>> i'm certainly that allentown will deliver for vice president harris. i'm certain that pennsylvania will deliver for vice president harris. allentown is the center of the world right now. it's certainly the center of latino pennsylvania right now. every voter that i'm talking to, democrats, independents and republicans feel like they need to vote for hope and vote for the future, and i'm hearing a lot of enthusiasm for vice president harris, and i think we're going to deliver for her. >> mayor, thank you very much for being with us. very much appreciate your time. that wraps up the hour for me. i'm jose diaz-balart. you can reach me on social media can the jdbalart. thank you for the privilege of your time. andrea mitchell picks things up right now. and right now on "andrea

mitchell reports," president trump delivering a message with a racist introduction by a comedian stand unchallenged for hours. if the former president continues to make threatening comments about his democratic opponents. >> when i say the enemy from within, the other side goes crazy, oh, how can he say, they have done very bad things to this country. they are, indeed, the enemy from within. >> vice president harris reacting to trump's rally as she heads to battleground michigan told. >> he is focused and actually fixated on his grievances, on himself, and on dividing our country. >> and a star-studded push to ramp up turnout by women voters for harris, with appearances this weekend from beyonce and michelle obama on the trail. >> so i am ask asking y'all from

the core of my being to take our lives seriously. please. >> good day, everybody. i'm andrea mitchell in washington. a huge thanks that katy tur and jose diaz-balart for filling in for me while i was traveling with secretary blinken in the middle east. the final full week of campaigning focusing on the battle grounds. the trump campaign is facing angry backlash over dark, lewd and racist remarks made by the candidate and some designated speakers during a six-hour rally on sunday at new york's madison square garden. some of the worst coming from comedian tony hinchcliffe who crudely mocked latinos with a sexual joke and took specific

aim at puerto ricans. >> there's literally a floating island of garbage in the middle of the ocean right now. >> the campaign distancing themselves from the remarks. seven hours later, trump did not mention it in his speech or other comments from the introductory speakers, some of whom called harris the devil and a prostitute. and congresswoman alexandria ocasio-cortez who is puerto rican issuing this warning today on "morning joe." >> this was a hate rally. this was not just a presidential rally. this was also not just a campaign rally. i think it's very important for people to understand that these are mini january 6th rallies. these are mini stop the steal rallies. these are rallies to prime an electorate into rejecting the results of an election if it doesn't go the way that they want.

>> this after former first lady michelle obama making her first campaign appearance with vice president harris since the dnc. calling out the racist, double standard. >> i hope that you will forgive me if i'm a little angry that we are indifferent to his erratic behavior, defining history as a convicted felon, a known slum lord, a predator found liable for sexual abuse, all of this, while we pick apart kamala's answers from interviews that he doesn't even have the courage to do, y'all. >> we begin with nbc news correspondents garrett haake in atlanta and gabe gutierrez at the white house. garrett, first to you. donald trump spoke tour hours after hinchcliffe made those remarks. he didn't say a word about it.

he's in georgia today. this has to be hanging over him? >> reporter: it's clearly hanging over the campaign. they have been talking quite a bit about the size of the rally last night, trying to brag about the energy that it proves in their view their movement has created. we have heard relatively little about the content across the board, including donald trump's own speech, he has two events here in atlanta or the atlanta area later today. we could hear more from him on that topic then. what i have seen mostly from trump's allies online today is either ignoring those comments or trying to create a backlash to the backlash. stephen miller, the former trump staffer turned aide and sort of legal ally now, charlie kirk who runs turning point, have been saying that anybody calling this a hate rally or comparing it to nazi rallies is trying to fire up the liberal base, and these aren't serious complaints. they view this as political opportunism on the left, a z a

deflection of criticism they are facing from many corners, other republicans, also the overall tone of the event that started dark and never took a turn back towards anything other than that across the several hours of programming last night in new york, andrea. >> gabe gutierrez, harris is back in a must-win state, michigan today. michelle obama joining her, and a specific closing message for voters, talk to me about that. >> reporter: look, michelle obama doesn't like to campaign. she often avoids it. this was her first time out on the campaign trail, and really had that message about reproductive rights but not just geared towards women. she actually came out specifically and had a very direct message for men. listen. >> your daughter could be the one too terrified to call the doctor if she's bleeding during an unexpected pregnancy. you just might be the one

holding flowers at the funeral. you might be the one left to raise your children alone. i'm asking you all from the core of my being to take our lives seriously. >> the men of america seeing their daughters, wives, sisters and mothers put at risk because their rights have been stripped away. the men of america don't want this. >> and of course, andrea, this comes after former president obama, michelle obama's husband of course. a couple of weeks ago, brought up the idea that he thought that there was some -- that young black men, that their appeared to be a lack of enthusiasm among that group. certainly michelle obama certainly targeting that group specifically with her comments. i should point out, just in the past few moments, president biden in delaware just walked into a polling place there, and he is early voting already, certainly even though he's not on the ballot.

this is a very personal race for him. he has several not just friends but just some races he has been paying attention to in delaware, including lisa rochester, the democratic candidate for the open u.s. smat seat, you see her in that video. president biden in the past few moments early voting in wilmington, delaware. vice president harris, today, andrea, heads back to michigan where she has several symptoms, and she plans to focus there on manufacturing. you see her speaking just a short time ago at joint base andrews as she headed towards michigan. andrea, look, this is something that the vice president harris will have to do. she'll take credit for some of the administration's successes, the chips act, the inflation reduction act. also she has tried to distance

herself from the biden harris administration at least a little bit in the last several days. she is focused on the must-win state of michigan. >> she was asked if she can think of anything that she would do differently, and she said, no, not really. paraphrasing her, she has been trying to create more distance now. gabe, thank you so much, and our thanks to garrett in atlanta. and joining me now, i'm so pleased to have democratic new york congressman, ritchie torres, a member of the congressional hispanic caucus, and black caucus, and he's also puerto rican. congressman, we have known each other for a while, and it's a great to see you. but, you know, at times sums up the trump rally as, quote, a closing carnival of grievances, misogyny and racism. a capstone for a campaign growing increasingly dark. your personal reaction, you, your family, your friends group,

what was said, that was not, you know, challenged by the former president himself, not by his campaign until seven hours later until the thing blew up. >> i was deeply offended not only as a puerto rican, but as an american. there are more than 3 million american citizens in the island of puerto rico. there are thousands of puerto ricans serving in the u.s. armed services risking their lives for the country without enjoying equal rights available to the rest of americans. these puerto ricans are doing what donald trump has never done and will never do, which is serve their country. so i thought what was done was outrageous, and the so-called joke from the so-called comedian was not a miscalculation. hate is the core calculus of the trump campaign. donald trump has spent years inciting hatred for immigrants, inciting hatred from latinos, inciting hatred to any and all people he considers to be enemies from within, right, so

hate is not an accident. it is the consequence of who donald trump is and always has been, and always will be. >> and, congressman, the fact that the trump campaign has been actively courting latino voters in pennsylvania, for instance, going to redding, recently, and , you know, arguing that the hispanic vote is turning more republican. what does this mean in terms of the narrow margins in states like pennsylvania and georgia and others that have large hispanic populations? >> consulting the people of puerto rico as the trump campaign has done is not only bad morals, it's bad politics. there might be as many as a half million puerto ricans in the state of pennsylvania. 100,000 puerto ricans in north carolina, 60,000 puerto ricans

in wisconsin. 50,000 in michigan. donald trump's insistence on insulting the people of puerto rico is an act of political self-sabotage and the puerto rican community is sizable enough to decide the outcome of the presidential election. it's not lost on those of us who are puerto rican if donald trump was president, and if puerto rico had one of the worst natural disaster in its history, superstorm maria. donald trump abandoned puerto rico. he did everything he could to sabotage the reconstruction and recovery of puerto rico in the moment of greatest crisis. that's something that most puerto ricans will never forget. >> yeah, i think the imagine that one remembers, perhaps a metaphor, is the paper towel toss when he did go down there. and let me ask you also about a new abc news ipsos poll, a third

of hispanic voters, support trump. if something's not getting through or something is going on there, what do you think from your community experience? look, the latino community is not a monolith. historically, the community has been bipartisan, george w. bush won as much of the latino vote back in 2004, also, the electorate has short memories. some people have forgotten how corrosive and divisive donald trump can be. the only up side of the trump rally of madison square garden. it reminded us that his animating principle is not hope. his whole campaign is built on stoking the flames of people different from him. donald trump walks in speaks of making america great again, he

has given every indication that his exclusionary vision of america has no room like myself. >> are you still the bronx? >> exclusively the bronx. >> go yankees, thank you. >> go yankees, absolutely, go yankees, go harris. right now, president joe biden is standing in line along with other voters in wilmington, delaware, as they wait to cast their vote earliment we'll keep an eye on the scene there, and see if the president speaks. in 90 seconds on the trail, former president trump pushing early voting while telling his supporters they may not be able to trust the final results. you're watching "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc.

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♪♪ using our 35 plus years of pharmacy benefits management experience to save businesses billions while boosting medication adherence. helping plan sponsors and their members be at their best. that's wonder made possible. evernorth health services. president biden, as we have been saying, is about to cast his vote early in wilmington, delaware, after dropping out of the presidential race of course in july and throwing his support behind vice president kamala harris. more than 44 million americans have already voted early in person or via an absentee ballot. meanwhile, former president trump is sending mixed messages about early voting. on the one hand, telling republicans to vote early, that's a new position for him this cycle, while, at the same time, pushing that contradictory disinformation about mail-in voting, casting suspicion on

that. joining me now, former democratic senator, claire mccaskill and usa today washington bureau chief susan page. welcome both. claire, kamala harris is in michigan today, a pro-palestinian protester has interrupted her in kalamazoo yesterday. what is the harris's campaign the biggest challenge in the next eight days in winning the battleground states. it's now really michigan and wisconsin and pennsylvania that are critical to her in the electoral college. >> i think they're doing a lot of blocking and tackling, andrea. i think they have really robust teams on the ground in both of these states. they have strong democratic governors in boat of these states, and all three of these states, that know how to help the harris walz team organize on the ground, around key communities that need to be motivated. there's always going to be protesters, she's handled it

with discipline and good humor. i don't think she's had a moment that made those situations any more awkward than they naturally are in america. i have to believe that the muslim population, the american muslim population in all of these states knows what donald trump means to the palestinians. it means netanyahu has no guardrails. netanyahu has no one trying to influence him in terms of how he's conducting warfare sometimes, unfortunately, against thousands of innocent citizens. it's not like they're going to be voting -- if they don't vote for her, they're voting for a guy who is much worse for the communities they care about. i think she's been very disciplined, and she's there today to talk about manufacturing. she keeps focusing on things that make a difference to the families in michigan. i think that's a winning formula. >> and over the weekend, trump's running mate j.d. vance was, you

know, going on the attack against, you know, all of the anchors on sunday's shows. he was pushed by cnn's jake tapper about one thing, about john kelly, the former trump generals and the national security officials slamming his leadership. let me play just a portions of it. >> i think the fact that he has a world view that's oppositional to peace and prosperity suggest he's not an honest arbiter here. >> all of the ten people, including the former vice president, mike pence, all of these people have this horribly damaged world view, and they're all just going after donald trump because they want to send people into war, that's really your argument? >> absolutely that's my argument. >> he was arguing that retired general kelly, whose son died in afghanistan was, you know, an advocate for war and that that's why he's now criticizing donald trump who wants peace and, you

know, disengagement from these cars. susan page, what's your reaction? >> well, what j.d. vance didn't do is respond to the criticism that general kelly and others from his previous administration have made, which is to accuse him of taking fascist positions. instead, j.d. vance had two responses for which there is no evidence. one is arguing that kelly and others want to go to war in ukraine. there's no evidence of that, and also, he suspected there was coordination between the former trump officials and the harris campaign, and in the case of general kelly, there's no evidence of that either. so it is -- it was an interesting and pretty contentious campaign, and jake tapper did not let him off the hook on that, andrea. >> they didn't get to another single subject. they kept going back and forth. claire, let's talk about how this is really a game of inches,

of slivers. whatever your sports metaphor. now, the polls are so close, so hard to really quantify. the trump campaign trying to build on their lead. kamala harris trying to get more women out, is it too late to try to get to persuade young black men, for instance, and to try to narrow the enormous gap of men who were voting for trump. is it all about getting the women to vote? >> you have to do some persuasion in the closing days. it is still important that you conduct your campaign in a way that -- what we call these voters, andrea, are the field voters. they get a feel at the end, which candidate makes him more comfortable. which candidate is going to be better for their family, and i do think she's done a very good job of reassuring a lot of independent voter, and you can see this by the trends in the

polls, how she is closing the gap on economic issues. she keeps pounds the notion, he's looking in the mirror, and i'm looking at you. i'm focused on you. so, yes, she does still persuade, but most importantly in the last few days, you've got to get your operation, your ground game, tuned to its highest levels and, this is where i think the trump campaign, they have put elon musk in charge, and with all due respect to him, if he thinks giving people a hundred bucks to sign a petition is the way you organize voters on the ground, he may know how to get to space, but i'm not sure he knows how to get someone to the polls. >> claire mccaskill, someone who knows how it's done, because she has. claire mccaskill, and susan page, thank you both. a live report from israel on the fallout from friday's strikes against iran, and the ongoing push by leaders across the region to reach a cease fire deal and release the hostages, you're watching "andrea mitchell

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san francisco's leadership is failing us. that's why mark farrell is endorsing prop d.

because we need to tackle our drug and homelessness crisis just like mark did as our interim mayor. mark farrell endorsing prop d, to bring the changes we need for the city we love. san francisco's leadership is failing us. that's why mark farrell is endorsing prop d. because we need to tackle our drug and homelessness crisis just like mark did as our interim mayor. mark farrell endorsing prop d, to bring the changes we need for the city we love.

and right now, you're watching president joe biden in new castle delaware. he's about to vote. he's inside getting his card to put in the machine. this is his last chance to vote as the president. of course he's voting on a ballot that has kamala harris, not himself, at the top of the ticket. that has to be quite a poignant

moment for the president of the united states who, by all accounts, has acted with extraordinary grace despite the difficulty of this moment and these moments since july when he, under pressure from house and senate caucuses, democratic caucuses did step down after what all accounts are really damaging performance in his debate against donald trump. so he's still in that polling place. i don't think he has too much difficulty in deciding whom to vote for. he has been supportive of his vice president kamala harris. there's been no visible tension. in fact, one of the more damaging moments, as we referred to it earlier during her brief candidacy was, as he comes out, let's see if the reporters are going to ask him a question. i'm not sure they can properly or appropriately inside the polling place.

i think we're going to wait and see if he says anything outside, but as i was saying, one of the more damaging moments was when she was asked in that interview whether she could think of anything that she would do differently from the president, and she said she couldn't think of anything, and that did hurt her in the polls as the voters seemed to want change. not more of the same. in any case, an area that is in constant change is the middle east. i have just returned from there. now weighing its response to israel's weekend air strikes, the expected retaliation for 200 missile strike launches against earlier this month. the idf said it hit iran's military sites, avoiding nuclear and oil facilities after intense pressure to do so from the u.s., to eliminate the attack in the possible first round. strong enough to deter a massive response from iran but

proportional enough to avoid escalating into a wider war. oil prices are down after they did not hit the energy sector, and did not hit nuclear facilities. tensions are high in israel after a truck ramming a suspected terror incident at a bus stop in tel aviv, leaving one man dead and injuring more than 70 people in a busy urban area. and spy chiefs from the u.s., israel and qatar, reconvening to test the response of hamas political representatives who live there to a possible cease fire and hostage deal. that's an egyptian proposal now that yahya sinwar is dead. joining me now raf sanchez, what's the latest from do ha, little prospect of progress. the first time they have gotten together in weeks and weeks. >> reporter: the first time they have gotten together in weeks and weeks, andrea, and the first time they have gotten together

since the killing of hamas leader yahya sinwar. the u.s. has publicly expressed optimism saying that sinwar was the main obstacle to negotiations and with him out of the way there might be a path forward. there clearly was no breakthrough in qatar yesterday, but the israeli government has just announced in the last hour or so that the director of the spy agency has returned from those talks. israel is saying that those talks were potentially constructive and that they will continue along this path of exploring the set of proposals that have been coming from egypt. it's interesting, andrea, you mentioned this is a negotiation being run in part by spy chiefs. he has hit the ground run, and his theory of the case, the world has been trying and failing for a year to a comprehensive cease fire, an end to the war in gaza in exchange for the release of all of the hostages. if you're failing on the big deal, why not try with a small deal. the current proposal as laid out

by egyptian president el-sisi yesterday is for a cease fire of just two days in return for the release of just four of those 101 remaining hostages, and the hope there is that that would jump start negotiations and lead potentially to a broader agreement. a whole lot has to go right for that to happen, and one of the big unknowns here is exactly what hamas's position is as the militant group regroups following the death of yahya sinwar. andrea. >> raf sanchez, thank you so much. >> and joining us now is admiral james stavridis, former supreme commander of nato, and author of "the restless wave," they avoided the nuclear and oil facilities. that was under weeks of u.s. pressure. several weeks. do you think iran will respond? there was some hope among u.s.

officials that if they did respond it would be drones, missile launches, but this would be the end of the cycle. >> i think it will be the end of the cycle. let's call it 80% chance it will be the end of the cycle. iran knows that if they continue to escalate, israel will hit them much harder next time. will go after the economy via oil and gas. i don't think teheran has the stomach for that, at least at this moment. call it an 80% chance. we see at least a temporal pause here, and that brings us back to the conversation you just had with raf. it does create a tiny bit of an opening. i kind of like the egyptian strategy, start small, build confidence in the process.

let's hope it pays off. >> israeli officials said yesterday that hamas last week, to their egyptian counter parts had flatly rejected an israeli offer for them to have safe passage out of gaza if the hamas fighters would lay down their weapons. is there any prospect of that as secretary blinken has just returned from his 11th shuttle mission to try to get some kind of peace in gaza, and has said pointedly, take the win. you have accomplished your goals. sinwar is dead. the other leaders are dead. mohammed, the deputy to sinwar, and the war in gaza, and get the humanitarian aid desperately needed by all of those suffering people? >> i am 100% in awe of tony blinken's shuttle diplomacy, and i pray to god that it pays off

with some kind of cease fire deal. i think that's pretty good advice to the israelis. the one thing they have left to do, kind of the military center of gravity, get rid of the tunnel complex under gaza. they're in the process of doing that. decommissioning this 400 miles of tunnel. that's where hamas trained, equipped, organized and launched the attacks of october 7th. once that's done. i don't see any reason for israel to continue to try to occupy the gaza strip. they ought to do exactly as secretary blinken says. let's get an arab peace keeping force in there. perhaps under u.n. and let's start salvaging some kind of life for the people of palestine. >> and let me briefly ask you about lebanon. the u.s. has quite a mixed message after failing to get a cease fire for lebanon, a couple of weeks ago when all of the

parties were at the united nations. they are calling for a halt in the attacks on beirut, but they are saying that israel is justified in hitting the stockpiling of weapons in hezbollah's strongholds in pockets along the southern lebanon border with israel. israel doesn't seem to be listening. >> well, first and foremost, we talked a moment ago about the tunnel complex being the remaining center of gravity in gaza. the center of gravity up north is that stockpile of 140,000 surface-to-surface missiles. israelis have every right to go after those. i don't think you have to go into beirut in order to knock down 2/3 of those missiles. my advice to the israelis would be focus on getting rid of the missile complex, and building a buffer zone from your northern border to the latani river, and

bring home the israeli families that have been displaced. i think that's a better strategy for them than targeting beirut. >> admiral james stavridis, thank you so much, and again, the admirals new book is "the restless wave. president biden spoke moments ago about former president trump's rally last night, and the middle east. >> simply an embarrassment. that's what we're used to. that's why the selection is so important. you know, most presidential scholars i have spoken to, talk about the single most consequential thing is a president's character. character. and he calls that into question every time he opens his mouth. >> the proposal for cease fire -- >> my staff is talking to them right now.

i'm going to get out of here, get in a secure line and follow up on that. we need a cease fire. we should end this war. it should end, it should end, it should end. >> prime minister netanyahu stressed that -- [ inaudible question ] >> i'll reserve that for my discussion with him. >> do you wish more candidates were using you as a surrogate? >> i have done a lot of surrogacy, and the fact of the matter is that i've also had to be presidential at the same time, so i've been to all the battleground states, i have been campaigning, but i also have to continue my job as president. >> will you be on the trail with the vice president this week, sir? >> i have been on the trail. we talk all the time, and asking where i think i should be. heading to pennsylvania, headed

to scranton. >> troops now? >> it's very dangerous. very dangerous. the idea that kamala's opponent is talking to putin, and discussing what should be done. >> do you think that's legal conduct? do you think that's election interference? >> i think it's totally inappropriate. >> how about these "washington post" not endorsing, sir? >> the president speaking about politics, his own campaigning, that he is going to be going to pennsylvania and scranton, and also the middle east. elon musk and a lot of other things. next, the president of the naacp joining me on the fight to win over undecided black male

voters in the final days of the 2024 campaign. stay with us, this is "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. their very liberal rates on idle cash. they would descend into chaos. new projects means new project managers. you need to hire. i need indeed. indeed you do. when you sponsor a job on indeed, it's easier for talented candidates to find it. which makes it easier for you to hire them. visit indeed.com/hire at harbor freight, we do business differently from the other guys. we design and test our own tools and sell them directly to you. no middleman. just quality tools you can trust at prices

you'll love. san francisco's leadership is failing us. that's why mark farrell is endorsing prop d. because we need to tackle our drug and homelessness crisis just like mark did as our interim mayor. mark farrell endorsing prop d, to bring the changes we need for the city we love.

san francisco's leadership is failing us. that's why mark farrell is endorsing prop d. because we need to tackle our drug and homelessness crisis just like mark did as our interim mayor. mark farrell endorsing prop d, to bring the changes we need for the city we love. vice president kamala harris spent her sunday in battleground pennsylvania making the appeal to black and latino voters in philly. she spoke to the congregation of a predominantly black church for visiting a barbershop in west philly. after that, she stopped by a

locally owned puerto rican restaurant. and that was before those racist and vulgar comments were made at donald trump's rally. joining me now, naacp president derek johnson. president johnson, it's great to see you. thank you. >> good to be here. thank you. >> i want to talk to you about those offensive comments about puerto rico and latinos made at donald trump's rally yesterday. what's your reaction? >> well, it's unfortunate that we are looking at a level of fascism where they are saying out loud what many of us believe that group to be. i don't know if this is even the republican party anymore, this is something that's uniquely hateful, and it's unfortunate. how do you expect for this individual to run a country or his group to run a country if they cannot see, respect other

individuals who are different. i think that's why november -- this november on tuesday the vice president is actually going to win because the more they speak, the more people realize, there is an option here. it's either voting for democracy or if you don't vote or participate, we're going to end up something less than democracy. >> and it's very clear that reporting polling that latino and black voters are going to be key to this election, especially in battleground, pennsylvania, they have been for several cycles there. tell us about the naacp's effort to reach those voters, specifically black men who president obama indicated when he was in pennsylvania might be reluctant, especially young black men, reluctant to vote for a woman. >> in the conversations we have been having in the last four weeks, we have seen that narrow substantially, the more we engage with black voters under 50, both male and female. our initial survey said they

didn't feel they were being heard, listened to, and their voice didn't matter. over the last four weeks in pennsylvania, milwaukee, detroit, all across the country in targeted areas, we have engaged african-american voters under 50 just to hear from them, listen to their concerns, and answer questions. and as a result, we begin to see any question around who they would vote for or if they would vote, begin to narrow substantially. that's not unusual. for most americans, people don't really dial into a presidential election until after labor day, and it's incumbent upon us in that period of time to educate voters, inform them what their options are, the power of their voice, the power of their vote, and from there we have demonstrated in every election cycle, particularly presidential elections that the african-american vote shows up and shows up strong. i don't think this election will be different. >> do you think in these closing days that the harris campaign

can do anything to make a big difference that will appreciably change the way those remaining, undecided young black men perhaps vote or get them to switch their vote, if they're going to vote for trump? >> i think gatherings like we witnessed at madison square garden is making the case. in many scenarios, voters are realizing what's at stake, what's being said about them, what role they play, and making smart decisions about the future of the concerns, and we're beginning to see more and more of that. over the last five days, i have been in seven cities, and i have watched the progress of people becoming more and more aware. i think the case is being made. it's about the public policy priorities in the direction of this country, and we're seeing more people recognize that the only conspiracy project 2025,

those that care about america, that look like 2030, as opposed to those that are taking us back to an apartheid 1930 reality. >> derek johnson, president of the naacp, thank you so much, sir. thank you. >> and breaking news from the pacific northwest, state election officials are working to determine how many ballots were destroyed overnight after two apparent arson attacks. dropoff ballot boxes were targeted in vancouver, washington, and portland, oregon. police found an incendiary device insides portland ballot dropoff box. fire suppressant affected ballots. officials fear hundreds of ballots could have been damaged or destroyed. it's not clear if the two are connected. the fbi is investigating. next, both campaigns fighting for battleground pennsylvania's electoral votes with eight days to go.

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potentially decisive 19 electoral votes. joining me now is democratic congressman brendan boyle of pennsylvania. good to see you. i know you've been out campaigning so how do you feel about how well kamala harris is doing in terms of her chances at building up the vote in philly and in the suburbs, the colored communities outside philadelphia to offset those red areas of the state? >> well, it's great to be back with you and as you know pennsylvania is the biggest battleground state in the nation and it's one of the closest. that's the way we were in 2016 when the race came down to half a percentage point, 44,000 was the total vote number trump won it by and then when joe biden won it in 2020, he won it by 1 percentage point or about 80,000 votes. we are looking at a similarly close election and whoever wins here will be the next president. i believe that will be kamala harris. she has made significant inroads

in the commonwealth of pa, ever since she jumped into the race, believe it or not, just three months ago. so at this point incredibly close, but i would rather be on our side than on the gop side. >> and what about you've got a hot senate race with veteran senator bob casey the democratic in-state, mccormick who has been challenging him and is very well-funded. >> i'm proud to be a long-time supporter of bob casey, back to when he was auditor general, as well as state treasurer before he was elected to the u.s. senate. i have always thought that whatever the presidential numbers end up that bob casey would run at least a couple points better than the top of the ticket and i think that in a very close election that will be enough and he will be reelected. >> and there was an incident, perhaps you can shed light on 2,500 fraudulent voter registration applications were discovered last week in

lancaster county. >> well, you know, this is not unusual. every four years it does seem as if there is some registrations that end up either intentionally or unintentionally fraudulent. guess what? this is a sign our system works. the idea that you can just on a whim register and be illegal or not a u.s. citizen and somehow get away with it is completely false. in this specific instance it looks like this is one of these operations where people were getting paid to get voter registrations and they false if i had them. so i'm glad the system worked, that this was caught in time. the fact of the matter is we have more secure elections in pennsylvania and nationwide today than at any point in american history and i look forward to 2024 being yet another example of that. >> now, the issue in pennsylvania is also like in

some other states. pennsylvania does not count the early vote until election day. >> right. >> which slows the whole process down, you have to open the mail-in envelopes, for instance, if it's not early in-person. but all the mailen ins are counted starting election day so it's very unlikely that you will have a result if pennsylvania is the deciding state, which a lot of us think, you do, could be decisive in a close race, you are not going to have a result that night and that's how donald trump creates the false impression that the election is being stolen from him. >> well, you explained it well and it's enormously frustrating to me not just as a democrat, but as an american and as a pennsylvanian. this is a problem entirely created by pennsylvania republicans who control the state senate. we could do what literally every other state does which allows for something called pre canvassing of the votes by mail. they have that in florida, for example, which is why once the polls close they are able to hit

the tabulate button and very quickly you know approximately 60% or so of the results immediately after the polls close the same thing in north carolina, but here in pennsylvania our republican-controlled state legislature has blocked pre canvassing. what that means is it takes longer in pennsylvania since you can't actually begin the process of counting per our state rules until election day and then those same republicans who created this problem turn around and help donald trump say, wait a minute, there must be something kind of shady going on in pennsylvania that's taking them so long to count the votes by mail. now, one good piece of news is that in 2024, of course, thank got we are no longer in a pandemic, we will not have as many votes by mail in '24 as we did in 2020. i'm pretty confident that unlike four years ago when it actually took until saturday morning to

determine the winner of pennsylvania, i actually think we will know the following day on wednesday the winner in our commonwealth. the one caveat being it also depends upon how close the margin is between the two presidential candidates. right now while we expect it to be close, we don't know if we are talking about a half percentage point or maybe even under a tenth of a percentage point. we just don't know at this point. >> congressman brendan boyle, thanks for all of your great insights. appreciate it. that does it for this edition of "andrea mitchell reports." remember, follow us on social media @mitchellreports and you can rewatch highlights at any time on youtube just go to msnbc.com/andrea. "chris jansing reports" starts after a short break. "chris jansing reports" starts after a short break. with the money i saved i thought i'd get a wax figure of myself. cool right? look at this craftmanship. i mean they even got my nostrils right. it's just nice to know that years after i'm gone this guy will be

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good day, i'm chris jansing live at msnbc headquarters in new york city. madison square garden goes maga,