11/06/18 11/06/18 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, 2018 midterm election special brought to you by democracy now! and intercept pres. trump: a month ago, they were talking about this blue wave. you don't hear about the blue wave. >> we are fighting that we can get to 100% renewable energy and 10 years because our lives

depend on it. >> president trump is here endorsing and supporting my campaign and i look for to campaigning alongside him in 2020 for his reelection. >> winning tonight ethical send aa message to mr. trump a mr. desantis as will t the politicsf hatred and division of separation, they come to an end. at least in the selection. amy: today, six hour special on what has been described as one of the most important midterm elections in u.s. history. all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. along with the intercept in this special six-hour midterm election broadcast. i am amy goodman with juan gonzalez and jeremy scahill. tonight we bring you the results of today's historic midterm elections, widely seen as a

referendum on president trump. the balance of both the house and the senate hang in the balance as democrats are trying to write a wave of anti-trump sense of his own dish syndrome is a. this election could also bring historic first for women, people of color, lgbtq people, and native americans. the percentage of white milk candidate is the lowest it has been in the last four elections. among the closely watched our, well, we're going to be bringing you a number of those elections. we have a roundtable rolling roundtable around the country and in different parts of the world as we bring you this historic moment. races,he closely watched georgia, democratic gubernatorial candidate stacey abrams could become the first black woman governor in u.s. history. in vermont, democrat christine

holquist could become the first openly transgender governor in u.s. history, even if she doesn't when, she is a first. in colorado, jared polis could be the nation's first openly gay male governor. house candidates that holland in new mexico and charisse davids in kansas could be the first native american women in congress. and in california, republican young cam could become the first korean-american woman in congress. 7:00 eastern after time and kohl's are beginning to close across parts of the eastern united states. as 6:00 p.m., they closed across most of indiana and the eastern half of kentucky. just moments ago, the polls closed in new hampshire, vermont, virginia, georgia, south carolina, western kentucky, and the rest of indiana and most of florida. in half an hour, at 7:30 eastern time, polls will close in three more states -- ohio, north

carolina, and was virginia. thisbefore the polls open morning, at least 36 million americans voted early in this midterm election, and that number is expected to increase to around 40 million what's alll mail-in ballots are counted for. that is a 45% increase in early votingng numbers compared to the 2014 midterms. early voting participation is particularly high among young people, including in states with close races in where democrats are hoping to flip seats am a such as arizona, florida, georgia, illinois, nevada, and texas. almost 5 million texans voted early, more than the total number who voted in the 2014 midterms. texas republican senator ted cruz is facing a closely watched challenge from democrat beto o'rourke. there was an early surge in nevada were resample show incumbent dean heller leading democratic challenger jacky

rosen by only two percentage points. early voter turnout also shattered records and georgia were democrat stacey y abrams is hoping to defeat herer republicn opponent. georgia secretary of state brian kemp. in a racace that has been marred by voter suppression, false claims, and racist attacks. >> long lines and voting irregularities are being reported around the country today by midafternoon a coalition of voting rights groups known as election protection reported hotline that it operates for problems at the polls. it fielded more than 17,000 calls. voters in georgia are reporting extremely long lines at polling stations with a three-hour average wait time to vote in the atlanta metro arerea most of thr also reports of broken voting machines in new york and arizona were civil rights groups sent a letter earlier today demanding that the maricopa county board of supervisors and the county recorder extend voting hours at polling locations throughout maricopapa county.

in north dakota, native american voters were e forced to contnted with a new voter id law that requirires north dakota's to provide a state or tribal id withth a residential addddress n order to vote. tribal leaders and north dakota have scrambled to print at least 3500 new tribal ids for native americans living on reservrvations. meanwhile after widespread criticism, the u.s. border patrol was forced to cancel so-called crowd control exercises they had planned to hold a day, election day, near a hispanic neighborhood in el paso, texas. the hometown of senate candidate and democrat beto o'rourke. amy: f for more, we're joined by roundtable of guest that will change throughout the evening. we are here from 7:00 him until at least 1:00 a.m. eastern time. here in new york, rihanna grayy is the senior politics editor at the intercept. she will be heading off to one of the victory parties of the

candidates soon. joiningrsour will be us, director of the first muslim online organizing platform mpo r wer change. also in new york, ari berman for senior writer at mother jones, reporting fellow at the nation institute and author of "give us the ballot: the modern struggle for voting rights in america. in washington, d.c., the coexecutive director of the center for popular democracy and be a video stream from brazil, glenn greenwald joins us, pulitzer prize winning journalist, one of the founding editors of the intercept.. we're going to begin with ari because, well, the polls are just beginning to close and sometimes when they say a staple close, there when to be held open because of the way -- i went to vote this morning here in new york city and two of the three scanning machines were broken. it was pouring rain at 11:00 in

the morning with a line out the door. ari, how typical is this? just polling people at democracy now!, one after another said at least one to two scanning machines were broken. one of our colleagues said she voted in brooklyn and she waited for almost two hours. this is in the middle of the day. it is not after work, which i can only imagine will happen. >> it was very typical. nono just for new york, but all around the country we sell this happening. it exposed one good thing in one bad thing. the one good thing is it meant there was high turnout, the people were voting in record numbers all across the country. the bad thing was it exposed america's terrible electction infrasastructure. the fact people were just not prepared for this level of turnout. i went to one of those election callll centers, germany,y, in midtown new york where there were a bunch of lawyers and their were talking to voters all across the country. they basically said the same thing, nobody was prepared.

such a long time to prepare for this election and yet we saw that v voting machines werere nt plugged in in georgia minute polling places did not open on time in arizona and i indiana. on top off that, yet all of thee new restrictions were dozens of people were on pending registrations in georgia and showed up and they did not know which ballot they could cast. in north dakota, people did not know if their tribal ids would be accepted. there were a lot of new restrictions on top of the broken infrastructure of our country. but what we saw that a lot of people want to vote. that is very clear. this is historic turnout. the same time, people experienced a lot of problems at the polls all across the country that were very concerning. juan: i want to ask about early voting. clearly, early voting has helped to propel greater participation in those states that have it. new york state, amazingly, especially new york city, the most populated city in the country, does not have e early voting. therefore, everyone has to vote on election day, yet one of the big issues that will occur here in new york is what will the

which, the state senate, is basically held back the possibility of really voting, change hands to democratic -- to the democratic party? republicans have held control of it for decades. and whether finally new york will get early voting procedure in place like many other states have? >> 37 states have early voting, but not york -- new york. farmers brought their crops to the market in the 1800s on tuesday. that is why we're in an 18th election system. alot of people can vote on tuesday. if you're out of town, working. a lot of people worked during the day and they cannot get off to vote. 15% of people who did not vote in the last election said they could not get off work or did not have time. early voting gets more people time to participate. governor cuomo says he supports only voting. maybe by his third term he will

make this a priority. i think every time people go to vote in new york there some sort of problem, whether the machines are broken or there are long lines or was of last primary people are not on the voting rolls. people think new york is a loose day, progressive state. that is true to some extent, but our voting laws are in some was worse than the most red states. we don't have put id laws like texas, but everything else that mostve is worse than states will step up hopefully will do more. one thing i think is important is election day registration. reasonf people for one or another don't register in time or have problems at the polls. if you have election day registration, like wisconsin, those kinds of problems at the polls can get worked out. if you are purged for some reason or you do not register in time or you were not given an absentee ballot, he can show up and work out that stuff. that is why states you have election day turnouts have 50% higher turnout in states that don't. -- election day registration

have 15% higher turnout than states that don't. germany: it is not just that there are mechanical problems that you described or as juan describes in new york, part of what you have is massive line is there is no early voting. you also had a pretty concerted voter suppression campaign that is being waged from the white house, but also many of trump's surrrrogates. to what extent dodo those effors susucceed in the researcrch youe done? is this an effective campaign that the rightist and trump and allies are running right now particularly to try to convince black voters that they're not eligible to vote, or in some states, race representing what the law is -- misrepresenenting whwh the law i is, criminal convictions voting? >> they would not be trying to do it if they did not think it was effective. the data shows these laws have a suppressive effect on turnout. i was in wisconsin on election day 2016, 1 of the states the

past a strict photo id law. we learned after the election tens of thousands of people were prevented from voting, disproportionately likean-americans in cities milwaukee that these new restrictions had a suppressive impact. in kansas, another big state where kris kobach is secretary of state for running for governor like in geoeorgia andnd overseeing his own election. that voter id law led to a 2% drop i in voter turnout with the largest decrease among black voters, new voters, and young voters who are more likely to be democrats than republicans. a lot of these races will be 1% to 2% races. florida bans ex felons from voting. keep an entntire group from participating. that is the way you think of the big suppressive numbers. if you make a chain she were there, it will give you a big event at in a close race. that is what they're hoping in georgia and kansas and other states that they know these are going to be closed and they're goining to try to get whatever advantage they can buy

manipulating the voting law. amy: i just came from florida where what you're talking about may well change today, amendment 4. climbing ofpeople them have never served time in jail, though they may have been convicted of a felony. they may well be able to vote again. it is considered the largest enfranchisement of people since women got the right to vote a century ago. rianna i want to ask brt gray, what are some of the races you will be focusing on? >> i'm interested with democratic candidates and so-called trumped america. there is then conversation about what it means to be trump country in a with the public is a centralizing those parts of the countries as trump voters. even talking about parts of america that were obama did from district tends to send people

alike. there is a way in which they have been marginalized as deplorable country and this is the only reason he could appeal to voters in those areas is the same kind of racist rhetoric that donald trump has made his right and butter. the reality is, and what i've seen on the ground is a progressive message has been very appealing to people in those areas. alexandria ocasio-cortez one, there was pushed back because she only one because she was a brown woman in an increasingly brown area. this is going to be a test of sorts to see whether candidates are running on medicare for all and $15 minimum wage and other kinds of progressive policies and trump country can't appeal on that kind of a populist basis and show that the affinity for him was not solely based on kind of a race-based rhetoric. as a i just noticed cnn mother exit polls -- we have to be careful a about exit polls --

but they are saying threreout of four voters who they surveyed today were saying extremist violence was a factor in their decision on voting, which to me was astonishing number. word is interesting way to that question. a factor in which direction? it is something i would presume make them less likely to want to continue to vote for republicans and want to push back against them. i'm thrilled to your it. whether or not that asked the manifests in good numbers for democrats, i am interest to see. juan: amy: you just mentioned alexandria ocasio-cortez. we hope to be talking to you at her victory party. there really is no contest there. it is amazing to see the democratic party embrace her. crowley'sme of joe allies and family members have been trying to get them to work for him -- vote for him.

and go there were two lines. he would not drop the working families party line. but you're going to be going there. and for people who are not familiar with her case, who many call aoc, with the victory, he might have been the next speaker of the house. if the house flips. and he was taking his seat. >> it was a huge upset for that reason. to wincause she seemed largely because she was able to mobilize a network, kind of a progressive, grassroots network like the our revolution and other kinds of young people who were living in, frankly, newly gentrified areas in the bronx and queens. while there was this overwhelming narrative it was -- there are more hispanic voters and coming up for young latina woman, the reality is, the heart of her district that were the most gentrified were the ones that were disproportionally to

her when they went to the voting members after the fact. movementre seeing is a driven by millennials, a movement driven perhaps five people who are concerned about increasing justification in their areas. but the reality is, i think what is most appealing about her is that she speaks directly to the interests shared across those groups. i think young millennials are deeply concerned about their college differenc -- college debt, for instance. there are concerned about issues related to black lives matter and universal health care and a broad slate of issues that speak directly to people's material concerns. jeremy: there another aspect to the lead up to this election as the primary season was underway, and the intercept, our politics team did a lot of working on this. the institutional elite of the democratic party desperately tried to prevent the candidacies

of some of the very people that bri is talking about. joe crowley in new york was one of therereat representatives of that old guard institution. there also has been talk in washington of barbara lee, who the progressive member of congress out of berkeley, the only member of congress to vote against the authorization for the use of military force a aftr 9/11, which was the effective blank check that bush and cheney were giviven by the democrats ad republicans. barbara lee potentially running the house leadership. the stakes today are very high for need to pelosi. nancy pelosi-chuck schumer machine worked diligently to try to prevent the kind of energy that bri is talking about. the democratic party is at a crossroads. we are always told by

politicians whatever election happens be at the front of us is the most important election of our lifetime. with the racist neo-nazi violence, with the murdering of jews because they aremews, with the president using the most powerful platform in the world to opepenly encourage violence, for a lot of young people who are just getting turned on to politics, it is life and death. and for many constituencies in this country, african-americans in large numbers, women, , the sick people who have previous conditions. it is life and death. it is as the politicians always use that stump line, but it is true for many people here. we should not forget nancy pelosi and chuck schumer, apparently, did not want to ride that wave of both the positive energy, but the rage at this authoritarian administration. juan: we're also joined by linda sarsour. in terms of this crossroads of the democratic party, it used to

be the democratic party would back african-american candidates to run in african-american districts or latinos and latino districts, but now we're seeing a much more diversified field of candidates. of course, a younger field of candidates in some cases in the democratic party. yourur assessment of what you ae seeing across the country? >> as one of the nationall organizers of the women's march and 2017 immediately after, over 20,000 women had registered to run for office. the largest numbers we have probably seen in american history for women to run in this way. more than two thirds of democrats who ran in the primaries were women. many were women of color. we're going to see a lot of big wins that will happen from coast to coast. what i'm seeing from the democratic party is there finally reckoning with who they are supposed to be. aries --en that won, won primaries, these are women

that ran on medicare for all, ran on education, ran on abolish ice. people thought we werere naive 5 yearars ago and muslim americans in southern border communities called for the abolition of ice immediately after it was created. here people are winning elections across the country on these types of issusues. those arare the kind of women we're going to see win tonight. many are uncontested. it i is an exciting g time. there are a lott of things up in the air, but there are some particular races no matter what happens tonight, those womenen e going to congress. amy: you have the last three domestic terror -- four domestic terror attacks that just took place. the afafrican-american man and woman who were killed at kroger's grocery store in the st. louis area. rather, in louisville, kentucky area, and jeffersontown.

you have the worst anti-semitic attack on u.s. soil. 11 jewish worshipers were killed. you have what happened at the yoga studio on friday afternoon. it was like an hour after president obama spoke in tallahassee. of course, tallahassee is s whee andrew gillum is running from, the mayor of tallahassee. you have the letter bombs. you have all of these domestic terror attacks, but you have president trump doubling, tripling, quadrupling down on terrorists coming in a caravan. when he is asked for proof of this, he says he has no proof. but now we're going to turn to president trump, on the eve of the elections, this is at joint base andrews, a base jeremy and i know over a will having covered some interesting civil

disobedience is there over the years. but this is a reporter questioning trump at jojoint bae andrews on monday evevening. >> what proof do you people are intending -- not pres. trump: alall you have to do is go arou, take a look at what is happepeng over the years andnd you will s. there is a lot of people, a lot ofof people, m my opinion and bd inproof, thatt try and get ilillegally and actually vote illegalllly. so w we just want to let them kw that they will prosecutions at the highest levels. amy: "there will be prosecutions at the highest level." this is president trump speaking again, last income on the eve of the elections, in cleveland, ohio. pres. trump: as we speak, democrats are openly encouraging millions of illegal aliens to violate our laws and break into our country, and they want to sign them up for free welfare, free health care, free education, and of course, the

right to vote. the right to vote. and it is the right to vote that they like the best. amy: so there is president trump lying once again, this time in cleveland, ohio. let's go to washington, d.c.,, o anna maria. she is coexecutive director of the center for popular democracy. welcome back to democracy now! well-known for putting her foot in the elevator door and not letting senator flake go on his way before challenging him around voting for justice brett kavanaugh for the supreme court. let's talk about these threats that were issued. "we will prosecute you at the highest level" and just this morning in el paso, border patrol and announcing their going to engage in crowd control exercises in el paso as people are voting. there were such an outcry,

border control had to cancel this. >> president trump from day one of his campaign has made it a point to use anti-immigrant rhetoric and hate and fear to build up his political base and to mobilize the most right wing, the most racist part of his base. and he is using this rhetoric from decades before when he says the caravan is full of men of color who are violent. what he is doing is really invoking the rhetoric that was ind to justify lynchings this country. what he is doing also is using this rhetoric to distract people from the fact that during his administration, he and the republicans have had their hands in our pockets every single day. when they tried to take our health care away, when they cut billions of dollars in taxes for and gutted a lot of

our safety net. used the dollars instead for puerto rico, but to put children in cages. he is trying to make people forget. and try to scare latinos away by blaming latino immigrants for every single thing in this country. it is an old tactic. juan: the very controversial ad that the republicans in the trunk campaign put out that even the major networks at a certain point refused to run and fox news - -- fox news it t was too objectionable to run. dredging up an old case of an undocumented immigrant who had shot two police officers and linking him to the caravan. >> yeah, president trump once

the country to really believe that immigrants are criminals abuseat he will use and the power of the executive branch to protect people from all of us. and it is such a dangerous rhetoric. it is a rhetoric that also he of thed to justify some worst policies of his administration. the muslim ban. remember january 27, just seven days after the inauguration, the ending of daca in the temporary protected status, which enabled millions of people to make this country home. we know this tactic of fear and hate worked for him in 2016. but listen. i spent time in florida, pennsylvania, on long island and one of the epicenters of the

anti-immigrant experiments. what i see is people of color, white people of good conscience saying, this is not who we are. we belong together. we're all part of the fabric of this country. stake.rstand what is at that is where you are seeing millions and millions of people voting early and millions ofof people voting today in record numbers for stop almost presidential election-type numbers. jeremy: if we step back and sort of try to absorb the bigger picture, i think there is a common misconception that trump is sort of saying things off-the-cuff. trump does do that from time to time. but many of the premier policy initiatives have been ideas kicking around in the margins of the gop, or at times, in the mainstream of the gop. remember, mike pence is not just the wacky kitchen supremacist who is in the background here. he is the chair of the

republican study group. mike pence is one of the most savvy, stephen -- seasoned insider politicians in washington. thes ray much driving policy of this administration.n. yes, occasionally this adadministrationon and the prest put mike pence or other officials in awkward positions because of the way that he says things. but there isn't a single idea that trump has floated that is not in one way or another rooted in the republican party's vision for how this country is going operate. and what we're seeing with the targeting of muslims, or the targeting of the immigrant policiess testing out that the republicans have long wanted to implement carte blanche in this country. and they're going to go after the people as authoritarian's do who they considered to be the most vulnerable or who they can convince their base are ththe people nipping at their heels, who are going to take what they take most of if you look at the

idea that trump and his spokespeople have been talking about were sort of talking around, the issue of posse comitatus. the prohibition of u.s. military from engaging in domestic law-enforcemement. the republicans in the national defense authorization act under obama already chiseled that away and it was one of the great failures of the obama administstration that when thehy were sued by journalists and academics and intellectuals, the obama administration inintervend in those cases and forced a judge to lift the injunction that had temporarily caused of limitation of the ndaa because of concerns american citizens could be rendered cia-blacks. style or detained indefinitely without charge. part of the story y has to be hw this is really the mainstream republican party in trouble sort of a trojan horse.

allan nairn has set it on this show several times and i think it is one of the most accurate statements about this moment in history. trump dragged the elite all of guards of the republican party kicking and streaming and -- screaming and a party. thoroughly dismantled their integrity a front of the eyes of the world and also they were not good candidates. mike pence would not have one. but for all practical purposes on a policy level, mike pence is in charge of thehe country right now. that should be fighting to anyone who is not a white no christian supremacist who calls his wife mother. the way, allan nairn will be joining us from the investigative journalist later in this evening's broadcast. forave this breakingtweet the aclu, we're asking the doj to investigate border patrol's decision to hold thehe crowd controrol exercise on election y less t than a mile from m a polg ocation in a

historically latinx community. jeremy: i was looking at some of the results. in the returns in florida, the democrats are doing pretty well. but amendment 4 that would restore voting rights to excellence in florida and could restore voting rights to one point formally people, it is really holing above the 60% threshold it needs to papa. state likegh in a florida. basically a 50 to 50 state. is running ahead of bill nelson. it looks like a majority of republicans may support this. at the same time they said, you know what? we need to give people second chances. we need to let white from supporters vote in the same way that we let black or latino or

asian american xl is. -- ex-felons. if a majority of republicans and a place like florida said that, i think it would transform the debate over criminal justice reform and voting rights in this country. i think if you definitively say we can go down as one of the most conservative states in the country were trayvon martin was murdered, were so many horrible things have happened, we can say even here in florida under rick scott, we were able to restore voting rights to 1.4 million people. to me, despite all of the talk of the candidates, some of these issues down ballot that having got a lot of attention, that could send some of the biggest messages. jeremy: what are your thoughts given the reporting you been doing? >> felon disenfranchisement. it is an issue that hits close to home. my mother is from ohio come a state that has some of the better laws. when you're out of jail, you can vote.

but it is a state that is in efforts by conservatives to trick people into thinking they can't vote by putting up billboards that basically threateningly say, you know, make sure you don't commit a felony, make sure you're qualified to vote. frankly, until i was researching an article on felon disenfranchisement, i did not realize ohio was a state were everyone can vote because it has been in the family, my grandfather could not vote because of a crime he committed. he died last year thinking he could not vote. it was kind of shocking to me to find this out in the course of this research. who is very preoccupied with this issue, and the kind of multipronged attack get tole's ability to the polls, whether it is registration issues, issues like in texas where they have a true conan process to even be draconianto vote -- process to even be qualified to vote.

normalizing the conversation on compulsory voting. i don't know. jeremy: in texas, their voter registration law were you have to be deputized by the state to register voters. yoyou can only register vovotern the county's your deputized in. texas has more counties that probably any other state. if you are in austin want to register voters coming yet to be deputized. if you want to do so in san antonio, yet to be deputized in san antotonio. yet to get deputized every two years. there are major penalties if you miss handle aa voter registratin form. if thehere's any sort of information missing and you handle it, you can be sent to jeff for voter fraud. r's beto o'rourke butpaign -- beto o'rourke it on right now in texas, there are

3 million unregistered voters of color. 2.2 million unregistered latinos. 750,000 unregistered african-americans. we will see with the margin of victory is between beto and ted cruz. if it is close, you're going to have to ask, what would it admit it admit if these 3 million unregistered voters of color, if ify voted, what happened they had gotten involved in the political process and how to the laws shape the outcomes? , everyone is11:00 going to make all of these projections is a this person one, this person one, and they are not going to say, how did they win? was it a fair election? was the game rigged from the beginning? some ofs may overcome these bears in some places, maybe wisconsin, maybe florida, navy in kansas, they're not going to be able to overcome them everywhere. i think texas, one of the states were the voting laws in itself helps keep that state red. a week agolked d about

about the situation in dodge city, kansas, were the only voting place where 40% are latino was removed and moved outside the city limits. not anywhere near a bus route. to make itear effort as difficult as possible for the latino voters of the c city to vote. >> a city with 13,000 people, everyone voted downtown at the civic center. they moved it a mile outside of town to the expo center. if you look at the footage, was basically an intersection with is a lot of meatpacking trucks. it was crazyzy. he did not look back the place you could vote. it was a mile from the closest bus stop. report as went there today and they would not let them in. they said it was too disruptive. a reporter said, what is interesting, this town is 61% hispanic and nearly everyone voting was white. that is why you do these kinds of things. you don't just happen him of a polling place a model from

public transportation in the city that is 60% latino. amy: we just got this tweet from a television station wsbtv. georgia's number-one source for breaking news, gop gubernatorial candidate brian kemp also had a voting issue today when he tried to vote, his voter cacard said "invalid." it goes on to say, our reporter was with kemp as you voted and is covering the campaign all ninight. so just be clear, brian kemp, who is the secretary of state, the person in charge of the elections in georgia, who has actually attempted to disenfranchise how many voters? the latest was something like 5152 -- 51,000, 53,000 voter forms who is holding back.

a judge ruled he had to let them go. 70% african-american. >> he has to go through the list of things. when you become secretary of state, he purged 1.5 million people. that is one number. the state under him has closed 214 polllling places. in 2014 when stacey abrams was leading a voter registration group called the new georgia project, he blocked 40,000 registrations. people only got registered after the election. in 2016 a month before the election, he put 53,000 people on his "exact match" list and 80% or people of color, 70% hispspanic. he said you can still cast a regular ballot on this suspended voter list. pepeople showed up on that list and they were either not on the rolls to begin w with or they we forced to cast a provisiononal ballot that may not count. even today peoplple want to the secretary of state's website in georgia, there was still a press

release falsely accusing the georgia democratic party of cyber crimes. people noticed the system was so one state, georgia is with no paper backup. this entire election is taking place were if it was hacked, we would not necessarily know because we have no paper receipts. he is s still lying about the ds hacking into the registration system on the secretary states website. there are so many conflict of interests here and he shows up at the pole and doesn't even have his ballot voting card. you can imagine of the secretary of state's of nursing is an election does not have the people sent saying, you might have a pending registration? you can only imagine what is happening to those people. jeremy: linda, you have beenn under siege being attacked consistently for some time, but it seemed like it flared up in an intense way very, very recently. i want to ask about this dynamic

that is not unique to this exact moment, but it was really intense where you have a grotesque, horde act of anti-semitic violence, the attack on the squirrel hill trip life synagogue in pittsburgh, and almost immediately, you have right-wingers phoning 1995 for polititical outrtrage and say, , wherere the democrats condemning liz phair cognac i noticed people were starting to than link you into that anand say, hw can one of the organizers of the women's march, an anti-semite, and none of you say anything about that? the sort of root of what is behind that yes i view it in a way as it can to trump using prominent black athletes as a way of attacking all black people and using t terms to descscribe thohose athletes thae reserveses for black people. but it does s seem like invoking farrakhan is a two-fer for the

neo-nazizi crowd o or even somef the mainstream of the republican party where it is like you not only have this black guy, but a black muslim. you were also subjected to that. what is the strategy? you are on the receiving end of it? that you sort of interpreted as being waged against your weaponize to against you? >> as being the muslim counterpart to george soros. i think finding a symbol, somebody that represents every thing neo-nazi and the right wing s stand against, multicultural racial justice progressive muslim woman in a hijab whose critic of the state of israel, you know, a person that has a clear track record in the country of two decades of human rights and social justice for every single community that i can muster up and any moment you can find me in the right place at the right time. i have become a symbol.

i'm the symbol of the resistance. after the women's march, there was a poster that went viral. it was a woman wearing an american flag hijab. for some reason, became synonymous with that symbol. i'm a white nationalist supremacist in a country who celebrating the resistance in a form of a woman wearing hijab? it is crazy and outrageous. for me, i'm just the white lash against me. i feel more as assembled and personal. of these, the reckoning conversation happening right now within the jewish community. can we be against anti-semitism and understand white supremacy? you cannot telell me to, and testament is a if you're not ready to tommy, let's end white supremacy, which is the real threat on all americans. it was that threat that kill those people the synagogue, sending these type bombs to people across the country come the same ideology that we're seeing a people going to the

border -- white militias when to the border and saying the blurred lines between the administration and the people now. when you were talking about the caravan and talking about illegal voters and people saying this is a legal, this is not just the president saying they want the right to vote. this is translating actually on the ground. i just came back today from florida. i was in tallahassee. i went to orlando. i was in miami. in orlando, i took a bus load of women to an early voting site. half of them have never voted before. it was going to be there first time. you know me, i was like him you're going to make history. you're putting the first african-american governor. we did a whole training on amendment four bank and had a conversation about why that was important. you were white men taking pictures of the women on the line. those going to say something but i thought, it is not the place.

the 10 minutes later, a woman comes out of the polling site calling herself a poll code enforcer and said, called me by my name -- i don't know this lady, never met her. i already had an idea what was going to happen. she said someone lodged a complaint saying we were bringing legal voters to the polls. i said in a very condescending seem like a very intelligent woman. how in fact a summit in a whether we are illegal or not? how do so in no" -- how do someone know? what makes is illegal?" she looked ashamed. llsaid if you are the po enforcer, i am more a. these women are saying to me, what do you mean illegal? word "illegal" and it is triggering. i left what arare security guar, security guards come on the line as we went to another location. i said, do not leaeave these won

untitil they go in both, you get them back on that bus safely. we have to understand his administration, the rhetoric is going into comommunities we are from. they're using this against our communities and using it at the polling. what is happening as a country, we have to sit down and come to this point. to your point, jeremy, not only has it flared up for me this week -- this is like i'm used to this by now.w. oh, yeah, another one, another day. for instance, and to kim in new jersey. my father called me second i think i saw you in a commercial. his watching the 6:00 news and my face comes up in the tri-state area 20 times a day in a commercial that is used by tom carper against andy kim that says andy kim asserts with a locacal personal, saying andy km likes -- he also sat on the panel with linda sarsour who has called -- waged jihad on america. it is already and black and really dark.

it is also anti-asian, kind of like communist-type framing. i literally have been on television for the past week. it is the only add that, carter is put on television. tom macarthur has put on television. amy: your group mpower, after the shooting, the massacre at the squirrel hill synagogueue, u raisised money for t this congregatition? absolutely. amy, is not my first time. after the desecration of the cemetery in san luis, we raised over $160,000. that was more than the cemetery needed will stop we were able to send it across the nation. we're rebuilding an entire cemetery in colorado. after this recent massacre at the tree hill synagogue, we raised over $200,000. we have complete hang off of all funerals for every single

innocent victim that had died. not only that, we raised $44,000 for hias that works with refugees, many of whom are no muslims. jeremy: and the group that apparently was the trigger for this massacre. >> the shooter basically said that he went to this specific toagogue -- he could've gone any -- you want to that specific synagogue because he said they were the jews bringing the dirty muslims and the terrorists and say all of this stuff about hias. so to support them, we raised another $44,000 outside the $400,000. for me, this was about doing the right thing. >> the people you are within florida, today although? >> yes, because we left security with them. they were all american citizens and registered voters. >> what happened when they got inside? >> their experience translated to us that they went in and i think after the conversation we have with the code enforcer who

felt probably not very smart after coming out, that they were his -- there's a little more caution. if you're showing up to a polling site was security, you're probably getting a little more respect. amy: another announcement of the elections tonight, democrat asnifer what extend --wxton the barbara comstock in virginia. i'm looking out at the huffington post. it says hillary clinton one of district by 10 points in 2016. comstock could not overcome her constituents dislike of president donald trump. this is the first declared victory. jennifer wexton beats the income it by the comstock -- incumbent in comstock. jeremy: before she was elected to congress, barbara comstock was one of the top level crisis consultants for mercenary firms. it was her firm that was actually representing their

prince and blackwater r as they nanavigated the bezoar square massacre. this is significant on a national security from b because barbarara comstock is very c cle to some of the shadiest people from the post-9/11 cia operations, people that ran a black tights, etc. that is by no means a factor in why she was defeated, but for people that follow national security movement on the hill, barbara comstock was a very important person to some of the more unsavory characters in washington care military -- amy: "the new york times" reports barbara comstock is also an old dear friend of justice brett kavanaugh. to bring in glenn greenwald. usability prize-winning journalist and one of the founding editors of the intercept joining us from brazil. we've been having a discussion here about especially how this election has turned so much on the criminalizing of immigrants.

if you could, from youour vantae point in brazil -- you just been through a historic right-wing shift in the politics of brazil will stop if you could g give us your thoughts on -- america is not exceptional at this time. there's anti-immigrant fervor sweeping, right-wing populism sweeping all of the advanced industrial world in france and germany and hungary and i'm wondering your thoughts about whatat is hahappening here in te united states within the broader international context? >> first of all, i've been listining to thehe reports from ari berman, not just this evening, but t throughout the dy as well as lots of other people about the exextraordinary briers that have b been put in place to prevent people from voting or to discourarage them with reallyy intense obstacles. i find it kinind of remarkable, even know this issue has been around for a long time, because in brazil, we just went through two national elections wewere voting wasas mandatory.

so more people voted in brazil than are voting in u.s. . the elections were held on a sunday on purpose where the fefewest numumber of people bybr have worked obligations, therefore work does not t prevet them from votingng. irregularitieshese happen, even t though brazil isa much morore poor country than te u.s., much youngnger democracy,n effectct, they count the votes l day long so that when the final -- pulls close national, about 95% of the votes are counted so you wait about four minutes a and you know thte outcome of pretty much every election whereas in the e u.s., hours and hours and hours are needed -- juan: sometimes weeks and months. >> the f fact people are waiting four hours? this is one of the points alexandria o ocasio-cortez wasas making in n a race she ran that was purposely put when no other races were being held that status quo in comments purprposefully strtuture electis to minimize the ability to v voe

rather thahan to maximize it. obviously, the republicacans hae made a cottage industry out of this as ari has documented. from a disistance,e, just having gone through two electioions ina cocountry whwhere demoacy isis e fragile in t the country i is pr , none of thes problems exisist, which leleads uw they are purposeful. the problelem is we get angry about it on election night and tomorrow everyone is upset and you kind of forget about it and then two years later, it repeats. in terms of the substance, i think this is actual one of the more interesting elections that we had in the last several decades. every election gets called the most important, so i won't call it that. i do think it is one of the most interesting because of the extremely stark cocontrast betwn comes rhetoric on the one hand and what a lot of newer and more interesting democrats are doing in the other. we look at the candidates who have most excited democrat

nationally, they are people like alexandria ocasio-cortez who rent a bullish ice and minimum wage and every kind of bernie -eaque. even in texas with beto o'rourke , purple or red state, the most exciting candidates, the muslim american women to come is, they're not running as traditional democrats. they are running as a more, i don't know if you want to call a populist, but a more direct ,ppeal to working-class people to marginalized groups, avoiding corporate funding, using a small donor funding model that bernie sasanders used so well in 2016. that is excxciting. in a midterm election, the party out of power does very well. i've is the, there's a lot of anti-trump animus.

but i think exciting part is not the democrats will do well, but the kinds of democrats who have been animating voters in the election, including places that were told should not be possible given the voting competition. jeremy: many of the so-called republican strategists that populate cable, i still want to know what a republican strategist is. in any case, the democrats. as i punish myself watching coverage today in preparation for tonight, i noticed a lot of republicans seem to be very upset on the strategic level that trump released that utterly racist and factually nonexistent ad. and that they believed the strategy of running on the economy at the very end of this would have teed them up. i bring that up because, bri, you are often engaged in this debate with other prominent journalists about identity

politics and economics, class, and we have this phenomenon in 2016 the were you did have a not insignificant t number of people that work obama voters who then voted for donald trump. some of f the trends that you he reported on in these debates that he of gotten into, lead me to ask you, do you think -- is there anything left over from that now or you're going to see people would even be possible obama voters all of a sudden saying, well, i'm going to keep with the republicans here because of the reasons i voted for trump? what is that all about and is it still a thing? >> i think you'll see the people who continue to stick -- the democratic candidates were not able to win are going to be who did not adopt those things about trump, which a lot of democrats refuse to acknowledge were actually good messaging. it things outside of his racist rhetoric. this failure to want to recognize that what -- trump did well as he named an enemy and

offered a solution. the solution was bunk in his enemy was not the real problem. you are the people of color, immigrants can anybody who is marginalized, victimized in any way, shape them are formed. the problem is -- he acknowledged people are still suffering from the recession. he did not say america is already great, which is something that hillary clinton somehow thought was a good idea. what i see when i travel across the country, read parts of the country, some of the biggest applause lines from some of the populist left candidates are about not taking corporate money. that being outsider candidates, being an alternative from the norm. these are the same things that trump ran on. the level of satisfaction with government is something like 18%. nobody thinks the status quo is working. what we've seen in the past elections as is most of the outsider candidates when. that worked for barack obama as well.

the possibilities were endless. i want to make it clear, what i'm tracking around the country is the people who are dealing the most progressive policies. amy: briahna gray is off to cover alexander cortez. this is democracy now! we will be back in one minute. ♪ [music break]

amamy: from new york, this is te 2018 midterm election special, brought to you by democracy now! and the intercept. it is now 8:00 eastern time. polls are closing in more than a dozen states. alabama, connecticut, delaware,

the florida panhandle, illinois, most of kansas, maine, maryland, massachusetts, most of michigan, mississippi, missouri, new jersey, oklahoma, pennsylvania, rhode island, eastern half of south dakota, tennessee, most of texas and the district of columbia. the first definitive midterm election result have come in from the u.s. territory of gua which has electedm, -- guam, which has elected its first ever woman governor. indiana, mike braun in the lead over democrat joe donnelly in the key senate race. a win for donnelly is seen as crucial if democrats have any hope of taking the majority in the senate. in kentucky's 6th congressional district, amy mcgrath is currently leading republican incumbent andy barr. in florida with 22% of precincts

reporting, democrat andrew gillum in the lead over republican ron desantis for governor. in the racace for senate with 3% of precincts reporting, democrat bill nelsoson in the lead over republican rick scott. in new hampshire, incumbent republican governor chris sununu is trailing behind democrat molly kelly with just 5% of precincts reporting. jeremy: early election results are continuing to pour in. in south carolina, the democrat james smith in the lead over republican henry mcmaster in the race for governor. in virginia, jennifer wexton is expected to win in her race against incumbent republican barbara comstock. i believe that race may have already been called by major media outlets. that winter r at seatt blue. the democrats need to flip 23 seats to take over the house of representatives. income and democratic senator

tim kaine has won reeeelection n he state ofn th vermont, bernie sanders has been easily reelected to the senate. the gubernatorial race, phil scott in the lead over democrat christine. she hopeselected, to be the nation's first openly transgender governor. in ohio, troy balderson against danny o'connor in a closely watched congressional race. victoryn got a narrow in a special election over the summer, but they are facing off again in today's election. in west virginia, early election results show democratic senator joe manchin ahead of his republican challenger. manchin was the only democrat to support supreme court justice brett kavanaugh's confirmation. there are several closely watched swing districts in north carolina as well. amy: for more, we are joined by

a continuing roundtable of guests. by the way, we will be with you until at least 1 a.m. eastern time, bringing in guests from around the country. in washington, d.c., the columnist from the intercept and host of the deconstructed podcast. he is host of up front. carol anderson is with us, chair of african-american studies department at emory university. author of "one person, no vote: how voter suppression is destroying our democracy." the unspoken truth of our racial 2017e, which won the national books critic award. editor and chief of the intercept. the executive director of color of change is here. still with us, linda sarsour.

wow, we have a whopper of a roundtable it will be reporting to you results of these races and also a ballot initiatives and amendments throughout the evening. stick with democracy now! and the intercept. we are going to go first to carol anderson, professor in atlanta georgia. georgia is one of the hottest states to watch right now, although i understand there was some rain today. i found it interesting -- i heard one of the commentators say in bad weather is good for republicans. i was wondering if that is why so many are denying climate change. anderson, it carolol know you are not here to talk about climate change but if you start out by talking about what is happening right now with the gubernatorial race. --stacey abrams were to win she would become the first african-american woman governor

in u.s. history, which is a very sad statement but true. professor anderson, welcome. carol: t thank you for having m. this is amazing. i spent most of today driving people actually to the polls. and, the polls were steady. people are there, they are engaged, they are voting. howpoll workers talk about they had just seen in the then towards and the lunch hour, it kind of died down. but it was picking up again in the evening as people were getting off work. there is a determination. you know that being here, kemp just over the weekend, brian kemp, the republican nominee for governor, candidate for governor, he did his, oh, the democrats have hacked the system

and i have launched a an investigation. last night, oh, by the way, the black panthers are endorsing stacey abrams. he's lobbying everything he can. but, people look at that and they see it exactly for what it is. desperation. because this race is close. because you are seeing two very different visions for georgia. either we move forward or we go back. carol anderson in atlanta, georgia. our reports are right now, carol, that brian kemp, the secretary of state who refused to recuse himself as the ump of this election -- he is in charge of the election and he is running. he at this point -- again, the majority of the vote is not in, what he is ahead. carol: he is ahead because they

have counted a lot of the smaller, rural counties. for instance, no vote could come in yet from the areas, most of the areas around atlanta, inincluding fulton and dekalb county, the two major counties for atlanta. what we are getting are the votes coming in from the majority white and rural areas where you would expect kemp to be ahead. juan: i would like to ask for sean robinson. one of the exit polls from cnn shows 16% of those w who voted e new voters voting for this or time. your sense of what that means -- i know color of change has been a key organization for millennials of color in this country. >> our political action committee made a distinct choice this election cycle. we concentrated on what folks

call low propensity voters in the election world, which are really folks that don't vote every election cycle. many of the voters we were engaging through interesting data technology were folks that maybe some of them never voted before. some of them may be voted once for obama but never again. what we did was built a volunteer only program which was our volunteers engaging these low propensity voters. reregister little over one million voters around the country. just the volunteer intensity -- the number of people who gave weekends and nights, mornings to engage. linda engaged with some of our volunteers this past weekend. we had to innovate on her own program. we need to have a canvas. let's figure that out. we might not be able to check the scripts for you but let's do that. the excitement of being able to reach those voters, who

political consultants and the parties kept have consistently left off, they don't reach them. our folks are going to housing projects in tallahassee, for example, in the result literature. we were having direct conversations with voters. the focus for us was really expanding that denominator, that a lot of the polling companies and a lot of the consultants say this is the base of who was going to turn out. we wanted to debunk that and create a new wave of voters, but also connecting with our organization long-term so we had a new base of folks that politicians had to be accountable to. we were not just engaging people around the election of turning people out and going away after the election, but we were helping people understand. we were doing that work around district attorney raises. we had this whole election cycle were in these district attorney elections, really picking up off of some of the work we have done in 2016 with translating the

protest energy around criminal justice into the power to actually change who were the most powerful decision-makers. amy: i don't know what people realize the significance of district attorney's, but people like larry in philadelphia, representing black lives matter, then becomes district attorney. rashad: 90% of district attorney's in the country are white. 80% run unopposed. they are the most powerful actors in the criminal justice system, from small decisions about whether or not someone should get bail, whether or not someone is charged with a misdemeanor or felony. what crimes are charged. what police are allowed to bring charges. we started back in 2016 in cook fromy where we got tired going to district attorney offices with our petitions, rallies and being completely ignored. we asked let's do some voter contact. what we did was crossed paths,

the voter file, all the registered voters with cell phone numbers. we bought access to cell phone numbers. creating a swing state strategy around district attorney races. we hit chicago, orlando, houston. we kicked out district attorney's that were not -- people were surprised, because many of these folks have not had to run competitive races for years. we kept that effort going working in philadelphia. what we did was -- it was so exciting. i had to go on black radio stations throughout philadelphia and explain why color of change was supporting the white candidate and not the black candidate. we built out a platform. this election cycle, one of the proudest things we have done so far besides all the work around stacey and andrew and so much else, was picking out bob mccullllough, the 27 year incumbent who refuse to bring charges after mike brown was killed in ferguson.

almost thumbing his nose at the community. we opened an office in downtown ferguson. we cut turf and voting lists for local activists who have been protesting and got people out knocking on doors and helping conversations. the polls about a week before said we were about 10 points behind and we won by almost 10 point . electing wesley bell, the first time and it are district attorney, but a former city councilmember who ran on our platform. building out a 100 day plan. we will hold wesley bell accountable. being able to send a clear message is important for folks to see, because these district attorney races, whether it is philadelphia, the work in ferguson and st. louis, whether the work in chicago -- these are primaries. these are democrats who are thumbing their nose at black people and black communities in cities around the country and

using the criminal justice system to sort of move up the ladder. we said no to them. you're not going to be able to continue to do this and stay in office. for us, that is also important with bringing new voters into the process. that you are not just telling them that signed up with the democrats and everything will be ok. there are democrats we have problems with. that was also part of what we really wanted to make clear as we started inviting folks into a different type of movement that really seeks to build independent political power. it does not mean we are not citing with some democrats that don't have all the things we want. it does the in primaries, we have to go after some folks that thought they could just continue to get elected and did not have to do the things we want them to do. remember district attorney's have higher aspirations for office. dan donovan, the district attorney of staten island, could not indict the new york police

department who choked eric garner on video. dan donovan went immediately after to run for congress and won his congressional seat. now, today, we are watching that congressional seat. one of the most contested congressional seats in the entire country. they're looking for that seat to help win back the house. it is my district unfortunately. i live in the mississippi of the north, the bottom of southwest brooklyn and the entire brooklyn of staten island. there is an opportunity for max rose. not very enthusiastic overexcited. somethingr me, it is -- i cannot hold it in my heart knowing that in my district a man who could not indict a police officer who clearly choked a black man on video could hold that office and represent us in congress. i'm willing to take the chance of another not so great democrat going into congress, but i think that is a race to watch.

>> as we talk ababout these diststrict attorney raraces, w i agree, it is some of the best organizing going on in this country during these p past elelection cycles. it have been targeting these district attorneys who run unopposed anand have deep ties o law enforcement in their communities. it is assumed they will slide in and they will do business with. in philly, one of the reasons why he was able to win is a lot of those cops don't even live in philly. when that happened. also, the president of the united states has not gone to a foreign war zone to visit u.s. troops which in the post-9/11 world is very unusual, but he is causally speaking to sheriffs, police officers. you have a white supremacist and jeff sessions who is the attorney general who actually add lived the insert -- ad-libbed the insertion of the line of the anglo-american heritage o of law enforcement io his speech.

that is part of why people are mobilizing against these entrenched pro-police district attorneys, because the entire vibe is that the police, the court, the district attorney are all at war against you. it is so important. amy: before we go to our next guest, i want to let people know this news is coming out of kentucky. kim davis, the kenentucky county clerk who was briefly jailed for refusing to issue same-sex marriage licenses, lost her bid for reelection today. by anat beat davis estimated 4200 votes to 3500 votes with on 19 precincts reporting. this is according to the lexington herald leader. >> another statistic trump will say that 39% of women voted for me. 53% of white women.

there has been quite a bit of reporting over these months saying that dynamic may shift. do you think we will see any real movement on the issue of white women voters given the stakes, given what jusust happed with kavanaugh being confirmed? will there be any noticeable shift in what the majority of white women do in these elections? trump'sng aside unbelievably racist way of talking about it -- the way he says i got the majority support from women, and just white women. there has also been a misunderstanding of that dynamic because in fact, if you take out evangelical vote, the vast majority of white women supported hillary clinton. i do think going into this election cycle, we are going to see a huge gender gap. all of the polls show there are going to be very significant. what i think is interesting is i think there is a tendency among

the kind of democratic elites and pundits to really focus on this suburban, female vote. the moderate that could go republican, democratic. i actually believe that was one of the biggest strategic mistakes of the hillary clinton campaign because those were the voters that were really swayed when the comey email thinking up at the last minute. reallye really -- aren't solid parts of the democratic coalition that are united around progressive policies and the other core policies that are really going to be appealing across the demographic spectrum around issues of justice. so, i think it will be really interesting to watch coming out of this. everybody is going to see in the tea leaves whatever they want to see. i would imagine that there is going to be a dominant strain emphasizing what happened with

this narrow segment of wealthy white women. i think that would be a mistake. >> 53% of white women electorate, take out the evangelical white women? >> yes. >> the rest of the white women were largely for hillary clinton. now the evangelical white women seem to be moving. >> that is going to be a lot harder. >> that's what i am looking at. us, i am one of the national cochairs of the women's march, that is what we are looking at. we have seen s some horrific matches where we saw some white women electorate that it voted for a time a leicester. i don't know how worse you can have a candidate that is accused not only of sexual assault, but child molestation. virginia, last year the elections in virginia and even looking at new jersey. that did not get shipped off and

i am hoping the 2018 midterms, there has to be a chip off. the think it is among infrastructure to do deep organizing among white people. i think organizations like mine do our work with black folks. i was in georgia, there is a lot of black evangelical women and they are not a problem. there may be things that are said, but then they go and elect some of the most pro-lgbt votes like john lewis, stacey abrams. they are hearing the same sort of sets of messages from the same books. into a able to put that larger context. i do think this does speak to some larger work that has to be done among white folks speaking to white folks about what there is a need to move this country forward. juan: this news from the cook political report in florida. house district 27. democrat defeats the

republican. this is the second democratic house pickup of the night. meanwhile, republicans have held onto a house seat in florida's 18th district. republican congressman brian mast has the s defeated the democrat challenger. we are joined by a columnist of the interceptpt and host of the deconstructive podcast. he's joining us from washington, d.c. as you are looking at the election results, what are you looking for as an indication of where the night may take us? medhi: the most interesting thing for all of us and we have talked a lot about race -- i was talking abobout the discussion about white evangelicals versus nonwhite evangelicals. donald trump ranan a brazenlnly racist campaign. they were talking about identity

politics. anybody who thinks donald trump was trying to run an ececonomic anxiety campaign just need to look at the midterms. he ran on caravans, middle east and there's, isis, birthright citizenship. that is the kitchen sink that they threw. it will be very interesting to see how it is responded. it is worrying if it is positive because imagine what they will do come 2020, if they think the racist messaging works. that is why the andrew gillum election is so important, the stacey abrams election is so important. the amendment is important because race is so integral to a lot of these racaces and contes. one other thing i am looking at course, the actual nature of voting in the election process. as a foreigner, looking at your election, reporting on the to seen, it is absurd

how badly and how anti-democratic the united states run elections. on the one hand, you have very inspiring day of voting. record level of young people going out to vote. record levels of minority voters. record level of minority candidates running for office. 411 out of 964 candidates nationwide are women, people of color, lgbtq. inspiring. on the other hand, you have the brazen and blatant voter suppression that is going on that will affect so many results and so many journalists will ignore that. ,he racist voter id native americans being pushed away. a polling station in georgia where the voting machines ran out of power today. in arizona, a polling station building got forececlosed on overnight. in new york, they do not have the keys to open the polling station. in michigan, a voting machine was locked in a closet which no one could access.

this is absurd in america in 2018. these are not free and fair elections by any international common sense. that should be the center of anything, results analysis by journalists in america tonight and tomorrow. >> a lot of our viewers and listeners are following closelyy the gubernatorial races in georgia and florida. the florida races, more than 90% of the returns in, and it is a dead heat. andrew gillum has been up barely much of the night. .esantis is 49.8% amy: andrew gillum is the tallahassee mayor. he would be the first african-american governor of florida. ron desantis is the congress member who is hoping to be the next governor. mehdi: wouldn't it be depressing if the night ends and

none of the ththree african-americans running for governor in maryland, florida and georgia are elected? not because they were not good enough, but because their opponents were able to use voter laws to suppress their vote. in georgia, stacey abrams is literally running against a guy who is in charge of the election. this is not normal. other western democracies do not have election officials also running in the same election they are overseeing. right now in americaca, 50 stat, not a single african-american governor, in 50 states in 2018. only two african-american men elected to the governor's mansion inin the history of this country. that is why tonight is so important in places, especially florida and georgia, where she would be the first african-american woman in american history. amy: no african-americican woman ever elected in the united states in u.s. history. you were talking about journaliststs. the last time we had you on what to talk about jamal khashoggi

who was murdered on october 2 in the turkish, in. turkey, the saudi cousi consulate. --s was a period where trump [no audio]

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>> everything too close to call in terms of the big picture. the indications look like the senate will stay republican. the house appears to be tilting towards the democrats. we have very close races in a number of crucial -- amy: the hill is reporting that democrat tom wolfe has beat his challenger in the pennsylvania governor's race. we have been seeing a lot of killing walker with the of the pittsburgh jews as he has come out to speak a against t t. ap is reporting democrat tim ryan's reelection in the u.s. house in ohio's 13th congressional district. jb pritzker has won illinois' governor race. this just in, democrat bob menendez has won his new jersey senate seat. he will keep it. he is the incumbent, defeating

his republican challenger. you are now a voter in new jersey. juan: first time in my life. i think the illinois and new jersey results are important because the people at the top of the ticket often have an influence on the lower races. in illinois and new jersey especially, there is a bunch of republican h held seats in congress that are very close races. likewise in illinois, the state of illinois, there are several races that if pritzker at the totop of the ticicket is winnin, the impact on those raceses migt alalso shift towards the democrats. out abouthat you laid the threats we are facing, i really have a deep feeling as a lot of people do that this election is really momentous. if we are going to have any -- there really needs to be some the straipudiation of

ns of fascism we are seeing. at the intercept, we have done a lot of coverage within the splits of the democratic party. -- the starks thelenges show that democratic response that is steeped in polls and saturated with the money from the oil and gas industry, and is just embedded in business as usual is so inadequate to the threaeats that we face. energy thatkind of you were talking about and we have seen across the country. that is -- my colleague wrote about how trump gave us back the democratic party, because he inspired all of these people to rise up. of course, these movements have been building for a long time. this is not coming out of

nowhere. bernie does too. it's much broader than bernie. i hope that it goes beyond some of the divisions, the legacy of still,6 primary which you see these fights playing out online and i think that represents real differences. at the same time, when you look at what democratic voters care about, it is medicare for all. a green new deal. these policies that i think represent a real significant pushback to what has taken over the country. folks inor a lot of communities of color, a lot of the uprising and movement started in the obama administration. when there is this idea that things were going to be heading in the right direction. we saw so much of what was unable to be achieved. if you think about the rise of the dreamer movement, the rise of black lives matter, that all happened during the obama

administration. it was a rise of a sort of next-generation of the left. that really sort of pushed against the democratic establishment, forced politicians to actually speak about race and not put it among the enumerated set of things. the democrats have particularly did have this theory and strategy that they could sort of be just a good enough to black folks or brown folks and they would get those votes. while appealining to mainstream- bill clinton when he announced he was running for president in arkansas, his main statement was make america great again. if you go back and look at the videos, he has the same exact tagline as donald trump did years later. i do think that the work to sort of get right what it means to be powerful, what it means to actually stand up to people,

what it means to make elections actually matter. not just having democrats win, not being in a harm reduction space but an aspiration of what we actually want to achieve, sometimes that happens when we get democrats in office and see that everything has not been achieved and we have to pushback. the same way that tea party movement have pushback against republicans. amy: we are going to be joined by ryan grimm in a moment who has done reporting all over the country. we want to thank you, betsy reed, , for being with us. carol anderson is still with us in atlanta, georgia. carol, you are n not only at the centerer of one of the major ras being watched all over the country, which is the gubernatorial race and again, it looks like the secretary of created the major areas

have not been fully counted. and a lot of people voted early in georgia. another major race in marietta. we came to know lucy. after, her son, teenager -- african-american boy named jordan davis was gunned down by a white man. he was with his friends the day after thanksgiving. they were in a gas station parking lot playing music. the man pulls in next to them and he shoots into the car and kills jordan. never thought of entering public life in this way but she was propelled by gun-control issues. parkland, she cannot take it anymore. the massacre in florida.

she has run for congress right now. it is an absolutely amazing story. i think we have a clip when we talked to lucy mcbeth. it was actually at the sundance film festival. there was this remarkable film made about lucy mcbeth. it's called "three and d a half minutes." we talked to her in 2015 about her son's murder. i asked lucy mcbeth at that time about what happened to her son thanksgiving weekend 2012. housei was at mymy family's and i happen to be in the bedroom. i saw ron's-based pop up on the phone. hey, ron, what are you doing? happy thanksgiving. he kept saying where is earl. earl is my cousin. well, he is downstairs. clue to me immemediate

that something was wrong. and because i just knew in my spirit and had to do with jordan. has, fear that a parent everything you worry about. that being hit in a car. just any fear that you have as a parent, every one of those fears at that moment just, i felt like was just the weight of the world had fallen on me. i felt like everything we have and we protect him, could not protect him. so, walking through those days right after, it's a complete fog that my boy was killed over music. amy: that is lucy mcbeth. this race has not been called as she is up against karen handel

who was in the most expensive special election in the history of the united states just recently when she defeated john waltham. karen handel, very interesting case, where she was one of the heads of the koman breast cancer fund, and pushed for the dropp ing of planned parenthood. planned parenthood thought back -- fought back, demanded to have an escalation of this and handel was basically forced out of the komen organization. she had been the vice president, and then she ran for congress. if you could talk about the sisignificance of african-amerin challenger lucy mcbeth and what this race has been about. again, this is one of those key moments. karen handel not only is the one who tried to very politicized

planned parenthood, but she is also a voter suppressor. kempas the one who brian replaced her. so that the kinds of mechanisms of growing fear, a fear of african-american. fear of an increasing latino population in georgia. a move to silence their political voices via a number of voter suppression techniques such as voter will -- rule p urges. the tightening up again with the fear that guns are absolutely necessary. unfettered, uncontrolled guns because of the kind of changing demographics and more importrtantly, that ththose demographics refuse to be silent.

that those demographics reviews -- refuse to accccept unbridled political leadership by those who don't care about their community. that's what we are seeing. we are in the middle of an epic struggle. one of the things that has been coming through in this conversation has been that this isis no mere election. this is an election where it is not just the congressional seat that is sitting at the crossroads or a county or a state. it is a nation. that is why this election is so important. that is why it has been so thosee on one side with who o are doubling d down on ram and fear, saying we have to hold on with everything that we have. that would be a karen handel. that will be a brian kemp. that would be a ted cruz. that would be a ron desantis and

a donald trump. on the other hand, those who see the beauty, the power, the magnificence of what it means to have a nation that provides the kind of safety net in terms of education, in terms of health care, in terms of a clean environment, in terms of good jobs. that allows people to fly. that is where we are, moving towards a full vibrant democracy or sliding down into the hole that takes us back to antebellum america. that is what is at stake here. emerge outucy mcbeth of that tragedy -- it was a tragedy b born of fear. michael dunn, the killer of her son, those young black men, young black teenagers in that car, that is what he talked about. i was afraid, i was afraid.

his fear did not allow him to just sit in the car and listen to the music. that fear gave him that kind of impotence where he thought he could grab his gun and take jordan davis' life, and that it would be all right and he just went to go get some pizza afterwards. that is where we are. there is a thread that weaves through all of this, that takes us from a jordan davis and a trayvon martin to the killings in the synagogues, to the killings in kentucky, to the ginning up of fear about a caravan that basically people who are dealing with incredible violence and deprivation, and are just looking for sanctuary. so, that's where we are in this nation. mcbeth embodies that beautifully.

juan: i would like to go to more updates in the florida governor's race. with 76% of the vote in, republican ron desantis has 50% of the vote. andrew gillum has 48.8%. still a very close race. ryan grimm, you have been looking at a lot of these races. talk to us about the ones you are most concerned about right now. ryan: what's been most interesting is how not interesting this is compared to the forecast. they are pretty much on track. in the sense that the forecasts have been predicting a democratic takeover for the house and republicans holding on to the senate, that appears to be where it is headed. the only way that it falls republicans' way in the house of a whole bunch of these coin toss races all flip republican. you saw the bellwetether -- amy mcgrath who have this viral ad where she talked about being a fighter pilot and there was

actually a bombing in the ad. it race or millions of dollars -- raised her millions of dollars. >> she is ahead now. ryan: it was just called for andy barr, the incumbent. she was excited to lose by two to three point. it is kentucky. the fact that she lost by two to three points, that is on the forecast. in a lot of these other senate races where democrats have been hoping that they would be able to hold on, they are struggling. donnelly in indiana is struggling. the exit polls said tons of people were mad at him for his kavanaugh vote.e. the exit polls might have said the opposite if he had voted the other way and democrats may have been mad at him. it is interesting what lesson people take from that. ron desantis is up slightly, as you just said, but there are a lot of the blue counties still out. pennsylvania has not quite

started to come in yet. a lot of interesting races there. richard ogetta running even in west virginia. he is this populist guy who screams of the camera in his ads. i interviewed him once, it was like riding a mechanical bull for r half an hour. >> he was in the michael moore documentary. ryan: use able to do negative ads, but does not feel negative because it is coming from his gut. instead of a voiceover saying my opponent does -- it's him. [laughter] >> screaming. ryan: someone calls them the candidate most likely to reach through the tv and grab you by the throat. use in a district that trump won by 49 points and he is running even. races like that on a populist platform, that really does change the dynamic. juan: in california, something like five republican held congressional seats that are in

districts that hillary clinton won substantially so we might not hear really what the results are in terms of until we hear what happens in california. ryan: one that is bit of a bellwether in miami who ran a pitiful campaign. the party kind of dragged her through the primary. a 77-year-old freshman congresswoman if she wins. everybody expected her in the last couple of weeks to fall short because she had run such a poor campaign a and was not thought to be a good fit for the moment. she won. resistancee kind off movement energy can drag some of you like her across the finish line, that bodes for a lot of these otother candidates. amy: she had been -- ryan: secretary under clinton. >> she was the chancellor of the university of wisconsin. yes, i'm from a walkie, wisconsin.

-- milwaukee, wisconsin. two very interesting races. there will be other polls closing in about eight minutes. you have governor scott walker who is, who was at 1.1 of the at 1.1 ofs of the -- the celebrities of the modern gop. he is under siege. charismaticthe most candidate but he was the consensus candidate among a lot of democrats in wisconsin. there were some much more fiery people that were vying for that. and then you have tammy baldwin who, her big issue always has been health care. there was talk that if hillary clinton won, she would have been the health and human services secretary. that has been a vicious race in wisconsin where her opponent is using, he's playing from the trump playbook. wisconsin was one of three states that conventional understandings gave trump the white house.

it will be interesting to see if there is a push back in wisconsin. >> i would like to ask you about the gubernatorial and legislative races. obviously, this race will determine the legislatures that will then redistrict after the 2020 census. the issue then of whatt happens with the gubernatorial race. amy: just one annonouncement -- abc news is projecting that indiana senator joe donnelly has lost to his republican challenger mike braun. >> his brother apparently won his congressional race. >> they spent big money in indiana, republicans did, boosting the green party candidate. the two biggest donors to the green party were the republicans, campaign manager and his brother or something. you can google the details. they went heavy. democrats have done the same theme in a few districts,

pumping money behind libertarian candidatate. pushing their facebook ads around. donnelly was hurt by that and made himself vulnerable. amy: this does mean this ends the democratic chances of taking over the senate. ryan: i cannot see any way to get to it at that point because they would have to win pretty much everything. it'se g governor's -- interesting that he lost in this rust belt state while a lot of governors are performing a truly well. we had tom wolfe win very easily over a trump-backed gubernatorial candidate. lou barletta is someone who trump intervened in the primary. mayor of hazelton. basically introduce a country so these new anti-immigrant laws. he got annihilated in pennsylvania because pennsylvania is a very interesting state.

ohio seems to be going well for richard cordray, the head of the cspb. template --rren campaigned heavily for him. she only participated in two races, that and katie porter. you have ohio and then you have illinois that was just called. and then event michigan where whitmore is poised for a victory. wisconsin, walker is trailing in the polls. i'mm sure you have seen over the last two years, democrats won so many republican district special elections over t the two years that scott walker tried to cancel that. the people were retiring and seats opening up and he said no. you know what, a 20 point republican district and we will not do this. the supreme court forced them to do it in the ended up losing. amy: we will talk more about wisconsin in a moment. we will take a one minute break.

ryan will stay with us. ryan grim of the intercept. we are cohosting with jeremy scahill of the intercept. naomi is with us. professor of journalism. rishaad robinson, color of change. this is democracy now! we will give you an update at the top of the hour. i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. [music break]

amy: this is a democracy now intercept joint special. i am amy goodman with juan gonzalez and jeremy they help -- jeremy. arkansas half an hour ago and are closing in arizona, colorado, kansas, louisiana, minnesota, nebraska,

new mexico, neww york, wisconsi, wyoming, michigan, south dakota, and texas. >> in florida, the democrat donna has defeated the republican in the 27th district. they picked up a house seat in virginia where jennifer works in ousted the republican in the 10th congressional district. multiple news outlets are reporting that jb pritzker has won the illinois governor's race, running against bruce rounder. menendez has, bob been reelecteded, and abc is projecting indiana senator joe donnelly has lost to mike braun. a win for donnelly had been seen as crucial for democrats to take control of the senate. meanwhile, a number of key races are still n neck-and-neck. gillamand --

and desantis.s. presley has officially become the state's first african-american congresswoman, after she if he did representative michael in the primaries. there was no republican on the ballot. she is running unopposed. >> in georgia, the republican secretary of state, brian kemp, is still leading overstates the abrams in the race for governor stacy abrams and the race for governor. she would become the first black female governor in u.s. history if elected. this race has been marred by widespread accounts of voters suppression including from abrams opponent, as well as racist attacks against abrams.

in kentucky, kim davis, the county clerk who was briefly jailed for refusing to issue same-sex marriage licenses, lost her bid for reelection. in kentucky, andy barr is leading over any mcgrath -- amy mcgrath. democrats s had hoped to take te tossup. racece mike pence -- tossup race. mike pence's brother won his race. amy: we have a roundtable of guests that will be here with you until 1:00 a.m. eastern time. i am amy goodman with juan gonzalez and jeremy scahill. naomi klein is with us, senior correspondent for the intercept, and the inaugural chair of media and feminist studies. thegonzalez also teaches in journalism department. naomi's latest book, the battle for paradise, puerto rico takes on the disaster.

we are with ryan grim, the bureau chief for the intercept. adth us in new york is risha robinson. carol anderson is with us. vote, of one person, no how voter suppression is destroying our democracy. soon, we will be going to stacey abrams gathering, joined by the head of shiva people. also in washington, d.c., we are about to be joined by former presidenential candidate ralphph nader. still with us in d.c. is mehdi hoss on -- hassan. you have to go, but as you heard that round up of races , another race i believe that has been called is the defeat of

leslie cockburn in charlottesville, virginia, the longtime journalist has been defefeated. she was defeated by republican denver riggelman, who won thehe u.s. house in virginia's fifth congressional district. you have these observations is that a person who does not come from this country about our election system, and i am interested i in asking naomi abt this, as a canadian-american. people do not realize how voting can be different, and i am curious how people vote in canada. here at democracy now, person after person who voted today encountered scanning machines. in the place i voted, two of the three scanning machines were down, which meant there were lines that the quietest time in the midst of the pouring rain. people were waiting hours to be able to vote command this was

not at a busy time. your final thoughts as you leave us tonight?? at think it is a tragedy that you have a president of the united states who is willing to spend millions of dollars ending troops to the border for a caravan that not getting here anytime soon and that does not require troops to begin with, yet the united states government, , at every level -- this is not just a republican thing -- not willing to spend money on voting infrastructure. that theye reason is were not expecting such a high turnout and therefore did not spend the money. part of it is they don't want people to vote. the republicans in particular. in indiana, you had pulling sessions open -- polling sessions open late. republicans went to court to get those closed down. what more evidence do you need that one party in this country

does not want people to vote? georgia is the most interesting example of that. no other country i know of in the western world would allow a situation as you have in georgia where brian kemp is in charge of overseeing the election and the voter rolls and the rules and the voting stations and he's also running for governor. he's making ludicrous charges about the democrats hacking the elections. you know, voter purges, shutting down polling stations, and a congressman of california said if stacey abrams loses by a tight margin, she should not concede. i am with him. there is no way in such a we talkedection -- about how she would be the first black woman to govern in the history of the u.s.. in such a crucial election, if she loses by a narrow margin, that's the kind of place the democrats should not just rollover. in florida, people are getting really nervous. it's always lowered a.

andrew gillum in that tight race there. if you is is, don't forget that an amendment today in florida will allow 1.6 million -- amy: it just passed. rashad robinson just reported. it needed 60%. >> they could not vote today. that's the key point. they could not vote in this election and that in itself is an outrage. good news though it is that they can vote in the next one. amy: we want to thank you for joining us. rashad robinson, let's talk about the significance of this. the largest enfranchisement of americans in the last century since women got the right to vote back in 1920. >> cannot overstate how important it is. when my second job out of college was on the national campaign to end disenfranchisement which was developed after the bush beat recount,unt -- bush v.

there was a national call. we talked about that in florida and other states that still have work to do. our team this election cycle canvassed, and door after door that we hit in so many communities, people told us the stories of their fathers, their aunts, there a -- their who could not vote. many of the organizers we hired were people who were returning citizens and formerly incarcerated folks were leading the campaign. i do want to uplift one person, de who ran this campaign. i remember sitting with him several years ago in las vegas at a conference on putting ballot initiatives forward. andas formally incarcerated has a vision to not only put this on the ballot, bring forth, but also build a big enough tent.

folks on the left and the right kind of this stalwart organization that you expect. this was led and driven by formerly incarcerated returning citizens. desmond meade, so many others who comome around the state, had conversations, and moved us forward. this will be a tremendous victory for democracy. for what it will mean two years from now, for who is part of the building poll. the message it sends to folks as we have deep conversations about our unjust criminal justice system and what it means to be a citizen, what it means to be visible, counted, and whether you are privileged or vulnerable. i just think this is tremendously important. for r black and browown communis who have been hit the hardest by this, i hope people are feeling incredible. amy: let's talk about this further with carol anderson. this is exactly what you write

about. let's look at the numbers. wonge w. bush ulultimately with 500 votes in florida. took florida by something like 116,000 votes. millionalking about 1.4 floridians at least, now being able to vote. in a minute, we are going to play a clip of desmond meade. inas just with him melbourne, florida. he talked about who is it that will be able to vote, but the significance of this, professor carol anderson? carol: the significance is just that to understand that the felony disenfranchisement laws are a vestige of reconstruction. tryinghen the south was to figure out how do we read and

cribe slavery -- reins slavery by another name. you get the carmel itemization of blackness.ion and when they leave prison, that now, they are stripped of their rights. stripped of the right to vote is one of the key ones, and florida did that in the 1860's. 0labama did it in early 19 1. of slaveryestiges and jim crow. to have in the 21st century enough vision and political power and will to say these are human beings who deserve their rights, this is an amazing victory, and think about it. inhave this kind of victotory

the kind of toxic political soil where we are right now is a test and -- testament to that organizing, to that visioning. what it can do politically is astounding. it is going to transform florida. >> and of course, the potential to bee florida example picked up in other states as well, such a large and influential state. it may mean the end of florida being a swing state as it is so commonly referred to. i might question you about whether this is a larger isenfranchisement -- enfranchisement. i don't know how many people were involved, but i would think that brought quite a few people into the voting process. >> the other important thing is

that it reminds people that some fefelon can vote -- felons can vote, just anecdotally. they all think they cannot vote, and that is not actually true. >> this is significant. in vermont and in maine, you can votete from jail. you brought up desmond meade. i wanted to go to desmond meade, this remarkable man who dedicated his life to this amendment. the president of the florida rights restoration coalition who is leading the fight, who led the fight that just won. he called himself an asked thender -- ex-defender, calls himself a returning citizens. >> how many of you in the audience have the believe that's a happy birthday or get well soon or congratulations, graduate? how many of you all ever went to -- keep it raised.

how many of you all everyone to a memorial, where you have the white balloons and released them all into the air? raise your hand. if you ever released the balloons in the air, raise your hand. all of you all would be felons in the state of florida if you were caught by law enforcement, and you would not be able to vote for the rest of your life. >> why? >> because it is a third-degree felony to release helium filled balloons in the air. , thethat is desmond meade president of florida rights restoration coalition, scored and an enormous victory. they set the bar very high. they voted that amendment had to pass by 60% of the vote, and when i was down there, it was pulling at 70%. >> it was really hard. this has been a conversation for a wild now of putting in an amendment, and people did not want to do it. you have to have a lot of money to not just collect the

signatures but to run an effective campaign in a state that has multiple media markets. there were always questions about was it possible? was it going to be a waste of money? raising the money to get it on the ballot in the first place. not only to have this win but to have this win being led and run by those most impacted and their also as, i think it is model for how we can run and win the type of campaigns and move our democracy forward by having the most impacted people at the center of their own fight for liberation. news, nbc isest reporting republican governor larry hogan has defeated democrat ben. the first republican governor to win reelection in maryland since from and this news tennessee. marsha blackburn has defeated democrat phil for tennessee's senate seat.

>> in maryland, h he was expectd in the last seseveral months to lee's pretty badly. and a lot of it had to do with the democratic party actually being quite fine with larry hogan, and there are a number of different reasons for this. i talked to kathleen who lost in 2002. amy: he was the former head of the naacp. >> part of this, in her estimation, and i think she has a point, because it is next to washington, d.c., it has this interiority complex. the interior to complex has set up kind of -- inferiority complex, it has set up this immune system. if you lived in maryland for a long time but don't work as the head of the naacp and decide you want to run for statewide office in maryland, we are going to reject you. you have to be someone like

baker, who was someone who came up through that, you know, through that kind of structure. at the same time, maryland has five different pieces to it. so the governor is able to pick them off and play them off against each other, as long as he gives enough money to montgomery county. montgomery county will say we are fine with a republican governor. he gets the roads paved. inhave a veto-proof majority the legislature. if it were a senate seat, i think he beats larry hogan. amy: i mean, it is a big loss. he is a big candidate. of the very few candidates who was talking about climate justice. one of the things that has barely been talked about in this campaign is we are in the middle of a global climate crisis. during the midterm campaign, you had this groundbreaking report

that came out, not that youou se it r reflected at all, but that told us we had a near 12 years to reduce fossil fuels by 45%, and meanwhile, the u.s. has been bashed by record-breaking storm after record-breaking storm. puerto rico has still not recovered from hurricane maria -- barely mentioned during the campaign. ben jealous is a climate justice warrior, in addition to being strong on so many other issues. and it would have been a very important victory. i think rashad: this is something we are going -- rashad: i think this is something we going to have to look at throughout the night. ben jealous represents the ways in which the establishment and the insurgents were competing against one another. he was out of the bernie sanders movement, one of the most visible and powowerful black spokespeople for bernie sanders.

the naacp has a deep relationship with baltimore for a while. the former causes men from -- congressmen from baltimore used to run the naacp. wereof the attacks on ben not always fair, and a lot of it came down to the fact that there were a number of establishment candidates who ran in that sort of primary that had a number of black folks in the primary, a number of voices, and after the primary ended, the party could not unify, and they could not get behind the candidate. there were still some hurt feelings, some issues with, i think, feeling like someone else should have won, and they could not align. i think that, once again, it does speak to the infrastructure of the party, which has been deeply damaged. not always as strong as it needed to be to be able to get people in line and get people behind the candididate when necessary. in maryland,

democratic voters in maryland, particularly the white ones, have a fantasy that there is a reasonable republican party, so 2002, heehrlich ran in ran as a moderate, and they were excited by that. when he became a right-winger in officece, they threw him out. they love the fact that their ego get, as a republican, tha they love the fact that as a r republican, he tries his -- trashes drum. they love having their view validated by a republican. he may have even won democrats by the end of this night. >> much has been made about the enormous amount of money that the democratic candidates raised . in some cases, more than republicans. the money was just pouring in. can you talk about this, how this has developed, and what it signifies?

>> ben jealous actually suffered, and that's because cortez, who had raised a lot of small dollar donations, won on hissame night that he won primary and she blotted out the sun. this small dollar donors are much more interested in senate and house seats than they are in governorships. this is the governorship, this is between y'all. it's much harder for jealous to nationalize matt. act blue is the platform that democrats use to collect small dollars and distribute them to candidates, which grew out of the howard dean campaign. it celebrated raising $2 billion in january, since from 2004 up until now, bebetween janunuary d october, it raise another $1 billion, which transforms the democratic party.

that is the kind of money that a party neneeds to be competitiven a national level without corporate pack money -- pac money thrown in. what you're hearing from people in washington is always candidates are being told is o , you managed to raise money butout corporate pac money, that's because everyone hates strong. you will not be able to keep that up. you u need to acactually absorbe ecosystem herere. you need to ststart taking pac checks and play by the rules or you're not going to have the money when everybody is going home, and they are not panicked anymore. these candidates have been resisting that pressure, and that will be one of the most interesting things to watch for in the new class that comes in to washington. >> you get a lot of groundbreaking reporting that also at times infuriated powerful democratsts. there was a while where steny

ther was very upset with intercept on a number of friends, going after him for his attempts to stop progressisive members of congress from making him a front and center issue. amy: steny hoyer -- inhe is the minority whip the house of representatives. he is one of the most important and influential democrats in either house of congress, and really, one of the main people sets thethe agenda -- agenda, legislative and political, but not so much about steny hoyer, but the reporting that you and your colleaguess in our political bureau in washington were doing on these insurgents who were running against democratic incumbents in the primary. what is the legacy of that going forward now for the democratic party? i mean, you have nancy pelosi and chuck schumer continuing to back candidates that were the opposite of what -- the kinds of

people they said they wanted to run. what happens now next january when this congress is seated? >> some of it depends on how the rest of the night plays out, because easy results are going to -- because these results are going to be weaponize by both sides. if andrew gillum and the pleasing, you will immediately hear from the corporate groups saying you nominated somebody who was too liberal. if you had just gone with one of these people that gillam beat, he would have coasted to reelection. third way, which is kind of the corporate conglomerate that makes the case for the centrist candidates, has already been pushing out this narrative that 32 of 37 of their candidates and primaries won. ofy went through this list 37 and found that something like 17 of them did not have opponents. another 10 of them had opponents

in name only. you know, people who get their name on the ballot that do not raise a single dollar and not do any evidence, and that, in fact, they were about even. the democrats won some, progressives won others. progress is have to win -- progressives have to win. the third way has already been publicly celebrating that she is going to lose. they are certain she is going down. if she wins, that helps the left say, look, it's not just that we preferred these policies, but it's more pragmatic, it's smarter. you win this way. a goes to the point that betsy read -- it goes to the point that betsy was making earlier. these centerleft, milquetoast no -- you parties are have to meet that force with something equal to its, or you might hang on to it for a little

bit like they did in brazil, but eventually, some force comes in that picks up the entire working class and annihilates the corporate. >> all indications now, it seems to be that it is too close to call. we should always clarify that. there is a likelihood that the democrats could retake the house. is it a shoo-in that nancy pelosi becomes speaker again? >> these results do not bode very well for her at all. to win the house. there are at least 8 people who have said that under no conditions will they vote for nancy pelosi on the house floor, so that puts her number at at least226. 226.r number at at least john conyers did not get enough signatures to run in the primary. she won. they are both left and right for

different reasons. they said they will not vote for her. if they are all there, she's at least 226. if they come in with something along that, not only does it become a math problem for her, but a disappointment problem. if they were expecting to pick seats and0 instead pick up 25, the voices and the party saying enough already -- at what point are you going to step aside and try something different until that eight becomes 16 or 20? at that point, she does not have the votes on the floor. she needs this wave to get a lot bigger to stay in if they do take the house. >> is representative barbara -- ththe notion t that she might rn for that post, is it viable? >> she is very close to pelosi, politically, personally, geographically also. so she would not challenge

pelosi as an insurgent, but if pelosi stepped aside, she is certainly somebody that people would start runnining behind. i heard from s someone who's vey young, very new to congress, she is somebody who is interested in it because, well, it's obvious why. can, people talk about him. but there are also the more corporate wing of the party making the moves, too. very interesting things going on within the cbc, where you have james clyburn, who is the number three, being urged by some of his colleagues to run for a higher position. but a lot of members of congress, -- amy: he is african-american from south carolina. >> a civil rights leader. a lot of people think he's being

pushed, knowing he would lose, so that t his seat opens up so both peoplple, marcia fudge, interested in that seat. it gets the musical chairs going. as long as the three leaders, pelosi and clyburn sit in the chairs, nobody else can dance. >> and they are all over 70 as well. sort of a -- after an election where we are seeing so many young next generation folks leading, the question will be is sort of like who are the next generation folks that take on leadership roles in the party to prepare us for the type of people we need out in the world talking and spreading the democratic message in 2020? if everyone is sort of over 70 years old, in the leadership, represents sort of how is the party sort of speaking about a message that pulls us into the future? >> the politicking is already

starting, if you saw this report a couple of days ago. the congressional black caucus demands that one of the two top positions be an african-american. that was not true. wrote a letter on his personal stationery and signed it "cedric richmond, chairman, congressional blblack caucus." andcbc did not vote on endorse this letter. there was only one name on it. >> the cbc does that all the time. when they decided not to -- when they decided not to endorse donna edwards two years ago, they did the same. that was just a couple of members that did that, spoke out on this thing, but cedric richmond, as the head of the cbc, writing on his stationery, saying -- rashad: >> he is happy with -- >> he is happy with the entire cbc.f the

if you ask people like elijah cummings and others if they support that, if they were behind that letter, i bet they would say no. >> the change tacks, a little bit, what about the republicans? what is going to happen with the republican party? amy: just make another announcement -- in west virginia, it has been called for joe manchin, so he will retain his >> democratic senate seat. and republican -- democratic senate seat. >> and republican. [laughter] >> he is a trump democrat. >> he keeps threatening to switch parties. amy: insect fact, voted for kavanaugh. ryan, you with a one who really started that wholele story rollg by exposing that senator feinstein had met letter from a woman who said that brett kavanaugh had attempted to rapae her.r. there know, at the time were pendants talking about how

this was going on for so long that it was damaging democrats out in the field, that chuck schumer had not wanted this particular fight at all. he wanted to stick to whwhatever he w wanted to stick to. and in fact -- look, from the democrats running in these 20 and 30 point republican districts, they told me that was true. that at the doors, they were picking up a lot of anger from white i independents, men and women. more men than women, but interestingly, women as well. so you know, we will never know how it would have gone if that had not happened, but that did have some impact. for thehin -- people who love to hate on him, and it's very easy -- he announced hihis vote about one minute after susan collins announcers. susan collins put him through.

said he wasollins through, it was over. he hadtty sure both statements ready to go. not ais certainly democrat that is with you all the time, but he's not -- she is never with you. she is the other center for must virginia. -- senator from west virginia. >> whatever happened to that whole russia story? [laughter] >> no, it really has been an absolute complete nonissue in these races. the can say that because trump is not on the ballot, but it iss quite remamarkable after we were subjected to 24/7 coverage for most of the duration of this presidency, and it is like it just evaporated. it is gone. >> it will be back as soon as mueller comes back with it.

>> i think there is a lot of nervousness on the part of the democrats because they have set themselves up for this salacious smoking gun. tape,d to see the pee bank transfers from prudent to trump. toy have gone -- putin trump. theyey have gone so far with speculation that almost anything mueller comes back with will be underwhelming, particularly to people who spend a lot of time watching msnbc. they are going to be like what happened? where is the real report? it's incredible. it shows you how fickle the political players are in this country. immediately, it is just gone, nonexistent. amy: they also ran away from kavanaugh. the big fight, they did not have the strength of their convictions. as soon as pulling shows this was not -- pulling shows this -- polling shows this was not a good issue, they'd pull away from it. it shows elections can change people's points of view.

right? you do not need to just chase the polls. they can be teachable moments and things can change. trump certainly answer stands -- understands that, right? he has moved the bar to terrifying directions. no matter what happens, this election is going to be the one where, you know, some people have still clung to this idea that he's playing with this rhetoric. he does not really minute. what we know now is he really means it. he has been using hateful, racist rhetoric. it turned into hate crimes again and again and again during the midterm. there was a moment where it looked like maybe he was going to pull back,, and that he just said no, i'm goining to go r r . and gary young wrote in the guardian today, he said that trump kept sending the -- fanning the flames.

it was not a notion of something that could happen but was something actually happening now even as early voting was taking place. i think we will look back on that, i'm afraid, as the most significant turning point, right? that even as the hate crimes were happening, he fanned the flames, incited the hate, did not care about the consequences. i really think that will be the most important thing about this midterm. >> it looks like a bunch of institutions are calling alexander boccaccio cortez's alexandra kashi cortez's race. she will be the youngest woman ever elected to congress. >> we want to turn to breanna the, joining us from victory party in queens. can you hear us? >> i can hear you. >> what is the situation at the

victory party? >> the situation is a lot more oraxed than in your studio the rest of the country because this was one that was pretty much a sure thing. everyone put in the work along time ago to get ocasio-cortez to win her primary. it was an uphill battle against the incumbent, joe crowley. it was a complete surprise to marty much -- pretty much all of us in the room today. today is different. everyone is circulating and having food. there are people dancing earlier, and the night is just getting started, so i feel like this is a nice little reprieve from the stress of election night. people are hearing the results from other parts of the country, any sense from orsio-cortez's people herself, how they are reacting to whether the blue wave that

she appeared to ignite, at least among progressives, whether that will continue across the country? >> you know what's funny, i spoke to a couple of people on the campaign about that, and they were so excited about the discussions that ocasio-cortez has had. they are more interested to see what happens to others similarly situated progressive candidates than to be dragged down by what happens in the aggregate. there is a movement for something specific and pointed, and that the victories that are considered to be shared victories are victories of progressivism as a movement, not necessarily a partisan victory. so that might change. what we are really seeing here is a particular kind of progressive enenergy. amy: i have a question, and i will put this to ryan grim. even as she is there at the party, could

ocasio-cortez be the house speaker? clays it -- wasn't henry elected speaker as a freshman? go ahead. >> no one wants to play the u.s. review game. >> she would not be the first. she would be the first not to own slaves and do it. no, the answer is no. event that had a lot of progressive caucus members shortly after her victory, and if you were watching from a distance, you would think that the progressive caucus members would have seen her victory and seen it as a signal that wow, we have been fighting for decades now. finally, the people are behind us. time to roll on our platform and program. instead, it was like why does everybody think we are doing this wrong? don't we know how hard we are

working? we are doing just fine. why does everybody think that -- and then shortly after that, he gets defeated. so there is -- amy: who was a progressive. >> progressive caucus member. numberwas supported by a of members from the congressional black caucus, even progressive ones who went up to boston and really stood behind him. does it speak to the power of incumbency? a certain power to that institution where incumbents will protect each other, even sometimes over certain ideologies, as long as it is about t -- because they recognie that i could be next? amy: again, presley is now the first african-american congresswoman from massachusetts. that is who we are talking about today. we want to thank you for joining us. we will be going back to you because cortez will be giving her victory speech, and it

will certainly reverberate all over this country.y. ralph nader joins us right now. longtime corporate critic and former presidential candidate, author of breaking through power, it's easier than we think. ,oe manchin, we just learned will retain his seat in the senate from west virginia, and so will tammy baldwin. if you can talk about her, jeremy. firstmy baldwin was the openly gay person elected to the senate. openly gay person. she got involved with politics in wisconsin very young, was a state presented it, and she represented one of the most liberal districts in all of wisconsin. and a lot of people in the state were skeptical that tammy baldwin could win a statewide election when she first ran for the senate to decades ago. and you know, she has been i

would say a slightly left of onter member of the senate most issues, and then she has a few core issues that she has really made her focus, and part of why she has sort of evolved into being -- she is not a radical leftist on most issues. she is a very careful politician. you can say this with a lot of states. you can say it of pennsylvania and wisconsin. you have the big urban areas where the democrats are going to do well, and then you have large swaths of the less of the state -- rest of the state to elect scott walker, tell me thompson -- tommy thompson, or jim. tammy baldwin figure out a way -- figured out a way to win statewide elections in wisconsin despite the built-in attack machine against her. sse is no rust feingold -- ru

feingold. he was a principled progressive top to bottom except for israel. she is a much more centrist democrat. it's a good thing that she won this race, because the alternative would have been a female version of ron johnson, who is totally in the tank for trump on almost everything. the key race in wisconsin that come you know, we really should pay attention to is the mckie raceal race -- in wisconsin that we really should pay attention to is the gubernatorial race. unions. to get rid of he wants to open wisconsin up for foxconn, you know, these companies that are either working for amazon or working for apple iphone. and there is a great piece in the new yorker by dan kaufman this week about foxconn and wisconsin that i would encourage

people to read, but the stakes are very high in wisconsin. milwaukee is one of the most segregated if not the most segregated.it fluctuates from time to time . cities in the country. the economics of the black community in milwaukee are devastated. state and that -- the that city in particular have been targeted by altra right-wing agendnd being implemented by republican governors who like to start with democrats. not to go on about this, but i do think what happened to the gubernatorial race in wisconsin is going to have life or death consequences, particularly for immigrants and black people in wisconsin. >> i would like to go to ralph nader, former presidential candidate, longtime consumer advocate, author of to the ramparts, how bush and obama paved the way for the trump presidency, and why it is not too late to reverse couourse. ralph, you have been a longtime critic of the duopoly of the

democratic and republican party. we are seeing it again tonight. your perspective? ralph: the democrats are fighting the worst, most cruel republican party in history, with one hand into fingers tied behind their back. it's really been astonishing wherelast few weeks, some of us were trying to get the message to the house democratic caucus to release and publicize the horrific votes of the republicans against women, children, patients, for bloated military budgets, wall street. they would not even answer. it took congressman jamie raskin template out his own 20 most outrageous with by the republicans so they could campaign on it around the country. they had a horrible record in the house, the republicans. .com for jamieraskin those who want to see it. for those who have a party like the democrats who do not lay out

all the arguments against the republicans and focuses on a bridge -- an abridged form of health care for pre-existing conditions, no free choice of dr. and hospital. never mentioned. they do not have an alternative tax plan or military and foreign policy. they do not have an alternative immigration plan. they don't have a law enforcement agenda against the corporate crime wave that from the wall street journal to the houston chronicle is reported on all the time. ripping off patients, poor people, tenants. that's what i mean. they are not using the new deal fdr, harry truman cap of agenda. if you ask them why not, they sort of give you a double take asked us, nobody has that before. don't you know how bad the republicans are?

the reason is they want to continue darling for the same commercial dollars. that is the reason. they are not trained in how to rebut the nonsense and phoniness and lies of the republicans. in debate after debate that i have seen on c-span, the , in missouri,rews would say don't you know this is the lowest unemployment rate for hispanics and african-americans in recorded history? and they would not even come back. they would change the subject. they would not say really? let's say. you have stagnant wages, minority workers dropping out of the market, not counted in the unemployment, a huge number of temporary workers. if they were 21 hours per week, they are counted as being fully employed, and you have higher expenses and huge poverty. 40% of the families in this country are poor.

he saw that study because he reported it on/," -- he reported it on "democracy now!" if they were hit with a sudden debt, they would not know where to get the money, so why is poverty not an issue? why are 30 million workers who are getting less today and paying higher expenses, adjusted for inflation, than workers back in 1968? why are they n not confronted by the democrats -- go vote for a raise. it's long overdue. you have b been gutted by inflation. you have been fleeced by large employers. it's lucky they don't -- they are not required to give you back pay. go vote for a raise. you cannot even get the cio to do it, any of the democratic leaders to do it, and that is why a high official in the fl very well r regarded in

washington. he lowered his voice on the telephone. he said you don't understand. i said what don't i understand? he says they don't really want to win. they don't want to take power. they want to win their incumbency, keep the flow of money, make sure they are not challenged in primaries by insurgent progressive democrats, but they do not want to do what is necessary to win, because it ruptures their connections with powerful interests. so this is s -- the bottom line here, if the democrats do not know how to respond to trump, and they give him blanket coverage for all of his tweets, all of his madness, all of his craziness, all of his lies, the least they can do for the american people, where they live, work, and raise their families, is due the bread and butter issues of health, safety, economic well-being, retirement security, clean air, clean water , safe medicine.

at least they could have done that, but they do not know how to do it. just look at the debates, and you will see what i mean. there are 250,000 people in this country who die from preventable hospital problems. that is 5000 per week. that is the johns hopkins school of medicine study, and that is not the only one. itit's not even on the radar. it's only 5000 people per week nine from preventable problems in hospitals. a lot of correctable problems that a major national party should lead with -- how about corporate crime? $60 billion of fraud on medicare. $60 billioion per year. $50 billion in wage theft. and here is the big one -- this is documented by professor malcolm sparrow at harvard and affirmed by the government accountability office back in 1992. 10% of all health care expenditures go down the drain due too computerized billing

fraud and abuse. billion, billion! and it's not even on the screen for the democrcratic party. it's half of the military budget, for heaven sake. it's a corporate crime wave. there's no law enforcement. ey are corrupt to the core and do not even raise the corruption issue as a front burner issue. the administration is dismsmantling the federaral copn the corporate pollution, corporate crime, corporate fraud, corporate welfare. no sign by the democrats. amy: before jeremy put the question to you, heather long of the washington post just tweeted "arkansas voters are overwhelmingly approving a minimum wage increase to $11." that's a big hike, and the equivalent of california's $15. dixie 9% of voters in favor of the minimum wage hike with a quarter of votes -- 59% of

voteters in favor of the minimum wage hike with a quarter of votes in. they are saying they can project the democrats will take control of the house of representatives for the first time in eight years, dealing a major setback to president trump's legislative agenda. maybe that is why sean hannity, when he spoke at the trump rally , started off by saying "fake news," and that included the fox news group that was there as well, but also, these latest -- this latest news, the announcement that jared polis has now just won the governorship of colorado. he becomes the first game and -- gay man to win a governorship -- openly gay man to win a governorship. it looks like tammy baldwin will retain her seat, and she is the first openly of the b dq person -- lgbtq person.

she was the first open lesbian to take a house seat and now the first open lesbian or gay man to take a senate -- in the senate. so that is the latest news. ralph: and amy, the point you were making earlier is there is huge liberal support for a higher minimum wage. there's a lot of conservative support for full medicare for all. they don't want their health care claims denied arbitrarily, etc. there's big support for corporate crime enforcement. there's big support for breaking up the big banks that are too big to fail. that comes in at 80% to 90%. the democrats could have woven this into anan unstoppable political force. you spend a lot of time on properly, amy," on discriminatory justice, but there is not enough time spent on indiscriminate injustice against all the people who are

endangered, like climate disruption, all the people. that is what the democrats did not do. they did not have the democratic s 1994n of newt gingrich' contract with america. they did not answer the question of what do the democratic party -- what does the national democratic party stand for? there was a page one story in the new york times recently on hispanics feeling disempowered to such a degree that they were not going to vote. one way to get hispanics or anybody of low income to vote is to go vote for a decent wage, a livable wage, instead of the frozen federal minimum wage of $7.25.ollars and 25 -- that's how youth are democrats up against the wall, trump up against the wall. scahillralph, it jeremy -- it jeremy scahill. -- it is

jeremy scahill. you have the reality that the leadership of the democratic party supported fully donald trump receiving expanded surveillance popowers, record-breaking u.s. military expenditure. trump right is presiding as commander in chief over another golden era for the cia. you have a veteran of torture and the torture program, gina haspel running the cia. you have someone, i could argue, reasonably is a war criminal, as the defense secretary, general james mattis. and you do not hear a peek ever about -- peep ever about u.s. wars from the democrats unless expedient toally same we should maybe reconsider some of this aid to saudi arabia because it looks like yemen is bad. but i also think that there is a trend where y you have former heads s of the cia, dni, fbi, on

time,news all the preparing liberals to embrace these repressive institutions. amy: ralph, before you answer that question, juan is going to theeaeaving us at the top of hour and another person will be cohosting with us at the top of the hour. i wanted to ask if you could comment on jeremy's question at the top of the hour. sylvia garcia and veronica escobar has become the first latinas to represent texas in the u.s. house of representative's. both are democrats. >> yeah, i think the key thing we are t to have to see for the s theof the night is hav right-wing populism of donald trump crested or is it continuing to consolidate its force? that's going to be the key question we will see from all of these races. there is no doubt, as s we have seen frorom all the discussion tonight, that there is an energetic and strong grassroots

movement, both inside and outside the democratic party, that is continuing to win victories at the local level, but it is coming up against the corporatate democratic party as well as the increaeasingly right-wingng of the republican party, a and that's going to be the key question. will this election indicate that? will it continue to consolidate in the direction of greater authoritarianism among the american people? i would like to quote an old got --ho has gone six long since gone out of style. vladimir lenin used to write imperialistanced have sos end up -- they much wealth that they are able to spread some crumbs to the upper levels of their own working classes. so the question is will this trend continue in the future? amy: that's not something you will hear on msnbc.

[laughter] of: he is also the author harvest of empire, the history andatinos in america, everyone should read that book. juan, thanks for cohosting. ralph nader is staying with us. this is "democracy now!" [musical break]

dd amy: this is "democracy now!" and the intercept, special broadcast in these 2000 midterm elections. these historic elections. it's 10:00 p.m. eastern time, the pint at which most election night experts believe the first-swing races will be called. polls are closing in parts of

many states. and breaking news, it's actually fox news projecting democrats will take control of the house of representatives for the first time in eight years, dealing a major setback to president trump's legislative agenda. as of now the democrarats have picked up at least, it looks like a number of congressional seats. chaleta won in florida. scanlon in pennsylvania. jason crow in colorado. democrats are democrats are leading in 33 additional races nationwide in districtcts held by republicans. if they win 19 of those races, democrats will seels control of the house. on the senate side it appears all but possible for the demomoats to takake control aft republican mike braun defeated joe connolly in indiana. nermeen: in tennessee, the democrat phil bredesen has been

defeated. in the race for wisconsin governor, republican scott walker is four percentage points ahead of democrat tony everiers who, if elected, says he will reverse many of walker's policies. meanwhile, michigan's reheeleda talib and minnesota's -- have become the first muslim women elected to congress in new york, 28-year-old democratic socialist cortez has become the youngest woman ever elected to congress in colorado, nbc news is protecting polis will become the nation's first openly gay propnor and in california, our was -- in -- prop four was oked. >> in minnesota, just 4% of precinct reporting but democrat keith ellison appears to be in

the lead over republican doug wadlow in the race for attorney general. republican cramer is 19 percentage points ofof democrat heidi heitkamp. in the race for governor of michigigan, the democrat creche whitmer is four points ahead of the republican b bill schuette with 17% of precincts reporting and ohio voters appear to have rejected measure one, which would be -- would have reduced drug crime penalties in the state. amy: i'm amy goodman now with "democracy now!" co-host nermeen shaikh and the intercept's jeremy scahill and we continue our rolling discussion with a round table of guguests. still with us i in new york is linda, director of the first muslim online organizing platform empower change. co-claire of the women's march.

also with ills in washington, d.c., ralph nader. corporate critic and former presidential candidate. awe thoor of breaking through power. in los angeles, our guest is still with us. her latest book, how voter suppressionism is destroying our democracy. rashad robinson is with us. of color, of change and ryan grimm is still with us, who has been closely following the elections at every level of government. what's your latest news? ryan: this is an interesting one. a couple of weeks ago the group data for progress identified eight house -- state house and state senate races that they said are critical and could flip state legislatures and urged people to give money. people pumped more than half a

million dollars into these local races, which can change the game. i just heard from the one in minnesota. they won their election, which means that there's a good chance that the minnesota house flisms to blue. at the same time, the organizing behind that helped dean philllls beat paulsen. another pickup for democrats. amy: it looks like democrat laura kelly has just defeated kris kobach in the kansas gogovernor's race. ryan: she had the endorsement of every living former kansas governor, democrat and republican and the only reasaso it was close is that there was an independent who drew votes away from the democrat. amy: professor anderson, this is certainly your wheelhouse. can you share your reaction to what has just taken place in ansas? >> oh, this is just sweet!

kris kobach had -- pearce called him jim crow walking. he is the king of voter uppression and he has just demonized immigrants and create this would image of them just stealing kansas's elections and this just feels like vindication. it is just wonderful that the people of kansas want no more of that k kind of hatred, that kin of voter suppression. what he did with crosscheck that spread that cancer across the nation that wiped out millions of eligible voters and overwhelming targeted -- because of the focus in crosscheck on the last name, overly targeted african-americans, targeted asian americans and targeted hispanics and to know that kansas said uh-uh, we are not going to reward that kind of

scurrilous behavior is just sweet. i think you saw me doing my cheer when the news just came in. >> professor anderson, we just had ari berman of "the nation" on earlier and he's just tweeted about this news -- the nation's top voter suppressor has just lost. professor anderson, can you talk about what you think the significance of this is and what it might tell us about what the remaining races will bring? carol: you know, and i think what is so important about this and i think it's one of the things that we've been feeling over the past couple of years is that this really horrific bad behavior does not have consequences that, in fact, they get rewarded for figuring out how to take american citizens' right to vote. and so to have this first wave of consequences, this first big

hit -- because kris kobach is huge. remember that he was the co-chair of president trump's election integrity commission that was designed to go hunts down and ferret out all of the supposed massive ram want voter fraud that was happening in the united states when in fact it wasn't. kobach when he was before a judge, couldn't points to and prove it was what he was saying it was. but to have the voters say we will not reward this kind of bad bebehavior. accountabibility. to be able to build accountability. to see it re-energized in the system. that is just wonderful. and i -- frankly, my hope is that brian kemp will feel that sting too because -- yeah, it's kobach and kemp.

amy: rashad robinson -- 1 >> i also think this should be a bigger high moment in terms of where we need to be investing. i talked about earlier, district attorney races but secretary of state races are oftentimes not completely sexy but they are places where we can actually start thinking about how do we expand democracy? how do we expand the vote, make voting more a-- accessable? there are a number of secretary of state candidates running, jocelyn benson in michigan is one that have staked out really progressive platforms and others have one -- run in the past haven't always gotten the support they needed from the larger movement. away neata turner, for instance, ran in ohio. there should have been more support behind her. it is good that we're defeating the kobaches and hopefully sending a a message to the kemp

but we have to be pushing forward the people we wantnt toe holding these positions and putting forward a platform for the 2 21st century. >> also, you talked about this roast er but it looks like has defeated daniel donovan. republican. that's your diststrict, i b bel. >> that's my district. >> for people who weren't with us earlier, explain who daniel donovan is. >> he was the district attorney at one point who could not indict the nypd officer who choked -- for the hole whole country to watch. he beat democrats to get into congress. he was always rewarded for the nonindictment of thehe officer e day he was beat. he was beat by a young democrat, max rose. in a districts that has changing democrats, it's longtime been known as the mississippi of the

north. black people on the noverplet shore, a large latino community that has come together and dan donovan is out of the job. we were the only district in new york city that gave a republican to congress and now new york city has become a a fully democratic delegation. refused corporate cash. he said he's going to stick by it. amy: in just a minute, we're alexandria ocass yo-cortez who is about to give her victory speech. she'll become the youngest member of congress. and as we wait for this speech, we're live there in queens, ralph, if you could talk about the significance of her victory. ralph: it's very significant, obviously, but rememember, we shouldn't exaggerate the vicicty of one wonderfulul young person

that that the democratic machine is stitill in charge in the national the drat democratic apparatus and they're fighting people like cortez that have won and they've blblocked them from participating fairly in the primaries. amy: i'm going to interrupt because rethat'd sheeta of michigan and elmar have become the first two muslim women in the u.s. congress. so your thoughts on all of these young women? ralph: well, it's wonderful because i think they're going to raise the issue of empire, raise the issue of blowing apart the middle east and boomeranging against our own security, smashing any kind of public budget for public infrastructure back in michigan and spending it on more f-35's and more bombs

and aircraft carriers. these young g women are going t be very outspoken. they are not going to be super cautious finger to the wind. and although they're small in number, i think they can make consideredable waives. i think jeremy scahill should be please is with some of these younger women who are succeeding. we're seeing pentagon procurement, criminality and waste all the way down to voters suppression, which never gets prrmentsed. isn't it interesting? when was the last time some state official was prosecuted, convicted and sent to jail for blococking people's constitutiol rights to vote? that's what we have to focus on, ari berman, the enforcement at the local level and then the criminal justice system. the private prisons that the democrats never spoke about. the horrific conditions in the other prisons not spoken about.

governor cuomo said recently in his speech, 3/4 of all the prisoners in new york city jails are there without charges having been issueued against them. they're waiting in prison. where are the democrats here? that's what we hope, the next generation of young democrats, they're starting to come to washington. they have to form a very tight progressive caucus worthy of the name. not the 75-member house progressive caucus that's a today toady of nancy pelosi, who's going to be the next speaker. amy: the first two muslim women have been elected to congress. the first head scaife-wearing muslim woman has been elected. talib is the first palestinian-american woman to be elected to congress. talk about your feelings. you, too, a palestinian woman

who wear as head scraff. your thoughts today? >> she is ourr great, great parents and palestinian dream manifested. she's a fire brand. she will not back down. she'll speak truth to power. she won in a majority black district. it wasn't palestinians or mulls limb americans who puts her in office. it was black people who puts her in office and i'm prowleds of her race, the sway -- way she ran on the issues important to her district. you know right-wing zionists, we're not happy about it but it shoals that more people of color are becoming more progressive on the issue of palestinian. and ilhan is a somali refugee from a banned country by this administration. she showed us what she and somalis are capable of. she came out here to show this administration, you may want to

ban people from my country but i'm going to congress and i'm going to continue to build a pathway for other somalis and others that they, too, can be decision makers. i'm so proud and honored that this happened in my lifetime. i get to say i was alive when the first somali and palestinian women went to congress. an immigrants, a refugee, black, a woman and progressive. one more important point. the democratic party did not support rashadi either. she was supported by the our revolution, the indivisibles, the justice democrats, all these "swing lefties," fringe to o th democratic party. party, se women cross the including people like ayanna

pressley. it was grass roots objection organization like color of change, like the democratic socialists of america who put people like this in congress so we are going to be the ones s t continue to build that progressive infrastructure as we go into 2020. amy: let's remember what rashida talib did at the cleveland economic club. when donlt trump was there and she interrupted him. she stood holding the constitution and we're going to try to go to the clip of that moment. defiant wdy, aingey, moment of talib just before, i thinks, she decided to run for ongress.

amy: for our radio listeners, what we are watching is rashida talib, whahat is waving her han being taken out by security. she'd go on to run for congress and tonight she was expanding -- chanting "have you ever read the u.s. constitution? you u need to read the u.s. constitution" she said to donald trump. very much bringing us back to the democratic convention when another muslim family stood up anand pulleled out that constitn and said to donald trump the very same thing. >> absolutely.

i'i'll never remember that when they stood up p and nobody wass depmenting that and it t was th defifining moment of what does e constitution mean and who does it apply to, that the presidede of the united states of america should be upholding it. that exploited it a little too much in my opinion but i don't want to go down that path. t rashida is a civil disobedient, an orlingsering and activist. a attorney. she won't ban back down. to see her do that inn front of donald trump and then going to be part of the government in washington is enormous. amy: and your thoughts today on this palestinian-american woman. the first palestinian-american

woman to become a member of congress, not to mention, yes. your thoughts? ralph: we've had a palestinian man in congress. mad, a muslim. he spoke out at the beginning then was s silent. you're not going to get silence from rashida. she was elected with overwhelelming african-american support. amy: ralph, we're interrupting you but we're going to come back to you. the end of cortez's speech. she's just come up on the podium, hugging people as she goes. the youngest person in congress in just a few months. >> thank you all so much. give a round of applause to the incredible activists. rojas, lopez and mrs. joanne

wide held who just introduced us. thank you all so much. i almost comboth cannot believe but it is the honor and privilege of my life to be able to stand here and thank all of our supportsers and organizers and the people of the bronx and queens for electing me as your next congresswoman. [cheers] [cheers] >> thank you. tonight. de history we have made history on multiple levels. we have elected the first campaign and the first member of congress from this district to not accept any corporate lobbyist funds. [cheers] >> in a generation.

in a district that is 70% people of color, half immigrant and overerwhelming working class, w have elected the first person of color to ever represent the this congressional district. [applause] and lastly, it is a privilege and an honor to say that we have also eelectricitied the youngest woman in american history to serve in congress. [cheers] >> this is what is possible when everyday people come together in the collective realization that all our actions, no matter how small or how large are powerful, worthwhile and capable of lasting change.

[cheers] words cannot express my ratitude to every donor, every small donor and dreamer to helped make this happen. that's what this is. a larger movement for social, economic, and racial juststice the united ststates of america. [cheers] when i started this campaign a ear ago. i was working in a restaurant in downtown manhattan. we didn't launch this campaign because i thought i was special or unique or better than anyone else. we launched this campaign because in the absence of anyone giving a clear voice on the moral issues of our time, then

it is up to us to voice that. [cheers] we launched this campaign because no one was clearly and authentically talking about issues like the corrupting role of money in politics. like the disturbing human rights violations being committed by ice, by the fact that no one was giving voice to the idea and notion that an entire generation is graduating with clib crippling student loaoans, a ticking tom time bomb for our economy. no one was talking about these issues and when no one talks about them, we have the duty to tand up for what is right. i think that oftentimes about that incredible day on june 26. en despite no attention,

despite no media fanfare, despite the fact that no one wanted to get -- for us to get the word out on what was going on, we were able to organize everyday people knocking on our neighbor's door and despite 18 oroutspent $4 million, 13 to one. despite the fact we were running against a 10-term incumbent. despite the fact that it was my first time running for office. despite the fact we didn't have the money. anxiety the fact that i'm working class, despite all those things we won. [cheers] and i think -- [chanting]

>> and i think about the excitement that was unleashed on that day, not just in our community. not just a sense of hope. not just the sense and realization that we can organize through change. not that it just got unleashed here but across the nation and to our down-ballot candidates this september. i think about this excitement because what was so interesting to me was that it was not a partisan fight. that led to that. it was not a partisan victory that led to the unleashing of that excitement because i think we all know deep down here and across the country that our deepest challenges are not left and right. they are not red and blue. they are top and bolt. they are right and wrong. [cheers]

and that if we are going to turn this ship around in this country, it is not good enough to throw a rock at our neighbor's yard. we need to clean up our own house. that's what we have to do. there is nothing inherently noble ababout protecting a stat quo that does not serveve the ce of working-class americans. and when w we talk about the restless pursuit of a more perfect union, that in and of commandment baked-in to evolve as a nation. to grow better and lead better. and right now who we are as a nation, we have a crooked path and it is time to make that crooked path straight.

right now, it is not good enough and we cannot tolerate the fact that we are a nation that grows our jails faster than we grow our schools. that we are a nation that builds more empty homes than the people it houses, that we are a nation that fears others more than we welcome them. that we destruct more in conflict than we construct in peace, that we neglect more than we heal. we can do better and we can be better bececause a better worlds possible. [applause] if we continue to believe that we are a threatened, scarce, and limited nation then that is exactly what we will welcome. because right now in the wealthiest nation in the history of the world, our greatest

scarcity is not a lack of resources. our greatest scarcity is not a lack of resources -- sorry, guys. i was like whoa. room turns fast. i'm sorry. and i think this is -- but you know what -- thank you, but what we need to do intel is realize that these short-term losses do not mean that we have lost in the long run. does not in 2018 -- in 2018 we tuturned the state of texas purple. that's what we did this year. [cheers] that's what we did this year and that is what beto o'rourke accomplished this year and that is a great position going into 2020. we are going to flip that state in our generation. i'll tell you that much right

now. [cheers] we -- with texas. it is just a matter of time. we should never be scared. there is never any fight thahats too big for us to pick. we proved that this year. we proved that this year. because when we advocate and stay in the closets of our neighbors and our economic dignity and come with innovative and ambitious -- for our future, is is no community beyond -- we just need to keep at it. because in the wealthiest nations -- but the absence o of political courage and momoral imagination.

it is a hollow goal to simply be a rich country that speaks to concentrate wealth. we must also bee a good nation too. we must be a good nation that seeks to invest in and expand the potential of all human beings that live in our border. we can be that. we can be that country and in order for us to do that, what we need to do is, it is not enough to reject the notions of this administration. it is not enough to reject that with which we disagree with. we must advance our values and create the world that we seek to live i in. that is why we say health care is a right to all people. [applause] that's why we seek and chart our north star to tuition-free

public colleges and universities for all americans. that is why we say in our lifetime we will dismantled -- dismantle a s system of mass incarceration that targets the black and the brown. [applause] and that is why we will say unequivocally that an agency that systematically and repeatededly vioiolates human rs cannotot be reformed. it must be abolished. [cheers] we can be confident that what we are standing up for is what is right. and we will never be ashamed for fighting for what is right. we will never be ashamed for losing in the short term or having a short-term loss in order to have a lifelong gain. we will never be ashamed of that. these struggles that we are taking on are generational.

these struggles that we are talking on are long. these struggles will not be solve is -- solved in two years or four years. it will take our whole lives but this is the fight for our lives his is the fight of our lives. and we need to put everything on the line. we need to make sure that we dealt -- get to o 100% renewabl energy within 10 to 15 years. there is no question about it. and we don't ever, ever want to have to look our grandchildren in the eye and say we did not fulfill our potential as a nation and our obligation to future generations because we were too scared. we cannot do that or because we couldn't figure out how to pay for it on day one. we will get there. when we chart our course, we will figure it out. that's how we got to the moon,

that's how we elekryified this nation. how we created social security and created medicare. we have done these things. they will always have the apple bishes naive. they will always call the apple shes uninformed and cad --- radicacal and marginalized becae we are engaging in a change in the balance of power in this country and there are no f's, and's and but's about it. we are fighting to p put more power in the hands of everyday working americans where it belongs and i am so proud to stand shouldlder to shoulder wi you all in that fight because today is a milestone but it is really a beginning. it is truly a beginning. and in order for us to get there -- and i believe that we can

always get there faster than we think -- we have to keep organizing. we cannot stop. electoral politics is just a tool in a larger tool box. and we accomplished something beautiful and great tonight but we have to keep engaged in our activism and organizing and educating because that is what it is going to take but i believe we'll come out of this a better nation because i know what when i look my grandchildren in the eye, we will say we created free public colleges and we saved this planet in order for them to live. thank you very much, and i still look forward to being your next congressman. thank you. amy: and there you have lexandria cortez speaking in

queens. she just turned 29 years old. she becomes the youngest woman ever to be elected from florida to congress. she beat the fourth most powerful democrat in congress in the democratic primary, joe crowley. we're speaking with ralph nader in this joint "democracy now!," ntercept 2018 election broadcast. going with you until 1:00 in the morning. we have a roundtable of guests around the country. rolf nader, the issues she raised, the challenge to the democratic party, though they are embracing her at this point, can you talk about the significance of alexandria ocasio-cortez's victory? alph: unusually impressive supreme. -- speech. i was quite impressed. she talked about the present.

, the future, short-term, long-term. she talked about mass organizing. she talked about climate disruption. she talked about the need for eradicating poverty, prison reform but there's something always missing among these young people and that is the overriding issue again and again, the corporate supreme cysts who are taking control of our local, state, and national government and turning it into a corporate state. turning our government against its own people and i'm always looking for the most progressive democrats, however young orr middle-aged they are. to talk about empire. jeremy scahill has documentedd t again and again. all empires are destructive abroad and all empires will devour themselves and the u.s. empire is no exception. we're draining hugege resources

and starving our infrastructure. our schools, bridges, public transit. loishes, communities, sewage, drinking water system. that is what happens when empire devours itself and the democratic party is awol on the military industrial complex. hillary's war in libya. hillary never saw a weapons system she didn't like, never saw a war she didn't like until the young progressive democrats turn that would around and make empire and its boomerang affect on american securitity and how civilians in this country will totally wipe out any kind of attention to all the issues you put on "democracy now!." we're not there yet, amy. we're not there. amy: i'm here with jeremy skjei

hill and nermeen shaikh. jeremy? jeremy: i think one of the things we can do on a program like this that you won't see on any of the big corporate net wrong, is have some discussions about what people with justice want to do with their time and not just get involved in the horserace and the fadget we have and you alan, a great independent journalist sitting here. with amy, of course, survived the as kerr in the early 1990's, the most dogged reporter certainly from the united states, arguably the world in holding the indonesian military with all of its support from the united states accountable for the mass killings, the genocide that it carried out over the course of decades but having you, r ralph nader, and alan he, i think it's an interesting

opportunity to talk about what does a just and strategic response to this authoritarian administration look like? ralph, of course, you are constantly blamed for the results of the 2000 presidential election, which is factually inaccurate and we don't need to get into that but what do you do when you have a democratic party, the likes of which you're describing right now, ralph nader, when you also have this authoritarian regime in power right now, backed by very sophisticated, powerful figures within the republican party? ththis is not just trump freelancing policy. people like mike pence know exactly what they're doing. how do you -- simultaneously say e need to dismantle the duopol oy and if we don't, nothing will ever fund mentally change in

this country and then find the space, given the urgency of so many situations in this country faced by muslims, women, immigrants. the list can go on and on. for them this isn't strategy, this is life or depth and both you and alan, i think you have different takes on this but i'd be have interested in hering the two of you hash this out. amy: and as you answer this question, senator ted cruz has just been declared the victor in texas.s. he has beaten beto o'rourke and will rememain as senator of tex. -- it point it clearly is clear t that the r republica will retain a majority in the senate and it looks like the emocrats have taken the house. >> ram, since alan just joined us here, we can start with alan but you never have been soft on the democrats. in fact, i was somewhat shocked

the other day to hear you on "democracy now!" stake out a position but ultimately i came to agree with you when you stated that there are election where to stop a greater evil, you have to mobilize with the forces that are there at that particular time and i believe you said if you're not supporting the democrats right now, you're not anti-fascist. ralph: yeah, and i think what ppened tonight, it's complicated. what seems to be happening at the moment. maybe we've narrowly averted creafer if it's true that the democrats have taken the house. that means that the incipient fascism represented by trump and this republican party has a significant roadblock in its way. that's huge.

that's really what this was all about, putsing that block in, if the democrats do, in fact, take the house. at the same time, though, i think the overall results are very ominous for this country. very ominous. like the looks democrats will take the house so narrowly. they're going to lose ground in the senate and there are many indication that is this democratic party is completely inadequate a as a force that ca stand up to the disciplined revolutionary movement. that is, the rightest revolution that now hold power in the white house, in the senate, in the supreme court, led by trump. look at florida. think about it. how is it possible that on the ne hand, the initiative to end

felon disenfranchisement can win overwhelming, can win in a landslide and yet gillum, who obviously was smarter than his opponents and who everybody noted was about as good as a mill candidate could be is running at best 50-50. maybe he'll lose. maybe nelson, the incumbent senator will lose. that's the same state. those are the same voters. you had what is arguably a very radical, progressive initiative that wins and then tough two leading candidates of the democratic party maybe losing or at best squeaking through as winners. that shows -- that's one of many

indications that this is a party that's not up to the task. and i think what has to be done is several things. one is the democratic party has to be taken over by its base. they have to oust from power the consultant class and the big donors who now control the parties and, you know that battle is already under way. it kind of started in ernest with the sanders candidacy. there were many battles that followed that, including the race for choosing the head of the democratic national committee, control of the california democratic party and in each of those races, the base hit. forces in the party hung on to power narrowly. doable.ay actually be it may actually be possible to take over the democratic party. i think if you put to the voters

a series of questions on substantive issues, like the reenfranchisement question in and you did it across the whole range of issues, including the policy of foreign murder, that bipartisan consensus of washington at the moment. the whole gamut. i think that would essentially collapse the -- clams the platform of the party. they would win on some but overwhelming they would lose, be defeated. because on specific interests of the mick, they don't represent the public. it's true that part of the republicans' motivation for voter suppression, voter

disenfranchisement is emotional, kind of the feeling of puree schism. that's part of it. that's where a lot of the energy comes from but it's also eminently rational because their positions are minority positions. they're not supported by the majority of the public on most questions so they put a lot of energy, and they've been very successful, in rigging the u.s. political process so that -- 're slowly shrinking their slowly shrinking minority can continue to rule. but the flipside of that is so, if when people are questioned issue by issueue by issue, they tend toward the progressive eyed. -- side. why can't the democratic party represent, embody those issue positions and be much more pop already than it is? especially at a moment when the right, the rightest revolution of donald trump and this insip

yenlt fascist movement is threatening to change the whole character of american politics by making it harder and harder and harder to use the letches of democracy? they're essentially trying break those levers, so when you put your hand on one, you try to move it on an issue and it snaps off in your hand. i think that the democratic performance to the was pathetic. as you said, jeremy, i urged people to mobilize for the democrats and thank god maybe they just -- just squeezed over the line and barely got control of the house and that's a huge, historic victory. absolutely massive. it's fundamental but it shouldn't be that close. it should be an overwhelming repudiation of this insip yenltfash itch -- fascism of

frump -- trump and the right and that's knot what we've gotten tonight. it shows we need a new opposition force in this country and i think ralph may disfree on that. the most practical way of the united states to do that is to take over the democratic parties from within but even more important than that is organizing on the ground, on the streets to change the tone of public opinion, toto change the atmosphere. and that will make it a lot easier. ralph: you know, the most powerful -- nermeen: ralph, before you start, we have two key florida races in florida, republican desanlt is is at 49.9% and andrew gillum is at 4 48.9% of e vote with 94% of the vote reporting. in georgia, republican brian

kemp is at 54.7% and stacey abrams is at 44.4%. professor carol anderson, thank you for staying with us. respond to this, to these latest numbers -- carol: one of the things that i'm seeing when i think about georgia, frankly, is the power of voter suppression and i'm listening to this conversation the democratic party and that it should be a landslide but what we're not takining int account is that you get m more votes -- we got more votes i in the 2016 election and trump won. when we're looking at what we're seeing right now is that the number of votes that it takes because of the massive gerrymandering that we have going on it still is part of

that thing where it require as blue tsunami in order to get a blue trickle and we need to have that as part of our analysis. when i'm look at what's happening in fwa, ewere question cannot forgeget that kemp purgr in the last two years, 10.6% of the registered voters in georgia off the list. we cannot forget that he closed 214 polling places, post mo of those in minority and poor neighborhoods. we can't orget that forget that kemp has held in abeyance in this round alone 53,000 registered voters, 73% of whom were afrfrican-americans. as we begin to look down and drill down into those numbers and that's the analysis we did not coming off immediately of 2016 ask what does it mean when

we depress the vote by doing massive voter suppression? that is absolutely a key element in what we need to be thinking through. the ground game that stacey abrams had is phenomenal. there is no question about it. knocking on every door dog gone near, going to 159 counties but we see the politics of fear vs. he politics of hope. and we see -- and when i'm looking at the results coming in throughout the nation on one hand, you get these incredible -- ries of a powerful a stinian woman becoming member of congress at the same time when you get ted cruz winning so you're looking at a nation that is fish you aring,

you're getting the wants of the people getting sidetracked via fear and voter suppression. in florida, desantis is a weak candidate but we also have to think about the politics of fear. the politics of fare -- fear is real in american society. this is why you see the republicans like donald trump doubling down on it, particularly driving white fear. this fear that the demographic change happening in america, as envisioned and embodied in andrew gillum and stacey abrams may be just too jarring and too threatening. kemp was one who talked about riding the campaign and on the caravan, that what stacey

abrams wanted to bring all these illegals, and hate that term. what is to dehumanize people, who bring all these illegals into georgia to vote to steal the election away from these hard-working, which is coded white, georgians. that, we've got to turns power of that and that power frankly for so many -- too many, is more popowerful than whahat looking these individual issues means. they know wait means when you don't have water,r, when you dot have health h care. but it is that power of fear. that's the work that has to be rashad that, you know, talked about the need to have those kinds of conversations happening within the white community. that is some of the groundwork that must happen so that we can begin to see thee kind of ameria that we really deserve.

amy: and your thourget thoughts, professor anderson, the three african-americans running for governor. ben jealous in maryland. it looks like at this point stacey abrams where you were in georgia and again, it hasn't been finally calalled but andre gillum in florida. all most likely being defeated and what happened in georgia and florida, the racist robo calls right through to now, desanlt is talking about -- desantis talking about right after andrew gillum won the primary telling his supporters not to monkey it up. you have the u.s. secretary of agriculture from florida, sonny purdue salk -- talking about cotton-picking, what did he say? in these last few days. you're out of your cotton

icking mind? the overtly racist attacks on these candidates and i'd like to get your thoughts also. >> my thoughts are they are drilling down into old lore that has never gone away. remember, here in georgia we have confederate monuments all over the place. we still hear the language of our heritage, our southern charm, which -- and make america great again. roy moore talked about the last time we had family is when slavery families were together. that is where a lot of the work must be done. amy: andndrew gillum has just

conceded. we're thinking that she just, the mayor of tallahassee, who would have been the first t african-american governor of florida. carol: right, and these were superior candidates, gill up and abrams to their opponent. it tells you there's something going on in the system that isn't about the candidates that has to do with that architecture of fear and racism. >> first of all, this is incredibly sad. andrew and i have been friends since our early 20's. we have worked together and built movements together, did a lot of work on the expenditure side to support his effort. from an operational side. how does this work and play

itself on the ground? i run one -- the only national black civil rights organization that doesn't take corporate money and doesn't take government money so i completely stand with this motion -- notion around how we both challenge corporate power, how we think about corporate power and pivot but also like what but also like what i oftentimes hear from the white left is a conversation about corporate power that avoids race at all costs and avoids the deep conversations about how race is weaponized against black and brown communities, which makes it incredibly hard to mobilize black and brown communities around these efforts, even while he issues make complete sense.

that winning on those issues mean we all win together. i do think these are bigger questions about what we speak to, what we center and the work that white folks on the left are going to have to do in white communities and be really honest about their families and white people. amy: we're going to continues this conversation but we want to thank carol anderson for joining us. nairn, rashad robinson will stay with us. special thanks to julie crosby. we'll be back in a minute. ♪

amy: it is currently 11:00 p.m. eastern time. polls are closing in california, hawaii, washington, parts of idaho, washington, north dakota. in north dakota, kevin cramer has defeated democrat heidi heitkamp. in texas, republican senator ted cruz has defeated beto o'rourke in another hotly contested race

making it nearly certain that republicans will keep control of the senate. democrats have continued to pick up a slew of house seats across the country. hoolihanlvania, chrisy has won. max rodes has won the 11th. delgado has won the nipte district. in texas, allred ousted pete sessions in the 32nd district. in illinois, sean caston as won the sixth district. in illinois, betsy londrigan has won the sixth district. two native american women have also made history tonight by becoming the nation's first native congresswomen. eb haaland in new mexico and

charisedavid in kansas. its first democratic governor in 2009. 70% of precincts reporting. laura kelly is eight points ahead of itsts first democratic. as a republican consult and served on trump's election integrity commission which was shut down after it failed to provide any evidence of voter fraud. in iowa, 7% of prerecincts are recording, democrat sholton is ahead of steve king. king has a long h history of making racist and bigigoted comments. 2 the race for governor of florida, cnn has called the race for republican ron desantis. democrat gillum has c conceded.

republican rick scotott is ahea of bill nelson by less than a percentage point in the race for senate. amy: also a number of key state ballot issues. in massachusetts, voters have upheld against discrimination or transgendered people. increasing the minute ma'am wage to $11 an hour appears poised to pass. in michigan, a proposal to legalize small amounts of marijuana appears to pass. in colorado, limiting a new oil and gas extraction project close to homes and schools has failed. in florida, voters have restored

voting rights to 1.4 million people with felony convictions. amy: we continue our round table of guests. we will g going until 1:00 a.m. eastern time. stilill with us. rashad robinson, director of color of change. linda is head of m power and also one of the women who organized women's march on washington. and around the country. alan is also with us. and ralph nader. multitime candidate for president leading consumer activist in this country. jeremy, you just posed a question the last hour we see a bridge from one hour to the next. to if you can put that to him

again. of course the other person that we were just talking about whose speech we just heard was alexandria ocasio-cortez. she has become the youngest woman ever to enter congress. she just turned 29 years old and just gave her victory speech in oodside, queens. >> the entire democratic machine was backing crowelly. you have people challenging entrenched democratic incumbents and then party would intervene on behalf of the powerful candidate. steny hoyer was caught on tape trying to dissway insurgents from running against democratic

incumbents. allan's accurate point about oligarkcs ng the kicking and screaming into power. nancy pelosi and chuck schumer should be thinking the alexandria ocasio-cortezes in this political scene which looks to be a very slim victory tonight. it should be a lesson for the democratic pararty on which way the winds are blowing in terms of the energy. the question i was asking both allan and ralph. given all the dire threats to people posed in the immediate moment thunder administration with brett kavanaugh and a lifetime appointment on the supreme court and generations of reverberation on the consequences of that. w do you take on the duopaly

when you can make a reasonable case these elections actually are a matter of life and death for some of the most v vulnerab people in this society. ralph nader? >> nfl first of all, you don't sacrifice a competitive elect really a process. you have to have more voices and choices. historically third parties starting with the anti-slavery liberty party in 1840 have pushed the democrats and republicans to adodopt everythi we like about what we inherited from prior generations, labors farmers, environment, social security, medicare, progressive taxation, labor union rights, minority rights, civil rights. they all started with the third party. let's not forget about the rights of candidates to get on the ballot. pressiion.oter sup

a few years ago no one would ever have dreamed that black candidates running for governors of georgia and florida would be near competitive. they will not be running anand theyey just barely missed winni. why? because o of grassroot voter turnout. neighborhood by neighborhood. overcoming the registration obstructions and identification of obstructions. where the people have won. referendums for increased minimum wage in arkansas, a great victory in florida. why? because voter organization. so the most powerful tool to turn this country around, to have the country led by a government that wages peace, that pushes peace treaties, not state terrorism around the world, as allan knows so well.

it is the congress, the congress, the congress. it is the most powerful branch and the most personal branch. we know their names. 535 of them put their shoes on every day like we do. it is all about congress or watchdog groups all over the country. i am so focused on this, i have -- how the rats reform congress which shows how you can organize congress districts all over the country. now $100 million from a billionaire could organize groups in every congressional district that would turn around congress with left right support on the ground for living wage, full medicare for all. the student loan being dealt with. the i didn't mean justice system. there is left right support. there is no organized focus summoning the senators and representatives between

elections to town meetings made up of the people's agenda. i want to emphasize that again. a near billionaire whose name is nick hanover for seaeattle writ for politico. he says to his business colleagues about raising the minimum wage. are you crazy, if you have a livable wage, you have more consumer demands, momore jobs, more profits. what arere you, crazy? he said if the democratic party does not go markedly left they will not go to where the center is. polls show that there is overwhelming support, 50 pkt, to 90% for major domestic redirections. once you pick infrastructure investment that supported down at the local area by the chamber of commerce, labor unions,

workers, young people, against a bloated military budget and the bloated corporate warfare you will get left-right support for a redirection ordered by congress. 535 people. remember that. all the victories tonight because of voteser turnout and still by the way, half of the people are going to be clasassified as staying at home. it is up from 2014 to be sure. that's why some good victories have occurred by half of the people stayed home and we know who those half largely are. poor blacks, poor hispanics, poor whites, disrespected people, disrespected people, underinsured people. excluded people. that's where the democratic party has failed and that's why you have this civic movement. not a democratic party movement

in every congressional district that brings left and right together and mobilizes voter turn yout to improve the lives of people where they live, work and raise their family. it begins dissipating. the abtract ideologies begin dissipating. that's the way people are controlled for over 2,000 years. divide and rule on abstract ideologies. amy: in one of the victories this evening in kansas, democratic charicedavis is said to have unseeded kevin yoda. deb haaland has won a house seat in new mexico. they become the first native american women elected to congress. we go now to madison wisconsin where we're joined by the author, speaker and author and a member of black n nation anand

of the podcast break dancers with wolves. >> t this litter ily has never been done before. it h happened in true native fashion been done twice by native women. just for the folks who d do not know what the native e communit -- this is very, very common that native e women lead thehe charge. anything that happenens amazing wiwithin our communitieses is usually led by native women.. and esssswoman charicedeavaves congreresswoman deb haaland a ao exexception. importantly i want to point out that you know, it is really cool representation absolutely matters. it is an important thihing that native women show t they can do this. of course they have been always able to do this. that was level of suppression from the candididates.

i don't want t to focus on n th identitity polititics. because identitity polititics a are importrtant. representaonon is imporortant. also congresswoman d davis and congresswoman deb haaland bring this indigenous w women act rig notion that they are nonot goin to be able to single hanandedly clean up congress. nobodydy has been le to do that. it is entrenched. they are going to bring a level of p pragmatic brilliance and ao functional assertiveness that will absolutely be able to move meter and the -- line just a bit and hopefulullye able to get something done within conongress. both of f them bring s sensibils as a community orgrganizer and both have service in true indigenous fashion. i want t to give a shoutout to

thunder valley which is where congresswowoman davis cut her teeth. it is on the pine ridge indian rereservatation that does amazi thingsgs like sustaining housin and jobs where jobs are a rare fifind. theyey both have the background providing seservice t to native communitie it is s about damn time. it is amazing.g. it i is absolulutely appropriatd c couldn't t have twowo bettr representatives in congress for ll americans byby the way. amy: author, speaker, lawyer and storyteller responding to the fact that for the first time, two native american women have become members of congress. this was the first time ever. there is also politics that have

entered various movements around the country, put forward for example in colorado, proposition 112 which was a proposition that any kind of oil or gas drilling had to be set back 2,500 feet from vulnerable areas like schools and homes. it was a people's initiative. it had very little funding. it was up against millions of dollars on the part of oil and gas corporations and it has been defeated. your thohoughts on tha > you know, i jusust want to bring attenention to a place th montana where senator jon tester is f facing matt rosen dalale. jon testster, he is somebody wh was in favor of t the keystone pipeline and i actually had to

advocate for him because his notion off e exploratory and extravebt industry is s definity there and thahat is somomething obviviously none ofof us wanante has at leleast been honest abou that. matt rosen dale as a a senatoros forwarded ththe idea ofof all o exploration. he is a real estate developer from maryland and would open up everything. i don't memean to distract. ththe petro politics, i've neve eard that term before. certrtainly atat the forefront lot of thesese races. presidents for president trump are usually drill, drill, drdri baby candidates. in that regard it has been n a clclear choice hopefully that w have b been organizing toto def

some of these people so adamant about extxtrabtive industry bei the dominant regimeme. wewe need to getwaway from that. amy: we should also say that c colorado, ent in amendment 74, which was put forward by the oil and gas industry, has been defeated as far as we can tell right now in colorado. >> and to the degree that we contininue -- - and i also want brbring up thahat in washington state, we e have - -- i'm blank on the n number now but it is t carbon initiatative thahat has put forth by a consortium of community o organizations as we as tribes to make surure that t largest polluters have to pay their fair share and i think

that i is something wortrth cheg on throughout the nightht. i'll give you to exact number of that ballot initiative in a second. amy: while you do that,t, cook political report made this projection. today is the first day in history americans have elected more than 100 women to the u.s. house of representatives. >> that is amazing. that is amazingng. the initiative is by the way is 1631.. for carbon in washingtonn s sta for any fololks s still voting,e the pololls officicially closed. if so vote yes. amy: you were one of the major organizers of the women's match march that took place all over the country, 24 hours after president trump was inaugurated. your response, the first time in u.s. history 100 women have been elected to the u.s. house of representatives?

>> this new wave comess out of the cacatalyst that we created that f first day after donald trump was inauguratated. lilike i said 20,000 women stepd up and said we're gogoing run f office. over 2/3 of the wins in the democratic primaries were women. many of w whom are left progressive women. many women who were not supported by the establishment of the democratic party. i would caution celebrating all women. i celebrate those 100 women but let's look at the demographics who voted those we may in. many of them are women of color, latina,, african-american women. i have to say a huge dispoim. we were looking at texas as an example there. the demographics that dame out. 59% of the white women elect rat

voted for ted cruz. ted cruz is anti- reproduductiv rights and anti- immigrant a an anti- women. -- their liberation is bounds wake up the liberation of women around the country. i want to be clear that there are women going to office but who is electing those women t t office? black people overwhelmingly majorities are going to the polls voting for docrats inn these elections. black men and latinos. i'm disturbed right now by watching the demographic breakdown of those supporting. i want to add one thing. amy: l let me say sylvia garcia and veronica escobar became the first latinas to represent intersection the house. both are democrats.

>> large people of color. remember where people are winning and who voted for those people. i wanted to say something. i hope that what hahappens tonit is a lesson to the democratic party and a lesson for people running for office in the future, especially as we get into 2020. i know these conversations are going to start tomorrow. everyone will be posositioning. there is a fear, a politics of fear. what democrats do when there is a policy of fear. they cower. they stay away from palestinians and the leftists and stay away from us creating the momentum and energy on the ground. for example in a lot of these races socialism became a bad word but there are actually a lot of democrat socialist women who came in congress. alexandria ocasio-cortez is a socialist. let's remember who is getting elected by who and on what

platform. the other thing i want to tell the democrat party.. i vote democrat, not because i'm so excited to be a part of the of the party. they don't have a foreign policy platform that works for us and works for people like me. what's happening is and what happened in so many of these races. voter suppression is slule part of why some folks are going to lose races but also because they dn't have a foreign policy platform. who i love ortez, dearly doesn't have a foreign policy. you cannot win from the center. you cannot win without a foreign policy platform and without talking like uncle ralph said about talking about puerto rico and issues nobody wanted to talk bout in this election.

those folks, the pro israel groups are mad at us. if you're not going to vote all the way progressive. you cannot beat him from the center. you have to beat him with an alternative visionary plan. if you're going to run for office in 2020, you have to look at what people thought was going to be the blue wave. this was a blue dribble. let's be real about what happened. we won but we didn't win overwhelmingly and it doesn't look good if we don't get our act straraight for 2020. i'm imploring people to get away from the consultants. the resistance leaders. we know how to gote the people. -- get to the people. we know what works for people. don't say this one is too radical. that is what is going to happen in 2020. they are going to start margin alliesing us. guesess what happens? four more years of fascism.

i'm a little scared. i'm glad we're going to win the house and have a little bit of control at least t over one hou right now. we're losing seats in the senate which means there could be other supreme court justices that come up over the next years which is goining to be hor risk but i ju think that -- horrific. democrats have to understand do not cower to those who are not going vote for you anyway. there is a lot of framing and reframing of issues. andrew had to talk about the ream defenders which were -- the florida rights coalition, they were leading an amendment. the young black people, the powerful young demographic just won by over a million votes. guess what? he has to be i don't know. i don't always agree. they were attacked viciously by the right wing. by desantis. they did the same thing to me.

they used me as a political lightning rod and did that to many others around the country and put up red. all i'm saying is that the democrat party has a reckonning to have if, they d don't get thr house in order reall quick by r like by tomorrow, we're going to be in a lot trouble. you have to invest in people of color. he rulls are the -- i'm -- results are -- the overwhelming majority voting the right way. why do we continue to talk to -- we have to talk to white voters and white middlele c class and whatnot. the statistics are telling us they are not voting our way. the majority of them are not voting our way. we keep continuing to reframe our issues moving away from the progressive agenda. i'm scared and i hope they listen to us and i hope they throne rishad and all of these other progressives outrunning in

streets because we're going to lose really badly in 2020 if we don't. >> i think what is really important when we think about the -- i think first of all there are some things to look at that are important and victories. first of all, no, we did not ve the overwhelming tide but republicans are the minority in this country. they did not win the popular vote in the last presidential election. and while they like to attack minorities, they also like to be the minority. and govern from that r that place. what has been interesting about this past election cycle is that a lot of the sort of classic republican enablers, many of the corporations had to play it a little bit different. they could not go all in for some of the candidates they used to go in. that was the result of a lot of the work that the resistance

did. the growing opposition did forcing a whole set of enablers to have to make a choice of putting some things that were once clearly on the table, you started to see really no attack ads. there were a lot of cultural victories that the left leaned into that we started to sort of really refrain in terms of what were issues that were really challenging. i do think though that once again it is a person who deeply believes we have to hold corporate media accountable. we have to hold big corporation accountable. we cannot do it through the larger framework that has been delivered to us through the largely white left institutions that have not been able to mobilize large number s of black folks and brown folks around the environment even while fracking is napping our backyards. has not been able to move people

convincingly a around the banks and other issues that have led to black wealth being at its lowest rate in decades. in almost 100 years. all of these big tent issues that could be big tent issues that when they are addressed through a framework that leaves out race, black people particularly are going to be deeply skeptical about where you stand. who you you are actually feething for, what you're actually delivering on and you're not actually going to build the type of coalition necessary to win. as a person who worked to reach a lot of black people. get a lot of data back around what issues resonate. how much does it take to actually move people on an agenda. also how racists -- over the last several years. from the town hall meetings that rose up after the election that were largely all white through the white organizations that

really had huge growth in their list, my organization did not have huge organization in its list after the election. black people were not surprised by donald trump winning. they were not like oh, my god. now we need some sort of resistance. in with ple joined other white people and had town hall meetings and every once in a while they would throw in an issue around criminal justice or some other issue in with other largely kept those issues around this is not my country. this is not my america. donald trump but hates these th without leaning into the things that have been uniquely american for a long time. getting out of this disaster that we are in, if we are not willing to sort of change the set of issues that reprioritize, we are not going to have the necessary coalition and a diversified america to win.

because the results that are coming in now, we actually did not win back in places like texas, white women at the level that we thought we needed to in rder to win. >> i said in 2015 when trump was running that he was showing this the e ability to unleash beast in white america. he was able to reach into people who had voted obama. because they thought obama would addressing the economic collapse than mccain. and get them to support him in part becauause he, trump, was a racist.

he, trump was speaking for them as a white leader. one of the things that was remarkable about this congressional campan was that trump used only half of the strategy that he used to win in 2016. in 2016 he basically ran on two things. he was anti- -- he said -- he claimed to be the anti- elite candidate and he ran as a racist. this time he dropped the anti- elite. he forgot about that part. he just ran as the straight racist. we see from these results that he was pretty successful. and e into florida arguably they have turned the with, the republicans especially with pathetically a weak candidate in desantis. -- the depth of

that power of that racist appeal. >> president trump just tweeted moments ago tremendous success tonight. hank you to all. >> he had some success. and that is an indication, one of many indications of how dangerous this situation is now. it is absolutely crucial fundamental that the democrats took the house. that changes the course of american history. if the republicans had retained control of the house, we would be on a fast track to some form of fascism. this seriously slows that down. the fact that it was such a narrow vicory. the fact that trump's purely racist appeal in this campaign,

purely, was so effective with so many white voters, is a very minous sign for the country. and i think one thing that is ecessary is to stop the idea that there is a conflict, that there is any basic conflict between different forms of justice, social justice, racial justice, economic justice. they were all consistent. and we have to bring them all together. and if you can do that, if you an back movement, a racial justice, or social justice, the

poor, the working class, the middle class, you can win. but if you look at where the democrats were looking in this election. all of the commentary about the upper middle class. the suburbs. the educated voters, they were saying we're going to win it with the college educated women in the suburbs. they were talking about becoming more than they already are, the party of the upper middle class further ng away even from the working class. -- the white d up working deloose the republican wholesale. it is not there yet but that is the direction they are moving in.

to e republicans continue activate racism on the white population, in a way that gets people to override their other concerns, economic, everything lse. you could have a situation where is apparently a minority in this the country. continue for a very long time. don't look to -- the upper middle class. or to the rich for any kind of salvation. e of the lessons, fascism is ine with big business.

the markets in brazil were -- and broob were reporting that they were euphoric. based on this instance and their salvation. even though many -- though elites in the republican party were uncomfortable with trump at first. it is a powerful

statement to news organizations that you have to be not just

where the people are that you're reporting on but it is very important that people that come from those communities, we bring in chavez now from washington, d.c. i hope that i'm correct that you're our youngest reporter but -- ok, good. welcome to the show. aida, the significance of alexandria ocasio-cortez's victory tonight it seems like just not too long ago you were having coffee with her in her neighborhood. >> yeah, i mean, i don't know where to start. i guess everything about her victory is so important, especially in this time. i actually thought one of the most striking things about her hen i met her was her age. i think we need younger representation in n congress. it actually makes a huge difference in the kind of legislation we're getting and the kind of topics that are being talked about. as we saw during the facebook

hearings having older people in congress does not make for the best policy. and so i think her age is important. s there fact that she is a latina. like her district was being represented by a 56-year-old white man and the district is actually like i believe it is 50% immigrant and so -- 70% people of color. it is really important to have reputation. -- representation. amy: can you talk first of all your respoponse to her v victor again, she will be the youngst woman in congress. but also how you came to write this report on her, aida, when you met her and where you followed her and when you understood that this person who was taking on the fourth most powerfrful member of congress, e crowelly actually had a chance. >> right. so it all started when my editor ryan graham told me to check out

this really cool candidate in the bronx. i went straight there and we met in a diner in the bronx and we had a really long conversation about policy. we talked about abolish ice and puerto rico and i was really impressed with her t tal and he charisma and her knowledge about policies. i would consider her a -- and then we took a walk around the district and she was just explaining to me like it sounds like a long shot but the keyey winnnning the districict is thet that joe crowelly was so far detached from the material needs of the people and that she is one of them and she was and we saw that in the way that she won. she had a network off grassroot volunteers. people on the grounds. she posted pictures of her shoes worn out from all of the doors that she had knocked. it really felt like she was the istrict.

amy: i would like to come back to a point that you raised jeremy and linda. these progressive candidates not having foreign policy platform, whether that is because they disagree with what the establishment democratic party represents or because they have not -- it is quite possible on palestine that alexandria ocasio-cortez simply didn't know or feel that she was competent o comment at the time. allan, w what do you think lies behind that? is it possible those who have broke within the democratic rty orthodoxy on domestic issues, maintains an alliance, a bipartisan alliance allied on questions of foreign policy for much of american history following the second world war, is there in fact an agreement or is there a sense that maybe

multiple people in the u.s. who or ort candidates like omar ocasio-cortez or the others woululdn't support them if they broke on this issue? >> i want to hear what allan has to say. this is what i have to say why they don't want to put themselves out on foreign policy. that is actually the downfall to have democratic party. you'll have a group of people who'll agree about accepting refugees and they want to support them and they will agree on issues of immigration and comprehensive immigration reform and criminal justice and all of ththese domestic issues but the place where the democratic party has a downfall is the same people who'll support refugees and support for example the state of israel or are agagains the iran deal. we have a problem in the democratic party. we are progressive on domestic issues and then center or to the

right on foreign policy issues. people who will support sanctions on countries and then for example on progressive issues domesticically. that's where a lot of the -- where they seem more marginalized. speaking anti- war and up and talking about the muslim ban. the bipartisanship around foreign policy is the problem that we have and that is why for me when it comes to to foreign policy, democrats and republicicans are the same to m they blur together. that's where i'm going to struruggle in 2020 and my community is going to struggle. you look at issues around syria. there is a divide. there is a divide between the democratic party establishment and whenette comes to palestine-israel.

we have to get that straightened out now. that is going cause us to lose in 202020. i'm leaving now. i want to share some good news. today not only did we win back a house seat we needed to have, maxwell defeated donovan. the only district that had a republican representative and we took out our state senator marty golden, a very powerful man in the new york state legislature who was beat by a young 30-year-old progressive candidate in our community. on the local-local level where we are seeing more progress, but it wasn't enough for the national level, i do have some hope, but i think these kind of issues have to get straight because sometimes people think they can win without talking about these important issues and it is not going work in 2020 and it is not going to take out the fascists in 2020. i'm going to be pushing democrats and dedemocrat

candidates. we already know who some of them are. some of them lost before they ran. like cory booker. if i was him i would not waste american taxpayer dollars, he is just not going to make it. and there are others. i'm not going to take them all out now but cory booker was something i felt compelled to say. i'm honored to be with you today. congratulations we did some harm reduction tonight by winning ack the house. a young greek american activist, organize irand lawyer who beat marty golden who employed the person who - -- ian, who is responsible for the proroud voi speaking up inin new york. that is his staffer who invited gavin mcginnis to come to that event where ththat you have the violence happened there. that is great karma.

poetic justice. >> donovan was the d.a. who let the police off the hook. i can't breathe. >> some poetetic justice. i'm very proud of the vote. marty said thehe arabs don't vote. that's what he said. the the vote has increased. we saw it when a palestinian ran for city council and only l los by 800 votes. that g got the communityty fire. he took out marty golden who has been in the senate for at least the past 17 years so i'm very happy abouout that and i wantedo share some good news. >> a factual point that is significant when the other day trump was firing up his people by talking about the caravan, he

said if they throw rocks, we're going to tell the army to treat them as -- open fire. where did he get that? that is from the israelis. that's the israeli practice. for decades. they would open fire on people throwing rocks and now today every friday, in gaza, as people come out to protest. sometimes they don't even have to have a rock. just standing there with a pressed vest on or standing there as a nurse. >> particularly if you have a camera. >> yeah. and the israeli sninipers pick them off. >> alslso the c caravan conversn he literally said d the reasaso have to stop the caravan is protect our borders is there are some middle easterners hiding around -- i don't know how he knows that and he said that. it was almost a.k.a. muslim.

knowing that the american people may not be too afraid of men, women and children who are central american, but they will be afraid of muslims coming over the border. when asked to respond around the middle easterners coming in the caravan he actually said this, well, in a group this size there are bound to be a couple of middle easterners. it is ridiculous rhetoric. that's why i'm going to be hard on democratic candidatetes. in the last election, this president won his he e election instill fear in the american people and we cannot have democrats running about muslims being the eyes and ears against terrorism and using us as a national security talking point. >> another point and this is a end that i find incredibly disturbing. bringing this up bringing this

goes nowhere. the liberal embrace of the c.i.a., the n.s.a., the f.b.i., intelligence community is a really dangerous trend and you know, the cable air waves are filled with all of these former etc. of d.n.i., c.i.a., amy: i'm just going to interrupt for one second. claire mccass kill has lost her race in missouri. > c can i say one thing abou claire mccass kill? i was in a senate meeting one time and we were talkiking abou immigration reform. she said look, you don't understand. i come from a very conservative district. i can't be about your issues. when you don't create an alternative. when you don't become a true progressive and hold your team label as a democrat, one day you're going the lose your seat. here we are right here. this is what democrats think is

going to happen. thept to run from the center and then they create no alternative. they end up losing. >> she famously recently talked about the crazy democrats? >> who go to restaurants and protest the politicians. >> that was claire. there she goes. potesic justice. are we on number seven now? >> just the moments we have here. to finish the point i was making. you have john brennan who is very, very close to some of the most powerful people in saudi arabia. the c.i.a., ran the c.i.a.'s operations in saudi arabia. then he -- obama tried to make him a c.i.a. dirirector in his first term. there was actually something resembling a spine among democrats and his appointment was blocked and so obama had to create a nonsenate confirmed

position for john brennan and he ultimately succeeded in becoming c.i.a. director. why do i bring him up? this is the guy who really detached the leash that certain elements within the c.i.a. were on and gave it the stamp of legit massy becausese it was obama, the nobel peace prize winner who was president and hey unleashed this warfare and special operations forces. john brennan is now part of #resistance. you'll see similar the sames. james comey. james clapper. with trump imapplying that u.s. military forces could open fire on people that threw rocks.

you have all of these people, oh, no, no. no military commander is going to give that order. soldiers, professional army. they are not going to follow that order. have any of these people been paying attention to the bombing of busingst full of children to the bombing of weddings,. i'm not talking about -- this is under obama. people have lost their minds because of trump-russia. because of how bad everything is about this administration to the point and i think this is going to be one of the enduring damages aspects of this moment with the failure of liberals, of the democrats, of many people to the left of center, who understand none of these institutions are friends of justice. none of these institutions are friends of the truth. it is sort of the emergining bi crystal wing of the democrat

party. these neocons have now become part of this elite consensus where trump is the uncncouth outliar and not a reflection of a bipartisan political system that has been controlled by corporations for a very, very long time. i think it is a very dangerous trend that we're seeing play out to the cheers of cablele news hosts and reporters for the most important newspapers in the country. amy: which brings us to lee fong. lee, if you could just start, we'll move into the next hour as well. on your response to the latest news that democrats have taken the house, republicans have gained one more seat in the senate and they have kept the sesenate.

>> well, you know, one of the first impressions i i had is th social security and medicare is have been saved tonight. if republicans had control of the house and continued control of the senate that would have been first on the chopping block. you know, republicans have long eyed both programs wanting to privatize socicial security, wanting to further privatize medicare and reduce benefits and they were likely to take those steps if they had retained control of congress. something they didn't want to do before this midterm but wanted to focus instead on tax cuts. that was on the agenda so it has been saved so seniors and folks moving into retirement can rest easy. that is the biggest policy outcome from democrats taking the house. i kind of want to avoid any sweeping observations, you know, there were a lot of moderate and conservative democrats running in wealthy suburbs that did very well.

there were also very bold progressives running in swing districts. also running in trump districts. those are congressional districts that trump won in 2016 held by republicans, kind of ritten off by the democrats in d.c., and they basically said they would not invest any resources into those types of races. we have seen a number of democrats performing well, coming up short in some of these races in west virginia. one of the most trump supporting in the entire country. white, working class, coal country, west virginia. trump won by 15 points over hillary clinton. the progressive democrat lost tonight but brought that margin way down losing by 10% or 12%. that is a big contrast to the 50 points that hillary lost by and in some of these d districts whe

trumump won and republicans hav held these seats for a couple of years now. amy: we have 10 seconds in this hour. >> in rural maine, golden looks like he is going to win. he is a bold progressive. this is a rural white working class district. the progressive message seemed to work there. amy: we're going to continue this discussion the next hour and summarize everything that has happened with democrats taking the house and the senate remaining republican. stay with us.

amy: mrs. a joint -- this is a andt "democracy now!" intercept brbroadcast. it is midnight on wednesday, november 7. polls have closed almost all over the country. democrats have seized control of the house of representatives. the new york times reports democrats have gained more than

20 seats. they need to win 23, but many news organizations have called this at this moment, meanwhile republicans have regained control, continued their control of the senate with a at least threree seats. north dakota and indiana, where heidi heitkamp and joe donnelly suffered losses to republicann challengers. cnn projojects josh holly has defeated claire mccaskill. among ththe key races in west virginia, carol miller, a champion of president trump agenda, has defeated democrat .ichard ojeda in the same state, voters supported a measure that will amend the state's constitution to strip women of abortion rights in the state. in florida, andrew gillum conceded the race to republican in a ally ron desantis

closely watched governor's race. in texas, ted cruz has dedefeatd democratic challenger beto o'rourkeke. he will be back in the senate next term. in california, incumbent democratic senator dianne feinstein is leading by just five percentage points over kevin daly on -- deleon, also a democrat running on a progressive platform with around 10% of precincts reporting. i am amy goodman, here with jeremy scahill and "democracy now!" -- mcnallyublican mother leads by less than 1% over the democrat with 12% of precincts reporting. with 64% of precincts reporting, jeff holly is in the lead. 10 points ahead of democrat claire mccaskill.

in wisconsin, where 80 depend -- with 80% of precincts reporting, the democrat is in the lead ahead of scott walker in the race for governor. amy: -- >> a >> look at some of the key ballot measures across the country. in oregon, voters are poised to strike down an effort to repeal oregon's sanctuary state law. they were protecting key rights for transgender people. reducing prison time for drug offenses inn ohio. abortion rights were on the ballot in a handful of states. alabama appears poised to pass a sweeping constitutional amendmentt that could strip away abortion rights. in oregon, voters have rejected a ballot measure that would have barred the use of public funds for abortion, except when an abortion is medically necessary. marijuana legalization measures were on the ballot in a handful of states. in missouri, voters approved an amendment to legalize medical marijuana. michigan voters approved a

ballot measure to -- voters rejected recreational marijuana. amy: we are joined by now by a number of guests. is still with us, investigigative journalist and activist. and we are also joined now by norman solomon. norman solomon, who is a whytical activist and -- don't you talk about the organizations you are with? executive director of the institute for public accuracy. we will get that description in a moment. leaf on -- lee fang with the intercept. democrats taking the house and republicans increasing their margin of control in the senate races that they

have won tonight. >> like so many groups around the country, the group i coordinate has been working for the past many years to try to turn around the kind of politics we have in this country, and i am really struck up a kind of watershed that i think we have hit in the last couple of years where there has been a tremendous upsurge of activism at the grassroots. and that this separation betwewn social movements and electoral work has been i think narrowed considerably, that so many people understand more than ever that it is no longer sufficient to get into this either/or thing. either you fight the right through electoral processes or you do it in terms of grassroots organizing and protest and public education. it is a false division. if we get away from some of f te maybybe, sosometimes, o overly t file temptation -- facile

temptation to polemics and dialectics, we see the trees. for instance, there is one more party with the democratic and republican wing. we have tremendous corporate power exerting antidemocratic influence and leverage through the democratic party, and it's even worse in the republican party, and it is all unacceptable. at the same time, when we look at what has happened in the last couple years, the dominance of the republican party over the white house, over congress, and increasingly over the judicial branch, we have that responsibility to grab the tools available to fight what i think ellen was calling earlier incipient fascism, grabbing more and more levers of power and government in this country, so i -- of course, we are disappointed with a a lot of the results tonight. what happened with the governor's races in florida, in georgia, the senate race in

texas, that they were close is a testament to the power of grassroots organizing from social movements. and one of the misconceptions i amongcertainly politicians and sometimes we buy into it too much is that somehow, social movements should be subsets of electoral campaigns. that's totally backwards. campaigns should be subsets of the social movements that have always made the changes that we can be proud of in this country and always will, so what we talk about in terms of the ongoing perpetual war now in 18 years, that leadership to move against what martin luther that'slled militarism, never going to come from capitol hill. it's never going to come from the white house. it is always going to come from social movements, and while there were many issues that the polls tell us have overwhelming

support, not just from democrats, but the whole population, for in an higher taxes on the wealthy, medicare for all, $15 per hour wage, expanding free tuition for colleges, environmental protection, progressive criminal justice reform, all the polling and 75%tween 50% across-the-board support for this population, and they are sort of mild and better than mild advocacy for those positions coming from democrats, and at best, o'rourke in texas, gillam in florida, abrams in georgia, in these statewide races, because of social movements and grassroots organizing, they were able to come very close, and they certainly articulated and embodied those positions, but when you get to the top of the democratic party, there is nobody home. there are not interested in propagating that. they are too busy to reading favor with wall street -- currying favor with wall street

and the military-industrial complex. it's quite likely anti-pelosi will be the speaker of the house next time. chuck schumer, the minority leader again coming up, it looks like. earlier this year, when president trump proposed an 11% increase in military spending, not defense spending. we sometimes call it wrong. it's not defense spending. its military spending. 11% increase in an already bloated and murderous military budget, both pelosi and schumer quickly put out news releases saying we stand shoulder to shoulder with this increase in military spending by president trump. while there are many issues that have been made possible, to percolate upwards to even some of the democratic party leadership, i would say, first, from the occupy movement, and then through the bernie sanders and many others involved, when theomes to challenging

warfare state, we are not there. a lot of these economic issues, becaususe of grassroots movovem, we have been able to move t the dialogue in the electoral arena. >> let us get lee fang to cover that. you c covered the intersectctiof money in politics for the intercept, and this midterm, i mean, it is an historic amount, $5.2 billion in the house and senate races. could you comment on that? the first two years of the trump administration, the president has an activity sensually a big business agenda. he has appointed pro-business judges at the fastest rate of any modern president. he slashed regulations on businesses to a degree we have never seen in modern history, and he delivered one of the largest corporate tax cuts in american history. these are the policies corporate america wants, whether you're in the defense industry, energy, keep theseou, and to

policies moving forward, we have seen an increasing degree where corporations and wealthy individuals, ceo's, and investors, have been pouring money into super packs and other to keepy funds republicans in office and to keep two more years of similar policies going forward. at the same time, democrats have really latched on to anti-trump fervor in this country. trump is an outlier in many ways in terms of his tone, in terms of the kind of outward white identity politics, the kind of hate he uses through his tweets and his campaign rallies, and that has energized small donors to a degree we have not seen since the 2008 obama election, so we have both of those happening simultaneously, where congressional candidates, democratic congressional candidates are mobilizing historic amount of small dollar donations. sometimes maxing out $272700

donations, but much smaller than the seven-figure checks being cut by wealthy individuals, mostly on the right. just look at some of the companies that benefited the most from trump policies. chehevron, they havave benefited tremendously from trump policies. pulling out of the paris climate agreement, receiving a huge tax cut that they funneled back to their investors, through share buybacks. the beneficiary of epa will backs of regulation, this is a company that funneled $6 million to pro-trump efforts and pro-republican congressional super packs and other funds, and these groups, you know, they do not spend their money talking about the actual policies that their donators are interested in. if you look at super packs, groups like the congressional leadership fund, which is affiliated with paul ryan or

some of these other organizations, american action that moneyhave spent on tv ads, radio ads, facebook ads, that are talking about calling, about respecting the flag, about, you know, posting incredibly racist ads that show ms-13, but dark in the image of ken theof color -- dar image of candidates of color with scary music and issues of immigration and refugees. that is coming from companies that offensively are very pro-diversity. chevron in other companies that are funding these groups love to tout their interest in diversity, in their multiracial board of directors, saying that they are interested in having kind of racial harmony, but at the same time, they are interested in investing in politics to getet more pro-business judges, more favorable regulatory decisions,

and more tax cuts, so they are willing to fund this type of incredible racism and bigotry that's been unleashed in this country to further divide folks, to get republican voters far up, and a great degree of independent voters polarized against democrats, and so that is -- those are two of the dynamics fueling the selection. amy:y:orman solomon. this latest news, gavin newsom has been elected california's next governor, handily defeating cox, john theks, the republic -- cox, republican challenger, a multimillionaire businessman and political newcomer. you know a lot more about this, coming frorom california, but ao a raceterestingly is that is much more, much closer than anyone assumed, and that

was the race between dianne feinstein and kevin daly on -- de leon. for people in other states, explain how it works when two democrats are running against each other for senate. is 30% reporting right now in california, and feinstein has a 46% lead, but we're talking about 200,000 votes in california, , which you know, 's not that big of a lead for the most powerful entrenched politicians in the senate. amy: 5% difference. >> absolutely, although i would draw a comparison, although very different terrain, with ocasio-cortez doing what everybody said could not be done. we are going to organize like crazy and say the humpty dumpty's on the wall can be taken down were running the democratic party. of us in california, we live under this idolatry from

the mass media of dianne feinstein. she has been part of the cheerleading for mass surveillance, for militarism, for corporate power, for the big water interest in the state, and it is because people organize inside the democratic party that she not only was denied the endorsement of the party for her reelection bid, but actually, kevin de leon was endorsed instead by our statewide party meeting. amy: the democratic party of california. >> they are mailing out stuff to say defeat dianne feinstein, which was a major factor here. there is something related, which is i think l lee cowrote a great piece for the intercept about a major battle that's been going on for months in the east bay san francisco area, legislative open seat contest between a genuine progressive taste in richmond, wonderful grassroots multiparty alliance,

running in elections and winning, controlling, chevron-fighting, antiracism, anti-landlord, progressive alliance, now 5-2 majority come in now running for the state assembly seat, and the interest that -- intercept piece beautifully documented how it is a classic battle between who havebama people been funneling millions of dollars into this astroturf andidate named buffy wicks, it's too earlrly to know the result, but it's a classic battle between money and power, and i would compare it to the fight that went on 30 years ago in chicago, because you have walter mondale and edward kennedy endorsing two different opponents of a grassroots haroldte named washshington, and harold washington won, and just as then, it is this classic battle. asterisk can win when they --

organize some grassroots -- grassroots can win when they organize and fight the power. >> used to -- you are so invested in the daily grind, but you have been an absolute machine, not just in this election cycle, but for years, and you often are digging through documents. a lot of what you do, it reminds me of what another person used to do, where he would make it plain to people using official government documents, but i have never heard you ask this question, and that is, in all of this muckraking that y you are doing, what is your bigger picture analysis of what all of this means, not just this elelection result, but what is happening in this country on the issues that you're covering? lee: jeremy, i appreciate the kind words. norman, thank you for citing my piece.

i dot to hold back, and have a lot of thoughts about the kind of direction of the party and politics more broadly going out of this election, but i want to kind of that just more of the results, because as i mentioned earlier in the last hour, you know, a lot of folks are going to make broad statements, and it is difficult to say. there is a lot of different types of candidates and different types of messages that were used for successful and weuccessful campaigns, but are seeing, i think, more and more polarization in this country, and i think it is very fraught. in some ways, democrats can ride this polarization because you're seeing a more activist left-wing base that can rejuvenate the party. in jackson, broad universal reforms that solve the big problems in society, whether it is climate change or poverty, student or medical debt. there is a lot of promise in this kind of rejuvenated populist base, but it's fraught

type ofger because this polarization is creating more extremes on the right as well. it is having on both sides, not only being fueled by dark money and these kind of attack ads that we see at every election cycle, but there are more fundamental shifts happening in society. people are getting addicted to social media platforms him at twitter and facebook. they are very much designed to distract and focus people's attention, and one of the ways that they do this, we are seeing this not just in the u.s., but throughout southeast asia, africa, latin america, where social media compapanies gain folksion by encouraging to stick with their tribe and attack the other tribe, and that can lead to very serious consequences in politics as both sides had of radicalized. you know, for the beto o'rourke

campaign, one of the fascinating kind of things i learned this week was that, you know, beto raised ungodly amount of money -- amounts of money through a viral social media post of someone at a town hall asking him about standing or kneeling for the national anthem. what was his feeling on that? and he gave a eloquent and long-winded response that we need to respect civil liberties and the right to protest, and you know, he understands the theicism but he agrees with protest of the flag or the anthem. and what was interesting was that even though that raised tons of money for beto, that question was actually planted by an operative working for ted cruz because ted cruz understood that these kind of social questions, these questions about where you stand on patriotism or respect for the flag, that is an

issue that although it might generate lots of campaign donations from california and new york to beto, it is the kind of core cultural question that drives polarization on the republican right, and just as we have seen increased turnout in urban areas and in suburbs for democrats, we are seeing incredibly high turnout for republicans in rural areas as republicans really understand how to jen up -- gin up their bases and get them out to vote. we have seen a fairly high turnout on both sides. cracks but also republicans understanding how to speak to their base. >> n norman, i wanted to -- go ahead. >> i was just speaking about how gruesome it is to watch fox news and yet how important it is, because it's very easy for us progressives to concentrate on sources of information and discourse that we feel fairly comfortable with and that are rational and based on n fact, bt anden a cursory look now

again at fox is a real jolt. the extent to which we are in danger in this country, for the basic possibilities of democracy in this country, that we are up against the wall -- amy: we are going to interrupt. it looks like we can go to queens in new york city, where alexandria ocasio-cortez has just given her speech, her victory speech, becoming the youngest congresswoman ever. she bucked the system. she beat the fourth most powerful democrat in congrgress, joe crowley. .hthis victory today was expectd it was a coalition of many different grassroots groups. she was a major bernie sanders supporter and organized -- and now has just given her speech.

we have said this a number of times tonight, but it is important to remember that she took down one of the most powerful democrats, and actually, he remained on the through the polls being open today, and he did have people in his camp, attempting to run an insurgent campaign against her. it was not going to succeed. it shows you alexandria ocasio-cortez does not represent a powerful district in this country with huge profits flowing in to the coffers of politicians, but she took down one of the most powerful, entrenched politicians in the country, and it is a real symbolic but real victory. amy: it looks like she is standing there, just aftfter giving her speech. alexandria ocasio-cortez, are you there?

it looks like we are going to -- >> i am here with alexandria ocasio-cortez. victory party! amy: it looks like we are going to be -- >> set all kinds of records, and the youngest woman to win a congressional seat. she has unseated a 10 time incumbent. i want to know, first and foremost, how are you feeling? i feel so grateful and humbled and indebted to the movements t that really bring ts campaign together. i am so thankful and grateful and excited for the work ahead. >> i know a lot of people are really curious about what you want to do first. house back,have the people are excited about what opportunities there are with respect to the source of power. he talked about the progressive theou talked about

progressive caucus. what do you think your first move will be? alexandria: in terms of how those steps play out, we will feel that out day by day. what needs to be a priority is we have to make sure we are getting progressive legislation up at top of our agenda. medicare for all, a living wage, ensuring we are dealing with those basic issues. >> ok, the outcome here today -- your own personal victory. does it make you go any sort of way about what is possible in parts of our country that have been written off, described as trump country or red country? do you think there is a limit to what the progressive message can accomplish? alexandria: no, i think that when we truly listen to the communities that we are running in that we are really connecting the everyday people on the ground. it requires progressives to animate a disaffected electorate that does not historically,. what i hopefully learned moving

forward is to not be afraid with -- of our values, to not be afraid of differentiating ourselves from the republican party, and really committing and doubling down to our vision. >> i know that we also have the studio with us. i heard there might be some questions directly to ocasio-cortez. >> yes. alexandria, can you hear us? alexandria: yes, justst a little bit. amy: it is amy goodman along with nermeen shaikh and jeremy good health. how does it feel to be the youngest woman ever elected to congress? alexandria: it is a total and complete honor, and i am just so thankful to the people and families that entrusted me with this enormous responsibilityty d for having the audacity to make history not just in electing someone of my age but electing

someone of our platform, and i am so thankful for that. amy: and what do you plan to do? what are your first actions in congress when you take your seat? know, i am you really looking forward to seeing and analyzing more of the result tonight to see what kind of thing we can put together, but i think that just as we ran and just as we said, we need to focus on putting progressive legislation priorities at the top of the agenda. what that means is medicare for over 100 we have cosponsorship in the last twoo yearars. we have time to make a statement and really declare this as part of our agenda. amy: can you talk about what your sense is on nanan pelosi as hohouse speaker? what you feel needs to happen right now, you coming out of the bernie sanders faction of the were anic party, you

organizer for bernie sanders. who do you thihink needs to lead the house? and would you consider the possibility of being the speaker of your -- speaker yourself? alexandria: i mean, i don't want to bite off more than i can chew. [laughter] alexandria: i just want my seat. we needo think is that to see what our options are. you know, my fear is i just would not want to see candidates running -- and not being their only option. ishink that no matter who it , we need to make sure that we are electing party leadership -- to push medicare for all, tuition free college, and more at the top of the agenda, things like a living wawage. that's what i'm going to be looking for in terms of where we speaker,elect our next

and i know that i certainly do not want to support anyone who does not have those missions in mind. amy: president trump called tonight a success. what is your message for him? he is bound tol, call anything a success and just kind of speak it into his systems, but the fact of f the matter is, we won. house, we secured a full chamber in our government back, which i is a vy powerful check on the authoritarian creep this administratition has been pursuing, and we need to be powerful about it. we need to take this opportunity. this is not the time to negotiate with an administration that systematically and repeatededly violates human rights. we need to have a strong response and really command the power we secured tonight. amy: and your thoughts on the senate actually increasing its republican majority? alexandria: you know, it's very

that thatin many ways is the direction things went. we also saw that this cycle, there were more democratic senators up for reelection, and it's really going to be 2020 that we are going to have a slew of republican challengers -- rather, republicans up for reelection that could potentially be unseated. what i hope we do, as a party and as a progressive movement, is we really need to start building the movements around those challenges now. frankly, we need to start laying the groundwork because in terms of the senate, because of the reelection and who was up for reelection in terms of serving more democrats, it was going to be tough, but they had that majority before. they were putting through atrocious legislation before they confirmed kavanaugh. so frankly, it's more of the same when it comes to the senate, but we need to s start laying the groundwork to take

echo chamber back in 2020. amy: and your thoughts on president trump latest anti-immigrant racists campaigning as the domestic terror attacks occurred one by one in the last week from african americans killed in kentucky to the letter bombs that were sent to 14 or 15 people were institutions, to the attack on the jewish synagogue, in pittsburgh -- president trump talked about a terrorist coming up in that caravan and in fact referring to immigrants and threatening, saying that they were going to thoughin illegal voting, he had obviously no proof of this. but the assault of the last few weeks as he campaigned -- alexandria: hello? amy: can you hear me, alexandria? alexandria: apologies. i think the audio cutout. amy: ok.

i think we might have lost you guys, so we will bring it back to you, but thank you so much for taking the time to talk to us. we know it's been a long day. congratulations. alexandria: absolutely. i tried to catch the tail end of amy's question, and in tererms f the response to that, i do believe that o our presidedent s advovocated history -- abdicated his responsibility. he is clearly -- has clearly drawn lines to which americans are champions and which americans he doesn't, and that is why i feel we have a very important duty to not only fight against t the spread of anti-semitism, racism, xenophobia, but that we need to affirmatively champion the causes of these communities a ad our neighbors, because this is a very dangerous time in our democracy and a very dangerous cannottration that we take for granted. and we need to make sure that we are shoring up support for these communities in very tangible ways. amy: and your message to young

people and particularly young people of color engaging in politics and electoral politics -- that bri could say that to alexandria? alexandria: hardin, hello? -- pardon, hello? amy: alexandria, could you -- your message to young people and young people of color engaging in elector politics now as we move into 2020? your message to young people tonight? briahna: we cannot hear you at all anymore, i'm afraid. amy: thank you so much. briahna gray, we thank you so much for being there. briahna gray of the intercept and alexandria ocasio-cortez, she becomes the youngest woman ever to serve in congress. she just turned 29 years old. she will join two native

american women who have just one map their seats for congress. 100 women -- if the first time in history that 100 women have won seats in the u.s. congress. w we have race -- talked about it in passing a couple of times tonight -- but omar is going to be a very interesting member of congress. remember, the largest concentration of somalis in the united states is in the twin cities. the minneapolis-st. paul area of minnesota. that is a community that has sustaineds endured espionage against them, surveillance, fbi entrance -- entrapment. n -- country.t an it is one of the most violent countries in the world, somalia, partly because of the united states role there and the

ongoing drone attacks, the fact that you have a terrorist organization there. al-shabab. of thishave in kenya massive population of refugees that have come over from isalia, and ilhan omar actually very well-versed in the foreign-policy questions around somalia, and i think that it is going to -- if she ends up -- amy: you yourself, jeremy, have spent time in somalia. withy: and also, i worked representative keith ellison, who may become the attorney general of minnesota tonight, but when he was in congress, he was one of the few members that paid any attention whatsoever to somalia, and she will be taking -- ilhan omar is taking keith seat.n's if she ends up on foreign relations committee or armed services or potentially down the line, intelligence, i don't

think she would end up on intelligence right away, you could have someone asking the questions that you saw when, for an, russ feingold was on the intelligence committee in the senate. somebody who actually understands the facts on the ground, and i think that the importance of having, even if there is only a few of them, having democrats who actually understand foreign-policy and what the cia does, it's a huge deal, because most of the people that understand what the cia .oes are on the side of the cia that is the legacy of dianne feinstein. when it is politically expedient, she will stand up in public and say we are outraged that the cia was spying on senate staffers. she was one of the greatest friends to the cia for many, many years. and she sat there in power. as we now realize that the democrats seem to be definitely

taking back control of the house, it does mean there is subpoena power. haveme cases, you will interesting political figures chairing committees. one example -- i spoke to hank johnson of georgia, and he is the chair of a subcommittee on judiciary that has oversight of federal judges, including supreme court judges, and hank johnson indicated very strongly to me that he is going to immediately reopen the question of kavanaugh and perjury. i asked him if he would also revisit the allegations against clarence thomas and he fumbled around and said that is a 27-year-old case, but point being, the kind of pressure that alan was talking about, norman has talked about, linda wass talking about, it's important now also on multiple fronts to make sure that t the democrats o

are going to be chairing these committees and subcommittees actually do their jobs. use the subpoena and ask real questions. norman, you know t this from spending time in washington, and you know this from all the work you did on trying to block military funding to indonesia. most congress people have a couple of kids basically working in their office. they do not have huge staffs of people. so when well-informed individuals can present a cogent plan of action, if it is a good faith person in that position, you can reach them. you know this very well. it is not sort of -- >> it does not even have to be a good faith person. [laughter] >> it helps if they are. you can shame them into it, too. >> it helps, but it's not a prerequisite. >> you get the point i'm making. it's not just about pressuring

them in elections. now that they have won, figure out who chairs the committee's and make it your business to force them to do their job. >> that is crucial. there are many things wrong with the american corporate press system. one of them is the way they cover congress. mostess is probably the badly covered of all the institutions of government. want the networks, even if you read the new york times, the washington post, very carefully, you have almost no understanding of how congress actually operates. what is usually said, while there are a few big bills that come up and they make decisions on those big bills, they tasked the -- pass the tax bill, the obamacare repeal, what happens without notice in the press is

that thousands upon thousands upon thousands of vital decisions are made by congress every month, and they get absolutely no coverage. for example, when an authorization bill has passed, when an appropriations bill has passed, these bills are hundreds, in some cases, thousands of pages long, and every sentence matters. every word matters. those give directions to the agencies, to the agencies of government. it's not just the white house that runs an agency. it also simultaneously is taking some of its direction from are multiple there mandates that get written into these bills by the members of congress. ast's what they spend -- or you were pointing out more accurately, their staffs, their

staffs do the actual work. so much of this happens behind the scenes, and what that means is that it is often even more susceptible to public pressure, because you are not, you know, there's certain issues where the pressure from big-money, special interests, is so immense, that it is almost impossible to overcome it, but there's so many other things that, where it is fought out at a subterranean level, where you are not necessarily going to run up against that kind of opposition, and if you get to the members of congress, if you get to the staffs, if you have hundreds, maybe thousands of people in key districts around the country, that can be sufficient to turn a policy around. senses, it's actually easier to lobby and win in congress than people realize.

there's tremendous potential there. and it does not just depend on having good members of congress. amy: we have to go right now to north dakota because history was made in native america. nermeen: in cans this, democrat charisse david is predicted to have won kansas's third congressional district, unseating kevin yoder. a democrat has won a house seat in new mexico. they become the first native american women elected to congress. we go to north dakota where we are joined by jenny monet, an independent award-winning journalist who writes about indigenous rights. she is a tribal citizen of the pueblo. earlier today, jenni monet visited north the coda to report on the problems created by north dakota's recently enacted strict

voter id laws which threatened toto disenfranchchise native americans. welcome to "democracy now!" can you give us your response to these historic w wins? > absololutely an historic dn indian country. as a citizen, she makes us all very proud tonight, and indigenous women everywhere i think are e feeling a sense of pride to know that not one, but two really powerful voices are going to be in congress. i think what is remarkable is this also fafalls on the heels f the defeat of heidi heitkamp, who really has been given a lot of spotlight in the run-up to her reelection. her race to bebe reelecteded ine senatete. very important role as senatey who sat on the committee of indian affairs, someone who had been seen as a champion for some time or native americans, not just in north

dakota, but for all of indian country. of kind of sense urgency toto g get thoseototes e in north dakota that have been so challenged in her favor, but that did not happen tonight here in north dakota. amy: can you talk about north dakota? especialally visiting spirit lae tribe? what the voter suppression -- how it affected natitive americs and their vote, and do you see a link between what happened to heidi heitkamp, who was not indigenous, not native american, a democratict of woman senator from north dakota, and the crackdown on native american rights? explain what was happening with the ids and the final decision made a about who could vote and who could not vote today. jejenni: i in large part, the vr id law, to begin with, was seen

as retalaliatory. retaliatory to heidi heitkamam's nanarrow victotory in 2012 in wh shshe narrowly squeakaked by. many of those votes for one -- were from a native american voting block.. in 2014, a turure mountainin tribal citizen w was turnened ay at the polls and thehe native american rights fund really got involved andnd started chahalleg this v voter id law, whicich is still inin effect to prove discriminatotory intent, andnd several yeyears later, this law has come to the fore, as he saw a m month ago ahead o of the election, where e the supreme court rejected interervening, whwhich allowed it to take e af. what we have seen in indian country, i think, shshould make most tribal nations very proud in h how t tribal citizezens themselves stood up to t the chchallenge of t this manandatef ofof residency for natative amererans, which a affectedd thm

disproroportionate. amy, you asked if thisis has any kind of f relationship to heheii heitkamp defeat tonight. i ththink the answer to that is yes. i think there e were many challenges thahat were startrti- we are starting to realize in the verification prorocess of these e addresses, and i can spk morere to that, but also, we cannot forget that i internallyn north dakota, heidi h heitkamp, there was a sense of betrayal among native voters for heidi heitkamp, who had been so loyal to her, yet she had really turned a lot of people away with her lack of support over the epicc access pipeline, an battle in her home state. amy: explain that. that's where so much activism and excitement not only on the part of native americans but o f non-native people involved with the environmental movement, in

byard -- inspired by the standoff at standing rock. ondi heitkamp's position standing rock and dapl. jenni: i had r reported as you did, amy, on the pipelinee protesest, and actually embedddd myself out here for many mths.s. and d my focus on this race in part was to see if there had been any k kind of retaliatoryry intent to advance this v voter d law, andnd when i looked at committee meetings from the january 202007 state legislatut, indndeed, d theapl protest -- te asl protested come up suspect to potential voter fraud in the november election from the droves of f people who cameo stand with standing rock, so it did have a factor, and we look

at that retaliatory telematics it's an following the 2012 victory of heidi heitkamp, and i think that was very present in 2017, when this voter id law was advanced again. monet, we want to thank you for being with us, independent award-winning journalist, citizen of the pueblo of laguna, speaking to us from north dakota. again, two american women, the first to become congress members happened tonight. also, sharice davids as well as b from new -- de mexico. we will continue to follow this tomorrow morning when we have our morning after broadcast after this historic night when enteredn have congress, the first time in u.s. history, but we are going to turn to wisconsin. upemy, you grew

there. let's s turn to john nichols. ah. we thought we had john nichols on the line with us. jeremy: i can pretend to be don rickles. [laughter] >> i have a quick point, which is that the progressive caucus is the largest caucus in the house of representatives. 12 members will be the chairs of committees of the house come january. 30 more of them will be chairs of subcommittees of the house, and it goes to jeremy's point that they have tremendous potential, but they are immediately going to hit headwinds of do not push too far . there is the leadership of the democratic party. you do not want to rock too many boats. a huge mistake made by progressives over the eight years of the obama administration was not pushing really hard against them across in congress. and so, we have an opportunity now, starting the beginning of

january, to say we are going to hold accountable everybody in congress, and if we help elect them, we have leverage. we have to hold the feet to the fire, because the leadership is going to come from the grassroots. >> historically, norman, and everyone at this table those this as well, you would hope first set -- for sort of the occasional social justice advocate, you know, someone like kucinich, who was always trying to fight that fight you are describing, relegated to holding nonofficial congressional hearings in the basement somewhere, and part of what we are seeing now, and this cuts to allen's point about can the democratic party be taken over from within -- if it is not just sort of the lone dennis kucinich out there, but is a whole group of people, -- ralph n nader earlier abouout how the congressional caucus is not really -- if you did have strength in numbers and there were some of

these new voices who did unify together and did state out some of these positions, that is a totally different dynamic from just the one off member of congress on kind of a loan crusader -- lone crusader operation.n. i keep going backk to this poin, but i think it is an important one. part of how the koch brothers have been able to influence laws across the united states -- and lee fang has done some of the best reporting on this -- is because they have these well-paid, well resourced writings who are complex pieces of legislation at the state level, and most state representatives, they do not have paid staff. part of it is the convenience. it also comes with money.. but t you know, that was one of the things i think alan mastered , particularly in the 199990's, where you are surgically going after, for instance, the foreign training and military sales to a

particular government. you can win those battles. aggressive's and social justice advocates can win battles, but we have to up our game and understand the policies of actually reading the legislation. >> that's one of the ways that the right has gained ground. >> they own that universe. we have john the goes on the line from medicine, wisconsin. he is a political writer for the nation. he wrote the book "horsemen of lypse."mppoca if you can explain what's happening in wisconsin, where, according to the news reports we have, -- john: it is an extremely close race. amy: he leads by 2400 votes over tony devers with 92% of the precincts reporting. remember, i mean --

we are getting different figures from different places. himve actually got up by 5000 votes, and so, you know, we will watch this as the night goes on. here is what we know. in a very intense race for the totals just updated again, and now, walker is up by exactly 1000. it is the sens -- it is essentially a tie. we have 7% of the vote out. it is in some rural counties that are likely to bat walker. there is a small percentage out in a couple of urban counties that could be good f for him. thatact of the matter is tony devers, the state

superintendent of public instruction, who has run a very progressive campaign in a ticket with mandela barnes, one of the great figures in the wisconsin uprising of young african-american leaders and very active on a host of issues, they have wrestled the governor to essentially a tie. amy: we have less s than a minu. we will continue to cover this tomorrow on "democracy now!" john: absolutely. the one thing i will say is that if it keeps going this way, you will have a recount, strong recount laws, and this is just quite remarkable. it's been a very long night. tammy baldwin won a big victory in the race to the senate.e. it appearsrs baldwin's strong victory has helped to pull evers along, and we will see where the final count goes. amy: thank you so much, john. john nichols reporting to us from wisconsin.

yes, it's just about 1:00 on wednesday morning. the end of our six hour special broadcast.ght it's been an historic night. democrats have taken control of the house of representatives, flipping more than two dozen diststricts across the countntr. three democrats lost their senate seat. heidi heitkamp, joe donnelly, and claire mccaskill. from coast to coast, it was a firsts ford with women, particularly women of color. for the first time in the nation's history, there will be more than 100 women inin the u.. house of representatives after a slew of women candidates won the races. davids, whosharice made history by becoming the nation's first native american congresswoman. rashida tlaib in michigan. johan omar.- alexandria ocasio-cortez has become the youngest woman ever elected to congress. lost holly contested

races. andrew gillum conceded the race to ron desantis in a closely watched governor's race. ted cruz beat out his democratic challenger, beto o'rourke. brian cap is holding a sizable lead over democratic challenger stacey abrams, who is vying to be the first african-american woman in u.s. history. that controversial race was allegationsdespread of voter suppression carried out as secretary of state. many are calling on abrams not to concede given the widespread reports of voter suppression. in florida, voters approved a ballot measure to reinvent try to 1.4 million americans with felony convictions. missouri and michigan voters approved marijuana legalization measures. massachusetts protecting key rights for transgender people. oregon defended the state sanctuary laws from being repealed. in colorado, an anti-fracking

proposition was defeated. the oil and gas -- that does it for our broadcast. "democracy now!" was produced by an amazing group of people. first and foremost, we want to thank julie crosby and mike burke, our news director. also special thanks to rene feltz, carla willis, laura, andy, sam, john, robbie, -- libby. our enengineers. corall thanks -- arial, -- to our camera crew. and to the whole crew at the intercept. we want to thank you all for being with us. thank you so much for staying to the end. , thank you sohill

much. lee fang as well, thank you for being there. and nermeen shaikh as well, our cohost, and camille baker. that does it for the show. i am amy goodman with jeremy for al and nermeen shaikh remarkable eveni

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