theories out there is one of the reasons you heard beshear mention this in his speech, his father steve beshear, the former governor he did very well in those areas, and it might have been in part, the beshear family name might have reassured some of these voters and brought them back into the democratic fold. trump had that speech, trump coming into kentucky. these were exactly the kind of places he thought he was going to fire up. bevin needed to do better in coal country. >> steve, thank you very much. we're going to go live now to nbc news vaughn hilliard at beshear headquarters in louisville. vaughn, what's the reaction there? >> reporter: yeah, steve said it. throughout the night all of a sudden as these numbers were coming in, they were slowly something in there, i was talking with steve and the campaign was saying eastern iowa may be saving us right now. these are largely small counties so incremental numbers. when you're looking at places where trump by 24%, if you look at the 2015 numbers, for the 2019 numbers bevin lost maybe 4 percentage points. but what that said about that is the

steve beshear was a national leader. he took uninsurns down in his state down from 21% down to 8% or 7%. >> by embracing the expansion. >> and that was upon lar. so being dogmatic on this issue for republicans didn't work. it could be praebs being dogmatic could take the republicans off the hook. >> the davids always give us deep analysis and i thank them both on the show and dana bash but politically it has big questions around it. how doesy see tonight. tom perez on a big night. what does it mean next. ♪ ♪ all around the wind blows ♪ we would only hold on to let go ♪ ♪ blow a kiss into the sun ♪ we need someone to lean on ♪ blow a kiss into the sun ♪ we needed somebody to lean on ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ all we need is someone to lean on ♪ they're america's bpursuing life-changing cures. in a country that fosters innovation here, they find breakthroughs... like a way to fight cancer by arming a patient's own t-cells... because it's not just about the next breakthrough... it's all the ones after that. wheyou want relief... fast. only th

that democrats want to do, that is a promising route for them. >> i'm glad you mentioned the name steve beshear there because a reporter on the scene was saying he was picking up from some of andy beshear's folks tonight that they felt perhaps one of the reasons they performed so well in t the rura counties was the beshear name, the memory of his father that made some of the voters a little more comfortable checking off the democratic name on the ballot. david corn, we're talking so much kentucky here. i do want to just get to you on one of the other states. virginia, it seems to be the completion of a long-term story here. virginia has transitioned from republican state toas swing sta to justic a full-fledged blue state. >> yeah, because now the democrats control the b governorship and both houses of the state legislature. and it's been a big -- it's a background state in battleground state in a lot of ways. places you have the nra that has pumped in money. lumps with taken its internal controversies, but it did try to put a lot of money into these races in its home state because it's based in

steve beshear's son -- andy beshear. andy is the attorney general, as you know. his father, when he was governor of kentucky, one of the most effective health-care exchanges in the country, and when matt bevin got elected, he broke it. people saw that. i firmly believe you cannot govern effectively if you have to hate everybody you disagree with. that's what matt bevin's m.o. was. that's what scott walker's m.o. was. what you saw yesterday was a great candidate, a great organization competing everywhere. in wisconsin, tony ebert's not only did better in milwaukee and madison, but across the state. about a quarter of the gain was in milwaukee and madison. the rest was all across the state. we competed everywhere and when we were competitive everywhere. same thing in kentucky. it wasn't only louisville and lexington, although we ran up the score there. we did well in areas where bevin had done well four years ago. in coal country, we won a number of counties, competing in rural parts of the state. when you are in every zip code candidate and your message resonates

obamacare, the waivers were on the ballot. >> absolutely, bevin really worked to undo the work of steve beshear, a southern governor -- >> andy beshear's father. >> andy beshear's father. he had a very good program but also did a medicaid expansion into kentucky. bevin worked to undo that. that was a central issue. in those counties, this is a big question for democrats, in those counties can they get back some voters on kitchen table issues. even in the midterms, democrats did better in rural counties, significantly in many states really focusing on aca expansion and issues like teacher pay, very kitchen table issues. i think there are important lessons to take away. the other thing i could say, again, is, bevin was uniquely unpopular. he was a very polarizing figure who worked to take away health care benefits and go after teachers. not so dissimilar from how a lot of people see donald trump. >> and elise jordan, in your home state of mississippi, if i'm correct that that's your home state, there was a very different result, because the republican won handily and that was more true to what co

this is a campaign that andy beshear -- steve beshear was the father of andy beshear, and to note, was the governor before matt bevin here. when you're looking at these two candidates, you have essentially two different personalities. you had matt bevin, who is much more of a trumpian figure, somebody who is brash, somebody who turned a lot of people off across the state, particularly when he was talking about issues like education. there was protests among teachers here across the state over pension reform, and he went out of his way to say that they were throwing temper tantrums. and you know, when you were hearing and talking to folks, there was a very real possibility you're talking to republicans that were thinking of voting for andy beshear. i wanted you to hear from the candidates yesterday, because matt bevin was relying largely on the support of president trump. of course, the president was here monday night. and if you looked at the television ads, it was pretty much trump, trump impeachment, and trump. and i asked him about that yesterday. you're going to hear from matt bevi

i want to thank my mom and dad, jane and steve beshear, for their love and support, their service, their amazing service they gave to this commonwealth. [ cheers and applause ] tonight i want to say thank you to our union families that helped make this election happen. [ cheers and applause ] i want to thank the f.o.p., the fraternal order of police. i want to thank our educators. >> while he's thanking the educators, because the educators are the ones who helped to propel him to this, at least perceived to be the winner there. he is declaring victory. cnn has not called it yet. the secretary of state has called it. i want to bring in a guy who knows everything about politics and that is mr. john king. john, i find myself -- we find ourselves in an interesting position here because he is declaring victory. the secretary of state declaring victory as well. matt bevin, who is the current governor, is saying he is not yet ready to concede. >> so we will let this -- we're very cautious here at cnn, don, so we'll let the process play out. but the math is the math, and as they say the numbers

this democratic party used to rein in kentucky and there was one name steve beshear, that would be the father of andy beshear. what you see in those numbers so far -- >> vaughn, i never like to interrupt anybody for any reason, but we have a collin this race that andy beshear -- andy beshear according to nbc news is the apparent winner in kentucky. that is brand new declaration with 99% of the vote in, and a difference of 6,251 votes between the two candidates. vaughn, again i apologize to you for interrupting to you while you were talking to us but as this news filters out to people there i imagine things may go a little nuts. >> reporter: well, also we haven't got that announcement on stage yet, but i think this is going to spawn the conversation about this republican party today, rachel. earlier today i had the chance to talk with matt bevan. for anyone who listened to his campaign speeches or listened to his tv speeches here it's been about donald trump, impeachment and donald trump. essentially he's tried to nationalize this race. as you look at andy beshear he talked about educat

his dad, steve beshear, was kentucky's last governor.ernor bevin has also hurt himself with some key groups in kentucky. nd>> united we sor schools and teachers. >> brangham: ipr2018, teachers ested education and pension funding. govern bevin suggested that with schools closed because of the walkout, some children risked being sexually assaulted. he also called protesting teachers "selfish" and" ignorant." it's all me bevin one of the most unpopular incumbents in the nation. >> this is about making sure they show up on tuesday. >> brangham: is driven many teachers and other state employees to work hard to unseat bevin. this gathering, largely made up of educators in the len area, were getting ready to canvass voters forndy beshear. >> they are trying to make it ow, andye that, you is a socialist. let me tell you, if you can fi a socialist, a full, like, you know, like through-the-core socialist in the state of kentucky, i will kiss your hind end. >> brangham: these volunteers, mostly democrats, but also a few republicans, said there was

they understood that steve beshear built one of the best health-care exchanges in the united states. people were getting access to quality, affordable health care, and matt bevin made it worse. donald trump is doing the same thing. on impeachment, they tried to nationalize the kentucky race. there were unsuccessful. and they were unsuccessful because voters got to the polls and they said, who is going to help me? who has my back? matt bevin had four years of a record, and it was a record that was abysmal. people couldn't trust him. we have a president at 1600 pennsylvania who is in the same boat. there have now been three elections, 2017, 2018, 2019 every single election has been a repudiation of trumpism, the politics of division. we have seen it, the politics that says no, you can't have health care, the politics that says we are going to help people like donald trump at the expense of everyone else. i know we have a lot of work to do, but i approach today and every day leading up to the election next year with that same determination, to make sure we are focused on these critical

of course matt bevin, the republican who lost this evening, took over for his father, steve beshear,ho was a popular governor in this state. when you look at matt bevin, essentially, hey, it was 24 hours ago that president trump came to this state for a campaign rally in lexington for matt bevin. matt bevin, if you watch the airwaves, the commercials he was running as well as the republican governor's association, it was essentially donald trump front and center. donald trump was narrating the pieces. you saw pictures of bevin and trump together. this morning i even asked matt bevin why nationalize this race to this extent. and he said, look, voters here in this state care about donald trump, and they want somebody that is going to defend donald trump. i said, i mean, you're not running for the senate. you're not running for the house of representatives. you have no vote on impeachment. yet it was very clear he believed his way to shore up support in this state was in order to ultimately get the backing of donald trump. i mean donald trump in 2016, brian, won this place by 30 percent

andy's father, former governor steve beshear, i had the privilege of working with him. he built one of the most effective healthcare exchanges in america. and under the guise if it ain't broke, break it, that's what matt bevin proceeded to do. andy bevin pointed out, i'm going to fix it and fix the kitchen table issues. and he showed that compassion is not a dirty word for democrats. and that is also the same thing -- >> does it also mean like a moderate message is something that democrats in the presidency should be listening to? >> well, i think the message of values and the message of the democratic party. we believe that everyone should have access to quality affordable healthcare? that's what andy beshear is trying to do in kentucky. that's what democrats running for president are trying to do. we believe the second amendment and correspondence gun violence reduction measures can co-exist. that's how we won if virginia. you may recall there was a special session a few months after the tragic shooting and the republican majority there gavelled it down after 90 minut

course, the attorney general in kentucky but also the son of matt bevin's predecessor, the son of steve beshear. it should also be noted here that governor bevin has yet to concede. the last time we heard from him he said, quote, this is a close, close race. we are not conceding this race by any stretch. we have not seen or heard from matt bevin since that statement. let's bring in rick tyler, msnbc political analyst, tiffany cross, managing editor of the beat d.c., and i wanted to bring back in phillip bailey, reporter at louisville's "courier journal" who joined us to talk about kentucky politics. he joined us yesterday. phillip, how surprised were you by the results last night? >> well, no one was surprised one way or the other. everyone thought matt bevin had the home court advantage, given the white rural state. president trump came in the day before the election really to give governor bevin a boost, but everyone understood that andy beshear, with the name beshear, was known from paducah to pike ville, western to eastern kentucky and had the most energized group of supporters, that would

when you look at this map, this is a 30-percentage makeup that steve beshear is trying to make up in ase. >> he wanted to make this race about health care, local issues. fill in the gaps here. i've not seen any national democrats. does andy beshear talk about national democrats? not many have helped out. it's not what we've seen on the mississippi side of things but you haven't seen a lot of national democrats, have you? >> reporter: no, you haven't seen any of the 2020 democratic presidential candidates here. it's kind of reminiscent of doug jones' alabama run. i talked with steve this morning and said how would you compare your two campaigns and he said he's tried to focus on education, pension reform, jaukz and health care. he's been trying to separate himself from the national party. i talked to a source close to this campaign and looking at the turnout figures and putting a reality check on what this campaign will ultimately see at the ending of this night. what you're seeing from a donald trump turnout and matt bevin tying himself to donald trump, they're seeing high turnout num

butted heads with the teachers and his own lieutenant governor and provided the opportunity for steve beshear him to paint him as a bully. i think his personality has been a little bit -- caused a little friction in kentucky and it may be what is reflected more so than the republican-democrat issue in the race. they aren't conceding and it is very tight. that situation could turn around. >> sandra: holding a news conference by beshear and what we hear from bevin street a big question as well. a lot more to work with by the time your show airs at 7:00 eastern time. thank you. >> bill: thank you, ladies, fox news alert on the link to the brutal murders of nine americans in northern mexico. a suspect was found holding hostages. three women and six children were left dead. >> we don't know if it was -- if they were targeted or just caught in the crossfires of a war over territory between the two cartels. we don't know a whole lot of the specifics. we just know that so far that nine are dead, nine of our family members. >> bill: william la jeunesse has the story. what do you you have? >> there are

beshear. >> and, steve, real quick, virginia results tonight. >> i think we have a graphic. here we go the house of delegates -- democrats were trying to flip the state senate. effectively there was a vick and is he here. the associated press right now, according to the associated press, the associated press has called the house of delegates for the democrats. control for the delegates on the state senate side again. it was effectively 21 and 20 they've called the assassinate senate in virginia giuliani to to the. >> they have the state senate, the house of representatives and they already have the color. this is the story of washington really making that transformation from red state once to swing state a couple years ago. it turned out to be a consequential election night. remember julie briskman, the virginia woman who was fired for flipping off trump. she was waving at the motorcade but didn't use four of her beginning hers one of the results from the commonwealth of washington tonight. coming up for us, donald trump's old friend and personal lawyer proven to be at the c

. >> laura: and harmeet, you have to remember that andy beshear's dad, steve, was a very popular governori think he won back in 2011 by about 20 points, and get the next year, of course, mitt romney wins in kentucky. the idea that donald trump is going to win huge in kentucky, next year, no doubt about it. nevertheless, the celebration of the regina state houses, both house and the senate and the commonwealth of virginia flipping to democrats tonight, that is a big blow to any thought of turning virginia back to the red state. >> i think that's right, laura, it's going to be a long climb back for virginia. virginia had all three branches controlled by democrats in 1993, so it's not 100 years ago or something, but a combination of factors there. i think the democrats, particularly in the modern era under trump come heavily polarized electorate to the point where they demagogued the president, it's very hard in the suburban areas for the president to win on the capital. further afield, republicans and supporters of the president have been told they are bad people, they are racist, bigots, e

steve: thank you very much. andy beshear has declared he won and matt bevins the current incumbent says it's too close to call. although the secretary of state did call the race for beshear last night, does not believe the difference can be made up. i was reading in one. local papers in kentucky says the republican senate president robert stifers told reporters last night that a joint session of the kentucky general assembly may eventually be used to decide the winner because it's so close. and different provisions may kick in that have not been used in kentucky in 120 years. ainsley: the president said he helped some of those republicans win. one of those was that republican daniel cammeron the first african-american to hold that seat as a.g. in that state ever. also the first republican to have that seat since 1948. he was the former top aide to mitch mcconnell. brian: that was the first state the president had declared won he won and most likely win again in 2020 by a wide margin. he point out as brad parscale says the sa

steve kornacki. what's going on? >> we said beshears out of lexington and the louisville areas. the question is can he hang on as the rural parts came in. when we last left you his lead is 31,000. you can see it's down to less than 13,000. it's going to drop further we think because you can see just counting the gray here. one, two, three, four, five. five counties. these are basically rural counties, republican counties that haven't reported anything yet so you can expect just from those five when they come in that number will drop. just got a little more in. when those five come in this will shrink further, probably inside of 10,000, maybe more. there are also some other counties. you can see there's bits and pieces still to come in. i'm looking around here, but bits and pieces coming in from some of these other republican counties. so chances here for bevin to eat into it. there's a sliver, a sliver of jefferson county left. this could endi up being crucia. 96% of jefferson county, but 4% in a county as big as jefferson could offset

steve kornacki. >> all right. rachel, let's begin in kentucky. andy beshear, you just mentioned it the democrat taking out the incumbent matt bevin. this a big trump state in 2016. he won it by 30 points. he was there the other night trying to get matt bevin across the finish line. why did bevin fall short? why was beshear able to win? a couple of factors that went into this. number one, in the democratic areas of kentucky, there are not many democratic areas in kentucky, but in the democratic areas that do exist, the turnout, the support level for beshear was through the roof. look at this. the margin of victory here for beshear over bevin in this county, 100,000, almost 100,000-vote difference here. some context here. the last time around when bevin got elected in 2015, the democratic margin in this country was just 37,000. it exploded from 37,000 up to 100,000. you saw a similar dynamic, fayette county, where lexington is. the university of kentucky. 36,000-vote difference there. only 10,000 for the democrat in the last gubernatorial election. that helped

steve kornacki. >> all right, rachel, let's begin in kentucky. andy beshear, you just mentioned it, the democrat taking out matt bevin the incumbent republican. obviously the backdrop this a big trump state in 2016. he won it by 30 points. he was there the other night trying to get matt bevin across the finish line. why did bevin fall short? why was beshear able to win? it there are a couple of things to talk about here, a couple of factors went into this. number one was in the democratic areas of kentucky, there are not many democratic areas of kentucky but in the democratic areas that do exist the turnout, the support level for beshear was through the roof. let me show you what i mean. jefferson county, louisville, city of louisville is their biggest county in the state by far. look at this. the margin for victory for beshear over bevin almost 100,000 vote difference here. in some context here, the last time around when bevin got elected in 2015, the democratic margin in this county was just 37,000. so it exploded from 37,000 up to 100,000. you saw a simila

steve, ainsley and brian. good morning. start in kentucky officials there not yet calling the governor's race. democratic attorney general andy beshearng victory. republican incumbent matt bevin not yet conceding though. bevin got a boost from president trump on

steve, what are you watching for tonight? >> three interesting storylines to keep an eye on. let's start with where the president was last night on the eve of the kentucky gubernatorial election. bevin is seeked reelection, beshearhallenging him. this will test the pull of donald trump. donald trump won kentucky by 30 points in 2016, but matt bevin, republican incumbent, is not a popular governor, his approval rating sits at 34%, this in deeply red kentucky. nationally, bevin, according to morning consult polls, the second least popular governor in america. bevin, running for reelection with that kind of baggage, there's donald trump coming to the state basically saying, hey, kentucky, if you like me then you better be out there voting for matt bevin. can the polarization of the trump era propel bevin to reelection? the most recent polling, this goes back a few weeks, but the most recent polling we've got out of kentucky shows a dead even race. the other big governor's race tonight is in mississippi. interesting story again. deeply red state, and yet this race also looks very close. this is an open state. reeves is the republican governor, hood his democratic challenger. virginia, not a governor's race. the stat

and the results last night that steve kornacki gave us very late last night from the kentucky suburbs of cincinnati were just absolutely left me on the floor. that beshearas just killing bevin in those suburbs that traditionally as recently as the last election went republican. and that is -- if that's not a giant flashing warning sign to republicans in washington, i don't know what would be. i've had recent conversations, even before last night's results with some really savvy republicans in washington who almost take it for granted that they could lose both houses of congress very easily in this coming election, and they're talking about like what it's going to be like in the minority in the senate, and that's not something i would have thought three or four months ago was really in the cards, but you've got to see that as a distinct and very real possibility now. >> absolutely. and before we go to break, "politico's" jake sherman the play book kind of writes itself today. what are you looking at? >> the big thing today is we expect david hale a top person at the state department to come to capitol hill to testify about why -- kind of the whole hullab