. teac came naturally to choua yang, her daughter said, a hmong refugee from laos choa saw a need in her minnesota neighborhood for a school that celebrated her family's identity, history, and culture. so she opened her own, a charter that soon became a bedrock of the hmong community just outside minneapolis. warm and humble, the 53-year-old raised five children and 14randchildren. max osceola jr. of the panther clan of the seminole tribe of

florida was a tribal council member for 26 years. max led by his belief in the importance of he had education to better his commriunity. his tenure, he helped broker the tribe's purchase of the restaurant, hotel and casino chain hard rock international. described by his family as an eloquent public speaker, a loving husband, and a supportive father, max was 70 years old. tanasia alamo's smiles were soothing and her hugs were therapeutic, her mom said. born and raised in statin island, tanasia was independent and crforting. family said she taught them patience. tanasia ploffed to sing, -- loved to sng, crochet scarves and blarvingettes and most of all she loved watching professional wrestling. tanasia was just 25 years old. as always always we thank

family members for sharing these stories. we know it makes so much difference as we tell the stories of your loved ones. our hearts go out to you and to all those who've lost loved ones in this pandec. and finally tonight, a short conversation with two first time voters. one supported vice president biden. the other president trumatp. time to be new to the electorate. asma? amna: thanks, judy. in the run up to the election, there were record numbers of young people registering and making plans to votean estimated 10 million young people voted. so what was that experie like for first time voters? and how do young people see the current debate over co the votes when america is so divided politically? i've got two first time voters to help xp mere all of these issues. malick mercier is a college student attending ithaca conege and currently living brooklyn, and rebecca mckinney

is a high school senior from northern virginia. she's a podcaster for her school's newspaper and a member of her school's debate team. malick, i want to start with you. ou guys voted in the midd a pandemic at a time when ecere's a lot of doubt being sowed about the on process and yet you still chose to participate, why? malick: this election, specifical, was clearly so nsequential after especially watching what happened with the coronavirus pandemic. over 200,000 americans dead. it's reay sad, and i think that when we -- i think our generation is really good about thinking about humanife and thinking about what that means and how important that is. and so for me, it was really just making sure tlet i chose a er that i really believed could handle the things that we're going through as a t tion. amna: rebecca, wout you? why was it important for you to participate in this process?be a: i think it was really special for me to vote for the first time in this election since it's the 100th anniversary of women g the right to vote, which was just smonumental for me.

and i got a little sticker that had a litt women's suffrage sticker on it that said i was a first time voter and it and to vote on this anniversary was so huge for me. amna: malick, you and rebecca were not alone. we should mentren there was rd young american turnout. those are people aged 18 to 29 in several key battleground states. does that surprise you that that many more young people turned out? malick: it's not just that young people were voting in this election, but young people were org were working. eople whether it's with march on, e,ey were doing walk the v different rallies to help, just watching all of that, our generation is more than voting, and that's reaesome. amna: becca, as i mentioned earlier, we're at a time when we talk all the time about how divided we are politically as a country. do you see that among your peers? do you have friends who you li disagree with cally? rebecca: i've had personal experience with one of my closest friends who is completely on the other side of the aisle and me. but we have these really

informed and intelligent conversations, which are awesome. and we learn from each other. we learn the other side. and that's really imt to our friendship. but we also know that it doesn't affect and it doesn't hurt our friendship at all. but i've had other previous friendships that we're no longer friends anymore, where it's been the complete opposite, am,: before i let you guys if you had one message for the next president of the united states, what would that be? rebecca, let's start with you. rebecca: dear mr. president, try to make this country better than when you stepped into i think that right now we're really divided and this next four years is going to determine how the future of our country is going to go, and i just hope that you'll be able to work with the other side and that we're able to make our country better. malick: to the president, i would say i need you to really think abouhow your policies impact people in their everyday lives. i would also say to know that young people have more access to information than we've ever

had and we are using that were aware of what's going on. and we want to work with you. we want to make the world a. better pla so please, please help us do that. na: malick mercier and rebecca mckinney, two first time voters joining us tonight. thank you so mucou both. judy: and thank you amna and we hope the nt president listens to what they have just said. our ongoing election coverage continues online where you can find live maps and tools to better understand each candidate's possible path to ovictory. that our website. pbs.org/newshour. and stay with us here on pbs. robert costa is p freparir a special election edition of "washington week" which will air later tonight. and that is the "newshour" for tonight. i'm judy woodruff. have a good weekend. as we all wait for election results. please stay safe. thank you. and od night. announcer: major funding for

the "pbs newshour" has been ovided by -- when the world gets complicated a lot goes through your mind. with fidelity wealth can tailor advice and d advi recommendations to your life. that's fidelity wealth management. >> consumer cellular. johnson & johnson.ia financ services firm raymond james. bnsf railway. >> the william andlara hewlett foundation. for more than 50 years advancing ideas and supporting institutions to promote a better world. at hewlett.org. announcer: supporting social prantenures d their solutions to the world's most pressing problems. skollfouation.org. announcer: and with the ongoing support of these institutions.

and friends of the "newshour." by the corporation for public broadcasng and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is rponsible for its ption content and accuracy.]

>> nit on kqed newsroom. californians voted in record numbers. we'll talk through the winners and losers and state and local measures with her politics id team. the prtial race is too close to call. democratic candidate, joe i bideleading in key battleground states. we wandered to the north bay. tollur i with the old charm of the niche appeared welcome to the newsroom. now for kqed newsroom 2020 ve coge. let's be good with state and local election news. >> they handed companies with a big win with prop