election day hour for me. i'm going to see you back here tomorrow morning at 9:00 a.m. when steve kornacki decides he's going for a nap, i'll be following up on him with the big board. at 1:00 p.m. eastern with stephanie and then again at 3:00 p.m. eastern. and tonight, stay with msnbc until the last vote is counted. our election night team coverage and analysis begins 6:00 p.m. eastern right here on msnbc. thank you very watching. "deadline: white house" with my friend, nicolle wallace, starts right now. hi, everyone. happy election day in america. it's 4:00 in new york. voters have a stark choice today. what has become a nationalized midterm cycle. to hear donald trump tell it, no one paid attention to the midterms until he came along. if there's a grain of truth in that statement, it may be that he's helped motivate record high turnout. but his most notable impact is on each party's closing message. here's the president's closing message for america. we'll warn you, that his entire statement is a lie, and we're

only playing it to you to illustrate the vast gulf between the two parties when it comes to credibility, morality, and pure political effectiveness. here's trump's closing lie. >> 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. [ booing ] and it's the right to vote that they like the best. they want them to be able to vote. >> literally, none of that statement was true. those people may as well have been booing the grinch. new reporting from nbc news says republicans are concerned that trump's closing themes will backfire. no kidding. "after largely standing by president donald trump, as he's

led his party for the past two-plus years, some republicans now worry that his campaign rhetoric has gone too far and will cause some gop candidates their races and jobs in tuesday's midterm elections." the democrats closed on a more optimistic message. >> the church of this country is on the ballot. who we are is on the ballot. what kind of -- [ applause ] what kind of politics we expect is on the ballot. how we conduct ourselves in public life is on the ballot. how we treat other people is on the ballot. >> but i think that you're going to see a number of republicans when this election is over, distances themselves like a number did from trump in terms of his harsh rhetoric and his divisive politics. >> i just want to say, jesus don't like ugly.

huh-uh. we know what to do about that. vote. >> so the democrats are closing on the character of the country, and the leader of the republican party on race baiting and lies. tonight, we'll have the voters' verdict. here to render their verdict, some of our favorite reporters and friends. with us from the "washington post," national political reporter, moderator of "washington week" robert costa. joining us on set, jim messina, former white house deputy chief of staff under president obama and on his 2012 re-election campaign manager. matt miller, former chief spokesman for the justice department. alice jordan, former aide in the george w. bush white house and state department. and steve schmidt's back. he hosts the podcast "words matter." words do matter. steve schmidt, you couldn't make it up if you wanted to teach donald trump a lesson about the ceiling of the tone and tenor of his presidency. >> well, the thing about this election is that it's such a binary choice, and tonight, the country will make a fundamental

decision. are we a geography with warring tribes on it where we look at each other as the other, we pit one group of americans against the other? a tribal war conducted by donald trump, a tribal chiefton pitting the country against each other, toke sto stoking this cold civil war? it will either be validated tonight or be repudiated and there is absolutely nothing in between the two. >> jim messina, i want to show you some voices, surprising voices, including steve schmidt, of people urging midterm election voters to vote democratic. let's watch. >> the party of trump must be destroyed politically. >> i am urging everybody to vote straight-ticket democratic in november because i think it is imperative to get some checks and balances. >> i left the party about five weeks ago. i think democrats should take the house. >> right. >> i think we'll be safer in a

divided government. >> those are all republicans, former republicans, nonpracticing republicans, urging straight down the line, party-line votes for democrats as a check on this president. have democrats done enough to sort of broaden the tent? do you think tonight's results will represent a democratic realization that it's not just about right/left, it's not, as your old boss said, red state america and blue state america, it's about sort of a crisis in terms of the character of the country as president obama said. >> absolutely. and as steve just said, this is a moment in time that is the most important political moment of our time. are we going to be forward and be the america we want to be or go back and be divisive america which we were for a very long time? steve schmidt and i ran for two years campaigns against each other for the presidency of the united states. i never would have thought then he'd be a member of my party saying, hey, it's time we're all together. the question tomorrow is going to be, can democrats build on this? can we go through a divisive primary for president with 20-some candidates and can we continue to reach out to these

people? because tonight, a bunch of them are going to loan us their vote. the question is do they follow steve and everyone else coming permanently or is it just a one-night loan? >> robert costa, can you weigh in on your reporting, what sources are telling you, there's this nbc news story that i referenced at the top about some republicans already pointing fingers at this white house, at this president's closing message, the hard line on immigration. i'm guessing if you wanted a wall and you were scared of the caravan, you were already in the gop corner. a lot of republicans expressing frustration and exasperation that no one was able to re irin this president in and get him to focus on what they think is a strong economy. >> most republicans were voicing those sorts of complaints are retiring republicans from suburban or purple areas of the country. those who remain in washington who want to have a future in the republican party, many of them have resigned themselves in

their words to the reality that president trump has such a tight grip over not only the gop, but the conservative movement because of his regulatory actions, the tax cut, two picks on the supreme court, that it's going to be hard to really have a reckoning on his political capital in the coming months. even if democrats gain some seats. >> robert costa, your colleagues report republicans attack jewish candidates across the united states with an age-old caricature of fistfuls of cash. i wonder if anyone, if there's anyone left, john mccain filled this role of sort of the conscience, not just of the republican party, but of the senate. is anyone -- are you hearing anything -- i don't see anyone putti putting their face to it or name to it on any of the print stories or tv programs, but is anyone sounding the alarm? are there any flashing yellow lights about all of the race baiting, about all of the sort of concern about racist sentiment sort of being welcome in this country? about the anti-semitism that manifested itself in the deadly

shooting not two weeks ago in pittsburgh? anyone sounding any alarms about all the bad that's been ushered in with the trump presidency? >> nicolle, the politician to pay attention to at this point is the likely next senator from utah, mitt romney, the former republican nominee has run a very quiet campaign for senate but has talked a lot about the importance of the freedom of the press. he's made statements critical of president trump, and if he wins as expected tonight, he comes to washington with an enormous profile. already his friends are saying he could really be a counter to president trump, if he chooses to do so. as we've seen with governor romney in the past, he sometimes tries to drift with president trump, considered even for secretary of state. his decisions in the coming months, the way he frames himself politically, will be very important for the republican party as they think through can anyone really challenge president trump on those questions you raised? >> alice jordan, donald trump already doing a little bit of i

won't call it mia culpa. you have to have a conscience to feel guilt. saying he could have softened his tone. must have seen the polling numbers about women. i'd show it to you. i've seen enough. he was asked a question, said i worry, i regret my tone a little bit. he went on to be as boisterous as he always was at a rally. he went on to trot out sarah huckabee sanders and kellyanne conway on stage and sean hannity, by the way. what do you think of sort of, just the spectacle of trump's final act in the midterms? >> he is trying to throw spaghetti at the wall and see what sticks. you saw it over the past two weeks with how he decided to deploy up to 15,000 troops on the border of our nation to defend the nation against women and children, essentially. you saw it in how he decided to wager let's change the constitution, and end birthright citizenship. he really was going for whatever he could to draw out voters that he already had. i think we've seen tonight, we're starting to see in just

these spectacular turnout numbers that young people, especially, are actually voting for in record numbers that we've never seen. >> voting in midterms. i want to ask this, so we were looking for some of these closing messages and folks, well, you know, biden's voice was scratchy, obama's voice was scratchy. i don't remember obama's voice being scratchy when he was running. these obama, biden, they have left everything on therunning, themselves. how important is this election to those two men? >> i think everyone is on the ballot. you have policies on the ballot that barack obama fought very hard for and other policies you've seen the president try to push through that are dramatically fundamentally in contradiction with our values. but this election really isn't about any of the specific policies that donald trump has proposed on his own or obama policies he's tried to roll back. it's about basic fundamental things like our commitment to the rule of law. >> yeah. >> like whether we believe in anything called objective truth in this country. there are much bigger core democratic values at stake. i think that's why you see, you

know, the leaders of the democratic party out fighting so hard and see our candidates fight, you know, if you look at the candidates that the democratic party was able to recruit this cycle, it's not your typical candidates. it's not just state representatives that want to move up to state senators. state senators that want to move up to congress. there are former defense, former cia agents, former air force pilots coming out of the woodwork. national security officials who fought thr thfor this country a running for office, they don't like the president is doing and want to take it in a different direction. >> they're running as democrats. >> right. >> this was a remarkable, you know, donald trump proved to be a very good recruitment tool for the democratic party in recruiting superior candidates. and you look at andrew gillum, he's obviously embodies the future of the democratic party. you look at stacey abrams, she has run an unbelievable campaign in a very red state against someone, if you want to make a case about a rigged system, she can make that case better than anybody, running against an opponent who is the sitting secretary of state. what do you think about the

message that president obama, vice president biden, and the democrats closed in on about the character of the country being on the ballot? it seems like you could not articulate a higher-stakes message but it just might do the trick. >> it's the most profoundly important political message i've heard at any moment in my lifetime. let's understand what's happened over the last couple of weeks in this country. we've seen a president of the united states make up out of whole cloth an invasion saying that there is an invading army of decide-riddisease-ridden imm coming to crash through the southern border. he has deployed active duty assets of the united states military including elements of the 101st and 82nd airbornes. the 4th infantry division. units that have deployed over and over again. dozen times to iraq and afghanistan. how many thanksgivings, how many christmases, how many graduations, have those soldiers missed? and for them to be put down there for this nonsense is an abuse beyond description.

the incitements racially, this is a campaign that lester maddux or george wallace would have been proud of. we have never seen anything like it in our lifetimes in this country. and for republicans to sit there and to point fingers, they want to point fingers, look in the mirror because two years ago, when donald trump came to washington, there were three parties in the town. there was a democratic party. a republican party. and donald trump. the republicans made the affirmative decision, one by one by one, lindsey graham is the great avatar of them all, to capitulate to it. to surrender to it. the vileness, the meanness, the cruelty, the dishonesty, the assaults on objective truth. the liberalism of it. the assaults on our important institutions from the department of the justice to the intelligence community. the politicization of the military. it is beyond belief. we always look in campaigns and

we say the campaigns determine by the last meaningful thing that happened as opposed to the first significant thing that happened, and this election was determined two years ago by the capitulation and surrender of the republican party, the throwing out of the window of every orthodoxy, every claim, every fidelity of belief, that these people once claimed. that they stood for election on. and so tonight, the country gets to weigh in. one of the things that is for sure unique, we have never seen in this country a billion dollar propaganda industry -- >> yeah. >> -- in full service and in absolute control of an administration in the way that fox news is. i suspect when you watch the rallies, right, it presents a dystopian view of america. though everybody in that rally is in a -- is enthralled to this cult of personality. that's not the country. today we hear from the country

and in a few hours, we're going to start to get a sense about reality, and it may pop this bubble, this trump reality distortion field -- >> the mirage. >> that's propagandaized that we see the wizard behind the screen later tonight maybe. or this will be validated. and if it worked, the racial incitements, the cruelty, the meanness, the viciousness, if it worked, we're going to be in a crisis in this country the likes of which was simply unimaginable two years ago, four years ago, at any time in our lifetimes. >> jim messina, how do were we' -- to show donald trump in the proper context, what he talked to, what you're about to see is a lie. show the lie. and then what you heard was a lie. how do you -- how do you take apart an opponent's political attacks when they're not even -- you know, we're so far beyond on

the point, we worked on opposing campaigns. all of us have. we used to debate ideas and approaches to solve the same problems. we don't have a shared baseline. i listened to obama and biden and the fact that their voices were gone, it seems to me that this is something that really is an emergency to former leaders. that we have to -- we have to claw back the truth. how do you fight an opponent who doesn't fight in truth? >> this is the moment i'm incredibly proud of the democratic party because usually we go chasing every rabbit hole donald trump threw out there. for the first time in the last month, we have stayed laser focused on avoiding the sideshow, on talking about pre-existing health care conditions, on talking about the moment in time we're at, talking about the things steve just talked about. you know, president obama spent 18 months saying i don't want to be out there campaigning, i don't want to do this, i want new leaders out there. but to your point, comes a mome patriot and have to go out here. i teared up when i saw the clip

of him. he left everything out there. michelle obama has been at more rallies than ever before because this is a moment we all have to stand up. and we all have to kind of say, this is our moment to say no, and tonight, to steve's point, the american public is going to say hell no. >> robert costa, i'm guessing this is not the white house's view on what is going to happen tonight. i'm guessing the white house is going to say, we held onto the senate, it was thanked to donald trump that republicans held onto the senate and the house, well, the house is always hard for a president in power. what is the white house sort of -- if you could just project forward eight hours, what's the white house going to say if they lose the house and narrowly hang on to the senate? is that going to be enough for the president to declare some sort of victory or validation as steve schmidt said of his politics? >> you can expect the president to tout any kind of senate majority, if it continues to be held by the republican party as a victory in the late hours tonight because he will continue to be able to appoint and likely confirm supreme court justices to overhaul the federal

judiciary and if there's ever impeachment proceedings that come out of the house of representatives, having a divided senate and republican-controlled senate will put the president in a relatively favorable position should there ever be a trial about his conduct. so the white house looking at polling, they're telling me in the last hour they feel good about states like indiana, even florida, but at this point, they believe the suburban house races, andy barr in kentucky, barbara comstock in virginia, those are going to be the bellwether tonight. >> if the hangs on to the senate, that may be a victory for him, but just barely. only by a completely, you know, if it we're changing the expectations game in his favor, look at the rust belt that delivered the presidency for donald trump. ohio, michigan, pennsylvania, all those states have democratic senators up for re-election. all of them, they're going to win thand win handily. donald trump is only campaigning for the senate in the reddest states. i think indiana, montana, west virginia, maybe missouri, you're going to see democratic senators

come back. you made a good point about his message being desperate at the end. where he's campaigning is also despera desperate. he holds the senate -- >> we're going to talk about tha that. >> governors races, too. if democrats win the house and win more governors races than they've held since 1990, that's a wave. >> and state legislative races as we come into a redistricting cycle. so we have to look up and down the ballot and, look, donald trump is saying whatever, i mean, if you -- >> he will. >> if you have it within you to make up a fake invasion of america, i have no doubt that if there's some republican that holds on to the senate out there, that they're going to look at it and claim that, hey, you know, this, what a great victory for us, despite all the results. but we will know, we will know. everybody will know when we see the results about what happened tonight. and, again, it's either repudiation, or validation. and there will be nothing in between the two. >> i have a prediction. >> go ahead. >> by the end of tonight, the democrats are going to control every single presidential

battleground governorship. donald trump is going to wake up tomorrow with a completely blue governorship and try to run for re-election. >> all right, you're going to text me when that happens. we'll mark that point if that happens tonight. all right. robert costa, thank you for spending time with us again today. when we come back, donald trump's fake election scandal, how his reckless and unsubstantiated claims of voter fraud are targeting the very voters who just might swing the midterms against the gop. and what one publication is today calling the midwest massacre. matt miller previewing that for you. we'll bring you that reporting and show you who might be out of a job. and we go to the hottest races of the cycle. beto versus cruz. gillum versus desantis. and abe rarams versus kemp. all those stories still coming up. well, here's to first dates! you look amazing. and you look amazingly comfortable. when your v-neck looks more like a u-neck... that's when you know, it's half-washed.

add downy to keep your collars from stretching. unlike detergent alone, downy conditions to smooth and strengthen fibers. so, next time don't half-wash it. downy and it's done. but prevagen helps your brain with an ingredient originally discovered... in jellyfish. in clinical trials, prevagen has been shown to improve short-term memory. prevagen. healthier brain. better life. i wono matter how long moment to addresago you served,erans. you earned the powerful va benefit that lets you buy a home with no down payment. and with a newday va loan, you don't have to save up to move up. and because newday usa has been granted

automatic authority by the va, they can say yes when banks say no. helping veterans buy homes. that's newday usa. go to newdayusa.com, or call 1-844-637-2859. the meeting of the executive finance committee is now in session. and... adjourned. business loans for eligible card members up to fifty thousand dollars, decided in as little as 60 seconds. the powerful backing of american express. don't do business without it.

mr. president, what proof do you have that people are -- >> just take a look, all you have to do is go around, take a look what's happened over the years and you'll see. there are a lot of people, a lot of people, my opinion and based on proof, that try and get in illegally and actually vote illegally. so we just want to let them know that there will be prosecutions at the highest level. >> his opinion and a lot of people. that's who we're supposed to believe when it comes to claims of voter fraud in the u.s. illegal voting is a conspiracy that trump pushed both as a candidate and now as president. even his attorney general addressed it in the doj's statement about monitoring federal voting rights laws. "fraud in the voting process will not be tolerated.

fraud also corrupts the integrity of the ballot." nothing about russians there. hmm. as the "washington post" points out, these claims aren't true. "there is no evidence of widespread voter fraud in the u.s. trump formed a commission to study the issue shortly after he took office that was disbanded without finding evidence of fraud after states refused to turn over voter data. voting rights advocates denounced trump's remarks as a blatant attempt to intimidate voters on the eve of election day and part of a pattern among republicans, they said, to curtail voting access with strict rules that disproportionately affect voters of color who tend to vote democratic." joining our conversation is jason johnson. you know, i made a joke, but no joke, this is not an administration, particularly concerned about russia's attempt to meddle in the 2016 election, but very, very worried, you know, hand wringing, up all night about something that doesn't happen. james baker, republican, and jimmy carter, former democratic president, studied voter fraud after the 2000 florida recount

and found there really wasn't much voter fraud at all. we have a different problem in this country, people don't vote. >> yeah, nicolle, it's interesting, which of these scenarios is more likely? that someone's going to, you know, travel hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of miles through guatemala, through rain, through snow, through mosquitos, just to get up to the united states to wait in line for 3 1/2 hours? >> to vote for, you know, congressional candidates. ridiculous. >> exactly. as opposed to some gru agent who's sitting in moscow who says, yes, i can hack into georgia fairly easily. look, this is a lie the republicans have been promoting for years especially under this particular administration. and it serves two purposes. first off, it's meant to intimidate people from voting. anything that you can say that makes a voting process seem sketchy or problematic is a way to get unlikely or less likely voters to not come out. but also it's to set up a narrative to intimidate and abuse potential candidates as well. because these constant comments suggest that, hey, if we see any discrepancy here, we're going to

see yo sue you, going to arrest you. it's saying we're going to prosecute political enemies and political opponent. it's a disturbing trend and embraced by most members and most of trumpism. >> it's amazing no one inside says, hey, we might be vulnerable on this because we don't appear to be too worried about russian interference in 2016. we called bob mueller's investigation into that a witch hunt about three to four days a week. maybe we aren't the guys who should go out and make up a conspiracy about voter fraud. >> cognitive dissidence is not something they've always been -- >> doesn't keep them up at night. >> good way to put it. there are some problems with the modern republican party that are specific to trump and some problems the republican party has had for a long time that trump happens to be worse than everyone else. this falls into the latter category. the republican party, sad to say, has been campaigning against common existent voter fraud for some time. the bush justice department did the same thing the trump justice department is now doing which is trying to scare people into this idea that there's voter fraud. partly i think as jason said to scare people away from voting,

partly to justify restrictions that make it harder to vote. partly to have this civil rights division do something other than enforce what they're supposed to do, which is discrimination that makes it harder for voters to vote. i thought the statement that jeff sessions put out yesterday was absolutely abhorrent. the justice department puts this press release out every two years. it is what they do when -- it's what the civil rights division exists to do, is to help people vote. and to use that press release to try to raise this idea of voter fraud is just, would be, i think, abhorrent to everyone who works in that division and knows what they're really supposed to be doing. >> steve, there have been so many trump presidency debacles that we don't spend enough time sort of stewing in the juices of them. but one of the biggest debalk b was the botched commission to study voter fraud that ended up folding tent when nobody would give them any voter data. but it really, in a normal white house, it would still be on the short list of things they screwed up. >> there is no systemic voter fraud in the country.

>> right. >> it just does not exist. when you unpack what donald trump said there on that clip that you showed, first off, i understand all the words in english, but when he puts them together, truly, it's the musings of an imbicile. it's a nonsecutor. it's an absurdity. it's like saying the election is compromised by an attack of sasquatches or donald trump junior is a brilliant neurosurgeon. none of these things are true. it is just made up. it is a -- it is a lie, but it's repeated, it's repeated at a loud volume, at a significant velocity over and over again through the propaganda industry, that he commands and he controls and so we have this reality distortion where millions of people in this country have been lied to over and over and over again for years about a problem

that, in fact, does not exist. >> jason johnson, how does it manifest itself on the ground in real races? where these messages can have an impact? i know stacey abrams, you're in georgia, stacey abrams had to fend off false attacks, unsubstantiated attacks from her opponent down there. >> yeah, it's amazing. so we behave been talking about this for months now. basically it's bad enough you have a secretary of state, brian kemp, who's running for governor. that's essentially like tom brady putting on a ref uniform and then sayings hey, pass interference, right? you're not supposed to have someone basically refereeing their own campaign and their own race. even worse, what you've seen are these sort of faulty and ridiculous accusations. in the last 48 hours before the election. everyone in georgia knows, the local press, national press, have been talking about the fact that the voting machines here when they do work are essentially running with, like, windows 2001. you want to vote and clippy comes up and says do you want to vote? it's really old machinery, really old technology no one should be using anymore and

brian kemp is one of only five governors in the country who refuse federal aid to upgrade the security on the election system before this election and then 48 hours before, you know, our election day today, he's blaming stacey abrams and the democrats trying to say, a-ha, they're trying to hack the system. the problem here, and i think in this is a problem certainly for the republican party in the state of georgia, it seems to be having the opposite effect. you've got people who are proud to wait in line for 3 1/2 hours. you got the new georgia project down here has pizza at the polls. they're giving people pizza. i met a mariachi band that is going to minority polling stations and playing music while folks are in line to help people stay in line. so all he's done is sort of made people more enthusiastic, more concerned with keeping their vote. my hope is whoever gets elected, and i assume only stacey abrams would do this, is going to make sh sure for the next elections they're cleaner, safer, more open and don't have to have conversations about the most

fundamental fran chides and fundamental ch fundamental franchise of our democracy. >> we should want that for everyone. everyone should want that. after the break we'll turn the spotlight from the candidates to the voters and show you one woman's emotional response to a question about what the election of beto o'rourke in texas would mean to her. i just got my cashback match, is this for real? yep. we match all the cash back new cardmembers earn at the end of their first year, automatically. whoo! i got my money! hard to contain yourself, isn't it? uh huh! let it go! whoo! get a dollar-for-dollar match

at the end of your first year. only from discover. smile dad. i take medication for high blood pressure and cholesterol. but they might not be enough to protect my heart. adding bayer aspirin can further reduce the risk of another heart attack. because my second chance matters. be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen. you see clear skin. cosentyx can help people with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis find clear skin that can last. don't use if you're allergic to cosentyx. before starting, get checked for tuberculosis.

an increased risk of infections and lowered ability to fight them may occur. tell your doctor about an infection or symptoms, if your inflammatory bowel disease symptoms develop or worsen, or if you've had a vaccine or plan to. serious allergic reactions may occur. how sexy are these elbows? ask your dermatologist about cosentyx. "look what she's accomplished... she authored the ban on assault weapons... pushed the desert protection act through congress, and steered billions of federal dollars to california projects such as subway construction and wildfire restoration." "she... played an important role in fighting off ...trump's efforts to kill the affordable care act." california news papers endorse dianne feinstein for us senate. california values senator dianne feinstein

i love that music. at the top of the hour, we're going to start seeing the first few waves of exit polling data, final round of tea leaves to read until we get actual results. for now this is the best we've got. the cook political report's final ratingratings, they say t are 75 competitive races going on right now in the house. and a good sign for democrats, of those 75, 70 held by republicans. democrats only need 23 seats to snatch away control from the republicans. the senate is the tougher task. if democrats are going to succeed there, it likely involves beto o'rourke in texas.

he voted this morning in el paso. he's a superstar there. listen to how 77-year-old pamela aguirre described him. >> reporter: you were here when beto came to cast his vote and you told me this was very emotional for you. why? >> well, because i wasn't expecting it and because we think he's pretty important and we're honored that he was here. >> reporter: why is he so important? >> because he represents everything that donald trump isn't. >> reporter: you're so proud. what will it feel like if you see him win this race tonight? >> everything. just everything. we want him to win. and we'll be watching the tv tonight with him. he'll be someplace in the city. but it will mean just so much. it will mean that, by gosh, we all still have a chance to have

a decent country and decent values with decent relationships with other people. >> wow. joining the conversation now, from the "washington post" "power up" anchor, jackie, it's amazing to see these voters and how much -- how emotional this vote is today. and we all can get lost in polls and focus groups and counting of seats and this and that, but you see that. i've watched that four or five times and it moves me every time. these elections, and no matter what side you're on, republicans going out to vote for their candidates, democrats going out for their candidates. the intensity seems to be unlike anything we've seen in recent midterms. >> yeah, that's right, nicolle. there's been so much cynicism and inflammatory rhetoric the e refreshing to see people genuinely enthused and inspired to be getting out to the polls today. this texas race, that woman

obviously is a 77-year-old woman, but i think the people making the biggest difference here are voters under 30. and, you know, people have largely written off this beto race. yes, it was attracting a lot of media attention, but gop operatives were pretty confident that cruz was going to win this race by double digits. those operatives have quieted, though, in recent days as the early voting numbers have come in showing that the race actually could be poised to be the most diverse and young electorate voting in a midterm ever. and the epicenter of that being coming out of this beto race in texas. and, you know, even outside of these personality politics, beto obviously has been a very captivating personality that has drawn a lot of young people to become civically engaged and involved, but even outside of that, we spoke with jacqueline koren, one of the founders of march for our lives, a parkland studenting w student. who said that young people are understanding that it's about

the issues beyond the names and the personalities. that it's about really the issues that are on the ballot. especially things like gun violence and these unfortunately, these shooting sprees and these massacres have really activated young people to get out there. >> jim messina, this was something your campaign did better than i'd seen it done before. young people were very inspired by president obama. that wasn't surprising. but they actually went out and voted for him, which they don't always do. i mean -- >> no. >> -- i think young voters have some solve the lof the lowest ts in the country. >> yeah. >> what are you seeing, first of all how did you do that and what does beto replicate that might throw this into a tossup? >> ten years ago, president obama became president of the united states. we were talking about it during the break of lines of two miles of all these people waiting to vote for barack obama. when i saw the beto lines today, they looked like those kinds of lines.

candidates matter. we're all smart political operatives and don't matter as much as visions of candidates and people who really inspire people. especially young americans. right? and beto has done that. stacey abrams has done that. andrew gillum has done that. then there's real grassroots organizing about getting people involved. social media makes it much easier to organize folks today. the single-most persuasive person if you're going to vote is your friend or family member saying, hey, i'm going to vote, come with me, let's do this. that's. what people are doing for these candidates they really believe in. >> do you think there's any chance beto will win tonight? >> i think there's definitely a chance. >> yeah. >> i think -- >> me, too. polls don't -- >> enthusiasm, i just wonder how much the polling models have missed being able to factor in youth turnout, and you look at what happened in the uk in the snap election in june 2017, and theresa may thought she had a mandate, lost a ton of seats because youth turnout was up to 70% which was previously unheard

of in the uk. and so i wonder if we're going to see those kind of staggering numbers today. >> jackie, you write about the youth vote and donald trump's approval rating among young voters is i think 26%. but young voters need to be motivated by what they're for as much as what they're against. do you see specific campaigns and candidates that have done a better job than others at putting out both the positive and the negative message? >> well, not to spend too much time talking about this beto race because it's already gotten its fair share of media attention, but i think what's been also really special and interesting about this race in texas is that beto has sort of eclipsed this partisan rancor and focused on largely the positive and i think at a time of such partisanship, that has been especially attractive to people, you know, as you said, florida governor andrew gillum has been really attractive to younger voters. yes, i want to get -- yes, candidates matter, but i want to

get back to this point that civic engagement in general is becoming a cooler thing. i think social media has really changed the landscape. young people on twitter, on instagr instagram, they're engaging with the president, themselves, on a daily basis. they're looking at their phones and seeing what the president is tweeting and they are coming to realize that the only way to get out there and to make change with these tweets that they're potentially disagreeing with is to get out there and vote. and, you know, i also want to say, there also has been tangible change. a student of parkland said to me since the shooting which was eight months ago at parkland, there have been 60 state laws that have changed that have tightened gun control. this is inspiring to young people. i think we often underestimate and overlook young people. but they're paying attention. this is -- this is legislation that affects their lives. >> steve schmidt, if we let people vote on their phones, they would pick presidents. i mean, some of it is that we have outdated ways of voting in this country. i want your thoughts on that but also on this reporting about

the, donald trump's gop braces for midwest massacre. on the eve of the 2018 midterms, republicans are bracing for a massacre in the midwest. this political climate is one i've never seen in my lifetime. says chairman of the gop. in wisconsin, in the past you voted with your pocketbooks. people get thrown out of office when voters are this angry." >> the choice to latch themselves to the mast of the s.s. donald trump was deliberate, was premeditated, and the result was entirely predictable. that this chairman talks about this like a caveman would ponder an eclipse or a thunderstorm. and wonder what god had been angered by what activity of what other cave person is just beyond preposterous. it's beyond preposterous. i mean, republicans should have seen this coming for a long, long, long time, if, in fact, there is a repudiation of trumpism tonight. but to say all of a sudden that,

well, the political climate is terrible, as if it's providential, that it wasn't preventable, that may be, just saying, when donald trump lied 6,000 times this year, or he attacked every essential institution in the country, when he degraded our civic discourse, when he stoked the cold civil war in the country, republicans didn't have to stand there and be quiet about it. they made the choice. they made their bed, and now they're going to lie in it. i want to say about beto o'rourke and andrew gillum, i mean, every superhero has to have the right nemesis. and for beto o'rourke, he's been very lucky in his choice of oppositional villains to run against. >> ted cruz. >> because if there is a bigger fraud, if there is someone who has done more vandalizing of our civic discourse, short of donald

trump, it's ted cruz. right? he was elected to the united states senate. he had no desire to serve in the senate. he immediately started running for president. after he shut down the government on some nonsensical crusade. and so someone as fraudulent, as inauthentic, somebody who texans see and say, donald trump attacked this guy's father, attacked his wife, he won't stand up for them, but he's going to have our back? and i think you're seeing all of that manifest itself in the form of a very charismatic, very authentic, very honest candidate who pulled no punches, didn't try to move to the middle. went out there and said, i am who i am. i believe what i believe. i think we can do better. i saw beto o'rourke in texas two times including the rally in austin attended by 50,000 people. >> yeah. >> and he's not making a

progressive argument. he's making an argument that as a country, we can do better. hope versus fear. and in the history of the country, when hope and fear collide, hope has always prevailed. what we're going to see tonight is if that holds true to form. >> you know texas, what dough you think is going to happen? >> i think the race is going to be very close. i'm from texas. the first campaign i worked on was ann richards in h 1994, of course she lost to her future boss george bush. whether he wins or loses, comes up short, he changed the future of texas politics. texas democrats, one of the problems they've had, they've gotten so used to losing, they don't know how to think about winning again. he's started a fire that's not going to go out tomorrow whether he wins or loses. he's given hope to texas democrats and he and some of these congressional candidates, by the way, down ballot, who are going to win, knock out republican incumbents in texas, we're going do see texas democrats after this race follow the beto o'rourke example and compete up and down the ballot for years to come. >> you think he's going to run for president?

>> if he wins, no. i think he'll come to the senate, be a senator. if he doesn't, he said he won't. why wouldn't he? he has a national following. ability to raise money. why not? >> i think it bears mentioning by comparison, there is another prominent american politician who lost a senate race in the state of texas in 1970 who went on to bigger things. his name was george herbert walker bush. >> well, there you have it. jackie, thank you for spending some time with us. we're grateful. >> thank you, nicolle. when we come back -- oh, almost two years ago, donald trump defied the odds and won florida and went on to win the election. now the gop hold on the sunshine state is being challenged by democratic gubernatorial candidate andrew gilluming abou hour. we'll go to battleground florida next. - meet the ninja foodi, the pressure cooker that crisps, with the best of pressure cooking and air frying all in one. with our tendercrisp technology, you can quickly cook food,

juicy on the inside and crispy on the outside. go from fresh to deliciously done in half the time. which means it may become the only thing you use in your kitchen. (tapping) for cooking, at least. (upbeat music) the ninja foodi, with tendercrisp, the cooking while parenting technology. you may be learning about, medicare and supplemental insurance. medicare is great, but it doesn't cover everything

...only about 80% of your part b medicare costs. a medicare supplement insurance plan may help cover some of the rest. learn how an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan, insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company might be the right choice for you. a free decision guide is a great place to start. call today to request yours. so what makes an aarp medicare supplement plan unique? these are the only medicare supplement plans endorsed by aarp because they meet aarp's high standards of quality and service. you're also getting the great features that any medicare supplement plan provides. you may choose any doctor that accepts medicare patients. you can even visit a specialist. with this type of plan there are no networks or referrals needed. also, a medicare supplement plan... ...goes with you when you travel anywhere in the u.s. call today for a free guide. we really pride ourselves >> ton making it easyautoglass, to get your windshield fixed. >> teacher: let's turn in your science papers. >> tech vo: this teacher always puts her students first.

>> student: i did mine on volcanoes. >> teacher: you did?! oh, i can't wait to read it. >> tech vo: so when she had auto glass damage... she chose safelite. with safelite, she could see exactly when we'd be there. >> teacher: you must be pascal. >> tech: yes ma'am. >> tech vo: saving her time... [honk, honk] >> kids: bye! >> tech vo: ...so she can save the science project. >> kids: whoa! >> kids vo: ♪ safelite repair, safelite replace ♪

exactly 11:30 p.m. on november 8, 2016, nbc news had just called florida for candidate donald trump, and in that moment, it seemed it was all over for the democrats. but that's ancient history now, an eternity go. today in the first nationwide election since that night, the sunshine state may very well signal the opposite, that democrats are pushing back. we're, of course, talking about andrew gillum, whose race for governor against ron desantis has drawn national attention. and not just because that state hasn't had a democratic governor since the turn of the century, that contest is serving as something of a microcosm. as florida goes, so goes the nation. here's gillum's message this morning -- >> what i mean us winning tonight i think will send a message to mr. trump and mr. desantis as well that the politics and hatred and the division of separation, that they've come to an end, at least

in this election, that people are going out and they're voting for something and not against it. if by voting for something, we're returning decency in what's right and what's common between all of us. we will worry about history later but today we're working to win. >> jason johnson's still with us. jason, this race, andrew gillum is, i'm going to say, the best candidate in either party running this cycle. he's got the whole package. he's got instincts in a debate. he can turn a line, turn a phrase, come back, and as a disciplined candidate, he's taken incoming from trump's little mini me in florida, ron desantis, but he's kept the campaign positive. talk about what you think tonight will mean for andrew gillum and what it means? >> i will start by saying i don't want my friends to get too excited about the gillum and

work ticket in 2020. people are already talking about that. i describe gillum as this, and i went to one of his rallies with jimmy buffett in palm beach on saturday. he is such a natural. and i tend to be fairly politically cynical. i'm not moved by most of these folks. he has a way, he can go from sounding like a guy at a side street craw dad pop boil thing, he sounds country, but then he can flip to policy quickly. he's very whititty and very engaging. he seemed to know what hit when talked to the public, talking about the red tide and environmentalism in a way that's not going to be offensive to independents and republicans. i think he's an incredibly talented candidate. by comparison, i went to a desantis campaign sunday and he did not sound like a guy who he thought would win. he had rudy giuliani going to

set things up for him and a woman next to him screaming gillum was a muslim, and they were all cheering. but when desantis gets on stage, he's still explaining why they should vote for him f you're trying to explain why they should vote for you 48 hours before the election, you're probably not winning. i saw differing styles. should gillum pull this off, and i think it will be closer than the polls show, should he pull this off, he showed a precedent how you run a campaign and the kind democrats should be recruiting. theyp can the be afraid of the guy who looks like a long shot in the primaries because he may be your hotshot when you get to the general election. >> also, florida is a very red state. i know it's about a battleground of because the legacy of 2000. but florida is a tough state for democrats. that would the lesson be about, not just candidate andrew gillum, but the democratic message? >> florida is a really hard state in the midterm election

for democrats. we have not won major governors' races there since before the turn of the century, right? >> right. >> the message here is have inspiring candidates that can also appeal to the middle. magic matters in politics. andrew gillum has some magic. there wasn't any poll that had him in first, second or third on election day. he wins a primary coming out of nowhere and everybody is like he can't win the general. then you see him campaign and you're like whoa, this guy is the real deal. tomorrow people will be talking about this guy. i agree, this will be closer than people think. florida is the place hearts go to break. florida is a one-point state. we will be sitting here for a whil on florida. it's going to be close. >> what do you think is different if he should prevail, do you think florida changed or trump's message? desantis is a mini trump. >> i think the republicans droenk swi voev swing voters, especially swing women to the democratic party

and gillum was the perfect candidate to exploit those opportunities but this is donald trump helping us a whole bunch here. let's not -- tomorrow i hope we don't think we suddenly invented the free beer sign. >> let's look at the mandate quick. >> the puerto rican migration to florida from the island after the hurricane and the total botched handling of that. we get into the exit polls tomorrow, that very sizable puerto rican vote, what is the end? and the stupidity of the desantis message, $20 million economy and the qualification is reading charn reading a children's book to his kids pledging leadership to donald trump. that's the qualification, politic me the governor of florida because i'm an obedient servant on my knees, obedient and faithful to donald trump. that was the qualification he put forward. it's so profoundly stupid that i think at the end of the day voters will say, come on.

>> no, thank you. jason johnson, jim massina, and thank you for spending the hour with us. we have to sneak in our last break. ♪ ♪ i'm all for my neighborhood. i'm all for backing the community that's made me who i am. i'm all for my theatre, my barbershop and my friends. because the community doesn't just have small businesses, it is small businesses. and that's why american express founded small business saturday. so, this year let's all get up, get out and shop small on november 24th.

i got croissant. small business saturday. a small way to make a big difference. i couldn't catch my breath. it was the last song of the night. it felt like my heart was skipping beats.

they said i had afib. what's afib? i knew that meant i was at a greater risk of stroke. i needed answers. my doctor and i chose xarelto® to help keep me protected from a stroke. once-daily xarelto®, a latest-generation blood thinner significantly lowers the risk of stroke in people with afib not caused by a heart valve problem. warfarin interferes with at least 6 of your body's natural blood-clotting factors. xarelto® is selective, targeting just one critical factor. for afib patients well managed on warfarin, there is limited information on how xarelto® compares in reducing the risk of stroke. don't stop taking xarelto® without talking to your doctor, as this may increase your risk of stroke. while taking, you may bruise more easily, or take longer for bleeding to stop. xarelto® can cause serious, and in rare cases, fatal bleeding. it may increase your risk of bleeding if you take certain medicines. get help right away for unexpected bleeding or unusual bruising. do not take xarelto® if you have an artificial heart valve or abnormal bleeding. before starting, tell your doctor about all planned medical or dental procedures and any kidney or liver problems.

learn all you can to help protect yourself from a stroke. talk to your doctor about xarelto®. that does it for our hour. i'm nicolle wallace. i will be back in an hour alongside brian williams and rachel maddow. don't get up, stay and watch "mpt daily" daily with chuck. we'll have our first exit polls. hey, chuck. >> hi, nicolle. >> you're right there. >> hello! >> that's right. i've got exit polls. get out and go prep. see you in an hour. if it's tuesday, people are voting everywhere.