be felt nearly 300 miles from the center, which means that millions of people across the south from georgia to virginia will be affected. this is the scene in the towns of myrtle beach and south port, south carolina. they are facing life threatening storm surge from hurricane ian. we are also getting a fuller picture of the devastation on the ground now in towns across florida. the new york times describing it this way. quote, the scale of the wreckage was staggering. even to florida residents who had survived and rebuilt after other powerful hurricanes, this storm pulverized roads. it toppled trees, gutted downtown store fronts and set cars afloat, leaving a soggy scar of ruined homes and businesses from the coastal cities of naples and fort myers to inland communities across the state including orlando. at least 14 deaths have been linked to the storm. more than 1.8 million people are now without power. more than 700 rescues have taken place including these from sanibel i
category 4 storm leaving a huge path of destruction and millions in the dark this morning. we ll have a live report in just a moment. meanwhile, rescue crews have been busy trying to get people who decided to ride out the storm to try and save them. they re stranded now by rising flood waters and we re still tracking ian as it slowly makes its way across florida. at this hour, it still has more to go. good morning, and welcome to morning joe. it s thursday, september 29th. joe is off this morning. along with willie and me, we have the host of way too early, white house bureau chief at politico, jonathan lemire. without power this morning, first light this morning will begin to show the damage in florida. that s right. that s when we re going to start to see the story of what happened last night, what happened overnight. tropical storm now ian downgraded from a category 1 hurricane. in just the last hour, but still wreaking havoc across florida as it made landfall as a
finney and ron brownstein. great to have you guys here. let s start with the senate debate, the john fetterman and mehmet oz debate that just happened tonight, and of course crime came up. it s been a big issue in that race. so let s hear their exchange. i m the only person on this stage right now that has is successful about pushing back against gun violence and being the community more safe. all he has done is just put a plan up on his website in the last 24 hours. he has no experience. he has never made any attempt to try to address crime. the fraternal order of police from braddock, the small town he represent, endorsed me. they supported me because what he is saying is not true. violence skyrocketed in braddock. i mean the town wasn t in good shape when he got there. it got worse when he was there. okay, scott, have at it. i know you re chomping at the bit. i thought this was an important exchange. it s become one of the central issues in the campaign, and it s
determine the future control of the upper chamber. that debate tonight, just a few moments ago, actually, between the incumbent democratic senator from georgia, reverend raphael warnock, and republican candidate, herschel walker, is the thing that could tip the scales. the stakes were already high headed into this debate, by the way, it s the only debate that candidates will participate in. for a race that could determine which party controls the senate. in other, words a lot of people have a lot of interest in how this debate went down. especially because, for the past few weeks, we have endured, seemingly, and this barrage of stories about the republican candidate in particular, herschel walker. there have been reports about domestic abuse allegations, having secret children, paying for an ex girlfriend to have an abortion because he wasn t ready to be a father, that the ex girlfriend was also the mother of one of secrets children, and had to press walker to pay for the abo
circle. and i didn t do it, be if it did happen, there s nothing to be ashamed after. that was a short lived defense. to a report that he paid for a former girlfriend s abortion. we re going to go through his evolving denials on that developing story. good morning, and welcome to morning joe. it is friday, october 7th. we have pulitzer prize winning columnist from the washington post, eugene robinson. ed luce is with us. officer at princeton university, eddie glaude jr., and jonathan lemire is with us this morning. mika, we were going to get into the news i just saw ed there. i saw a little smirk on ed s face. and i just have to talk about it. you know, ed, we have an expression, we ve always had an expression when people have congratulated me for anything i ve done, i go, well, i m the tallest building in schenectady. your headline, i love this, america is history s most successful failing state, i would define what you re describing here, i m an upstate new york guy