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conditions. it was republicans trying to get rid of that health care coverage in the first place. plus -- saudi arabia admits columnist jamal khashoggi is dead but for many the statement amounts to a coverup instead of an explanation. first, though, early voting is under way in much of the country and starts and states like florida and texas coming up tomorrow. and that means the midterms are here. you can basically ignore the number at the bottom of your screen. the president's popularity is surging, up 47% among registered voters in the nbc news/"wall street journal" poll. that's higher than president obama's approval ahead of the 2010 midterms. people's preference for who controls congress appears to be shifting back in favor of democrats. opening up a nine-point advantage among likely voters. that's in large part because of the increase in enthuse ymp we've seen. the percentage of black women, southern voters, women under 50 and republican base voters who say this election is more important than ones in past

years have all increased by double digits since august. and it has led to shifting weather conditions for our team of political forecasters. >> the blue wave -- >> projected blue wave. >> blue wave. >> this green wave. >> a pink wave. >> some kind of a red wave. >> is it a wave or tsunami? well, in either case there's little drops of water. >> it could be a tsunami, a middle sized wave, a small wave. >> i don't think it's a blue wave. a little green wave to it on money. but it's more like a tornado that will touch down in spots. but i see the weather has changed in the last two weeks. >> that last man, congressman kevin mccarthy, probably the closest to being right at this particular moment in time. some of the movement appears to be because of the brett kavanaugh confirmation fight. some of it from the natural ramp up ahead of any big election. the simple reality is in many places, it's not just national factors at play.

democrats have seen conventional and unconventional candidates fade in some places. in other places like virginia and illinois, the candidates in their governors and senate races could impact those critical house elections, often in democrats' favor. so the chess board is changing in real time, especially as both parties move money from one race to another. of course, the president is trying to get the last word when it comes to democrats. >> even if they win the house, it's going to be just fighting, fight, fighting. it's going to be -- we'll be -- you love my hair? thank you. she knows what to say. these people have seen me under every condition known to man. i haven't heard that one in over a year. my whole life they said, is it or isn't it? barbara walters interviewed me. do you mind if i play with your hair? remember that? and then numerous people have done that. but that's okay. but the choice could not be more

clear. democrats produce mobs. republicans produce jobs. >> an interesting digression. with that, i want to welcome in my panel. white house bureau chief for "the washington post" and msnbc political analyst phil rucker. the host of kabc radio's the drive home, john philips and moveon.org's kareen jean-pierre. thank you for being near los angeles. our first "kasie dc" trip on the road. phil rucker, i want to start with you for a scene setter of the president's mood. it's been an interesting couple of days for the white house. they've been trying to deal with what's going on with saudi arabia and manage that relationship while at the same time the president has been hop-scotching across the country. is there a sense that the white house and the president himself feels like he's in control of this midterm election now or is he starting to feel antsy and some pressure to change the game? >> the president knows he can't

control this election. he can never control an election but especially because he's not on the ballot. but he's trying to do everything he can to influence it and control it and he feels emboldened. he feels like this kavanaugh confirmation was a big political victory for him and that he's going to get out there on the trail which he's been doing almost every day and i think in the final ten days or so we're going to see him doing rallies almost every night. to try to gin up his base and turn out his core supporters and influence these elections as closely as best that he can. the polling is against him, obviously. there's predictions of democratic victories but trump is trying to just find every single trump voter throughout in places like montana and arizona and nevada where he was the past couple of days and get them out for republicans. >> and convince them this is a referendum on him. the approval rating for the president stuck out to me in our new poll. how nervous are democrats you're talking to now about how this election might turn in these

final weeks? >> so when i see that poll, it says to me, okay, republicans are probably coming home, which would make sense as we head closer to the midterm elections, 16, 15 days tomorrow. and so it actually makes sense. what is worrisome, i would -- if i were a republican is the independents. they're still losing independents and women. so, yeah, this number at 47, still historically low. but there are pockets in there that i would be really concerned. but the thing that when i look at just what's happening now as you said in the beginning of the show, people are voting right now in georgia, in tennessee. we've seen some really high levels of people coming out early voting, and we've seen some high levels of people just registering to vote. which i think benefits democrats. historically we've seen that. so the electorate is really kind of -- it's different than we have ever seen it in a midterm and so that's the thing that i am curious to see, okay, what

does that mean on november 6th because if that's the case, that is incredibly beneficial to democrats. and that is not beneficial to republicans. >> i'm interested to see what impact when we look back at the polling we're seeing now, how that changes. john philphilips, the path to control congress runs straight through here, this area where you live. what your seeing on the ground as you talk to people and cover the races here in california that sort of suggest to you which way these winds are blowing? >> i suspect what's going to happen, as we get closer to the election, people are going to come home. and so many of these congressional districts that are in play this time around are traditional republican strongholds. the central valley of california, orange county. and so with the president trying to nationalize this election, i think it's going to increase those republican voters who are thinking, maybe i'll sit on the fences. i don't know if you picked up on this but your president has a bit of an ego.

so the fact that he's out there making this election about himself, i think helps a lot of these vulnerable republicans because if you go back -- >> do you think california republicans are trump republicans? this seems to be a place where that didn't line up the same way it does in other places. >> go back to the 2016 election and you had a very contentious moment after the republican convention where ted cruz refused to endorse the nominee when he gave his speech. and what did donald trump say at the press conference right after that? you have to support me. you have to get behind me because the supreme court. and ultimately, many of those people fell in line. the other thing -- >> you think that's true here? >> i think that's true here. the other issue that got a lot of nontraditional republicans is the issue of immigration and trade. with this caravan we're seeing coming north to the united states, immigration and trade are back on the agenda right now. both of those issues help him with people who traditionally don't vote for the gop. >> another issue that traditionally helps is taxes.

yesterday in nevada, trump told reporters that republicans are getting ready to introduce another, quote, major tax cut ahead of the midterms this november. >> we are going to be putting in and are studying very deeply right now, around the clock, a major tax cut for middle income people. not for business at all, for middle income people. now the last was for middle income and for business and our business is now coming back because of it. but we loorking at kevin brady's working on it. paul ryan is working. we're all working on it. and we're looking at a major tax cut for middle income people who need it. >> what was your time frame for that? >> some time around the 1st of november, maybe a little before that. >> important to note congress not in session until after election day. nbc news has reached out to the white house for more specifics and clarification on that timing. they, of course, have yet to respond. phil rucker, this strikes me as republicans tried to message on

the tax cut for corporations. they put it up in ads in special elections and found that actually it had very little impact with their voters. >> and this seems to be clearly a message pitch that trump had there to just reintroduce the idea of a tax cut into the political blood stream before these elections. but it's not the decisive issue for a lot of voters. we're seeing as you were saying, immigration and trade being a real driving force, but other issues as well. the economy more generally. you cover congress, kasie. there is -- the only issue that may be more complicated is health kaur. there's no way a tax bill is going to soar through congress. >> there is not the time. >> we want to go there now. right now thousands of migrants are fleeing central america and making a grueling journey to the u.s. border with mexico in hopes of receiving refugee status.

president trump is seizing on images like these as he sharpens his closing arguments ahead of the midterms. and today he waern ewarned of a onslaught of illegal immigrants crossing our southern border and made an unsubstantiated claim that democrats are behind the caravans. that followed this erroneous claim that people are rioting in california over sanctuary cities. >> i don't think we like sanctuary cities up here. by the way, a lot of people in california don't want them either. they're rioting now. they want to get out of their sanctuary cities. there's a big turn being made, folks. a lot of these sanctuary cities you've been hearing about in california and other places, but california, they want to get out. they are demanding they'd be released from sanctuary cities. nbc's gabe gutierrez is live in southern mexico. gabe, what are you seeing and hearing from the people that

you've been talking to over the course of the last days? >> hi there, kasie. more and more migrants are starting to arrive at this park in southern mexico to spend the night. building a makeshift tend behind me. ambulances as well. the mexican government hoped to stop this caravan at its southern border but that just didn't happen. tonight the migrant caravan is growing. the group fleeing violence and poverty in central america has pushed through mexico's southern border and many mexicans are joining in as they move forward. mariana atencio is there. >> this is a massive exodus of about 7,000 people and they're making their way to tapa chula, the mofts important city here in the southern part of the country. a critical juncture for this caravan. it's where the prior caravan reorganized to move north to the united states. >> translator: we're going to keep moving forward, this man says. he's been professionaling for

more than -- traveling for more than a week with his 2-year-old daughter. they say they won't use force to stop the migrants. patience is wearing thin. rather than wait in this line to apply for refugee status in the heat, some desperate migrants have decided to cross into mexico illegally. we met this woman as she climbed onto a raft hoping to eventually reach the u.s. she doesn't believe applying for refugee status will work. she's afraid to return to hon dur as. >> we live in a terrible situation in our country, she says. telling us her son was beaten by the military. but others are turning around, boarding buses back to honduras. >> has it been very hard? rosa made the gut-wrenching decision because of her 4-month-old daughter. for her there was too much at risk. kasie, the mexican government is urging these migrants to stop at local shelters and apply to stay

in this country. but many of them say they plan to continue heading north towards the u.s. tomorrow. kasie? >> nbc's gabe gutierrez, thanks for that report. karine, you know, those images right ahead of the midterm elections play right into many of the, you know, quite frankly, fear-stoking ads that republicans have been airing. they've been focused on immigration as what they present as a big problem in the run-up to this. how potentially damaging is this? both for the country and i want to make sure we focus on the people coming from dire straights so that -- but then also the politics of it. >> they're putting everything on the line to come here because of what's happening in their country. instead of the u.s. coming up with policies to help their economic situation, what donald trump is doing is basically using a bullhorn to push hateful rhetoric on immigration which is really sad. it goes back to what we were just talking about before about, you know, the administration,

the gop, they've been in control for two years. and this is what they want to end on. this is the closing argument on hate because they can't sell their tax increase for the rich. they can't sell what they did with obamacare trying to repeal and take away health care from 32 million people. it's really sad. what's happening is donald trump is trying to stoke up this hate and really rev up his base who, really, a lot of his base came out just for him in 2016. and so now he's telling them, i need you to vote for this generic republican. generic republicans across the country. it's really tough for him to do. that's what he's doing, but he's also going to hurt himself with independents and women as i said earlier because they're going to look at this, in house seats in particular, and it's unfortunate this is the closing argument for republicans. >> and a lot of women and independent voters certainly when i've talked to some consulants, they say when people are thinking about immigration they're also remembering migrant children separated from their

families and that issue cut the other way in many cases. >> i do believe the knee-jerk reaction is for law and order, also. when you look at those images, whaf what you saw was lawlessness, chaos. the mexican government not able to control a situation. it wasn't safe for the people who are part of the caravan, nor is it safe for the police officers trying to enforce the law. it's not safe for some of those in those communities when you have situations like this. if you go back and look at that map in 2016 and look at the states that donald trump won that people like mitt romney lost, it was all in the rust belt and because of issues exactly like this. and if you look at the map, the u.s. senate map where a lot of these hotly contested seats are, that issue played in the presidential race in those states and it's going to play again this november. >> we haven't even talked about the difference between the house and senate landscapes which this issue is going to cut differently there. still to come -- we'll dig deeper into key races so you have a better understanding of what's happening across the

country. plus, health care becomes a flash point. senator ron wyden of oregon wants to fact check some of his republican colleagues on their support for health care coverage. we'll be back live from los angeles right after this. ♪ there are roadside attractions. and then there's our world-famous on-road attraction. the 2019 glc. lease the glc 300 for just $489 a month at your local mercedes-benz dealer. mercedes-benz. the best or nothing. after bill's back needed a vacation from his vacation. so he stepped on the dr. scholl's kiosk. it recommends our best custom fit orthotic to relieve foot, knee, or lower back pain so you can move more. dr. scholl's. born to move.

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leave no room behind with xfi pods. simple. easy. awesome. click or visit a retail store today. welcome back. during the 2014 midterm elections, republican candidates rallied around a promise to repeal and replace obamacare. this time around they are vowing

to protect one of the key provisions. guaranteeing coverage for people with pre-existing conditions. >> i'm josh hawley. i support forcing insurance companies to cover all pre-existing conditions. >> taking on both parties and fighting for those with pre-existing conditions. >> i'm fighting to protect pre-existing conditions and increase funding for nevadans who need it most. >> kevin cramer voted for guaranteed coverage for pre-existing conditions. >> meanwhile, the trump justice department has refused to defend the affordable care act in court issuing challenges to provisions that ban insurance companies from denying coverage to people with pre-existing conditions. in an interview with reuters, mitch mcconnell called congress' failure to repeal the health care law his one disappointment of this congress. he also said, if we had the votes to completely start over, we'd do it. but that depends on what happens in a couple weeks. president trump, meanwhile, tweeted this week, all

republicans support people with pre-existing conditions. and if they don't, they will after i speak to them. joining me to discuss all of this is democratic senator ron wyden of oregon. it's good to see you. >> thank you, kasie. >> i want to start with what we are hearing as this kind of over and over and over again message now from republican candidates that they support pre-existing conditions. i think it's important to point out that the policy that was built with obamacare relies on everyone having insurance coverage in order to essentially make the books work to provide coverage for those who are sicker than those who are well. so i'm wondering, what do you take away from the fact that republicans are suddenly sounding this note over and over again on the campaign trail? >> the republicans are just reeling on this health care issue, kasie. one other big development and then we'll touch on pre-existing. the majority leader mitch mcconnell started a whistle stop tour this week saying that if

republicans were in control in 2019, they would put on the chopping block medicare and social security. their earned benefits. the reason they're doing it is their tax bill has produced such big deficits. so the republicans are dealing with a one-two punch. the first was pre-existing conditions. they want to go back to the days when health care was for the healthy and wealthy. that's what you have if you allow discrimination against those with pre-existing conditions which the trump people are trying to do in federal court. and then incredibly, mitch mcconnell has said that if they are in control in 2019, there's no question, instead of trying to roll back some of the tax breaks for the folks at the top, they'll be targeting social security and medicare earned benefits. >> i'm glad you raised that, senator. we have those comments from mitch mcconnell cued up. i want to let our viewers take a look at those. >> it's driven by the three big

entitlement programs that are very popular. meds care, social security and me medicaid. that's 70% of what we spend every year. there's been a reluctant to tackle that because of the popularity of those programs. hopefully we'll get serious about this. we haven't been yet. >> those comments have been seized on by many democrats, including joe manchin who has been trying to warn voters. do you think those comments there and the effect of them is going to be enough to counteract the effect we've seen, the fallout from the kavanaugh hear,s and the increased republican enthusiasm? >> i do. and the reason i feel that way, kasie is that these health issues are so personal to people. we were talking about pre-existing conditions. if millions and millions of americans from sea to shining sea go to bed realizing that the

trump administration wants to take away protections for those with pre-existing conditions, that is a very personal issue. that's the kind of issue you vote. same with the mcconnell comments where he's talking about how he really wants to put on the chopping block earned benefits. those social security and medicare benefits are a lifeline for millions of people and mitch mcconnell, instead of rolling back some of the goodies for the special interest and the powerful, he's going to target the seniors. >> i want to talk about the future of the democratic party because one thing we've seen in the last couple of days is quite a few of your colleagues, certainly they're campaigning for midterm election candidates but they happen to be going to states where there are competitive races but that stand to play a role come two years from now. and some have openly said they're considering running for president in 2020. and my first question to you on this is, who do you think right now is the leader of the

democratic party? >> well, kasie, my wife kids me that i might be perhaps the only person in the senate not running for president, and i said, well, somebody ought to stick around the finance committee and work on taxes and health care and getting funding for roads. i think it's fair to say that right after the 2018 election, we are going to have lots of folks in the field. and i think the american people are going to be very substantive. we've been talking about health care. they're going to want to know, for example, who -- >> i'm not hearing a name. >> pardon me? >> i'm not hearing a name. >> you'll hear lots of names. and that's why i was kidding about perhaps being one of the few, if maybe the only who is not running. but i do think -- >> let me put it this way. >> as soon as the elections are over, we'll have plenty. >> one debate that i've heard privately in talking to many of the people who are thinking this through is how should the

democratic party deal with the failure of 2016 and try and, you know, move ahead and actually win the presidency in 2020? there seems to be two schools of thought. one is that you need to win offer the white male voters in the midwest who turned away from barack obama and to donald trump. but the other one says, no, actually the party needs to focus on communities of color, on young voters, people that are going to grow the party in the long term. which strategy is the right one for your party? >> my sense is democrats don't win by pitting those two groups against each other. democrats win -- we've been looking at your polls. health care costs are the number one issue. we're going to come out and target, for example, the middle men who are ripping off the health care system. we're spending $3.5 trillion on health care this year. if you divided it up among all the americans, you can send everybody -- every family of four a check for $40,000. so people want to see who is going to control health care

costs. not pitting those two groups that you just mentioned against each other. >> all right. senator ron wyden, not a presidential candidate in 2020 but thank you. i will see you on capitol hill when you come back. >> you can count on it. when we return, we'll talk about the flux in key senate races and how the president got more than one skeptical republican to warm up to him. we're back from l.a. after this. so a tree falls on your brand new car and totals it. and as if that wasn't bad enough, now your insurance won't replace it outright because of depreciation. if your insurance won't replace your car, what good is it? you'd be better off just taking your money and throwing it right into the harbor. i'm gonna regret that. with new car replacement, if your brand new car gets totaled, liberty mutual will pay the entire value plus depreciation.

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life. to the fullest. president trump's midterm campaign schedule is putting some complicated relationships back into the spotlight. he campaigned in nevada yesterday for republican senator dean heller who has not always been quite so supportive of the president. after the "access hollywood" tape was released during the 2016 campaign, senator heller said he was, quote, 100% against clinton and 99% against trump. fast forward to the rally yesterday. >> now, mr. president, you know a little bit about gold. in fact, i think everything you touch turns to gold. the minds here in elko and next door in eureka county produce more coal, more gold here than

anywhere else in the country. welcome to gold country. mr. president, thank you for making america work again. >> meanwhile, the president will head to texas tomorrow to campaign for senator ted cruz. who was one of his last rivals standing during the 2016 campaign. in fact, his last rival standing. over the course of that campaign, senator cruz called then-candidate trump a pathological liar, a sniffling coward, a serial philanderer and utterly amoral. >> how do we make sense of this relationship? >> listen, 2016 was an election unlike any other. it was bare knuckle and there were some hard shots. on all sides there were hard shots. that election is over. >> so is he your friend? your foe? how do you describe the relationship? >> he's the president. i work with the president in delivering on our promises.

>> okay. joining us from washington is nbc news correspondent leigh ann caldwell and our panel is here. phil rucker, i want to start with you because i've always wondered. this president is somebody who takes loyalty seriously. and a lot of the aides and forgive me, you may remember the term they've applied to the "access hollywood" period of time, but they remember who was with them and who was against them. >> a real litmus test moment. >> there are some people now where he's swallowed his pride and he's gone out to support people like dean heller who abandoned n eed him in that mom. how much convincing did it take to get the president to that point? >> the president is going out to campaign with them because they want him here and they've been suplicants while he's been president. dean heller has been saying flattering things publicly and privately to trump to sort of win his favor to make amends. i was with them two or three months ago when trump was in las vegas for his first campaign appearance with dean heller.

it was really rather awkward. they both see a mutual beneficial relationship here where they can both benefit from it. and you see the same thing happening with ted cruz when they have their rally tomorrow in houston. >> john, this is a dynamic we'll see more and more of. even if you look at senators up come 2020, people like lindsay graham and mitch mcconnell, they need to hug the president more than ever because the basic threat to them would be a primary that -- where he supported a challenger. >> politics makes for strange bedfellows. we're sitting here in california where if you go back to the 1992 presidential race between bill clinton and jerry brown, the things that jerry brown said about hillary clinton and bill clinton in that race, some of those things you really can't go back on, but they did and now they're one big happy family again. >> officially anyway. leigh ann caldwell, the race you were just covering in tennessee with bredesen and marsha blackburn. interesting dynamics there.

what did you take away from that in the wake of the kavanaugh hearings? >> tennessee is in play and that's a big deal for democrats. a democrat has not won the senate seat there since al gore in 1990. but what we did learn is phil bredesen, the democratic candidate was leading in the polls or close in the polls throughout the summer but the dynamics of the race seems to have changed since the battle to confirm supreme court nominee brett kavanaugh. i sat down with bredesen earlier this week in nashville. here's what he had to say. >> i think what's happening is with the way in which the kavanaugh hearings proceeded and sort of how much -- how partisan they became and how bitter at the end, it tends to bring people back to their party. remember, i'm a republican. i'm a democrat. and i think that's happened all over the country and certainly has happened here and here in tennessee. >> speaking of kavanaugh, you

said that you would support him. you also said that you believed christine blasey ford more than you didn't. what does that mean and how did that translate into support of him? >> you know, i would look at the role of a senator as -- really as a check in balance on the suitability of somebody. i think as presidents are entitled to appoint people of their political views and values to these offices. and the job of the senate isn't to just make sure they're qualified for the job. i was disgusted, there's no other word, the way both parties handled this proceeding. i'd love to get back to the days when a ginsburg could get 95-plus votes and a scalia could get 95 plus votes. i like to look at it from the perspective of i thought this person was qualified for the job. i did think that dr. ford was

certainly believable. in the end, i didn't think the weight of the evidence was there to really say that's enough to overturn the president's choice. just tried to act independently in that. there was no right answer in that politically. just, you know, these things just sort your way through. how do you think about this thing and the question in my mind was, was the evidence there to really say no? and i didn't feel it was. >> so kasie, that kavanaugh fight reminded voters this is a national race. that the control of the senate is at stake. and even though bredesen said he would support kavanaugh if he were in the senate, he still needs those republicans in this republican state who are not comfortable with marsha blackburn to vote for him. but the dynamics of this race after the kavanaugh fight has change ed and the race has

tightened. some polls are showing blackburn in the lead. >> leigh ann caldwell, thanks for that. still to come -- the closing arguments in the midterms are starting to feel a lot like the opening salvos of 2020. some of democrats' biggest names are traveling to sports that rhyme with schmoo hampshire. headliners featuring california governor jerry brown. "kasie dc" live from los angeles is back after this. (burke) that's what we call a huge drag. seriously, that's what we call it. officially. and we covered it. talk to farmers. we know a thing or two because we've seen a thing or two. ♪ we are farmers. bum-pa-dum, bum-bum-bum-bum ♪

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after weeks of denials, saudi arabia finally officially acknowledged jamal khashoggi's death. now claiming the columnist died after a fist fight with over a dozen men. president trump has long been reluctant to criticize the kingdom but in an interview with "the washington post" last night, he said, quote, obviously, there's been deception and there's been lies. still, the president has yet to place any blame on saudi crown prince muhammohammad bin salman has a close relationship with jared kushner. the president saying, quote, there are two young guys. jared doesn't know them well over anything. they are just two young people. they are the same age. they like etch other, i believe. karine, what is the impact here? this is one of those rare circumstances where i was watching all the shows this morning and i heard tom tillus on "meet the press" say i agree with dick durbin on this.

everyone is condemning the saudis except the president. the furthest he's gone is what we heard there in the post. >> it's really disturbing to be quite honest with you. it encapsulates the trump presidency of the last two years which is embracing authoritarian regimes, lying, putting his financial interests ahead of the country's. and it really is unfortunately -- it's taking away from what our nation is supposed to be. really fighting for human rights. and standing up with our allies as well. and it is just really disturbing every time i hear the story. it really just kind of tells you all you need to know about the trump administration. >> phil rucker, you have new reporting on this? >> i talked to a number of foreign policy experts over the weekend who said, look, this is the president abdicating america's historic role as a beacon for morality and foreign policy where we make foreign policy decisions not solely based on a commercial self-interest or short-term sort of benefit for our economy which is the argument trump has been

making and staying so close to the saudis, but based on a sense of morality and values that we want to promote around the world and trump is not doing that with his refusal to stand up to saudi arabia. and we know from studying donald trump over the years, nothing is more important to him than projecting strength and being seen as strong. and the danger for him in not confronting the saudis as directly as he could be is that he'll be seen as weak. and that other authoritarian leaders like kim jong-un would see him as weak and somebody that could be taken advantage of. >> is it your sense, republican senators that i talk to all seem to be on the same page with this which is that saudi arabia needs to be punished and will republican voters also see the need to stand up for human rights and to not be seen as weak on the world stage? >> this is a strange one because everyone involved in the story is a pathological liar. before you act on anything, i would make sure we know for 110% certainty just exactly what happened there, what the motivation was, who exactly did

what. i would caution people, particularly democrats, to try to make political hay out of this at this juncture because there's so much that we don't know. i saw julian castro was on one of the cable shows suggesting that this was a result of jared giving a hit list to the saudis and, therefore, that's why this happened. so i would stay away from all of that. >> joaquin castro did clarify that after on twitter but continue. >> id'd be careful with this on because there's still a lot we don't know about. >> there are a lot of facts that are known. jamal khashoggi went into the saudi consulate in turkey. he was killed october 2nd. that seems clear. there's evidence that the turks have that there were 15 saudi agents who flew to istanbul who executed jamal khashoggi, dismembered him. there's audio recordings. there's a growing body of evidence. clearly this is not all like on videotape that we can watch in a concrete way but there's enough evidence and enough intelligence

that i think the administration -- >> we still don't even know where the body is, right? >> the body was dismembered. >> and we do know that at the very least the president is now saying, okay, the saudis in some way have lied about this. there's been deception arounding this. thank you for coming on tonight. great to have you. just ahead -- we'll look at a toss-up california race that could be key to democrats in the house. rouda is taking on dana. it's raise someday eyebrows to say the least. alright, i brought in ensure max protein...

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wheat yeah. freak yeah. hi, i'm jason alexander. star of stage, screen and mcdonald's commercial from 1986. today is between dana joining us by a secure server from moscow. dana, can you hear us? >> if you're not going to let me say anything, it's good-bye. >> i'll take that as a net. >> net. welcome back. here in california seven republicans represent districts where hillary clinton won in 2016 and one of those republicans, dana is neck and neck with harley rouda. sir, thank you for being here. appreciate it. >> thanks. glad to be on the show. >> for those of us that cover

dana from washington, how do you explain from your district, his affinity for the russians, that that ad was making fun of? >> well, that's the hard part. it's tough to explain from meeting with russian operatives, individuals who have been identified as russian spies, to taking checks from convicted felon paul manafort to having a code name from the kremlin. this is difficult to explain and when you talk to constituents, regardless where they are, they recognize that this has very little to do with creating jobs here in orange county, helping their families, helping their community, helping their schools and kids. there is a lot of questions to be answered. >> do you get the sense that the people that you hope to represent, do they care about dana's posture towards russia or is it a non-issue in the race? >> depends where they are on the spectrum. regardless, again, it shows his lack of understanding what are the real needs in the district

by spending so much time on behalf of russia. i think it a really interesting thing is the interview with mueller, as well as the interview he had with the house intelligence committee. you know, the interview he had with the house intelligence committee has not been released, and we're trying to figure out what dana is trying to hide. why won't he demand why it's released. we have a footnote that said he met with two russian spies and he knew they were russian spies. >> your opponent accused you of saying you want to i'm peach president trump and so i'm wondering where you stand on that. do you thircnk there is evidenc that suggestions this president should be impeached? >> dana will say anything. i've been very specific all along that we need to make sure that mueller has the time to do the breath and depth his investigation deserves and paying off and we just look at the number of indictments that have come down.

so i believe we need to wait and see that investigation come to conclusion, let's see what it says, let's go from there. >> let's talk about immigration because it has been so much in the news with the caravan coming towards the border and the potential path to citizen ship for dreamers. is that something you would support? would you support a path to citizen ship fship for dreamers allowing them to sponsor parents for legal status here in the united states? >> i do think we need to have a path towards citizen ship for the dreamers but more important, let's go back in time to 2013, senate bill 744 passed with bipartisan support 2-1 that provided $46 billion for port and border security and pathway to citizen ship for dreamers that went to the house representatives where they never

let it get to the floor to be voted on even though there was majority support. that's the problem we got with the system and why i'm running. we have too many politicians that care about themselves and living off taxpayers' dollars and dana's case, 30 years and we need to get folks willing to reach across the aisle and put country and community first. >> if you had had the opportunity to vote on judge kavanaugh's nomination at the supreme court and i fully understand you're not running for the senate so that's not a realistic possibility, however, it's something that altered the landscape across the country, do you think he is qualified to be a supreme court nomination and do you support his being on the bench? >> i actually think we need to go back and reset this so that we have at least 60 senators approving these nominations and i think harry reid and mitch mcconnell made the mistake of reducing this down to 50. we need justices on the supreme court and court of appeals that

represent main stream america and in the case here we have the contentiousness of this debate when that would be eliminated if we could go back to that type of a system. >> since it's sunday night, i also have one nfl question for you. do you support nfl players kneeling during the anthem? do you feel as though that's protected and understandable speech or do you think that's something that you don't think players should be engaged in? >> i think it's protected speech, obviously. again, we got a president of the united states who is using this issue to divide the country, instead of working as the leader of our country, the one that holds the highest office in the land, instead of trying to bring americans together, he's using that as an opportunity to pit us against each other. let's get the work of the country done and focus on the real issues that confront us. >> all right. harley rouda. we'll watch the race carefully and perhaps i'll see you in washington in january.

who knows. >> you're always welcome here, kacie. >> thank you. in the next hour, we'll talk to congressman brendon boil and who is in charge of democrats in effort to retake the house. no pressure or anything. we'll interview 33-year-old elizabeth hang who republicans are hoping will help stave off the blue wave here in california. we'll talk about her family's trip and run to congress but first, the kacie dvr. our producers have stopped crying after watching "a star is born" and watch the sunday shows so you don't have to. we're back from los angeles in just a minute. what would it look like... ...if we listened more? could the right voice, the right set of words, bring us all just a little closer, get us to open up, even push us further? it could. if we took the time to listen. the most inspiring minds. the most compelling stories.

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the president faces an escalating international crisis. >> over the disappearance of "washington post" columnist jamal khashoggi. >> do you find that credible? >> absolutely not. >> i don't find it credible at all. >> it stretches to believe the crown prince wasn't involved in this. >> obviously, there was intent. >> there has to be a conquince. >> the president should go all the way on this. >> the saudi i ambassador to th united states. >> discontinue arm sales. >> i'm not rushing to judge. do i think he did it? yes. >> midterm elections. >> midterm. >> the final stretch of the november midterms. >> election night just 16 days from now. >> we're seeing tremendous enthusiasm. >> we're focussing on the issues

to make a difference. >> the top issue for voters around the country is health care. >> preexisting condition. >> preexisting conditions. >> preexisting conditions. >> i'm passionate about protecting people with preexisting conditions. >> nobody wants to take away social security, or medicare from people that need it. >> those are fighting words. >> welcome to the second hour of "kasie d.c." democratic congressman brenden boil of pennsylvania and nbc news correspondent jo ling kent. great to see all of you. congressman, i'll start with you. nice to see you in california, by the way, far from home. we're not going to talk about the eagles. we have a gentleman's agreement we won't discuss it tonight but anyway, the focus on preexisting conditions in the midterm elections is a remarkable switch from the republican candidates that i certainly covered, you know, starting in 2010 and quite frankly for years. how many times did the house

vote to repeal -- >> over 60. >> now clearly it seems they have also gotten the message that people actually really care about this coverage. >> i'm so happy to hear dana and ted cruz and republican colleagu colleagues, it turns out all along agree with the importance of protecting those with preexisting conditions. this is such a turn around. six years running on repeal and replace and a year and a half of them trying to come up with what the replace would be and still coming within one vote of the senate of actually succeeding and ruining the affordable care act. we're throwing 29.3 million people off their health care and yet, now, here we are at election time attempting to convince people that all along they were just really so concerned about health care the way they showed it was for the last eight years getting rid of the affordable care act. i don't think people will buy it. for any ad, positive or negative ad, it has to have plausibility. people know the republican brand

for the last eight years has been staunchly against obamacare. >> all right. two weeks with just over two weeks until election day, some democrats seem concerned about the absence of a singular unifying figure or unifying message. >> it's not enough for it to show who they are. we got to tell them who we are. what do we stand for? do we stand for? what does the democratic party stand for today? >> but some are encouraged by the fact the party let candidates focus on local issues and let conner lamb campaign how he wants to in pennsylvania and cherice davis in kansas. it comes as president trump is sharing his midterm argument with republican voters across the country. >> remember this, they are only sticking together because they want to make sure that i and we

don't get what they know our country needs. but i think they may be forced politically to do it because anybody that votes for a democrat now is crazy when you look what is coming up, crazy. [ cheers ] >> got to be crazy. as we speak, the democrat party, everybody used to go the democratic party, that's not the name. it reads so much nicer and sounds better. they would -- i'll give them a hint. they should change their name to the democratic party but it call it the democrat party. i watch where they say the democratic party. usually, in many cases, those are people that want to make it look as good as possible but it is, it's the democrat party, which doesn't read well. the other reads better. but we're going to call it the democrat party and it's openly inviting millions of illegal

aliens to break our laws, violate our borders. >> not even sure really where to start with that. president trump says of course, that he shouldn't shoulder the blame if republicans lose control of the house. and an interesting poll to show you chuck todd flagged of people that don't like either political party. 59% say they will vote for democrats compared to 17% for republicans up 16 points since last month. so i'm going to get joe and phil in on this conversation, too. congressman, i want to allow you to respond to the president and what he said about the democratic party of which you are a member. >> it's the democratic party and newt gingrich started rebranding us as the democrat party. anyway, just a quick note. >> quick correction. >> the last poll in terms of people who discussed it and discontented with either party, two years ago those voters that broke late voted for trump by

more than 20 points for hillary clinton. if you look back to 2010, it was overwhelming. the fact you see that sort of tiebreaker going to our side versus the other side, i think is very important and we have so many races in this election mostly because of the climate but republican held seats. there is a wide battle ground. so many races come down to one or two points. the difference between 51-49 or losing 51-49 could be the voters make up their mind the last 48 hours. >> jo ling kent, we sort of under sold i think in the course of the last hour the impact of women and the size of this gender gap, 25 points among women on the generic ballot that seems to turn these close races that the congressman thinking about in favor of democrats. >> we're expecting a lot of turnout according to polling data we can see here but what is

really interesting to me, what motivates not only women voters but voters across the board according to our data is the economy and jobs. it's really interesting to watch the president hit the campaign trail and continue this type of campaigning, fear mongering some would say while he has a solid record when it comes to job creation, wage growth is creeping up and unemployment rate is historic lows yet this number one issue rarely makes it to the top of the talking points when he's holding rallies as we've seen over the weekend. >> phil, can i ask you if in fact democrats do take the house republicans lose, how does the president avoid taking blame for that? i mean, what will we be hearing come out of his mouth the day after election day? >> if you think you'll hear the morning after the election say i'm sorry, that's not going to happen but he will inevitably get the blame for this. he's the national leader of the republican party and he's

nationalizing the midterm elections and what he's saying, if in fact, democrats take over the house there will be a political reckoning for him right away in terms of assessing l fa the fallout and his own reelection chance and it's a real threat in terms of the investigation, the oversight the democratic committee might do to dig into scandals and other issues in the administration. >> for a quick prediction. >> please. >> i said this to colleagues of mine, within 48 hours of us winning back the house, you'll see him on twitter, that paul ryan never listened to me, kevin -- those guys wouldn't listen to me. mitch mcconnell wouldn't listen to me. i won. they didn't win. he has no loyalty. he will throw them under the bus if it takes 48 hours, i would be surprised. >> what would you caution d democrats if you take back the house? there will be an incredible turnover regardless how this

ultimately breaks. there are risks of over reach. >> so 1994 newt gingrich and republicans take over for the first time in 40 years. everyone thought bill clinton was done for two years later he's reelected. 2010 republicans have a big wave. the best, i think the best house pickup since the 1930s. two years later barack obama wins reelection. we have to look back at the last 25 years to realize taking over the house and producing a big wave does not necessarily mean you win the next election. >> all right. this week marks two months since the passing of senator john mccain and two months since washington was almost unanimous recalling for a restoration of civility but here is where we are now, as told through a new ad from the national republican party. >> when they go low, we kick them. >> if you see anybody in a restaurant, in a department store, at a gasoline station, you get out and you create a

crowd. and you tell them they are not welcome. >> meanwhile, videos of lawmakers being confronted in public seem to be surfacing constantly like this one from tmz of mitch mcconnell being heckled in kentucky. look at this video om ff nancy pelosi entering a restaurant. >> look at this piece of [ bleep ] right here. look at this piece of [ bleep ] pelosi here. [ bleep ] congress. get the [ bleep ] out of here. get the [ bleep ] out of here. >> suffice to say, there has been in shortage of incivility in every corner of politics lately but the president is

trying to place the blame for it on democrats. >> the shameful democrat mob, we're calling it a mob. these people are starting to think of it as a mob, the democrats have truly turned into an angry mob, bent on destroying anything or anyone in their path. the choice could not be more clear. democrats produce mobs. republicans produce jobs. >> so we let the president make his argument there, phil. however, i think it's important to point out that the way that this president conducted his rallies, the way he encouraged violence that happened and the way he was mocking a reporter who was body slammed encouraging that behavior. that came originally from this president who campaigned differently from republican rooif rivals and democrats and quite frankly drew crowds if anything, seemed angrier than any crowds i

covered during 2016. >> that's exactly right. the video clips you showed are just so ugly and you're bringing up the john mccain funeral, an interesting book end to this. that was only a month or so ago when we heard those calls for unity but at the same rallies and i've been at some of them recently where president trump is using that language about democrats being the party of mobs and we're the party of jobs, he's spinning up his supporters in those arenas to be a mob themselves. they have a chance of lock her up and hillary clinton whose not been on the political scene for two years now. he goes after elizabeth warren as pocahontas and attacks on the media. he's using this to his political benefit he hopes but it's an ugly period for politics. >> joe, i remember covering john mccain's funeral. you did feel as though the country was trying to come together. there was a call for that. but it also felt to me like the

real end of an era where the lions in our politics were calling for civility and what has transpired in the aftermath is the opposite of what many people who honor mccain's life would have wanted. >> it sounds like to me, the president has no interest in honoring john mccain's legacy from the day of his funeral, he was obviously not in attendance and his tone has continued to be one that has been very aggressive and by inciting violence, which is what he's trying to do, they fight so i'm not going to finish the rest of that sentence. that is basically insigciting violence. it is a really dangerous strategy looking at that. watching the videos makes my stomach turn and makes me sad. we shouldn't be at this point whether republican or democrat. >> congressman, hillary clinton was out doing an interview saying how can you be civil with

people standing up against everything that you stand for. there have been democrats that called or defended heckling, rushing tom cruise out of a restaurant, going after mitch mcconnell. are those tactics republicans should use in voicing opinions? >> not at all. whether it was the ugly scene at nancy pelosi or the equally ugly scene no mitch mcconnell, it's wrong and unhelpful and doesn't persuade one voter. beyond democrat or republican, it bothers me as an american that believes in public service. for any of us to chose to enter the sometimes crazy profession, you know, we have family. we have friends. i have a 4.5-year-old daughter. seeing those sort of ugly scenes does not do our country any good, and it's a shame that president trump has so lowered the bar on this. i hope that once he leaves the

political stage, we'll be able to go back to normal and we're not permanently changed. >> reminder for everyone out there, the most important and powerful thing you have in your possession to change our politics is your vote. you have a chance to do it in just a few weeks here. fill ruck phil rucker, thank you for being with us. when we come back. >> here is my recommendation, grab your family, grab your friends, grab your neighbors, get to the poll. if not, we'll have another two or six years after craziness. make sure you vote. all right? >> the words of the one-time rnc deputy finance chair among other things. just ahead, we'll talk about how secure the midterm elections are from forces foreign and domestic. plus, congressman ben joins me live. "kacie d.c." back right after this. ♪ trelegy. the power of 1-2-3

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russian president vladimir putin claimed that the u.s. has been to blame for a number of the world's problems including some surrounding the global economy and middle east. putin says that influence is coming to an end. >> empires always think that it can afford certain mistakes or excesses because it is so powerful that nothing can really undermine it. imposing anything from abroad always produces very painful n consequenc consequences, as in iraq or

libya. that is a consequence of a political monopoly of a world that they try to establish at some point. thankfully, this monopoly, this is almost history. >> meanwhile, a russian woman has been charged with attempting to influence this year's u.s. midterm elections. the charges filed on friday accuse the woman of using social media platforms to create thousands of social media and e-mail accounts that appeared to be held by americans in order to quote create and amplify content. here is how president trump responded on friday. >> nothing to do with my campaign. if the hackers, a lot of them like hillary clinton better than me. now they do. now they do. >> those comments coming the same day as a statement from across federal agencies warning of continued efforts from foreign nations to influence the u.s. elections in 2018 and 2020

including russia, china and iran. congressman, do you and your colleagues feel confident the midterm elections are influenced? >> it's interesting. democrats had requested more money to protect the integrity of our elections. republicans voted across it and the extra funding was not provided in this past budget. unfortunately, it did become a partisan issue. in terms of my confidence about 16 days from now, we have one advantage in that we don't have a national system. the fact there are 50 states, different machines at the county level, the fact that it is so decentralized, while that can be frustrating. >> makes for a late night on election night. >> and some states can have different and lower standards than others that can be frustrating we remember from florida in 2000. that said, when it comes to preventing a wide spread hack, it's actually to our advantage. >> jo ling kent, you've covered this so closely. i know you were out at facebook

hq looking at their efforts. is your sense there is a material change and how the social media companies and technology companies are looking how to protect this. >> they are paying attention. that's a start. but they also say they are getting more sophisticated because the threats are getting more sophisticated. the real issue, though, what i'm starting to hear from executives and people who have recently left these companies in frustration is they don't feel like they are getting enough support from washington because one, there is not a coordinated effort right now coming out of the white house. that's a very big problem and two, they don't feel like they are getting the support from the congressional level to address this because whether or not the russians meddled in the past 2016 election is a matter of debate even though the intelligence agencies and social media firms are saying well, it actually really did happen. there is a level of frustration as face book has a room and

twitter is trying to make a difference here but what you really see is they are not really sure what is going to happen. they are doing the best they can but the fact it's a debate of whether or not something happened in the past and whether or not it will continue to happen is kind of this weird cognitive distance that makes no sense. >> you raise a good point about congress. congressman, one thing that's bubbling is the intense pohouse and angling among republicans to get a seat on the committee to use it for political purposes. are you confident that the national security oversight apparatus that's supposed to make sure we're doing this is actually capable of functioning? >> first, there is real stark difference between the way thom tillis has chaired the senate intelligence committee. >> you mean senator richard burr. >> yes. >> in terms of the senate intelligence committee versus what happened in the house and what devin nunes allowed to

ascend into, it's a true tragedy and i think when the history of this era is written, that will be a pretty dark chapter. now, in terms of just a point that she was making in terms of not enough help from washington, i would agree with silicon valley when it comes to this. there is much more of those companies can and should be doing, i do think that this is a national problem. we need to coordinate a national response and in someways, the republican defensiveness over 2016 has totally prevented them from wanting to look ahead and say for 2018, for 2020, this is a major issue and not just russia by the way. now that it succeeded in 2016, there is china and other co-untris looking at thco-u countries looking at this as a real vulnerability. >> after the mexican elections occurred, that so many issues that come up in terms of trying to so discord or hacking or whatever is coming from within the country where the vote is

happening. >> that's an entirely different problem. >> it's using these tech companies, how they were intended to be used and really pushing messages that are false or insighting violence. >> or telling people to go to the wrong polling place. >> yes, voter suppression is a huge problem. >> thank you so much for coming in tonight. good to see you. sorry about the eagles, for yourself and myself. when we come back, president trump is trying to in effect put himself on the ballot and republicans are trying to put nancy pelosi in there with him. i'll be joined live by ben ray lujan to talk about how they are trying to counter the master mess sanger. ahh. where are mom and dad?

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. we are just 16 days out from the midterm elections and critics continue to argue democrats are elected in leadership and messaging and nancy pelosi says while she expects to be elected house speaker should democrats take control, she sees herself as a transitional figure with quote things to do, books to write, places to go and grandchildren to spend time with. it's worth noting that by "the washington post" count,

one-third of democratic house candidates do not support pelosi's leadership. joining me ben ray lujan. sir, good to see you again. thanks, as always, for being on the program. >> good to be with you, kasie. >> let's start with nancy pel i pelosi. it's remarkable she views herself as a transitional figure to somebody else in the party, further than she's gone before in acknowledging there may be life in the democratic caucus without nancy pelosi at the head of it. how does that potentially help that acknowledgement help your candidates and do you think because there is so much pressure with some of these candidates saying they don't want to back her? >> look, kasie, i support leader pelo pelosi. the reason republicans attacked her is because she's effective at what she does. look at the work that we've been able to do this congress alone. we held together to push back against the republican repeal of

the affordable care act and able to stand strong against the republican tax and defining it to the american people for the country knows it's not helping middle class hard working families. the leaders reach out to encourage members to get involved and get engaged. the co-chair of the steering and policy committee but future forum. each and every one of us, i was appointed by the leader in 2014, elected by colleagues in 2016, worked by sherry, david, jeffreys on messaging and policy, just so many incredible leaders that are at the leadership table today. >> certainly, i will acknowledge your point i hear from republicans they quite frankly would prefer somebody other than nancy pelosi be in the leader chair when they have to fight the battles. let's turn to what would make her speaker or not, the landscape control of the house. it seems as though the president's approval rating has ticked up in recent days

according to our latest polling here at nbc news while at the same time, your democratic lead in the generic ballot ticked up. at this point, how confident are you democrats can win the house with a wide majority of support? >> well, kasie, i'm confident democrats will win back the house of representatives. i never said it would be easy. i always said that we have to fight for every inch and the battle field that has been laid out 111 districts across the country that we identified as the most competitive, we have a strong democratic candidate in each and every one. many of them polling ahead of their republican opponent or narrowly behind but also raising more resources that our republicans across the country. look, we'll see a natural tightening of facesraces across america but democratic candidates have an advantage across america. we have an enormous advantage

when it comes to women, 25 points with hispanic voters 25 points and african american voters 70 points. we have to work diligently in earning back the trust of the american people and that's why we launched the ground game four days after the women's march in 2017. >> let me ask you actually about latino voters you just mentioned. while you're correct they do favor democrats, there is a lot of concern about whether they will show up to the polls, whether or not they believe that their vote actually makes a difference. how potentially damaging is that for democrats in this midterm election? >> well, as a hispanic, i can tell you that your voice does matter across the country to the latinos tuning in now. we've been reaching out to hispanic voters across america from day one speaking to them, not just in english and spanish but also in span glish, the way i was raised, speaking in english and spanish and we are

connecting with voters acrossgli was raised, speaking in english and spanish and we are connecting with voters across the country, i'm encouraged. talking about what matters most to the american people including latino voters. we've been working with many colleagues traveling across the country, but it's not just latino voters we've been reaching out tollennials and african american voters and colleagues across the country have been pitching in. i'm confident we'll be able to reach out to the voters, inspire voters every step of the way whether reaching out to them online with digital platforms and television and radio or in point. we'll continue to workday in and out to make sure we are able to be in a strong place come election day and i'm encouraged and confident latinos will turn out on election day. >> i'll ask you to be honest with me here in acknowledging that you have to have some concerns about potential trouble spots on election night. so walk me through the map as you're watching these races and

counting in your head and i know you know the races and your candidates, you can probably at this point say a lot of their names in your sleep. but as you go across the map, are there trouble spots in florida? how many races do you have to win in new jersey? are you worried about nebraska? are the real kind of barometers and things that will tell us how you-all are doing on election night? >> well, kasie, just to start this. we built our strategy such that there are many paths to the majority. but to answer your question specifically, i think looking at new jersey and pennsylvania early in the night, understanding those polls close at 8:00 eastern time, not the first polls to close. if we win two or more seats coming out of new jersey and we win four or more seats out of pennsylvania, it's going to be a good night for us at the beginning of the evening. couple that with winning in connecticut where we have rays and papis with democratic seats. we do well in new jersey and

pennsylvania, i think that begins to show what we can do across the co-untuntry. across america, we'll see them tighten as the polling shows. >> which seat are you most worried about with people saying i can pick that up. which one do you think if you have to say? i'm telling you, you have to say. >> republicans are putting a lot of effort in minnesota. holding on two seats with tim walls and rick, members of the house running out with joe and with dan up there. i'm confident those numbers are holding but keep an eye on minnesota. republicans are pouring resources in there but we're not letting loose. angie and craig do well. we'll see us do well in the first and we're fighting for the eighth, as well. keep an eye out there. then watch the races. we'll do well in kentucky. amy mcgrath is doing well against andy bar and paul davis is doing well in iowa. there is a lot of races but keep an eye on minnesota and new jersey and pennsylvania.

hold the seats in new england. i'm co-nfident as well. don't take your eye off new mexico. >> all right. you got a lot of folks in there. i appreciate the extended tease. i was just in minnesota looking how the state will be a b bellwether. thank you so much for being here tonight. we'll pay close attention to your work in the next couple weeks. when we come back, we'll introduce you to elizabeth heng trying to foil ben ray lujan's plans. back after this. jimmy's gotten used to his whole room smelling like sweaty odors.

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a new generation of female lawmakers are set to appear many congress in 2019. one woman trying to be part of the group is elizabeth heng running for the house seat's 16th congressional district and may be an uphill climb as she goes head-to-head with jim costa. came close to costa in the jungle primary in june trailing him by only six points. elizabeth heng joins me from fresno, california. it's great to see you. i have to say i've heard a lot about you from republicans in washington who have been very focused on your candidacy and held you up as an example of a fresh female face in the party. i was reading about your life story and i was hoping i might

share background with us and what role does that play in your deciding to run for office in this environment, which is a tough one for republicans. >> definitely. thank you for having me here today. when i decided to get in this race, a big part of my story is that great things can come from great adversity. my parents lived through the genocide in cambodia, came to the united states as refugees and managed to establish a life here in fresno, california and work as hard as possible to provide my brothers and everything that they didn't have growing up. when i decided to get into this race and looking at the makeup of this congressional district being a strong bulk of them being first or second generation immigrants, and it being one of the poorest congressional districts in the country, that was the message i wanted to send to the community. >> you have accused your

opponent jim costa of having no original ideas of his 14-year cooers ra year career. what is one policy where you differ from republican leaders in washington but that you think your constituents would get behind? >> immigration reform. my opponent has been talking about a bipartisan immigration reform for over a decade now, for 14 years. yet, as you know, and at the national scale, i believe republicans and democrats have punted this topic for too long leading us to the crisis in which we're here and dealing with today. we need a comprehensive immigration reform that works where we're compassionate with daca recipients and increasing the guest worker program and visas. time so border national security so we sovlve immigration once ad for all and not talking about this ten years from now. >> your campaign is running an ad focused on nancy pelosi which

is the minority leader and speaker of the house. i want to show our viewers that ad and we'll talk about it. take a k loo. >> a foreign bill that supports sanctuary is theties, gun control and the money wasting bullet train and allow environmentalist to deny water. nancy pelosi and jim costa. after a lifetime in politics, jim is no longer one of us. jim is walking in nancy pelosi shoes. >> i'm elizabeth heng and i approved this message. >> my first reaction to that, do you feel that ad is a little sexist? >> not at all. when i'm watching these ads, there is so much finger pointing going on in washington d.c. and in the ads that i wanted to be able to talk about the policies that are heavily impacting this

district that absolutely do not make sense for it. for example, the water policies that nancy pelosi is pushing forth is not one in which would work for our ag based community here in california. we need water and water policies that work here. >> fair enough. that ad doesn't -- is not focused on policy. it's showing her high heels. do you think some of the attacks republicans level at nancy pelosi are potentially sexist or not? >> i disagree with that. this is a light hearted way of saying that my opponent talks about being a blue dog democrat for this community and a fighter and champion for it but the problem is that when you vote in line with ms. pelosi, 90% -- nearly 90% of the time, it's undeniable that your policies do align with her, and to say that you don't hear in the valley in the district i think is misleading. >> all right.

elizabeth heng, appreciate your time. we invited jim costa to be a guest on the show tonight. he declined. when we come back, none of the high watt take ddemocrats a running yet. so why are they in iowa and new hampshire? we'll talk about that next. there are roadside attractions. and then there's our world-famous on-road attraction. the 2019 glc. lease the glc 300 for just $489 a month at your local mercedes-benz dealer. mercedes-benz. the best or nothing. they work togetherf doing important stuff. the hitch? like you, your cells get hungry. feed them... with centrum micronutrients. restoring your awesome, daily. centrum. feed your cells.

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♪ my love has come along, applebee's new neighborhood pastas. now that's eatin' good in the neighborhood. that's what this election is about. it's about who do you fight for and why? who do you care about and why?

>> this election is literally bigger than politics. >>? going to be one of those elections historically will be seen as a response, not about left or right. but really people feel like they're going out there because of right versus wrong. >> this will be one of the most significant important elections of our lifetime. there's so much at stake. >> i believe in the depth of my soul, that they are going to lose, that the human spirit of justice and love is going to win. >> i'm so tired of democrats walking around like woe is me, things are so bad. i've had it up to here. it's time to get up, lift our heads up, remember who the hell we are. this is america. let's take back the senate? and we will change the world as we know it. now. now now now! thank you very much. >> if the closing argument in these mid-term elections sounds

a little like the opening argument of 12020 well you hearded same thing we just did joining me live is mike mamelee, mike this will be it's not november yet of 2018. and it seems like we're on track for a two-plus-year presidential campaign. what's your take on how this is shaping up? >> well kasie, i spent a lot of 2018 looking at these mid term elections through the lens of 2020. watching some of the big-name democrats begin to quietly position themselves for a potential white house run. as we've seen the calendar churn to october i think these covert campaigns have become a lot more conspicuous. all of a sudden they're showing up for the first time in iowa, in south carolina, here in nevada and new hampshire. i know jill kent is on set and will talk about how our friends in new hampshire are feeling a little left out. couple of things i want to talk

about in terms of i was in south carolina earlier with kamla harris and cory booker. laying down a marker in a state without any big national races this week. the african-american vote, one that's going to be critical for 2020. we we look at bernie sanders and joe biden who i was covering in nevada. big-name democrats who we don't know necessarily are going 0 to run. but both were choosing to position themselves as potential leaders in the party. the stalking horses in the party per se. in iowa bernie sanders talking about the ideas he talked about that were considered revolutionary in 2016 are now the mainstream and biden saying he doesn't think the party is doing enough to speak to the aspirations of the middle class. >> i want to know when are you going to answer future i'm ready to sign up and do some work for you. >> i appreciate that question

and i will be happy to have that conversation in 20 days, let's focus -- one election at a time. let's focus on this one before us. that's really flattering. >> well -- >> are you running for president and i said sir, i'm running from the president. >> kasie, we have these candidates being coy with reporters and with supporters as you heard cory booker in south carolina this week. i asked him after that event, really what is his timeline? he said he's focused on re-election in 2020. i should note that the new jersey legislature has started on path to legislation that would allow him to run for re-election and president in 2020. >> oy vey, what to watch for in the week ahead. a dog sitter. -okay. -and make ice. -pizza delivered. -what's happened to my son?

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before we go, let's talk about what you're watching in the week ahead. mike, i want to go back to you. what's on your travel schedule and what are you paying attention to? >> i'm here in las vegas tomorrow we hear from former president obama his first campaign rally in a little while. it will be interesting to hear from him. i head back to d.c. we're going to have a big debate on capitol hill on wednesday, rod rosenstein going to face off with lawmakers for the first time. it's interesting they've limited that interview to just the chairman and ranking member of the house oversight and judiciary committee. not some of the antagonists among the likes of meadow who is have called for his resignation.

we haven't heard from him in response to this "new york times" report. a lot attention on that. >> an interesting potential compromise or way of threading the needle to have him come up but not to potentially face those who could be his greatest antagonists. >> joe ling kent what will you be watching? >> third quarter consumer sentiment. how are voters feeling with their pocketbooks and i'll be heading back to silicon valley to do some investigative reporting for you. >> one thing i'm paying attention to this weekend, we didn't get a chance to talk about it tonight at length. there's reporting in "the new york times" about how this administration is trying to redefine gender norms under title ix potentially opening doors to additional discrimination essentially based on gender because they want it to be tightly binary, a reversal of some of the ways that president obama did it the obama administration expanded those definitions. that does it for us tonight on

kasie d.c. we'll be back here next week from 7:00 to :00 p.m. eastern. for now, good night from los angeles. i take this as an existential threat to america, to california, to the world and i'm going to fight it with everything i can. >> california versus the trump administration. >> jerry said, i'll wall off california if trump wins. >> to say in a there are differences between trump and jerry brown is the height of understatement. >> jerry brown, outspoken and ready for a fight. >> trump says global warming is a hoax. i say trump is a fraud. >> from seminary student to political rock