this time. a bipartisan group of senators working to defend democracy. they are warning that the country is entering a dangerous period with the investigations of the president likely to ramp up in the new year. the 44 ex-senators write in the op-ed quote at other critical moments in our history when constitutional crises have threatened our foundations, it is the senate that stood in the defense of democracy. we urge current and future senators to be steadfast and guardians of our democracy to ensure partisanship not replace national interest. the list of senators has 32 democrats and 10 republicans and 2 independents. maine republican senator susan collins who cast a vote in favor of brett kavanaugh s supreme court confirmation says she is vindicated by his vote
democrats find some slight disagreement with him, it feels very minor compared to the way they agree with him. lawrence o donnell waiting out the poll closing times in california rachel, can i get in one word about heidi heitkamp? please. i worked in the senate seven years. i never once in my time in the senate saw a united states senator cast a vote, that that senator knew could decisively guys, i have to interrupt. we have a big call. this is out of texas. nbc news is projecting ted cruz will return to the senate from texas, and republicans will be guaranteed control of the senate as a result. let s go to chris hayes who is in el paso at beto o rourke headquarters. chris hayes, we ve been going back to you all night long as we ve been watching this almost
benefits. they care about decency, honesty and being able to invest trust in the leader and andrew is one of those people, i know you can trust him all the way. you are obviously one of the greatest television producers of all time, you re a legend. all in the family has been something i ve a little thing, archie bunker. there was a thing called the archie bunker voter during the trump era. the person who was cranky about race, cranky about diversity, cranky about multi-culturalism, cast a vote on that basis are still with him. archie bunker was a guy who was changeable. yes. he was a guy who had a heart in there. and he was afraid of progress. right. so for that, do you think that the voters out there who are trump voters, are they archie bunker or is this something deeper and more intractable? i think i don t think
was that her main political virtue in this state is not someone who s she s with trump about half the time, against trump about half the time. what people admire her for is her political independence. and there s a lot of people here whose attitude is politics has gotten way too tribal in america. it s a conservative state, but a state as you recall put people like the u.s. senate democrats of an independent center strike. they like that about heidi heitkamp. and i think there are a fair number of voters and say it was a vote of courage, a vote where she was voting against the easy politics of the moment and what the polls told her to do. so she gets credit for it in some quarters, but you also run into a lot of conservative voters in this state. it s a very red state. she s the only democrat statewide here, the state legislators, the governor, the other senator all republicans, and very republican. there are a lot of voters here,
campaign is not pulling away from that issue. no, and i think lawrence it goes back to the thing we talked about. i said i don t know i ve seen many tougher votes than the votes she took. and she took it she was the attorney general of the state for two terms. she s prosecuted a lot of sexual assault cases. her mother was a victim of sexual assault and harassment. this was something that came out in the wake of that kramer comment about women playing victim, and she revealed her mother was a victim. so she made her choice on this vote, and i think she recognizes that s the hand she s playing. and if she s going to play that hand and die on that hill, not going to go down without fighting this issue on the way out. john heilemann, thank you for joining us from north dakota tonight. appreciate it. coming up, donald trump won pennsylvania by one percentage point. but the trump republican senate candidate is now down by 15 points. now down by 15 points