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CNN Live Event/Special

Trump's Team Huddling at Mar-a-Lago; Harris Doing Radio Interviews Today; Polls Open in Multiple States; J.D. Vance Speaks After Voting; Seth Bluestein is Interviewed about Voting in Philadelphia; Ashley Reichert is Interviewed about Voting in Wisconsin. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired November 05, 2024 - 09:00   ET

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

[09:00:00]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: We have a new hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starting right now.

All right. Happening now, it is Election Day in America. You might have heard. And as you can see, the race is close. Exactly tied right now. We have some live pictures from some places where people are voting.

This hour, polls are now opening in Colorado, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming. Congratulations to the mountain west.

Donald Trump and J.D. Vance, they will both vote today. We'll stand by to see if that happens this hour.

Vice President Harris and Tim Walz, they already voted. Harris is hoping to become the first woman ever to win the White House. Donald Trump trying to repeat what Grover Cleveland achieved some 130 years ago after being voted out of office, being voted back in.

We heard from both candidates at rallies overnight.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT AND 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You get out to vote, they can't do anything about it, we win.

In other words, to make you feel a little guilty, we would only have you to blame.

KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE U.S. (D) AND U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Your vote is your voice. And your voice is your power. Are you ready to make your voices heard?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: And I'm John Berman in New York, Sara Sidner's in Wisconsin, Kate Bolduan's in Pennsylvania. This is Election Day in America. SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Polls have now been open for one hour and one minute here in Wisconsin, and it has been bustling. We are in Cedarburg, Wisconsin, a town of just about 12,000 people, which for decades has always voted Republican until 2020 when 19 people decided the vote here.

They are expecting a potentially historic turnout of voters from 90 to 95 percent of registered voters. And we've been seeing a steady stream of people come in. Wisconsin, obviously, one of those blue wall states.

The question is, will that wall be broken by Donald Trump or will Harris be able to keep the state?

We will see what happens. Twenty thousand people voted to make it so that Biden won back in 2020. And now everyone is waiting as they come through these polls and talk to the poll workers to see what the count is going to be. That count, by the way, probably won't be known until late into the night, potentially tomorrow morning.

Kate.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, Sara, thank you so much.

We are here in Pennsylvania, battleground Pennsylvania.

But first, we want to show you some new video just in from Ohio. We have video, I'm told, of J.D. Vance arriving in Cincinnati to his polling location. This is just moments ago. J.D. Vance arriving to vote himself in person on this election day. That in Cincinnati, Ohio.

And now back here in Pennsylvania, polls have been open for two hours now. Pennsylvania is the biggest electoral prize of the battleground states, 19 electoral votes, which is why this is the state, the place that both campaigns have spent the most time throughout the election season.

And we're outside Bensalem High School in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. This is a critical swing county just north of Philadelphia where both campaigns are hoping to run up their margin because this could be such a tight race in the end, or not, as we keep saying.

We have heard from both Trump voters and Harris voters here at Bensalem High School this morning. One voter we met is Scott Dinkins. He's lived here for ten years, and he says he's voting for Kamala Harris.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: What would you say was - if there was one main issue that drove your vote this time, what was it?

SCOTT DINKINS, PENNSYLVANIA VOTER: It's always been having the most fit, sane commander in chief.

BOLDUAN: What about Donald Trump is not winning you over? Because this is - in Bucks you've got, you know, almost 50-50 when you're looking at it.

DINKINS: Correct, you do. He acts like a child to me. He's unfit. And name-calling, just not what I'm looking for in a president at all.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Polls close here at 8:00 p.m. So, we have a full day of voting ahead of us here.

Let's get the very latest from both of the campaigns right now. CNN's Alayna Treene is checking in with team Trump, has been getting really new, great reporting all morning long.

Alayna, what are you hearing?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN REPORTER: That's right. And one thing I just want to say off the top here, Kate, as you just showed some of that video of J.D. Vance going to vote in person. Any moment now we're standing by and waiting to see Donald Trump do the same here in West Palm Beach, where he'll be casting his vote. So, stay tuned for that. We're expected to see it at some point this hour.

But look, behind the scenes, Donald Trump's top advisers and those closest to him are huddling with him at Mar-a-Lago.

[09:05:04]

And they are poring over some of the data. They're obviously watching a lot of the news.

One thing that is very certain for everyone is that nobody knows what is going to happen. However, they are doing what they can to try and parse through the data that they have already. And really the main focus, and I've talked with you about this all morning, but the main focus for them is turnout. And it seems, you know, of course it's turnout. It's not a novel idea. But I think the reason they keep emphasizing that today is because this election, as of now, is a coin flip. It is incredibly close. And, really, they have no idea what will happen, but they say what this hinges on all together is going to be how many of their supporters actually turn out. Those who are not sitting this out but actually feel motivated enough to go to the polls and try to make a difference.

I want to read for you, Kate, what one senior adviser told me because I think it is telling. He said, quote, "we feel like we're 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's close. It's really close.

Now, I will say, to get a little bit more specific here, the key things that they are looking at are the core demographics that they have been targeting. First of all, we know a major demographic that they have struggled with, that Donald Trump has tried to court but has not been able to do so well, honestly, is women. And we saw in early voting data that women were far outpacing men when it came to early voting. And so that is one challenge that they recognize is presenting - they are presented with today.

However, they argue that male Democrats in specific - specifically are maybe not turning out for Harris in the way that they had initially anticipated. They said that is a sign of encouragement. So, that's one thing.

But one other quick thing I want to bring up, Kate, is that ground game we've seen been an issue with the Trump campaign as well. They have outsourced a lot of that to groups run by Charlie Kirk from Turning Point Action, as well and Elon Musk's PAC. Today is their judgment day, is how Donald Trump's campaign is framing that. So, keep an eye on that as we hear - you know, we may hear from Trump today or others. Keep an eye on that as we look through and ahead to when the polls close.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: Absolutely. Alayna Treene, thank you so much for your continued reporting today.

Sara, I'll send it over to you.

SIDNER: All right, thank you, Kate Bolduan.

Today we will hear from Vice President Kamala Harris in a series of radio interviews before she heads to her alma mater, Howard University, for tonight's election watch party. That is where we find CNN's Eva McKend.

Eva, Harris, of course, hoping that her message of optimism and unity really resonated enough with voters to make her the first woman to ever win the presidency. What are you hearing this morning?

EVA MCKEND, CNN NATIONAL POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: They sure are, Sara. And that really is indicative of how she has run her entire campaign, trying to cast a wide net, trying to appeal to everyone from the likes of Liz Cheney to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, all under the same umbrella. You saw a big push with Country Over Party, Republicans for Harris, but also not alienating progressive voters by talking about expanding Medicare and then, of course, remaining disciplined on perhaps the most pressing issue for most Americans, and that is bringing down costs. They hope that a mix of these arguments, as well as talking about preserving democracy, will ultimate win the day.

Take a listen to how she closed out her campaign.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE U.S. (D) AND U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We are the promise of America.

I see it in the women who refuse to accept a future without reproductive freedom, and in the men who support them.

I see it in Republicans who have never voted for a Democrat before, but who put the Constitution of the United States above party. (END VIDEO CLIP)

MCKEND: And listen, the campaign says that they feel confident that they have multiple pathways to 270. But it is important to remain calm throughout this process as it could take several days to get the results.

Sara.

SIDNER: Eva McKend, I know you also had a conversation with Kamala Harris one-on-one. And a lot of interesting points made there. Thank you so much for your reporting from there on Howard University's campus.

John.

BERMAN: Remain calm. Good luck with that. With us now, CNN's David Urban, Jamal Simmons, Kristen Soltis Anderson and Gloria Borger.

So, what's new, guys?

GLORIA BORGER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Oh, nothing.

DAVID URBAN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Whoo! Whoo!

JAMAL SIMMONS, FORMER COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR FOR VP KAMALA HARRIS: (INAUDIBLE).

BERMAN: Three's this weird -

BORGER: What's going on.

BERMAN: There's this weird sort of cognitive dissidence, which is like - is so little one can do if you work in a campaign, or even political journalism today, yet the stakes are so incredibly high, Gloria.

BORGER: Yes, you're just waiting for the resolution.

[09:10:03]

You're waiting for something to happen. You're waiting even for one state to be dispositive, you know, and say, OK, Georgia, that's early. Let's see, what does that mean for either candidate, right? I mean and you're trying to game out how each of them can get to 270. And what's the road to 270? You know, hers is the blue wall. His is, they both need Pennsylvania. His is Pennsylvania, Georgia, North Carolina. And so it's a tough - it's a tough day because the votes are being cast right now and you just have to sit back and watch it happen, happily.

BERMAN: Happily.

BORGER: Happily.

BERMAN: Again, good luck with that.

Kristen, you live inside the numbers. What number are - and I mean that like positively. What will you be looking for tonight and when?

KRISTEN SOLTIS ANDERSON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: So, there are a couple of counties that I would say keep your eyes on. Bucks County, obviously one that we've already talked about earlier today.

BERMAN: Kate's there. Kate's there.

ANDERSON: It's a county that used to be pretty 50-50. I believe went for Biden by about four points. It's the kind of place where Trump's going to need to get it back to 50-50 if not win. Keep an eye on that.

I am from Florida. I'm keeping an eye on Osceola County, Florida. Now, Florida is not a battleground state, but that is a county that has a very large Puerto Rican population. If you want to see if that Madison Square Garden rally had any effect, maybe that's where you would look.

So, there are a couple of counties.

But the hardest thing for someone in my line of work to do today is don't get swayed by the anecdotes. People are going to say, you know what, there were three-hour-long lines at this polling place. Gosh, turnout's looking really good. These are anecdotes. They're not data. Keep calm, wait for the returns.

BORGER: And early exit polls.

ANDERSON: Early exit polls means tread so carefully.

BORGER: Don't be swayed by those.

URBAN: I -

SIMMONS: Those are the anecdotes. The anecdotes are great.

URBAN: Yes.

SIMMONS: You know, I have a county that's sort of like that. Hamilton County in Indiana. Not a swing state. Hamilton County went for Trump in 2016 by 20 points. In 2020 it went for Trump by 7 points. This year there were 34 percent of voters voted in the primary for Nikki Haley. If Kamala Harris does do well in a place like Hamilton County, where she's peeling away some of those Nikki Haley voters, that could be a sign of a trend across the country of those Haley voters really being positive for her.

URBAN: Look, the line thing I get with Kristen, you know, I get it every election. I've witnessed it myself, participated. I got suckered in at one point in time, right? You go and people will be, this is the longest line I've ever seen in my entire lifetime, David, and then we lose the precinct, we lose the ward, or we lose the county. So - so, don't be swayed.

People are sending me pictures of their lines and their polling place and said, this is a Trump place, lets go, right? And so I'm not going to get sucked in. I do agree with Kristen, in early - you know, in Pennsylvania, which

is going to be dispositive here tonight, we - Jamal and we were talking about this off air, you know, Philadelphia County is going to be really important here. It's going to matter is not only - it's going to matter. The overall vote, number one, the top line number, but then the net - the net out in Philadelphia County is going to be incredibly important because Kamala Harris needs a giant number out of there, 500,000 roughly votes - 500,000 net votes out of Philadelphia County. It's (INAUDIBLE) will carry the state.

Biden had a big number. He had 605. Obama had 590. But Trump's been increasing his vote, right, in Philadelphia County. People say like when - back when he went to the sneaker convention in Philadelphia, or he ate at a rally in downtown Philadelphia in 100 percent, you know, Democratic ward, why did he do it? Well, this is why he did it because today, tonight, he may end up with 150,000, 160,000 votes out of Philadelphia County, which will eat into Kamala Harris' number. And as you saw in the -

BERMAN: Right.

URBAN: And you were chronically, Erie County, 2,000 vote margin. Bucks County, 2,000 vote margin. This is a game of inches, to paraphrase the great movie, right? This is a game of inches. And tonight we'll find out who moves the ball one inch, another inch, and that's how this victory's going to be achieved.

SIMMONS: Well, so you know what they're going for, is that they are - they know that these numbers are going to be tougher out of some of these cities, right? But they also know they're going to have a bigger card to play in some of those collar (ph) counties like where Kate is right now because there are going to be a lot of women who will vote for Kamala Harris for a variety of reasons. And if they can make the case there, they can actually make up for any loss -

ANDERSON: That's what the whole -

URBAN: But just specifically, real quickly on Bucks County, I don't want to step on you, Bucks County, right. So - so - so Clinton won narrowly. Biden increases the lead. But in the past four years, guess what's happened? Republicans have flipped Bucks County. Now the registration favors. It was a 20,000 net Democratic favorite in '20. Now it's - Republicans are up by a couple thousand votes. So, that's going to be incredibly interesting.

BORGER: Well, this whole race, though, has been about cherry-picking voters. It's all about cherry-picking. Do you go for women? Do you go for older women? We saw that in the - in the Iowa poll, that older women went, you know, overwhelmingly by, what, a 2-1 margin for Kamala Harris. Do you go for young men? Because there, you know, that's who Donald Trump has been trying to appeal to. They're low propensity voters. Will they decide to vote this time.

BERMAN: Well, hang on one second. J.D. Vance is voting in Cincinnati. I believe he's speaking. Let's listen. SEN. J.D. VANCE (R-OH), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I voted. So did

my wife. And we also, for all the locals out there, we voted for Bernie Moreno for the United States Senate. And if you want - if you want the policies of Donald J. Trump in the United States Senate, then Bernie Moreno is the only candidate in this race who I think is the candidate of peace and prosperity for the United States Senate.

[09:15:00]

So, I hope people will get President Trump over the finish line. I hope people here in Ohio will get Bernie Moreno over the finish line.

Look, I feel good. You never know until you know. But I feel good about this race. I felt good about my own race a couple of years ago when I voted in this exact same spot. Hopefully it goes as well for President Trump and me as it went for me a couple of years ago in the state of Ohio.

So, I appreciate you guys being here. Happy to take a few questions. You obviously can see my - my kids bouncing around here. There's Usha. And, you know, we'll take a few questions, but we're going to hit the road, go back home and then head off to Palm Beach.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Senator, regardless of the results tonight, half the country probably won't be satisfied with those votes.

VANCE: Sure.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What's your message to them, potentially your supporters, if it doesn't go the way that they wanted it to?

VANCE: Well, look, I think our message is, first of all, we do expect to win. But, obviously, no matter who wins, half the country, as you said, is going to be at least partially disappointed. I think my attitude is, the best way to heal the rift in the country is to try to govern the country as well as we can.

BERMAN: All right, J.D. Vance there in Cincinnati, voting, saying what almost any candidate would say no matter what party when they cast a vote.

BERGER: I feel good.

BERMAN: I feel good.

BERGER: Yes.

BERMAN: I think we're going to win. That's what you say.

One - two interesting things that have happened. One is that, there are diametrically opposed theories of the case here in this election. On the one hand, Kamala Harris, since she got in this race, has been trying to appeal to women voters, and I also maybe think disaffected Republican. Donald Trump, to maybe young men and the male vote there. Someone may be right, someone may be very, very wrong here. That's one, Kristen. The second thing here is, in the closing arguments there's strange alignment, right? Donald Trump kind of saying ridiculous things. Kamala Harris saying, look at Donald Trump say ridiculous things. They have the same closing message.

ANDERSON: Yes, right now this is going to be a question of, is this election a reboot or a realignment? In the reboot you have Kamala Harris put together the Obama coalition plus a few more women. She turns out younger voters for her. She puts back together large numbers of black voters, Latino voters and she reassembles that group and she wins.

But the realignment is very possible. Donald Trump doing better among say young men. Donald Trump doing better among Latino voters. And suddenly you see things like education and gender become the big dividing lines rather than age and race. We don't know which way it's going to go, but whether it's a reboot or a realignment will tell us a lot about who's likely to win.

URBAN: John, I was just going to say, like, this morning we saw Randi Kaye talk to this young Puerto Rican voter, female voter in Florida. Now, she's in Florida, right? She - Randi Kaye asked her who she's voting for. First time women Puerto Rican voter, Donald Trump, shocking.

Last night in the city of Pittsburgh at this rally Trump had, in the front row there to support President Trump, Roberto Clemente's son, the saint of San Juan, Puerto Rico, one of the most famous Pittsburg sports figures. And on the podium endorsing Donald Trump full- throatedly, Jim Brown's granddaughter.

BERMAN: But -

URBAN: Football icon legend. African American. So, to, you know, to the point made, this coalition that Trump's building is not just, you know, white guys without a college degree anymore.

BERMAN: But the flip side of that is the suburban, affluent, Bucks County voters that Kate talked to who would have been Republican 20 years ago, now voting for the Democrat -

URBAN: Absolutely. No, no, absolutely. But the coalition that trump has put together is - there is a realignment in politics generally.

BORGER: But it's easy to get anecdotally on Election Day.

BERMAN: Yes.

BORGER: Because there are people standing in line.

BERMAN: Yes.

BORGER: And you want to talk to them. And we do.

BERMAN: And what do you do? La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la.

BORGER: Right.

BERMAN: Wait until the votes close.

All right, David Urban, Jamal Simmons, Kristen Soltis Anderson, Gloria Borger, great to see you all.

All right, words of warning from the district attorney in Philadelphia to anyone threatening to interfere with the election.

And, Boston, Massachusetts, where 20 years ago the Boston Red Sox won their first World Series. Today they're voting there.

Stay with us. This is our special live coverage. It is Election Day in America.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:22:35]

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Going all out in Pennsylvania. Both Kamala Harris and Donald Trump spent their final day of the campaign speaking to voters in the commonwealth. Now the question is, which candidate will win the biggest prize of the battleground states, which is Pennsylvania's 19 electoral votes, which is why we are here in Pennsylvania for Election Day.

One place that will play a big role in deciding that, the biggest and most populous city in the commonwealth, Philadelphia. And joining us right now is Philadelphia's Republican city commissioner, Seth Bluestein.

Seth, thank you so much for coming on. This is a big day for you all, that it came with a ton of preparation leading up to today. How are things going so far? Are you hearing about any issues?

SETH BLUESTEIN (R), PHILADELPHIA CITY COMMISSIONER: Thanks for having me, Kate.

Everything's looking pretty good so far. It looks like a normal, typical Election Day.

BOLDUAN: I mean, and could you ask for anything more than that? Absolutely not.

Then, tonight, after polls close, that's when the real action begins, we have to say, because we know that when it comes to Philadelphia and how Philadelphia - in counting in Philadelphia, the pace of counting and bringing together all of - all of the votes in Philadelphia was the focus of the world back in 2020.

How have things changed? Is Philadelphia going to count faster in 2024?

BLUESTEIN: Yes, we started pre-canvassing our mail ballots as soon as the polls opened at 7:00 a.m. today. And we are going to count the ballots much faster than we did in 2020. First is, our voters have - a lot of them have transitioned back to

voting in person at the polling places. So, there will be fewer mail ballots to count this year than there were in 2020. We've also purchased a digital ballot extraction equipment to open up the envelopes quicker. And we have more people working than we've had in the past.

BOLDUAN: All of that adding up to Philadelphia is set to count faster than it did last time.

Seth, we're not in the game of betting, that is for sure. But given the equipment and the manpower that you have add - that you've been able to add to the process, do you think there is a chance that people will wake up tomorrow with a final word out of Philadelphia?

BLUESTEIN: Well, ultimately, whether or not a race can be called comes down to the margin of the election.

[09:25:04]

So, it's hard to predict when people will be able to wake up and know the result out of Pennsylvania.

But what I can say is it won't take four days until the Saturday after the election for us to count the bulk of the mail ballots. That will be done much quicker. Hopefully if everything continues to go smoothly, by the middle of the day on Wednesday.

BOLDUAN: Which as - I mean you were in the middle of it on the floor in that convention center in 2020, and I was the one hounding you standing outside the convention center in 2020. That is a huge improvement in pace for everyone who - everyone out there who's - who's tracking and doesn't remember what all went down last cycle.

Talk to me about what is known so far about mail-in ballots this time around. I mean I know it's - it's fewer than in 2020, but what - who is voting by mail-in?

BLUESTEIN: The mail-in ballots in Philadelphia are still predominantly Democratic registered voters. You know, the Republican voters did make an effort to vote by mail, so they didn't go down by the same percentage as the Democratic voters did. But we'll have to see if those voters are coming out and voting in person at polling places, or if turnout is going to be down a little bit from 2020. We won't know that until the end of the night.

BOLDUAN: Yes, is there any expectation that turnout, just overall total turnout, will be bigger than we saw in 2020?

BLUESTEIN: It's really hard to predict this early in the election day. If you're basing it just off of the mail ballot numbers, we wouldn't think so. But again, it's possible that those voters really want to vote in person now that we're not in a pandemic environment. So, we'll have to see towards the end of the night, you know, how those numbers are lining up. BOLDUAN: And, Seth, just finally, I mean, it was those days in between

when polls closed and there was a final word out of - out of Philadelphia that allowed for conspiracy theories to be born and for people to stoke fears in the process of what was happening in that lag time. What is your message to anyone who would - has already suggested that cheating has occurred, or wants to call into question the election - the integrity and the security around the voting and the counting and the process in Philadelphia this time?

BLUESTEIN: The election in Philadelphia and across the commonwealth is going to be free and fair and safe and secure. I am completely confident in our ability to run the elections fairly. And all of our voter's ballots are going to be counted, they're going to be counted accurately, and every single eligible voter is going to have the opportunity to have their voice heard by the close of polls at 8:00 p.m. today.

BOLDUAN: Seth Bluestein, the man who is going to be in the middle of it all once again, thank you so much, Commissioner, for coming on. We really appreciate your time. Good luck today.

BLUESTEIN: Thanks, Kate.

BOLDUAN: I'm going to hand it back over to Sara in Wisconsin.

SIDNER: All right, thank you so much, Kate.

Joining me now to discuss is Washington County Clerk Ashley Reichert.

Thank you so much for being here this morning.

What are you seeing and experiencing there in Washington County this morning, and when it comes to absentee voting, which has been off the charts it seems?

ASHLEY REICHERT (R), WASHINGTON COUNTY, WISCONSIN, CLERK: Right. It definitely has been off the charts, especially for Washington County. We have roughly 57 percent on average turnout for absentee voting. Some communities are averaging over 60 percent, which is something unheard of, even surpassing 2020, which is absolutely fantastic.

And for us, we actually made initiatives earlier this year to promote election integrity. One of our initiatives was funding extra extended hours for municipalities to offer in-person absentee voting hours in the evenings or weekends. And our clerks are absolutely amazing. They - every single municipality participated, and they actually added over 300 additional hours of in-person, absentee voting, which definitely can contribute to the increased turnout for us.

SIDNER: Can you give us some sense of whether or not you think this will be an historic number of people voting, and whether you - or not you think that the blue wall will stand or will crumble?

REICHERT: So, in Washington County, I think we'll definitely have record-breaking turnout. And I think even in - in the state of Wisconsin we're seeing record-breaking turnout for this election. More people engaged. Engaged as election inspectors. Engaged as poll watchers, which is all absolutely fantastic to see individuals get involved in the election process and learn how it works in - in the state of Wisconsin. I definitely think we'll have a high, conservative turnout.

[09:30:02]

And so we'll have to see after the polls close what that means for the state of Wisconsin.

SIDNER: Ashley, thank you so