miguel marquez, cnn, phoenix. >>. >> on that sad note, that wraps this hour of cnn newsroom, i'm kimuber, "early start" is up next. are you sick and tired of lookingand feeling heavy? probioslim promotes healthy digestion and helps you lose weight. patented probiotics ease constipation, gas, and bloating, while powerful egcg burns fat and calories. unleash your potential with probioslim, the #1 probiotic fat burner at walmart. >>> progress lost, the coronavirus threat is growing again. we are back to august levels here. the nation is in jeopardy, the president is in denial. >>> just basic competence can end up saving lives. >> and president obama going all in for joe biden, getting ready to hit the trail and that's not the only big infusion for the biden campaign. >>> welcome to our viewers in the united states, and all around the world, this is "early start." i'm christine romans, and welcome to boris san

cnn miguel marquez reports. >> reporter: battleground, michigan.in the race for the white house but in the fight for control of the senate. >> there is a great deal of energy right now on both sides because of what is at stake here. >> reporter: first term senator gary peters is facing a tough challenge. one of the few senate contests where democrats are on defense. >> it's incredibly important and we have to have the majority in the senate for our president boyden to be successful. >> reporter: the republican challenger combat veteran and businessman johnny james who lost his 2018 bid for senate against michigan's other democratic senator by six points. >> people in the state of michigan recognize that gary peters is all talk. >> reporter: he did app twice thursday on fox news where he called out his rival. >> senator peters would be less than a speed bump toward move to anarchy and socialism. >> joe biden leads president trump in michigan polls one recent survey from "the new york times" and cnn college shows the senate race nearly even with pete

cnn's miguel marquez has the story. >> reporter: julia jimenez a front-line working in the fight againstus. >> sometimes i do go to the breakroom and i take everything off and i break down and i start crying. i do that a lot. >> jimenez is part of a family that works as nurses or doctors. she's lived for months isolated from her parents and son, worried about their health and economic well being. what is the level of stress in your life? >> i don't know. i don't sleep very well. i'm very, very stressed. it's not an easy time. >> reporter: on a scale of one to ten if 10 is the worse? >> i'm an 11. >> reporter: stressed at home, distressed at work, seeing others not take the pandemic seriously. hoping now that the president has it -- >> i hope he will change his message that they need to take it seriously and not wear jokes about not wearing a mask. now you see firsthand how serious it is. >> it's going to disappear. one day like a miracle it will disappear. i don't wear masks like him. you can be speaking 200 feet away from him and he shows up with the biggest mask i've ever seen. >> repo

miguel marquez, cnn, los angeles. >> thanks, miguel. powerful report there. >>> so coming up on cnn, the pandemic has devastated employment in the airline industry as we all know. well, we'll show you one flight attendant's tearful good-bye. >>> and the outlook for another round of stimulus checks to struggling americans. why there's no relief in sight before election day. ♪ the lexus es now available with all-wheel drive. this rain is bananas. ♪ experience amazing at your lexus dealer. a livcustomizeper iquickbooks for me. ♪ okay, you're all set up. thanks! that was my business gi, this one's casual. get set up right with a live bookkeeper with intuit quickbooks. [ sneeze ] skip to cold relief fast with alka seltzer plus severe powerfast fizz. dissolves quickly. instantly ready to start working. ♪ oh, what a relief it is! so fast! >>> welcome back to cnn newsroom. i'm robyn curnow live from cnn world headquarters in atlanta and 29 minutes past the hour. thanks for joining me. drms in the house and republicans in the senate both blastin

miguel marquez is out front. >> reporter: the battleground in michigan is not just in the race for thee. >> there is a great deal of energy on both sides because of what's at stake here. >> reporter: first term senator, gary peters is facing a tough challenge where democrats are on defense. >> it is incredibly important. we have to have the majority in the senate for president biden to be successful. >> reporter: john james who lost his 2018 bid for senate, other democrat senators by six points. >> james declined a request to speak with cnn but he did appear twice on fox news where he called that his rival. senator peters would be less than a speed bump against the leftest move of anarchy and socialism. the senate race nearly even with peters at 43% and james at 42%. democrats need to pick out four seats to gain control of the senate if trump wins election. right now the gop is favored the flip one democratic seat, alabama. >> the race is one of the top ten most expensive cycle with peters and his allies spending more on $56 million on ads compares on $45 million by james and outside g

you have to watch this report from cnn's miguel marquez. . >> i don't want to cry just because i'm --something better for me. >> reporter: ricardo. >> but it's hard not to. >> reporter: the coronavirus killed his father and seven other family members, he says. it took his business. it sickened him, his wife, who was then four months pregnant, and two of his kids. >> i feel very incompetent. a man that -- not being able to go back to where it was. i lost my dad. it's very hard. it's hard. >> reporter: he doesn't know how they contracted the virus. they wore masks and used sanitizer constantly. it swept through his family in may. his father fought the virus for months. >> my dad, unfortunately, you know, he passed away on september 11th in my arms at 3:30 in the morning. it was very hard because we did everything together. 42 years being by his side. >> reporter: his mother is home and still fighting the effects of the virus. now, he spends his days shuttling her to hospital visits, helping his wife, now eight months pregnant, dealing with an ever-increasing pile of bills, all this with

miguel marquez is live in detroit. miguel, michigan is so important. >> reporter: all roads lead through michigan. officials say as many as 5 million michiganders will vote in this election and more than two thirds of the votes will be in before election day because they have absentee mail-in balloting here. they also say if you want your vote to count today do not mail it in, drop it off at a clerk's office or at a drop box around the state. that's the surest way to make sure that your vote will count on election day. polls here have biden consistently up, the latest abc news "washington post" poll has him at 51%, the president at 44%. he is up over 50%, significant, that's something neither candidate could do back in 2016. that same poll, the pandemic here ascendant, people very concerned about it, the caseload is up here across michigan as well. who do you trust to handle the pandemic? 53 for biden, 39 for president trump, he just whoops the president on the pandemic here. the president was here in michigan already,

. >> miguel marquez reporting. to pennsylvania where mail-in voting has hit a snag in one county.e? >> reporter: wolf, we have a little bit of a mystery around some missing ballots in butler county, pennsylvania. earlier this week officials said they sent out around 40,000 ballots and just over 21,000 returned. they've received 10,000 phone calls for people saying they applied and haven't received them. people could be calling more than once so they're not sure how many might be missing. the post office says it's not aware of any ballots that have gone missing and union officials in butler county say they don't have any record of the ballots arriving at the post office and being scanned in. this is something pennsylvania officials are taking very seriously. they've been in touch with the post office and they have been scanned looking for these missing ballots. in the meantime they are focused on telling you can still vote, go to your elections office, request a replacement ballot and of course you can still show up on election day. >> severe weather has certainly complicated early

. >> reporter: i'm miguel marquez.today joe biden's in the date -- the trump kids, tiffany and eric are here, and betsy devos is here. the president was here earlier, the vice president was here. the president will be back here a friday, and president obama and joe biden will hold their first joint appearance here a saturday. people who would have mailed in their ballots normally are now being told to drop them off at places like this, drop boxes across the state. this one in detroit. it is going to be hard fought all the way through to election day. >> i'm bill weir in madison, 1.6 million absentee ballots already in. another quarter million o outstanding, though some may have changed their mind and will show up. the ground game for republicans got more complicated today whether the state gop announced they had been taken by an online phishing scam, with someone with familiarity with how the operation was working made off with $2.3 million and they're cooperating with the fbi. brianna? >> my goodness, the wisconsin go

let's begin in michigan, miguel marquez joins us there this morning. good morning, miguel. >> reporter: good morning there. so, look, 10,704 votes, that's what donald trump won michigan by in 2016. both sides now fighting for the state very, very hard. the president will be in the state twice this week, joe biden will be in the state, the vice president will be in the state, jill biden will be in the state. the secretary of state here expects about 5 million voters to come out in this election. they believe that about two thirds of that vote will already be in by election day. they don't do early voting here but they do mail-in balloting and people have been mailing those votes in. they are now suggesting that if you want to get your vote in and make sure it counts that you don't mail it in but take it to your clerk's office or drop box somewhere and drop it off across michigan right now. there was a setback for democrats, the secretary of state tried to ban guns in the state at polling places but a judge reversed that after republicans sued saying that

miguel marquez joins us now. who else is popping into michigan today? >> reporter: jill biden today, but tiffany and eric trump, the vice president was here yesterday, donald trump was here two days ago. the president will be back in oakland county, north of detroit, a county hillary clinton won in 2016 by about eight points, and then joe biden and barack obama will appear for the first time together in michigan on saturday. the secretary of state says that they expect about 5 million votes to be cast in this election. they expect about two thirds of those will be in before election day, and because of concerns about the mail, they say if you want to vote, this is the way to do it. these guys have been out here all day collecting ballots at the detroit department of elections. they make sure that people have signed their ballots and they can drive through and drop it off. this is the best way to get your vote in if you don't want to vote in person on election day. but that is still a choice, voting in person on election day. both campaigns working this

cnn's miguel marquez and bill weir are in two of those states this morning. let's begin with miguel in michigan outside of today's rally for president trump. miguel, this will be the first of three rallies taking place across the midwest today. who are we going to see out there and where? >> reporter: yeah, this is oakland, michigan, this is just north of detroit, the all important suburbs, right, in 2018 during the midterms the suburbs were so important. tons and tons of votes here. it's interesting the president comes to this county because he lost this county to hillary clinton in 2016. i want to show you how big the crowd is right now, it's several hours before the president gets here, it is very, very cold out, and there are hundreds and hundreds of trump supporters out here waiting for him right now. vice president -- he will then make two other stops across the midwest, vice president biden and barack obama will appear tomorrow in michigan as well, gives you a sense of just how critical this state is for both campaigns. state says that about 5 million m

to check things next door to the east, let's go to miguel marquez, in michigan. >> reporter: we are inounty, just north of detroit. this is the suburbs, the all important suburbs, donald trump is oakland county today a rally. this is a place that hillary clinton won in 2016, donald trump won the state by 10,704 votes. it is a place where joe biden and barack obama will appear in their first joint appearance as well tomorrow. early voting going on very, very heavily here mostly by mail. this line behind me, these are people coming in to do early voting in person. you have to go to your clerk's office, there is a line, but you can do it. that's how motivated many voters are here. another place where voters are motivated, pennsylvania. that's where we find our colleague, sarah murray. sarah? >> reporter: i'm in west chester, pennsylvania, one of those philadelphia suburbs a place the president needs to stop the bleeding in addition to running up the numbers in red states more than 2 million voters in pennsylvania have sent in their mail-in ballots here it's more than 115,000 they can't st

>> reporter: miguel marquez, cnn, michigan. >> thank you so much all of you for joining us. you can watch it any time anywhere, you can go to cnn.com/go. "360" starts right now. >> good evening, this is a busy night except busy does not begin to cover it. we see the president tweeting that twitter shutdown the entire service. we learned from two sources that authorities are investigating for potential ties to russia of information of campaign. we learned larry hogan casts his ballot for ronald reagan. we watch another republican of the president chris christie singles out what he called the white house's cavalier attitude words kcoronavirus. the president's chief of staff john kelly told friends that donald trump is the most flawed person he ever met. here is the rest of what general kelly said "the depth of his distdi dishonesty is astounding to me. he's the most flawed person i ever met in my life." >> that's part of the picture and more than 8 million americans contracted the coronavirus and the death toll is approaching 220,000. today in florida here is what the presiden

. >> reporter: miguel marquez in detroit, michigan. the great lakes state is very much in play.o we know? the number of candidates and surrogates in the state this week. today alone, jill biden, tiffany trump, eric trump, betsy devos, those last three for the president. the president was here earlier in the week, the vice president was here yesterday. the president is back on friday. then barack obama and joe biden having the first event together in michigan on saturday. if you want to get your vote in here, it is no longer safe to mail it in says officials here. this is the way to do it. drop boxes across the state. put that ballot in. officials expect the vast majority, two-thirds of votes to be in by election day. >> reporter: kyung lah in phoenix, arizona. we are getting a week at the early vote count. i am in maricopa county elections department. what you're looking at here, one of the many machines that are scanning the early vote. 1.3 million votes already processed. 2.1 million have been requested. that's 60% of early ballots that have been processed that were requested.

. >> reporter: i'm miguel marquez in oakland county, michigan, a big suburban county, lots of votes hereme voters already lining up to vote. they can do in-person absentee vote if you really want to do it in person, you can do it, but it takes a bit of doing. donald trump is in oakland county today. in a little bit, interestingly enough, he lost oakland county in 2016 and went on to win the state by 10,000-plus votes. joe biden and barack obama will appear together in michigan tomorrow, the first joint appearance. both sides trying to change the math here in michigan in the last few days and win this state. >> reporter: i'm bill weir in madison, wisconsin, where the line starts over here, goes past the mexican restaurant, the laundry and the martial arts studio way down there. 100 people or so in line here. 1.75 million ballots or so already cast in this key battleground state. they expect at least a million and a half more to show up. the president will be in green bay today, making up a cancellation from when he had covid. he's trying to shore up that blue collar vote up north. joe bid

cnn's miguel marquez joins us now with a remarkable story. miguel?hn, look, other than family members who have lost loved ones, it is those front line workers that have really born the brunt of this pandemic. we spoke to one nurse who has lost family members, who knows just how tough it is to fight this pandemic, both at work and at home. julia jiminez, a front line worker in the fight against the coronavirus. >> and sometimes i do go to the break room and i take everything off and break down and start crying. i do that a lot. >> jiminez is part of a family of health care workers. her mother, cousins, aunts, all working as nurses or in hospital administration. she's lived mainly in hotels since march, isolated from her parents and son, worried about their health and economic well-being. >> what is the level of stress in your life? >> i don't know. i don't sleep very well. i'm very, very stressed. it's -- it's not an easy time. >> on a scale of one to ten, if ten's the worth? >> i'm at 11. >> reporter: stressed at work, stressed at home, stressed seei

let's go to miguel marquez, in michigan. >> reporter: indeed. from the sunshine state to great lakes state here in michigan. look, this one is just as hard fought as florida. today alone, you have joe biden in town, eric and tiffany trump, betsy devos in town. the president has been here once this week. the vice president was here yesterday. the president will be back friday, tomorrow. and joe biden and barack obama will hold an event here saturday. the first time they hold an event in michigan together. if you want to get your vote in, officials say, this is the way to do it. drop off the absentee mail in vote now at a drop box across the state or county clerk. that's the best way to get it in. they expect 5 million to vote in this election. they expect two-thirds of those votes to be in by election day. another hard fought state, wisconsin, where we find our colleague, bill weir. bill? >> reporter: migel, breaking news from wisconsin comes from the republican party who says that someone with knowledge of the campaigns inner workings hacked int

. >> reporter: i'm miguel marquez in michigan where officials expect around 5 million votes to be castem, about two-thirds, will be in before election day. michigan will be hard fought. remember, donald trump won this state by 10,704 votes back in 2016. many of the candidates and surrogates will be here this week. one big concern here across the state are guns, guns at the polls. the secretary of state ruling they could not be brought into polling places. that's been challenged in court. we expect to have that court ruling before election day as to whether or not people can bring open carry or concealed weapons into polling places. >> reporter: i'm kim lah in phoenix, arizona. today is the day election officials say you need to put your ballot in the mail to ensure it's going to be counted. after today, they recommend that you do this. drive up to an early voting site, deliver it in person or drop it into a drop box. that ensures that it will be counted. here in maricopa county, 1.1 million ballots have already been counted and signature verified. arizona's secretary of state calls the

miguel marquez, cnn, phoenix. >> absolutely heartbreaking. no one can watch that and not be moved.ins now. >>> as you look at the president's third night on his super spreader tour. think about this. the minnesota department of health reports it now traces 16 cases of covid to the president's trip there last month. it is clear that the president does not care of the virus spreading at his rallies. the question tonight has the president decided to go for so-called immunity. the idea simply put is let as many healthy people to catch the virus. it is not as new idea. he once said he rejects it. he seems to let many of his

a cnn's miguel marquez reports. >> i'm martha mcsally. >> reporter: it's the combat fighter pilot. >>rly voting now under way across the grand canyon state. why is the senate so important? >> well, first of all, i believe that with this thing it has done with accepting the things that donald trump has done to the country and looking the other way is unacceptable. >> reporter: what draws you to senator mcsally? >> just, i mean, honestly, it's just who i've been following for a long time and yeah, she does support trump and that's something big into because i do support trump as well. >> reporter: the contest to fill the last two years of the later senator john mccain's term, his legacy in long-running feud with the president, a presence in the race. >> to hear senator mcsally not stick up for senator john mccain when the president of the united states is attacking him. >> did you not stick up for senator mccain? >> quite frankly, it pisses me off when he does it. >> i launched on july 14 of 2006, gabby thought i was going to propose from space. >> reporter: husband to former gabby giff

miguel marquez is "outfront." >> reporter: it's the combat fighter pilot -- >> i'm mark kelly -- >> reporterearly voting now under way across the grand canyon state. >> why is the senate so important? >> l, i believe that -- accepting what donald trump has done to the country and looking the other way is unacceptable. >> what draws you to senator mcsally? >> i mean, just, honestly, it's who i've been following for a long time, and, yeah, she does support trump and that's something that i'm big into because i do support trump as well. >> reporter: the contest to fill the last two years of the late senator john mccain's term. his legacy and long-running feud with the president a presence in the race. >> to hear senator mcsally not stick up for senator john mccain when the president of the united states is attacking him -- >> did you not stick up for senator mccain. >> quite frankly, it pisses me off when he does it. >> july 4 of 2006, gaby thought i was going to propose from space. >> reporter: kelly, husband to former congresswoman gaby giffords who was seriously wounded in a mass shooting. >