right now supporters are gathering ahead of a kamala harris rally tonight in atlanta. there you can see it for yourself. voters are heading to the polls for that state's fifth day of early voting. more than 1.2 million voters have already cast their ballots in georgia, which both the harris and trump campaigns view as a must win state. on the first day alone, in fact, more than 300,000 voters cast a ballot, doubling the states one-day record. joining me now, atlanta journal- constitution reporter greg bluestein.

it's great to see you again, greg. give me a sense of what the data says, the stuff we have so far. what does it suggest about which candidate might be benefiting from early voting? can you tell? because you have to consider one thing. tens of thousands of first-time voters, they register shortly after harris's first rally in atlanta. so, can you assume that this week's high vote volume favor sir? >> yeah, it's hard to read too much into the numbers. and by the way, those numbers keep on going up. today, georgians set a one-day record for saturday voting on the first saturday where they could vote early. they have already set a new record in saturday voting. so the numbers keep on soaring. we noted that can be a good thing for both parties. the demographics, we don't know who people are voting for. we do know that they are general demographics. and they show that the voters are so far skewing older, wiser, and more female. the older and whiter part helps republicans in georgia. the more female part helps democrats, with the gender gap

we have been seeing in polls. the wild thing is for the first time ever in republican presidential campaign, republicans are pushing conservatives to vote early. so some of these early voting numbers could just be a transfer of election day votes that would've come in in november, that are coming in now. that is why republicans are not really patting themselves on the backs too much right now. >> yeah, let's make this point. because republicans are now embracing early voting after donald trump, for years, argued against it and said it was a means of election fraud. so, is there a sense that their new strategy is what may be turning out significant numbers, up from supporters and conservative leaning voters? i mean, is it weather? is it hard to tell what it is? >> you are exactly right. i mean, trump denigrated the early vote for so long, even as local officials would slap their forehead, saying why is he doing that? it's hurting republican turnout. meanwhile, democrats, stacey abrams, they were all embracing early voting. and basically democrats were building a giant lead. republicans would kind of frame

it as now they've got to come back in the fourth quarter with a 28-0 deficit. that kind of thing. so, we are not sure, exactly, again, we were seeing a lot of big turnout in rural republican leaning counties where there was not big turnout before. so we are not sure if that is just a transfer from election day or if there is significantly new turnout in those areas. >> here is something we do know. because you share a byline on a recent article saying that the two key questions keeping the campaigns of that night are weather enough lachman will turn up for harrah's, and whether swing voters will break for trump. so, what can you, greg, tell us about how the two campaigns are doing as they try to win over these import demographics? >> yeah, this is a huge concern for both candidates. let's start with black men. harris is pulling about 75% overall in georgia among black voters. that seems like a high number, it is a high number. but then you have to consider

that joe biden won about 88% of the black vote in georgia, and other recent democratic statewide candidates have gotten in the 90s. the democrats really wonder, of course, up with the biden level and even higher. right now the democratic folks in georgia, those leading figures, they are not so worried about leading that support to donald trump. they are more worried about apathy. they don't see it as a battle between trump and harris for black voters. they see it as a battle between harris and the couch for black voters. and our polls back that up. trump is in the single digits among black voters in polls, but there is a significant number of black voters, double digits, that are still undecided. >> okay. we have the rally in atlanta with usher, and then this week you have former president barack obama, who is going to join harris for the first time this cycle at a rally in georgia. that is going to be followed by michelle obama headlining a voter mobilization event in atlanta about a week before the election. how much do you think the obama's appearing will boost turnout between undecided or disaffected voters?

>> yeah, that is the goal. the rally i am sitting outside of right now is in south atlanta, very heavily democratic part of the state. we are not sure where barack obama will rally at, but i am assuming it will be somewhere in atlanta. again, areas were democrats are trying to drive up that turnout. and, as you know, both the obama's remain very potent political forces. not just with democrats, but with independence, as well. and the hope for democrats is that they can help drive out to younger, more diverse voter base so they don't have to rely on heavily election day turnout. >> okay, have a good time at the rally tonight, we will look for your byline in the atlanta journal-constitution tomorrow. thank you. coming up next, the new concerns in the middle east after the death the hamas leader. target the source of pan with nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory medicine directly at the source. voltaren, the joy of movement.

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breaking news on the war in gaza, where both hamas and israeli president, rather prime minister, benjamin netanyahu, have indicated the war there will go on. that is in spite of the revived hopes of a cease-fire deal following the killing of hamas leader yahya sinwar . but, this comes as a drone strike from lebanon targeted the prime minister's home north of tel aviv. netanyahu was not there at the time. no injuries were reported. and israeli strikes on three hospitals in northern gaza, killing more than 50 people. joining me now from tel aviv, israel, what can you tell us about the fallout from sinwar's

death, and the latest on the fighting there ? >> so, the first of the reaction from the prime minister into netanyahu on that drone attack that the prime minister's office said targeted his residence, he wasn't there, as you mentioned, alex, but he called it an assassination attempt in a tweet on him and his wife, vowing not to be deterred, calling the assassination attempt the work of iran's main proxy in the region, which, of course, is the hezbollah group in southern lebanon. and there was a volley, a barrage of rockets that was crossed into northern israel from southern lebanon, as well. one person was killed on the ground as a result of that. now, you mentioned the death of yahya sinwar , and extremely, of course, significant event in this war, in this conflict since

october 7th last year. well, the group and what is left of its leadership is vowing to continue the fight, and so is the prime minister. and vice president kamala harris was on a campaign stop in michigan where there is, of course, a very large arab- american population there, and electorate that both candidates would like to appeal to. and she said that she believes that the death of sinwar should present an opportunity for a deal to end the fighting and get the hostages out. listen. >> i think what is critically important as we look at this moment is one, acknowledging the tragedy of what has happened in gaza in terms of the extraordinary number of innocent palestinians who have been killed. and taking that seriously, and speaking truth about that. with the killing of sinwar ,

this creates an opening that i believe we must take full advantage of. to dedicate ourselves to ending this war and bring the hostages home. >> reporter: but as you rightly said, alex, all the warring parties are signaling that they are ready to keep the fight going. and what the vice president there was talking about in terms of the humanitarian suffering, it is difficult to overstate just how bad it has become. northern gaza has been, essentially, sealed off. almost no supplies, no food, no medicine has entered certain parts of northern gaza, specifically the refugee camp. humanitarian organizations are saying it has never been this bad, and that hospitals there essentially are no longer functioning. this is something that is very worrying to international

observers. >> for good reason. thank you so much, from tel aviv. my next guest made an appearance with kamala harris a few days ago. what he said to her and what she said to him head.

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who are supporting my candidacy for president of the united states. we are here today because we share a core belief. that we must put country before party. vice president kamala harris earlier this week in pennsylvania, and my next guest shared that stage with her. former virginia congressman denver randleman. he joins me now. he is senior technical adviser to the january 6th committee, and i'm glad to see you. thank you for joining us. so, you said you got to talk to vp harris. what did you say to her, what did she say to you? >> well, you know, there were a lot of people wanting to talk to her. we were in line, and i went up to her, i had heard so many other things. i said what can i say that just gets her point across? i said hey, how are you doing, matta vice president? it's good to see you here. and she said oh, my goodness, you are the virginia chair. that is incredible. and i said yes, i see that everyone wants to talk to you. i said can i be very short here?

i want to tell you what i'm thinking. she said absolutely. i said i am former air force, we got your six, kick his tran28 . we had a little bit of a discussion about that. onstage when you see her shaking my head right year, which i think is happening, she actually said i remember what you said, thank you. i said yeah, i got it. so there you go, that is what's going on there. >> i love it, all the details right there. i laughed when you just said that. keep it going. got you. so, the speech in bucks county. vp harris returned to the theme of trump as a threat to democracy, which came days after trump on fox continued his theme of using the military. you mentioned the air force, but using the military against political rivals. after a former trump supporter at the univision town hall asked about his actions and inactions on january 6th. how was this message received

in pennsylvania among republicans, in particular? >> yeah, it is chilling. there are a lot of veterans in the republican party, as people know. and i think what gets me is that any self-respecting veteran could not support somebody who even headset using the military against civilians, based on voting or based on what they think is a conspiracy theory of another stolen election. and being that senior technical adviser on the january 6th committee, that is what scared me the most. that january 6th was just a training ground. and i've been in a couple of documentaries about the radicalization of veterans, which really gets to me. and i think there's a couple of layers here. it is not just the fact that he is threatening retribution for the military against individuals who he thinks may be stole an election through conspiracies and fantasies. there are people that think the lord of the rings is a documentary. i think the other things you have is that you have veterans who have been radicalized, that are actually behind that, where they believe that there oath

means that they have to support a failed president, a conspiracy theorist, a felon, and a sexual abuser for president. there's a lot of layers there, and that is what worries people in pennsylvania. but it worries people across the country, and especially worries former republicans and republicans who are now voting for kamala harris. because it does not make sense to the same, rational, real veterans why anyone would support somebody saying these type of things. >> look, the latest nbc news poll shows that 18% of voters say protecting democracy would be so important they would vote for or against a candidate solely on that basis. it is third on the list right now. is this the top issue you are hearing from republicans and former republicans who now support vp harris? >> you know, for most republicans it is the top issue. the policy stance of trump and how he coddles putin, if you look at traditional republicans, real republicans, those who actually have the historical look at what the republican party was about and

foreign policy. the people who support trump, who support putin, who are against ukraine, they don't even understand foreign policy. they are listening to this information on the web, and they become useful idiots to this propaganda about putin being a protector of religion, a protector of christianity. again, alex, there's a lot of layers. i just think the disinformation, i would say the threading of disinformation across all social media platforms from the far right, maga , or even paid influencers, i think is making a mark. and again, that is what worries people like me who have been involved in fighting this information for so long. >> yeah, but relative to the military, to veterans, as you are touching on, we saw generals millie and mattis weighing in. they were talking to bob woodward on trump lines get retribution rhetoric. but much of their sentiments are new. so, do voices like there is move the needle now that the election is right around the

corner? are people paying attention? >> this is going to be a realistic splash of cold water right now. i think what the republicans were harris is trying to move are only about 1-3% of republicans right now. i think you have a lot of republicans that won't pull the lever for trump, but they are not going to pull the lever for harris, either. because you hear some ridiculous things. i can't vote for trump, but she's a communist. where you get this? well, you get it from far right media. and i think, too, i was against this film called against all enemies, which was about veteran radicalization. those who have already been radicalized are not going to be listening to incredible generals, they are going to listen to crazies like mike flynn. even when you leave the military, you sometimes have this propensity to follow chain of command. see you have a lot of people who got out obviously under the three-star general level, who thinks that mike flynn is a general they still need to follow. so instead of an incredible patriot and hero like general millie, they are following somebody, i hate to say this, but almost like he started

sniffing glue 10 years ago and has gone completely nuts down the rabbit hole, and allow those veterans that have been radicalized and following a three-star general like that who is retired. that is what worries me. we are really trying to get 1- 3% of the republicans to vote for, just not vote for trump. if that makes sense. >> it does make sense. it is always sobering to talk to, but i am glad to get a message from you. donald trump's curious new take on female voters next. ers

we are giving you a look at dueling campaign events. left of your screen you see atlanta, georgia, where kamala harris will be taking the stage shortly after 6:00 p.m. for a rally that will include usher on stage with her. to your right, that is latrobe, pennsylvania, where donald trump aims to take that stage and rally pennsylvanians there at about 6:00 p.m., as well. will keep an eye on that for you. joining me now we have at least

jordan, and is an easy political analyst and former aide to the george w. bush white house and state permits, and a good friend us. good to see you. let's take a look at the recent nbc news poll, which puts abortion as a top motivating issue for voters. donald trump has expressed his confidence with women, time and time again. is that justified? >> we are seeing such gender segregation in this election. it really is the most gender divided election we have had in modern history. voters, overwhelmingly women, are going for kamala harris. that is great news for her, because women tend to turn out. since 1980, more women have turned out to vote, usually, than men. although it tightens a little bit in presidential years. but this is, if it is abortion as the number one issue and not the economy, it is a really good thing for kamala harris. >> interestingly, among women, to your point, and to the poll that we were sowing for nbc news , harris leads trump by 14 points. but as jill writes in the column for msnbc, female voters

are a notably heterogeneous pool. they are considering them as a single entity, which is unhelpful, bordering on political malpractice to do that. she notes that white women are the country's largest voting block when you break the election down by race and gender. in 2016 more white women voted for donald trump than for hillary clinton. what is your sense of whether that could happen again? is it obviously not this time for hillary clinton. >> well, the next president will be decided by right- leaning voters who defect. and if they defect kamala harris, or if they go to donald trump, if they stick with donald trump, that is what's going to decide it. so, how are those elusive, undecided, right-leaning voters actually going to go this year? and you look at the states where abortion has been on the ballot and that has really energized women and has really helped democrats. >> what trump message is appealing to these white female

voters? can the power team of liz cheney and kamala harris, and this newly announced swing through the suburbs of michigan, wisconsin, and pennsylvania on monday, cannot change any minds at this point? >> you know, it's all coming down, alex, to such tiny margins, that any sliver of voters that they can shave off in different groups, they need to. like trump is also trying to woo black men. he is trying to get black men and hispanic men to come to his side, even though they disproportionately vote democrat. but this year, can he get 5- 10%? that can make the difference. yes, the same thing with those right-leaning women that kamala harris is willing right now, and also men who are called the dobbs dads, who they might not have super strong feelings on abortion, but the women in their lives do, and they are influenced by that in their vote. >> and particularly young men

have seemed to shift away from the democratic party. the harris campaign just released multiple new ads on video game, fantasy sports, sports betting platforms. but when asked about this gap by nbc's peter alexander, harris did not seem to concerned. could she be seeing something that the polls are not? could this be a critical problem for the campaign? >> alex, i really wonder if the youth vote, if the under 30 vote, the new registrants, called the taylor swift effect, even, if they are being weighed in the polls enough. and if they are actually going to come out to vote. it is always a campaign. you can't rely usually on the young people to take you over the finish line, but maybe they can this year. and maybe they will show up. and that is why this early voting, getting young people to early vote, could really make a difference. >> that's going to do it for me on this edition of alex witt reports. see you tomorrow, of next, the beat weekend.