that does it for me on the beat. special election coverage starts at 6:00 p.m. eastern tomorrow. but more importantly right now, "hardball" with chris mathews is up next. /s >> the trump vote. let's play "hardball." ♪ ♪ >> good evening. i'm chris mathews up in new york and here at democracy plaza amid all the excitement and expectation of election eve, i have this tune bouncing in my brain. it's that great song from chorus line, one, one singular sensation, one single thrilling combination. you've got one vote tomorrow, one, and it's about donald trump. that's the message trump himself

has pushed at every rally over the past few weeks. vote for one of his candidates and you're saying yes to trump. amid all his behavior, his gros statements about women, his ethnic and racial baiting, his personal assaults on anyone in his way, this is how the election is going to be read tomorrow night on wednesday morning and weeks from now. it's how trump is going to read it, claiming personal achievement if he holds on or strengthens his grip on the senate. denying responsibility which is very possible that the house goes democratic. in other words, americans will deliver their verdict tomorrow on donald trump, and all he represents. the final nbc/"wall street journal" polls shows among likely voters, democrats now hold a national advantage of 7 percentage points over their republican opponents. 50% say they prefer a democratic controlled congress, 43% want a republican congress.

separately, a cnn poll released today shows an even bigger 13-point lead for democrats on the generic ballot. 55 to 42%. that's a biggie. it just came out. one consolation for republicans is that 68% of registered voters say they're satisfied with the current state of the economy. according to the nbc poll. yet, catch that, 68% like the economy. and despite that apparent confidence, far fewer are willing to say they like the direction the country is going in. only 38%. get this, 68% happy about the economy, 38 happy about the country and how it's being led by this guy, heading in the right direction. no way. anyway, a big disconnect there between the economy satisfaction and the trump satisfaction. taken together, those results show a dramatic disconnect, as i said, revealing voters can be positive on the economy and still feel the country is on the wrong way. that is an alarming sign for president trump and his party

tonight. it explains why trump today raised the spectre, you bet, here it comes, of voter fraud in an apparent play to discredit the results before they are even in. and even though the president's own commission uncovered no evidence to support claims of widespread voter fraud, he issued this misleading tweet this morning. quote, law enforce. has been strongly notified to watch closely for any illegal voting which may take place in tuesday's election. wow. it's the old, the election is rigged cry that trump had ready in case he lost in 2016. well, trump also went a step further and dismissed legitimate concerns about voter suppression, saying, so funny to see the cnn fake suppression polls and false rhetoric. meanwhile, trump continued his attacks on democrats today by stoking anti-immigrant fears. >> as we speak, democrats are openly encouraging millions of illegal aliens to violate our laws and break into our country,

and they want to sign them up for free welfare, free health care, free education, and, of course, the right to vote. the right to vote! there is only one way to end this lawless assault on our dignity, our sovereignty, and on our borders, and that's by voting tomorrow republic. >> wow, joining me right now is susan page, washington bureau chief for usa today. former chief strategist for john mccain and also now governor john kasich. you're still with kasich. >> i am. >> thank you very much. let me go to susan for the straight scoop. susan, i don't know how you can walk into a voting booth without coming out talking about donald j. trump, wanting to ditch the guy, send him 9 worst message of your life, or i like this guy. i don't know how you avoid the guy. >> i think that's what -- i think that's true and i think our polling shows that most americans say donald trump is an important factor in deciding the

vote. and in fact, president trump has made it so, if anybody was not inclined to think that a few weeks ago. he has gone on this unprecedented series of rallies that tells voters, pretend like i'm on the ballot, because he is in an important way on the ballot and the results will be a judgment by american voters about what -- whether they like the course he's taking the country on or whether they want to change the course. >> it looks to me like he's afraid. he already said he's going to lose the house in so many words the last two or three days. he's going to lose the election because, it's rigged. the old number he was trying out in '06. >> -- 2016. >> not just because it is an indictment on him, but because what we're seeing right now is this amazing surge of energy among people of color, among young people on the democratic side -- >> make me feel good. how do we know that? >> we know that, one, because of the gotv efforts har happening.

look at early vote numbers. >> is that early or added vote, do we know? >> i don't know if we know, but i know it's early vote. then what we're seeing is color of change pac, are mobilizing so many voters in ways that are unpre unprecedented. they've hit a million and a half text messages to voters. they're knocking on 13,000, 15,000 doors. so we're seeing more volunteerism happening right now. >> what is it about the election, is it all trump? >> part of it is trump. we have a whole piece around black pride and around being excited about the first in georgia, in florida, opportunity to have elected officials in governorships we've never seen before. >> these are not, what do you call them, sacrificial -- they used to say sacrificial -- the candidate who is nominated never going to win, hethese are first rate ivy league super stars. >> they've been doing this a long time. >> with experience. >> they're driving a new message. this isn't just fear and upset

with donald trump. they are pushing a message and vision for america that is progressive. people are actually running -- >> you're losing me here. you're saying the only way democrats can win is if they're progressive? >> i'm saying what's winning in georgia and florida -- >> you have a lot of moderate democrats out there you're not cheering on very strong. if you don't cheer them on you don't get a majority. you hear me? >> i hear you. >> thank you. that's my argument. washington post today about the republican campaigns of 2018, noting that the fierce battle for control of congress and the nation's governorships has turned toward blatant and overtly racial attacks rarely seen since the civil war -- actually the civil rights era of the '60s. for example, we saw iowa's republican congressman steve king, he's a real beauty out there, his right wing political party comparing the neo-nazi party in austria to the republican party. that's sweet. he saw a white supremacist group

make robocalls in georgia, stacey abrams, we were talking about, her chief surrogate oprah winfrey. there is that racially suggestive ad produce bid trump's campaign committee which wrongly linked the democrats -- there he is, for killing two police officers and saying he wants to kill more. as of tonight, facebook, cnn, nbc and fox refuse to air that ad or pulled it from their networks. john, this has to be the first time in modern history that a president's ads have been pulled for being racist. >> imagine. right? >> i imagine it. it's happening. >> look, his dystopian vision of the future he has knocked the legds out of so many candidates in the suburban districts and broadened the playing field for the democrats and the house. and i think he's the one causing the senate races now to become much closer in missouri, north dakota, texas -- >> they are getting closer. >> they are. >> in fact, i see the democrats leading in every win of the late polls i saw today, ayesha.

>> he's trying to stoke his base. the base is only so small, you can't win only with your base. i think what we're seeing with these polls right now coming closer for the democrats is that there are other people who have been on the side lines saying enough is enough. >> let me go to susan page on this. a couple of races i'm looking at is really close. obviously trump thinks he can pick them off. donnelly in i understand. you can tell by his travel schedule. he believes rightly he won last time because he knew how to put that tour together in wisconsin, pennsylvania, places like that. he's going to pick off the people who are the more moderate democrats, mccaskill, especially donnelly and trying to knock them. what do you think of the success of that? those numbers are looking better for the democrat as we speak. >> it's true we have some of the final polls that look better for democrats. these are extremely competitive races. it is still an uphill struggle, i think, for democrats to gain control of the senate. everything has to go their way. look at the three rallies, trump

has chosen to go on this final day. ohio where there is a governor's race. indiana and missouri, those are both states with close senate races. and where he is probably a plus. unlike, say, a place like florida, more of a swing state where donald trump may not be a place -- a plus in that senate race or that governor's race. >> well, president trump is also targeted two leading democratic candidates who happen to be african americans. we talked about them, andrew gillum of florida and stacey abrams of georgia. let's watch him go at them rather viciously. >> i will say this. andrew gillum is not equipped to be your governor. he's just not equipped. it's not for him. it's not for him. he knows it. he won't say it, but he knows it. >> oprah's good, but the woman that she's supporting is not qualified to be the governor of georgia by any stretch of the imagination. >> you know, these terms, i don't know whether it's about a woman or an ethnic group, a race, if you will, but he seems to reserve low i.q. -- you notice it? >> just call it what it is.

call it what is. he's running a race-based campaign, a hateful campaign. an election tomorrow needs to repudiate that. >> i'm not a big believer of ivy league distinguishes the brains of this country at all. but when you do have a yale law, which is the toughest law school to get into and you're stacey abrams, you don't call the person low, unequipped, unprepared and all that. >> these people have way more experience for the jobs they're going after than he had for the job that he has. so at the end of the day, you know, i don't want to -- >> is this going to stoke -- is this going to help? i grew up in a city where we had a mayor perceived to be racist, frank rizzo, he was perceived that way. it was the best registration the blacks had in philly. they out registered the whites. they said this guy is out to hurt us. >> that's what we're seeing. andrew gillum said to your his opponent, you may not think you're racist, but all the racists think you're racist. >> he doesn't seem to be

impressive, he doesn't seem like an impressive alternative. >> it's bringing out women and younger voters who see his tone is off. the swing is going to come from -- >> here's a question. i notice it had in my family. women tend to be more sympathetic to people of color. they seem to be more sympathetic to migrants. guys tend to be tougher, more macho, what do you explain about that, john? why are women better than men when it comes to caring about people who need a little break in life? >> that's the way it has been through history, right? look at the gender gap now. it's a gender chasm. >> i want to say this at the end of the show, ayesha. when access hollywood was su poeds today blow apart this guy -- a lot of the head of the party thought they would. he was able to cleverly put that aside, locker room talk, no big

deal. that guy on that tape with billy bush is president of the united states. and has proven that for two years. that's why i wonder how women can walk away -- you know, the stock market is pretty good and unemployment is pretty good. i'm going to vote for this guy. >> i've been asking white women 53% of them could vote for this guy. these women have children and they have values. they're saying i can't even turn on the television when this guy is talking. >> i like the way you did that. you're a real politician. you said, their guy. not marrying the guy. i love the way you said that. >> he's not their guy any more. >> i don't think he is. and also the hillary problem. there are complexities of hillary at the end thanks to comey i think helped trump. that's not going to be playing in the field. thank you, susan page as ams. i'm one much your huge supporters. even though you're not running for anything, thank you.

and alicia moody mills, we can disagree about center right, center left and left. john, thank you. up next, the one and only cher. that's her, cher herself is coming on this show to talk about the stake everybody has in tomorrow's election. she wanted to come on and we couldn't be gladder to have her. be sure to tune in tomorrow for live coverage, by the way, all day. i'll be joining brian williams, rachel maddow, eugene robinson starting at 6:00 eastern tomorrow night, eight hours of excitement here on msnbc on election night, christmas eve. can't you feel it? "hardball" where the action is.

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[ready forngs ] christmas? no, it's way too early to be annoyed by christmas. you just need some holiday spirit! that's it! this feud just went mobile. with xfinity xfi you get the best wifi experience at home. and with xfinity mobile, you get the best wireless coverage for your phone. ...you're about to find out! you don't even know where i live... hello! see the grinch in theaters by saying "get grinch tickets" into your xfinity x1 voice remote. a guy just dropped this off. he-he-he-he. welcome back to "hardball." one day out from the midterms is tomorrow night and singer cher has emphasized the importance

ever voting. tweeting that president trump, quote, governors by hate, fear, divisiveness and lies. if you don't vote, he will rule the same way. vote or suffer the consequence. that's from cher. i'm joined right now by her, someone who needs no introduction. cher, thank you for wanting to come on "hardball." we're so glad to have you. tell me why you think people ought to vote tomorrow and how. >> well, i vote for republican -- it's nice to hear your voice. >> thank you. >> i mean, i would vote for democrat because i, i, i just believe that, you know, he's shown who he was. he showed who he was even before. central park 5 and saying that president obama was kenyan, you know, and muslim from kenya. and i see the way that he has used hate. and we say this all the time. everyone says this. he's a liar. he uses hate. he uses fear.

you know, i've said this a million times, but i think that when a man can take children away from their parents and put them in cages and he suffers no consequence, then i don't understand how we're america any more. >> let me ask you about trump and women. he got 52% of the white vote, of white women last time. what do you make of that? >> i haven't got a clue. the truth is, i mean, he would take away -- first, he's such a misogynist. secondly, he would take away the things that i have fought for since i was a young woman. and what i think is that a lot of these women, they're just voting straight republican. he was a reality star and he seems very kind of sexy or

something. also, he promises whatever. it's like, i've never seen anybody lie so good. he would be the greatest actor because you can't really tell when he's lying and when he's telling the truth, and i find that actually amazing. i've never seen anyone do that. >> cher, i don't know you, but i am a big fan, of course. i have some thoughts about some of your movies, which are all positive. let me ask you about this thing about what you're doing. you have a minute. tell me what you're doing to get people to voting tomorrow. >> well, i just -- i saw something on television and i just thought, i can help this. so i'm in five cities in georgia, in north dakota, and in florida. i've gotten together buses and vans and having people taken to the polls. >> that's great. you know, that's old-time politics.

it's called a polling operation. i grew up with my grandpa doing that in north philly. i think it's so great we're back to that, on the ground politicking of the best kind, helping people have their right to vote. and it's a real honor, cher, to have you on tonight. thank you so much. >> thank you. you know what i don't understand? i don't understand -- i mean, i understand it, but i don't know how they're getting away with it. the republicans are making it harder and harder and harder to vote. >> you know why? because they're shrinking and that's the only way they're going to win. we've said so, we quoted the guy from enpalomino pen, the head of the party, head of the legislature. they openly said, we have the tapes, the reason they have to do that is because they're shrinking. the only way they can win is cheat. thank you so much, cher. up next, president trump's closing message is a smorgasbord of unfounded fears and conspiracy theories. are voters buying any of it? this is "hardball" where the action is. ♪

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you'll be locking those doors, you'll be locking those windows. you'll be saying, i wish we had matt. i wish we had matt representing us in the senate. including those charged or convicted of 48,000 assaults, 12,000 sex crimes, and 1,800 homicides. you know, you don't hear that. i'm the only one that tells you the facts. >> welcome back to "hardball." that was president trump in montana this weekend selling a message of fear. didn't you hear it? about immigration to his supporters. however, not all republicans agree it's a winning strategy. according to politico, house republicans are in a panic right now because they fear the president's ferocious focus on immigration alone will turn away sub expected the g-nal weeks of in montana, indiana, missouri, west virginia -- >> that's where he's aiming. >> right. think about this. those are five states that he won by double digits, and those

democrats are tied or leading. and that is a testament to each one of those senators and how good they are and what they're talking about on the ground. those democrats are talking about health care. they're talking about job security. they're talking about opportunity -- they're really leaning into health care, though. that's why those races are so close and why so many of them are going to win. >> elise, two numbers. 68% of the country likes the economy, 68%. 38% like the direction of the country. that's a huge disconnect. so, even though we have an unemployment rate that's down, markets are okay. they still don't like the feeling of the country, what's the feeling they don't like? >> they don't like the attitude of rancor constantly. they don't like what they see as divisive rhetoric. you go around the country and you talk to voters who are really upset by the tone, even though they like the policy, then you have some voters who love the policies and they've decided to completely ignore the tone. so this is much more than a debate over ideology. this is a debate over morals and that's why the country is at each other's throats about it. >> i see a big blue wave and a smaller but real red wave. i think it's two. i think the country is really, as somebody said, kaleidoscopic.

you can see places like north dakota staying red, red, ruby red. >> i obviously agree with that. but if you talk to people that are in the know in the polling area, in the republican party, they're saying that there's about 40 districts inside the margin offer, at least on the house side. that's sort of a miracle in some ways. and it's probably a tribute to the president's strategy. whether you like the strategy or not, he is forcing the agenda to bring more voters to participate in this house. >> how big is kavanaugh right now? is he still a factor or is he gone? >> i personally don't think he's as big of a factor. but that caught fire two or three weeks ago that helped create some of the momentum the president has created. >> does kavanaugh work in both directions or just one? >> i always thought kavanaugh was going to be a sugar high. a good feeling a week.

on the democratic side, and for all those suburban women who are very, very concerned about the direction of the court and the civility and what's going on, it's like, remember the alamo. they are mad about it and they are driving a lot -- >> they're with dr. pickford. >> that's right. >> i was actually very surprised with what i heard going around for focus groups for the ash croft in america project, going from new hampshire all the way over to california. the portrayal of the rancor over the kavanaugh nomination played out very differently among voters. republican voters were still really angry and motivated in a way that i hadn't seen in a long time. >> you mean the effort, the really strong question by cory booker and kamala harris, they didn't like that? >> they were very angry about the way that they felt brett kavanaugh had been mistreated. and the democrats were demoralized on some level. this was just the groups that -- >> i have to ask about this. >> it only lasted about a week.

we saw it in the polling. >> anthony, why didn't the tax cut go away, like the sugar high? it never seemed to grab as a voter issue. that huge trillion and a half dollar cut. >> it's definitely helped the economy. one of the issues -- >> i agree, it helps growth. >> it hasn't filtered down enough to the middle class. that's why the president is calling for another tax cut, because for whatever reason, we can take too long to describe it, it's not there yet. it takes about 18 months to have the full effect. this is a big issue we're going to be talking about on wednesday. was the narrow casting issue of the president on these issues, to bring out his base, was the right strategy or were the republican house aides right? whether you like the guy or not, he's out there barn storming the nation very differently than president obama did in 2010, or george w. bush did in -- >> he's targeting, really targeting the low-hanging fruit, if you will. the really tice races like

indiana and missouri which are just like that. he figures he goes into indiana he can turn it. meanwhile, georgia's democratic candidate for governor stacey abrams is firing back against her republican opponent secretary of state brian kemp who is also the secretary of state. after he launched an investigation this weekend, claiming that the democratic party was trying to hack georgia's voting system. >> first of all, i think it's wrong to call it an investigation. it's a witch-hunt that was created by someone who is abusing his power. friday, brian kemp was notified there was yet another flaw in the election security system. twice before he has accidentally released the information of 6 million georgians. this was going to happen again. instead of owning up to it and taking responsibility and fix the flaw, he instead decided to blame democrats because he does that. >> well, kemp, the republican, told reporters he's just doing his job. and that he is not worried about how it looks. though he has provided no

evidence whatever to back up his allegation. i think the gubernatorial candidate of the democratic party could teach anger management. that is the calmest candidate, i am nowhere as calm as that lady is, the way she addressed the last-minute smear to try to jamb the election in one direction. she's calmly laying it out analytically. >> i was in iraq and afghanistan for elections when the u.s. government was involved in still an oversight capacity. if there had been an afghan official involved in overseeing the disputed results of a contest in which they were a player, we would have had a fit. it really baffles my mind that in 2018 in america, three secretaries of state have control and have authority over their own election. >> did you see that mayor of north ogden, utah, killed over there? his last tweet was, people over here risk their lives to vo vote and we screw around, say i'm in starbucks, they don't bother to vote, i'm in another line.

>> some of the extremist in the political system is causing a lot of normal people to evacuate. it's almost like part of the business model, the two fat tails of the extreme are pushing out the normal people saying i don't want to be part of this. >> the good news -- >> you're not that normal. >> you're not that normal. >> we've had this extraordinary early vote. we are seeing, i mean really it is double what the early vote was in 2014. and in places like texas and nevada, over 40% of the early vote is coming from irregular midterm voters. >> we hope. we like the irregular people. remember trump says i like the low information voter. i like the low irregular voter that shows up. >> we like it. >> i like it when people who don't show up show up. we spend time preaching to the choir and people who show up blow your minds. we hope everybody votes tomorrow. thank you, stephanie, elise, anthony. up next checking on our

"hardball" 10, "hardball" top 10, the key races that will decide the control of the senate. i like the senate, it's smaller. you figure it out. there's only ten races we're going to follow. trump is playing on the fact he's going to lose the house. he wants bragging rights for losing the senate. by god, he might lose both. you're watching "hardball." (burke) at farmers, we've seen almost everything, so we know how to cover almost anything. even a huge drag. nothing worth losing sleep over, because 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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welcome back to "hardball." we spent the past few months looking at the "hardball" 10, the ten races that we believe will tell us who is going to win the senate next year. in fact, tomorrow. and now it's time to see where things stand on the eve of the election. currently republicans hold 51 to 49, a majority in the senate. they only have a two-seat majority. democrats are defending seats in west virginia -- these are tough -- north dakota, missouri, montana, indiana and florida. all states that voted for donald trump. republicans are defending seats in nevada, arizona, tennessee, and texas, not too hard for them. for a look at some of these key races i'm joined by chris hayes, my colleague, anchor of all in, chris hayes. john ralston in nevada and vegas. and what stays in vegas won't

stay in vegas tonight. in fact, jennifer duffy of the cook political report who knows all things senate. i want to start with chris. my favorite question, you may have used it yourself what can't you say on television in texas about the race between beto and cruz? >> look, we've seen the energy, right? that's one of the things that has come across. you've seen the big crowds. we've all seen the phone banking. we've seen the incredible numbers of donations that have flowed in. the thing about texas is an obvious point. it is so enormous. there are so many different pockets of this state. one of the things beto has not had in his favor from the beginning is he is not from the population center of the state. statewide candidates tend to come out of austin or houston or dallas. most of texas lives in that sort of quadrant with san antonio there on the eastern part of the state. he has no geographic base to work off of so he's got to find votes all over the place. and that's a challenge that

makes his job even harder than it normally would be for a democrat running statewide in texas, a state that has not produced a democrat statewide in like 24 years. >> let me ask you a logic question. he's run as a progressive democrat, a liberal democrat, if you will. he hasn't pulled his punches like joe donnelly is doing in indiana. how can he tell the people of texas who are red in their souls and in their dna to elect a progressive democrat? what's the case? >> he's done two things. the first case is the idea -- and you actually see a similar thing j.d. shelton is has done. number one, i'm going to work. i'm going to go to every county multiple times, every counter, i'm going to be open, i'm going to hustle for you. i'm not going to be out doing other things. that's sort of first case. i think the second case is frankly, you look at bill white, mayor of houston ran statewide, lost by 13 points. ron kirk lost by 13 points.

the math has not added up in the past for democratic candidates in the state and i think the thinking is, try something else, right? the math has not been there. you've seen democrats run a sort of centrist texas democrats time and time again and they haven't been able to cross that 43, 44 percent of the vote. try to do something else and try to find some voters that other people haven't found before. that's been the theory of the case from the beginning. >> shoot the moon. thank you so much, my buddy. let's go to john ralston. i hear you do have a pick in that nevada race for senate. >> yeah, i predicted yesterday, chris, jackie rosen was going to defeat dean heller by a couple of points. the reason i did that is basically two things. first of all, it looks like these races out in nevada from the polling i know about are breaking toward the democrats. but also, as you know, chris, early voting here is 60 to 70% of the vote. the democrats had a huge surge at the end of last week built up a 47,000 ballot lead in clark county in vegas.

as you know, two-thirds of the votes are, they have about a 3.5% lead statewide. it may not sound like it's gigantic. it's not presidential year margin, but it's probably going to be enough because there probably aren't enough votes out there unless heller can really get a huge margin in the rural counties on tuesday. and that's going to be very, very difficult to do. >> a gender question. is it better to be a woman candidate in nevada now than a male candidate? has it changed? like in california, it seems like it's an advantage. but your thoughts. >> yeah, i think so. there is some conflicting evidence about what the makeup of the electorate is, though, chris. i think it's more female than male, but jackie rosen would become the second female senator elected from nevada. as you know, two years ago, kathryn cortez mass tell became the first latina ever elected on the strength of the hispanic vote in the presidential year turnout. i think it is an advantage for jackie rosen, and especially on the health care issue. she's been able to use that to

pummel dean heller and talk about herself a lot in that. and i think that's really helped her in this race. >> thank you. hang in there, john. jennifer, tell me, is there any wind blowing from the left or the right or is it running -- these last couple hours, these last couple days, is there something moving toward either party right now nationwide? or is it still? >> i think it's in the senate. i think it's fairly still. i've been saying all cycle that if democrats manage to hold onto their most vulnerable seats, then political environment was the most important thing driving senate races. but if they lose a handful, then it was geography is your destiny. >> i was looking at, this is a bad luck year for the democrats, isn't it? >> they have a terrible map, but they've done a lot with it. >> what about -- is there two different waves? is there a blue wave riding the suburbs across the country and the rim of the country, you know, the coast where they tend

to be more liberal, and at the same time there's that sticking with trump thing going on in the plains states and in the deep south? >> well, whether there is or not depends a lot on where you live. i mean, if you live in north dakota, then these voters seem to be sticking with trump. if you are in a more suburban state -- let's think about ohio, maybe, where sheriff brown is going to easily win reelection -- that's where democrats are doing well. >> i've had this question i want to raise. it's a postulate. we always talk about the bubble around d.c., the bubble around new york. if you live in the suburbs and you say other women, who are you going to vote for, you might be more encouraged to say democrat this time. if you live in the red parts of the country, you say i'm thinking of voting for the democrat. what? is there that other direction that goes on in politics or is it all individual thinking? >> look, i mean, i think that you do -- are influenced somewhat by the people around you, but it may not be an

either/or proposition here. i mean, i think you're going to see some tickets split. we've seen it in the polls in some states. let's go back to ohio again. sheriff brown has a very comfortable lead, yet the gubernatorial race is dead even. >> des moines? >> right. texas, governor abbott is going to win by 20 points. >> you're not in the business of predicting, but what do you see happening? what has been the direction of the race? is it doable for beto? >> yes, it is doable for beto, and i am in the minority that thinks that, but i'm thinking about this race a little differently. even a little differently than chris hayes talked about it. you know, his path to victory is actually through the suburbs. he does not have to win them all. but if he can really cutback on what a republican would normally get there, he can win this race. >> you mean the wealthier more educated harris county voter, those kind of people? >> harris county, travis county, the suburbs of san antonio.

>> so that pattern is across the country. >> that's part of the place they have been focusing on. they have focused on younger voters and early voting sort of says that's been working for them. we'll see. >> maybe some women voters will vote for him and never tell their husbands. my mom voted for kennedy. you're a great guru, the oracle of dell identify. thank you f -- delphi. and jennifer. coming up, preexisting conditions is is a hot button topic for democrats, not only democrats, especially democrats. and montel williams, a long-time republican joins me to explain why he's voted to vote like a democrat this time. never done it before. and be sure to tune in tomorrow for live coverage all day, of course. i'll be back at 6:00 p.m. to join the crowd, our super team tomorrow night. you're watching "hardball."

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welcome back to "hardball." republicans are telling voters ahead of the midterms that they want to protect preexisting conditions, despite their long-time efforts to dismantle obamacare. in an opinion piece in usa today, however, montel williams writes, i was once a proud republican. but on health career the republican party has left me and the 130 million americans under age 65 who have preexisting conditions out in the cold. this year for my future, my kids' future, and my future grandchild's future, i voted the entire democratic ticket for the first time in my adult life and i'm urging other voters to do the same. montel williams joins us now. montel williams, thank you. >> thank you, chris. >> so many voters have talked

about the health care issue, particularly the need for real coverage for people who do have preexisting conditions. >> and the leadership in this country fails to even recognize the true problem, chris. 130 million people as of today have at least one chronic illness and about 80% of them have two. and over the next two to three years, that number is going to grow to about 150 to 160 million americans. that's almost half of our population. and to say that, you know, we don't think that it's necessary to defend those or protect the rights of those people to be able to have some sort of insurance coverage, to be dropped off the rolls, every family in this country that is middle class, upper middle class or below, are maybe one terrible illness away from being bankrupt. this last year, six months ago, i suffered a traumatic brain injury, which was a hemorrhagic stroke that i am blessed to have recovered from, 99.9%.

but about two years ago, my daughter went through two rounds of cancer -- two rounds of cancer. and if you take a look at our bills collectively, this would have bankrupted and put people in this country, middle class or below on the streets. and it's inexcusable that in now 2018, we live in one of the richest nations on the planet. we can't come down in a bipartisan way, instead of dropping a nuclear weapon on the affordable care act, we could at least come together in a bipartisan way to see if we can fix some of the problems that exist within it. we know there are problems. the biggest problem to the right happens to be the name that they have given to it, which is obamacare. that has nothing to do with it. it's called affordable care act. that's what we passed the bill for. and we should come together. this is what we should be demanding of our leadership right now, to stop all the bipartisan craziness. >> what do the republicans mean when they say they're going to

protect preexisting conditions? >> they're lying. >> they don't have a health care plan to compete with obama. what are they talking about? >> the tenor of the day is to lie, and that's exactly what the republicans are doing what they lie. you cannot find one republican super pac organization in this country that's come up with an alternative, you know, alternative to the affordable care act. so when they say they're going to protect preexisting conditions, they are lying straight through their teeth the way their leadership is. >> that's the old trick they pulled in the '60s when they had ronald reagan on television saying they had an alternative to medicare. they had none except private medicine. thank you, montel williams. thank you for coming on. >> thank you. >> when we return with trump watch, he won't like. but viewers will find it a healthy guide to tomorrow's voting. you're watching "hardball."

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trump watch monday, november 5th, 2018. donald trump is the first president in my lifetime elected after making a public statement putting down half the electorate. i refer to the access hollywood tape wherein candidate trump spoke of the entitlement women have to assault women.

he claim they were merely engaging in locker room talk, these were not reflective of the man himself, no longer holds water. the trump of access hollywood is the trump of the past two years. the one that calls a woman horseface, a veteran member of congress low i.q. a candidate for georgia governor, a yale law grad, not qualified. it is clear that this president has never abandoned the line of thought he revealed on the way to the white house, that women are a kind of subspecies, not worthy of respect or our confidence. i said at the beginning of this show that this election is about whether we wish to make a statement of support for what donald trump is selling or a rejection of it. i offer up a verdict for all watching right now to consider. my granddaughter was proud of having lost a baby tooth the other day. while i've been away, i'm confident she has already been receiving a visit from the tooth fairy. but along with that visit should be a loud and clear statement from the american people that no

barriers should lie in her way, certainly none more than any facing her brother, call this sentiment. but this vote tomorrow is about sentiment. do you like the way things are going with trump or not? do you feel like cheering on his gros claim of entitlement to mock and disparage women? or do you want to sing out with a higher sentiment in that booth tomorrow, that god created women worthy of all our respect, all of it? that's "hardball" for now. all in with chris hayes starts right now. /s >> good evening from dallas texas on the eve of this truly historic election day. i am chris hayes with special coverage tonight. we have correspondents across the country, rehema ellis on the bitterly fought good to be na fo