race, the republican race for governor here, doug mastriano who was backed by trump, albeit very late, he won clearly, all the pink counties there arecoun. if you look in the senate race, oz who received the trump backing, he didn t win all the same counties. had a little bit of a different effect. i think the way this lays out geographically is one of the biggest surprises of the night. dave mccormick had as much support in that dark red rural area, central pennsylvania, western pennsylvania, trump country, when he was running against joe biden i think was one of the bigger surprises of the night. we won t know the whole trump factor thing until we know this will be key to understanding that. this is the big bet he placed on this marquee race. we saw obviously some trump-backed candidates that won, some that lost, whether or not mehmet oz gets across the finish line will determine trump power right now. great to see you. you too. joining us now to discuss is cnn senior p
and has been the benefactor of a lot of outside money in this race. former north carolina governor pat mccrory, who has battled back, look, on tv in north carolina, we see ads from him all the time, essentially trying to push his conservative credentials without that trump backing and that s what we ve seen in that particular race, both of those candidates very busy throughout the day. erica, look, polling suggests that ted budd right now is in the lead and has been for several weeks now. now, on the democratic side, look, former chief justice of the state supreme court sherry beasley has had a much easier route and been able to save money as well because essentially the democratic field cleared for her. so, her night, pretty much in the bag. now, here in hendersonville, the race that everybody is watching, though, is that 11th congressional district and whether or not freshman congressman madison cawthorn can keep his seat amidst just a slew
herbster, who side note, is also accused by several women of touching them inappropriately, when he denies. i think that s part of the element and it crosses any place where donald trump is playing. there s a couple factors at play. we know he has enormous influence with the base. however, we have also seen candidates who have characteristics that are kind of like donald trump, perhaps this person is facing these accusations in nebraska, who have not been able to overcome liabilities the way that donald trump was able to overcome every liability. no matter what you threw at donald trump, it was teflon. he powered right through. that hasn t always been true for these candidates even when they have trump backing. there s going to be interesting tests here to see where and how candidates actually diverge from what donald trump wants in both the positive and in the negative. i think in west virginia, particularly interesting case because you do have politicians there who have shown, joe
solid red district. it s currently represented by jodie heiss running for secretary of state and members of the freedom caucus behind a different candidate in the race and they re going to be at odds with trump and i m told a lot of members are not happy about the idea of vernon jones getting in with a trump endorsement but we ll see whether the trump backing here really shakes up the race, it s a crowded field, as i mentioned. so understandably now, republican leaders are scrambling trying to find some way to deal with the infighting. that s understandable. what s a bit puzzling is the example they re turning to help alleviate some of that, and the football team, the new england patriots. what more are you learning? reporter: that s right. i m told house minority leader kevin mccarthy played a video clip this morning during the conference meeting that showed a super bowl game for 20 years ago where the rams were introduced individually on the field versus the patriots who were int