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CNN Live Event/Special

Polls Open in Battleground States of Georgia, North Carolina, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania; Former Pennsylvania Republican Representative Charlie Dent Interviewed on Likely Voter Turnout in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, for Presidential Race. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired November 05, 2024 - 08:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[08:00:00]

DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: We'll see some sunshine. Also into the battleground state of Georgia near Atlanta in Fulton County, we should start to see the sun peak out throughout the course of the day today, temperatures in the upper 70s. There is a cold front swinging in across the intermountain west that will provide some snowflakes, though, for the higher elevations. Kate?

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Derek, thank you so much for that.

And a new hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts now.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now, Arizona, Texas, Wisconsin, you are on the clock. Polls opening in a huge batch of new states this morning. We have some pictures, I hope, from Grand Rapids, Michigan, also Springville, Ohio. They should turn the lights up a little bit so people can see who they're voting for in those states.

We are standing by to see if Donald Trump votes soon in Florida. Kamala Harris already voted by mail and will soon speak with radio hosts. Both candidates held rallies overnight.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAMALA HARRIS, (D) VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We have an opportunity in this election to finally turn the page on a decade of politics that have been driven by fear and division. We are done with that. We are done.

DONALD TRUMP, (R) U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We will defeat the corrupt system in Washington, because I'm not running against Kamala. I'm running against an evil Democrat system. These are evil people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: I'm John Berman in New York. Sara Sidner is in Wisconsin. Kate Bolduan is in Pennsylvania. It is on. This is Election Day in America.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: And this is why it's so exciting. You can stop guessing, and now they can start counting the real votes. Voters get to get there say officially today. We are in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. This is the biggest swing county in the biggest swing state with its 19 electoral votes. Biden won this county and won Pennsylvania four years ago. This time around, nearly 2 million mail- in ballots have been received across the commonwealth. They still have time to hand those mailed ballots in by 8:00 p.m. tonight.

Here in Bucks County, more than 120,000 mailed ballots have been handed in. And the mail-in here ballot in Pennsylvania, the counting of them is a huge thing, especially in Philadelphia. With the rules in Pennsylvania, it can slow things down. The district attorney in Philadelphia offered a very clear warning to anyone looking to intervene, interfere, or get in the way this Election Day.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LARRY KRASNER, DISTRICT ATTORNEY, CITY OF PHILADELPHIA: Anybody who thinks it's time to play militia, F around and find out. Anybody who thinks it's time to insult, to divide, to mistreat, to threaten people, F around and find out. We do have the cuffs. We do have the jail cells. We do have the Philly juries, and we have the state prisons. If you're going to try to bully people, bully votes or voters, you're going to try to erase votes, you're going to try any of that nonsense, we are not playing. F around and find out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Polls are open across the commonwealth. Right now they open at 7:00 a.m. They close at 8:00 p.m. this evening. Here in Bucks County at Bensalem High School we saw people lining up more than an hour before the doors open here to make sure they were first in line. Over to Sara now in battleground Wisconsin. Hey, Sara.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Hey. Just seconds ago, a big announcement was made in Cedarburg, Wisconsin. The 2024 polls for the election are now open. And the very first absentee ballot can now be counted. We are off to the races in what polls have predicted may be a razor thin victory for either candidate in the state. Wisconsin is one of those so-called blue wall states. The big question this morning is will the blue wall stand for Harris or crumble for Trump this election?

The way Wisconsin counts its vote and the shift from Trump to Biden in 2020 after nearby Milwaukee was counted led Trump and his allies to begin unfounded questioning of the fairness of the election. Cedarburg, by the way, which is a picture-perfect town with an extremely high voter turnout to the tune of 90 percent, this city has voted Republican for every single presidential election since 1936 until 2020 when it broke blue for Joe Biden with its 12,000 plus voters. Biden won by just 19 votes then. And it foreshadowed what happened to the entire state of Wisconsin, which went to Biden by 20,000 plus votes.

The weather, by the way, not picture-perfect, though the town is. It is raining here. But there are already 50 people who are outside in line long before the doors even opened, and now they are all coming in. You can hear the excitement and you can see all the folks behind me and the poll workers, they're doing their job. The first vote was cast just two minutes ago. Kate? [08:05:07]

BERMAN: I will take it, Sara.

SIDNER: Or John.

BERMAN: Thank you very much. As you can see, the polls open behind Sara in Wisconsin. They're open in Georgia and North Carolina as well, and they will be two of the key swing states where the polls close the earliest at 7:00 and at 7:30. Miguel Marquez in Wilmington, North Carolina, Nick Valencia is in Lawrenceville, Georgia. Miguel, let's first go to you. What are you seeing this morning?

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Long lines. I want to show you what's happening outside the moose lodge here in Wilmington. People who have been voting in Wilmington all their lives say they have never seen lines as long at this precinct. This is short. This is about 30, 40 people in line right now. They've had at least 75 or 100 since polls opened at 6:30 this morning.

We've spoke to tons of voters. Why are we here? It's a purple county in a purple state. Both campaigns have been working very, very hard here. We spoke to voters on both sides. All of them say at the end of the day they just hope the country is a little closer to normal.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL DINKINS, NORTH CAROLINA VOTER: I hope it's a Harris-Walz runaway. I have several friends that are Trumpers. No problem with that. They vote who they want to vote. The main concern is when you see me broke down, stop and pick me up. I don't care who you voted for. I want to be a community again.

DINO SACCO, NORTH CAROLINA VOTER: I feel there's a lot of hatred out there, and I would like to see less of that, less violence, all that stuff. It would be nice if people would learn to speak their mind but also respect other people's opinions.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARQUEZ: So keep in mind most voters in New Hanover County where we are and across the state have already voted early. But the lines are still very long. The campaigns are also out here. We have a Democratic tent. There's a Republican tent out here. There are workers who are handing out sample ballots to voters as they are in line, and it looks like it is going to be nonstop. Polls close here at 7:30 p.m., and it looks like they're going to have a line like this, if not longer, throughout the entire day. It gives you an idea of just how motivated people are on both sides. Back to you guys.

BAIER: Miguel Marquez in Wilmington, North Carolina.

Let's get to Nick Valencia in Lawrenceville, Georgia. What are you seeing there, Nick?

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, good morning, John. There was also a line at the door this morning of about 25 people starting at 7:00 this morning. Most of them, though, confused that they couldn't vote in person here. This is the county registrar's office. It was an option to vote early in person, not an option on Election Day.

I want to give you a tour here of this office. It's mainly an operations center and an administrative center come Election Day, and those who were turned away, they were helped by volunteers like those that I'm going to show you here, given the information for their precincts. There's 156 precincts all throughout Gwinnett County. It is a consequential county for both the Republican candidate and the Democratic candidate in this race.

Georgia has become a battleground. For two decades Republicans dominated this until 2020 when Joe Biden became the first Democratic presidential nominee to win it since 1992. It's going to be a busy day here, a lot busier as the day goes on. This is where the tabulation is going to happen here, just in that glass bowl area beyond. And this is the man that is going to be at the center of it all. Zach Manifold, you're the election supervisor. Thank you so much for taking the time with CNN. How are things looking out there.

ZACH MANIFOLD, GWINNETT COUNTY, GEORGIA ELECTIONS SUPERVISOR: It's been a pretty quiet morning, so we always like to see that. It's been pretty smooth so far, so feeling pretty good.

VALENCIA: Tabulation starts at 9:00 a.m. Walk us through what's going to happen and when we will start seeing those official batch of numbers coming out of Gwinnett County?

MANIFOLD: Yes, so we have a team that is sequestered starting at 9:00 a.m., and they will start closing out all the scanners from the advanced voting locations.

VALENCIA: And that happens right back here, right, through those doors?

MANIFOLD: Yes, our preps are in the back. About 300,000 people voted on the scanners from advanced voting, so they will start closing those out and they'll run the tabulation tapes, and then they'll start feeding in the memory cards from those, and that will be a process that's going on basically all day until we can finally publish results after 7:00.

VALENCIA: And just quickly, you guys shattered records for advanced in person voting. What do you attribute that to?

MANIFOLD: I think it's the voters moving back to the traditional voting pattern here in Gwinnett. People really love in-person voting and advanced voting. And I think we did a good job of making sure, hey, people, get out there to vote before there's any lines. And we had very little lines for those 300,000 voters.

VALENCIA: We know you're going to be busy today. Thank you so much again for taking the time with CNN. Gwinnett County, one of those counties in the battleground state of Georgia that's in the center of it all. John? BERMAN: Yes, it's a county that Democrats need to win big if they want to win in that state. All right, Nick Valencia, Miguel Marquez, thanks to both of you.

Kate?

BOLDUAN: Battleground Pennsylvania and the battleground county of Bucks County. We are outside Bensalem High School here. Three precincts that actually vote here, so there's a lot of foot traffic and a lot of action. We even have someone d.j.-ing the polls because it is that cool here.

[08:10:00]

Joining me right now is one cool cat himself, former Republican Congressman from Pennsylvania Charlie Dent, someone who knows Bucks County and the area oh so well. What are you feeling and thinking about as everyone is heading here today?

CHARLIE DENT, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, I'm looking at this county, Bucks County, which is one of the collared counties of Philadelphia, the four collared counties. It's the most competitive county. Joe Biden won it by four or five points in 2020, and so we are all watching what's going to happen. I suspect Kamala Harris will win this county because there are a lot of soft Republicans. Even though the registration is slightly more Republican --

BOLDUAN: Because that's been a trend since 20 is there has been an increase in Republican registration, right?

DENT: The party out of power oftentimes does pick up registrations. But you've got to remember, this county is one where we've always had in suburban Philadelphia what I would call soft Republicans. These are people who are registered Republican but were often functionally Democrats in presidential elections. And the opposite was true in the southwestern part of the state. We had a lot registered Democrats then who were functional Republicans. And now more people have aligned their voter registration with their voting habits. That's changed over the years. But that's where we are today. But this county, watch it, because this will be the most competitive county. Kamala Harris needs to run up the score here in Bucks County.

BOLDUAN: It's not just winning. It's running up the margin, right?

DENT: Correct, everywhere. As you remember what happened in 2020 and Pennsylvania, Donald Trump only really did better in one county in 2020 than he did in 2016, and that was Philadelphia, of all things. Everywhere else he did marginally worse. But this is where Kamala Harris has to win big in these collared counties. That was the difference for Joe Biden in 2020.

BOLDUAN: They often see Bucks County as a bellwether. How this is going to go, how Bucks will go, maybe the commonwealth will go. Who are the candidates trying to turn out specifically, you think, in Bucks County? Who have they been targeting? Who are they speaking to?

DENT: In terms of voters?

BOLDUAN: Yes.

DENT: Look, you have a very strong congressman here, Brian Fitzpatrick, an incumbent. He is expected to win. And a guy like Brian Fitzpatrick knows there are ticket splitters in this county. So he needs to get not only the Republican vote, but he also has to pick up independents and some Democrats. And he has got a long, established brand. But it's hard for candidates like him who are a bit more moderate to prevail. So he has got to actually talk to the center of the electorate. Unlike the presidential candidates, or at least Trump anyway, who has really doubled down on his face, and that's all he seems to be talking to.

BOLDUAN: What about the kind of, we were talking about it, off air, the low propensity voter that the Trump campaign is hoping to help them get it over the finish line here?

DENT: This makes me nervous. If I'm a candidate I don't want to rely on the least reliable voters. So these low propensity voters, I think we might call them one-in-four voters, people who might vote, who may be only vote in presidential years, if that. They are trying to pull these people out. I'm not sure how successful they're going to do it. I think the Harris campaign is also trying to pull out low propensity voters too. But I'd hate to put the faith in my campaign in the people who are the least reliable, and that's what it seems like Trump was trying to do. And we'll see if he will be successful. I think it's a pretty tough slog.

BOLDUAN: What are the early signs you're watching for here in Pennsylvania? We know, we lived through it in 2020 together, Pennsylvania can, because of the rules that still haven't change, they can, the returns can come in slowly, especially with mailed ballots. What are you going to be watching for early here?

DENT: Well, I keep looking at the turnout of women, and that's what I've been seeing, and to make sure that these women voters are coming out in the numbers we are told. I think that is a very good omen for Kamala Harris. And we saw that in some of the early votes. Women are coming out in heavier numbers. And it seems to me while everybody is talking about the economy as the top issue, and I think it is, I'm not sure it's the most motivating issue. I think this abortion issue is the most motivating issue.

Look what happens post-Dobbs. Democrats over performed not just in the midterm but in many special elections. They have run well ahead of where they should have. Not that special elections will dictate what will happen today, but it's a lot of races where they have over performed. And so this is the first presidential race post-Dobbs, and I think that's the big X-factor here that we have to think about. We're not talking about it enough.

BOLDUAN: The unscientific poll of speaking to some voters this morning, we spoke with two women who said they voted for Kamala Harris and the issue was abortion rights, and them just saying you don't get to tell me what to do with my body, and that's why they wanted to show up so early this morning, to be some of the first people in. So we get that.

DENT: I am not at all surprised by that. And I think that's what we're seeing in a lot of places. But right now, I'll tell you what, the other county to watch in Pennsylvania is north of us in Northampton County, which I represented as probably the ultimate bellwether county. And that county will likely, whoever wins that county will win the state and probably the presidency. You could say the same about Erie County, and watch Lackawanna County where Scranton is.

BOLDUAN: It is anybody's game this morning for sure as they're just getting, as voting is now underway. And it's great to see you. Thank you for coming by, Charlie. Go Lions, go Nittany Lions, apparently. Pennsylvania pride here.

Sara, over to you.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: All right, I am in Cedarburg, where it is just bustling. It is wonderful to see people here in this town take their civic duty really seriously. And of course, it's because it's Election Day in America, there are more than 79 million ballots that have already been cast because they voted early.

We are taking a deep dive into the key blue wall states including, of course, Wisconsin and the counties everyone is watching today.

Also, Kamala Harris and Donald Trump must now wait, like we all have to, to find out whose message has resonated more with voters. "The New York Times" is categorizing their final pitches this way. A grim Trump and an upbeat Harris.

Also, a new report this morning that Russia is suspected in a plot to start fires on board planes headed to the US and Canada. We will talk about that coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SIDNER: This is just in. This Justice Department has reached an agreement to keep monitors outside of Texas polling places. And in St. Louis, a federal judge ruled that Justice Department monitors can observe election sites there.

[08:20:05]

We are also paying close attention to the blue wall states. Pennsylvania, Michigan, and here in Wisconsin.

Joining me now is CNN's Omar Jimenez. Omar, you are taking a look at this, tell me what you can.

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, so Wisconsin is one of those blue wall states. The states Trump one in 2016 then Biden flipped in 2020.

So, let's start in Wisconsin. As you know polls are already open but before we got to today a little more than 1.5 million ballots were returned already. That's a little over 40 percent of their active voters and while early voting by mail was down slightly, early in- person ballots cast were up over 40 percent.

Women here also outpace men in the early vote, as they did in all the blue wall states. And then, when you look at the map here. We are keeping our eyes on the margins in Milwaukee and Dane Counties where Democrats typically win big but also keeping an eye on the west and northern suburbs of Milwaukee, which have been historically Republican but trended more Democratic in recent years. Those counties by the way lead the state in early turnout.

So, the question is when will we know? Well, they can already start processing early ballots now that polls are open and in Milwaukee the election commission had estimates all election day votes will be counted by close to 11:00 PM Eastern Time or maybe earlier; absentee ballots, likely overnight.

And for perspective in 2020 CNN projected the race here for president within 24 hours of polls closing.

Let's look at other blue wall states, in particular, Michigan. Polls are also already open here. Before we got here though, over three million Michiganders voted either early or absentee, according to state data, that's about 44 percent among their active voter rolls.

I mean, look at the counties we're looking at, Wayne County, home to Detroit where more people live than anywhere else in the state. And so, we are looking at the margins there. Biden won 68 percent of the vote there in 2020, but we're also going to keep an eye on Macomb County in the suburbs which went for Trump in 2016 and 2020 but Obama in 2012.

In the western part of the state, in Muskegon County, outside Grand Rapids, it went to Biden by just 500 votes in 2020 out of the more than 90,000 votes cast there. The secretary of state said she hopes to have final results by midday Wednesday.

And then, last but not least, basically most, Pennsylvania. More electoral votes up for grabs than any other battleground state, polls are open. Over 1.7 million absentee and mail-in votes have been returned so far.

But let's look at the counties that could make a difference and be critical, especially when it comes to the margins. So, Philadelphia County, but also the suburbs with big populations, Montgomery, Bucks, Chester, Delaware, color counties as they are known. They went to Biden in 2020, same story when you head West of Pittsburgh and Allegheny County.

And if you look in the northwest there is Erie which Biden flipped in 2020 by less than 2,000 votes. Remember, it was this project in 2020 that triggered the call for the presidency, it could play that same role this time around. But by the way, the Secretary of State stressed, patience people, they have never had final official results on Election Day.

SIDNER: All right, Omar, thank you so much, appreciate it.

Here in Wisconsin, we are in Cedarburg. There are people lined up way outside of the polling place. It is an extremely, extremely busy time and as we learned from the clerk, this place votes about 90 percent of active voters come in. We are expecting 95 potentially today.

Back to you --Kate.

BOLDUAN: All right, so, coming up for us, high alert for Election Day -- extra officers, bomb sniffing dogs. How security has been stepped up at polling locations across the country.

And we have new details on how both Donald Trump and Kamala Harris are planning to spend the day as America votes.

You are looking live right now at pictures in Wilmington, North Carolina. Voters lining up. America getting out to vote. We will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:28:03]

BOLDUAN: Welcome back to our special Election Day coverage. You are looking right now at Grand Rapids, Michigan. You can see voters' ballots in hand going in to the scanner. Voting happening in Michigan and all across the country. In many states, polls open at 7:00 AM Eastern.

This morning, we have new reporting from inside the Trump campaign about how they are feeling today and we are standing by to see if the former president will be voting soon this morning in Florida.

Alayna Treene is standing by in West Palm Beach, Florida for us. Alayna, what are you hearing from team Trump this hour?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN REPORTER: Well look, Kate, when I talked to his advisers, they say they are cautiously optimistic and I think that's all they can be at this point. They recognize how close this race is. That has not changed over the last several weeks, and so, while they say they are cautiously optimistic, of course, there are some underlying anxiety I am told about how today could go.

Now, this is not going to come as a surprise, but they say their main focus and the thing that matters today in these final hours is turnout. That is what all of this hinges on for both campaigns.

I'm going to read for you what one senior Trump adviser told me about this just to give you some insight into how they are feeling this morning.

He said, "We feel like we are in a position now where if the people who we think are going to turn out for President Trump turn out, then he ought to win. So, it's a matter of achieving that. It is close, it is really close." Now of course they added a disclaimer that he's saying I know it sounds ridiculous that this is -- you know, I'm saying this is all about turnout but he said that is the only thing that we are focused on today.

Now, I want to get into the specifics because turnout in general, we understand that is an issue for any campaign on this final Election Day, but they have few things that they've been analyzing very closely. They have been pouring over some of the early voting data, particularly, over the last several days that they are arguing have given them some spots for encouragement but also spots of worry.

One thing that has been very clear is that Donald Trump has a problem with women and that is a problem that they have not been able to solve for as we are here on Election Day.

But, they tell me they are encouraged somewhat by some of the data they have seen of how men, specifically male Democrats are not showing up in the numbers that they had expected they would for the Harris campaign.

They've also said that they feel encouraged by some of the signs that Black voters and urban voters are not turning out as much as they thought as well, but rural voters are. So, these are just some of the tea leaves that they are reading. I cannot emphasize this enough, Kate, though that we have no idea what is going to happen.

[08:30:40]