role of muse, to jerry the poet. >> "she isn't a dream, she is real as can be, i knew it the moment her wings covered me. she flew from afar and awakened new sight, and only i see her, my angel of light." welcome to "kasie dc." i'm kasie hunt. we're live every sunday from washington from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. eastern. tonight, two straight hours without kanye west or taylor swift. plus, i know we talk about midterms a lot on this show. but if you care about politics in government, now is the time. democrats seek to preserve their wave in the house while republicans get more confident about the senate. we have a great lineup to

explain what signal and what's noise with less than a month to go. plus, believe it or not, our show is one year old. i know what you're thinking. we don't look a day over six months. with just three weeks until the midterms we're watching massive waves converge. a new "washington post"/abc news poll is revealing a surge in voter enthusiasm from this time four years ago in almost every major demographic. a 77% majority of registered voters say they're certain to vote next month or have already voted. up from 65% in 2014. that number is up 18 points among democrats. and just 4 points among republicans. according to the poll, certainty to vote is up 24 points among nonwhite voters. 25% -- and president trump is doing everything he can to make the races all across the country about one thing. himself.

this past week the president campaigns for republican candidates in iowa, pennsylvania, ohio and kentucky. and this week he'll make three stops out west. montana, arizona and nevada. and as the president's break-neck campaign schedule continues, it's worth remembering this assessment from his eldest son. >> so many of our voters say i can't wait to vote for trump 2020. what's going to in november? they don't know their congressman. they don't have that same emotional connection with my father. but the reality is for them, trump is on the ticket in 2018. >> and with that, i want to welcome in my panel. former adviser to jeb bush and former spokesperson for john boehner, michael steele. chairman and steve strategist for hillary clinton, guy cecil. tiffany cross. with us from boston, house editor for the cook political report. and republican congressman ryan costello of pennsylvania. dave wasserman, i want to start with you and then get a guys' take on the senate landcape.

but you specialize in looking at the house across the map. i just am interested to know, you know, you have changed some of your ratings in recent days. you've been looking at how the kavanaugh fight has shaken out in some of these suburban districts in particular. what is your assessment of how big this wave is that democrats are going to be able to ride this november? >> well, the question is what type of wave is this? is this purely a blue wave? some people have called it a pink wave because of the number of women fueling this democratic surge. is it a green wave now that democrats are outraising so many incumbent republicans? it's an uneven wave. democrats are doing really, really well that's a 20-minute drive from a whole foods market. in some hispanic -- >> the dave wasserman whole foods index. but in a lower income, in more

rural, in more hispanic areas like the central valley of california, south tex aeven parts of south florida, we're not seeing the same types of numbers pop for democrats. i still think democrats are the clear favorites for the house majority, but they're also dangerously close to getting their clocks cleaned in the senate if some of these rural states start breaking heavily for republicans. >> congressman ryan costello, you are watching this up close and personal with a lot of friends and colleagues facing the voters coming up. of course, you have made the decision to retire but i'm wondering how you sue the landscape shifting over the past couple of weeks and whether you think this -- what some have interpreted as a post-kavanaugh bump for some gop members is going to turn into a sugar high. >> i don't think it will be a sugar high. i think it reminded a lot of voters similar to comey reinstituting the clinton

investigation on the eve of the 2016 presidential race. it reminded a lot of republican voters why they do not want to vote democrat. leading all aside dr. ford and kavanaugh, there were a lot of us that felt the way that some democratic senators acted was inappropriate and off-putting. and that energized republicans. and it gives us the message as follows. do you want the next two years to be about investigations and impeachment or are you happy with the economic growth and some of the other things we've been doing in spite of the fact

that president trump drives you crazy with his tweets and some of the things he says and does. so i do think it crystallized things but i don't think it crystallized things negatively against republicans, even in house races. >> what are you hearing in chester county, and is there a split between women and men when you go back home and talk to them about this president? >> well, we do have a whole foods in exton now. it's not just out in paoli where you were from. and as a consequence, it is -- where i am is one of those republican suburban districts where it has probably been more against the president than just about any other republican congressional district in the country. there is a split between, yes, male and female. but even there, it's really more between those with college and graduate degrees and those who do not. >> michael steele weigh in here. you've seen a lot of house races in your day and where is this going? >> there's no question that kavanaugh has given a surge of enthusiasm to republicans across the board. particularly in those less well educated, further away from the whole foods. near the whole foods you have a phenomenon where they may not like the president achs but they like their local congresswoman or congressman. you see this in mike kaufman's seat, barbara comstock outside of the d.c. suburbs in virginia. these are the places where -- >> you're making a reverse

argument of what donald trump jr. was saying. >> i'm saying both. in the rural, redder districts, popularity of the president is a huge plus for republicans and that's big in the senate races in particular because they are concentrated in those big red states but the republican house members running in the more suburban districts have done a terrific job focussing on the issues important to their constituents, building an independent profile, occasionally breaking with the president where it's politically smart and that's why they're well positioned going into these last couple of weeks. >> do you think barbara comstock is going to win? >> yes. >> absolutely not. >> do you really think so? >> yes. >> not a chance. >> you think barbara comstock is going to win? >> she's been a great representative for them. i think the attacks on her opponent have been effective. y i think there's a chance she can win. >> she's down double digits. >> look, i would -- i would echo what -- go ahead. >> no, please go ahead. >> i will -- >> i'm so sorry. we're crossing all of our wires

here. dave wasserman, you go. did we lose -- okay. congressman costello, please to you, sir. >> i'd agree with what michael just said. for kaufman or comstock, the last two weeks -- bringing it home message is going to be how they differentiate from the president. the challenge here in a lot of polling is voters like their member of congress, but they don't like the president, and they are deciding whether they need to do an institutional check and balance vote against congress or whether they'll stick with their member of congress. so you'll see a lot -- you'll see that closing message, which is why i do think barbara comstock is going to win and mike kaufman is going to win. i don't think the democrats take back the house. i've not seen data that shows they're going to do that. obviously, the generic ballot says what it says, but right now they pick up a dozen seats or so. there's three weeks to go. so things could change but i don't see a blue wave. i see a green wave but not a blue wave. >> dave wasserman, your take on that? >> look, i don't think the popularity of individual republican members is counting for much this year. there are some cases where republicans are staying above water because they've been vocally opposed to trump in blue districts for quite some time. people like barbara comstock, mike kaufman, peter roskam, mimi

walters in california, they are trailing their democratic opponents because this midterm has become a referendum to trump. the upside for republicans is that helps republican incumbents in some districts that trump carried. >> guy, cecil, you guys have been waiting here patiently while we sort out everything. >> is it sorted? >> i think so. how do you see the senate map in all of this.

that's a much tougher road for democrats. >> you're dealing with two fundamentally difference maps. one driven by suburban voters and one driven by red states the president won, in some cases, by double digits. the fact we even have five or six races within the margin of error in these republican states is a mark of how difficult the cycle has been for democrats. the one thing about "the washington post" story you focused a lot on enthusiasm. there were some other telling things there. independent women favor democrats by 33%. if those numbers hold going into early voting and election day then we have a shot in some of these redder states like missouri or indiana, but there's no question that it's a very difficult map. >> those close to chuck schumer would say majority leader is more likely in 2020. how muddy to make the midterms and 2020. former attorney general and potential 2020 candidate eric holder came under fire from republicans this week after saying this while campaigning for democrats in georgia. >> when they go low, we go high. no. no. they go low, we kick 'em. when i say we kick them, i don't mean we do anything inappropriate or illegal. but we've got to be tough. >> of course, it was a comment that fed right into the republican narrative that democrats have been using overly

aggressive rhetoric as the midterms approach. and it's true that many high-profile democrats have been, shall we say, talking tougher lately? >> when they go low, i say we hit harder. >> he seems to think that if he keeps doing that, somehow he's going to shut me up. it hasn't worked in the past. it's not going to work in the future. >> please, don't just come here today and then go home. go to the hill today. get up and please, get up in the face of some congresspeople. >> you cannot be civil with a political party that wants to destroy what you stand for, what you care about. >> rnc chairman ronna mcdaniel cited many of those quotes saying holder wants the mob even angrier and that word mob has seeped into language from mitch

mcconnell who says lawmakers have been under assault to the president who has been on the midterm trail. >> you don't hand matches to an arsonist, and you don't give power to an angry left wing mob. i need your help this election day, november 6th, to stop the radical democrat mob from trying to take it away. >> republicans believe in the rule of law, not the rule of the mob. that's what it is. it's a mob. >> and as some republicans try to paint democrats as you saw there as the angry, violent mob ahead of election day, take a look at this video from republican pennsylvania gubernatorial candidate walker. >> between now and november 6th you better put a catcher's mask on your face because i'm going to stomp all over your face with golf spikes because i'm going to win this for the state of pennsylvania and we're throwing you out of office. >> hmm. many republicans have repudiated those comments but, tiffany, what is the sort of larger project here for democrats as

they try to think about taking on the president? there's a real argument going on right now, i feel, inside the democratic party. led in some ways by michael avenatti, of all people. but how -- how much -- where's the line here? what is acceptable? what's necessary? and what is wrong? >> i want to caution everybody to not make this false equivalency between eric holder speaking mess forically and the president of the united states who has invited his followers to incite violence. one of them ended up getting arrested and going to trial. there's a huge difference here. democrats would be wise to sharpen their elbows a bit. you have people of color who are increasing -- as registered voters. younger people.

those people want to hear politicians who can inspire them and incite this new electorate we see. that's how you see cortez who picked off in new york city and iona presley in boston because they were able to speak and not try to appeal middle of the road. this also speaks to what is electability. we often think it's being able to appeal to these white swing voters. maybe it's being able to inspire some of these newer, younger voters who are not fans of trump and who want to have more people who look like them in congress and in the senate. we're seeing that. i really hate when people try to make the equivalency between rhetoric and actual acts of violence we've seen come out of the right. as you greatly showed with the congressman who created that ridiculous ad or gubernatorial candidate who created that ridiculous ad. >> i felt like i felt that reflected in some of the background conversations i've had with those working for potential 2020 hopefuls that some are saying the lesson that many democrats learned from 2016

was we need to win back rural white working class voters. there's also a school of thought that's frustrated by that and says, no, actually, it is these young women. it's people of color we need to focus on. what's the winning strategy? >> i don't think this is an either/or. that gets to the core of the problem. the idea that ex-urban white women who care about raising their kids, putting food on the table, having a paycheck that can cover the costs of their kids' college education is the same hopes an african-american woman in africa has. we can do both of these things at the same time. the frustration is the idea that being tough is the same as acting ugly. and the idea that democrats are going to take a lesson from

donald trump about what it means to be civil. i don't know if chairwoman romney mcdaniel has ever met the president of the united states. but the idea that she is going to lecture us about what it means being civil and use elizabeth warren saying she won't shut up as a primary example of incivility? it really just defies every sense of common sense. we're going to be tough, draw a contrast and talk about the differences between our party and their party. but i believe we can do it in a way that does not mean we become another version of donald trump. and that's how we win. >> fair enough. congressman costello, you've been at the center of this. you and i have spoken about this because, frankly, the threats that members of congress of all political parties have been facing has been on the rise as this climate has become more polarized. i'm interested in your take. do you think this is a partisan phenomenon? as republican leaders are presenting they are saying democrats are doing this against them. i personally have talked to members in your shoes on both sides of the aisle dealing with this. what's your assessment? >> i think guy makes some good points about the fact you can look to some things the president has said. i'll be honest. as a republican member in a competitive district, i had

activists come and take over my office. i've had some very untorrid things, not just said about me but things happen in front of me, to me, to my staff. i think there's a way to be tough, to draw distinctions but not encourage voters to get up in people's faces. not talk about kicking people and i'll say it about the republican gubernatorial nominee in my own state. not talking about taking cleats and shoving them in people's faces. there's a way to be tough and talk tough but not provoke activists to do things that create a very physically uncomfortable situation for elected officials on both sides of the aisle. >> all right. before we go to break, some congratulations in order for congressman costello. take a look at this list of the kasie dc mvps. ranked by number of appearances. ken dilanian with 19. but in the lawmaker's column, tonight's appearance means congressman costello has overtaken eric swalwell on the leaderboard.

this is his sixth appearance. we appreciate you being here each and every time. we're going to get dave wasserman to dive into republicans' tough choice to fish or cut bait in key races. plus if you want to know how important the midterms are, ask michael on cohen who tweeted this may be the most important vote of our lifetime. not too long he was deputy finance chair of the rnc. this weekend, he registered as a democrat. [ upbeat music ]

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whatever the challenge is, we are up to it. even when it's raining on us when we're outside in a park like we are today. because you -- you have decided that we can do this. >> screaming left-wing mobs beating on the door of the supreme court. >> texas senate race, quite something. beto o'rourke raised more than $38 million over the past three months. more than tripling ted cruz. barack obama raised just north of $23 million when he was running for president in the final quarter before the 2008 iowa caucuses and the new hampshire primary. still, o'rourke appears to have faded in the polls and "the washington post's" paul cain shows democratic candidates are expected to outspend republicans by nearly $50 million in the 70 top house races. sheldon adelson is making an

11th hour push contributing 10s of thousands of dollars to a pair of superpacs backing congressional republicans. there's one place where democrats still lag on spending. the latest google ad report shows conservative groups double, triple or even quadruple democrats in digital ads for some races. billionaire donor tom stire is spending money to try and turn out young liberal voters. guy, that is your tweet we were just showing on the screen. do you think democrats are falling behind on this digital ad score, and i want to talk to you about betto also. >> i think we've been behind on the digital ad score. it committed $50 million in digital advertise -- >> and priorities is a group you work for.

a democratic superpac. >> for the last three or four cycles we've seen republicans investing more online and democrats still spending too much on television instead of investing where young people and people of color are getting their news and information which is online. we are outspending in many cases republicans on the air, on television. we are building unprecedented ground operations in places like florida where it has been historically difficult to do so. this is one glaring example where democrats need to get it together and need to invest now as we head into the early vote period. >> this is one thing that beto o'rourke is use something of his $38 million to do. investing in google ads. what is your take on what they're doing down in texas. is he -- does he have a long-term future as a potential 2020 contender or eventual presidential contender even if he loses this race? >> he's focused on winning this race. no question this race is down five or six points. we've seen it fluctuate over the last couple of weeks. but he happens to be running against one of the single most unlikable people not just in the democratic party but in the republican party. and he is organizing people on the ground and knocking on doors and making phone calls in a way texas hasn't seen. no, i don't think his focus is on 2020. it's on trying to win this race. i'd just remind folks obsessed

about the polling, what happened in 2016. i'd also remind people that are focused on the red states that a one week out from the election in north dakota in 2012, there was one poll out that showed heidi heitkamp losing by ten points and heitkamp is running for re-election. i'd caution us into reading too much into an isolated poll here or there and look at the averages which are still margin of error for democrats in a lot of red states. >> i'm thrilled every time we get another glowing profile of beto o'rourke. i'm thrilled every time somebody sends another dollar to beto o'rourke's campaign. ted cruz has the charisma of day old egg salad. he's not an appealing person or candidate. if there was a way to keep the senate majority without ted cruz, i'd be thrilled. >> a lot of senators would say they'd do that. >> he votes the right way for

texas. beto o'rourke does not. this is not a winnable race for democrats this year. >> the polling does not reflect the new electorate that's registering in florida. i don't know if i'd champion this enthusiasm that you have. in 2010 and 2014, republicans outvoted democrats by almost a million in texas. beto has done a great job inspiring people. he came out hard out front on the nfl issue. this is a race where there are two starkly different people. ted cruz is the personification of the tea party politics and beto is a progressive.

i don't know that polling is something we can trust because he has to depend on younger latino voters in texas. he's doing a great job of turning out those people and they don't get counted in polling. >> one thing that's been discussed as well is the effect that beto o'rourke's success in fund-raising and other things will have on down ballot races in texas. >> that's right. look, my prediction is beto o'rourke has a higher chance of running for president in 2020 because he'll come under pressure from his religious following that booker and kamala harris would do anything to have. that's a higher chance than him actually winning this race. the reason is latino voters. if i were beto o'rourke spending that $38 million it would be on field organization in south texas at this point.

>> congressman costello, your colleagues with beto o'rourke in the house. what's the take in the hallways on what he's managed to do in texas. this is a lot of money. he's become a huge hero to progressives, and cruz is -- i would not say necessarily the most popular person in the capital. >> i'm not endorsing beto here, but we served on a committee together. i consider him a buddy. he's a good dude. he's running a very authentic campaign. i think to tiffany's point, in a race like that, it's very difficult to rely too heavily on polling. it's a shock. the $38 million. but i think any of your other commentators would say that the second president trump was sworn in, the midterms became nationalized. act blue, the fund-raising portal allows anyone to raise money from across the country. beto has gone and raised a lot of money. and he has, i think, changed the game in terms of future senate races, particularly when you can run against someone like senator cruz who, before donald trump was probably public enemy number one to the democratic party and there were, obviously, a lot of republicans that he didn't make happy either. >> didn't necessarily make a lot of friends. thank you so much to both of you. appreciate it. coming up -- no power. no water. people on the florida panhandle

say it's like living in the days of the frontier. search and rescues continue days after one of the worst hurricanes wrecked the gulf coast and a massive swath of the deep south. kasie dc back after this. darrell's family uses gain flings now, so their laundry smells more amazing than ever. [darrell's wife] isn't that the dog's towel? [dog sfx] hey, mi towel, su towel. more scent plus oxi boost and febreze in every gain fling.

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president trump is heading to florida and georgia tomorrow to survey the damage by michael last week. 19 people have died as a result of the storm across the southeast. hundreds of thousands have been left without power. cities and towns in the storm zone have been absolutely ravaged as one of our producers covering the hurricane put it. it looks like a war zone. our team spoke with though mayor of lynnhaven, florida. 85% of homes in her town have no power and that outages could last for up to two months. mariana atencio reports from lynn haven, florida. >> reporter: kasie, it's hard to

put into words just the scope of the devastation that this storm provoked in the florida panhandle. from mexico beach close to where we rode out the storm to panama city beach and smaller cities like lynn haven, florida. look at what the storm did to their chamber of commerce which is also a part of their city hall and their police department. the mayor actually rode the storm out in here with 40 other people, including children. what happens is that when you have a storm that is a wind event like this one was, contrary to a flooding event, you have a toppled power lines, toppled trees and structures that just crumbled like this one. the mayor telling me 85 to 95% of the homes in this city are damaged. you have also seen politicians out and about. i was on the ground in mexico beach when governor rick scott toured the damage for the first time. bill nelson has also been on the ground. the mayor of tallahassee, a city also impacted by this storm, andrew gillam. they're cheering on first responders. floridians are watching. the country is watching at how this recovery is being handled. now what kind of impact that will have on the ballot box on november 6th remains to be seen. but my takeaway is what one mexico beach resident told me.

jet cox, 15 years he'd been living there. lost his home and he said my message to politicians is don't forget us. this recovery will be long. and they do not want another hurricane maria-type situation on the ground here on the panhandle. kasie? >> mariana atencio. our thoughts are with all the people affected by this terrible storm. when we come back, a fight over access to the ballot in georgia. as the midterm elections rapidly approach, there's been a w customers to care for lives to get home to they use stamps.com print discounted postage for any letter any package any time right from your computer all the amazing services of the post office only cheaper get our special tv offer a 4-week trial plus postage and a digital scale go to stamps.com/tv and never go to the post office again!

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as the midterm elections rapidly approach, there's been a rash of voter identification conflicts in states across the country. in north dakota, a new supreme court decision requiring residents to provide a street address in order to vote has been criticized for discriminating against native americans. some tribes argue that street addresses aren't always assigned on native american reservations. in missouri, a county judge stripped a voter law of several provisions including the statute forcing people to show photo i.d. in order to cast ballots. in arkansas they upheld a message requiring photo i.d. at the polls. they are new suing brian kemp, georgia's secretary of state and also the republican candidate for governor for voter suppression. after an associated press investigation discovered that some 53,000 new applications have been placed on hold for not meeting his office's standards. the state's exact match protocol requires information on voter registrations to precisely match the information on file with other state databases.

like the dmv. critics say the policy targets and discriminates against authorities. others say you can still vote. you just have to show an i.d. kemp is locked in a tight race with stacey abrams. she was asked about the impact this controversy will have on the election. >> we know this is a flawed system that has a disproportionate effect on people of color. it also has the ability to erode trust in our system. i know that secretary kemp is well aware of this. and it's part of a pattern of behavior where he tries to tilt the playing field in his favor or in the favor of his party. this should not require the erosion of public trust. >> are you confident this is going to be a fair election in november? >> i am. >> joining me is greg bluestein, political reporter for the atlanta journal-constitution. it's great to have you back.

this is a great race you've got going to cover. what is the real impact in your view of what's going woith brian kemp. it's very unusual situation that he's going to be overseeing an election that he's running in. >> we have a poll that came out showing a statistical tie between the two candidates. you're seeing both candidates use this to mobilize and further energize their bases. stacey abrams telling her supporters to vote no matter what even if you think you're on this pending list. if you show an i.d. you can cast a normal ballot. and kemp is saying to his base,

this is stacey abrams lying and drumming up a manufactured controversy. she's trying to take the election and he's trying to energize his base. you're seeing more base charging emotions here with this newest controversy. >> tiffany cross, can i get you to weigh in on this because this was something where and stacey abrams talked about this on "meet the press." she'd been part of a lawsuit that said you aren't allowed to do what brian kemp is doing. >> this is something brian kemp has been doing for a long time. he's pulled voter suppression out of the jim crow era. i'm very excited to be on with a political reporter from the ajc.

he sued stacey abrams when she started the new georgia voter project, long before she was his opponent in the race. he also in a predominantly black school district went down and interrogated the two new black people who won and ended up arresting 12 voter activists. and one even contemplated suicide after he arrested them. an asian american organization in georgia in 2010 and he interrogated them and alluded they had done something illegal, which they hadn't. this is not something new. people of color in georgia make up over 50% of the population. when more people to show up, republicans lose. they don't make up half the voting electorate. stacey abrams' campaign has excited a lot of new people and brought them into the process. this is something brian kemp is

very nervous about. this is a razor-thin race and raises concerns because there's nothing on the books that says he cannot oversee his own recount in this race if it's too close within a margin of error. this is something kristin clark with the lawyers committee for civil rights who is suing him, this is something everybody has to keep a close --. >> you mentioned the polling is incredibly close. how much are you seeing of this voter mobilization efforts? as we know, we have seen, i think, guy mentioned this earlier in the show. obviously, polls have not always been exactly correct in predicting outcomes of late. how much evidence do you see as you're going about your reporting that there may be a swath of new voters that come into this process in your state? >> we're going to find out very soon. we already have absentee ballots up dramatically. early voting in georgia starts tomorrow. if we start seeing giant jumps in those numbers than traditionally in 2016, more than half the georgia electorate voted in early voting. if we start seeing a dramatic rise from even 2016 levels then we know there's a lot of energy behind this race. that's really where stacey abrams' strategy relies. motivating vast swaths of the left-leaning electorate who skip these midterms. she's trying to get them to go to the ballots. >> and you also had written about independent voters in georgia which seems like a very small swath of what we're dealing with right now but they could be decisive? >> yeah, our polls showed only 4% undecided and only about 10% independents. independents generally in this poll were breaking towards stacey abrams. so she sees that as a good sign while white women were breaking towards brian kemp. and stacey abrams, another plea of hers, has been expanding meds cade which she thought would attract more suburban women. we'll see if that happens.

our polls show white women and trump's approval rating in general was up about 4 or 5 points since the last time we did the poll. >> and all of the kavanaugh hearings taking place in between those times. greg, thanks for being with us. cecil, tiffany cross, michael steel, thank you. michael, you are the one person on our very first ever show and here for our first anniversary. >> clearly a glutton for punishment. we're going to talk to one of the key democrats trying to help flip the house. katherine clark is co-chair of the red to blue program. the magnum opus, one of the signature segmentes over the years. senator john kennedy said what? >> you don't walk in and slap your opponent and call him an ignorant slut. i'm going to vote for it. i'll be on it like a hobo on a ham sandwich. >> is this health care compromise dead? >> i wouldn't call it dead, but it's sucking wind. >> this is a great dane size wis down the leg of every taxpayer. >> but our folks every now and then, like a free range chicken. they just kind of move on off on their own. >> he's crazy as a loon, as well as being as sly as a fox. >> this isn't a country for creepy old men or creepy middle aged men. the way we've done things around here pretty much stuks.

it's the reason aliens won't talk us to. i'm not a fan of putting fresh paint on rotten wood. these are people i'm not going to name names, but i'm not sure they have a soul. i don't think their mother breastfed them. i think they went right to raw meat. >> if you think this is a search for the truth, you probably ought to put down the bong. i don't mean any disrespect, but he's acting like a moron. >> everybody up here has politics in his blood. kind of like herpes.

welcome back. joining me now is democratic

congresswoman kathryn clark of massachusetts. red to blue program. congresswoman, thanks so much for being here. i'm hoping just to start by getting your assessment of where some of these racists stand in the wake of what happened with judge kavanaugh, dr. christine blasey ford. the emerging wisdom is this made it harder for democrats and paved the way to flip the house of representatives. what are you seeing in the districts that you're watching? >> well, first, i want to thank you for having me on and happy anniversary, kasie. >> thank you. >> i can tell you what i'm seeing across the country is that this unprecedented wave of enthusiasm and new voters coming out and helping these campaigns and connecting with the incredible candidates that democrats have running is not dissipating. it is picking up steam as we go, and it's very rewarding to see that that connection to the issues that families facing at home is being made by our candidates and is fueling their campaigns. >> one of the reporters we were just talking to is down in georgia, and he mentioned that in the governor's race anyway, there was some sense that white women potentially were breaking in favor of the republican in the wake of what happened with kavanaugh.

are you seeing anything like that at the end of the races in suburbs for example? is there any of that phenomenon in the polling or the opposite? >> what we're seeing in the polling is that generic democrats are actually gaining ground, and i can tell you from the conversations that i've had that the students i've talked to, moms, suburban women, they are outraged at what they saw with the judge kavanaugh hearings, and they are turning out to volunteer to be part of what they see as reclaiming congress and making sure that congress is working for them again.

>> you are paying close attention to these individual candidates as we are heading for election night. what are going to be what you're looking for if x candidate wins their race, you know it's going to be a huge tsunami. >> i think some of the bellwethers are we are looking at georgia and not only how stacy abrarms is going to do but lucy and caroline. i'm going to be looking at florida following those races and over in texas and we are even going to be looking in kansas, which is not a state or a congressional district that the been on our battle field in a long time but shareece davids out in kansas city is electrifying people and she is exactly the type of candidate that people are eager to send to congress, someone who is native american.

she is a distinguished attorney, and she's also a mixed marshall arts fighter and people know that she's going to bring her experiences to really fight for those families of kansas, and that's the type of kiss strict that we have not seen in play in a long time. >> fight perhaps literally. one line of attack republicans have been using is a familiar one. i feel like it's several cycles old anyway but nancy pelosi, a big focus for a lot of their ads, she of course, pretty unpopular polls show. is that effective at this point? the ads they are running against, they are running that hit pelosi? >> in a word, no. the republicans are bringing this out from their playbook for two reasons. the first is nancy pelosi's an

ineffective leader and they know it and the second is they don't have anything else to talk to voters about. they were hoping to run on a tax bill but it is impossible because that tax bill was for the wealthiest of americans and for large corporations and it left them out of it. and they were hoping to run on health care and that is going to be the defining issue of this election because americans watched as republicans in the house took away health care from millions of them, made preexisting conditions, made it okay to discriminate insurance against that again and these are issues that people talk about around their kitchen tables that they understand.

so when there is nothing else to talk about that's positive, they revert back to talking about nancy pelosi. >> all right. congresswoman kathryn clark, you have a busy couple weeks ahead. thank you for taking the time to be with us. >> thank you. >> coming up next, the great david joins us to talk about (vo) gopi has built her business with her own two hands. each unique piece comes to life in the same way... a messy, sloppy, splattery way. but now she's found a way to keep her receipts tidy, even when nothing else is. (brand vo) snap and sort your expenses with quickbooks and find, on average, $4,628 in tax savings. smarter business tools for the world's hardest workers. quickbooks. backing you.

♪ despite widespread condemnation, the trump is reportedly considering family separations once again. president trump says separating migrant families could deter illegal immigration. plus, pressure is mounting on saudi arabia following the disappearance of "washington post" columnist jamal khashoggi. and president trump admits that russian president vladimir putin is probably involved in assassinations and poisonings, but he points out that the crimes were not in the u.s. ♪