by nearly 20 points. and what is remarkable about the outcome is that kansas republicans did everything they possibly could to stack the deck in their favor. for starters, they scheduled the vote during a typically aug of during the general election, in november, because yesterday's primary featured mostly republican candidates running against each other and therefore would presumably attract mostly republican voters. they made the language of the ballot measure so dense and confusing that the normal person would be hard-pressed to deciph ter at first glance what a yes or a no vote even meant. republican groups barraged out misleading text messages that meant it sound like yes would protect a woman's right to choose when in fact, the opposite was true.

voter turnout was massive. far from the usual trickle of voters for an august primary in a midterm year. turnout approached presidential election levels. and the votes to defeat the anti-abortion measure didn't just come from the urban and suburban counties where most of the state's democrats live. many rural solidly republican counties voted no, or they voted yes, by incredibly slim margins. this vote in kansas is sending shock waves across the country for a number of reasons. for one thing, this was the first time abortion rights have been directly on the ballot since the supreme court overturned roe v. wade, and the outcome would seem to suggest that the backlash to that ruling, and to republican efforts in its wake to restrict or ban abortion is real, and it is very strong. also, this happened in a very red state. donald trump won kansas by 15 points less than two years ago.

sure, kansas does sometimes elect moderate democratic governors but they haven't voted for a democrat for president since lyndon johnson. they haven't electioned a democratic senator since 1932. there's one elected democratic official in its entire congressional delegation. but it's not just any red state. it is kansas. which has been a national flash point over abortion rights since at least 1991, when anti-abortion activists from all over the country desended on the state and blocked access to abortion clinics for weeks, in what they called the summer of mercy. the abortion provider dr. george tiller was murdered by an anti-abortion activist in his church, in wichita, in 2009. the church by the way where he was murdered yesterday, it was a polling place. but the main reason that this resounding abortion rights victory in kansas is resonating

nationwide is that abortion is going to be on the ballot in lots and lots and lots of races this november, because republicans keep nominating candidates with really extreme views on the subject. last night, republicans in michigan chose this woman, tudor dix ton be their nominee for governor in november, she supports a total ban on abortion with an exception only for the life of the mother, no exceptions for rape or incest, and in fact, this was just her on a podcast a couple of weeks ago. >> a question would be like, a 14-year-old who let's say is a victim of a abuse by an uncle. >> yes perfect example. >> care that -- >> listen to, yes or no -- >> because i know people who are the product, this is how it is, this is for me, that is my feeling. >> that's fair, you heard. it no exception. >> no exception.

the republican nominee for governor of michigan, calling a scenario by which a 14-year-old who was impregnated by her uncle a perfect example of when someone should be carrying a pregnancy to term. >> the first a. g. f-the nation to officially outlaw abortion in his state the moment roe v. wade was overturned but not content to simply ban abortions in his own jurisdictions, he had been since working on preventing missouri's womens from getting abortions in other states. let's go to arizona, and the republican primary for governor, still too close to call but at the moment kari lake is leading karrin taylor robeson by 11,000 votes. both women support abortion bans but robson's campaign says she supports for rape and incest and kari lake says she wants to

abolish abortion pills, the way more than half of abortions are performed. and blake masters in arizona, trump supported has been voted for. and he put on his website that states should be able to ban contraceptions. he has since removed that particular item from his website, probably if abortion restrictions are as unpopular as they are even in red state kansas, you can just imagine how restrictions on contraception would be. and in fact, we've got some brand new polling data out of arizona that looking at the anti-abortion politics on races well beyond kansas. this is done by the activist group in defensible, working with u-gov, and they asked arizona voter, would you rather vote for a republican or democrat for congress, a so-called generic ballot question, arizonans chose republicans by a 5 point margin.

but when the pollsters presented voters with two hypothetical candidates, one a democrat who supports abortion rights, the other a republican who supports an abortion ban, look at the massive shift in arizona. the democratic candidate jumps out to a 33-point lead. 19% of republican voters say they would prefer the pro-abortion rights democrat in that scenario. and those trends may be starting to show up nationwide. a new monmouth poll out today shows democrats with a 7 point lead on the congressional generic ballot, the biggest lead democrats have had all year, lines up with the slow but steady gains that democrats have been showing in other polls, in recent weeks. but if democrats want to capitalize on these general trends, that they want to have widespread opposition to the abortion ban into electoral victories for their candidates, they may warrant to start taking

a -- they my want to start taking a close look at what happened in kansas yesterday and how that happened. let's do that next. joining us next is rachel sweet, campaign manager for the no campaign which triumphed last night in campaign, ms. sweet, thank you for joining us. thanks for your time tonight. congratulations on your victory. >> thank you. thank you so much for having me. >> i know you went into your campaign, into yesterday's vote, projecting confidence, but were you surprised by the size of this victory, and the huge turnout that you've had? >> absolutely. i did not think any of the folks working on this campaign were anticipating the turnout or the huge margin by which we were able to be successful last night. as you mentioned earlier, we know that the supporters of this constitutional amendment intentionally placed it on a primary ballot where we historically have significantly lower turnout and they wanted to pick their voters instead of letting all kansasens have a voice but instead the voters of

kansas have decisively said they will not support extreme restrictions on abortion in our state. >> your win, as we were watching it happen last night, it didn't just come from the obvious place, a handful of blue counties, in kansas, that are clustered around urban centers, you got a lot of votes from rushl counties that voted -- rural counties that voted overwhelmingly for trump in 2020 and some of those counties, your side prevailed, some it didn't, but in some it prevailed bay whole lot less than expected. tell me about this. the fact is you weren't going to win this referendum without getting votes from republicans so what did you do to reach them? >> absolutely. you cannot win a statewide election in kansas by 59% by only talking to democrats. we know that abortion rights and the right to personal autonomy, the right to personal freedom is a popular issue across the political spectrum.

we were very intentional about starting first and foremost with who are the voters that can be vote mated by this issue, and how do we communicate with them. we approached this less from a position of partisan angle, but really, about what are the values that kansans hold around not just abortion, but around what it means to be a kansas, personal autonomy and personal liberty and freedom and partisanship was a secondary factor, we knew we needed to develop messages and strategies that cut across the political spectrum and that is everything from the way that we communicated with voters on television, in digital ad, ads to the field programs that we oning, talking to voters really across the state. . we had a very successful partner-driven field operation, where we built a broad coalition of grass roots organizations that were already doing the work, and it wasn't just your traditional partners on reproductive rights issues, we

of course have support from planned parenthood and trust women and other abortion providers in the state. but we also, you know, we had catholics for choice. we had the league of women voter, mainstream coalition, which is an organization in johnson county, kanz kansas and the kansas city suburbs that traditionally works with moderate republicans and we built a strong coalition so we could tap into the advocacy and the organizations that already exist in the state and are already trusted and are talking to the voters that we need to reach. >> what a remarkable description of how these things might work in 2020. thank you for the detail that you brought. i think there are really a lot of people who may not have been paying attention to kansas two nights ago sitting there saying what on earth did do in kansas because it really did shake the earth last night. rachel, the campaign manager for the no campaign that successfully blocked an anti-abortion measure in kansas

yesterday. thank you so much for joining us. >> thank you for having me. we turn now to the president of emily's list which works to elect democratic pro-choice women to office. ms. butler, thank you so much for being with us this evening. and i want to start by getting your reaction to what happened in kansas last night. you know, often when you talk to people who are on the winning side of something, they tell you they knew it all along, they knew it was going to happen. i've spoken to a lot of people in kansas who were saying we were hoping it was going to happen, we weren't expecting the blowout that we received on this referendum. >> thanks for having me, ali, and i won't be one of those folks. it was just an inspiring victory that the country saw last night, that kansas really sent a clear message. the work that ms. sweet described, that was not just work that started, you know, the weekend before, these are organizations who have been at this for months, and i was not

someone who was sitting at home last night knowing that we had it in the bag. i was hopeful. i joined the rest of the folks that you spoke to, and i was hopeful, i knew that the team on the ground and the grass roots leaders, the providers who were still trying to provide care to patients all across kansas, they were doing, that they were doing the work. it is hard work. they were engaging their neighbors. they were engaging their communes. and they were, i thought that they knew that they were working hard, but who knew that it would be a 20 point blowout. i think it is real heartening of the values of this country, around personal freedom, and i'm ecstatic to stand with them. >> so you said that, and people's views about personal freedom, and i want to play, if i can, i want to ask if we can play an ad, a tv ad, that the no campaign was airing before the

vote. let's watch it together. i want to talk to you about it on the other side. >> this confusing constitutional amendment is a slippery slope for kansas. it gives government more power over your privacy. and your personal medical decisions. don't let politicians take away your freedom. send a message. vote no. >> out in, if i were to listen to that in a vacuum, i might think that's a conservative or a republican ad, don't let the government take away your freedom, it's a slippery slope, the ad does not mention abortion once. do you get the sense that, because if you're a liberal who supports abortion rights, it's not going to offend you to hear the term abortion in an ad, but do you think this kind of approach might be a way to get more conservatives and republicans, all about the idea they want those personal freedoms and autonomies and they don't want a government that is taking away their rights. >> i think just as you noted, making sure that we are running

campaigns and work with candidates all over the country that are responsive to their constituents, to their districts, to what it is that are important to people on the ground and in their communities, it is the most effective way to win their trust and win their vote, so communicating about personal freedom, the thing that we all hold so dear, just as americans, our freedom to make decisions about our own bodies, ali, i can't imagine anything any more fundamental, so yes, as we talk about abortion, and the access to reproductive health care, and we are essentially talking about personal freedoms, and that is again, in my opinion, as american as apple pie, and that's what democrats are going to be talking to their voters about come novemberer. >> and as we saw, it was an example last night in kansas, but strict anti-abortion measures tend to fail, when they're put up to a straight-up vote, as opposed to being part of a candidate's general message. we saw this in colorado, in

2020, and in north dakota in 2014, and mississippi in 2011, and yet many of the people who vote against those abortion bans will go on to vote for anti-abortion republican candidates. apparently if you're anti-abortion but part of your whole package of stuff, it doesn't stand out as much as these actual anti-abortion measures do. how do you parlay that into victories when it comes to abortion rights? >> you know, ali, those were all races at a time when the court, when what was holding our personal freedoms together, was 50 years of precedent. the supreme court has now made a decision, appointed by an extreme president, and senate leadership, that they've made a decision that they're going to strip those rights away, they're going to take away those freedoms and take away everything that people were relying on, and the bath balm to maintaining their freedoms in this country, and i think what

we're going to see is while these elections in november are not going to, all of them are not going to be clear-cut ballot issues and ballot questions, what it is going to be though, are clear candidates who have positions and statements and voting records, on what they stand for, and how they stand to continue to strip away the personal freedom of americans all over this country. you mentioned a few, just in your lead-up, the position of the republican nominee, in michigan, running for governor, tudor dixon, she has now tripled down on this point, ali, where she is, she has made it lear to michiganders that she does not believe that they deserve to have the personal freedoms that should be inherent for all of us. it is the same for adam laxov, running in nevada. doubled and tripled down. and so while it may not be a

clear ballot question, these are republican candidates who have made it very clear with their statements and their positions and their votes that they intend to support national bans, that they intend to continue to strip away personal freedoms, and i am convinced, and kansas showed up last night, that voters are not going to stand for it. >> thank you for joining us tonight. we appreciate it. the president of emily's list. we appreciate your time. >> thank you. for more on this historic vote and what it means for the nation with senator amy klobuchar next. ith senator amy klobuchar next i'm jonathan lawson here to tell you about life insurance through the colonial penn program. if you're age 50 to 85, and looking to buy life insurance on a fixed budget, remember the three ps. what are the three ps?

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through eight public hearings featuring testimony from dozens of witness, the january 6th committee details the lenges to which trump and his allies went to try and overturn the 2020 election. and halt the peaceful transfer of power. now, congress is actively working on solutions to ensure that a repeat of what happened in 2020 doesn't happen again.

today, the senate rules committee held a hearing on a bipartisan bill to overhaul the election, the electoral counteract, remember that, the old 19th century law, that president trump tried to circumvent in his bid to overturn biden's victory? the committee chair woman, senator amy klobuchar began today's proceedings with a reminder how close it was to proceeding. >> the electoral count ak in 1887, it hasn't gotten much attention in the next 130 years, it became the cornerstone, sadly, of a plan hatched by president trump and his allies that led to an attempt and this insurrection at the capitol, on that dark day, enemies of our democracy sought to exploit the provisions of this antiquated law to subvert the results of a free and fair election. but yet our democracy rose again. the inauguration, we went forward. and part of that is working

together to make sure that laws can't be used by anyone of any party, of any political persuasion in a way that undercuts the will of the people. >> now, today, two of the, the two leading senators in this effort, susan collins and joe manchin testified before the committee, outlining how their bill would clarify the rules for counting electoral votes. among their proposals, clarifying the role of the vice president in the certification process is purely ceremonial. as well as raising the threshhold for raising an an objection from the current single member of each body to one fifth members of the house and senate. manchin and collins acknowledged that even though the reforms they are proposing are not perfect, they are a necessary step in the right direction, so the question is, will congress act on them? joining us now is minnesota senator amy klobuchar, the chair of the rules committee, senator, good to see you again. thank you for being with us. it is unclear to me what the average american thinks of the electoral counteract and solving

it. there's a bipartisan understanding that it needs to be fixed, it's not 100% clear that if you fix it, donald trump and people like him can't get away with what they were trying to, do but it does eem to be agreed upon that if we fix this, we are at least some of the way there to preventing what happened last year. >> yes, let me make clear, the way we beat donald trump and his extremists is like what happened last night in kansas, right? where regular people turned out to vote in record numbers, defeated an extremist position on abortion or fast forward to elections. the way we win, winning are the house and senate and being able to salvage our democracy from sox people who won on the lep can side last night. let me focus on this. bipartisan efforts. collins, manchin, a whole group of senators, senator blunt and i, have been working with them for months now, and we are really excited about this proposal, it will make a difference, because think of it now, two out of 535 people, one

senator, one house member, can literally gum up the process, with objections, and they could object to multiple states, and even without the insurrection this thing would have gone on for over 24 hours, and that is why it is really important to make these changes and make sure the vice president can't overturn the will of the people, that there en is appeals process in place, and then finally, that you can't get a fake set of electorates as donald trump was trying to do, after the election, so we're moving forward on this now. >> there are differences in opinion about what should be done, but i'm not clear, are the differences in opinion necessarily partisan or just different people who think they're different ways that we can fix this? >> there are changes that i'm sure we're going to make both sides actually, republicans, democrats, all agree on the bulk of these changes, but there's going to be changes and that's why y-we, why we have the hearing, flare hearing, senator blunt and i and the authors are looking very forward to getting

this done bit end of the year. we must get it done. >> you mentioned candidates, i want to switch gears and get your take on what happened in kansas. voters overwhelming willy supporting abortion access in that state yesterday. what is your take-away of that? shawn patrick maloney called it a game-changer saying that kansas is the earthquake that is going to rattle every assumption of about what is going to happen this fall. tell me your thoughts on this. >> women want to make their own decisions about their health. they don't want ted cruz making them or the republican party making them and they came out, moderate republicans, democrats came out and clearly said that last night in the sun flower state of kansas, no one was focused on this, and those who have been out there with our constituents, we know how they feel about, this they don't want a patch work of laws and they don't want women this kansas to have different rights than in

minnesota or north dakota or texas, but that's what is happening right now, and when they saw the extremist proceedles, when they find out about a -- proposals when they find out about a 10-year-old girl who gets raped and is supposed to carry the baby and then when they take her to indiana, that doctor who legally performs the abortion starts getting questioned by the attorney general, people have been following this. they won't even allow a bill to pass in the u.s. senate, katherine cortez masto's bill to allow women to travel to get reproductive health care. or they won't allow a bill to go through which allows you access to contraception? all of that has happened in just the past few weeks in the u.s. senate, ali, so that is what the people of kansas, women and the men that stand with them, voted their hearts out last night, and yes, i think it is -- i don't even say, i've seen it happening ever since that decision came out. >> let's talk a bit about some legislation that you're hoping

to get passed including the lech tomorrow counteract which we're talking about. your party is close to passing the newly renamed inflation reduction act. there are reports now that senator sinema has issue with the bill. what sur sense of where we are with this bill and have you had a chance to speak to kyrsten sinema about her concerns? >> i've talked to her about other issues this week, including the electoral counteract, gay marriage, she's supportive of putting that into law, and i know she is negotiating with senator schumer. she also is someone that believes in doing something about climate change. and her state's arizona. they've got a lot of issues with fires, heat, as you know. record temperatures. and i think we'll get this done. but let's talk about what this bill will be and is. this bill is the game-changer. $300 billion in deficit reduction. and all of these economists who have looked at it have said that is why it is called the inflation reduction act. number two, picking up

pharmaceuticals. first time i have been leading this effort for years. finally, finally we are telling the pharma companies no, you wrote into law this ban on negotiates for drugs under medicare, that's going away, we're lifting it. climate change investment, we will see a 40% reduction by the year 2030, so we are bullish and excited about this bill, we're going get it done, by this time next yeek, that bill will be done, and let's look at these other accomplishments, al ali, i'm sorry, but in this is not just a republican spending stream, it is we are getting things done. nato, just sweden and finland, we got them into the, signed the treaty, today, and got that through the u.s. senate. the burn pits, our veterans finally are going to get the help that they need. we got this done despite republicans messing around with it. we got the chips bill done. so now, 13% are now made in america, we will go way up with that number, so we're finally

making the semiconductor chips that we need for our cars and for our phones. gun safety legislation. who thought that was ever possible? well, chris murphy did. and a number of other senators who have been working on this, including myself, on closing the loophole, worked with republicans, and for the first time, took on the nra, and got that done. the number two terrorist who, from 9/11, finally, and the president authorized this operation, to take him down, it is day after day after day, we are accomplishing things for the people of this country, and so that's what i want people to take away. yes, the republicans have shown their true colors. but the democrats are willing to work around the island, across the aisle, when we can find common ground, and the president, we are moving

forward. >> these are all topics, and these are topics that in the cycle that people don't remember or don't understand or remember how they got done and i appreciate the time you took to do that, senator. thank you. >> any time. >> senator amy klobuchar, chair of the senate rules committee joining us tonight. we have very sad news to report tonight. indiana congresswoman jackie walarski who represented the hoosier state second district since 2013 was killed in a two vehicle car crash today along with two of her close aides. her communications director, emma thompson and her district director zachary potts. walors k i, the top republican on the mouth ethics committee and started as a local reporter for an indiana station and served in the indiana house before elected to congress in 2012. president biden and speaker pelosi have ordered half-staff flags today and tomorrow at the capitol. congresswoman walorski was 58 years old. as 58 years old. get 28 minutes more restful sleep per night.

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sandy hook, it's got inside job written all over it. sandy hook is a synthetic completely fake with actors in my view manufactured. >> all i know is the official story of sandy hook has more holes in it than swiss cheese. >> for a decade, the far right conspiracy theory pushing media personality alex jones has been saying that the sandy hook massacre did not actually happen. 26 people died in that connecticut school massacre in

2012. 20 of them first graders. i was there within hours of it happening and i met the parents of those children. today, in a texas court, alex jones finally admitted that the massacre was real. >> do you understand now that it was absolutely irresponsible of you to do that? >> it was. especially since i met the parents. and it's 100% real. >> now, it's great to have mr. jones finally accept the reality on, this but today's trial was not about proving that already well-established fact. today's trial was about damages. it's the first of three trials to determine how much cash mr. jones owes family members of sandy hook victims and mr. jones is not being shy about his plan to get out of paying here. this is him on his own show this past sunday. >> in line with the jury and damages portion, saying i have hundreds of millions of dollars,

giant judgment on the already guilty alex jones that they hope is too big for us to get a bond on. once you're in bankruptcy, it is all there in the court and the bonds for the appeals are half your network. well, that isn't going to be very, very much. maybe a million. million and a half dollars or something. >> mr. jones has been claiming that since he was quote deplatformed, his business has been destroyed. last week, he filed for bankruptcy. and while the sandy hook parents in this case say jones has plenty of money, and they're seeking a $150 settlement, mr. jones is claiming that any settlement of just over $2 million would quote sink his companies financially. those two conflicting claims could have been the only context that the jury in this case had for deciding just how much mr. jones was able to pay, but today in court, the sandy hook parents lawyer had what mr. jones himself called a perry mason moment. >> your attorneys messed up and

sent me an entire digital copy of your phone and every text message the past two years and it was free and clear under my possession and that is how i know you lied to me, mr. jones, in discovery, you were asked, do you have sandy hook text messages on your phone, and you said no. correct? you said that under oath. >> i was mistaken. you have those messages. >> you know what perjury is, right? >> you know what perjury is, right? mr. jones? just in case it wasn't clear enough from the tape, mr. jones' lawyers accidentally sent the sandy hook parents' lawyers the entire contents of alex jones' cell phone, years of content, emails, texts, the whole shebang, and in addition to proving that jones had been withholding communications about sandy hook, the phone data

provided the sandy hooks parent's lawyers with previously unseen financial documents from mr. jones' company. documents that showed that during his so-called deplatform, when he was taken off of some social media platform, heydays where his company was making more than $800,000 a day. the court still does not have a full transparent picture of mr. jones' finances but from what what was shown today, he does not appear to be as broke as he is claiming and the jury that will ultimately decide the size of the settlement knows it. now, you might be think, how could alex jones' day get any worse? back in january, alex jones sat, with the investigators and pleaded the fifth nearly 100 times. tonight, rolling stone reports citing a source familiar with the matter that the january 6th investigators are preparing to subpoena the content of alex jones' phone, not from jones himself, but from the sandy hook parents' lawyers in this case.

and i have a feeling that those lawyers will cooperate. wednesday august 3 has been a bad day for alex jones. it has been a mighty good day for the truth. ones it has been a mighty good day for the truth. when hurting feet make you want to stop, it's dr. scholl's time. our custom fit orthotics use foot mapping technology to give you personalized support, for all-day pain relief. find your relief in store or online. i'm jonathan lawson here to tell you about life insurance find your relief through the colonial penn program. if you're age 50 to 85, and looking to buy life insurance on a fixed budget, remember the three ps. what are the three ps? the three ps of life insurance on a fixed budget are price, price, and price. a price you can afford,

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one night in december, 2020, i was about to put my son to bed, and when dozens of individuals descended upon our home. growing in numbers over the course of an hour, they stood outside my front door, waking my

neighbors, shouting obscenities, and graphic threats into bull horns. as a result, there is an armored present feeling -- ongoing present feeling of anxiety and dread that permeates our lives and those of our my families. not long ago my son standing in our driveway picks up a stick and turned to me and said zoo worry mom, if the bad guys come again, i'll get them with this. he's six years gold that was michigan secretary of state this morning explain together senate judiciary committee that election officials like her are under threat right now across america, and they need help from congress, in order to keep administering elections fairly. people like the michigan secretary of state have faced a constant barrage of threats, since 2020, and that's where we are right now. a 6-year-old in michigan arming himself with a stick because he's afraid that people will come back to harass his mom again. just for helping us all vote. meanwhile, primaries in five battleground states last night showed election conspiracy theorists continuing to win

races. in michigan's republican primary for governor tudor dixon won, the trump-endorsed former actor who has repeated false claims that the 2020 election was stolen from trump and is repeatedly criticized my next guest jocelyn benson's oversight of the michigan election. another candidate in that race who was indicted for his role in the january 6th riot is refusing to concede after finishing in fourth place. in arizona, republican primary for governor, another trump endorsed candidate is in the lead, this race remains too close to call, about 80% of the votes in. but the former tv news anchor kari lake is currently winning with 46% of the vote. lake has said she would have a, refuse to certify biden's 2020 victory in arizona should h-she been the governor and claimed last month she was quote already detecting some fraud. detecting some fraud, there is no proof of voter fraud in yesterday's primary. those are the kinds of people who triumphed yesterday.

at the same time, we saw two republicans who actually did something to stand up for election integrity, after the 2020 presidential election, both lose. the arizona house speaker rusty bowers who publicly testified before the january 6th committee about being pressured by trump and his allies, to overturn the results in his state, he lost his bid to be the republican candidate for a state senate seat, to a trump-backed opponent. michigan congresswoman peter meijer one of ten house republicans to vote to impeach trump during his second impeachment lost his primary for re-election. apparently this is the state of things. while election deniers are doing pretty well, those who stood up to power and told the truth, particularly the republican party, lost. joining us now is jocelyn benson, michigan secretary of state. madam secretary, thank you for being here today. thanks for your testimony. you and i have had had many

chances to discuss it but very personal for you and that's not the part we often talk about but you're going to stay in this race, in this business, but there are people who are leaving it, there are people in lower positions, volunteer positions, or paid positions, in elections across this country, who are saying that kind of pressure, those kinds of threats, people coming to our house, it's too much, i can't be part of this. >> that's what is happening right now. some of us are feeling emboldened, and what i saw in michigan's primary this week, were election workers standing fix, and proudly. -- standing firm and proudly in support of the truth in the process of elections that we know are secure and accurate and we know a number, a significant number of folks leaving the field because they say these threats,s they attacks on our character and integrity based on lies and conspiracy theories, it is too much. and our democracy will wither on the vine if we see too many people's good integrity on both sides of the aisle leave the profession as a result of these threats.

>> what do you make of, what's your top line response to the things that happened yesterday, and republicans rusty bowers in arizona losing and tudor dixon walking away with her nomination in the state of michigan, peter meijer losing as well, what does it tell you about people's perception of election integrity, both in this country and in the state of michigan? >> it says two things. one, this is a primary, not a general election. so when the full electorate participates, i do anticipate we will see a rejection of the lies and conspiracies that have been furthered by one political party over the last several years with a political agenda but it also shows just how deep the rising conspiracies have seeped into one of our major political parties to the extent that we're seeing nominees from those parties getting nominations based on lies and their willingness to continue to spread those lies despite mountains of evidences that our elections are secure and the results are accurate. >> the new michigan nominee for

governor dis'agrees, saying in fact we have to make sure our elections are secure and what happened in 2020 doesn't happen again. tell me about this, because one of the things you have said to me, over and over again, is that in michigan, you do audit your elections, despite the idea that you never do, and that your elections are robust and safe. >> yes, i think, you know, first, let's be clear, the 2020 election was a very secure election, it was an accurate election and the highest turnout election in our state's history so if you say you don't want to repeat that again, i have questions how dedicated you are to democracy itself but it speaks to the moment we're in that candidates for significant offices like governor of the state of michigan, will be more, are more adept at spreading lies about an election that has happened already, and as a result of which has been both adjudicated and affirmed

repeatedly and as opposed to sharing your vision for the future of state which is what voters want to hear, not about the past but the future. >> looking at what happened in kansas yesterday, i was thinking about michigan, voters in michigan might get the chance to cast ballots to change michigan's constitution in november and codify the right to abortion, the opposite situation of kansas, the default situation in kansas was that abortions were protected and the default position post roe in michigan is they're not protected by your state's constitution, they're protected by your attorney general and the district attorneys, who will not prosecute them. so tell me about how this goes. the michigan effort to protect abortion has got the signatures it needs for the ballot initiative to be validated. what do you think happens next? >> well, right now, the signatures are in indeed being validated. the petitioners did submit a record number, a record-breaking number of signatures for a constitutional amendment, more than have ever been submitted for any constitutional amendment in our state. those signatures are now going

under professional review and validation, and then a recommendation will be made as to whether to put this question to the voters this november. that will be made shortly. once that goes forward, if it is on the ballot, then truly, our fundamental rights and freedoms, is on the ballot this november, in michigan. and the future of our democracy. both through this initiative and the elections for governor, attorney general, and secretary of state and many others, so it will give voters an opportunity too weigh in, on their stake of protecting their own in addition freedoms and rights in our democracy this fall, which was really not just about michigan but the full country. i believe across the country, those are the issues on the ballot this fall. those are the issues voters can weigh in across the country and i think kansas showed us where voters stand on the issues which is protecting those fundamental rights in our democracy. >> jocelyn benson, secretary of state of michigan, thank you for your time. >> always a pleasure. good to see you, thank you. we'll be right back. good to see you, thank you.

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well, that does it for us tonight. we will see you again tomorrow. "way too early" with jonathan lemire is up next. i don't think there's any question that when you go from agency to agency and find out that key messages have been deleted, something's going on here that resembles very clearly a conspiracy. >> a damning assessment from former defense secretary and cia director leon panetta on the missing messages from multiple government agencies relate together attack on the capitol. ahead, the latest effort to hold top trump administration officials accountable for the deleted data. meanwhile, over on capitol hill, there's growing bipartisan support to close loopholes in a

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