we have the race that we want and bill cassidy, you cannot run. you cannot hide anymore. this race is starting tonight! welcome back, everybody to this election day special edition of way too early. i'm thomas robert. that was mary landrieu. one of the democrats holding on. the hotly contested senate race where bill cass i did is in overtime with a runoff set for december 6th. if you're just joining us. we want to give you a look at the senate races how they've been decided or not. republicans winning key races picking up seven states meaning the end of harry reid era. in kentucky it wasn't even close. mitch mcconnell easily beating out allison lundergan grimes. in iowa joni ernst beat bruce braley. tom tillis unseated kay hagan. mark udall fell to congressman cory gardener in colorado. in georgia was expected by many to go to a runoff. however, republican david perdue easily beat out michelle nunn. pat roberts surviving despite being down in the polls to greg orman. shelly moore capito won. south dakota flips as well from mike rounds despite sudden interest from democrats that came too late in the game. as we look to the granite state new hampshire's bright spot for democrat. this is where jane shaheen survived scott brown's challenge. alaska still undecided with dan sullivan holding on to a wide point lead over mark beg gich. the apparent winner mark warner could face a recount. ed gillspie did not concede. we want to look where governors stand. bruce raunor depleting pat quinn. quinn not conceding yet. in maryland republican larry logan upset democrat lieutenant governor anthony brown. in arkansas asa hutchinson. rick scott is preparing for a second term after defeating former governor charlie crist by a little more than 1%. in wisconsin republican scot walker defeated mary burke. in michigan governor rick snyder was re-elected to a second term. nathan deal beat jason carter. the grandson of former president jimmy carter to win a second term in georgia. in maine paul lepage. wendy davis lost to greg abbott losing by nearly 20 points. sam brownback to defy recent polls defeating paul davis. there's no winner as of yet in vermont. neither candidate reaching the 50% needed. the legislature will now decide the victor in jan january. in alaska the race is too early to call and too early to call in colorado. the same goes for connecticut and democratic governor dan mall loi and tom foley. i want to bring in mike allen a. i want to thank you for getting up early. we want to get to you, mike, fast. the big surprise of the night. your take away? >> no question that ed g gillis pea did so well. these results were more red than the most bullish republican might have told you or the most glum bearish democrat might have told you. the only res piet for democrats was democrats raced jeanne shaheen. when president obama comes out later today he's going strike a tone of accountability and comprise. he's going tell republicans he wants to work with them and he's going to say i'm not a lame duck. he's going it say it's the fourth quarter. we have two more years. let's get some things done. but, thomas, i talked to republican leadership on the hill last night and they are going to play tough. they're saying itf the presiden goes on his tone act on immigration it will poison the well and make it difficult to do anything big. >> okay, mike. let me ask you about this, as we know we have the gop congress. our representatives pretty much staying the same but picking up more than. taking over the senate making things go a little more smoothly to the president's desk. we saw what happened with the immigration we form when the tea party tanked it. >> if you see the senators that were elected tonight, i think specifically gardener. gardener when he says he believes in immigration reform. he doesn't believe in immigration reform that the democrats will embrace and the way that the president would embra embrace. i think there's going to be a big fight. i think the activists want the president to take executive action and force the republicans to pass something. if the president comes out strong with executive action, you better believe it's going to be an election 2016 issue and the republicans have to basically play hardball. >> for progressives and people that want to see something done or think that a more democratically elected congress can do something on immigration reform, is this tally and what we're seeing in this midterm a punishment to the obama administration or a general lack of intersection from the american electorate? >> i think it's frustration. i think it's frustration for both parties with the exception of two senate races you saw. udall was incredibly close. kansas was close. every one was close. they want something to happen. and they're tired of the excuses from the democrats and republicans say it's each other's fault. by basically having the republicans control the congress and the administration democrats controlling -- now you have to meet mt. middle. >> let's look at kentucky and the fact we have senate minority leader mitch mcconnell winning and the presumptivetive majority leader in the senate. explain what the hindsight being 20/20 what went so right for mcconnell. what went so wrong for grimes? nobody could have expected the huge margin for mcconnell. we're told mcconnell aids had a contest in the campaign office of how many times they could get president obama's name in the clips each day and the news coverage each day. he hung his hat on that. it worked. thomas, as we look at the map and democrats look ahead to 2016, there's some sobering elements here with the tom cotton victory in arkansas. the gop dominance of the south is complete. virginia, where i live and work, which i thought was basically a blue state is a purple state, clearly. republicans having opportunity there. and, thomas, here the most interesting change for the 2016 map. colorado, another state we thought was blue. such a great obama state it was where he was nominated. the fact it went so strongly for cory gardener who is the surprise of the cycle he got in late. such a tough state and if you're hillary clinton you're looking at this map. you can't automatically count on the strong obama map. >> exactly if you're a republican you're looking at colorado as a bright spot in 2016. i want to ask you about wendy davis and what we saw happen in texas. she was defeated by greg abbott. certainly got a lot of attention from main stream media and the like. what do you think happened there and why she department resonate more with the texas voters? >> the democratic party has to do a lot of building in texas. texas has the lowest voter tush out rate in our nation. what is happening they're trying to build the infrastructure. i think they expected the infrastructure to be built so fast. it's an expensive state. i think what you're seeing is the beginning what you're going to see in 2016. and probably not turning it blue in 2016 but probably 2020. talk about colorado, i think what happened in colorado udall didn't run with the president's agenda. i think that's what happened over and over again across the democratic party. they kept wanting to alienate themselves from the president. there were a lot of good things they could have embraced. >> let's talk about ted cruz. what are you hearing from your insiders about what his type of politics, the way he plays means to senator mcconnell and the self-interest of cruz potentially running for 2016. how tough will it be more mcconnell to keep him in check? >> it's going to be a huge headache. he has several people running for president in his conference. we saw senator cruz last night being very tough, very aggressive. surprisingly so talking about shut downs and approach the very much republicans are trying to move away from. we saw last night rand paul on brian williams looking ahead saying hillary clinton lost last night. bigger than the president. ticking off the races where the clintons appeared and they lost. on twitter you saw the rand paul folks having #hillary's losers. for senator mcconnell a big job. >> ted cruz bringing up shut downs again. what is old is new again. the tea party didn't think that the budget was extreme enough the debt ceiling bill. we'll see what ted cruz has up his sleeve. >> when he was asked are you going to vote for mitch mcconnell as majority leader he didn't answer the question. i think mcconnell is going to try to become more moderate to bring he party together. >> according to both sides. >> mike, last word? >> thomas, ted cruz could win iowa. he's talking to the republican base and this is part of why it could be so hard to get immigration. the 2016 politics is going to make it so difficult to navigate. >> his new best friend joni ernst. thank you to have you both on. coming up you know things are bad for democrats when the gop flips the governor's mansion in deep blue maryland. we'll talk to michael steel. obviously my dad -- plus what the loss means for -- just in the election ballot box. one of the only said he'll challenge hillary clinton. good morning. looking ahead on the wednesday. rain is in the from texas almost all the way back into new england. it's light this morning. just showers for the travels. central portion of texas the rainiest forecast out there. warm air heading to the east coast. enjoy it. it won't be here for long. you see the picture over texas. for wednesday it's a rainy day. texas some portions of arkansas, nice weather alone the immediate east coast. it changes for thursday. we'll have rain for you and probable some airport delays. that's form not today. much more of "way too early" right after this. we have exceeded every expectations of what was possible in this race. i want to remind you all that just about 15 months ago, all the political pundits said that georgia was not at play. we put georgia in play. in twenty years, i think there will be young women like elizabeth who will take for granted that we have equal representation of women in congress. >> democrat michelle nunn conceding last night where a runoff was widely expected with david perdue. it's not going to happen now. it's going strictly to him for retiring senator chambliss -- it will be senator perdue taking over. it was an interesting race to watch here. perdue come out with 53% of the vote. joining me now from atlanta, georgia is kaitlyn ross. it is fascinating we heard michelle nunn say her representation didn't put it in play. it didn't come down to the runoff. >> absolutely. we thought we were going to be up all night waiting for the vote counts to come in. it was projected to be one of the closest races in the country. as the early numbers came back it became clear that david purdue was going to take it. it became a different election. michelle nunn did give a concession speech. she didn't concede. she said she feels proud about what they were able to do during the election. she said her campaign changed the face of georgia politics. it put the state in a different position going from a red state to. pras the purple state. she said she feels like she moved the state forward. perdue, for his part, he said he won because he was running as an outsider. he's going start off running. he wants to change the way politics are handled in georgia. it was interesting hearing the two speeches from very different candidates. they kind of sounded the same. they want politics in georgia to change. >> catlin ross, thank you so much for your time. i appreciate it. i appreciate it. president obama joins the ranks of the last two-term presidents to spend his final two years in office with a opposition capitol hill. did the washington gridlock just get worse? joining me now is former rnc chair michael steel. he's an msnbc analyst and way too early lover. that's why he's here. >> oh, my gosh. yeah. >> so good to have you. >> talk about maryland, our home state. there was a big show down that took place there. didn't go the way people expected. for the view of what it means for the republican party. this is good for the brand. but how do you think there could be problems moving forward if people aren't, you know, thinking consciously about what the victory means over the next two years. >> two words come to mind immediately discipline and message. and that means having the discipline to put in place the message that builds off of what happened last night. so you're going have now this pressure point in the gop between the house and the senate. as we all know the house has been very active over the last few years and putting a lot of things out there from repeal of obamacare 50 plus times to talk about impeaching the president and all of this. the senate now is going to have to moderate that. the balance of power between the house and senate will be something to watch. because i think it could eventually set that tone and build that message that takes us to 2016 in a positive way so you can build on the gains you made because you'll have more seats in 2016 for the senate republicans than you have this time. you can build on this. that you can also then really fashion policy around those governing ideas and principles you talk about. but if it's just a matter of throwing bombs, it's a matter we want to repeal obamacare, no replacement, yadda yadda. i don't think it will happen. >> it comes now. how they can coalesce and bring things to the president's desk. mcconnell said no way we're going it make it a one term president. i think he genuinely has the will, the desire to lead and work with president obama. >> well, you know, i think what will be an ironic twist that desire that will will come from none other than ted cruz. he's not sure if he's going to vote for mcconnell. it's going to bring the pressure, the far right conservative pressure on mcconnell who will try to navigate. i think that's going to put mcconnell in a position where he's going to try to work with the white house on a few things like xl pipeline right out of the box. he wants to set the tone early and deliver the message early so nothing separates the party from that positive momentum. >> that would be your prediction. mitt romney said immigration bill would be probably one of the first things to pass. something a lot of progressives and democrats think that president obama has failed on. >> yeah. >> whether moving forward in something through congress or executive action. do you think that is the low hanging fruit? a win for the republicans and also to get more supporters? >> yeah, i think it is. i really think it is. simply because there is this tension, you know, at least perceived tension between the party and hispanic community. this will be a good way, a low hanging fruit, as you said, to begin that conversation with the hispanic community. all leading to 2016 to take advantage of that. and then also has something like xl pipeline to compliment that. the two pieces they're very different they're in that sense low hanging fruit. there's something that the country wants to see done. one creates jobs, the other opens up the party to the tradition of assimilation, et. cetera, et. cetera. i think it can be an interesting combination. mcconnell will be the one who set it is in motion. it will not come from the house. >> there's such a contrast on the two things. it would show real leadership and successes in the check mark column for republicans. >> yeah. >> we have senator rand paul in an interview this sunday that obamacare is still the target. he expects more bills to repeal it. do you think that's going to be more time invested more american taxpayer dollars invested in republicans' time trying to repeal the aca. something that the president will veto. >> i hope not. there were a number of candidates who said in the closing days of the campaign and even a few last night that the idea that an outright repeal of obamacare may not necessarily make the most sense. w why? because the president isn't going to allow it to happen. he's going veto the bill. you continue hadon't have a vet majority in the senate. a lot of people will want to steal away with that measure as opposed to one that deals with the pieces that are fixed. >> let's go home to maryland. because we have the upset lieutenant governor anthony brown losing to republican larry hogan. what do you think happened there that brown wasn't able to carry-on the torch from the o'malley administration. >> i think a couple of things. o'malley fatigue. o'malley has been governor for eight years. in that time, taxes have gone up 40 times. businesses have left the state. the economy gone from a surplus to a deficit. i think the pressure weighed down heavily on the voters. two, brown took the race for granted. he saw all the blue around him and said i'm at home. this is an easy game here. referred to the race, the general election as a mole hill. guess what? that mole hill grew a big mountain he could not climb last night. >> more like a sand trap. >> yeah. >> do you think it's a rebuke of o'malley and this tank in 2016? >> i don't think if it tanks him but makes it hard to launch. his record will be part of the conversation. >> all right michael steel. thank you for waking up so early. that will do it for this special edition ofway too early. more results and analysis coming up on "morning joe" next. we have a live studio audience for you. a little live energy. we need it! we'll see you in a second. stick around. . >> we do have an obligation to work on issues where we can agree him i think we have a duty to do that. just because we have a two of party system doesn't mean we have to be in perpetual conflict. i think i've shown that to be true at critical times in the past. i hope the president gives me a chance to show it again. >> that is the senate majority leader of the united states senate mitch