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CNN Live Event/Special

Americans Head to the Polls to Decide Next President; Voters Hit the Polls in Battleground Pennsylvania; Voters Head to Polls in "Blue Wall" State Wisconsin; Voters Hit the Polls in Battleground Nevada; How Key Battleground States Count Votes. Aired 11-11:30a ET

Aired November 05, 2024 - 11:00   ET

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

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[11:00:36]

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Anderson Cooper in New York. It is Election Day in America.

For millions of Americans, this is it. After months of often ugly politics, voters now have just hours to cast their ballots in the 2024 election. Across the country, most polling sites are open, with Washington State and Alaska joining the list just moments ago. Many polling places have reported lines, some forming before the sun came up.

Both Kamala Harris and Donald Trump spent their final full day of campaigning in all important swing states, pitching their competing visions for America. The control of Congress also up for grabs today. Democrats hope to flip the House. Republicans want to capture the Senate.

Our correspondents are fanned out across the country and in the all- important battleground states. Voters in those seven battleground states could well decide the presidential race.

I want to begin the hour with the all-important Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. CNN's Danny Freeman. He's in Lancaster County.

What are you seeing there, Danny?

DANNY FREEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Anderson. We're in Lancaster County. We're in Millersville, actually, just a little bit southwest of the city of Lancaster. We're at the municipal building right here. And what's funny about this particular polling location, which has been pretty busy, we've seen a steady slow of voters so far over the course of the morning, is this one parking lot actually has two polling locations, one at the funeral home right over there, and then one right here.

I'm going to take you inside a little bit just so you can get an idea of what we're working with here. The head of this polling site said the rules in Pennsylvania is we can stay ten feet away from the actual place. You can see this is the room where -- oh, I'm so sorry, this is the room behind me where voters have been voting. Right over here, here are the Republicans. They're here handing out the "I Voted" stickers, candy as well.

And again, this area of the county, Anderson -- rather the Commonwealth is a red county right here. But the key thing and the reason that we're here is because Democrats have been playing in this county, perhaps in ways that they never have before.

So we'll be looking to see what the margins are in this particular spot. We can see the Democrats right here. They actually moved outside since the day has just turned so lovely over the course of the day.

So this has probably been the lowest time in terms of the voters who have been coming through. But earlier this morning, the head of the polling location here, they said there was a line all the way around this building, and they're expecting for folks to really turn up here as we get closer to lunchtime.

Anderson, the thing I'll say is that they have about 1,100 ballots ready inside of this polling location, ready to go for voters to come and grab today. So far, they're almost at around 300 ballots counted and cast so far in person. So we'll keep an eye on this polling place as this day moves forward. Again, all-important Pennsylvania out here, Anderson.

COOPER: Yeah, Danny, thanks very much. We were just showing you a shot of Doylestown, I believe it was, lines there around the block outside of polling place.

Let's go to Wisconsin now, seeing as Josh Campbell is in Madison. Josh, set the scene for us this hour.

JOSH CAMPBELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Anderson, a steady flow of voters here at Ward 55 in downtown Madison. Of course, everyone's thinking what's on their minds.

Let's bring in two voters. Here we have Lilly. We have Maddie, graduate student at the University of Wisconsin, graduate of the University of Wisconsin. You just voted, Lilly. You're about to vote up the street. Why'd you come out?

LILLY PERALTA, WISCONSIN VOTER: There's just been a lot of rallies around, a lot of excitement. It's a huge day. I feel like you just got to go out and try to make a difference because in a state like this, you can. So I just got to make my vote count and --

CAMPBELL: Yeah, what issues are -- go ahead.

PERALTA: No, no, that's OK.

CAMPBELL: Yeah, what issues are on your mind coming out to vote?

MADDIE STOELINGA, WISCONSIN VOTER: I did have the pleasure of going to the Kamala rally a couple days ago. And I'm really feeling inspired to protect women's rights and my own body.

CAMPBELL: And is that the same thinking among your circle of friends, your family? Is that a major issue for folks?

STOELINGA: Absolutely, yes. All women's rights and also just seeing a female leader for the very first time in the U.S. would be amazing.

CAMPBELL: And your thoughts on that, too, seeing a first woman president?

PERALTA: I think it's all really exciting.

CAMPBELL: OK.

PERALTA: Yeah, absolutely.

CAMPBELL: And any other last-minute words, things people should know about, you know, maybe those sitting on the sidelines who haven't gotten out to vote yet?

PERALTA: Just get out and vote. It's going to make a difference. Everywhere is tight, so you got to just, you know, can't sit back and hope that other people are going to take care of it for you.

COOPER: Yeah, can't say it better than that. Thank you both.

Anderson, back to you.

COOPER: All right, Josh, thanks very much.

I want to go now to the battleground state, Arizona. Polls have been open there for about three hours, CNN's Ed Lavandera is at a voting site in the Phoenix suburb of Surprise, Arizona.

Ed, how's it looking?

[11:05:03]

ED LAVANDERA, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Anderson. Well, we're here to kind of get a sense of the voters here in Maricopa County. And this is by far the largest county in the state of Arizona.

About 60% of the total vote in this state will be cast here in this county. So that's why we're here in Surprise, to really kind of get a sense of suburban women voters and how the abortion issue is playing out. Are they driving away from Trump? We've had a talk to a variety of women out here today.

There's been kind of no true consensus on which way they have voted. So we've heard a little bit of everything here at this particular polling site. And people are dedicated to this process here, Anderson.

At this particular site, we've heard from several people who've waited in line more than an hour this morning. There are about 200, almost 250 voting centers across Maricopa County. And the county has a website where you can go and check the times and how long you have to wait to vote.

This is one of the longer centers, people coming here. They have to funnel through this area here to walk into the building. This is as far as we're allowed to get into this particular situation.

But inside, you know, people casting their ballots. In fact, I heard one woman just a little while ago, as all of these people, canvassers and volunteers with various campaigns were giving her flyers and this sort of thing. I heard one woman say that she was still undecided as she was walking inside into the building here.

So, you know, exciting moments here. Many of the people we've talked to out here say they've seen just a steady, steady stream all morning long of voters coming out here in Surprise, Arizona. And as we mentioned, here Maricopa County plays a significant role in exactly how the election will turn out here in this battleground state, Anderson.

COOPER: Still undecided going into the polling place. It's curious to know what she ended up deciding. Ed Lavandera, thanks so much.

As vote totals begin to come in tonight, there are some key counties that could give us clues about who will ultimately win each state. I want to go to Phil Mattingly of the Magic Wall. So what are the counties to watch?

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF DOMESTIC CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, Anderson, if I'm being honest, I could do about 50 in each of the states here. I'm going to try and not do that for time purposes. Look, this is the map right now. It is all gray because we've not started getting results yet. In about eight hours, we will. That means we should look back, look back at what we should be watching going in.

I'm actually going to track back where our reporters were there because they were all in critical counties. And I'll start with Ed Lavandera, who is in Maricopa County. If you watched any coverage in 2020, you probably have Maricopa burned into your brain.

The reason why is this is 61% of the entire state's voting population. This is a huge driver of the vote, obviously, but it's also the primary reason that Joe Biden was able to win in 2020, flipping the state to blue for the first time since 1996. This is also a traditional Republican county, Republican DNA. For a generation, it voted for Republicans. And the question going in to tonight is, can Kamala Harris match Joe Biden's margin here? First time again, the Democrats had flipped it in a significant amount of time.

We know if you flip down here to Pima County, the home of Tucson, this is a Democratic stronghold. This is expected to go Democrat. They can run a big vote here. But the question will be, can she match or at least come close to what Joe Biden did in Maricopa back in 2020? So that's where Ed was.

Let's flip over to where Josh Campbell was in Wisconsin. This -- the home of Madison in Dane County, 10% of the voting population here. This isn't a place where Donald Trump is competing or thinks he's going to win by a significant amount. This is a place that Kamala Harris needs to run up a huge vote.

You say, well, look at the margin from 2020. Joe Biden won this by more than 50 points. How much bigger can you get than that? The reality is when you talk to Democrats on the ground in Wisconsin, if they can push this up to 78 -- 79% in terms of the vote, you can close it out almost entirely through Dane County. Dane County is a Democratic stronghold, obviously home to the University of Wisconsin. We're looking, obviously, at Milwaukee as well, the largest county in the state, whether or not Trump has been able to hold the margins down there, but also the counties outside, those Wow counties, particularly Ozaukee, which is more of a suburban county that's been moving away from Republicans over the course of the last several months.

I do want to go into Pennsylvania. Danny Freeman was down here in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. And this is not expected to be a Harris win. This is not expected to be a Harris flip. The question, though, for the Trump campaign, you see he won it by 15.7 points back in 2020. But go back to 2016, the margin was wider.

And so can Trump now rebound on that front in places like that? Also in western Pennsylvania, Allegheny will be a Democratic stronghold. But you go into Butler, you go into Washington. Trump's margins fell a little bit in those areas as well in 2020 from 2016. Can he bump those back up again to match up with what we know will be very strong turnout for Democrats in those color counties?

Anderson.

COOPER: Yeah, Phil, I mean, one of the amazing things about what you'll be able to do all throughout the day in the next couple of days is comparing Trump's turnout this time around to turnout in 2020 and 2016. It's rare to have that kind of a history to look at.

Phil, thanks very much.

Every state has its own rules about how votes are counted and reported. I want to bring in CNN's Chief Legal Affairs Correspondent, Paula Reid. She's tracking when we will start to see results.

So walk us through what to expect in battleground states.

[11:10:02]

PAULA REID, CNN CHIEF LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, Anderson, of course, people are eager to know when they will learn more about which way this race is leaning. So let's start with the battleground states here on the East Coast, starting in Georgia, where polls close at 7 p.m. We can expect early and mail-in votes will be reported first, followed by votes cast today.

The smaller rural counties will likely report the bulk of their votes before the larger urban counties. But all the states' votes are expected to be reported tonight.

Now, let's move on to North Carolina, where polls close at 7:30. Now, the first reports are expected to be mail-in votes, likely followed by early votes and then ballots cast today. Nearly all the votes are expected to be reported tonight, except for provisional ballots, which could be a larger share of the total because of new voter I.D. laws in the state and, of course, also because of the impact the hurricane had on North Carolina.

Now moving on to Pennsylvania, of course, one of those closely watched states in the entire electoral map. Their polls close at 8 p.m. Large counties are likely to report significant numbers of mail-in votes after the polls close, but then it may take several days for all the mail-in ballots to be reported in that state because election officials can't begin processing those mail-in ballots until Election Day.

Now moving on to swing states in the Midwest and Michigan. Polls close at 8 p.m. Eastern time, but reporting it actually varies by county, but typically nearly all of the votes are reported by midday Wednesday. Moving on to Wisconsin. Polls there close at 9 p.m. Eastern time. The state typically reports nearly all of its results on election night, but larger municipalities will likely report their mail-in and early ballots early Wednesday.

Now, moving on to the West Coast. We do have some straggler states out here. Arizona, polls close at 9 p.m., but no votes are reported until an hour after polls close, and then you get early and mail-in votes reported first. Then counting could continue for several days.

Now in Nevada, polls close at 10 p.m. Eastern time, but no votes are reported until every polling place in the state has closed, and most counties release mail-in ballots first, then they accept ballots postmarked on Election Day until November 9th. So counting will continue for several days.

So, Anderson, the answers are coming. We should know some things tonight, but the answers may be a little more slow-going than some folks would like.

COOPER: All right. Paula Reid, thanks very much.

Millions of Americans casting their ballots, including in battleground states like North Carolina, where we find CNN's Miguel Marquez. Let's join him live.

Miguel, how's it looking?

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Oh, lines, lines, lines, voters, voters, voters. This is about as short the lines as we have seen so far today at the Moose Lodge, but it is from 6:30 when they opened up until now. It has been jam-packed.

Both campaigns want to win this county. It is a purple county, New Hanover, in a purple state. Democrats are hopeful to take North Carolina this year. They've come closer in the past. We're going to have lots more of CNN's special live coverage coming right up.

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[11:17:13]

COOPER: Back with you now on Election Day in America. Voters coast-to- coast heading to the polls, making their voices heard. Nevada is among the seven battleground states expected to be pivotal in deciding who wins the White House.

CNN's Stephanie Elam is at a polling site in Las Vegas. Stephanie, how's it looking at this hour?

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Things are going smoothly we hear so far from Clark County as things are continuing on here at Allegiant. We were able to go inside to take a look at what is happening inside of Allegiant Stadium. They have 98 polling setups right there for people to go in.

So much so that right now they are waiting for people to show up to get inside and vote. And I can actually update here on this app that Clark County has. And I can tell you that so far today we've been open for an hour and 17 minutes at this location for voting.

They've already had 274 people make their way in here to vote today. Just to give you an idea of how people are showing up. We had a lot of people who were here before the polls actually opened, wanted to be in line. Many people expressing that they wanted to vote today on Election Day to be part of a historic day, whichever way that meant for them. It could be wait to be seen. But people wanting to be here and a whole lot of people who wanted to come here to vote because this is the first time that Nevada has opened up Allegiant Stadium here just off of the Las Vegas Strip to voters.

This is the first time that they're doing it here so a lot of people who may be fans of the Raiders also wanting to come out and cast their votes in this historic election and also in this historic place for the first time. So we're seeing a lot of movement there and we're seeing a lot of people continuing to trickle in and make their way to cast their votes today, Anderson.

COOPER: All right, that's the scene right now at 8:18. Stephanie Elam, thanks so much.

Moving on to the battleground of Michigan, our Kylie Atwood is that a polling site in Grand Rapids? What's it like there?

KYLIE ATWOOD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, that's right, Anderson. We are about eight miles south of Grand Rapids in Kent County, which is a critical county in this battleground state. And I just want to show you what's taking place here at Brookside Church. As folks are coming in, the polls have been open here since 7 a.m. And if you look over here, the voters come in and they fill out their information first to make sure that they're in the right precinct. There are two precincts that are voting here at Brookside Church. And then what they do is they move over to this table here. And this is where they check in with the clerks.

Now, you aren't seeing many voters in here right now, but there has been a pretty steady flow of voters coming throughout the day. Maybe we're, you know, getting up on lunchtime, more folks will come in.

Once they check in with the clerks, make sure they're in the right place, they get their ballots, and then they move to these private places where they're able to actually fill out their ballots. These are paper ballots. That's across Michigan. Once they've done that, filled out their ballots, then they move over to the tabulator. They put their ballots in, and they walk out.

[11:20:00]

I've been talking to folks all day, and it has been an easy process for them to vote here in Michigan, here in the county that is considered, you know, an urban, suburban area.

And one of the reasons for that is because a lot of people actually cast their ballots here in Michigan early. There was the opportunity for them to do absentee ballots, and also there were eight days, at least eight days, of early voting across the state.

So a lot of people have cast their ballots in advance of today, but of course we're talking to voters who have voted for both candidates here in Michigan so far.

COOPER: All right. Kylie Atwood, thanks very much. Control of Congress also obviously at stake. A single seat could tip the balance of power for the next two years. I want to go to Phil Mattingly, who is standing by at the Magic Wall for us.

So, Phil, let's talk about the balance of power.

MATTINGLY: Yeah, look, keep in mind, both chambers right now, 435 members of Congress are up for reelection and a number of U.S. senators as well. And in a chamber that is currently divided 51-49, every single race matters. And for Democrats who hold the majority, there are a number of very vulnerable members.

And here's the races we're going to be watching. Everything you see in a little bit of a lighter gray are kind of the 11 key races we're paying close attention to. And you'll notice, particularly in this area right here, they track with the blue wall that's so critical in the presidential election as well.

Now, when you talk to both Republicans and Democrats, they acknowledge the state of Montana, currently a seat held by Jon Tester, is a place that they are going to have a very, very tough hill to climb. Tester's been able to do it before. Whether he'll be able to do it this time around, particularly in a presidential year with presidential turnout in a state that Donald Trump is expected to win by pretty handy double digits is going to be a big question.

We know West Virginia is certain to go into Republican hands. So that's one win right there with Joe Manchin retiring, the Democrat not really competing very hard there. So that's 50-50 if Democrats don't pick up any seats.

This would be -- Montana would be 51. That would be a majority. I think the big question for Democrats right now is they hope that Jon Tester's able to hold on, but they're also watching Tammy Baldwin in Wisconsin, the Elissa Slotkin race in Michigan.

And probably most importantly when you talk to Democrats, Sherrod Brown, who has consistently, as Ohio has gone further and further into the red column, been able to hold on with kind of a working-class mentality that is tracked with the state. He's been able to hang on. The state has moved very far in the other direction from him. Can he do it one more time against Bernie Moreno? That is one of the big questions going into the night.

Not expecting the Harris campaign to play. Hasn't played much in Ohio. But in the northeastern part of Ohio, it'll be interesting to watch because similar type of demographic makeup, similar type of median income makeup is Western Pennsylvania. So there could be some signs there that are interesting.

Now, what about the House? This is close. Everything seems close this cycle. You see, again, it's a little bit harder. There's 435 districts here to pick up the lighter gray areas. What's most fascinating about this cycle when you talk to Republicans and Democrats is the most important seats, kind of the bulk of those toss-up critical seats, are in blue California, and they're in blue New York.

They know, Democrats, that they need to win a lot of those seats back. Some of them are in districts that Joe Biden won, in some cases rather handily, back in 2020. Can they do it? How many can they win? Keep in mind, Anderson, it is a 220 to 212 majority right now for Speaker Mike Johnson.

If Democrats only pick up a handful of seats, don't lose many seats, they are going to be in the majority. The biggest concern, though, when you talk to people who've worked on the Hill for a long time is there's only a very narrow sliver of seats that are actually being really contested right now. Whoever wins the majority tonight or over the course of the coming weeks, because California takes forever to count, going to be a slim majority no matter what, whether it's Speaker Hakeem Jeffries, whether it's Speaker Mike Johnson.

Anderson?

COOPER: Phil Mattingly, thanks.

My panel is here. MJ Lee is also joining us from Washington. Gloria, how -- do you think Republicans are confident that they can, I mean, if Donald Trump wins, they only need one seat in the Senate. If he loses, they need two seats in the Senate.

GLORIA BORGER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Yeah, I think they're very confident about the Senate. I think they believe that Jon Tester really has an uphill battle in Montana. And I think they're measuring the drapes, you know. I think they're feeling very, very good about that. And I'm sure Chuck Schumer is nervous.

Look, the Democrats were dealt a bad hand. They had twice as many seats up this cycle to defend. And so that would be tough. But in a presidential year, in a lot of red states that are up, with Donald Trump obviously popular in these red states, it's a tough haul for them.

COOPER: Kate, I spoke to Nancy Pelosi last night. She was convinced that Democrats will take the House.

KATE BEDINGFIELD, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I think it's very, very possible. I think the House is likely to rise or fall along with the presidential race. I mean, it just -- you would see historically, particularly in the places where Democrats need to take these seats back to take the majority, New York, California, as Phil was just saying, those are generally voters who are going to, if they're going to come out and vote for Kamala Harris at the top of the ticket, they're probably going to pull the lever for the Democrat in Congress.

So I think the House is really likely to, you know, to ride on what turnout looks like for Kamala Harris. But I think there's absolutely, absolutely a chance that Democrats take the House.

[11:25:02]

COOPER: Shermichael, If Donald Trump does not win, what do you think his role is in the Republican Party moving forward?

SHERMICHAEL SINGLETON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: You know, that's a big question that a lot of people are trying to figure out. I mean, as you move forward to 2028, do you see sort of a reformation of Trumpism? And by that I mean his sort of populist, nationalist position merged or combined with some of the more traditional aspects of conservatism. And by that I mean the George W. Bush era or wing of the party.

I would imagine you would probably almost need a candidate, Anderson, who could coalesce both of those disparate groups together in order to run an effective campaign, particularly if the Vice President wins, she's likely going to run again. So you're going to need that coalition to be viable.

But I don't think he would necessarily go away. I just wonder what the appetite would be if the party realizes we structurally, strategically need to move in a different direction if we are to see some type of electoral success in the future.

BORGER: I think the MAGA movement will live beyond Donald Trump, even if he doesn't win, I do. But, you know, nobody would call Donald Trump an elder statesman. I don't think that's a title many would use, and I don't think he'll fade into the woodwork. But I do think that the movement that he created is just not -- is just not going to go away if he does. I don't think so.

BEDINGFIELD: Yeah. I just think it's this open question of, does MAGAism, does Trumpism exist without the cult of personality of Trump? One.

And then two, what level of influence, or maybe some would say, some in the Republican Party might say interference, does Donald Trump have, you know, if he loses this election but continues to want to kind of exert, you know, his role as the de facto leader of the party? Is he laying hands on somebody he believes is the future of MAGAism?

BORGER: Like Vance. BEDINGFIELD: Like Vance, or is he just tearing down everybody who is trying to take that mantle because he views it as his alone? I mean, I think those are two really big questions the Republican Party is going to have to grapple with.

COOPER: All remains to be seen. Depends on what happens today.

MJ, what are you hearing about the balance of power?

MJ LEE, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, I think for the Harris campaign, it's almost sort of putting the cart before the horse. There are a lot of conversations about what could she do legislatively, how will this actually affect the appointments that she would be able to make to a future Harris administration. But I think for right now, safe to say that they are focused on trying to win this race.

And I think the thing that I have probably picked up on most in terms of how they are feeling about tonight and this week is caveated optimism and caveated bullishness too, depending on who you're talking to. You know, this is a candidate and a campaign that I think from the very, very beginning, they have been so deliberately careful about billing themselves the underdogs.

Even, I think, after the initial first few weeks when a lot of folks were saying, boy, she couldn't have had a better start to a presidential campaign. Even then, they were just unwilling to say, OK, now we feel like we've got this in the bag. And now I think what has been interesting about the last, you know, couple of days to the last week or so is that we've seen a little bit of bullishness creep in, particularly in the way that they have talked about the early voting data that they have seen and the people who have made up their minds in the last couple of days or so. They say that these people are hearing the rhetoric that is coming from Donald Trump, that is coming from Trump and his surrogates, and that that is having an effect.

Now, I say caveated, and I really lean into that because at the end of the day, you know, Kate could speak to this. I think Democrats are so mindful of the fact that this is, after all, Donald Trump and Donald Trump supporters, and they do not think that they should be underestimated.

COOPER: Kate, I mean, there could not be two more different closing arguments. Or, I mean, I don't even know if the former president is making a closing argument. Just say, you know, the close of the campaign, two different closes to a campaign.

BEDINGFIELD: Closing asides, closing rambling. Yeah, and, you know, it's so interesting that Donald Trump has spent the entirety of this campaign doing nothing to try to expand his coalition, and I think you see that on display here in the final day of the campaign. You have Trump kind of up at his final rally, you know, playing the hits, talking about his previous, you know, grievances, making it about him.

You know, and by contrast, you have Kamala Harris out saying, you know, I am building an inclusive future. I want you to be part of it. You know, come get in the tent, basically.

And you have Trump saying, you know, this is all about me, and at the end of the day, this is about whether I am going to be vindicated for having lost an election that I refuse to admit that I lost.

It's interesting to me that in a time where anti-incumbent sentiment is pretty high, and Trump really would have had an opportunity, I think, to run a campaign that was about bringing in some people who feel disaffected. And he chose not to do it. So an interesting choice.

BORGER: He wouldn't even bring in Nikki Haley.

BEDINGFIELD: Yeah. Well, yeah.

BORGER: He didn't even want a campaign with her. So, you know, Donald Trump's closing argument was about grievance. And in her closing argument, they were very careful not to mention Donald Trump.

[11:30:00]