good day, everyone. i'm andrea mitchell in washington. five days to go. the candidates are going head to head in florida today, a state president trump has to win if he's going to be reelected. the president and joe biden will both be in tampa, pitching to voters in the critical i-4 corridor today with biden also holding a drive-in rally in south florida's broward county in the next hour. the president pushing ahead to another key battleground later today, north carolina tonight. both campaigns expect florida to come down to the wire. our new nbc news/marist poll of likely florida voters has joe biden leading the president 51-47. that's well within the poll's margin of error. more than 6 million florida residents have already voted.

that's nearly 70% of the total vote in the state just four years ago. our team is in place across florida. nbc white house correspondent kristen welker and nbc political reporter monica alba are in tampa. nbc's mike memoli for joe biden's first event today. and nbc correspondent chris jansing talking to seniors in sarasota. florida is crucial to president trump, it could solidify a victory for joe biden. it's florida, florida, florida, that's why you're there today, kristen. >> reporter: it's always been florida, florida, florida, andrea, you're absolutely right, and the fight for the sunshine state is intensifying today, the fight for 29 electoral votes. that's why you'll see dueling rallies today, amidst the backdrop of our latest nbc news/marist poll which does show biden with a very slim 4-point lead.

that's within the margin of error. as you say, they were tied, though, a month ago. so why this small bounce? it's because he's surging with independents and seniors. he's leading with seniors 53-46%. but president trump is leading among some key groups as well. white men and the all-important latino votes. with latinos, president trump leads 52-46%. 57% of votes have voted early -- i should say, it's increase of 57% from 2016. it shows you there is enthusiasm as voters want to get out amidst the backdrop of this pandemic. what will we hear from these two candidates today? president trump will tout the strong economic numbers, monica will undoubtedly have a lot more about that. vice president biden has made fighting the pandemic the centerpiece of his argument. i've been talking to election officials here. they have great confidence in

the vote count. they say it's already under way with those early votes. the mail-in ballots. they say it is going well, no glitches. they say they feel confident that by election night they could have the unofficial results of who has won florida. and of course, andrea, that will tell us a whole lot about where this race is headed if we do in fact get those election results. so we are awaiting remarks from biden and trump, set to get under way a little bit later on today, andrea. >> the center of the action indeed, kristen. and kristen's last point, of course, that florida starts counting early balloting now. they don't wait until elections day like pennsylvania does, they wait until the polls close on election ka election day. that's why we will probably know something about florida on election night or at least the next morning. monica alba, a whirlwind campaign day for the president, several rallies today, an incredible pace. yesterday in arizona, where he

was campaigning alongside martha mcsally who could be key in the republicans holding the senate. >> martha, come up. fast. fast. come on, quick. you got one minute, one minute, martha, they don't want to hear this, martha, quick, quick, quick, let's go. >> i'm coming. thank you, president trump. if you want to continue to have a fighter who is proud to work with president trump for the great american comeback and strong military and secure or borders and your second amendment rights, then i'm you're girl, arizona. >> monica, i mean, what could be more diminishing to a vulnerable woman senator than that introduction, and at the same rally he gave more time to nigel farage, the brexit hero from

britain, the discredited british poli politician, i use the word "hero" there disparagingly, to an arizona audience. >> reporter: exactly, andrea, not just nigel farage, there were also other senators in attendance at the rally that were not up for reelection in arizona that got more speaking time on the stage than martha mcsally. it was quite an awkward moment and you're absolutely right, not a very warm welcome to somebody who is trailing in the polls to the democratic candidate, former astronaut mark kelly. the president has said he's worried about losing the senate because of vulnerable seats. senator martha mcsally's is probably at the top of that list. he was very clear he's not necessarily excited about what she presented as her vision. mcsally has had a hard time in

the last couple of months trying to tap dance about how she feels about the president, often trying to not answer the question whether she's proud of his record. yesterday she said that, but it may not give her much help. florida is a place the president has spent the most time, the most stops in the last a couple of weeks since returning to the trail. he'll be back here likely at least twice before election day. it's his adopted home state, a critical place he won in 2016, and really you see the strategy unfolding here, as playing defense. in florida, in north carolina, and in pennsylvania, those will be the states he's most focused on. today we'll see something, andrea, away haven't seen in a year and a half, that's first lady melania trump joining her husband at this rally behind me. thousands expected here. she hasn't been at a rally since

the last election. >> we know the white house did say she'll be voting in florida, obviously in person, we expect, as he had. mike memoli, you're in south broward, critical in every election year. the beginning of the former vice president's national campaigning push. there's such a contrast between his bet that safe covid campaigning than the big pizazz of the trump campaign. >> reporter: exactly, andrea, you see the cars pulling in behind me, complying with the experts on how to do this appropriately. that's been the biden message, whether he's been campaigning in

his home state in delaware, or today here in florida. this is the fourth time biden has come to florida since the democratic convention. only pennsylvania has seen more visits. it's an example of how important it is to their electoral map. if you're a democrat on election night looking for clues on how florida is going to go, the first thing you do is look at miami-dade, broward county, and palm beach county to make sure you're hitting the heavily democratic counties, are you getting the turnout you expected. the next thing you look at is tampa, where monica is, where kristen is, where the former vice president will campaign later today, to see if you're winning the county, because that's a bellwether area, the i-4 corridor. what went wrong in 2016 for hillary clinton was they hit their numbers in these counties, but the numbers in the rural counties for trump were much bigger than expected. if you're a biden campaign official, that's the concern at this point.

they are seeing good signs. here in broward county, we see early voting, in fact this event is right around the corner from an early voting site, that's surpassed 50% of registered voters having voted already so far. that's a good indication. as we look at the early vote data at nbc, we found new voters that are new to this process that haven't voted in past elections, democrats at this point have an advantage among that group. so when you look at our poll here, the nbc/marist poll, and you look at the early voting data, it's good signs for the biden campaign. obviously they're not taking anything for granted, they just announced kamala harris will be here in south florida on saturday, andrea. >> and they do have to build up their support amongst the la latino vote there because the cuban vote in particular is not in biden's camp as much as the puerto rican and some of the other latin groups as well. chris jansing, you've been traveling across the country, you've been in ohio, now you're in florida, you've been meeting the voters. tell me what the seniors you've met with in florida are telling

you. >> reporter: there's this chasm, it's absolutely fascinating. we talked to to supporters of biden, two of trump. it's representative of the differences we're seeing all across florida and all across the country, like the candidates they support, these women have radically different views of reality, including when it comes to what is arguably the number one issue for many seniors, and that is the coronavirus. take a listen to a little bit of our conversation. >> he has done everything that anyone could have done. >> i had covid. so i do feel very strongly and have very strong feelings about covid. and i feel, had he done something earlier, i might not have gotten it. >> i've been having people at my house without masks from the beginning. and i feel fine. and i'm 78 years old. >> but when he turned around and said don't let this dominate

your life, this is nothing, baloney. i still have symptoms from this. >> reporter: it's tough to overstate the impact that the coronavirus is having on the senior vote. kristen welker mentioned that there is a seven-point favora e favorable -- that joe biden is leading by seven points among seniors in our nbc poll, that's a 14-point swing since the last election. donald trump won here, which is a moderate republican area. he won by 26,000 votes. in 2012, barack obama had that down to about 200 votes. so it is that obama coalition of these moderate republicans and independents, andrea, that joe biden is hoping to win over, democrats are working to win over, and that will be the difference, they think, here in florida overall, andrea.

>> fascinating reporting, thank you so much, chris jansing, kristen welker, mike memoli, monica alba. robert gibbs joins any now, who better to explain the coalition that biden needs to build and the coalition that donald trump had in 2016. robert, when you see the florida voting, you see the latin groups are now not certain about joe biden, the campaigning from the trump people trying to disparage biden, that's having an impact among cuban-americans, not so much among the puerto rican americans, also the seniors have really come home to biden. so how do you see -- come home to biden, who may not have been as much with barack obama. how do you see a different kind of coalition, if there could be a winning democratic coalition

in florida? >> i do think it is interesting, andrea, when you look at it, you may have president trump doing slightly better with latino or hispanic voters and that's a little bit of a difference than 2008, 2012. even 2016. but then at the same time, white suburban voters and particularly senior voters that are big in places not just in florida but in arizona and pennsylvania, that are now leading where biden is leading. democrats haven't won that senior vote since al gore did in 2000. so i think that can certainly mix this up in a world in which we're used to thinking about certain coalitions as being pretty rock solid on each side. this is going to mix that up a little bit. i do think it is clear, though, that biden has a little bit of momentum nationally, certainly, and seems to be slightly ahead in a really, really important state for donald trump in florida.

>> i want to hear your take on polling and what to believe, because we've got two very reputable polls in wisconsin which had completely different results. one was "the washington post"/abc news poll and the other was marquette law school, a 12-point spread between them, one day after. >> as much as democrats would love to go to bed at night thinking we're up 17 points in wisconsin, i think that's almost certainly not the case. look, i think in a place like wisconsin, michigan, pennsylvania, certainly across that upper midwest, i think you're still going to have fairly close elections. wisconsin and michigan are imperative for the vice president to win so that pennsylvania ultimately would decide the election in his favor. i do think it's certainly much closer to the 5-point race if not a little closer than that, than certainly 17 points.

you know, they call these battleground and swing states for a reason. this was a very, very closely contested race in 2016. certainly the one thing that wisconsin is dealing with in a way every state is dealing with but wisconsin really dealing with, a sharp outbreak in covid cases over the last two weeks. and so i think that bears watching, but also the voting bears watching in the sense that the supreme court's decision to halt counting of wisconsin votes past election day is really important for a few hundred00,0hundred thousand that still have mail-in volts and haven't delivered those back, either to a government office or to a dropb dropbox. >> and robert, what are you going to be looking at on election night? >> look, i think -- >> for early signs. >> yeah, i mean, look, you guys touched on it a second ago with

florida. look, it is a must-win state for donald trump. anything less than a victory in florida, and it's likely over. florida has, as you mentioned, a lot of practice in counting these mail-in votes, they do it starting three plus weeks before the election. when those polls close for most of the state at 7:00 eastern and in the panhandle at 8:00 p.m. eastern, a big chunk of votes will go on the board and you'll see where this is. my hunch is at 9:00, 10:00 on election night, we'll get a sense of where florida is trending, whether this is going to be something where we know who wins this race late into the night, or if florida goes for trump, you know, is this something where we're going to have to watch pennsylvania, wisconsin, and michigan, because they don't count those votes ahead of time, are we looking at a five or six-day race until we understand the real outcome? but i think florida really starts us off, probably arizona,

georgia, north carolina, that sun belt group of states i think will be incredibly important to watch early on election night. >> and what about texas? you know texas so well. >> texas, look, i think texas is a great opportunity. it's remarkable, you know, 95% of the 2016 turnout has already voted in texas. i think you're just going to see an incredible turnout. you know, 2016, it was about a nine-point race, trump winning that race. but then in 2018, the senate race was a two-point race. so it is clearly a state that is demographically changing. big suburban votes, big urban votes. and look, the fact that we are talking five days out about the real notion that texas is in play, there have been rumors of texas going blue for almost 20 years. i spent some time there in 2002 under that premise. it hasn't gone blue yet. but the fact that we're getting

that close and we're talking about it this late in the campaign is a real sense of how expanded this map is for vice president biden, and how narrow that path is for trump to have to win each and every one of those states to get to 270 electoral votes. >> robert gibbs, thanks so much. and coming up next, we'll hear from the trump campaign. why is the president continuing to ignore scientific advice, crowding thousands of often unmasked supporters into his rallies? his campaign communications director joins me, ahead. plus push to the brink. covid cases in el paso, texas continuing a dangerous trend as hospitals struggle to cope. the city's congresswoman, veronica escobar, will be here. you're watching "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. i'm still on the road to what's next. and i'm still going for my best. even though i live with a higher risk of stroke due to afib not caused by a heart valve problem. so if there's a better treatment than warfarin, i'm on top of that. eliquis.

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in el paso, hospitals are at their breaking point, trying to handle a dramatic influx of

covid-19 patients, with critical care patients being airlifted to other cities in texas and field tents at the university medical center now trying to deal with the overflow. >> over the last ten days, we've seen this 300% increase. it's unprecedented. we did not expect this. >> a county judge has imposed an overnight curfew and a mask mandate to try to help stop the spread. texas congresswoman veronica escobar's family has been living in el paso for three generations. and he joins me now. congresswoman, it's good to see you, but your community is again in crisis. tell me how you're coping and what can be done. >> andrea, thank you very much for having me on and thank you for all the coverage that you've provided about the state of emergency that el paso is in. and, you know, you've been following our community for a long time, and we've found ourselves to be ground zero, unfortunately, in crisis after crisis under the trump

administration. and this is the latest one. we have about 585 el pasoans who have died as a result of coronavirus. i've had close friends who passed away as a result. local heroes. it's just been incredibly tragic. teachers, health care workers, essential workers, parents, children, suffering needlessly because we still don't have a national testing strategy. we still don't have recognition by the president or by the texas governor that latino communities, brown and black communities, are far more vulnerable and susceptible to the covid pandemic. we don't have strong enforcement. i live in a state where the governor has chosen to tie the hands of local elected officials and local governments. and so, you know, it's been an incredible tragedy. we are asking everyone to please

sort of self-impose rules and restrictions on themselves in the absence of the governor really playing a bold and strong hand in trying to keep us safe. under the governor's order here in texas, businesses are allowed to open at 50% capacity. so when you look at party halls, when you look at event centers, they are allowed to open up at 50%. so if there is a party hall that has a capacity of 500 people, under the texas rules by governor greg abbott, you can still have 250 people in that space. it just doesn't make sense. and it doesn't make sense to tie the hands of local governments whose first obligation is the health, safety, and wherevelfar their citizens. >> and congresswoman, how is this affecting vote? are people afraid to go to the polls? >> we have been doing a lot of

outreach to voters to make sure that they know how they can still exercise their right to vote and how they can do it safely. thankfully, here in el paso, we have really an outstanding elections administrator and an elections office that has, you know, taken to social media and psas to walk people through how they can vote safely. we have robust curbside voting that is extremely safe, where literally you drive up, you put on your mask, your gloves, and the elections office will bring the ballot box, right, to your vehicle. you just lower your window and you safely vote. you can be on your way, never even having to get out of your car. so we've been pushing that information out. i know a lot of other folks have as well. but andrea, i'm so pleased to share with you that we are breaking records in el paso, just like we're seeing records being broken all over texas.

my team, and i've been collaborating with our local democratic party, and a good friend and ally, state representative blanco, on a very targeted strategy to reach out to low propensity voters. and for several weeks now, our amazing, hard-working team has made over 165,000 calls, tens of thousands of texts, to voters who normally aren't reached by campaigns or candidates because they're sort of written off. we've targeted new voters. we're seeing the fruits of our labor, basically the benefits of all this work in the numbers. almost 30% of the voters who in el paso are turning out to vote in record numbers, almost 30% are those very folks that we've been targeting. and as i've been making calls, you know, i was knocking on doors, but as soon as our numbers started reaching

emergency rates, i started transitioning to just phone calls. in my phone calls, and i've been keeping track, it's trending with these low propensity voters, folks some of whom haven't voted in a decade, the trend is 10 to 1 democrat. so it's really energizing, andrea. >> grassroots organizing indeed. good luck you to and all the medical teams on the front lines. meanwhile, terrible news in france. france getting ready for new lockdowns to stem its second covid wave. and now the country also under an emergency terrorist attack alert after three people were killed in the southern city of nice this morning. police say a man armed with a knife killed a woman and a man inside a church, then reportedly killed a second woman in a nearby cafe who was trying to escape. several others were also wounded. the suspect is now under arrest.

coming up next, as new cases of coronavirus continue to soar in the u.s. to record highs, the trump campaign communications director joins us after a short break. you're watching "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. msnbc.

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president trump continuing his pace, campaigning at packed rallies across the country despite warnings from health experts. >> this is going to get worse because we're going more into a colder season, as we get through the fall and into the winter, with the holiday season going. we've got to do something different. we can't just let this happen. we're going to have many more hospitalizations and that will inevitably lead to more deaths. >> tim murtaugh is the communication director for the trump campaign. he joins me now. thank you very much, tim, it's good to see you. i want to ask you about the political calculation of doing all these rallies despite certainly polling data that shows that 59% of the people in the "usa today" poll yesterday saying they don't think the rallies are a good idea because of covid. >> well, the president represents moving forward as a

country. of course he wants people to be safe and take precautions but he knows we can't be driven back into our basements by the coronavirus. and compare that with joe biden. joe biden represents lockdowns. you've just been reporting about what's happening in france. they're going to be locking everybody down again. our u.s. economy just posted a record economic growth for the third quarter, annualized at a rate of 33%. the economic recovery is happening. and joe biden would send us back into lockdowns again. remember, in china, they've welded people's doors shut to keep them at home, and figuratively that's what joe biden is suggesting, absolutely. there is a university of washington study, andrea, that's very important for people to pay attention to. 75% of americans cannot work from home. three-quarters of americans cannot work from home. so under a lockdown, that would be absolutely devastating for the american economy and -- >> it's not --

>> -- it would take years and years to recover from. >> tim, that's not what he is representing, because -- >> well, it is, he absolutely is. >> he's listening to the scientists. excuse me. that is not what he's saying. also the fact is that the president is telling people we're rounding the corner and repeatedly mocking biden for wearing a mask. a recent "washington post"/abc news poll showed 77% of people in wisconsin support their state's rules on mask-wearing. >> the president has always encouraged people to wear a mask and he's said it's patriotic to wear a mask. >> he hasn't shown it by example. >> we give every attendee a temperature check before they're allowed inside. we give them a mask that they're instructed to wear. there's plenty of hand sanitizer for everyone to use. >> the president was certainly late to wearing masks. >> andrea. >> tim, i just want to -- the very first of all you said is that he's told people to -- >> -- and the private sector.

he absolutely has. >> he has not told people to wear masks. >> when the president talks about rounding the corner he's talking about the therapeutics now in use. it was big news the other day when remdesivir was approved for use by the fda for use against the coronavirus. if this were a democrat administration, the media would be turning hand springs over there. meanwhile, you have joe biden on the other side using this anti-vaxxer rhetoric, scaring people away from taking the vaccine and then the media happily trumpeting the polls that say that people are afraid of the vaccine. >> tim. >> because joe biden, a candidate for parking loresiden >> he have to interrupt you. >> that's true. >> tim. let's have a conversation. we had you on to talk about what the president's policies are. joe biden is not using anti-vaxxer rhetoric. he has said he will -- >> oh, he certainly is. >> -- listen to the scientists and will wait for what the

fda -- there's a lot of facts about that. recordings obtained by cnn of jared kushner's conversations with bob woodward in april, talking about how the president was taking the country back from the doctors and saying this about the politics of the pandemic. let's listen. >> what he's been saying to this is don't fall into the same trap we fell into the last time. the states have to own the testing. the federal government should not own the testing. and the federal government should not own kind of the rules. it's got to be up to the governors because that's the way the federalist system works. but the president also is very smart politically with the way he did that fight with the governors to basically say, no, no, no, i own the opening. because again, the opening is going to be very popular. people want this country open. but if it opens in the wrong way, the question will be, did the governors follow the guidelines we set out or not. >> isn't that extraordinarily cynical at a time when we were hitting peaks in all parts of the country of the pandemic at the time, to be talking about

the political advantage of blaming the governors for the testing, the hard part, and taking credit for the reopening? and this, by the way, was when the president was calling for states to reopen before they had reached the guidelines that his own task force was recommending of having at least two weeks of better numbers to show. >> well, first, i think it's curious that the beginning of that is talking about testing and the problem with testing is not something that we ever hear the media talking about anymore and why is that? it's because it's an enormous success. remember, this was a novel virus that had never been seen before anywhere on the planet. the testing regime had to be created from nothing. we now by far lead the world in testing. and it is absolutely true that the media and joe biden have turned this, they are the ones who have turned the entire coronavirus crisis into one big political weapon. joe biden has been unburdened by the responsibility of leadership. every step of the way. and everything he has suggested

the president do are things the president has already done. and in fact he has not been able to point out one thing he would do differently from what president trump has done except we know he would not have limited travel from china and as a nation, we would be in far worse position today than we are. >> tim. >> if joe biden had been president in january. that is -- >> tim. >> -- certain. >> one thing he's done is worn a mask all the time, not held big rallies, not had super spreaders at the rose garden, not had super spreaders in tulsa and in wisconsin, dulutduluth, minneso and other places. the white house put out a statement the other day saying one of its achievements is ending the pandemic, at a time when 78,000 daily cases are being recorded day after day, and 80,000, the most during the entire pandemic, just today. how can the white house say that the president, one of his great administration achievements is

ending the pandemic? the pandemic is getting worse. >> i think the white house has already explained that, as i suspect you know, they've said that was poorly worded and that the achievement is actually all the different accomplishments that the president has notched all along the way. the ramping up of testing created from nothing, the production of all the ppe, the gloves, the masks, the gowns, the ventilators. remember, we heard about the great ventilator shortage that was about to occur when in fact the president marshalled the resources of the private sector and the federal government, produced those ventilators, and not one single american has died from lack of access to a ventilator. getting along the way to having these therapeutics approved by the fda, remdesivir, just the other day, huge news that the media really doesn't focus on. we're very close to a lifesaving vaccine in record time. those are all real accomplishments that the media never focuses on. and they let joe biden -- >> i think -- >> -- get away with this

anti-vaxxer rhetoric where he is actively fightening people, with his running mate, frightening people away from using a lifesaving vaccine simply because she's trying to score political points and joe biden and the media have colluded together to turn the entire crisis into one big political weapon to try to defeat president trump and they are doing a disservice to the public. and scaring people away from a vaccine is not something that is defensible, andrea. >> that is not at all accurate. we can have a further conversation another time. that is not at all accurate. >> it certainly is. >> thanks very much, thanks for being with us today. in pennsylvania, mail-in ballots will be counted three days after the election. what the supreme court's decision now means for the critical battleground state, that's coming up next when a philadelphia state senator joins me. me what are you doing? art class. it's abstract expressionism.

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senator sharif street, senator street, thank you very much for being with us. first of all, we have new information this hour that does affect mail-in balloting in butler county and in lehigh county in central p.a. we're told by our reporters there that hundreds, perhaps thousands of mail-in ballots requested have not been received. the time deadline, as you probably know, for requesting them now has expired. what can these people do? is it now just trying to get provisional ballots at the polls? a lot of them are complaining to local county officials. >> they've already requested a mail-in ballot. they can still -- the counties can still send them out to people and get them to folks. but in the alternate, if the counties are unable to get their mail-in ballots, they're certainly able to go to the polls and request a provisional ballot and vote that way. >> i assume that you're

gratified with the u.s. supreme court decision so far. pete williams, who covers the court, tells us there could be, if it's a disputed election, another appeal by the republicans. basically the republicans made their challenge so quickly that coney barrett wasn't yet on the court and didn't have time to read in, so far. she's not recusing herself from this case but least so far is saying she hasn't read in. so far there's three days after election day to count ballots. what are you seeing in terms of the mail-in balloting and early voting. are you seeing a lot of enthusiasm across the state? >> the enthusiasm has been incredible, certainly much more enthusiasm in democratic areas. over 2.1 million people have already voted in pennsylvania. over 300,000 in philadelphia. and an interesting statistic, there are 25,000 people, democrats in philadelphia, who

didn't vote in '16 who have already voted. we're seeing strong numbers across the state. allegheny county, where the city of pittsburgh is, very strong numbers. i would say that there's been an enthusiasm around voting across the commonwealth that is significant and is disproportionately democratic. >> from the democratic party's perspective, what are you seeing in those five suburban counties, around philadelphia, the collar of philadelphia, what are you seeing in terms of where they might go? that was a real drop-off for hillary clinton that had a lot to do with losing the state by only 44,000 votes last time. >> andrea, i want to point to the victories we've had. i know nationwide people are just tuning into pennsylvania, but in 2018 we had big wins. we picked up six state senate seats, five congressional seats, and 14 states house seats. much of that happened because of

the energy around the collar counties around philadelphia. 2019, all those collar counties, many of them, their county governments, went from republican to democrat. my mom lives out there and when i talk to voters out there, there is incredible enthusiasm for joe biden, because they, one, believe he's handling the covid-19 crisis, he will handle it responsibly. two, they want a return to civility. three, people are feeling the economic hit that we took because of the president's failings around covid. so it's creating a level of energy and enthusiasm that has translated into significant early voting. and i believe will ultimate translate into significant votes for democrats, both joe biden, kamala harris, and democrats downballot as well. >> now, i want to ask you about the trouble in philadelphia the last couple of days over the wall walter wallace jr. shooting, obviously a black man shot and

killed by police. they say he was armed with a knife. the family is speaking out about his mental health issues, they had called for an ambulance, and instead the police arrived first. here is what his mom kathy wallace had to say to kyw news radio in philadelphia. >> i grabbed hear him. i'm like, please, no, no. and then, as i'm trying to grab for him, my son ran behind me and he was like, i got him, i got him. before he could reach him, i was trying to get him again. it was too late. >> and senator, the community in west philly have been protesting and on the other side of down there was rioting and violence and looting. but what can you say to this community and the police chief says -- the commissioner says they don't have mental health help for police answering calls. >> well, first of all, i just want to say, and i've said this to the wallace family. i was on the scene that night.

our hearts ache with you. to the community in west philadelphia and across philadelphia, not just black folks but especially black folks, are very concerned about what we saw. you had a man who had a mental health challenge. it's what you should be able to do. and then he's shot and killed. shot and killed, in part, because the wrong folks were there. we shouldn't have to use the police for everything. and the reality is that we -- many of us believe that if he weren't black he might still be alive. but beyond that, that's a resource issue here. the city that is not appropriately resourced and the failure of the -- of this

federal administration to advance resources so we can make sure that we can make -- have appropriate numbers of ambulances to respond, that we have the appropriate resources, period. when i talked with the mayor, he talked about underresourced we are across the board because the money is redirected for covid. nothing excuses that those officers should -- did not need to kill him. and walter wallace should be alive. but we also have to look at all the other circumstances that went into this. we need to adequately fund mental health responders. adequately fund ambulance services. and it's hard to ask the city to do more economically when the relief that was supposed to come from the federal government just hasn't arrived. the president says on purpose, what even upsets me more is in the face of all of this, because our governor didn't do what he wanted to do around some superspreader campaign rally, he said he threatened to withhold additional resources from people of pennsylvania and that money

would be used to help make sure we have ambulance drivers and nurses and those folks would thereby to respond. and walter wallace had an ambulance arrive first, would probably be alive. but none of that excuses the actions of the police officers on that day. >> it's a tragedy in every respect. thank you very much, state senator sharif street. thank you for being with us. meanwhile, the supreme court is also allowing absentee ballots to be counted for up to nine days after election day in north carolina. letting another lower court ruling stand and dealing another upset to republicans in a battleground state. joining me is kristen clark, the president and executive director of the lawyers committee for civil rights under law. they lead the election protection project, a nonpartisan national coalition of civil rights and voting rights groups with thousands of volunteer lawyers fielding calls from voters with questions or who are experiencing obstacles while voting. nothing can be more critical right now. tell me, kristen, what kind of

calls are you getting? what response is there right now from voters? >> well, right now we're getting lots of calls from voters who are trying to make a decision about whether or not to put that absentee ballot in the mail or go out and find a drop box or return it in person. we're getting calls from voters saying i've got the absentee ballot in my hand. should i wait until election day or go out and contend with these long lines that we're seeing in some parts of the country? there is a pandemic. and it continues to grip communities across our country. and many of the people who are calling our 866-our-vote hot line are really struggling to ensure how can they ensure that their voice is heard while not doing anything that will compromise their health. and so it's remarkable to see some of these court rulings that are emerging in the 11th hour.

some of them are tilting the scale away from ballot access and putting voters in a really difficult position. >> kristen, what about the open carry laws in michigan and the fact that a decision went against the state trying to prevent concealed weapons from being carried to the polls? >> you know, it's unfortunate that anybody who believes in the second amendment would think that a playground schoolyard or a polling site would be the appropriate place to, you know, go out and demonstrate their right to bear arms. we don't need militia groups. we don't need people openly carrying weapons while people -- some of whom are voting for the first time and are 18, 19 years old, you know, these voters deserve the right to freely cast

their ballot free from harassment or intimidation of any form. so this is another issue that we are being incredibly vigilant and alert about. but i'm encouraged because i think that we're seeing all across the country that people are boldly going out, despite some of the obstacles in front of them and casting their ballots. and what i want to encourage people to do is to call the 866-our-vote hot line if they need something that needs to be addressed or may be intimidating to voters and that they waste no time in figuring out their plan to have their ballot cast by tuesday on election day. >> kristen clark, thanks so much to you and your volunteer lawyers. and that does it for us for "andrea mitchell reports." five days to go. wear a mask. go vote. chuck todd is up next with "mtp daily" only on msnbc.

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if it's thursday, with five days to go, two candidates with two very different closing messages. but they're about to converge on florida, florida, flowed, with dueling rallies scheduled to start later this hour. plus, the u.s. breaks the record again for most confirmed cases in a single day as states grapple with new restrictions. dr. fauci sounds another alarm. and the fbi now warns hospitals of an imminent cyberattack. and in the