let me start with you, trymaine.t you're hearing and seeing. >> after the marathon during the general election and the sprint to the runoff, there was the sprint about enthusiasm and excitement. i don't know if you canbo e see behind me, this has been going all day long. organizers and voting rights. you see this. they are getting busy. they're making sure that folks s -- if you don't know wh the di is, there is a party at the polls. so many people, certainly there are policy concerns. and it's clarity about who they want to vote for. it's about more than policy issues, about reproductive rights and health care and the economy. it'slt bigger than that. now i spoke to a bunch of voters today about what drove them to the polls, the mission they're on, and here's what they had to say.po we don't have -- we don't have the sound? any way, what you would have heard -- >> we'll find it. go ahead. >> no, they're so driven. you talk about the difference between these two candidates where they see one man, raphael warnock for

let's bring in nbc reporter trymaine lee live outside of a polling place in atlanta. it's good to see you this morning. set up the day for our viewers, if you would. >> reporter: good morning, willie. this is a big day, certainly, with this truncated time frame between the midterm and runoff. folks have been amped up on this full sprint to this day right here. as you mentioned, herschel walker is hoping for a big turnout, but so is senator rafael warnock. i talked to him yesterday, he's saying, folks, don't get excited about those same day -- those early voting records, you have to come out. so organizers, the voting advocates like these here, these folks here in southwest atlanta are having a party at the polls. they want folks to show up and show out and, again, despite that enthusiasm and excitement that they experienced last week they're still out here. so, you know, polls open this morning at 7:00 a.m., there was a line out here at this polling place, it's a library, but, again, folks are excited, free food, fee coffee and organizations are trying to make sure fo

trymaine as vaughn said and as we said, the walker team has so far not responded to this. we reached out multiple times. what is he doing today on the campaign trail? what's he doing? what's warnock doing? >> both of these candidates are pushing into their base of core voters. herschel walker even with the latest allegations swirling around, took a last-minute bus trip to rural north georgia to lean into his supporters there. and raphael warnock is pushing into the communities that helped him win the special election in 2021, working class voters, young voters, black voters so he started off the day at a u.p.s. distribution center and talked about workers right and workers dignity and needs the union to stand behind him. and here we are at georgia tech university where he just left a rally and talking to leaning into their concern for young people that progress isn't happening enough and they're impatient and likened himself to when he was young, and fighting for rights, and the way to many young people stood up in the wake of george floyd's death. and later today, raphael

we're hearing concerns like that, but that's the extent of it. >> trymaine lee in atlanta.ou. >>> almost the entire country is experiencing high levels of the flu right now. take a look at this map. the states in red are reporting high flu activity. the states in purpose reporting very high activity. keep in mind we're a few weeks away from winter and the peak flu season. perry russom is in chicago where they're feeling the impact of the tripledemic. perry, how does this flu season compare to previous ones? >> reporter: the alarming number is the hospitalization rate. the cdc saying the hospitalization rate for the flu hasn't been this high in a decade. they're pointing to how soon the flu season has started. the cdc has been releasing some of these eye-popping numbers. since october 1st, 8.7 million illnesses and 4,500 deaths. last year 5,000 people died from the flu in the entire flu season. >> let's talk about rsv. the cdc director rochelle walensky says cases remain high, but there are signs its peaked in many parts of the u.s. you spoke with a pediatric doctor. what is

msnbc's trymaine lee, thank you for joining us from atlanta earlier today. >>> the trump organizationnow guilty of tax fraud. the company is accused of lining top executives' pockets with benefits off the books. nbc news capitol hill correspondent garrett haake has more. >> reporter: guilty on all counts, a jury convicted two of trump's businesses on 17 counts including conspiracy and tax fraud after 11 hours of deliberation. the case pushing back more than a decade. >> this is a case about lying, of cheating. false occupants, for the gain of abating taxes, and the gain of individuals in the corporation. they've now been held accountable, in a court of law. >> reporter: the verdict marking the first ever criminal conviction of one of former president trump's companies. the case centered around what prosecutors describe as a sweeping 13-year tax fraud scheme by the trump organization, with former trump organization cfo allen weisselberg, the star witness. weisselberg who pled guilty to tax evasion charges in exchange for a five-month sentence received a rent-free apartment, expensive c

nbc's trymaine lee has more. >> 78-year-old harvey matthews grew up on a small farm in bethesda, marylande my dad planted, when i was about nine years old. >> back then, most families in the surrounding area were black, descended from newly emancipated african americans who settled here after the civil war, for nearly a century they prospered but in the decks to come, most of it would be a race to the name of progress, just not theirs. >> developers came in, and driving us away from home. and as they did that, the community got smaller and smaller. >> today, the farm where matthew grew up is a strip mall, anchored by whole foods. >> it is hard to believe that this community that you grew up in is now this? >> yes, because it's hard, this was home at one time. and now it is anything else but that. >> down river road, the 102-year-old moses macedonia baptist church wedged between a bank and a high rise, is the last visible remnant of the once thriving black community. marcia coleman edebyo is the pastor's wife. >> everyone asks me, what is this little black church doing in the middle of dow

. >>> marc, let me get to you before we get to trymaine, how you see these allegations, as vaughn notes, the denials from walker relate to the abortion allegations that were made here, in the general campaign, and he still was able to get to a runoff here with raphael warnock. can you talk through any of the kind of limited polling that we've seen from georgia, where things stand in this race. >> yes, well, we're, where things stand right now, this is a really competitive and close contest, even with some polls now showing raphael warnock ahead of herschel walker, although within the margin of error, but we are in the stage right now, where there's perfect information for georgia voters. we've seen, as vaughn was just chronicling, allegation after allegation, against herschel walker, and whether it was allegations of domestic abuse, or allegations that he asked former girlfriends to have abortions. also, we have seen the republicans hurl accusations at raphael warnock including from his ex-wife, and with the hundreds of millions of dollars on tv air waves, all of the coverage, including

and of course, most trymaine, thanks to tonight's host padma lakshmi. thank you.eah let's give them a round of applause. thank for so graciously helping us celebrate books. thanks so much to this year's national book awards. judges who read and read and read in order to select this year's honored authors. the finalists that were celebrating tonight. and a special thank and welcome to judges and past and winners from 2020 and 2021, many of whom are also joining us here in presenting person. we owe endless thanks to our esteemed board directors. it's an honor. serve with all of you. and of course, none of this would be possible. the small but mighty staff of the national book foundation and the leadership of executive director ruth dickey. thank you, ruth. thanks so much, david. i'm so grateful. get to work with you and our incredible and alongside the amazing of team book. huge thanks to team book two jordan smith, meredith andrews. meg tansey. natalie green. alia. amanda. julianna lee marino. anya clippers. emily lovett. and a special huge thank you to our awards

let's go back to jerj georgia now to trymaine lee where the party is still going on at a get out thestreet from a polling place in atlanta. even though polls are closed, it looks like things are still happening. >> rachel, it's election night. the party won't be over for a long time, until folks have an answer about the senate race here. you think georgia is poised to elect its first black senator for a full-time term ever in history. what got georgia purple was a lot of organizing. i want to bring in one of those organizers, debra scott. what has it taken, all the work to organize voters around these very critical elections? >> it really took the effort of a lot of coalition people working together, coalition organizations working together. and it really took door knocking. knocking on doors, talking to people and having those one-on-one conversations at the doors and at events and asking people, what do they care about? and making sure they understand that these issues are really about them and that they really have the power. it's about who is going to serve you best. so we began