joining me is newly elected south carolina congressman joe cunningham.lled off one of the biggest upsets when he defeated trump-backed republican katie arrington to flip mark sanford's seat. it's great to have you on the show. i am surprised, of course, i'm sure as many people are to call you that. but thank you for being here. my main question for you to start this off is, and i realize you may say, oh, well, you know, i'm good looking or just that wonderful, but how did you pull this off in this district? >> well, i mean, we weren't surprised. we had a strong message. this is a district that, you know, went for trump by 13 points in 2016. it's a district that mark sanford won by 22 points in 2016. it's a district that is, obviously, been gerrymandered, but through that gerrymandering, we had a strong message that cut to the core of it. and that was defeating this political tribalism that's, you know, that's ripping us apart at our moral fabric across this country. and that's what we spoke to throughout this district. and it's what resonated here. and t

i say the biggest referendum on donald trump is a young man named joe cunningham, and nancy pelosi and leadership is going to have to reckon with. he won a district held by mark sanford, and it was donald trump jr.'s last campaign stop. he won it at 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning. democrats have a lot to be proud of. i think the leadership needs to be intra specktion because they don't reflect what was victorious for democrats last night. >> i want to talk more about that a little bit, but first i want to give your friend to the left, there, ironically, that this was just a big clear victory for the democrats. >> structurally speaking, nothing that happened last night tells me anything other than donald trump remains in good shape in middle america. the coasts are still unhappy with him. on the senate side, kavanaugh clearly locked in the senate. >> how do you know that? you mean the senate was going to go down before kavanaugh? >> the only race we don't know as kavanaugh, and tester voted against c c kavanaugh -- >> heller supported him. >> oh, man, he ruined it. >> kavanaugh, would you

that's joe cunningham winning again. that was mark sanford's district.lan, you've been standing by patiently. your big picture thoughts on the night. >> i want to tell you the hidden meaning of these midterm elections for 2020. as you know, i have a system called the keys to the white house that have correctly forecast the results of every presidential election since before you were born in 184. and as a result of this midterm, the incumbent republican who's hold the white house lost a key. the mandate key which is measured by midterm house elections. that's another keel down. and therein midterm also put a second keep in jeopardy, the scandal key because everybody is talking about the house democrats now having investigatory and subpoena power. if they and the special counsel uncover really damaging information about donald trump, another key drops. while donald trump has called in a tremendous victory, in fact, it has significant little undermined his chances to win in 20208. >> first of all, thank you for shaving ten years off my age. i appreciate tha

carolina's first district, which include my hometown of charleston, south carolina, where democrat joe cunningham supporter katie arrington. ( applause ) now, as a democrat-- as a democrat from south carolina, cunningham joins the ranks of rare mythical creatures, like big foot, unicorns, and people who do crossfit without telling anyone about it. in michigan they voted to legalize recreational marijuana. ( applause ) to celebrate, michigan turned ewlo hten.en into a bong. pine. ♪ music playing ♪ ♪ why shop marshalls? because... their prices will thrill you. whoo-hoo! the brands will surprise you. mwah! and every trip feels like an instant victory. woman: marshalls. never boring. always surprising. woman ♪ max, what [ car honk ] do today? no idea huh? i got one. let's steal christmas in style. sfx: stair creak sfx: clink sfx: deep breath sfx: grunt sfx: tinny headphone music sfx: feet shuffling sfx: slice sfx: gasp sfx: inhale. exhale. sfx: lights scraping on roof sfx: metallic scrape sfx: grunt covered california. it's more than just health care. it's life care. ( band playing ) ( cheers and app

not hand-picked superstars didn't win all the millions, joe cunningham, conor lambs, they seem to be breed of democrat. i don't know that they can, are going to be allowed to operate the way they want as long as nancy pelosi is in charge? >> that is a real question whether nancy pelosi will be in charge or not. she has been there for a long time. she raised a lot of money for democrats but look to resistance to that. i really think that the people you named, moderates that are going to be there, i don't mow if something will go off in their head but they have got to get something done between now and 2020 because what are they going to run on, either party, right? you talk about the democrats being demagogues, what have you, but republicans have been just demagogues. both of them, approval ratings are down. so, i think that they're both going to need each other. now that we control the house, we have ininvestigatory power, watch us pump the brakes on investigatory aisle. watch them reach across the aisle or infrastructure or middle class tax cuts. we can fight about anything else. ch

. >> the democratic candidate, joe cunningham, defeated republican katie arrington.was a surprising upset in a district that favored president trump by double digits in 2016. and it's a seat held by a republican for four decades. >> seth: damn. no wonder trump's depressed. when he heard that, he probably stormed out of the white house screaming, "if anyone needs me, i'll be hiking the tallahassee trail!" [ cheers and applause ] trump couldn't even get a close ally elected in a district that's been held by republicans for four decades in a deep red state he won by 14 points. and as a reality of the blue wave that has come into focus over the last week, trump has apparently been in a post-election funk. one administration official said the president has lashed out at several aides, from junior press assistants to senior officials. he's also fighting with american allies like french president emmanuel macron. for two years, trump has been desperate to be macron's friend, at one point even brushing dandruff off of his shoulder. >> we do have a very special relationship.

joe cunningham is a nice guy. the beach town mayors are supporting him because of his stance against offshore drilling. i talked to other people and they say i like joe, but if i vote for a democrat, it will be support of the most polarizing figure and that is nancy pelosi. it will create a problem for democrats. i would like to get your take on joe and katie and the first congressional district. a lot of times down here it is just taken for granted that everything is going red. i am not so sure this time. guest: joe, it is a lower tier opportunity for democrats. they are talking about putting money in. katie errington not only defeated a congressman in the primary but had a car accident and was off the campaign trail for a while. she is back now. if they count the votes quickly early in the night and cunningham wins, he will be a big night for democrats. i think she is probably ahead in the mid-single digits but cunningham is within striking districts. this is a real race and one where anyone in the district, thei

in fact, some very young dynamic, emerging stars, joe cunningham, connor lamb, saying, hey, there needs to be fresh leadership. do they have a point? >> well, yes. under normal circumstances, we want leadership to emerge and it's going to emerge. i just did a tv show, where a young person with a young person today and i believe very strongly that -- as well as a lot of others, are going to begin to rise. however, in the unique situation we find ourselves, nancy pelosi is very likely going to be elected speaker. we've come from nowhere to the majority k. it will be difficult to push it back. there is no one opposed. there is no announced opponents. she'll win unless something happensthat we haven't had any idea to think about. >> you're on-board with backing nancy pelosi as leader? >> i'm going to support nancy pelosi. we have a system where either i'm going to have to vote for nancy pelosi or i'll vote for mickey mouse or one of the kansas city chiefs. >> she's been in this position before but you guys suffered some cat 12r06 particular trough i can losses -- catastrophic losses upped h

and last night, presidentially endorsed katie arrington lost that seat to a democrat named joe cunningham. did i mention that was south carolina? just won by a democrat. a few weeks after president trump applied his unparalleled presidential political genius to the katie arrington/mark sanford race, which cost the republicans a seat in the house, the president also confidently waded into the kansas governor's race. when republican voters in kansas were deciding this year who was going to be their candidate for governor, they had a choice between a sort of normal conservative republican or a much, much, much trumpier choice named kris kobach. immensely controversial, very high profile, kansas secretary of state. sort of a special white house adviser on nonexistent voter fraud. in that kansas primary to decide who the republican party's candidate would be for governor in kansas, the president decided he would exert his political genius and weigh in. this was in august, he announced his full and total endorsement in that primary for kris kobach. kobach won that primary, presumably in part on

the real superstars looked like joe cunningham, looked like conor lamb. they're not too open to nancy pelosi leading anymore. charles: she is looking ad potential transition for her speakership for next two years. we'll see how that plays out. one of the reasons republicans hate nancy pelosi so much is because she is incredibly effective. she is incredible fund-raiser. that is what helped get democrats where they are today. that is how we took over the house. you know, i get where you're trying to go with the big superstars of the democratic party but let's think about where those, where those elections were taking place. we're talking about georgia. we're talking about florida. we're talking about florida. charles: i've been -- democrats made them the superstars. >> exactly. charles: the hollywood made them superstars. >> they made states competitive and never should have been competitive. charles: reporting to those campaigns made them superstars. i didn't hear that. i do want to ask you, ford on idea of president trump playing nice, you know, he wants

joe cunningham, the democrat, 407,000 votes ahead. he is right on the verge.race came online late. talking to republicans over the last couple of weeks, they had concern about it. but the background here is important. katie arrington primaried mark sanford, the incumbent republican in that district. katie arrington beat mark sanford. katie arrington in her victory speech spoke about how this is trump's party now. she was a trump supporter. right now she is on the verge of defeat based on what we're looking at right now. why that's important for a couple of different reasons, but the primary, this is a seat democrats did not expect to have. ever every one you have, especially california still coming in. there is a number of pickups. this is a plus one democrats didn't expect to have. that's one more seat whoever the speaker is going to be that nancy pelosi is going to have. that's a big deal. >> so we have this as a projected win for the democrats. we'll talk about the dynamic later on as we start to go there. georgia 6 is something worth looking at right now.

when joe cunningham, the opponent, who's now a member of the united states congress, was talking about those pocketbook issues, was talking about issues that go right to the bailiwick of those white suburban women that the democrats have to have. >> also health care was also something democrats focussed on a lot. >> i think we have to take a second to realize where -- why we are here now. the reason we're still looking at races is because democrats are extremely competitive in red and purple states. donald trump won florida and we're still waiting results because it's so darn close. we're awaiting results in georgia. arizona was just called today. and i am -- i think republicans should really get obsessed about what happened in arizona. i thought martha mcsally was a great candidate that had the wrong strategy. kyrsten sinema was a code pink, anti-war, person that traditionally in a republican campaign you would have been able to sideline her very quickly. but martha mcsally, for whatever reason, decided to wed herself to trump and that allowed sinema to run up the middle because she h

he got beat in a primary by katie arrington who was trumpyier, and she got beat by a democrat, joe cunningham, that doesn't happen in south carolina, in that district. >> some folks who have suggested that this could be the beginning of some sort of seismic shift in south carolina politics, they might not want to take that argument too far. >> i know, i wouldn't go all the way to seismic, but. >> peter, i want to come back to you because this notion that presidents who are dealt bad hands after the midterms, what typically happens to them. historically this has been a bit of a benefit politically for presidents, has it not? >> well, that's exactly right. look, bill clinton lost both the house and the senate in 1994. the first time the house had gone republican in 40 years, big time setback for him, and two years later he cruised to re-election over bob dole. same with barack obama in 2010, had the biggest sweep of the house in a long time, and he came back two years later, won against mitt romney. so presidents like to have somebody to play off of, you know? it worked for bill clinton to tria

republican the rate of that district and she lost it is conservative district in south carolina to joe cunninghamat , a 36-year-old democrat. we are shifting demographics thatthat republicans are also looking at other certain portions of the state, particularly on the issue of trade and they think the issue of trade perhaps might help them more than immigration. we onne: where where trade in traffic? isare learning the treasury putting a report out or gathering evidence to possibly impose tariffs on cars. i think if you think that, francine, several months ago where we have these glimpses of deal or no deal, that the season we are in again ahead of the g20, i think the administration is it onto front, good cop, bad cop in terms of how they are trying to press china is a you look at the longer term forecast or the short-term and energy 20 is also what we're going to see. they're giving a little to get a little there are also threatening additional tariffs with regard to china. tom: kevin cirilli, thank you. i have no idea what the news flow will be by 4:00 or five are today. it's more than timely

joe cunningham is a nice guy. e beach town mayors are supporting him because of his stance against offshore drilling. i talked to other people and they say i like joe, but if i vote for a democrat, it will be support of the most polarizing figure and that is nancy pelosi. it will create a problem for democrats. i would like to get your take on joe and katie and the first congressional district. it isof times down here just taken for granted that everything is going red. i am not so sure this time. , it is a lower tier opportunity for democrats. they are talking about putting money in. katie errington not only defeated a congressman in the primary but had a car accident and was off the campaign trail for a while. she is back now. if they count the votes quickly early in the night and cunningham wins, he will be a big night for democrats. i think she is probably ahead in the mid-single digits but cunningham is within striking districts. race and onel where anyone in the district, their vocal matter. errington beat hi

in south carolina's first district, democrat joe cunningham defeated republican state represent katiesanford's seat. arrington ran on a heavy pro trump seat. >> again, in south carolina, in red, hot south carolina. >> sanford lost the gop primary after president trump aligned himself with arrington. joining us now, historian, author of "the soul of america," and john meachum. >> anchor down. >> he's an msnbc contributor. >> i had no idea until i was speak to go some people in the mris publishing business, did you know that the soul of america has sold more copies than every britney spears downloads? >> wow. >> okay. >> i don' >> do you know who common is? >> i don't. >> i'll tell you later. >> and also with us, alesse jordan and house editor for the cook political report, david wasserman. we've been following your analysis all week long. what's the bottom line this morning? >> look, i wasn't expecting some of the upsets we had. i think it was night of contradictions. democrats won a seat in oklahoma city. i was having lunch -- i was interviewing the democratic county in charleston las

the real superstars conor lamb, joe cunningham, anti-pelosi. they want to get things done.go for impeachment. it is a different breed. i don't know if she can waste her time on nonsense. >> bill: talk about infrastructure. i don't know if it's doable or not. markets would love that kind of spending. mitch mcconnell is coming up. i may have to interrupt you >> yesterday infrastructure materials, in the last five days the number one performer. >> sandra: mitch mcconnell has just walked out. let's listen. >> it is indeed a good morning for senate republicans. over the course of the last -- first last night and then this morning i talked to leader pelosi. we discussed ways we might be able to find a way forward. she and i actually have had some -- have had an opportunity to work together for a number of years when we were both on the appropriations committee. she had the foreign operations subcommittee and so did i. so we're not unfamiliar with each other and we'll probably have a lot more dealings with each other in the future. in looking at the race, i want to thank the presi

i am calling to congratulate state senator joe cunningham from the great state of south carolina.vernor of -- hopefully he will be a good and affluent man for the state and thank you. host: one of the headlines saying he is a democrat and flipped the first district seat that has been held by republicans since 1981. caller: that is what i have heard and bring on changes. mr. cunningham, he is going to lead south carolina. he is very influential for the state of south carolina. host: what makes him influential? because of what he is transpiring to do for the state of south carolina, great jobs, stop oil drilling in the state of south carolina. reasons that the main you voted for him or are there other reasons you voted for him? caller: right now, there might be some other reasons, but the main reason is he is the state senator for south carolina. be a alyssa -- it could liza, she is from staten island, new york. go ahead. yes, i found ron calls disgusting, honestly. the reason i am calling is your caller who commented on trump and his activity in atlantic city is absolutely correct.