katie beck, nbc news. >> a bad place when they keep putting money over morality like that. >> right. yeah, they do. thanks for waking up with us. i'm phillip mena. >> and i'm marlie hall. we leave with you images from greenland, where a russian thrill seekerests his tbreakingt >>> breaking new at 4:30 this morning, thousands out of their homes after concerns that a grass fire is threatening an underground gas pipeline in east contra costa county. good morning. thanks so much for joining us. >> we'll get to mike in just a moment with traffic surely that will be affected by that, but we want to talk about the weather these days. >> it's chilly in some spots 51 degrees. we're kind of

nbc road warrior katy beck is in new orleans where apparently it is raining. >> yes.nfortunately, this is the first day of early voting starting today at 8:30 and under rainy conditions which can put a damper on the turnout. we have seen the steady amounts of crowds in to early vote, but perhaps not as many as they were expecting and that is due to the weath weather. now, here in louisiana, the voters have one week to cast that the early ballot, and by next tuesday, the early voting will have wrapped up and what that means is that if you want to early vote, you have to get out to find the polling low cases and cast the ballot ahead of the crowds, and as you said, six seats are contested and that may be why we are not seeing the long lines we saw yesterday in texas. >> and katy beck, thank you. that going to wrap up this hour of msnbc live and we will see you tomorrow on "to today." and coming up is "andrea mitchell reports." >>> fear factor, and two weeks before the mid-week election, and the president kicking up fear. >> take the camera no middto the and you will fin

joining me now nbc news road warrior katy beck on the ground in panama city. katy, tell us about how important this midterm election is for people on the ground? do they even know where to vote if they're not back in their homes? >> reporter: well, the midterm is still very important for people here, but so is recovery, stephanie. as you mentioned that storm hit on the ground three weeks ago. you can hardly tell that when you walk around these neighborhoods. it looks like the damage is fresh. it could have happened yesterday. there are homes abandoned. many who have stayed don't have power or water. they are aware of these midterm elections a week away but it's not a top priority for some folks still busy digging themselves out of this mess. we came here to ask people, are you going to be able to vote despite all these circumstances? 81-year-old jerry strickland lost his home, but hasn't lost his will to vote if the midterm election. >> reporter: this is your mail-in ballot? there it is. . on the dash board of his rental car. a dedicated voter in panama city, f

let's go to nbc katie beck at an early polling place in tennessee. what are you seeing?reporter: as steve mentioned, this race is extremely tight. some polls have these two candidates within a single point of each other with just a week left in this race. both candidates are household names here in tennessee. marsha blackburn, a congresswom congresswoman. in the deep red state of tennessee with a lot of support for president trump, if democrat phil brettison wants to win, he's got to convince some republicans he's the right one for the job. >> reporter: a surge of voters early in nashville, tennessee. >> you cast your vote for phil brettison. the governor vying for votes. he will have to pick up votes. voters like business owners. >> how much thought and time did you give this decision? is it something you've been wrestling with? >> i've been wrestling with it since the fall of 2016. how many days can you get up and say wow, wow. did that really just happen? >> do you still consider yourself a republican? >> no. >> reporter: and not a democrat either. he says in the mid

katy beck joins us from nashville, tennessee, along with steve patterson, who's in romona, california's happening in tennessee? i haven't heard much from that state recently. >> reporter: well, katy, as you know, this is trump country. donald trump won here by 26 points in 2016, yet the senate race on the ground here is neck and neck. this is basically considered a toss-up race at this point. recent polls have had republican congressman marsha blackburn trailing in the polls over former governor phil bredesen. he's running as a moderate, and that's resonating with some voters here. in order to have a path to victory, he's got to con i understand -- convince some republicans to cross over and vote for him. we spoke to a small business owner in franklin, tennessee, who says while he's a conservative, he's casting a vote for bredesen this time. >> how much thought and time did you give this decision? is this something that you've been wrestling with? >> i've been wrestling with it since the fall of 2016. i mean, you know, how many days can you get up and just say, wow, wow, did that real

. >> and katy beck, thank you. that going to wrap up this hour of msnbc live and we will see you tomorrow on "to today." and coming up is "andrea mitchell reports." >>> fear factor, and two weeks before the mid-week election, and the president kicking up fear. >> take the camera no middto the and you will find ms-13 and isis and so much more. >> and the president is promising a tax bill, but there is no tax bill in congress, and congress does not return until >> this is for middle income people, and all middle income people, and 10% and we will put it in next week. >> and the naked truth, the leader of turkey calling the murder of sjamal khashoggi savage. >> and he was doing the best to make the saudis squirm. >>> and good day, everyone. i'm andrea mitchell in washington where president trump's midterm strategy is clear, divide and conquer. he is road testing the message across the country starting with the monday's raucous rally tuesday for ted cruz, and laundry list of misstatements have the fact checkers working

that leads me to two of our very own road warriors joining me now, katy beck from nbc following the road race, and shaquille brewster in noblesville, indiana, two senate candidates in a dead heat. katy, to you first, president trump endorsing kemp, saying stacey abrams will destroy the state. aggressive statement. how do you see the race breaking down? >> reporter: this is an aggressive race, one that georgians are interested on and what is motivating so many people to get out and vote early. we are here in cobb county where just last week when early voting started lines were as long as three hours, people pulled into the parking lot and said i simply couldn't find a spot so i had to leave. behind me, you can see the line is pretty impressive this morning. it's about 45 degrees in georgia right now, and that line is wrapped around inside that breezeway, we're told on average about 90 minutes is what people are going to be waiting to vote already. that race is what's driving a lot of this interest, a highly contested race, one that's got national attention. and certainly the president's t

nbc's katie beck is at a early voting location in nashville. sure you have the breaking news that taylor swift cast her ballot for phil bredsen. but there's other stuff going on in tennessee too? >> big news for millennials, that was a resounding endorsement from her, giving bredsen her endorsement several weeks ago and posting again today that picture of her and her mother hoping to influence younger voters. and there have been a number of young voters heading into the polls. early voting has seen a massive surge as in other states. 150,000 early voters in the state of tennessee and what's driving interest is the hotly contested senate race in trump country, where trump won by 26 points in 2016, they're in a neck in neck race. polls are showing over the past few weeks blackburn has a slight advantage, four, five-point lead but not strong enough to convince anyone of which way this race was going to go. honestly, the republicans will be the key. moderate republicans, are they going to give democrat phil bredsen a chance? is he going to be able