Deep red district came up just high of the 50 threshold needed to capture victory. This morning well talk to dnc chair tom perez. Good morning. Its wednesday, april 19th. With us on capitol hill, Pulitzer Prize winning columnist and associate editor of the Washington Post y. Good to have you all with us this morning. First impressions here from last night, gene, i thought they needed to get to 50 last night weve seen too many of these elections where brian bill bray gets 15 in a special in california against a democrat that ends up winning it later. That very often happens. Do step back, though, this is a district that the republican would be expected to win by 20 points. Trump only one by one point in this district. Thats the problem. And its a changing district, too. Georgia is a changing state. Democrats spent Something Like 8 million on this race which is an incredible amount to spend on a special house race. If you add ossoffs votes plus the other couple of democrats, they came one percentage point sho short. I dont necessarily think the general is going to be as easy as republicans say. Well see. Let me get the facts in here. Finishing with 48. 4 . Im trying to talk. Democrat john ossoff fell about 4,300 votes shy of 50 which would have given him an outright victory. Voter turnout was high for a special election, more than 193,000 people casting ballots, near the levels for a midterm election. 43 . The race was widely seen as a referendum on candidate trump who tweeted about the election six times from sunday to tuesday. His latest just after midnight, despite major outside money, fake Media Support, big r win with runoff in georgia. Glad to be of help. Glad to be of help. What a dope. Four times the next closest candidate as the race took on national attention, he now faces Republican Karen Handel in the runoff. Lets bring in nbc news capitol hill correspondent casey hill live in atlanta, georgia. They couldnt close the deal. How are the republicans feeling this morning . Well, joe, i think bgt sides tried to set expectations a little differently and republicans, i think were looking at this as, look, if he doesnt cross 50 thats functionally a failure. The reality here is jon ossoff performed about whether Hillary Clinton performed, a little better than she did against donald trump. I do think above everything, there is real activation among democratic voters right now. The question i think is still how does that translate. I think well learn from the runoff exactly how a lot of these midterm elections will play out. Karen handle, the republican who jorn ossoff will face, she is not embracing donald trump. She is running as essentially a generic i dont want to quite call it a Country Club Republican, but that gives you a sense of where people are in this district. Oh, go ahead. Sorry. I pushed karen handel on whether or not she thought donald trump was a conservative, whether he belonged on the list. She kept saying im running in the mold of johnny isakson, tom price, all these georgia conservatives, and she was very hesitant around President Trump. She said, look, ill support the president , but im going to do the right thing for my district. I think this will tell us a little bit about how republicans run toward or away from the president depending on what hes doing at this moment. Kasie, thank you so much. Sam and i had an oldfashioned beforehand. It is 6 00 a. M. A little early i know. Why is this show so early. Have the bloodys early. I like how youre slurring your words like its true. Exactly. Sam, he got 8 million you say . 8. 3 million. Most of it from outside the district. Doesnt it seem hes going to if he wants to win this thing, hes going to have to start knocking on doors. Hes going to have to raise money locally, small amounts. I think its fair to say this probably was your best shot in the general primary. Now he has to run again in june. Its unclear if he can bring out the same level of support. I find it odd 43 were cheering. Thats a fairly low number. The truth is its hard to turn out more people in special elections. Its not apparent it will be easier in june. In some respects, this wasnt a victory for democrats. These elections matter. Then again, like gene, i step back and say, wow this is 24 swing from what the congressional race was in the 16 elections, the same swing as what happened in the last election in kansas. Theres something happening here, right. I dont know that there is. You dont think so . I thought there wou be. I thought he was going to get over 50 because of all the things that happened. It was a special election. These are the type of elections, walt walter, that you have shocks, like in massachusetts when scott brown won ted kennedys old seat because you have an energized small base. That time it was republicans and independents in massachusetts. They go out and shock the political world. Scott brown couldnt have won in 2008, 2010, 2012, 2014 in massachusetts, but he could win that special. Thats why this to me i think is so ominous for democrats, all of that energy, with all that money, he couldnt get over 50. You know, bye elections in new england, special elections in the United States, those are the chances you get to send a message. This didnt quite send the message. As sam points out, it really does matter who sits in that seat. I do think well see in the runoff, i cant be sure whats going to happen in the runoff. He could win. Karen handel is a strong candidate. A decent person. Im more on your side. We havent seen the shock we could see. Hasnt happened. Gene, it seems to me that more than anything that tom perez is going to do this entire year, this june election is going to be a test of his abilities. When you have a special election in june, when the kids are out at school, its all about organization. It is all about turnout. Let me say to my democratic friends out there watching, if i see any marches between now and june, im going to call you stupid idiots. Stop. That dont know how to win in american politics. They dont need to march. They need to knock on doors. They dont need to scream, they need to do phone banks. If youre in berkeley, california, ask how to get on the phone. Thats how you win elections. Exactly. What the Democratic Party hasnt done over the last ten years and what it had better do, that on the Grassroots Level, not just in georgia, but they better be doing it around the country because Democratic Party lost not only the presidency and both houses of congress. Its lost twothirds of state legislatures, twothirds of governor ships. That really, really matters. There has to be a base for the party to build on. So i think this period for tom perez is about base building. Hes going to be on this morning. Kasie wants to jump back in. Reporter i was just going to say, joe and mika, theres been some behind the scenes grumbling on the part of democrats. Ossoff spent over 8 million on one house seat, almost all on broadcast television. A lot of people think thats an outdated way to win a race like this. Thats money that could have been very well invested in party building, exactly what youre talking about. I was getting snarky notes behind the scenes from democratic operatives all night saying are we going to hold out hope and wait for the cleveland suburbs to come in, recalling 2012 what it felt like to be a democrat. Tv ads, im sorry. Thats so 1996. What year are we in . Nobody is watching. With all due respect to our network, thats a stupid way to spend money. Barack obama showed us that. Donald trump really showed us that. We were talking about it a ye ago on the show. I was surprised the understanding of trumps rise that everybody on this panel was talking about. You could see it in yard signs and people sometimes in politics, they would dismiss and say, no, we watch facebook friends and twitter trends. But you go through pennsylvania and ohio. We were driving, upstate new york, trump, trump, trump, those red signs. You think theres a lack of Organization Going on and theres a lack of passion. So then theres this. Look at the opportunity democrats have right now. A growing number of republican lawmakers are working to distance themselves from President Trump as they face constituents at town hall events. At one event yesterday, senator James Lankford of oklahoma called on the president to release his tax returns. According to reports lankford told voters that, quote, mr. Trump promised he would and he should keep his promise. Hold on. Mika, dont all republicans believe that, that if he made that promise, dont all republicans he should keep that promise . What James Lankford did, all republicans should believe it. They should hold his words to him and not be so fearful. All youre asking him to do is just keep his word. An amazingly low bar that republicans have for their president about the promises hes made. Maybe not. If James Lankford said that, his republican constituents i know republicans more than any party, they value the truth and keeping their word. His constituents have to be awfully proud of him. Let me tell you something, donald trump is not going to release his taxes . What . But wait a minute. He said he would. The story here is a senator from oklahoma say, hey, you know what, this is Pretty Simple guys. This is what you want your representatives to do. You want them to act like they would with their kids. They want their kids to tell the truth, then they want their president to tell the truth. Youve got a larger point here which is its a Republican Senate republican senators will be the ones who will or wont hold trump account nl. Fellow republican senator joni ernst of iowa went even further in her criticisms while answering questions on President Trumps policies and even his character. I think that we have a president that has a number of flaws. I would say i support more of the policies. I dont support every policy, but there are policies that i support. With the trips to florida, i do wish that he would spend more time in washington, d. C. Thats what we have the white house for. We would love to see more of those state department vis nits washington, d. C. I think its smart he does business in washington, d. C. Should he be the first one to bring his company back and manufacture his products here . I do think we node to bring manufacturing back to the United States. I would love to see that. Maybe he puts his money where his mouth is and brings some of those jobs here. So whether its manufacturing or otherwise, it would be nice to see that investment in american jobs. Ladies and gentlemen someone who tells the truth. Welcome to april of 2017. It takes a woman, by the way, to not be well, a woman who has been in the military, who isnt afraid. Who makes them squeal. Who is from iowa. Lets unpack what she just said. Pretty remarkable stuff, sam stein, that more people arent saying that. You criticized obama for going on vacations and golfing. Dont doityourse it yourself. Stay in washington, d. C. And not maralago. He has flaws. Like a line of criticism y. This is obvious stuff that all republicans should be saying. Its advantageous for republicans to disagree with trump on what are mainly superficial matters and say he shouldnt be traveling, he should be in d. C. , and then go with him on the substantive ones. Im struck by this 100 days in. Trumps legislative accomplishments fairly bare. If you have republican senators talking to constituents in this early part of his presidency, what does this suggest about getting things done for the rest of the term. If i were trump, i would be nervous. I think what it says gene is they say hes at 39 even after a popular strike on a dictator, and they go, you know what, were just not going down with this ship. Well support him legislatively, but were not going to support him lying, not going to support him saying one thing about barack obama and doing even worse. Whats the big legislative accomplishment . He has no legislative accomplishment. Theres the big question. He didnt do health care. He doesnt know how to do tax reform i dont think, even,000 you could do Corporate Tax reform next week if you wanted to. But i dont think hes going to do it. You know, they see the numbers. They see he got this is after the bump from the military strike. There was no bump. Thereas no bump. A couple of points and that always subsides. Politically hes in trouble. There are new ethics questions for ivanka trump after the Chinese Government gave preliminary approval to three brand trademarks on the same day she met chinese president xi jinping. The trade marks gave her company exclusive rights to sell ivanka trump goods and services in the country. On april 6th, she and her husband Jared Kushner sat next to the chinese president for dinner at mara lago. Ivanka trump has pledged to recuse herself from issues that present conflicts. In response, ivanka trumps attorney stated, since she resigned her position, ivanka has had no involvement with trademark applications submitted by the business. The fed rath ethics rules do not require you to recuse from any business because a business you have ownership interest in has a trademark Application Pending there. For the second time this year, former president george h. W. Bush is being treated at a hospital. He was admitted to highs ton methodist on friday with pneumonia. The 92yearold was also hospitalized for two weeks back in january and at one point was moved into the icu. The former president s office says the latest case of pneumonia was mild and has been treated and resolved. However, were told he will stay in the hospital until he regains his strength. We last saw president bush two weeks ago when president clinton tweeted this photo of his visit with his predecessor where he, of course, brought him a pair of socks. Still ahead onmorng joe from capitol hill, well speak live wh dnc chair tom pez, his first interview of the morning following last flits special election in georgia. New York Times White House correspondent, glenn thrush, usa todays heidi przybilla. Tomorrow, valley jarrett, her first interview since leaving the white house. But first, here is bill karins with a check on the forecast. Bill . Good morning. Umbrella weather in d. C. And a lot of other areas, watching murky weather headed through north carolina, all of virginia and west virginia. If we get severe storms today, were focusing on iowa, kansas city, chicago. These could be big hail producing storms, too. Well show you those tomorrow. Des moines to the quad cities most at risk. In total, 18 Million People. The warm temperatures continue for the middle of april, 86 in st. Louis, 82 in the atlanta. Cooler in new york city, philadelphia and bostoning some of the air coming in off the ocean. Got our temperature records in for march. Now were setting pretty impressive streaks here. Now going in the last year, it was officially the warmest year weve had, warmest 12month period recorded in our country. This goes on top now 24 months, 36 months. Three years, four years, a record period, the warmest weve had in the lower 48. That is courtesy of the Washington Post and the climate weather game. We continue with a very warm april. Well track severe storms later today in the middle of the country. Washington, d. C. , as i mentioned, honandoff showers throughout the day. Youre watching morning joe. Well be right back. Were on to you, diabetes. Times up, insufficient prenatal care. And administrative perwork. Your days of drowning people are numbered. Same goes for you, budget overruns. And rising costs, wipe that smile off your face. Were coming for you, too. For those who wont rest until the world is healthier, neither will we. Optum. How well gets done. No administration has accomplished more in the first 90 days, that includes on military, on the border, on trade, on regulation, on Law Enforcement. We love our Law Enforcement. And on government reform. Ive been president almost 100 days and ive already done so much, its hard to keep track of it at all. Read to me again from the list of accomplishmented. Of course, sir. Nominated neil gorsuch. God, i love that list. With the 100 dash day mark looming, President Trump was back on the rode with a swing through kenosha, wisconsin to tout his buy american hire american message on manufacturing. The Washington Post points out the president s own Companies Often deviated from that principle in the past. The president also signed an executive order targeting the h1b visa program which the Administration Says undercuts american jobs by using cheaper Foreign Workers and driving down wages. President trump also took on other aspects of his agenda, promising tax reform very soon, pending approval of a Health Care Bill. Were also working with congress on tax reform and simplification, and were on time if we get that health care approval. So press every one of your congressmen, press everybody because we want to get that approval. It just makes the tax reform easier, and it makes it better. Its going to make it steeper, its going to be bigger. Thats what we want to do. Were in very good shape on tax reform. We have the concept of the plan. Well be announcing it very soon, but health care, we have to get the health care taken care of. As soon as Health Care Takes care of, were going to march very quickly. Youre going to watch, were gog surprise you. Right steve mnuchin, right . Well be making Big Investments in rebuilding our military and repairing our badly depleted infrastructure. That will happen soon, also, infrastructure, big infrast