Governor Terry Mcauliffe. We have less than a week to go for you to bring me this baby home for me. His hopes of winning back his old job are in serious danger. Ill speak with Energy Secretary jennifer granholm. Also, Fighting Phoner Claims of voter fraud. Its not healthy for american democracy. With a majority of republicans saying joe bidens election was not legitimate they said there were 66,000 underage voters, thousands of unregistered voters that voted. There werent any of those. Ill talk to georgias Secretary Of State Brad Raffensperger who has written a new book about how he resisted President Trumps pressure to overturn joe bidens win. Joining me now for insight and and all sis, nbc news chief White House Correspondent kristen welker, Democratic Pollster cornell belcher, anna palmer, founder of punchbowl news, and republican strategy gist brad todd. Welcome to sunday. Its Meet The Press. Announcer from nbc news in washington, the longest running show in television history, this is Meet The Press with chuck todd. Good sunday morning. Happy halloween. We have a brand new nbc news poll out this morning still with some scary news for the democrats. The overarching message, americans have lost their confidence in President Biden and their optimism for the country. At least they have right now. Just 22 of adults say were headed in the right direction. A shocking 71 say were on the wrong track, and that includes a near majority of democrats who are saying that. President bidens Approval Rating stands at a dismal 4 versus 54 who disapprove. Two months ago President Biden was in positive territory. Whats pulling down the president s numbers . Look at this set of numbers. Just 37 say he has the ability to handle a crisis versus a majority who say he does not. 37 also say hes competent and effective as president. 50 disagree with that description. Whats more, republicans, believe it or not, have double digit leads in dealing with border security, inflation, crime, national security, the economy, and, shockingly, on getting things done. Democrats hold generally smaller doubledigit leads on dealing with climate change, the coronavirus, education, and abortion. Thats really it right now. Its not clear whether any deal struck by democrats on the social spending and Infrastructure Bill will nudge his numbers back into positive territory or whether the damage to his reputation is more a scar or a bruise. This much is clear. About the only good news is that midterm elections arent for another year. Mr. President , do you have support of the democrats . I think well be in good shape. President Biden Struggling at home, facing allies in europe without the political victory he had been hoping for. The 18point republican edge on handling of the economy is fueled by economic pes admissibility 79 call the economy fair or poor. Just 41 of democrats believe the country is headed in the right direction, down 23 points since april. Republicans are up by 13 points on being effective in getting things done. A number likely driven by the messy public debate over bidens social spending plan, which has exposed ideological divisions in the Democratic Party. On thursday after months of tough and thoughtful negotiations, i think we have an historic i know we have an historic economic framework. Despite President Bidens lastminute trip to capitol hill, his departure delayed to nail down a deal, he left for europe without one. Too many novotes for it to pass today. We need a little more than an iou. Clearly in my mind, it has some major gaps in it. The revised 1. 75 trillion social spending plan includes funding to tackle the climate crisis, universal prek, elder care, and a oneyear extension of the expanded child tax credit. No one got everything they wanted including me. Thats what compromise is. Thats consensus. But so far the bill is primarily being defined by whats not in it, tuitionfree community college, broader expansion of medicare, lower Prescription Drug prices, and paid family and medical leave. Were one of the few industrial countries in the world that dont have paid leave. If paid leave isnt in the bill, it would be devastating for working women and parents. On tuesday, bidens agenda will get its First Political test at the polls. According to a Washington Post schar school polls, the governors race in a state biden won by ten points is a pure tossup. Bring this baby home for me. Were going to send a shock wave across this country. Certainly not everything going on in the white house is going smoothly. Theres no argument about that. I dont think taking a step backwards with youngkin is the right way to go. Look at the country, look at the president. People are tired. They want a change. Glenn youngkin has successfully seized on cultural issues with a campaign centered on education, which voters call their top issue through the lens of parental grievance. We will not teach our children to view everything through a lens of race. Hes bringing his personal culture wars into our classrooms. Former President Trump will headline a telerally monday night for youngkin who carefully walked the line, accepting his endorsement while attempting to distance himself. Hes not coming. Joining me is someone the white house says can tell us whats been happening inside the room where the spending bills are being negotiated. Its Energy Secretary jennifer granholm. Welcome back to Meet The Press. Thank you. Glad to be on. Here we are. The second time in a month weve gone through this drama on capitol hill, the administration ended up balking again with progressives. He goes to capitol hill, delays his trip, and he didnt get the Infrastructure Bill. What happened . What happened is that the progressives came out unanimously supporting what was in the framework. They just had to see it. They had to look at the language which was released on friday. Now he can say he can go to cop, to glasgow and say that he has 100 unanimity in the Democratic Caucus in the house. That is really bringing people together over this agenda. So i think its really if you had told me, chuck, we would be arguing about when exactly the vote was going to happen or what the sequence was rather than whats in it, i would have been surprised. Here we are. The sequence is not its not insignificant. I want to put up something. App Gail Spanberger is a member of congress in the Swing District in virginia, which people have concerns about on the Democratic Party side, she said because people chose to be obstructionists, were not delivering these things to my state and the rest of the country. I guess well just wait, because apparently failing roads and bridges can wait in the minds of some people. I think thats before the Progressive Caucus they didnt pass on thursday. Speaker pelosi asked them to do this. The president didnt. Why . Because the president respects Speaker Pelosi and the caucus and the dynamics shes got to navigate. The fact youve got so many people and support chuck, one of the things that came out today, there was an ipsos poll out that said seven in ten americans dont know whats in the framework, whats in the whose fault is that . Thats why it is really important that people understand what is in it. For example, the fact that we have here people pay on average 9,000 a year for child care. Thats on average. Here in this area its more like 20,000 a year. This is going to eliminate that for people. Thats just a huge boost to the the bottom lines for people. Preschool, people pay on average across the country 8,600 a year. Thats going to go away. People will be finally able to enter back into the workplace, women especially. Thats just one component of this. But it is a fantastic really for decades and decades we have not seen this kind of investment in our people in our country. Look, this is a case where ive asked this where the political eye is bigger than the political stomach when you guys proposed what you did because you overpromised and underdelivered. Youre talking about whats in the bill the fight is not over. This is a compromise. Whats amazing is that we will have between the bipartisan Infrastructure Bill and this framework, we will have 3 trillion of investment in our nation that we have not had before. In my column of remix, which is in energy, the amount of investment that will be for clean technology, putting people to work and having america lead in this as we go into cop is amazing. If youre doing a terrific job of selling whats in it. The problem is theres a whole bunch of people disappointed in whats not in it. You dont get everything you ask for all the time. The president campaigned and said compromise is not a dirty word. You are not so unrealistic to think the president is going to get everything he wants. I understand that. On one issue that has giant majority and support is Prescription Drug reform. Take a listen to what the president said on the trail. Allow medicare to negotiate drug prices. That will bring them down. Well reduce Prescription Drug prices by 60 . Reduce Prescription Costs by 60 by allowing medicare to negotiate with drug prices. Most democrats believe in congress that what doesnt get into this Reconciliation Bill is not going to get touched. I know you can say, oh, maybe theres another bill. Maybe its this. Are you aware of the current climate here in washington . What doesnt get passed now isnt going to make it in another bill. I completely disagree with you. There are pieces of this that we can get republicans there are, believe it or not, a few republicans who will actually support paid family leave because they want to be profamily. So maybe they wont vote for it in this whole big bill. But its possible to go after pieces of this separately. The president isnt giving up on that, not giving up on reducing the cost of Prescription Drugs. Thats why youve got so much in this framework to reduce the cost of health care for everyday citizens. This is a really exciting moment for the nation, and we hope this week well be able to see it come to fulfillment. You have been a twoterm governor of michigan. You know politics pretty well. I want to show you some numbers from our poll that show the last nine months have taken a toll on the perception of President Biden. Just look at these numbers on the issue of knowledge and experience, fallen doubledigit points, ability to handle a crisis, competent and effective, that has dropped ten points since the start. This has taken a toll on its presidency. How do you make sure this is only a bruise and not a scar . Pass this bill. Most people will see this. Theyll see theyll get a continuation of the child tax credit. Theyll see people being put to work in clean energy all across this country. Theyll see the ability to have Senior Citizens and people with disabilities being cared for in their homes. Theyll see their costs of living come down as a result of having children. It is just this to me this bill and the real impacts that people will see will have an impact on those ratings. You know what . The president is focused on the middle class and the working class. Once they see they dont have to pay one dime for it if you make less than 400,000 a year, were starting to rewrite the Income Inequality that has been plaguing this country and has really held us back. The economy is one of the things that i think is dragging down the president here. People feel as if everything costs more. Something in your bailiwick is gas prices. Yep. You talked about releasing some oil from the Strategic Oil preserve reserve to see if we can bring down the cost. Is that something you guys are thinking about . Gas has risen, i think, a dollar since you took office from january to now. Weve got a problem. Of course. The gas prices and the fuel prices are in the same boat as the supply chain, et cetera. And winter is coming. Of course. The president is making sure that people are not hurt at the pump which is why the American Rescue plan, for example, had a significant increase in low income heating and protections for home, et cetera. Gas prices, of course, are based upon a global oil market. That oil market is controlled by a cartel. That cartel is opec. Opec controls more than 50 of the Petroleum Supply and more than 90 of the petroleum reserves. That cartel has more say about what is going on. Now, on top of it, youve got an Oil And Gas Industry that cant flip a switch after coming out of a pandemic in the same way that youre seeing with the supply chains. The president really is focused on making sure the people have relief, and hes looking at all his tools. Let me say one thing. These rising fuel prices in fossil fuels tell us why weve got to double down on diversifying our fuel supply to go for clean. But is this something you guys may do before the end of the year . Ill let the president make that decision. Hell make that announcement. You seemed to float it. Theres a series of tools he has. The tools are limited because its a global market. Thats a tool and ill let him make a decision. Let me just say that the Energy Information agency has said by projected its very volatile, by the beginning of december, the prices should come down at the pump to 3. 05. Well see if that actually happens. Theyre the best objective data. All about bending a curve. That would be a curve to bend for a lot of people. It would be, for sure. Secretary granholm, thanks for coming on. President biden sinking Approval Rating virginias election haves been a good barometer. Right now the democratic candidate, former Governor Terry mcauliffe, has seen it as a tossup. The governor joins me now. Welcome back to Meet The Press. Thank you. Good to be here. We also asked Glenn Youngkin to appear. His campaign declined that invitation. Governor, i want to start with an excerpt from this debate i was moderating at that had one line clipped out. You said its out of context. I want to play the exchange more fully and ask you about it on the other side. Here it is. Parents had the right to veto bills veto books, not to be knowledgeable about it, also take them off the shelves. Im not going to let parents come into schools, Take Books Out, and make their own decision. Vetoed it. Yeah, stopped a bill that i dont think parents should be telling schools what they should teach. Governor, what about that that you feel as if you were taken out of context . Do you feel as if everything you said there should reassure parents that they have some say in their kids schooling . Listen, that was about a bill i vetoed, which people were very happy i vetoed the bill, that literally parents could Take Books Out of the curriculum. I love my parents, but they shouldnt have picked out my math and science book. We have experts to do that. He is closing his campaign on banning books. Its created a controversy all over the book. He wants to ban Toni Morrisons book, beloved. Hes going after someone who won the nobel prize, president ial medal of freedom. He wants her books banned. In all the hundreds of books you could look at, why The One Black Female author. Hes ending the campaign on a racist dog whistle just like he started the campaign when he talks about election integrity. Chuck, we have a great School System in virginia. Dorothy and i have raised our five children of course, parents are involved in it. The question should be should an extreme republican bill that would allow parents to take books off of shelves, should that be left in the hands of the parents or the School Boards and others who do this every day. Everybody clapped when i said it. They would say this is not about banning a book, this is about informing parents that a book may have some material that not all parents will be crazy about. We should let you know your kids will be dealing with this material. Is that Out Of Bounds . Thats not Out Of Bounds. But if you look at what the bill would be, it would lead to books being removed from our classrooms. As they say, were the fourth best School Education system in the country, our k 12 system. You look at my plan, im going to raise teacher pay. Im going to get children prek education, those atrisk 3 and 4yearolds, give everybody access to broadband. Glenn youngkin wants to ban Critical Race Theory. Its never been taught in virginia. Virginia. Number two, all masks come off and no teachers get vaccinated. Thats lifethreatening. We have 1,142 children who have been in the hospital here in virginia. Two 11yearolds just died the other day from covid. He has a donald trump, betsy devos, take money from public schools, put them in private schools. That doesnt work in virginia. Thats why parents supported me when i vetoed that bill. I am the one who has the plan to move our Education System forward. If you look at the Washington Post schar school poll, it looks like theyve successfully redefined it and made it the top issue, concern, among a list of issues. It tops the economy and covid. Two months ago, that was not the case. Is this a case where theyve successfully created an issue in this campaign and youre having to struggle to react to it . Well, as you see, im still leading in education because people know i put a record investment in last time, got rid of five sols, redesigned our high schools. People trust me on education. You see whats happening in georgia and florida. Theyre talking about this Critical Race Theory. As i said before and ill say it again, its never been taught in virginia. I really hate it because its a racist dog whistle. All Glenn Youngkin has done is run down education, run down our economy. When you think about this right now, chuck, Critical Race Theory is not taught. Youre pitting parents against parents. I was in hampton last night. I met a School Board Member, said our School Boards were fine. As soon as Glenn Youngkin got nominated, people started showing up, creating such a ruckus, calling such obscene things this was an africanamerican woman. I cant repeat what they said on air about her. This was last night. We just lost a School Board Member because people are coming into these School Boards she said i was getting death threats. When they said they were going to rape my children, i cant take it anymore. Thats what Glenn Youngkin has done here in virginia. Hes created hatred and Division Just like donald trump, and thats why donald trump, his final campaign will be for Glenn Youngkin here in virginia. We dont want swamp, we dont want youngkin. We dont want the hatred and division. Friday night you were talking unpaid family leave and lowering the cost of Prescription Drugs. You bet. These are two issues not in the bigger social spending agenda that the president is trying to get congress to support. Im just curious, what has this debate done to your campaign . Has it been a bit debilitating . People are not when i travel around virginia, theyre not asking about whats going on in washington. Obviously everybody would like to see these bills passed. Id love it as governor to get the 7 billion for roads here for the commonwealth of virginia. What i get asked about is covid. Im running against an antivaxer. I believe teachers, doctors, nurses, everybody ought to be vaccinated. Covid is on their mind. I took over in a crisis before, got us out of it. Created 200,000 new jobs. Personally coming up 14 . Unemployment dropped in every city and county when i was governor. Ive got do it again. Education, i talk about it every day. We have to raise teacher pay above the national average. I love our teachers. Glenn youngkin continually runs down our teachers. Let me say to the teachers, we love you, we thank you, youve been real heroes during this covid crisis. Im tired of him bringing everything down. Im trying to lift everybody up. Thats why so many republicans have endorsed me. Bill kristol, for goodness sake, endorsed me. Im a unifier. Hes a divider. Terry mcauliffe from virginia. Stay safe on the trail. Go vote all right. When we come back, President Trump failed in his attempt to use phony voter fraud. The man who stopped mr. Trump, republican Secretary Of State of georgia, Brad Raffensperger joins me next. To use phony vouter fraud. The man hey hun hey, get your own vapors relax with Vicks Vapobath or with vicks vaposhower. Take a soothing vicks vapo moment wherever you chose. Finally yasso a ridiculously creamy, crunchy, chocolatey dipped Ice Cream Experience with 25 less calories because its made with greek yogurt. So, thanks for Everything Ice cream, but well take it from here. Yasso audaciously delicious welcome back. Brad raffensperger was hardly a Household Name as georgias republican Secretary Of State. That is, until the 2020 president ial election. Quite suddenly he became a National Figure when President Trump made false claims of voter fraud and tried to get joe bidens win overturned in the state. Possible the next attempt to overturn an election in georgia could see. Brad raffensperger has written a new book called integrity counts. Mr. Raffensperger, welcome back to Meet The Press. Good morning, chuck. Let me start. You have a full annotated transcript of the infamous call from President Trump on january 6th at the height of his efforts in order to overturn this election. I want to play a specific audio clip that you write about. Here it is. That is criminal, you know. Thats criminal, okay . Thats another criminal another of the many criminal events. Many criminal events here. I watched you this morning, and you said, well, there was no criminality. All of this stuff is very dangerous stuff when you talk about no criminality. I think its very dangerous for you to say that. In your book, you break in after this point because hes talking about overseas blots, you write this. I felt then and still believe today this is a threat. Others obviously thought so, too, because some of trumps more radical followers have responded as if its their duty to carry out this threat. Thats a big charge. You felt he was threatening you with what . Well, at that time i thought he may still have believed that he actually won the race, but we had run down every single allegation that was made. He said there was 10,000 dead people. Theres less than five. He said there were thousands of felons, and there was less than 74. He said there was 66,000 underage voters. There was zero. You run down every single rabbit trail. None of it ever was supported by the facts. I was never concerned from the standpoint of that. I heard the threat he was making. Obviously when he called me an enemy of the people, that ginned up his crowd. I responded in the book and said i would never not follow the constitution, not follow the law. I love my nation. Nye dad raised us to be patriotic americans. Thats what i am. Another part he says theres no reason for you not to say you recalculated. In the book you write the president was asking me to do something i knew was wrong. You mean he was asking you to break the law, right . He was asking you to commit a crime. Theres nothing to recalculate. If you look at the numbers, the numbers are the numbers. You can slice that, dice that any way you want. At the end of the day, President Trump came up 11,800 votes short. I had the numbers. Here are the real facts though. 28,000 georgians did not vote for anyone for president of the United States of america. They skipped. They didnt vote for biden, they didnt vote for trump, they didnt vote for the libertarian. They just left it blank. Senator david purdue got 27 more votes. That tells The Big Story Of Why President Trump did not scary the state of georgia. The Fulton County district has been investigating whether the president did break any laws in that phone call to you. Have you i know you turned over documents and various things. Have you been interviewed by investigators . You hadnt the last time we talked. Have you since . No, i havent been. I think shes busy with other matters that she inherited. We fully complied, sent all the documents we had. She talked to some of our staff members. If she wants to interview me, theres a process for that. I will gladly participate. I want to make sure i follow the law and follow the constitution. When you get a grand jury summons, you respond to it. Do you believe this investigation is very legitimate by the d. A. . Well, im an engineer, not a lawyer. So ill let her follow that process and let her bring it before the people. You said you wouldnt have released the phone call had President Trump not tweeted. Thats a little bit disconcerting to some. Here he was asking you to break the law, but you would have kept that private until he tweeted. Why would you have kept that private when a president of the United States asks you to break the law . Well, at the time of our conversation, i didnt realize it was being recorded. The next morning the tweet comes out. It was not supported by anything we said. Finally you say enough is enough. Youre just making this stuff up or misrepresenting what weve talked about. Theres one hour and ten minutes of conversation, and you can then decide what exactly what was said during our conversation. You didnt know it was being recorded . You didnt know at the time it was being recorded . , not for some time. I found out later. Who did the recording . That was someone because we had lawsuits going on and we were sued by the trump campaign, i understood there would be lawyers there. I treated it like a deposition. Thats, i guess, how our office felt that it should be treated, also, so everything could be factually supported so people couldnt gin it up later. Have you been contacted or asked to provide any information to the January 6th Commission thats in congress . I dont under thats a complicated question. I know that theyre digging into information. I know we gave everything to the Fulton County d. A. Right now i believe the federal investigation has been more focused on other people. Theyve issued subpoenas for other people to come testify. We have not been issued any subpoenas to come testify. Do you think jody heiss, if hes the next Secretary Of State, do you think he will would he be able to withstand the pressure from President Trump to overturn the election the way you did . He hasnt shown so far. In fact, when he showed up on january 6th, he voted to certify his race with the same machines and ballots for his race. Yet, for the president s race, he voted not to certify it. As a pastor, he should know better. If hes the nominee, do you think he can win the general election, or do you believe it makes it easier for the democrats to win . I dont believe he can win statewide at all. Brad raffensperger, are you definitely running for reelection . Absolutely. Yeah . Youre not deterred by the fact that the president has made basically decided to make you the fall guy for his inability to win the state of georgia . I talk to a lot of republicans every day. I talk to people who are goldwater republicans, reagan republicans, bush republicans like myself. I voted for the president twice. I contributed to some campaigns. Some people are mad about that and i get a few people that bless me out, but many others understand that i did my job, i followed the law, followed the constitution and they believe thats the honorable thing to do. Brad raffensperger, its an interesting book. Folks will take a look. Well be watching you on the campaign trail. Appreciate you coming on and sharing your perspective with us, sir. Thank you. Integrity counts. When we come back, democrats are hoping to pass both the infrastructure and social spending bills on tuesday. Its likely to be too late for tuesdays elections. Could it help lift the president s sagging Approval Ratings . The panel is next. Ing bills on. Its likely to be too late [ ] did you know, you no longer need to visit a dermatologist to get access to top Skincare Ingredients . Introducing dermageek featuring Top Dermatologist recommended ingredients and 0 fillers. Dermageeks new detoxifying facial serum contains twice the amount of beta hydroxy acid. It delivers two times more exfoliation for brighter skin, with dermatologist tested levels of hydration. Get top dermingredients at a fraction of the price. Try the new dermageek skincare lineup, with a moneyback guarantee. Dog barks youre right bunker, the medicare enrollment deadline is almost here. If youre on medicare and you want to explore your options, the deadline to enroll is december 7th. So, you should act now. Were do i find the right medicare plan . At healthmarkets, they search many of the nations most recognized carriers so they can help you find the right plan, at the right price thats the right fit for you. How long does it take . Just minutes. My current plan only covers 80 of my costs. Healthmarkets may find plans with zero dollar copays, deductibles and monthly premiums. Even plans with Prescription Drug coverage, vision, dental and hearing aids. How much does it cost . Healthmarkets service is free. Dog barks ok bunker . He really doesnt want you to miss the december 7th deadline. Dont wait. Save time. Find the plan that fits you. Call the number on your screen now, or visit healthmarkets. Com healthmarkets turns out debs constipation with belly pain was actually ibsc giving her grief. So she talked to her doctor because she wanted more relief. Thats when she said yess to adding linzess. Linzess is not a laxative. It helps you have more frequent and complete bowel movements. And is proven to help relieve overall abdominal symptomsbelly pain, discomfort, and bloating. Do not give linzess to children less than six and it should not be given to children six to less than 18, it may harm them. Do not take linzess if you have a bowel blockage. Get immediate help if you develop unusual or severe stomach pain, especially with bloody or black stools. The most common side effect is diarrhea, sometimes severe. If its severe, stop taking linzess and call your doctor right away. Other side effects include gas, stomach area pain, and swelling. Could your story also be about ibsc . Talk to your doctor and say yess to linzess. Whack welcome back. Our panel is here, joining us is kristen welker, cornell belcher, founder of punchbowl news, anna palmer. A little tight with time, ill admit. I want you to react. Peter hart said what people voted for was stability and calm, referring to the November 2020 election. Right now what they look like theyre getting is instability and chaos. How do you explain the president s tough situation . It is a tough situation. Right there in your own poll, in your segue and you talked about it, right some of his biggest drawbacks are happening among democrats. Some of our internal polling, his Approval Rating, even with africanamericans, have dropped to levels that i never saw obama levels drop to. You do get the sense that some of the big promises that progressives and democrats were look for, you know, quite frankly, that wasnt about necessarily the things you were debating and arguing. Sure. I tried telling them, one of the things i try to tell democrats all the time, those young people who took to the streets and marched a year ago and then marched to the polls and changed this election to us, they werent marching for roads and bridges. Voting rights, Police Reform. For justice and racial equality. We have to act on that. Hes got a purple problem. The progressives dont accept that elections are won by people who are purple. This president has not been the things hes aimed at congress, thats not what he should have been aiming for. Thats what he campaigned on. Kristen, this might be the number that matters most, his handling of the economy, 40 approve. This is the wet blanket on this. People are upset about the cost of gas right now. When you hear inflation, the first thing people think of, whats the price of gas . Theyve all seen it go up. That number is just devastating. The president and the white house knows that is going to determine his chances for reelection or whether or not democrats are going to be able to hold onto the house and to the senate. And covid also. I mean, thats a big piece of this. But the intransigence that people are seeing, chuck, i think hangs so heavily over these numbers as well. The fact that they havent move ed to act on infrastructure, it might not matter to some of those young voters, but it does matter to a lot of america. The fact theyre promising these Big Investments in child care and in climate, half a trillion dollars, and there hasnt been action on that. Theyre looking towards tuesday to try to get something done. The house says they think they can vote on tuesday. Does that happen . That remains to be seen. By the way, you have senators gillibrand, murray, others fighting to get paid leave back into the package because thats important to the base. Anna, who runs congress . The reason i ask this if i said to you a year ago, nancy pelosi said were going to vote on something, its usually thats done, thats enough. She said it. It didnt happen. President biden delayed his trip. He didnt make the ask, but it was obvious what he was doing. I think its a different dynamic than Speaker Pelosi has ever dealt with before, typically has had much bigger margins for error where she could say, oh, i dont need 10, 20 seats. Its a margin of two. She needs every single vote she can get. The progressives, i have to say, they have done an extremely effective job because theyve had one goal and only one goal, we want agreement on the Reconciliation Package and well give you your infrastructure package. Because of that its interesting to understand that because of that, theyve stayed together. Its a reflection of how big they are in terms of their ability cornell, let me ask you this, though, is the elected democrats in congress farther to the left than the rankandfile democratic voter . No. You dont think so . No. Quite frankly, what the white house thinks they have, they think theyre going to get something passed. Youll have historic investment in clean air, largest in clean energy ever. Youll have more people insured in health care, premiums come down, more Affordable Housing built from this package. Theres a lot of Progressive Stuff in this package. I hope democrats arent their own worst enemies in this process. Thats what it seems like. By the way, all those things are very popular. You talk about the purple middle. All those things in the build back better package is very popular. If they were popular, Kyrsten Sinema would be voting for it. Right now you have the progressives in congress were going to hold hostage the more Popular Stuff until you do the up Popular Stuff. Theyre not the Freedom Caucus. The Freedom Caucus was trying to take over Republican Leadership and kill bills. The progressives havent done that, and theyve had joe bidens back on this. They continue to. The democrats wanting to pass legislation is no different than a republican not wanting to pass legislation. Kevin s dont want to pass legislation. Thats a fundamental fact. If it grows government, they dont want to do it. To add one point, i think one of the dynamics in frustration among democrats on capitol hill, they dont feel the white house has a Strong Enough legislative strategy. To your point, chuck, the fact that President Biden didnt call for infrastructure on thursday, i spoke to people who said, if he had done that, its possible he would have gotten it. Its possible that jayapal made that point. What was the reason for that . The fact that she hung her hat on that, was a that a white house calculation or intentional . I think House Democrats in leadership and moderates are very frustrated that he didnt make the ask, didnt push for this, they didnt commit to this. Thats why theyre trying to push this vote to tuesday, because if Terry Mcauliffe loses, theres no way these mod rates vote for this. This recrimination, how concerned are you that it becomes a circular fingerpointing . Are you kidding me . If Terry Mcauliffe loses, its katy bar the door. Its the deluge. Its a panic button. The last time a democrat lost virginia, we lost 60 seats in the house. 2009. Its going to be a circular pointing squad. You have the white house saying, look, if mcauliffe loses, its not on us. Mcauliffe is saying get in a room and figure this out, and ive been speaking to virginia voters who are saying theyre sick of the intransigence. Ive got to pause it there. That was very lively. Well pick it up. Kristen and i will anchor an Election Night special on nbc news now and On Peacock Tuesday night beginning at 9 00 eastern. There are elections from coast to coast. Were going to have it all. Complete walltowall coverage around the country. Weve got the exit polls, the board, weve got it all. Its Election Night in america. Nbc news will be there. When we come back, our new edition of county to county, seven counties that may tell us where the midterm elections are heading. Stay with us. Us this is how we do it tools drop Squeaking Sound this is how we do it turns out, Montell Jordan knows how to do almost everything. And it turns out the general is a Quality Insurance company thats been saving people money for nearly 60 years. This is how. I got it, i got it, i got it. For a great low rate, and nearly 60 years of quality coverage make the right call and go with the general. Welcome back. Data download time. A look ahead to the 2022 midterms. Believe it or not, just a year away. We launched our 2022 edition of county to county, each county representing a key slice of the electorate. Those seven states all have Key Senate Races over the next year, nbc reporters will report on these counties at the forefront of americas political realignment. Three reporters are with us. Ellison barber is in Chattooga County, georgia, a rural evangelical county, georgia flipped to blue. Ellison, what are you seeing . Good morning. Shah too Chattooga County is small town america. Everyone here knows each other. They Love High School football. There are Church Steeples scattered across the skyline. Politically its about as red as you can get. Georgia is a newly purple state. If republicans want to flip a senate seat, they need too see high turnout in Communities Just like this. Many people will tell you they do not trust the election process. Be u the same people also say they fully intend to vote in the midterm election. Two big issues we keep hearing people mention, abortion and socialism. This is a deeply evangelical community. For many people here abortion is not just an issue, it is the issue. They also look at things like covid restrictions, Vaccine Mandates as something they believe infringes on their freedoms and they worry its an example of the country moving towards socialism, something they absolutely do not support. Chuck. Thank you, ellison. A key question we want answered there. Will these voters show up when trumps name is not on the ballot. Guad venegas is in washoe county, nevada, where a republican stronghold has been turned more and more blue. Tell us about it. Good morning, chuck. Washoe is a swing county in a swing state. The demographics have changed significantly, this thanks to a booing economy. Also, latinos make up 25 of the population w. A senator and governor up for reelection, the diverse commuted could decide their future. Registered voters are split onethird democratic, onethird republican and onethird nonpartisan or other. A majority of voters say they vote for the issues and not the party. This is a county that has constantly voted for a democratic president ial candidate since barack obama but at the same time keeps elected a republican congressman. For all these reasons, well dive into the issues that matter here in washoe county. Very hard for democrats to win a race without carrying washoe. Finally Shaquille Brewster in duval county, florida. Shaq, the endangered species, the swing county. Tell us about duval. Good morning, chuck. Duval county, essentially jacksonville, florida, is a sprawling suburban area that is as purple as purple gets. It wasnt always that way. This is a traditionally republican stronghold that democrats flipped in 2018 and President Biden won in 2020. Now its the source of a major battle between both political parties. Republicans are trying to reverse the trend theyve been seeing, pointing to issues like immigration, inflation, and the labor shortage, hoping moderate voters will end upcoming home, and democrats are pointing to congress and pleading with them to pass President Bidens agenda saying inaction could threaten the trends that theyve been seeing, especially with the increased population and more diverse population here in this county. Chuck. Thank you, shaq. You can see our full countytocounty kickoff on Meet The Press reports, available any time on peacock. When we come back, one of the biggest issues in tuesdays elections nationwide, policing and crime and plenty of mayors races. Stick with us. When you really need to sleep you reach for the really good stuff. New Zzzquil Ultra helps you sleep better and longer when you need it most. Its non habit forming and powered by the makers of nyquil. New Zzzquil Ultra. When you really really need to sleep. [ ] looking to repair dry, damaged hair without weighing it down . Try pantene daily moisture renewal conditioner. Its colorsafe formula uses smart conditioners to microtarget damage helping to repair hair without weighing it down. Try pantene. Moving is a handful. No kidding fortunately, xfinity makes moving easy. Easy . Easy . Switch your Xfinity Services to your new address online in about a minute. That was easy. I know, right . And even save with special offers just for movers. Really . Yep so while you handle that, you can keep your internet and all those shows you love, and save money while youre at it with special offers just for movers at xfinity. Com moving. Welcome back. Welcome back. Weve got another Impeachment Retirement this week, adam palmer, adam kinzinger. I was skeptical he was going to run. I think he was able to use redistricting as the reason. I want to play a quick excerpt of what he said. This didnt sound like a retirement announcement. Take a listen. Government for, of and by the people always prevails. At this moment that government is the problem, and few have risen to do anything about it because in this day, to prevail or survive, you must belong to a tribe. So retirement announcements usually, a, are not an video and, b, dont have that kind of heroic music. Is he headed to iowa and New Hampshire yesterday, or is it tomorrow . Clearly he has national ambitions. Hes young, ambitious, hes been the response to foil donald trump. Likes to take that on. Former military vet. Hes not going to iowa and New Hampshire as a republican. Trump keeps consolidating and consolidating. Hes the Joe Lieberman of republicans. Joe lieberman become a hero to republicans. Democrats drummed him out. Then ned lamont ran against him in the primary. He was forced out. Adam kinzinger is similar. Hes a little out of sync with his primary base, hell go to his new precinct which is the news media. I think despite the heroic music, its former President Trump who was claiming victory. Two down, eight to go. I do think its worth looking at those remaining eight who voted to impeach the president. Liz cheney at the top of the list. My over under is five even running, so well see. So far eight are running. The Democrats Use redistricting to go after adam kinzinger. He lives in his district by 1. 6 miles in a 700mile district. Youll see a lot of praise for him from democrats except no one in the legislature wanted him to come back. Thats fair. I wanted to pivot to other races that are on. Weve got a lot of races. Perhaps minneapolis is the best place to go, cornell, because it has this referendum whats interesting is on this gets to the young animated voters you brought up, Police Reform being one of those things. Minneapolis, obviously, ground zero considering this is where george floyd was killed. I want to put up the split inside the minnesota Democratic Party on this issue. Essentially getting rid of the Police Department as they know it, having a department of peace. That doesnt mean there wouldnt be a lot of police officers, some argue maybe more on the streets but for different reasons. Im curious what you make of the split. Keith ellison and omar on one side, klobuchar, smith, and the mayor on the other. Where is this Police Debate . For democrats, its front and central. For the base of the party, not just africanamerican voters, the images from those marches, those were young kids as well. White progressives. Yeah, white progressives as well. Commonsense Police Reform is a toptier issue for the progressive base. They dont see democrats getting something done around this issue, im telling you this issue is not going to go away. Voting rights and Police Reform is not going to go away. Chuck, this is going to be an issue in mayoral races all across the country, cleveland, buffalo. The contours of the debate are changing because youre seeing crime rates increase. So some of these candidates who are very full throated in wanting to reform Police Departments are now saying, lets think more seriously about funding. Fully defunding doesnt mean disbanding the police. Thats extremism. Im involved in a mayors race in atlanta. The top issue is crime. Youve got to balance that, reform the police, but also make our cities safe. Its part of whats going on in virginia. The virginia there have been some large municipalities who have removed police from schools. Youre going to see this test driven. Youve already seen Terry Mcauliffe back off. Fascinating to watch. Terrific panel. You guys came ready to go. I appreciate it. Before we go, i have one more thing to remind you of. Tickets are on sale for the Meet The Press Film Festival at afi fest. Featuring five programs of the bestinclass short documentaries. Terrific ones this year for you. You can watch virtually or in person on november 11th. Tickets are available at fest. Afi. Com. Thats all we have for today. Thank you for watching. This is a day where we can agree on one thing. Everybody should wear a mask tonight. Happy trickortreating. Well be back next week. If its sunday, its Meet The Press. \s 5am \e 5am \ President Biden is on his way to scotland this morning for a United Nations summit on climate change. The question is can he convince World Leaders the u. S. Is ready to take on the role of global warming. Plus press secretary jen psaki tested positive for covid. The last time she saw President Biden was tuesday. The question is will the administration see more Breakthrough Cases . And how to sum up 2021 in one word. Oxford dictionary just did. The question is, is it safe to say on