facebook and cleaned up their entire shop. but they can't get back up and running again unless they have money to rebuild. that's the position -- without flood insurance -- many people find themselves in right now. >> and most people in florida don't have flood insurance. >> that's correct. this sunday, we present "the sentence of michael thompson" who served as the longest sentence for a nonviolent offense in michigan's history. that's sunday at 10:00 p.m. eastern, 7:00 p.m. pacific right here on msnbc. i'll see you tomorrow night on nbc "nightly news" saturday. thank you for the privilege of your time. yasmin vossoughian picks up coverage right now. she'll be speaking with dr. fauci and that starts right now.

hey, everybody. good morning to you. i'm yasmin vossoughian here at msnbc headquarters in new york city. speaker nancy pelosi's husband violently attacked in the couple's home overnight. what we know about the attack and mr. pelosi's condition at this hour. plus, it's official, the world's wealthiest man now in charge of one of the most powerful global tools for spreading information. twitter. the changes he's looking to make there. could we see a return of one former notorious tweeter? the former president. a big boost in the peach state showdown between raphael warnock and herschel walker. tonight barack obama hitting the campaign trail in the state of georgia with just 11 days to go until the midterms. early voting already breaking records there. how much of a difference will this make? and right now alarm bells sounding across this country.

doctors, hospitals overwhelmed by a new challenge. >> covid-19 combined with a potentially bad influenza season and now we're seeing rsv going up at the same time. that obviously makes us concerned that we might get into this triple pandemic situation. >> we've been asking you to send in your questions about your triple-demic concerns. we're going to get some help answering them from a special guest, dr. anthony fauci, chief medical adviser to president biden. joining me ahead, you don't want to miss that conversation. we want to start with the breaking news that we've been following all morning. nancy pelosi's husband assaulted this morning. we are learning new details by the minute about this violent assault. two sources briefed on the attack telling nbc news the weapon used in the assault was, in fact, a hammer. the u.s. capital police

coordinating with the fbi to investigate this invasion. the san francisco police department is going to hold a news conference at 12:30 eastern. we're going to be covering that for you now. i want to bring in ryan nobles who is standing by for us. we're getting more details on this by the minute here as we're learning what took place over the last couple of hours there in san francisco with regards to paul pelosi and his situation. what more do you know? >> reporter: well, yasmin, the big open question that still has not been confirmed by those that are investigating this particular situation and may not even be answered by them yet is the motivation for this attack. it was obviously a violent attack as you point out. now that we've been able to confirm that the assailant used a hammer against the speaker of the house's husband. it was serious enough to send him to the hospital. he is expected to make a full recovery. now that the fbi is involved and that's an important part of this investigation, because paul pelosi, while he is the husband

of basically the third most powerful person in war, house speaker nancy pelosi is right behind the vice president in the line of succession, when the speaker is not with her husband, she is not extended around the clock police protection. that's only reserved for the speaker herself. the fbi now involved in this investigation, trying to figure out why exactly this happened with the san francisco police department and already there's been an outpouring of support for the speaker and her husband coming from right at the top, the president, joe biden, putting out a statement saying, quote, the president is praying for paul pelosi and speaker pelosi's whole family. this morning he called speaker pelosi to express his support after this horrible attack. he is also very glad that a full recovery is expected. the president continues to condemn all violence and asks that the family's desire for privacy be respected. and it's important to point out,

yasmin, just how vulnerable members of congress and their families have become. the capital police put out numbers over the summer that said that threats toward members of congress and their families have jumped 144% during this current political environment. again, we don't know the motivation behind this attack. but these public figures are vulnerable to this type of violence and this is part of what this investigation will encompass, why this individual decided to target the pelosi family and whether or not he was in search of the speaker or just her husband. that's still a question that needs to be answered. >> a couple questions i have for you as we're learning more about this thing. i know the assailant is currently in custody. do we have any details how this assailant came under arrest by authorities there and the location of speaker pelosi, how she learned of the attack on her husband? >> reporter: we don't know where speaker pelosi is at this current moment. but we do know that she was not

in san francisco at the time and that she was actually here in the washington, d.c. of course this is a busy time for the speaker. we're just a week or more away from the midterm elections as she's been crisscrossing the country trying to work to get democrats elected in the midterm elections and she was scheduled to be in washington, d.c., this weekend for an event as well. right now her office asking for privacy, has not specifically said where the speaker is right now. in terms of how this particular assailant got access to the pelosi home, that remains an open question right now and that is probably a big focal point of this investigation because even though the capital police would not have been there with around the clock protection of paul pelosi like they would have with the speaker, you would imagine that their home still has a number of security precautions in place to prevent something like this from happening. that's one of the things that investigators are trying to get to the bottom of. >> this story changing by the minute. a developing situation. ryan nobles, you're going to stay on this for us. appreciate you.

thank you, ryan. let's talk about some of these red flags that are being raised in hospitals across the country and fears, really, of this growing triple-demic of respiratory viruses. in just a couple of minutes i'm going to speak to dr. anthony fauci he's going to answer questions about this dangerous collision of covid, flu and rsv. up first, jesse kirsch has the latest from cleveland. as we're taking a look at the possibility of the collision of these three viruses, a lot of folks worry about what is to come and you have hospitals almost at capacity, especially where you are, cleveland clinic. >> yeah, yasmin. certainly the respiratory season is upon us and, frankly, a it a time when we wouldn't normally expect it. i talked with a pediatrician and they told me that they are constantly day in and day out looking at their hospital bed availability with so many children, more and more showing up with respiratory issues, many of them suffering from rsv.

and that virus is not new. we've been talking about this. it doesn't typically cause problems at this time of year and so that is contributing to the stress on the health care system at a time when we were concerned about the possibility of a triple-demic. this morning another troubling sign of virus headaches possibly coming our way. a new cdc report influenzaing chile's flu season saying it hit earlier in the year. predicting what we may experience in the winter. >> we don't know what the new sequence will be. >> reporter: this doctor a pediatrician at cleveland clinic says unpredictability hit his hospital system with another illness. >> we're swimming in rsv right now. >> they brace for rsv in january

or february, but in late october it's reporting a nearly 50% positivity rate in kids 5 and younger for its northeast ohio hospitals. among those hardest hit, this three week old baby, sneezing and congestion led to troubling breathing. they rush today the hospital where she's been intubated for almost a week. >> reporter: to watch that -- >> it was horrific. >> horrible. >> no one should ever have to go through that at all. >> reporter: her parents warning other families to be vigilant. >> it changes so fast and it's scary. >> you don't want to wait. >> you don't want to wait. >> reporter: this doctor says battling covid taught his team to adapt more quickly to a patient influx, but respiratory viruses are pressuring the health care system nationwide. hhs reports 75% of america's pediatric hospital beds are filled. rhode island, 98% occupied, texas, 91%, oregon, 86% as covid

precautions have waned bringing us back in contact with other viruses. >> we can see the dark clouds on the horizon that flu is coming. and the one thing that you can do, that you can't do about rsv, you can get your flu shot. >> reporter: that cdc report says that the flu vaccine likely helps stop the virus from spreading further in chile than it could have otherwise. and it points that that chile saw fewer hospitalizations from flu this year compared to 2017 through 2019's flu seasons. so that is promising news. advice from doctors here at the cleveland clinic, trust your gut when it comes to looking at your children's symptoms. do not waste time. they are looking for this now. they are prepared. they know what to do. don't hesitate to reach out to your doctors and your medical team for your children. another thing to consider, something we've talked a lot

about in recent years, again, it's a conversation that doctors are suggesting you might want to have, think about maybe being more cautious as we head towards halloween. a lot of people gathering and with a lot of germs out there, you might want to take a second guess about bringing your children into one of those environments. >> that's one of the best piece of advice. trust your gut when it comes to the health of yourself. if you feel like something is wrong, it probably is. thank you so much. let's get some of your questions answered now when it comes to the triple-demic or the possibility of one. dr. anthony fauci, white house chief medical adviser, is joining us now. dr. fauci, it's a pleasure to talk to you, sir. thanks for taking the time to get some of these questions answered. a lot of folks are worried looking at hospitals almost at capacity across the country. not because of covid, though, instead because of rsv.

let me ask you the first question from one of our viewers, this is from kathleen in boston. she has a 1-year-old daughter, bridgett, who she suspects contracted rsv twice in two months and asks this, when can we get an rsv vaccine, dr. fauci? >> there's no rsv vaccine that's available right now. we are working very, very intensively in trying to develop one as quickly as possible. there is some very promising news because some of the early studies in preclinical studies in animals and some of the early studies for safety of vaccines are looking good. and we would hope within the next year to two, but it's not going to be this season, yasmin. that's the reason why we want to tell people and i think your piece hit it right on the head about getting children who you have interventions for a vaccine for flu, a vaccine for covid.

get those two off the table for any severe disease in the child because we don't yet have a vaccine for rsv. >> i'm wondering, rsv, it's not a new virus. >> no. >> so why don't we yet have a vaccine for it? it's been problematic for quite some time amongst very young children. >> it has. there's been some starts and stops in it, in the sense of we thought we had a candidate several years ago and it actually -- although it looked good in preclinical studies, it actually failed and it was a bit of a complication. it even made things worse. we're using a totally different approach now for the development of an rsv based on structure-based vaccine design. the kinds of things that we learned from vaccine work on hiv and on covid and so we feel pretty optimistic that this time around we will get a safe and

effective vaccine. but as i mention, that will be probably at least a year or more. >> i got another question from alex, a father of one from maryland asking this, will a flu shot help prevent rsv in toddlers? >> no. the answer is an unfortunate and absolute no. they are completely different viruses and a flu vaccine, though effective against flu, is not effective against rsv. >> another question on rsv also from alex, a mother of two in miami, florida, asking this, do you anticipate rsv is going to impact adults as well? lately news has been focused on children. >> that is an excellent question and the answer is, yes, particularly the elderly. now we know that there are about 58,000 hospitalizations per year of children usually less than 5 years old with anywhere from 1

to 400 deaths to rsv. for the elderly, it is even worse. there are thousands and thousands of hospitalizations and few thousand deaths of the elderly with rsv. so even though there's a concentration appropriately on the vulnerability of children, this can be a serious disease for the elderly. for normal, middle-aged, young person, rsv will infect you, but it won't make you very sick. if you're an elderly person, you are vulnerable to the serious consequences of rsv. >> i think this next question is a really good one, it's something we've been talking a lot about and our immunity now, our protections in place there because we've been masking for so long. it's from jake in pennsylvania saying this, how has isolation during covid impacted immune systems and the body's ability to fight flu and rsv now and in the future? >> you know, when you have

isolation, you prevent the infection of all respiratory viruses. instead of getting respiratory virus infections spread out over a period of time, you're essentially protected. not immune, but protected because you're not exposed. it has little to do with your immune system. when you then open up and the masks come off and people then congregate together, you get a concentration of infections that you wouldn't have had not because there's anything that has to do with your immune system, but because you were not exposed. the idea that getting infected with flu is going to help your immune system against rsv is just not true. >> dr. anthony fauci, you are sticking with us and we are appreciative of that. he's going to get some more questions answered for you on covid, the flu, and more

questions on rsv as well. i'll talk to you in a second. thank you. also ahead this hour, we're covering election security, everybody. an inside look at the ballot-counting process in pennsylvania while officials ramp up security to keep poll and is workers safe. chief twit, that is what ln elon musk is calling himself. what does he have in mind for the social media platform and what could it mean for you? we'll be right back. you we'll be right back. ♪ ♪ have diabetes? know where your glucose is?

with the freestyle libre 3 system, know your glucose and where it's heading. no fingersticks needed. now the world's smallest, thinnest sensor sends your glucose levels directly to your smartphone. manage your diabetes with more confidence and lower your a1c now you know freestyle libre 3. try it for free at freestylelibre.us. if you're going big this holiday season, freestyle libre 3. wayfair has just what you need. like great deals on holiday decor, bakeware and a huge selection of tableware to impress your guests. holiday your heart out with wayfair. ♪ wayfair, you've got just what i need ♪ ever notice how stiff clothes can feel rough on your skin? for softer clothes that are gentle on your skin, try downy free & gentle downy will soften your clothes without dyes or perfumes. the towel washed with downy is softer, and gentler on your skin. try downy free & gentle. ♪ ♪

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ we're looking into sexual harassment in hollywood. you used to work for harvey weinstein? we have allegations of harassment and assault. i said no so many times. how close are they to going on the record? two weeks at most. weinstein knows what we're doing. every call you make is being recorded. hello. -and you're being followed. i don't know if i could do this. he kills the story every time. we're not gonna let that happen. i'll go on the record. this is all gonna come out. here is cvs health. where aetna gives me 24/7 access to mental health support. whenever it's most convenient for me. here, healthier happens together. aetna. a cvs health company. i love san francisco, but i'm working overtime to stay here. now is not the time to raise taxes.

i'm voting no on propositions m and o, because the cost of everything is going up. san francisco collects more tax revenue than nearly any city in america. but our streets are dirty and public safety is not getting better. i'm working hard to live within my budget. the city should too. join me in voting no on m and o. now is not the time to raise taxes in san francisco. vote no on m and o.

welcome back, everybody with more of your triple-demic related questions. dr. anthony fauci and the director of the national institute of allergy and diseases. let's pick up with julia from virginia asking this, since it's colder out and we have both flu and covid combined, should older adults think about masking when they go indoors? >> that is a good question and that is something that is a personal choice and really depends on the level of infection that is in the community. when you're in the winter months and an indoor setting, we're not talking about mandating masks, we're talking about good judgment, particularly if you are a vulnerable person yourself or if you are in a household with a vulnerable person. for example, i have children that are older now, but if i had children that were infants that were vulnerable, for example, to

rsv and i was going in an indoor congregate setting with a lot of people, i wouldn't want to bring rsv home to my infant child. i might make a personal decision to wear a mask even though masks might not be required under those circumstances. you make a personal choice based on your own individual judgment of your own vulnerability and that of the vulnerability of the people in your own family and surrounding you. >> i think this next question is a good one. and i think oftentimes when we get sick, especially during covid times, you're not sure what it is, of course, until you get tested. you wonder if a common cold, flu, covid. and this next question asks this, can a person contract both flu and covid at the same time? >> the answer is, yes, you can get co-infected with viral

infections. generally, that does not happen because the immunity that gets triggered from one infection possibly, theoretically, and many cases practically can blunt the infection of another. but you can simultaneously get exposed to flu and covid and get infected with both of them at the same time. there's no reason that that does not happen. >> so i think the follow-up is a good one asking, of course, you've heard these anecdotes of folks getting covid twice in one month at times. so she's wondering, how quickly can you be reinfected with some of these viruses. >> that's a good question. in general, if you get infected, let's just take covid as an example. it would develop an immune response. if the same virus, the same variant is circulating, you likely have reasonably good

protection for at least a few months, say, maybe, three months or more. usually more. if you are an immunocompromised person and you don't make a good immune response to that original infection, you certainly can get reinfected in a month or if you get infected with one variant and then there's another variant that comes around three weeks, a month later, you certainly can get infected with that other variant. it's not a usual situation. it's rare that that happens. but there are good examples of it actually happening. >> i have my own personal question for you. i have a child who is 6 years old wondering if it's a good time to go ahead and get the booster shot for kids 5 and up. >> right now that's not been approved for children. but if you can get it when it is, you should get it for your child. >> dr. fauci, we appreciate you joining us this hour.

very much so sir. i want to read a tweet saying this, thank you, dr. fauci, for your dedication to public service and our country. on behalf of msnbc as always, dr. fauci, we appreciate you. thank you, sir. >> thank you very much. good to be with you. coming up next, everybody. twitter takeover. what elon musk has planned for the social media giant and one of the world's biggest digital town squares. we'll be right back. wn squares we'll be right back. this is art inspired by real stories of bipolar depression. i just couldn't find my way out of it. the lows of bipolar depression can take you to a dark place. latuda could make a real difference in your symptoms. latuda was proven to significantly reduce bipolar depression symptoms. and in clinical studies, had no substantial impact on weight. this is where i want to be. call your doctor about sudden behavior changes or suicidal thoughts. antidepressants can increase these in children and young adults. elderly dementia patients have increased risk of death or stroke. report fever, confusion, stiff or uncontrollable muscle movements, which may be life threatening or permanent.

these aren't all the serious side effects. now i'm back where i belong. ask your doctor if latuda is right for you. pay as little as zero dollars for your first prescription. (kari) so i just switched to verizon business unlimited. it is just right for my little business. (jeni) we switched, too. 5g ultra wideband in more cities keeps our project teams on the same page, even when we can't be in the same place. (kari) unlimited premium data, unlimited hotspot data. my point of sale is on point. (jeni) you know it's from the most reliable 5g network in america? (kari) you know you get up to 10 times the speed at no extra cost? (vo) switch to verizon business unlimited today. and get the right plan for your team. from the network america relies on. ♪ what will you do? ♪ what will you change? ♪ will you make something better? ♪ will you create something entirely new? ♪ our dell technologies advisors provide you with

the tools and expertise you need to do incredible things. because we believe there's an innovator in all of us.

here's the quote, everybody, the bird is freed. that was the very first reaction from elon musk as he officially took control of twitter. the take over reported by cnbc putting an end to the months long back and forth over elon musk would acquire one of the world's largest social media platforms. cnbc reporting musk has made some really big changes, abruptly firing the cfo. so musk had until today to complete the $44 billion acquisition or he was headed for a long court battle with the company. joining me now is ben collins

and host of if the full disclosure. it finally happened. was he going to, was he not going to, was he going to take over twitter. now we know it's official. by the way, it's gone private. we're going to get into all of that. ben, first and foremost, right, how are folks at twitter -- how are employees reacting to this? >> they're despondent is probably the word. look, him firing the ceo, i don't think there was a lot of love lost there between the ceo who were left out to dry by employees there. the head of safety there who did try to make the website better, tried to make it a safer place for people to be who were constantly attacked by trolls, he's gone. he was fired immediately. and they don't know what's going to happen next. elon is in some sort of -- he's in a war room posture, talking

about content moderation. he talked to a notorious right wing troll. we are in -- it's going to be an interesting time. let's put it that way. and the people in twitter realize this is going to be an interesting time for them. >> yeah. to say the least. let me follow up on one thing before i come to you because i know you have a lot to weigh in on. it's this, hearing it this promise i guess from elon musk i'm wondering what you think of this. twitter obviously cannot be become a free-for-all hellscape where anything can be said with no consequences. do you believe that? >> he's going to find out. there a great headline that said, welcome to hell, elon, you break it, you buy it. that's where he's at. he's made promises, going to do this free speech haven, it's going to be a great place for everyone in the world to go. what we have discovered from

being alive on the internet is that those are two distinct places. and he's either going to have to lean into doing some content moderation which he's said he doesn't want to do, so he can advertise his platform and make money, or make it a purely political revenge platform. it would be a huge waste of money in my opinion. but if he really wants a completely unmoderated space, that's what it's going to look like. >> i'm going to pass it over to you now. i know you're wanting to weigh in here. can we talk about the fact that you've taken this major entity private and it was a promise that he was going to do but now it's actually come to fruition. >> it's like that whole thing about the dog chasing the pickup truck and finally catching it. what's fascinating to me, for another metaphor, this was nowhere on my 2022 bingo card.

i know he loves to talk smack twitter, he gets in all sorts of trouble. what's different about us is if you and i have a manic crisis, maybe we spend a thousand dollars in vegas or t.j. maxx or something, this guy was worth $220 million, well north of that in the string. he goes out and buys a company at its peak value, twitter should not be worth $44 billion. if you look what happened to facebook, meta and everybody, had he waited, had somebody whispered in his ear, wait, maybe he could have bought it half price. this is why he's going to have to be dra -- draconian in his cuts. he wants to create an everything app, but i think he's in the -- >> i feel like you're

criticizing the wealthiest man in the world about how to make money? >> he's going to kick me off twitter. >> no is on friendster anymore. let me ask you kind of like the question were all wondering, is the former president going to return to twitter. he had some commentary on truth social and what he thinks of it and this new ownership saying this, he thinks truth social looks and works better to my eye but happy that twitter is now in sane hands as donald trump puts it, ending with, i love truth. where do you see this ending, ben? >> i would bet that -- if he's allowed back on, which i would bet that he is, i would bet that he goes on. truth social has its own world now. it's a place to world build, workshop talking points with each other. it's used as an ammo dump for

places like facebook and twitter. that's how most people on truth social use it. i would assume that's how donald trump is going to use it. he's going to talk to his base and when he gets to twitter he's going to go over there and fight the man. that's what he's been trying to do on twitter. that would be my guess. these are two distinct platforms. i think the difference is, recently there's been a bulkization of the internet where lots of people on the right have found their platform whether that's truth social or telegram or whatever and they're going to go back to twitter and that's going to be one of the 15 platforms they use now. it's not going to be the major app. it's going to be one of the many. >> thank you. see you on myspace, man. >> hellscape is the new netscape. that's the quote. >> thanks, guys. appreciate it. coming up next, everybody, peach state power play. former president barack obama

campaigning in georgia today. but is it enough to give democrats the edge? and big lie aftermath, a look add the stepped-up security measures in philadelphia 11 days out from the midterms to keep poll workers safe. we'll be right back. orkers safe. we'll be right back. (bridget vo) with thyroid eye disease... i hid from the camera. and i wanted to hide from the world. for years, i thought my t.e.d was beyond help... ...but then i asked my doctor about tepezza. (vo) tepezza is the only medicine that treats t.e.d. at the source not just the symptoms. in a clinical study, more than 8 out of 10 patients taking tepezza had less eye bulging. tepezza is an infusion. patients taking tepezza may have infusion reactions. tell your doctor right away if you experience high blood pressure, fast heartbeat, shortness of breath or muscle pain. before getting tepezza, tell your doctor if you have diabetes, ibd, or are pregnant, or planning to become pregnant. tepezza may raise blood sugar even if you don't have diabetes. and may worsen ibd such as

crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis. (bridget) now, i'm ready to be seen again. (vo) visit mytepezza.com to find a t.e.d. eye specialist and to see bridget's before and after photos. want luxury hair repair that doesn't cost $50? pantene's pro-vitamin formula repairs hair. as well as the leading luxury bonding treatment. for softness and resilience, without the price tag. if you know... you know it's pantene. (vo) you can be well-dressed. for softne(man)d resilience, withoutwahoooo!ce tag. (vo) you can be well-groomed. or even well-spoken. (man) ooooooo. (vo) but there's just something about being well-adventured. (man) wahoooooo! (vo) adventure on a deeper level. discover more in the subaru forester wilderness. love. it's what makes subaru, subaru. subaru is the national park foundation's largest corporate donor. are you tired of clean clothes that just don't smell clean?

downy unstopables in-wash scent boosters keep your laundry smelling fresh waaaay longer than detergent alone. if you want laundry to smell fresh for weeks, make sure you have downy unstopables in-wash scent boosters. ♪♪ subway's drafting 12 new subs for the all-new subway series menu the new monster has juicy steak and crispy bacon. but what about the new boss? it looks so good it makes me hangry! settle down there, big guy the new subway series. what's your pick? power e*trade's award-winning trading app makes trading easier. with its customizable options chain, easy-to-use tools, and paper trading to help sharpen your skills, you can stay on top of the market from wherever you are. power e*trade's easy-to-use tools

make complex trading less complicated. custom scans help you find new trading opportunities. while an earnings tool helps you plan your trades and stay on top of the market. welcome back, everybody. let's turn back to that breaking news involving speaker nancy pelosi's husband, paul, attacked early this morning inside their san francisco home. the san francisco police department holding a news conference. nbc news has learned from two people briefed on the matter the weapon used was a hammer. jake ward joins me in san francisco. bring us up to jake, if you could. we're learning of the timing to which the assailant was arrested around when this attack actually happened. what more do we know? >> reporter: at this hour we're seeing investigators come and go from the pelosi home.

those include not just san francisco police department but the federal bureau of investigation and california agents of the u.s. capitol police which is related to paul pelosi's being married to the speaker of the house. we know as you mentioned at this hour that it seems that a hammer was used in this attack, but we also have sources inside san francisco general hospital saying that at this point, paul pelosi is safe. he has suffered facial injuries, but it sounds as if he was very lucky to get away with little more than that and is expected to make a full recovery. now, of course, the question is, who was this person, who was the suspect, what motivations did they have? was this is a targeted attack or just a random act of violence? as you mentioned, we're going to hear a press conference from the san francisco police department in an hour. we hope to have answers to all of that. >> i want to read a tweet that we got here talking about the timing of all this. i'll read this from my phone

here, at 2:27 a.m., sfpd responded to the 2600 block of broadway for a home break-in. an 82-year-old male was attacked. the suspect was taken into custody. the victim was transport today the hospital. the chief will address the media at 12:30 eastern time. jake ward, we should you being there for us. thank you. let's talk midterms for a moment, everybody. this morning, with just 11 days to go until the midterm elections, millions of americans have already cast their votes early, according to the u.s. elections project. in pennsylvania, more than 700,000 people have already mailed in their ballots. officials there have begun stepping up security measures and preparing to handle the coming workload. joining me now is dasha burns. good to talk to you. let's talk about the security measures, right, that officials are taking to help protect these

ballot workers. >> reporter: yeah, yasmin, we are at the beating heart of elections in philadelphia. we got a tour of this facility yesterday, saw the technology they will be using on election day, saw the security measures they'll be taking on election day. we have one of the ballot drop boxes, folks have been coming off and dropping off their ballots. philadelphia and pennsylvania, they don't have the sort of traditional early voting, but folks can bring their mail-in ballots here of about 150,000 ballots that have been sent out, about 80,000 of those have been returned. but the biggest difference here at this facility, this time around, than in previous elections, is the heightened security as you mentioned. because of this political climate, not only are they working hard to protect the election itself, the ballots, but also the election workers. we have talked a lot about the threats that election workers have received and, of course, a lot of eyes are going to be on this election in particular. they're preparing for a pretty

sizable number of observers that are going to want to come here and watch the process play out and philadelphia, in particular, is being hotly watched right now. take a listen to this city commissioner on that. >> we want everybody to be safe. and it's also because of the climate and the interest in this election. we know there's a heightened interest, it's a midterm election, let's face it, pennsylvania is going to play a big part in the outcome of november the 8th and what happens in philadelphia is likely to determine the course of the country. >> reporter: it's a big deal. >> it's a big deal. >> reporter: she told me she's been working in elections her entire life. never before has she had to have conversations with the fbi and homeland security before election day. the climate really has changed. and i did also ask the dreaded question about timeline. we will not be expecting results

on november 8th. we don't know when exactly we will get them. but it's not going to be on election night. >> yeah. not surprising, by the way. if you ever run into steve kornacki in the hallway here and you ask him that question, he says the exact same thing. thank you as always. good to talk to you. today democrats are hoping for a bit of political star power, right? it's going to help bring out the vote in states with tight races. former president barack obama set to host a rally tonight with stacey abrams and senator raphael warnock. obama is going to hit the road hoping to help other vulnerable races in wisconsin, michigan, nevada as well. he's got a whole schedule over the next 11 days or so. joining me now is tim hogan and patricia murphy. welcome to you both, guys. thanks for joining us on this. tim, let's talk about obama power, all right, the former president hitting the campaign trail 11 days out. already cut an ad.

really tight race. now heading to georgia looking at the governor's race there, the senate race there as well. what are dems hoping the former president is going to bring to the table here? >> i think what you said is right, it's about bringing that star power to these races. we know that the former president can help mobilize core constituencies of the democratic party, black voters, youth voters in georgia. there are persuadable voters. there are things that we need to do to address inflation. we've seen good economic data. we've seen record job growth. but there's more that needs to be done. the question is, which party do you want, which party do you trust to hope improve the economy further? do you want to put the republicans in power where they're threatening to use the debt ceiling and proposing cuts to social security and medicare, or do you want to give democrats control and see the progress that they make with legislation

like the inflation reduction act? >> let's talk about obama power when it comes to georgia, specifically, right? it doesn't seem like the allegations made against herschel walker have really resonated with georgia voters. that senate race is supertight. i think surprisingly to many folks across the country. can the former president be a closer here, for instance, for warnock in the lead-up to the election? >> barack obama is exactly what democrats here in georgia need. there's no way to mobilize these democratic voters until you energize these democratic voters. barack obama is a superstar among the electorate here in georgia. those are the exact voters they need to get out to vote and to get out to vote early, to make sure they have gone to the poll, done their job, make sure if there were any problems at the polls, that will be his message tonight here in atlanta.

he can be a big boost to stacey abrams who is trailing governor brian kemp by quite a bit in some of our more recent polling down here. both of the candidates need a big doze of pizazz. get the voters down here energized in order to get them interested in going to the polls. >> sticking were georgia for a moment, if we can. the president was in new york yesterday and chuck schumer had a hot mic moment, his analysis on what's happening in georgia. let's take a quick listen to that. >> the state where we're going down is georgia. it's hard to believe that they will go for herschel walker. >> what do you make of that, tim? >> can i say that the fact that we're having this conversation this year is indicative of the fact that republicans failed over the summer to make this a referendum on the democratic party. any other election they should have been able to close the deal

over the summer, but because of the dobbs decision, because they have positioned themselves as such extremists, these races are still in play. historically, we're supposed to lose 25-plus seats in the house, and yet we're still having a conversation about adding seats in the senate. so i think what you're seeing here is a competitive landscape and people need to not look at each individual poll from here until election day. my advice would be that there are late-breaking persuadable voters. we know the most persuadable people decide at the last moment. we spend a lot of money in the closing weeks of the elections because there are people that we can convince. so i would say go outside, take a breath, look at the sky, and then do what we did in 2018, find a campaign, volunteer, make some phone calls and knock on some doors. >> take a breath. look at the sky. i like that. although it is going to be a

nail-biter from now until the midterms, even if you are looking at the sky the whole time. thank you both. coming up next, everybody, the power of the vote. at jackson state university in mississippi, once the epicenter of activism for black people fighting for equality, students are carrying on that spirit. >> jackson is a prime example of when you're not out voting in your local elections, a lot of things that you would think are a natural born right, like clean water, it's not. a thing go righ♪ ♪it takes two to make it outta sight♪ ♪one, two, get loose now! it takes two to make a-♪ get double rewards points this fall. book now at bestwestern.com.

(driver) conventional thinking would say verizon has the largest and fastest 5g network. but, they don't.get double rewards points this fall. they only cover select cities with 5g. so, for me and the hundreds of drivers in my fleet, staying connected, cutting downtime, and delivering on time depends on t-mobile 5g. and with coverage of over 96% of interstate highway miles, they've got us covered. (vo) unconventional thinking delivers four times the 5g coverage of verizon. and it's ready right now. t-mobile for business.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

back with breaking news. tom brady and gisele have announced their divorce. the decision to divorce is painful and difficult but the two of them arrived at this decision amicably and with gratitude for the time we spent together. she wrote that they have grown apart. they intend to co-parent. let's talk politics. this week, tremaine lee wraps up a tour of hbcus. during the civil rights movement, it was a hub of organizing and protests. today, student activists are mobilizing voters and bringing

relief to jackson residents facing a water crisis. tremaine is joining us. it's great to see you. talk to us about what you heard from the students there. >> reporter: that's right. we are at the jackson state university where generations of civil rights activists and civic-minded thinkers and doers are here. ahead of reproductive rights and water infrastructure, a must generation of students here at jackson state university are stepping up and making their voices heard. let's take a listen. >> manpower. how do we get the cases out is what you are seeing. >> reporter: within days of the water crisis, macy brown, a junior at jackson state university, had a plan to deliver bottled water to residents who couldn't get it on their own. where is this coming from? >> people. >> reporter: she joined the

water crisis advocacy team. they delivered 1,500 cases of water. >> put them down over here. >> reporter: she sees a connection between laws and policies aimed at diluting the voting power of black mississippians who make up nearly 40% of the state's population and jackson's failing infrastructure. >> we think of racism as just a police officer we see brutalizing somebody or a confederate flag or not thinking about the water systems maintained or not and how that's racism as well. >> reporter: robert luckette is a history professor. he traces jackson's water problems to the 1970s and the forced desegregation of the public schools when white families fled for the suburbs, rather than integrate, so that children could attend all white private schools. >> when they are draw, so too is

the support for jackson. schools and water systems and health care. >> reporter: black people in mississippi have risked and in many cases given their lives fighting for the rights and freedoms that america promised. it is history that's not lost on macy and fellow jackson state students planning a voting event. why is it important to get people engaged in the voting process? >> jackson is a prime example of when you are not out voting in your local elections, a lot of things you would think are a natural born right like clean water is not. >> reporter: in mississippi, where despite being the blackest state in america, no black person has been elected statewide since reconstruction. getting people to the polls is only part of the fight. >> voting itself is not enough. you have to be involved on every front of the political advocacy space, not just election day. the other side has been

conspireing forever to get to that point. they have been doing the work outside of the voting booth. we have to do the same. >> reporter: for macy, taking on the fight to reclaim power is second power. >> i prefer organizer. i feel as if we are overusing activist for when people do things they are supposed to do. >> reporter: we will see if these issues and student organizing spurs more engagement with the young people and gets them to the polls. we will see that in the election. one thing is clear, they say they shouldn't have to step up where the government and policy has failed them, but they're doing so because they care deeply about their community. they will not stop fighting. >> really important work. we thank you for it. if you missed any of the stops on his tour, catch up on his podcast available now wherever you get your podcasts. that does it for me. catch me weekends starting at 2:00 p.m. eastern. "andrea mitchell reports" starts next.

this is art inspired by real stories of bipolar depression. i just couldn't find my way out of it. the lows of bipolar depression can take you to a dark place. latuda could make a real difference in your symptoms. latuda was proven to significantly reduce bipolar depression symptoms. and in clinical studies, had no substantial impact on weight. this is where i want to be. call your doctor about sudden behavior changes or suicidal thoughts. antidepressants can increase these in children and young adults. elderly dementia patients have increased risk of death or stroke. report fever, confusion, stiff or uncontrollable muscle movements, which may be life threatening or permanent. these aren't all the serious side effects. now i'm back where i belong. ask your doctor if latuda is right for you. pay as little as zero dollars for your first prescription. (kari) so i just switched to verizon business unlimited. it is just right for my little business. (jeni) we switched, too. 5g ultra wideband in more cities keeps our project teams on the same page, even when we can't be in the same place. (kari) unlimited premium data, unlimited hotspot data. my point of sale is on point.

(jeni) you know it's from the most reliable 5g network in america? (kari) you know you get up to 10 times the speed at no extra cost? (vo) switch to verizon business unlimited today. and get the right plan for your team. from the network america relies on. ever leave your clothes in the dryer and find a wrinkled mess? try downy wrinkle guard fabric softener! wrinkle guard penetrates deep into fibers, leaving clothes so soft, wrinkles don't want to stick around. make mornings smoother with downy wrinkle guard fabric softener. ♪ what will you do? ♪ what will you change? ♪ will you make something better? ♪ will you create something entirely new? ♪ our dell technologies advisors provide you with the tools and expertise you need to do incredible things. because we believe there's an innovator in all of us.

♪ ♪ if you're on medicare, remember, the annual enrollment period is here. the time to choose your coverage... ends december 7th. so talk to unitedhealthcare... and take advantage of a broad range of plans... including an aarp medicare advantage plan from unitedhealthcare. it can combine your hospital and doctor coverage... with prescription drug coverage, and more, all for a low monthly premium or in some areas, no plan premium at all. take advantage of $0 copays on primary care visits, and lab tests. plus more dental coverage than ever before, you'll also get free yearly eye exams... and $0 copays and deductibles on hundreds of prescriptions. so call unitedhealthcare about the variety of plans we offer, including ppo plans that let you see any doctor who accepts medicare, without a referral. enrollment ends december 7th. take advantage now. call or go online today. ♪ ♪

right now on "andrea mitchell reports," violent assault. house speaker nancy pelosi's paul suffering blunt force injuries after an attack inside their san francisco home. we will have a live report. we are awaiting a press conference this hour from the city's police chief. back on the trail. former president obama hitting the road to try to help democrats reserve their