Good evening. Im jim sciutto, in again for erin burnett. Out front tonight, breaking news. First polls just closing on election night. Right now we are standing by for the first results from florida. What happens tonight will set the stage for a costly and contentious november election there, one that could be key to determining the balance of power in the senate. We are also watching arizona where polls will close shortly. Republicans casting their ballots in what has become a nasty, competitive contest to replace senator jeff flake. Flake, sometimes a fierce trump critic, yet all three candidates have embraced the president , though trump has as yet stayed out of the race choosing not to endorse a candidate. First, the fate of Jeff Sessions. Tonight there are renewed doubts about the embattled attorney generals future, a man the president has publicly bashed on twitter and in private, talked about firing. Now republican senator Lindsey Graham in a stunning aboutface, apparently openi
That is where polls will be closed a few hours from now. Probably. Theres an issue there with extensive polling times. More on that in a second. Theres also another breaking story tonight to tell you about. The Washington Post reporting that President Trump has again begun talking about firing his attorney general, Jeff Sessions. His attorneys have reportedly pushed back against that idea. We will have much more on that story coming up. But first, as we said tonights big races. Later on tonight, about 11 00 eastern, were expecting to start getting numbers out of arizona, a key Senate Primary being decided there. The backdrop in that state, of course, the death of john mccain. Seat to be filled by appointment in the coming days. Tonight, though, its the race for the states other senate seat taking center stage. There, the action is on the republican side. Martha mcsally, choice of the Party Establishment, a major recruit for national republicans. She is facing off against one of john mc
Im talking about the florida Gubernatorial Race that you have between republican ron desantis and democrat Andrew Gillum. Already this fight is off to a nasty start just as youd expect from a proxy battle for 2020 in the trump era. On day one of this contest desantis made comments attacking gillum and gillum and his supporters are calling a racial dog whistle. The last thing we need to do is to monkey this up by trying to embrace a socialist agenda with huge tax increases and bankrupting the state. Its very clear that mr. Desantis is taking a page directly from the Campaign Manual of donald trump. In the handbook of donald trump, they no longer do whistle calls, theyre now using full bullhorns. So there you go. Well have more on these comments and their fallout in just a moment. Im also going to speak with mr. Gillum later in the show. Folks, theres a reason this novembers florida governors race which delivered shocking results in last nights primary contest will be viewed as the ultim
Four potential justices of our great Supreme Court. They are really incredible people in so many different ways. Academically in every other way. But the white house is trying to play is could i t coy on wha president wants. Im not going to get into any specifics. A new question over the conduct of epa chief scott pruitt. Aides reportedly telling congressional investigators that he asked them to help find his wife a job with a salary of over 200,000. We deserve to have somebody who actually does protect our environment. I would urge you to resign before your scandals push you out. Well talk more about all that. But this morning, the question is whats gotten into the president . He has been on a tear this morning. Six tweets in an hour, hitting everything from Maxine Waters to the economy, from the Supreme Court to ms13. All before most people had had their breakfast. All that venting, even as were learning for the first time, that the president sent accu accusatory blunt letters to man
Pollsters only get surprised by the strength of insurgencies. Its never a surprise that the establishment candidate, no matter what year were talking about, turns out to be stronger than we thought. Thats never the thing they miss. Well, prognostication is often based on poll numbers and stuff, but also you look for endorsements, you look for money, you look for the professionalism of the campaign, you look for ads. If youre prognosticating in an old school fashion, you add up all this stuff that tends to be a sort of oblique measurement of establishment support. And so when establishment candidates dont do well, it does usually blindside everybody. But i mean, this year with the kind of politics that weve got right now actually in both the democratic and republican parties, i think prognostication is a very dangerous business to be in in general. Well, it is as you mentioned, Steve Kornacki night in america. I know a lot of people think of it as primary night. But its Steve Kornacki n