>> everyone. >> aw. midterm elections used to be like boring, didn't the i not's like the hottest thing. >> making sure working families get a fair shot, that's on the osllot. but m importantly, the character of this country is on the ballot. >> election day is finally here. more than 35 million americans have already voted. the balance of power in congress is at stake, and with it the direction of our nation's future. >> breaking overnightanrous storms raging across several states in the south, including possible tornadoes. tbill karins will have latest. >> a russian fighter jet intercepts a u.s. navy recon aircraft over the black sea. why did it get so close? >> are we one step closer to learning where amazon will be

putting their two new headquarters? >> a idris elba is people's sexiest man alive. "ely today" starts right n good morning and welcomeo our special election day coverage. i'm phillip mena. >> and i'm marlie hall. in just hours, the polls will open across the nation and the stakes couldn't begh . this historic midterm election is widely seen as a referendum on president trump. will voters reinforce his divisive brand of politics? or will a blue wave douse his fiery rhetori and giv democrats momentum going into 2020? we'll have the answer by the end of the day. right now we know this. enthusiasm is high, with early voting totals nearlythoubling 2014 numbers. and in the final national "wall street journal"/nbc news poll, democrats hold a 7 percent edge on the question of who should

ntrol the next congress. >> on the eve of the election, both president trump and his es predr, president obama, delivered their dueling final arguments. >> our opponents have been on a relentless camign to obstruct, resist, demolish, dee fame, and destroy. but you can stop them with your voten >> one elect is not going to change everything. does mean is things start getting better. taand better is really imp. [ applause ] better is really good. >> you can tell by his voice the man has beenpa cning quite a bit. meanwhile, thepectre of foreign meddling hanging over the midterms, facebook revealing oved a ht it has r network of more than 100 facebook and instagram pages rying to have been influence the elections. the social media network says the pages were in fnch, english and russian. the company set up an electionm war rfter coming under fire for failing to detect russian meddling in the 2016 election.

>> republicans are fightingo maintain control of congress today, but voters could shift the balance of power. democrats need to flip 23 seats to takef controle house. the party only needs two seats to flip the senate. but chances are slimmer since only nine of the 35 on theba ot are held by republicans. we have team coverage this morning with nbc's lyanne caldwell in d.c. and vaughn hillyard in arizona. let's get straight to lyanne for more o where we can see signs of whether it's a blue or red wave today. >> reporter: sure, marlie. well, it's finally election day. there's a lot of people who have been waiting for this day, not just us as journalists, but voters as well. and it is evident in the fact that 35 million people have already taken to the polls and voted. that's approaching presidential level years. what that is i showing usthat enthusiasm is super high among republicans and democrats,

they're breaking records. so what does this mean? we do noah corresponding to the latest nbc news/"wall street journal" poll the democrats do have an advantage heading into election ery. is a 7-point advantage among democrats, but we also do know that it comes down to individual races, and that's really what's going to matters and the vot that go to the ballot boxes in the districts in states across the country, what we're going watching tonight is that democrats will have a good i night they can win in some of these suburban districts that are current held by republicans. we are going to be looking at new jersey.er s a whole bunch of republican seats that could be won by democrats there. we are going to be looking at georgia, atlanta suburbs, georgia 6 is the ce. if a democrat can win there, democrats are going to have a very good night. but i also want to say that regardless of what happens on election day, if the democrats

take control of the house and republicans maintain control of the senate, which is, ofoue, the big picture story we're going to be looking for, there's also a lot of barriers being broken. we could see the first african-american woman to run a a.ate in geor we could see the firstsg trder person to be governor in the country, but that's happening in vermont. and we also know that there's definitely going to be a record number of women serving in congress this year, purely based on the number of women who are running in these races, marlie. >> one to watch. lyanne, thank you. >> thank you. >> there are 35 senate seats up for grabs today with closely watched racesn in tates including florida, texas, and especially arizona. that's where democrats are fighting to flip retiring senator jeff flake's seat. and the latest nbc news marist poll democrat, kyrsten sinema holds a narrow lead over martha

mcsally. our own nbc's vaughn hillyard is cwatching that racesely in prescott, arizona, for us this morning. vaughn, good morning. it is going to be y.close one to >> reporter: yeah, good morning, phillip. itoing to be a close one. it was interesting to hear leigh ann mention the notescross the country. the suburban areas, congressional districts, in a lot of the senate races, n arizona, y here it's going to be those types of suburban areas, those voters, those more moderate republicans, those independents vothat could switch over to democrat td particularly here in arizona,t would be democratic kyrsten sinema who is trying to play more bipartisan independent mavericky sort of candidate here over the last year on the campaign trail. i want to play you a little bit of sound. we are here in prescott, arizona. these are the steps behind us of the county courthouse whereic repus, including martha mcsally held her last campaign event last night. e,fore martha mcsally sp though, cindy mccain was

actually here on-site, and she actually spok she did not endorse martha mcsally. she hasut notably stayed of this race. but she called for republicans if they were to win or losest t k together, and to be working with their allies and with their opponents. heant to playyou, though, that mcsally sound bite i was referencing where she called out kyrstessinema. thishat she said last night. >> my n'opponent, she do actually want to be seen with the other democrats on the ticket. it's actually kind of funny to watch. no, no, get out of the shot, man. you know what i mean? she's in the liberal witness protection program right now, right? she doesn't even put a d next to her name. >> i vote for issues the president agrees on when they're right forrizona and vote against the issues that he supports when they're wrong for arizona. >> reporter: this is a state that donald trump won by just 3 percentage points. mar na mc -- martha mcsally has stood behind him. and even don juniorek this

phillip? >> joining us from a cold part of what is a warmd sta. thank you so much for joining us, vaughn. >> one thing pollsters are sure to look at after today, how did women vote? the latest nbc news "wall street journal" poll showen favoring democrats in what may be one of the biggest gender gaps we've ever and this year women are running for office in record numbers. nbc's kristen welker takes us insideti one cl senate race to show us the massive power women hold this election day.or >> rr: if there's any doubt, this is the year of the woman, look no further than arizona. therazor-tigh race between two female congress women, republican martha mcsally, and democratyrsten sinema. >> we know what's at stake. >> i know why i ran. >> replyter: mcs a former fighter pilot, isst in lo with the president's general da, from health care to the border wall. does the president help you or hurt you? >> he won arizona. he energizes republicans.

>> reporter: sinema has voted to fund theor br wall but opposed the tax cuts. >> a vote for kyrsten sinema i a wasted vote. >> reporter: why should voters who agree with his agenda vote er you onction day? >> well, i vote for issues theg presidents with when arizona and for against issues when they're wrong for arizona. >> reporter: women around the eccountry are running ind numbers. 23 women on the ballot for u.s. senate and 235 in house races. and while there's a lot of focus on female candidates, even more critical could be female voters who are shaping up to possibly be one of the most consequential voting blocks this year. a recent national pollme shows n voters are breakingsor democry a margin of more than 2 to 1. a history-making contest with control of congress at stake. krist kristen welker, nbc news, phoenix. >> do not miss a minute of our wall to wall ection night coverage with lester holt, nd chuck toddrie

leading the way. it all starts tonight at 8:00 eastern, 7:00 central here on nbc. dangerous storms have through parts of the south with several reported tornadoes touching down overnight. let's bring in nbc meteorologist bi karins to fill usin. good morning, bill. > weod morning, we havenf coirmation of the dangerous night. in tupelo,n mississippi, apparent tornado has gone through. sirens going off. this is 2 to 3 miles north of the downtown area when it went throughome significant damage there. also we are hearing from christiana, tennessee a couple houses were destroyed and people missing. there could be the potential for injuries and fatalities. we'll get them in here with the breaking news and stos of tornadoes overnight. portions of alabama under risk. areas of easte tennessee. later on today we'll see the storms heading through areas of the chesapeake. it looks to be east of i-95. gun, we've narrowed this down. mostly wind damage, isolated

tornado pretty much at work. election day forecast has the worst of the weather heading for the et coast layer today. that's a look at the big weather story of the day. now here's day ahead.ok at your the good thing about these thunderstorms as they roll lorough the southeast they don't last . it will only be a half hour of bad weather in most areas. we'll alsoee a rainy forecast in new england with a pretty good soaking this afternoon. when we come ba, i'll let you know how it will impact some of the senate races up for grabs. >> thanks, bill. businesses are encouraging people to vote through election deals. lyft and uber are offering discounts on rides to e polls. wear your i voted sticker to participating twin peak ands get an order of chips and queso. that same sticker can get you free fries with any purchase at shake shack. now, that is valuabl >> at all participating democracies. just ahead, a close call

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with crohn's symptoms following you? talk to your doctor today, and learn how janssen can help you explore cost support options. remission can start with stelara®. the russian fighter jet flew dangerously close to united states navy recon aircraft on monday. according to a statement from the navy, a u.s. ep-3 aircraft was flying over the black sea when it was intercepted by a russian su-27. the navy says that while the russian military is within its rights to exercise ithin international air space, this action was unprovoked and irresponsible pting pilots and crew at risk. now for a look at florida and the big races there on this election day, joining us is andrew de sada r in tallahassee. latest nbc news marist poll puts democrat andrew gillum ahead of ron desantis by 4%. quinnipiac has gillum ahead by 7.

is that enough toff pull the win today by gillum? >> that will be the big question. gillum's goal is to mobilize en vghers so he'll essentially expand the electorate, tnout a lot o first-time voters for this i didn't tell calle alexis here. sisantis folks are confident. president trump d this state twice in the last week. he was in the ft. myers area. onne way night i was there for that. he also was in pensacola a few nights as well up in thee. panhan so, you know, both sides have a lot riding on this and it's ally going to be a game of turnout and getting their most ardent supporters to head to the polls and encourage others to head to the polls on their behalf. >> gillum's rise here have any affect on the hotly contested senate race also going on in the state of florida? >> well, look, i think, you know,illum is running what i think is an obama-like campaign, right? he's trying to energize new voters and also bring disaffected democrats back into

the party. in particular, african americans. and that's something he's going to, i think, be successful at tomorrow whether he wins or loses. k> both of these candidates here, going b to gillum here and desantis, they are both very unlikely. a few months ago, six months ago, we weren't even expecting them to be in this race. what does that say about the state of politics there in the state of florida? >> well, look, it says that it's a big state. it's a diverse state. and it really, you know, boths partave really great operations down here. that's something i've noticed beingere over the last week or so. andrew gillum in particular was tlong-shot candidate. no one expected h win. he wasn't even close in the polls. we were expecting a woman named gwen graham to be the democratic nominee. same thing goes withes dtis. he's a long-time congressman, he rsn for senate a couple y ago and did not make it out of the primary. you havend two sort of dog candidates who have gained national attention for different reasons. obvi sly president trump loo

large over this race. desantis is really a trump loyalist. he's running as someone who is going to try to advance t trump agenda and work with the president to try to deliver the lts that the president says that he is bringing tort country. ereas andrew gillum is on the complete opposite spectrum. he's more in th o mode bernie sanders in terms of his policy views. it's really a fascinating race to watch here and to see both of these have such high profiles. >> what do you think, desantis, what needs to happen for him to prevail and pull o this upset against gillum today? >> it's going to have to bet. turn there are pockets of florida where president trump did really well up in the panhandle, around pensacola and southwest florida as well. they need to increase their turnout as much as they can. republicans do, in order for desantis to, i think, pull ts f. >> all right. andrew de sada rio from the daily beast. thank you so much. following it been for a long time now and we're going to see what happens. big day ahead. thanks for joining us.

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over 9 accurate. absolute clarity, when you need it most. welcome back onhis ection day. so, this map shows us the senate races. the ones in yellow about 10 or so, are still up for grab. here's the weather forecast for those states. you can see where the blue is, a bit of snow in montana, also north dakota. the greou shows rain and storms that will be pushing through the south. florida, much of the state will beok . western extreme, pensacola, panama city areas will have to deal wit rain and thunderstorms. there's some of that snowy weather in mont mobt frana from missoula. cold and almost like winter. >> expect that around those parts. bill, thank you. still to come, one of e most popular musical groups in the world is getting back together. we'll tell you wlho when we com back on "early today." ck yeah i!

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>> i was driving slowly, trying to keep my eyes open for de. >> it's 4:00 a.m., everybody. >> today isn't only important because of the weather, it's election day.s tomorrow at t time, we may know who most of the winners are. we'rig tracking the races and have all the infortion that you need let's start with chuck bell. i assume you'll start with the fog, chuck. >> wrong. we're starting out -- there is fog.sue with no doubt about that. keep your low beams on, but the real issue for today is honestly a threat for strong to severe storms rightn the mid-day