good day. i'm chris jansing live at msnbc headquarters in new york city. it all comes down to this. election day. the culmination of the most expensive, most inflammatory, most contentious and tumultuous midterm battle we've ever seen. the stakes, unbelievably high. control of congress, control of three dozen governorships across the country, and control over the direction of this country for years to come. that means the question of how this nation handles the issues you care most about. the economy, crime, abortion,

democracy, will all be decided today. the candidates have made their final closing arguments to rally an american public that is at once anxious, angry, and exhausted. >> are you ready to win this election? >> i'm sick of talking about american decline. i think it's time we started to do something about it. >> please send me to washington, d.c. >> we're winning this. we ain't talking about no runoff. we're winning this. >> i believe in democracy. i certainly believe in a free and fair election. >> this is a transformative election. it's going to send a loud message to washington. >> we've always done democracy better than anywhere else. and we are not going to stop now. >> y'all ready to close this thing out? >> today we stand united as one voice. and i feel thean a massive vict

shocks the world. i'm ready for it. are you? >> well, now it's up to the voters. with millions heading out to cast their ballots today, we're keeping an extraordinarily close eye on the voting process nationwide. and so far so good. that's despite a lot of concern, even fear regarding the security and safety of today's vote. former homeland security secretary jeh johnson joins me live in just a minute to tell me what he's watching for. and if you're tired of elections and campaigns and politics, brace yourself. we may be a week away from the first chapter in the presidential campaign of 2024. what today's vote means for the long campaign road ahead. that's coming up. but we start with the polls, open across the country. and for all the divisions among the candidates and two parties, there's one thing both sides seem to agree on. some results could take a while. here's some of the states we're watching and when we might start to get an idea of where things

stand. at 7:00 eastern polls close in florida, new hampshire and georgia. georgia of course home to that bitter fight between herschel walker and raphael warnock. 7:30 polls close in north carolina and ohio, two senate races where democrats are trying to flip the seats from red to blue. at 8:00 we've got maybe the tightest senate race in the country, pennsylvania wrapping up along with polls closing in michigan, oklahoma and kansas. all of them home to super tight governor's races. at 9:00 polls close in new york where we'll see if kathy hochul can hang on. plus the polls close for the key senate and governor's races in arizona, wisconsin and colorado. finally, at 10:00 eastern time, polls close in nevada and oregon, where republicans are trying to pull off upsets in the senate and governor's races. so after the polls close tonight we could start getting races called in the 7:00 p.m. eastern hour. but remember, in 2020 election day came and went and eight states still hadn't called their

races. in three of them it took more than a week to get the results. of course msnbc will be here all day and all night long, all week frankly if that's what it takes. we've got reporters spread out across the country right now watching all of the most competitive races, the ones that will ultimately decide control of congress and what comes next for this country. we've also got two veterans of the campaign wars with me on set. democratic strategist adrian elrod and political analysts elyse jordan. so great to have you both here. want to start, though, by heading out to pennsylvania where nbc's stephanie gosk is in montgomery county. stephanie, what have you seen? what is the mood there? >> reporter: hey there, chris. well, you know, the lunch hour rush seems to be over but we did have lines out here just about half an hour ago. and there were lines at 7:00 a.m. when these polls opened up. and let's talk a little bit about enthusiasm because enthusiasm is that gauge for turnout and turnout is to important, especially here in montgomery county.

we talked to the chair of the board of elections here in montgomery county and asked him specifically about mail-in ballots. and he said that the mail-in ballots, they're seeing more mail-in ballots than they did in 2018. they're not quite at the levels that they were in the presidential election two years ago but they are seeing more than that 2018 election. we've been chatting with people all day here today. and i'll tell you some things we've been hearing. well, importantly, i'll tell you what i've not been hearing, and that's not anyone talking about abortion right now. we're talking to people. they say this is an incredibly important election. one guy even told me that our lives depend on this election. some people looking for change. another thing that i've been looking for, and this is very sbevg to the situation right now in pennsylvania, i've been looking for that split ticket voter. the voter that is going to pshlly vote for josh shapiro, who's the democrat running for governor here who has a significant lead against his republican opponent, and then

the voter that votes for him and switches and votes republican potentially for mehmet oz, the senate race here in this state so tight. and that is an indication there are people who are split. in these very partisan times having that kind of split is certainly unique, chris. >> one of the most fascinating places in the country. stephanie, thank you. i want to go to arizona now where both the senate and governor's races have essentially been tied for weeks now. nbc's vaughn hillyard is there. vaughn, i think arizona frankly is seen as ground zero for election denying candidates. and at the top of the ballot of course is kari lake. talk to us about what's happening there. >> reporter: right. kari lake is front and center of the entire gop apparatus here because of not only the name recognition but the fact is that over the course of the last months she's been outpolling the other republicans running down ballot. that includes the likes of u.s. senate candidate blake masters. a campaign adviser to him even acknowledged to me that kari lake has been fundamental to his poll numbers rising here over the course of these last weeks.

and when you are looking at the stakes here, it takes not only the governor to certify an election but it also takes the secretary of state and attorney general here in arizona. and all three of those individuals have called for the decertification of the 2020 election. they've even called for the arrest of elections officials. we are also looking at the potential of republican legislatures next session. so you can construct in your own imagination what type of legislation could be sent to potential governor kari lake's desk. now, what do we expect tonight here, chris? we are going to expect the initial batch of ballots when they drop one hour after polls close, that's at 10:00 p.m. eastern time, 8:00 p.m. local, to favor the democrats here. you'll recall this happened in 2020. donald trump had a significant deficit. but then the ballots that were counted, those of the individuals that voted in person, which are overwhelmingly republicans here in the state of arizona, and those that are dropping off their mail ballots and handing them in person, those also in 2020 went overwhelmingly for republicans. so when you see that initial

batch you're likely going to see even the democrats in the lead. the question is to what extent do the republicans close the gap or overcome those democratic leads here? that is why we are waiting to see what the turnout here in person is today and how many votes folks are turning in their ballots because those numbers are going to skew quite heavily republican is our expectation right now, chris. >> vaughn hillyard, thank you for that. in georgia the wild contest between walker and warnock. by the way, the country's most expensive senate race. could very well drag on for weeks, potentially going to a runoff in december. nbc's trymaine lee is in atlanta. trymaine, if one of those candidates manages to get 50% and avoid a runoff that a lot of people expect, what factors will have played into that? tell us what you're looking at and why. >> reporter: chris, i'll tell you why, if is the big word here. if someone gets to 50. this race has been neck and neck. they've been trading a few points here and there. but folks in this community here

in georgia, they've been resilient and steady. so when we look at what might push one over the line, it's how can -- who's been best able to organize around that kind of -- that steady connection, right? so with walker as republicans have in more recent weeks coalesced around their candidate, even though he's been plagued with allegations around providing abortions for his girlfriends, when it comes to reverend walker, raphael warnock, forgive me, how they've been able to not just organize black voters who came out in record numbers for early voting but also black men, that's been the conversation, have folks been able to organize and engage and get those folks enthusiastic about supporting raphael warnock? i'm here in southeast atlanta where folks all day long have been trickling in. and the one thing that has stood out among many other feelings and efforts from these folks is that it's more than just voting for them. i spoke to a woman who said she got covid with her entire family, five people in their family, all but one of them came out alive, her sister died, she's here to raise their voices

about health care. i talked to another man who said the economy and health care is important because he's formerly homeless. and there was another man, a reverend who said he's standing on his christian faith but also integrity. when you think of all those ideas, the economy, health care but also integrity, who can organize those folks, and right now it's too close to call, but we'll see how things shake out, chris. >> all right, trymaine, thank you so much for that. let's go to nevada, where john ralston, dean of the nevada political reporters, predicted that democrat catherine cortez masto, who has looked vulnerable, will keep her seat. nbc's guad venegas is in the las vegas area. predictions are one thing. voters sometimes have different ideas. cortez masto herself is latina but she's losing from what i've seen the latino vote. how's the race looking to play out there today? >> reporter: chris, some of the polls said that democrats in general were losing the latino vote. i spoke to cortez masto months ago about the latino vote and she says she's not losing it. she says she's going to keep

that latino vote. latinos, let's just say they've supported democrats for decades. so the latinos are there for the democrats to loose that vote. there's other factors in nevada. catherine cortez masto needs three things. she needs to keep the latino vote. it was predicted one in five voters in these midterms in nevada would be latinos. but also there's that democrat base that is so important. it's going to be all about turnout in this election. so far before election day the mail-in ballots and early voting numbers did show a very narrow lead from the democrats of those that have come out to vote but then we did expect a lot of republicans to come out and vote today. now, you look at this center behind me, this is one of the larger ones in the las vegas area. ten computers checking people in. 30 machines, voting machines being used. i spoke to officials. they told me they're seeing about the same numbers they usually see during the midterm elections. there was a lot of talk about the weather here in nevada. there are so many factors. we had this storm that's coming in to the northwest part of the state that would bring snow to

washoe county, the second largest county, and a lot of rain to las vegas with wind. now, so far this morning we have not seen that rain. the weather is much better than we expected. which means people will come out and line up because the question was are people going to line up if it's snowing in parts of the state or raining? at least here in clark county, the largest county, we have seen the numbers. so it's going to be about turnout. and one last thing. those non-partisans. before election day 1/5 of the voters that had cast their votes were the non-partisans. so republicans and democrats are hoping they can sway some of those votes their way, chris. >> guad, thank you so much. as we watch that line continuing to make its way in to vote. thank you. as promised, i want to bring in democratic strategist adrian elrod, former senior aide to the biden-harris campaign, and elyse jordan, a political analyst and former white house aide in the george w. bush administration. we said at the top how consequential this is. but we heard a couple things that strike me. you have stephanie gosk talking about a man who says to her lives depend on this. that's why he came out to vote

today. a homeless man who went out to vote in atlanta. the stakes -- i know we talk about them, but when you hear from people what they're thinking when they go into that voting booth, it really hits you. republicans. the folks you're talking to. are they feeling really confident? what are you watching for and what are you thinking about today? >> you know, based on the last past couple of cycles i've never seen as much uncertainty about what the outcome might be tonight in some key races among strategists both democratic and republican. there are just some really, really tight races this year. and there are some places where republicans are very confident but then there are places where democrats think that they have it. pretty much in the bag. but they also don't want to say that just because the margins are so close. and you look at the polling and it's all subject to error. >> sure. >> it's really so close this year. >> what are you hearing from your side, adrian? >> our side feels very good

about early vote, chris. exactly. it's hard to tabulate which -- obviously there's enthusiasm on both sides. our side believes the early vote has been very good for us in some of these key states. we also do believe that latinos -- there is a narrative out there that we are losing some of the latinos. but according to our early vote tabulations that a lot of us are sort of looking at on the d side, we believe that three out of every four latinos voted for democrats in the early vote. we will see how that actually plays out. but look, in terms of like what are the like signs to look for tonight and looking number one at new hampshire, if -- >> maggie hassan. >> exactly. if either hassan or her competitor does xepthsly well or not as well that's going to dictate a lot of what we're going to see today across the country because we have to remember new hampshire there's not early vote. you vote on election day. and those results tend to be tabulated very quickly. i think in 2020 new hampshire was called for biden like 10:57

p.m. so we should know a lot about what's happening for the whole country when we look at new hampshire. also some of those key states in virginia. virginia 2, virginia 7 -- >> congressional races. >> congressional races. those are also two seats that changed over redistricting, have become more republican, but are also led by abigail spanberger, elaine luria, two very, you know, strong members of congress with a pulse on their district that are sort of seen as being able to like hold on because of who they are and the profile that fits their district. >> all right. you're going to stay with me throughout the hour. so we're going to hear a lot more from them. thank you, both adrienne and elise. we appreciate you. and a red wave possibly coming ashore. how confident are democrats feeling in this moment? i'll be talking with dnc chair jaime harriahead. the election security fear factor at an all-time high. how rising false claims of voter fraud could disrupt races across the country. former homeland security

secretary jeh johnson is also here next. and desantis facing the voters aj implications for 2024. so much to talk about. keep it here on "chris jansing reports" only on msnbc. ads wite having a good time. so to help you remember that liberty mutual customizes your home insurance, here's a pool party. look what i brought! liberty mutual! they customize your home insurance... so you only pay for what you need! ♪young people having a good time with insurance.♪ ♪young people.♪ ♪good times.♪ ♪insurance!♪ only pay for what you need. ♪liberty liberty. liberty. liberty.♪ (vo) with their verizon private 5g network, associated british ports can now only pay for what you need. precisely orchestrate nearly 600,000 vehicles passing through their uk port every year. don't just connect your business. right on time. make it even smarter. we call this enterprise intelligence.

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security has been an issue without a problem. despite a rise in threats both cyber and physical, american elections have been historically safe, and a record number of legal challenges to the 2020 outcome of course found no evidence of widespread fraud. still, the rise in threats have election officials across the country adding security and training poll workers. legions of lawyers are on call on both sides of the aisle, ready to litigate a growing number of challenges that could extend election day 2022 into 2023. today officials including wisconsin's governor tony evers are urging the public to ignore false claims of fraud. >> don't let donald trump talk about the idea that if it's going late at night that somehow somebody's in a back room of lockyer or crandon screwing with the deal. it is not the case. it just takes longer to do

absentee ballots. period. >> we've got the person to talk about this with. jeh johnson. former secretary of homeland security. it's always good to see you, mr. secretary. you know, there are i think 8,800 election jurisdictions across the country and there's always going to be a hiccup here or there, right? but i want to ask you about the big picture. how confident are you that today's elections will go smoothly and is there anything that does worry you? >> chris, thanks for having me on. if history is a guide, and it should be, today's election will be remarkably secure. you look at the 2020 election. in the face of the challenges presented by covid, in the face of the political attacks on the integrity of that election, having to count a lot of mail-in ballots and the largest levels of voter participation in history, we pulled off a remarkably secure election. the incidents of fraud, of mischief were so minor that the

nearest round percentage is zero. i believe that the same is true for 2022. this will be one of the highest if not the highest voter turnout level for midterm elections in history. but at this stage election officials, secretaries of state around this country know how to do this. one of the things that i'm glad i did before i left office, chris, just before i left office in january 2017, was to declare election infrastructure critical infrastructure in this country. dhs and a lot of state and local election officials have been working overtime to ensure the security of this election. no american should be discouraged about going to vote today because of false claims about our election security. >> we do know, though, that many poll workers are nervous. i think about my parents. they both were poll workers. and they were proud children of

immigrants. they were thrilled to be able to serve in that way. now you hear from poll workers, they're afraid. if a poll worker walked up to you and asked what to be looking for what would you say to them? >> i'd be realistic about the current climate. we live in a very fractured political climate right now where the false claims about the integrities of our elections, our election infrastructure, are rampant. but on the other hand people like your parents, people i know are up the street right now, monitoring working elections, take a lot of of pride in their work and they should not be discouraged by these false claims. if they are, if people who are out there doing their patriotic duty are discouraged, then the detractors win. and so let's keep our eye on the

ball and election workers today do the job that you've been doing for years and years and years to make sure our elections are fair and safe. >> let me ask you about outside influences because just yesterday a russian businessman who's a close ally of russian president vladimir putin, said that putin would continue to mess in u.s. elections in the future. and he put it this way. "surgically and in our own way, as we know how to do." how concerning is that threat? >> chris, i think we're a lot better prepared now than we were in 2016. 2016 was an unprecedented attack on our democracy by the russian government. our government has become a lot smarter. and at this point i think the principal concern that i'd have about our democracy is domestic-based. a lot of the false claims about our election integrity originating frankly from within this country, many of whom are

originated by people running for office. there was a graphic that was on this network a few minutes ago about how in 45 states there are election deniers on the ballot today. so i believe the principal concern, the principal source of concerns about attacks on the integrity of our election are domestic-based. we always have to keep our eye on the ball when it comes to attempts at foreign interference in our democracy. >> jeh johnson, it is a pleasure to have you on the program. thank you so much. you know, one of the things that i think about when he talks about election deniers, and he's right about the graphic on election deniers, is that i always joked around election time it's the election lawyer full employment act. but we have never seen anything like what the potential is, do you think, here? >> i mean, you have campaigns who are lawyering up pre-emptively just so that they are ready because they want to be ready to fight. >> campaigns that maybe never would have had the money before to even think about such a thing. >> well, the onslaught of money this year, especially in

georgia, you look at just how much money's been spent there, and in texas. i did love the point you made about your parents being poll workers because to me that's what is most disturbing about the cycle, that so many good americans who are choosing to go and volunteer and go out and serve have to feel threatened -- >> they were so proud of it honestly. >> mine were too. and i feel so lucky we have people who are still willing to volunteer and to help democracy on days like this. >> indeed. okay. so now also i want to talk about this. we have for the first time an account on the attack of paul pelosi from his wife. and i have to say it's chilling. house speaker nancy pelosi told cnn she was asleep in d.c. when she heard the doorbell ring, then a banging on the front door. here's what happened when she opened it. >> i see this capitol police and they say we have to come in to talk to you. and i'm thinking, my children, my grandchildren. i never thought it would be

paul. we didn't even know where he was or what his condition was. we just knew there was an assault on him in our home. >> pelosi reaffirmed what she had said, which is that her husband does have a long road ahead but doctors do expect him to make a full recovery. the republican state turned battleground, ohio. will trump's pick win in the contentious senate fight there? and democrats bracing for a potential new york upset. will the crime spike catapult a republican governor to victory for the first time in 15 years? we've got it all next. all next. (vo) with their verizon private 5g network, associated british ports can now precisely orchestrate nearly 600,000 vehicles passing through their uk port every year. don't just connect your business. right on time. make it even smarter.

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governor kathy hochul, who is facing an unexpectedly tough challenge from republican lee zeldin in a state that hasn't seen a republican governor in 15 years. and ohio, where democrat tim ryan has kept the senate fight against trump's pick j.d. vance surprisingly competitive in a state trump won by eight points back in 2020. nbc's jesse kirsch is on the ground in yungdstown, ohio. nbc's lindsay reiser in summers, new york. jesse, you've said this all comes down to moderate republican voters there. what are they telling you about which candidate moved the needle in the final days? >> reporter: that's because we've seen congressman tim ryan, the democrat, repeatedly in his advertisements and on the campaign trail try to make that appeal beyond his own party, bragging about agreeing with former president trump. when you talk about people who might be persuadable in the final push, i can tell you there are a lot of people who didn't even wait for the last couple of days. early voting in this state according to the secretary of state's office, early in-person voting is up by more than 100,000 compared to 2018.

so a lot of enthusiasm clearly here in ohio, which is something we're seeing reflected across the country. and something that stood out to me, we are in youngstown right now, this is at the heart of the congressional district represented by tim ryan. so take what we're hearing from voters here way grain of salt. they obviously would be more likely to know him better here than in other parts of the state. but something that really struck me. i just talked with a 21-year-old nursing student who told me that he sees tim ryan as someone who is backing up workers but also someone who has flip-flopped. and those are both perceptions we've heard throughout this race. an interesting dichotomy there, chris. >> lindsay, you're now at republican house candidate mike lawler's polling place. and i know earlier you saw sean patrick maloney cast his ballot this morning in his unexpectedly close re-election bid. i'm wondering if early returns in house races there are going to provide some clues in how the governor's race may be going. >> reporter: chris, they should. in fact, this district, district 17, is really important for zeldin. if things are looking really good for lawler, things could be

looking also very good for zeldin. how did we get here in kathy hochul was enjoying wide margins but recently those margins have really tightened. a mid-october quinnipiac poll only put her four points above trump-backed zeldin. but just like where jesse is, the polling locations we've been at, you ask three different people who drof them to the polls you'll get three different answers. one told me reproductive rights, another told me election security and another actually told me the war in ukraine. so even though polling is showing crime, inflation, election security are really important, there are a diverse amount of issues here in new york driving people. you also mentioned the governor's race, district 17, sean patrick maloney in charge of protecting the house for democrats and the campaign arm for the democratic party, finding his own seat to be quite vulnerable. we've talked to both candidates. both of course feeling very confident going into this but maloney does say that the last few years, these last several elections it has been tight. he says he is no stranger to trying to earn this seat, chris.

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greg abbott and beto o'rourke. millions of others doing the same across the country. we're keeping our eye on polling places. and right now the ballot in florida says desantis or crist for governor. but the shadow ballot, the one with real national implications for the republican party, is the potential 2024 desantis-trump match-up. what the gop will watch now is how close or how far away democrat charlie crist ends the night. nbc's ali vitali is covering this race from tampa. i think, ali, the biggest clue of all for 2024 may come out of miami-dade. but you tell me. walk us through it. >> reporter: yeah. well, the biggest clue for 2024 for national implications may come out of miami-dade because for over a decade that has been the area in south florida that democrats have been able to run up big margins that have helped them offset the way that the rest of this state except for the urban centers has really gone red. that's one of the signs of shifting florida, one of the

swingiest swing states on the map. but as we've seen over the course of the last few presidential elections it has been tilting more solidly red and most republicans and democrats alike that i talked to here say that this is really the cycle that could see this state solidify in the red column. but look, 2024 is also on the lips of voters here because of who's on the ballot. governor ron desantis really on a glide path to re-election here, but many are looking at this as a potential springboard to what's next, the 2024 shadow primary has been happening over the course of the last few months but we're now watching it spill into public view. you've got trump clearly emphasizing the schism that's happening between him and desantis. that's something i've been hearing whispers about for months. but now the fact that he's given desantis a nickname, clearly coming out here to florida and not campaigning with the sitting governor, it definitely has voters' ears perking up. many of them i spoke to both at the trump rally over the weekend and the desantis rally yesterday say they don't have to make a choice but they're aware this is likely the collision course

these two men are on for 2024, chris. >> ali vitali, always great to talk to you. thank you. so election results tonight will intensify questions tomorrow about the future of both parties' standard bearers, whether they embolden or weaken joe biden and donald trump's 2024 prospects. so i want to bring back democratic strategist adrienne elrod, political analyst elise jordan. also doug high, former strategist and communications director for the republican national committee. good to see all of you. adrienne, look, no matter what the biden camp might want us to believe, midterms are a referendum on the party in power, right? so if democrats do suffer worst case scenario in their mind tonight, if it's a democratic blowout does it hurt joe biden and his prospects for 2024? >> no, not necessarily, chris, because i think you have to take a step back and look at what joe biden has done as president. he's passed four major economic bills, two of those bipartisan. those bills are extremely -- >> but wouldn't a blowout say that americans don't buy that that's enough?

>> well, look what happened to obama in 2010. that was a blowout during the midterms and he got re-elected in 2012 and went on and everybody loves the affordable care act. i think you're going to see a lot of pundits saying that but i think what you have to do is look at what president biden has done, focus on his policies and let that be the driving force going into the midterms. of course -- i mean into the 2024 presidential run. and of course with donald trump very likely on the ballot that also emboldens biden among a lot of independent voters. >> let's talk, elise, about donald trump because no matter what happens tonight he's going to declare it a win. right? he's going to say if the republicans do well i did it. if not, well, i wasn't on the ballot. but having said that, if the republicans don't do as well as expected, does it hurt him? if his candidates that he endorsed and went to the mat for don't win, does it hurt his prospects? >> well, it's not good for him reputationally if candidates he crowned and put in place, bad candidates i might add who are struggling, if they can't pull it over the finish line, it's not a good thing. but does it hurt his actual

brand? no. he still is a deadlock right now for the republican nomination any way you look at it. really the only way that i see that donald trump would not be the republican nominee is if there are reasons that take him out that are not of his own volition, meaning -- >> legal? >> legal reasons. or if his health, you know, simply -- right now he has it in the bag if it's a crowded field. if it's four more people, which it looks like it would be. >> so doug, it's important to remember that while trump is not on the ballot today, ron desantis is, and i want to play for you what former rnc chair michael steele said kind of colorfully. his take this morning when desantis was called the party's rising star. >> he's not the rising star in the party. he is the star in the party. >> wow. >> he's eclipsed trump in a way that has trump right now sitting on that golden toilet banging his head up against the wall. >> so doug, if desantis does win

big tonight, i mean, really big, how might it affect trump's prospects? or does it? >> i used to work for michael steele twice, at the rnc and in maryland, and i forgot how colorful his language could be sometimes, and imagery that i didn't need. obviously desantis is going to have a good night. we'll see how big of a night that is. but regardless of whether or not he wins by, say, seven points or 17 points, he's poised right now as the number one challenger to trump. but here's also the reality. the person who leads two years out doesn't necessarily become that party's nominee whether they're republican or democrat. you have to have primaries. you have to have this process. and fortunately we're nowhere near there yet. >> so much discussion is centered on trump-desantis. you but we just heard elise say four candidates. how many republicans do you think, whatever happens tonight, are poised to get in? >> you know, i really don't know. i think we saw earlier with tom cotton saying he's not going to

run where a lot of people thought he might, shows that some of these candidates are going to decide not to run. maybe they're operating out of fear. maybe they just don't think they can get there. so some of these candidates are going to have to make a real decision. do you essentially pull a ted cruz and let trump attack you and say eh, it's all fierngs or do you step in and say i'm going to be the person to challenge this one? because as we know, quite often candidates have been told wait your turn. barack obama was told this is hillary clinton's turn, she's inevitable. she wasn't. we've seen that time and time again. so who's going to be bold enough to make that move, and then will there be too many of them to have any of them be effective? >> doug heye, thank you so much. adrienne, elise, stay with me. we have much more coming up. we can show you a picture right now from jackson, mississippi as we're keeping our eye on places all across the country where millions of people are showing up today to catch -- cast their ballots. also all across the country what it means to the future of the senate, how it could end up in either party's hands.

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here's the bottom line. all it takes for democrats to lose the majority is one seat. for republicans to flip the house, five seats. really low numbers with incredibly high stakes. from the balance of power to deciding the policies that affect every day americans. let me bring in the chairman of the democratic national committee, jamie harrison. thanks for being with us. you've done the deep dive on so many levels. when we look at the senate races we've been watching so closely, georgia, ohio, nevada, pennsylvania, where are democrats best chance? >> i've been in 13 states over the course of 14 days and with many of our battleground states and candidates for the u.s. senate. i can tell you there's a lot of energy on the ground. i feel good about our candidates because our candidate quality is much better than the candidate quality on the other side.

>> just to be fair, are you preaching to the converted? are you surrounding yourself at rallies with people who of course are energized? >> i was with president obama in pittsburgh. he had 7500 people at a rally. the same day as a football game on the college campus. so not only were there democrats there, but there were a lot of voters there as well. that was followed up by another event. 7,000 in philadelphia. so there's a lot of energy on the ground and we're talking to our organizers, our canvassers, voters who are interested to be there for these great candidates that we have. so i feel good about that. understand this, chris. i was a candidate in 2020. many of us had tons of money to go up on tv, but the difference was that we didn't really have a ground game because of covid. so one of the things we decided

to do at the dnc this year because they normally play a backstop in these midterm elections. we decided to invest heavily on the ground. in 2018, the dnc put $30 million on the ground. we have spent three times that. $90 million on the ground. we didn't just start in august. we started this last year. on top of that, $25 million for voter protection programs. close races, you win those not by more tv ads, but with very, very strong get out the vote operations on the ground and that's what we have in many of these battleground states. >> when you look at north carolina, tim ryan in ohio. are your critics right? should you have taken more of that cash and put it behind those candidates early on? >> just understand the dnc invest in state parties and coordinated campaigns. we are the largest contributor to the north carolina coordinating campaign. one of the largest contributors to the ohio coordinating

campaign. our other committees work with individual candidates but we work on building that operation on the ground because ta state parties don't focus on that. that's the role of the dnc. it's very important to understand that and we have played that role across the country. just yesterday, our volunteers made a million calls into just four of our battleground states and that's the type of get out the vote operation that's so crucial and key when you have a very close election like we have this year. >> i understand you had lunch with nancy pelosi today. first and foremost, how is she doing and do you think she'll still be speaker in january? >> well, the speaker is doing well and she, like everybody else, is focused on the election today. we're in the thinking about tomorrow or anything else. we are trying to make sure that we're doing every single thing, putting everything we have on the ground, to do every single thing to win these elections tonight. >> good to see you.

thank you so much for taking the time on what is a fairly busy day for you. appreciate it. we should note we invited ron mcdaniel to join us. she declined saying she is campaigning this hour. adrian and lease are back with me. let's just look at big picture. look, there are always people who say the party could have done more, republican or democratic side, but when all is said and done, did they do enough? >> yeah, look, i think it's too early to tell right now, chris. if we lose north carolina, sherry beasley loses by one or two points, there will be a lot of people frustrated with chuck schumer for not putting more money into that race. same with tim ryan. you know, but look, i am not looking at some of the same internal data that they are. i believe to have they are making the best decisions with the information that they have. but if there are some of these close races and look, we need to win north carolina in 2024.

that's a state that regardless we need to invest in. as jamie said, the dnc has made a lot of the investments in there. >> less than a minute, but if republicans end up with a huge night, is the obvious answer usually the right one, which is simply kitchen table issues and maybe the republicans focused on it earlier? >> well, yes, and crime. if we count that as a kitchen table issue. democrats just allowed that to be the conversation and dominate and didn't answer to it until maybe they were out of time. >> talk about a power panel. adrian, elise jordan, thank you guys for being here. that's going to do it for us this hour. i'll be back tomorrow with my friend and colleague, jose diaz-balart, for special election coverage. you want to know what's going on from 10:00 a.m. to noon, we'll be here and tune into msnbc tonight for election night results all night long, but right now, katy tur reports is up next. t now, katy tur reportss

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do love that music. good to be with you. it is election day in america but don't expect the headline tonight to be election results in america. a lot of key races could take a lot of time to count. look at this map. in arizona, nevada, and pennsylvania. probably a lot of others as