99.97% of that county's ballots have been counted. highly watched races there are within the required margin to launch a recount by machine. you've got governor rick scott who is leading by less than half a percentage point. both sides have mounted legal challenges. >> we believe when every legal ballot is counted we'll win this election. >> i will not sit idly by while unethical liberals try to steal this election from the great people of florida. >> there's a razor thin margin, rather, also in the race for governor. democrat andrew gillum conceded the race. gillum is expected to speak to the media at 3:00 p.m. today. >> you got to stiffen your spine and square your shoulders to the task. i'm prepared to do that. let's count every vote and let's bring it home. >> before leaving for paris, the president amplified

unsubstantiated claims of voter fraud in florida. >> all of a sudden they're finding votes out of nowhere. i hear -- i don't know. you tell me. its always the democrats. its always gps fusion. its always crooked stuff. >> so there are still several races too close to call and democrats could secure more victories. the senate city in arizona could turn blue. the democrat has taken the lead by one percentage point. there have been no allegations of voter fraud there. the president on twitter suggested calling for a new election. he claimed without evidence, there has been electoral corruption and georgia's race for governor also in dispute. republican brian kemp is leading by just .3 of a percentage point. and now democrats stacy abrams says her campaign has found thousands of ballots that have not been counted. once again, joining me the host of "a.m. joy," joy reid, steve

shale, and reporter ali vitaly who knows its well. ali, i'm going to start with you here. the deadline is passed, two minutes ago for the unofficial election results. what can you tell us about where things stand? >> reporter: so, alex, i have not had a chance to refresh my phone on the website in the short time that we had between joy's show and yours, the deadline obviously has passed and what we're expecting next is maybe around 2:00, maybe before that we'll hear from the secretary of state's office that we are officially in recount mode. that's assuming that all of the 67 counties have been able to give their first official canvassing results and that was expected at that noon deadline. broward county thinks they met that deadline, 99.97% of ballots counted. the real question is, is that also true for palm beach county.

as soon as i refresh my phone, palm beach county was the seconds of those two counties that the rick scott campaign was looking into as well as the nelson campaign. nelson campaign thinks that's a place they can pick up more votes and cured is how we talk about these provisional ballots. rick scott did sue palm beach county in addition to broward county for the supervisors to tell them how many votes were left to count. we don't know those numbers yet. the scott campaign did not get those numbers out of that lawsuit despite the fact that a judge did compel them to give them over. we're waiting for the legal side of it and for what happens on the secretary of state side of it over here in tallahassee. >> you can pick up your phone and start refreshing. see what you find out since the last two minutes. steve, let's say there is a statewide recap, how long is that process? what happens? >> reporter: its actually prescribed in the law. secretary of state's office will declare a recount.

the three races likely to be in that recount will begin recounting almost immediately. they'll have until wednesday. the ballots that are in dispute, will be set aside. they will then recount where we are on wednesday and if races are still under a quarter of a point, the canvassing boards will go back and inspect each one of those ballots set aside and by the end of the week we'll have a result. >> steve, is there a way to decipher which of the two approaches is the more accurate? is it by machine or is it by hand because you have to allow for human error. we'll talk about millions and millions of ballots like this. what's your sense of that? >> reporter: that's the reason we have this secondary recount. when you get down to those really small margins and the senate race is close, its .04%

margin. at that level, you can have an error. that's why we have that secondhand recount. broward county is in dispute. did folks vote in the senate race or whether its a ballot error? when we get to a hand recount, we'll be able to see a recount. >> joy, what is it with florida? >> its very difficult to say. a lot of people mistake florida for a very blueish/purple state because its got south beach in it. miami's very different. its a very large county. miami-dade county is large, high rates of poverty, very diverse. 22% hispanic. broward county, which is where i lived when i was in florida for 14 years is very ethnically diversed. its 29.9% african-american or black, 36.5% white non-hispanic,

3.9% asian american, 29.7% hispanic. brenda snipes who was the election supervisor and has been since i lived there has had a lot of issues in terms of getting the voting to work. we know that in very diverse counties often they don't have the same level of resources, great voting machines. its not clear why broward always has so much trouble. steve can tell you, broward county is typically the last county to count. its a huge county. its 1.9 million people. i don't know if its the size or if its something about the machines, but it is typically miami-dade and broward county, the most democratic counties and racially diverse counties and you do have to wonder whether the secretary of state's office in tallahassee needs to look at upgrading the voting systems in these heavily minority counties. the state is 100% run by republicans in tallahassee and there has long been a complaint

even when marco rubio was rising in politics that the resources of the state tend to go to the rural north, to the agriculture part of the state and south florida tends to get the fiduciary the fiscal shaft all the time from tallahassee. >> ali, to the sense of things that joy's describing here, the attorney for the florida democratic party has made the allegations that the fraud allegations are brought by governor rick scott and they are baseless. take a listen to this. >> senator nelson received 69% of the vote here in broward county and we think that they're making allegations outside of the courtroom of fraud because of that. there was not a single eye ow e oweta of evidence to stir up opposition -- >> attorney for the florida democratic party. give me the approach as these two sides line up for a big legal battle.

>> reporter: i think its really important, actually, on wednesday rick scott had said that he was asking the florida department of law enforcement to investigate. in talking to the department yesterday, they said, sure, we'll investigate if there's criminal activity or fraud. but we've touched base with the secretary of state's office so we're not seeing evidence of that at this point. yes, there are allegations from republicans including rick scott of fraud and basically finding votes out of thin air. there's really no proof of that at this point. there's no evidence. not from the republicans who are leveling those claims and also not from the florida department of law enforcement who said they would investigate if they saw that. that's a really important piece. yesterday, on a press call that marco rubio held on behalf of the scott campaign, i asked him if he was worried that because of the rhetoric being tossed around by both sides that florida voters might feel the i object teg rit of this election is compromised. he said yes, he was concerned about the ballots being counted and the way in which it was going about. he didn't think the rhetoric itself was contributing to those

voters having any sense of a lack of integrity in the process and marco rubio is someone who's been a pretty vocal voice in terms of florida statewide republican lawmakers who are intervening now in this process on behalf of rick scott and ron desantis. >> steve, it appears to you then that there will be both a senate and gubernatorial recount, and if so, what does this tell you about the future of politics in florida and the direction in which its heading? >> reporter: well, three recounts which will be interesting. the reality with florida is, it really is three or four, five states meshed into one. its very competitive. i think -- if ali and i ran against each other, we would have very close elections. the last two governors races before this was decided by a point. the last two presidential elections were decided by a point. its just where we are right now as a state.

>> but alex, those who say if florida held an election between cookies and the flu, it would be a tie race. it doesn't matter what they are. its a tie. on this issue of fraud, putting aside the optics of risk scott that medicaid fraud was the thing that people knew about him before he became governor and the fact is he has been accused of enriching himself in the governor's mansion, the only documented fraud that we've seen in elections is florida has been way in the past in miami-dade county and it was absentee ballot fraud, the pro-verbal filling out absentee ballots forms with dead people's names on them. it wasn't democrats. these were highly conservative mayoral races. the one thing that republicans who have been in power for a long time in tallahassee, the one thing they won't do is election reform about absentee. why? because republicans tend to dominate absentee.

what have they tried to curtail? early vote. why? because it is aechlss, black churches, democrats who dominate early votes. their cure including when governor charlie chris was in office, we're just cut down early vote. charlie chris stopped a lot of the things they wanted to do which all had to do with making it harder to vote in person or early but never touch the one thing you could ever have find documented history of fraud. they do really well in absentee, republicans. >> i want to put up a time line here. joy, what's the conventional wisdom for florida. i want the joy wisdom as well given how deeply you understand the political mechanics and underpinnings of this state. where is this going? >> probably to lots of lawsuits. recounts are difficult. what republicans do, we saw it in the four county recount during the 2000 race. they bring in lots of lawyers and start challenging individual ballots. they bring out the guys who

chant outside the election counters. these were republican staffers who took off their ties and started pounding the doors. there's a lot of intimidation going on. lock her up chantings. you have to remember, florida is the state where people who don't like to pay taxes go to retire. it is a reddish state. its not a blueish state. its -- its purple but its more reddy purple. its always difficult for democrats to win statewide. andrew gillum did better than any of the last four gubernatorial candidates who were all conservative white candidates. that's what democrats tend to field. he did better than them. he did excite them. i think there's a lot of soul searching in the democratic party if, once again, rick scott and this desantis squeak it out, they'll have to ask themselves, did they do enough to turn an african-american voters, was there enough work early, not six weeks out to go try and get in

churches, but to dig in and do voter registration? black and hispanic voters tend to be younger. you have to get in there and do a lot more work. the democratic party has to figure out why can't they win statewide elections when kansas can elect a democratic governor. why? >> the youth vote has made a difference predominantly across this nation. all of you guys made really good points. steve shale, joy, we'll release you now. ali, not you. we'll come back and talk to you in just a bit. we'll go from florida to california. the raging wildfires claiming lives and property in the north and south of golden state. that camp fire, that has been declared the most destructive in the state history. nine people killed already. more than 6,400 homes destroyed. kathy park is joining us from west hills in the san fernando valley. kathy, it is absolutely heartbreaking these pictures.

what are you seeing? >> reporter: alex, that is basically the best way to describe it. we are here in southern california. we are following fires on both ends of the state. i'll begin in southern california where you might actually see behind me that this community of west hills is just socked in with some intense smoke. the smoke's so bad that folks around here are walking around with masks. tens of thousands of acres have already burned, more than 200,000 people evacuated. when this fire broke out on thursday, it made a mess on local thorough fafares here in southern california. the flames got dangerously close to pepperdine university in malibu. the city of malibu had to evacuate as well. i want to move on to northern california. you mentioned the camp fire. well, it has now become the most destructive wildfire in california state history. hundreds of thousands of acres burned. that number is likely to grow.

more than nine people have also been killed. i was in the community of paradise several hours ago just yesterday and i had a chance to just walk around and witness the devastation first hand. just to give you a sense of the community of paradise. its a small, rural town about two hours north of sacramento. it has a population of about 27,000 people and essentially the community has been leveled. neighborhood after neighborhood, block after block. it was just completely charred. its really just heartbreaking to hear some of the stories. some of the residents who told me that they just had minutes to spare to live their homes, grab their belongings, some people had to abandon their cars because the fire was moving that quickly. the good news is, that they are upping the containment numbers, 20% contained right now. however, the fire danger is still there. fire officials gave an update

this morning. they mentioned that the northeast winds could potentially threaten another nearby community, the city of orville, so they are watching that very closely. fire officials mentioned that the dry conditions as well as strong winds are only making matters worse. alex? >> i got to tell you, its so hard for me being in new york. california is my home state. its been really hard to watch all this. thank you, kathy for giving us an update. an american in paris what happens in france after a rough start to president trump's overseas trip. alright, i brought in ensure max protein...

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keeping a close eye there on waterhill, florida, that is where the florida statewide ballots have been gathered. we'll let you know about the official word on potential recounts. the president is in paris today. he met with the french president earlier on a visit that opened on a somewhat testy note. kristen welker also in paris following the president, so kristen, what a good day to you. what all happened in this meeting? >> reporter: well, it was a stunning start to this trip, first of all, alex. let me give you the backdrop to the meeting. president trump upon landing here in paris yesterday lashed out at french president emmanuel macron after macron suggested that europe should build its own military to protect against outside forces, including the united states. mr. trump tweeting that that's

suggestion was very insulting. so all of that happened before the two leaders met today. they did meet, they had an expanded bilateral meeting. the optics of the meeting very warm, very friendly. both leaders sought to tamp down any questions about mounting tensions between the two of them. at one moment, president macron even reached over and touched president trump's leg. he didn't return the favor. he didn't offer that same type of gesture, but bottom line, both of them tried to really tamp down the tensions. macron defending his position, saying, of course, europe should be able to protect itself and should focus on building a strong military and president trump was asked about that tweet that he fired off. take a listen to what he had to say. >> we're getting along from the standpoint of fairness and i want it to be fair. we want to help europe but it has to be fair. right now the burden sharing has been largely on the united states as the president will say

and he understands that. and he understands that the united states can only do so much in fairness to the united states. we want to absolutely be there and help and be apart of it. but different countries have to also help. that's only fair. i think the president -- we've already discussed this and the president and i very much agree on that. >> reporter: now presidents trump and macron were once so close that their relationship was described as a bromance, but alex, that relationship has been fizzling over time over very sharp policy disagreements, everything from iran to climate. now, the two leaders will be at a dinner. they'll be joined by dozens of other world leaders this evening including russian president vladimir putin, so we'll be watching closely to see whether president trump has an extensive conversation with russia's president, how robust that conversation might be. the white house has said there won't be an official meeting

between those two leaders. also worth noting, president trump was scheduled to visit an american cemetery this afternoon, alex. that visit was canceled due to the weather. the white house saying the president and first lady's trip to the american cemetery and memorial has been canceling due to scheduling and logistical difficulties caused by the weather. worth noting, though, some french officials have taken to twitter and criticize that had move because the angela merkel visited a similar memorial despite the fact that they were dealing with the same weather conditions, alex? >> clearly, kristen, you are keeping your eye on a lot of different moving parts here. thank you so much for doing so. we look forward to talking with you again. >> joining me now -- the president immediately sent out that combative tweet that kristen was referencing there just as air force one touched

down in paris. what do you think he was angling for? >> he was upset when he saw these reports of president macron's comments with regard to building a european military and, in particular, suggesting that a military in europe was required to protect it from the united states. the president has been pushing for europe, generally and in particular the framework of nato to increase spending for its own defense for some time. its one of his signature issues in terms of foreign policy when he's been in europe. so to see that, it sounds like he either misinterpreted it or president macron didn't mean that in his comments to the radio station, but either way, it came across as insult to go president trump and he's not one to wait and discuss it during a one-on-one meeting. he wanted to send out his tweet expressing his grievance right away. >> that gets the conversation going that's for sure.

let's turn to the midterms here and the president's reaction on this very tight race in florida, arizona and georgia. here's a bit of what he said about it yesterday. >> you foresee a federal role in the florida recount which you tweeted about last night? >> it could be. all of a sudden they're finding votes out of nowhere and rick scott, who won by, you know, it was close, but he won by a comfortable margin, every comfortable of hours it goes down a little bit. what's going on in florida's a disgrace. now in arizona, all of a sudden, out of the wilderness, they find a lot of votes and she's -- the other candidate is just winning by a hair. >> okay. so in that, gaby, the president goes from declaring tuesday's results a victory to now some level of voter fraud. can you decipher, gauge his thinking on all of this? >> i think this is very similar to sort of what we could've expected to play out after 2016 had he not won the presidency

through the electoral college. he hinted there was voter fraud in both florida and arizona. there's no reason to suggest at this point that voter fraud has occurred in arizona. those are unsubstantiated claims and the white house hasn't offered any evidence to suggest that president trump knows something about what's going on in arizona that the public doesn't know and in florida, i think that he's just worried about the close margins here between the senate race and the governor's race. rick scott is only up at this point by about 13,000 votes, which means that a recount will occur and president trump, you know, days after saying that this is a tremendous victory for the white house and for republicans, to have that put under question or threatened with a recount is something that obviously he feels the need to lash out at. >> regarding congress, jeff, democrats are now going to control the house after winning up to 40 seats, the biggest democratic house gain since the 1974 midterms right after president nixon resigned. here's what the president said about the possibility of him

facing investigations from democratic house members. take a listen. >> if that happens, then we'll do the same thing and government comes to a halt and i would blame them. if they do that, then its just all it is is a war-like posture. >> what are the anticipation, the expectations in terms of the level of gridlock potentially for the next two years, jeff? >> its hard to say, alex. i mean, there's a chance that they will work very well together. the president started off in 2017 at some point wanting to work with nancy pelosi on dreamers, on immigration and something -- you didn't play this in the clip just now, he praised nancy pelosi in that press conference. there are lots of reports that both sides would like to work on infrastructure, but you're right to ask because he also said as the clip showed that if there are a ton of investigations, that he'll strike back and try to do the same thing with republicans and with their power

using the majority in the senate. so it could go either way. there could be two years of maybe getting a couple things done that would be beneficial to both sides or it could be two years of investigations and gridlock and partisan warfare. >> when you talk about the president working with nancy pelosi on the dreamers -- >> didn't go very far. >> there was a brief government shutdown over that. it shows how well that worked. >> the last time you tried to work with democrats during the spending negotiations, he sort of threw republicans under the bus, tried to cut a deal with senator schumer and nancy pelosi and then immediately, as soon as he faced criticism from republicans, flipped back and reneged on anything that he had tried to do with democrats. i think there is going to be a great deal of tension if he does try to work with the other side on infrastructure, on immigration, on legislation that would protect the beneficiaries of daca program.

anything he does that is seen as a concession, he's going to face criticism from republicans and from his base and that's where he's going to have to really draw a fine line in terms of what he can do through bipartisanship over the next two years. >> i agree with that. i would just add to that, though, that both sides will also be looking politically in creating the political calculus of do we need to accomplish something between now and 2020 and if it requires some compromise to come up with a compromise be it on infrastructure, be it on immigration, though that seems significantly less likely, that's the calculus that both sides might decide to make in their favor. >> it feels like infrastructure might be the place -- the jumping off point. one more question for you, jeff, you were at that fiery white house press conference on wednesday and i know you had the opportunity to ask the president a couple questions. here it is. >> have you seen any evidence that russia or china intervened in yesterday's election?

>> we're going to make a full report and unlike the previous administration, we've done a lot of work on that issue. we have been working very hard on china and russia and everybody else looking into our elections or meddling with our elections, but people tend not to write about it. >> what do you intend to say to president xi and putin when you meet with them later this month? >> i have a good relationship with both. i know president xi better, but i think i have a very good relationship with both. i actually had a very good meeting in russia that you people didn't agree with, but that's okay. it doesn't much matter. >> look, jeff, nobody feels sorry for the media. the media shouldn't feel sorry for itself, is there a way to temper the environment and still ask the tough questions and get answers? >> yes. i think its important for both sides to be respectful, that's a style that i try to use in my questioning. i think its important for both sides. i appreciate that you played that clip. i think its -- that particular

story has been overshadowed by the multiple stories that came out of that contentious press conference. one reason i asked him about russia and about china is the president had made a big deal earlier this fall of saying that china was intervening in the election. he did so during a pretty dramatic u.n. security council meeting. its important for us to watch and see if that was bluster or if they come out with some real evidence about that and obviously the role of russia continues to be a super important issue for this country because of what happened in 2016. >> absolutely. thank you, both, so much. the new voice is calling the president's important of matthew whitaker a constitutional crisis.

new concerns this afternoon at criticism of the president for his newly appointed attorney general matthew whitaker escalates. let's take a listen. >> mr. whitaker's credentials for the job are simply his personal and political loyalty to president trump. i think we can all agree that rod rosenstein was a firewall

for the mueller investigation. that firewall is now removed and so the odds that we're going to end up in a political or perhaps even constitutional crisis have been increased with the appointment of mr. whitaker. >> joining me now is legal analyst myla wiley and clint watts. we welcome you both. clint, do you agree with general hayden there? do you think this is leading to a constitutional crisis? >> i agree we're in a crisis if our congress doesn't put a check and balance on the president's power. part of the reason this has gone so far and why the president thinks he can get away with this is because no one's really challenged him. one thing that's different that we haven't talked about since the election, is many of those candidates that president trump backed and many that once went with president trump lost in that election. i think for republicans now is will they step up.

senator collins talked about protecting the mueller investigation. you've seen senator flake who's got a couple months left there. i'm hoping they will ensure the integrity of that. these positions whether they're acting or permanent are there to actually serve a function, which is for the united states of america and the people in this country and instead the reason we have supreme court kavanaugh and acting attorney general whitaker is because they said something that helps the president get around the rules. they wrote it at one point or said it at one point. what are these people really about? are they there just to protect the president or are there there to serve the american people? >> the potential for a constitutional crisis, where do you stand on that, mya? >> its a crisis. there's a potential constitutional crisis meaning imagine we know that there's an argument on both sides about whether or not the president had the constitutional authority to put mr. whitaker in this interim position.

there's no question, by the way, that he can't move him and nominate him permanently to serve as u.s. attorney general unless he moves them out of the position. but for interim, if, if, if, imagine that you have folks in the justice department that say, this was not a constitutional appointment and therefore, we will ignore, ignore the direction that you have given us because there's supreme court precedent that says if it is, in fact, a violation, the appointment itself, then you actually what the supreme court called any decisions he made that are not within the scope of authority are null and void at the point of making the decision. i think the bigger issue here, though, is the fact that we don't have a requirement that he seek an ethics ruling on his ability to oversee the mueller investigation. that to me is a clear problem. there's no question that he should not be serving as --

essentially the president's protector in chief by being able to interfere with that investigation and he's made clear that that's what he's going to do. >> the fact that matthew whitaker has been quite loud about his opinions. he's spoken about them and wrote about them. it may be why the president picked him. the 1978 ethics in government act has a clause in it that would suggest he must recuse himself as jeff sessions did for this reason. it says in part, that if an investigation of prosecution by the doj, or the appearance thereof, this person must be removed and any violation of doing so can result in all sorts of prosecution and removing of office on its own.

isn't that enough right there? >> i don't think there's any question, but this goes back to the question of how that happens. there's no question that mr. whitaker should -- look, we know that sam clovis who was a witness in the mueller investigation in the papadopoulos indictment has actually -- that he not only -- he said not only is he a close friend, but that there's -- that he told mr. whitaker to become a pundit in order to be seen and noticed by president trump for a position in the administration. there's simply tons of information out there that suggested he has absolutely no ethical ability to sit in this position and that's exactly the point. that goes back to the question of whether republicans in congress will make it clear that there's a bright line. they did that with robert mueller. they did it originally with jeff sessions then backed off and

said, after the midterms. that's a real problem. >> clint, there's a new "the daily beast" article and it reports that officials at the doj now see they're new attorney general interim or otherwise as quote rogue and underqualified. as a former fbi special agent, what's the effect of that? how does this play out? >> its hard to say. what we don't know is that -- whitaker has been in the gop government before. he served as a u.s. attorney. he's not a complete unknown, but he's definitely lesser qualified. we also have to remember he's not been nominated to be the attorney general. in an interim status, you can maybe say, well, he's just there to hold the line. but this is where it falls apart. you've got the deputy attorney general there, rod rosenstein, who should be put into this position, who is very qualified and who is acted aboveboard in a very tough time. he's been attacked by congress, he's been attacked by the person that brought him there,

president trump. so it just begs the question of who is in charge, really, at the department of justice right now. this person that just a year ago was on television ranting and raving about the mueller investigation or the deputy attorney general who in many cases, because attorney general sessions was gone, was actually in charge of parts of the department of justice. i think it really comes down to, people will have to make a decision and its not clear, to be honest, looking from the outside, its not clear who is really in charge. is it this person that's just the chief of staff that's now suddenly in charge of the department of justice, how long with that go on for? is there a new attorney general appointed here in the near term? i would doubt that. or the person that's been there for the long haul which is rod rosenstein? they're conflicted and confused at this point and it begs the question, how are we going to administer justice in this country when we don't know who's in charge? >> excellent questions. >> one last point.

whitaker has actually taken the position that the supreme court does not have authority to rule on the constitution and he's actually suggested that the civil war needs to be refought. so his positions are actually quite radical and extreme and will implicate other decisions he would make as an interim. >> i'm just thinking about what you just said. two points that i had yet to hear. thank you for sharing that. the county in florida where charges of fraud and cheating are a flying. live report next. cal: we saved our money and now, we get to spend it - our way.

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okay, we're giving you a look right now at the lawyer for broward county who has just made a statement that they are going to go ahead and do a recount in four florida races in broward county. let's take a listen to what he's saying. >> those are the votes that are cast. if those votes are 2,000 less than some other number, we're only interested in the votes that were actually cast in this election. that's the number that's reflected on the department of elections website. >> reporter: but why are there more today than yesterday? >> there are not more today than yesterday on that particular site. what they're -- they're looking at another site from an another app that they brought to us and they're looking at -- that's not -- they're mixing apples and oranges. we met with them, we talked about to them about that. i've given them my number to

further explain that process. they're mixing tabulations. whatever that site is that they're utilizing is not the official site of the broward county election supervisor's office. that's the site that we realily and those are the people that cast votes in this particular election. >> reporter: will the canvassing board be meeting later today? >> reporter: -- unofficial election results on broward county now? >> yes. and again, we just within the hour had some decisions made in the canvassing board. i can't tell you, those are already on the site, but you were in there, you heard whatever decisions they made. >> reporter: does the canvassing board meet while a manual recount is done or is that done separately? >> if there are disputes that arise, they're always -- while the process is complete. >> reporter: will this be available during the recount? >> i don't know. >> reporter: that's why we need dr. snipes. >> how do you not have an answer

to that? >> there is a process. there is a process to every election, ma'am. there are votes that go into categories to be reviewed by the canvassing process. that's why they said the deadline is saturday at 12:00. the deadline is not the day after the election. there is a process. every county is certifying those votes. that's the process broward county is following. thank you very much. >> okay. it is clear there is a bit of confusion still in the state of florida, but what we are hearing is they have given the authorization for a machine recount in four of the statewide races as reflected on those ballots in broward county. you heard them saying they have yet to tabulate all of the different areas from which statistics, the polls, the number, everything to try to get to one cohesive number. there is some confusion right

there, also there is some question as to whether or not the canvassing board has officially weighed in on things. all of this just taking place in the last 53 minutes in the state of florida. let's bring in policy strategist elina beverly, former associate director of the white house urban affairs. george watkins, former aide to president bush, and rick tyler, an msnbc political analyst. your assessment here, big picture, elina, first. what is going on in florida and how confident are you that they're going to get things ironed out and get every single vote cast? >> so what's going on is that we have democratic candidates, particularly thinking of andrew gillum, a rising pstar in the democratic party, who electrified the electorate.

we had overwhelming turnout in florida and now he's within the margin of error that requires an automatic recount of the votes by machine. and so we're going to have that machine recount. it may be a while before we know the full outcome of that election. >> okay. rick, how about you, what's going on in florida? you've witnessed what's happened over the years since 2000 there. where does florida stand? >> it's abysmal. it's embarrassing. that press conference we just witnessed was wholly inadequate. >> that's premature, don't you think? they're trying to get an out because of that new deadline but they didn't necessarily have all their i's dotted and t's crossed. >> whether there's something going on or not, and we don't know whether there is or not, but it looks awful. we're four or five days past the election and we still can't get a count out of broward county.

we were here in 2000, when george bush ran against al gore and at that time broward county and also miami-dade couldn't get their act together, that was all hanging chads. you would think they would work very hard to fix this problem but they haven't fixed this problem. we don't have chads anymore but for some reason we can't get a simple answer as to how many votes are left to count and what is the actual vote count now. >> joe, can i ask you your confidence that florida will get things right? again, the question asked to, you know, alaina, is every vote that was legally cast going to be appropriately accounted for? >> i think they're going to get it right. it's unfortunate that it has to come to this, we're days after the election and still don't know what the outcome is going to be. but i think they'll get it right. obviously this has huge implications especially for the senate and governor's racial, both very h -- race, both hotly contested. i think they'll get it right. it's a shame it's taking so

long. >> okay. texas, rick. i want to go to you and get your sense of things in terms of beto o'rourke, look how close he came to winning the statewide office in this state, closer than any democrat in the last 20 years, certainly. is that more a statement about beto o'rourke's appeal, his popularity, or about the lack of appeal with ted cruz? >> of course it's all those things. beto o'rourke ran an extraordinary campaign. he was an extraordinary candidate who is well-liked, did innovative things on the campaign trail. that led to record fundraising. i think he was the number one fundraiser of not just challengers but incumbents as well. i think ted cruz is probably the record fundraiser for incumbents, overall he was number two. so an enormous amount of money. on that level they were competitive. beto raised more hard dollars so his ads would have been cheaper. he ran as a progressive, unapologetically, electrified a lot of people who were waiting

to hear from a progressive that they could support as opposed to a progressive who pretended to be a conservative. and i think cruz has been somewhat unpopular. he didn't endorse donald trump. texas continues to be a red state. but that's all changing. the demographics in texas are going to dramatically change. one in every three hispanics in texas is too young to vote, one of every three african-americans in texas is too young to vote. the party that figures that out will do better, and right now that advantage goes to the democrats. >> beto o'rourke has proven he has the chops, proven he understands retail politics at its best. he's going to mobilize a new coalition of voters. native born texans voted for him

overwhelmingly. we have younger voters, we have voters of color. he doesn't take any votes for granted. i think that he's going to be drafted for 2020. >> joe, as we wind up this segment, i want to ask you about exit poll takeaways, things that we learned from the election on tuesday. one nbc exit poll had this statistic regarding 78% of white evangelical men nationwide voted for republican candidate for the house there. it's fewer than voted for president trump in 2016. so how do you make sense of that? >> well, the demographics continue to change over time. i think that the challenge for candidates is to be more like beto o'rourke, to be who you are and to be honest about who you are. i think voters respond to that. certainly in the state of texas you saw two republican seats flip to democrats. so beto had tails as well, had a tailwind as well.

so be true to who you are, tell people who you really believe and let the chips fall where they may. >> can i say that's something i like the three of you, so tau to all of you for doing just that for me. i'll see you all again. we're approaching the top of the hour. a breaking news report at the top of the hour. i'm alex witt at nbc headquarters in new york. we're focusing on florida, a partisan battle over every last ballot. all counties have reported their early vote, provisional ballots. they had to do so before the noon deadline an hour ago. a motion was approved in broward county for a machine recount. now new numbers in the razor thin numbers. the race for senate, the lead governor rick scott over incumbent bill nelson has narrowed to now just 0.15 of a percentage point. this is how the race for governor is now standing. the lead of