ndis suy, political t. realignmen democrats take back the house. >> taking our voice to washington. >> republicans hold the senate. >> tonight is a victory for the people ofte s. >> and president trump gloats about republicans wne sh his support and lost. >> mia love gave me no love, and she lost.ba to sorry about that, mia. >> democrats grabbed the suburbs, republicans tightened their hold on rural counties. what this realignment could mean for 2020. plus, president trump feeling emboldened and rattled lashes out, claiming with no evidce election fraud. >> all of a sudden they're finding votes out nowhere. >> firingge attorneral jeff sessions and choosing an acting a.g. who has described how a

sessions' replacement could kill the mueller investigation. >> he justes red the budget so low the investigation grinds to a halt. >> already democrats are calling for matt whitaker to recuse himself. joining me this morning, the head of the republican campaign committee, senator cory gardner of colorado and democratic congressman adam schiff of the house intelligence committee. >>also a woman's place is in the house. a record 100 plused elect, most of them democrats. two are with us today. elis slotkin of michigan and lauren underwood of illinois. and some two dozen people have now died in those california wildfires. we'll have anupdate joining me for insight and analysis are matthew continett editor in chief of the washington free beacon,onna edwards, "new york times" columnist david brooks and eliana johnson, national olitico.l reporter for welcome to sunday, it's "meet the press." >> announcer: from bc news washington, the longest running

show in television history, this is "meet the press" with chuck todd. good sunday morning on this veterans day. 100 years to the day that marked the end of world war i. in the first few hours of election night, it looked as if 2016 was repeating itself. democratic house victories were a mere trickle in the first o couphours. republicans were winning big marquee races. we wondered wheer democrats would have to wave their wave good-bye. five days later the election looks like what we expected. nationally democrats won 52% the house vote to 46% for republicans. that 46% exactly matches president trump's popular vote total in 2016. his job approval rating our final poll on sunday, 46%. which isly lio be it looks like the number in the exit poll itself. kudos to our pollsters. as of this hour, nbc news projects that democrats will win 231 seats in thehouse, plus or minus five. democrats should end up netting

somewhere between 35 and 40 seats wh all the votes are counted. we have 10 or 11 races still heuncalled. inenate republicans have netted two seats but arizona and florida are too close to call with florida headed for a recount and there's that mississippi runoff later this month. president trump reacted with concern and confidence. concern that house democrats can now block his agenda and use their newfound investigate russian election interferencee and he's profiting off the presidency. and confidence the senate will have his backn those issues and approve his judicial appointments. meanwhile mr. trump signalled he has no intention of slowing his assault on the mueller investigation, sackin immediately his attorney general jeff sessions within hours after the polls closednd choosing matt whitaker, who will oversee an investigation he's openly attacked. but it was the growing ocalization that dts had won a sizeable victory on tuesday that seemed to have the president rattled. >> whether they get a couple more house seats oesn'tmatter.

it doesn't matter. >> president trump acting emboldened, but newly vulnerable is attackinghe institutions which could hold him in check. claiming election fraud in florida without any eviden. >> and all of a sudden they're finding votes out of nowhere.o >>u have evidence of fraud? >> i don't know, you tell me. >> ausing arizona of electoral corruption and even asking whether it is time to call for a new election. mr. trump banned a cnn correspondent from the white house, whil threatening to pull access from other reporters. >> thereould be others also. when you're in the white house, this is very sacred placebe to >> he also threatened house s, democratho made their biggest gains since the post-watergate elections of 1974 and will now wield subpoe power in investigations into his personal finances and contacts with russia. >> they can play that gam but can play it better. because we have a thing called the united states senate. >> and he mocked repubcans who refused to embrace him. >> carlos curbelo.

mike coffman. too bad, mike. mia love gave me no and she lost. >> most consequentially less than 24 hours after polls , clos mr. trump fired his attorney general, replacing jeff sessions with loyalist matt whitaker, lashing out at reporters who asked if he wants his newto acting ey general to rein in robert mueller's russiaprobe. >> w stupid question that is. what a stupidst qion. >> the president denied his relationship with when it ak on. >> i don't knowattwhitaker. >> but a month ago. >> i know matt whitaker. >> as a tv pundi whitaker has said mr. mueller's investigation could be turning into a witch hunt and floated ways to weaken it. >> i see a scenario where jeff sessions is replaceth a recess appointment and that attorney genb al doesn't fire mueller but just reduces the budget so low that his investigation inds to almost a halt. >> well, mr. whitaker crosses

the line the moment he accepts the job and doesn't recuse himself, and we know he's going to recuse himself because the onlyreason he was appointed was to sabotage the >> president trump has continued to mold the republican party in his own image, and earned the gratitude of newly elected republican senators who ran like trump. >> i want to say a speciau thak the president. >> special tribute to ourpr esident. >> thank you, mr. president. >> on friday, senate majority leader mitch mcconnell made it cleahe has no plans to bring a bill to protect robert mueller the floor. >> it's not necessary. the mueller investigation is not under threat. >> joining meow is democratic congressman adam schiff of california, who will be the chairman of e house intelligence committee when the new congress is sworn in in january. before we get tohe political news, we want to note the three terrible wildfires that are taking place in your home state, congressman. last night the death toll rose to 25. 23at of those de are in the

campfire that's in northern california north of sacramento. two morere fires burning north of los angeles. neither of the fires is under control. congressman schiff, i know this is not -- it's next to yourdi congressionarict but you and i were just talking and you said there's now some fires actually in your congressiona district. what's the latest? >> obviously they're doing their best to try to control these fires, but this late in the season to have this kind of devastation, it just takes your breath away. pele are losing their lives, losing loved ones, losing their homes, and ourhoughts are with them as well as these incredibly brave responders. >> the president twethe following yesterday. there is no reason for these massive deadly andtcostly for fires in california except that forest management is so poor. billions of dollars are given each year with so many lives lost all because of gross mismanagement of thor for's. redy now, or no more fed payments. is that what this fire is about, ts in agement of the for california? >> no, it's not. there are a lot of root causes about why thehafire season become so much worse over the years, but for the president at

a time when pple a facing utter disaster to be making a statement like thi making a threat like this, this just goes to show how littleta he undes the job he has. that he would be punitive at a time like this rather than coming to the defense of peopl facing the worst disaster of their lives. he's out there making these broad and false statements and threatening to remove funding from a state that's devastated 'sght now. >> do you think political thing because california is so blue? >> i do. i do. is is a president who more than any other is punitive. i think we saw that in the tax cut by taking away state and local tax deductions. a that wed at the blue states. he is only the president, in his view, of those who voted for him. the rest he could care less. >> i want to ask you about a letter that you guys are releasing this morning. i mean the leadership of the house, the senate, key committee chairs, you're a signer of this letter, asng the justice department's ethics office to

carefully review the current ntting attorney general matt whitaker's stateand comments and essentially trying to see if they are advising him to recuse and, if so, are they gointo inform congres of that. what more can you tell me about this letter? >> well, it's signed boy all of our leadership, house and senate, myself udin, to demand that we find out did they give an ethicsopinion. has one been sought on recusal. it seems to me the facts for recusal are very strong here. this is someone who's made repeated and prejudicial coents against the investigation, it's someone who has made false statements about it, claiming that theussians really had no impact on our election. it's someone who has a relationship with one of the important witnesses in the investigation. and i want to say this, if mr. whitaker does not recuse himself -- >> he's not legally required to, even if the ethics office says he shod, correct? >> i don't know whether he's legally required to. but here's thething.

we have every right to expect all of the employees of the justice department to follow the ethics rules and that means especially the attorney general. but, you know, i want to makeis very clear, if he doesn't recuse himself, if he has any involvement whatsoever in this russia probe, we are going to find out whether he made commitments to the president about the probe, whether he is serving as a c backnnel to the president or his lawyers about the probe, whether he's doing anything to intfere with the probe. mr. whitaker needs to understand that he will be called to answer and any role that he plays will be exposed to the public. we don't want there to be any ambiguity about ythat. >> a convinced that he's constitutionally eligible to hold the position? >> i'm not convincedat ll. there are serious constitutional arguments that as a principal officer hee cannot appointed to this position. i think that's certainly the right policy answer, it also may be the answer demanded by t constitution. >> i'm curious what you thought of voter reaction to the mueller probe. our exit poll, we asked about their feelings on the mueller

investigation. 46% disapprove. that is a very familiar number he our viewers, 46% is president's job rating. the number of the republican vote. so i think we know what that core vote is. but only 41% approved of the muelle does political opinion -- how much should it impact what you democratic congress these days? >> well, public opinion alwaysf s us in one degree or another, but i will say this having watchedr'muel ratings over time. the one thing that we see isnd arhe time he produces indictments, around the time that he prs,uces convicti the support for his investigation goes up. the longera thee between indictments, the more his ratings go down. so what we're seeing now, i think, is merely the lull, because in the period leading up to the midterms, he properly took no action. but i think when he issues his report or if there are fther indictments, you will see public confidence in his work oncer agaie. >> there is -- i know you

probably want to get the house intelligence's committ investigation back on track after your -- after the uneasy relationship between you and who will now be the ranking member devin nunes, but i've heard a lot of investigations democrats want to do. you talked about in another interview that's going to air tonight about investigating what was the president doing with amazon and the postal service. the incoming house judiciary committee chairman was caught on the acela talkg about how to investigate the kavanaugh issue. obviously the mueller probe is going to be a part of this. how do youprioritize what to investigate? and at what point do you do too ch investigating? >> well, this is going to be very important, not just in terms of wh investigations ought to go forward, which ought to go forwardfirst, but also our strongest purpose here is to put forward ave posi agenda. we don't want that lost in a flurry of investigations. >>oou are worried there's much talk about investigations, that actually the idea of dealing with pre-existing

conditions is getting lost? >> we have t make sure it doesn't get lost. you know, that's really the first priority for us, it's the reason people voted to put usthn majority to put forward a positive agenda. let's face it, the investigations are sexy, they're interesting, you bring witnesses and people tun in. the legislative process is less so. it's much less dramatic. but nonetheless in terms ofth importance tamerican people, making sure that they can provide for their famies, that they can get health care, they can keep their health care, that has to be priority number one. but we are going to need to ruthlessly prioritize intel committee which investigative threads we go down, but among the committe also, and we've already started that process. >> two quick questions. first, the khashoggi tape that erdogan has said -- the turkish president said that ese united stas a copy of it. you are part of that gang of eight. is that true? if so, have you heard it? >> we're going to get a briefing -- i'm going to get a briefing this week, so i fully

expect to find out. i did have a briefing up until -- and got information up until recently, but iw don't kno the answer to that. i'm not sure if i did, whether i'd be able to share it with you anyway. >> i want to share with you, final number from our exit poll wasra the favorablng of nancy pelosi, 36% favorable, 56% favorable. it looks like she has the votes for speaker of the use. what do you say to the new members who campaigned on new leadershipn campaigned a new generation of leadership? if the democrats re-elect pelosi, hoyer and clyburn as the face of the house democratic leadership. >> we're going to have a lot of new in the leadership. they may not be in the top positions, but we're going to ha new leadership in the caucus. we've got a great breadth ofup talent cominhrough the ranks. but i will say this, we're going into a fighthe likely with president. i certainly hope that this president decides that it's in his naked personal self-interest, because that's the only thing that motivates

hi to work with democrats on an infrastructure bill, on bringing down prescription drug prices, but if he decides it isn't, if he continues aloer this path all he wants to do is rile his base. >> and run against nancy pelosi. >> and run against nancy pelosi, we need the strongest general we have, the best tactician, the best o yanizer. >> a believe that's her? >> that's her. there's no one else honest 3 >> adam schiff, who will be the new chairman of the house intelligence committee, thanks for coming on and sharing your views. >> good to see you. joining now, senator cory gardner, the man who is in charge or till in charge of trying to get republicans elected to the senate. i say still in charge because we have some outcom that we don't know. welcome to "meet the press," sir. >> thanks for having me, chuck. >> l me just start quickly with the president's comments about the wildfires. number one, i was curious what you made of the appropess of the president threatening to deny federal help to california

in the moment that people were fighting for their life?>> well, first of all, i think the colorado thoughts and prayers of o state go out to california. we've been through this, certainly the catastrophes that we face each and every day we have a forest fire, what they're going through. it's tragic and terrible. i don't think it's appropriate to threaten funding. that's not going to happen. nding will be available. it always is available to our people wherever they are, whatev disaster they are facing. i do think, though, this year we came up with a strong bipartisan success in fixing the wildfire funding issue that had paralyzed our ability to go out and fight fires and supess fir and mitigate next year's forest fires. one of the great bipartisa accomplishments of this past congress was in the area of forest fires and finding a solution for funding. >> letme move to your job these days, which is at the nrsc. the florida recounts, i want to play something that governor scott said on thursday night

when iwas clear that we were headed into some form of a recount down in florida. here it is. y every floridian should be concerned there mabe rampant fraud happening in palm beach and broward counties. we've all seen the incompetence in broward county for years. here we go again. i will not sit idly by while unethical liberals try to steal this election from the great people olo da. >> do you have any evidence that fraud was committed, that somehow unethical liberals are down there trying to change the vote in broward county? was that rhetoric? was that an appropriate timing for that rhetoric? >> well,en we have ev that the state constitution of florida was violated. a court in florida has said that. we have evidence that people were going into unwitnessed areas filling out ballots, duplicating ballots, which is allowed under the law but only if you have witnesses inhe canvassing board. we have officials, elections officials who are disobeying court orders, at least were

disobeying court ord is so understand governor scott's frustration that there are people who are breaking thelaw, violating th constitution in florida in broward county and palm. so i thi he's right to b upset. now, what we have to do, though, is make sure that we are protecting t integrity of this election, that we count every vote, that we count every ballot, that we make sure that the integrity of this election is as strong as it can be and that we keep out those attempts by some to violate the constitution and where we have those -- >> do you believe democrats are actually trying to stealhe ection in florida? because that's what the president has implied intsis twnd that seemed to be the implication of governor scott. >> well, let's look at the courts in florida. you have a court in florida that has said the constitution of florida has been violu ed. ve several -- >> i understand that -- >> there are several cases and i feel very strong about that. >> but there's no evidence that they're tryingo steal this. >> is this a democrat that's doing this that violated the constitution or is thispu a

ican that violated the constitution? i'm going to leave it to the courts to decide how we best otect the integrity of this election. but i think every person in florida and around this country has an interest and a right to a secure integrity filled election. and if somebody violating the constitution, that's got to stop and that's what we're trying. t let's get the results the florida people actually went to the ballot on. let's makeure counties across florida have the same standards, is treatee in miami the same as a vote in pensacola. if they're not, something is wrong with that process so let's get this fixed, let's make sure this is right and make sure that we are proud of the results floridarward in >> if a recount shows anything other than a rick scott victory but there's- no you can't find any evidence of fraud or anything else, but the recount happens tohow bill nelson winning and it's done on the up and up, are you going to accept those results? >> well, look, this is going he be done onp and up because we're ensuring that. we've gone to court and won those court weses. e proven that the violation -- we've proven the

violation of the florida constitution. i think that has shown the courts have worked. so i believe this will be an election that we can be proud of, an election that we were abe to protect t voters in. >> i'm going to ask you about the arizona sena race. that counti is stl coming in. the president has tweeted about it, implying that fraud could still be going on.a arizviously has a lot of history of takinguna while to i want to ask you about this. top officials at the white house and the republican national committee, this is inl ico, who have been prodding the mcsally campaign to amp up its efforts of expressed frustration that the arizona congresswoman hasn't tried to drive ath messa there's something amiss with the vote count. do you believe there's something ams with the vote count in arizona or not? >> we're still looking at hundre of thousands of votes to be counted in arizona. it's a little bit different than what we've seen in florida, whether it's incompetenc or corruption, they're the same side of the ledger. what we've seen in arizona is a concern that every ballot -- every county be treated equally

in how they deal with and signatures. and i believe we've come to an agreement in arina where however they're treating a ballot in maricopa, signature verificati or otherwise, is the same way they're treating it in yuma or wherever else in ar you can't have two different standards on determining what is a valid or legal vote. you can't do that because that's not fair. so i think r we're on theht track in arizona. we need to make sure that we do this. but there is no way, there is no way that an election official in arizona should be allowed to treat their votes di serently, mocially than any other area of the state. >> thereafas a stfer of yours at the nrsc who was quoted as saying that an official in maricopa county was, quote unquote, trying to cook the books. it inspired this tweet from mark salter, the chief of staff for the late senator john mccain. stopoing this, nrsc. mcsally is losing fair and square and underperforming in t mon maricopa. the race is almost certainly lost and nothing will change that. all this does is poison our

politics more. despicable. what do you say to mr. salter? >> i think we do have a chance to win in florida -- in arizona. i do think there is a path. we've seen it in the numbers. but i do think it's important that we protect the people of arizona. we can't sit by and allow votes to be counted in maricopa that would not be counted somewhere else. but did you approve of your staffer saying things like cook the books? does --y throwing that language in there, as you know, it automatically polarize the two sides. the minute this language gets used. >> look, there's a lot of releas that go out that i don't see and i'm not familiar with this one. what do thinks important and it's not the first time somebody has been accused of cooking the books or rigging the outcome of an election. i think that's the last two years have been about by democrats trying to go after president trump on that as well. so what i think we have to do and what we've proven in the court in arizona -- excuse me, the agreements we've come toarn ona is a way to treat voters equally across the state.

this is about making sure that the votes are counted and the votes are counted fairly. and that's what i think we'n getting torizona finally. >> finally, last question very quickly, themuler probe, jeff said whenchris coons they come back from the lame duck they're going to get for unanimous consent to get v this bied on. do you think it's necessary? do you think mueller needs protection? mitch mcconnell does not. what say you,cory gardner? >> i support the mueller investigation. i know i've heard senator mc snnell say hepports the mueller investigation. it's important for the american people. it's important we havehis for transparency and i think it's important for the president to have this information out there fully, transparently and accurately. d he wants nt has s to keep this investigation moving forward and i believe that's the way it will go. >> does it need protection legislatively, though? do you need to do that in the senate? >> mueller is not going to be inopped. it's going to co and it should continue. >> all right, but you didn't say whethert was necessary in the senate? >> well, i think it's going to nuntinue. if it con --

> you don't need -- >> why do something if it's actually continuing. i will leave it there. senator cory gardner, thanks for coming on. when we come back, is president trump trying to ♪ a moment of joy. a source of inspiration. an act of kindness. an old friend. a new beginning. some welcome relief... or a cause for celebration. ♪ what's inside? ♪ [laughter] possibilities. what we deliver by delivering.

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it all means massive disruption to the car industry, cities, businesses and investors. ♪ ♪ welcome back. panel is here. matthew r matthew, formerc democrati congressman. david brooks, welcome. happy sunday after the midterms. david, i want t ask this, did the mid determines change anything, let me put up these numbers here. 46% was the president's popular vote total in 2016 46% w the house vote for the republicans in 2018. and 45% and then perhaps gets reweighted to 46% will be the presidt's job rating.

i think i sense a pattern here, but i guess, did the midterms change anything. >> they entrenched things. we've got a big wall. a big barricade around the 46%. that's his se. they com out for him. i don't see anyone leaving him. this election wasn't a realigning election. was an endrenetrenching. hing that leapt out is his people did show up. that tells me the working class is still hurting despite the economy. the second thing. the new democrats, there always a spin debate whether the progressive new democrats more moderate. more moderate have a very good story to tell this year. flipped 23 red seats with people embraced by te moder democrats. there is some moderation still in america. 's a lot of republicans who used to be orthodox republicans who are now moderate democrats. >> midtermoss is typically humble a sitting president of the united states. donald trump is beyond humbling.

a high stakes come b s comeback. he will be at the center of it all. >> what we have seen from the two dent over the past years, questions of whether he would become presidential in the job. we've seen he's a skilled communicator, but he doesn't have a lot of range or abilih to swi gears. what we get from him is a number of meditions on american carnage whether it's on immigration or post midterms, democrats stealing the vote in places where he lost. and that's what we're going to get for the two years from here until 2020 and as david mentioned, that does get the base out, but it doesn't expand the elect trorate. now can they put a candidatep going forward that expands theirs and eats into the obama trump voters who turn out for the presint and are proving extremely loyal to him. who he is very skilled at communicating with. >> was this aer rdum on the

president. >> i think it was a rebuke of hee president. i think we began week on election night with a modest, vi but significanory for democrats. by the end of the week, it had really crested io a blue wave. and wherek lt promises for the democrats going forward is in states like michigan a pennsylvania and wisconsin, that we're really significant victories in southern virginia. and to me says where the democrats need to place their eggs in the2020 basket. >> what you make of the president, it did seem as if he moved faster on jeff sessions than jeff ressions was pre for to the point sessions made it clear, i was asked for this i resignation, is washington speak for you need to call it a firing. >> we've seen this with donald trump since he descended down that escalator three years ago when he was hit with the setback.el immedi pivots and create as through controversy where he may have a more solid ground.e so hhings changed, of course they've changed.

the democrats are going to be in charge of the united states house of representatives. that is a big deal. we've seen with chairman shift there will beat investns. the chance for conservative legislation. not that there is mucsing this year anyway, but the chance going forward is greatly diminished. was there a referendu trump. yes, what we've seen again, and, again, i think, really since 1994 is that these med term elections are referendumsn e president. typically the voters don't like happening, whether that president is a democrat or republican. >> matt whittaker, david brooks, what do w make of him? the arguments that he's even constitutionally is even a constitution appointm ot. >> i thi of the -- i went election and his heard the word unraveling over and over again. aree racially together? are we economically together. are we morally together. are our institutionsth to. donald trump threatens the

institution by personalizing power. t you don't ser constitution, you serve donald trump. he wants people to serve him. that's not how the attorney general's office is supposed to act. it's a threat to one of our institutions and ather one is the way with bark at the reves on the elections. and when you accuse somebody of corruption without any evidencer you're d the social fabric to some degree. we've seen a lot of that this week. we're seeing the decay. >> what do you make of that? >> i agree with david. know , i think that you the president has gone after one anditution after the oth you see that in this call of corruption inelhese ections, not to allow an election to be settled. and what i see is a preside who really does feel that he's under threat and so if you look at his response b both firing sessions and appointing whittaker who is, you know, made himself known to the president so that he can take advantage ot thand then you look at

democrats response, think it's going to be important to be really judicious about how they proceed. >> the whittaker appointment to me was reminiscent of the administration's policy on child separation where it was something that the presidentgh th about and wanted to do, put in an acting attorneyra ge who could sit there for 210 days and who was skeptical of the mueller probe and yet you see the president skeptical of it and backing away because he dn't anticipate the blow back that he would get from democrats and republicans alike and it rely i think revealed how even the best laid plans of this administration aren't so well thought through in that his statements hadn't been reviewed by the white house and tend t backfire and then you have a president who abandoning them very quickly. >> what do you make of that. >> almost any attorney general who succeedsngessions is g to have a critical view of the mueller probe. most republicans now have a critical viewf e mueller probe chblt there

probe. >> there's two ss of criticism whittaker. is the appointment even constitutional. those are pretty at least disputed andbl pro weak. the more substantive criticism is he quafied for the jochblt you just look at the resume, he's one of our lesse attorney generals. so that i think isor a problem the president. and that he has to come up with someone to replace whittaker and emphasize the temporary on the temporary appointment. >> seems like some of the candidates are pulling out. they wan to wait to see what mueller does. you're coming in frontcof ress with whatever action you do anyway. >> 2018 was indeed turned eaout to be the of the woman. when we come back, two democrats who help ♪ traders -- they're always looking for advantes. the smart ones look to fidelity to find them. we give you research and data-visualization tools to help identify potential opportunities. so, you can do it this way...

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welcome move over, 1992, 2018 is the real year of the woman. more than me100 including incumbents, were elected to the house on tuesday. in fact, democrats got the 23 seats they needed to win back the house withjust women candidates alone. the "new yorker" is mosarking ts with a cover called "welcome to congress." two of the men who toppled republicans and helped power democrs to victory in the house are with me this morning. lauren underwood, whose district is just outside of chicago, and elissa slotkin who represents a michigan district that stretches from suburban detroit t the state's capital, lansing. welcome to "meet the press" to both of y. >> thank y so much. >> congresswoman-elect slotkin, let me start with you. would you call your victory a referendum on the president? >> no. i think honestly we were able to amass support from democrats,

republicans, independents because the overall tenor and tone of politics i think is fundamentally unbecoming of the country. so tpresident, leadership climate is set from the top so he's certainly a part of it, but it was an overall feeling that washington was broken and integry had been evaporated from the system. so it wasn't just the president. he was a part of it. i >> what abou your district, how much did the president matter in your district? >> well, ts president certainly a factor, but in the illinois 14th district we had not been well represented. we had a congressman who was not carrying forward our health, voted to raise ourtaxes, refused to act in the face of escalating gun violence in our o try. in our district, it was very clearly about representation and did we have what we deserved. >> it's i'm sure hard to think about the fact that u have to immediately think about re-election, but let me ask you both this question and i'll start with you congresswoman-elect underwood. what is the one accomplishment you have to have if you seek re-election two years from now? >> protect health care for people with pre-existing

conditions. it is the most critical issue -- >> is that a promise that you made? >> absolutely. >> how do yothink that's going to get done? >> it's going to get done immediately because we can protect the affordable careact, fix it, stabilize premium prices, lower drug prices, but this idea that somehow people with pre-existing conditions might be vulnerable is something that i would neverpo su. >> other than health care, i imagine pre-existing conditions was huge itr your dt too. frankly it was the number one novertised subject. is thereer accomplishment you have to have besides that in order to earn re-election? >> we have to ve on infrastructure and not just talk about it but actually put money behind it. in mi oigan we neede in a generation investment in infrastructure. our roads but our water. i live 15 minutes from flint, michigan. we have a water issue going on in our state, so we have -- that's a placee i think we h real bipartisan opportunity. people have talked the talk and now we need to walk the walk th real federal dollars. >> neith one of you brought up investigations of the president. how do your constituents, how do

they view these potential wrongdoings by the president? how often did it come up?ch how o you think congress should focus on this? >> protecting democracy is critically importance. article 1 congress is a co-equal branch of government so oversigh is critically important. the congressional republicans do so.ially refused t so i think that there's certainly an interest to make sure that our criticalilrs of democracy like free and fair elections can occur but that it'sot our primary and chief priority. >> you heard congressman schiff, he admitted, yes, there's these investigations and they can't cloud the big picture on ncbstance. how ned are you that it might? >> i mean we have to watch it. if we can't as democrats, as elected officials, provide for pocketboo help their or their kids, we do not deserve their vote. so we can walk and chew gum, right? we can protect american values and hold accountability for the executanch, but if we can't do things on health care and infrastructure, we're going to lose people, especially in the midwest. >> let t me talk abo

leadership of your party. the rnc had a snarky release and you' both in it in different categories. the rnc put you, ss congman-elect slotkin, in the i promise to oppose pelosi and/or support n someonew caucus and congresswoman-elect w und, you were in the i'm going to avoid the question because of how deeply unpopular pelosi is in my district. a little snarky. congresswoman-elect slotkin, is there any way under any circumstance that you can imagine supporting nancy pelosi as leader? >> i never want to be disrespectful to anyone who's served, especiallyom a whose broken glass ceilings, but in my district they want on both sides of the aisle ageewration of leadership. so that's what i've said, that's what i'm sticking weby. ave a long time now until we have to make this decision in washington hours and d days, so i'm going to wait to see who else emerges a make my decision. >> congresswoman-elect underwood, where are you on this? >> i think we haveaunt opportun

to support a leader that will allow us to jump start our economy,in main public schools, et cetera. i'm interested in supporting someone who is aligned on that type of agenda and look forward to having conversations with whichever candidates end up running. >> you're still open to supporting nancy pelosi as speaker, it sounds like? >> i'm looking forward to having convsation with her and whoever else is on the ballot for speaker. >> how will you sell your constituents, congresswoman slotkin, if it's the top three as far as your constituents are concerned? >> i'll work with whoever is speaker ander who is the ewwhoe. amazing as it sounds, americans can disagree and still respect each other and go on d do good work, so that's what we're going to do. >> who is the leader of the democratic paty, if someone asked you that right now, congresswoman-elect oounde >> that's a good question. what's been really wonderful in this election is e thatch congressional candidate was able

to set the tone and agenda for their race. and so i don't know that we have a national leader, and i think that that's just fine. position? in the same >> i'm in the same boat. i think the lesson of this election is you've got to run your race for your district. there is no mega message that's going to win things across the board. we have new energy in our party, which is great, but it' diverse. >> elissaslotkin,ew democrat from there, lauren underwood, new democrat,elcome to both of you. >> thanks, chuck. coming up, we can debate coming up, we can debate whher tuesday was a wave (john foley) i was there in chicago when bob barnett made the first commercial wireless phone call in 1983. yes, this is bob barnett in chicago. (john) we were both working on that first network that would eventually become verizon's. back then, the idea of a nationwide wireless network was completely unreasonable. but think about how important that firstall was to our lives

it opened the door to the billions omobile calls that we've all made in the last 34 years. sometimes being firstmeansb i'm proud i was part of that first call, and i'm proud that i'm here now as we build america's first and only 5g ura wideband network with unprecedented wireless capacity that will not only allow for phones to be connect, but almost everything-- transforming how we all live, once again. (bob barnett) as you know, this call today is the first call that we've made on the cellular system. , and customer service are critical to business success.

like the ones we teach here, every day. andkevin, meet yourkeviner. critical to business success. kevin kevin kevin kevin kevin kevin kevin kevin kevin trusted advice for life. kevin, how's your mom? life well planned. see what a raymond james financial advisor can do for you. welcome back. data download time. following tuesday's elections i feel more certain than ever that we are undergoin a massive ealign naement in american politics. trends we've seen over the past decade in urban areas, democratic gains inbs and cities are starting to move

south. the sun belt is the new balg battleground. let's start in ft. worth, texas, tarrant county, wheren ted cru 16 points pack in 2012. in 2016 hillary clinton was able to cut that republican margin in half. donald trump only won tarrant by 8. this year, the move to the left continued. beto o'rourke won tarrant county by 1 point now, this trend was already under way before president trump came on the scene, but there's evidence that his toxicity in the suburbs has helped accelerate the twend. let's move to gwinnett county, georgia. nathan diehl won by 12 points in 2014. hillary clinton swung the county democratic in '16 and won it by 6. this year democratic stacey abrams extended that advantage winning the county by a whopping 14 points, double digi. thatcounty is blue, not purple anymore. by the way, this was one of the counn the atlanta suburbs that once helped newt gingrich remake the republica back in the '80s and '90s. wow, is it looking blue today.

and of course. there's flori in his 2014 race for governor rick scott won seminole county by 7 points. in 2016 donald trump lostun a little g there. he only won the county by 2. this year andrew gillum flped the county blue when he won it by 2 points himself. the gop did tighten its grip on rural, white areas which led to big statewide victories across the country, think ohio, for instance. but politics seems to be catching up with the sun bet.n it's possible republicans hung ono some of these areas for longer than they should have because in 2014 and '16 democrats weren't fully engaged these combined with wins in suburban house seats show democrats growinepower in th areas. the question is, is this the peak or is there more to come? do these blue dots become blobs that expand? stay tuned in 2020. we're back in a momt with e game. what "animal house" has to do with this year's midterm election

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>> announcer: end game brought to you by boeing, continuing our mission to connect, pranect, explorinspire. back now with end game and time to channel some john belushi from "animal house." >> over? did you say over? nothing is over until we decide it is! >> all right. there are some races we haven't decided are over. in the senate florida remains too close to call and is headed for a recount, possibly a nual recount with republican governor rick scott holding a narrow lead over bill nelson. a scott win would be a republican picp there. arizona is also a nail-biter. rsten sinema's lead has grown to 30,000 with roughly 300,000 votes to becounted. that could end up being a democratic pickup.

goveor's races we're headed for another florida recount. ron desantis has a narrow lead over andrew gillum. yesterday andrew gillum rescinded his conces ton. it's goi a machine recount. we'll see if it falls into the threshold for hand recount. and brian kemp has aad narrow over stacey abrams. that could go to a recount to see if it needs to go t a runoff. in the house, 11 races have yet to be called. the democrat leads in six of those contests, the republican in five.ur that's whyrotection is plus or minus five at 231. okay. let me start with florida and rick stt and bill nelson already with a war of words. take a listen. >> it's clear, se've gote left-wing activists, we've got some democrat d.c. lawyers, they're down here for one purpose, to steal this election. >> clearly s ricktt is trying to stop all the votes from being counted, and he's impeding the democratic process. >> is this the end of 2018 or the beginning of20? >> you know, there are a couple

ofat races tre genuinely close. the florida senate race is one of them,he arizona senate race is another, but i do thinkththa candidates, the other candidates, like in the florida governor's race, where gillum retracted his concession, i'm not sure if that's happened before, and th georgia -- >> al gore famously did. yes. >> and in the georgia governor's race, there is -- these candidates are looking ahead and they see digging in their heels in these races as a way to sort of amplify their celebrity. popularize themselves with theie because i don't think the democrats will be able to pull , ahut they are ginning up enthusiasm with their base by resing to concede. >> donna, how important is it that democrats fight to the end on these? >> i think it' really important. let's look what democrats are asking, they're asking for all the votes to be counted. before you get to a question of recount orrunoff, count all the votes. that's the case in georgia and

definitely in florida as well. inu know, these races are different becausgeorgia, the question is can stacey abrams get to a point where there's a runoff then in early december. that's a completelytiifferent qu than what happens in the recounts in florida. this is really importan bause democrats across the country want us to fight for every vote. >> i want to do big picture here. thena nat house vote is 52-46 and extrapolated it out as if ie lectoral map. here's our what-if map, david and matthew here, and democrats picked up four states if you believe the house vote the. pennsylvania, wisconsin, michigan and iowa. florida we put if you give them to the republicans, democrats would need it, 284. what's interesting is democrats could get to ou284 wi florida or ohio if the states come back to them. > i talked about the entrenching. the democratic entrenchment is bigger now and seems to betl

permanbigger. the question to me is do they have an agenda for the future.g runn pre-existing conditions is not exactly a vision for the future. do they have anffirmative vision on how a diverse country should work, how work should work, how moral integrity should be reintroduced. these are the big issues happening in countries all around the world. democrats have been running onve small set of issues. may be excusable for the midterm, not going forwd. >> h the battleground shrunk or expanded? it feels like colorado, nevad feel bluer today than they did yesterday. ohio feels a little redder todad than it yesterday. >> and the election is two years aw away. >>ears, please. >> when you look back and see are midterms dispositive for the subsequent presidential? the answer is no. do republicans have work to do? yes, bause theerrain in terms of people has shifted. independents, they narrowlyba ed trump two years ago, now th d're forocrats big time. you look at the suburbs. agai republicans competitive there two years ago, they are going toward the democrats big

time. white women,wl nar backed trump two years ago. going to the democrats this atime. if tru the republicans want to have a successful re-election in 2020, they need psto get those gr back. >> any evidence that he knows how to appeal to those groups, though? >> i go back to my comment earlier, which is that trump has t shown that he has an ability to -- he has no range as a politician or an ability to shift gears. i think with him the single gear is what you get, and it may have worked in 201 but i think it all depends on who the democrats put up in 2020. trump was very lucky in 2016 the democrats put up a uniquely unlikable candidate and 2016 was about who voters disliked more. we don't know if 2020 will be the same. it could. theim democratic y will be very interesting. but if trump will get lucky again, i'm not sure. >> donna, what did you take from the fact that the moderate centrist dem rats lost by bigger margins in places like indiana, missouri, and north data, but the progressive

democrats got awfully close in places like texasnd georgia, of course there's florida? >> they did, and i think what i take from that is that there is a strong democratic message. i think we spend a lot of time around these tables in this last election saying democrats didn't have a message. turn dout they actual running in each one of these congressional districts, running to the districts andf mocrats do the right thing legislatively, that is going to muad to success in 2020. >> thank you ver. that's all we have for today. thank you for watching. perhaps you're watching at the 11th hour of the 11th day o this 11th month. enjoy your veterans day weekend. be sure to tnk a veteran if you know one or love one, and of course we'll be back next uswee beif it's sunday, it's "meet the press."

from the oceans to the valleys, california's multiple wildfires cannoto blaze a path of deadly firefighters putting their own lives on the line. tens of thousands have evacuated. dozens killed and hundreds sll unaccounted for. because patriotism is the exact opposite of tionalism. nationalism is betrayal of patriotism. >> a not so veiled rebuke of the president, who returns from paris to find democrats strategizing to attack every aspect of the trump agenda. u.s. troops along our southern borde