coverage right now. hi there. i'm stevny rhule live at msnbc headquarters here in new york city. it is tuesday november 2nd. election day, and this morning as polls open across the country, we are keeping an eye on several local races that could have national impact. in the state of new jersey, incumbent governor phil murphy trying to become the first democrat to win a second term in that state in more than 40 years. while up in boston for the first time in its 400-year history, the city will elect its first woman and first person of color as mayor no matter who wins. while in new york city, eric adams, put crime center of his platform is all but certain to take reins from mayor bill de blasio. after george floyd was murdered the city could vote to defund the police department and replace it with a massive public safety initiative. we start in the state of virginia. polls opened for about three hours. the governor's race between the democrat terry mcauliffe and the republican glenn youngkin could not be closer. more than 1 million people have already voted. a record for virginia. remember, this race is significant, because it will give us a sense of how the two parties stack up one year ahead of midterms. mcauliffe has advantage running in a democratic-leaning state. almost every other advance from momentum to enthusiasm to political history belongs to the republican glenn youngkin. digging deeper and bring in nbc's kristen welker in fairfax, heidi prisbalo and nobody knows virginia politics more than larry and onable only steve kornacki. you know he's at the big board. kristen, start with you. all about turnout. democrats need to overcome that enthusiasm gap, and get people to the polls. what are you seeing today? >> reporter: well, steph, good to be with you on this election day. i am here in fairfax, there's really been a steady stream of voters here weighing in on this race. as you pointed out, we've already seen record turnout in early voting, and just to set the stage, this really is the center of the political universe for all of the reasons that you mapped out. it's going to tell us how president biden is doing. it's going to give us a snapshot of former president trump's staying power, and this is a dead heat. this is a state that mr. biden won by ten points. so it's extraordinary that it's just so close. overnight both candidates making their closing arguments, and for youngkin, he's really trying to put the focus on the suburbs. trying to win back those all-important suburban voters, suburban women, that mr. trump lost in 2020. so to do it, he's talking about the economy, he's talking about education, and that has been resonating. he's getting big turnouts at his campaign events, including overnight for his part, terry mcauliffe is trying to keep mr. youngkin linked to former president trump. now, youngkin has accepted trump's endorsement but hasn't campaigned with him in person. really trying to walk a fine line when it comes to that. mcauliffe, you've pointed out, steph, is facing headwinds, too. why? because president biden's poll numbers have been sinking, and because his agenda in washington right now is stalled. i can tell you, i've been out on the trail. talking to voters here in virginia who have said they are frustrated with what they are seeing and what they're not seeing in washington. which is action. action on that infrastructure bill. action on that social safety net plan. so all of that is having a trickle down effect here in virginia. how is it going to play out, though? that's the big question. i can tell you both campaigns say there is so much energy on the ground, they are predicting there could be record turnout for virginia's governor's race, steph. >> record turnout means a lot of votes to count. what you see, steve kornacki. where do things stand now? >> here we go. poll average closes entering election day. average of all polls actually has glenn youngkin the republican ahead of terry mcauliffe. spells an extremely close race. in a state joe biden carried by ten points. double digits last year, the republican comes in today with a real chance of winning. a big change from a year ago. what will we watch as votes start to come in tonight? three things to point out to you quickly. first of all, take a look at the blue counties, blue cities right outside of washington, d.c. northern virginia, a lot of people up here. take a look at the suburbs outside richmond as well. big population centers. these are areas where the long-term trend has favored democrats, but also we're since 2016 when donald trump was elected, more shift away from the republican party towards the democratic party. one big question we'll see tonight, how many of those suburban voters who abandoned the republican party because of donald trump, how many is glenn youngkin able to win back tonight? take a look. southwestern virginia up into the shenandoah valley as women, core republican areas of the state. here's actually, areas where donald trump actually improved over the republican performance, for instance, from mitt romney in 2012. sort of trump surge areas. not as many voters here as in northern virginia, richmond suburbs. question two tonight. can glenn youngkin hang on to new voters donald trump brought in to the republican party, if he could make in-roads in the suburbs and hold on to those voters that trump brought in, could be a powerful combination. and then three, what about bellwethers? swing counties? swing areas? take a look tonight and talk a lot, i'm sure, about the city of virginia beach, 450,000 people. largest city in the state. joe biden carried this as you can see by about 5.5 points over donald trump last year. a flip. trump carries virginia beach. virginia beach historically republican. swung over to biden in 2020. can glenn youngkin win that back? spending a lot of time next door in the city of chesapeake. similar story there. two of the closest things you'll see to bellwethers on the map tonight, stephanie. >> larry, those suburban voters, steve talked about, glenn youngkin wants to bring in those voters and the new trump voters. i can't imagine those two voters have much in common? >> reporter: well, they don't have a lot in common, except they may not like president biden. they may not like what they're seeing on capitol hill with congressional democrats. if they're traditional republicans, they also want to win. because they've had ten years of nothing but losses. that tends to energize people when they think they finally have a chance to win. your team's been losing for years, and suddenly you're in the championship game and you're ahead. >> well, larry what just happened? you've characterized this race as leaning democratic since the spring. yesterday you switched it to leaning republican. why? what now? >> yeah. the leans were small. in both cases. and the lean to republicans was certainly small. we'll see. look, it boils down to this -- and steve was hinting at this -- there's simply a lot more democrats than republicans in the new virginia. there's just no question about it. both parties agree. but it's always a question of which voters from the pool actually show up? and democrats have had a terrible time this fall mainly because of what's going on in washington getting democratic voters excited. maybe getting excited last minute and the democratic turnout will be larger than expected. one additional push last night when president trump through a telerally endorsed enthusiastically glenn youngkin for either the sixth or seventh or eighth time. depending how you read it, but it is the last piece of new information that some voters or potential voters are getting this morning. >> heidi, take us to virginia beach. critical swing area. what are people telling you? >> reporter: yes, steph. steve set me up nicely. overallnumbers in northern virginia but hearing virginia beach because it's the state's most populist city and actually flipped from trump to biden. it is a must-win for youngkin. we're here to kind of gauge which way this is going, and i have to say, that we've spent so much time yesterday as well as this morning just randomly sampling voters and many of them are youngkin voters. and to a person bring up the issue of education, steph. can't remember the last time when education was the top issue. they mean parental control what the curriculum is taught in schools. the notion critical race theory is taught in schools even though i couldn't get evidence from them what that means in terms of curriculum curriculum. republican enthusiasm unbelievable high. older voters more reliable. here's the thing. democrats say, like larry said, the numbers are growing here in the state of democratic voters. they believe they can reap more from a last-minute turnout push. they can reap more african-american voters. more millennial voters. she have last-minute push, but that enthusiasm, you can see it here, the enthusiasm gap. you can see it here anecdotally i met with a mcauliffe canvasser yesterday in a restaurant who said i literally am going door to door, clasp my hands and beg young african-american voters to please, go out and vote and explaining what is at stake here, steph. >> steve kornacki, what are chances we know results tonight? talk to us about early voting, mail-in voting when do the votes get counted in virginia? >> should know the wild card is in virginia is in the mail. ballot on election day, still can't count. add some's in friday. arrive end of week. not a big pool of votes. unless it's exceedingly narrow tonight we should know. one thing to point out, bit of a wild card. polls close at 7:00 eastern time. look up here at fairfax county. by far the largest county in the state, like 13% of all votes in the state are going to come out of fairfax county. fairfax county has been one of the slowest to report out its votes. has a new election director who says this year he thinks in the first few minutes after polls close they'll be able to report out there early vote, and in just about all of their mail vote. took them to nearly midnight to do that in 2020. why the call on virginia in the 2020 election came so late. fairfax county, if they do what they're saying they'll do, we could have a ton of votes from by far the biggest county in the state very early tonight. >> we'll be watching you all night long. because you know the kornacki cam will be turned up tonight. larry, the talk is that this race is going to indicate how the midterms will go. but by all accounts, sounds like this race is really, really tight. if it's decided by a point or two, can you really draw any national conclusions? well, i always caution people. don't draw a national conclusion a year in advance from one state's race. of course, nobody ever listens and do it anyway. so every pundit including me, i'm sure, will say things that will prove to be untrue. it is true, though, that over the years virginia in most cases has indicated which party will end up winning the midterm elections, but doesn't suggest magnitude. sometimes it doesn't work at all. like in 2013 when mcauliffe won his first term a lot of democrats said, oh, thank goodness. i don't think 2014 will be all that bad. the democrats were clobbered. lost the senate. plenty of cases you can't draw a line between the two and many other case, probably more of them, can you draw a line. caution recommended and now you can throw it to the wind. >> answer for everyone in virginia -- get out there and vote. steve kornacki, larry, heidi, kristen, stay close. it is going to be a long day. we are all watching the state of virginia. for now, got to turn to breaking news from the u.n. climate summit in scotland. president biden announcing strong new actions on climate. some of the toughest environmental rules we have ever seen. going to take his remarks live when they begin. meantime, nbc's senior white house correspondent kelly o'donnell joins us now. what can you tell us about the plan? >> reporter: hi, steph. good to be with you. president biden is here to show that the u.s. can demonstrate leadership, and this is a part from actions he's waiting congress to do. this is something the administration can do. it deals with trying to deal with methane. methane is one of the most powerful pollutants and deals with the warming of the planet. so steps to curb methane can be one of the fastest ways to reduce some of the effects of climate change. so this is considered very significant. new steps to reduce by about 30% methane emissions over the next decade, and part of what the president is calling for here is a chance to see new steps administered for existing as well as new oil and energy facilities and it's a variety of steps that the president is outlining today, and it's considered some of the most aggressive steps that the president has taken. steph? >> of course we should remember, though, that democrats didn't come together to pass anything that would create a carbon tax, and the whole idea pushing opec to provide more oil, to lower the price of oil, which, of course, impacts what we do around cashen. make nos sense. kelly o'donnell, thank you so much. right now voters at polls in virginia deech. staying on this all morning. also ahead, another day, another missed deadline. the final works holding up president biden's agenda. in less than an hour discussing the covid vaccine for children. meeting after meeting after meeting, a question, when are we going to get shots into kids' arms? ms there are beautiful ideas that remain in the dark. but with our new multi-cloud experience, you have the flexibility you need to unveil them to the world. ♪ at t-mobile for business, unconventional thinking means we see things differently, so you can focus on what matters most. whether it's ensuring food arrives as fresh as when it departs... being first on the scene when every second counts... or teaching biology without a lab. we are the leader in 5g and a partner who delivers exceptional customer support and 5g included in every plan. so, you get it all, without trade-offs. unconventional thinking, it's better for business. subway has so much new i ran out of time in the last ad... so i'll take it from here. sorry steph. spokesperson refresh! refresh wait, what? subway® just upped their bread game with the help of some world-class bakers. lookin' at you nance. gotta refresh to be fresh. how many people are in this ad? that means freshly baked new artisan italian and hearty multigrain. hmm, that would go good with... seriously? i didn't even get to finish. ugh, see you next commerc... right now you are looking at voters hitting the polls for today's governor's races in virginia and new jersey. but this morning, democrats across the country have a harder sell. trying to keep control without any infrastructure bill passed in washington. now senator joe manchin is warning he might vote against the spending bill, and accused progressives of holding hard infrastructure hostage. meanwhile, progressives appear to be changing their tune with key members saying they trust biden to get both bills passed in the senate. i need to break this down and straight to ali vitali on capitol hill. also with us, punchbowl news co-founder. not happy when when he spoke yesterday, manchin, progressives and the white house say he's going to get onboard. why on earth do they believe that and where do things stand now? >> reporter: a lot of talk now, steph, having faith and trust in the president when he told broadly democratic lawmakers he can bring the key senators along. i even caught um with congress congresswoman jayapal who echoed that this morning. a seemingly frustrated joe manchin spoke to the press. a lot of what he said technically wasn't new, but certainly timing at this 11th hour in these negotiations as the house is trying to push forward on both of these bills is notable. he made two key points here. reiterating concerns about an insolvent system people are trying to expand upon in this bill and urging the vote on the bipartisan infrastructure bill with no mention of the larger social spending package. listen. >> i worked in good faith three months. for the past three months with president biden, leader schumer, speaker pelosi and colleagues on the reconciliation bill and will continue to do so for the sake of the country, ours the house to vote and pat the bipartisan infrastructure bill. holding this bill hostage is not going to work in getting my support for the reconciliation bill. >> reporter: look, at some point all of that good faith negotiating, steph harks to turn into action, and voting. in terms of timing, we've heard consistently from democratic leadership including speaker pelosi this morning the rules committee will meet tomorrow. that's important, because once they're finished then this bill can move to the house floor. both of these bills. that could come as early as thursday, but sources seem to say could be friday. how is scheduled positive work that day. a rare working session day here. >> forgive me. i'm a simple woman. none of what manchin said yesterday was new. what he is demanding today is the exact same thing he wanted months ago. was this massive delay all because other democrats thought he was going to budge? >> reporter: there's a lot of reasons for it. it's true. manchin did what he said yesterday, wasn't exactly new. he did say it pretty forcefully when you're seeing democratic leadership involved in shell games in how they're presenting, you know, their proposal to both him and the american people. it's pretty serious stuff. listen, a lot of issues with progressives. there's narrow issues with moderates. their concerned house moderates, they're concerned about not having a score of this congressional budget office analyzing the bill, and saying whether it increases the deficit or not. words of revenue and spending targets where does it meet those? concerned ak immigration. a lot of last-minute kind of end game jockeying here, but i think ali said it up well. i think there a very good chance we could see a vote in the house on thursday, friday, maybe even into the weekend. thursday or friday probably more likely. on both of these packages. on the reconciliation package and the bipartisan infrastructure bill. this is, you know -- my experience on the hill you get closest to the deal screaming gets louder. >> why are we going to see them vote on this? all along sounded like progressives were saying we'll believe it when we see it. we want to see the language. are they now saying they trust biden and will sign on regardless? >> reporter: yeah. they tweaked their language on this. i think after last week's debacle in the house with president biden, coming up to the hill and they were trying to, pelosi trying to get a vote on the bipartisan infrastructure bill but the president didn't ask for that, progressives delayed it. i think a lot of -- a lot of angst over that. a lot of discussion over the weekend. the leadership, talking to members. pelosi was working the phone. the white house staff was working the phone. the president, you know, a lot of work on this. senator schumer and, of course, manchin and sinema both working on this over the weekend. so i think they're you know -- you talked a lot about virginia. i think that is a wake-up call for democrats. you know, time to move. i mean, you know, do you want to keep the majority in congress? if you do, got to deliver. >> if you do, you got to deliver. yawn bresnahan with a pep talk for deaths. thank you both so much. now turn to what could, could is a really important word here, could be a huge day for parents in the coronavirus pandemic. just over 30 minutes from now a cdc panel will meet to discuss pfizer's vaccine for kids ages 5 to 11, after the fda already signed off. it comes as the white house says 15 million doses are being shipped to thousands of sites across the country in new york city alone, 9,000 unvaccinated municipal workers will be put on unpaid leave after the vaccine mandate went into affect, another 11,000 opt out for religious reasons and 92% of all city workers are vaxed making me efeel have and safe. 1,000 fdny firefighters on unpaid leave. nypt, a very small number unleash after 10,000 threatened to walk off the job. 23,000 city workers got a shot after the mandate was announced's that tell us us, mandates work. dig deeper bring in msnbc medical contributor dr. vin gupta. i need your help. every day we keep hearing about these vaccine approval meetings, panels. for every parent out there, we don't know what a panel means. fda already signed off on vaccines for kids. what does today's cdc meeting mean? when can we go to our doctor, to a pharmacy and get our kids vaccinated? >> good morning, stephanie. i recognize this is confusing, and there's a lot of discussion here. so unfortunately the way it works is the fda has their own process. now the cdc is basically doing the exact same version. what the fda did last week. so what we're going to see here today is without a doubt, pfizer vaccine will clear the cdc's panel vaccine experts, vote on it. i would -- i would -- i'm confident that this is going to be an overwhelming majority of people, if not, 17-0 will vote in favor approving the vaccine. the pfizer vaccine. a third of the dose for viewers out there, for those between 5 and 11 years of age. safety profile was excellent. no issues of myocarditis. 91% effective preventing children in that age group from testing positive. stephanie, once that up and down vote happens today, the cdc director is probably going to green stamp it within maybe even the same day, tomorrow, end of week is when parents can expect shots in arms. so start planning that drive-thru appointment or making an appointment with your pediatrician. >> say on myocarditis, because the fda is fou waiting to approve the moderna vaccine, because of this rare heart condition. should we be worried about it? can you explain it? >> you know, there was a lag, stephanie, of about four weeks or so between what pfizer's been doing and what moderna has. both companies, for all parents worried what's happening with moderna, basically both companies in the middle of the summer asked by the biden administration to increase their clinical trials in kids. so both companies did that. now in the matter of the next four to six weeks, moderna vaccine for that age group, actually less than 18, it will be, that data will get a much closer look at. that question of my oh carditis in its prevalent. myocarditis. no concerns about increased rick of my risk of myocarditis, relative, key point, relative to the risk of getting myocarditis from the virus itself. we know coronavirus can cause severe myocarditis in kids and adults, the risk is much, much higher than the vaccine poses in terms of mild myocarditis. exactly what we're seeing with moderna. that's what's going to happen. a look at that data over the next four to six weeks, expect by end of year, there is a lag moderna will get approved for kids. >> thank you so much. these explanation,s are really important. so much misinformation out there. and we're so luck toy have great doctors and great experts with us breaking it down. appreciate it. always good to see you. right now, you are looking at live polling places in boston, massachusetts. people are arriving to vote in a historic election there. also today, governor phil murphy in new jersey trying to fend off a republican challenger there. it's tough. this is a very high tax state. a lot of frustrated people. we'll dig into those races, big races happening across the country on this election day. s the only eggs with more fresh and delicious taste. plus, superior nutrition. which matters now more than ever. because the way we care... is anything but ordinary. eggland's best. cage free and organic. ♪♪ (tennis grunts) pnc bank believes that if a pair of goggles can help your backhand get better yeah! then your bank should help you budget even better. virtual wallet® is so much more than a checking account. its low cash mode℠ feature gives you at least 24 hours of extra time to help you avoid an overdraft fee. you see that? virtual wallet® with low cash mode℠ from pnc bank. one way we're making a difference. ♪ ♪ ♪ cash mode℠ from pnc bank. aloha! isn't this a cozy little room? sorry your vacation request took so long to get approved, so you missed out on the suite special. but lucky for you, they had this. when employees are forced to wait for vacation request approvals,it can really cramp their style. i'm gonna leave you to it. um, just— with paycom, employees enter and manage their own hr data in a single, easy-to-use software. visit paycom.com and schedule a demo today. (vo) wildfires have reached historic levels. as fires keep raging, the need to replant trees keeps growing. so subaru is growing our commitment to protect the environment. in partnership with the national forest foundation, subaru and our retailers are proud to help replant 1 million trees to help restore our forests. subaru. more than a car company. from one moment to the next, our kids become the most important part of our lives. and even though the years pass, that never changes. we never stop worrying about them. that's why it's important to have health insurance. with covered california, we got a plan we could afford. it includes free preventive care, like cholesterol and blood-pressure checkups. because even though they grow up, they'll always be your baby. covered california. this way to health insurance. enroll by december 31st at coveredca.com. welcome back. we are taking you now directly to scotland where president biden is being introduced. he is at the climate summit, and will be speaking momentarily. let's listen in. >> and today global emissions grow faster than at any time in the past. so cutting back on methane emissions is one of the most effective things we can do to reduce near-term global warms and keep 1.5 degrees celsius. it is the lowest hanging fruit. on september 17th when you president biden, joe, hosted us for the major economies forum, the european union and the united states announced the global methane pledge. since then, our climate envoys, john kerry and vance timmerman worked tirelessly to gather support and today just over six weeks later we are officially launching our methane pledge, and we're proud and happy and grateful that over 80 countries have signed up. this is fantastic. thanks to you. together these over 80 countries commit to reduced global methane emixes by at least 30% by 2030 from 2020 levels on. methane emixes come from various sources. we all know oil, gas, coal, agriculture and landfillings. these sectors have different potential for short-term action. the greatest potential forecast is without any doubt in the energy sector. and this is why next month us, the european commission, we will propose to regulate methane emissions. we will introduce rules to measure, to report, to verify methane emissions, rules to put on venting and flaring and rules to detect leaks and repair them. and, of course, our common agriculture policy is also increasing its focus on tackling methane emissions. distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, fellow leaders, the global methane pledge makes cutting on methane emissions a collective undertaking. this must, of course, be supported by solemn measure, and why observatory through the u.n. environment program, but also we all know that as important as this pledge is, it is about more than hitting targets. there are clear benefits to cutting emissions, methane emissions, yes, for the planet, but also so much for the people, too, because if we deliver on this pledge, we can prevent over 200,000 premature deaths. we can prevent hundreds of thousands of asthma-related emergency room visits. and over 20 million tons of crop losses a year by reducing ground level ozone pollution. i want to thank all those countries that have signed up to the global methane pledge. with this global pledge we are making cop26 the moment when the world moves from aspiration to action. and now it's my pleasure and honor to leave this podium for you, mr. president. thank you. [ applause ] >> it's very easy to follow ursula, and she says it all well the first time. look, i'm going to be very, very brief. i want to thank ursula, thank you so much everyone here today. you know, for signing this game-changing commitment. one of the most important things we can do, and i keep refers, as many of you do, through this decisive decade. we've got to figure what we're going to do. not just between now and 2050. what we're going to do between now and 2030 that will impact significantly whether we'll be able to meet our longer-term commitment. one of the most important things we can do in this decade is keep 1.5 degrees in reach, is reduce our methane emissions as quickly as possible. as the argument stated it's one of the most potent greenhouse gases there is is. it amounts to about half, half the warming we're experiencing today. just methane explosion. so together we're committing to collectively reduce our methane by 30% by 2030. and i think we can probably go beyond that. we just announced this package to the general assembly, and back in september, and at the time it was mentioned nine countries had signed on. today it's over 80 and approaching 100 countries that are signing on. that's nearly half the goal of methane emissions, 70% of the global gdp. and it's not, this is going to make a huge difference and not just when it comes to fighting climate change, as ursula pointed out. the first health of individuals and a whole range of other things. it's going to improve health, reduce asthma, respiratory emergencies, improve the food supply as well. by cutting crop losses and related ground-level pollution it's going to boost our economies, saving companies money, reducing methane leaks, captures methane, turn it into new revenue streams as well as creating going paying union jobs for our workers. and we're talking about jobs to manufacturing new technologies from methane detection, jobs for union pipe fitters and welders to go out and cap abandon oil wells and plug leaking pipelines, which is thousands of miles of those. and it has been a foundation, a foundational commitment of my administration from the beginning. it's something that we can't, i campaigned on, and today i'm announcing the next steps to reduce u.s. methane emissions. proposing two new rules. one through our environment protection agency, that's going to reduce methane losses from new and existing oil and gas pipelines. and one through the department of transportation, to reduce wasteful and potential dangerous leaks from natural gas pipelines. they have authority over that area. also we're launching a new initiative to work with our farmers and our ranchers to introduce climate agriculture practices and reduce methane on farms which is a significant source as well. and this is all part of our new methane strategy, which focuses on reducing the largest source of methane emissions, while putting thousands, thousands of skilled workers on the job, all across the united states, and i expect in your country as well. let me close reiterating. this isn't just something we have to do to protect the environment and our future. it's an enormous opportunity, enormous opportunity for all of us. all of our nations, to create jobs and make meeting climate goal as core part of our global economic recovery as well. the united states is eager to work with either of you to make sheer we meet this goal, and encourage more countries, more countries to join us in committing to reducing methane globally, because there are more that can join and should. i want to thank you again. much more to say, but much of it's aurz already been said. thank you for your partnership and mission. and turn it over to secretary kerry, i believe he's here. there he is, and i thank you very much. >> that, of course, was president biden and the eu commission president announcing the global commitment to cut methane that is a climate-warming gas more potent than carbon dioxide, this taking place on president biden's last day at the climate summit. right now here in the u.s., voters across the country are heading to the polls voting in several races that have, that the potential to make u.s. history. here in new york city, brooklyn borough president and former new york city police officer eric adams looking to become the city's second black mayor. new jersey governor phil murphy attempting to do what no other governor from the garden state has done since 1977. win a re-election, and in boston history made no matter who wins. rehema ellis in my home state of new jersey and trymaine lee in massachusetts. ra hane ma rehema, in jersey, w second doubters we are. no democratic has won re-election in over 40 years. people in new jersey moving out because of high taxes. they are pushing the govern beer to try to push the president to reinstate the s.a.l.t. deduction. easier said than done. how's it looking for the governor? >> reporter: according to some poll watchers, stephanie, the governor's favored to win. biden won the state last year in the presidential election. 57% of people voted for the democrat, but 41% of the people voted for a republican. i have to tell you, over the last few days this race has narrowed. think about the issues for the incumbent governor phil murphy, it's covid, education, the economy. jack ciccarelli is highly focused only the economy and taxes, as you point out. new jersey has the highest property tax of any state in the country. a couple people we talked to, completely unscientific survey, one woman said that she's all for women's rights, and that seems to favor murphy. but another woman said she was addimently i posed to anything that had anything to do with vaccines and mandates. that would seem to favor chit ciccarelli. both men have hef schedules up until polls close at 8:00 tonight. this is a race to keep your eye on. stephanie? >>rehema, always good to keep your eye on jersey. no matter who wins, the further woman would, person of color, first to take the office no mat here wins. what can you tell us about the race? >> reporter: i, too, am from jersey. big shout-out to jersey. >> there we go. >> reporter: 400-year history the city never elected a person of color or a woman to be mayor of this city but will do just that today. two face-off. essaibi-george and wu of asian descent. both poised to make history. the race, focus on race and gender, it's also about politics. literally a changing of the guard. essaibi-george daughter of old school boston. tribal italian-irish communities. michelle wu took advantage of the rapidly diversifies city. a city with a non-white majority. a little while earlier michelle voted here. talked about growing up never saw anyone who looked like her inperson of power. in terms of political demographics, michelle wu enjoyed a large lead for most of the election. most recent polling up by 30 points. 30 points. but there is an expectation of low voter turnout today. we'll see if that plays in essaibi-george's favor. michelle wu living large a while and poised to make history. >> making history tonight in boston. another ways rear watching, future of the minneapolis police department is in the hands of voters. a year and a half after the murder of george floyd, residents across the city, able to decide whether to replace the city's current police department with a department of public safety. shaquille brewster is outside a polling place in minneapolis. shaq, walk us through this. when they say, getting rid of police, that doesn't mean the city will be lawless. it means they're going to redesign what police in public safety is. correct? >> exactly right, stephanie. this is the thing that the city has been talking about for some time. it's the first local election since the murder of george floyd, but normally it would be a big deal for this city. in addition to the mayor and city council also a ballot question two involving the police department. pull up the text for viewers there. you get a sense it's not a wholesale elimination of policing in law enforcement but a modification. ask for the charter to remove the police department and replace it with department of public safety gozing to to say pacific functions determined by the mayor and city council. a change from the system they have right now. with exclusive control by the mayor. goes on to say functions which could include licensed peace officers or police officers if necessary. what would happen is it would be a conversation that would happen after this amendment were to pass, and city council and mayor would go on and decide how they want policing in this community. i want you to listen to what some voters have been telling me. seen already an uptick in early voting in this city. saw hour-long lines yesterday. listen to what some of those voters told me. >> this is finally an opportunity for people to get in a right relationship with our police officers and with so many other qualified professionals and resources that we really need. >> would have the head person of this new department report to 14 different people, when everybody's in charge, nobody's in charge. >> we need the police. you know? we need them, but we also need, i believe, police reform. >> reporter: so you hear that last undecided voter. talking to her last night and is still undecided at this point, but this is a tough decision for her. that's the sense you get here in minneapolis where we've heard that phrase "defund the police." that phrase is not something you see on this ballot question, but it was definitely the energy that led to the question. i attended a forum on the left side of the city, both sides taking notes, as they presented their arguments and case. something folks are taking extra extra -- extremely seriously because it is consequential. >> with crucial races playing out across country, we're saying on this all day long and stay with us tonight. breaking down the live results starting at 5:00 p.m. right here on msnbc. you can even stream the kornacki cam nonstop at msnbc.com. sure leslie jones will be doing just that. coming up, as voters cast their ballots across the country, glenn youngkin is at a polling place right now in virginia. the importance of local elections coming into focus down in the state of texas, as the fight plays out over the most restrictive abortion law in the nation, the latest in that battle, next. what happens in texas don't forget, could follow in state after state after state. in st after state after state. knows everyone's unique. that's why they customize your car insurance, so you only pay for what you need. [ ferry horn honks ] i mean just cause you look like someone else doesn't mean you eat off the floor, [ chuckles ] or yell at the vacuum, or need flea medication. oh, yeah. that's the spot. only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty, liberty, liberty, liberty ♪ people were afraid i was contagious. i felt gross. it was kind of a shock after i started cosentyx. four years clear. real people with psoriasis look and feel better with cosentyx. don't use if you're allergic to cosentyx. before starting, get checked for tuberculosis. an increased risk of infections —some serious— and the lowered ability to fight them may occur. tell your doctor about an infection or symptoms, or if you've had a vaccine or plan to. tell your doctor if your crohn's disease symptoms develop or worsen. serious allergic reactions may occur. learn more at cosentyx.com. people everywhere living with type 2 diabetes are waking up to what's possible with rybelsus®. ♪ you are my sunshine ♪ ♪ my only sunshine... ♪ rybelsus® works differently than any other diabetes pill to lower blood sugar in all 3 of these ways... increases insulin when you need it... decreases sugar... and slows food. the majority of people taking rybelsus® lowered their blood sugar and reached an a1c of less than 7. people taking rybelsus® lost up to 8 pounds. rybelsus® isn't for peopl with type 1 diabetes. don't take rybelsus® if you or your family ever had medullary thyroid cancer, or have multiple endocrin neoplasia syndrome type 2 or if allergic to it. stop rybelsus® and get medical help right away if you get a lump or swelling in your neck, severe stomach pain, or an allergic reaction. serious side effects may include pancreatitis. tell your provider about vision problems or changes taking rybelsus® with a sulfonylurea or insulin increases low blood sugar risk. side effects like nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea may lead to dehydration, which may worsen kidney problems. wake up to what's possibl with rybelsus®. ♪ please don't take my sunshine away ♪ you may pay as little as $10 per prescription. ask your healthcare provider about rybelsus® today. our retirement plan with voya, keeps us moving forward. hey, kevin! hey, guys! they have customized solutions to help our family's special needs... hey, graduation selfie! well done! and voya stays by our side, keeping us on track for retirement... ...giving us confidence in our future... ...and in kevin's. you ready for your first day on the job? i was born ready. go get 'em, kev. well planned. well invested. well protected. voya. be confident to and through retirement. you are looking at live pictures of voters hitting the polls in virginia. but as the votes get cast, it becomes very clear how critical state and local elections are. case in point, the state of texas. the supreme court heard two challenges to the state's restrictive abortion law, which effectively bans abortions after six weeks of pregnancy. but even with a 6-3 conservative majority, the court seems skeptical of that law, with most conservative justices concerned about the law's structure and what it could mean for other issues, like guns and same-sex marriage. julia ainsley is all over this story. bashr mcquaid, former u.s. attorney and msnbc legal analyst, also with us. amy hagstrom miller. he's the president and ceo of whole women's health, which is the plaintiff in one of those supreme court cases. julia, the justices seem skeptical, but that doesn't mean abortion rights are totally in the clear. can you explain this to us? >> yeah, that's right. i mean, oral arguments are all about reading the tea leaves, seeing what questions get asked. and i think it was surprising yesterday to hear from the more conservative justices, especially justice kavanaugh and justice barrett, asking questions about how far this law could go. could it also be applied to other policies, in which you would allow civilian vigilantes to sue people who might have some connection to a policy, not just like abortion, but you could even make it gun control, you could have it infringe on religious liberties. those questions gave a lot of hope to people who hoped to see this law overturned. but that skepticism doesn't necessarily mean that the law will be overturned. we still have to see how they will weigh in. and it also doesn't mean that it will be overturned in the near-term. those decisions can take months. and then we also have to remember that in december, they're hearing oral arguments in the mississippi case that bans abortions at 15 weeks, and that really gets to the heart of roe v. wade. even if these conservative justices decide that this law shouldn't go forward and they do side with the abortion advocates here in this case, they may still decide to weaken roe v. wade in just about a month. >> barb, what do you think about this? when you hear about the justices like brett kavanaugh worried that the law could open the door to private citizens using vigilante justice, what's your take here? they don't like the structure? i don't know what that means? >> i think that's right, stephanie. as julia said, i don't know that this means ultimately that roe v. wade is going to survive this term, but i think it means that justices barrett, kavanaugh, and roberts demonstrated that they were skeptical, if not downright hostile to the structure of this law because it evades judicial review. i think we all expected to hear this question about, isn't it true if you can do this with abortion rights, effectively, making them evade all judicial review, can't you it with all other rights, like gun rights? but i don't think we expected to hear it from brett kavanaugh. so the fact that we did, it appears that those legises in addition to the more liberal justices are hostile to this law. and so i think we could see this struck down, although as julia has said, we still have that dobbs case on the docket for december, which is probably the more likely vehicle to reconsider the continuing validity of roe v. wade. >> amy, your life's work is on the line. even if the supreme court knocks down the law, how long would it take for you to get your clinic back to normal? you've said that this law has forced you to turn away 80% of the women you serve. >> right. we are? critical condition in the state of texas. the clinics that have been open can only serve people up to six weeks of pregnancy, because this law is so extreme and it's so damaging. and so we've got to get some help as soon as possible from the supreme court. they've got to weigh in. you can't just take away the rights of 10% of this country's people of reproductive age who live in texas and not answer for it. they've got to step in. we're at day 63 today, where abortion rights are so severely restricted in the state of texas and it's affecting people's communities, their health, their future. it's time for some justice. >> turning away 80% of the women you serve, where did they go? what happened to them? >> so the majority of people are being forced to carry a pregnancy against their will. a pregnancy they don't feel ready for financially, emotionally. some people are able to leave the state and go to the surrounding states, but we're hearing that oklahoma, louisiana, are booked four to six weeks. people need access to safe abortions and people have for centuries. and thankfully since roe, people have had access to safe abortions from trained, medical professionals. and we can't allow that backslide. these kinds of restrictions don't have the support of the majority of people in this country. nor do they have the support of the majority of people in texas. and we need to hear loudly and the court needs to listen. >> barb, i've got to get your reaction to this. the texas solicitor general, the one who is defending the ban, i want to share what he said about who can turn in a woman who got an illegal abortion. listen to this rationale. >> an individual discovers that someone that, a close friend of theirs, who they'd spoken with about pro-life issues and about abortion has chosen instead to have a late-term abortion in violation of sb-8 and they were very invested in the -- basically in that child's upbringing and the child's coming into being. >> okay, barb, he's basically saying, anyone who a pregnant woman spoke to, right, that person could then turn the pregnant women in if she chose to get an abortion after six weeks of pregnancy. is that what i'm hearing? >> it is, stephanie. and i think that is one of the fatal flaws of this statute. this came in response to a question from justice thomas, who himself is no friend of roe v. wade, but he said, isn't it the case that any unlimited person anywhere in the country can file this lawsuit? and what the solicitor general is trying to do there is say, no, no, no, let me reassure you, it's a very narrow class of people. anyone who suffered the tort of outrage that this person has had an abortion. i think i suffered the tort of outrage just listening to that answer. >> that, i understand. amy, last point to you? >> you know, i think it's important for us to remember that these politics and this kind of legal back and forth, it's about real people's lives. it's about texans who are trying to build a future for themselves, that they should be allowed to build, just like anyone else in this country. and we can't just throw their lives around like political football. it's important for us to have access to safe abortions, like we have for the last almost 50 years. and i hope that we can get some justice here from the court. >> safe abortions. amy, barbara, julia, thank you all so much. we're going to leave it there. in the next hour, more election coverage as voters head to the polls in several states across the country. any minute now, parents, are you watching? cdc will meet to talk vaccines for children. do not go anywhere. i am stephanie ruhle. thank you for watching this very busy hour. my friend and colleague, jose diaz-balart, picks up breaking news coverage right this sec. good morning. it's 10:00 a.m. eastern, 7:00 a.m. pacific. i'm jose diaz-balart. it is election day in america. from coast to coast, voters are heading to the polls in what could be consequential elections. all eyes are on virginia, where the governor's race is tight and the results could give us a clue about next year's midterm elections. in new jersey, phil murphy is hoping to become the first democratic governor to be re-elected in nearly 45 years. and voters in new york, boston, miami, minneapolis, and other towns and cities are choosing leaders after a period of pandemic and racial unrest. meanwhile, on the covid front, a cdc advisory panel