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The Source with Kaitlan Collins
First Votes Coming In From Wisconsin Supreme Court Race; Sen. Booker Breaks Record For Longest Speech In Senate History; Liberal Judge Leads Wisconsin Supreme Court Race. Aired 9-10p ET
Aired April 01, 2025 - 21:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: They think, him coming out there in person, bringing all that attention on the race, convinced many Democrats who might have thought, I'm exhausted, I have fatigue, I'm still mad about November, I'm not going to vote. These Democratic organizers, Jake, saying, they think Elon Musk actually helped their turnout, even as he spends all that money to help Republican turnout.
And we'll get votes in just a few minutes.
JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Yes, of course, Elon Musk now known for more controversial things than what he was known for in 2024 because, of course, he's been taking that chainsaw to the federal government, and some of those cuts have been very controversial.
Voting is about to end, across Wisconsin, in an election that will determine ideological control of the state Supreme Court, and test support for Elon Musk's political influence.
And we have a key race alert for you now, in battleground Wisconsin. It is too early to call in the state Supreme Court race. We are waiting for the very first results from Wisconsin. So, we do not have anything for you yet.
CNN Political Director, David Chalian, is going to take a closer look at the race for us.
David, Elon Musk been a huge factor in the contest. Tell us what the numbers show.
DAVID CHALIAN, CNN WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF & POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Yes, the biggest factor, Jake, when you look at the money he has spent, if you look at Elon Musk's money, with himself and allied groups, $22.6 million from Elon Musk and his allied groups are in this race.
Take a look how it lines up against other wealthy folks who have invested in this race, on both sides of the aisle. And you'll see here in this stack, Elon Musk is in a category by himself with that $22.6 million. You see the next Republican donors at $7.5 million. George Soros on the Democratic side, down at $2 million in on this race, Jake.
What about the total ad spend in this race? More than $77 million spent in total. That was as of yesterday in this race. $42 million on the pro-Crawford side, the progressive liberal side. $35 million on the pro-Schimel side, the conservative Republican side of the equation here. So, the liberal side has outspent Republicans here.
And if you look at the history, among judicial contests, in this country, this is by far the most expensive. We're at $90 million, as of yesterday. I think I saw that go up to nearly $100 million. When everything is accounted for, this will be more than a $100 million race for a single Supreme Court seat, in one state, by far the most expensive in history, Jake.
TAPPER: Pretty shocking.
CNN's Kaitlan Collins is joining us once again, from the White House.
Kaitlan, what are we learning about President Trump's thinking, when it comes to Elon Musk pouring so much time and money into the race?
KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR & CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well they're waiting to see, does his millions that he's spent on this race pay off, Jake. Obviously, they certainly believe it did in the 2024 general election, on the money that he spent to help get President Trump back here at the White House.
And Jeff Zeleny is here with me.
And Jeff, obviously, this is something that the White House has been watching closely. I mean, Elon Musk has become someone who was not just a close ally of Trump's on the campaign trail.
He has remained so, since Trump took office here, and has certainly been out there, tying himself very closely to Brad Schimel, who himself has tied himself very closely to President Trump. He dressed as him for Halloween, last year, even, as we've seen just how much he has made his campaign race about the President, even if the President is not on the ballot.
JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: And even though we're only on the first day of April, at the -- at the beginning of this administration, it's impossible to sort of think of how different this moment is with Elon Musk then-November.
He is an entirely different factor in this race. He largely stayed in Pennsylvania. He's spent so much money to help the Trump campaign. But this has been entirely different. I mean, this has entirely evolved around Elon Musk in Wisconsin. And that is something that certainly was blessed by the President. He has his support to be out there. And they thought that he could be helpful, and this is the reason why, to try and get some of those Trump voters out.
But for the President, the last three elections, the presidential election in Wisconsin decided by one point. But early voting was so important, last fall. I was just talking to a Republican, who confirmed my memory, who said that he would not have won likely without the early voting. So, they are still holding on hope. The Trump campaign, the Republicans, are holding on hope that early voting will be helpful in this race tonight.
But the Elon Musk factor is such a wild card, because we already know he is going to be investing so much money. He already is, in House and Senate races for the midterms. So this isn't only a referendum on Donald Trump. It's a referendum on Elon Musk.
COLLINS: And that's Brad Schimel, I should note, as we're waiting and watching as the White House is very much keeping an eye on this.
The President's been tweeting and posting about the Florida results.
Obviously, they are also waiting to see what happens in Wisconsin, because the Supreme Court there is always such the arbiter of these hot-button issues that we've been focused so closely on. They've got a divided government there, and the Supreme Court plays a huge role in that.
But I think you make a great point about Elon Musk, in terms of when he was having such a huge role in the 2024 election, we had not seen him yet as Special Government employee Elon Musk--
ZELENY: Right.
COLLINS: --in charge of DOGE, with even concerns from some Republicans at times, though a lot of them obviously praise him publicly. This is kind of maybe the first time to get an indication of that. And the President obviously has such a strong political acumen that when it comes to reading the tea leaves, there is a question of how much he'll be looking at that.
[21:05:00]
ZELENY: I think, without question. But for Trump, it's sort of a win- win, because if they do lose tonight, he can sort of blame it on Elon Musk.
But at the end of the day, at the beginning of this Trump administration, my question is, as we've been talking to advisers here, all day, who've been watching this very carefully -- we heard from Ron Johnson, the Republican senator from Wisconsin, earlier tonight, raising questions about the President's economic agenda, the tariffs that he's going to announce from here at the White House, that really affects dairy farmers. It affects the manufacturing sector in Wisconsin. So that's what this race is also about.
So, I think that the President, he certainly isn't going to change course if they do happen to lose tonight. And if they win, he certainly won't either. But it is an early reminder here that voters are weighing in.
But the Musk factor hanging over this, and how these cutting of programs in Washington have been local issues, because things are being cut in their neighborhoods, research facilities and other things. So that is also what is so fascinating by this, sort of an early look at the first quarter, if you will, of this administration.
COLLINS: Yes, and could see what it means for the role he plays in the midterms, where obviously his--
ZELENY: Yes.
COLLINS: --his unlimited funds could have a major factor in that.
Jeff Zeleny, thank you for that.
Anderson, back to you.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, Kaitlan, thanks very much.
Elon Musk was on Fox, earlier today, talking about the money he has put in to Wisconsin, and why he's so involved in Wisconsin. Let's take a look at that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ELON MUSK, ADVISER TO PRES. TRUMP: The House is currently Republican by a razor-thin margin, which means that losing this judge race has good chance of causing Republicans to lose control of the House. If you lose control of the House, there will be non-stop impeachment hearings.
They're going to do everything possible to stop the agenda that the American people voted for.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Ashley, is he right about that?
ASHLEY ALLISON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR, FORMER OBAMA WHITE HOUSE SENIOR ADVISER: No. Elon Musk has a case that is going to go before the Wisconsin Supreme Court. It's a conflict of interest. It's OK to care about the cases that you're going in front of the Supreme Court. I think it is problematic when you then try and influence the election, so that the case goes in your favor.
I also think that there are a lot of cases that do come before the Supreme Court that have real-life consequences. I spoke earlier about the case around abortion. And we assume that there will a case -- a case that comes up in Wisconsin.
But look, people are allowed to elect the judges that they want to, and it shouldn't be influenced, I'll say, on both sides. I've been a strong advocate of dark money in elections. I think that the amount of money that we are spending on this state Supreme Court race is almost criminal, in my opinion.
COOPER: I just want to play some sound that Susan Crawford, the liberal candidate for judge, in the state, said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SUSAN CRAWFORD, WISCONSIN SUPREME COURT CANDIDATE: The involvement of Elon Musk specifically, is something I did feel that I had to comment on, particularly when he started, you know, engaging in shenanigans, like paying voters to sign petitions, and giving away a million dollars to, you know, obviously pre-selected people, supporting my opponent. I don't think that's democratic to, for a billionaire, to use his wealth in that way.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Scott?
SCOTT JENNINGS, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST AND CORPORATE PR ADVISER: Well, Democrats have billionaires too. I guess, it just depends on if you get the right politics, it's OK.
I think the reason he's using these broad talking points, and this broad message, and connecting it to macro, big issues is because our politics has become nationalized. And the Republicans now have all these voters who are in the party, low-propensity voters, no real, demonstrable history of turning out. And to them, all politics is national.
And so, to get them interested in a Supreme Court race in Wisconsin, or even a congressional race in Florida, or a local race somewhere else, you have to connect it to the bigger picture. And I think that's what he's trying to do. I don't know if he'll be successful. But my suspicion is, this is going to be an ongoing theme of the Republican Party.
You got these new voters. They're not terribly politically connected. They don't follow the political news, on a day-to-day basis. But they would understand very broad, sweeping themes to connect your vote here, to the larger outcomes there.
COOPER: Mandela, I mean, how does it play in Wisconsin?
MANDELA BARNES, (D) FORMER WISCONSIN LT. GOVERNOR: No Democrat has spent over a quarter million dollars in a presidential race, and then inserted themselves in the daily affairs of governing.
And we're looking at the $20 million that Elon Musk has dumped into this campaign, which dwarfs spending by even other rich Republicans, let alone the $2 million or like $3 million combined from JB Pritzker and Soros. This is not comparing apples to oranges anyway. This is a grape and a watermelon. And so people in Wisconsin--
JENNINGS: How much is -- how much is acceptable?
BARNES: Well--
JENNINGS: What's the limit that makes the--
BARNES: Well, I think we should get big money out of politics.
JENNINGS: Is it $2 million?
BARNES: I am -- I am--
JENNINGS: Is it $3 million?
BARNES: I am very clear about getting big money out of politics.
ALLISON: Yes.
BARNES: I think there should be contribution limits.
And I think that a person who is give -- it has always been clear that people that donate at that level, have an agenda. It has never been as evident as it is right now, with Elon Musk purging the federal government workforce, in an attempt to privatize and give contracts to his own companies. That is the big difference here. And also--
COOPER: Do you think it motivates some voters, in Wisconsin, to come out to vote against his candidate?
[21:10:00]
BARNES: Well, I can tell you, I like -- I put myself through the arduous task of watching a part of that town hall. And I can tell you, the only reason that some people were there was for the chance to win a million dollars.
ALYSSA FARAH GRIFFIN, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR, FORMER TRUMP WHITE HOUSE COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: Well, listen, I think that if this Wisconsin race goes in favor of the more conservative-leaning judge, this could prove to be kind of a successful one-two punch of Elon and Donald Trump.
I strongly believe Trump cared way more about these Florida House seats, and this -- his House majority--
ALLISON: Yes.
FARAH GRIFFIN: --and his ability to get his agenda through in the first two years.
He's got this sort of PTSD of his first term, where he felt like a lot was blocked in those first two years. He even recalled Elise Stefanik, the appointed U.N. ambassador, to come back to the House, because he was so worried about the margins.
But Elon Musk cares about this seat, arguably, for other reasons. But it's still aligned with Donald Trump's agenda. He's been tweeting about this ballot initiative, related to voter ID that's on the ballot tonight in Wisconsin.
So if it goes their way, that's great. If it doesn't, I think it's really easy to place the blame on Elon Musk, which is something Trump's fine doing.
COOPER: Yes.
Let's go back to Jake.
TAPPER: Thanks, Anderson. We have a key race alert for you now. The polls closed in Wisconsin about 11 minutes ago. And right now, we have some votes. Not a lot. But conservative Brad Schimel is ahead with 63.9 percent of the vote. Liberal Susan Crawford has 36.1 percent of the vote. Schimel is up by 398 votes. Obviously, this is a mere scattering, a sampling of votes.
And John King, where is this -- I don't know what you would call them. It's a little sprinkle, a little dusting of votes.
KING: Jake, yes--
TAPPER: A dusting of votes, where are they coming from?
KING: It's a first sample, Jake. They're coming from where Brad Schimel calls home. They're coming from right here, in the suburbs, west of Milwaukee, in Waukesha--
TAPPER: Oh, Waukesha.
KING: --Waukesha County. He is a Waukesha County Judge.
Susan Crawford, the liberal candidate -- again, one more time, I'm going to explain this. Well I'm explaining it more than one more time. You're used to seeing red and blue at home. I know that. So this is going to be confusing for a lot of people. On paper, judicial elections in Wisconsin are non-partisan, so we list them as purple.
Again, with all the money going in here, all the politics going in here--
TAPPER: He's the conservative.
KING: He is the conservative. She is the liberal.
He actually was the Republican statewide Attorney General. But this is where he is a county judge, in Waukesha County. So, he is winning there by a decent margin early on. But it's a tiny percentage of the vote. But this county will be absolutely key, it always is, in Wisconsin.
Wisconsin has a pretty good code. So, I'm going to look and show this up here. You're looking at all the blank map right now. I'm just going to go back to the presidential map to show you, Wisconsin has a pretty predictable code for its very, very, very competitive elections.
So let's pick 2024, and let's bring up the presidential race. Again, Donald Trump, both times he was elected president, narrowly won Wisconsin by almost 30,000 votes. This time, was 21 -- 22,000 before that.
But where were we a minute ago? Waukesha, just west here in Milwaukee, right? So you see right here. For Democrats, you have to run it up in Milwaukee, run it up in Dane County, that's Madison. That is where Susan Crawford is a county judge in that county. Democrats have to run it up there. And then it almost always comes down to what are called the WOW counties, which is Waukesha, Ozaukee, and Washington. That is the suburban loop around there. And what happened in 2024 is Donald Trump won them. He also won them in 2016. Harris actually did a little better than Biden in 2024 in these counties.
So, here's one of the questions, right? Trump is popular there. Trump won those counties. The question is, what happens in this judicial race when there are both critical state issues, abortion rights, voting rights and so on. And of course, the nationalized climate, including Elon Musk being out there.
You see right there, what's happening there. Brad Schimel still ahead by 1,800. So you have the Waukesha votes that we just talked about, where he has this margin there above -- little 2,000 and a little change. And then we have our first votes in the La Crosse, which tends to be a more Democratic area. And you have Susan Crawford, the liberal candidate, running ahead there, with 7 percent of the vote.
The question is, now we're going to count them. Wisconsin is almost always close, which means we may be here a while. But we have the first votes coming in. And as you watch them come in, obviously the big urban areas are where you get the most votes.
So you watch for Milwaukee first, and you go up to Green Bay, Eau Claire, La Crosse, Oshkosh, and then, of course, in the Madison area, off we go. Expect all this to come in the lighter shade, lavender, we can call that, and call this purple, I guess, as we go through it. But now we count, in a highly competitive race.
And again, I was texting with people, when you're having the panel conversation, who say, turn out -- they are surprised that they think the turnout is robust. When I was out there a few weeks ago, you could see a lot of fatigue. Because in Wisconsin, you just had the presidential race. Couple years before that, you had another one of these Supreme Court races to shift the balance of the court.
And you talk to Wisconsin voters, whether Democrats or Republicans or Independents, they say, Like, every 10 minutes, they're telling us to vote tomorrow in the most important election of your lifetime.
TAPPER: Right.
KING: That gets tiring. But this is an -- enormous consequences, because of the issues at stake in the state, let alone the national conference, Jake.
TAPPER: And they also had, like, a recall election of the governor--
KING: Yes, right.
TAPPER: --or something like that, right, or something? There was--
KING: There was and it--
TAPPER: There were other attempts? KING: Yes, right. Attempts to do--
TAPPER: Against Scott Walker? Yes.
KING: Every -- yes.
TAPPER: Anyway, only 1 percent of the vote in Wisconsin.
KING: Yes.
TAPPER: But the votes are coming in, Anderson.
[21:15:00]
COOPER: Yes, long way to go watching that. Jake, thanks very much.
Back here with the team.
Again, just this is a--
ALLISON: Yes.
COOPER: --a Supreme Court race in Wisconsin, a $100 million being spent. It's--
ALLISON: Yes, it--
COOPER: It's insane.
ALLISON: It is insane. And I wonder -- I often -- when we spend all this money on elections, I'm like, Wow, if we just, like, could do that for child hunger, you know, like, what a country this would be.
But I want to say, pick up on a point that Scott made, in the last segment, about the Republicans really leaning into this being, All politics is national. I actually think that that is true for the low- propensity voters that you have in your party. They connect the political experience, right now, to Donald Trump, this national figure.
This is a challenge and an opportunity for Democrats right now, because the national narrative of Donald Trump is what it is, right? We all know it.
And but it -- the reason why those low-propensity Trump voters need to care about the local impact is that when Donald Trump makes a national -- implies tariffs, across -- blanket tariffs, it impacts you locally. When he does things to Medicaid and Medicare, it impacts your local office, where they won't be able to pick up the phones. All of these national politics have local consequences.
And so, I think it's been a challenge, in different eras, for both of our parties. But right now, based off of the election in November, Republicans were able to seize on that. Democrats have to really capture this opportunity to make people feel that national impact to their local pocketbook issues. BARNES: And I'm glad you brought up tariffs, because costs are going to go up for the American people, and it's a very individualistic way of going about it. And you can be strategic with tariffs, but these are just out of spite.
And again, it's a very individualistic way to go about things. The individual is not the country, unfortunately. Also, the individual is Donald Trump. He wants to seem like a person who's looking out for the average person. But it's the average person this country is going to pay the price for his hubris (ph).
COOPER: Do we know what kind of an impact all this money has on the actual court decisions? I mean, if you are a judge who has been elected with people given tens of millions of dollars, I mean, how can that -- do you think that influences things?
ALLISON: Yes. I mean, yes. OK, let's just think about human nature. I think it's why when Donald Trump goes up to Roberts, and -- at the Joint Congress and is like, Thank you, I won't forget. We're like, Forget what? You know, like, Wait a minute, what?
FARAH GRIFFIN: But he did rebuke him shortly after.
ALLISON: He did. He did. But it gives pause. I mean, if somebody helps you get someplace, the fear is that that when you want judges to be impartial, and I would hope that -- I don't know these people, so I would assume that both will be impartial.
(CROSSTALK)
BARNES: That's the point--
COOPER: Are you implying that because Clarence Thomas rode on somebody's plane, and on their boat?
JENNINGS: I disagree with this. I think, look, I--
ALLISON: Yes, I am.
JENNINGS: I actually think whoever wins this race -- I mean, one is a liberal jurist, one is a more conservative jurist. I would expect that most of the time they would wind up adhering to their legal and perhaps personal political ideology, on most cases.
I actually think we are a little cynical about -- I'm a big fan of candidates. I like it when people run for office, no matter what. I respect it. And I just don't think people are that easily bought. Now, that's not to say people haven't been bought in the course of American history. But I guess I'm going to go glass half full on your question.
FARAH GRIFFIN: Well, there's also correlation between how long the term they're serving for is how independent they're able to be, and if they have a shorter term.
I think in a House race, where you're basically constantly running for reelection, someone cuts you a massive check to your super PAC-- ALLISON: Yes.
FARAH GRIFFIN: --there's a -- there's a bit. But even a six -- you know, six years in the Senate, you see senators break significantly more with presidents than you do House members. If it's a decade long or longer judicial appointment, there's going to be a lot more independence.
COOPER: Mandela -- then we can go.
BARNES: Yes, I can tell you, even from my own experience, I've had people who've donated heavily to my campaign, who I've never met before, who don't even want to hear from me. And this is a different situation, because Elon Musk has inserted himself in every aspect, almost, of our lives at this point.
And I was trying to say to Ashley too, that, I brought you into this role, I can take you out. That is the mentality of an Elon Musk or Donald Trump. So sure there's going to be influence. Most people wouldn't even know Brad Schimel's name if it weren't for the money that Elon Musk has spent.
COOPER: We expect more votes to come in from the Wisconsin Supreme Court race, any moment. Will it turn out to be as close as the Democrat-endorsed candidate has predicted?
Also ahead, we'll join the Democratic senator, Cory Booker, fresh from his record-breaking marathon anti-Trump speech on the Senate floor. Be right back.
[21:20:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
TAPPER: Welcome back. And we have a key race alert.
The votes are coming in. 7 percent of the estimated vote out of Wisconsin. And in that state Supreme Court race, the liberal judge, Susan Crawford, has taken a slight lead. She has 50.2 percent of the vote. With conservative, Brad Schimel, with 49.7 percent of the vote.
The judge, from the Madison, Wisconsin area, is 768 votes ahead, and I suspect it's going to be going back and forth with this very narrow margin, as we continue. Only 7 percent of the vote in, and it is neck and neck.
And Senator Klobuchar, we were mentioning, you were just in Wisconsin, rallying the troops, as it were, for the liberal judge, Judge Crawford. A $100 million for this one state Supreme Court.
KASIE HUNT, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Unbelievable.
TAPPER: And people wonder, where's that money going? Well, some of it's going to ads. We have a little sampling of some of the ads that are filling, clogging, whatever people want to use, whatever people want to use the airwaves, for our friends in Wisconsin. Here's a little sample.
[21:25:00]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: President Trump's fighting back. But a liberal judge ordered deportation flights to be turned around. We don't need another liberal judge.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Elon Musk bought his way to unelected power. Now, with Brad Schimel, he's trying to buy his way into our state Supreme Court.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: Interesting stuff.
SEN. AMY KLOBUCHAR (D-MN): There we go.
TAPPER: Not really about either of the--
KLOBUCHAR: Yes.
TAPPER: --of the candidates, per se.
KLOBUCHAR: Right. Obviously, she had nothing to do with that ruling. And those are the kinds of things that happens in these races. I will say, when you talk to someone, like Tammy Baldwin, who has consistently beaten the odds and won in Wisconsin, you see how it's done. And it's a grassroots effort. And it's, she's ahead. I'm looking right now. She's ahead right now, and she is -- we always knew it's going to be a close race.
But I think your first, the first thing you said was most important. It's the most expensive race in the history of judicial races, in the nation. And that is because it's been escalated by the likes of Elon Musk. And I continue to believe that Wisconsin is not for sale. It's not for sale.
TAPPER: Well how do you -- how do you do it in Minnesota?
KLOBUCHAR: And that's going to resonate with the people.
TAPPER: Do you have elections for your state Supreme Court?
KLOBUCHAR: Yes.
TAPPER: And back in Pennsylvania, they appoint them.
KLOBUCHAR: We have elections, but they are -- they are incumbents running. They are first appointed, and then they stand for election. And that is a kind of a hybrid way of doing it.
But in this state, I think you know what's on the line with the formerly gerrymandered districts, with reproductive rights. And then, of course, this has become nationalized beyond this fine judge. She was a prosecutor, circuit judge. Imagine being her. She goes from being a circuit judge running, and suddenly Elon Musk is wearing a Cheesehead in her state, and giving away million-dollar checks. That's what our politics has become right now.
But I think what you're seeing is that we are -- we are in this fight in a big way, and that's why you saw the race turnover in Pennsylvania, where you see these tightening numbers in deep red districts in Florida, where we're beating the odds by double points from before, people are turning out and voting.
ABBY PHILLIP, CNN ANCHOR: It seems like the nationalizing of the race, though, is so much more important for Republicans than it is for Democrats, to a degree, because they really do need -- you know, Schimel is basically like getting as close to Donald Trump and Elon Musk as he possibly can, even though he doesn't have an R next to his name, because his -- the voters that he needs to come out really need those people to mean something to them, to get them out of their homes.
I think the Democrats, in a weird way, in Wisconsin, might be benefiting from not having a clear leader, like there's really no one out there that they can tag her with. And she can run whatever race she wants to run. She can run a little bit against Elon Musk, and run on some of these other issues. It's a different dynamic than you typically see.
But I think here, you actually have the Republicans really needing to make this about more than just the state Supreme Court, making it about these broader dynamics.
HUNT: Senator, where -- when you were out there, most recently, where do you think swing voters are right now? Are they still in the mold of being willing to give Donald Trump a chance here? Or have they moved on already?
KLOBUCHAR: They're getting tired of this. I did a 14-county stops in my own state, in rural areas, and there are farmers showing up.
There was one small town hall, where one of the activists had a sign that said, This is not normal, and the farmer looked over and said, What does that mean? They didn't -- they're not -- they're showing up, because they are not activists.
But they're starting to see these tariffs are devastating to them. They've got input costs up. They don't have stability. They've got farm funds being frozen, and it's starting to be a huge deal out there in rural America. I don't think it's going to show up overnight. But they're angry. And that is a different group of voters than what we're talking about in our traditional base, but that used to sometimes vote Democratic. And I think you're starting to hear that.
And you're seeing Independents show up support -- a state Supreme Court race is unique. You don't have those economic issues as much. But in so many ways, some of those voters, out there, are saying, Wait a minute, I didn't buy into this. I want to have costs go down. Instead, I'm hearing about buying Greenland, and Canada as a 51st state. I love Canada, they think to themselves, I don't want to deal with this, I want them to come and visit me. They are -- they're getting very angry.
TAPPER: Have you seen tourism from Canada go down in Minnesota?
KLOBUCHAR: Oh, yes. Actually, the national statistic that is out there, for those of us working on this tariff issue, 75 percent down tourism from Canada to America right now.
The Canadians are really deliberately, for I understand why, showing, We are not OK with this, we're not OK with the rhetoric, and we're not OK with how you're treating us.
And it's going to have a huge boomerang effect. States like mine, if the biggest trading partner eclipses the second, third and fourth--
TAPPER: Yes.
KLOBUCHAR: --that's it.
[21:30:00]
TAPPER: With 13 percent of the vote in, the Democratic-backed candidate, in the Wisconsin Supreme Court race, has taken the lead. There are still a lot more votes that need to be counted. We're going to stand by for the next batch of votes to drop.
Plus, Democratic New Jersey senator, Cory Booker, just spoke.
And can you believe it? There he is. Do you see him? I don't know if he's on a -- he's on a stool, or if some of his aides are holding him up.
KLOBUCHAR: No, no, he's just an incredible pillar of strength.
TAPPER: Well we're going to talk to him, live, about his 25-hour-five- minute speech, and what he thinks it accomplished. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[21:35:00]
TAPPER: And we're back with CNN's special Election Night coverage.
And while we wait for more results to come in from Wisconsin's crucial state Supreme Court race, let's get to the other major political story of the day.
History was made. Check out this timelapse video we have, of Democratic Senator Cory Booker, from the Garden State of New Jersey, delivering his record-breaking speech on the floor of the U.S. Senate, 25 hours and four minutes, the longest speech in the history of the U.S. Senate.
Take a listen to what he said about the state of the Democratic Party right now. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. CORY BOOKER (D-NJ): I confess that I've been inadequate to the moment. I confess that the Democratic Party has made terrible mistakes that gave a lane to this demagog. I confess, we all must look in the mirror and say, We will do better. And it's not just defining ourselves, what we're against.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: And Senator Booker is joining me now. And for anybody watching at home, please understand, we gave him a chair. He's sitting in a chair right now. The illusion is that--
BOOKER: Thank god.
TAPPER: --the illusion is that he's standing.
But and for people who don't know, you had to stand the whole time.
BOOKER: Yes.
TAPPER: You couldn't take a bathroom break.
BOOKER: No.
TAPPER: The only break of any sort you got was if somebody, one of your colleagues, would ask you a question to give your voice a break.
BOOKER: Yes.
TAPPER: How are you feeling, yes, physically and also emotionally? The longest speech in the history of the U.S. Senate.
BOOKER: Well, I'm physically not in the best shape, but I am emotionally just feeling really fad (ph) right now, and grateful, and kind of just really grateful for a lot of the people, who've lent support to the effort.
And obviously, the constituents, the dozens and dozens of folks who gave me their stories, who gave me their hurt, their pain, their anger, their demands of me, I read, and their really humble offers that tell me what I can do. It was a very -- some very moving speeches.
And then some of my colleagues came on the floor, and just told very emotional stories too, that really sourced me through the whole challenge.
TAPPER: It was obviously a very emotional experience.
Just one more question on the physicality of it, which is, you were a football star at Stanford University. You're 56-years-old now. But you were a football star 20-something years ago. Was this more difficult than being a football star, and taking some of those hits on the gridiron? BOOKER: It was just different, my friend, it was just different. This was real physical challenge. I had to think of a lot of strategic things to do in order to prepare for it. And then -- and you're right, I'm a lot older than that football player, a lot less hair, too.
So, it was a challenge. It was a trial. But I really felt lifted by the energy as Congresspeople started coming over, a lot of my CBC, Congressional Black Caucus friends. It just turned out to be, when the gallery started filling up, it was a lot of folks' energy that really carried me, to try to do, as I sort of framed the whole speech with John Lewis' demand to all of us, as his spirit just talked a lot about doing -- have -- doing good trouble--
TAPPER: Yes.
BOOKER: --and necessary trouble.
TAPPER: That was a very moving part of your speech.
We should note, the previous record was set, rather ignominiously, by then-Democrat, eventually became a Republican, Senator Strom Thurmond, who was filibustering the Civil Rights Act in 1957.
You weren't filibustering anything. You were giving this speech so not to block legislation. But I want to know, what do you say to somebody who says, Why were you doing this?
Other people have done it to block legislation. Ted Cruz did it to try to stop Obamacare, I think he was, doing it in 2013 maybe. Your friend, Senator Chris Murphy, who was there with you the whole time, did it to try to get some gun -- anti-gun legislation votes.
Tell us the purpose of this.
BOOKER: I think we're really at a point in America where things are happening that don't sit right with people of both sides of the aisle.
I did everything I could, to read Republican governors, from the Cato Institute, from the Manhattan Institute, all talking about just the insanity of trying to pass a budget, right now, that's going to blow the biggest single-president record for creating more debt, more deficit, giving tax cuts that are disproportionately going to go to the wealthiest Americans who don't need that tax cut, and then all the while gutting things like Medicaid. It just makes no sense.
[21:40:00]
There are so many things going on by this president, who is trashing our allies, bullying Canada, who is, in many ways, just violating judges' orders, trampling on our Article I power.
So, I just wanted to give a speech that said that, This is not normal.
And we can't normalize it. And all of us have a responsibility to do something different, to take some risks, to be there for each other, and to try to ignite a larger movement in our country, the kind of movement that stopped Donald Trump from taking away the Affordable Care Act.
And perhaps together, collectively, if we all speak out, Republicans, Democrats, Independents, to the absurdity of some of this, perhaps we can make changes, and change some policies, and get some other Republicans to change their votes to stop bad things from happening.
TAPPER: Just to play a little bit more of your speech, you did acknowledge Senator Strom Thurmond, and his record-breaking, until today, 24-hour-18-minute speech to oppose the Civil Rights Act. Let's roll a little bit about what you had to say about Senator Thurmond.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BOOKER: To hate him was wrong. And maybe my ego got too caught up that if I stood here, maybe, maybe, just maybe I could break this record. But the man who tried to stop the rights upon which I stand, I'm not here though because of his speech. I'm here despite his speech.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
BOOKER: I'm here because as powerful as he was, the people were more powerful.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: Now let me -- let me confess. You told me that you were going to try to do this. Now you didn't say that you were going to make it to beat Strom Thurmond. You didn't even know if you were going to make it to the top 10.
BOOKER: Yes.
TAPPER: Chris Murphy, I guess, was number 10, in terms of the history books. I think Ted Cruz was maybe six, or something like that, maybe five.
But in any case, did you think you were going to be able to achieve this? And how does it feel to know that you knocked him out of the history books on--
BOOKER: Well, Chris Murphy and I--
TAPPER: --on that issue?
BOOKER: Chris Murphy and I had a moment around the 15th hour, when we were passing, what we did together. I told Chris Murphy, I wasn't going to sit down if he wasn't going to sit down. So, I did everything that he did for me today, to sort of, you have somebody running point for you, running interference for you.
Chris was amazing, amazing today. And at the 15th hour, he came over to me and said, How are you feeling? And I really, at that point, felt I could do it. I felt I could do it.
And I will tell you, the reality is, is that I really felt the energy of a lot of folks. The gallery was filled. There were colleagues there. My cousin, Pam (ph), she stayed up in the gallery, the entire 24 -- 25 hours. So, I was riding on some really great spiritual power from people around the country, and from people that were there, and just I feel really grateful for them.
And then every time I read a constituent letter, who -- I mean, folks just, when they write letters, sometimes they just really open up the most personal stories from their lives, share their fears, their worries, their anxieties, their demands, their anger. And reading those letters gave me a lot of strength, too. So, I'm just grateful, right now, despite the fact that I'm in rough shape.
TAPPER: You'll be OK. I'm not worried.
BOOKER: I know.
TAPPER: You'll bounce back.
But before you go, what do you say to a person out there, who was inspired by what you did today, making history, who says, Well, I'm -- you know, I'm not a senator, and I can't give a speech, and I can't get on television interviews, but I do want to make a difference.
What do you tell that person, whether they are MAGA, or progressive Democrat, whatever, but somebody who wants to make a difference?
BOOKER: Well, I hope that people listened to how I framed the speech. I really talked about a guy that many of us remember him as Congressman John Lewis, but he was a 21- -- 22-year-old guy, when he went and started to become what we knew now -- know now as one of the bravest people in the civil rights movement.
So, I love what Desmond Tutu says. Do your little bits of good as often as you can, as much as you can, and with the confidence to know that if your little bits of goods combined with other little bits of good, it could overwhelm the world.
And we need some energy now to begin to renew our dream, to redeem our dream in this country, because I think a lot of people are surrendering to cynicism about this country.
And this country wasn't built by cynics. It was people under the most difficult circumstances, like John Lewis, that loved this country, even when it didn't love it -- love it back, but demanded from this country that it be better. And I think we need a lot more people with the vision, and determination, and a little defiance, to try to do what they can to make America live up to its hope, for all of us.
Don't target -- don't -- don't shape your career or your efforts on what you're against and who you're against. Start talking about what America can be, what we're for, what we can do to heal, and grow, and be amazing, together.
[21:45:00]
TAPPER: Senator Cory Booker, Democrat from the great state of New Jersey, congratulations, again, on this accomplishment. And please go get some rest. I would say, Get a beer, but I know you don't drink. But you deserve a beer. You deserve a beer, but maybe not an alcoholic beer. Go have one.
BOOKER: Thanks, Ben (ph). Thank you so much.
TAPPER: All right, Senator. Thanks so much for joining us.
BOOKER: Yes, happy to be here.
TAPPER: The current vote count from the Wisconsin Supreme Court race may be making President Trump and Elon Musk perhaps a tad nervous. Their candidate, at least as of right now, trailing. We'll see what happens when more votes are reported on the other side of this quick break. Stay with us.
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[21:50:00]
TAPPER: And we're back with another key race alert in the Wisconsin Supreme Court race.
Liberal Susan Crawford, the judge from the Madison area, is in the lead, with 56.8 percent of the vote. Conservative Brad Schimel from the Milwaukee area has 43.2 percent of the vote. Crawford, with 43 percent of the vote in, has taken something of a hefty lead here, with 134,141 votes of a lead. That's not nothing, but still, we got a lot more votes to count. Not even half have been counted.
Where are the votes coming in? Because this could help us determine whether or not this is a -- this lead is likely to hold or not.
KING: Well, you want to have a healthy lead in a state where many races, the presidential race, last time, 29,000 votes and change, which was a big, big, bigger, big -- sorry.
TAPPER: 1 percent.
KING: Yes, 1 percent. But the 29,000 that Trump won by was bigger than Biden won in 2020, or that Trump won in 2016.
So, if you're any candidate -- and again, these are non-partisan races, so that's purple here. But she's the Democratic-backed liberal judge from Dane County. He's the Republican judge from Waukesha County. She's got 133,000 vote lead in Wisconsin. That's big. But you're right. We have more to count.
Just want to say most of the gray areas, most, not all, that's where we have no votes in yet, most of them are Republican counties. So you have to be careful. We have to wait. You want to be ahead. But it's the vote count at the end that counts. But it is interesting, and we just -- there we go.
TAPPER: Oh, there it is.
KING: There we go. Technology is interesting. It is interesting, if you look, if you're the Democrat or the liberal candidate, and you need to win in battleground Wisconsin, there's a playbook.
Number one is run it up in Dane County. That's Madison, University of Wisconsin, liberal, and the suburbs around it. Are you running it up in Dane County? Only half of the vote in, but the answer right now is yes. That is where Susan Crawford sits. She's a county judge here. She's a liberal.
Been texting with people out there all night. They say turnout here is above their expectations. That should be good for Democrats. We'll see if it plays out. We're at half. That's one challenge. But that's the number two county in the state.
The number one county in the state, population-wise, is Milwaukee County, the big city of Milwaukee, OK? You have to run it up there. You see that margin there. So that's your building block, if you are the Democrat or the liberal candidate, as Susan Crawford is. And again, 61 percent of the vote. So more to come there.
Then the key test is the suburbs. I'll move the map up a little bit around. And this is where it gets interesting. This is where Brad Schimel is from. He's the conservative candidate. He is winning in his home county.
He's the Waukesha County judge here. He's winning. But he is winning right now -- at the moment, he is winning by a smaller margin than Trump beat Harris here. Harris actually overperformed Biden in the Milwaukee suburbs. She still lost them, but she overperformed Biden.
And Schimel at the moment is winning. We got a ways to go. That looks like a big, healthy margin, and it is, but it's a smaller margin than Trump beat Harris right there.
And this one, let me come up here, in Ozaukee County, Schimel has just pulled ahead. She was ahead a moment ago. This was a 10-point win. This was a 10-point win in this county for Trump, just five months ago. And so you see right now it's essentially even in that county. So this is one of the questions, right?
There's no question Elon Musk's role here was huge. Democrats have made him the new villain. They've made him their turnout monster. A lot of people who came there say the last event when Musk came out, with the Cheesehead hat, might have backfired. Even Republicans say that. Well, he made it too personal out there.
But remember, this is an evenly-divided Supreme Court. A Democrat just left the court -- a liberal just left the court. I shouldn't call her a Democrat. But so the winner here? Well, the ideological balance of the court will go to the winner. Will it go to the conservative? Will it go to the liberal?
Wisconsin has an abortion law that could be before the court, voting rights, drawing congressional, drawing legislative districts, right? The suburbs, the abortion issue in the suburbs.
So yes, we're going to talk about Elon Musk. Yes, we're going to talk about money. We should. We're going to talk about Trump, because he won this state, and it's a big election in a state he won.
But there are also some local issues here, where Democrats think, in these suburbs, when we get to the end of the night, and we're looking at the margins, that maybe the abortion issue did help them a little bit, maybe some of those local issues did.
TAPPER: So, let's take the most successful Democrat to run in--
KING: Just -- I'm sorry to interrupt. But I just want to say, we went from 133 to 161.
TAPPER: 161 with -- yes.
KING: Yes, as votes come in. So the trendline are good for Crawford. But battleground state, we wait.
TAPPER: So, in the last few years, the most successful Democrat to run statewide, I think, is Joe Biden in 2020? Is that right?
KING: Right.
TAPPER: So could you do some of these counties, so we can see what the margins were for Biden--
KING: Sure.
TAPPER: --and compare it to how Crawford is doing. For instance, start with Madison today--
KING: Yes.
TAPPER: --versus Madison -- Dane County, rather, in 2020 -- in 2020.
KING: Right. So, we'll go to some of the Democratic counties. Now we can look at some of the even ones, places where you lose, sometimes, the margins there matter too, right? You just got to keep the other guy running it up.
So this is Dane County, where, look, that's 56 points, 57 points, right there, if you look at that.
[21:55:00]
So let's come back. Let's come back to 2020, when Joe Biden carried Wisconsin. You come to president, you know, he's winning -- yes, so he's got -- he has 76 percent if you round that up, and if you come back to where we are right now, and you come here -- sorry, there's a lot of jabs, because of special election. She's got 79 percent. So, overperforming Biden at the moment in Dane County. And we'll go through this, as we go through the night.
You come to Milwaukee County and more. Again, the darker purple areas are the areas where the Democrats need to run it up. But the margins in these suburbs, around here, and up here, around Green Bay and the like, will make a difference too.
TAPPER: All right, fascinating stuff.
The Democratic-backed candidate maintaining as of now, with less than half of the vote counted, a double-digit lead, in that Wisconsin Supreme Court race.
Coming up next, more votes. Reaction from the former Republican governor of Wisconsin, Scott Walker. Stay with us.
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