gillum is amazing. you would not have received this nomination for the democratic party had he not had a platform that young people, that immigrgrants, that black folk, brown folk -- amy: the media had put him fourth. you have stacey abrams who has become the first african-american governor of georgia. you have been jealous, if you wins, would -- is running for governor of maryland. then you have andrew gillum, who would become the first african-american governor of florida. in theined as activists manner you are talking about, in these kind of -- i remember when states he abrams won, ben jealous tweeting a picture of them organizing years before. >> it is super important to be clear about the importance of moving platforms, moving an agenda that is about universal health care for all people, ending money bail, legalizing marijujuana -- which we know the are people, our people can are sitting in jails across the country while this has been legalized. candidates matter, sure. but they also need backup wh

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

gillum later in the show. folks, there's a reason this november's florida governor's race which delivered shocking results in last night's primary contest will be viewed as the ultimate proxy battle for 2020 nationwide. as that clip indicates, this is going to be a knockdown, dragout fight between two candidates who essentially are the ultimate proxies for the national party bases, because they forged their campaigns with national trump focused messages. it's all happening in a at a time that is the ultimate proxy for presidential politics, florida, florida, florida. republican voters picked the trump endorsed candidate, ron desantis by a convincing 20-point margin. he ran a campaign with the help of what you might call the fox pac. fox news booked him, we're not sdwro joking here, wait for it, 121 times. you're looking at just a few of those instances. this is after he was a candidate. according to "the washington post" desantis' campaign estimates all those appearances gave them $9.3 million of free florida

>> gillum came from behind. none of the polls had him winning and even the last-minute polls that showed him coming up didn't have close to keep winning. so to say this is definitely a sign of what's going on in the democratic party i think is a stretch too far. we'll see someone in the bernie sanders wing of the party and someone who embraces donald trump and only won because of donald trump. >> i think both sides are owning their positions in a way you don't normally see. i was reading gillum a statement from ron desantis going after him. 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

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

>> 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

number one, gillum is winning it.nning it, but the other thing, look at this, at this. gwen graham. he is beating her 2-1. we've gotten a lot of the vote from broward. that has put gillum ahead 13,000 statewide. this was the single big he will source left right now. so gillum, we go back to that statewide total. you can extrapolate it. up 13,000. a lot of broward to come in. we have some vote left, a little in miami-dade. 14% still, a chance here for gillum again. graham running way back there. gillum could pad that state right there. graham doing better but it's not like she's leading by a large margin. she won't net much of the we have a little around tampa. gillum more than holding his own. and then the other big thing left, big, a lot of small counties in the panhandle. this was supposed to be where graham ran up the score. you can see the dark shade of blue. you're seeing a lot of the counties that gillum is actually winning or leading in. that was supposed to pad whatever margin that gwen graham had. so frankly,

gillum. but in his district in the ron desantis district it will be bill clinton's nancy soderberg running as a democrat to flip that seat from red to blue. another national veteran, chris hunter a former doj prosecutor, he won a primary last night in florida as well to try to unseat republican congressman gus billa rackus. another district where democrats are seen as having a real shot of flipping that seat from red to blue with this candidate chris hunter. democrats have a whole lot of candidates all across the country, particularly and potentially in flipable districts, where the democratic candidate comes from a national security background. and that's interesting in terms of strategy and it's not a deliberate plan by the democratic party, what does that say about national security? professionals and their desire to get into electoral politics and trump. you can analyze it from a lot of different angles. but tonight, we have just learned from some interesting reporting from spencer ackerm

gillum said, not a dog whistle but a bull horn. and i think it's a -- you know, i think that's the way this is -- this race is going to go. i mean, this is going to -- this could become a very ugly sort of bare knuckles race in which you see some of the worst tendencies of trumpism just coming to the fore. >> david, i'm curious. somebody you've written critically about donald trump, what eugene is saying there. do you see in those comments from desantis today some of the worst instincts of trumpism? how do you interpret it? >> i really don't. i see him as trying and then bungling a bit and what was really pretty standard campaign rhetoric. my opponent is a formidable opponent, you know, he did well in the debates, he's not my cup of tea, but his ideas are bad for florida. i mean, it's really -- you know, except for that word, very normal campaign rhetoric. i do not think, if you look at desantis' record, and you compare it, say, with trump's record, that you're -- you can make any kind of comparison there at all. with donald trump,

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

on the republican side, gillum will face trump backed congressman rondy santis is calling gillum way too liberal for the state of florida. he also told fox news florida shouldn't "monkey it up" by electing mr. gillum. he would be the first ever african-american florida governor if he's elected. the dean of florida political reporters says he's never seen anything quite like this in his state. and given which state we're talking about, that's saying something. that reporter joins us next. stay with us. something. that reporter joins us next. stay with us (vo) why do subaru forester owners always seem so happy? because they've chosen the industry leader. subaru forester holds its value better than any other vehicle in its class according to alg. better than cr-v. better than rav4. better than rogue. an adventure that starts with a subaru forester will always leave you smiling. get 0% percent apr financing on the 2018 subaru forester. that's confident. but it's not kayak confident. kayak searches hundreds of travel and airline sites to find the best flight for me. so i'm more than confi

tonight, andrew gillum responds. "the 11th hour" begins now.

with gillum, he also just worked tirelessly. he referenced the new york times article and she's right. gillum was everywhere. he really planted his flag here in south florida. look at the african-american vote. it will put him over the top in a big way. >> he worked but hi didn't spend. he was vastly out spent by his opponents. how important is money now that he's really in the big seat. >> money is crucial in florida. we're not one state. we're ten states. we have ten media markets. to advertise statewide it will probably take about $3 million a week to run a saturation tv campaign. these have to raise massive amounts of money in order to benefit -- nard to pay for tin the tv ads that every one needs to see. he stitched together all of these coalitions, it was the secret sauce or spices that enabled andrew gillum to come out on top. can he repeat that in november? one thing you have to understand about the democrats in the state is they under perform in midterm elections. even though the democrats out register republicans by tw

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

president trump called gillum a failed socialist on twitter today. republicans plan to use an fbi investigation of tallahassee's mu though he's not directly been named a subject. democrats will likely use this -- a comment by desantis today some call racist. >> the last thing we need to do is to monkey this up by trying to embrace a socialist agenda. >> reporter: today his campaign said it would be "absurd" to characterize those comments as racist. our request to interview desantis was declined. gillum called those remarks beneath the intelligence of floridians. john? >> manuel bojorquez for us. thanks, manuel. >>> at his weekly audience at the vatican pope francis spoke of his recent trip to ireland and lamented the pain caused by the church's sex abuse scandal. he did not mention allegations by the vatican's former ambassador to the u.s. that francis knew of sex abuse by cardinal theodore mccarrick but did nothing. today the former ambassador, archbishop carlo vigano, said he made the accusation not out of revenge against the pope but out of love f

he also called mayor gillum articulate. something that white people say about black people because they don't expect them to be able to speak well. or children. you say the child is arctic cra. mr. gillum is not a child. so look, the republican nominee is clearly stated where he will be. gillum is amazing. yes, senator sanders and castro were the two only political figures to back him. but this isn't bettrnie versus trump thing. gillum is running on a progressive tickets and in-his authenticity is what has made the voters flock to him and that will lead him to victory. >> do you agree on desantis' comments? >> absolutely. there is no question. what would be the other way to interpret it? and i think that he should be more sensitive i think to those issues. i think like you said, it wasn't just the monkeying up comment, it is the articulate comments which by everyone should know is a code word. >> i have a hard time wrapping my head around the world that someone like desantis would be so dumb as to say something -- >> inexpe

clearly gillum the better theory.n we finally get the absolute number, the turnout numbers, that will give us a sense as to whether or not gillum's strategy sets him up well for the general or whether or not it helps you in the primary. and then trouble coming down the line in november. this is one of those, it won't just be the results. it will be the turnout numbers. stay with us. he turnout numbers stay with us 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. but climbing 58,070 steps a year can be hard on her feet, knees, and lower back. that's why she wears dr. scholl's orthotics. they're clinically proven to relieve pain and give you the comfort to move more. dr. scholl's, born to move. number, the turnout numbers, stay with us. number, the turnout numbers, stay with us ♪ that's confident. but it's not kayak confident. kayak searches hundreds of travel and airline sites to find the best flight for me. so i

this is something about gillum i think is important. he is showing he will fight.told trunks hey, next time at me when donald trump tweeted him this morning. that's the thing voters want to see a progressive candidate who will fight and someone who is willing to speak to everybody in the country. >> that can happen with a white candidate. i think the democratic party finally embraced the idea it can come out of the mouth of a gay person a black person, a hispanic person as long as they have the people behind them. >> in politics, do what you do. let the chips fall in. jason johnson, andrea, christina mercato, thank you very much. there is a new podcast out with the great mehdi hasan. why is this happening on apple podcast and everything else. >> that is all in this evening. the "rachel maddow show" is next. >> good evening, chris. thank you for joining us. the past 24 hours have been a news cycle with lots of unexpected twists and turns, little plot surprises, unexpected endings. >> that has made this sort of a fun day to be in the news business as my job. ifts one

on this side, andrew gillum,

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

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. both races tonight in arizona and in florida. a lot of interesting things coming out of it. thanks to steve. coming up, correcting the record in puerto rico. maria's death toll is now officially in the thousands. we're back after this. >>> the last thing before we go tonight, a tragic update how devastating hurricane maria's impact was on puerto rico last september. the storm left millions without power for far too long. it devastated the local economy and disrupted life across the island for more than 3 million a

won, there were a lot of references to bernie sanders-backed gillum. people on twitter had pushback against that to say bernie sanders got into the race pretty late in terms of supporting andrew gillum and there were other things. by other things, people say young people, they say folks who wanted better gun control in florida. tom steyer was involved in that campaign, george soros was. talk about what caused andrew gillum who was not running ahead in the polls, what you think caused that victory. >> well, the senator's endorsement was huge for us. while some of the other opponents were airing tv commercials, we are doing rallies with senator sanders in tampa and orlando, gave us a huge boost. we did a statewide bring it home bus tour. the gillum surge, as many folks heard about, was real and it showed up on election day. we've been talking about the issues that will motivate our voters to get out to the polls in november. we've been on that for 18 months and will stay on that all the way through november 6th. >> what's the response to what desantis ca

the gillum campaign saying they don't buy that.usan said is what we should be paying attention to. we are 12 hours into the race. yes, republicans and democrats voted already, but moderates are looking at who their candidate could be in the general election. they have a choice to make. i spoke to am some folks here. what they had to say about why they voted for ron desantis and andrew gillum give us a little bit of insight into what the campaign's bases look like. take a look. >> i love what trump has done for the country and i think that a lot of things, it's been twisted out of context. just another angle to divide the krooe country. it's awesome. >> so desantis was a vote? >> for trump. >> i was a bernie supporter, and the fact that he was backing gillum, i thought that was a great idea, that he would be good. if he thought he was good, then i thought he was good. >> so i sort of feel like when you look at these comments, democrats are obviously calling them a racist dog whistle. folks voting for andrew gillum will see what they

bernie sandered backed tallahassee mayor andrew gillum.teve kornacki is standing by with all the details. he's going to join us in just a few minutes. the upcoming general election will be a big test for donald trump who is reportedly now warning his supporters that there will be violence if his party loses the midterms. we'll have much more on all of that just ahead, but first we have brand new reporting tonight from the "washington post" on the president's latest attempt to get rid of attorney general jeff sessions. you'll remember sessions recused himself from overseeing the russia investigation. the post is reporting that president trump, who levied extraordinary public attacks on attorney general jeff sessions in recent weeks, has privately revived the idea of firing him in conversations with his aides and personal lawyers this month. according to three people familiar with the discussions. at least twice this month, trump vented to white house advisers and his lawyers about the, quote, endless investigation, end quote, of his campaig

gillum says how said we're divided. he's using this politically right out the gate. >> you have to keep in mind, i don't think that gillum is to be saying he's taking advantage. he said to the contrary to shepard ship, he wants to avoid division. i think that what he said so far. >> he said, they don't -- he iced this phrase. we're going to say it's not a dog whistle it's a full bull -- bull horn. >> i think this goes beyond him. you can hear from other members. you played some sound bites. you're seeing this come from across the democratic -- >> it's not a dog whistle and not a bull horn. >> yes. >> this is what they have decided. i would love it in someone would come out of this situation and say, you know what, i'm not going to go there. i'm not sure fast what the man meant. >> you can say that. you run the risk closing your eyes to an explosive issue. it's something that can be ruined. the issue here is not about likeness. i experience with you, i don't think -- let's go back to the politics. you can't in this momen

president trump called gillum a "failed socialist" on twitter today. republicans plan to use an f.b.i. investigation of tallahassee's municipal government against gillum, llough he's not directly been named a subject. t mocrats will likely use this-- a comment by desantis today, some call racist. >> the last thing we need to do is to monkey this up by trying to embrace a socialist agenda. >> reporter: today, his campaign said it would be "absurd," to characterize those comments as racist. our request to interview desantis was declined. nsllum called those remarks "beneath the intelligence of floridians." john? >> dickerson: manuel bojorquez for us. enanks, manuel. at his weekly audience at the vatican, pope francis spoke of his recent trip to ireland, and lamented the pain caused by the church's sex abuse scandal. he did not mention allegations by the vatican's former ambassador to the u.s. that francis knew of sex abuse by cardinal theodore mccarrick, but did nothing. today, the former ambassador, archbishop carlo vigano, said he made the accusation n

gillum picked up votes.on day vote came in you saw the big surge for gillum. >> is it true he won miami? did that offset the ratios? i think the state county over county is just about 30% african-american. he was playing to population centers not just the black vote. >> he was definitely playing to population centers. miami dade is another great example where if you look at the early vote the former mayor of miami beach won in the early vote. when election day vote came in gillam overtook him. >> this is that bernie sanders momentum. i'm slow on that with gillum. so much of his politics are personal to him, the guns, the stand your ground, the need for populism. he is medicare for all. i don't know what the meat on the bones is of that yet. he does advance different progressive types of issues. was it his posture or the populism? >> i think it is probably a little bit of everything. populism didn't play well a african-american voters back in the 2016 primary and gillum did well there. the other thing i will

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.

electing gillum, as you heard. the context is, gillum has the backing of socialist democrats like bernie sanders at alexandria ocasio-cortez. but the word of choice has caused controversy today because it gillum would be the first blk governor of the sunshine state if he wins. the chair of the florida democratic party charging come of this coming from the congressman was a "racist dog whistle." >> the last thing we need to do is to monkey this up by trying to embrace a socialist agenda with huge tax increases and bankrupting the state. that is not going to work way that is not going to be good for florida. >> desantis is completely rejecting the criticism and it's worth noting that he made a similar point about socialism in a tuesday night interview on fox in which he said florida did not want to become venezuela. after today's interview, his campaign put out a statement clarifying he was again referring to socialist policies and any effort to characterize it otherwise is, and their words come absurd. shortly befor

democrat voters made outspend overlooked former mayor of tallahasse, eric gillum, for governor. he happens to be the most pregnantive and least wealthy of the five dems seeking the nomination, the only one to be endorsed by bernie sanders. he will face his polar opposite in ron desantis, a nominee backed by president trump who is already looking ahead to november, the president writing that gillum is desantis' biggest dream. in the president's word a failed socialist mayor. this morning on noourd, gillum said he's not afraid of the campaigner in chief. >> donald trump and ron desantis are scraping from the bottom of the barrel. i believe florida and its rich divesty are going to be looking for a governor who will bring us together, not divide us. not misogynist, not racist, not bigots. they'll look for a governor who will appeal to our higher aspirations as a state. >> let's bring in harry enten and from the times tv busque. good to have you with us. he says he doesn't want to strain from the bottom and he can bring more floridians together, what kind of an appetite is there as

this is what desantis has versus gillum. it's all about that base.hey have two types of bases going on. they got the working man base but it's divided between the trump-supported working base. and the progressive movement that feels like, you know, they're the real working class. so you have two types of messages, both centered around working class base, you know. the republicans have got that economy. if i were desantis, i'd be pushing that economy. and if i were gillum, i would be -- you know, i guess you would have to push health care and different things that pertain to different retirees or something in the state. it is going to be one of the biggest races that everybody, every strategist is going to be looking at. >> you know, i think, steve talks about the energy. and there were strong numbers on both sides but, jonathan, the associated press points out that republicans cast 1.6 million ballots. democrats are on track to fall below 1.5. where's the blue wave? >> well, there are higher turnouts on both sides but that's a very important figure.

in a field of five candidates, gillum was the only nonmill fair.tic governor in two decades. gillum telling cnn he embraces the role of underdog. >> my wife refers to me as seabiscuit. we sort of were counted out at many points, people thought we were not make it, but we kept going slow and steady. even in these dark days of donald trump, that in the south with candidates like stacy abrams and candidates like ben gel less and me in florida, the new south is being recreated, is being led by the very people who helped build the south in the first place. i just think there's something pretty powerful and poetic about that. >> the florida governor's race shaping up as a major test of the national political atmosphere in november. gillum is set to face ron desantis, who won the republican primary. the race pits two 39-year-olds who in ways mirror their parties' national moods against. cnn projects governor rick scott will win the primary and face democratic senator bill nelson in november, a seat the democrats must hold if they hope to have a shot at a

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

gillum is set to face ron desantis, who won the republican primary.the race pits two candidates who in many ways mirror their parties' national moods against each other. let's bring in cnn politics, senior writer and analyst, harry, what happened here? >> morning. >> this is extraordinary. >> first off, i got very little sleep, i can tell you that definitely happened. >> you don't need sleep. >> i never need sleep. andrew gillum came on very strong, got the backing of bernie sanders, was able to raise a lot of money. polls indicated he was rising but nothing like this. we all thought gwen graham was going to win, if it wasn't her, probably philip levine. you have a major upset here, you have a progressive candidate who also appealed to the african-american community, who also appealed to young voters, almost a barack obama coalition in some sense. >> ron desantis is running on donald trump. and almost donald trump only. here's an ad that he's run that's gotten a lot of attention, watch. >> everyone knows my husband ron desantis is endorsed by presiden

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

about gillum until 24 hours ago. we'll find out a lot about him nobody was saying before. >> and, boy, michael steele, you have candidates like gillum coming from nowhere, beating other candidates who were tough. he surges ahead to 34%. more times than not candidates like that have a history on their side and momentum on their side. and it also, that victory, if gillum runs a strong race, that's very good news for bill nelson who is, who's struggling in the race of his life right now against rick scott. >> yes. absolutely. gillum could have the effect of pulling out a lot more of that democratic vote. in fact, if you peel back a little of the numbers and steve has done a phenomenal job doing that over the last 18 hours or so, you'll see that the young vote turned out. that there was a youth vote, if you will, that really coalesced around gillum. with that along with other energies that are currently on the ground there in florida, the anti-trump feel and all of that, it could be a nice setup where you could have gill

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

gillum pulled off a stunning victory last night. take a listen to what he had to say. >> all of the issue wes care so deeply about, what's beneath my name is the belief that we ought to pay teachers for doing what they are worth for the most difficult job on this earth. what is beneath my name is our belief that our public education system and our public tax dollars ought to be used for the public education system to educate in these off years. >> and mayor gillum will take on congressman ron desantis in november, desantis getting a big boost of president trump's enforcement. joining me, harry, first of all, from your view, could this be the first time that on a stage this big we've seen someone in the mold of donald trump facing off against someone in the mold of bernie sanders? >> will you have this race in florida and just north in georgia you will have something similar with brian kevin going up against stacy abrams. we have a big test in the south. this is what the bernie sander's people said, if you run to the left. if you pro

make the pitch for your candidate, mayor gillum, to independent voters.ho does he have that would affect those voters that are in the center of the political spectrum? >> he is what they have been waiting for. andrew gillum can talk to the political base, he can talk to the social base, he can talk to the economic base, he can talk to the religious base. he gives them s them a better . we see our educational system is lacking with resources. our veterans in the state of florida have taken a beating as it relates to resources and housing. let's talk about affordable housing. the republican party has raided the trust to over $3 billion, it was made to assist those who need help with housing. let's talk about our environment. we are looking at the algae bloom. now our water is being affected. the reality is, that has all been created under a 20-year reign from the republican party. now we are at a point where we can change this, change the direction and get someone in who understands everybody's issue, republicans, independents and democrats. >> thank you so

>> i was not surprised that andrew gillum would win. i interviewed him on my podcast for "the washington post" back in june. he sounded a lot to me like stacey abrams who went on to become the democratic nominee for governor in georgia. to have his opponent already out the gate with i don't even want to call them dog whistles, at this point it's just flat out blatant racism. when you have "articulate," "perform." to me the whole "monkeing it up" theme, it's the emphasis that he put on that word. his campaign denies what he said, but when you're talking about the first nominee of either party, first african-american in florida, you know, whether you meant it or not, it's going to be perceived that way. if we're going to get away from this atmosphere of anger and fear and blatant racism, it would be great if the republican nominee would just own up to it, move along and not do it again. >> there's a lot of money also, to both of you, jonathan and jim, spent on this race, you had t tom steyers on the democratic side. and bill nelson being

gillum was outspent i think by tens of millions of dollars. what's appealing about that to independents, i believe, but also to reform-minded democrats is the fact that you have less big money in politics. >> true. a that's not nothing. >> that could be something. it's important to note that gillum was so low in the polls people didn't feel the need to go after him. so he went through a relatively unscathed primary in comparison to his opponents who were torn down. the other thing donald trump is doing right now, it struck me so interesting because it sounds like the 2016 campaign, he's trying to claim everything as rigged. everything that -- all the elections are rigged. at the end of 2016 he was saying the global elite is going to keep him out of office. watch out for your polling stations in philadelphia, it's rigged, rigged, rigged. that's because he thought he was going to lose and he was trying to place the blame elsewhere. when he was tweeting about google, google is rigged. the election could be rigged and warning of violence. he's wor