andrew gillum has been there. this is just an affirmation, another promise kept by the movement of organizations on the ground in florida that we can build, when you knock on doors, talk to people, don't just rely on social media, when you do the hard work and don't seem to get results, and this is what you get. you get one of the most stunning victories in the country on tuesday. nermeen: during the campaign, andrew gillum said the standard ground law has created a state of emergency in florida -- stand your ground law has graded a state of emergency and called on the governor to sustaiain the lw "when n won't, when i'm governor, i will" to them said. >> the csesequen of confionn of how stand your grnd i is apappld in thetatete c result in the loss of life ootherwrwe incecent pple.e. it is in fact an emergen in the state of flodada. when parents have to b concnened abt their children or theelves being doneown under the color of the law of stand your ground. , canen: phillip agnew you respond to what he said and a

watch andrew gillum.ng happened tonight we will be talking about a long time in florida. >> van jones, thank you, sir. i appreciate you calling in. >>> president trump taking fear mongering to a new level, warning of violence if republicans lose the mid term elections. this is an insurance commercial. but let's be honest, nobody likes dealing with insurance. which is why esurance hired me, dennis quaid, as their spokesperson because apparently, i'm highly likable. see, they know it's confusing. i literally have no idea what i'm getting, dennis quaid. that's why they're making it simple, man in cafe. and more affordable. thank you, dennis quaid. you're welcome. that's a prop apple. i'd tell you more, but i only have 30 seconds. so here's a dramatic shot of their tagline so you'll remember it. esurance. it's surprisingly painless. >>> president trump warning of violence if republicans lose the midterm elections. his comments coming from a dinner with evangelical leaders but cnn heard the recording where the

andrew gillum?will hear directly from some of those florida voters. >>> and later paul manafort really doesn't want to go to trial in washington, d.c. he wants to move the trial to a location that is dominated by trump voters so the jury box can be filled with trump voters. ♪ there are roadside attractions. and then there's our world-famous on-road attraction. the 2019 glc, starting at $40,700. mercedes-benz. the best or nothing. >>> we are 69 days away from the show down between congressional democrats and congressional republicans in the midterm elections. that means we are also 69 days away from what is the historic governor's race in the important swing state of florida where bernie sanders endorsed mayor andrew gillum who we just heard from. he is running against the trump endorsed republican and trump sounding ron desantis. there was little surprise that the donald trump endorsed republican won in the state where donald trump won. but president barack obama also won the state of florida twice.

andrew gillum?will hear directly from some of those florida voters. >>> and later paul manafort really doesn't want to go to trial in washington, d.c. he wants to move the trial to a location that is dominated by trump voters so the jury box can be filled with trump voters. see a little blood when you brush or floss? you may have gum disease and could be on a journey to much worse. try parodontax toothpaste. it's three times more effective at removing plaque, the main cause of bleeding gums. leave bleeding gums behind with parodontax toothpaste. adults are just kids withind much, much better toys. introducing the 2018 c-class sedan, coupe and cabriolet. the thrills keep getting better. lease the c300 sedan for $399 a month at your local mercedes-benz dealer. mercedes-benz. the best or nothing. we have one to two fires a day and when you respond together and you put your lives on the line, you do have to surround yourself with experts. and for us the expert in gas and electric is pg&e. we run about 2

i know andrew gillum personally and i supported him. could not help but smile throughout the interview that he did with you. those are the types of people that we are putting up, the and andrew gillum of the world and the laurie underwoods and these are the folks of the future of the democratic party. folks are taking notice and understanding that yes, candidates of color can win all over this country. and that's what the candidacy of andrew gillum and stacey abrams just to name two. >> he talked about candidate in the south and the south shall rise again, he says they're the people who helped build the south. it is interesting. what do you think? >> no, i think you can't help but think of andrew gillum and stacey abrams, he mentioned it and maryland. i think you would think of them, you got a really fascinating dynamic in the fall, dawon. >> you have in georgia and florida, you dont skr't just ha democratic nominee who's trying to be the first black governor in the south. you have on the republican side two loyal trump supporters. he g

tonight, andrew gillum responds. "the 11th hour" begins now. >>> good evening once again from our nbc news headquarters here in new york. i'm ali velshi in for brian williams. day 587 of the trump administration brings the sudden news that the west wing attorney who has been the pivotal link to robert mueller during the russia investigation is out. white house counsel don mcgahn will soon be making his exit. axios was first out with a report this morning. that was quickly followed by this tweet from president trump. white house counsel don mcgahn will be leaving his position in the fall shortly after the confirmation, hopefully, of judge brett kavanaugh to the united states supreme court. i have worked with don for a long time and truly appreciate his service. this afternoon trump was asked about the departing white house counsel. >> don mcgahn is a really good guy, been with me for a long time. privately before this he represented me. he's been here now almost two years, and a lot of affection for don. >> according

andrew gillum was at third at 17.2%. the simple truth is if democrats don't want this to be a viblg where they said we nominated the first african-american for this, the party has to get over this deep and obvious divide here in their overall results and all the places that did not vote for him and did not vote for him in a big way are going to have to come all the way around, 180 degrees to get behind him to have an actual win in november. >> it's interesting. the win, you're right, now. but as i said, he's got a lot of work ahead of him. what you just said bears that out. i appreciate it. bringing inle mr. van jones joins me by phone. van, i assume you heard tom foreman, you heard our conversation. >> yes, i did. >> good evening to you. pointing out that he's got some stuff to do ahead of him. he won in the places in florida that were predom understandly african-american. >> listen, you can -- anybody who spends anytime at all countying and underestimating andrew gill i um is going to ret it. he is representative of so

as we mentioned earlier, tallahassee mayor andrew gillum won a big upset victory in the gubernatorial. the stakes for progressives couldn't be higher. gillum is their chance to show that a progressive message can win in the swingiest of swing states and he would make history if elected. the mayor joins me now. mayor gillum, welcome to "meet the press daily." >> what's up, chuck. go 'canes, man. >> you're a guy that's been in miami, lived in gainesville and mayor of tallahassee. i assume it better be rattlers first. >> it's always rattlers first, let's be clear about that. >> the way i looked at it, the other green and orange in the state of florida. >> that's exactly right, but we love all our florida schools. >> let me start with the controversy today by your opponent, congressman ron desantis. you heard something and you said it was a page from the donald trump campaign manual. do you want an apology from congressman desantis? do you think you're owed one? >> let me be articulate and clear here, which is we're better than this in florida. i believe the congressman can be better than

>> they should vote for andrew gillum. they should mobilize, they should call out desantis wherever they are. if they're at the water cooler at work, if they're in the pew in church, they should decry this and say how despicable it is. with all due respect, i would not say that andrew gillum is running so far to the left. his platform has been about education -- >> i think he's more progressive. >> well, he's progressive. but how progressive or how left is it to want young african-american men, whom i'm sure desantis would also call monkeys not to be killed under the stand your ground legislation. he was able to get the other democratic candidates to sign on to wanting to withdraw that legislation. we just had another recent killing, marcus mcglockton under that stand your ground foolishness. so i don't think it's radical at all. i think it's radical for that law to stand. it's as radical as desantis using the term monkey. it's radical for these young men's lives to be at risk on the for there to be a double standard. >> i

all of them loved andrew gillum. he gave them a reason to believe and it came together at one moment. what you have seen in the democratic party just for years in florida is this idea that we have to have this middle of the road candidate in the middle of the road, in the center. meanwhile the republicans in florida have just run these base elections, inspire, in some cases inflame, get your voters to the polls, get them passionate, get them to turn out. the joke kept being on democrats. now whether they intended to or not, the florida democratic party nominated someone who is using that same kind of technique that the republicans had used but now it looks like some of the republicans are a little nervous. they're like, wow, andrew gillum has a passionate following. >> ron desantos won his election on the primary said. he spends a lot of time on fox news and he made this comment that's received national condemnation when he said that florida shouldn't monkey it up by voting for andrew gillum. a lot of people seeing r

democratic mayor andrew gillum.and he's already taking it to president trump on twitter. how did he get his big win, and how will he answer the tough questions for him ahead in a race that started today with trump's hand-picked nominee saying florida shouldn't monkey this up by electing gillum. the death toll in puerto rico. according to the government is now historic.

let's put the controversy aside and look at andrew gillum. who is this guy? he was one of seven children born to a construction worker and a school bus driver. he became the first in his family to graduate from college. gillum managed to pull off a major upset on tuesday with the help of grass roots progressive activists. he campaigned directly to millennials and non-white voters who usually do not vote in primarie primaries. he was visiting community events no matter how small. his goal was to make personal connection with voters and get them out there. his victory is major win for the liberal wing of the democratic party. he's also a vocal advocate of impeachment. his candidacy comes with quite a bit of controversy. he's been unable to shame associations to an fbi investigations into tallahassee city hall.rating and federal agents have told him he's not the target. it involves his closest a advisers and republicans are seizing on the investigation hoping to define him as a radical leftist with issue. he's going to need money. just a fraction of voters will h

joining us now is jeff bergen, communications director for andrew gillum's campaign.od to see you, thank you for being with us. >> thanks so much for having me, i appreciate it. >> what's your sense of what desantis meant? his people say he was talking about andrew gillum's what they call socialist tendencies. how do you read this? >> well, there's no hidden message. you know, it's clear that the apple doesn't fall far from the tree when you're looking at the desantis and trump playbook. it's not even 24 hours into this general election campaign and we're already down in the mud. i can't think of a worse way for the desantis campaign to be getting off to their general election. >> so what do you think needs to happen now? ron desantis -- i guess this could have played out a lot of ways. he could have said, wow, shouldn't have said that. i should be more sensitive about how that may play out to people. i certainly didn't mean it that way. i'm just experimenting about the things that he could say. the fact that he turned it around into something else, how does this move

he was talking about florida not making the wrong decision to embrace the socialist policies of andrew gillum. to characterize it as anything else was absurd. it's not obvious desantis was talking about gillum's policies. >> joining me now, author of the loneliness of the black republican, which is a title i love. and the editor at tampa bay times who has been covering this race since the beginning. i am fascinated by this dynamic. all politics is national, the inverse of the tip o'neill thing. this race was run successfully by desantis on essentially national terrain. does that square where what you saw? >> well, you know, i think when you're in a time when every hour is dominated by something the president is doing, that's what's on everybody's mind, everybody's focused on the president and on what's happening in washington. so that ron desantis was responding to that. how intentional was his strategy, his campaign seems to make it appear that their focus was on fox and trump. that's where they understood primary voters are. did it look intentional to you covering the race. >> it didn't mat

folks voting for andrew gillum will see what they are.nk this is going to impact anyone who voted for ron desantis. most of them voted for him just because of the trump factor. it's going to be a matter of how this breaks down in a general. a state like florida that has, you know, it's a great swing state. it has very few swing voters looking which candidate are they going to go with come november. if this is the way the race is starting, i think they will have a stark contrast. >> let's play the representative political ads for desantis and gillum. >> what's impossible? the son of a bus driver becoming mayor of the capital city or ma mayor standing up against the nra so guns couldn't be fired in city parks and winning. how about running for governor and being the most progressive democrat? >> build the wall. then mr. trump said, you're fired. i love that part. make america great again. >> big league. so good. >> let's not forget, susan, we have a trump apostle in desantis and a bernie sanders apostle in gillum. you see gillum's populous

andrew gillum pulled off a stunning win over more establishment deep candidates. this sets up something that we have not seen before. a major test between a bernie sanders like progressive and a trump like republican we should note that he will speak with the democratic nominee, just moments away. >> meanwhile, the race to replace jeff flake was not even close. . she is set to face off against democratic congresswoman in a race that could help decide which party will take control of the senate. joining us now, the former campaign manager for bernie sanders and author of "how bernie won." how are you? >> i'm well, how are you? >> i'm well, i'm assuming you are happy because gillum is a bernie backed candidate. >> let's be clear, the credit goes to and rye gillum and his team who worked hard and had a message that resonated with people in florida. he was a person of humble origins with a tremendous career helping people through his government service in florida. i think the voters responded accordingly. it is a great night for progressives, the -- >> sometimes the n

ron desantis says andrew gillum is for abolishing i.c.e. and he says yeah, i want to see it replaced with something else. he says ron desantis is for single payer health care and gillum says, yeah, guilty. that's something the people of florida need. you see that split very clearly. >> as i was watching the interview i was thinking about a word that is authenticity and that is -- that was a major driver of donald trump and the support of donald trump that he said things that were in his words politically incorrect and people liked that. you'll see the same, you already saw it in your interview with andrew gillum, him supporting things that are in many places considered fringe but he's standing by it. that could go further than you would think, particularly with people in the middle like, okay, this guy is an actual person who will stand by what he believes and i presume you'll see the same thing on the right, with ron desantis because it's hard to imagine him abandoning soim of his more conservative principles that somebody like adam putnam

and now you have a trump backed candidate and i think it's fair to describe, i have interviewed andrew gillumn describe him as a progressive. . >> yes, if you talk to each party and you say, it gillum, versus desantos, democrats, how do you beat desantos in this thing, the democratic answer is easy, it's trump. you saw knit the speech, he attached himself at the hip, he lives and dies by trump and maybe that will be too much of a liability for him to overcome in 2018 t republican answer to how they beat gillum, it's first of all, we will see, i think gillum will be a lot of people look engine to him for the first time. >> he was not thought to be the front-runner here. >> the thing that is hanging over it, the mayor of tallahassee, there's a federal investigation around city hall of tallahassee. >> we are going to be setting up for that one. that will be interesting to see how the governor's race goes and how you described the senate race in florida will be interesting as well, so, both races tonight in arizona and in florida, a lot of interesting things coming out of it, our thanks to steve,

and i think it's fair to describe, i've interviewed andrew gillum. you can describe him as a progressive. >> absolutely. if you talk to each party and said okay, it's gillum versus desantis, democrats loual you beat desantis. this was the numbers tonight on the republican side. the democratic answer is very easy. their answer to how you beat desantis is trump. he taped himself at the him. he lives and dies by trump. maybe that's too much of a liability for him to overcome in 2018. the republican answer to how they beat gillum, it's we will see because i think gillum will be a lot of people looking into him now for the first time. >> he was not thought to be the front-runner. >> the one thing hanging over this is mayor of tallahassee, there is a federal investigation around city hall in tallahassee he's not been implicated but it's a bit of a cloud that may get some attention now. >> so we are going to be setting up for that one. that's interesting to see how the governor's race goes and senate race in florida is going to be very interesting, as well.

he's set to face off against andrew gillum, the first

we know he'll be running against andrew gillum. in his district, in thedy santis district, it will be nancy soderbergh running as the democrat to try to flip that seat from red to blue. another national security veteran, a guy named chris hunter is a former fbi agent and former doj prosecutor. he won a primary last night in florida, as well to try to unseat republican congressman and another district where -- that's another district where democrats are seen as having a shot to flip that seat from red to blue with chris hunter. that dynamic is not florida spec. democrats have a lot of candidates across the country in potentially flippable districts where the democratic candidate comes from a national security background. and that's interesting in terms of strategy and was that a deliberate plan by you know the democratic party. what does that say about national security professionals and their desire to get into politics and the trump -- you can analyze it from a lot of different angles. >> but tonight we have just learned from some

now tallahassee mayor andrew gillum says he can ride the wave to become florida's governor.hocker next. hydrates better than $100, $200 even $400 eye creams. that's something to see. olay ♪ >>> tonight we have shown the rest of the country that we can be the david in the situation where there's a goliath. >> a primary night shocker in florida. progressive tallahassee mayor andrew gillum, the state's first african-american nominee for governor, sets up a huge ideological clash in november. >> the attorney general facing renewed pressure from the president. but he has the backing of a man who knows him well, the senate majority leader. >>> and google is politically biased, rigged, suppressing conservative voices. well, that's what the president says. what does the search giant have to say? no, in short-terms. welcome back to "early today." >> 31 minutes past the hour and we begin with the historic upset in the florida democratic primary for governor. cnn projects tallahassee mayor andrew gillum, a progressive candidate backed by bernie sanders, will win the party's nomination.

democratic mayor andrew gillum. he is here, and he's already taking it to president trump on twitter. how did he get his big win, and how will he answer the tough questions for him ahead in a race that started today with trump's hand-picked nominee saying florida shouldn't monkey this up by electing gillum. the death toll in puerto rico. according to the government is now historic. it is the worst natural disaster death toll in 100 years. the response by trump, equally jaw-dropping. he hears the number and says we did great. why aren't our leaders stepping up? and the storm that may be coming their way. and the president does it again. this time in front of cameras. warning about violence if his party loses the midterms. why is he inciting fear for votes? man, there's a lot to get straight tonight. what do you say? let's get after it. we all know that florida matters in a big way in national elections. and now the governor's race there sets up as a clash of contrasts. trump's pick, congressman ron desantis, on the g

and florida could have its first african-american govern if democrat andrew gillum the mayor of tallahassee defeats republican congressman ron desantis, the primary winner last night on the republican side. here's manuel bojorquez. >> as the mayor of florida's capital city, i humbly accept the democratic nomination. >> reporter: andrew gillum seized the nomination for governor despite being third in the polls just a week ago and outspent by tens of millions. he has emphasized his unlikely rise. >> what's impossible? the son of a bus driver becoming mayor of the capital city? >> i was the only non-millionaire in the race. and that was no slight to any of my opponents but to simply say that it means something to have father trade between which bills they could pay before something got cut off. >> reporter: in picking gillum, florida democratic voters abandoned the traditional strategy of playing to the center and took a hard left. gillum supports medicare for all, abolishing immigration and customs enforcement, and impeaching president trump. >> next governor of this state! >> reporter: his b

progressive tallahassee mayor andrew gillum is the state's first african-american nominee for governor, sets up a huge ideological clash in november. >>> the attorney general facing renewed pressure from the president. but he has the backing of a man who knows him well. the senate majority leader. >>> and google is politically biased, rigged, suppressing conservative voices, that's what the president says. what does the search giant have to say? this started with the presidential tweet about 24 hours ago, one we thought we'd laugh off. here we are. a white house investigation. good morning, welcome to "early start." you can't make that stuff up. >> no, seriously. i'm laura jarret. it's 5:00 a.m. in the east. >>> we begin with an historic upset in the florida democratic primary for governor. cnn projects tallahassee mayor andrew gillum, a proceeds griffive backed by bernie sanders, will win the party's nomination. a win in november would make him the state's first african-american chief execut e executive. he was the only nonmillionaire in a field of five candidates and welcomes the cha

on the other side you do have a candidate on the democratic side, andrew gillum, who was not really expected to win. this is possibly the upset of the night. >> oh, yeah, absolutely. it's a major victory for the bernie sanders more progressive wing of the party which has been short on victories this cycle. they put up a lot of candidates and most of them have lost. i think it will be a fight between the hearts and souls of each party. on the one hand you have ron desantos who did everything but take a blood oath to donald trump during this primary season, and you have, in the democrats, a big city mayor who supports $15 minimum wage sin e single-payer health care and legalized marijuana. if those aren't the polls of the two parties, i don't know what are. >> guys, good to talk to you tonight. thank you for joining us. jeremy peters and charlie sykes. >>> coming up, the president calls it rigged and very dangerous. he's not actually talking about the mueller investigation. the object of trump's latest attack when "the 11th hour" continues. continues. need a change of scenery? the kayak explor

while the democrats have bernie sanders'-backed tallahassee mayor andrew gillum.e's not only the first black candidate for governor he beat party favorite gwen graham. president trump reacted on twitter just a short time ago. quote, not only did congressman ron desaintsis easily win the republican primary but his opponent in november is his biggest dream. a failed socialist mayor named andrew gillum. this is not what florida wants or needs. then we go out west where republicans are breathing a sigh of relief where mark mcsally won beating joe arpaio. the winner will become the first woman to represent arizona in the senate. we got to get the details from msnbc correspondent steve kornacki, what are your big takeaways here. >> florida, it's fascinating for so many reasons. you mentioned the names there, traditionally, the name of the game for florida politics, you think of it as a swing state in november. and each party tries to sort of nominate a candidate they think is going to meet the interests, sort of the swing voters. what we saw here, the upset for gillum.

. >> andrew gillum becomes the acrst black nominee for governor from either major party. gillum will face off against ron desantis, who had the endorsement of president trump. >> oh, the heat's on. >> millions of people under excessive heat warnings. heat index over 100 degrees for all these big cities. >> it was a night of high drama on the high seas. >> french boat rammed british vessels. ss the two fleets clashed over a ghts to a large group of scallops in the english channel. >> this is the annual tomatina festival in spain. >> tomatoes getting hurled, chucked, tossed, and thrown. >> so many tomatoes. >> it only lasts for an hour so if you get there late, you'll have to catch up. >> dickerson: good evening. jeff glor is off tonight. i'm john dickerson. and this is our western edition. he represented them in congress for more than 35 years. now, arizonans are saying a final goodbye to senator john mccain. at this hour, they are filing past his casket in the rotunda of the state capitol in phoenix. mourners have been lining up for hours, despite triple-digit temperature

suddenly, andrew gillum is telling, yeah, yeah, i'm a sandsers progressive. he came in, supporting me, john stineman is for me, george sore ross. hey, i was not for bernie sanders, on ron desantis' side, he's talking bread and butter issues, rather than ideological mileposting. both tried to do it. they have something called a record. that always weighs you down. you have digital now. there is something to show. >> and i'm sure we will be seeing a lot of that pulled out of the ugly digital archives if you will. let's quickly test on arizona, because mcsally obviously beating her two more far right candidates there in the primary. the big question, of course, what happens now, moving into november for her? >> arizona is one of those states, like georgia, that is gradually changing and becoming more democratic. there are states becoming more republican, like minnesota and main. but in arizona, this is also going to be fascinating. you got two women running. the first woman will be elected to the u.s. senate. arizona has women governors. mcsally really performed

i think with andrew gillum's win it brings desantis back into the race.ause they will be able to use the bernie card left and right. i think the key if i'm really looking at this is does the african-american turnout equal what basically obama got in his two elections in florida? this is a mid-term election. if they don't turn out it will be very helpful for desantis. >> dana: we saw the turnout numbers for both republicans and democrats in the mid-term are double what they were in 2014 mid-term and the youth vote was up a lot. are democrats disappointed that gillum won this race? >> i don't think anybody is disappointed. obviously gwen graham ran a strong campaign. to have a young, successful mayor african-american i think is great for the energy of the party. look at him and others, it is good for our party to have that as phil said it could motivate the african-american community and the young community. one thing that i think the republicans have to worry about is does the short of the establishment gop turn out for somebody like one desantis. as much

when he says that andrew gillum is articulate.hat joe biden said about barack obama. it's a faux pas made that doesn't have any party. the reason that that is offensive to me is because it does not take some superhero power or special talent for a black person to speak properly. i'm hard-pressed to know many times when you're walking down the street and you say boy that white kid was articulate. that doesn't happen. i think that many times we have these subconscious implicit biases and desantis is proof positive of that. we were talking off air, though, about the fact that 48% of arizona voters voted for joe arpaio, a law breaking racist. or kelly ward who was just had issues with the truth and seemed to be crazy as she was going down further in the campaign. this party of trump has issues with sanity and race. >> especially in when you said you never see a white kid as articulate. i was thinking, we have someone who is not very articulate who happens to be president. that didn't escape me. >> let me get the comment in and then yo

cheryl: can we talk about andrew gillum? is he a true socialist in your mind?as bernie sanders backed, because we are seeing this insurgence of socialism in the democrat party. i think it's still a pretty small crowd, right? >> andrew is not a socialist. i have known him for over a decade. he has been working and fighting hard for his community and to make sure that issues that many times go ignored, that they finally are able to rise to the top. now, if you want to call him names like the president calls people names all the time, i think that's beneath the politics of what these voters in florida did. cheryl: i was just asking the question because we have seen some of the things he said, he was being compared to a socialist. i didn't think he was a registered socialist. especially what happened in florida, you look at desantis, he came back against a pretty well known local candidate there, i think state treasurer, in florida and again, that trump push really took him over. some were surprised by his win and he's got the president -- i'm just saying, does the

andrew gillum made history becoming florida's first african-american major party candidate for governor. we'll speak to the mayor in just a moment. in november he goal up against the candidate president trump has endorsed and did so just moments ago. the congressman ron desantis who easily won the republican primary last night. today he spoke to fox news about his next opponent. >> i think that he had grassroots energy. i think some of the other candidates were overrated. and he was able to capitalize off that. you know, there is a difference between, you know, getting some of the bernie sanders people onto vote for you in a primary and then going to the broader florida electorate and trying to sell that message. >> shepard: here to respond the democratic candidate for governor of florida the tallahassee marianne dre >> maria: tall andrew gillum. >> thank you for having me. >> shepard: you never led in the poll. fourth amongst democrats. last two weeks you surged and when all the votes were counted last night you beat a woman from a florida political dynasty and all the rest. how did yo

but listen what happened when jim acosta asked him about it. >> andrew gillum down in florida, what ron de santis said >>, no i didn't. >> said it's not time to monkey around with the economy down in florida. >> no, i didn't hear. honestly. >> a racist conversation? >> i didn't hear that, jim. i have been working on the deal with canada. i have not heard it. i tell you what, i know ron desantis. ron desantis is extraordinary, harvard, yale, brilliant. ran an incredible campaign. really beat a lot of people he wasn't supposed to beat because he came into the race and a lot of people didn't know him. he's an extreme talent and he will make a fantastic governor of florida. i think ron is extraordinary in so many different ways. i haven't heard that at all, no. >> didn't hear it. whether you believe that or not, that's really not the point. a true leader would condemn any racist comment, any unseemly comment full stop. but this is the man who launched his campaign with an attack on mexicans. >> when mexico sends it people, they're not sending their best. they're bringing drugs. they're brin

that alexandriaou ocasio-cortez tweeted out congratulations not to you but to your challenger, andrew gillum, saying, "the progressive movement is transforming the country and he proved that again tonight. gillum ran on medicare for all, legalizing marijuana, abolish i.c.e. and more. thank you, florida voters! on to november."gh i would wear that as a badge of honor tonight, congressman. >> we have people in florida who have fled socialist countries like cuba and venezuela. they don't want that imported into florida. we also have people who flee from left-wing policies in states like new york and connecticut and they don't want that imported into florida. i think we want to keep florida great, we want to keep it going in a good direction to going in the direction of an ocasio-cortez is just untenable and it will not happen in florida. >> laura: congressman, some of your critics will throw out this, they'll say, well, you won on trump's coattails. but you are short on your own policy initiatives on a statewide level. how do you answer your critics? >> that's not true at all. we have a solid v

in florida, progressive tallahassee mayor andrew gillum pulled off a stunning upset in the democratic primary for florida governor. if he wins in november, gillum will become florida's first african-american governor. polls had predicted gillum would place for. he was backed by bernie sanders, spent millions of dollars less than his better funded opponents, including former congesswoman gwen graham, the daughter of bob graham, the former governor and senator. on the campaign trail, andrew gillum had called for medicare for all, abolishing ice, reforming the criminal justice system, repealing florida's stand your ground law, and increasing corporate taxes. he held a victory celebration tuesday night. >> we together with all of you are the next several months going to make our way all across the state of florida to read counties, to blue counties, the purple counties, and we are going to unite this state in ways that are unparalleled in the history of the state of florida. amy: andrew gillum will face off against republican congressmember ron desantis, who won the republican primary tue

i'm from tallahassee, i'm familiar with andrew gillum. he has the ability to give a good campaign speech, he can put together videos to stir up the base. he talks about raising the minimum wage. abolishing ice, expanding medica medicaid. you're going to see a clash of two different policy ideals, and it will be very interesting to see which side prevails. >> sometimes people complain that there is no choice in politics. >> you have a trump backed conservative against someone from the bernie sanders win from the party, and many people argued if only we had someone that drew a true contrast with donald trump, we would have won. now you have the gamble. not just in 2018, but as we go into the 2020 cycle where if you see him emerge victorious, candidates saying hey, we can win in the general election. >> as you watch the results come in, was he drawing more votes from some of the communities that would have needed to turn out in larger numbers to put hillary over the top. >> look, african-americans and young progressives. if gillum can get th

agree with me that i present the best opportunity for us to win in november. >> tallahassee mayor andrew gillum't tell chuck todd who your running mate is going to be. will you tell us today? >> i wish. we're not yet quite ready but we're working on it, i promise. >> mayor gillum thanks for being on the show. coming up next. a move inserted by the education department. the critic saz gives a pass to the accused and might stop survivors from coming forward. it might be flying under your radar on our radar next. e flyin radar on our radar next. if you're turning 65, you're probably learning about medicare and supplemental insurance. medicare is great, but it doesn't cover everything - only about 80% of your part b medicare costs, which means you may have to pay for the rest. that's where medicare supplement insurance comes in: to help pay for some of what medicare doesn't. learn how an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan, insured by united healthcare insurance company might be the right choice for you. a free decision guide is a great place to start. call today to request yours. so what makes

in florida the governor's race featured a shocking come from behind win for andrew gillum. if he wins the election he'll be the first black governor. desantis is backed by president trump. he tweeted his supports after the votes were counted. >> just after midnight the president also tweeted about the senate race in arizona as democrats look to take control of the house and senate in washington. each and every primary result is magnified. >> are you ready to paint florida blue. >> tallahassee major scored the upset of the night when he won the democratic primary in florida's race for governor. >> i humbly accept the democratic nomination. >> the favorite of the progressive wing of the party governor. he's now facing ron desantis that credited president trump for his victory last night. >> i did have support from someone in washington. he lives in the white house with the pillars in front of it. >> i gave him a nice shot. a nice little tweet. bing bing. and he went from 3 to like 20 something. >> president trump also notched a victory with rick scott, the current florida gov