the white house. >> joe biden is not on the trail yet today, having made only 26 trips outside of delaware to campaign since august because of the pandemic. he does plan a trip to georgia, a red state his campaign thinks could be part of an expanding democratic map this time. >> this is the most consequential election in a long, long, long time. the character of the country, in my view, is literally on the ballot. >> vice president mike pence heading to minnesota today despite at least five of his close aides testing positive, including his chief of staff marc short who traveled with him on thursday and friday. chief of staff mark meadows did not even want that word of the latest outbreak to become public. meadows m's had this stunning admission about the pandemic over the weekend. >> here is what we have to do. we're not going to control the pandemic. we are going to control the fact

that we get vaccines, therapeutics and other mitigation. >> why aren't we going to get control of the pandemic? >> because it is a contagious virus like the flu. >> why not make efforts to contain it? >> we are making efforts to contain it. >> running all over the country not wearing a mask. that's what the president is doing. joining me white house correspondent and debate host kristen welker back from a spectacular job moderating that debate. mike memoli, and white house reporter ashley parker. welcome all. kristen, how are you, how are the president, vice president and chief of staff responding to outbreak of coronavirus to really close aides to the vice president and he's still off on the road today? >> well, andrea, thank you so much for your comments. you're absolutely right. president trump, vice president mike pence still campaigning with just eight days left to the

election, saying vice president is an essential worker. that is how they are explaining the fact he is out on the campaign trail. they insist he's going to follow cdc guidelines. it is worth noting cdc guidelines require someone to wear a mask in public, particularly if you do have any concerns that you may have been exposed directly or indirectly. now, in terms of the messaging here, president trump out on the campaign trail trying to make the case that the country is turning the corner in the fight against covid-19 but that is undercut by the fact that five of the vice presidents associates have tested positive, including his chief of staff. also undercut by the fact there are cases that are increasing in more than 40 states. now, over the weekend, more muddled messaging when chief of staff mark meadows said what you just played there trying to make the case that they are not going to be able to contain the virus. instead they are focused on things like therapeutics.

the biden campaign lashed out in a statement, writing this is clearly a part of the broader strategy here to wave the white flag when it comes to facing covid. i asked meadows about that. take a look how he responded to that. >> the only person waving a white flag along with his white mask, is joe biden. when we look at this, we're going to defeat the virus. we're not going to control it. we will try to contain it as best we can. the white flag is not in keeping with this president. you know him. he doesn't give up. he's not going to give up until all americans are safe and we've defeated this virus. >> worth noting, andrea, their discussions about potentially holding a swearing in ceremony at the white house for amy coney barrett if and when she's confirmed. meadows saying that will be a socially distant event. andrea. >> and she will still need another swearing in, one by the court, the judicial swearing in. we don't know when and where

that would happen, but she could, if she doesn't recuse herself, begin sitting immediately on some of those key voting disputes from florida, north carolina and pennsylvania. speaking of pennsylvania, that's where carol lee is there, the president there in allentown, not letting the dangers surrounding coronavirus in the white house deter him, instead in places like this. what have you heard today? >> we heard from the president, he's not worried putin pennsylvania. you know if he wasn't worried about pennsylvania he wouldn't be here doing three back-to-back rallies. at his first rally in allentown, he essentially had the message to his supporters that the polls were saying the same things that we're hearing the polls say now, he was down and had a tough path to 270 electoral votes and he managed to pull it out then.

so his message is really for his supporters not to sit home, not to be deterred by the polls. the president is planning on delivering that message really several times a day in person, holding rallies. he has three today. he has three more tomorrow. he'll be in arizona. he'll be in michigan. him and all his surrogates, the vice president and his children and others will be across the country fanning out, trying to get his supporters to either vote early or vote on election day, andrea. >> mike memoli, joe biden not traveling far from home today, at least. what's the political calculus there? he's only done 26 state trips outside of his home state of delaware since august. and he is planning, though, to go to georgia tomorrow, which is really noteworthy, red georgia. i guess they think they can expand the map. but that's -- isn't that a long

shot? >> yeah, andrea. we obviously haven't had any publication of whether we'll see the former vice president today. i do think we will hear from him by day's end, however. there are a number of topics he does want to weigh in on, first you heard kristen talk about in terms of mark meadows comments on the coronavirus. also a key confirmation vote today in the senate on judge barrett's nomination, an opportunity for the vice president to weigh in. but the point is, if he does do that, he'll do it in delaware, not one of the battleground states. when you step back and look at his campaign travel since the democratic national convention, as you mentioned, 66 days since then. he's only spent half of them in public doing campaign events. the campaign said they have been trying to balance both the medical and political necessi necessities of campaigning and campaigning safely. when you do look at the breakdown of the campaign travel, you see a number of things. 10 in pennsylvania, the most

traveled state in the list. he's also expanding the map as well, heading to georgia tomorrow for what the campaign is billing as a major sort of closing message-type speech. a poll showing in a state a democrat hasn't won in a presidential election since 1992. biden ahead according to flick journal constitution poll. later this week we know he'll head to florida, the other must win state, where a poll shows him ahead by several points. senator kamala harris for her part heading to texas later this week. that's a state where dallas morning news showed the biden ticket ahead, at least, but also within the margin of error. the biden campaign is certainly feeling confident. they love what they see in early numbers. they believe early turnout is well for the vice president. can't be complacent, as you put it. he's the guy who will never be confident until the final bell rings waiting and watching the returns come in on election night, andrea.

>> as our friend, the cook political report dave wasserman says, he's seeing really strong signs for biden, for a really big potential win if everything holds together but does not see anything significant in early voting. he just thinks there's no way to calculate who is voting. we saw last time in 2016 that did not go over well, bigger than expected early voting in north carolina and florida didn't mean anything for hillary clinton. ashley parker, both candidates on "60 minutes" last night. we saw joe biden reacting to make of the president's attacks after cbs producers clearly caught president trump just since returning to the trail after his covid diagnosis earlier this month. let's play a little bit of that. lesley stahl's interview was so strong and so effective, this is only a small piece of what they did, constantly quoting the president to him, showing it, and having him deny what he had said. let's watch. >> let me ask you something

about suburban women. >> yeah. >> suburban women, will you please like me? please. please. i saved your damn neighborhood, okay? >> you said the other day to suburban women, will you please like me? please. please. >> i didn't say that. that's so misleading. i say jokingly, suburban women you should love me because i'm giving you security. >> the president said on the stump, i saved the suburbs, you should thank me. >> he wouldn't know a suburb unless he took a wrong turn. he wants to take that subliminal fear out there and say it's because of that guy, because of that woman. that's not who we are as a country. >> both really strong interviews. ashley parker, the president particularly on the defensive in that interview before he walked out. >> yeah, he was. the president, even as you recalled, did something unprecedented where he released the interview, his sort of unedited version in advance.

it seems like the part he was objecting to, as you said, were sort of the realtime fact checks lesley stahl was providing. it's worth noting the president does not handle sort of being challenged by anyone particularly well, especially strong women such as lesley stahl and a number of other female journalists he's gotten angry at. he doesn't get that a lot in his inner circle. there's not a lot of people on his team and his campaign and broader orbit who will fact check him on something, say, maybe, mr. president, you shouldn't stay that. the statistics you're quoting about coronavirus are wrong. so what we saw in that interview was really his ire at being pushed on basic facts and realities by a topnotch female journalist. >> to that point, i didn't see him walk out with chris swan or chris wallace from their very strong interviews but there he walks out on lesley stahl with

"60 minutes." ashley, you've got to figure, what is the calculation of that? >> the calculation, i mean, in a way it's a microcosm of what we're seeing on the campaign trail. the calculation was he was angry. this is what he wanted to do in that moment. he had a gut, visceral reaction, and he walked out. there was no broader strategy, no discipline. i'm 99% sure that was not game planned with his team in advance. you actually the next part of the interview where she sits down with vice president pence, you watch the vice president squirm as she puts the question to him quite simply what just happened with the president. the answer is he does what he wants, and in some way that's hurting him with voters. >> indeed. ashley parker, kristen welker, mike memoli, carol lee, thank you very much for starting us off today and getting out the vote. as texas voters turn out in droves for early voting one former candidate canvassing for joe biden today.

beto o'rourke next. first covid crisis, hitting highest number of coronavirus cases since the start of the pandemic as doctors on the front lines warn things could even get worse. >> it's going to keep coming after us until we get better at these basic methods of fighting it and until the vaccine comes. i wouldn't hold your breath for that vaccine because we can lose a lot of people in the next few months before that is able to be distributed adequately to the population. s able to be distributed adequately to the population ♪ [ engines revving ] ♪ it's amazing to see them in the wild like th-- shhh. [ engine revs ] for those who were born to ride, there's progressive.

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we don't have the capacity to care for all of these patients. it's not even the covid patients. if you have a heart attack, or you get in a trauma and all the beds are full, if you have a stroke, we can't care for you. >> nadine reed, a nurse manager in utah where state officials are sounding the alarm about the rising number of covid cases. the state set a record with 1960

cases on friday. here are the facts at this hour. the u.s. shattered its single day record of new infections over the weekend. there are now more than 8.7 million cases across the country and over 226,000 americans have died. the virus is spreading through rural america with the dakotas now leading the nation in cases per capita. nbc's meghan fitzgerald in salt lake city. meghan, there have been warning the state will have to implement crisis standard of care favoring younger patients if the spikes there continue. what does that really mean? >> reporter: yeah, andrea, so state health officials here really aren't mincing words at the state of affairs here in utah. they are calling it frightening and scary. we've heard state officials say in their entire medical career they have never been more scared. we're seeing a surge of covid throughout the state. we're seeing hospitals overrun. here at the university of utah

hospital icus at capacity. so last week we saw hospitals going to the governor saying, hey, look, if this continues on the trajectory the state is on right now with cases continuing to climb, they might be in a position where they will have to prioritize care. what that looks like is, for example, you have an older patient and a younger patient that have equal symptoms. that frontline worker would prioritize the younger patient because statistically they have a higher likelihood of survival. andrea. >> that's a really terrible, terrible situation. meagan, it's so great to see you on msnbc. i think it's your first shot on our program. thank you. joining me now is olivia troy who quit her job as homeland security adviser to mike pence in protest over its handling of the pandemic. now adviser to defending

democracy together. dr. amish, senior scholar at john hopkins center for health security. olivia, first to you. let's talk about mike pence on the road today. how can he defend being on the road instead of quarantining given how close he worked with marc short and several others on his team. >> appear dra, i don't know how he can defend that. he should be isolating now. he's had tremendous exposure, his own body man has it. he has other staff that has it. marty obts is always around the president and so is marc short. it's disheartening to see mike pence as the leader of the white house coronavirus task force out there displaying that sort of place ant disregard for the guidelines and what we have tried to communicate to the american people in terms of what happens when you're exposed like

this. it's just disappointing to watch a leader of our country at the highest level continuing to perpetuate this type of narrative. >> they say he's an essential worker, but campaigning is not arguably essential work. he could do his vice presidential essential work from the naval observatory. perfectly equipped there at home base. doctor, how much trouble are the hospitals in utah in dealing with such an onslaught-of-cases and talking about triage possibly. >> any time a hospital is capitol plating standards of care, it tells you things are out of control. looks like what happened transmission landed on vulnerable cases and these hospitals are having difficulty maintaining normal operations, taking care of normal stuff they do on a day-to-day basis because of covid-19 cases. you have to remember that.

it's really about hospital capacity. you know you can't get down to zero. clearly in utah they don't have the that capacity. we have to take aggressive action to make sure they don't go under, don't go into crisis standard of care. this can be prevented if we decrease the number of cases by taking common sense actions. >> and in rural areas, doctor, it's also where we see pronounced politicization of masking and other safety issues. gabe gutierrez from nbc spoke with mayor of sioux falls, north dakota, pleading with residents to wear masks. here is what he had to say. >> i think there's an increasing high level of fatigue, especially in rural parts of the country. we were told in may and june how bad it was going to be and it never came. now it's here. >> and you've got the governor of south dakota, christine nome treating over the weekend,

quote, if folks want to wear a mask, they are free to do so. those who don't want to wear a mask shouldn't be shamed into doing it and the government shouldn't mandate it. that's the mixed message from the top and president on down, especially in red states. doctor. >> paradoxically, some of these rural areas don't have hospital capacity and they are the areas getting hit hard because they don't have academic centers like major cities that can absorb a lot of patients. you have that coupled with the fact because they weren't hit hard in the spring, they think this is not something that could ever get to them. while it's true you can't necessarily extrapolate new york city to every part of this country, every part of the country is at risk for having undocumented change of transmission starting and landing people in the hospital. the key is we have to get people to just take these common sense measures of wearing a face covering, trying to stay 6 feet apart, avoiding crowded places and go a long way staving off the pandemic. if you continue to see people have mixed messages where people

think it's okay to go outside when you might be infected and expose other people, you're going to get the results you see in north dakota and south dakota currently. and olivia, i wanted to share what dr. nancy from cdc said at a briefing on february 25th about the virus. >> ultimately, we expect we will see community spread in this community. it's not so much a question of if this will happen anymore but rather more a question of exactly when this will happen and how many people in this country will have severe illness. >> it's notable that we have not heard from the doctor since she was really not only sidelined but silenced in what would normally been cdc daily briefings during a pandemic. olivia, you can speak to that as

well. >> correct. and that is why you saw the vice president actually take over the task force. it was that moment, that was the breaking moment, that she spoke very honestly and was telling the american people the truth. and so they silenced her, and they continued to try to silence cdc and dr. fauci and dr. birx whenever they would say this is going to get bad. look, back in april, dr. fauci said publicly, we will have a horrible winter and a horrible fall depending on how this response goes. we are there, we're living it now. we're watching this happen across the united states, and the white house continues to ignore this. it's terrible. it's terrifying. >> and doctor, there's a report over the weekend by laura strickler and geoff bennett on our team about the moral

tumbling at cdc. depending how the election goes, there could be a exodus of doctors there. >> this is one of the worst aspects of the pandemic. the cdc is premier health agency in the world. i remember the first time i walked in there and the awe i felt in that building around those people that are heroes and icons of the field. to see them be demoralized, to see them put in the back seat, to see them attacked not for anything they did wrong but for their expertise is mind boggling. if we lose that caliber of people at the cdc, we will suffer for years to come. that's one of the biggest priorities we need to fix, get cdc back to its prominent role, let those individuals who know the virus again back in the forefront speaking to the men public on a daily basis. >> doctor, great to hear from you and olivia, troye, indeed. thank you so much. talking turnout, republicans and democrats stepping up the ground game in texas to get

voters to the polls. we're live in houston where one effort is under way. stay with us. you're watching "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. g "andrea mitl reports" on msnbc. 133 million americans have pre-existing conditions

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as organizers are working on both sides to get out the vote in texas, coronavirus cases, particularly in el paso, are surging with roughly 200% increase in covid hospitalizations in less than a month prompting officials there to issue a new curfew last night after intensive care units there reached full capacity. the majority of residents in el paso are hispanic. that's a population his disporportionately large by covid. organizers are hoping biden campaign's cautious stance will resonate. if they want to turn texas blue, democrats need to turn out scores of latino voters. joining me from texas, nbc's priscilla thompson in houston. hey, priscilla. what do organizers think about this chance -- do they really think there is a chance for texas to vote democratic. >> reporter: well, andrea, democratic organizers certainly think there's a chance this case could flip but it will hinge on

turnout. i'm here with two folks working to make sure that turnout number is huge, former congressman beto o'rourke and briana brown deputy director of texas organizing project. briana, i'll start with you. you all are going to be door knocking, canvassing today. we are a little more than a week out from election day. what impact do you think the work you're doing today will have on election day? >> well, it's the wo, that we're doing today, the work we've done over the last 10 years, the work with beautiful strategic network of grassroots organizations has been doing is going to pay off on november 3rd because guess what, we're going to flip texas. we're going to flip from the top of the ticket all the way down to district court judges that can transform our bail system. we're going to reimagine what this democracy looks like in the nation. >> congressman, so much of the focus often is on the white suburban voters, white working class voters. that is not what this neighborhood looks like. talk to me about why it's

important to engage voters here. >> we're in acres home inside houston and harris county, the most diverse community in the united states of america. this is also the county with one of the highest voter turnout levels in the united states in a state that went from 50th in voter turnout to first. this state, because the work briana texas organizing project are doing against the greatest level of voter suppression in the united states is the state that could put joe biden over the top on election night, help us win a democratic majority in the state house and help control -- help flip control of the u.s. senate. a lot is riding on the work they are doing. that's why we're out here to support them. >> thank you both. andrea, there you have it. we're looking at very tight poll numbers out of texas. everyone on both democratic and the republican side are saying it's going to hinge on folks turning out. andrea, i think you have another question, so go for it. >> well, now, i want to ask you if you could ask beto o'rourke about voter suppression because

there's a case that constantly comes up in one area of texas, where students are not allowed to vote, a supreme court case decided in 1989, greg abbott rules, what about the legal fights to come in texas. >> reporter: sure. so congressman o'rourke, andrea is wondering about the legal ideas and this idea of voter suppression here in this state and what impact that is having, what impact it could have. talk to me a little about that. >> priscilla, andrea, i mentioned this is the most voter suppressed state in the country. we have the most onerous voter id laws, 700 polling places closed concentratinged in black and hispanic neighborhoods. gerrymandering out. against that level of voter suppression you have record turnout in communities like harris county because of the organizing that's been going on not just this year before for the last 10 years.

for these voters to overcome voter suppression is the story in 2020 in my opinion. what we would love to see is more help from the top of the ticket come down to texas to meet these voters where they are and meet this incredible turnout, a state that went from 50th to first and could put biden over the top on november 3rd. >> andrea, there you have it. i'll send it back to you. >> priscilla, great. thanks to all. thanks to briana and to the congressman, of course. i think kamala harris is headed there this week indeed. now i want to bring in rick tyler, former national spokesman and communications director for texas senator ted cruz's 2016 campaign. donna edwards, former democratic congresswoman from maryland, "washington post" and a.b. stoddard at real clear politics. welcome all. rick, first to you. you know texas so well. we've seen john cornyn begin to separate himself from the president. could cornyn seat be in doubt in

texas this year? >> well, look, andrea, it's amazing we're talking about texas, texas, texas. if you look back at the history, you have mitt romney who won texas by about 16 points, donald trump won it by 9. beto o'rourke lost it by less than 5. so it's been trending blue for a long time. you can see trending blue for those numbers. now according to there's morning news poll, biden is ahead of trump three points in texas. that's within the margin of error. that brings it down to zero. anything is possible. the thing with texas, there is a demographic now, largely latino voters voting in big numbers now. texas has been red for a long time. it used to be blue with ann richards. now it's starting to trend toward blue again. could they get it at this time, absolutely. i don't know. we'll have to see. >> donna edwards, we've heard

president trump's comments try to appeal to suburban women. here is what he just said again moments ago in pennsylvania. >> they keep saying we don't know, we think he's not doing well with suburban women. i think i'm doing great with suburban women. here is what i know about suburban women. first of all, they are great. they want two things. they want to leave the house alone. they don't want a five-story project next to them, or could be higher. they want to leave alone. you know what else, they want security. >> this is, again -- well, here is what joe biden had to say about the president's pitch to the suburbs on "60 minutes." play that and i'll come right back to you, donna. >> it's not 1950. there are black and white families living next door to one another and driving each other's kids to soccer practice. this is a different world that he lives in. >> so donna, the president's idea that women in the suburbs

are worried about projects is another whole -- another meme coming out of this campaign. >> i live in the suburbs. i think that what women are concerned about, all women are concerned about is, one, they are the ones who have borne the brunt of the coronavirus pandemic. they are taking care of their families. they are working from home. they are educating their children at home. i think that what you will see is you see record turnouts now among women in the early vote. i think that that really spells disaster for the president. he's not going to appeal to them, as joe biden says, on 1950s norms. their lives and life experience is very different. i think that suburban women are going to be the story of all stripes, the story of this election, who are voting their health care, they are voting their families, and they are voting the security of knowing

that joe biden is going to do what it takes to pull this country together and to get us back on the right track. you know, so i think the president is feeling very desperate here, and you can hear it in his please to suburban women, as though somehow that's going to work. but it's not going to get over the fact that the president happened done anything to solve this pandemic crisis that we're in. >> i want to play for both you and a.b. and rick something that jared kushner said today on "fox & friends" about the national outcry, protest after george floyd's death. >> you saw a lot of people who were signaling, go on instagram and cry, write something on their jersey, basketball court. one thing we've seen in the mostly black community, which is mostly democrat, president trump's policies are the policies that can help people break out of the problems they are complaining about. he can't want them to be

successful more than they want to be successful. >> he's really diminishing the nationwide protest after george floyd talking about the basketball courts and the rest, jerseys. a.b. >> andrea, this is the kind of thing that you would usually hear from a secretly recorded aud audiotape from a fundraiser. the idea of him in the final days of the election going on tv and diminishing the very concerns that these suburban women we are talking about, white suburban women have is that police need to regain social trust, that black men faes discrimination from police and sometimes lethal force that ends their lives, and the story the trump administration could be telling instead, that his numbers with black voters are better than they were in 2016, or he's lowered african-american

unemployment to its record level are the kinds of things they could be saying in the final days to appeal to more voters instead of fewer is there for the taking. either not a great record, but certainly the rhetoric coming out of jared kushner in the final days of a campaign that looks like they are losing is absolutely astonishing. it does show they do think suburban women sit around thinking about projects coming near their house and not the greater good of the country. >> a.b. stoddard, donna edwards, rick tyler, thanks to all. coming up next, on the rise again after being hardest hit by the first wave of the pandemic, italy is now fighting a second spike. a live report from milan next. you're watching "andrea mitchell reports" from msnbc. ext. you're watching "andrea mitchell reports" from msnbc.

after controlling the coronavirus in the summer months

italy is now dealing with resurgence, tens of thousands of new cases. today their government is putting in place some of the toughest public health restrictions since that devastating first wave sent the country into lockdown. reaching 7,000 people who lost lives in the spring, it's sparking new fears history will repeat itself. joining me from milan, nbc chief correspondent bill neely. great to see you. tell me about the concerns there about these new restrictions and whether people are complying. >> yeah, hi, andrea, there are concerns. in about 15 minutes' time all the bars, restaurants and cafes right across italy will close their doors. every day they must now close at 6:00 in the evening. it had been 11:00 in the evening. this will affect hundreds of thousands of businesses across the country, needless to say many people are very worried, not happy about it. there were some protests over

the weekend, even a very small protest in the last hour. in addition to that, the prime minister has introduced other measures so gyms, movie theaters will close indefinitely. religious services will be restricted. so to sporting events. basically everything will be suspended except for professional sports like soccer, which will be held behind closed doors. why is this happening? look, record numbers. virtually every day, about 20,000 new cases every day at the start of the month it was about 2,000. it's not just here, this is the epicenter, now unlike the spring it's right across italy. so people right across the country are worried. to give you a small example of the fear, i've just come back from a small town near here called bergamo, which had

terrific toll of 6,000 dead in a month in the spring. it's a small town, remember. that's more than died in milan in the bombing in world war ii. they are scared. they are scared it's going to come back but they are scared for all of italy because they say italians simply don't know how bad it can get. ambulances every day, dead piling up, hospitals overwhelmed. there is evidence that hospitals and testing centers are now becoming overwhelmed. as you said right at the beginning there's evidence that history here tragically is beginning to repeat itself. >> bill neely in milan, thank you so much. a somber report indeed. meanwhile at the vatican, an historic announcement today from pope francis on sunday naming wilton gregly archbishop of washington, beloved, charismatic figure here be the first

african-american to be made cardinal any time in america. washington's 72-year-old catholic leader seen by many as sharing the pope's more progressive views. in june notably gregory criticized president trump's visit to a catholic shrine amid black lives matter protests in the nation's capital. challenger status amy mcgrath taking on mitch mcconnell, the kentucky senate democratic candidate joining me as the campaign enters its final stretch. stay with us on msnbc. s final stretch. stay with us on msnbc.

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there is no deal on covid relief, making it very unlikely a bill will come through before the eat election next week. despite nearly 8 million americans slipping into poverty in may, according to new studies. and the senate is moving swiftly to confirm amy coney barrett to the supreme court including sessions all weekend. >> we made an important contribution to the future of this country. a lot of what we've done over the last four years will be undone, sooner or later, by the next election. it won't be able to do much about that.

for a long time to come. >> joining me now, amy mcgrath, the democrat challenging senator mcconnell for his seat, a retired marine corps fighter pilot. very good to see you, amy mcgrath. thanks for joining us. how has the amy coney barrett nomination process helped mitch mcconnell with more conservative voters in kentucky? >> well, it may have helped him with the far right voters. but it certainly hasn't helped him with everyday kentuckians. because it's almost unbelievable, as i was just watching that clip, you know, that this is what he's caring about right now. we're in a time of national crisis. we have 230,000 americans dead. the coronavirus cases here in kentucky are on the rise. we have over 1,400 of my fellow kentuckians. our fellow kentuckians dead.

and senator mcconnell is refusing to work at this crisis at hand. it's a dereliction of duty at the highest levels. and he needs to be relieved of command. we've got to have the aid to pull our country through this right now and he is refusing to do that. and people are tired of that. my fellow kentuckians. we need help, wee need aid. we need a leader to get it done and he doesn't care. >> sk thin fact, he's not takint in a debate tonight. you're debating a libertarian, one of the last time, you debated, he was laughing at you as you were making the point about the suffering of people during covid. you were appealing for action, it's rel mcconnell aally mcconn senate blocking pelosi from bearing fruit. that's why it's never going to

go through if it ever gets to the senate floor. >> it's stunning. when i pressed him on coronavirus aid that kentucky really needs now. we have 300,000 kentuckians who don't have health care. and he's trying to ram through the supreme court nominee, it's all about health care and taking away the affordable care act. and i talked to him about 40% of kentucky's renters are facing eviction right now. i said that to him and he laughed. and it's just a stunning disconnect for everyday kentuckians. for him, it's a partisan game. we're tired of that. we've got to get this above the partisan games. that's what the race is all about. and i think my fellow kentuckians are fed up with it. that's why you see an enormous amount of enthusiasm with mail-in voting here in kentucky. and we're going to take him

down. >> thank you very much for taking time to be with us today. amy mcgrath, good luck to you out there. we have always asked senator mcconnell to come on the show. he and his campaign have declined the invitation at this point. that does it for "andrea mitchell reports." up next, steve kornacki is in for chuck todd on "mtp daily." this is ruth, heshe's 104 years ago old. she was casting her ballot this weekend in new york city. she was born before women had the right to vote. she said in all she's seen in her years, this is the most important election yet. >> this is hands down without exception, and i'm talking about the first world war, the second world war, and every other election before or since, this is it. ♪

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♪ if it's monday, trump is trailing, the virus is raging, another outbreak has hit the white house. and the president's chief of staff is trying to clarify comments suggesting we cannot control this pandemic. plus, with time running out, the president is holding three rallies today in pennsylvania. what it says about his campaign's narrowing path to 270, amid the latest batch of battleground polls. and after a weekend of intense