the rockefeller center christmas tree has. arrived the official lighting ceremony is on november 30th, 11 nbc, on the 30th. it's a nor'easter groove, 18 feet tall, 50 feet wallet, and 14 times. thanks for watching the katie fang show, velshi starts right now. >> today on velshi, votes are

still being counted. control of congress is still to be determined, after some big calls overnight, the u.s. senate stands as of this hour, at 49 to 49. two crucial races left to be decided. we'll have the very latest in the state of the race, just ahead. plus, inside the defining races that have been called, we will go to those who won and those who lost in a slew of contest in, races an upset. including the congresswoman, cherice davids of kansas, and congresswoman gianna hayes of connecticut, who held of republican challengers. congressman tom malinowski, who narrowly lost his seat in new jersey, and congressman-elect mike waller, the republican who defeated the chair of the democrats congressional campaign arm. and a look at the election liars scoreboard, who won and who lost among those who campaigned on trumpian lies about stolen elections and what it means for your democracy in 2024 and beyond. velshi, starts now.

good morning to you it's saturday, 12 am velshi, but electioneer is coming down but the -- key was that race late last night nbc news dishes-ing desk officially projected that the incumbent democratic senator mark kelly, has won reelection over blake masters. a first time politician who endeared himself to donald trump by spreading lies about the 2020 presidential election. adrian fontes is expected to become arizonans and next secretary of state, beating out mark finchem, a trump in force endorsed election liar who actually went to the january 6th -- and not into d.c.. in nevada, joe lombardo will become the new governor defeating steve sisolak. although, we're still waiting for the results of some key congressional races. it's already clear that the expected red wave did not watch

out for democrats this year. control of congress remains, very much up for grabs. senator kelly's victory in arizona's pivotal, because it gives democrats the edge in maintaining power in the united states senate. with senator kelly's reelection, that the makeup of the senate is now at 49 democrats, and 49 republicans. with only two races left undecided. georgia senate races, ahead into a runoff on december six between the democrat incumbent, raphael warnock, and his republican opponent, the interesting herschel. walker meanwhile, in about a senate race remains too close to call. it's a virtual dead heat right now between the incumbent senator, catherine cortez masto, a democrat and her republican challenger adam laxalt. right now laxalt is leading by 821 votes. both most of the remaining uncounted ballots coming from solidly democratic counties, senator cortez masto is seen as to catch up to laxalt.

in order to take control, republicans would need to win both of the remaining contests in georgia, and nevada. but since vice president kamala harris is the tie breaking votes in the senate, democrats only need to win one of those seats in order to maintain control of the senate. a call in the nevada race could call as soon as this afternoon. with c.o.r.e. county, the home to las vegas, expected to finish counting at some point today. now, the house is a bit of a different story. mike took longer to take control early next year. as of this morning, republicans have 211 seats in the house, democrats have 203. neither party has reached the 218 necessary to lock in a majority. democrats need to win 15 of the remaining 21 races in order to take control the. house republicans only need seven of those 21 races. now, on paper, this doesn't seem like such a typical out front for republicans. it's still possible for them to gain control of one, or even

both of chambers of congress. but if you put this into historical context, it's an entirely different story. historically, the sitting president's party, almost always loses a significant number of congressional seats during the midterm collection of their first term in office. while donald trump was in office in 2018, republicans lost 40 seats in the house. during barack obama's first midterm elections, democrats lost 63 seats at the peak of the tea party movement in 20. ten and 2002, happens to be the exception to the rule, republicans gaining seats amid high approval ratings for george w. bush after 9/11. democrats lost 52 seats in 1994, during bill clinton's presidency. the list goes on. midterms are often a referendum on the president, and his party. that was the foundation of the belief that there was a red wave coming this year. but that didn't materialize. even with inflation is the top economic concern on voters minds, which republicans emphasized in their campaign,

this year also ended up as a referendum on trump's them, election,, lies and republican overreach. in the wake of the supreme court's decision to overturn roe v. wade, americans have voted to protect abortion rights and all six of the abortion related initiatives that have been on the ballot this year. many of the most prominent trump endorsed republicans, who questioned, denied, or lied about the 2020 election, have also lost to the races. including blake masters, and mark finchem, in arizona. the gubernatorial candidates, doug mastriano in pennsylvania, and tudor dixon in -- even lauren boebert face trouble this week in a much closer than expected race, and what had previously been a solidly republican district. right now, she has about 1000 point vote lead -- 1000 vote lead over her competitor. back to arizona, kari lake, a former tv news anchor who became one of trump's favorite candidates this year, is trailing the democrat katie hobbs by about 31,000 votes in the governor's race.

if hobbs pulls off a win, she'll be taking over the states top post which has previously held by the republican, doug doocy. even in the arizona attorney general phrase, the democrats chris mei's, is leading the republican abe holiday who said that he would not have signed off on the 2020 presidential election. arizona has been a good thing on donald trump's side for years. now -- what election night on 2020, that's why he has invested heavily in the states races this year. shortly after the race senate race was called from r. kelly last night, donald trump took his social media platform to make new entirely baseless creams that the quote, electron was stolen from his back mark kelly. -- changes to their leadership.

joining me now jessica bayne is a phoenix reporter for axios. good morning jessica, thank you for joining us we really appreciate you for being there in the wee hours of the night in arizona. but that's the way it is in arizona politics. that's why it was lost time. we have two important abutments one is mark kelly being reelected as a senator, a democrat. and to, is adrian fontes being elected as a secretary of state. what does this mean for the out remaining outstanding races in arizona? well >> yeah, absolutely, and thanks for having me. i think a lot of us who have been watching this unfold we're a little surprised last night when the ballot drop went in the democrats favor. that is how we got to the point where the races for senate, and secretary of state were able to be cold. the balance -- more than half of the ballots that were tabulated and posted last night were what we call

late early, which is what we people who got mail in ballots but didn't drop them -- drop them off at the polls and mail them back. the thought was that those which hundred publican because of people being concerned about the security of mailing back their ballots. so, we all kind of we're expecting this to at least, to some extent benefit republicans. when they benefited democrats that was surprising. that's obviously what we got the call we, did and it definitely makes us all think a little bit more. about how the remaining ballots are gonna play out. >> so across the country, people who are most interested in watching the senate race in the congressional states and balance of power. there are couple states, michigan, pennsylvania, and arizona, people who have nothing to do with the plays are very interested in it. you have a remarkable governor running, kari lake, and --

katie hobbs is a closer race right now. there were some voting issue that donald trump was carrying on about, what was really a voting issues a pending issue i believe. what is that about? donald trump is out there on social media already calling this election a problem. >> sure. yeah. i think it's important to know from the outside that there is no evidence of this being malicious behavior. but there was an issue on election day where a significant number of the printers at our were polling places that planned out your individual ballot, that applies to you, the tone or setting was not set correctly. that forced the tabulator to not be able to read it. what happened, is that people were able to take that ballot, drop it into a secure drop, box and when they took it back to the central tabulators, they were able to counter them there. i mean, understandably, when it comes to elections, any mistake is going to be scrutinized. there are concerns about it,

but there is no evidence that it impacted in any kind of wide way the results of elections on tuesday nights. >> in some states like michigan, you can detect the trend from any one of the statewide elections or the ballot measure, you can tell that because i was going this way everything else was going that way. in the case of mark kelly and adrian fontes, the races didn't end up being all that close in the end, why can that not be extrapolated to the gubernatorial race between terry kelly lake and katie hobbs? >> yeah, that is one of the most fascinating things and speak to arizona voters being increasingly unpredictable. what we're seeing is that people did not vote a straight ticket, so obviously the -- races are much closer and. now things can go very differently in the next several days as we get more votes, and i just think that that speaks to that arizona is a swing

state. we -- are voters are persuadable. and they're not just going to vote the certificate. it will be really fascinating if we end up in a situation where there were not an instruction and if you can't number of voters who voted for mark kelly, and kelly. like >> that will be interesting to see, and hopefully we'll get the results of that. soon jessica, good to see you. jessica boehm. >> i'm -- wrong good morning to you. election officials in arizona released a batch about 80,000 votes last night which was actually a catalyst calling the race, -- and for mark kelly. i don't even know what question to ask you because you are so steeped in what's going on in arizona. what's on your mind right now? what are you thinking as a result of last night's job and

what's to still happen and arizona. >> right, i think jessica broke it all down very well there. and ali, i know you and i were having these conversations when you are in town. i think mark kelly's race, and he looking it avian fontes winning. number one, the question was what independent voters, and even those conservatives were gonna -- run more from the john became old, where they're winning for the third cycle to vote for democrat and what they just indicated to us was yes. which is the thing that i have always said that this is the conservative state, it is just one that was reticent of donald trump. to go to three election cycles -- if you're an arizona democrat here, they are encouraged and eager to believe that perhaps this is more than just a one-off, we're gonna vote for kyrsten sinema, this one election or by calais or joe biden this won election. but this could potentially change a checkered of the state

in the long. and on as it comes these ballots here tonight, sort of in a crazy way here, when you're looking at the maricopa county map, you see the east valley, the westvalley, south, phoenix you see pockets of different communities heavily latino communities, you have your old affluent, more white, conservative voter who has shown a willingness to jump parties because of anti trump sentiments. what we are watching here with the to these ballot jobs is the number of votes that are ultimately going to change the governor's race here in just such nuanced ways. this governor's race could come down to single digit votes. if in fact tonight kari lake is able to cut into katie hobbs's lead here by sir number, we're really gonna be able to start to extract a better understanding of this electorate here. and one, if you are democrat

looking into the future, they're going to be taking a serious notes from. be taking a serious notes from >> i read someone else from you last night about the complaint that donald trump is put, out because that's what he does, he sows doubt, and he did so with some effect in michigan in pennsylvania and arizona. you are pretty clear on the fact that i think jessica was pointing it out the thing that he is complaining about that happened last night has nothing to do with voting whatsoever. >> no, and number one, he suggested that this was only happening in republican areas where these tabulation machines, not voting machines, but tabulation machines, everybody here votes by paper ballot, went down. the irony was that kari lake went and downtown phoenix here to show that there was no line at this one particular location, the chair to come to a democratic district in order to vote without a line. when the irony of it was that literally a half mile down the road at the library, liberal downtown phoenix, there were machines that were malfunctioning, rejecting ballots. and there were lines.

it's so it is just not reality here. and only just about 17,000 individuals and that ballots were actually rejected by the tabulating scenes and they're not widespread reports that voters relieving voting sites in mass. there was a lawsuit filed by the arizona republican party here that try to extend voting hours by multiple hours here in the county, and the judge rejected that. there was a lack of evidence that presented the showed that voters were disenfranchised. and so, when you see what donald trump is suggesting, and asking for a re-vote, in that arizona should go back to the polls, i'll take you back to four years ago allie, and one of the earlier iterations of donald trump's proposals on how american election should be run, he actually proposed the same thing when martha mcsally lost a case in sonoma. he suggested there should be a reelection in arizona. and so we are just replaying an old song at this point, ali. >> von, i don't know when you sleep or when you go to sleep, but we appreciate you. vaughn hillyard in phoenix,

arizona. i suspect we'll be seeing a lot of this guy's face on tv as we have all week in the coming days. still ahead, we will go live to nevada, georgia, and then back to arizona for the latest on the state of the races. i will be joined by a group of lawmakers from both sides of the aisle. democratic representatives restated into him and he's. john hayes, who both won reelection. democratic representative tom malinowski, we did not, and -elect mike lawler, and a deep dive into the election deniers on the ballot who won, who lost, and what it means for the future of american democracy. really? this leon's paying for his paint job on the spot... and this leon, as a chase private client, he's in the south of france, taking out cash with no atm fees. that's because this family of leons has chase. actually, it's león. ooh la la!

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for democrats in the battle to maintain control the senate. democrat mark kelly be a republican blake masters in arizona. now democrats need to win just one more of the remaining two senate races in order to keep control of the senate.

at this, time nbc news cannot project control of the house, but the decision to ask us to prove that republicans will take control of the house with hundred 20 seats to democrats to hundred 15 seats. the magic number's 218. that's how many states a party needs to assume for control of the house. as a stand right now, they're 22 uncalled house races. republicans we need seven of those races to take control. democrats need to win 15 of those races to keep control of the house. joining me now is tara setmayer, she's a senior adviser from the lincoln project, host of the breakdown lead series. she's resident fellow at harvard institute of politics, and a resident scholar the uva center for politics. most importantly was the communications director for the gop party for which no longer belong, tara, nice to see you again. >> thank you for having me. >> talk to me about what happened. you obviously watch this very closely, and i watch you tweet all week, what happened here? why did this go so wrong for

the gop. it was conventional wisdom in part based on history, and a part based on inflation, and in part based on joe biden having a low approval rating that this was going to be, maybe not a red wave, but i read something. it ended up being a trickle. >> well it was also in large part it seems to be about democracy. president biden was -- for taking such a hard line in defending democracy and giving the speeches as a closing argument. and looks like the american people heard him. he talked in that speech about the sacred flame of liberty inside the american people. it is something that is inherent in us as americans. that freedom and liberal democracy is something that still thrives in this country. and we have been very concerned about this, because of the threat that the illiberalism of the republicans, but the leadership of donald trump over the last several years, the threat that is posed to our democracy. but what we did see is that when the voters kim down to it

in the swing districts, they made a decision that yes, we may not be happy about inflation and we may not feel that joe biden is the best president right now, but he is not those guys. and he is not a threat to our democracy. and we are not willing to put the future of our country in the hands of those extremist. that is what we saw. >> i want to reach into something that you said to npr november 9th. it was along those lines, but was also this other thing. and the lincoln project, you have concentrated, on the chaos that you may or may not like democratic policies, but the option is chaos at the moment. i think what we saw is the rejection of chaos that republicans are brought to the table since the era of trump. and although the economy was a top of mind for many voters as we saw, it was the presence of donald trump still dominating the party, the dobbs decision mobilizing women and younger voters as we are seeing now, in record numbers of younger voters voting for the first time in key areas, women independents breaking towards

democrats that made the difference. i wanna make that first point. donald trump. don trump is going nowhere. he's been posting to social media and he's apparently declaring on tuesday that he's running for president. that's all he did not get that memo that you sent. >> no. it's interesting, i've also said over the years that the only thing to force republicans to course correct will be losing at the ballot box. unfortunately, politicians are single seekers of reelection. it wasn't what happened in helsinki, it wasn't donald trump's corruption, it wasn't chaos, it was in the bigotry, it wasn't the dishonesty, it wasn't january six, it was an election denying, it wasn't any of those things. but instead the republican party and -- said enough of them. it is not looking like electoral defeat. and that is just so cynical, but you know what, republicans need not to think that those of us who have been paying attention will forget the positions that they took. they enabled this in the state

with this car, they were barnacles on him, riding his pop -- power in popularity in the republican base all these years in creating this chaos, and now they're going to say no? the luck with that. he's not going away. donald trump has been an albatross for republicans for many election cycles. he has been a loser for them. he is a losing proposition. and he cannot stand the idea that now he may no longer be the golden child. he is not the savior anymore. they are now making that round scientists. desantis is the air apparent. and we have the lincoln project have been pushing this for quite some time, because we saw that republicans were looking for an off ramp, but right desantis does not have it either. and this is going to be quite interesting work there between trump and desantis in the gentry republicans who think that they can whitewash their enabling of trumpism for the last six years, and think that they can just move forward as if nothing ever happened. nothing to see here, we're going back to being the bush party. no they are not. >> that will be interesting to watch what the gentry republicans.

do their extreme republicans right now who don't even want them in the game right now. there are discussions about, as you said, kevin mccarthy not becoming the leader of the republican party in the house and whatever role they take, there's talk about mitch mcconnell not getting his reelection. there's a lot of issues going on right now and the republican party. great to see you, thank you for being with us tara, tara setmayer is the second adviser for the lincoln project and the host of the breakdown. i'm joined by democratic representative sharif davis who just won reelection despite an uphill battle in a district that was subject to republican gerrymandering. she is standing by, she joins me next after the break. e break. relentless. because every day matters. and having more of them is possible with verzenio. the only one of its kind proven to help you live significantly longer when taken with fulvestrant, regardless of menopause status. verzenio + fulvestrant is for hr+, her2- metastatic breast cancer that has progressed after hormone therapy. diarrhea is common, may be severe, or cause dehydration or infection.

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races came down to gerrymandering this year. over the last two years, republicans aggressively redrew a member of congressional districts to give them new seats and to protect their vulnerable incumbents. one race where republican

gerrymandering failed was in the third district in kansas. the democratic congresswoman cherice davids was first elected in 19 -- sorry, in 2018, and a blue wave when she flipped a house seat from a republican incumbent. this year, republicans gerrymandered her district to try to make it more competitive for the gop, but she pulled her big time, meeting her republican opponent amanda adkins by more than 12 points. a larger margin last time. congressman cherice davis joins me now, she's the first openly gay native american woman to serve in congress. congresswoman, good to see you again, thank you for being with us this morning. >> it's good to see you too. >> we are watching a lot of races very closely on election night, that was very concentrate on yours because you are set up fairly deliberately under redistricting to lose. your district. and you did not lose your district, and you are not a particularly democratic place. tell me about what happened. tell me about how in the

supposed red wave in a gerrymandered districts that you are able to pull off this victory. >> well look. the district absolutely looks different. and i know that we have talked about the redistricting process that happened in kansas before, but look, i'm somebody you never take anything for granted. and i ran a race that i think reflects that. and i will say that, i did not expect the margin that we saw, but i think a number of things contributed to that win. and i think it's because people appreciated that i am truly here to do this job. to do the work that goes into representing the kansas third. and whether it is economic issues, protecting reproductive rights, i think that people really can tell that i am here to serve, and even with the new district lines, one thing i will say i noticed is that i

think the people appreciate when you show up to do more listening than talking, or tweeting. i think that pays off. >> yes, my grandmother gave me that advice. listen when people think there's more than they are. they clearly didn't take the advice. and you talk about reproductive rights. you really leaned into this, and that's interesting, because in kansas, we there was a referendum earlier this year that surprised a lot of people. the outcome of it did not match what you thought the outcome would be in a place like kansas. people did not want their reproductive rights taken away, because that is ultimately what that abortion question was. that would've been a canary in the coal mine for five other ballot questions this time around, which also protected reproductive rights even into heavily conservative states. explain that phenomenon to me, because we first 11 kansas this year and said we, maybe this abortion thing is a winning match for democrats, and not a winning matter for republicans. >> yeah.

well i think, i think that when you are fighting to protect some rights, fundamental rights of people have been to push back against extreme attempts to have politicians making private health care decisions for us, i think that is a winning proposition, because the people win when we fight to protect rights. and i think what we saw in kansas, and i don't know exactly how they did it in other states, but in kansas, it was a broad diverse coalition of folks who came together to push back against that extremism, against politicians trying to make those decisions for us. and that is whether we are talking at the federal level, or state level politicians. and certainly in kansas, what we saw was a win for people in

kansas, a win for our rights, and i think that people recognize that that was on the ballot in kansas, in august, it was on the ballot in november as well. >> how does your world change in the event that democrats do not take control of the house, and that is the indication of the moment that it may not happen, it will be impossible slim republican majority, which will be an issue for whoever leads the republicans, because they have a faction that is not going to want to cooperate with anyone, but what do you do differently? what should democrats, and what does sharif davis do differently for the next few years? as >> you know, actually, my approach is generally the same regardless, i had new district lines, my approach did not change, show up in all parts of the district, listen as much as i can, we listen and learn. but i will say that one of the things that is going to be difference is that i'm on the agriculture committee now, my district has more farmers and producers and growers, and so i am looking forward to trying to

figure out how to best represent the kansas third when it comes to things like the farm bill, and making sure that we are doing everything that we can to get a bipartisan piece of legislation that is going to be helpful. and there is another kansas wrap, tracey mann, on the other side of the aisle, who is also in the agriculture committee and i'm looking forward to working with him on that. but in general, i think my approach is going to continue to be to try to figure out ways to work with anybody and everybody to make a good policy. a >> so you just said something interesting. you're looking for to working with your colleagues on the other side of the aisle. there were number of races here were some democrats lost to moderate republicans, it will speak to tom malinowski a little bit later, on we will speak to mike, lawler was one of those moderate republicans who beat a moderate democrat. is there a greater likelihood in this particular congress, where republicans will have a small majority, and whoever

leads them is going to have to manage this, that moderates on both sides will have more common ground than the freedom caucus will in the republican party? >> well, it is interesting because i have only been -- while this will be my third term we. >> you are veteran now. >> i'm very grateful that i will get to do this for two more years, but that is a really interesting question. i've had the chance now to serve under two different administrations as. served during two different administrations, a republican administration a democratic administration, but i don't know in the house if having a more slim majority will lead to more of us coming together and focusing on finding common ground. i know that is always been my

approach, and i've been able to do that when it comes to transportation and infrastructure, in the small business committee work that i do. but i certainly hope. so it would be a lot better for of course the people in the kansas third, but also the people in our entire country if we saw more bipartisan work. >> what we've read the time to talk about the other, matter and that is that it is native american heritage month tonight, i will talk a little bit more about that role, and your particular role, and whether you think we are making progress with our native american brothers and sisters this country, but if you don't, mind i would like to invite you back to have a conversation with me as well. >> absolutely. >> cherice davis is a democrat of kansas was just won her reelection. with the call made in the arizona senate, race the senate is currently tied. 49 democrats in 49 republicans, two races remain to be decided. nevada in georgia. after the, break we will go live where we are waiting for a news conference on the latest for the vote count there.

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expecting a news conference with officials in clark county, nevada about the ongoing vote count. there we have an update on nevada's race for governor, nbc news protecting that republican joe lombardi has one conceding the incumbent democrat steve sisolak. in the super closest race of nevada, republican adam laxalt

is about 800 votes ahead of the democratic incumbent katherine cortez masto. there are somewhere around 60,000 votes to be counted, and democrats think they have a real shot of keeping the seat once those votes are all tallied. after mark kelly's victory in arizona last, night democrats now only need out there cortez masto to win in nevada, or senator raphael warnock to win georgia's runoff next month to solidify control of the senate. joining me now is nbc news political reporter, gary grumbach from las vegas. gary, good morning to you. very early morning to you. nevada is where the -- or las vegas, clark county, is where the outstanding votes, many of them are coming from. tell me how prognosticators think about the votes that we are likely to get today, this afternoon, and what effect it's going to have on the race? >> yes, it is crunch time here in clark county. the state statute mandate that they have to get these ballots

counted by today, and we did get significant movement today ahead of this deadline. and they had about 27,000 votes last, night in cortez masto picked up about 17,000 of them. republican adam laxalt picked up about 9000. this means, not counting those uninsured ballots which do exist out there, there are about 23,000 ballots left to count in clark county. those are the mailed in usps ballots, and those ballots that were dropped and drop auctions on election day. and in reno, they've got 11,000 ballots that were announced last night. s we are expecting about 9000 more to be announced today. but they have been breaking towards cortez masto, and so the trend continues. and we can see cortez masto soon take a lead here in this race. there's been a lot of complaints however about why this process is not moving faster. why is ticking for days just to get to this point. here is what registered voters had to say.

>> we don't want to see voters who are discouraged. if they are discouraged, i would say that we are continuously trying to educate voters in that we are not purposely holding this process back. we are doing everything in our power to move the ballots forward just as quickly as we can. >> now we've got into a bit of a rhythm here in clark county. in the day press conference with announce how many ballots are going to drop, and then a end of the day event where they actually do drop the ballots into the tabulation. we expect the same thing to happen today, alex. >> gary, thank you for your great reporting from there. this is now all eyes on nevada today, gary grumbach live from north las vegas. exit polls show by the way that abortion was one of the top issues on the minds of voters in this midterm, especially in states where it was literally on the ballot. coming up next, i'm going to dive into the political implications of the fall of roe v. wade and how that supreme court ruling influenced the decisions. decisions. the dribbler, and the day-dreamer...

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is been a motivating issue for republican voters, and therefore an important campaign issue that republican candidates have run on. on the other side, democrats have been more hesitant to embrace abortion rights as a central issue. in fact, look at this headline from april. democrats divided on saying the word abortion. according to the washington post, democrats felt that it was too divisive, too easily made into a question of morality. to easily leveraged against them by their opponents. democrats were not sure that they should say the word abortion in april of this year. then roe fell. there were plenty of hints that the fall of roe had stirred something in american voters, in the weeks, after registration among women skyrocketed. in the states with available data, on average, women are registered men by about 5%. in some cases, it was staggering. women making up more than 70%

of newly registered voters in kansas, which held in abortion referendum earlier this year in which abortion rights were protected. and with a 60% in pennsylvania, which had republicans running who would disallow reproductive rights and abortion under most circumstances. in august, kansas voters rejected an amendment to the state constitution that would've ended state protections for abortion, existing protections. get this as a state, keep in mind, where registered republicans outnumber registered democrats almost 2 to 1. and yes, the measure to end protections for abortions in kansas lost by more than 20 points. republicans are watching that as where we all. they took, notice in the weeks after that august voted, kansas a lot of anti-abortion rights republicans had their confidence shaken. messaging started to change. republicans around the country up and down tickets begin to walk back their hard lines against abortion, in what axios dubbed the big scrub. on the other side, democrats

felt the anger that ripples around the country after the fall of roe, and they try to channel it towards voter turnout. democrats spent far more money on ads focused on abortion and reproductive rights them on any other issue. and here's the thing to remember. it is not public opinion that is changed all of that much. most americans have long supported legal abortion, at least in some cases according to pew. since 1995, the percentage of adults who think that abortion should be legal in all or most cases has hovered roughly between 50 and 60%, and only about 10% of americans think that abortion should be illegal in all cases in with no exceptions. and when the draft obstetrician was linkedin, made the progressive think paint data for progress put out a survey that found the same results. 63% of voters believe that abortion should be legal in most cases. and their survey broke it down further. look at those two blue

sections. they represent people who believe that abortion should be legal in most cases. but half of those who support legal abortion in most cases, the lighter blue section, actually identified themselves as personally against abortion. and so what that means is that most americans are saying, i don't personally agree with abortion, but i still believe in an individual's right to choose in most cases. even if they are theoretically or morally against abortion when abortion is on the ballot, americans vote in favor of bodily autonomy. and that played out on tuesday, where abortion was explicitly on the ballot and proportion rights decisions prevailed. abortion related measures were on the ballot in five states. california, kentucky, michigan, montana, and vermont. voters chose to protect the right to abortion access and reject limits. for some voters, that meant splitting their ticket. kentucky is a perfect example. kentucky voters reelected republican senator rand paul in

a landslide. he won that race by more than 20 percentage points. but amendment to, tucker's abortion ban bill, lost by almost five percentage points. we're going to dig deeper into how the fall of row influence voters on tuesday, with two women who have a wealth of knowledge of. this alencia johnson and jill flipper rich. that is coming up next. is coming up ne xt kitchen tool? my brain. so i choose neuriva plus. unlike some others, neuriva plus is a multitasker supporting 6 key indicators of brain health. to help keep me sharp. neuriva: think bigger. ever wonder why they call it the american dream... and not the american goal? announcer: derek jeter ...or plan? maybe... it's because in dreams, you can do anything. in dreams... you can hold your entire world in the palm of your hand. and turn time inside out... again and again.

and you can do it all with your eyes wide open. >> not before the break, i try

to break down just how much of an effect the fight for abortion rights had on this midterm election. one of the ballot measures to protect abortion access or reject restrictions passed in five states. joining me now, alencia johnson, founding and chief impact officer of the -- west broad ngo flip of, its journalist and author of a spot, the feminist pursuit of happiness. good morning to both of. you thank you for being with us

in jill, let me start with you. you had an op-ed in the guardian the other day which was titled, american voters distant a crystal clear message that they believe in abortion rights. i think that is really key because you said that they believe in abortion rights. in kansas, republicans supported abortion rights. and montana, republicans supported abortion rights. and kentucky, they supported abortion rights. which is different than supporting abortion or liking abortion or thinking that you like to have an abortion. >> i think one thing that has become crystal clear since roe is overturned is the cost of banning and criminalizing abortion procedures. and so even though many americans have long said that even if they themselves would not have an abortion, they support the rights of others to do so, i think what we see since the dobbs decision it's just how high those states actually are. and the stakes are ten-year-old rape victims being forced to carry a pregnancy.

the stakes are women being forced to carry pregnancies that are doomed. the stakes are women who are miscarrying and not being able to get comprehensive medical care instead of being forced to risk sex -- sepsis before in antiabortion state. and so i think a lot of, folks even those who perhaps have not had too much of an issue with this, or would've identified as pro-life are and i hope and i think looking at the reality of what banning abortion means and realizing that that could be me or my partner or my friend. maybe it's better for the government to just stay out of this question, leave it to women, leave it to their doctors. >> valencia, let's talk about strategically, what this means, because we've now seen these five ballot measures, to that were designed by groups that wanted restrictions on abortion in montana and kentucky, and three in vermont, michigan, in california that were meant to protect abortion rights and an early want to kansas which was meant to restrict abortion

rights. once you see all of this, i saw speculation by somebody who said, maybe this is what democrats should do. maybe there should be an abortion question in a lot of states. does leaning into abortion rights, is it likely to work more if it is works so well so far? >> i absolutely think it. as i think advocates for years and for decades have been talking about how this conversation will motivate voters, especially when you're asking them directly. and there's a lot of pulling that came out for this election, including some that was released by -- just yesterday that showed that nearly 45% of voters thought that abortion was a motivating factor for them in this election. over 50% for black voters, over 50% for voters, young voters. and so what we have seen is that when the question if asked directly to voters, they will make a decision. and now we are hoping that our -- wolf understand what voters are saying and follow the will of the people, and that's not to restrict abortion, but actually

provide more access to abortion care. >> so joe, let's play this out a little bit. since the 70s, and this is the polling by the, way the exit polling that we saw that inflation with the number one issue for some voters. abortion was a very close second. this has generally been in motivating thing for republicans. since the 70s. for whatever reason, maybe it's because roe made abortion legal in america, it was not motivating for democrats. has this now permanently changed? is abortion now in the column of, fundamental rights that need to be protected in a world where we are worried about fundamental rights, and should this become more central? because there's a lot of criticism of republicans who are making a central as -- there were criticism of democrats for making abortion central what republicans were talking but inflation. >> now i think we've seen just how much that criticism missed the mark. yes, abortion was the number to issue for voters generally, but it was the top issue for democratic voters. >> by a lot. >> by a lot.

there is no issue that even came close. and so it was incredibly motivating for democratic voters, and it is frankly the reason the democrats did not experience a total watch in this election. it wasn't the voters just came out to vote for abortion, rights they did, but as they were doing, so they also voted a bunch of democrats into office. it's a democrats really do have pro-choice voters to think for this victory. and the only path forward for dems now is to act on what voters have demanded of them. abortion is a central issue of human rights. a fundamental human rights. involving the most intimate decisions that we have are making our lives. and democrats do need to place that front and center. they do need to stand up for it. and frankly i don't think anyone wants to return to this long abortion culture war over reproductive rights. the thing that we want is for democrats, act and act pretty drastically. >> i think this is an interesting point, alicia, that

abortion needs, to and in some cases in these five states move from being a culture war issue or a women's issue into a right and into the pantheon of rights. we've been talking about rights for a long time, with metoo and with black lives matter, george floyd, now with abortion, it is a long the continuum of let's not have rights erode more than we've already determined that they have done, it's a let's not talk about abortion as a woman's issue. let's not talk about abortion as a culture war issue. let's talk about it as the preservation of individual rights in the united states. >> i agree hundred percent, and i think that's why it was so motivating, especially for young people because we could not have this in the polls to, well for black voters, because they sought as a right that we had, that in my generation, and i like that. it was rolled back. and if that is not a key indicator of where democracy is going, i don't know what else is. voters showed up in the polls, thinking about abortion access this way, think about the fact that they can do this to one of my most personal decisions,

they can do this to any other of my rights and freedoms in this country. and with exit polling in addition to abortion rights, democracy was also a top issue for voters, and it is speaking to that exact thing. >> that is the point. when you look at, that inflation, i am an economics guy, we can and will solve inflation. we will get there. but we take a portion writes the lump it with democracy, this should be remarkably motivating to young people. it seemed to have been somewhat motivating to young people, but let's just all be honest with ourselves. they did not come out in the numbers that would suggest your fundamental rights and your future is in danger. >> sure. and that's always a challenge to get young voters to the polls. you have to consider young people are often in school, working, and many young people are parents. there is a lot going on in the lives of young people that can make it more challenging for them to vote than say folks who are, retired, they have more time on their hands, and ali i

think your point to something very important which is this tie between abortion rights and women's rights more broadly and democracy. one thing that we've seen around the world is that as countries have moved towards democratic processes and norms, they have liberalized abortion rights as they have also expanded women's rights. and we've seen a much smaller number of countries moving away from democratic norms, away from democracy and towards autocracy, frankly, and what those countries have done almost to a one, has also scaled back women's rights and that includes scaling back abortion rights. the fact that the u.s. is in that bucket of minority countries that is moving away from liberal democracy and away from women's rights, should be very scary and motivating it not just young voters but to every single person in this country. every sing>> that's an importan, and that was worthy of a whole another discussion, we are part of the global trend here, that america's opportunity to lead, and we're not actually.

we're kind of just floating along with this thing. but something changed on tuesday, which is given some people hope. i'm grateful for both of. you thank you for being, here valencia johnson is the founder and chief impact officer ten 63 west broad, gio phillip of h is a journalist and the author of h. spot, the feminine pursuit of happiness. thanks to both of, you. it just a moment, i will be joined by republican-elect mike lawler who defeated democrat sean patrick maloney for his house seat in the 17th district of new york. another hour of velshi begins right now. >> good morning to you, i'm ali velshi, it is saturday november the 12th, four days since the 2022 midterm elections. and here's where things stand and what is still to come. control of congress remains up in the air. control of neither the senate nor the house is