good day, i'm andrea mitchell in washington with just 19 days to go until election day. and the biden campaign strategy has been temporarily upended as running mate kamala harris has been grounded for the next few days, they say in an abundance of caution after her communications director and a nonstaff flight crew member tested positive for covid. the campaign saying that harris,

who had been planning to go to north carolina today, will campaign instead virtually, even though she was not within what the cdc defines as close proximity to either person. joe biden's schedule has not been affected. he will be in philadelphia tonight for a prime time town hall on abc. at the same time, president trump will be appearing in miami at an nbc town hall with savannah guthrie. this afternoon, the president continues a blitz of rallies in north carolina, his fourth rally in as many days. a poll shows biden up big nationally, 53 to 42% among registered voters, the same margin hillary clinton led mr. trump by at this point four years ago. but biden's support is stronger than the support clinton held at the time. there is no major third party

candidate this time. biden is getting a big boost from president obama who is about to hit the campaign trail, previewing his message in a new podcast. >> a lot of it is, what's the their basic character, right? are they people who instinctively care about the underdog? are they people who are able to see the world through somebody else's eyes and stand in their shoes? are they people who are instinctively generous in spirit, right? and that is who joe is. >> joining me now, nbc political reporter monica alba in north carolina. msnbc political reporter ali vitali in philadelphia. rick tyler, former aide to ted cruz's presidential campaign. joel payne, former director of payne media, and nbc national

political correspondent steve kornacki at the big board. steve, let's take a look at the numbers, the key voting groups. >> you mentioned 53-42, biden's lead over trump. the last time an incumbent president was this far behind this close to election day it was the last incumbent president to be defeated for reelection, that was george bush sr. back in 1992, he too was double digits behind with three weeks to go in the campaign. breaking this down by race, you see the white vote leading, the black vote overwhelmingly, hispanic vote overwhelmingly. why is biden ahead by double digits right now? yes, trump's leading among white voters right now. but in 2016, trump was winning this group by 15, 16, 17 points, somewhere in that area. now it's down to 4. just think about, this is a massive group of voters, white

voters, you're talking about 70% of the entire electorate falls into this group. to go from a solid double digit win among white voters in 2016 for trump to just leading by 4 right now, that goes a long way to tell you what's changed and why biden is ahead bit margy thn he is right now. another change, it's senior citizens. voters over 65. look at this, we have a double digit lead here in this poll for biden, 54-44. it has been 20 years, the 2000 election was the last time the democrats carried the senior citizen vote. but we've been seeing this in poll after poll right now. biden leading trump among seniors, obviously a group that tends to turn out in high numbers. and that was with donald trump in 2016. we mentioned the white vote. two different tracks of white voters here, college degree, less than college. going in two very different directions. trump again cleaning up with white voters without a college degree, he did that in 2016.

the margin not quite as high here for him as it was in 2016. again, white voters with a college degree. look at biden here, leading by almost 20 points. again, this is a group that has been trending towards democrats for a while right now. that trend has exploded in the trump era. it's why democrats retook the house in large part in 2018. again, the margin for biden over trump among these voters would be historic, for a democrat to run up numbers like that among this group, a group that maybe a generation ago was a republican group. >> those are pretty consistent numbers, although, as we point out, this is a shrinking lead, and this is to be expected as we get closer to the election. monica, the president will be there in north carolina, yet another big rally. we can assume it's not going to be socially distanced. you've been covering these rallies. not very many masks seen. >> reporter: that's exactly right, andrea.

it follows a pattern that we saw before the president got sick himself with coronavirus and has been absolutely consistent since his return to the trail this week, when all of these critical battleground states, north carolina of course a key one, we have seen hundreds doubling up to thousands of trump supporters gathering, ignoring all cdc guidelines when it comes to social media and wearing masks, because they call this in their words a peaceful protest. what you're going to have here today, in a rare afternoon rally for the president, because of course he needs to get to miami later tonight for our own nbc news town hall, is his campaign really playing defense. this is a state he won in 2016 by 3 1/2 points. it's a place that democrats thought hillary clinton was going to perform better in that time. but since then, his support here has really eroded. and it's because some of those key groups that you had steve talking about there. when you talk about the erosion with suburban women in

particular, it's something the trump campaign and the candidate himself have acknowledged is a serious issue here. polls here in the state show the president down by about four points. it's also a problem for senator thom tillis, up for reelection, similarly trailing. it's a dual concern for the gop in terms of what will happen in this state following november 3. the other major consideration here, andrea, is just the fact that this is a major blitz in complete contrast to what we're seeing from the biden campaign. and the fact that they disclosed those two staffers or people connected to the campaign who tested positive before the media reporting on it is another just complete study in how different the trump/pence campaign have handled positive cases in their own ranks compared to the democrats. but there's no more image or visual that you need to see other than what's behind me in terms of how this president is handling the coronavirus, telling crowds here, falsely claiming he's completely immune when we know there are studies of possible reinfection, and

again, falsely claiming that the virus will simply go away or disappear. but he is touting and his campaign will point to the fact he feels completely energetic. last night he spoke for 90 minutes at that rally after we had seen shorter speeches. i'm told he will continue that intense pace with a double feature program tomorrow in florida and georgia, then he moves to michigan and wisconsin on saturday, no signs of slowing down, andrea, if anything, ramping up. >> and north carolina is an early voting state, they already started voting, long lines today. ali vitali in philadelphia, there is that new positive covid test result which is hurting the harris team, at least he's not able to get out. she's been tied down with the judiciary committee all week so wasn't with her communications director, which is actually a good thing, for the last couple of days. as they say, she is at least not

quarantining but she's not going out on the campaign trail. how are they handling this? >> reporter: exactly, andrea. that's i think an important distinction. because the campaign really did a lot to tell us that she's not going to be quarantining, but they are, out of an abundance of caution, taking kamala harris off the road after we saw two people who were in close proximity to her back last week around the vice presidential debate have since tested positive for coronavirus, the campaign saying that because kamala harris wasn't with them within 24 hours of their positive tests, she is not going to have to quarantine. but of course taking her off the road does disrupt the flow of the campaign trail. and as you mentioned, she already spent the early part of this week in d.c. bogged down with those senate judiciary committee hearings. so clearly a change here for her. but this does not impact the schedule of joe biden, as you mentioned earlier. both of these candidates, the campaign has said, are tested regularly. we know that we've gotten two pcr testimonials, both of which negative for each candidate,

since they were together last on october 8 in arizona, so hopefully that trend continues regarding their tests. it explores the further contrast we've seen on the pandemic. it reminds you that no matter what, you're not going to be able to escape this issue in the waning weeks of the campaign. but it also further highlights the differences, and monica began touching on this, with how each of these campaigns have dealt with coronavirus in their own orbits. the trump campaign, it leaked that hope hicks had coronavirus, and then of course all of the news of president trump testing positive, and the ballooning cases in the white house that spread from there. but the biden campaign getting out in front of it, saying they found out last night that liz allen and another flight crew member who were around harris have since tested positive. now of course they're being proactive in taking kamala harris off the trail. that's another contrast, because even after trump learned of hope hicks showing symptoms, he still went to bedminster, new jersey. it's no longer just a contrast in the messaging front and the candidates talking about how they would deal with it.

it's also right there in their own backyards, how they're dealing with it with their own staffers, and in trump's case, in himself. >> and the hope hicks issue was announced on bloomberg, not by the trump campaign. biden's campaign raised $380 million in september, nearly $200 million more than president obama raised in the same month in 2012. how are they planning to spend the money effectively? >> if you're watching tv in any of these battleground states, michigan, wisconsin, florida, north carolina, et cetera, you can expect to see a lot of ads. this is certainly going to be able to support that pretty widespread ad campaign program. and i think it's actually in direct contrast to the trump campaign where we've seen they've actually had some woes with fundraising and also their burn rate, which does make a difference when you're talking

less than 20 days out from election day. i think it reflects the management style of both campaigns. it also reflects the planning of both campaigns. i know that the biden folks have been very thoughtful about making sure that they could peak at the right time. this type of fundraising hall and the cash on hand rate that they have which is very much positive compared to the trump campaign, i think it helps them. i worked in advertising in 2016, and i can tell you their ad program is probably going to be partially focused on a closing message, a very strong closing ad campaign that the biden team put out online last night on twitter and also turning out the vote, telling people where to vote early, how to vote by mail, telling people how to make a plan to vote. you'll see that a lot on the air particularly in those battleground states. >> the data show that in fact democrats use voting by mail more than republicans and a lot of democratic voters really are not as adept and others could as well face all sorts of obstacles because of voter suppression.

i want to also throw some numbers at you, joel, because tom edsel has some caution flags for the biden campaign, for any democratic campaign, despite this lead, pointing out that the registration edge in states that register by party, and there are three big ones involved here, where donald trump had really small margins, less than 5%, in 2016, so if you look at pennsylvania, florida, and north carolina, the registration of new republican registration is really outpacing, 196,000 in florida compared to 98,000 new democratic registration, in pennsylvania republicans are outpacing the democrats, 136,000 to democrats up 58,000. and in north carolina, republicans up 84,000 to democrats' 38,000. what does that tell you? >> well, it tells me this is going to be a tight race despite what steve pointed out with those big numbers that biden is

putting up in terms of being over 50%. it demonstrates that democrats are going to have to run through the tape here. the fact that there's a 10, 11-point spread in the popular national vote polling does not mean that they can let up with registering voters, turning people out at the state level. so i think you're not going to see democrats let up. i know the people running the biden campaign are organizing gurus. so i feel very good about the team they have in place to do that. >> and rick tyler, the president has -- we've been pointing out, has been losing support among older voters. that could be key in places like arizona and florida. also losing support among suburban women, white women in particular. take a look at one of the -- his notable appeals to suburban women just earlier this week at a rally. >> so i ask you to do me a favor. suburb

subu suburban women, will you please like me? please. i saved your damn neighborhood, okay? the other thing, i don't have that much time to be that nice, i can do it but i have to go quickly. >> i just don't know how that is a very appealing close argument to any woman. >> it's really remarkable, what he said there. he's basically saying i don't have time to be nice to women. yet he wants women to like him. donald trump, as we know, has a deep character flaw, and the character flaw here is working against him in a way, because what he wants to do, andrea, is he wants to be right about the coronavirus, so badly he wants to be right. he talks about he acted early, he cut off flights from china. none of these things worked, none of these are true, but he so wants to be right about it that he keeps talking about it. as joel knows, and other campaign professionals, if you're talking about the issue that hurts you the most in the

closing weeks of the campaign, that's what the race will be decided on. every time donald trump talks about the coronavirus, he points to the most colossal failure that he's had. it's almost as if, you know, you had a candidate that you work with and he got arrested for drunk driving and all he did is talk about the drunk driving was that big of a deal and the driver that he killed, he had a terrible driving record, so it was probably his fault that he's dead. this is what seniors hear and this is what suburban women here. he can keep talking about coronavirus but he'll just keeping peeling voters to joe biden. >> and the racial appeal, "i saved your neighborhoods." also just the fact that showing these rallies with all these people is another reminder of the way he's responding to the covid, it's almost an advertisement that helps joe biden, if you believe the argument that people really are worried about this. our thanks to monica alba, ali

vitali, like tyler, joel payne, and steve kornacki of course, thank you all. ahead, talking turkey. dr. anthony fauci is warning why americans might want to cancel those thanksgiving family dinner celebration. first, amy coney barrett appears poised to be confirmed to the supreme court despite comments from the president casting doubt on whether she's as unbiased as she claims she is. senator chris coons is joining us next. [ beeping ] [ engine revs ] uh, you know there's a 30-minute limit, right? tell that to the rain. [ beeping ] for those who were born to ride, there's progressive. hey, son! no dad, it's a video call.

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this is the first time in american history that we've nominated a woman who is unashamedly pro-life and, uh, embraces her faith without apology. and she's going to the court. >> committee chairman lindsey graham making it clear there is no way to stop the confirmation of judge amy coney barrett. his accelerated schedule calls for the committee to vote a week from today. and a final vote by the entire senate just days before election day. senator chris coons displayed a chart on wednesday listing all the major past supreme court decisions including abortion, women's rights, gay marriage, affirmative action, that were decided with justice ruth bader ginsburg casting a deciding vote. >> my reading of your work, nothing has alleviated my grave concerns that rather than building on justice ginsburg's legacy of advancing privacy and equality and justice, i'm concerned in fact you will take

the court in a very different direction. and so with all due respect i will be voting against your confirmation. >> joining me now, direct from the hearings, democratic senator chris coons of delaware who of course is on the judiciary committee and has been a major player in these hearings so far. senator coons, senator barrett refused to answer questions as to whether she would recuse herself on deciding a potentially contested presidential election. it was your questions that were trying to elicit a response. or whether the president could delay the election or pardon himself and a series of other questions. was she too restrictive in following, you know, the precedent, the procedure of not being specific about things she'll have to rule on? >> i think she was, andrea. and just to be clear, the reason i was pressing her on recusing herself from any dispute arising from the election that is just 19 days away now, and where a majority of states are already

voting early, is because president trump himself put that at issue. it's president trump who said he would choose someone for the supreme court who would overturn the affordable care act and take away health care protections from a majority of americans. it's president trump who said he would only nominate someone he was certain would overturn roe v. wade. and it's president trump who repeatedly publicly said i want us to rush through this nominee so they can be seated in time to count the ballots or to be involved in resolving the election. i'll remind you, president trump has in an unprecedented way been undermining confidence in the legitimacy of this upcoming election and hasn't committed to an orderly, peaceful transfer of power. that should give all of us, republicans, independents, and democrats, great pause. >> and so your point is that that makes her a different kind of nominee, given what he himself has said about what he

wanted in the person he's nominating and the proximity of the election. i wanted to play a little bit of what senator kamala harris questioned her about last night, about issues that are not immediately before the court. here's the way she responded. >> and do you believe that climate change is happening and is threatening the air we breathe and the water we drink? >> umm, senator, again, i was wondering where you were going with that. you have asked me a series of questions like -- that are completely uncontroversial, like whether covid is infectious, whether smoking causes cancer, and then trying to analogize that to eliciting an opinion on me that is a very contention -- opinion from me that is on a very contentious matter of public debate. >> thank you, judge barrett, and you've made your point clear that you believe it's a debatable point. >> do you believe most americans think that climate change is still debatable?

>> no. there is a very strong scientific consensus that our climate is changing, changing rapidly, and changes because of human behavior, and that it requires decisive action for us to address it. that's also what the vast majority of the american people think. >> lindsey graham has set a committee vote for october 22 and a final vote just days before the election, a week before the election. do you see any way that you will be able to stop it, any way that two more republicans, and that's assuming that senator collins and senator murkowski decide to vote against her, not just having expressed objections to the timing of it all, do you see any way to get four republicans to stop this? >> along with several of my democratic colleagues, today i made a heartfelt appeal to the republicans to step back from this precipice and not do the damage that i think her confirmation will do, both to

our ability to work together in the senate, to the reputation of the supreme court, and to the example that this sets for the world about how we conduct ourselves in this democracy. i am not optimistic, frankly, andrea, that any of my colleagues will step back at this point. i think they're going to race through this vote. i think as chairman graham said at the outset of today ae's deliberations, he thinks we have a really good chance of winning the presidential election. i don't believe the national polls, i'm concerned this will be a much closer election than they currently suggest. but all that in combination makes me believe republicans are determined to secure a lasting conservative activist majority on the court by racing through this vote before the election. >> and you don't think she will surprise you, you think from her writings, her academic writings and some of her judicial

rulings, that she will be very much in the line of an activist conservative judge, not someone who can play the role that a justice kennedy did, that a justice roberts has? >> andrea, the reason i put up that chart yesterday of 120 cases, cases that are in many examples long settled, they were decided ten or 20 years ago or longer, those are cases where if justice ginsburg were replaced with a justice scalia or someone who followed his approach as judge barrett has said she will, that it would change long settled things, from civil rights to environmental practice to access to justice. the native american rights. to a whole range of things we understand to be part of our modern society from privacy to health care to lgbt rights. what makes me most concerned about judge barrett is how in her law review writings she's also made it clear she's to the right of justice scalia in terms

of her willingness to reach back and overturn, reexamine, reconsider and overturn these long-settled cases. it's that practice of not reaching back and changing settled law that gives some predictability to the way that our national standards of privacy and of respect for each other are set. this has been a decades-long conservative project to take over a majority on the court and to install activist conservative justices. with this confirmation they may finally have succeeded. the only remedy we have at this point is to win the upcoming election. >> chris coons, thank you very much, senator, thanks for being with us. and the city of lights going dark. as coronavirus cases in france surge, paris will be under an evening curfew this weekend. you're watching "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. c.isting conds such as high blood pressure, diabetes, and asthma.

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with coronavirus cases rising in 37 states across our country, europe has overtaken the u.s. now in daily cases by a wide margin in what looks like a second wave. france is imposing overnight curfews in paris and other major cities this weekend after reporting more than 22,000 new infections on wednesday. nbc news foreign correspondent matt bradley joins us from paris. matt, you have new restrictions in england, germany, and now france to contain the virus.

obviously colder weather. to think of paris with restaurants closing down at 9:00 when most people are just going out to dinner. >> reporter: i mean, you know, you think of it this way, but it happened before, it happened in the spring. all of those countries you mentioned, andrea. it's sad, but of course they all have one thing in common which is they're imposing new restrictions but they're not imposing full lockdowns. that's what we saw here in paris last night. the preferentifrench president macron said he wouldn't be imposing a full, all-day lockdown, he said it would be a curfew. the curfew will start on saturday and only come into place at 9:00 a.m. and run until 6:00 a.m. in the morning. during the day things are going to look, i guess, kind of like this, people are going to be going to work. schools will remain open. that's because none of these countries are willing, they've entirely ruled outgoing back to that full lockdown because they don't want the economic pain. and andrea, a lot of them are

worried their public, their citizens, simply won't obey a full lockdown, andrea. >> we've seen when that happens here as well. thanks so much, matt bradley. joining me now, dr. adaja from the center for health security. it's good to see you, doctor. is that a sign of what might be coming here as the weather gets cooler? >> i do think it's a sign of what may be coming here. we know the virus transmits more efficiently when more people are indoors. in france, they had backlogs in tests, just as we have backlogs in tests. that's the story here, we have to invest in the public health infrastructure or this will keep happening over and over again all over the world. >> and if we look around this country right now, case numbers are rising in 37 states plus

d.c. there's 25% increase in new cases in illinois, indiana, michigan, over the last two weeks. that's really the start of a second wave. what do you think? >> i don't think we ever got over the first wave. waves have peaks and troughs. we had 20,000 cases, that's not really a trough. we're seeing acceleration as we do with other coronaviruses as it gets colder. we have to prepare, because we can't have hospitals get into trouble again like they are already in wisconsin. >> dr. fauci was warning on abc this morning about thanksgiving gatherings, my favorite holiday. take a look. >> if you have vulnerable people, the elderly, people with underlying conditions, you better consider whether you want to do that now or maybe just forestall it and just wait and

say, you know, this is an unfortunate, an unusual situation, i may not want to take the risk. >> and at the same time, you had a white house official on with reporters, proposing that herd immunity, the white house policy now. we saw what happened in sweden. isn't that basically saying survival of the fittest? >> herd immunity is something that's nonsensical when it comes to this virus because we know you're going to end up on your quest to herd immunity, having a lot of people die, having a lot of people be hospitalized. that's not the way to go about this. there's this false alternative between lockdown and herd immunity. the real path forward is doing testing, tracing, like countries like taiwan have done since the beginning. if we could execute that strategy, we would be in a whole different world instead of contemplating these crazy ideas about letting people get infected and maybe get long haul symptoms, infect vulnerable populations, and die.

and we know that we're not very good at protecting vulnerable populations because our nursing homes were a major component of our deaths. so i don't think this is anything we should even entertain or take seriously, it's a distraction from actually doing the public health work that we need to do to move forward in this pandemic. >> but it is being promoted by the white house. well, with that, i want to at least say happy birthday, dr. adalja, i hope you're doing something fun today, it's been a pretty grim season, but happy birthday to you from all of us, and thanks. >> thank you. early voting turnout is shattering records in texas and georgia. we'll check with those lining up to vote. you're watching "andrea mitchell reports." this is msnbc. ce-weekly ozempicg many people with type 2 diabetes like emily lower their blood sugar. a majority of adults who took ozempic® reached an a1c under 7 and maintained it. here's your a1c. oh! my a1c is under 7! (announcer) and you may lose weight. adults who took ozempic® lost on average up to 12 pounds.

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ballots. some voters waiting for as long as eight hours in lines as long as this one in cobb county. and more long lines in texas this week despite legal battles there over voter access. nbc's blayne alexander is at the state farm arena in atlanta, georgia's largest polling location. and victoria di francesco soto. welcome. blayne, first to you in georgia. how are georgia officials handling this? we remember the incredible scenes, the interviews you did in downpours there. >> reporter: that was something officials thought about this time around, people wait to go cast their ballots during the primary. i want to give you a look around, this is the state farm

arena. down there is where the nba team plays basketball. now it's covered with voting machines. there are 302 voting machines. processing people in and out of here within minutes in this area in atlanta. those long lines you talked about were on the first two days. what we saw was a combination of, one, tremendous voter turnout, record setting voteoin. since then we've seen wait times as high as seven hours, we've seen that go down drastically. as of right now, maybe 90 minutes or so, in some places just a few, we're reporting two-hour wait times, but those are scattered, isolated cases. when you think about georgians going to the polls so many think of what was widely considered to be a debacle during the june primary, people waiting outside for hours. one of the big solutions is opening these mega polling sites like this one.

we were talking with organizers today and talking with voters. they're able to process people in and out of here in average of 17 minutes. a number of voters were very grateful for that. take a look. >> we're early voters all the time. >> reporter: you always early vote? >> yes. >> reporter: why is that? >> it's just best to get in and get out. and also, you know, if they have any kinks with the machine or anything like that, you can always take time out to have them fix it early so you can make sure your ballot is totally cast so there won't be any issues. >> reporter: you guys always vote early to make sure there's enough time to troubleshoot? >> yes. >> reporter: and andrea, officials here in georgia desperately want people to vote early. in fact here in fulton county, the state's most populous county, they're hoping that 80% of their total voters will turn out early and cast their ballots before november 3, andrea. >> those ladies certainly got the message.

thank you so much, blayne. to priscilla in houston, there have been a lot of back and forths there, the governor doing things that critics say will suppress the vote. what's happening now? >> reporter: andrea, a number of last-minute legal challenges that are beginning to wrap up this week. yesterday a judge dismissing a case brought by the texas gop party seeking to limit drive-through voting here in harris county. but meanwhile, earlier this week, federal appeals court did uphold governor abbott's proclamation limiting each county to only one absentee ballot drop-off location. i spoke with some voters here today, elderly voters who would have been eligible to vote absentee but decided to come in person. one 75-year-old man telling me that there's simply nothing like being inside that voting booth and casting that ballot. and i did ask him who he was going to vote for. he told me that it was a very tough decision but take a listen

to what he said. >> i find neither of the candidates personally, uh, attractive. however, the actual results of trump's policies have been good. they've been good for minorities. they've been good for the economy. so i'll be voting for trump while holding my nose. >> reporter: and andrea, i have been struck by how many older voters have been in line here to cast a ballot even though they are eligible to vote absentee. and election officials tell me that hundreds of voters have actually been surrendering those absentee ballots at in-person locations, opting to vote in their local communities rather than drive to that lone ballot dropbox location, andrea. >> given the distances, it's not surprising indeed. thanks so much, priscilla. victoria, what's your reaction to the early voting turnout so far in texas? >> it's not really all that surprising, andrea.

if you follow the trends, right, what we've seen is over the last four years since 2016 and especially since 2018, a growth spurt in terms of voter registration. so from 2016 to today, weave seen a growth of about 2 million votes, registrants here in texas. and in the last two weeks of voter registration we saw over 300,000 new voter registrations. so we know that here in texas, the electorate is growing. and that is a lot of the reason why we're seeing this increased presence at the polls. the other piece is that folks are pushing up against the obstacles that the state gop party has been trying to put in place, right? so i think it is also a reaction in terms of many voters, especially the democratic leaning ones, saying, you know what, i'm going to exercise my vote come hell or high water, i'm going to vote early, i'm going to make sure that i'm not going to be held from voting. so i think it's a little bit of

that enthusiasm from the new democratic electorate here in texas, and just the sheer growth of registrants in the past couple of years. >> and do you think that there's really a chance that the democrats could take texas? it hasn't happened in a long time. >> right, and andrea, i've always been very cautious. as someone who lives in texas, even though i live in the blue area of austin in the tomato soup, but what i've seen in the days of early voting and these registration numbers make me feel purple oi-ish. i'm not going to go to the blue side and say texas is blue, but there have been some deep shades of purple in the last couple of cycles and especially in the last couple of weeks here in texas. >> thanks so much, victoria, and thanks to blayne and priscilla as well. next, should amy coney barrett be confirmed before the election? we'll hear a different point of

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abbvie may be able to help. joe biden was raised with middle class values. joe doesn't need to be the center of attention. or see himself on tv. he has always focused on getting the job done. joe led us out of the 2008 recession, and increased health coverage for millions. as president, joe will focus on getting us out of our crises. he'll listen to experts, work across the aisle. and put the american people first. ff pac is responsible for the content of this ad. i would be the only sitting justice who didn't attend school at harvard our yale but i'm

confident that notre dame could hold its own and maybe i could even teach them a thing or two about football. >> amy coney barrett, who taught law for 15 years at notre dame, but now nearly 100 faculty members from her alma mater urging her to halt her nomination until after the election. in an open letter they argue her action would be at great personal cost but it is vital for the good of the country, they write. joining me is john duffy, a notre dame english prefofessor o drafted that letter. you aren't questioning her qualifications for the court. >> no, and i'm glad you mentioned that. the letter does not address her qualifications nor her judicial philosophy nor any other of those types. the letter is concerned with the nominating process. and we're concerned that to rush the nomination through, which is apparently happening, there are three problems with that. the first is that it's

anti-democratic. the election is already under way. millions of people have voted and millions more will vote. to seat the justice, the judge before the end of the election threatens to deprive millions of people of a voice in selecting the next justice. we felt as well that the nomination just days after the death of justice ginsburg was unseemly and an insult to her memory. finally, the country is at a treacherous political moment. we're buffetted by pandemic, economic suffering, our politics are consumed by partisanship and conspiracy theories. we feel that the election or the nomination offers the justice -- the judge, sorry, offers the judge an opportunity to demonstrate a different model of civic engagement and commitment. we are not asking her to step aside. we are not asking her to withdraw. we are simply asking her to

pause and to let the election play out and then to be guided by its results. >> now, clearly not everyone at notre dame feels that way. the president of notre dame, father john jenkins was at the rose garden at that event, even appearing without a mask for which he later apologized and did end up testing positive. he's certainly paid a price for that. there's got to be a lot of support on the campus for someone to be nominated from notre dame for the supreme court. it's a big honor for the school. >> it is indeed. and, you know, we realize the kind of audaciousness of this request. we're asking a lot. we're asking the judge to put aside -- not to put aside but to risk the greatest professional achievement of her life. her nomination speaks to a lifetime of commitments. it's a great honor to her. but we are asking her to put the civic good and the interest of the country above professional

accomplishment. so, yes, we recognize what an honor it is to her and yet we make the request anyway. >> of course, this could -- this could certainly be something that would be ignored by the committee and by the president as well because she's not in charge of the whole process at this point. but it is -- >> that's right. >> but it's a provocative letter. thank you for being with us today. >> thank you for having me. >> a valuable viewpoint to have. and that does it for this edition of "andrea mitchell reports." follow us online on facebook and on twitter @mitchellreports. chuck todd is up next with "mtp daily" only on msnbc. to help you prepare for the future, without sacrificing what's most important to you today. because with fidelity, you can feel confident that the only direction you're moving is forward. i wondered.. could another come around the corner?

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♪ if it's thursday, kamala harris is off the campaign trail after two members of her campaign team test positive for the virus. this as infections are rapidly rising around the country as we near yet another grim milestone. 8 million confirmed cases. and president trump is desperately trying to find or force some october surprise. biden maintains a double-digit lead in our brand-new nbc/"wall street journal" poll. welcome to thursday. it is "meet the