>> 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 22 winning by more than 58%.

arcus responded by sending stocks soaring for uber and lyft. prop 15 failed. criminal justice measures across the bay area are leading. potential he strengthening la oversight ofenforcement. despite a spirited challenge, scott weiner retained his seat for four years. in silicone valley, david leading in his senate race against dan raffle. politics and governor senior editor and government correspondent. to thank you for joining us. ott, this election is projected to set a state record for the number of votes cast. do you see an impact from the record turnout? massive historic margin out of california right now. 4 million ballots still to

count he's got a 4 million+ lead over donald trump. that will pad his nation advantage he has. in terms of ballot measures, it's hard to say. it was a mixed bag. if you go down the list of ballot measures, californians embraced things like criminal opjustice reform. 20. they rolled those things back. they endorse giving parolees the right to vote. expandinconsumer privacy. at the same time they rejected pr15 which would raise property taxes on commercial properties. they also rejected affirmative action with prop 16. they accepted prop 22, rejecting labors argument agains prop 22 in support lyft and ber and other gig that would bring back affirmative-action. we notice it was not on track to succeed and it did fail. can you tell us what happened and why? >> the campaign will talk about

this for a while. bl it's imposto get in all the millions of voters minds but we saw in polling that did play out in terms of the final numbers is it did not resonate with people. i don't thaik the ca was successful in making the connection between black lives matter and raci reckoning where having. there seems to be confusion even among latinoand voters of color. what this would do, whether it would benefit them. affirmative action as a statement has a gglot of e attached to it. i think we will see if the polling plays ouyounger voters were more likely to support it. it certainly was not the victory that i think they hope to win whengithe ature put it on the ballot. a protest around the nation in june. prop 22 one. that means that workers do not need to be full-time employees.

union leaders say they e not done with this fight. is there anything they can do now that voters have weighed in? >> they are at a clear disadvantage in playing defense. they filed a discrimination lawsuit saying the biases against codrivers of r. they may be hoping when joe house, they can go to the labor department and get more favorable rulings. maybe more national guidelines that would help these drivers organize, for example. i think itwill be tough. the big loss for organized labor is this will become a national conversation. the gig economy is expanding everywhere, not just in california. companies like uber and lyft will take prop 22 elsewhere and plicate what voters here have done in carving out this exception ain't california labor law. they don't have a lot of good

options, i would say. >> one of california's biggest export is our ideas. we will see that nationally coming up. and a couple proposals with housing both rent control. what is this say about our perspective about housg and what are willing to do about affordability issues? >> this may not be a popular opinion. i think when you look at this ballot, you can't necessarily make broad strokes. california's progressive, business, labor? i think what we've seen historically is that californians take their time and look at them individually. proposition 21 the rent control measure was a battle. rent control has always been controversatl in california. you see historically, even though we are progressive on social issues, when it comes to economics there's a eesplit beproperty owners and renters, for example. it was also run by an unpopular

figure, mi ael weinstein, the head of the foundation. he got undercut by democrats in the legislature passing the otection which led to this. or newsom not supporting they got outspent also. i think with the exception of affirmative-action come on every single ballot measure that won they out spent there opponents. at you can't look it in a vacuum. with prop 15 the commercial property tax increase. you have a complicated situation for proponents inreth ssion and so much uncertainty and when californians have already's been resident to rollback anything with prop 13. this ballot measure could lead to their property go up not just commercial properties. you spent time this week for with vernor newsom and

election elected officials who were phone banking in san francisco. what were theitargets and how successful were they in's persuading voters? >> gavin newsom texted maybe 2 to 3 people. he spent a lot of time talking, as did others. he told me when i asked him where he was texting, pennsylvania, who knows maybe he reached voters that were on the fence. this was an opportunity for him and otrs in the bay area. there were two mayors there. jackie speier was therear, balee from the east bay. the local members from the legislature. this is basically to give the media something to do frankly on election day. he did talk boutthings like who he would name to replace kamala harris if the biden

/harris ticket is successful. he talked to a mom with young babies. that's the thing, bread and butter for politicians. >> no update on new gavin newsom would appoint for kamala harre seats should go to the white house. a young challenger lost but young leader who will be smart successful in a future bid. what does that tell us about the strength of progressives in california? >> it says a islot. this a 25-year-old woman unknown politically before this year. she threw her hat into a ring a few months ago. she had a great showing and excited lot offolks in the bernie sanders camp of the republican party here in san francisco. they are esboth prove democrats. one san francisco scott gets painted is businessiendly democrat. if you look at the record he's part of the left. also the board of supervisors and got the support the establishment. this is not necessarily a loss

for her, she has raised her name and excited a coalition of progressive democrats in san francisco, we will be hearing from her again. >> on the south bay, david is leading against the rival. and what the lead signifies. >> dave cortez he is very well known in cosanta clara ty, a member of the board of supervisors he ran unsuccessfully fomore mayor. he's tight with organized labor. and the challenger they are both democrats. you see is republicans have cceeded in more moderate democrats. and rabble was in that vein. she was endorsed by president he obama. had appointed her to serve on the fcc. the general election commission. she servl as a genecounsel for santa clara county. not as well known as david cortez he but the power dynamic between the more moderate,

business friendly democrat and the more labeler friendly. and david cortez he seems to beh winnin see. he will be going to sacramento, most likely. six criminal justice reform measures look likely to prevail. if you look at this as a whole, what changes do exct to see. >> this is in concert to what we've seound criminal justice reform. local voters and even statewide voters with the defeat of prop 20. are willing to go further than state wmakers are to take on police unions and thstatus quo in law enforcement. these are all broad press strokes and accountability and oversight measures. san francisco for example, sheriff's department will have oversight for the first me ever. real win for justice advocates.

it will put some pressure on state lawmakers to look more closely on some of these r issues of the governor has promised we will revisit next year. it spehes to how fuhave the electorate has been in california over the past 10 to 15 years on questions about criminal justice reform and police accountability. of the grassroots support is gog to continue spread throughout the state. distract incumbent mayor, michael tubb has been a popular young democratic superstar in some ways hein democrat party, he's trailing his republican challenger, does that surprise you? >> everyone assumed he would úhe won of the vote last time. he was not on the radar of the media. that might've been part of the problem. the newspaper there has had a yo lot of s. a new online news organization called the 209 called the area code.

is run by mayor tubbs and a stream of negative articles online about him. alleging corruption without evidence. it influenced voters there. kevin lincoln, african- american, more conservative, up republican. he's aheadst. there's l more votes to be counted. tubbs is a rising's dart. barack obama had endorsed him. a documentary on hbo. real surprising outcome the current margin holes. former san francisco district attorney has won over the cumberland in anloles. they were down 20 points and sometime. what changed in the race to give him the wind? >> we did see a lot of financial support from criminal justice reform and grassroots efforts. he was talked into running by folks down therwho saw that

the democrat was not representing the future of criminal justice in california. we seen a left would tilt in steimle female board of coun supervisor we have a lot of on the ground organizing. it's not always been as politically engages san maybe that's changing thank for the latest california state and local election sults visit kqed.org /elections/ results. we've made and mentally prepared for election day to turn into electi week but as vote counts drag on, many are becoming weary of the uncertainty over who will be the next president of the united states. vi president joe biden has resounding won r the popu

vote. as of friday afternoon he was leading in pennsylvania, nevada, arizona and georgia. with a razor th lead in georgia a recount will take place there. president trump has made baseless lames of voter frd. and they will have lawsuits in key battleground states. joining me now is a fellow at the hoover institution and former advisor to the presidential campaign of mitt romney and marco rubio. and from los angeles is a professor of the loyasclaw ol and host of the passing judgment podcast. thank you for joining us. let's start with the legal challenges president trump hamo ted in various states. do you see any of them having the strength to prevail? >> i don't at thispoint. what you need in a legal

challenge you have to find a provision of the law that has been violated anen you have to find evidence to support that assertion. at this point, i'm not sure i see y that in of the cases and that's why frankly, president trump's legal team is having a bad batting average where a number of cases have been dismissed or they've nt failed to ue with those cases. the real question i think a lot of people have is, is there a case in a state that's outcome determinative where the case itself, could deteine the outcome of that stay. at this point i think the answer is no. of the hypothetical would be, of course, everythicomes out for pennsylvania and then few late arriving ballots and then those late around arriving ballots are subject to challenge and it could potentially go all the way to the supreme court. i don't see at challenge right now. not the bush versus gore moment. >> did the president have republican party support in his

continued fight for the white house? >> if 'sit does, dwindling. there is some republicans who continue to stand with the president. what i've observed of over upe last of hours and days. the number of republicans that with the president, g to way endorse there's notion of widespread voter fraud or somehow counting on to stop in one state or another, that's not someing i find pported by the broad majority of republicans. you are hearing more and more officials begin to pull the ripcord to e cut ties and express their own concerns about some of the president's claims and the impact of the r claims on ability to trust in the electoral process in american democracy more broadly. >> what is your response to misplaced. s il he should instead direct his anger to fellow republicans to state legislature that restrict did counting of mail-in ballots before election day? >> the president, as i understand it himself he voted early. and not by mail but he voted early. he clumped in his criticism by

early voting and vote by mail and he tried to get those d complaints that was confusing. at the end of the day. what we w this year in the electoral process was a process that in most states, the vast majority of situatiorked extremely well. even when you had cows that began late. yes, it took time for pennsylvania process its counts. we are seeing the same thing in arizona, nevada and other states. can there be improvements made? of couere can be and should be. republican and democrat legislatures need to look at state law that would allow votes to be counted earlier. the president himself, so d so much disinformation and discord into the process, i fear many republicans it will be difficult to bring this back. hopefully over the next couple of years we will have the

process of patrying to some of the damage that's been done. >> one of the presidents big d nominees there. preme court he's indicated he will take the fight to the supreme court. jessica, do you see a role for a supreme court? for example the gop titioned ballots received afteelection day. is there a legal argument there ? >> i don't think there's a winning one at best. so you mention thing that is so important and not just now but going forward. president trump has remade lthe fede bench. he has nominated now a third of the supreme court. that's large in part why establishment republican stayed with him. they may not have liked x, y, z but he was enormously effectivth in remaking branch. your question about could this make it to the supreme court? at this point, i don't e it. again, what you would nee case like in pennsylvania that you mentioned, where goes through either the state

supremt court, trial co level, court of appeals, pennsylvaniaupreme court and then if there's a question of federal law, it jumps over to the u.s. supreme court or a case where goes the federal system, trial court of appeals in u.s. supreme court. you would still need four pr every case to agree to take the case and then five members that would make it did decision favorable to president trump. i know it was important for him to have justice barreton the coint before the election case there was litigation. my two suspicions right now, number one i don't think there is the big litigation that reaches the supreme court. number two. i don't think there is a law that everyone that is appointed by president trump would vote in way thatwould get him a favorable outcome. this may sound nacve. there is a difference between having a conservative legal philosophy and wanting a publican political winey.

don't map onto each other always. >> you are right when you say republicans didn't leave him despite his concerns abouhis behavior. we saw that through the vote and how split the country is. you have thoughts on why the polling, onceagain seemed to be so off it, especially when they were trying to gauge voters preferences for trump in swinstates. >> a polls are snapshot in time first of all. second of all they reflect assumptions from the posterior about who will show to vote. if the composition of the electorate is off, the pole will be off. one thing the trump campaign sa all along, they were looking to remake the electorate and introduce voters who have never voted before. upper midwest or places like miami dade county in florida. they did thatac. they ally introduce folks into the electric who have not voted

before who disprod rtionately supporesident trump. posters were looking to partisan compositions of the electorate on election day that franklyno, were accurate. that was in part, one of the reasons why a lot of pollsters miss on key states like florida. it also reflects certain assumptions that posters themselves have about the nature of the electorate, the nature of support for president trump. i think stthe s in the polling industry, they have to take a good, hard look at what went wrong this time arou. when ware all said and done they won't be too far off on the national popular vote as ey weren't in the 2016. it's proving how hard it is to pull in the states where it's difficult to get an effective assumption about who will be there on election day. democrats had their hopes dashed in senate races across the country.

they werenot able to pick up the seats they expected and they face a very neural path to flip control of the senate appeared to races had to a runoff in georgia. was that surprising to you? >> i would love to say called about but it was a bit surprising and maybe i did buy into some of the lling. i albought into some of the money. there were a couple of democratic challengers who were really well-funded. i thought there was some people like maybe susan collins or lindsey graham that look to the polling and looked at the amount of money that their opponents were raising and looked at what was happening in the world and i er thought maybe s a chance here. it does show, my nacetc. there wasn't a chance and there is such power of name recognition. such power of incuency. in terms of what's going happen in georgia, it's not a done deal. huge implications for if there is a president by t a vice president biden, huge

implications for his term going forward if democrats control the senate. at this point rythat's a big if. democrats are expected to hang onto the majority of the house but republicans picked up at least six seats in the house races. what part of the republican agenda do you see our significant and winning those seatand attracting those. >> even members of the house don't even have to do with supreme court nominations and confirmations. the nomination of amy coleman barrett reminded a lot of t republican voters abe value of having some kind of republican representation. they made of not want to vote for president trumso they split the ticket. they supported the esnate candid i also think some of the president's remarks about what energy policy in termof other areas of policy where they may have felt a lot of his voters

may have felt that sounds extreme to me, they may have decided go witha republican down ticket as a check on president biden. there will be a number of in going on here. quite obviously, republicans vastly out expectations when you look at the house. oo theyto out form ct exions on the senate side and to appear on the inside track to hold the majority of nobody would've thou possible as recently as last week. >> let's say joe biden goes into the white house without senate support because of republics keep their majority. mitch mcconnell could refuse to bring items to a vote in the senate. jessica, are yo expecting gridlor the next four years? >> i am expecting some level of gridlock it. republicans indifferent democrats hafferent ideological backgrounds and different philosophies on how they want to achieve certain goals. the question is how much gridlock. vice president biden if he

becomes president biden will want to work with senate majority leade in the senate there's things we need to get done in the short term. the question is the loev-term goalyone can come together and have some sort of consensus. my guess is it leaves everyone wanting a little bit more and not merely obstruction for an entire term. >> i'm relatively optimistic. there are ways in which a co republican senatd be very useful for a president biden. there is history there working together. mission callmitch mcconnell and joe biden know each other from the senate. that will be useful to geing things done wethers infrastructure healthcare or the economy. i also think the republican senate gives job biden important foil to hold off the progressive left. biden was never interested in single-payer healthcare and thee greedeal he has the republican senate as a convenient party to blame. i

can get these things done because we got a serepublican te here. it helps them do the things he wanted to do and enforce the priorities he wanted toinenforc ead of giving into the progressive left. >> thank you both for joining us and for your insit. let's take a look at something beautiful. tonight we ke you to the solana county city of venetia. this was the state capital fr 1853 to 1854. >> you can find more of our news coverage at kqed.org/newsroom. you can reach me on twitter, facebooknd instagram . from all of us here at kqed

newsroom, thanks for joining us, good night.

robert: a divided nation, divided washington. >> we have no doubt that when the count isd, finisenator heirs and i will be law the history. on the brink of history after days of counting and standoffs. >> it will be hopefullyleed up but it will probably go through a legal pcess. robert: but political war continues as president trump fights on. some reference urge caution. >> weot heardhing today about any >> a divided nation. and a divided washington. next. ♪ anuncer: 24 is show. "washington week." funding is provided by -- >> when