Dems Celebrate Wave Election Wins

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I'm Wolf Blitzer, and this is CNN's Special Live Coverage of Election Day in America continue. It's now 12 noon here on the East Coast, and Democrats are riding high after a truly historic night, winning back the House of Representatives and the Senate. And history is just settling in, as James Talleriko told us moments ago, it's just starting to settle in his reality. I'm Aaron Burnett. I am here in Austin, Texas at the center of what is one of the biggest political stories in the United States today. Double victory here. Really triple. You've got the state house. You've got the governor's race. You've got the Senate seat. Texas is a blue state today. Welcome to CNN's Special Live Coverage Election Day in America continue. We're following major developments in the wake of the seismic shift in power here in Washington, seats in red states turning blue across the country. And now the race for the Congressional leadership is clearly heating up after the Democrats one control of the Senate with at least at least 54 seats. We heard moments ago from Senator Chuck Schumer, who could soon become the Senate Majority Leader. He had this to say to President Trump. We are going to work hard. We are going to work hard to drive costs down with the president or without him, period. Democrats have also won the House of Representatives at least 231 seats and they're leading in several more races right now. We're standing by this hour to hear directly from the House Democratic leader and the potential next speaker, Congressman Akim Jeffries of New York. He spoke with us earlier just a little while ago about what he wants on day one. One of the first things that needs to happen now, not even waiting until we get to January 3rd of the new Congress in the new year, is that the president and the administration should end this reckless and costly war of choice in Iran that has skyrocketed gas prices, skyrocketed fertilizer prices, skyrocketed the price of diesel and as a result, increased costs on everyday Americans, including as it relates to groceries and goods and of course, as we've discussed, gas. That should happen now. There was never a reason to get into this war and we need to get out of it immediately. For Republicans, a power vacuum, sources say Speaker Mike Johnson told staffers earlier today he won't run again for Republican leader, the House Majority Leader, Steve Scalice will announce a run today to replace him, the source tells CNN and he could have competition from Ohio Congressmen Jim Jordan, a fierce Trump ally, sources say Jordan is planning to run as well and all of this while the vote counts are still coming in, stand by for a CNN key race alert. Just two Senate races remain undecided Alaska to early the call and Mississippi to close to call, look at the numbers right there, you see them right there in Mississippi. This 48.9% to 48.9% Scott column, the Democrat, is only 43 votes ahead of Cindy Hyde Smith, looking how close it is in Mississippi. In Alaska right now, Mary Peltola, the Democrat, is 626 seats ahead of Dan S Sullivan, the incumbent. Both have 102,000 votes, 701 for Mary Peltola, 102,075 for Dan Sullivan. I want to see how close it is in Alaska right now, we're watching all of this closely. I want to go to Erin Burdett, she's in Austin, Texas, as she's got more. Erin? Yeah, yeah. Wolfen, you know, I want to go to Kevin Lipteck at the White House, just one other thing with all those numbers on our screen, look at the number on the bottom, what we call the bug there. Dow Jones industrial average up almost 3%, almost $1 trillion in value added to US stocks at the open when you look at sort of an evaluation of how does the world see the verdict? From voters, that is first and foremost on the list, a huge sigh of relief from Wall Street. Kevin Lipteck, you're at the White House, obviously we know who is watching those numbers more closely than perhaps anyone, that's the president of the United States who has been handed this resounding defeat. What are you learning? Yeah, and what you're hearing at the White House today is a very interesting kind of rupture, you know, the Vice President, just in the last hour, putting out that 620 word, post pinning blame for these losses very directly on the Iran War and just in the last few minutes, the President's son, Donald Trump Jr., endorsing that sentiment, saying every word of this, 100 emoji, 100 emoji, really kind of emphasizing what the Vice President is saying there. And it is, I think, an extraordinary statement from the Vice President. Now, he says that the President himself said that the Iran War was to blame. In fact, the President only said that that was partly responsible and, in fact, over the last several days of or so, the President has said that the conflict should not actually be described as a war. It does raise a lot of questions here. I think one, you know, the Iran War didn't start on his own. So who exactly does Bant's blame for the Iran War? And also, the Iran War continues. It's not resolved. And so how does this affect the President's strategy there going forward? And so some very interesting questions emerging here at the White House this morning as two of the very most senior members of Trump's orbit now say that the Iran War was to blame for these losses. It's just a pretty stunning reversal, Defense Secretary, or as he calls himself Secretary of War, Pete Hegg's, that's future, is now up, up, up, you know, who knows what will happen there. Chris Murphy had said that he was briefed on potential strikes against Iran last week that he called, quote unquote, "insane". They've been talking about what those could include and whether that would go all the way up to the top of the arsenal. And yet here we are with this resounding defeat and those closest to the President blaming his own war. Americans hear with me. And Jeff Zellani, when you talk about what Democrats are going to do, I was just watching Jason Crowe posted, you know, Pete Hegg Seth, I'm looking at you. But when you look at the new crew coming in, Adam Hamilton, mega-church pastor from Kansas, seminary, and James Talleriko, who says I'm not a Democrat, I'm not a Republican. I'm a Texan. Abdul Al-Sayed, he doesn't call himself DSA, but he is obviously in line with many of their beliefs. This is a diverse group. It is. I mean, the big tent of the Democratic Party, which we've long known has existed, truly is going to be there in real form with 54 senators. I would add a few others to the list. A trash, a Turk from Iowa. He won as a state house, representatives in a Trump district. He appealed to both sides in Iowa, winning. I would call that one of the most surprising wins last night. Republicans thought that Ashley Hinson in Iowa would be among the last to hold on. The counties where Trump visited in the final days went to the Democrat. So when you look at this big picture of this new Democratic Senate to majority, many are going to be forward-looking. We heard James Talleriko saying to you this morning that he is not interested in a political retribution, but we are definitely going to see this party divide here. But the good thing for soon-to-be-speaker Jeffries likely is that he has a big majority. He does not have just a three-seat majority here. So that gives them a lot of wiggle room to let progressive sort of have their views known and more moderates or blue dogs, as we used to call them. We're not going to be chained by a change by those people. And I mean, Jeffries is going to be speaking in just a moment. I know they're getting ready for that, getting up on the podium. So we'll see when he starts. But impeachment is going to be one of the biggest questions, right? I mean, there's investigations and theirs and there's impeachment. This is what they've got to face as a decision right away. Yeah, look, you talk to Democrats, and I think everybody, I would include myself and I'm not a Democrat, thinks there are defensible arguments about things that Trump has done that would be, could qualify as impeachable if they did the investigations or not. But whether it makes political sense in Trump's last two years to do it, third impeachment doesn't galvanize the Malgamesh, which right now is demoralized, does it seem like you're you're taking a break. your eye off the ball on affordability and all that kind of stuff. So one of the compromises that's sort of emerging as a conversation, as this is a conversation topic, is whether or not you can satisfy the hunger for impeachment with Pete Hexeth. And, you know, it's sort of a, you know, give them Chester McProsif, let them feed on him, he has it coming, and does that, and does that in fact lead to. And there are many Republicans, by the way, who would probably co-sign that attempt, you know, Pete Hexeth is not popular among quite a big portion of the GOP. And also I will say, if you are seeing the president's son, when you've lost your own son, you have a problem blaming the Iran war, someone's going to have to take the fall for that. And we know from history, it ain't going to be Trump. I mean, to Kevin's point earlier though, it still has to end. I mean, just issuing this long statement does not end it. So that is what a challenge facing the president. But as I think back as we sit here in the state of Texas, after 2006, what did President Bush do? He fired Rumsfeld. So is President Trump going to fire anyone? We've not seen anything indicating that yet, but we shall see. He's just missed other members of his cabinet. But Pete Hexeth, at your point, would be a popular thing. Do you allow those Republicans to-- And Stephen Miller, I have to tell you, is as the architect of-- He could be in peace. She could be fired. That's what I mean. Stephen Miller is the architect of what many see as the disastrous policies of ICE, et cetera, et cetera, you know, also someone who-- He went along with Laura Loomer among the first yesterday to be calling election fraud and rigged election when there were-- Precisely. Ballot machine issues. And so the big question here is, as this new day dawns, which it is, what is the president going to do? He learned the lessons of this election, and will he try and make a change? Or will he do what he has always done, which is double down, circle the wagons, and point the finger at somebody else? Well, I think we have an answer to that, though, right? I mean, his whole thing already is given what five interviews are posts or whatever. Well, he said if he were on the ballot, they would have won. Yeah, he's talking about how the problem was bad candidate quality. He picked-- literally picked, like, four of the senators that were allegedly bad candidates. Jackson, Darlene Graham gets rid of Tom Tillis, and I'm just ticking through the list. Yes, yes, yes, yes. So I think-- look, I mean, he's-- he's someone who cannot take blame, and there are political reasons why all politicians are reluctant to do that. But Trump is unique in that, like, he-- remember, in 2018 midterms, you know, previous midterms, Bush said it was a thump, and Obama said it was a shlacking. He said he lost all those seats because those Republicans didn't embrace him. He cannot-- he still thinks he's saying it again last night. I think it takes a minute for reality to set in. I-- I will say-- He's 80. He's 80. But also, listen, this is the last two years. The Donald Trump era effectively ended last night. This is now a new era where people are looking towards. 2028, he is still incredibly powerful. There's a lot of road to go, but his power is only diminishing. As we wait, how came Jeffries here? That's a question I have. What is the president's relationship with him? He doesn't have one at this point, but we've seen the president sort of reach out to Mayor of Amdani, does he try and establish a relationship? He is focusing on legacy building. There's no doubt. He was trying to actually build buildings that will be his legacy. I'm slightly open-minded to see what he does in the next couple of years. I agree with you. History has to be our guide here. He's not going to suddenly become a different person. But his relationship with Hakim Jeffries, I think, will be something to keep an eye on. He also has probably known Chuck Schumer for what, 35 years? Yeah, well, yeah. Back when he was a Democrat, he's committing. He didn't know about that. All right. Thanks very much to all of you. As we are here, of course, in Texas. And we are awaiting Hakim Jeffries going to be speaking in just a few moments. We're also going to be speaking to the Democrat Rebecca Bennett, who flipped the New Jersey Congressional seat, helping her party win control of the house. I will work with whoever wants to work with me on solving the cost of living crisis that we are dealing with in this country. But let's be clear, it is not accident that we find ourselves in this position. All of these costs have risen because we have an administration in Washington that is the most corrupt we have ever seen in the history of this country. You're listening to a quick ad. You know what else is quick? Selling your car on Carvana. Just put in your vehicle information and we'll give you an offer. I'm done. No hassle, no negotiation, no guy from an online listing lowball in you. Which means by the time I'm done explaining this, you could have basically done it. Still haven't started? Hey. Better late than never. 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The polls were wrong. It wasn't simply a blue wave, it was an American tsunami. House Democrats have decisively taken back control of the Congress. We will win at least 255 seats if not more once every vote has been tallied. It's a historic majority in the 21st century. Democrats have taken back control of the Senate. Democrats have won govern the ships all across the country. We flipped legislative chambers in the north and the south and the east and in the Midwest. It was a great victory for the American people. The American people have chosen the economy over extremism. The American people have chosen hope over hatred. The American people have chosen common sense over corruption, chaos and cruelty. The American people have chosen House Democrats because they want to see a dramatic change in direction and that's exactly what House Democrats will deliver beginning on day one. We've promised to fight for an affordable America and that's exactly what we will do. And we look forward to welcoming all of these extraordinary patriotic candidates who flip seats all across the country. And we look forward to welcoming back our extraordinary battle ground incumbents. Every single one of whom prevailed. Unlike anything, we've ever really seen in a midterm election in modern American history. We're humbled by the outcome and we know we have to undertake with the seriousness of purpose a relentless effort to make life more affordable for everyday Americans, for working class Americans, for middle class Americans and for all those who aspire to be part of the middle class. We're going to fight hard for every single American wherever you may reside. We're going to fight hard for small town America, we're going to fight hard for rural America, we're going to fight hard for urban America, we're going to fight hard for the heartland of America, we're going to fight hard for black and brown communities all throughout America. This is a victory for the American people and we should never doubt the resilience, the character, the courage and the conviction of the American people to do the right thing. It is now my honor to yield to one of my really good friends and a classmate of mine. We came into Congress together, we've served on this leadership journey together. Because one of the main reasons why in the minority Democrats have consistently governed as if we were in the majority and we're just getting started and so I yield. to the next majority leader of the House of Representatives and someone who will be the first woman to ever serve in that position in our 250-year journey, the Honorable Catherine Clark. Thank you. Thank you so much. Oh, my goodness. Thank you so much. And in the words of the great Dolly Parton, it's been a long hard fight, but I see a brand new day adonning. And I want to start by thanking our incredible leader, our next speaker, Joaquin Jeffries, for all that he has done. The leadership of Susan Del Bene at the D-Triple C is nothing short of extraordinary. And I am so proud to stand here and make history with our next majority with Pete Aguilar and our next Democratic caucus chair, Ted Lu. And to all of our candidates, members, staff and supporters who fought long and hard for this brand new day, we saw so many images of hope yesterday. All of all ages coming to the polls, crowds celebrating. But there's one image that has stuck with me. It's the video of the memorial of two Alex Prety. We're going to continue to monitor this news conference, Catherine Clark, speaking right after Joaquin Jeffries. Joaquin Jeffries is expected to become the next speaker of the House. One very, very important House race that showed the start of this blue wave was the contested to Jersey's seventh district. Democrat Rebecca Bennett flipped the seat held by Republican Tom Kane, Jr., who mysteriously vanished from Congress for months earlier this year. And joining us now as Congresswoman elect Rebecca Bennett, Congresswoman, congratulations on your election. Thanks so much for joining us. What do you hope Democrats will focus on when they are brought back as a new unit in January? Well, first of all, thank you so much for having me on. And I'm very honored to be the Congresswoman elect for my district. And really what I'm hoping that we focus on is what I've heard from people across my district over the past 18 months, and it's what I've been running on. It's taking on the cost of living crisis and moving with a sense of urgency. It's tackling the corruption in Washington, and it's putting country over party to move our country forward. You know, I served in the military for 15 years, and for me, we were just there as Americans to get the job done. That's the mindset I'm going to bring to this job is to make sure that I'm serving everyone in my district, and that we are really tackling the problems that we're facing. We just heard, as you know, from Hakeem Jeffries, who is poised to become the next speaker of the house. Does he have your support? Yes, I will be voting for him as speaker. President Trump, as long as he will simply veto anything a Democrat-controlled Congress brings to his desk, how do you navigate that threat from the president as you prepare to work with him? My mindset on leadership is really based on how I learned how to lead the military, and I think that's the beauty of having come from the services that you learn to work with people from all backgrounds and all walks of life, and you find ways to solve problems and move the ball forward, and that's the mindset I'm going to bring to this job. And I do think there is bipartisan support for things specifically focused on cost of living, whether it's PBM reform, making sure data centers are paying their fair share for energy utilization, working on the child care crisis. There's a lot of things I think we can do with bipartisan support to be able to solve these problems and move the ball forward. I don't know if you saw it, but the vice president, JD Vance, said just a little while ago that the Republicans lost so handily in these elections, and the reason he said, and I'm quoting him now, is the war. He says that he lost because of the war with Iran. Do you agree? Well, I certainly think it's definitely a major factor, you know, and I served in the military 15 years. I deployed to the Middle East in support of the Afghanistan War, and so this is really personal for me. And anytime we're going to go put American service members in harm's way, there needs to be a clear motivation, clear objective, and a clear exit strategy. And we've not seen any of that from this administration. And just last weekend, I had someone come to an event of mine who told me that he voted for Donald Trump, and he voted for Tom Keynes Jr. twice, and then he was voting for me. And I asked him why, and he said it was because of the war, because Donald Trump ran on no more of forever wars and lowering the cost of living, he's done the exact opposite, and that is now why we have taken back the Congress and why we're going to be able to go take on these issues that we're dealing with. Congress will be elected, Rebecca Bennett of New Jersey. Thanks so much for joining us, congratulations. Once again, we'll look forward to continuing these conversations down the road. Thank you so much for having me. I want to bring in our panel to discuss what's going on, a lot of dramatic developments in Bacari, let me start with you. We're hearing from the next speaker of the House, Keem Jeffries, and we're also hearing from the current Vice President of the United States, JD Vance, saying that the Republicans lost because of the war with Iran. What do you think? So, with the Keem Jeffries, I mean, I hope I heard Cory Booker, it's great interview you did with Cory Booker. I don't know what hour it was, because it seemed like they're all running together. But they talked about things around corruption. The Fox News poll a couple of weeks ago had corruption as the number one issue for voters, which it was my first time ever seeing corruption that high. I do think an ethics package, no more insider trading. I think it gets bipartisan support. You still need 60 votes. I know we have 55-56 votes, or we will have 55-56 votes. But you still need 60. I think you can go get those and put that on Donald Trump's desk. I hope that's HR1, or at least a part of it, right around health care. The second thing is, I love this jockeying. I mean, the presidential campaign in 2028's already started. I'm not going to even tell you the number of people that I've spoken to who are running for president Corey Booker is going to be in South Carolina this weekend. So that is a fascinating, fascinating thing that's happening. But on the Republican side, look, Peter Hickseth is probably going to be a martyr after he is trampled by the Trump administration, and maybe even impeached. He's going to be credible. Sean Duffy. credible as a Republican presidential candidate. Oh, I mean, he's making phone calls already. I mean, I don't know if he'll win. That's for David to decide. But he's definitely going to be somebody out there who is going to run for office. Sean Duffy, for example, handsome guy, bunch of kids, you know, he's going to run. I think you're going to have people, even people who we haven't heard from in a long time. The face that popped up the most over the last 24 hours, Nikki Haley. She's one of the best political athletes in the Republican party. She can compete in a new landscape that's absent MAGA. So I think you'll have some people who are kind of retreads, but also kind of rebranding themselves. So the only person that Democrats are afraid of is Marco Rubio, and I don't think he's going to run. You don't think they'll run? What do you think? Let's listen. I agree with Bakari in that. It's going to be a wide-- Marshall. Why don't we have exactly. We're in violent agreement, like that. But I think it's going to be a wide open field in both the Democratic primate and the Republican primate. Look, the vice president is trying to distance himself right now from the thing that seems to have cost this catastrophe in the Republicans side. The war, the prices associated with it. And somebody's going to be held responsible for that. And I suspect that it's going to be the current Secretary of War because they're going to blame somebody. And he's going to be left holding the bag, I think, when the music stops, he'll have no chair. There will be a lot of folks getting in. I see on social media here, Ron DeSantis is the only kind of winner last night in the Republican party in that. His state performed-- it was close, but they still want statewide. He was criticizing the administration kind of like softly, but he's out there. He ran a strong second or third or whatever he did last time. I think he'll be the top of the list again. Glenn Young, and there'll be lots of folks in this race starting shortly if they're not. And that's good. I think it's good. It's good to have robust discussion amongst the Democrats on the other side and Republicans on our side. If we're going to win, we have to have that kind of full, hot wash. Why do we lose? What can we do better? How can we help the American people get to what they want? And it was interesting, Audi, because J.D. Vance, the vice president, said the Republicans lost because of the war with Iran, which is so unpopular. What do you think? He said the war with Iran and then the gas prices, but the thing I noticed the most was the last point, the relationship with Israel. I think there was this perception given how Republicans campaigned against Abdul Al-Sahed that the war and the policy with Israel is a Democrat problem. That's one that you can kind of shove off and say it's anti-Semitism and they've got to deal with it. It's not. It's going to come back. That relationship is important and we saw in the final stretch, Trump himself saying that he wanted to end a -- Israel, this thing that was so unbelievable, so crazy to think, Trump himself threw that spaghetti at the wall right in the final hour. So to me, that is yet another thing on the table for 2028 or any of these candidates going forward on both sides of the aisle. What do you think, Jim? I think Aris is absolutely correct. I don't know. You know, I'm very curious why Donald Trump did that. It was election day. Why don't you say that? Because I think he did. It really doesn't. Why don't you still in the middle of trying to have a coalition, right? I mean, he's looking at the landscape. From a political perspective, I think someone got in his ear. Why the morning of election day, he decided to throw that out there, eventually we'll find out. It took her back to sleep. something we were talking about earlier, I just think what I'm hearing from Republicans is 28 is now wide open, is a text that I just got. And we haven't talked about Ted Cruz, but I think this is, we're gonna see a reset after these midterms of different people coming in and trying to run for president. - You know, I'm struck by that press conference with leader Jeffries. I think there's, it's an untold story in this election. We think it's a wave. Everybody was gonna win anyway. Everybody was mad. Democrats were just gonna walk in. There was work behind the scenes with Jeffries and the leadership team. In all of these races, we had learned some mistakes from the last time we've talked about the overperformance of Latinos moving to Republicans over the last few years with Donald Trump 'cause there's a lot of aggravation there. There was a concerted effort with this leadership team to invest in that Latino community early and often in Texas. In all of these redistricted places where there was no pickups, where it seems to be a wash, there was work with African American voters, Latino voters, and folks out in the rule parts that I had never seen down in my 30 year career, where the leadership was like, okay, let's step back and evaluate this. We need to double down here and make sure they know who's in charge and what's gonna happen if you don't elect Democrats, and that was a big part of last night's result. - You think JD Vance effectively ended, and he hopes he may have had to run for president with his statement today. - I think these two guys made two great points earlier about it being wide open. There's gonna be a piece of each one of these parties that are gonna be in love with a little part of each candidate. When you have this many people run it, take it from the guy who ran Bernie Sanders campaign. If there's a whole bunch of people in this race, anybody's got a chance. - Never say never. I mean, JD may be able to handle himself and be the ultimate candidate at the end of the day, but there are gonna be other folks getting in. - Keep him running, keep him running. - That's one of the best points. 'Cause we've seen JD become anything that the time requires. I mean, JD was anti-Trump, Nazi, Hillbilly-Ellergy, and now he's magas. So JD can do anything he wants to do. The Democratic primary, though, is really, really deep. It runs through South Carolina. Runs through Hispanic voters. Runs through college-educated white voters. - Those Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries mentioned their battleground winners. I felt like that was a message that said, this isn't about your New York primaries. You don't, Mom Donnie's not the only King maker. They're putting special emphasis on the red state winners. - All right, everybody stand by. We have more to discuss and we will coming up. Lawyer up, those two words from Congressman Robert Garcia, giving a preview of what Democrats may focus on now that they're taking the leadership. We have details just ahead. - Starting a business can seem like a daunting task. Unless you have a partner like Shopify. They have the tools you need to start and grow your business. From designing a website, to marketing, to selling, and beyond, Shopify can help with everything you need. There's a reason millions of companies like Mattel, Hines, and Allbirds continue to trust and use them with Shopify on your site. Turn your big business idea into. Sign up for your $1 per month trial at Shopify.com/specialoffer. - Stand by for a CNN projection. CNN cannot project that Democrat Christina Hines has won Michigan's 10th congressional district defeating Republican Mike Bouchard. Flipping the seat for Democrats. Let's think a closer look at where that vote stands. Right now, you can see it up on the screen. Christina Hines has 52.4% of the vote 188,000 votes compared to Mike Bouchard's 45.3%. She's leading now with 99% of the vote counted by 25,731 votes. Christina Hines wins the Democratic seat. She's gonna be in the House of Representatives. You see the balance there right now. 64 seats remaining, but right now, the Democrats have picked up 28 seats. There are 232 compared to the Republicans, 139. Truly a dramatic, dramatic win for the Democrats. Remember, 218 is the majority. You need 218 seats to be the majority in the House and the Democrats already have 232, and potentially there are more pickups awaiting. A Democrat's success comes despite Republicans redistricting efforts, and that includes three seats in Florida, where the Democrats fended off those Republican redistricting challenges and they were intense. One of those winners is Democratic Congresswoman Kathy Castor in Florida's 14th congressional district and she joins us right now, Congresswoman Castor. First of all, congratulations on your win. Tell us what it tells you that the Democrats are able to defy the Republicans' very intense efforts to redistrict those districts in order to try to get a better stance for the Republicans. - Well, the American people sent a very strong message including here in Florida that they want relief from the high cost of living, and they spent $25 million in my gerrymandered district to try to defeat me, but a lot of hard work and a focus on that high cost of living really helped carry the day here. I'm grateful to my neighbors for the faith they have in me and that means we have to work in a bipartisan way. This is a Trump plus 10 district that they drew in gerrymandering, but there was a real backlash to that. There was people, when I was talking with folks and new parts of Tampa Hillsburg County that I haven't represented before, they said, "We need relief. What are you going to do?" And it just seems like the GOP was not listening instead of throwing people a lifeline. They threw them an anchor. They took away the healthcare tax credits. They imposed tariffs and higher costs when you went to the grocery store. They started a war without much debate and now they were paying at the pump. So that's my takeaway that a singular focus on the high costs of living and people expect us to deliver. - Yeah, I noticed that I was watching that race. A ban you probably know Congressman Moskowitz, Democrat of Florida, he represents the Boca Raton area over there in Florida. They tried to redistrict his district to throw in potentially more Republicans and he easily won re-election. Were you surprised by that? - I wasn't surprised because again here in Florida, the cost of living is so high. It's, Florida's a little bit different because yes, we have a high grocery cost and housing costs like other parts, but we rely on the Affordable Care Act. So when they ripped away those tax credits to provide massive tax breaks to the wealthy and the well-connected, people blanched at that. Also, we are high in military. I represent a military town, McDill Air Force Base, a central command, special operations command. And when I talk to military families, the economic uncertainty wasn't just at the gas pump. It's in their everyday lives as they had spouses deployed and a very high tempo. And just how long is this gonna go on? What is the strategy? What is the end game that was wearing on people as well? - During the campaign, Congresswoman, you highlighted that you have broken with your own Democratic Party on at least some issues. What topics do you expect to break with your party once you're sworn in? - Well, I hope we can unify around ethics reform. We need to ban congressional stock trading. I did cross the aisle to support a Republican bill, but that's a, I hope we can strengthen the congressional stock trading band and extend it to the executive branch. There are ethics laws in place right now, but obviously we need to strengthen them because people are fed up with a corruption. They see politicians and folks in the administration, the President himself, enriching himself at a time when they're being asked to pay more at the grocery store in the gas pump and for health care. And it would just became too much. And that's why I think a lot of people cross the aisle. They didn't buy into the gerrymandering. That felt like part of a rig game as well. And in the end, people do not like cheaters. They just want you to treat them fairly to listen and to get things done. Congresswoman Kathy Castor, congratulations once again. Thanks very much for joining us. - Thank you, Wolf. - And still ahead, James Talleriko will be Texas's next US Senator after beating President Trump's hand-picked candidate. What the Democratic Senator elect is saying about whether he could work with the president who spent virtually the entire campaign name calling him. That's next. Still, wearing those old cargo shorts? If your wardrobes do for an upgrade, but you don't know where to start, you need stitch fix. Your stylist learns your size, your style, and your budget then sends a box pick just for you. They always nail the fit. No store, no hassle, no subscription required. Kids started today at stitchfix.com. That's stitchfix.com. Observe the North American dad. 50s, great polo collection. He enters his vehicle information on Carvana and offers appears in minutes. Remarkable. He squints, reads it again, smiles and says, dang, that's a good offer. The highest form of approval, no haggling, no hassle, no one is allowed to. call him Boss. He's still on the couch astonishing. Sell your car today on Carvana.com pick up these may apply. All right President Trump is over at the White House and it looks like he's going to be answering some reporter's questions let's listen in. In design which is considered the the crem de la crem and they'll be up but well when will they be coming that you think when. Next week oh you're going to start next whoa that's good that's way ahead huh. That's good you're doing good thank you thank you boss boss is he done a good job and for the media you can see the that'll be essentially a last beautiful glass tube coming into the ballroom right from the east side of the White House using the current ballroom which is a tiny room it holds like 90 people using the current room for cocktails etc etc so you'll have tremendous just a tremendous structure it's a structure the likes of which has never been done the ceilings are over 50 feet high that's like a five-story building and I don't think there's any ballroom I doubt there's a ballroom in the country with 50 foot ceiling and you'll be able to have dinners for as many people as you want we had King Charles here and we could we were very restricted yes we said could we have about 350 of our people he said we don't hold 350 we hold about 98 so having 350 is a little tough but we had President Xi of China and he left two weeks ago and he was amazed when he looked at the structure he studied it with us and he also found the helipad done by you guys also indirectly but the helipad has been amazing people it's a great thing to beauty when you fly over the White House and you see it in fact it's so good I'd never even got sued because normally I get sued no build it don't build it you know they sue me all the time and they were doing the arch the beautiful likely art to try out but better more beautiful actually much more beautiful and as you know we're doing the National Garden of American Heroes which will be something beautiful and we're upgrading the trash island you know a trash island is this the golf course they have it a terrible golf course we have a problem with the judge she wants it to stay a terrible golf course but I don't think that'll be allowed to happen and that'll be world they'll do we'll have US opens it's open to the public it'll be open to the public it'll be beautiful and essentially we've beautified Washington DC with 83 monuments statues et cetera right to 83 we just opened up the Reflecting Pool two days ago and it's magnificent first time and well let's say it opened in 1922 and it never worked ever worked it always leaked but now it's not leaking we had vandals it did a lot of damage actually real real scum but it's now open and looks beautiful and it's going to be with us a long time but we did a total of 83 monuments and statues and fouls many had graffiti in them for 50 years for the most part I would say Doug maybe none of them worked in all of Washington and we've beautified it we've got rid of the homeless encampments where they took over all your parks and we're in the process of redoing all of the grass brand new grass everything and so it will be graffiti you see that building right over there had graffiti all over it is a disgrace we've got rid of it it's not easy to give you know when you have limestone especially it sort of sinks in a little bit more not good right when you have lacks and when you have granted it's a lot easier but so this is a special structure it's going to be not only one of the biggest but it'll be the most beautiful ballroom I think anywhere in the world and they've been trying to get it for 150 years and for the media these are the people that built it this is about 525 people and they they really work hard steel workers the steel it's just almost being finished as I understand that this would be the last piece of steel everybody in the room signed in all of the workers not just the steel workers the diplomas the electricians the painter is everybody signed it and I'm going to be the last to sign it and I'm going to have Doug sign it and Jared did you sign it yeah and I want to thank you've done a fantastic job well let's get to finish first okay but right now we're ahead of schedule under budget and it's moving very nicely and everything should happen like that you know the federal reserve building as an example is out of control I didn't do it but it's a shame what's going on you know what the waste and the fraud and the stupidity but they're over three billion dollars for a small building three billion and but this doesn't have those problems it has none of what happens at the federal reserve is a disgrace with it and then they tell you about interest rates they can't build a simple building they renovate they can't renovate a building but they tell you about interest rates and and they tell you wrong unfortunately but I want to thank everybody your special people I grew up with you you know every one of you I grew up with you maybe in a different form maybe genetically maybe it was your fathers or your mothers but I grew up in construction sites and a lot of your families are doing this for a long time and you're the best in the business I heard in doing the beam right president as we can see he's talking about the ballroom he's talking about all sorts of stuff not talking about the huge defeat that the Republicans have suffered in these last elections we'll see if he says anything on that like Kevin Lipteck our White House reporter is with us right now Kevin he loves talking about the ballroom he loves talking about the new arc the arch that he wants to build all the projects he's building but I didn't hear him say anything about what's going to happen now that the Democrats are the majority in the House of Representatives and the Senate no he's far more focused on the limestone Corinthian columns about the space that he has set aside for cocktail receptions for visiting foreign leaders he's talking about the marble that will be used to construct the ballroom in a lot of ways this mirrors how he ended the midterm campaign season with that speech at the Washington reflecting pool that was sort of the end of that era of the Trump presidency he is beginning this new era of the Trump presidency in much the same way delivering much the same speech talking about the projects that he has undertaken around Washington the beautification projects trying to clean up Washington DC the problem of courses that voters weren't responding to that you know virtually no voter that I talked to over the last month listed the ballroom or the reflecting pool anywhere near the top of their list of issues but nonetheless that is what the president is focused on today as he continues to absorb these major Republican losses in the House and Senate you know we had come into work today wondering if we would see the president or hear from the president you know every president going back to George W. Bush in 2006 has actually convened a press conference on the Wednesday after their party suffered major Republican defeats Bush did it Obama did it Trump did it too in 2018 and Biden did it in 2022 so hopefully we'll get a chance to actually question the president about what he thinks is behind these major losses that they are now contending with today but clearly his focus is much more on this project which has been so close to his heart he says that this is what makes him the happiest he says that this actually relaxes him amid all of the other stressors of being the commander in chief and clearly you know I can't think of a more stressful predicament for a president than a waking up to find that you've lost the majority in the House and Senate are now contending with a Democratic party that has openly said it will investigate you and your allies have said that they will try and hold you accountable for what they say or acts of corruption over the last two years and so this is where the president has put his attention today as this new era of his presidency begins clearly doesn't want to speak publicly at least not yet about this huge defeat that the Republicans have suffered in these midterm elections he did post not that long ago on his social media he said I wasn't on the ballot and if I was we would have won in a landslide in a landslide all caps thank you for your attention to this matter president Donald J. Trump does he really believe that because almost all of the polls almost all the people who were voting and voting for Democrats even Republicans who were voting for Democrats say that they weren't happy with so many of his policies the economic policies the price of gasoline the war with Iran does he really believe that if he had formally been on the on the ballot that he would have won in a landslide well that seems to be the president's posture but I think it's notable that it is not the posture of some of the people who are closest to him namely the vice president his son Donald Trump Jr who are this morning pinning the most blame on the war in Iran the vice president laying that out in the very lengthy post on social media saying that that was why voters had rejected Republicans in this midterm cycle. The president, even though Vance says that he is echoing what the president said, the president has said that Iran was only partly to blame, and clearly today his mind is in other places. Certainly is. All right. Thanks very much, Kevin Liptec. That's the White House. I'm Wolf Blitzer with Aaron Burnett, more special coverage of CNN Election Day in America continued. Just after this break, Anderson Cooper and Dana Bash and Caitlin Collins are all standing by. I'll of course be back tomorrow morning in the situation room with Pamela Brown, 10am Eastern for two hours. This episode is brought to you by TXU Energy. If you're looking for a better way to save electricity, both night and day, look no further than TXU Energy Free Nights in Cool Summer. It gives you free energy all night, every night, all year long. Plus a 25% bonus toward your daytime use every summer. It's the only plan that lets you use free energy to get more savings. So all nights are always free. Summer days are now always discounted. With savings like that, you'll never look at a free nights plan the same way again. Learn more at txu.com Rep. 1-0-0-0-4. The president has just weighed in for the first time on camera after his party's thumping in the midterm last night, election day in America continued on Anderson Cooper. And I'm Dana Bash on Capitol Hill where the repercussions have already begun. And Dana, as we said, the president has been talking in the wake of a seismic loss for the president losing the house in the Senate. He's talking about his ballroom, take a look. It's going to be not only one of the biggest, but it'll be the most beautiful ballroom I think anywhere in the world. And they've been trying to get it for 150 years. And for the media, these are the people that built it. This is about 525 people. They really worked hard, steel workers are steel, it's just almost being finished. As I understand it, this would be the last piece of steel. Everybody in the room signed in, all of the workers, not just the steel workers, the plumbers, the electricians, the painters, everybody signed it, and I'm going to be the last to sign it. And it went on. We talked about the granite. We talked about really every aspect of the construction of the ballroom the day after this massive election loss. Just a short time ago, the vice president also weighed in online in a major break with the president. He said, quote, the reason we lost is the war the president himself said so last night. If you'd like to argue it was worth it that losing the Senate for the next six years was worth it, then do so, argue it was a worthwhile cost to pay, agree or disagree, that's at least honest. Bands also said that the main problem for Republicans wasn't turned out. It wasn't his words, quote, that many people who voted for Trump bans in 2024 voted for Democrats in 2026, were of course still waiting to see the complete extent of that shift, but already CNN projects that Democrats have taken at least 232 seats in the house well beyond the 218 needed for majority with 64 seats still in play. CNN also projects that Democrats will easily control the Senate. They needed to flip four seats so far they have flipped seven, netting them 54 seats. When a look at the map makes it clear that where those gains have come from is truly historic for Democrats. Texas, which hasn't had a Democratic Senator since 1988, Kansas. Not since 1932. The last Kansas Democratic Senator before passed our Adam Hamilton was born in the 1800s. Democrats also gained a seat in Ruby Red South Carolina and in Maine, unseeding Susan Collins after five terms in office. This morning Texas Senator Elections, Tolerico spoke with CNN, Senator Bernad, who asked him about the man he defeated, Ken Paxter. Has he called you yet? He hasn't, but I saw his concession speech last night and I appreciate his kind words. I'm glad that he's acknowledged the results of this election. And I look forward to being a Senator for all 31 million Texans, including Ken Paxter, including the Texans who didn't vote for me. And including presumably Elon Musk, who sank more than $150 million into getting taxed and elected in time two Senate seats or too early to call Democrats could pick up a seat in Mississippi of all places, where it is too close to call and just dozens of votes separate the two candidates. And there is Alaska, where Dan Sullivan, the Republican Center, not the other Dan Sullivan, is in a close race with Democrat Murray Paltola. In Anderson, we have correspondence in Alaska and across the map. CNN's King Law is an anchorage, Elena Treen is at the White House. I want to start with Elena, Elena, it's sort of, I don't know why I'm gobsmacked in listening to the president talking about the ballroom and about the Corinthian columns and the kind of limestone and the steel that he is this morning because we all know and we have witnessed this is what he cares about, but given the way the rest of the world is reacting on this Wednesday morning and I'm sure his aides reacting the same way, what are you hearing? It's been remarkable and I will tell you that was very impromptu. We did not expect to hear from President Donald Trump publicly like this, even though of course in 2018 during his first term, he did come out and talk after the midterms that they had lost the House of Republicans. We know his predecessors, Obama, Bush, Biden, even all of them coming out the day after their midterm losses to discuss it, but the president, again, in a surprise, called some of the reporters to come join him outside and then, and I had a two and a couple minutes ago for the top of the show, Dana and Anderson, but for my account when I was listening, he had not talked about the midterms yet. He was going on for about 15, maybe 20 minutes or so talking about the features of his new ballroom had not yet discussed anything that happened last night and of course many people, particularly in this White House waking up very unhappy, disappointed, frustrated with what they saw play out in the midterm elections yesterday. And I do want to get into some of that because I have been talking all morning with my sources people inside the White House and the president's political advisors, former Trump administration officials, and they all recognize that this was truly terrible for them. This was really the worst case scenario that they could have been expecting in the lead up to this. Today, many people I have talked to were hoping they anticipated it would be bad particularly in the House, but they were hoping perhaps the polls were wrong, it wouldn't be huge margins that Democrats won by. Well, that wasn't the case. They really took a shellacking in the midterm elections. And so now they're putting together the pieces of how to deal with this. As for Blame, you heard the president kind of argue, he thinks some of the candidates were bad trying to shirk Blame and put it on the people running these races, which I should know many of the candidates were hand picked by himself. But now he has a lot to deal with. I know his team is now waking up really today was wondering, you know, how are we going to deal with the investigations that are coming? How are we going to deal with the final two years of this term, all of that weighing heavily on them as they stare down the next two years and final two years of the president's second term, Dana. Elena, thank you so much for that. Anderson, over to you. Dana, thanks, Johnny. Tony Media, former Obama White House senior policy adviser, Ashley Allison, Republican strategist, Michael Singleton, National Political Correspondent for Axios, Alex Thompson, and former federal prosecutor, Ellie Honeig. Michael, did you expect that the first on-camera appearance from the president of the United States after this shellacking last night and which is still going on would be like Maria Antoinette at the Trianon Gardens, I mean, rambling about Brandon. The American people sent a clear message. Including many of our voters, including this unique coalition that the president was able to assemble in 2024, you look at Texas, for example, where the president won 55 percent of Hispanics, 34 percent of black men, we lost all of them. And the message was clear, gas was too high, diesel is too high, the deal with the Argentinians is hurting our farmers, the cost of living, we did not resolve. We had a mission here, coming out of the Biden-Harris administration, and the president articulated I think a pretty good case, which is why you saw his ability to bring in all of those unique coalitions. But as far as I see it as a Republican strategy, I think the MAGA movement is frankly over. The president has had 10 years. That's a long run, an incredible run. He's certainly realigned politics as we know it. But I think the people have sent a message not only to the president, but to my party that this is not the type of politics they want. You know, actually, we heard the president, well, we heard the vice president blaming the war, and Donald Trump Jr. quickly gave him an out of voice at 100 percent, yeah, that's what it was. The war didn't just start itself, it wasn't just this thing that descended Pearl Harbor. This was something which the president, I mean, he claimed he had obliterated Iran's nuclear capabilities previously, attacked reporters who said maybe that didn't happen, and now it started this war himself. And it always continued to move the goalposts. It was going to be just a week or a day, and then it was a month, and then it was, and now it's nine months. And then it wasn't a war. I don't, you know, it's like, we're not stupid. We have ears, and we have eyes, and we have brains. And we can hear what Donald Trump is saying. And no matter how much he says, let them eat cake, we know we are in war, and we do not want to be in war. And the American people said not on our watch. I don't know if the MAGA movement is over I will know when these folks come back to the Hill and how they behave because they have time from now until this new class comes in to do some things. Is he is this going to be a lame duck Congress or are they going to still try and push things through or are they going to put a check some balances because if they don't, it's still the mega party. Also, I mean, the president wrote on social media, I wasn't on the ballot and if I was, we would have won in a landslide. I just want to remind viewers what the president was saying in rallies in the days and weeks leading up to this election. I'm on the ballot, just pretend I'm on the ballot, please. I'm asking everybody to pretend, just pretend that I'm on the ballot because in a way, I am on the ballot, pretend please that I'm on the ballot, just pretend. I'm asking you to pretend I'm on the ballot. So if you would pretend I'm on the ballot, just say Trump's on the ballot, we have to vote. Okay. I've told the president now taking questions at the ballroom. Let's listen. A lost last night was the war in Iran. Well, I think it's largely true because it drove the gasoline up a little bit short-term and probably that's probably true, but at the same time, if I had it to do again, I'd have to do it again because long-term, it's the only answer you can't let Iran have a nuclear weapon. Did you like it? It was important. I do, yeah. I mean, well, you have no choice. I mean, I thought the oil would go up a lot more and I did it on that basis. You have no choice. You have to do it. You can't let Iran have a nuclear weapon or everything that you see here. Someday might not exist. And maybe this, but this building might be the only one that does. So yeah, I think that, look, I mean, I'll get along probably with the Democrats unless they want to be destructive, but after the power of the veto and stuff, we don't like what they're doing or they'll, they've already called and they want to talk about things and that's fine. But yeah, people, the Iran thing we had to do and we continue to do it. We have tremendous oil flowing out of the harmless right now at the beginning. There was none. And probably that's the primary reason, the price, not the war, the price. Sir, you followed the 30 rallies across the country in the final speech in front of the front, do you have any regrets about the way you can close down the campaign? No, look, I mean, if I were in the ballot, we would have won. You saw the people that were packed, thousands and thousands of people at every rally. And if I was on the ballot, we would have won. But they just, you couldn't transfer that love. There was such love at those rallies, it was incredible. We weren't able to transfer the love to candidates. Did any of your needs try to talk about if this was great enough, about speech on Monday? Which one are we talking about? What are the reflecting, did any of your needs advise you to do something? I heard it was a very good speech, got great reviews. That was only a speech on the reflecting, but I had nothing to do with anything else. That was a speech very much like this is today on this incredible place that we're building at the White House. It's going to be here for many, many years and serving our country well. That was only a sort of a ribbon cutting because the reflecting pool hasn't worked since 1922. Over 100 years, it's never worked. It's always leaked and it was always a mess. And we fix that we made it great. That was not a speech. I was just talking about the reflecting pool and then a couple of other comments. I mean, our speeches were really the speeches made at the 30 rallies. And those speeches were, I was tremendous love, it was, it was pretty amazing. I can't tell you that. They may tell you, but I can't tell you. Did you notice each minute all, some of them? No, no, no. Are you concerned about it? Not even a little bit. I think it would destroy, I think it would destroy the Democrat Party if they did that. Because impeachment for no reason, what, for having a successful country. Our country is more successful now than in any time in its history. Watch the beam go up. Wow. I don't think we need to watch the beam go up or maybe we could just play the beam going up while we continue to talk. But it's remarkable. He says, again, if I was on the ballot, we would have won. He couldn't translate the love in the rallies he had to the candidates. He largely forced down the throats of voters. I mean, Darlene Graham was his candidate. Yeah, and not just Darlene Graham. You have obviously Paxton in Texas, you have Collins in Georgia. There was a candidate quality issue throughout this race. I would also say, if you think that if he had been on the ballot, it would have been better. I would just point you to Kansas and his speech during the campaign and his speech last night. It was a direct rebuke of Trump. He was running against the Trump agenda about tariffs on the Iran War. And there seems to be a bit of denial among the president that there was a rejection of his agenda. I would also say that JD Vance. A bit of a bit. I mean, especially even in Mississippi. It's true. And even in JD Vance's post, he said, if you think that the Iran War was worth losing the Senate for six years, make that argument. Well, Donald Trump just basically made that argument. We just heard some political excuse making. And that's fine for the political room. But to me, it's vastly preferable to the mega-tactic, former mega-tactic of election denialism and dispute. And that didn't happen last night, whether that's because of good faith or whether that's because the margins were just too big to do anything about who knows. And to Shremykel's earlier point about, is this the end of mega? Let's hope this is the end of a couple things. Number one, this tactic of, if you lose an election, you deny it and you contest it. It is okay to concede. We've seen a lot of people conceding very graciously. And number two, I want the historical and legal record to reflect that the dozens of efforts by DOJ and the federal executive branch to take over the states and tell them how to run their election in California in Alaska all around this country, all of them failed because that is unconstitutional. The Constitution leaves elections to the states, not the federal government. We now at least have a lasting legal record of that. Starting a business can seem like a daunting task, unless you have a partner like Shopify. 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