Transcripts For MSNBCW Morning Joe 20201103

The presidency that has failed to protect this nation. If you want to be just treated with dignity and respect then im asking you tomorrow to go out and vote for your alltime favorite president. Americas heard and i believe the message should be loud and clear. Its time for donald trump to pack his bags and go home. Some of yesterdays closing arguments by donald trump and joe biden as we have arrived at election day, november 3, 2020. Nbc news data shows nearly 97 Million People have already voted, look at that. Amazing. Thats 71 of the total votes cast in 2016 and millions more are expected to vote today in an election marked by the covid pandemic. And biden will make a final push in the states that trump won. Kamala harris will make a stop in detroit and their spouses will be on the trail. Dr. Jill biden travels to tampa and st. Petersburg, florida and North Carolina and senator harris husband will appear in columbus, ohio. President trump told reporters he expects to travel to his campaigns headquarters in virginia later this morning and two sources familiar with the planning say he will hold an Election Night party for the 400 guests in the white house east room. Were told testing will be required. No word yet on mask wearing at the event. So good morning, everyone. Along with joe, willie and me, we have White House Reporter for the Associated Press, jonathan lemire. Vanderbilts rogers chair and the american presidency, historian jon meacham. And msnbc news capitol hill correspondent and the host of way too early, kasie hunt is with us. What a big day, your thoughts this morning, joe. It is of course a huge day and willie as you know, election mornings how you can tell its election morning, right . Is it the sweater, joe . Yes, exactly. I get the sweater out once every four years, just for election day. Looks really nice. What was the first truman yeah. 48, yeah. Yeah. After that, it was just sort is of a good luck charm and things went from there. Well, listen, sweaters aside a few other things to talk about today. What im struck by, willie, is that from Donald Trumps first day in office, when he talked about talked about american carnage and lied about crowd sizes and really i think he embarrassed a lot of people inside his white house and across the country and immediately called for a quote, muslim ban, which remember very early on shut down airports, shut down large chunks of this country. We had the womens march that sunday and the country really came to a standstill for that weekend. And since that day, people have been waiting almost four years for this moment and obviously a lot of people in Donald Trumps side too that support him wanting to show that they support this extraordinarily divisive president who has been using division to divide america quite successfully over the past four years. But today is the day and my gosh if you just look at the numbers of people who have already voted and you talk to Election Officials in florida, they think theyre going to break all kinds of records. Going over 80 today. Its a remarkable thing, especially in the age of covid when the president s own adviser says things are about to get worse than they have ever been. Yeah, you know, that number the early voting number is astonishing and it is inspiring to see that many people who waited in lines that long. I waited in a fivehour line last tuesday and this morning im coming in to work at 4 30, you see people lined up at their potting places. It is inspiring, how ever youre going to vote but youre right, the country has been through so much in the last four years. You can throw in the Mueller Investigation and the pandemic and most people believe could have been stopped or slowed a long time ago. Well be watching starting as the polls close at 7 00. Down right through. Well look at georgia. Then a little bit well look at florida and then look at North Carolina. Steve kornacki will help us in a minute to see exactly where this race is headed. But its funny you bring up the inauguration day. January 20, 2017, we have literally been in perpetual campaign since that day because thats the day that President Trump file for reelection. About five hours later, he filed with the fec to run again and then on april 25th, joe biden entered the race. Its been a year and a half since then. Its been a Long Campaign and finally we are here on election day. Jonathan lemire, lets go to you and get a sense of where you think the Trump Campaign really actually believes it is right now. We have been talking for the last couple of weeks about them saying, well, the polls were wrong last time and we think theyre wrong again or we think it will be close enough to get it in the courts, particularly in pennsylvania, where President Trump has signalled hell send in lawyers. Do they believe they have a shot to win tonight . By any definition, this was an Election Year unlike any other, but yet, for the president s team, they are acting like its 2016 again. Believing that the president can catch lightning in the bottle and have some late magic to stun the pundits and defy the polls. His team theyre out wardly very confident and inwardly they believe they have a path, but certainly they recognize its an exceedingly narrow one. We know what it is. Its about the sunbelt first. Its about holding on to territory he won four years ago. Georgia, North Carolina, florida and then out west, arizona. Even then, thats not quite enough. He needs to win one of the three great lakes states and his focus largely has been on pennsylvania. He was in wisconsin yesterday. And he had two rallies in michigan including one in grand rapids, his finale just like it was four years ago that started at midnight. It brought to a close his campaign and the phenomenon that is the trump rally. But though his aides have acknowledged, however, both of those states, are long shots that pennsylvania is where they want to do battle and they suggest it could be a legal one. The president has several days in a row been very ominous terms suggested that the Supreme Court decision to allow all of the ballots to be counted after election day would lead he said it would be a quote, dangerous situation. He suggested there would be violence in the streets and theres no evidence of that whatsoever. This has been amount of fear mongering from the president. That is their bet. They can hold serve in the sunbelt and then win it, even if it takes winning in the courts, with pennsylvania. The biden camp though briefly thinks it can do better. They think they can deliver a knockout blow early in the night. Perhaps that is georgia or arizona. Some senior democratic strategists have said keep an eye on texas which would be an extraordinary development. But here we are, voters will go to the polls soon. Well start to see some raw numbers and not have to rely on the campaigns projections. Boy, that is a message that the Biden Campaign sent out to several people quietly last night. Keep an eye on texas. If youre a trump supporter, if youre in the Trump Campaign, you have seen a flurry of negative polls over the past month or so, you would be focusing on two polls that came out over the past few days. One in iowa, a state that was a tossup from the best polling outfit showing donald trump up by seven points and then last night a georgia poll coming out that donald trump is up by four points. Now, i dont usually Pay Attention to one or even two polls, but if youre looking for a trend, that would be a hopeful trend if youre a trump supporter in two swing states. But again, if you talk to both campaigns, they will tell you that georgia is close and i think the Biden Campaign is fairly confident they have got a better than even shot of carrying georgia. And theyre feeling better about florida than they have for some time. Jon meacham, im sure because like me, you grew up a nerd and while other people were outside playing with their friends, we were reading teddy whites the making of the president , 1960. It was an inspiring book that actually got me wanting to read a lot more about politics and you see the opening the opening lines, the beauty, the magic of it. The snow falling gently and dixville i think Dixville Notch. Yeah. Across New Hampshire. He talked about how the process starts magically and it rolls throughout the day and talking about how the working class americans come at their time. More affluent americans at their time and by the end of the day we have a magical process that elects the next president of the United States. This has turned into so many years later an absolute street brawl. It is ugly. It is divisive. Insults are thrown around left and right. But we already have a hundred million voting early and this campaign sounds every bit as ugly and every bit as nasty as the campaign that you opened your book with, Thomas Jefferson about in 1800. Which is to say we have been here before. This isnt the Ugliest Campaign of all time, but a lot is riding on what happens tonight. You are frighteningly close to the bone on the dorky kid inside while cool kids like willie were outside. Good job. Oh, no. I had a minor flash back, so i need a second. Yeah. Teddy white book is those first pages are amazing because white who is a time life writer and really kind of pioneered the narrative of president ial campaigns as arthurian quests and he elevated the whole world we live in some ways was manufactured and created by white because he elevated the advisers, the consultants, became a rolling drama. Interestingly, he starts with this description of us, of the people going to the fire halls and going to the schools. And then i remember given the Economic Times, 60 years ago, the democrats got off the shift at 3 00 or 4 00, working class voters and one of whites lines is if american goes democratic if it goes democratic at all, it goes late in the afternoon. The opposite may be true today, but i think this is certainly the most important president ial election since 1932 and arguably the most important since 1864. So much is at stake and its not hyperbolic. The evidence of our eyes which is what were supposed to follow as americans, were supposed to be shaped by our hearts but we were founded in many ways to actually use our brains, to use our minds and make decisions based on changing facts and changing circumstance. So i think its an incredibly important Inflection Point and the other thing that keeps coming to mind is i woke up this morning thinking about john lewis because ten miles from where im sitting is American Baptist college which is where he came in the fall of 1957. He read about hed read about emmett till, the lynching of him, read about the authoring of lucy, the woman who tried to emigrate to the university of alabama early on and he read about the little rock 9 and he was beginning the journey to the pettus bridge where he and so many others whose names we wont know, who when dont celebrate as much, did something amazing. This is a president ial election unfolding in our native region, joe, that is 52 years ago was the first one that did not unfold under functional apartheid. Only 52 years ago. And so this watching the number of people who are exercising this fundamental right to vote is really inspiring. President obama actually mentioned john lewis in his speech yesterday. Well be playing that for you in just a few minutes, but kasie hunt, you have been talking to your sources all across the map especially in florida and texas. What are you hearing . Yeah, texas i think is worthy of a lot of attention today. And im certainly hearing from democrats that while theyre not 100 sure whats going on there, the early vote totals are so significant, so huge that they know something is happening there and as i talked to republicans, there is a significant chance i think that and my sources are telling me they believe that President Trump may actually be pretty far behind john cornyn whos running for reelection to the senate in texas. That President Trump has a potential real problem in texas. Now, they still are telling me that they think its possible that he pulls this out. I mean, lets remember just how seismic it would be if we were if we are, you know, 12 hours from now talking about texas potentially flipping, going blue to democrats. Its been kind of the white whale for so long, but it really is very much in play, very much in focus. There are a handful of house seats in texas that potentially could flip. And, you know, if in fact this is how things go, we also have been talking about georgia for the last week or so. Some place where some democrats now believe theyre more likely to win than even in florida. Were talking about a historic potential realignment in that region that jon meacham was just referring to across the south. And, you know, to add florida in to that conversation because it will be part of it early in the night, joe knows more than any of us about the dynamics there, but there has been a shift in my among the folks that im talking to on both sides of the aisle. There was a sense over the course of the last i would say ten days that republicans, President Trump had stopped the bleeding, had potentially edged out in front a little bit of joe biden but that trend and remember, yes, we have way more early voting than we really do but momentum really matters on election day. Democrats are feeling better about florida than a couple of days ago. We can give an update. The democrats had a 430,000 vote advantage between Party Registration in the voting that had come in by mail. The absentee ballot votes. Hillary four years ago only had a 90,000 vote advantage which our party differential advantage which translated into 250,000 vote lead when they started counting ballots on election day. But what happened over the last week or so republicans put on an incredible display, cutting into that lead by 50,000 per day until it got down below to where hillary had been four years ago, her 90,000 plus advantages and democrats sort of clawed their way into contention, picked up 10,000 voters on saturday and sunday and they picked up another 10,000 so that differential is up 10,000. They believe they may pick up another 10,000 or 15,000 a day and they have a 35,000 party differential between what Hillary Clinton had four years ago. Democrats believe that along with the combination of doing much better with the third party nonparty affiliated others that will be 2. 5 million votes, they believe all that combined means they have a better than even shot of picking up florida. Now, listen, they think they can win it by 30,000, 40,000 votes and in florida, a land slide is 100,000 votes which is less than a percent, but democrats are feeling pretty good so long as the turnout doesnt go above 76 , so long as it doesnt take the 1. 5 million number that both democrats and republicans are looking at. So well be looking at quite a few things tonight as were reviewing the data. At 11. 5 million number would be outrageous. Beyond extraordinary. The good news is well know about that early vote in florida. Its one of the states we can count on having the vote banked and counted. They know how to do it. So well have a sense of florida that leads us well into the National Political correspondent and nbc news and msnbc news steve kornacki. You were born for days like this, steve kornacki. So lets set up the day for people tuning in and waking up and a viewers guide and which ones youre watching tonight. Lets take a look here. This is sort of the big battleground here. What i mean well look at it from two percentages. First of all, where are the states, are there any states where donald trump thinks he can flip blue states that Hillary Clinton won in 2016 . There are three that Trump Campaign has been talking about. New hampshire, minnesota and nevada. And you have to say going in to the night the burden is on trump to show that he really has a shot in these states as the votes come in because the polling definitely in New Hampshire, in minnesota, to a lesser extent nevada, the polling though has put biden ahead in all of the states. New hampshire is first one of these well get a readout from. We want to see tonight are there any blue states from 2016 that are not going to be biden states in 2020 . The polling suggests donald trump has an uphill fight in all of them. If they stay blue, biden starts out where Hillary Clinton finished in 2016, and that leaves the battleground that is filled with states that donald trump carried in 2016 and where hes playing defense in 2020 trying to stay at or above 270 electoral votes. You talked about at the top of all of the battleground states which two are Donald Trumps poll numbers right now the worst, where is he facing the biggest and most persistent gaps . Its these two states right here. Its wisconsin and it is michigan. That has continued to tend of this campaign. If you look at the polling averages, trump faces the biggest gaps right here thats why you have so much attention on pennsylvania. If donald trump is not able to pick up wisconsin or michigan, and is not able to flipfully states that Hillary Clinton carried in 2016, now were looking at this as a battleground. Lets go into the night with that in mind. You mentioned florida. 7 00 p. M. Most of florida, not the panhandle but the rest of florida well get the returns from there. North carolina a lot like florida, tons of early votes, they process and get out an early vote. I think we can get a lot of results from North Carolina. Georgia, there may be some delays here in getting vote reported out in the core democratic area, atlanta and the surrounding area, that might be later reporting. See how that goes with georgia, ohio, 7 30. Early voting state, mail vote processing early and what this sets up in the first three or four hours of Election Night are a series of make or break tests for donald trump in states he carried in 2016. States where the polling as you have been talking about is very shaky for him. If hes unable to flip any blue states from 2016, and if hes unable to pull off a hail mary pass in a wisconsin or a michigan, then all five of the states, any one of them would be an elimination contest. Look if he were to lose georgia for instance, biden would be over 270. That would be true if he were to lose florida. Florida in fact would biden a bit of a pass. He can still lose wisconsin and hed still be at 270. Its elimination contests essentially for donald trump in the early hours. Now, if he can fight his way through those early hours and win the states were talking about here, the next big test for trump well, two big tests come. One is the second Congressional District of nebraska. It is essentially omaha, metropolitan omaha. This is an area that trump won by three points in 2016. Remember, they give them out by Congressional Districts in nebraska. Democrats have felt very, very bullish about this district because of the demographics. The next test then would become arizona and if the democrats are getting nebraska too and if trump has survived all five states we talked about here, arizona is an elimination contest. Because that plus nebraska would also get joe biden there. So you see it, tonight trump has got to win state after state after state to stay alive. If he does, we can Start Talking about pennsylvania. Mustwin pennsylvania. Hes got to get through donald trump does all of the other states to bring it down to pennsylvania. If hes able to bring it down to pennsylvania thats the state where we expect to have the slow count, the mailin ballots that could take days. It could take a while, but Donald Trumps got a lot of work to do before he can get there. So, steve, it seems before every election there are one or two states that get a lot of buzz. And before this election, again, over the past few nights you have had a lot of people talking about georgia and texas. Well, georgia for the past week or so. Set up that state for us. Obviously, very interesting, very interesting state. Chris matthews always reminded us that georgia gave jfk his biggest vote margin in 1960. Pretty interesting considering he was the first catholic to be president of the United States. But georgias demographics obviously are changing, but the greatest challenge to republicans is just the political bloodbath that they have been taking over the past two to four years in the suburbs of atlanta that used to be overwhelmingly white, overwhelmingly republican and always the counterbalance to downtown atlanta that would go overwhelmingly democratic. Looking at the demographics in that state, how close do you think this race is going to be . Do democrats does the Biden Campaign have a reason to be optimistic going in tonight that georgia could be flipped blue . Yeah. What youre describing, there is something that connects all of these three states were talking about here. Thats arizona, texas and georgia. What are the four fastest metropolitan growing metropolitan areas in the country . Houston, maricopa county, phoenix, these are four places where democrats have all made extraordinary strides politically in the trump era and those are the places when the democrats talk about flipping the states those are the places theyre talking about. Lets call up what happened in georgia. Remember, trumps margin was only five points and this is the story. The Atlanta Metro area. There are nine counties here in and around atlanta that Hillary Clinton carried in 2016. If you just look at those nine counties in the Atlanta Metro area, Hillary Clintons margin in 2016 was 29 points. She beat donald trump in that blue splot you see in the middle of your screen by 29 point. But the problem for Hillary Clinton once you got outside the zone the entire rest of the state she lost by 29 points and what that added up to was trump 50. 8 and again, this is a fast growing area. Because of the population increases, voter registration, democrats are getting more and more bang for their buck out of the counties and also that Movement Towards democrats has continued. So in 2018, in the governors race in georgia, remember Stacey Abrams came very close to winning that, much closer than Hillary Clinton came in 2016. This same set of counties for abrams delivered a victory of 36 points. So democrats, 29 was getting high for democrats. They drove it up to 36 points out of the nine counties in 2018 and theyre counting on two more years of that trend driving that number up. Population growth, voter registration. Stacey abrams came within an inch of a victory winning by 36. Can they get it higher, can they get more turnout thats the key for georgia for democrats. All right. Steve kornacki, thank you so much. Well be watching you and as the votes come in tonight, joe, willie and i will be running coverage on peacock, nbcuniversals new streaming service. Well have top data analysts and reporters who cover the Campaign Every Day and campaign veterans and president ial historians. It is all on peacock starting at 6 00 p. M. Eastern time. Go to peacock tv. Com to sign up for free. You can also download it on your smart tv or smartphone as you would any app. So you can watch us anywhere. We are really honored to be covering this election on peacock tonight. Still ahead on morning joe, we have a jampacked show this election day. South carolina is home to one of this years most expensive and closely watched senate races. Senator Lindsey Grahams democratic challenger Jaime Harrison is standing by. He joins us next. Plus, House Majority whip jim clyburn who gave joe biden a crucial endorsement during the primaries will be our guest. And Gretchen Whitmer and Stacey Abrams theyll both join us this morning. Youre watching morning joe. We will be right back. Atching we will be right back. Im looking for my client. Im his accountant. Im so sorry. 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Now, he uses therabreath healthy gums oral rinse with clinicallyproven ingredients and his gum problems have vanished. crowd applauding therabreath, its a better mouthwash. At walmart, target and other fine stores. Did you try it yet . Comparing plans . Oh yeah. They sure can change year to year. I found lower premiums and lower prescription costs. And those new insulin savings hundreds of plans, 35 a month. Thatll save you money. So uh, mark . On medicare. Gov now. Open enrollment ends dec 7th. Comparing plans. Really pays. Paid for by the u. S. Department of health human services. To save you up to 60 . These are all great. And when you get a big deal. You feel like a big deal. Priceline. Every trip is a big deal. This whole narrative that somehow that being with President Trump hurts me in South Carolina is people have no idea what South Carolina is about. All of the stories about this race are just might as well be written about mars. If you understand anything about South Carolina, President Trump is going to win and im going to win. I think well be close together because hes delivered for our state. Joining us now the democratic candidate for u. S. Senate in South Carolina, Jaime Harrison. He said, help me. Hes running to unseat republican senator Lindsey Graham in what has been the most Expensive Senate race in history. Im laughing because i have been reading your tweets and watching Lindsey Graham say things like, you know, you can you have to be conservative, you have to respect certain values and then youre part of this party. I think your message might have been a little different. Yeah. It was a little different, mika. Its about hope and inspiration, bringing us together as a community. You know, lindsey, he shows how out of touch he is. You know, hes somewhat like a relic of the 1950s or Something Like that. We need a senator who understands the value of our diversity, that we come from different perspectives or backgrounds and thats what makes us so great and makes this country so strong, but lindsey seems to not realize that. Thats why its time for him to go. You know, i have known lindsey for a very long time. We worked together very closely and even i have been shocked, even though he started to move towards trump hard as john mccain was dying. I have been shocked by a couple of comments hes had this campaign. One of them to the effect that if youre black in South Carolina, you can go anywhere you want to go as long as youre conservative. And then he made a bizarre statement about women the other day. What are your comments on that . You know, well, again, it shows how out of touch Lindsey Graham is. And what and the entire time, joe, hes been focused on, you know, democrats versus republicans or liberals versus conservatives. He brings all of the baggage of washington, d. C. , and the political games there back home. But the people in South Carolina are desperate for some solutions to the problems theyre dealing with. Theyre desperate for how we address the coronavirus. How those folks who have lost their jobs actually can put food on the table. How do we bring broadband into communities that have been so left out and disconnected. Thats why im excited about this election day because its time for us to bring this home. We started the campaign off and no one thought we had a shot. Nobody thought we had a chance. But the motto of South Carolina is while i breathe i hope and regardless of how tonight goes, we have already won. We have inspired a new generation of leaders here in South Carolina and it fills my heart with pride when i see these little kids on facebook and on twitter who are holding up their Jaime Harrison signs and saying, i am Jaime Harrison. That makes me know that we have won this thing. Im curious about how your background and your family applies to this moment today, because as you even mentioned, your candidacy is somewhat improbable in the eyes of many and here you are. Yet, here you are. Yeah. What was the confidence . What was it that made you believe you could do this . Well, it was, you know, my mom who was a teen mom and it was my grandparents. You know, my grandparents had a fourth grade and an eighth grade education. My grandfather could not always vote here in South Carolina. And i named my eldest son after him. And, you know, one of the most emotional things for me on this campaign, because one of the last things i did with my grandfather in 2004 was to go vote and he passed away a few weeks afterwards. And one of the things that i was able to do, just about a week or so ago, was to go vote. I went with my two boys. And my eldest son is named right after my grandfather, and so to go and vote with him and mark the ballot, um, that meant a whole lot. That meant a whole lot and it shows the progress that we have made in this country and that we continue to make. You know, its about striving to get what Thomas Jefferson he said all men i say all people are created equal. Thats what we have to get to as American People. Moving closer and closer to that and i believe that were making that making that progress. And i think this election can be such a historic one. This seat was the seat of strom thurmond, think of the statement if they have two africanamerican senators representing in washington, d. C. Its about progress. Its about making sure that we are all created equal and i believe in South Carolina. I have hope. Its a beautiful story, and a lot of people are going to be moved by hearing that and a lot of people were moved as youre talking about the new south and perhaps a new South Carolina, about what happened a few months ago in the democratic primary there. Where joe biden was on the ropes and South Carolina namely black voters in South Carolina, namely black women voters in South Carolina came to the rescue of his campaign and helped to push him forward and eventually become the nominee of that party. Donald trump in 2016 won your state comfortably by 14 points and expected to win there again, but what changes have you seen in your state from just 2016 to today on this election day . Willie, so many changes. You know, the most amazing thing is i can go into some areas that have been traditionally republican communities and i see a sea of Jaime Harrison signs. I think what has changed, im actually talking about the issues that people care about here in South Carolina and lindsey is not. In the last debate he talked about nancy pelosi and Chuck Schumer and not about the fact that four of our rural hospitals have closed or that we have 14 counties that have no ob gyns and our roads and the bridges are falling apart. The old adage that all politics is local is true. People want to know that the people they send to washington, d. C. Is fighting for them and their communities and as a result, thats why this race is as close as it is. If i were running if i was running against the old lindsey i would not be this close this this race. But this is a new lindsey. And therefore, its time to send him home. So you brought up 2004 and brought up that voting in 2004 and i remember sitting on the panel early in the evening and it was there was a senate race between demint and tananbaum and people were saying that the democrats had a chance to win that race and i said, no they dont. And everybody on the panel said, well, no, some people no. No. No. The republicans will win that state because its South Carolina. Whats happened in 16 years . Why is it possible tonight that people can look up and see that actually not only do the democrats have a chance to win South Carolina, but the democrats have a chance to make history and the people of South Carolina of all parties have a chance to make history and do the most remarkable of things. Send a black democrat and a black republican to the United States senate. Joe, the numbers for our early vote are just mind blowing. We have had 1. 3 Million People to vote early and the record before that was about 500,000. Now, africanamericans in South Carolina make up 26 of registered voters. In the early vote, they have made up 30 of registered voters. Nonwhite voters make up 33 of the voters who voted early this time around. So we are blowing out of water and part of it is that South Carolina has changed. We have had reverse migration, africanamericans whose forefathers and foremothers moved up north are now moving back down south. We see that in georgia and North Carolina. But youre also seeing retirees from the northeast that are coming down and theyre bringing much more moderate politics with them in places like greenville and in charleston. So tonight, when you all are looking at the Election Results look at what happens in greenville. Look at what happens in charleston. Look at what is going on in columbia. Those are big indicators and we have seen in the donald trump counties that he carried with great numbers we have had lower turnout. The energy is not there for Lindsey Graham. Folks dont like him anymore because they dont respect him anymore. And that is why we have a shot at history in this race. U. S. Senate candidate Jaime Harrison, thank you very much for being on this morning. We will be watching. And coming up, a look at the Lincoln Projects closing message for voters in battleground states as they head to the polls today. Well talk to one of the founding members. Plus, one small town in in has already returned its Election Results with all five votes in Dixville Notch cast for joe biden. Well speak to the former chair of the New Hampshire Republican Party next on morning joe. Who is usaa made for . Its made for this guy a veteran who honorably served and its made for her shes serving now we made it for all branches and all ranks whether they served one tour or made a career of it. We also made usaa for military spouses and their kids usaa is easy to work with and can save you money on auto, home and renters insurance. Become a member today. Get an insurance quote at usaa. Com quote usaa. What youre made of were made for fisherman vo ce ance quote how do i register to vote . Ential election. Hmm . Hmm . Hmm . woman on porch vo can we vote by mail here . grandma vo youll be safe, right . daughter vo yes four girls vo the polls voted grandma vo go out and vote its so important man at poll vo woo grandma vo its the most important thing you can do and remember the moment that things, for one strange time in our lives, got very quiet. We worried over loved ones, over money, over our planet, and over takeout. Lets remember this time when so many struggled to feel secure, and build a future where everyone can. Because when the world seems like its standing still. Thats the perfect time for us to change it. Less oral steroids. Taking my treatment at home. Nucala is a oncemonthly addon injection for severe eosinophilic asthma. Not for sudden breathing problems. Allergic reactions can occur. Get help right away for swelling of face, mouth, tongue, or trouble breathing. Infections that can cause shingles have occurred. Dont stop steroids unless told by your doctor. Tell your doctor if you have a parasitic infection. May cause headache, injection site reactions, back pain, and fatigue. Ask your doctor about nucala at home. Find your nunormal with nucala. Leep number 360 smart bed. Ask your doctor about nucala at home. What if i sleep hot . Or cold . No problem, with temperature balancing, you can sleep better together. Can it help keep me asleep . Absolutely, it intelligently senses your movements and automatically adjusts to keep you both effortlessly comfortable will it help me keep up with mom . You got this. So you can really promise better sleep . Not promise. Prove. And now, save up to 700 on the new sleep number 360 smart beds. Only for a limited time. To learn more, go to sleepnumber. Com. Good morning. Today is the first day of the rest of americas life. One day, one day that will one way or another change how this country feels about itself. One last push to get the train back on its tracks. One day that cannot wipe out the last nine months or the last four years but can clear a path for a thousand better days ahead. One day, america on a tight rope. One day when the entire world is watching like a parent in the stands, peeking through their fingers. Come on, america, come on. One day that will now play itself out right in front of our eyes, hour by hour, vote by vote, with history on its shoulders. One day that will change our lives forever. It is november 3rd, 2020, america. We have one day. Wow. The new ad from the group of antitrump conservatives the Lincoln Project which will be running digitally and in battleground states of iowa, maine, South Carolina, michigan and georgia. Pretty powerful. Joining us now former chair of the New Hampshire Republican Party and cofounder of the Lincoln Project, jennifer horn. Jennifer, i just keep going back i think this is a good day for us to go back and take a look at where we have been and where we are and where were going. You and i knew each other very well when we were both republicans, spent a lot of time together in New Hampshire, and yet, you have dedicated your life to defeating a republican candidate this year. Something that neither you nor me, nor anybody that knew you four years ago would have ever dreamed would be happening. Talk about the journey and how you feel today. Where its brought you. Well, thanks for having me, both of you, mika and joe, and i have to tell you it doesnt feel possible that today is election day already. Its been such a long journey from that moment when donald trump, you know, addressed the nation when he was inaugurated, talking about the american carnage with this dark and ugly message and the four years of his presidency have been darker and uglier and more hateful and more damaging and more divisive than i even imagined that it could be. But i have to tell you, i sit here this morning very optimistic, not just about the outcome of the election today but what the future holds for our country. And frankly while im proud of the work we have done at the Lincoln Project, im proud to be one of the original cofounders, the truth is were going to be a better nation when this election is over because this extraordinary Nonpartisan Coalition of americans who have come together and put country first. Jon meacham is with us and has a question. Jon . Im wondering as you look back how did this happen . How did the party do you gave your life. Joe served in the congress. The party that gave us eisenhower and reagan and bush and mccain, how did that party become this vehicle for the incumbent president . You know, jon, thats one of the questions we can im never fully able to answer. For some reason that i cannot figure out, probably its as basic as an unwillingness to let go of even the least little bit of power. Our party has become my party unfortunately at this point has become totally sick afan tick to donald trump and theyd rather embrace racism and division and cage innocent children and they have completely devalued human life in the way they sat back and watched over 230,000 americans lose their lives because they thought that hitching their wagon to donald trump would help them keep power rather than standing up and doing the right thing and actually serving. I think the roots of that go back before donald trump. I think Stewart Stephens does a great job of laying it out in his book it was all a lie. But i think more important, frankly, jon, than just how we got here is whats going to happen to this party looking forward. Because theres no place in our country for a Republican Party that looks like this Republican Party right now. Amen. Jonathan lemire is with us and he has a question. Jonathan . Hey, jennifer. Lincoln project of course made up of former republicans who have turn away from President Trump and we know theyre hardly alone. A lot of National Security officials, republicans have done the same. But i want you to talk about some of the republicans whose names we dont know who have broke up away from President Trump. Suburban voters, women, seniors. Talk to us about those trends and in particular where youre seeing those trends and which states and what that could mean today. Sure. Well, look, when we first started the Lincoln Project we thought if we could move 3 or 4 democrats over to Joe Biden Donald trump could be defeated. We suggested two or three times of that number of early voting republicans have gone for joe biden. What were looking at right now today at the Lincoln Project to your point, jonathan, theres a significant erosion in the president s base from 2016. White suburban educated women especially white suburban educated women im sorry, and across the gender spectrum there, but also trump is losing support amongst voters who are over 65. And hes losing support now especially in the rust belt states among noncollege educated white voters. So as were looking at North Carolina and then pennsylvania, ohio, wisconsin, theres a real erosion there among from the base voters that the president saw in 2016. Thats where were going to see i think a significant push or a significant change in the numbers in those who vote on election day this year. Wow. Jennifer, you know, i want to congratulate you all at the Lincoln Project, especially you the sole woman of the group. When you all started this, did you think youd have such an incredible impact and things like more followers than the gop . I mean, what did you set out to do and have you met the goal . Well, thank you for that, first of all. And im lucky to be part of a really talented team. There are eight of us who are original founders, im really proud of the work we have done. Our goal was to just to move the needle a little bit. Just enough to make sure that trump did not win. What has come of this has been overwhelming and frankly quite humbling and goes back to what i said at the beginning. That the it just that at the crossroads of the pandemic, of the president s just total disdain for the American People and then into the racial unrest that we experience, everything just came together in this moment where it was as if the sun almost, you know, came out from behind the clouds where the American People stood together and said, this is not america. This is dangerous. This is damaging. And it has become a movement, frankly, of the people. Much more than it has been a movement of the Lincoln Project. But im just so proud of everything that we are doing as a nation today that we are really reaffirming who we are and what the promise of america is all about. Cofounder of the Lincoln Project, jennifer horn, thank you for being on this morning. We will be watching. Still ahead, polls are already open in several states and more are set to open at the top of the hour including in several battleground states like pennsylvania, michigan, georgia and florida. Youre watching morning joes coverage of election day 2020. Were back in a moment. With moderate® helps s to Severe Plaque Psoriasis uncover clearer skin that can last. In fact, tremfya® was proven superior to humira® in providing significantly clearer skin. Serious allergic reactions may occur. Tremfya® may increase your risk of infections and lower your ability to fight them. Tell your doctor if you have an infection or symptoms or if you had a vaccine or plan to. Tremfya®. Uncover clearer skin that can last. Janssen can help you explore cost support options. Its still warm. Thanks, alice says hi. For some of us, our daily journey is a short one. Save 50 when you pay per mile with allstate. Pay less, when you drive less. Youve never been in better hands. Allstate. Click or call for a quote today. The text of the telegram that dewey sent to the president , success on the new administration. 45 of the popular vote is in. The nomination that you have given to me for the president of the United States i humbly and confidently success. The question is which party do we want for the United States . It would be hardly be a top level secret but it helped to swing texas into the winning column. Having won a close one this year i can say this. Winning is a lot more fun. As everyone knows but often forgets it takes 270 to elect anyone president to make you the most powerful person on earth. Jimmy carter has won the presidency of the United States. The map is turning blue for reagan. Reagan is our projected winner. Beginning to look like a suburban Swimming Pool over. Im not going to exploit for political purposes for my opponents youth and inexperience. Nbc news now projects that george bush is president elect of the United States. New hampshire tonight has made bill clinton the comeback kid. Im still the most optimistic man in america. They need florida. Florida florida. Let me show you one more time. This it is. Florida, florida. Its that kind of night. It could be a while because they have two models. One shows the race going president bushs way and the other going senator kerrys way. Hello, chicago. Take it all in. This president is doing it again tonight. This american carnage stops right here and stops right now. Today americans will decide who comes next in that look back of 70 years. Thats some of what we have planned for tonight on peacock where well follow the polls but also put it all into context. Welcome back to morning joe. It is tuesday, november 3rd, election day. Along with joe, willie and me we have msnbc National Affairs analyst cohost of showtimes the circus and executive editor of the recount, John Heilemann. Political reporter for the Washington Post and msnbc political analyst robert costa. Hes moderator of Washington Week on pbs. Msnbc political analyst David Plouffe. He served as a senior white house adviser to president obama and managed the 2008 campaign. And New York Times Washington Bureau chief, elizabeth b. Miller is joining us this morning. Great to have you on board this hour. So david, i want to start with you. I remember speaking to you early i think it may have been december 2015, january 2016, and you were saying donald trump can win. Hes got a connection with working class voters that the rank and file Democratic Party doesnt understand quite yet. Here we are four, 4 1 2 years later. Im curious from what youre seeing is Donald Trump Holding on to that support or has he lost enough that his presidency is on the line tonight and it looks like joe biden may be the 46th president of the United States by the end of the night . Well, joe, i got that part right, but by this time in 16 i like most people thought he was doomed and he wasnt. It was basically a black swan event and they happen in politics. I think for donald trump to win tonight, a couple of things have to happen. Not just the polls, all the data, our belief about what might be happening in terms of early vote would have to be off by several points which happens but you have to have a dramatic turnout story difference tonight. I think donald trump would have to get historic turnout and hes riding on that. I mean, because he basically maligned early vote and vote by mail. The vast majority of his voters are coming out today or healthy majority and biden would have to underperform. Black swan events do happen in politics. But yeah, i believe if you look at the map most importantly, you know, bidens doing very well in the three states up north. He needs to retain, but arizona, North Carolina, florida, georgia, even texas, all look highly competitive. The one thing we dont know is a, what does turnout look like today and in terms of whats a already come in, a lot of the battleground states have 80, 90 of the vote in. I think biden leads in all of them, so thats what trump has to overcome. Yeah, i think if what im seeing with my eyes is right, biden should be heading for a good night tonight. But you know this is a pandemic. We never had an operation during the pandemic so we should wait to see until the votes get counted. Philadelphia is obviously critical for joe biden. Hes got to roll up big numbers, maybe 550,000, 600,000 vote and philadelphia is starting to get boarded up this week. What impact is going to have that on voters . What impact is that going to on turnout . Well be looking at that. David, i want to ask you tonight, when the big states come closing at 7 00, when you have florida and georgia and 30 minutes later youve got North Carolina closing, what are you going to be looking at first to get at 7 15, 7 30, when florida starts dumping millions and millions of Voting Results online . Well, so much, joe. So i think its important, until you have 100 of a county in, you should be careful about making too many big assumptions of what that means both in that state and elsewhere. But of course youll be looking at counties in florida like pinellas county. Ill be looking at the panhandle of florida to see if biden has been able to cut into some the big trump margins from 16. Well be looking at the suburbs outside of Raleigh Durham and North Carolina, all through the i4 corridor in florida to see how big the biden lead is and then of course well be looking at broward and miamidade. Listen, i think suburban voters in florida and North Carolina arent going to act that much differently than suburban voters outside of philadelphia or outside of madison, wisconsin, or in the dallasft. Worth metropl metroplex. Well learn a lot not only whats happening in the states but the patterns as the polls close all over the country. And willie, that is an important thing. While sumter county, everyone keeps talking about sumter county, Dave Wasserman is talking about sumter county, a small county in florida, but a county that donald trump won by 39 Percentage Points back in 2016. Wasserman believes if hes winning that by 30 , 31 that will be bad news for him not only in Central Florida but in other places in pennsylvania, and michigan and North Carolina that have a demographic makeup like sumter county. Pinellas also a critical county well be looking at tonight on peacock as well as those as david said miamidade, broward and palm beach county. Will joe biden be able to run up a big lead in the counties where he needs a really big lead to win florida. Yeah. Sumter county is home of the villages the massive sprawling retirement community. We have seen the sprawling golf court parades for trump and for biden. Is he shrinking the margins and cutting into Donald Trumps lead and david, by the nbc news were up to 99 million votes and some have it crossing 100 million which is pushing threequarters of the total vote from 2016. So with that much in the bank, how does that affect the way you would be watching tonight as a viewers, but also as a Campaign Strategist . Well, willie, as a former strategist, its actually fascinating because you have so much of the vote in that the pool of voters that you need to worry about today is smaller. So it is a more manageable universe from a get out the vote standpoint. You most of the battleground states, pennsylvania being an exception, so pennsylvania is probably going to have north of 60 of the vote cast today. A lot of the other battleground states, north of 80 . So its a small number of people relatively compared to what we have had in the past. So i think, listen, every state has different procedures. You know, floridas going to dump as joe knows dump the votes out of the gate and we have to wait in pennsylvania, wisconsin and michigan and well know based on the other states and the election day reporting the decision desks are going to say based on what were seeing, this is likely whats going to happen when we unpack all of the early vote. Thats the really important thing for viewers to understand is this is not going to be a universal night in terms of what we know in each state. Well know a lot of in the southern states, well know less tonight in the upper midwestern states and pennsylvania. And again, its very important to remind viewers what youre looking at tonight, david said you have to count all of the counties. Thats not just for florida when its coming in early. Thats also for the upper midwestern states. Youll have what some have called a red mirage across wisconsin and michigan and pennsylvania because the republican votes are going to be counted first there because its going to be day of votes. It will take several days to get the democratic votes in. In florida, in georgia, in some of the sunbelt counties, youre going to have a blue mirage where joe biden is going to start ahead just like Hillary Clinton did in 2016. But youve got to wait until those day of voters get cycled in to the total count before making any big assumptions. Make no assumptions, if youre just sitting at 80 of the vote. Because theres still quite a ways to go. So John Heilemann, you have been your rock n roll circus has toured the country, fear and loafers on the campaign trail. Like you, you have seen it all this campaign cycle. Where are we on the morning of what i believe to be the most substantial, most important, historic president ial election of our lifetime. Yeah. Well, hey, good morning, joe and mika and willie and everybody else. We made it, everybody. Some people thought we might not get here, but were here, its election day. But you know, i think i think David Plouffe said i think i agree with. And i bow to david in a lot of respects, one of the smartest people in politics. My main thing has been in the last 72 hours of trying to be around the country as much as i could to try to see whether the things that the data that we are all seeing and reading, you know, comported with reality. I think that truly, joe, to your point of historic, the stakes are historic and the outcome is historic. But theres another thing going on right now, if the data and what were seeing with our eyes is true, is a big thing in our politics which is just as joe biden may be the most important thing over the last six or seven months, we saw what some analysts maybe Ron Brownstein is the biden overperforming with the seniors. They usually underperform with the seniors and the bidens strength with seniors as the starting point if he does win the presidency, thats going to be an important thats going to be a key element of this demographically. That demographic inversion is now it looks like Holding Hands with a geographic inversion. So you know, im in georgia right now. I spent part of the weekend on saturday in texas and i think it is not impossible that what were looking at potentially tonight is if not the crumbling, the beginning of the crumbling of the republican red wall across the southwest. So i think very much on the basis of everything i know right now, texas could very well go blue tonight. Im not saying it will, but im saying it is well within reach. I think georgia right now is not just within reach but i think on the basis of everything i have seen on the ground and all of the data i think right now joe biden is the favorite to win georgia. And joe biden is very much in the range of winning potentially in florida and North Carolina. If you had a night that joe biden won, again, not trying to say that he will, but hes now in range of winning North Carolina, georgia, florida, and arizona he has been ahead and texas, the big prize. You have to still say thats at best a tossup, but again possible. That would be an enormous change in american politics and the fact is that, you know, if that is the geographic change where democrats starting to establish a what would be a generational beach head across the sunbelt due to demographic change, both in terms of the growth of the suburbs, the increasing education of women in those suburbs, the senior growth and of course the massive rise in nonwhite voting across that region, boy, i would say that whether how many of those States Joe Biden wins or doesnt win, the fact that he could win all of them is already a signal to the fact that the change is here. And each one of them that he picks up tonight if theres more than one, which i suspect theres going to be, i mean, that could be one of the big headlines sub headlines underneath the victor, historic headlines of the night. Lets back up from joe biden and look at the entire race and at President Trump who i think one thing we have learned over the past four years when hes joking, hes not. Believe him. And he is already signaling on stage, in his speeches, that if he doesnt like the results that he could break through yet again more democratic norms. What are your thoughts on that and what states are you watching . Obviously, were looking at i agree with everything thats been said, i agree with John Heilemann and David Plouffe and texas looks interesting and obviously well be looking at the New York Times at florida, georgia and North Carolina. They are well be seeing the results early. I think trump you have to take him seriously. A lot of times his bark is worse than his bite but he has an army of of lawyers ready. We saw in judge after the judge said the drivein votes can count and now theres an appeal already. I think you have to take him seriously. We are ready for trump to announce tonight hes the victor, regardless of how many votes are counted. And we are also but were also going to be able to say that trump doesnt get to decide who wins this election. But i think we have to take him seriously and barring a major landslide for joe biden i think that there will be a lot of there can be a lot of turmoil in the next couple of days. Well, obviously, speaking of the court decisions, i think Many Americans have to be concerned that the president of the United States yesterday talked about violence. That a Supreme Court decision that simply allowed votes to be counted for three days after election day if they were postmarked by election day would actually lead to violence when the only person suggesting that is the president of the United States. So lets talk about pennsylvania, bob costa. Its a state that you know very well. What i suspect from everything i hear were going to see strong, strong turnout in philadelphia and in the philadelphia suburbs for joe biden. What are you expecting in northeast pennsylvania . Joe bidens home territory, where hes finishing his Campaign Today and also in western p. A. I was speaking with Dejuan Walker the mayor of aliquippa in pennsylvania, near pittsburgh, and he said four years ago many people thought that trump had a sirens song on populism, was talking a good game on trade. The only people now in aliquippa who believe that trump is going to bring the mills back, bring all of the industrial jobs back are a few guys sitting in a bar in aliquippa. The pitch from President Trump has washed away in towns like aliquippa, they havent seen the results from trade and they like his warrior mentality when it comes to china but dont see the results and the lack of results could be part of his erosion not only in the suburbs which is driven by the pandemic and the response to that, but his own record on issues that he promised in 2016. So bob, im going to ask you the same question that i asked David Plouffe. Obviously, in florida, everybody is talking about sumter county. Well be looking at pinellas, maybe lee county, the panhandle of miamidade, in michigan. As always, mccomb and oakland counties. What about pennsylvania . What are the early tells for you . Number one on my list, Luzerne County in northeastern pennsylvania. Bob casey territory, joe biden territory. The democratic turnout needs to be strong there with the Union Workers who went to President Trump in 2016. My home county, bucks county, philadelphia suburbs. Are there quiet Republican Voters who are still pulled by President Trumps economic message . We have seen both campaigns Pay Attention to bucks. Those are vote rich territories and then what echoes youngstown, ohio, are they going to have the same level of support for President Trump as in 2016 . Biden is making inroads in the suburbs of philadelphia and in pittsburgh. But if President Trump has an enormous turnout of white voters who identify with his grievances in central and western pennsylvania, the state will be highly competitive tonight. And this election day, guys, comes in the middle we should remember of a surging Public Health crisis with breaking news of a new internal report by a Top White House coronavirus adviser warning the u. S. Is entering the most deadly phase of the pandemic. The reporting is from the Washington Post claims directly contradicts President Trump who has claimed recently the country is rounding the corner on the pandemic. We obviously are not. The report came from none other than dr. Birx, the response coordinator for the white house who wrote, this is not about lockdowns, it hasnt been about lockdowns since march or april but an aggressive, balanced approach that is not being implemented. That was a memo sent out yesterday immediately found its way to reporters and on to the pages of the Washington Post. David plouffe, as we go county by county theres not a single one of them that hasnt been touched by the Coronavirus Crisis and donald trump is talking about anything else. Attacking lebron james, lady gaga, jon bon jovi, twitter trends, on and on. But he cannot escape the fact that even his people inside the white house last week dr. Fauci and yesterday dr. Birx are saying, we have failed the American People and were not doing enough to prevent what is certainly coming through the winter here. Right. Well, willie, dont forget dr. Fauci either, that fire fauci chant is going to live in infamy. Listen, the coronavirus, schools being closed, the economic tragedy thats all unfolded this is the number one issue in the race and trump is ignoring it, downplaying it, making fun of it. I think all of the events hes been doing have hurt him in those states because those visuals of people not taking the pandemic seriously, him not taking the pandemic seriously. So we never had anybody close any campaign, much less a president ial campaign this poorly where youre basically not talking about but to the extent youre mocking the central issue in peoples lives. If joe biden wins tonight theres a big question about the transition period. Is trump going to continue to do nothing and not be cooperative, so the hole in january is even steeper than it is today. At the end of the day, listen, his advisers are not going to go into the brain trust hall of fame. Thats very clear. But there are they are telling him you know, they are telling him that what people care about is jobs and the economy and covid and, you know, he just doesnt listen. And this is the way hes closing his campaign. He thought he got a rabbit tailback in 2016 so hes trying it again. So of course we remember at the end, John Heilemann, of trumans 1948 campaign. He was attacking glenn miller much in the same way that President Trump was the calta tacking bon jovi yesterday. That said, even people on Trumps Campaign noted how angry he was the past two days, striking out at lebron james, saying lady gaga oh, i know things about lady gaga. Attacking jon bon jovi at a time when again this country is hurting economically and 230,000 americans are dead and are going into a long, cold, cruel covid winter. Yeah. Yeah, i think joe, i think the reason why its so striking is that it is so resonant with the whole the last two days are the exaggerated, hyperbolic version from trump all of fall. You know, trump was in many respects in 2016 the candidate of white grievance and hes been the president of white grievance and now hes just the president hes just the candidate and president of his own grievances. Thats all it is, right . I can say thats a one thing thats true in every election i ever covered, that anybody on the show has ever worked on. One of the truisms is such a truism its a cliche. That you know the candidates that are successful are the ones who make the campaigns about the voters and about the voters and about the future. Not about themselves and about the past. And trump has made this entire campaign about himself and about some imagined glory days that he wants to relive 2016 over and over again. He wants to relive even in the way he talks about the economy constantly, joe. This notion of if it hadnt been for the pandemic, i had brought the greatest economy of all time. Never mind that all of his claims are exaggerated and untrue. Even throughout the pandemic, he spent a lot of time mourning the political conquenss for him and that was taken away from me. The last thing that hard pressed, ordinary voters want to hear is a selfobsessed, narcissistic president when things are bad. When things are good, voters dont really care what the president talks about. But in a moment of crisis and a moment of duress and of social and Public Health strain, the voters are rightly concerned about themselves, their families and their immediate future and the longterm future to see the president engage in this perpetual naval gazing narcissistic, selfcongratulatory and nostalgic circling of the drain in the last month, its just you know, plouffe said it before. You know, there are black swan events in politics and things happen, but boy, if donald trump can win this way, i think we have to burn all the rule books for how candidates are supposed to operate because the basic precepts a candidate is supposed to be hes disregarding them and i just dont see how this is a winning formula and if it is i dont understand how this works anymore. He has a strange habit of attacking americans who are more popular than him, lebron james, lady gaga, dr. Fauci, president obama, you can go on down the list. So when you and the New York Times reporters sort of get in your zoom war zooms, how ever youre watching this tonight, where were you guys be looking first to get a sense of where this night is headed . Of course florida. Many years i was a reporter in florida, i was in Collier County on the west coast. I would look at those counties because theyre traditionally republican and if joe biden made some inroads there thats a good sign. Well look at texas, look at ohio, my home state of ohio. I mean, i think biden winning there is going to be so tough, but its so close and theres been polls, good polls showing biden up five points in ohio. Thats tough one. I wanted to talk about donald trump the last few days of this campaign. We all remember in 2016 he was pretty disciplined the last couple of weeks. He stayed off of twitter, he stuck to the economic message and this time, you know, the people his advisers have just given up. He likes those rallies, he needs those rallies. They are carefully curating good polls for him, that show him ahead. Hes living in his own world. So i think as you say, i dont see how it helps to attack dr. Fauci who was so popular in this country. But again, im looking im going to be looking at florida and especially texas. Absolutely. Thank you all, what a day. Still ahead on morning joe, this election day, Claire Mccaskill joins the conversation along with Eugene Robinson and his pointed new piece entitled defeating trump is only the first step in our national recovery. Thats if that happens. Youre watching morning joe. Well be right back. Now hes got lady gaga. Lady gaga shes not too good. I could tell you plenty of stories i could tell you stories about lady gaga, i know a lot of stories about lady gaga. Lady gaga. And jon bon jovi. Every time i see him he kisses my ass. Oh, mr. President. Hell get something out of it just like everyone is. Tmobiles been building its 5g network for a moment like this. Introducing the iphone 12 pro with 5g. Now at tmobile, the leader in 5g coverage, you can unleash the power of the epic iphone 12 pro in more places. Get 2 iphone 12 pros 2 lines of unlimited 5g for just 100. Only at tmobile. Americas largest 5g network. You cant claim that because its inanimate [ sigh ] people ask. 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I want to talk to you right now. The people of georgia right now who decided not to vote. Maybe you dont like whos in the white house right now, but you just lost faith in government. Youre frustrated. You dont think government makes a difference. I remember talking to john lewis right before he passed and we talked about all of the young people who would come out and start this wave of marches, nonviolent, peaceful protests all across the country. And we talked about how this younger generation, they dont have to choose between protest and politics. If were going to translate our aspirations into laws and practices, we have to engage in both. John ran for office all those years and kept protesting even while he was in office because he understood there are two sides of the same coin. Its us acting on behalf of our highest aspirations. Even though we know we wont get there. Were never gonna get all the way to the promised land. But we can help lay the path for future generations to get there. Thats what Public Service should be about. Thats what citizenship should be about. Thats what voting is about. Former president barack obama speaking in atlanta yesterday. Joining us now former u. S. Senator, now an msnbc news political analyst Claire Mccaskill and associate editor of the Washington Post and msnbc political analyst, Eugene Robinson. Gene, well get to your article in the post in a moment, but claire, what states are standing out to you . How are you feeling about tonight . Well, since the Biden Campaign talks about this being a battle for the soul of our nation, im going to quote the godfather of soul. I feel good. I feel good. The states the states im going to be looking at are going to be the states where donald trump won by less than five points four years ago. And the reason im saying that is im in a pretty red state. Donald trump won missouri by 19 points. Most polling has him down at least ten from that mark. So if you zero in on the states that he won by five or less. Thats georgia, thats arizona, florida and North Carolina. Thats apart from the one that he really basically tied hillary, the three big ones, the blue wall, pennsylvania, wisconsin and michigan. So those four states, georgia, florida, North Carolina and arizona and of those four, i have my eye on North Carolina. The early vote there is amazing. For donald trump to win North Carolina, he has to get north of 60 of the vote today in North Carolina. That is a very high mark for someone who only won the state four years ago by five and most of that vote is in in many of the states already, and biden is ahead. Thats why i feel good. Not necessarily like i knew i would, but i feel good. Gene, i want to call up some moving pictures were just getting in to us here. Vice President Joe Biden arriving at st. Josephs on the brandy wine church, his Roman Catholic church in delaware and in the cemetery where his son rests who died of cancer and his first wife and infant daughter who were killed in a car crash in 1972. Moving through the graveyard to go into church to say a prayer on the morning he is hoping to be elected president of the United States and then hell move on to scranton, pennsylvania, where he lived until he was 10 years old and close in philadelphia. Lets pick up where claire left off. What will you be watching tonight . Seems like a lot of eyes on florida for obvious reasons but also georgia and North Carolina and hearing from David Plouffe and others, dont take your eyes off of texas a state that democrats thought may have been a couple of cycles away for them. Yeah. I always think that this is a couple of cycles away, but tonight im going to be watching texas. The early vote in texas especially in democratic parts of texas is so far off the charts, its unbelievable. And so, you know, well have to see how the night goes. First early in the evening im going to be watching florida. Im going to be watching North Carolina just like claire. You know, i dont want to jinx things or i wont quote the godfather of soul yet. Except to say ive got soul and im super bad. But i will i will watch texas because it just kind of feels like something is happening there. You know, beto orourke came so close there. Its clear that that state is changing. That would be the you know, a magnitude nothing on the Richter Scale in terms of american political life if texas actually tipped and i dont know if the stars are aligned for that, but its a possibility. I guess, you know, were all going to have to try, at least, to watch those blue wall states first, you know, first and foremost. But their returns may not come in first and foremost, but thats actually the ball game, right . Because if biden wins wisconsin, michigan and pennsylvania and keeps the clinton states, hes the next president. So thats the sort of meat and potatoes, but theres a whole lot of gravy out there thats potentially within bidens grasp tonight. So it will be exciting. Bob costa, youve got a question for claire. Take it away. Good morning, senator. Youre as plugged in as anyone with senate democrats. When youre talking to them behind the scenes, without naming names perhaps how confident are theyll wake up tomorrow and hold the Senate Majority . Well, i think they are theyre realistic and hungry and they nobody started measuring the drapes for the majority floor Leaders Office yet, but having that, the original four look good. Colorado, arizona, maine and North Carolina. Those four states are the four states that they began this process with now, they expanded that map, they expanded that map to many other states and some of those might surprise us based on some of the turnout were seeing with almost 100 Million People already voting. I believe we still have in the hunt in iowa. I think we are certainly still in the hunt in montana. And those two states are two that will not surprise me if also turnout incumbents are in favor of the democratic senators. I think everyone is nervous. I got a lot of calls yesterday from people that are nervous about the senate. But when people are in there voting they know theyre voting for somebody who is going to keep Mitch Mcconnell or get rid of Mitch Mcconnell and thats powerful this year. Yeah. Bob costa, thanks for being on. Well see you later. Everyone else, hang tight. Joe biden has held the consistent lead in michigan polls, but last night donald trump predicted he would win the state quote so easily. Well ask michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer about that when she joins us next on morning joe. Joe. Bipolar depression. Its a dark, lonely place. This is art inspired by real stories of People Living with bipolar depression. Emptiness. A hopeless struggle. The lows of bipolar depression can disrupt your life and be hard to manage. Latuda could make a real difference in your symptoms. Latuda was proven to significantly reduce bipolar depression symptoms, and in clinical studies, had no substantial impact on weight. Now im feeling connected. Empowered. Latuda is not for everyone. Call your doctor about unusual mood changes, behaviors or suicidal thoughts. Antidepressants can increase these in children, teens, and young adults. Elderly dementia patients on latuda have an increased risk of death or stroke. Call your doctor about fever, stiff muscles, and confusion, as these may be lifethreatening, or uncontrollable muscle movements as these may be permanent. These are not all the serious side effects. This is where i want to be. Talk to your doctor and ask if latuda could make the difference youve been looking for in your bipolar depression symptoms. fisherman vo ce how do i register to vote . Ential election. Youve been looking for hmm . Hmm . Hmm . woman on porch vo can we vote by mail here . grandma vo youll be safe, right . daughter vo yes four girls vo the polls voted grandma vo go out and vote its so important man at poll vo woo grandma vo its the most important thing you can do and now your copilot. Still a father. But now a friend. Still an electric car. Just more electrifying. Still a night out. But everything fits in. Still hard work. Just a little easier. Still a legend. Just more legendary. Chevrolet. Making lifes journey, just better. Were going to win the state of you know what were going to win, were going to win this state so easily. Were going to win the state of michigan so easily. We want to do it like last night, but lets give me a little bit more margin if you dont mind. That was donald trump in grand rapids, michigan, predicting what he thought would be and easy win in the state. He won michigan youll remember in 2016 by fewer than 11,000 votes. Joining us now the democratic governor of michigan, Gretchen Whitmer. I see the throw pillow, its a little needy that pillow. A friend of mine said that to me i thought id acknowledge it. Lets talk about michigan, because its one of the states that people are going to wonder how soon they might know something because as soon as you count that early vote. How exactly does it work in michigan . How will the votes be counted . Well, first, i think its really important to acknowledge the vote is not final until the votes are final. And our state our secretary of state has been saying that this is going to take a little while. We just had a primary in august, we had 1. 6 million votes cast by absentee ballot, it took 40 hours to count those and we have twice that number in absentee ballots so were preparing this may take a few days. Thats why were encouraging voters to be patient as we go to the polls. There are lines already. We have been open for about 50 minutes and we have lines at the polls. We also know in michigan you should wear layers and bring your mask and i. D. Thats what were reminding people. But we need to extend some grace to the incredible people at the polls and helping us make sure we get the votes in and counted right. But we also need some patience too, as those ballots are being counted. Amen to that. Those poll workers across the country have been incredible. Do you expect well have a result out of the state of michigan based on what you know . Heres what were telling people, willie. This could take a few days. Our hope of course is that we see a result that we feel comfortable sharing quickly, but its most important that we get it right. So im not going to predict that we have a final tally tonight or even tomorrow but we are going to move swiftly. But well get it right and thats paramount. Governor mccaskill has a question for you. Good morning, governor. I have been really scratching my head over some of the late communication from the donald Trump Campaign. And i noticed in michigan i think we forget about local News Coverage. And im curious what has the local News Coverage been around the fight to allow guns in the polls . This seems to me to be a really dumb thing to be focused on if youre trying to get the votes of suburban women in michigan. Could you talk about this fight to allow guns in the polls like those guns that we all saw at the State Capitol some months ago. Yeah, well, claire, youll not be surprised i dont get a chance to watch the news that much because i have been out and about trying to make sure that people are prepared and that we are getting out the vote. I will say this. We have laws on the books that criminalize intimidation of people who go to the polls and its a felony in michigan. We take it seriously and it will not be tolerated. So regardless of this Supreme Court not weighing in on the question of open carry at the polls, we have got laws that are intended to keep our voters safe and so that we can have all confidence in the outcome of this election and well enforce those laws. Gene robinson has a question for seems to be to squeeze new votes out of the grand rapids area, the northern part of the state, the Upper Peninsula where there arent all that many people, but a lot might be trump supporters. Do you have any indications of whether thats bearing any fruit, whether there are new voters who didnt vote last time up there who could counteract and expect an increase in turnout in democratic areas like detroit . A lot of the growth that we have seen in new voters are coming from the urban centers. I think thats really exciting. Also Younger Voters as well. When donald trump won michigan in 2016, it was by less than 11,000 votes. Who years later i won by more than 400,000 votes. I think michiganders expect their government to be as good if not better and even more hard working than we are. We know that covid19 is the dinner table issue of 2020. We know that the trump virus response has meant that 230,000 americans have lost their lives, tens of millions are unemployed or have been unemployed at some point during this pandemic. People are in food lines who never imagined they would have to be. And so this is the dinner table issue of this moment. Thats why the closing arguments where you have trump rallies that are chanting things like lock her up or fire fauci or something about lebron james contrast in such stark difference to the Biden Campaigns where it is about unity, about an american president who is a president for all people whether not just the people who agree with him. And i think thats this is a moment we need a preseident to g bring us together, get the kids safely back in school. Its going to take a real change in leadership and thats what joe biden offers. Governor, that margin in 2016 makes your eyes pop out of your head. Over 10,000 votes separated donald trump and Hillary Clinton and gave the state to donald trump. A lot of those people, as you know, like a lot of people across the country, may have voted for president obama, took a flyer on donald trump. What are you hearing from those voters about how he has performed for these three and a half years . Well, i think, you know, some of the coalition that came together around him, i mean, it was a historically depressed vote. I will ceja at the outset. We underperformed as a state and the result is the result. I will say that the coalition he had has been severely undermined. When his tweets about tariffs and trade cost farmers twl they cost people in the auto industry, thats going to heart and soul of the michigan economy. We have all paid a price for this haphazard impulsive twitter rants of the current president , and its hurt us economically, its hurt us in our homes, and people get that. And i think thats why joe bidens message and platform about Building Back better really resonates with michigan voters. Governor Gretchen Whitmer, i know you have a busy day. Thanks for your time. I think it is a 10 out of 10 room rater on that shot. Thank you for plugging the book as well. Thank you, governor. Mika. Looking good. Then there is this. The Biden Campaign believes that there is no scenario where President Trump will be declared the victor tonight. During a zoom briefing with reporters yesterday bidens Campaign Manager addressed the reports that President Trump may try to falsely claim victory before all of the votes are in. Just because donald trump says something on Election Night or suggests he might be winning, that is not going to be based in fact. There is no way he will be outright winning on Election Night. He has been coddling dictators for the last four years, and now apparently he says he might declare victory before all the votes are counted tomorrow. Dont boo. Vote. Thats not something you want to hear in Little Havana or little haiti. Thats not something that a leader of a democracy does. Thats something a twobit dictator does. If you believe in democracy, you want every vote counted. There you go. Claire mccaskill, i personally think this is a concern. I think trump has no ability to admit loss. Well, i think youre right, mika. I dont think this is a guy who makes it about our country ever. He always mation it about him. And so there is nothing he hates more than being branded a loser. But the votes are going to be the votes, and he is not going to be able to bully his way past the math. The math will control this. The people who are voting today and the almost 100 million that have already voted, they are the ones that get to decide. And even those people who are for trump, if this is a big victory, they will acknowledge that he needs to go quietly. Now, he is still going to be out there, but i dont think if he tries to declare victory tonight, that thats going to get much traction with anybody. I hope even the sycophants on other networks that have sucked up to him for three and a half years think about their country tonight and permanent damage he will do to this country if he does what obama said, behaves like a twobit dictator. Its just ridiculous. All right. Claire mccaskill and Eugene Robinson, thank you both. Still ahead, congressman and House Majority whip jim clyburn, the man who propelled joe biden to the democratic nomination with his endorsement in South Carolina, he will join the conversation. Morning joe will be right back. Dev jim dev dev jim de this is andy, my schwab financial consultant. Heres andy listening to my goals and making plans. This is us talking taxsmart investing, managing risk, and all the ways schwab can help me invest. This is andy reminding me how i can keep my investing costs low and that theres no fee to work with him. Heres me learning about schwabs satisfaction guarantee. Accountability, i like it. So, yeah. Andy and i made a good plan. Find your own andy at schwab. A modern approach to wealth management. Ithe first full prescriptionis pstrength nonsteroidal antiinflammatory gel. Available over the counter. Voltaren is powerful arthritis pain relief in a gel. Voltaren. The joy of movement. Beautiful. But when i started cobra kai, the lack of control over my business made me a little intense. But now i practice a different philosophy. Quickbooks helps me get paid, manage cash flow, and run payroll. And now im back on top. With koala kai. Hey more mercy. Save over 30 hours a month with intuit quickbooks. The easy way to a happier business. A vote for biden is a vote to give control of government over to the globalists and communists and socialists and wealthy liberal hypocrites. Hypocrites who want to silence, sensor, cancel and punish you. Tomorrow is the beginning of a new day. Tomorrow we can put an end to a presidency that has left hard working americans out in the cold. Tomorrow you can put an end to a president thats with divided this nation, fan the flames of hate. Tomorrow you can put an end it a presidency that has failed to protect this nation. And you want to be just treated with dignity and respect, then i am asking you tomorrow to go out and vote for your alltime favorite president. And americas heard, loud and clear, its time for donald trump to pack his bags and go home. Some of yesterdays closing arguments by donald trump and joe biden as we have arrived at election day, november 3rd, 2020. Nbc news data shows nearly 97 Million People have already voted. Look at this. Amazing. About 71 of the total vote cast in 2016. Of course, millions more are expected to vote today. An election marked by the covid pandemic. The Biden Campaign will make a final push in states that trump won in 2016. Biden will hold events in his hometown of scranton and in philadelphia while Kamala Harris makes a stop in detroit. Their spouses will also be on the trail. Dr. Jill biden travels to tampa and st. Petersburg, florida, and wake county, North Carolina, while senator harris husband will appear in columbus, ohio. President trump told reporters last night he expects to travel to his campaigns headquarters in virginia later this morning, and two sources familiar with the planning say he will hold an Election Night party for the 400 guests in the white house east room. Were told testing will be required. No word yet on maskwearing at the event. So, good morning, everyone. Along with joe, willie and me we have White House Reporter for the Associated Press jonathan lamire, vanderbilts rogers chair and the american presidency, historian jon meacham, and nbc news capitol hill correspondent and the host of way too early kasie hunt is with us. What a big day. Your thoughts this morning, joe . Well, it is a huge day. Of course, willie, you know always on election mornings how you can tell its election morning, right . Is it the sweater, joe . Yes, exactly. I get the sweater out once every four years. Just for election day. It looks really nice. Going back to what year, willie . What was the first . Was it truman . Yeah, 48. Yeah. And after that it was just sort of a good luck charm and things went from there. Well, listen, sweaters aside, there are a few other things to talk about today. What im struck by, willie, is that from Donald Trumps first day in office, when he talked about american carnage and lied about crowd sizes and really, i think, embarrassed a lot of people inside his white house and across the country and immediately called for a, quote, muslim ban, which, remember, very early on shut down airports, shut down large chunks of this country. We had the womens march that sunday, and the country really came to a standstill for that weekend. And since that day people have been waiting almost four years for this moment. And, obviously, a lot of people in Donald Trumps side, too, that support him wanting to show that they support this extraordinarily divisive president who has been using division to divide america quite successfully over the past four years. But today is the day. And my gosh, if you just look at the numbers of people who have already voted and you talk to Election Officials in florida, they think they may break alltime records going over 80 today. Thats just remarkable, especially in the age of covid when the president s own advisors say things are about to get worse than they have ever been. Yeah, that number, the early voting number, is astonishing and it is inspiring to see that many people who waited in lines that long. I waited in a fivehour line last tuesday, and then this morning on sameday voting i am coming into work at 4 30 in the morning. You see people already lined up at their polling places. Youre right, the country has been through so much for the last nearly four years. You can throw in the Mueller Investigation, impeachment and now we are here in the middle of a pandemic that most people believe could have been stopped or slowed a long time ago. We will be starting as the polls close at 7 00 down right through. We will look at georgia. Then a little bit later we will li like at florida and North Carolina. Steve kornacki is going to help us in a minute to see exactly where this race is headed. Its funny you bring up inauguration day, january 20th, 2017. We have literally been in perpetual campaign since that day because that is the day that President Trump filed for reelection. He filed with the f. E. C. To run again. And then last year on april 25th, joe biden entered the race. So that has been a year and a half since then. Its about a Long Campaign and now finally we are here on election day. Jonathan lamire, lets go to you and get a sense of where you think the Trump Campaign believes it is right now. We have been talking for the last couple of weeks about them saying, well, the polls were wrong last time. We think they might be wrong again, or we hope we can keep it close enough to get this into the courts, particularly in a place like pennsylvania where President Trump has signaled he is going to send in lawyers. Do they believe they have a shot to win tonight . By any definition, this was an Election Year unlike any other, but yet for the president s team they are acting like its 2016 again believing that the president can catch lightning in the bottle and have some late magic to stun the pundits and defy the polls. His team, they are outwardly very confident. Inwardly, they do believe they have a path. But certainly they recognize it is an exceedingly farrow one. And we know what it is. Its about the sun belt, about holding on to territory he won four years ago. Georgia, North Carolina, florida, and then out west later in the night arizona. Even then, thats not quite enough. He needs to win one of the three great lakes states. His focus has been on pennsylvania. He was in wisconsin yesterdaynd he had two rallies in michigan, including one in grand rapids that started at midnight bringing a close to his campaign and potentially the phenomenon that is the trump rally. His aides have acknowledged that both of those states, michigan and wisconsin, are long shots, that pennsylvania is the place where they want to do battle. That suggests that battle could be a legal one. The president has several days in a row been very ominous terms, suggested that Supreme Court decision to allow all the ballots to be counted after election day would potentially even lead to he said it would be, quote, a dangerous situation. In a tweet he suggested there would be violence in the streets. Lets be clear. There is no evidence of that whatsoever. This is an extraordinary amount of fear mongering from tsitting president. That is their bet that they can hold serve in the sun belt and then win it even if it takes winning in the courts with pennsylvania. The biden camp briefly thinks they can deliver a knockout blow early in the night, perhaps, that is, georgia, perhaps that is arizona. Some senior democratic strategists said keep an eye on texas, which would be an extraordinary development. But here we are. Voters go to the polls soon. With he will start seeing raw n and not just have to relay on the campaigns projections. That is a message that the Biden Campaign sent out to several people quietly last night. Keep an eye on texas. If youre a trump supporter, if you are in the Trump Campaign and you have seen a flurry of negative polls over the past month or so, you would be focusing on two polls that came out over the past few days. One in iowa, a state that was a tossup from the best polling outfit, ann seltzers polling outfit, showing donald trump up by seven points. And then last night a georgia poll coming out that donald trump up by four points. Now, i dont usually Pay Attention to one or even two polls, but if youre looking for a trend, that would be a hopeful trend if youre a trump supporter in two swing states. But again if you talk to both campaigns, they will tell you that georgia is close. I think the Biden Campaign is fairly confident they have got a better than even shot of carrying georgia and are feeling better about florida than they have for some time. Still ahead, jon meacham delivered some powerful remarks at this years Democratic National convention. Well get his thoughts on this consequential day in American History next on morning joe. Joint pain, swelling, tenderness. My psoriasis. Cosentyx works on all of this. Cosentyx can help you look and feel better by treating the multiple symptoms of psoriatic arthritis. Dont use if youre allergic to cosentyx. Before starting, get checked for tuberculosis. An increased risk of infections and lowered ability to fight them may occur. Tell your doctor about an infection or symptoms, if your inflammatory bowel disease symptoms develop or worsen, or if youve had a vaccine, or plan to. Serious allergic reactions may occur. Watch me get real relief with cosentyx. How to ensure your vote counts. Because of covid19 president ial election,. Polling locations. Confusion is high. fisherman vo how do i register to vote . working mom vo i think im already registered. Hmm . Hmm . Hmm woman on porch vo can we vote by mail here . man on porch vo lemme check. woman vo thank you man vo thank you grandma vo youll be safe, right . daughter vo yes four girls vo the polls voted grandma vo go out and vote its so important man at poll vo woo grandma vo its the most important thing you can do i do motivational speakingld. In addition to the substitute teaching. I honestly feel that thats my calling to give back to younger people. I think most adults will start realizing that they dont recall things as quickly as they used to or they dont remember things as vividly as they once did. Ive been taking prevagen for about three years now. People say to me periodically, man, youve got a memory like an elephant. Its really, really helped me tremendously. Prevagen. Healthier brain. Better life. I feel like were forglet me check. Ing. Xfinity home gives you peace of mind from anywhere with professionally monitored Home Security built around you. No, i think were good. Good. So when youre away, you dont have to worry. The tent. We forgot. The tent. Except about that. Xfinity home. Simple. Easy. Awesome. Hey look, i found the tent get xfinity home with no Term Contract required. Click or call today. Because, like me, you grew up a nerd, and while other people were outside playing with their friends, we were reading teddy whites the making of the president 1960. Really, its an inspiring book that actually got me wanting to read a lot more about politics. You see the opening, the pages opening, the beauty, the magic of it, the snow falling gently in dixville i forget, Dixville Notch . Yeah. Yeah. Across New Hampshire. And he talked about how the process starts magically and it rolls throughout the day and talking about how the workingclass americans come at their time, more afluent americans at their time. And by the end of the day, we have a magical process that lets the next president of the United States. This has turned into so many years later an absolute street brawl, and it is ugly. It is divisive. Insults are thrown around left and right. We already have though 100 million voting early, and this campaign sounds every bit as ugly and every bit as nasty as the campaign that you opened your book with, Thomas Jefferson in 1800, which is to say weve been here before. This isnt the Ugliest Campaign of all time, but a lot is riding on what happens tonight. You are frighteningly close to the bone on the dorky kid inside while cool kids like willie were outside. Exactly. I just had a minor flashback. So i need a second. The teddy white book, those first pages are amazing because white, who was a time life writer and kind of pioneered the narrative of president ial campaigns are arthurian quests. He elevated the whole world we live in in some ways was manufactured and created by white because he elevated the advisors, the consultants, sort of became this rolling drama. He starts with a description of us, of the people going to the fire halls and going to the schools, and then i remember given the Economic Times 60 years ago, you know democrats got off a shift at three or four, working class voters, an one of whites lines is, if america goes democratic at all, it goes late in the afternoon. The opposite may be true today. But i think this is certainly the most important president ial election since 1932, and arguably the most important since 1864. So much is at stake. And its not hyper bolic. The evidence of our eyes, which is what were supposed to follow as americans, were supposed to be shaped by our hearts, but we were founded in many ways to actually use our brains, to use our minds and make decisions based on changing facts and changing circumstance. And so i think its an incredibly important Inflection Point. And the other thing that keeps coming to mind is i woke up this morning thinking about john lewis because ten miles from where im sitting, American Baptist college, which is where he came in the fuel of 1957. He read about emmett till, the lynching of emmett till, auth reen lucy, the black woman who tried to integrate the university of alabama early on. The little rock nine, and he was beginning this journey to the pettis bridge where he and so many others whose names we dont know and we dont celebrate as much did something amazing. This is a president ial election unfolding in our native region, joe, that is 52 years ago was the first one that did not unfold under functional apartheid. Only 52 years ago. And so this watching the number of people who are exercising this fundamental right to vote is really inspiring. Coming up, kasie hunt has been fielding a lot of calls over the past few days. What the campaigns are telling her in these closing hours of the 2020 campaign, particularly when it comes to the senate and the south. Morning joe is back in a moment. An official message from medicare. Did you try it yet . Comparing plans . Oh yeah. They sure can change year to year. I found lower premiums and lower prescription costs. And those new insulin savings hundreds of plans, 35 a month. Thatll save you money. So uh, mark . On medicare. Gov now. Open enrollment ends dec 7th. Comparing plans. Really pays. Paid for by the u. S. Department of health human services. Serena its my 4 10, noexcusesongameday migraine medicine. Its ubrelvy. For anytime, anywhere migraine strikes without worrying if its too late, or where i am. One dose of ubrelvy works fast. It can quickly stop my migraine in its tracks within two hours, relieving pain and debilitating symptoms. Do not take with strong cyp3a4 inhibitors. Most common side effects were nausea and tiredness. Serena migraine hits hard. Hit back with ubrelvy. The anytime, anywhere migraine medicine. Hit back with ubrelvy. [anthat can leave cleaning gaps and wrap hair. So shark replaced them with flexible power fins to directly engage floors and dig deep into carpets. Pick up more on every pass with no hair wrap. Shark vertex with duoclean power fins. Hey while the guys arentcatch listening. We need your help. Your platforms are toxic to women who lead. We are targeted with ugly and violent language, with threats of sexual assault, coordinated bots attack women for political gain. We have asked facebook to do better, our freedom, our democracy is at risk. We are fighting back, and were asking you to join us. Weve got your back, do you have ours . You know, lean in. Kasie hunt, you have been talking to your sources all across the map, especially in florida and texas. What are you hearing . Texas, i think, is worthy of a lot of attention today, and i am certainly hearing from democrats that while they are not 100 sure exactly whats going on there, the early vote totals are so significant, so huge, that they know something is happening there, and as i talked to republicans, there is a significant chance, i think, and my sources are telling me they believe that President Trump may actually be pretty far behind john cornyn, who is running for reelection to the senate in texas, that President Trump has a potential real problem in texas. Now, they still are telling me that they think its possible that he pulls this out. Lets remember just how seismic it would be if we were, if we are in, you know, 12 hours or so talking about texas potentially flipping, going blue to democrats. Its been kind of the white whale for so long. But it really is very much in play, very much in focus. There are also a handful of house seats in texas that potentially could flip. And if, in fact, this is how things go, we also have been talking about georgia for the last week or so, someplace some democrats believe they are more likely to win than even in florida. We are talking about a historic potential realignment in that region that jon meacham was just referring to across the south. To add florida into that conversation, because its going to be a part of it early in the night, joe obviously knows more than any of us about the dynamics there, but there has been a shift in my, among the folks that i am talking to on both sides of the aisle. There was a sense over the course of the last, i would say, ten days that republicans, President Trump had at least stopped the bleeding, had potentially edged out in front a little bit of joe biden, but that trend, and remember, yes, we have way more early voting than we normally do, but momentum really matters on election day. Democrats feeling a little bit better about florida than they were just a couple of days ago. Coming up, joined by two leading voices for the democrats. House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn and Stacey Abrams our are guests this hour. Morning joe is coming right back. [announcer] meet the ninja foodi air fry oven. Make familysized meals fast. And because its a ninja foodi, it can do things no other oven can, like flip away. The ninja foodi air fry oven, the oven that crisps and flips away. This is the feeling of total protection now that we protect your identity, and mobile phone, as well as auto home and life youve never been in better hands allstate click or call for a quote today here . Nah. Introducing the all new chevy trailblazer. Here . Nope. Here. When the middle of nowhere, is somewhere. The all new chevy trailblazer. Making lifes journey, just better. The all new chevy trailblazer. I feel like were forglet me check. Ing. Xfinity home gives you peace of mind from anywhere with professionally monitored Home Security built around you. No, i think were good. Good. So when youre away, you dont have to worry. The tent. We forgot. The tent. Except about that. Xfinity home. Simple. Easy. Awesome. Hey look, i found the tent get xfinity home with no Term Contract required. Click or call today. At what point will you declare victory . When there is victory. If there is victory, i think well have victory. I think that the polls are, you know, suppression polls, and i think we will have victory. But only when there is victory. I mean, you know, there is no reason to play games. President trump in an interview with fox news this morning. I can understand why. I mean, his schedule has been absolutely remarkable. Brutal. Over the past week or so, just like superspreader. But you can tell, really exhausted after quite a run. With that answer amid the reports that he may try to falsely claim victory before all the votes are in, whatever happens tonight one thing we are very unlikely to get is a concession speech from the losing candidate. A speech that is possibly the most important part of this countrys peaceful transfer of power. One of the great features of america is that we have political contests that they are very hard fought, as this one was hard fought. And once the decision is made, we unite behind the man who is elected. I have no bitterness, no rancor at all. I say to the president , as a fellow politician, that he did a wonderful job. Mr. Nixon has won. The democratic process has worked its will. So now lets get on with the urgent task of uniting our country. Congratulations on your victory. I hope that in the next four years you will lead us to a time of peace abroad and justice at home. You have my full support in such efforts. The president asked me to tell you that he telephoned president elect carter a short time ago and congratulated him on his victory. The people of the United States have made their choice, and of course i accept that decision. He has won. We are all americans. He is our president and we honor him tonight. He will be our president and well work with him. This nation faces major challenges ahead and we must work together. There is important work to be done and america must always come first. So we will get behind this new president and wish him well. I have said repeatedly in this campaign that the president is my opponent, not my enemy, and i wish him well and i pledge my support. This is america. Just as we fight hard when the stakes are high, we close ranks and come together when the contest is done. But in an american election, there are no losers because whether or not our candidates are successful, the next morning we all whake up as americans. Whatever our differences, werfel low americans, and please believe me when i say no association hasp ever meant more to me than that. I so wish that i had been able to fulfill your hopes to lead the country in a different direction, but the nation chose another leader, and so ann and i join with you to earnestly pray for him and for this great nation. We must accept this result and then look to the future. Our constitutional democracy enshrines the peaceful transfer of power, and we dont just respect that. We cherish it. You know, its really just heartbreaking moments there for anybody, republican or democrat. Heartbreaking moments, and yet moments that i think more aptly get to the heart of american greatness, of the power of democracy, the strength of democracy that when somebody loses, and probably the most heartbreaking professional moment of their career, they step back and they salute the winner and they urge their followers to move forward with a peaceful transfer of power. Willie, heartbreaking moments there. You look at nixon in 60, who conceded the race despite the fact he and his team believed that kennedy had stolen illinois. We, of course, asked pat buchanan why they didnt contest it, and he said because we stole kentucky, joe. But humphrey in 68, the pain of losing that sort of race. Ford in 76, another close race. Jimmy carter, who had given his all and made some accomplished great things on the international stage. Heartbroken in 1980 for good reason. And then yet, of course, i mean, i just wrote this quote down. George h. W. Bush, how blessed this country has been to have leaders like george h. W. Bush. America must always come first. Al gore in 2000 was stiff through the entire campaign, and yet he spoke like an american cicero that night when he had to give the most painful speech of his life. But he was, you could tell, he was strengthened in his resolve because of how much he loved america, because of how much he loved this country. The most heartbreaking of circumstances. You could say the same thing about mitt romney in 12 and, of course, Hillary Clinton in 2016. It is, actually, how, its one of the key markers of this democracys strength, of this constitutional republic, and we pray to god that we will see it either tonight or in the coming days from whichever one of these candidates is not successful in their attempt to be elected president. Amen to that. I mean, that was america right there. I mean, this is how we do it. And its easy for the last three and a half years, we have become so accustomed to seeing norms shattered and our perception sometimes of our government and country change, but thats how we do it. Thats how we do it. We dont threaten not to accept the result. We dont threaten to declare victory when all the votes have not been counted. If you start at the end there with Hillary Clinton, she had an event on Election Night at the Javits Center with a Glass Ceiling to say she broke the Glass Ceiling. Instead, giving a concession speech the next day. She lost the Electoral College. My gosh, can you imagine standing out there and having to give that speech just 12 hours or whatever it was after she thought she was going to be a historic president. Also think about the notes. When you mentioned george h. W. Bush, 92, bill clinton prevents him from becoming a twoterm president. The speech he gave that night and there is a beautiful note you can go online and read that he left in the oval office for bill clinton. These are all pieces of this transfer of power that are so important to this country. I want to echo whoever lose nz a couple of days from now, i hope they rush to a stage too make a speech like the ones we just saw. We will be talking more about this and showing these moments on our coverage on peacock tonight. But to see those concession speeches lined up like that and youre hearing their hearts speak. Their love for america. Thats sort of the core of who we are. The pillars of our democracy. A peaceful transfer of power and how important that moment to each of those men and women was so important because they knew that it carried so much weight, such value. And none of those people on stage would have been there unless they werent extraordinarily driven people who hated losing more than anything in their lives, and yet in each case they loved america more than they hated losing, and this is my message again to both candidates. I mean, we know what joe biden will do if he loses this race, but this is to President Trump as well. Watching al gore in 2000 concede, thats not a sign of weakness on al gores part. That was an extraordinary moment of character. You can say the same thing for mccain in 08 and romney in 12, Hillary Clinton in 16, john kerry in 2004 after his patriotism had been questioned despite the fact he served honorably in vietnam. All of these people showed extraordinary character. Character that people will remember and they will see long after these candidates pass away. What theyve contributed to america cannot be understated. Mike barnicle, we dont know who that will be tonight or later this week, whether joe biden will be giving a concession speech or whether history will call upon donald trump to do the same. I will say i am hopeful that, hopeful beyond hope that donald trump will do what he said this morning. He will not play games. He will not delayclare victory until he has victory. And that everybody will stay calm through the next few days. Joe, we would do well as an industry, the media business, if we showed that extraordinary clip on an hourly basis throughout the day and throughout tomorrow because what we heard and saw was, youre right, underlying the word an extraordinary display of character in the most terrible of situations for the person involved after expending all of that energy and effort to win the presidency, they lost. One among many statements bounced off me, was bob dole when he referred to running against bill clinton. He was my opponent, he was not my enemy. And you just wonder how have we gotten to the point where we are today and, hopefully, someone in both camps will see that clip and one person or another, either donald trump or joe biden, is going to have to make a statement similar to the ones we saw. And i hope and pray for the sake of the country, our country, that it will be a healing statement and not a statement of division. And again a statement that will be around long after they are gone. And youre right. Bob dole, a man who sacrificed so much in defending this country in world war ii, certainly understood better than most that there are no republicans or democrats in foxholes. There are only americans. Now, back in february when joe bidens campaign was in deep trouble after a disappointing loss in iowa and New Hampshire, this happened. I know joe. We know joe. But most importantly, joe knows us. When they delivered that endorsement for joe biden, jim clyburn, he delivered that statement. I know when you took me, your old congressional buddy, to lizards thicket, i thought this is the highlight of my career. But, no, in fact, joe, im joking, everybody, in fact, jim, its incredible. You made history this year. Your endorsement, you are a man so respected in your state and across the country, that your endorsement really did change history and change the trajectory of this president ial race. Well, thank you very much for saying that. But, you know, i do know joe and i think weve seen in this campaign that joe knows this country very well. But even more importantly, joe respects this country. He understands, he exemplifies what is good about these United States of america. As i watch those concession speeches, i thought back to that contribut contributor, that issue expressed by a lot of people say it was maybe jon meacham can help us because i have not been able to find that he said this. But supposedly he said america is great because its people are good. And if the people of america ever cease to be good, america will cease to be great. I think thats whats on trial in this campaign. The goodness of america. And you saw democrats and republicans just demonstrating what is good about this country. The fact that we are not enemies of each other. We are sometimes opponents, but when the contest is over, we come together and do what is necessary to continue that Journey Towards a more perfect union. That is the pursuit that we are on. And i am hopeful that when the polls close today we will know that this country is continuing that pursuit. We wont ever get to perfection, but we are always, we must pursue perfection. Dont step back from it. And i do believe that we will continue that tonight. Congressman clyburn, its willie. Good to see you this morning. Obviously, your endorsement was crucial. It perhaps changed the trajectory of this race, maybe of history. In the months since, it was the voters who delivered the outcome for joe biden. What do you see in your state right now . Probably wont tip joe bidens way. Talk about Jaime Harrison, for example. We had him on the show a short time ago running against Lindsey Graham. How do you see that race playing out and how much will this turnout we have seen across the country play into it . Well, you know, i watched jaime on your show this morning. I texted him immediately there after. I told him i thought he was fantastic this morning. Last night i was with jaime as he closed his campaign in orangeburg, his hometown where i went to college and jaime did a tribute last night to my late wife, who he called his political mother. She loved jaime, and jaime has demonstrated himself to be a winner. He is a winner. What remains to be seen is whether or not he can get elected to the United States senate. He just ran a campaign upon which a well laid foundation was jaime is 44 years old. He got started in this business when he was in the 11th grade. He has been in my life ever since and i have not been able to get him out of it. I never wanted to get him out of it. But he has shown young people that he has brought into this effort how to do it. Lay the foundation. Build upon that foundation. Stay connected to your constituents. People have fallen in love with jaime because jaime has demonstrated that he is all about them and not about him. And that is what has been demonstrated in this campaign. Now, we have a big hole in South Carolina politically. Joe scarborough has been down here time and time again. The republican beach head here in South Carolina is kind of tough. But joe may surprise people in South Carolina tonight and i really feel that jaime will. All right. Wow. Mike barnicle has a question for you, congressman. Sure. Congressman, you have lived a life, and when i see you, when i look at you, i see wisdom. So im going to ask you this question. The toxicity that has invaded our politics and our cultural lives in this country existed before donald trump. Its not all on him. But he certainly ignited fires of intolerance that didnt exist prior to 2016. What do we do about that existing fire of intolerance and hatred and division that has so consumed so many of us in this country . Well, thank you for that, mike. I just talked about a statement that a lot of people attribute to i cant find who said it. In his twovolume book, democracy in america, he said this. Americas great its not because it is more enlightened than any other nation, but rather because it has always been able to repair its faults. Now, that means that when faults occur, america comes together to repair it. If fault occurred four years ago, we elected a president that is going about the business of dividing this country, of turning people against each other, of bringing insult into the white house, the kind of stuff that none much us ever thought wed see from an american president , to lets hope that america once again will go about the business of repairing its faults. That was a fault. Lets repair it in this election. I sincerely hope that we do. And thats what we can do. Elect a good man. Joe biden is a good man. Lets restore goodness in the white house and we will maintain greatness for this country. For amen. House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn of South Carolina. Thank you. We will see you soon. Moving one state south now, and if joe biden wins the state of georgia tonight, our next guest will deserve much of the credit. Joining us now, former minority leader in the Georgia House of representatives, Stacey Abrams, the founder of fair fight action and fair fight 2020 to promote Fair Elections across the country. Stacey, thanks for being on this morning. Boy, youve been working so hard. Whats your mindset this morning. How are you feeling . Im feeling determined. I think we have a very strong chance of delivering the state of georgia, not only 16 Electoral College votes but two u. S. Senators, a new congresswoman from the 7th district and flipping the sta state house of representatives. Im in a good space. We have to keep the pressure on. So what is it going to take for all those to get hover tove top today . As of sunday we had 3. 9 million voters. That represents 56 of georgias eligible voting and just shy by 200,000 votes of our High Water Mark in 2016 of 4. 1 million voters. We expect at least another million votes to happen today if not more. Its going to be a very close race, very tight. Georgia is a divided state in terms of democrat versus republican, and we have independents. But we know that with turnout, democrats have a very strong chance of taking this election. Stacey, its willie geist. Were going to be looking closely at cobb county and gwinnett county, those atlanta suburbs. Weve watched them change demographically over the last several cycles. You gave them a big push in that direction as well. What your seeing in early voting and what youre hearing about the way they may go tonight . We saw extraordinary turnout in both counties, especially in gwinnett county. Across the state we have a population one of the largest in the south. More api voters who voted this year early voting. Increases among latino and africanamerican voters. These are populations concentrated in ginwinnett, cob county. Weve seen increases in voting among africanamericans in south georgia. We cant just win metro atlanta. We need to win the state. Whats the Biggest Issue if you had to say thats on the ballot in georgia. Is it the one on everyones minds and in everyones lives, coronavirus . It is. We have had a disproportionate effect of coronavirus. Unfortunately our governor opened the state to quickly. We faced the first and second sur surges. Weve lost two rural hospitals, plus georgia does not have medicaid expansion. Half a million georgians who probably need to be seen by doctors, need to be tested are not able to do so because they dont have health insurance. Georgia has 1. 4 Million People without insurance and in a state where we know covid is going to surge again, we need access to health care. Health care is top of mind. Its top of mind not only because of what it can do for the lives of our people. Its an economic issue. We can create 56,000 jobs in georgia if we expanded medicaid. So were hoping well have leadership all the way from the top to the bottom of the ticket that understands that georgia needs health care and healing. Stacey, it was black voters and specifically black women who lifted joe biden in the democratic nomination process, helped him not only win South Carolina but win on super tuesday. And when tin the democratic nomination going away. It will be black women and black men but mainly black women in georgia and florida. And some other states if, in fact, joe biden is elected president of the United States tonight. What should be on the top of a President Biden agenda pertaining to black women in particular, since they played such a pivotal role in his political success this year . Joe biden intends to be the president of all of america. And when you serve the needs of black women, you serve the needs of america. We need access to health care, economic equity. We need access to the loans for our Small Businesses that joe biden has proposed. We need infrastructure jobs. We need absolutely an answer to criminal Justice Reform and end to Police Brutality because it affected black women, black men and americans. I want to push back. Black women, yes. We are a stalwart of the party but we cannot discount the participation of black men. Every vote counts and we need to make certain whoever becomes the next president that we push for an agenda that centers the needs of black families and serves the needs of all americans. Black women and black men together will turn out the vote and guarantee a victory across this country. Stacey abrams, thank you very much. Thank you for everything that youve done. As the votes come in tonight, joe and willie and i will be running election coverage on peacock. Nbc universals new streaming service. Top election data analysts and reporters who cover the key states every day, pulitzer prizewinning reporters and columnists, campaign veterans and president ial historians will put it all into context. Willie, i speak for all of us. Most importantly, barnacle will be there. Oh, yeah. So you will get your fulfill of barnacle in the morning. Barnacle in the evening. Barnacle when the sun goes down. Around the clock barnacle. Oh, my lord. Its all on peacock starting at 6 00 p. M. Eastern time. Well be there. Go to peacock tv. Com to sign up for free. You can also download it on your smart tv or smartphone so you can watch wherever you are. Just as you would any other app. That does it for us this morning. We will be right back with Stephanie Ruhle who will pick up the coverage after this final break. Rakuten cash back on the things all in our home i shop on Rakuten Rakuten woman chattering [announcer] ordering dinner for the family . Yeah. group gasps [announcer] rewarded with a side of quiet. baby babbling happily grubhub rewards you with a free delivery perk on your first order. doorbell ringing grubhub beautiful. But when i started cobra kai, the lack of control over my business made me a little intense. But now i practice a different philosophy. Quickbooks helps me get paid, manage cash flow, and run payroll. And now im back on top. With koala kai. Hey more mercy. Save over 30 hours a month with intuit quickbooks. The easy way to a happier business. On the sleep number numbers 360 smart bed. Ale can it help with snoring . Ive never heard snoring. Exactly. No problem. And done. And now, save 1,000 on the sleep number 360 special Edition Smart bed, now 1,799. Only for a limited time. [announcer] meet the make familysized meals fast. And because its a ninja foodi, it can do things no other oven can, like flip away. The ninja foodi air fry oven, the oven that crisps and flips away. Hi there. Im Stephanie Ruhle. It is here. Tuesday, november 3rd, election day. The day we have all been waiting for. I am here in philadelphia, pennsylvania, the city of brotherly love. What better place to spend the day than in this city known as the birthplace of america. Were just outside