to get back up, and fighting for all forgotten communities all across pennsylvania that also got knocked down. that was democratic pennsylvania senate candidate john fetterman addressing his stroke in the first few minutes in the first and only debate in pennsylvania s insanely heated senate race. fetterman leads his republican opponent mehmet oz by two points which is well within the margin of error. just months ago, fetterman was leading by five points. aside from his health, the debate touched on other subjects that motivated voters, including abortion. i want leaders, political leaders to put the best ideas nord for states to decide them contrast with my opponent john fetterman who on this debate stage said he would demand federally mandated for all states that would allow abortion
and colleague used the phrase jump ball to describe what happens on novmber 8th. how closely have they tightened? yeah, on the left, you see the seats that democrats are defending, on theem right, you e the seats that republicans are defending. and then you see for democrats how crucial that pennsylvania race is. there is one democrat-held seat in nevada where the republican adam laxalt leads. if laxalt were to win there, republicans get a gain. the republicans need a gain of one seat. so theat function for pennsylvania, if fetterman who leads in the polling average by just over a point hangs on, it would basically cancel out a loss and allow democrats to keep the senate. it s the only seat pennsylvania
top of the hour, i m erica hill. good to have you with us this morning. election day, two weeks away exactly. today there is a major focus on pennsylvania. voters gearing up for a key senate debate tonight. republican mehmet oz and john fetterman will face off in the first and only debate. this is a new poll showing fetterman leading with a narrow margin. we re on the ground in harrisburg with a preview of tonight s debate. plus overnight in florida, governor ron desantis vying to keep his job facing off against challenger charlie crist in their debate, the two trading barbs, insults, on a number of topics. charlie crist will join me in just a moment. but let s begin with what is expected to be the fiery debate tonight in pennsylvania. jessica dean is on the trail in harrisburg. and it is important, this is the
remains a major issue. i think this is why the debate over debates in the pennsylvania senate race has gotten a lot of attention. it s the feature of every competitive race but it is because we haven t heard the issues aired out from these candidates for a very long time. i think there s going to be pressure to on both sides to hear more of their views pretty soon. when we look at we re also focused today on wisconsin, that s the president s first stop. there is all this focus on pennsylvania, but i wonder in a number of respects, is wisconsin actually a better barometer at the moment? wisconsin was a closer race in 2020, as omar said. president biden only won by about 20,000 votes there. it is a very tight state where we do see reflections of some of the different debates we see across the country. issues like abortion, issues like inflation, education are all going to be on the ballot there in wisconsin. it s going to be a tight race because you do have a republican
msnbc world headquarters here in new york. welcome to alex witt reports, developing this hour president biden is heading to two key states tomorrow. giving labor day speeches in both wisconsin and pennsylvania. as we mark the start of the official campaign season, meanwhile today white house advisers defending the soul of the nation s speech in which he called donald trump and his maga ideology a threats to democracy. the president has not called out all publicans, he has been very specific about his maga agenda and what the president has said is that mainstream republicans, independents, democrats, can all come together. we have seen us come together to do what is right on behalf of american people. if people are silent then the very core of what we do as a country is in danger. with 65 days until the midterm election we are getting a clearer picture of the message that both democrats and