2024 - A Blank Canvas

[SaintStan86]

With two weeks to go and many states either conducting early voting or now taking in absentee and mail-in ballots (looking at you, Oregon!), here is where the presidential contest stands on October 21, 2024...

With the controversy surrounding the infamous anti-Republican ad aired during the kickoff game of the NFL season having died down and with Gov. Ron DeSantis having stabilized his support, not to mention the recent troublesome reports on the national debt and defense spending bloat, the map has stabilized in the Florida Governor's favor as Vice President Kamala Harris now also has to deal with the emergence of Forward nominee Andrew Yang as a factor in her presidential campaign struggles. In many states, Yang has been polling as much as 11 percent of the vote (in Maine), which explains the sudden toss-up status of that state (with Harris's poor performance in the more rural 2nd District based in Bangor not helping matters either). Yang is also polling nine percent of the vote in Vermont, where Harris's lead has been cut down to single digits - 47 percent to 37 percent for DeSantis - an unusual number given DeSantis's conservative record that otherwise would have been frowned upon in the traditionally liberal state (though before 1992, Vermont long held out as a progressive Yankee Republican bastion and has not voted for a Republican presidential candidate since George H.W. Bush in 1988, which was also the last year that Vermont elected at least one Republican to both houses in Congress).

Elsewhere on the map, Nevada, Georgia and Arizona have since reverted back to their status as swing states after tilting towards Harris following the first debate. Minnesota, Michigan and Wisconsin remain tilting battlegrounds, with the latter now tilting towards DeSantis, while DeSantis has regained his edge in Ohio and Illinois has suddenly become a potential sleeper battleground with DeSantis polling strongly in downstate Illinois and narrowly leading in Chicago's suburban collar counties. Virginia has also become a battleground, with DeSantis dominating much of the Appalachian and Shenandoah valleys, gaining the upper hand in the Hampton Roads and Richmond metro areas and also now trailing Harris by only single digits in exurban Northern Virginia's Loudoun and Prince William counties. Texas has now clearly moved firmly into DeSantis territory despite millions of dollars being poured into advertising efforts in the state by Democratic donors and super PACs, with both suburban voters in the Texas Triangle between DFW, Houston and the corridor between Austin and San Antonio and Tejano Hispanics along the Rio Grande from Del Rio to Brownsville moving strongly in the GOP's direction, with many polls now pointing to a Republican sweep of the state's five "fajita strip" districts (CDs 15, 23, 27, 28 and 34), which also stretch as far north as San Antonio, Victoria and Corpus Christi, in the latter.

Even states and regions that have long been viewed as favorable to Democrats have started to crack. In the tri-state area surrounding New York City as well as the Delaware Valley around Philadelphia, DeSantis now generally trails Harris by single digits or ties altogether, with Yang posting single digit numbers above the margin of error and/or the difference between the two major party candidates. Colorado and New Mexico have also moved back into competitive territory but still favoring Harris, while Washington and Oregon - two states that have not gone Republican since Ronald Reagan's 1984 landslide - now see Harris leading by only single digits with DeSantis polling over 50 percent east of the Cascades in both states. Even California is no longer considered a lock for the Vice President, as the Vice President's home state is becoming increasingly competitive in Southern California, where DeSantis has opened up a lead in Orange County and is virtually tied in San Diego and the Inland Empire.

While the presidential race certainly remains a tossup with neither candidate at the 270 mark, Harris will have to put on a masterful performance at the next debate and regain the momentum in the closing days to become the nation's first Madam President, and hope for the hoopla surrounding Yang's campaign to die down as well. But with many swing voters being motivated more so by the recent news surrounding the still-mediocre economy, the nation's unstable credit future and issues with the military, time is running out for Harris to make a comeback.

The Senate, meanwhile, clearly has started to move in one particular direction, with the damning reports from last week being a clear influence...

In the most notable change, Arizona is now a tossup with polling showing a dueling battle between Schweikert and Sinema, as Schweikert has more or less coalesced as much of the Republican electorate as possible. However, Sinema's camp insists that momentum "has started to flip back in our favor" following a series of "devastating" ads just released highlighting Schweikert's recent ethical lapses, including backdoor criticism from former rival Rep. Paul Gosar in which Gosar called Schweikert "a son of a b***h who can't change his own underwear" during an interview with a local radio station; Gosar condemned the ad as "divisive" and blasted Sinema for "attempting to cover herself in stealing this seat from the GOP", as well as The Arizona Republic (which endorsed Sinema citing the Senator's "bipartisan voting record" as well as Schweikert's aforementioned ethical troubles).

Tossup races also remain in Vermont, where a three-way power struggle remains between Democrat T.J. Donovan, Republican Brian Dubie and Vermont Progressive Party candidate David Zuckerman, and in Montana, where Sen. Jon Tester has struggled to keep up with Rep. Matt Rosendale in the fundraising department despite being endorsed by virtually every newspaper across the state and garnering a very bipartisan voting record in his three terms serving as the state's senior Senator. New Jersey has also become a tossup with many of the most recent polls vacillating between narrow leads for both Sen. Bob Menendez and GOP challenger Dr. Mehmet Öz, as has Virginia where most recent polls have indicated a virtual tie between Sen. Tim Kaine and GOP rival Jill Vogel. Nebraska and Indiana continue to have fairly competitive GOP Senate races, but Harris's weak polling numbers have dragged down the Democratic ticket in both states. Ohio and Pennsylvania both continue to tilt in favor of Democratic incumbents Sherrod Brown and Bob Casey Jr., though recent polls have indicated a virtual tie with their respective Republican challengers, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan and Dave McCormick.

Other notable shifts include Minnesota, where a recent poll by the Star Tribune has Republican Michele Tafoya with a one-point lead over DFL Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan; Michigan, where the three most recent polls between former Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and current Rep. John James were virtually tied; Maine, which is also now a tossup with State Sen. Rick Bennett now taking a narrow lead over Rep. Chellie Pingree in the most recent poll; New Mexico, where Sen. Martin Heinrich has been trailing GOP challenger Mark Ronchetti in the latest fundraising reports; and Delaware, where businessman and family political scion Ben duPont is now virtually tied with Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester in a recent poll conducted by the Trafalgar Group, though the race remains the latter's to lose giving its traditional blue leanings and aggressive campaigning by the Biden political machine. Washington and Wisconsin continue to be races to lose for the Democrats, but the latter state remains a virtual tossup.

Elsewhere on the Senate map, Florida remains somewhat competitive as the Democrats' ad barrage has reduced Sen. Rick Scott's lead over former Rep. Stephanie Murphy to just above the margin of error, while in Missouri, Sen. Josh Hawley continues to be dogged by both his lingering residency issues as well as his role in former President Donald Trump's attempts to overturn the 2020 election, though few if any polls show a virtual tie with Democratic challenger Nicole Galloway let alone a lead for the latter. Texas has shifted in favor of Rep. Dan Crenshaw in recent weeks, following a robust fundraising report where Crenshaw outraised his Democratic rival, former HUD Secretary Julián Castro, by a nearly 2-1 margin, and also benefited from a devastating ad campaign linking Castro to La Raza Unida, a left-wing political movement his mother Rosie Castro played a key role in during the 1970s, in which the announcer branded Castro a "racist" for "being raised in a household that advocated white genocide"; Crenshaw's campaign had no involvement in this ad which it condemned as "divisive" and "polarizing".

As for the all-Republican runoff in California, Speaker Kevin McCarthy continues to maintain a sizable lead over former Ambassador Ric Grenell in most polling, in addition to also dominating almost every newspaper endorsement across the state, while Grenell continues to rack up endorsements from conservative groups and politicians including fellow Californians Tucker Carlson and Ben Shapiro. Despite concerns that the lack of a Democratic candidate would potentially result in a large undervote that might potentially throw the Senate race into doubt, 80 percent of Democrats have indicated that they intend to vote in the Senate race, with many preferring to pick a "lesser of two evils" or "whichever Republican is the most extreme" depending on the approach, though a notable contingent of pro-Grenell voters has emerged amongst some in the LGBTQ+ community seeking to elevate Grenell as the state's first openly gay Senator.

It is now Thursday, October 24th. After a week of vigorous rallies across the nation, multiple early voting drives, and a slew of forums involving the presidential candidates and those from other races, Ron DeSantis and Kamala Harris are once again joined by Andrew Yang on the debate stage, this time in Reno, Nevada...

Source: Wikimedia Commons Author: NevadaMarCom/Jeff Dow Photography

The campus of the University of Nevada in Reno, Nevada, site of the third presidential debate held on October 24, 2024 at the E.L. Wiegand Fitness Center, shown on the right.

The debate format is a modified Lincoln-Douglas debate format centered on twelve questions selected by a panel of University of Nevada professors and think tank consultants, with each of the candidates starting off four each with their affirmative (or predetermined) case, a negative (or opposing) case provided by each of the other candidates, and only one affirmative rebuttal instead of two. The questions primarily deal with foreign policy with a few focused on other topics as well. Like the second debate, the networks' coverage stretches across all three primetime hours with each of the questions broken down accordingly:

• Affirmative Constructive: The first - or affirmative - candidate asked gets 2 minutes.
• Cross Examination: Each opposing - or negative - candidate gives a question with 45 seconds for the affirmative to answer; each question must be answered before the next question is asked. 2 minutes total.
• Negative Constructive: Each opposing candidate gives a negative one-minute rebuttal before moving on to address the affirmative. 2 minutes total.
• Cross Examination: The affirmative gives a 15-second question to each negative with the next question not asked until the previous question is answered by each negative for approximately 45 seconds. 2 minutes total.
• Affirmative Rebuttal: The affirmative has two minutes to summarize both their response and the negative response(s), and must make their response final with no new evidence provided except to make a conclusive case for their argument. 2 minutes.

Each question is expected to last a total of ten minutes each, with a total of 120 minutes for twelve questions. Each candidate will be afforded two minutes each for an opening statement and three for a closing statement. The total debate, which begins at 8:15 PM ET, is expected to last at least 135 minutes.

While there were a number of notable turns in the debate, one question in particular stood out when brought up by moderator and CBS News Chief Washington Correspondent Major Garrett...

MAJOR GARRETT: On to the next affirmative now, this one concerning the role of U.S. policy towards China and the threat of a nuclear war, from Vice President Harris. The questioner's affirmative is that a peace treaty or agreement with China may be necessary to stave off a potential nuclear attack or cyberattack against the United States, with no guarantee that it will prevent the outsourcing of jobs from the United States or avoid aggression towards Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan. Explain, Madam Vice President...

KAMALA HARRIS: I have no doubt that America has challenges when it comes to competing with China on the global stage, and of course we must be aware of our trade deficit when it comes to ensuring that good-paying American jobs are not impacted in any deal we negotiate with China. We do feel for those who feel impacted by the outsourcing of their lower-skilled jobs to other countries, and have emphasized efforts to counter the continued bleed of these manufacturing jobs to other countries with incentives, like what was accomplished in Ohio to grow the semiconductor industry there with thousands of good-paying jobs that also protect our intellectual property and our manufacturing base at the same time.

But as far as preventing companies from outsourcing jobs to China, we must recognize that there are many concerns that must be addressed. If we were to simply demand that China fall in line with our demands to not negatively affect our jobs at home or risk a drawn-out trade war where companies who refuse to follow our demands are threatened with punitive losses, that move does not come without consequences, whether in the form of higher prices for retail goods, a potential invasion of autonomous regions like Hong Kong or Taiwan, or even a worst-case nuclear attack if we were to impose tariffs so punitive that any hope of an equitable treaty that benefits both sides is impossible.

To that extent, it is not worth risking humanity by choosing to be aggressive with President Xi. Therefore, it is unconscionable to risk nuclear war by bullying around a known bully who only knows brute force. Which is why we must pursue peace, likely in the form of a treaty, to ensure a level playing field between both sides. And if a company decides to abandon our shores thinking it will give them profits, then we will respond with an exit tax that can then be used to reward companies who wish to do business in America with incentives and benefits to create millions of good-paying jobs right here at home. We must learn to accept sometimes it's better to lose jobs if it only leads to something better that does not risk endangering our economy or the human race.

MAJOR GARRETT: OK, time expired, Madam Vice President. Mr. Yang...

ANDREW YANG: What about the threat of our intellectual property being stolen, Madame Vice President? Do keep in mind that there are thousands of Americans who see this happen to them under their feet. Does that not faze you enough? Or is peace your only mission?

KAMALA HARRIS: Well I do understand, Mr. Yang, about the concerns people have with intellectual property being stolen. That is why my proposal for protecting our American interests with China starts with increasing penalties for those who knowingly take an American patent without due process. I totally get the concerns that some have about their trade secrets being stolen, I totally get those concerns. But we must also understand that there are hurdles that we must deal with in dealing with property stolen from American inventors, and because China is going to be a ruthless bully, we must ask ourselves if it's worth the cost of something worse happening to us down the line. Remember that the last thing we need is another pointless war where our soldiers and weaponry are left to chance.

MAJOR GARRETT: Time expired. Gov. DeSantis...

RON DESANTIS: You cannot really be serious, can you, Madame Vice President? If China is to be viewed as our friend, then why are we intent on simply giving them the company store? What makes you assume that Americans will simply start fresh a new entity if the entity in question departs for China?

How does Kamala respond, and what do Gov. DeSantis and Andrew Yang have to say? Find out on the next episode of As the World (or rather, The Election) Turns...

[SaintStan86]

The candidates are at the University of Nevada in Reno in the final presidential debate of 2024. Kamala Harris has stressed peace in dealing with China, but her rivals beg to differ. Ron DeSantis, obviously, isn't impressed...

RON DESANTIS: You cannot really be serious, can you, Madame Vice President? If China is to be viewed as our friend, then why are we intent on simply giving them the company store? What makes you assume that Americans will simply start fresh a new entity if the entity in question departs for China?

KAMALA HARRIS: Well Governor, I do think it's wrong that companies would choose to do business with China. I think it's very important that American companies focus on creating American jobs and hire American workers. That's the American ideal. But if a company decides after all that it's better for that company to make money elsewhere, then simply that company is less American to us. What more do you want? To reclaim those jobs by force? Last I checked, if we try to force a multinational to do what we want and the other country gets angry, I'm concerned about a potential wipeout that could be deadly and destructive to our collective will. If you claim to be for free markets, then find a company who's willing to make it in America without fail. That's better than going to war or risking humanity.

MAJOR GARRETT: Time expired. Governor, Mr. Yang, how do y'all respond, starting with Gov. DeSantis?

RON DeSANTIS: My fellow Americans, what you just witnessed was not an olive branch, but rather a white flag to our greatest foreign threat with regards to our economy and the Republic for which we stand, if we can keep it. If Kamala Harris thinks she can wish away a war with China by simply giving them everything without a fight, whether it's our intellectual property, our manufacturing prowess, our collective national pride, then she's going to be in for a very rude awakening because that is the slip our enemies need to not fear our country. We are definitely a country that believes in free trade, but it must work to the benefit of both sides and not just one. If we're going to avoid a reckless war with China, we need to approach the matter from a source of strength and not a mere game of kum-bah-yah like Kamala Harris wants.

MAJOR GARRETT: Time. Mr. Yang?

ANDREW YANG: I have no doubt that China has great potential to be our ally, and Donald Trump was certainly wrong to approach the matter of our trade and manufacturing deficits with rank aggression, thinking he's a lion when he's really more like a hyena. All things said, our American trade secrets should never be left to chance by aggressors from a rogue nation whose values are exactly opposite ours. We must learn to fight the battle in terms of developing technology, in terms of defending our shared interests. It also matters that Hong Kong and Taiwan are given the autonomy to thrive as independent nations, free of interference from the Chinese government, and it's fair to say that the Biden administration hasn't exactly delivered on its promises. It's hard to imagine Kamala Harris being any different.

MAJOR GARRETT: Thank you, candidates. (continues with question)

October 24, 2024
FINAL DEBATE HELD IN NEVADA AS DeSANTIS, YANG DING HARRIS OVER CHINA
Thursday night proved to be more dramatic than a soap opera cliffhanger for three of the leading presidential candidates as Vice President Kamala Harris, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Forward nominee Andrew Yang met in their final debate before next month's election with less than two weeks to go before the votes are counted. Moderated by CBS News Chief Washington Correspondent Major Garrett on the campus of the University of Nevada in Reno, Nev., the final debate - which like past debates emphasized foreign policy - took on a whole new format as it adopted a modified version of a Lincoln-Douglas debate designed for the presidential race, and further modified to accommodate late-surging third party candidate Yang, who has generally pulled from supporters in both parties but more recently has seen his support more lopsidedly come at the expense of the Vice President.

As expected, the debate centered on various topics of interest with regards to national security, foreign policy and related issues such as trade. For instance, DeSantis argued that the costs of pulling out of Afghanistan with few if any guarantees that a civil war involving the Taliban can be avoided "have proven to be too great" and chastised the Vice President for "simply going along with a failed narrative that has proven to be of no benefit to our country or our military". Harris, meanwhile, defended President Biden's decision to leave Afghanistan, calling it "a difficult but necessary move to quietly end our involvement in a war that Americans did not ask to continue long after Osama bin Laden was captured", noting that the War on Terror "should have ended" when bin Laden was captured and taken out by a U.S. Navy SEAL team in 2011. Yang called on an "end to forever wars", while also agreeing with DeSantis on the need to have "some forces left behind to ensure that vulnerable populations like women and children can have their rights protected".

DeSantis stood out as a critic of "excess involvement" by international entities such as the NATO, the European Union and the UN, arguing that "doing what's right for America does not necessitate going along with whatever interventionist solution is deemed best for America's interests", without regards to whether or not the U.S. has any such obligations to a particular country: "No doubt that what Ukraine has been doing has been quite phenomenal against a rank aggressor like Russia, but if we don't have direct foreign obligations with them, then what are we really defending?" Harris responded by arguing that "when a democratically controlled country like Ukraine is facing a threat from a dictatorship like Russia, the last thing we need to be doing is just sitting there pretending like we shouldn't have to worry about an ally being bullied off the map", while Yang argued that "some international involvement in countries who share our values may actually work to our benefit" (though without giving specifics regarding how he would have handled Ukraine.

The modified format for the debate involved Garrett relaying questions selected by a panel of experts mostly linked to the University of Nevada and associated think tanks, all acknowledged as "being the choice of the panel via the candidates' responses and not my own" per Garrett's words, and involved the questioned candidate giving the "affirmative" - or original - response with their opponents giving rebuttals in "the negative". While the aforementioned debate question pool certainly focused on foreign policy matters, a few domestic questions also were worked into the debate. For example, Yang defended his "universal basic income" proposal that was effectively derided by his opponents, but found agreement on the use of cryptocurrency as a "hedge against inflation and future economic shocks"; DeSantis also called for a "forensic audit of the Federal Reserve", while Harris stressed the importance of using variable interest rates for high-risk securities as "a hedge against potential threats to our bond ratings". Harris's rivals did take issue with the Vice President's "coziness with hedge fund managers in shaping monetary policy", which Yang described as "vulture capitalism disguised as 'helping the people'".

However, the turning point for the final debate - and perhaps most significant of all the questions - centered on Harris's argument that a "peace treaty" with China would be preferable to the sort of "peace through strength" strategy favored by DeSantis (and which was used by former President Donald Trump) in dealing with the country's trade deficit with the Middle Kingdom. Harris responded by arguing that it was "not worth risking humanity by choosing to be aggressive with President Xi" with regards to protecting America's economic interests. While Harris attempted to argue in favor of a "peaceful" solution to the country's trade and manufacturing deficit with China that did not risk the threat of a nuclear war or invasion of Hong Kong or Taiwan, the response was met with criticism from DeSantis and Yang.

DeSantis responded by stating that what the audience both in Reno and at home witnessed "was not an olive branch, but rather a white flag to our greatest foreign threat with regards to our economy and the Republic for which we stand, if we can keep it". The Governor then argued in favor of a "peace through strength" approach to confronting the Xi regime, not unlike like the sort of authoritative, tough response to the U.S.S.R. that Ronald Reagan employed in his relations with Mikhail Gorbachev in the 1980s - relations that ultimately brought about increased economic freedoms and eventually the dissolution of the Soviet Union into what is now modern-day Russia, and also vowed to reinstate "the tough but necessary talks that Donald Trump engaged in with China both in defense of not only our economic interests, but also those of Hong Kong and Taiwan". DeSantis also condemned the CCP's treatment of the Uyghur Muslims - long considered one of the more significant human rights crises surrounding the country, and vowing that "If China refuses to treat their workers and minority groups humanely, then tariffs may be a necessary evil to free the Chinese people from the bounds of Communism".

While also agreeing on the need to maintain peaceful relations with China, Yang also took aim at Harris, and argued in his rebuttal that "if not confronting the aggressor that is China is worth losing our trade secrets, falling behind in terms of technology development, manufacturing, education, military strength - then America is in for some very rough years to come". He also took direct aim at China's authoritarian rule over its citizens, and also vowed to make "climate equity" a key component of America's policy on China: "The truth is we don't need to abide by a treaty like Paris (which Harris also defended in her own rebuttal to her rivals) to combat climate change, because we have done our part and China has not". As an American of Taiwanese descent, Yang also stressed the importance of "ensuring that Taiwan and other autonomous regions are able to thrive and eventually break away from China", vowing to make it along with Hong Kong and Macau part of a new "Trans-Pacific Partnership" involving countries who "share our values, play by our rules, and pay their employees fair wages while incentivizing family development".

While each of the camps boasted of their side being "the winning side" as always, independent polls indicated that DeSantis generally was "the overall winner", particularly among blue-collar votes long considered a core element of the Trump political base and considered important in outreach efforts. While some dinged Yang for being "inexperienced" in foreign policy, the Forward nominee was also singled out as a "breath of fresh air" by some voters who viewed the former Democrat as "the sort of noninterventionist outsider who Democrats have clearly forgotten", notwithstanding the largely more neoconservative foreign policy leanings of his running mate, Adam Kinzinger.

Unsurprisingly, Harris's rather clumsy response to the issue of China was met by furious backlash from conservatives and even some old-school liberals like Bill Maher and Joe Rogan who referred to Harris as "a complete sellout to corporate whores who are simply there not for the people she so claims to love, but rather the paycheck" (Maher's words). The response by Harris also drew comparisons to 1988 Democratic nominee Michael Dukakis's response to how he would have handled a situation where Willie Horton murdered his wife - a response that was largely criticized with his landslide defeat to then-Vice President George H.W. Bush that year. The only other matter close to controversial from Thursday's debate centered on DeSantis's response as to whether or not he would agree with the results of the upcoming election if he lost to Harris; DeSantis argued that voter fraud remains a "serious concern" and did not fully agree that he would accept the result if he lost, but gave assurances that "at least in Florida, my legislation to protect the sanctity of our elections will ensure that 2024 will hopefully look nothing like 2020".

Up next: The race for 47 enters the homestretch... (Yay!)

[SaintStan86]

With the debates now behind the candidates, the focus now turns to the closing arguments the candidates are prepared to make in their last-ditch appeal for undecided voters, with one major Sunday TV staple - then as now - giving viewers at home an up-close look at the candidates. But first, a history-making endorsement is made...

October 26, 2024
WALL STREET JOURNAL ENDORSES DeSANTIS; FIRST PRESIDENTIAL ENDORSEMENT SINCE 1928
In its Sunday edition, The Wall Street Journal did something significant the center-right-leaning newspaper had never done in nearly a century: endorse a presidential candidate. That happened in this weekend's edition when the paper endorsed Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for President of the United States. In its endorsement, the Journal's editorial board alluded to the Governor's "steadfast, authoritative leadership in guiding Florida with principled conservative governance that aimed to benefit every Floridian", with a particular focus on maintaining Florida's traditional low-tax, low-regulation economy while also "guiding one of the most effective state legislatures in the nation that passed a sweeping package of conservative red meat, some of it par the course for what can be expected out of red states, some of it more suitable for cheesy talk radio soundbites than actual good governance". In summary, the paper acknowledged DeSantis's gamble in governing as a conservative despite his narrow win in 2018 against Democrat Andrew Gillum, a win that took days to project a winner, as it made its first presidential endorsement since 1928, when the Journal endorsed Republican Herbert Hoover over Democrat Al Smith.

In attempting to be fair, the paper noted that it took each of the major party candidates as well as Forward nominee Andrew Yang seriously and "thoroughly studied" the candidates before making their decision as to whether or not to endorse a candidate let alone actually do so. It also acknowledged that the paper "did not necessarily agree with everything DeSantis championed", with DeSantis's battle with the Walt Disney Company over the "Don't Say Gay" legislation and his subsequent battles with the company and its self-governing property surrounding Walt Disney World serving as "a textbook example of how not to interfere with the spoils of a free economy in the name of 'protecting families'", and also questioned whether or not DeSantis considered it feasible to send his state's National Guard to the U.S. border with Mexico in Texas.

But in the end, the paper defended its decision and also had choice words for Vice President Kamala Harris. While commending Harris for "showing an unwillingness to engage in a bitter trade war with China" that the paper described as "impossible to win" and also arguing in favor of Harris's approach to a pathway to citizenship for Dreamers, the editorial board indicted Harris as "completely out of sync with the struggles of many Americans, including the working class that has long been the cornerstone of the Democratic Party", pointing to Harris's support for a Green New Deal, racial equity in college admissions, and Medicare for All (which the Journal has long been critical of). The editorial board also took direct aim at Harris's "coy attitude in handling the matter of the controversial ad run by a former Republican strategist attacking his former party during the first primetime game of the NFL season", calling it "one of the greatest blunders in the history of American television", and arguing that Harris's apparent agreement with the "tall tales seen in the ad" may have damaged her credibility with most American voters.

During a rally in Greensboro, N.C., DeSantis called the WSJ endorsement "a game changer" and argued "If The Wall Street Journal - a paper that has almost never endorsed a presidential candidate and probably never will in the future - if they had enough cajoles to endorse my candidacy, then how is that not a telltale sign that this election is effectively over?", while also urging the crowd to "All things said, still go out there like we're 20 points behind and campaign your heart out, not just for me, but for (gubernatorial nominee and current Lt. Gov.) Mark Robinson, for (6th District nominee and current State House Majority Whip) Jon Hardister, and for all these amazing candidates that are going to make freedom matter in America once again!"

The Journal was hardly the only newspaper endorsement DeSantis received or would receive in the weekend following the final debate in Reno. Its sister paper, the New York Post, also endorsed DeSantis, calling him "Ronald Reagan for the Millennial set" and arguing that a Harris presidency would mean "doom for the America we love". Hearst Communications, whose San Francisco Chronicle endorsed Harris earlier, saw its other papers make divergent endorsements, with the Houston Chronicle endorsing DeSantis despite many of the same culture war reservations made by the Journal, pointing to DeSantis's embrace of an "all-of-the-above energy policy" and a "deep focus on infrastructure investments" that the more recently left-leaning paper viewed as "being more in tune with Houstonians", while also calling Harris's Green New Deal and Medicare for All stances "untenable" and "potentially calamitous to both our national debt and Houston's economy" (the latter of which is dominated by the energy and healthcare industries). The Times Union in Albany, N.Y., another Hearst paper, endorsed Capital District native Yang (who was born in Schenectady), calling his Forward platform "a complete escape from the culture war slugfest both sides have needlessly engaged in with little to show for it".

Another newspaper chain, McClatchy, saw three of its newspapers make endorsements despite a corporate policy starting with the 2020 election in which its paper would only issue endorsements if both major party candidates were interviewed. The Miami Herald endorsed DeSantis, pointing out that Harris's "hard left turn on economics and seeming indifference on the issues facing Cuban refugees" outweighed their reservations about DeSantis's handling of COVID-19 as well as his spat with Disney, as did the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, which endorsed DeSantis as "the right choice for voters in Tarrant County and beyond" only mere days after Harris interviewed with the paper (as DeSantis did at the paper's request in July). Another McClatchy paper, The Sacramento Bee, endorsed Harris as "more than just the embodiment of the California Dream, but that of the American Dream".

The New Hampshire Union Leader, which denounced Donald Trump in both of his elections and even endorsed Joe Biden in 2020, returned to form and endorsed DeSantis as well, insisting that DeSantis's brand is "completely distinct from the tough-and-rumble, uber-interventionist economic purview of Trump" and stated the Florida Governor "earned his way through the Republican ranks, without throwing money away". DeSantis also received endorsements from the Sun-Sentinel in Fort Lauderdale, the Santa Barbara News-Press (which endorsed Donald Trump both in 2016 and 2020 to controversy), the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (whose endorsement of Trump was the first for a Republican since 1972), the Boston Herald (whose conservative editorial stance and tabloid format has long contrasted with that of The Boston Globe), and the Orange County Register, whose endorsement also extended to its sister papers across Southern California including the Los Angeles Daily News in the San Fernando Valley and The Press-Enterprise in Riverside.

Harris, by contrast, received endorsements from the San Jose-based Mercury News and Oakland-based East Bay Times ("Our hometown girl. Our Next Madam President."), the Las Vegas Sun (whose endorsement contrasted with that of the rival Review-Journal for DeSantis), the St. Louis Post-Dispatch (which has long been one of the more liberal-leaning big city papers and also endorsed Nicole Galloway over Sen. Josh Hawley whom the paper labeled a "carpetbagger" and a "traitor"), and the Star-Ledger in Newark, N.J. (which by contrast endorsed Dr. Mehmet Öz over Sen. Bob Menendez over the latter's "weak moral compass"). Yang also received two notable endorsements from The Philadelphia Inquirer (which viewed DeSantis as "too right for our own liking" but saw Harris as "a major letdown from Hillary Clinton") and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, which remarked "We've seen the Democrats come to town and hide in a bunker (in 2020) and Republicans boast a bit too proudly (2024), and frankly we've seen enough...Only Andrew Yang can give us the 'Forward' motion this country desperately needs". Topping both, however, was his endorsement by the New York Daily News, which called Yang "the radical centrist America desperately needs to restore the people's trust in their government - and their country".

October 27, 2024
60 MINUTES INTERVIEWS CANDIDATES IN FINAL ENSEMBLE APPEARANCE BEFORE ELECTION
On Sunday night, the CBS newsmagazine 60 Minutes devoted virtually its entire program to interviews with the presidential candidates, entitled "The Candidates: In Their Own Words", as early voting is ongoing in all 50 states, with as many as one-fifth of registered voters having already made their decision clear at the ballot box. The first interview conducted was with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who was interviewed by host and correspondent Scott Pelley. During the interview, Pelley questioned DeSantis on why he felt the need to not impose a mask mandate on Floridians, to which DeSantis responded "Well Dr. Anthony Fauci said first they weren't necessary, and then moves the goalposts to do whatever Tedros at the WHO and others think, and then doesn't let off the gas...If you can't really make it make sense, then why even bother advocating for one?"

Pelley also questioned DeSantis on his handling of the controversy surrounding the Walt Disney Company's opposition to his "Don't Say Gay" bill, for example mentioning "What about the fact that Disney's stock price was the only thing that fell, while its profits and ticket sales soared at the box office and at their theme parks?", with DeSantis responding "Well, they are a private company, a Florida institution, and obviously very shrewd at marketing, but it's important to note that they were closed for a good while because of COVID, and were still even doing Zoom calls when they advocated against my bill and even thought about putting woke elements in their next movies", obviously remaining unimpressed with the company's handling of the matter.

While there were tough questions asked by Pelley, there was also a poignant question regarding his wife Casey, "How do you think your wife Casey's battle with breast cancer has improved breast cancer awareness in any way whatsoever?". DeSantis responded, "You know, because of my wife's story Scott, millions of Americans and others have spoken out about their cancer battles, and it has also grown awareness and research dollars and donations as well, and it also influences my support for 'right-to-try' legislation giving Americans with rare conditions the chance they need to fight their disease and even be cured". Most significantly, however, unlike the situation with former President Donald Trump who walked out of his 60 Minutes interview with Lesley Stahl in 2020, DeSantis remained with Pelley to the very end of his interview, with Pelley concluding in studio that "For Ron DeSantis to stay in the arena the whole time is perhaps befitting of his nickname, 'Teflon Ron'".

Vice President Kamala Harris, interviewing with correspondent and CNN anchor Anderson Cooper, remarked candidly about her upbringing in Oakland as she made her remarks on the "pitfalls" and "plateaus" of being Vice President of the United States. However, when asked by Cooper "Do you think you cackle too much for your own liking?", with Harris responding with a long 20-second cackle and closing with, "Ah, it happens to the best of us in the most unexpected places, but when I do it sometimes I'm just having fun, enjoying company, communicating with the average American, instead of bottling yourself up never to be enjoyed by anyone". Cooper then continued "You promise not to cackle any more than you did, can you?", to which Harris replied "I can't make promises about that, but with everything going on, what choice do you have?"

This interview was not to say that Harris did not have serious moments. In fact, when asked by Cooper regarding "climate equity", in which he mentioned "Do you really think that minority communities should be explicitly favored in dealing with climate change?", Harris responded by pointing out that "Most minorities continue to make less money and face greater discrimination in climate change decisions that affect us, so I do think some safeguards are necessary to ensure that every American gets to enjoy the benefits of clean air and renewable energy", while also advocating for "price controls" in the marketing of electric and gas utilities as a means of "promoting racial equity in controlling the cost of living". And when asked about the Supreme Court's rulings against "affirmative action" policies in regards to college admissions, Harris lamented the loss of "guaranteed opportunities for minorities and underrepresented communities that have long been a source of inspiration for them", and vowed to sign an executive order "prioritizing minority groups in college admissions" on her first day in office.

Forward nominee Andrew Yang, who was interviewed by Bill Whitaker, talked about his early days as a lawyer and entrepreneur, remarking about how "nobody likes lawyers" when asked by Whitaker the question "What do you know about lawmaking?" and also stating that his decision to leave the Democratic Party was "the right one, and I don't even miss the freebies they give out at their conventions". When pressed about the feasibility of a universal basic income with the national debt having become a major issue, Yang responded "When you see the neediest of Americans receiving a temporary stipend to get through while they inch towards getting back to work and making more money, that motivates them to go out and prosper, because even the bare necessities people need cost money still, and for some $10 is better than nothing". He also defended his platform position on "holding China accountable" on technology secrets, even calling for "lifetime patent protections" for American inventors in select cases.

Yang also defended the choice of his running mate, Adam Kinzinger, a former GOP Rep. whose neoconservative foreign policy views contrast with his relatively noninterventionist ones. "Foreign policy is just one piece of what a presidential platform is about, and on most of the issues there is more than unites us than divides us, and Adam has always been about country before party, and as Vice President he will ensure that the people's business always comes first", Yang spoke of Kinzinger. He also expressed support for expanding the United States Congress to "meet the current population of the country" and argued that "expanding the U.S. Capitol to meet the needs of a growing, evolving America" is merely "a drop in the bucket compared to what we have spent overseas fighting endless wars and will be spending on the 'safety net' some Americans will always need".

The broadcast of 60 Minutes was watched by over 20 million viewers, also benefiting from strong ratings of the earlier Sunday's NFL games on CBS, including a road victory by the Houston Texans against the Washington Commanders at FedExField outside the nation's capital; per the spurious Commanders Rule (which had not necessarily held since 2012) in which a Commanders (formerly Redskins) loss equated to a presidential win by the party out of power and a win predicted the party in power would win in November, some sports commentators reacted by predicting that DeSantis will be President when Super Bowl LIX takes place in New Orleans next February. The endcap also featured a commentary piece by Libertarian nominee Dave Smith and Green Party nominee Norman Solomon on the importance of "doing your ballot homework before you cast your vote" and a piece by venerable correspondent Lesley Stahl on "the role that voting participation plays in shaping our democracy". (Constitution Party nominee Mike Lindell, for obvious reasons, chose not to appear on this broadcast.)

On the next post: One week to go before the election...Where do the candidates stand? Where are the candidates going? And finally, some last words from the candidates themselves before yet another "most important election in our lifetime" commences"...

[SaintStan86]

Only one week separates the fantasy of what one predicts on the campaign trail from the reality of election results. Where does the presidential race stand after the final curtain call on the debate stage?...

The impact of the final debate on Vice President Kamala Harris's response to China, combined with the continued presence of Andrew Yang despite his middling performance in Reno on Thursday, has put Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis at an advantage one week out from Tuesday. In particular, Arizona and Georgia - the two Trump states in the Sunbelt that flipped blue in 2020 - are now leaning towards DeSantis with average polling numbers showing DeSantis ahead by around three to four points in each state. Many Midwestern states have shifted away from Harris, as the Vice President's clumsy response on China, where she sought peace without regards to the consequences on manufacturing jobs stateside, is believed to have pushed support for DeSantis amongst blue-collar Reagan/Trump Democrats to 2020 Trump levels. Even more dangerous, in many of these states DeSantis is also at near parity with Mitt Romney's 2012 numbers in more suburban areas, either in terms of general GOP support, the non-DeSantis vote or both with Yang's performance in more urban and suburban areas being a wild card.

Specifically, with regards to the Midwest, Iowa, Missouri and Indiana have been all but effectively written off by the Harris campaign, while Ohio is continuing to slip away and Michigan only tilts toward Democrats because of Sen. Gary Peters' presence as the vice presidential running mate; Minnesota, by contrast, has now become a tossup between DeSantis matching Trump's 2020 numbers and Harris matching Obama's 2012 numbers in the Twin Cities (which appears to be giving DeSantis an advantage in the latter's surrounding suburbs), as has Wisconsin, where DeSantis is matching Trump's 2020 numbers in much of the state's rural areas and Romney's 2012 numbers in the suburban Milwaukee WOW counties.

Another area where DeSantis has started to see momentum is in the West, where Montana is now considered a safe state with DeSantis polling as much as 10 points ahead of Senate nominee Matt Rosendale. Oregon, Colorado and New Mexico are now tilting towards Harris as opposed to leaning previously, with GOP internals showing DeSantis with a slight lead, buoyed by above average support from Hispanic voters in the latter two states and a double-digit lead among independents in the former. Nevada remains a pure tossup, though DeSantis's internals show a lead outside the margin of error fueled by rising support from working-class Hispanics in the Las Vegas Valley as well as unified support from rural Nevadans, with a poll for 2nd District GOP incumbent Mark Amodei showing DeSantis up by 20 points.

Polls in the South and East remain relatively unchanged, save for New Hampshire and Maine reverting to tossup status, New Jersey, Connecticut and Delaware all leaning or tilting towards the Democrats as suburban voters across the Acela corridor have expressed concern about the national debt and continued mediocrity with the economy, and some states in the South maintaining some degree of competitiveness due to African American voters particularly drawn to Harris's candidacy, though South Carolina has now fallen into safe territory with the vice presidential candidacy of Nikki Haley having effectively put South Carolina out of reach, while Georgia now leans Republican and Florida clearly favors its favorite son DeSantis, who is polling 15 points ahead of Harris based on an aggregate of the most recent polling; asides from strong polling in South Florida for Harris, though with the possibility that Miami-Dade County will flip towards DeSantis, Orange County which is home to Orlando and Tallahassee's Leon County, DeSantis is winning almost all of Florida's counties.

As for the Senate, the numbers aren't looking rosy for the Democrats either. Unlike the competitive spurts the party had in 2022 to the point of exasperation from some Republicans who feared their side was 'blowing it' over Trump's nominees as well as the overturning of Roe v. Wade, in 2024 the momentum has clearly shifted to the Republicans' side...

On the Senate side, Montana continues to be a tossup in the West, while Nevada and New Mexico have flipped back to this column as Republicans have clawed back in these states. The all-Republican race in California continues to clearly favor Speaker Kevin McCarthy over former Ambassador Ric Grenell, as Democrats are favoring McCarthy by a 2-1 margin in most polling, while conservatives and those who "approve of Donald Trump" continue to largely favor Grenell, who also received the endorsement of the state's American Independent Party (its affiliate of the Constitution Party) and Libertarian Party chapters, as well as that of the left-wing but noninterventionist Peace and Freedom Party (as well as some Democratic-leaning voters drawn to the novelty of Grenell becoming the state's first openly gay Senator).

Ohio and Pennsylvania have also swung into tossup mode, as the aforementioned struggles with Harris among blue-collar voters in the Rust Belt have also started to have an impact on the Senate races here, with the NRSC airing a series of scorched-earth ads linking Sens. Sherrod Brown in Ohio and Bob Casey Jr. in Pennsylvania to Chinese President Xi Jinping; several of the ads feature imagery of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre as well as graphic pictures of Uyghur labor camps (some considered "not suitable for broadcast") with pictures of the Senators in the foreground. The Upper Midwest "blue wall" of Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota also remains tossup territory, along with Virginia and Maine. Vermont continues to see a range of divergent polls despite efforts by retiring Sen. Bernie Sanders to anoint a successor in (unsurprisingly) Lt. Gov. and Vermont Progressive Party nominee David Zuckerman, likely drawing away more liberal voters at the expense of Zuckerman's more moderate Democratic opponent, former state Attorney General T.J. Donovan; the Republican nominee, former Lt. Gov. Brian Dubie, has consistently polled around 30-35 percent of the vote.

One oasis for the Democrats lies in the Arizona desert, where Sen. Kyrsten Sinema - who once was left for dead by her party - now appears poised to score a narrow reelection over Rep. David Schweikert whose recent "behind closed doors" attacks by fellow Rep. Paul Gosar (who has thus far refused to outright endorse Schweikert) have not exactly helped, with some of Gosar's more hardcore supporters endorsing the Libertarian nominee (whose political views are similar to Gosar's hard-right stances). However, Republicans remain optimistic that Schweikert will prevail, and have highlighted "ordinary voters" who voted for Sinema in 2018 but are now backing Schweikert in more recent ads both on local TV and on YouTube.

The competitive states for the Democrats against GOP incumbents - Florida, Indiana, Missouri, Nebraska and Texas - remain virtually unchanged. GOP Rep. Dan Crenshaw appears poised to receive a job promotion to the U.S. Senate over Democratic former HUD Secretary Julián Castro, while aggressive efforts to ding Sens. Rick Scott over his past experience in the healthcare industry (he was the former CEO of what is now HCA Healthcare, a major hospital chain whose leadership style drew controversy in the 1990s) and Josh Hawley over his role in the 2020 election as well as residency issues prior to his family's move-in to their suburban Springfield home, appear to have plateaued. Dark horse races in Indiana (Sen. Mike Braun vs. State Sen. Shelli Yoder) and Nebraska (Sen. Deb Fischer vs. Omaha City Council member Pete Festersen) now appear poised to remain in GOP hands.

October 30, 2024
CANDIDATES MAKE FINAL PUSH AHEAD OF ELECTION DAY
With less than a week to go before Americans find out who their 47th President will be, the candidates are pulling out all the stops to get last-minute votes to the polls. With 30 percent of Americans having already cast a ballot, and another 10 percent likely to do so before the weekend is up, the stakes cannot be any more clearer. For Vice President Kamala Harris, her bid is seen as a chance to make history and to exorcise the demons facing Democratic women following the shock defeat in 2016 of former First Lady and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, whose victory seemed so certain that she did not even prepare a concession speech to Republican nominee Donald Trump.

Trump, for his part, made an appearance near Cleveland on behalf of current GOP nominee Ron DeSantis and U.S. Senate nominee Jim Jordan at none other than Progressive Field, the same venue that is the home diamond of the Cleveland Guardians - whose name change from its historic title, the Cleveland Indians, stirred controversy in conservative circles and even criticism from Trump himself (Trump, who was still referring to himself as a "FORMER baseball fan" in the face of another controversy surrounding Major League Baseball's controversial decision to move the 2021 All-Star Game out of Atlanta over Georgia's election reforms signed into law by Gov. Brian Kemp (himself also a source of derision for Trump over the 2020 result there), lambasted the name change that same year). The controversy with the Guardians also played a factor in the defeat of State Sen. Matt Dolan, who is part of the same family that controls ownership of the team, in the 2022 U.S. Senate primary won by Trump's endorsed pick, current U.S. Sen. J.D. Vance (who was also in attendance on Wednesday).

But at the rally, Trump thanked the Dolans for "at least being gracious enough not to stink up the field any further when we decided to rent this place", as well as for the "great season the Guardians had, fun times!" (The Guardians won the AL Central and were two games shy of the World Series this year), as he proceeded to stump for DeSantis and Jordan. "The Democrats will do everything in their power to wreck this country even worse than Sleepy Joe ever did...no wonder he's running away scared!", Trump proclaimed as he reminisced on how "wonderful the people of Cleveland were, even LeBron James" when the GOP held its convention at nearby Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse in 2016, just weeks after James' Cleveland Cavaliers won the NBA Finals that year. He also lambasted "the state-controlled media" for "the horrible ways that they have treated Jim Jordan, calling him everything from a scab to a traitor to some other name I can't remember", referencing the House Judiciary Committee Chairman's "valiant fight for the truth" in regards to Biden administration controversies as well as those surrounding Biden's son, Hunter.

Republican running mate, Nikki Haley, meanwhile was in Minnesota on Wednesday campaigning for U.S. Sen. nominee Michele Tafoya, who proceeded to call Haley "an amazing role model for women and girls everywhere" and declared "the road to the White House and a robust Senate majority that will get things done runs through Minnesota!" The former ambassador also picked up endorsements from 2022 GOP gubernatorial nominee Scott Jensen, as well as from the state's entire GOP congressional delegation of five members, at the rally near St. Cloud.

Harris, meanwhile, made appearances in Tampa on behalf of U.S. Senate nominee Stephanie Murphy, proclaiming "We are going to shock the world by winning Florida next week, and if that happens, there ain't no stopping us!", and later Wednesday in Atlanta alongside two-time gubernatorial nominee Stacey Abrams, who urged the audience to "get fired up for Kamala and keep Georgia blue!" And Sen. Gary Peters was joined on stage by legendary Eagles vocalist Don Henley and guitarist Joe Walsh at Riverbend Music Center in Cincinnati, in a rally that also featured former Cincinnati Mayor Jerry Springer, Sen. Sherrod Brown and another former Cincinnati Mayor, 1st District nominee John Cranley, as part of an "amphitheater tour" by the vice presidential hopeful (who according to many polls is considered more popular than Harris, especially among blue-collar voters).

November 3, 2024
CANDIDATES USE UP NETWORK AIR TIME TO BROADCAST INFOMERCIALS
As the weekend - and the presidential sweepstakes - draw to a close, the candidates have taken advantage of the airtime provided by the networks for local and national political debates to air program-length infomercials promoting their candidacies - a tactic that has since been repeated by downballot candidates including those for the U.S. Senate. On Friday, ABC and Fox took advantage of spare programming time (as both networks aired college football in primetime, including a top-five matchup between Iowa and Ohio State on the latter, the following day) to grant air time to both the Harris and DeSantis campaigns; DeSantis's infomercial also aired on Fox News with a shortened 30-minute broadcast of Tucker Carlson Tonight airing in place of the Harris infomercial. The infomercials also aired the following Saturday on CBS and NBC affiliates (who both aired Mountain (merger of the former Big 12 and Mountain West) and ACC college football games earlier in the day), and have been airing in late night for the last couple of weeks.

In her infomercial, Harris highlighted stories from "ordinary people" across the country, coupled with her outlining her "100 Days for the People" agenda and vowing "our greatest days are right ahead of us, and as your President, there's no limit to what we can do together". DeSantis also featured many of the same individuals in ordinary situations, and used the stories to promote his "100 Days of Freedom" lineup featuring many of the same conservative platform stances and talking points already highlighted throughout the campaign. Unlike the case with Barack Obama's 2008 "Obamamercial" that concluded with live footage from a rally in Fort Lauderdale, the infomercials did not cut to live shots of their rallies (Harris, in fact, was en route to her rally in Albuquerque when the infomercials aired, while DeSantis was backstage at his in Kansas City, where he appeared alongside Sen. Josh Hawley. The networks' allocated air time - as well as a late Sunday night slot donated by ABC - have also been used to air candidate debates and interviews, as well as documentaries highlighting election issues and even the lives of some of the candidates (one such series being Sinclair Broadcast Group's "The Making of a Candidate" series on its local stations).

The last-minute moves also come as the candidates racked up their final newspaper endorsements of the cycle, with the Orlando Sentinel and Tampa Bay Times quietly backing favorite son DeSantis despite having endorsed his opponents in previous candidacies and having many of the same reservations about his handling of the "Don't Say Gay" controversy with Disney, acknowledging the successes of Florida's economy under DeSantis while also using the endorsements as a "North Star to encourage DeSantis to do what's right for Florida and not just those who simply air Fox News on autopilot"; both papers also found fault with Harris's post-nomination campaign and recent issues with a potential default on the country's finances. And while another Florida paper, The Florida Times-Union, admitted it did not have the resources to provide endorsements for political candidates like it did with Donald Trump in 2016, the paper's editorial board acknowledged their support for DeSantis: "We have no doubt that Gov. DeSantis' ascendance to the White House is one that will be greatly celebrated by many here on the First Coast, and it's fair to say that his rise represents the ultimate embodiment of the American Dream".

The Des Moines Register also endorsed DeSantis over the weekend, and pointed out Harris's struggles with "the agriculture community in this state that is crucial to electoral hopes for both parties": "Whereas DeSantis has laid out a plan to get family farmers back to full strength and champion them, too much of the Harris campaign focus has been on converting cornfields to solar fields and food stamps as Iowans continue to face the threat of outsourcing from agribusiness conglomerates"; the paper has also criticized Iowa political leaders in recent months for being "sitting ducks while foreign entities gobble up our farmland". Both the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette in Little Rock and the online-only New York Sun also endorsed DeSantis, while Long Island's Newsday and the Star Tribune in Minneapolis endorsed Harris. In general, most newspapers that endorsed Mitt Romney in 2012 (many of whom never cared for Trump) backed DeSantis when they did endorse, while almost every paper that backed Obama in 2008 and/or 2012 favored Harris, with a few breaking in favor of Forward nominee Andrew Yang. Rolling Stone endorsed "Kamala Harris (and Gary Peters, too!)", as did The New Yorker and The Atlantic, minus the Peters references.

Up next: The day before...

[SaintStan86]

November 4, 2024
DeSANTIS PULLS OUT STOPS FOR FINAL CAMPAIGN PUSH; TRUMP APPEARS IN ATLANTA CAMPAIGN FINALE
Continuing to maintain a general lead of just under eight points in most recent polls per an aggregate from RealClearPolitics, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis descended on Pennsylvania Monday where he appeared at a rally alongside U.S. Senate nominee Dave McCormick in Williamsport, on the same baseball grounds used for the Little League World Series, which the Republican nominee took part in as a youth. "I am blessed to be back here in Williamsport, on grounds as sacred as apple pie, and who better to bring along the trail than Dave McCormick?", the Governor declared as he proceeded to rattle off a number of key campaign talking points, and also asked the audience "Are you ready to correct course, America? I know we are, that's for darned sure!" The campaign appearance was preceded by a video montage that included a key excerpt from DeSantis's closing speech from the final debate last month:

"My fellow Americans, as we close out this final debate to you, the American people, I want you to think long and hard about what's at stake and ask yourself this simple question as Ronald Reagan famously said: "Are you better off than you were four years ago?", or maybe add to it one more counting COVID?

Are you able to earn an honest day's living in a job you love, one that rewards our country with great pride?

And do you have enough to buy what you like at the stores, in the face of higher prices, give to charity, tithe to church, save for a rainy day if not a new house or start a business?

Is your farm as green and as prosperous as it was then? How about the prospects of your children and their education? Maybe your retirement savings or your adult children's job prospects?

Or what about what our allies think of us, in the face of so much strife overseas from Afghanistan to Ukraine to China? What about our veterans and their futures, some missing a few limbs or even all their arms or legs, even the ability to walk?

What about our energy supply and your ability to get around for even basic daily tasks like driving or heating your home?

What about our manufacturing base and the promise of a good-paying job with American pride and without the politics?

Or even the prospect of a cleaner planet and fair trade, one where countries like Russia and China have no choice but to play by the rules instead of getting undeserved carve-outs while Americans put in all the work and lose without a fight?

And lastly, what about our values as a nation? Are they still worth any meaning, from the sanctity of life to the character of our culture to the dignity of seniors? Or are they just simply archaic and "in the past"?

Four years ago, America was on the path to a rebound with Donald Trump after a horrible virus that has killed millions around the world almost sunk it into the ground. And sadly, because some felt overly anxious without a care of sense in this world, they chose a different path that has left us in a more perilous state, in a more atomized sense of life, one that isn't quite secure for us financially, nor in terms of our energy or food supply or our national security.

If you feel that is the direction America should embrace going forward, then it's quite clear who your choice is. But if you feel America is more divided than it was four years ago, that our economy isn't quite cutting it for you, that you worry about whether your life savings, your children's future or the soundness of our finances is safe, that our urban communities still haven't quite recovered while our farmers continue to languish, and that respect in the world has seemingly been traded in for cheap expediency that neither our allies respect nor our enemies fear, then remember there is a choice.

And if you make me that choice, I promise you a New Day for America. It won't be perfect, for as the good Lord reminds us all no one is. But as your next President, I will never stop fighting for you the American people. Because Freedom Matters."

The rally in Williamsport also featured an appearance by singer Lee Greenwood, who sung his signature song "God Bless the U.S.A." at the end of the rally. DeSantis and McCormick also then traveled later in the day to Subaru Park in Chester, Pennsylvania, the home pitch of Major League Soccer's Philadelphia Union, where they were joined by New Jersey U.S. Senate nominee Dr. Mehmet Öz and Delaware U.S. Senate nominee Ben duPont (the latter of whom is linked by marriage to Öz through his wife) in a "Rally for the (Delaware) Valley" event that filled the entire stadium - both on the field and in the stands. At the rally, DeSantis urged "all of you across Philadelphia - PA, New Jersey, Delaware - please go out there boldly and cast your vote for our great Republican ticket and let's make Freedom Matter once again in this country!"

Endcapping the day was a primetime rally in Atlanta at Truist Park, with DeSantis appearing alongside running mate Nikki Haley at the home diamond of Major League Baseball's Atlanta Braves shortly after 10 p.m. as former President Donald Trump and Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (the latter making his first face-to-face appearance alongside the former President since the ill-fated 2020 election) joined DeSantis on stage after Trump's commanding speech urging the packed stadium to "go out there and send Krazy Kamala packing to California!" Trump and Kemp had a deliberate falling out following the 2020 election that saw Joe Biden win Georgia's 16 electoral votes, with the refusal of Kemp as well as Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (who was not in attendance) to intervene leading to bad blood that culminated in a failed 2022 attempt by Trump to defeat both incumbents in that year's Republican primary.

In his final speech on the campaign trail, as he is set to retire to Tallahassee overnight in preparation for Election Day tomorrow, DeSantis spoke boldly of "the clarion call for great change to happen in this country, to restore what we lost over these last four years" and urge the crowd to "show the Democrats and the media that bullied this wonderful baseball team in this wonderful stadium against their will, and who routinely bully our institutions into submission, our corporations like Coca-Cola into undue compliance, that their days of bossing your fellow Georgians and Americans around are over, because tomorrow night, America will have a new President that will respect the will of corporations trying to care about their customers and not the fantasies of vocal minorities who wish to divide us and bully them into a 'woke' path that hasn't worked out well when tried". Just as the speech ended, members of the audience began performing the "Tomahawk Chop" long associated with the Braves, as DeSantis and the others on stage in Atlanta joined in.

November 4, 2024
VICE PRESIDENT MAKES LAST PUSH FOR VOTES ACROSS NATION AS BARACK OBAMA RALLIES SUPPORTERS IN ARIZONA
Monday proved to be the most penultimate day for the campaign of Vice President Kamala Harris, as the Democratic hopeful began her day in Wisconsin where she rallied for Sen. Tammy Baldwin in the latter's bid for a third term against Republican Rep. Mike Gallagher, whose most recent polls have indicated a slight tilt for Gallagher. In rallying the crowd, Harris stressed the importance of "a woman's right to choose", "a world free of racial division" and "a cleaner environment that benefits all Wisconsinites" during a rally in Milwaukee. At the rally Baldwin warned "A vote for Ron DeSantis and Mike Gallagher is a vote to put Americans of all varieties, of all colors, back into the closet. We cannot afford that as a country, let alone as a human race", as the openly lesbian Senator called on the packed audience to "turn back the tide and paint Wisconsin blue again!"

The rallies were part of a marathon weekend in which Harris, much like her Republican rival Ron DeSantis, criss-crossed the nation stumping for last-minute votes, primarily in states considered important to the outcome of the election with stops in suburban Seattle, in Dallas, and also in Charlotte, Pittsburgh, Columbus, Ohio and Richmond, Va. before she arrived in Milwaukee on Monday. After a quick jaunt through Las Vegas (where she campaigned for Sen. Jacky Rosen and the state's slate of Democratic congressional hopefuls, Harris then traveled to Phoenix to campaign for Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, urging the audience (especially those on the more progressive end) to "put aside your differences, and help us stop the Republicans from taking over complete control of Washington, because if we allow the other side to define what America is for us, who knows what's going to come of it?" While Sinema more or less has the edge in the final days of her Senate reelection bid, the maverick freshman Senator at one point was "left for dead" after a series of controversial votes that scuttled portions of Biden's "Build Back Better" agenda early in the Biden presidency.

The stage in Phoenix for the rest of the night belonged to Harris, who implored the audience to "get fired up and go out there and cast your vote for the one candidate that will truly fight for the people". She was also joined on stage by legendary filmmaker Steven Spielberg, who spent his teenage years and honed the roots of his iconic film career in Phoenix, who then proceeded to energize the audience with a famous quote from his Indiana Jones series: "I think it's time to ask yourself: what do you believe in?", as Spielberg urged the packed audience at Ak-Chin Pavilion to "vote for democracy like your life depends on it". Spielberg then alluded to another one of his works, Schindler's List: "There are generations of Americans who have been inspired by this campaign, so never let the naysayers tell you that you didn't do enough, because you have done so much to get Kamala Harris to where she is, and tomorrow night - it is going to be a beautiful night!"

Harris's concluding rally also dovetailed with the aforementioned "amphitheater tour" of vice presidential running mate Gary Peters, who embarked upon his now-legendary tour since and ended it with a reunion with Harris on the Ak-Chin stage Monday night. Peters' trek across the country also took him to similar amphitheaters including the Blossom Music Center outside Cleveland (alongside Sen. Sherrod Brown), the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion north of Houston (alongside Democratic U.S. Senate hopeful Julián Castro) and the Red Rocks Amphitheatre west of Denver (where he was joined by Gov. and former presidential candidate Jared Polis) before reaching Phoenix.

As for the other presidential candidates, Forward nominee Andrew Yang appeared at Liberty State Park in New Jersey, directly across from the Statue of Liberty, as he remained upbeat and "even more proud of all the amazing volunteers in our campaign than ever before" despite his polling numbers continuing to hover around five percent, urging the crowd of some several thousand supporters to "continue moving the country forward tomorrow". Constitution Party nominee Mike Lindell concluded his campaign with a rally at a hockey arena in Duluth, Minnesota where he "urged the crowd to voice their conscience and send a message to the two establishment parties that our values, our patriotism, and our hard work will no longer be taken for granted", while Libertarian nominee Dave Smith appeared alongside podcaster Joe Rogan in a final appeal for votes at a Denver brewery alongside South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone, and Green Party nominee Norman Solomon concluded his campaign in Davis, California - west of Sacramento, where a friend of running mate Katie Roedersheimer, the daughter of activist Erin Brockovich, performed a cover of "Everyday is a Winding Road" - the Sheryl Crow song that was used in the soundtrack for the 2000 film about Roedersheimer's mother (who was portrayed by Julia Roberts in that film), to close out Solomon's rally.

November 4, 2024
BIDEN WISHES "GOOD LUCK" TO CANDIDATES ON EVE OF ELECTION
As the 2024 presidential election winds to a close, President Joe Biden held a primetime address from the Oval Office, where he spoke to the country on the importance of "yet another election in our glorious democracy". In his statements, Biden noted that had prepared "letters of advice" for both his Vice President, Kamala Harris, and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in advance, and also alluded to the "great work we have done as a nation, restoring the voters' trust in our democracy, creating millions of good-paying jobs for hardworking Americans, making historic investments in our infrastructure and our climate, and transforming democracy like never before". While Biden acknowledged "the going has never been easy knowing the hurdles we've had to cross together, I know for one that America is stronger than we've ever been, and after this election is over, regardless of who wins, we will be even more united".

The retiring President also issued a standard "good luck" to all of the presidential candidates, while also reiterating his support for Harris: "All things said, I still believe that Kamala Harris represents our greatest chance to keep the progress we've been making these last four years going, and as our first Madam President, Kamala Harris will make Americans proud, most especially the millions of young girls and women who will be inspired to participate in our democracy, to run for public office, to fully achieve their dreams in this country, because of the inspiring and encouraging work that she is going to do as our next President." He then wrapped up his speech by concluding "May God continue to bless this amazing country, for which I have been so honored to serve as your President, and may God continue to bless our people."

Compared to the frenetic pace for which the candidates travailed throughout the last few days, the White House was relatively quiet save for Halloween trick-or-treating last week and the President congratulating the New York Mets on their World Series victory over the Toronto Blue Jays, with Fox baseball reporter Ken Rosenthal noting that the President contacted the team shortly after the Mets' uncorked the champagne in their locker room at Citi Field, while ESPN columnist Jeff Passan noted that "President Biden has invited the Mets to, at his own personal expense, an Acela ride to the White House and lunch as well". The President also watched some movies during the weekend, and also took time out of his schedule to attend mass at St. Joseph on the Brandywine back home in Delaware, where he prayed for "a fair and safe election this coming Tuesday".

And, just like that...we have reached this point...

Source: Wikimedia Commons

My Dear Country by Norah Jones

'Twas Halloween and the ghosts were out
And everywhere they'd go, they'd shout
And though I covered my eyes, I knew
They'd go away

But fear's the only thing I saw
And three days later it was clear to all
That nothing is as scary as election day

But the day after is darker
And darker and darker it goes
Who knows, maybe the plans will change
Who knows, maybe he's not deranged

The newsmen know what they know, but they
Know even less than what they say
And I don't know who I can trust
For they come what may

'Cause we believed in our candidate
But even more it's the one we hate
I needed someone I could shake
On election day

But the day after is darker
And deeper and deeper we go
Who knows, maybe it's all a dream
Who knows if I'll wake up and scream

I love the things that you've given me
I cherish you, my dear country
But sometimes I don't understand
The way we play

I love the things that you've given me
And most of all that I am free
To have a song that I can sing
On election day

Next up: ELECTION DAY...

[SaintStan86]

No time to waste. Election Day is here...

November 5, 2024
HARRIS, DeSANTIS CAST BALLOTS AS ELECTION DAY GOES DOWN TO THE WIRE
Tuesday began as expected for the candidates as Vice President Kamala Harris gathered with supporters at a polling precinct in Brentwood on the Westside of Los Angeles, joined by a number of Hollywood celebrities also casting their ballots for the Democratic nominee as she set about on a busy morning of last-minute interviews and voter appeals with hours to go before the country finds out who their next President is. With most polls generally showing her behind her Republican rival, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (though with some showing the Vice President within the margin of error), Harris does not appear to be taking any chances as she took a quick flight to San Diego to meet with campaign volunteers before embarking on a long journey along the 101, making stops along the way in Montecito (where she briefly chatted with former talk show hosts Ellen DeGeneres and Oprah Winfrey and royals Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex) before making a final stop in Monterey en route to San Francisco, where her watch party is already set to get underway at Civic Center Plaza adjacent to San Francisco City Hall. Both Harris and her husband, Doug Emhoff, already cast their ballots absentee.

Meanwhile in Florida, Gov. DeSantis and his wife Casey cast their ballots in Tallahassee as the Republican nominee held a series of interviews and went over final preparations for the evening's watch party in Ponte Vedra Beach, where DeSantis resided and served as the area's Congressman before his ascendence to the Governor's Mansion in 2018, at the clubhouse overlooking the TPC Sawgrass golf course, where the annual Players Championship (a major tournament on the PGA Tour which is headquartered in Ponte Vedra Beach) is held. Speaking before reporters in just a buttoned-down shirt and pants, "I am at peace with the outcome of the election, God willing, and if I'm not the President tonight, then it wasn't meant to be and that's fine. This election belongs to the voters, and it is their call to make", as DeSantis also spent the morning with several PGA golfers, some of whom reside in the area.

DeSantis's running mate, former Ambassador Nikki Haley, cast her ballot earlier in the day in tony Kiawah Island, S.C., southwest of Charleston, where the vice presidential hopeful remarked "I am proud of the work this campaign has done, and if we come out on top, I will take that blessing and used it to my best abilities". She was later joined by South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster (who directly succeeded Haley as Governor upon her appointment to serve as Donald Trump's first Ambassador to the United Nations) at a rally on Hilton Head Island later in the day as she proceeded to stops in Savannah and Brunswick in Georgia before eventually joining Gov. DeSantis in Florida in the early evening. Harris's running mate, Sen. Gary Peters, cast his ballot near his home in Oakland County outside of Detroit, having returned overnight from Phoenix before ultimately flying out to San Francisco to join the Harris campaign. The other candidates also remained in their hometowns preparing for their watch parties tonight, including Forward's Andrew Yang who is hosting a watch party tonight at a hotel outside of New York City.

As for potential Cabinet picks, potential Harris administration favorites indicate a clear break from the largely venerable hires of the Biden administration. One of the few exceptions appears to be for Secretary of State, where Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines is viewed as a potential pick for Secretary of State alongside CIA Director William Burns, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan and Sen. Chris Murphy, who is widely expected to win reelection tonight in Connecticut, while another Biden administration figure, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, is in the running for Attorney General alongside Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia (who is facing a tough reelection) and state-level AGs Tish James of New York and Dana Nessel of Michigan. For Defense Secretary, Michèle Flournoy is widely viewed as the odds-on favorite to become the first female holder of this position, while Federal Reserve Vice Chair Lael Brainard and SEC Chair Gary Gensler are favorites for the position of Treasury Secretary alongside former Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo. Other potential Cabinet picks include former Hormel Foods CEO Jeff Ettinger (who ran a competitive campaign for a congressional seat in Minnesota in 2022) for Agriculture Secretary, senior Biden advisor Neera Tanden and CDC Director Rochelle Walensky for HHS Secretary, and Sen. Michael Bennet of Colorado (who served as Superintendent of Denver Public Schools prior to his appointment to the Senate in 2009) as Education Secretary.

On the Republican side, it is widely reported that a member of Congress from Florida (likely either Byron Donalds, Brian Mast or his direct successor in Congress, Michael Waltz) will serve as Chief of Staff in a DeSantis administration. Several Senators are seen as possibilities for Cabinet posts, including Ted Cruz (mainly Attorney General), Tom Cotton, Ben Sasse (only for Education Secretary), Marco Rubio, Tim Scott and Josh Hawley (all but the latter two of whom ran alongside DeSantis in the GOP primary), along with such Trump administration alums as former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo (though only in a short-term capacity), former Labor Secretary Eugene Scalia, former neurosurgeon and HUD Secretary Ben Carson (for HHS Secretary), former Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli (either at Homeland Security or as Attorney General), former Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe (who served the last eight months of Trump's administration in this role), former DoD advisor Kash Patel, and former White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany (who also served less than a year before Trump departed the presidency, and is the clear favorite to return to her old post).

Two Republican Governors, Virginia's Glenn Youngkin and Iowa's Kim Reynolds, have also been floated as potential Cabinet picks, with much of the rumors surrounding Youngkin centered on the position of Commerce Secretary or even Treasury for the co-CEO of the Carlyle Group. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has ruled out any possibility of serving in a DeSantis administration, preferring instead to "focus more on my duties as Governor of Texas" as he weighs whether or not to run for reelection in 2026, with Rep. Vicente Gonzalez rumored to be considering a run for Governor on the Democratic side regardless of the outcome of his competitive congressional reelection in the 34th District from Brownsville to Corpus Christi. Former Vice President Mike Pence has ruled out any possibility of serving in a potential DeSantis administration, as he has chosen to remain retired long-term with his wife in the suburbs north of Indianapolis, while members of the Trump family also continue to be seen as potential Cabinet picks, including Trump's older daughter Ivanka Trump as well as Lara Trump, the wife of Eric Trump who is also rumored to be considering a run for U.S. Senate in North Carolina in 2026 depending on whether or not incumbent Republican Sen. Thom Tillis seeks reelection.

It is now 5PM on the East Coast, and voters are angling to show up at the last minute to cast their votes for President and other downballot races. While much of the country is focused on the returns, at one particular network it is a sentimental night in many aspects. After nearly 35 years of covering political affairs, Wolf Blitzer is retiring from CNN. Having presided over the network's election coverage since 2004, Blitzer relinquished his duties as lead Washington anchor to Jake Tapper in 2021, but has remained central to the network's breaking news coverage as well as some documentaries for the network. In honor of the CNN legend, the election night coverage will come principally from his network...

Wolf Blitzer, CNN anchor
Source: Wikimedia Commons
Author: Philkirwin

(From CNN)
WOLF BLITZER: It is now just past 5 PM here in Washington, 2 PM in San Francisco where Vice President Kamala Harris is set to appear later tonight, hoping to become America's first Madam President. Looking live now outside San Francisco City Hall, where final preparations are underway to start the party in less than an hour.

(pans to shot from Florida)

Also, looking live now at the balcony overlooking TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, south of Jacksonville where Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis hopes to celebrate with his supporters tonight, this is the same course where the annual Players Championship takes place, just miles from the headquarters of the PGA Tour, an area DeSantis used to represent in Congress before he became Governor.

(pans to shot from the Meadowlands)

Also anticipating tonight remarks from Andrew Yang and his Forward movement, which is having its watch party tonight at the Hilton near the Meadowlands in East Rutherford, New Jersey, west of New York City. Looking live there, it looks to be a very exciting gathering tonight for a movement that some are comparing to Ross Perot in '92, '96, and before that, John Anderson in 1980, who ironically represented the same congressional district that Yang's running mate, Adam Kinzinger, represented two years ago. You may recall Kinzinger from the January 6th committee.

This is CNN's coverage of Election Night in America, I'm Wolf Blitzer. We want to welcome our viewers here in the United States and around the world. We're standing by waiting for the first returns on this night, from Indiana and Kentucky where polls are set to close in less than an hour in most parts of those states that are in the Eastern Time Zone. Standby for that. We will have to wait a little longer - 7PM Eastern - to make presidential calls in Indiana and Kentucky, as well as in Georgia, South Carolina, Vermont and Virginia.

This is clearly a historic election, both President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump are not running, and there are also a lot of incumbents not coming back. In other words, literally a blank canvas...

We'll get to David Chalian with the first exit poll of this election night, on the issues Americans care about, but first let's go to Jake Tapper.

JAKE TAPPER: Wolf, we're waiting to find out the latest from battleground states like Pennsylvania, Nevada, Georgia and Arizona, and we're also going to get some insider baseball on what the candidates are doing tonight as well.

(Fast forward >>)

JAKE TAPPER: And now, we have our first exit poll on the issues that are driving the vote tonight across the country, David Chalian, what do you have?

DAVID CHALIAN: Jake, this is just the first of many of this type we'll be getting tonight dealing with the issues. And what's driving voters, number one at 31 percent is the economy. Yes, this has been quite an unusual thing to say because jobs are quite plentiful, but the issues with education, with career preparedness, inflation, this is all coming to a head. Republicans argue that Biden has been out-of-sync on this matter.

Then you have at 16 percent, financial security. You had the whole Inflation Reduction Act that President Biden spoke at great length about, except it really didn't do much long term and became a source of ridicule for Republicans, and now the threat of a default. Biden tried to get deficit spending under control, but the social spending deals he cut with Manchin didn't do much either. Another 16 percent say crime is the driving issue, especially among Republicans. Second amendment, gun control issues, this was 12 percent of respondents, some NRA types, others Everytown types. Foreign relations, threat of a nuclear war with China, possibly Afghanistan, 10 percent. A full 85 percent of the country driven by these top five issues.

(Fast forward >>)

WOLF BLITZER: Jake Tapper, what's going on with the Senate?

JAKE TAPPER: Wolf, as you can see on this map, Democrats will need to win double what they have now, plus one more for 51 seats, not counting California which already has been lost to the GOP in that very controversial primary last June. Whoever wins that seat between House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and Richard Grenell, the former Ambassador to Germany under former President Donald Trump, will join 42 other Republicans in the Senate.

The only way Republicans can lose the Senate is if they only win six seats tonight, which basically would mean Democrats will have to run the table in all of their 20 remaining existing seats, plus the two independent seats that caucus with the Democrats but are now open, and pluck off three or four of the Republican-held seats.

Which is even more impossible when you consider that West Virginia is likely gone, Joe Manchin is retiring, Patrick Morrisey, the state Attorney General a clear favorite over there. They would have to run the table in all but five or six seats, basically the five targeted seats in Texas, Florida, Missouri, Indiana, Nebraska, to win.

Up next: The first presidential exit poll, plus the earliest returns...

[SaintStan86]

It is now past 6PM on the East Coast, Doing some channel surfing...

(From NBC)
LESTER HOLT: This is NBC News' coverage of Decision 2024, live from Democracy Plaza in Rockefeller Center, where tonight the future of the country is clearly at stake in a very pivotal election.

I'm Lester Holt, here with Savannah Guthrie, Chuck Todd and Andrea Mitchell, as we get ready to embark upon this fantastic voyage we're on tonight, all the way to 3 a.m. Eastern time.

We'll get to a special edition of NBC Nightly News coming up in just under half an hour. But first, let's go Across America, starting with Tom Llamas live in San Francisco where Vice President Kamala Harris is hoping to pull off what some now consider an upset, Tom?

(live shot from San Francisco)

TOM LLAMAS: Lester, the mood here tonight in San Francisco is quite jubilant, especially with exit polling now showing Kamala Harris with only a three-point deficit to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, which some say is closer than the six-to-seven point polling average he's been getting in the most recent polls. Which explains why for the crowd here, tonight is about a come-from-behind victory for Kamala Harris, they're hoping it is, especially since just over 40 percent of the country voted early and that vote is likely to be more Democratic than usual.

The big worry tonight, however, is the Election Day vote which undoubtedly favors Republicans and Gov. DeSantis. While there is hope that absentee and mail-in ballots will make up the difference, some are already writing the Vice President's political obituary, and whether or not the naysayers may be right, we shall see. But for now, the mood here is a very vibrant one.

(On Fox News...)

BRET BAIER: As you can see tonight, this is going to be a very auspicious night for the Ron DeSantis campaign, and you are looking at what appears to be a mic check on one side, and the security line on the other side of the split screen here in Florida. Of course, security preparations very, very high understandably, because you don't want something really bad happening. Geraldo Rivera, what do you see?

GERALDO RIVERA: Well you know, we have to be aware of the security concerns, because after all this is a presidential watch party, and you don't want something out of the movies where the presidential candidate wins and then gets shot. Especially from someone who idolizes Al Capone. Or a white supremacist or skinhead - remember those people? Don't like not having your AR-15 in the open? Too bad, hold your guns for later, at least after Ron DeSantis gets sworn in should he win. Don't be like John Hinckley.

DAN BONGINO: Oh come on, Geraldo, we've been through this before, you know there's not going to be something tragic...you really care what Al Capone has in his vault still? Any law-abiding citizen who believes in the Second Amendment wouldn't want to hurt Ron DeSantis, would they? This isn't Iran.

(Back to CNN...)

WOLF BLITZER: And now you're looking at the first presidential exit poll returns, and so far Ron DeSantis has a four-point lead over Vice President Harris, 44 percent to 40 percent, with Andrew Yang clocking in at 6 percent. David, what does this mean?

DAVID CHALIAN: Wolf, this means that effectively this is Gov. DeSantis's race to lose. It also shows indeed that Andrew Yang's impact on this election is real and that has to be very disconcerting for the Harris camp since Yang was a Democrat until after the New York City mayoral election he lost in 2021, and it's fair to say that if it weren't for Yang, this would be a real battle. So far, it appears that this splinter vote is benefiting DeSantis, albeit not as much as polls have suggested.

(And on ABC...)

DAN ABRAMS: And as you can see right now, there are already issues with the machines at some polling places in Pennsylvania. Those are being worked on now, but for now unless you really have to vote - therefore need an old-fashioned paper ballot - you can wait certainly.

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: OK, we're already getting close to just before 6:30 on the East Coast. We are going to take a break now, World News Tonight is about to begin shortly live across the entire nation...

(one-second cut, then shot to David Muir...)

DAVID MUIR: Tonight, America will find out who its 47th President will be as voters go to the polls on this Election Night, as Vice President Kamala Harris and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis await word on the first results, closing in less than one hour.

Long lines, faulty voting machines and in one case a bomb threat at one polling place in Atlanta, disrupting the ultimate exercise in democracy, with over 60 percent of Americans estimated to have already cast a ballot with hours, and in some places, just minutes to go, with a few polls having already closed. Also, a look at the latest exit polls and what signs to look for tonight.

Also, Republicans likely to keep control of the House and Senate, with one Democratic seat already gone to the GOP and another very likely to be called for Republicans tonight. What the Democrats are now hoping for, as Republicans inch closer to a filibuster-proof, 60-seat majority in the Senate. Plus, the latest on how the fallout from last month's raid of one Congressman's office in Illinois could affect the balance of power in the House, and could south Texas become the new Republican power center in the Lone Star State? FiveThirtyEight's Nate Silver will break down the latest analysis from the congressional elections.

Also tonight, Andrew Yang's auspicious bid for President, and whether or not it's affecting Kamala Harris's chances of winning the presidency. Could America be ready for coalition-style government, and whether or not the Forward movement of Yang's will have any staying power past Election Night.

And...let the Cabinet speculation begin. Who's in and who's out remains up in the air, but both sides have some early favorites, some already familiar to Americans, others from a completely different angle.

This special Election Day edition of World News Tonight from our Election Night headquarters in Times Square begins now.

(fanfare)

ANNOUNCER: From ABC News, this is World News Tonight with David Muir, reporting live tonight from ABC News Election Night headquarters in Times Square.

DAVID MUIR: Thank you for joining us on this very special Tuesday night as we prepare to go through another Election Night together. We'll go to George Stephanopoulos and Linsey Davis with the latest, but first...From coast-to-coast, millions of Americans stood in line today to cast their ballots for President and other races downballot as returns begin to roll in in parts of Indiana and Kentucky...and the suspense of who will be the 47th President of the United States, will ultimately be resolved, whether it's the Vice President, Kamala Harris, or the Governor of Florida, Ron DeSantis.

(Back to CNN...)

WOLF BLITZER: And as you can see right now, with about 20 percent of the votes in in Indiana, it appears that Ron DeSantis is winning just under 59 percent of the vote, versus 32 percent for Kamala Harris and six percent for Andrew Yang. It's mostly the early vote that's coming in, but so far it looks like Gov. DeSantis appears poised to win this state to kick off the auspicious night of election results slated to come in. John King, what to make of this?

JOHN KING: Wolf, as you can see on this map of Indiana by county, it's looking like an amalgamation of the Trump numbers in blue-collar areas, in the midsize metro areas, and something close to the Romney numbers in the suburbs around Indianapolis from 2012.

Let's take a look at Hamilton County. This is in the suburbs north of Indianapolis. Carmel, Fishers, Noblesville area. Usually very Republican, but in 2020 Joe Biden won 45 percent here, a big departure from 2012 when Mitt Romney won it 2 to 1. Even John McCain won 60 percent here the last time Indiana went blue for Barack Obama. Once again, this is 2012. This is tonight, 62 percent for Ron DeSantis in Hamilton County. Clearly not a good sign if you're Kamala Harris, especially at 31 percent.

Next you have Clark County in the southeast, used to be a bellwether county, now more Republican than the statewide average with the suburban growth across the Ohio River from Louisville, Kentucky. Last went Democrat for Bill Clinton in '92, '96, usually follows the statewide average. Tonight, Ron DeSantis is winning 59 percent, not much different from Trump four years ago.

Then you have up here, and this could really be telltale. St. Joe County, South Bend, home to Notre Dame. Has not voted Republican since George W. Bush in 2004, Donald Trump barely lost here in 2016 and 2020. This is tonight: Ron DeSantis is slightly ahead here 48-46, and this is the early vote, and if the same trend holds up in terms of Election Day votes, favoring Republicans, if DeSantis wins here this is going to be a long night. Especially with Andrew Yang taking six percent. DeSantis being Catholic, and also endorsed by Lou Holtz, of all persons, who coached the 1988 national champion Notre Dame football team, that is not helping Harris either.

WOLF BLITZER: And that would be historic, since George W. Bush did exceptionally well for a Republican - enough to win St. Joseph County - that year in Indiana, where an incumbent Democratic Senator, Evan Bayh, easily got reelected.

JOHN KING: Same with Kentucky, where they also had a close race in 2004, incumbent Republican Jim Bunning beating Daniel Mongiardo, the Democrat in a close battle there after Bunning made some bizarre comments about his opponent, comparing his appearance to one of Saddam Hussein's sons while the War in Iraq was ongoing.

Look over here, this is Campbell County, Cincinnati suburbs in Northern Kentucky, where the Beverly Hills Supper Club burned down in the 70s while John Davidson was performing. 60 percent for Ron DeSantis, 32 for Kamala Harris.

Kenton County, next door where Cincinnati's main airport is, DeSantis 59, Harris 35. Boone County, also touching Indiana, which once gave an equal amount of votes to Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter. DeSantis winning 68 percent. Kamala Harris only getting 28 percent. These three counties are the political base of the 4th District, home to Republican Thomas Massie, who is also our first projection of the night, he will win a seventh full term in that district outside of Cincinnati. So far, Republicans have officially won 1 seat and Democrats have won none.

And it's not just the suburbs. Take a look at Pike County, here in the heart of Coal Country. Slightly Republican before the depression, became a Democratic stronghold for nearly eight decades. Now it's heavily Republican, and Ron DeSantis is winning well over 75 percent here. Kamala Harris only getting just over 16 percent, worse than Hillary Clinton in 2016.

Then you have Fayette County, where Lexington is. Was for many years a swing county, but has now become quite favorable to the Democrats. DeSantis getting close to 45 percent here, but the big story is Kamala Harris is only getting about 43 percent. Andrew Yang has eight percent.

Finally, Jefferson County, which is home to Louisville. Kamala Harris is winning here, but with only 47 percent to 44 for Ron DeSantis and six for Yang. And this is just early votes as well. Statewide, it's 63 percent for DeSantis, but if it gets any higher than that, I'm not certain Jefferson will hold up for Kamala Harris.

WOLF BLITZER: If I were Kamala Harris, I'd probably write this state off. We already know what to expect at 7 PM.

(Meanwhile, on CBS...)

NORAH O'DONNELL: Finally tonight, while other parts of the country are still voting, as of 12:01 this morning, the results are already in in a small corner of New Hampshire, where a handful of voters showed up at the stroke of midnight to cast their ballots for President. In this special "On the Road" report, Steve Hartman takes us to perhaps the best - or worst - kept secret on Election Day.

Source: Wikimedia Commons
Author: P199
The Balsams resort in Dixville Notch, New Hampshire, where the very first results for the 2024 presidential election were announced at midnight.

STEVE HARTMAN: It is almost midnight here at The Balsams, a resort looking seemingly like someplace you'd see in a Hallmark Channel movie or a fantasy novel, tucked away in the mountainous heart of New Hampshire's North Country, in the tiny community of Dixville Notch, New Hampshire, a four hour drive north of Boston just 20 miles from the Canadian border. Some parts of the resort are brand new, but otherwise this is one of the few remaining grand resort hotels that once defined the Granite State.

The first snowfall has already arrived here, but it's not the skiing and certainly not the championship golf or the glades that's the big draw here tonight. It's the presidential election, even though New Hampshire's traditional "first in the nation" primaries, "first in the nation" on the Republican side that is, have come and gone.

You won't be seeing any of the candidates. Not Kamala Harris. Not Ron DeSantis. And yes, not even Andrew Yang, or this gentleman's preferred pick, Libertarian Party nominee and comedian Dave Smith.

(Fast forward >>)

STEVE HARTMAN: Midnight has struck in the ballroom of the Balsams, known appropriately as the Ballot Room. The 7 individuals who are here tonight are now casting their ballots. And after the ballots have been counted, a final result is in.

VOLUNTEER: The final tally for President of the United States is: 4 for Ronald Dion DeSantis of Florida, 2 for Kamala Devi Harris of California, and one for David Smith of New York.

STEVE HARTMAN: Even though his candidate did not win, the lone Libertarian vote takes pride in one fact.

LIBERTARIAN VOTER: My candidate won about 15 percent of the vote here. I'm proud of that. I think others should be proud, too.

STEVE HARTMAN: Dixville Notch, of course, is not the only town that voted. In Millsfield, south of here, Ron DeSantis won 14 votes to three for Andrew Yang, two for Kamala Harris, and one for a pillow salesman named Mike Lindell.

And to the southeast in a town called Hart's Location, where tradition returned after the pandemic delayed it, 46 residents cast their votes: 25 for Gov. DeSantis, 15 for Vice President Harris, four for Andrew Yang, and two for Green Party candidate Norman Solomon.

But regardless of who voted for whom, across these three magical places, the mutual respect the voters have for one another is the same. After all, every four years they come here to exercise the ultimate experiment in democracy. And they, or at least most of them if they're still alive and kicking, cannot wait to do it again in another four years.

Steve Hartman. On the Road. In Dixville Notch, New Hampshire.

(And now, back to CNN...)

WOLF BLITZER: It is less than a minute from 7:00 PM on the East Coast, and six states plus all but one part of another are set to close. We'll be able to make our first projections of the night in Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, South Carolina, Vermont and Virginia, plus all but at least one or two congressional races in Florida - where Ron DeSantis's favorite son status could be a sign of things to come. We're counting down now to 10, 9, 8 seconds to go before 7:00 PM, we have some projections to make. Standby...

Next: Find out what happens at 7:00 PM ET/4:00PM ET...

[SaintStan86]

The time is now 7:00PM in Washington and 4:00PM on the West Coast. Here's what's happening...

(From CNN)
WOLF BLITZER: And right now, CNN projects that Ron DeSantis will win Indiana, the home state of former Vice President Mike Pence, with 11 electoral votes. The Harris campaign tried extensively to move the state leftward in the Indianapolis area, around South Bend and Northwest Indiana, where there's a very important congressional race, and where the polls are closing along with those in Evansville, another important bellwether.

But it looks like Indiana will be going for Ron DeSantis quite early, especially with Vigo County now clocking in close to 55 percent. Vigo, home to Terre Haute, was for many years a bellwether county until Trump won it but lost reelection. Whether or not it does vote for the winner remains to be seen, as well as the Senate race and the race for Governor...Jake Tapper will have an update shortly.

From the home state of the former Vice President, to the home state of the would-be Vice President should Gov. DeSantis win, we can also project South Carolina and its nine electoral votes will go to Ron DeSantis. Democrats ran aggressively in South Carolina, but no statewide race on the ballot did not give the Democrats much leverage to compete here in the home state of Nikki Haley, who once served as Governor before she became Donald Trump's first Ambassador to the United Nations, and stands to become Vice President if DeSantis does win - polls have consistently shown him winning by at least 10-15 percent.

And finally, in Kentucky, CNN projects Ron DeSantis will win eight electoral votes. Between the Trump-style numbers in rural areas and something close to Mitt Romney's, even George W. Bush's numbers in the urban areas, we can safely project that DeSantis will win the Bluegrass State.

We cannot project a winner yet in Georgia, which Donald Trump bitterly lost in 2020 and where Kamala Harris is betting on strong turnout from Black voters in the Atlanta area and in southwest Georgia to propel her to victory.

We also cannot project a winner in the commonwealth of Virginia, which last went Republican in 2004 but which has since elected a Republican Governor, Glenn Youngkin, who is rumored to be a potential favorite for a Cabinet post in a hypothetical DeSantis administration. Virginia, of course only elects its Governors to one term, and therefore Youngkin is not seeking reelection. One former Governor is running for reelection, that would be Sen. Tim Kaine, and he has a difficult reelection against State Sen. Jill Vogel, an ally of Gov. Youngkin's down in Richmond.

And here's the big shocker: We are not even able to project a winner in Vermont, one of the most solidly Democratic states in the Union, and where Andrew Yang reportedly is winning eight percent of the vote at least. There is also an open Senate race in Vermont, as well as a gubernatorial one where the popular moderate Republican Phil Scott is seeking reelection.

There were also exit polls showing DeSantis with 35 to 40 percent of the vote - above the norm for that state, and especially for a conservative in a state that is reckoned as a progressive stronghold. Though it is important to note that Vermont before 1992 largely voted Republican at the presidential level; when Peter Welch succeeded Patrick Leahy in 2022, he became only the second Democrat after Leahy to represent Vermont in the Senate.

So as it stands, there are 28 electoral votes for Governor DeSantis, and no electoral votes for Kamala Harris or Andrew Yang...

WOLF BLITZER: From there on, we go now to Jake Tapper with the latest in the battle for the Senate. Jake?

JAKE TAPPER: Wolf, we are ready to make a projection in Indiana. CNN projects that Sen. Mike Braun has been reelected to a second term based on returns that indicate that the conservative first-term Republican has won well over 55 percent statewide in his reelection against Shelli Yoder, a State Senator from Bloomington, where Indiana University is located, and former Miss Indiana who once competed for Miss America in 1993.

Yoder tried to use Braun's conservative voting record against him, but the tide against the Democrats was too great as Braun outperformed DeSantis in the Indianapolis suburbs and Yoder struggled to gain ground elsewhere in the state as well. It's going to be a different story in the race for Governor, which remains too close to call between Republican state Attorney General Todd Rokita and Hammond Mayor Tom McDermott, hoping to become the first Democrat to win a gubernatorial race since the late Frank O'Bannon won a second term in 2000.

We cannot make a projection in Virginia yet, where Sen. Tim Kaine - eight years removed from being Hillary Clinton's running mate on the Democratic ticket in 2016 - is facing his toughest reelection yet against State Sen. Jill Vogel, a close ally of Gov. Glenn Youngkin who has been polling competitively in Northern Virginia as well as in Kaine's old base around Richmond where he once served as Mayor.

We also cannot project a winner in the aforementioned Senate race in Vermont where Bernie Sanders is retiring, and where his endorsement of the Vermont Progressive Party candidate, Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman, has roiled that race between the Democratic former state Attorney General T.J. Donovan and the Republican ex-Lt. Gov. Brian Dubie.

JAKE TAPPER: But we can project a winner in the gubernatorial race there in the Green Mountain State. We are projecting that the Republican incumbent, Phil Scott, will win a fifth term as Governor over his Democratic challenger, State House Speaker Jill Krowinski. Scott is so popular in his state he even won over two-thirds of the vote and a 40+ victory margin over his opponent, David Zuckerman - the same David Zuckerman now running for the Senate.

WOLF BLITZER: Rather interesting, and the inevitably of the Senate remaining Republican is even more clear now. Let's go to our panel...

(Over on Fox News...)

BRET BAIER: Well Shannon, you've seen the map, what to make of it?

SHANNON BREAM: Hardly anything significant other than what we usually expect at this time. But the fact that Vermont hasn't even been called for Kamala Harris, that's new. Democrats have relied on those three votes to start off the night since at least Bill Clinton in 1992. Perhaps the influence of the Andrew Yang campaign weighing heavily on Harris, but Ron DeSantis inching close to the numbers George W. Bush got there in 2000 is a big development.

BRET BAIER: OK, let's go to the Fox News Decision Desk, Arnon Mishkin what have you discovered?

ARNON MISHKIN: Bret, the returns coming out of Vermont show that Governor DeSantis appears to be winning just below 40 percent of the vote there based on 15 percent of the precincts reporting. Considering Donald Trump only got 30 percent of the vote in Vermont in 2020 and again in 2016, as well as the impact that Andrew Yang's campaign, which appears to be polling around 8 to 9 percent there, plus around 2 percent for Norman Solomon, the Green Party candidate, is having on Vice President Harris's campaign, we cannot project the state at this point.

The Senate and gubernatorial races there obviously another factor, between the three-way race in the former and Phil Scott projected the winner in the latter, popular moderate Republican who foregoed campaigning for reelection in 2020, but won big anyway. Looking like a very rough night in store for Kamala Harris.

(And on NBC...)

LESTER HOLT: Almost half an hour in, and so far Kamala Harris has zilch, Ron DeSantis has 28. The Senate math for the Democrats virtually impossible after the early call in Indiana. Steve Kornacki, what to make of it?

STEVE KORNACKI: Lester, the numbers were already not encouraging for Democrats, but with Sen. Braun reelected in Indiana this early, the going has gotten tougher for the very few amongst us, if any, predicting that Chuck Schumer will be restored as Senate Majority Leader. Just consider where they have to make up ground...

For starters, they would have to win all of the 23 states with races tonight that they hold right now, and with a dozen tossups it's hard to imagine that scenario happening. First off, you'd have to win in Texas and Florida, though Missouri may be an easier bet given the recent struggles with Josh Hawley there. And then you've got Nebraska, where an exceptionally strong Democratic contender, Pete Festersen, has been keeping Deb Fischer on her toes.

But other than that, the prospects are looking very dim. I mean, where else can you expect Democrats to make up ground? Utah? Tennessee? Mississippi even? There's no way the Democrats will even come close to taking back the majority, and in fact the possibility of a 60-seat GOP majority is far greater in comparison now. West Virginia, pretty soon, will prove us right...

(Back to CNN...)

WOLF BLITZER: Getting very close to 7:30 in West Virginia, where an open Senate race hangs in the balance, in Ohio where 17 electoral votes and another Senate seat are at stake, and in North Carolina, where former presidential hopeful Roy Cooper is term-limited; both candidates looking to succeed him also looking to make history as well.

OK, less than five seconds before the polls close. Standby for a major projection...

(CNN "Key Race Alert"...)

WOLF BLITZER: And right now, CNN projects that Ron DeSantis will win West Virginia's four electoral votes. This was an easy call, West Virginia was one of Donald Trump's best performing states, and in this election no great surprise either as the state has become very favorable to Republicans. The only difference this time is DeSantis only won four electoral votes; West Virginia lost a congressional seat before the midterms. Like Voldemort casting a spell on Harry Potter and taking one of his electoral votes away...

But Republicans are certainly making up for it somewhere, we'll get to Jake Tapper in a moment, but first...

We can't project a winner in Ohio, where 17 electoral votes are at stake. Ohio always has been a bellwether, or at least traditionally has been. It went for Donald Trump who eventually lost nationally. As did North Carolina, which we also cannot project. 16 electoral votes.

WOLF BLITZER: Jake, what updates do you have from the Senate about that electoral vote being reincarnated. Are they actually getting something in exchange?

JAKE TAPPER: Yes, Wolf they're actually gaining something in West Virginia. We can now project that the state Attorney General, Patrick Morrisey, six years removed from a narrow defeat against Sen. Joe Manchin, will pick up his Senate seat from the Democrats, defeating Richard Ojeda, former State Senator who ran a competitive race in the now-disbanded 3rd District in southern West Virginia in 2018, and who at one time considered a presidential run.

That is the first Republican flip of the night, not counting California, and it certainly may not be the last.

We're still waiting on word from Ohio, which is one of many tossups on the board tonight. Sherrod Brown seeking a fourth term against Jim Jordan, who surprised everyone by announcing he would run against Sen. Brown, though given that he was term-limited from chairing the House Judiciary Committee after the next Congress, and because J.D. Vance is already in the Senate, Jim Jordan had no choice but to challenge Brown.

We're also not projecting a winner yet in North Carolina. Gov. Roy Cooper is term-limited. He ran for President earlier this year, even winning his home state, but did not succeed. His successor is going to blaze a trail for sure, whether it's his endorsed Democratic nominee, state Attorney General Josh Stein, aiming to become the state's first Jewish Governor, or the Republican Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, who hopes to become the first African-American Governor of North Carolina.

(From CBS...)

MARGARET BRENNAN: As you can see now, former President Donald Trump congratulating Patrick Morrisey on his win tonight in West Virginia, the first announced pickup of the night asides from the controversial race in California. Most polling had Morrisey up 20 points on his Democratic opponent, so this call was a very easy one.

Meanwhile, we have some early congressional returns coming out of Indiana and Florida that are noteworthy. In the 1st District, northwest Indiana outside Chicago, you have Jennifer-Ruth Green, the Black GOP former Air Force commander in a rematch against Frank Mrvan from 2022. Narrowly lost there in the midterms, but tonight she appears to be leading narrowly over Mrvan with 20 percent of the vote in. It's real early though, but we shall see since Gary - a Black Democratic stronghold - has yet to call in.

Next: 8:00PM on the East Coast, as a slew of Senate tossups hang in the balance...

[SaintStan86]

Almost 8:00PM Eastern time. A multitude of states are about to close their polls as the votes continue to roll in...

(From CNN)

WOLF BLITZER: Looking at the scene in Florida, obviously a very excited watch party for Ron DeSantis, as the Sunshine State - or at least the Florida Panhandle, the Peninsula already has had their polls closed for nearly an hour, comes on the clock. Polls also closing in 16 other states and also in much of five others. This is CNN's coverage of Election Night in America, I'm Wolf Blitzer, coming in on 8:00 PM in Florida and 5:00 PM in San Francisco. Standby for some major projections...

(CNN "Key Race Alert"...)

WOLF BLITZER: Right now, CNN projects Ron DeSantis will win 11 electoral votes in Tennessee, which gave over 60 percent to Donald Trump in 2020, and DeSantis will likely exceed that figure between a strong showing in rural Tennessee and in the suburbs around Nashville and Memphis. East Tennessee, of course, ancestrally Republican going back to the Civil War.

We're also projecting Missouri for DeSantis. 10 electoral votes, but there is a competitive race for the Senate and for Governor that we'll be looking at closely.

DeSantis also wins his neighboring state of Alabama, and its nine electoral votes. The Harris campaign paid virtually no attention to this race whatsoever; Trump won over 60 percent here in 2020. As is also the case with the seven electoral votes in Oklahoma, and in Mississippi - six electoral votes. All states in the Sunbelt, all favoring DeSantis.

And at least we can project the 2nd District in Maine - Bangor, Presque Isle, all points north - we can project Ron DeSantis will win the one electoral vote for that district.

Turning the other cheek, we can now project that Kamala Harris will win her first electoral votes of the night: 11 electoral votes in the state of Massachusetts. Arguably one of the most Democratic states, it has not voted Republican since Ronald Reagan's 1984 landslide. Exit polls have Andrew Yang pulling five to six percent, but DeSantis has been well behind in polling here despite lately getting just over 30 percent in these polls, still behind Kamala's numbers by a good margin.

We're also projecting Kamala Harris wins Maryland and its 10 electoral votes. The Washington area definitely favored to go her way, and her strong support from African-Americans, certainly factoring into her win here. George W. Bush was the last Republican to cross 40 percent, which is unlikely for Ron DeSantis tonight, in a state where a Trump-backed challenger for Governor beat another backed by outgoing Governor and one-time presidential candidate Larry Hogan, only for that candidate to lose to now-Gov. Wes Moore, who we'll get with in a moment.

We are also projecting Rhode Island for Kamala Harris. Its four electoral votes haven't gone Republican since 1984. While Andrew Yang has shown some strength here, around 10 percent or so in recent polling, it's hard to imagine DeSantis winning this state tonight.

And lastly, we project the District of Columbia, no great surprise, will go to Vice President Harris. Those three electoral votes have always, always gone Democratic, and this time is no different. That takes us to 76 electoral votes for DeSantis, 28 for Kamala Harris.

Now you're wondering...what's missing? Well, no, our Decision Desk is not sleeping on the job. The polls have closed in a lot of places where Democrats would have run up the score it seems. But it didn't happen, and nothing is wrong at the Decision Desk.

So what's missing? First off, we cannot project a winner in Pennsylvania, 19 electoral votes very closely watched in this election, a source of great interest in Donald Trump's false allegations of a stolen election, which played a big hand in Gov. Doug Mastriano's surprise election last year. Many observers fear if Harris wins, a fight could be in store over the results.

We also cannot project, shocker, Illinois - which has not voted for a Republican since 1988. But exit polling showing DeSantis romping through downstate Illinois, competing in the collar county suburbs of Chicago, telling a different picture for those 19 electoral votes.

New Jersey, 14 electoral votes and we also cannot project. Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy had a very close reelection in 2021, and this state got more competitive in the last few months as the debt default issues and Kamala's struggles with blue-collar Catholics in south Bergen, Middlesex, south Jersey, etc., plus Andrew Yang's candidacy which got plenty of support in New Jersey, weighed heavily on voters in the Tri-State area and in the Delaware Valley. A big Senate race also on tap here, as Dr. Mehmet Öz attempts to exorcise the demons of his 2022 Senate run next door in Pennsylvania and defeat Sen. Bob Menendez.

Same thing in Connecticut and its seven electoral votes. Cannot project a winner there either. Of course, same thing in New Hampshire, four electoral votes, perennial swing state that has not voted Republican since George W. Bush in 2000, despite coming oh so close. Or the three other electoral votes in Maine, certainly not the two statewide votes, but not even the 1st District in southern Maine around Portland, which normally votes favorably Democratic. Biden got 60 percent in that district in 2020.

Lastly, we cannot even project a winner in Delaware - the home state of President Biden. He won it by 20 percent in 2020, but it's open season in Delaware - open Senate seat where Tom Carper is retiring, open gubernatorial seat where John Carney is term-limited, open House seat as Lisa Blunt Rochester is running for Senate against a member of the Du Pont family - Ben duPont - whose wife is Dr. Öz's sister-in-law. All in the family, in Delaware. We all know the whole story of the Du Pont family.

JAKE TAPPER: And of course, most of Texas is counting votes now, just polls have yet to close in El Paso so we can't call over there. Also can't call Michigan because of the communities bordering Wisconsin, Kansas because of a few counties bordering Colorado, South Dakota because of Rapid City, Mount Rushmore and North Dakota because of the southwest corner around Dickinson.

WOLF BLITZER: Quite a lot of states we can't call because of small apples like that.

JAKE TAPPER: Unfortunately, no. Least we can do is project some Senate seats. In Massachusetts, Sen. Elizabeth Warren we project will win reelection to a third term, fresh off her second presidential run. She will defeat her Republican challenger, former state GOP Chairwoman Kirsten Hughes. We're also projecting in Maryland that Congressman John Sarbanes will get a job promotion to the Senate, defeating his Republican challenger David Marks, a Baltimore County Councilman who was an underdog throughout the campaign. Sarbanes will fill the seat being vacated by the retiring Democrat Ben Cardin, who succeeded Sarbanes' father Paul in 2006; the elder Sarbanes served five terms in the Senate dating back to 1976.

And I know this sounds like the presidential calls, but we're going to go ahead and go to Rhode Island next, where Sheldon Whitehouse is projected to win a fourth term. The Democratic incumbent was being challenged by Brian Newberry, who is a State Representative. We also project that Sen. Chris Murphy, who at one time was considered for Kamala Harris's running mate, will easily win a third term from Connecticut over the former State Senator, Kevin Witkos.

On the Republican side, we project Marsha Blackburn will win another term in the Senate. She was facing State Rep. John Ray Clemmons from Nashville in her reelection bid - which was a much easier slog than her competitive 2018 battle against former Gov. and Nashville Mayor Phil Bredesen. And we also project that Roger Wicker has won another term in the Senate from Mississippi with little opposition, the Democrats did not even bother to field a strong challenger against him.

Of course, we're not projecting the Senate race in Florida, where Sen. Rick Scott and former Congresswoman Stephanie Murphy have been going at it, or in Missouri where Josh Hawley is trying to win a second term against the former State Auditor, Nicole Galloway.

We can't project a winner in Delaware either as you mentioned earlier - it has been neck-and-neck between Lisa Blunt Rochester and Ben duPont. Also in New Jersey, where Dr. Öz is hoping to win in his home state after his move into Pennsylvania got poo-pooed by John Fetterman enough to where the Lt. Gov. defeated Öz in 2022.

You have Pennsylvania too close to call as well, Sen. Bob Casey, Jr. in his toughest reelection bid yet against Dave McCormick, making his second Senate run. At one point, he was considered for Treasury Secretary in the Trump administration before Trump went with Steven Mnuchin, and if he doesn't win it's pretty obvious where he's going if DeSantis wins.

That's where the map stands right now in the Senate. Back to you, Wolf.

(On NBC...)

CHUCK TODD: Lester, let's take a look now at Florida, where Ron DeSantis is enjoying a 12-point lead over Kamala Harris right now, and you can see where it's red down here. That is Miami-Dade County, which has not gone Republican since 1988. To put it into perspective, the last time Miami went for the Republican, Miami Vice - with Brandon Tartikoff's blessing - was still airing on this network, Andrew was still a name on the Atlantic Hurricane chart that was last used in 1986, George Michael and the Bee Gees were still alive, Dan Marino was the Dolphins quarterback, Don Shula was his coach, Joe Robbie Stadium - now Hard Rock Stadium - was set to host the Super Bowl, Jimmy Johnson was the defending national champion at the University of Miami, the Miami Heat had just started their first season in the NBA, Marco Rubio was a senior in high school, Rick Scott was just getting started with his hospital management career, Ron DeSantis was in puberty, and it wasn't even called Miami-Dade County, just Dade County.

Let's go to 2016, when Miami-Dade went over 20 points for Hillary Clinton. Here's 2020, eight points for President Biden. This is tonight...Ron DeSantis has 51 percent. Also not helping that Andrew Yang has eight percent; Yang talked a lot about cryptocurrency in his campaign, had a number of crypto bombs and fundraisers from the crypto industry which is huge in Miami - Crypto City, U.S.A. The Vice President only getting 38 percent here...if this holds up, looking at the numbers in the I-4 corridor, it looks like we could be calling this state early, Lester.

LESTER HOLT: Interesting turn of events, Chuck Todd. What about Ohio?

CHUCK TODD: Going up here now, DeSantis is up thirteen on Harris, 54-41, Yang has five percent with 40 percent in. Appears that DeSantis is posting numbers rivaling Trump's in the rural areas and in Youngstown, plus in the suburban counties outside Cincinnati, Columbus he's getting 63 percent in Butler County. Delaware County, 58 percent north of Columbus where Biden came oh so close in 2020. You also have Greene County, 60 percent east of Dayton, and lastly Lorain County, traditionally a Democratic blue-collar county, but increasingly suburban, he's getting 53 percent in the suburbs west of Cleveland.

In short, not only is DeSantis gaining, but Harris is also losing to Yang. Some said Mike Lindell and his millions of dollars in pillows would have taken some, but obviously not much more than two percent at best. This is looking like a blowout for Ron DeSantis, and the comments Harris made about dealing with China did not help.

There is a bright spot for Democrats on this map, congressional map that is, over in the 1st District in Cincinnati, former Mayor John Cranley, who lost a primary for Governor in 2022, leading Tom Brinkman 52-45 in that district, an open seat because Steve Chabot is retiring.

The big one, however, is the Senate race, and right now Sherrod Brown trailing Jim Jordan by a mere less than two percent in Ohio. Brown has run ads hitting Jordan on his use of the House Judiciary Committee to investigate Hunter Biden, over when Jordan called for the defunding of the FBI while holding the Chairman's gavel in committee, over the sex abuse scandal on the Ohio State wrestling team where he was an assistant coach. Jordan, in turn, pointed to Brown's consistent liberal voting record, and also tied Brown to AOC as well as Ohio activist Nina Turner, who called for Ron DeSantis to be assassinated at one point.

As it stands now, Brown is trailing, and a lot of this in is the early vote. Unless the absentee push is big, it looks like Brown could be headed to defeat.

LESTER HOLT: OK, Chuck Todd, thank you very much.

With the networks focusing on the presidential race and calls for the Senate, the House is more or less left to the local and state levels. However, here are some notable early calls in the first hour...

FL-16: In Sarasota, Republican House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Vern Buchanan turns back a challenge from former State Rep. Andrew Learned, despite ads from the DCCC targeting Buchanan's wealth and its effect on his influence on the committee.

KY-05: Despite a fierce campaign by Democratic State Rep. Angie Hatton, who won most of the "Coal Country" counties in eastern Kentucky that were once part of the old 7th District, it still wasn't enough to overcome State Senate Majority Whip Brandon Smith, who dominated the ancestrally Republican remainder in southern Kentucky that has long been the base of retiring 22-term Republican Hal Rogers.

MD-05: Democratic Charles County Commissioner and restaurateur Bobby Rucci defeated Republican attorney and former State GOP Chair Dirk Haire in this southern Maryland district and will succeed 22-term former House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer.

NC-05: Former State Sen. Deanna Ballard wins her first term in Congress, will succeed longtime GOP Rep. Virginia Foxx in the suburban Winston-Salem district that also extends to Boone and Mount Airy.

NC-12 & NC-14: In Charlotte, Democratic freshman Jeff Jackson easily wins a second term in the 12th District as his previous 14th District (now in south Charlotte and surrounding suburbs) flips to the GOP with fellow incumbent Dan Bishop.

OH-08: There will be a Jordan - albeit not from the same family as his predecessor - representing Columbus's northern suburbs after all as veteran Ohio legislator Kris Jordan succeeds U.S. Senate candidate and House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan.

SC-06: Former HHS official, State Rep. and South Carolina Gamecocks football player Anton Gunn wins his first term in the majority Black 6th District based in Columbia, where he will succeed retiring former House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn.

TN-04 & TN-09: Two open seats in Tennessee will remain unchanged on the partisan dial as Republican physician and 2020 U.S. Senate candidate Manny Sethi will succeed Rep. Scott DesJarlais in the 4th District connecting Nashville's southeast suburbs to Chattanooga's western exurbs with a swath of rural Middle Tennessee in between, while former Shelby County Commissioner, Ph.D. student and Black Lives Matter activist Tami Sawyer will succeed retiring Rep. Steve Cohen, having easily won her first term in Cohen's heavily Democratic, Memphis-based 9th District.

Next: One state makes their call, and possibly a few others as well...

[SaintStan86]

It is now close to 8:30PM in Washington as one state looms...

(From CNN)
WOLF BLITZER: Getting very close to 8:30 now, looking live at the White House where President Biden is watching the returns from tonight, wondering if his Vice President, Kamala Harris will be elected the first Madam President. So far, the results indicate a very rough road for her, as she has been trailing Ron DeSantis since the first returns came in.

Arkansas is on the clock. They close their elections at 7:30 Central time, where there's no Senate or gubernatorial race on the ballot, and it appears obvious who the winner is going to be. Standby...

(CNN "Key Race Alert")

WOLF BLITZER: Ron DeSantis will win the state of Arkansas and its six electoral votes. This is the former home state of President Bill Clinton, which hasn't gone for a Democrat since Clinton won his second term in 1996. It has moved sharply to the right since then, so not of any great surprise.

Let's go to John King, now. John, what are you seeing so far?

JOHN KING: Wolf, as you can see Florida is starting to fill up and as you can see, it is looking very good for Ron DeSantis right now. This is Hillsborough County, Tampa, which last went Republican in 2004 for George W. Bush. Tonight, Ron DeSantis is winning with 53 percent. That's the highest since 1988 with George H.W. Bush, and his strong support in the suburbs - Carrollwood, Brandon, the south part of Tampa proper where MacDill Air Force Base is - is driving his win here. 70 percent in, and Ron DeSantis is winning now.

Next door in Pinellas County, where Biden won last year with under 50 percent, as Trump did in 2016, went twice for Obama, twice for Bill Clinton. Home to St. Petersburg. And tonight, DeSantis is winning 55 percent.

The favorite son vote here is huge, of course, but Andrew Yang, while not as big as Miami, still looming large as Kamala Harris is just shy of 40 percent here. Really not the best night to be a Democrat in Florida.

Miami-Dade, 52 percent for Ron DeSantis. For good measure, let's go to 2016. Hillary Clinton won it big, by 25 points. Donald Trump did so poorly that two of the congressional seats serving Miami flipped blue in 2018, but the Cuban, Venezuelan vote swung huge for Trump in 2020 and the GOP flipped those two seats back. This is 2020 with Biden winning Miami-Dade by eight...This is tonight, and given Yang has pulled eight percent, this has to be the worst performance a Democrat has had here in a long time.

Those two seats, by the way, Maria Elvira Salazar in the 27th in Miami, Carlos Giménez south of downtown Miami in the 28th, those two seats will stay Republican. CNN has already called those seats.

Up to Broward County now, much more favorable for Kamala Harris, but even there 54 percent is underwhelming. Yang is pulling seven percent, and Gov. DeSantis' 37 percent is the highest since the last time a Republican won it in '88. It is important to note, though, the growing Hispanic vote - Cubans, South Americans - down in places like Miramar and Pembroke Pines, that's cutting into the white liberal and Jewish vote, as well as the Black vote here in Fort Lauderdale. Even Parkland, site of the mass shooting at Stoneman Douglas High School in 2018, appears to narrowly be favoring DeSantis. It did narrowly back Donald Trump in 2016, but flipped to Biden in 2020.

Palm Beach County, we're watching very closely here. Gov. DeSantis has over 46 percent of the vote, Donald Trump's home county where Mar-a-Lago is. Kamala Harris is barely trailing him with under 46 percent, and Andrew Yang has 6 percent. So this is looking like a potential spoiler...if DeSantis pulls it out here, it will be the first time since 1988 that a Republican has won here.

Further north, in Orlando, Kamala Harris has 51 percent to 42 for DeSantis, five for Andrew Yang. This was a reliable urban Republican bastion in the Reagan era. Now favors the Democrats, but this is the weakest showing for a Democrat in a long while. George W. Bush barely lost here twice, where Al Gore and John Kerry didn't even hit 50 percent. Stephanie Murphy, by contrast, who used to represent Orlando in Congress where she served on the January 6th committee, is getting 57 percent against Sen. Rick Scott, who otherwise is leading 55-43.

And for good measure, Jacksonville, Duval County, where President Biden became the first Democrat to win here since Jimmy Carter in '76 by four points - 60 percent for Ron DeSantis, who represented the Jacksonville area, his wife Casey used to be a news anchor here. Lastly, St. Johns County, where Gov. DeSantis and his family and supporters are tonight at TPC Sawgrass - 70 percent. Biggest since the first George Bush. The favorite son effect is huge in this state.

WOLF BLITZER: We probably will be calling Florida, not a matter of if but when. Probably very, very soon...

(Cut over to Fox News...)

BRIT HUME: It's easy to see where Kamala Harris went wrong. For starters, the acquiescing to the mob on the left who threatened our Supreme Court justices, going back to the hearings for Brett Kavanaugh - the absolute worst character assassination I have seen of anyone who was nominated for the high court, for which Harris on the Judiciary committee played a hand. Not to mention the obvious threats justices faced following the leak of the Dobbs decision.

Then you had that horrible ad that aired during the NFL game last September, which was so bad that if it weren't for Roger Goodell's quick call to Donald Trump, this would have blown out of hand. Which created lots of headaches for campaign strategists and advertising gurus, not just finding spots after so many of these ads got restricted, but also to avoid what happened with that ad.

Then you had Dinesh D'Souza's film, Kamala: The Untold Story, which drew a lot of interest from conservatives and swung a lot of voters in DeSantis's direction despite some obvious miscarriages of truth, not unlike what we've seen in his past work including 2000 Mules and Hillary's America. Obviously, those voters already with DeSantis, but it wouldn't shock me if it had an impact the way his past work did.

Then you had the candidacy of Andrew Yang, who obviously is peeling from both parties, but is most directly affecting the Democrats since DeSantis voters were already locked in for DeSantis and would have done the same for Trump. And whatever detractors of DeSantis do exist are negligible in numbers - either radical MAGA worshippers backing Mike Lindell or Never Trumpers, Liz Cheney types favoring Yang in part due to Adam Kinzinger being his running mate. But chiefly, Yang is taking from Kamala Harris.

Lastly, the last debate where Kamala Harris expressed a willingness to broker a peace deal regards of the impact on American workers, on Hong Kong, the Uyghurs, that kind of stuff. One major reason why Enes Kanter Freedom - the NBA player of Turkish descent - sued the league over his not being picked up by another team over this activism, which obviously ended in a Supreme Court decision favoring him, was because of the NBA being economically beholden to China. Fairly obvious that China is to today what the U.S.S.R. was in the Reagan era.

(And...a quick jaunt to...The Weather Channel?)

JACQUI JERAS: Looking outside right now, in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, where we usually report - around March - during the Players Championship held there at TPC Sawgrass. But tonight, a different purpose, as supporters of Ron DeSantis await word on their candidate. Tonight, partly cloudy with zero chance of rain over TPC Sawgrass, lows in the mid 50s with winds blowing southeast at about 10 MPH.

CARL PARKER: From Florida, to San Francisco now, where Vice President Kamala Harris and her supporters await to see if she'll be the first Madam President, 47th overall, in front of San Francisco City Hall. Not a cloud in the sky as you can see, 61 degrees outside with 15 MPH winds blowing from the Pacific Ocean.

There is the threat of rain in the forecast tomorrow morning, but most of it appears to be falling north of San Francisco from Santa Rosa up to Redding. Not much in the way of fire danger right now, given the above average rain conditions these past few months up there.

(And...Court TV?)

VINNIE POLITAN: Breaking news now from Pennsylvania, where a man has been arrested and charged with the battery of a police officer serving a warrant for his arrest in connection with allegations he committed voter fraud during an absentee ballot collection. Chanley Painter has the latest from the newsroom. Chanley?

CHANLEY PAINTER: Vinnie, a volunteer who was assigned to collect absentee ballots in Scranton, Pennsylvania was charged with allegations of voter fraud after he reportedly attempted to photocopy several marked ballots last week during a collection roundup of mail-in ballots from a nursing home in that city. When officers arrived however, he reportedly assaulted a police officer and attempt to grab his gun, before another officer knocked him to the ground. The injured officer had a gash in his head, but otherwise sought medical treatment. The suspect has been released on a cash bond and is awaiting trial.

(Not to mention CBS...)

ED O'KEEFE: President Biden has stated 'Whatever the outcome is, I pledge a peaceful transition to whichever candidate wins this election, and will offer my full support and resources in ensuring a smooth transition'. Norah?

NORAH O'DONNELL: OK, thank you. Ed O'Keefe reporting from the White House.

And as you can see once again from this map, it is a virtual palindrome right now: 82 for Ron DeSantis, 28 for Kamala Harris. And the night is just getting started as we prepare to see more polls close.

We'll take a break from our coverage to allow for our CBS stations to provide you with your local election coverage. We'll see you again at 9:00 PM Eastern for more coverage and the latest results from several states now closing. This is CBS News' coverage of Campaign 2024. Norah O'Donnell reporting from Washington.

(Back to CNN...)

GLORIA BORGER: ...It does not help, also, that in many states Andrew Yang is pulling five, six, even as high as ten percent of the vote, and that...

ANDERSON COOPER: Gloria, sorry to interrupt but we have to go to Wolf Blitzer now for an update...

WOLF BLITZER: Anderson, we have a major, major projection to announce...

(CNN "Key Race Alert"...)

WOLF BLITZER: CNN projects that Ron DeSantis will win his home state of Florida, and its 30 electoral votes. Obviously, being the favorite son has helped him greatly, but these are historic numbers, winning Miami-Dade, tied in Palm Beach and Tampa, basically near-complete domination with 57 percent of the vote coming in for DeSantis. And that's not even counting Election Day voting, which especially favors DeSantis.

While there is hope of absentee balloting somewhat moderating the results, this is not 2020, not by a longshot. Ron DeSantis will win the state of Florida, putting him close to halfway to 270.

Also, another big projection, CNN is now projecting that Ron DeSantis will also win in Ohio, where he has led all night, and now has 55 percent to Kamala Harris's 39 percent. While Cleveland has yet to report in, Cincinnati halfway, Columbus is mostly in, and that's not a good sign for the Harris campaign which has especially struggled outside of the 3 C's. That's another 17 electoral votes.

WOLF BLITZER: And obviously, John King, Georgia not looking good either for Kamala Harris.

JOHN KING: Here in Georgia, Ron DeSantis is getting 51 percent of the vote to 42 for Kamala Harris. DeSantis is matching the numbers Donald Trump got in 2016, but the bleeding of votes to the Yang camp - about five percent - is definitely not helpful to Harris's cause. More specifically, DeSantis also appears to be winning in areas where Donald Trump languished.

You have over here, Cobb County, northwest of Atlanta, where DeSantis is polling 50 percent to 43 for the Vice President, obviously on par with the statewide result. It was 56-42 for President Biden in 2020. Then you have northeast of Atlanta, Gwinnett County, which was 58-40 four years ago. Tonight, Harris is barely ahead, 48-45. Gwinnett, obviously has shifted more to the left than Cobb has, bleeding over from DeKalb County, but this is still a significant result as Gov. DeSantis is sweeping across much of the state outside of southwest Georgia.

Also, let's take a look at North Carolina. Ron DeSantis has 52 percent of the vote, compared to 42 for Kamala Harris, and it's obvious that Yang is cutting into her margins as well with four percent, and in a state where banking is a big part of the economy. Bank of America, Truist, east coast headquarters of Wells Fargo, all in Charlotte where the threat of default really did not sit well with voters here.

49 percent for Harris in Mecklenburg County, lowest since Al Gore in 2000, DeSantis is of course dominating the suburbs around Charlotte, and if we go to the precinct level, it looks like he's winning south Charlotte around Myers Park, Ballantyne, Lake Norman area, areas that swung hard against Donald Trump, we're seeing numbers similar to Mitt Romney in 2012.

Mecklenburg giving almost seven percent to Yang, not a surprise given the banking sector here. 42 percent for DeSantis, still a far cry from George W. Bush in 2004, but nonetheless a bad sign for Harris. This, Wolf, is clearly where Andrew Yang is having an impact on the Harris campaign.

Also, Wake County, where DeSantis is getting 43 percent, but Kamala Harris is getting only 49. About as bad as John Kerry in 2004, Yang also impacting the tech vote here in the Research Triangle with six percent.

The rest of the state, largely Republican on paper with a few Democratic pockets. Kamala Harris slightly ahead in Guilford County, Greensboro, where a competitive congressional race is happening. Still a lot to go, but this news has to be very humbling.

WOLF BLITZER: Interesting, John King. What about the race for Governor.

JOHN KING: It's looking better for the Democrats, but the GOP margin is the same. Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson currently leading 52-47, over Josh Stein, the Attorney General.

WOLF BLITZER: Thank you, John. Standby for a major, major projection...

(CNN "Key Race Alert"...)

BREAKING NEWS: REPUBLICANS PROJECTED TO KEEP CONTROL OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

WOLF BLITZER: CNN can now project that Republicans will keep control of the House of Representatives, as exit polling continues to indicate an outcome similar to 2022 with Republicans showing about a five to six percent lead in exit polling. There are a lot of races still to be projected, but as we get closer to 9 o'clock on the East Coast, there will be a lot more races called, and it looks likely that the GOP will keep control. There will be a change in leadership though, as Speaker Kevin McCarthy is running for the Senate in California, so House Majority Leader Steve Scalise - whose state of Louisiana will be among the states closing shortly - will be the Speaker-in-waiting.

Speaking of those House races...

FL-27 & FL-28: As aforementioned on CNN, Democratic efforts to flip two Republican-held seats in Miami fail once again as Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar defeats former State Rep. Nick Duran in the 27th, while Rep. Carlos Giménez wins a third term - second overall in the 28th south of Miami to the Florida Keys - against his predecessor, former Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell.

NC-11: Despite a fierce campaign from Asheville Mayor and Democratic nominee Esther Manheimer, Republican freshman Chuck Edwards wins a second term in this western-based district once represented by a young man named Madison Cawthorn.

TX-05: While Texas is set to officially close as El Paso casts its final ballots, former Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe is set to return to Congress, this time from the eastern DFW Metroplex-based 5th District whose incumbent Republican, Lance Gooden, made an unsuccessful run for the GOP nomination for Senate.

Next post: Find out what happens at 9:00PM ET...

[SaintStan86]

9:00PM in Florida, 6:00PM in San Francisco...

(From CNN)
WOLF BLITZER: This is CNN's coverage of Election Night in America, I'm Wolf Blitzer, welcoming our viewers here in the United States and around the world. Looking live now outside a polling place in Brooklyn, long lines as polls are about to close in New York City.

We are close to 9:00 PM here in Washington, where another 15 states are set to close, five of which already are mostly closed - Kansas, Michigan, North and South Dakota and Texas, plus Arizona, Colorado, Iowa, Louisiana, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Mexico, New York, Wisconsin and Wyoming.

There a lot of big Senate races: Texas where two party stars are looking to succeed Ted Cruz, Michigan where a former Governor hopes to make a comeback against a near-perennial Senate contender, and Arizona where a Senator once left for dead by her party hopes to win a second term.

We're just seconds away from polls closing in these fifteen states. Standby...we have some projections to make...

(CNN "Key Race Alert"...)

WOLF BLITZER: And right now, CNN projects that Kamala Harris will carry New York and its 28 electoral votes. This is not really a big surprise, as New York City is very favorable to Harris, to the point where she has led throughout this entire campaign. Long Island and Upstate New York, perhaps the Hudson Valley especially north of Westchester, those are more competitive on paper and we'll be watching those closely as a slew of competitive races are ongoing at the congressional level from the Hamptons to Niagara Falls. This effectively doubles her electoral votes now to 56.

Meanwhile, for Ron DeSantis, more projections to make. In Louisiana, the Florida Governor will get eight electoral votes, no surprise since that state has not gone Democratic in the 21st century, even though it had a Democratic Governor during the Trump administration.

We can also project that Kansas will go for Ron DeSantis, six electoral votes. There's also a competitive congressional race there in the Kansas City suburbs, the 3rd District, that we'll be taking a look at as well as the night goes on. This was the state where they had that anti-abortion amendment in 2022 that failed badly, a do-over of sorts is on the ballot tonight, and pro-life advocates are hoping that tying it in to the presidential election will make a difference.

We can also project four of the five electoral votes in Nebraska for Ron DeSantis - statewide, as well as the 3rd District in western and central Nebraska which almost always goes very heavily Republican, and the 1st District in the state capital of Lincoln as well as suburbs of Omaha. Omaha itself is in the 2nd District, which went from Donald Trump in 2016 to Joe Biden in 2020, but all three districts would have gone for Trump in their current design. We're going to hold off on the 2nd though, given its competitive nature, as well as the Senate race here which Jake Tapper will update us on.

To South Dakota now, Ron DeSantis will win three electoral votes. This is no surprise - DeSantis has a very close ally in Gov. Kristi Noem, who like DeSantis also defied calls to shut her state down during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Ron DeSantis, we also project, will win North Dakota's three electoral votes; this state was greatly affected by the Keystone pipeline being canceled. DeSantis has made restoring the pipeline construction that Biden canceled a top priority, will likely sign an executive order on the first day of business should he win.

And in Wyoming, Ron DeSantis will win another three electoral votes, here in Donald Trump's strongest state from 2020.

We are not able to project a winner yet in Texas, with 40 electoral votes, even though the early vote appears to be encouraging for Gov. DeSantis given that many parts of Texas are reporting their totals. As much of 60 percent of Texans who vote cast their votes early.

We cannot project a winner in Michigan, 15 electoral votes, a consistent swing state that voted for Trump in 2016 but flipped to Biden in 2020. Also the home state of Senator and vice presidential running mate Gary Peters, who hopes his presence on the ticket helps Harris with blue-collar voters.

Wisconsin, another state we cannot project with 10 electoral votes. This will go down to the wire as well.

Minnesota, where no Republican has won since 1972 when Richard Nixon won this state in his landslide, it is a close one this time with 10 electoral votes as well.

Six electoral votes in Iowa, and we cannot project that state as well. Ron DeSantis, though, has been doing quite well here in polling, and Donald Trump won all four of the state's congressional districts in 2020. No Senate or gubernatorial race here, though, unlike many of the others.

Out west, in Arizona, 11 electoral votes that are too close to call. This state was heavily scrutinized in the 2020 election, and the objection to these results not only damaged then-Gov. Doug Ducey in the minds of many Republicans, but also triggered the storming of the Capitol on January 6th, 2021. Will Ron DeSantis put it back in the Republican column? We shall see...but not right now...

Also too close to call in Colorado, where 10 electoral votes are at stake. This state has gone Democratic since 2008, but Andrew Yang's splinter vote and Harris's own struggles could put this state back in the GOP column. It has had a number of competitive races since 2008, including some won by Republicans including one Senate election in 2014.

And lastly, in New Mexico, we are not calling this state and its five electoral votes. We're going to be watching closely the Hispanic vote in this state, which could swing it towards the Republicans. No Republican since George W. Bush in 2004 has won this state.

So as it stands, Gov. DeSantis has 156 votes, to 56 for Vice President Harris.

WOLF BLITZER: Let us...Let's go to Jake Tapper, with the latest on the Senate. Jake?

JAKE TAPPER: Yes, Wolf, we are going to make a few projections in the Senate. Starting in New York, where we project Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand has won a third full term to the Senate, after the one she inherited from Hillary Clinton who became Secretary of State under Barack Obama in 2009. There is an Independence Party candidate endorsed by the Forward movement that is peeling votes away from Gillibrand, but even so Gillibrand has been well ahead in the polls of GOP State Sen. Mike Martucci.

On the Republican side, we project that Kevin Cramer has won a second term to the Senate. He won his first term over then-incumbent Democrat Heidi Heitkamp in 2018, but this time the going is easy for him. Cramer, a heavy favorite from the start.

And in Wyoming, another easy win, this one for John Barrasso. You may recall he was appointed to succeed Craig Thomas, fellow Republican who died shortly after he won his third term. Barrasso will now be going into his fourth term, representing this heavily Republican state.

JAKE TAPPER: One away from a split Senate, two for a GOP majority.

What we can't project is Michigan. Debbie Stabenow retiring, and former Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is hoping for a comeback. But first, she'll have to do it against Congressman John James, who ran against Stabenow, almost defeated her in 2018, would have won if not for the "blue wave" that year. Same in 2020 against now-vice presidential hopeful Gary Peters, close race, but a challenging year for Republicans as well. John James is hoping the third time - plus some House experience - is the charm.

In Wisconsin, too close to call between Sen. Tammy Baldwin and Congressman Mike Gallagher. Gallagher has been outraising Baldwin in the last quarter of campaign finance reports, but Baldwin has seniority on her side. Will Gallagher's fountain of youth prevail? That remains to be seen.

Same thing in Minnesota, where Sen. Amy Klobuchar is retiring after making a brief run for President. Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan is hoping to move up with the support of progressives, but a former NFL sideline reporter named Michele Tafoya has other plans. Hoping to become the first Republican since Norm Coleman to serve Minnesota in the Senate. Ironically, that particular seat, last Republican to hold it was a news anchor named Rod Grams, who served one term in the House before being elected to the Senate in the '94 "Republican Revolution". Talk about a coincidence...

In Nebraska, CNN cannot project a winner as Deb Fischer attempts - at least by recent Nebraska standards - a rare third term in the Senate. Her Democratic opponent, Omaha City Councilmember Pete Festersen, has been running a surprisingly competitive race here. This is still her race to lose, but Festersen's internals have been quite close.

In New Mexico, as with Michigan, you also have a candidate going on his third statewide run. In this case, it's former TV meteorologist Mark Ronchetti, hoping to unseat Martin Heinrich, who has his own definition of third - as in a third term - in mind. That race, though, has gotten very close lately.

And last, but definitely not least, way too close to call in Arizona, where Sen. Kyrsten Sinema was resurrected from the dead. Once trailing a more progressive challenger, Congressman Ruben Gallego, by a hefty margin - she came all the way from behind to win the Democratic nomination, and further benefited from a divisive GOP primary where Congressman David Schweikert prevailed.

Schweikert has struggled to unite his party, and while his opponent, fellow Rep. Andy Biggs, has endorsed him, an even more far-right congressional incumbent, Paul Gosar, has not. Whether or not that affects Schweikert's chances, comes down to how much Gosar's supposed influence - even though he has not endorsed any third-party candidates, let alone Schweikert - may or may not have affected this race.

WOLF BLITZER: That has to be very concerning for the GOP in Arizona. Thank you, Jake Tapper. Anderson Cooper, you have something on those almost dozen or so races for Governor?

ANDERSON COOPER: Wolf, I should mention some calls for Governor's races. In North Dakota, Doug Burgum sought a third term, and he will get it. They have just called it for the incumbent Republican.

CNN also projects a win for Chris Miller, who is the son of Congresswoman Carol Miller from the 1st District, who easily won reelection tonight. Miller defeating the Democrat Erik Wells, a former State Senator and TV news anchor, to succeed fellow Republican and former Democrat Jim Justice who is term-limited.

Lastly, in New Hampshire, CNN projects that Republican incumbent Chris Sununu will win a fifth term as Governor, defeating former Congressman Chris Pappas, who sought to flip the Governor's Mansion for the Democrats. Along with Vermont, this is one of two remaining states that elects their Governors to two-year terms. Sununu is also speculated as a favorite for the GOP nomination in 2026, when Jeanne Shaheen, herself a former Governor who defeated Sununu's brother, one-term Sen. John Sununu, in 2008, is up for reelection and she is in fact seeking reelection in two years.

WOLF BLITZER: Indiana, Missouri of course being very closely watched. In Indiana, the Democratic Mayor of Hammond, Tom McDermott, has been polling competitively in the race for Governor, and right now he's got 47 percent of the vote against the Republican state Attorney General, Todd Rokita. Rokita has 51 percent.

Also, in Missouri, the Democrat Jason Kander, former Secretary of State, running competitively as well against his successor in that position, Jay Ashcroft. You may recall the latter's father, former U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft under George W. Bush.

John King, how do you explain these numbers?

JOHN KING: Wolf, it's matter of working-class voters - Trump's base - voting heavily for Ron DeSantis while also casting votes downballot both in suburban and rural areas alike. Starting with Indiana, where you have Todd Rokita getting his best performance in the Indianapolis suburbs, part of which he represented in Congress after he served as Secretary of State, but before he became Attorney General, not to mention running against Mike Braun in the 2018 GOP primary for Senate; Braun eventually defeated Democratic incumbent Joe Donnelly in that race.

Look here at Vigo County, home to Terre Haute. It's going for Ron DeSantis tonight, but at the gubernatorial level it's narrowly favoring McDermott. And of course, McDermott is doing very well here in Lake County, Northwest Indiana. While Kamala Harris is winning here, it's only around 51 percent. But in the race for Governor, McDermott is winning his home county with almost 58 percent.

Also look at Vanderburgh County, which is Evansville. It's going for Rokita, but very barely so. 49 percent to 48 percent. Ron DeSantis, by contrast, is getting 54 percent.

By contrast, Todd Rokita is winning upwards to 55 to 65 percent in the Indianapolis suburbs. He used to represent Hendricks County, and is winning 64 percent here in this fast-growing suburban county west of Indianapolis. Ron DeSantis is getting about that same percentage.

The one to watch, however, is Hamilton County, where Rokita is winning 59 percent right now, and DeSantis is getting 63. In summary, Rokita is crushing it in the Indianapolis suburbs, but McDermott is well past the Vice President in the Region and getting the numbers Barack Obama got in 2008 there.

WOLF BLITZER: And it should be noted, as we have said all along, that a Democrat has not won the Governor's Mansion in Indiana since Frank O'Bannon won his second term in 2000. O'Bannon died in 2003 before he completed his term, and his successor, former Lt. Gov. Joe Kernan took over, only to lose to Republican Mitch Daniels in 2004.

JOHN KING: Very well said, Wolf. To Missouri we go, and for Jason Kander, it's a repeat of his Senate run against Roy Blunt. He's doing very well in the Kansas City area, for instance Kander is up by 52 percent to 46 for Jay Ashcroft, the Republican, in Clay County which is the north side of Kansas City and suburbs. Clay County has not voted for a Democrat since Al Gore in 2000, by just one vote.

Over in St. Louis County, whereas Donald Trump lost it to Biden by more than 20 points, Kamala Harris is only winning 51 percent to Ron DeSantis's 43 percent. In the race for Senate, Josh Hawley is trailing, 58-40, against Nicole Galloway. But in the race for Governor, Jason Kander has opened up a 56-41 advantage, and is also outperforming both Harris and Galloway in rural Missouri. Not as big as the advantage that Claire McCaskill had over Josh Hawley in 2018, but Harris's numbers are worse than even Trudy Busch Valentine's numbers in St. Louis County against Eric Schmitt two years ago. This could potentially be a roadmap for the Democrats in future elections, win or lose.

WOLF BLITZER: We'll get back to this later. John King, thank you...

On the congressional page...

AZ-03: Arizona elects its first Latina Congresswoman as Democrat and Phoenix City Councilmember Laura Pastor, daughter of the late Congressman Ed Pastor, is elected to succeed Ruben Gallego, who unsuccessfully challenged Sen. Kyrsten Sinema in last August's primary.

AZ-07: After losing out on the Democratic nomination in the nearby 6th District, former State Rep. Daniel Hernández Jr. - known most famously for his role in saving the life of his then-boss and Congresswoman Gabby Giffords in a 2011 mass shooting at a supermarket in her district, easily wins the race to succeed retiring Rep. Raúl Grijalva in a district centered in Tucson that extends to parts of Yuma and south of Phoenix.

FL-04 & FL-15: Despite strong efforts by the DCCC to make some noise in the heart of "DeSantisland", Reps. Aaron Bean of Jacksonville and Laurel Lee of suburban Tampa win second terms in Congress.

NY-07, NY-14 & NY-16: As Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez gets elected to a fourth term in her Bronx and Queens-based 14th District, she gains two additional in-state allies in State Sen. Julia Salazar from the Brooklyn and Queens-based 7th District and former State Sen. Alessandra Biaggi in the Westchester-based 16th District.

Next: Big expectations require big decisions (at the network Decision Desk, that is)...

[SaintStan86]

As the night goes on, some other results have started to roll in in the House...

AZ-09: While outgoing Rep. Paul Gosar continues to draw headaches from the campaign of Senate nominee and fellow Rep. David Schweikert, former state GOP Chairwoman Kelli Ward is headed to Congress from Gosar's heavily Republican western-based 9th District.

CO-05: After being infamously shut out of consideration for the U.S. Senate in 2022 at a party convention - a move that led to reforms at the state party level, former El Paso County GOP Chair and Air Force reservist Eli Bremer wins his first term in this heavily Republican Colorado Springs-based district that is home to both the U.S. Air Force Academy and the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee - a district profile appropriate for the Air Force Academy grad and one-time Olympian.

KY-03: Rep. Morgan McGarvey wins a second term in Congress from his Louisville-based district, overcoming the challenge from Louisville City Council member Kevin Kramer.

MI-01: Despite a strong effort by former Marquette Mayor Jenna Smith on the Democratic side, State Rep. Greg Markkanen wins easily in the northern- and Upper Peninsula-based 1st District that is being vacated by Republican Jack Bergman.

NJ-07: Republican Tom Kean Jr. wins a second term in Congress as he defeats former Somerset County Commissioner Melonie Marano in his suburban North Jersey-based district.

OH-03: Moderate Republican Rep. Mike Turner turns back a challenge from Montgomery County Commissioner Debbie Lieberman in this competitive Dayton-based district.

OH-14: While some Democrats thought Republican Rep. Dave Joyce would be vulnerable in this district connecting eastern suburbs of Cleveland to the northern parts of the Youngstown TV market, Joyce nonetheless defeats former State Sen. Sean O'Brien, whose Trumbull County political base north of Youngstown has especially been turned off by the Democrats' leftward cultural drift.

OK-03 & OK-04: While Democrats had hoped to make some noise in two open Oklahoma seats with brand-name former state legislators, their efforts ultimately fail as former State Sen. Tom Ivester falls to congressional aide Grace Enmeier - the District Director of retiring Rep. Frank Lucas - in the western-based 3rd District, while former State House Minority Leader Emily Virgin falls to her chamber's former Speaker - two-time U.S. Senate candidate T.W. Shannon - in the southern-based 4th District of retiring Rep. Tom Cole. Both districts extend into suburban areas of Oklahoma City if not parts of the Oklahoma capital itself.

PA-01: Moderate GOP Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick wins a fifth term in his Bucks County-based 1st District in suburban Philadelphia, defeating Bucks County Treasurer Kris Ballerini.

SC-01 & SC-02: Two seats with links to Nikki Haley targeted by the DCCC to a minor extent in South Carolina remain Republican, as Rep. Nancy Mace defeats pediatrician and 2022 nominee Dr. Annie Andrews and wins a third term in her Lowcountry-based 1st District, which also includes the Kiawah Island residence of Haley. In the suburban Columbia-based 2nd District, an area once represented by Haley in the South Carolina House of Representatives, former Lt. Gov. André Bauer wins his first term without much difficulty.

TX-18 & TX-25: Both of Houston's retiring African-American members of Congress will be succeeded by fellow African-American former Houston City Council members, as Amanda Edwards will succeed Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee in the north Houston-based 18th District, while Edward Pollard will succeed Rep. Al Green in the 25th District, which the south and southwest Houston-based 9th District originally went by before a controversial 2003 redistricting.

TX-09, TX-14 & TX-36: Republicans sweep across four districts in the surrounding Houston suburbs, with the open, southeast suburban Houston-based 9th District (restored to its historical location in Galveston) electing State Sen. Mayes Middleton, the east Fort Bend and Brazoria County-based 14th (which extends to several rural counties west of Houston) electing former Fort Bend County GOP Chairman Bobby Eberle (succeeding Randy Weber), and the north suburban Houston-based 36th District (formerly the 2nd) electing Republican Matthew Wiltshire, a former campaign staffer and consultant to outgoing Rep. and U.S. Senate nominee Dan Crenshaw over Democratic nonprofit executive and Planned Parenthood activist Abby Whitmire.

VA-01, VA-02 & VA-07: A trio of Republican incumbents - two of them freshmen - win reelection over Virginia State Dels. running on the Democratic side, as Rep. Rob Wittman defeats Schuyler VanValkenburg in the suburban Richmond-based 1st District that extends to the Chesapeake Bay, Rep. Jen Kiggans defeats Kelly Fowler in the Virginia Beach-based 2nd District, and Rep. Yesli Vega defeats Rep. Elizabeth Guzmán in the exurban Northern Virginia-based 7th District.

WV-02: Across the state line in West Virginia, Republican Gary Howell wins a battle of State Dels., defeating Democrat Shawn Fluharty in the 2nd District that connects exurbs of Washington, D.C. (Martinsburg) and Pittsburgh (Morgantown) to the Clarksburg area.

Meanwhile, on another channel surf, circa 9:30PM ET...

(From ABC News...)
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: Chris Christie, where do you see where Democrats went wrong?

CHRIS CHRISTIE: Well George, as you can see by the results, the Democrats obviously were slow to learn from their mistakes in 2022 where they underestimated the concerns of small business owners facing high taxes and who got shafted by the pandemic. They also underestimated the concerns of parents over the curriculum and the restrictions their kids were facing in the schools, which led to the election of Glenn Youngkin in Virginia. And I'm certain if national Republicans paid as much attention to New Jersey...God, how amazing it would have been to see Jack Ciattarelli in the Governor's Mansion right now. It's no wonder that state has been rejuvenated for the GOP.

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: Speaking of New Jersey, we are looking at the Senate race now, where Dr. Mehmet Öz is currently narrowly leading Sen. Bob Menendez in New Jersey, 53 percent to 45 percent. Newark, Jersey City, have not come in yet, but do you believe that the tide could be turning here?

CHRIS CHRISTIE: Well I think it's obvious that Dr. Öz has learned his lesson from 2022 in Pennsylvania, when he won that race despite largely being unfamiliar to voters especially in western PA, where you had John Fetterman running from there. Fetterman, obviously despite the gruff appearance and his stroke, prevailed in part because of the Philly suburbs, but most especially because he communicated with the blue-collar voters there, despite the obviousness of Fetterman's working-class persona being a facade.

That whole residency issue, though, did not help Dr. Öz. There's no issue this time, and he has come across as charismatic as he was on his daytime talk show. You've seen more of him wearing sweaters, doing happy talk interviews, basically a warmer persona than what he had two years ago. Not to say he hasn't hit hard, he really has going after Bob Menendez big time, but arguably his campaign in New Jersey is much improved from Pennsylvania two years ago.

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: What about Delaware, where Dr. Öz's in-law is running?

(shows graphic of Republican Ben duPont leading Democratic Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester, 53-47, in the U.S. Senate race in Delaware.)

CHRIS CHRISTIE: Ben duPont, of course they had to run someone from that family, how else would Republicans compete in Delaware? But seriously, what's going on here is that with Biden not on the ballot nor an incumbent elsewhere, Republicans have pretty much gotten back on their feet here. There's also that whole yearning, you know, they haven't elected a Republican since the last time Republicans won the presidential race there, in '88.

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: If this result holds, it's going to be a long night for President Biden and the Democrats. Back to you, David.

DAVID MUIR: George Stephanopoulos with Chris Christie, thank you...

As George mentioned, New Jersey and Delaware too close to call, both in the presidential election and in the Senate, as you have already seen. Also, Pennsylvania, where Ron DeSantis is leading now 51-43 percent, clearly hanging in the balance. There's also a must-win Senate race there, Sen. Bob Casey Jr. trying to win a fourth term against Republican Dave McCormick, and right now McCormick is up 50-46. Philadelphia has reportedly not come in yet, but a lot of more Republican areas haven't either, where Gov. Doug Mastriano was strong in his upset victory two years ago.

(On CNN...)

ANDERSON COOPER: ...that's the scene over in New Jersey at the Andrew Yang watch party in the Meadowlands. And Wolf, I believe you have a projection to make...

WOLF BLITZER: Yes, Anderson, we have a major projection to announce in the Senate, please standby...

(CNN "Key Race Alert"...)

WOLF BLITZER: CNN projects that Sen. Rick Scott will win a second term as the U.S. Senator from Florida. He was being challenged by Stephanie Murphy, the former Congresswoman who served on the January 6th committee, left Congress in 2022 after her swingy suburban Orlando district got redrawn into a Republican-leaning one.

The Democrats aggressively dinged Scott on his record as a hospital executive as well as issues at the NRSC that led to its ouster as Chairman of that committee, namely spending on personal expenses as Republicans saw their prospects for gains slipping midway through the midterms. But ultimately, Scott prevailed and he has defeated Stephanie Murphy in Florida, taking Republicans now to 50 seats. If fellow Floridian Ron DeSantis wins the White House, the Republicans will control the Senate, needing only one more for a guaranteed majority.

He understandably gained more votes this time, compared to his 2018 defeat of then-incumbent, current NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. Speaking of the Cabinet, Gloria Borger, some say potential picks in the Harris administration may have also motivated Republican voters.

GLORIA BORGER: Yes, Wolf, indeed there were some possibilities that have stirring up listeners on conservative talk radio. For example, you have the prospect of Rachel Levine for Health & Human Services, which has drawn a lot of controversy not only for her handling of the pandemic in Pennsylvania, but also because of her being transgender, which definitely angered some social conservatives.

You also have the prospect of Randi Weingarten for Education Secretary, which certainly animated many parents as well, seeing what went on in Virginia and elsewhere. Weingarten also attacked over COVID as well. Also talk of a special advisory committee on "women's rights" - something Cecile Richards, former Planned Parenthood director, suggested.

This is not to say Republicans don't have their own controversial possibilities - Ted Cruz for Attorney General, for instance, but the culture war politics clearly drove a lot of Republican voters to the polls.

(Fast forward >>)

JOHN KING: This is Wisconsin, where Ron DeSantis is up 52-44. Election Day polls still coming in, but this result has to be very concerning if you're Kamala Harris. DeSantis is winning in the eastern half of the state - ancestral German Catholic population around Green Bay, Sheboygan, the historic birthplace of the Republican Party in Ripon, and of course he's getting close to 60 percent in the WOW counties.

These counties, as you may recall Wolf, trended Democratic in the Trump years even as the rural Driftless region swung towards Trump. The big difference now is that the WOW counties are back at close to full strength for the GOP and the rural remainder of Wisconsin is largely staying the same as 2020. Kamala Harris will need a big absentee push to get her through, but mail-in balloting is back to pre-pandemic levels, so we may have to wait a little more.

As for Vermont, Wolf, this is where the result stands. Normally, a traditional partisan race in Vermont would be more like almost 2-1 for the Democrats. Not this time. Ron DeSantis is getting 38 percent now in Vermont, the highest since George W. Bush in 2000, and Andrew Yang is splitting the Democratic baseline with 11 percent. 48 percent for Kamala Harris is perhaps the lowest, lower than even Bill Clinton in 1992.

The Senate race is also not much different. The Democrats nominated T.J. Donovan, a former state Attorney General, moved to Silicon Valley to work in the gaming industry, and returned home to Vermont to run for Senate, but it hasn't exactly been rosy. The retiring Sen. Bernie Sanders endorsed the current Lt. Gov., David Zuckerman, who is running under the Vermont Progressive Party banner.

And right now, Zuckerman has 34 percent of the vote whereas 28 percent is favoring Donovan. 35 percent for the former Lt. Gov., Brian Dubie, explains why this race is a tossup, and the prospect of a Republican winning a split in Vermont, no one thought of this when Bernie Sanders announced his retirement, but this would be the wildest of calls if Dubie were to prevail, and only 70 percent of boxes are in in Vermont. The wild card is Burlington has not come in yet. Burlington, Bernie Sanders' home base where he used to be the Mayor in the 1980s, certainly very liberal, and arguably crucial to Zuckerman's chances.

WOLF BLITZER: Alright, John King, we'll look a little more clearly at Vermont. But first, we have a major projection to announce...

(CNN "Key Race Alert"...)

WOLF BLITZER: CNN projects that Texas will go to Ron DeSantis, with 40 electoral votes. Texas, where Democrats have long pined after its fast-growing population, hoping that population shifts would work in their favor. There's also a competitive Senate race there between Dan Crenshaw and Julián Castro, which certainly is going to decide the fate of the Senate if no other race gets called beforehand, but for now Texas we project will go to Ron DeSantis.

JOHN KING: As you can see, Wolf, Texas clearly shifting towards the GOP after it trended greatly towards the Democrats under Donald Trump. This is evident in the continued strength Republicans are having in south Texas, which moved sharply to Donald Trump as the suburbs in the Texas Triangle moved towards the Democrats.

Cameron County, where Brownsville is, narrowly gave a majority to George W. Bush the last time a Republican won. Tonight, Ron DeSantis is improving on Trump's 43 percent from 2020, getting 48 percent, while Kamala Harris only has 46. The endorsement by Elon Musk, who has a SpaceX base down here by South Padre Island, certainly playing into DeSantis's win here. Close to 41 percent Donald Trump got in Hidalgo County, tonight it's 46 percent for DeSantis. Kamala Harris only barely winning here at 49 percent.

Further up the Texas coast, let's go to Nueces County, Corpus Christi. DeSantis is getting 53 percent, Harris only 43 percent. Last voted for a Democrat in '96 with President Clinton. Going now to the Houston area, Fort Bend County, diverse affluent county of suburban professionals, flipped blue against Donald Trump in 2016 and 2020, but flipped back in the midterms electing the twin brother of Congressman Troy Nehls, Trever Nehls, their top-level County Judge, which is like a county executive most other places. Ron DeSantis is getting just above the same percentage Mitt Romney got in 2012 - 53 percent.

Harris County, which is Houston, and this is big - the Democrats had their convention here, not even foretelling the Democrat county judge losing reelection and the Democratic Mayor of Houston retiring, that seat also going Republican. Ron DeSantis is getting what John McCain and Mitt Romney got in 2008 and 2012 at around 49 percent. The big difference: Kamala Harris only getting just over 44 percent.

Next: John King stays on Texas (for a while) as 10:00PM ET approaches...

[SaintStan86]

Continuing on where the TL leaves off, with John King doing the Texas two-step...

(From CNN...)
JOHN KING: Looking at Beaumont now, Jefferson County, this hadn't gone Republican since 1972 when Richard Nixon carried it, though since 2000 it only barely favored the Democrats, only going Republican in landslide elections. Ron DeSantis is winning here as well - 52 percent. Kamala Harris is only getting 45 percent.

Up to the Dallas-Fort Worth area, big difference from 2004 when George W. Bush won it is that Dallas County is now clearly a Dem bastion. Kamala Harris, as you see, is winning with only 49 percent - lowest since John Kerry in 2004. Ron DeSantis is only getting 42 percent, not unlike what Mitt Romney and John McCain got, but Andrew Yang is the X-factor here with 7 percent. Dallas has a big venture capital and crypto market that is not taking kindly to the news about the deficit, inflation, the future of the dollar.

Next door, you have Tarrant County, long a conservative bellwether but once defined by Jim Wright, the former Democratic House Speaker at one time. Joe Biden won it by a few ticks of a percent in 2020, going tonight for Ron DeSantis at 55 percent. Kamala Harris is only getting 37 percent, worst performance since John Kerry in 2004.

Collin and Denton counties to the north, both went single digits for Trump in 2020. DeSantis getting around 60 percent or higher in both counties tonight, Kamala Harris getting less than 35 percent in both Collin and Denton.

Now to the last corner of the Texas Triangle, where you see DeSantis getting 50 percent in Bexar County, which is San Antonio. Donald Trump barely got 40 percent here, and only George W. Bush did better than DeSantis is tonight. The whole shift of the Hispanic vote clearly affecting Harris, who is only getting 43 percent, worst performance since Bill Clinton in '92, Walter Mondale in '84. Andrew Yang has about five percent.

Travis County, which is the state capital, Austin, is a different story. Ron DeSantis is only getting 35 percent. Kamala Harris, of course, is getting 57 percent. It's the lowest percentage since 2000 when George W. Bush, then the Governor of Texas, won it with a plurality, also benefited from Ralph Nader on the ballot for the Green Party. Of course, Travis County has clearly moved to the left, so it's really not shifting back to the right somewhat.

The important thing to watch is Williamson County. 55 percent for DeSantis, best performance since Mitt Romney in 2012. Also some Democratic movement since then with the spillover from Austin, but with Kamala Harris getting 38 percent, and the Austin area being a stronghold for Yang supporters, this is quite bad for the Democrats.

(On Newsmax...)
GREG KELLY: As you can see from these returns, the obvious argument is that voters are worried about the economy, the national debt, the mediocrity with our inflation and the failures of Biden's inflation reduction strategy. They're worried about the cultural vapidity, the shallowness, the woke mafia, the attacks on our police, the crime especially. They're worried about our standing in the world, Biden talking about how "Oh, we restored leadership in the world"...That went out the window with Afghanistan, with Ukraine, with Hong Kong. We're not respected nor feared anymore.

And what did Kamala Harris do? Like every Democrat has usually done: attempt to hijack our cultural icons and start a war, as if we needed more controversy with the NFL, with an ad portraying Republicans as 'abusive' and 'hateful' parents who don't love their kids, attack Christians as 'mean bullies' and 'fascists'. And it would have been a lot worse if not for Roger Goodell waking up to reality.

Americans are tired of. They just want to watch a football game without the kneeling, go to Chick-fil-A and not be harassed, remember the finger pointing over their charitable foundation when they stopped funding the Salvation Army? They just want to live their lives without the interference about how awful we are, and not feel guilty about eating a damn chicken sandwich. When even Bill Maher's liberal self is sounding the alarm repeatedly, you know something is not right. The Harris campaign traded in John F. Kennedy and FDR for AOC, and the results show tonight.

(On MSNBC...)
JOY REID: They brought out the dog whistles for Kamala Harris. Tried to portray her as worse than Ursula from the Little Mermaid. Used the attack ad from Rick Wilson, someone not even connected to the Harris campaign, to brand the whole entire Harris campaign as elitist and intolerant to their struggles. Caused a lot of working class voters to go against their interests knowing that Ron DeSantis doesn't have their back. If anything, Democrats need to work on reconnecting with the working class, use John Fetterman in Pennsylvania as a good starting point.

LAWRENCE O'DONNELL: Looking at the returns from New Jersey, thank you Joy Reid, it appears Ron DeSantis has a narrow advantage in the Garden State. This is sort of the 2021 New Jersey gubernatorial race in reverse, with a little less for DeSantis at 50 percent. But clearly, Kamala Harris is getting 42 percent, an awfully low number for a Democrat here. Worse than even Michael Dukakis in 1988, the last time a Republican won the presidency here. If you're looking at these results right now, and you're a Democrat, this has to be very, very sobering news.

(On Fox News...)
SEAN HANNITY: ...The big loser tonight, is not necessarily Kamala Harris. We know she's losing badly in a lot of places, big surprise being New Jersey, Connecticut, Delaware even. But the big loser tonight is the woke mob, the defense contractor lobby that bankrolled on Biden starting another war without authorization and with a lot of question marks, between insufficient military needs and even more incompetent troops where the generals worried more about proper pronouns, hurt feelings and offending China than actually preparing to deal with a nuclear China. That certainly does not make our country feel safe, which explains why Kamala Harris's comments about peace at any cost, may have cost her this election.

BRET BAIER: Just incredibly brutal, Sean Hannity thank you for joining us. We'll go to Phil Keating in Ponte Vedra Beach, where the DeSantis camp is really rockin' it out there now.

PHIL KEATING: Yes they are Bret, and here in Florida they're having a party now because the Van Zant brothers are performing on stage here on the plaza overlooking the 18th hole. ("Hold On Loosely", a song one of the brothers, Donnie, performed with 38 Special, is being performed in the background.) They're very excited about Ron DeSantis's performance tonight, and...wait a minute...Dennis Miller is here.

DENNIS MILLER: I mean, look at this crowd, we're having a party here tonight! It feels like a Chinese buffet at Howard Johnson's, but with fancier decor, and tonier than President Biden's fortress on the Brandywine - aka the Biden Bed Bath & Beyond Beach Bunker.

But in all seriousness, DeSantis is punching above his weight, and Kamala knocked herself out, thinking she's hitting for the chest when she really hit his jewels, and that tarnished everything for her. The big kicker is Andrew Yang pouring cough syrup on the whole chest of drawers and ruining it for her.

I mean Kamala, all she could bring up about poor Ron DeSantis was Gitmo - because obviously there was nothing much to attack him over. Okay, maybe the Disney bill, except Bob Chapek ended up looking more like the Bill Dauterive guy from King of the Hill. In the end, Kamala's hands ended up being full of crap - Biden's crap from his visit with the Pope.

(Back to CNN...)
JOHN KING: Other congressional returns, this is the 7th District in Texas, west side of Houston - River Oaks, the Galleria, Westheimer. This was for many years a Republican stronghold, where George H.W. Bush served two terms in Congress, retired here after leaving the White House. Died less than a month after Lizzie Fletcher won it in 2018, first Democrat since it was switched over here from another part of Texas.

The Texas Legislature made it a Democratic lock in 2022, but then the courts intervened plus some conservatives thought the redistricting didn't go as far as DeSantis did in Florida. This new district went for Biden by a slight margin, but tonight Pierce Bush, grandson of the former President, nephew of another former President - George W. Bush - is winning here 51-47. And that's the early vote. Given the trends we've seen elsewhere in the country, this will likely hold up and if it does, Fletcher is gone.

WOLF BLITZER: And I'm being told by our producer that our CNN affiliate, KHOU, in Houston is reporting that Harris County is very slow to respond to Election Day returns, so it may be a while before we find out who wins here.

We, however, do have a projection to make on the presidential side. And this is a big one, in fact, first flip of the night. Stand by...

(CNN "Key Race Alert"...)

WOLF BLITZER: CNN projects that Georgia, which went for Joe Biden in 2020 by the slimmest of margins, will go for Ron DeSantis. We project that the Governor of neighboring Florida will win 16 electoral votes, as polls continue to show a 53-41 win for DeSantis in Georgia. Most of the Metro Atlanta area is reporting in, and the main areas just now coming online are mostly in the Appalachian highlands, where an intriguing election involving Marjorie Taylor Greene is going on tonight. With not much more for Democrats to find, Fulton County is about 85 percent in, DeKalb County, 75 percent, but a whole swath of rural votes just now coming in, it looks like DeSantis is going to hang on and win in Georgia.

This is a blow to the Harris campaign, which was banking on Georgia's African-American vote to deliver the state for Kamala Harris, Stacey Abrams campaigned hard, Sen. Jon Ossoff campaigned hard as well as former Sen. Raphael Warnock rallying his parishioners at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, where Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was once pastor. But it all fell apart, with some more liberal urban precincts as well as some heavily Asian ones north of Atlanta giving 7, even well over 10-15 percent for Andrew Yang in some areas, and Ron DeSantis will take Georgia back for the Republicans.

We're also looking now at Arizona, where Ron DeSantis is starting off, 20 percent of the vote in, at 52 percent, to 43 for Kamala Harris. Andrew Yang has 4 percent, and certainly the election will all come to Maricopa County, as it did for Joe Biden in 2020.

(Fast forward to 10:00PM >>)

WOLF BLITZER: This is CNN's coverage of Election Night in America, where Ron DeSantis is now 58 votes away from becoming the 47th President of the United States, as you look live now from TPC Sawgrass in Florida, where Ron DeSantis's campaign is having a blast - as the Florida Governor is continuing to lead in North Carolina, Ohio, Arizona now, and several other states, including some that have not voted for a Republican in a long while. States like New Jersey, where DeSantis is barely above 50 percent - something we have not seen in a very long time from a state usually used to being called early for the Democrats. Obviously, DeSantis being Italian-American and Catholic - much like The Sopranos - playing a factor apparently, but Andrew Yang, who is having his watch party at the Hilton near the New Jersey Meadowlands where the Giants and Jets play, may loom even larger.

I'm Wolf Blitzer, welcoming our viewers across the United States and around the world, as we come up on 10:00 PM here in New York. Here, you may be wondering where your children are. But in a few states like Nevada, Utah and Montana, polls are closing, plus most of Idaho and a bit of Oregon. We are also about to make a major, major projection in the Senate. So, we're going to get with Jake Tapper on that. But first, please stand by...

(CNN "Key Race Alert"...)

WOLF BLITZER: CNN can project that Utah and its six electoral votes will go to Ron DeSantis. This is a very conservative Mormon state, and even though DeSantis struggled a bit here in the primaries, unlike the case with Donald Trump, he has polled stronger in comparison to Trump. DeSantis will win easily here, as Harris largely did not pay much attention to this state.

Also, we can project Montana and its four electoral votes will go to Gov. DeSantis. The Harris campaign did attempt to make some noise here, and there is a competitive Senate race on the ballot, but DeSantis has been polling by double-digit margins here and asides from areas like Bozeman, Missoula, not really much in terms of geography favorable to the Vice President.

WOLF BLITZER: We cannot project a winner in Nevada, which has been a swing state throughout this entire campaign, too close to call from Day One. Also a high-stakes Senate race between freshman Jacky Rosen and Republican challenger Sam Brown, which is going to go down to the wire in Nevada, likely a plurality with "None of These Candidates" being an option, plus a full slate of competitive congressional battles after Democrats were shut out in the midterms, trying to avoid a complete sweep.

Also, we have a major, major projection...

(CNN "Key Race Alert"...)

BREAKING NEWS: REPUBLICANS WILL KEEP CONTROL OF THE SENATE

WOLF BLITZER: Right now, CNN projects that Republicans will keep control of the Senate. It was already a precarious scenario for the Democrats to take back control, especially after Joe Manchin retired in West Virginia and Democrats were shut out in California in a shocker, but we can now officially project that Republicans will, in fact, maintain control of the Senate. That is because, we are projecting in Utah that Mitt Romney, the 2012 presidential nominee, who later fell from grace among conservatives after voting to convict President Donald Trump in the first impeachment trial right before the COVID-19 pandemic broke out, and again in the second trial over Trump's role in the attack on the Capitol on January 6th, 2021. Let's go to Jake Tapper.

JAKE TAPPER: Wolf, we are projecting that Mitt Romney wins a second term in the Senate from Utah, defeating former Salt Lake County Council member Shireen Ghorbani, the Democratic nominee who hoped to mount a political comeback after losing her seat on the Council narrowly in 2020. There was rumored speculation of a third-party candidacy potentially spoiling the race for Romney, whose vote to convict the former President not once, but twice in both separate impeachment trials made him public enemy No. 1 for many Republicans.

But in the end, here in Utah, where he fended off a fierce primary challenge from former Congressman and Fox News host Jason Chaffetz, it appears that Romney is on his way to a second term.

We cannot project a winner yet in Nevada, Jacky Rosen trying to win a second term against Republican Sam Brown, who lost the Republican primary to Adam Laxalt in 2022, who eventually went on to defeat Catherine Cortez Masto in the midterms. That race, as we know it, is going to be decided when it gets close to around 90 percent of the ballots counted in Nevada.

We also cannot project in Montana, where Sen. Jon Tester is trying to win a fourth term against Congressman Matt Rosendale in a rematch of their 2018 election which Tester won, benefiting that year from the "blue wave" which otherwise would have sunk his reelection but didn't. A number of tough votes from Tester, on Biden's infrastructure deal and other issues, certainly did not help his case.

We are going to keep an eye on these races and many more, including Michigan where it appears that former Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, attempting to make a comeback in the Senate after her shock defeat two years ago for Governor, is trailing Congressman John James. Still waiting for more votes, especially in Metro Detroit, but at 52-46, and with 30 percent of the votes in, it's still quite early over there in Michigan. Will probably take all night to determine a winner.

Next: The 10:00PM hour continues...

[SaintStan86]

(From Fox News...)
ARNON MISHKIN: Ohio, we have yet to call, because of the outstanding vote around Cleveland, Cincinnati, but even so at 85 percent in, we could be very close to a decision on the Senate. Jim Jordan slightly ahead of Sherrod Brown, 51 percent to 47 percent. Still some outstanding votes in the Toledo area, even though Toledo itself has more or less completed, which is why we have called the 5th District for Republican incumbent Bob Latta.

SHANNON BREAM: Almost sounds like Jim Jordan could pull this off, but we shall see. Arnon Mishkin at the Fox News Decision Desk, thank you.

BRET BAIER: OK, Shannon, and we're looking at the Senate in Texas, where Julián Castro is outperforming Kamala Harris in his home San Antonio, where he once ran for Mayor, and along the border, winning several counties down there. Crenshaw more or less holding his own, ahead in Houston, Harris County. 75 percent of the vote is in, but Castro winning plenty of Hispanic votes that otherwise voted for DeSantis. Still, at 55-43, it's a close one.

We're also looking at New Mexico, where Mark Ronchetti, the Republican, is narrowly ahead with 51 percent to Martin Heinrich's 47 percent. You may recall the close race Ronchetti had for Governor in 2022, surprisingly close race against Ben Ray Lujan for the Senate in 2020. Still have Albuquerque to report in, but so far in southern New Mexico he's doing quite well.

And in Arizona, this is the latest: David Schweikert and Kyrsten Sinema facing off for the Senate. Sinema has 49 percent, Schweikert 46, but there is a Libertarian candidate getting some votes that otherwise would have favored Schweikert. You may recall the bitter primary that took weeks to confirm, also Paul Gosar refusing to outright endorse Schweikert, not doing so until just hours before the polls closed.

Then you also have the moderate vote that liked Sinema, who came from behind to win her primary over Ruben Gallego, who charged that Sinema was not liberal enough.

(On CNN...)

ANDERSON COOPER: And now, Governor Pritzker, we have Harris up 47 to 46 in Illinois with most of Cook County having called in. However, the suburbs are still outstanding as well as the downstate counties which are certain to break big for DeSantis. How do you view this close result?

JB PRITZKER: Well I think, Anderson, the whole brouhaha that Harris made regarding China may have stumped her. You have to consider that they had an unusual format, based off of Lincoln-Douglas, that was used with the questions provided anonymously. It wouldn't shock me if that was a partisan Republican question that was used to put Harris on the spot. We all know that Kamala is passionate about seeking a solution to the dispute between the U.S. and China, she just doesn't want a trade war that is costly to American consumers and workers. She also believes in prioritizing American workers, and because her opponent framed it the way he did, you're getting the result that we're seeing.

ANDERSON COOPER: What do you think this means for Dick Durbin in 2026?

JB PRITZKER: Not much will change. If anything, even if Durbin decides to retire we're still going to be advantaged, and we have a bevy of strong Democratic candidates who will be ready to take his place. You have my Lieutenant Governor, Juliana Stratton, for one. Kwame Raoul, our Attorney General. Mike Frerichs, our State Treasurer with great crossover appeal, several congressional and state lawmakers who could make a race of it. The Republicans don't really scare me, and if DeSantis were to hang on, voters will see that the Florida miracle DeSantis talks about is merely something that benefits his wealthy donors and corporations at the expense of the working class.

ANDERSON COOPER: Lastly, what about you? Are you going to run for a third term?

JB PRITZKER: Well I'm not saying that isn't in the cards, but the bold solutions I have put forth are working for Illinois, and it shows in their high approval ratings from voters. But as far as speculation, let's get past the inauguration - if we even have one - and then we can talk.

ANDERSON COOPER: Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, thank you for joining us. Back to you, Wolf Blitzer...

WOLF BLITZER: Anderson, thank you. Governor JB Pritzker, potential candidate in 2028 should things not turn around tonight for Kamala Harris, as you look at San Francisco where Harris's watch party is going as planned. Plenty of speakers, including the actress Reese Witherspoon who is speaking on stage now, and as herself and not Elle Woods, who probably would have made a fine Senator had the storylines in Legally Blonde progressed that far.

Meanwhile, we have some projections to make in the Senate, which has just been called for a Republican majority for the second straight Congress. Jake Tapper, what do you have?

JAKE TAPPER: In Nebraska, we project that Sen. Deb Fischer has been reelected to a third term. She was running against Democratic Omaha City Councilman Pete Festersen, who ran a vigorous campaign and is perhaps the strongest polling Democrat since 2012, when Fischer defeated Bob Kerrey, the former Senator who attempted to win back his old seat.

As you can see now, Festersen has 46 percent to Fischer's 53 percent, but the key liberal areas in the state - Omaha, Lincoln - have already checked their boxes in. It's the deeply Republican rural areas still outstanding, and while Festersen has performed more strongly than Vice President Harris in these areas, still not enough. Fischer, we project will win a third term, the first Republican since Carl Curtis in 1966, and overall since Jim Exon won his third term in 1990.

This is somewhat unusual, because most of Nebraska's recent Senators - Democrats and Republicans - have usually not run for a third term as of late, of course Ben Sasse being the latest, announcing he's not running for reelection in 2026. But Fischer obviously being the exception tonight.

Also, and this is big, we project Josh Hawley wins a second term from Missouri. He was facing Nicole Galloway, the former State Auditor who aggressively dinged Hawley on his residency status - he had been claiming his primary residence in Virginia while maintaining his sister's address near Springfield as his residence. Not to mention the January 6th attack, where Hawley raised a fist to the protestors before they stormed the Capitol.

But based on returns, where Hawley is getting 53 percent to 46 for Galloway with 80 percent of the boxes in and almost all of St. Louis and now Kansas City reporting, we can safely make the call for Sen. Hawley in Missouri.

And...this is just coming in now. CNN is now projecting that Congressman Dan Crenshaw will win the Senate race in Texas, where he was facing former San Antonio Mayor and HUD Secretary Julián Castro. This is the open Senate seat where Ted Cruz retired to run for President. Crenshaw is underperforming DeSantis among Hispanics, but it still isn't enough for Castro to overcome as Crenshaw and DeSantis remain at parity in much of the rest of the state, where the Election Day vote is proving to be even more conservative. Crenshaw at 55 percent now to 43 for Castro.

That takes us to 54 Republicans and 30 Democrats now, as all of the five seats that Democrats zeroed in on, hoping to take back the majority, those are now gone to the GOP, and the question remains now whether or not Crenshaw's fellow Texan and Senate Majority Leader John Cornyn will have his filibuster-proof majority.

WOLF BLITZER: We shall see, Jake Tapper. Thank you, we'll get back to you in a moment...

(On NBC...)
(Anderson .Paak and Bruno Mars performing "Love's Train")
"She said, "Sugar, honey, darlin', I really wanna see you, too"..."I bet you do, bet you do, bet you do"...

LESTER HOLT: Bruno Mars, performing with Anderson .Paak on the stage in San Francisco. They are part of Silk Sonic, a super group they are in when they're not performing separately, serenading the San Francisco crowd as the night apparently does not seem to be going in the Vice President's favor as 8:00PM approaches, polls set to close in California.

California, widely expected to go for favorite daughter Kamala Harris.

In Michigan, now, DeSantis has a 51-45 lead, including 50 percent in Oakland County, which has not gone for a Republican since 1992 when President George H.W. Bush got a plurality against Bill Clinton. Ross Perot, of course, was a big factor - in fact, 2-3 times as big as Andrew Yang is tonight. Macomb, next door, the ancestral home of the Reagan Democrats/Trump Democrats - 55 percent.

And not just in Metro Detroit, but over in Genesee County where DeSantis is matching Trump's 45 percent from 2020, but Kamala Harris is only getting 50. This is Flint, where Ronald Reagan was the last Republican to win in 1984, and the blue-collar vote obviously affected by Harris's comment on China, which Republicans played to the death in recent ads there.

CHUCK TODD: Yes, Lester, that is correct. The exit polls showed blue-collar voters were not particularly swayed by Harris's suggestion for peace in China, regardless of the impact on manufacturing jobs - which is a big thing to many in Michigan. In attempting to be realistic about avoiding a nuclear war with China, Harris's response proved to be clumsy in their eyes, and the DeSantis campaign picked up on it and ran with the medicine ball.

The Upper Peninsula, west Michigan, also not particularly impressed either. You see the red up there. Kent County, where Grand Rapids is, DeSantis is getting 55 percent - highest numbers since George W. Bush, but Kamala Harris is only mustering 40 percent, what John Kerry got in 2004. John James is getting 53 percent, by contrast, in the Senate race against Gretchen Whitmer; he's leading statewide with 52 percent to Whitmer's 47.

There is one bright spot in west Michigan for the Democrats. Right now, with 80 percent reporting, we have Hillary Scholten with a two-point lead over freshman incumbent John Gibbs. Gibbs, a Black conservative who defeated Peter Meijer, another freshman Republican who voted to impeach Donald Trump, who in turn endorsed Gibbs to defeat Meijer in 2022.

Gibbs reportedly has had his share of controversial comments, including implying that Jill Biden funded a satanic ritual abuse cabal, as well as comments regarding a local Islamic center "indoctrinating children" at a local high school, which obviously turned off independent voters and was also condemned by Meijer as well as Justin Amash as "inconsistent with the First Amendment and on par with using the N word to describe African-Americans". Scholten has vowed to govern as a moderate, and cited former Republican President Gerald Ford, who once represented the district, as the district's guiding "North Star". Gibbs has attempted to tie Scholten to Kamala Harris and other left-wing boogeymen of the right, but apparently the voters aren't exactly buying it.

LESTER HOLT: What about Wisconsin and Pennsylvania?

CHUCK TODD: Right now, Lester, DeSantis is up 53-42 with the Milwaukee suburbs and most of the rural areas in the north and east coming in. They're still counting ballots in Madison, Milwaukee, western Wisconsin which is a swing area where Derrick Van Orden just won a second term in the 3rd District, but 75 percent of Wisconsin has reported, and we could be having a call real soon.

Pennsylvania, where Bob Casey Jr. is running for reelection - Dave McCormick is up 49-47 with 80 percent of the boxes in, but Philadelphia has pretty much chimed in. Most of what's out there are Election Day votes in more Republican parts of the state, save for the collar counties around Philadelphia and in northeast Pennsylvania - Lackawanna County where Scranton is. DeSantis is up 50-45, and they're just now starting to open up absentee ballots.

LESTER HOLT: We'll come back with more on this, but first let's go to Savannah Guthrie with the latest on what we know from the Harris and DeSantis camps.

(On ABC...)
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: There's also another House race in the Chicago area, this one where it was somewhat of a dark horse until the FBI raided the offices of Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi. They're investigating reports that Krishnamoorthi reportedly used congressional funds to pay for personal expenses and lobbying favors from pharmaceutical companies, some of which have frequent donors to his campaign - which his primary and general opponents have highlighted.

Krishnamoorthi, of course had the primary challenge from the left in 2022, and then he defeated fellow incumbent Mike Quigley, who highlighted the issue in his primary race against Krishnamoorthi, who accused Quigley of racism - Krishnamoorthi, of course, is Indian-American.

But so is his Republican challenger, Nimish Jani, a former board trustee in Schaumburg - which is the major Chicago suburb that has the big shopping mall, Woodfield, in it. Far from the only landmark - the Chicago Bears' new stadium under construction in Arlington Heights is just within the new 5th District at the old Arlington International race course, and so is much of the northwest side of Chicago, areas like Rosemont, Morton Grove, Des Plaines where Ray Kroc opened his first McDonald's, where the classic John Hughes film The Breakfast Club was filmed.

DAVID MUIR: Quite an interesting district, what are the chances the GOP flips that district especially with the news that broke last month?

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: Biden won it by 20 points in 2020, Gov. J.B. Pritzker narrowly won it in 2022.

DAVID MUIR: OK, George, thank you. Let's go now to Pierre Thomas...

At the House level...

CT-03 & NY-12: After being absent the last four years, Camelot returns to Congress as two members of the Kennedy family are elected. In New York's 12th District based in Manhattan, Jack Schlossberg, the grandson of former President John F. Kennedy and son of Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg, defeats former New York Young Republicans Chairman Gavin Wax to win his first term in this Manhattan-based district where Jerry Nadler is retiring, while in Connecticut's 3rd District based in New Haven, former State Sen. Ted Kennedy Jr., the son of the late Sen. Ted Kennedy, wins his first term, defeating Republican Lesley DeNardis whose father once won this same district in 1980.

IL-14: After defeating then-Rep. Lauren Underwood in 2022, Republican freshman Scott Gryder wins a second term in a newly redrawn exurban Chicagoland/Central Illinois district stretching from Aurora to Bloomington, defeating State Rep. Lance Yednock.

IA-02: In a rematch of her 2022 reelection, two-term Republican Ashley Hinson wins a third term over Democratic former State Sen. Liz Mathis in this Cedar Rapids-based district.

ME-01: Progressive former Portland Mayor Ethan Strimling wins his first term in the Portland-based district of Rep. Chellie Pingree, who left to pursue a Senate run, defeating dentist and former Maine GOP Chairwoman Demi Kouzounas in a competitive race.

MN-04 & MN-05: The Twin Cities will be represented by two African-Americans for the first time, with St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter winning his first term in the heavily Democratic, St. Paul-based 4th of retiring DFL incumbent Betty McCollum. He will join Ilhan Omar, who wins reelection in her heavily DFL Minneapolis district despite criticism over her heated rhetoric.

MS-02: Despite a late-breaking challenge from the NRCC, Clarksdale Mayor and former State Rep. Chuck Espy wins his first term in Congress from this majority Black district connecting the state capital of Jackson to the Mississippi Delta.

MO-05: Kansas City Councilman Kevin McManus will succeed retiring Rep. Emanuel Cleaver in this heavily Democratic Kansas City district.

OH-01: 18 years after unsuccessfully challenging Rep. Steve Chabot in this Cincinnati-based district, former Cincinnati Mayor John Cranley finally wins the retiring Republican's congressional seat, defeating Republican challenger Tom Brinkman with 52 percent of the vote to pick up this now Democratic-leaning district that takes in only all of Cincinnati and all but the northeast corner of Hamilton County.

OH-05: As called on Fox News, Republican incumbent Bob Latta has won his closest reelection yet (at least since his 2007 special election victory against a late-surging Democrat), defeating State Rep. Lisa Sobecki 52-48 in the redistricted, Toledo-based district.

PA-12: Despite a late-surging campaign from a Republican candidate slamming her association with "the Squad", progressive freshman Summer Lee wins a second term with strong support in the Pittsburgh city limits and some of its close-in eastern suburbs.

PA-16: A comeback attempt for former Rep. and Erie County Executive Kathy Dahlkemper fails as former State Sen. Dan Laughlin wins every county outside of Erie County in this Erie to north exurban Pittsburgh district with a 56-42 victory.

TX-12 & TX-24: The Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex finally gets its first Latina Congresswoman as Dallas County Commissioner Elba Garcia wins her first term in a district stretching from downtown and west Dallas out to western Dallas County including most of Grand Prairie and south Irving. The old 24th's GOP incumbent, Beth Van Duyne, wins a third term in the nearby 12th District stretching from most of the rest of Irving and DFW Airport to northern Fort Worth and Tarrant County.

WI-03: As reported on NBC, Republican freshman Derrick Van Orden has been reelected to a second term, defeating Democratic challenger Alex Eveland, a former staffer for the district's previous incumbent, Ron Kind.

WI-05: Despite aggressive efforts to flip this traditionally Republican suburban Milwaukee district, which Scott Fitzgerald vacated to run for the Senate, Republican Kevin Nicholson is elected to succeed Fitzgerald, defeating former State Asw. Sara Rodriguez, who unsuccessfully sought the lieutenant governorship on the ticket of defeated Gov. Tony Evers in 2022.

[SaintStan86]

UPDATE: Dr. Anthony Fauci is retiring December 20th. He didn't even need a 60 Minutes interview to announce his intentions. He probably will still do that before he retires, but it's fair to say I have nailed it with this call, which I made early in this TL.

Still within the 10:00PM hour, going on 11:00PM...

(Continuing with ABC...)
PIERRE THOMAS: David, the U.S. Attorney's office in Atlanta says that a suspect is in custody charged with the facilitation of a pipe bomb with the aim to disrupt a polling place in Midtown Atlanta. The suspect, a man in his 20s, reportedly targeted the precinct because he suspected that it was a gathering place for mules "to steal the election from Ron DeSantis". Police arrested the man shortly after 9:15PM Eastern, and he is currently being booked in the Fulton County Jail awaiting a judge in the morning.

We also hearing that there have been two additional arrests with regards to voter fraud allegations, one involving a Philadelphia man who attempted to record the absentee votes of several nursing home patients who died after the ballots were postmarked - a violation of Pennsylvania election law that also constitutes a state jail felony, and another involving a woman in Louisiana who attempted to vote a second time in Texas using a fake ID; the woman was later arrested in Shreveport, Louisiana and is currently awaiting an arraignment while out on a personal recognizance bond.

That is the latest development, and there no doubt will be more as results continue to come in and claims of voter disenfranchisement begin to pop up.

DAVID MUIR: Pierre Thomas, thank you for the updates on the legal front with regards to the election process.

(From CNN)
VAN JONES: Kamala Harris had so much promise. An inspiring story growing up in Berkeley, desegregating an elementary school in a forced busing strategy her future partner, Joe Biden, voted against in that same era. Rose up to become a prosecutor in Alameda County, crossed the Bay Bridge to join the DA in San Francisco, then beat him and accomplished even more than her predecessor did. Became California Attorney General..then a Senator...then Vice President. She truly has been the California Dream for so many people.

To waste it all away in this vice presidency, and running for President, really is sad to see happen, especially when you're dealing with a mob of people who want to get angry about the painful changes America needs to thrive for another 250 years. Considering how close we came to losing it all almost four years ago in an insurrection of epic proportions. I seriously hope the Democrats think about what they have done wrong, because to sweep it under the rug is not OK.

ANDERSON COOPER: Very interesting choice of words, Van Jones. Let's go to Jake Tapper now with the latest from the Senate.

JAKE TAPPER: Anderson, we are starting to see the vote totals hit 90 percent in Virginia, where Sen. Tim Kaine is trailing right now against State Sen. Jill Vogel, with Vogel leading 52-46 as Fairfax County hits 50 percent of the vote in, looking at John King's magic wall. Kaine is up in Fairfax, 62-36, matching DeSantis's numbers there as well. Kamala Harris is winning Fairfax with 57 percent.

JOHN KING: Yes, and as you can see, Loudoun and Prince William counties giving pluralities. DeSantis has 47 percent in Loudoun, but the impact of Andrew Yang's candidacy really strong: 7 percent for Yang, leaving Harris with 45 percent. Prince William, 6 percent for Yang, 44 for DeSantis, 48 for Kamala Harris. Of course, Prince William a slightly more Democratic county than Loudoun. Important to note, DeSantis is outperforming Youngkin, but Terry McAuliffe being from Northern Virginia benefited him, even though Youngkin is also from the region.

JAKE TAPPER: Speaking of "the region", the race for Governor of Indiana, looking awfully close now with state Attorney General Todd Rokita even at 49 percent with Hammond Mayor Tom McDermott from "THE Region". What is going on here with that race?

JOHN KING: Well Jake, this looks rather surprising, but McDermott is doing well in his northwest Indiana base, Hammond, of course, is on the state borderline with Illinois in the Chicago area. But, let's take a look at Vigo County, Terre Haute. McDermott is getting 52 percent. DeSantis is winning that county with 55, and Sen. Mike Braun got 54. The county to watch is Vanderburgh, home to Evansville, where McDermott is narrowly ahead by two points. So as you can see, McDermott is winning a lot of DeSantis and Trump voters outside of the Indianapolis area. And that is making this race quite close.

JAKE TAPPER: John, let me interrupt you, we have a couple of projections that Wolf Blitzer would like to make in the presidential race.

(CNN "Key Race Alert"...)

WOLF BLITZER: John, CNN projects that North Carolina will go to Gov. Ron DeSantis with 16 electoral votes. North Carolina has not voted for a Democrat since 2008, when it narrowly voted for Barack Obama, and tonight DeSantis is getting 53 percent, the highest for a Republican since George W. Bush won 56 percent. Obviously a number of factors, Nikki Haley, his running mate, from nearby South Carolina, Andrew Yang's outsized support with Asian Americans in Raleigh and some banking industry professionals in Charlotte potentially concerned about a potential default, not to mention Yang splintering part of the Democratic vote with Harris. These factors all played into our decision to call the state for Ron DeSantis.

Also, CNN projects that Iowa, where DeSantis is getting 53 percent and Kamala Harris is getting 42 percent, will also go to DeSantis. Many of the counties that went for Donald Trump four years ago are going for DeSantis tonight, and he's also gained a few more as well. Six electoral votes.

And this is just in, Ron DeSantis has flipped his second state of the night, in New Hampshire, where he wins four electoral votes. DeSantis is winning 52 percent of the vote, Kamala Harris only getting 42 percent.

There is one more vote that Ron DeSantis is getting as well, and that is the 2nd District in Nebraska, which is Omaha and the surrounding suburbs. It went to Donald Trump in 2016, flipped to Joe Biden four years later, and tonight Ron DeSantis gets it back for the Republicans.

Not all is bad, and there is one bright spot, for the Democrats, where we can now project that Kamala Harris will win the state of Vermont, where DeSantis has been getting 39 percent, but while Andrew Yang has gone over 10 percent here, Kamala Harris will win this state and its three electoral votes with a plurality, right now she stands at 48 percent. But still, this has to be the worst performance for a Democrat in Vermont since the Bill Clinton era.

WOLF BLITZER: OK, we're going to go live now to East Rutherford, New Jersey, where Andrew Yang is set to speak to his supporters from his Forward movement shortly. Let's listen in...

ANDREW YANG: Thank you everyone!

First off, I want to say to everyone, it has been a pleasure being with you, leading a movement to forever change the trajectory of America, with a movement that puts people before politics, and country before party. Adam Kinzinger and I are forever grateful to you, the voters, for standing with truth and decency, and service and gratitude, all of which are sorely missing from our political discourse.

This is about finding bold solutions to the problems that ail our democracy. That foster division between the people. That put corporations before humanity and special interests before families. Problems that require bold solutions that know neither party labels nor income status. Solutions that unite us as a more perfect Union. It's what I have fought for as a lawyer, an entrepreneur, a mentor, a candidate for Mayor of New York City, and as a presidential candidate. And it's what I will continue to fight for!

Mark my words, our movement for a better, more unified America is only getting started!

(Fast forward a bit... >>)

ANDREW YANG: Congratulations to Governor DeSantis, and gratitude to Vice President Harris! I am at peace with the outcome, and I encourage everyone in the room tonight to go forward, boldly, to keep fighting for the America we love and wish to see. Because there is only one direction for America: (audience joins in) Not Left. Not Right. FORWARD!

Thank you all, God bless you, and God bless our amazing and beautiful America!

WOLF BLITZER: OK, Andrew Yang speaking to his supporters at the Hilton Meadowlands near MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey. We'll have more from him and his running mate, Adam Kinzinger, later in our broadcast.

But now, just before 11:00PM on the East Coast, with another projection to make in the Senate. Jake Tapper, where we are we predicting?

JAKE TAPPER: Wolf, CNN is now projecting that Sen. Tammy Baldwin has been defeated in Wisconsin. Republican Mike Gallagher, Congressman from the 8th District in Green Bay, Appleton area, has been polling 53-46. Gallagher is winning every county in his congressional district in that corner of Wisconsin, several of which went for Baldwin in 2018, as well as Kenosha and Racine counties south of Milwaukee - both of which favored Baldwin in both of her runs in 2012 and 2018, but also Donald Trump in 2016 and 2020.

He is also matching DeSantis's numbers in the Milwaukee suburbs and in northern and western Wisconsin, which are quite similar to the numbers Trump got in both places. Baldwin was hoping that Madison and Milwaukee proper would prevail for her, but the map is looking quite red tonight and there are only absentee ballots left, a number much smaller in proportions than 2020, and not big enough to likely make a difference. Mike Gallagher, Congressman for the 8th District, will defeat Sen. Baldwin, and this is a major loss not only because Baldwin has been a reliable liberal vote for the Democrats, but she was also the first openly LGBT Senator.

Turning to Dana Bash now, Mike Gallagher's rise to the Senate really is like a homecoming of sorts.

DANA BASH: Quite a big loss, indeed, and Gallagher's political rise is quite incredible. Born in Green Bay. Moved to California for high school, became valedictorian. Served as an intelligence officer in the Marines. Became a GOP staffer on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and later advised then-Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker on his short-lived presidential campaign shortly before running for Congress, and he won big in a fairly marginal, Republican-leaning district. Married to a Broadway actress, with whom he has a daughter. Also has sounded the alarm about China's threats on Taiwan.

JAKE TAPPER: It really is quite a big rise, and it's fair to say with the way DeSantis has been talking about China, if he wins, which appears inevitable, we're going to be seeing more of him.

DANA BASH: Most certainly we will.

JAKE TAPPER: Meanwhile, in New Jersey, we have Dr. Mehmet Öz up on Sen. Bob Menendez, 52-47, with almost all of Newark and Jersey City in. It's quite similar to the 2021 gubernatorial result, but with Somerset, Bergen, Passaic counties narrowly backing Dr. Öz.

And in Ohio, with Cleveland mostly in now along with much of western Ohio, Jim Jordan is up on Sherrod Brown still, 52-47, with the latter's big margins for Jordan, who himself represents many of those communities between Toledo and Dayton, certainly cancelling out Brown's big numbers in the latter. The drop-off for Brown in the Youngstown and Akron areas, in the Columbus suburbs, as well as around Sandusky, certainly did not help either.

Virginia, where we have Ron DeSantis up still 51-43, Jill Vogel leading Tim Kaine 52-47, 95 percent in, next to no more votes in Fairfax County or Alexandria. Still waiting for Arlington to come in, but most of what's remaining is in the Richmond suburbs, and while those have been leaning towards the Democrats in the Trump era, that area swung to Gov. Youngkin, and if that is what happens tonight, it's over. DeSantis will have won it, just waiting for the call.

Then you have Minnesota, where DeSantis is exceeding Donald Trump's numbers in the Twin Cities suburbs, winning Dakota County, south of the Twin Cities, which has traditionally leaned more Democratic, and which Donald Trump lost twice in both of his runs. DeSantis is also matching the former President outside of the Twin Cities as well. He's up with 47 percent to 42 for Vice President Harris, with Yang at 6 percent and Mike Lindell, himself from Minnesota, the MyPillow guy, getting 3 percent as well. The Senate race is also close, and right now, Michele Tafoya is leading 50-47 over Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, with most of the remaining vote outstanding in northern Minnesota, an area that could swing either way.

DANA BASH: Yes, it's true. A ton of marginal Senate seats that appear to be favoring the GOP, but the presidential race is looking very, very much out of reach for Kamala Harris between DeSantis's numbers that he's getting tonight. Whatever drop-off some expected between Andrew Yang because of Adam Kinzinger and also Mike Lindell, not really doing much to dent DeSantis's chances, especially after the China quip and the news about the debt default possibility.

JAKE TAPPER: Which of course has also shaken the markets recently. Dana Bash, thank you. Back to Wolf Blitzer...

(Now for a little wrap around from some other figures, starting with The Young Turks...)

CENK UYGUR: Tonight is actually looking fairly decent for progressives, because tonight's result show that the pro-corporate, special interest-backed Democratic Party is dead. D. E. A. D. Dead! There's no going back now, it's time for Democrats to stop chasing after whiny Karens complaining on their Nextdoor, clutching their pearls about folks smoking weed to help with their blindness and epilepsy. Stop complaining about ing single-payer healthcare, which most every other developed country has. Stop worrying about the shallow executive suite that only cares about platitudes instead of principles, and start governing like freaking principled progressives who want to actually make the country better!

That's right Kamala, maybe you should have governed like Chesa Boudin after all...instead of chasing after all these pearl-clutching rich people who don't care about the common man, while throwing people of color - your fellow Black lives and also homeless people - under the bus!

ANA KASPARIAN: Also, no more pearl clutching on women's rights! You should have passed the freaking ERA already and codified marriage and trans rights, too! Who cares about freaking Iowa? They never really liked Kamala anyway...

(And InfoWars...)
ALEX JONES: We don't necessarily agree with Ron DeSantis but, ding dong, the witch is dead! Kamala Harris, bye-bye! The military-industrial-media complex that pulled levers and broke necks for Kamala - they ain't recovering from this result! Hell yes! Also, thank God for Andrew Yang, for Mike Lindell and his cushy pillows I sleep like a baby on...oh it feels good to beat Kamala, even better than beating Hillary!

(Mike Lindell...)
MIKE LINDELL: I want to thank everyone here tonight, for putting your trust in me to make a fantastic choice to improve the sanctity of our elections and the sanity of our nation. God bless every one of you, and may we all thrive and prosper together as a movement!

And also, my hearty congratulations to Ron DeSantis. Sure, we had disagreements, but because of our campaign and our supporters all here tonight in Minnesota, Ron DeSantis got the message, and I pray to God he listens to us and does what's right for America, just like he has done in Florida.

(Dave Smith...)
DAVE SMITH: We may not have been the flashiest, but most certainly we have had more fun than the other candidates running. And shout out to Porcupine Nation for all your help!

I just want to say to, whoever the winner is tonight, we are not going away, and we are going to trust that you will do the right thing for America and stand on the side of liberty! Because there's nothing funny about Lady Liberty without her golden torch...

(Norman Solomon...)
NORMAN SOLOMON: The message tonight is clear: Americans do not want more of the same failed wishy-washy progressivism out of fear that raw, unadulterated progressive change will drive Americans away. Barack Obama sure as hell didn't pander for votes, and neither did I. Because it's not over-the-top stunts about how bad your biggest opponent is that gets people to the polls, it's good old-fashioned progressive values - the kind where you put the all-natural, gluten-free and organic jam on the bottom shelf so the little guy can reach it - that wins.

Let that be a lesson to Democrats everywhere as they seek to move on from Kamala Harris. Fail in doing so, and you can kiss a future free of economic inequality, cultural bigotry and environmental ruin goodbye!

(And...back to CNN...)

WOLF BLITZER: This is CNN's coverage of Election Night in America. I'm Wolf Blitzer, welcoming our viewers here in the United States and around the world, including on the Armed Forces Network, as we continue to count the votes nationally with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis up with 50 percent to 42 percent for Vice President Kamala Harris and six percent for Andrew Yang and his Forward movement, who just spoke to his supporters in New Jersey just now.

We are now coming up on 11:00PM in Washington, and 8:00PM in San Francisco, where voters across California and four other states are set to close their polls. Washington, almost all of Oregon save for where they already closed in the Boise TV market, and in the Idaho Panhandle - Coeur d'Alene, Moscow, those areas in the Spokane TV market. Will California be Kamala Harris's saving grace? Plus, a lot of marginal states close to being called, it's about to get really hot and heavy with the lower 48 now counting in their entirety. We have a projection or two to make, stand by...

Next: What happens after the West Coast closes? Find out...

[SaintStan86]

11:00 PM has just struck...

(CNN "Key Race Alert"...)

WOLF BLITZER: And right now, CNN projects that California will go to favorite daughter and Vice President, potential Madam President, Kamala Harris. California has long been a blue state, more especially so since 2008, and we do expect she will get a majority, though Ron DeSantis has been competitive in Southern California, where Orange County, possibly San Diego and Riverside and San Bernardino, even Ventura, stand to likely go for him. There's also the impact that Andrew Yang's campaign will have as well on the state. But we can safely project that Kamala Harris will win her home state with 54 electoral votes. That's one less than previously because California lost a congressional seat in the 2022 midterms, losing that seat in the Los Angeles area east of downtown L.A., which was split between two other seats out of the Long Beach and Carson areas south of Los Angeles.

We also project that Ron DeSantis will win the four electoral votes in Idaho, which stands likely to gain an additional seat in 2030 with continuous growth across the state but most especially in the Boise area, which stands to become a political battleground in future elections. But for now, DeSantis reportedly doing very well tonight, exceeding well north of 60 percent in the dominant areas that already closed an hour ago. We are just now calling it because of the Panhandle region - the smokestack where Coeur d'Alene sits.

And if it's not a formality yet, we can now safely project that Ron DeSantis will also carry the state of Wisconsin and its ten electoral votes. This is a state that has been closely watched for many, many election cycles, but most especially after the 2020 election - it was a state where former President Donald Trump repeatedly brought up baseless allegations of voter fraud, even targeted lawmakers over it.

But that is pretty much a bygone now, especially after Republicans nominated Mike Gallagher over Scott Fitzgerald for the Senate, despite Fitzgerald hitting Gallagher for voting against overturning the results in Pennsylvania and Arizona. Gallagher is now going to the Senate, having defeated Tammy Baldwin in Wisconsin. And now, Ron DeSantis will win Wisconsin - as Andrew Yang's pulling votes largely from Kamala Harris, and DeSantis is benefiting despite losing a few ticks to Mike Lindell from neighboring Minnesota, running on the Constitution Party banner, and getting a combination of the Trump numbers from rural Wisconsin and something close to what Mitt Romney got in the party's traditional heartland in the suburbs of Milwaukee, where DeSantis was nominated for President at the Republican National Convention last August.

That takes us now to 263 for Ron DeSantis - seven electoral votes away from the White House - to 113 for Kamala Harris.

WOLF BLITZER: We are not able to call Washington or Oregon yet for either candidate. These states have not gone Republican since Ronald Reagan's 1984 landslide, but many of the factors we have already discussed are in play here as well, and in Washington there is an open Senate seat where Maria Cantwell is retiring and two Congresswomen are seeking to replace her - whether it's Democrat Suzan DelBene or Republican Cathy McMorris Rodgers remains to be seen. California as well, already lost to the Republicans, it was the seat of retiring Democrat Dianne Feinstein, with outgoing Speaker Kevin McCarthy looking for a promotion to the U.S. Senate, against another Republican endorsed by former President Donald Trump, Ric Grenell, the former U.S. Ambassador to Germany who some thought would have been a potential running mate for Trump had he chosen to run this year. Jake Tapper will join us later, but Anderson Cooper, this looks inevitable now that Gov. DeSantis will be our President.

ANDERSON COOPER: Yes, it definitely is and it looks all too real now. Looking live now in San Francisco, they were cheering a moment ago at the news that Kamala Harris won California, but all of a sudden the news is looking very sad. Glum faces as we're seeing, some of them crying, these are supporters who hoped that there was a ray of light in this election, and it's not going to come.

(Meanwhile, on Fox News...)
BRET BAIER: Just looking at the Senate now, with Mike Gallagher's win in Wisconsin tonight, he's already being viewed as a rising star in his party. Particularly on foreign affairs. Sean Hannity, what can we expect?

SEAN HANNITY: Well, you know, Mike Gallagher has sounded the alarm on China and their nefarious actions, which President Biden has been very partial to and slow to respond. Sleepy, Sloppy, Cranky Joe, whatever you call him, he was always out of it, never really came out of his basement and when he did, it was awful to watch. Not just how he communicated, but also just very sad seeing a shell of who had once been viewed as a reliable moderate, albeit with a bumbling foreign policy that Biden has for the most part always gotten wrong. Kamala Harris did not do much, if anything at all, to disseminate from her superior, and that is where she went wrong.

Going back to Senator-elect Gallagher, he deployed to Iraq as a Marine intelligence officer, worked with David Petraeus, an expert on the Cold War and on threats in the Middle East, very, very relevant to what we are dealing with now with a nuclear and hostile China that President Biden has been playing patty-cake with. On foreign policy especially, he's going to be quite the hawk, taking a strong national defense rather seriously.

BRET BAIER: We are sure going to see how Gallagher handles this threat in potential hearings, especially if he's on the Foreign Relations Committee in the Senate, where he was once an assistant.

As you see now, the Senate, if this holds, we're looking at an unprecedented Republican majority, more than enough to avoid a filibuster, Vogel leading Kaine in Virginia with Northern Virginia just about in, John James still leading in Michigan, Detroit may not even be enough to salvage Gretchen Whitmer. Dr. Öz still leading in New Jersey, even as Newark and Jersey City roll in, almost like the gubernatorial race in 2021, and in Vermont you have Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman - the Bernie Sanders-endorsed progressive, now two points ahead over another former Lt. Gov., Republican Brian Dubie, 36 to 34. The Democrat, T.J. Donovan, has already conceded to both of his rivals, just 29 percent, as Burlington and some of the other liberal bastions have been rolling in.

SHANNON BREAM: Nevada, you have Jacky Rosen up by just 2 against Sam Brown, but it's mostly Clark County coming in. Washoe - where Reno is, and many of the rural counties are going to roll in shortly which should affect the outcome there. Arizona, Kyrsten Sinema is up one on David Schweikert, the four percent from the Libertarian candidate not helping even though Paul Gosar, whose former campaign chief endorsed the Libertarian, did in fact vote for Schweikert without much fanfare. New Mexico, Mark Ronchetti is up 3 on Sen. Martin Heinrich, Albuquerque halfway in, but Farmington - a big Republican stronghold near the Four Corners - just now reporting.

BRET BAIER: And here's Montana, where Sen. Jon Tester is trailing his Republican opponent, Matt Rosendale, with a five point lead by the Republican Congressman. Missoula just now getting their results in, which should affect the numbers there. Minnesota, Michele Tafoya still leads Peggy Flanagan, the Lieutenant Governor, by three points, but 90 percent of the boxes are in and most of what's remaining in Hennepin County is coming from the Lake Minnetonka area - the western suburbs that are a swing area in Minnesota politics, it was Democratic leaning in the Trump era, the political base of Dean Phillips, the DFL Congressman who challenged Flanagan in the Democrat primary.

SHANNON BREAM: Ohio, Sherrod Brown is trailing Jim Jordan by three points, hoping that the numbers in Cleveland will benefit him, but much of the rest of the state has been good for Congressman Jordan. Pennsylvania, David McCormick is leading Bob Casey, Jr. now with four percent difference. And in Maine, State Sen. Rick Bennett has 49 percent to 46 percent for Chellie Pingree, this likely is going to take days given ranked-choice voting in that state.

BRET BAIER: Lastly, Delaware, and this is quite big, Ben duPont, son of the late Governor Pete duPont from the famous Du Pont family, is narrowly leading Lisa Blunt Rochester with 53 to 47 percent, Wilmington and New Castle County still coming in, but reports indicate that absentee ballots and a few mostly liberal but not mostly Black precincts are reporting. There's also plenty of vote left in Sussex County, a Republican stronghold that even voted against President Biden. Rehoboth Beach, down there. These are very close results, but it's looking like a Republican wash tonight, a disaster in the making for the Democratic Party. You think 2022 was bad in the House and somewhat in the Senate? 2024 is making the midterms look like a picnic...

(On NBC...)
STEVE KORNACKI: I'm not even going to bother looking at the presidential map, because the writing is on the wall. Ron DeSantis any minute now will be projected to become the 47th President.

LESTER HOLT: Steve Kornacki, thank you very much. Let's listen in now on Dan Crenshaw, who won the Senate race in Texas tonight, this coming in from Houston...

DAN CRENSHAW: Thank you to all our supporters that are here tonight to witness history, as we begin a whole new era of conservative leadership here in Texas. But first, I want to congratulate my friend, Julián Castro, on running a great campaign. He fought as hard as he could to represent this great state - God's country - and he truly spoke from the heart in defense of his vision for Texas. It is our hope that Julián Castro, his brother, and his family continue to remain active and continue to contribute to our political discourse. It was the most gracious concession call I have ever gotten.

Now, with humility and great pride for our state and our country - both the greatest in the Union, and greatest in the world - I am humbled and grateful to be your next Senator!

This was a story that began seven years ago in my father's living room in north Houston. Tara and I were very humbled to be focusing on the next chapter, which was to run for Congress on a whim - with a compelling story, a clear vision to bring conservatism into the 21st century. We accomplished that by squeaking into a runoff against a State Representative favored by the local political powers, and narrowly edged out a well-funded activist and wife of a prominent Houston businessman, to reach it.

After an outpouring of support, we made it past the runoff and won three successive terms, the first two more difficult than not, and beat the political establishment in both parties to get to where we are. And tonight, by the grace of God, we have reached the mountaintop...and I am looking forward to giving it my all, my sacrifice and honor, to serve you the great people of Texas and protect our conservative values and free market economy that is the shining city on a hill for the world to see!

The fact that the opponent I squeaked by to make the runoff, Kathaleen Wall, a powerhouse Republican donor and volunteer who has tirelessly hit the pavement for us, and the campaign manager for my runoff opponent, Josh Redelman, are in the audience tonight with us, is proof of just how strong and determined our campaign has been, and how unified we are as Republicans to show the world that our defeat in 2020 did nothing except motivate us to work even harder to defeat Kamala Harris and defeat the DC establishment tonight!

Also, looking at you, Harris County - Fort Bend County - welcome back to the party, we're so glad to have you again!

(Fast forward >> to CNN...)

JOHN KING: Of course, as Dan Crenshaw said, Fort Bend County backing Ron DeSantis with a majority - 52 percent to Kamala Harris's 41 percent, this was also one of Andrew Yang's best counties with the Asian vote in Sugar Land playing a big role reportedly. Also Harris County, a plurality for DeSantis at 49 percent to the Vice President's 46 percent. All in all, a very good night for the DeSantis camp in Texas...

WOLF BLITZER: OK, John King, let me interrupt you, because we have another update to make. We are about to make a major, major, MAJOR projection. Please stand by...

(CNN "Key Race Alert"...)

BREAKING NEWS:
RON DeSANTIS ELECTED 47TH PRESIDENT
OF THE UNITED STATES

Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida Source: Wikimedia Commons Author: Government of Florida

Nikki Haley of South Carolina Source: Wikimedia Commons Author: United States Department of State

WOLF BLITZER: CNN is now projecting that Ronald Dion DeSantis, 46 years old, will be the 47th President of the United States of America. The Governor of Florida, who shepherded his state through the COVID-19 pandemic by emphasizing a disruption-free economy, controversial in many aspects as he faced calls to mitigate the spread of the pandemic as many of his fellow governors had done, who governed as a staunch conservative despite winning a narrow election in 2018 with then-President Donald Trump's endorsement against a somewhat favored Democratic opponent, and who won a successive reelection with a sizable majority, as speculation of a presidential bid began to hover around him in the days following Donald Trump's exit from the White House - an exit that ended in infamy and stirred raw emotions over the outcome of that election in 2020.

For most politicians, it would have broken them to govern as ideologically slanted as DeSantis has, but it didn't and the comparisons to Ronald Reagan with regards to DeSantis were very strong, even in the days where Donald Trump loomed large and led convincingly over the Florida Governor in straw polls. But after Trump's exit, it paved the way for Ron DeSantis to run for President, and while it wasn't easy early on, there were many twists and turns.

A candidacy from Mike Lindell that ultimately was shoehorned to the Constitution Party, the revival of Mike Pence - once left for dead by Trump, the rise of Ben Sasse - condemned in Trump World for his vote to convict the former President over January 6th, the earnest campaign of Nikki Haley - who became his running mate, that convention in Milwaukee where Donald Trump and even George W. Bush stood behind him as the 43rd President unveiled one of his famous portraits for the Governor, withstanding the nasty ad that ran during an NFL game, a weak first debate followed by a comeback in the second and third debates and the emergence of a third party challenge by Andrew Yang, as sudden worries both about the deficit and about China began to define the election, and it ends with Ron DeSantis defeating Vice President Kamala Harris to become the first Italian-American President and the first Catholic to succeed another Catholic as well as the first Republican Catholic and first Floridian to win a presidential election; Donald Trump was living at Trump Tower in 2016 when he defeated Hillary Clinton, and lost to Joe Biden months after he moved to Mar-a-Lago.

Now for the question of which state called the election for Ron DeSantis? It's also historic to note as well. We are projecting that for the first time since 1972, the state of Minnesota will go to the Republican candidate. DeSantis now has 48 percent of the vote, and one big reason it's not a majority is because of Mike Lindell getting 3 percent, the Constitution Party candidate. Kamala Harris has 41 percent, and Andrew Yang, the Forward candidate also endorsed by that state's Independence Party - you may remember it was once the political home of one-time Gov. Jesse Ventura - he's getting six percent.

With no more votes remaining in Minneapolis and St. Paul, we are able to safely project that Ron DeSantis will carry Minnesota for the first time since Richard Nixon carried it in 1972. It did not vote for Ronald Reagan in his 1984 landslide reelection because Walter Mondale, the former Vice President from Minnesota, narrowly won it as the last state to be called on Election Night that year. It is also historic because it now means that CNN has called every state at least once for the GOP in its entire 44-year history.

To put that into perspective, when President Nixon won Minnesota in 1972 - the only state he did not win being Massachusetts, if you look at this picture, there was a TV station on Peachtree Street called WTCG, channel 17 in Atlanta. It was the only TV property owned by a man named Ted Turner at the time. Over time, just before Jimmy Carter became President, WTCG became the Superstation that became WTBS, and later spawned this network, CNN, upon its move to the former Progressive Club in Atlanta, and eventually moved into what used to be The World of Sid and Marty Krofft in 1987, becoming CNN Center, with the famous escalator from the former theme park remaining there today.

And in 1990, the son of Polish Jewish refugees from Germany who survived Auschwitz, and came to Buffalo, New York to start a new life in America, joined this network after a career that mixed journalism and foreign correspondence together, which culminated in an award-winning career at CNN where he became famous for his reporting of the first Gulf War as CNN became internationally known for its coverage of that conflict. Who could have forgotten that makeshift bureau in Baghdad as the rockets were raining down on Iraq. I am honored to be that person, and to be with you for this and other presidential elections before it, and it has been the honor of a lifetime. I wouldn't have traded it for anything, and it has been an incredible journey.

Next: Some Senate calls, plus the concession calls begin...

[SaintStan86]

While there were some quick toasts to Wolf Blitzer on his farewell presidential coverage, things quickly reverted back to form for CNN...

WOLF BLITZER: And of course, it is quite the pleasure to be part of this team. But we do have a job to do into the wee hours of the morning, and we're going to get back to what we do best, and that is give voters the news and the facts first. Again, as we have reported, Gov. Ron DeSantis will be the 47th President of the United States, defeating Kamala Harris, the Vice President and first female Vice President in American history. And for the second time in three tries, there will not be a Madam President. So now that we have called Minnesota and its 10 electoral votes for Ron DeSantis, Anderson Cooper, what did Kamala Harris do wrong? How did it go so badly?

ANDERSON COOPER: Of course, Kamala Harris - as Van Jones mentioned earlier - had so much promise. She epitomized that California Dream vividly, and the stars were clearly aligning for her to become Madam President. But the weak nature of her campaign, the relentless attacks from the right - both from the Trump camp and beyond the DeSantis campaign, that heavy-handed ad we all saw during the first game of the NFL season, and the October surprises that doomed her campaign - not to mention Andrew Yang's third party bid, all created a perfect storm. To our panel now, starting with Gloria Borger, what happened?

(To Fox News we go...)

SHANNON BREAM: And you're now looking live at Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, where the party has become exuberant over at TPC Sawgrass. Let's go now to Piers Morgan. Piers, what do you say of the results?

PIERS MORGAN: I mean, God, I knew it was going to be very, very bad for Kamala Harris after the cringeworthy and just downright awful ad on the telly, during an American football game - as we call it. It's like they learned nothing of their lesson from Hillary Clinton, which became less about helping the people and just peeing in the cake tin.

The campaign was so snobbish you couldn't even tell a mess hall from a tea room. It's like one of those weird places where you get foie gras made by a chef only good enough to make rolls full of bangers. And I've eaten enough ploughman's lunches to tell the difference. You claim to be the party of the ploughmen, prove it, and the Harris campaign just didn't do it.

(Meanwhile, on MSNBC...)

ALEX WAGNER: The introduction of Christian nationalism in our schools, the ignorance of experts as COVID raged through Florida, this is pretty much what the DeSantis legacy is. And now, the big losers tonight are going to be the many children who may never know about the stories of diverse families, who will never hear about the dangers of misinformation, who will suffer as their childhood homes and playgrounds molder in the face of inevitable climate change.

To all the parents out there who worry about the future: remember to hug your babies tight, remind them of what love truly means for many people, and if possible, even if you feel the need to scream, please stand strong and stay active. Because your story is worth sharing to somebody out there.

That is just my two cents. But Ali Velshi, what more is there to explain?

ALI VELSHI: Well, I think what you see happening is that you had millions of voters rejecting Donald Trump for reasons that had little to do with substance - an overheating economy whose cornerstones got laid by Barack Obama, with Donald Trump simply taking its spoils, in part influenced by John Boehner's House and Mitch McConnell's Senate, and running up the score even as his impulses became too much for a lot of voters, particularly college-educated Whites who recoiled the most from the GOP in the Trump era.

But then Biden takes over, COVID causes a mass hysteria of fear and mass stimulus to keep people at home, and eventually voters got sick of the hysteria, got vaccinated, still got COVID, realized that COVID was not going anywhere, and Biden, in attempting to accomplish what Obama never could, ended up getting torched badly in the midterms to where he gave up. The progressives who for years fought to reclaim the working-class mantle, especially given Bernie Sanders performed more strongly in places like West Virginia than Hillary Clinton did, ended up getting sidetracked by the illiberal, corporate-friendly Harris types whose only contribution to the party was a hyper-woke, emotionally-charged culture war that focused more on pleasing and not offending people and less on actually making lives, families and communities better. The fall of the Ohio River Valley from working-class Democratic to Trump Republican is beyond incomprehensible.

Don't get me wrong, gays and lesbians have earned the right to marry, but when you even have LGBT employees of Disney speaking out on Fox News in defense of Ron DeSantis's "Don't Say Gay" bill and recoiling against their employer at the risk of losing their livelihood, that is really saying something. All Biden could tout in terms of economic achievement was an infrastructure plan that Trump never touched but Biden eventually did with input from moderate Republicans, an inflation reduction act that didn't really solve the problem and in fact made it - and the gas price crunch in 2022 - worse, and a semiconductor bill that merely created jobs in one state - Ohio - that happened to have a moderate GOP Governor, a retiring moderate GOP Senator and a "lunch pail Democrat" in the Senate as well. The fact that that "lunch pail Democrat" - Sherrod Brown - is losing to House Judiciary Chair and provocateur Jim Jordan is telling of how far the Democrats have fallen with the average voter. If Democrats embraced Andrew Yang's popular reforms like ranked-choice voting, campaign finance reform and human-centered capitalism, Kamala Harris probably would have done better.

(Back to CNN...)

WOLF BLITZER: Still awaiting word from Kamala Harris, on whether or not she has conceded, but we have some other projections to make.

(CNN "Key Race Alert"...)

WOLF BLITZER: CNN can now project that the Commonwealth of Virginia and its 13 electoral votes will go to Ron DeSantis. There was hope that Northern Virginia, specifically Fairfax County, would deliver for the Vice President. It did not happen, and with DeSantis even outperforming Gov. Glenn Youngkin in some areas, the race was effectively over as the West Coast closed. The first win for the GOP since George W. Bush in 2004.

We can also project that the 15 electoral votes in Michigan will also go to Ron DeSantis. There was hope that Wayne County's strong support for Vice President Harris would benefit her, no Republican has won there since 1928, but only 61 percent for Harris, the worst since Bill Clinton in 1992. DeSantis won 34 percent there tonight. Oakland County went for DeSantis with 50 percent, first Republican to win that county since 1992, and first to win a majority there since 1988. Macomb, 56 percent for Gov. DeSantis, the most since '88 as well.

Much of the rest of the state also going for DeSantis as well, despite hopes that the presence of Sen. Gary Peters as Harris's running mate would help win working-class voters over to the Harris ticket. It unfortunately, did not happen, and DeSantis will become the first Republican to win a majority, if this holds at 50 percent, since 1988.

That leaves us with one state in the Midwest, and that state is Illinois, which has not gone for a Republican since 1988. And right now, it looks like Ron DeSantis is sweeping almost every county in Illinois, with 48 percent of the vote to 45 for Kamala Harris. She was leading early because Chicago went big, as always, for the Vice President. But the suburbs are now filling up, and it's not looking good for Harris.

JOHN KING: Yes, Wolf, it's looking very bad. We actually have separated Cook County from Chicago, and it's only giving Kamala Harris 56 percent to 36 for DeSantis. Harris is doing exceptionally well in south Cook County - which is mostly Black and working-class White, but her numbers in the western suburbs, in northern and northwest Cook County - not looking too good. She's already lost DuPage County, last went Republican in 2004, but tonight Ron DeSantis is getting 53 percent, Kamala Harris is only getting 42 percent. Lake County, DeSantis 50, Harris 43 - the liberal vote in Highland Park and in Waukegan canceled out by swathes of red from Lake Forest and Gurnee out to Wauconda, Lindenhurst. Kane County, 53 percent. Will County also 53. McHenry, 59.

Let's go down to Central Illinois. Peoria County, 53 percent for Ron DeSantis. 47 in Champaign County, but still higher than Vice President Harris at 45. This is where the University of Illinois is. 55 percent in Sangamon County, Springfield.

And look at this: big swath of deep red across eastern and southern Illinois. This has to be very big. Jackson County, which is Carbondale, giving Ron DeSantis 53 percent, the highest since John F. Kennedy in 1960. Look at the Metro East suburbs - St. Clair County, 52 percent, highest since Teddy Roosevelt in 1904. And Madison County, 58 percent, highest in the history of the county since at least before 1892. This is not just working-class Whites who turned towards DeSantis in the final days, this is also suburban voters moving over from St. Louis, independents turned off by Biden, not warming to Harris, some breaking for Yang even.

WOLF BLITZER: I mean, you're talking historical gains - gaining back in the Chicago suburbs, but the Downstate situation really is breathtaking.

JOHN KING: The DeSantis campaign was told, focus on Ohio, focus on Wisconsin, but they were more aggressive. They said, 'We're a 50-state party', we're going to target Illinois'. Their argument was 'if one thinks about it, Illinois is really a swing state when you take out Cook County, but most especially Chicago'. That certainly helped, not taking Illinois for granted anymore, but the Harris campaign may have also incurred self-inflicted damage.

WOLF BLITZER: And pretty much, the Barack Obama era in Illinois is over. The era that brought hope and change out of the Land of Lincoln, has come to a sudden halt. But what does this mean now for JB Pritzker?

JOHN KING: Well, not a lot to say, but Pritzker remains fairly popular despite the heat he took in the Chicago suburbs over his handling of COVID with regards to the schools. He remains a slight favorite for reelection in 2026 if he pursues it, and is certainly near the top of the list for the way-too-early speculation about 2028, but this is just demoralizing tonight for Democrats in Illinois.

WOLF BLITZER: And now, CNN projects another win for Ron DeSantis, this one in Arizona - a state that Joe Biden narrowly won in 2020, and whose questioned results was the spark that led to the attack on the Capitol on January 6th, 2021. 11 electoral votes going to DeSantis, who is up 54 percent to 41 for Harris.

JOHN KING: Worst performance for a Democrat since 1992, when Bill Clinton had his own third-party challenger to worry about in Ross Perot. But clearly, even with the issues with the state GOP in Arizona, Ron DeSantis was able to win the Grand Canyon State tonight.

WOLF BLITZER: And now, we're looking live now at San Francisco, where Kamala Harris is about to appear shortly. California Gov. Gavin Newsom, one-time Mayor of San Francisco, has taken the stage.

(From San Francisco...)

GAVIN NEWSOM: Thank you all so much for being here tonight, it is truly a pleasure to be back here in San Francisco...where the California Dream - the greatest version of the American Dream - is alive and well!

(applause and cheers)

GAVIN NEWSOM: I'm deeply honored to be with y'all tonight, as your Governor and the only person standing between you and our wonderful Vice President, who ran one of the most tireless and enduring campaigns our country has ever seen. This is a woman who rose up from nowhere, rose to become your District Attorney here in San Francisco, then our Attorney General, a U.S. Senator and eventually first-in-command to the President. And she truly appreciates each and every one of y'all's support.

I don't want to say much, but like many of you, I really wished the outcome was more something worth celebrating. But regardless, what matters is y'all are here tonight, and it is my pleasure, as your Governor, to welcome to the stage, your Vice President and our ambassador to the United States...Kamala Devi Harris!

(music plays)

KAMALA HARRIS: Thank you, so much! It is such a great honor and a blessing to be here tonight under the Pacific night sky here in San Francisco - in this most magical of places!

It has been the honor of a lifetime to be your Vice President, and I am especially proud of the hard work and dedication that you all have given to this historic presidential campaign. When we started this campaign last year, I made it a vow to ensure that democracy would prevail, and we would be at peace with the results.

And tonight, you all voted, peacefully, in-person, through the mail, on a screen, whatever it took to cast your right to vote and exercise your right to democracy. And part of accepting the dedication to our democracy is relishing the wins that we achieve, using those wins to fight for what we believe in, and when we lose, to humbly accept the result, ask ourselves what we could have done to make it better, and come back stronger.

Tonight, the voters made their decision peacefully, and just about a few moments ago, I called to congratulate Gov. Ron DeSantis. It was not the outcome that I wanted to see happen, but the voters made the final decision, we accepted it, we prayed over it, and it was a gracious call. To Gov. DeSantis and his beautiful wife, Casey and their children, I wish you nothing but the very best going forward. We all must hope for the very best in our country, and encourage our next President to deliver for democracy, and for the more perfect Union we all strive to create and further grow.

But let's not let this disappointment lead us down a road of despair, for in these past four years, we have worked very hard - President Biden and I - to deliver prosperity for a stronger middle class here at home, accomplishing historic investments in infrastructure, in clean energy, in healthcare, and in creating millions of good-paying jobs that have helped families flourish, with record job growth and low unemployment as hallmarks of our agenda.

We worked overtime to get America back on track in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, and fought hard to ensure that the vaccines developed to fight this virus got into the arms of millions of Americans, helping to immunize our country from COVID-19, improve the quality of our healthcare to better serve all Americans regardless of income status, create new pathways to fight debilitating diseases with historic investments in medical research and science, and fought tirelessly to defend women's rights in the face of assaults from a Supreme Court that favors special interests over those of the people.

We fought hard to reimagine criminal justice and policing in our country, made historic efforts to heal the racial wounds that divide us, created bipartisan solutions to the ongoing issues at our southern border and created a pathway for DREAMers to finally dream big without the worry of being deported from the only country they've ever known, and fought hard to defend the rights of children, women, minorities and LGBTQ+ Americans where they needed defending the most.

We also restored leadership in the world, making historic peace agreements in the Middle East, restoring trade agreements with Europe, standing for the people in Ukraine and other places in the face of onslaught from bullies like Russia and China, and made historic commitments to our military, both to modernize our military for the threats of the 21st century. And lastly, we stood for democracy and truth, restoring decency to the White House, and made historic strides to defend our elections and our sacred right to vote from the perilous threats our opponents sought to incur.

Joe Biden and I stood tall for what we believed in, and these four years have been the greatest our country has ever witnessed.

I want to thank my beautiful family, my father Donald, my dear sister Maya and her daughter, Meena, and most especially the love of my life, your Second Gentleman, Doug Emhoff, and our beloved Cole and Ella. Who are all here tonight. And also to my running mate and partner-in-crime, the great Senator from the state of Michigan, Gary Peters, his wife Colleen and their three beautiful children.

And to you, the people of California who put your trust in me, thank you, thank you from the bottom of my heart. You are the wind in my sails that keep me going, like a cool Pacific breeze.

While we may not have won tonight, the fight for justice and democracy continues. I encourage everyone here tonight to stay strong, and keep fighting for what unites us as a nation, and to always fight for our lives, for our future, for our country, and for the people. God bless all of you, and may God continue to bless America!

WOLF BLITZER: And there you have it, Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate, Gary Peters, thanking everyone in attendance tonight in San Francisco, after conceding defeat earlier this evening to Governor and now President-elect Ron DeSantis.

Some House races to report...

AL-02: State Sen. Kirk Hatcher wins his first term in the newly redrawn 2nd District connecting majority Black areas of Mobile and the state capital of Montgomery, narrowly defeating former U.S. Attorney Louis Franklin.

CA-01: Two years after challenging Gov. Gavin Newsom in the midterms, Republican State Sen. Brian Dahle will be going to Washington, succeeding retiring Rep. Doug LaMalfa.

CA-20: While Speaker Kevin McCarthy awaits his fate in the U.S. Senate race against fellow Republican Ric Grenell, his former District Director, State Asm. Vince Fong, easily wins his first term in McCarthy's Bakersfield-area district.

CO-03: Despite a fierce challenge from former State Senate President and DoD official Leroy Garcia, Rep. Lauren Boebert wins another close reelection in her western and southern Colorado district.

DE-AL: While Democrats' chances remain up in the air for the Senate and Governor's races, State Senate Majority Leader Bryan Townsend ascends to the state's open congressional seat in his second try (he placed second in the 2016 Democratic primary), defeating fellow State Sen. Brian Pettyjohn.

MI-03: After narrowly surviving in the red tsunami of 2022, freshman Rep. John Gibbs' controversial comments prove too much for voters, as he loses to Democrat Hillary Scholten in this Grand Rapids-based swing district.

TX-07: After being bailed out in 2022 by the majority-GOP Texas Legislature thanks to a heavily Democratic district she got in their since-stricken by the courts redistricting plan, Rep. Lizzie Fletcher runs out of luck in her suddenly redrawn west and southwest Houston district, losing to Bush family scion Pierce Bush, 52-47, in the district once held by Bush's grandfather, future President George H.W. Bush.

Next: The midnight hour looms as Ron DeSantis's finest hour arrives...

[SaintStan86]

It's now midway between 11:30PM and midnight, and the moonlight setting at TPC Sawgrass is as vibrant as Van Morrison's "Moondance", as elegant as Al Jarreau's theme to the 1980s TV show Moonlighting, and as sparkling as the Graham Stack remix of Leann Rimes' "Can't Fight the Moonlight". But before Ron DeSantis comes out, CNN has some calls to make...

WOLF BLITZER: While the Vice President was speaking, we have a few more calls to make in the Senate, let's go to Jake Tapper.

JAKE TAPPER: Wolf, CNN is now projecting that State Sen. Jill Vogel has defeated Tim Kaine in Virginia. The 2016 vice presidential running mate of Hillary Clinton and former Gov. was hoping that support from Northern Virginia as well as from around Richmond where he was once the Mayor would benefit him. But Kaine was held to a plurality in Prince William and even lost Loudoun in addition to Chesterfield, Chesapeake and Virginia Beach, all of whom went for Vogel in areas that voted at least once for Kaine. Vogel also had unprecedented support from southwest Virginia and the Shenandoah Valley, which further added to her win tonight.

Jill Vogel previously ran for Lieutenant Governor in 2017 and lost in what was a bad Republican year to Justin Fairfax, who later came under fire for sexual assault allegations and ultimately did not seek reelection, preferring instead to run for Governor, losing to former Gov. Terry McAuliffe who in return lost to Glenn Youngkin. Fairfax had also won Chesapeake and Loudoun which flipped for Vogel tonight.

Vogel was a strong candidate in 2017, but suffered under the weight of Donald Trump's flailing agenda, as he came under fire for racism over his comments regarding NFL players when he was struggling to get a tax reform package passed, faced controversy over his handling of several Hurricanes including Harvey and Maria as well as North Korea, and was generally drawing fire for Democrats and several Republicans as they eventually even lost a Senate seat in Alabama that was previously held by his then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Which obviously turned off voters in the suburbs of Richmond, Norfolk, outside Washington. Much different story tonight, seven years later, with Vogel defeating Kaine in an environment that has flipped on the Democrats' head.

WOLF BLITZER: Quite interesting turn of events, Jake, as Virginia turns towards the GOP. And another huge loss for the Democrats, as Kaine was widely regarded to be a potential successor to Chuck Schumer in the Democratic leadership in the Senate.

JAKE TAPPER: A very big loss, indeed. We are also projecting in Ohio, and this is an even bigger loss, Sherrod Brown losing his bid for a fourth term to House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan. Brown kept the race competitive by focusing on Jordan's outspoken support for Donald Trump, his repeated focus on investigations surrounding the Biden family, the FBI, and his criticism of a semiconductor plant project that Brown and Republican Gov. Mike DeWine touted. But Jordan's support base in the Ohio Valley region, in his western Ohio base proved to be too much for the incumbent who barely won his own base in Akron, where he was previously a Congressman.

WOLF BLITZER: And rather ironic, considering then-Congressman Sherrod Brown defeated Mike DeWine in 2006, and now himself is defeated by another member of Congress. This is a loss that has to sting, and certainly should raise questions about where the Democratic Party has gone wrong.

JAKE TAPPER: We're still looking at Maine very closely, where Rick Bennett is up 48-47, but the state has ranked-choice voting which could favor Congresswoman Chellie Pingree as the number three candidate is a Green Party candidate, and those usually favor the Democrats. Pennsylvania, Dave McCormick tied with Sen. Bob Casey 48 all as Scranton continues to report in. DeSantis is up 51-44 in that state.

Delaware, where Ben duPont is up 53-46, and where DeSantis is up 48-45, also outstanding, along with Connecticut, where Sen. Chris Murphy won big, but Ron DeSantis is getting 47 percent, and Kamala Harris has 44 percent. In New Jersey, DeSantis is 50 percent still, with 42 for Kamala Harris, and in the Senate race there, Dr. Öz is up still, 53-45. 95 percent in though, so we could be having a call soon.

Important to note that independents are the biggest voting bloc in New Jersey, and that group is going big for Ron DeSantis and Dr. Öz, per what David Chalian has reported to us.

But back to Pennsylvania, and as we said Scranton is coming in now, DeSantis is narrowly ahead there, but Sen. Casey is getting 60 percent. Casey lives in Scranton, where he was born and also President Biden, Barack Obama exceeded 60 percent in both of his elections, and this is a place that LOVES Sen. Casey. A lot of DeSantis voters going for Casey, who hit McCormick repeatedly on his wealth, comparing him to Mitt Romney, which prompted McCormick to respond, calling out Romney for his votes to convict Donald Trump in both impeachment trials.

So as much of the country shifts to the right, Casey could very well survive reelection. Does not help also that much of central and western PA has called in, as well as the suburbs outside Philadelphia.

WOLF BLITZER: Speaking of the Philadelphia suburbs, what do we see?

JAKE TAPPER: John King reported to me that DeSantis is winning Chester County with 51 percent, Bucks County 53 percent, Kamala Harris in the low 40s. Montgomery and Delaware counties both have DeSantis up 47-46. You do have to consider that the Philadelphia area is the base for the Biden presidency, New Castle County, Delaware long considered part of the Delaware Valley, and the Biden family most certainly Philly sports fans. The big difference is Delaware and Montgomery are more older suburbs with relatively smaller housing lots than what one could find in Bucks and Chester, which are more amenable to Republicans.

Of course, Sen. Casey is doing well in the Philly suburbs, ahead narrowly in both Bucks and Chester and certainly up in Delaware and Montgomery. He's also doing well in the Lehigh Valley - a region that swung towards Gov. DeSantis tonight, and also in Berks as well, also went for DeSantis.

WOLF BLITZER: Well, Jake, I do have to cut you off, because as we're talking about Pennsylvania, CNN is now projecting Pennsylvania for Gov. Ron DeSantis. That's another 19 electoral votes gone to DeSantis. And it looks like a reversal of the digits - 331 for DeSantis, 113 for Harris.

JAKE TAPPER: Yes, very much the case.

(On Fox News...)

ARNON MISHKIN: ...We are confident in projecting that Gov. DeSantis has won Pennsylvania.

BRET BAIER: OK Arnon Mishkin, from the Fox News Decision Desk, thank you. And we are looking live now at TPC Sawgrass, where they are celebrating into the night there in Florida, as Ron DeSantis is preparing to speak shortly after midnight. The memories of the 2020 defeat of Donald Trump long gone, as we see the former President there congratulating the soon-to-be-former Gov. of Florida, Ron DeSantis, preparing to take over the reins as the 47th President of the United States.

(And CBS...)

MAJOR GARRETT: And what Democrats should be asking themselves is, how did it go so badly? The first conversation will be, what to do about the working class? Obviously, President Biden achieved some victories with job creation, infrastructure, but too much of the focus being on cultural issues, which may have rubbed some voters the wrong way, especially blue-collar voters like the ones in Pennsylvania voting to reelect Bob Casey, but who recoiled from Kamala Harris.

NORAH O'DONNELL: Just a lot that could have been done a little differently, or a lot differently, but the autopsy of this election for the Democrats surely has just begun.

And out in the West, looking at Colorado with 70 percent of the votes in, Ron DeSantis is getting 53 percent, but places like Denver and Adams and Arapahoe County are still coming in.

MAJOR GARRETT: Jefferson has 49 percent for DeSantis now, western suburbs, have gone Democrat since 2008. Adams and Arapahoe - certainly more Democratic between the working-class Hispanic vote in Adams, the diverse communities in Aurora, and in south Arapahoe, areas that swung dramatically to the Democrats starting with Barack Obama.

They are definitely more socially libertarian than not, which has driven Democratic votes there, but renewable energy and life sciences are pretty big subsectors in that part of metro Denver, with the Denver Technological Center in that area. Was historically Republican before 2008 and in some cases, 1988 even.

NORAH O'DONNELL: And looking at New Mexico, where Albuquerque is almost entirely in, DeSantis is leading in Sandoval County it appears, north of Albuquerque, with 51 percent.

MAJOR GARRETT: And Sandoval is a classic suburban swing county, especially south towards Rio Rancho. You also have the Hispanic vote in Albuquerque and outside Santa Fe influencing the race as well.

Los Alamos County, clearly shifted Democratic over the last several cycles, but tonight it is giving Andrew Yang 11 percent, one of the highest in the nation. Ron DeSantis made nuclear power a linchpin of his energy strategy, and also zeroed-in on next-generation sources, thorium being one example he talked about on the campaign trail. Los Alamos National Laboratory is in that county, which unsurprisingly is going 45 percent for DeSantis, 41 for Harris. George W. Bush was the last Republican to win there, along with Sandoval County, doing so with both in 2004.

DeSantis also has 46 percent in Bernalillo County, to Harris's 45 percent. Yang has five percent, and the Libertarian Dave Smith has three. Libertarian Party, of course, quite strong in New Mexico, where former Gov. Gary Johnson even almost cost Hillary Clinton the state in 2016.

Lastly, you have Doña Ana County, which is Las Cruces. 46 percent also for DeSantis, 45 for Harris. Generally, a lot of areas that haven't voted Republican in a long while, are doing so very narrowly tonight in New Mexico between the Latino vote shifting strongly Republican and some of the suburban and independent vote going to DeSantis.

(And, back to CNN...)

WOLF BLITZER: It's now Midnight on the East Coast, and the moon is shining brightly now at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, where Gov. Ron DeSantis is set to speak after the clock strikes midnight under the Florida moonlight. But right now, we have polls closing in Hawaii, where four electoral votes and a Senate contest remain to be decided. Stand by...

(CNN "Key Race Alert"...)

WOLF BLITZER: And right now, CNN projects that Hawaii will go for Vice President Kamala Harris. This is of course not a surprise, as Hawaii is one of the most Democratic states in the nation. Four electoral votes expected to go Harris's way. Andrew Yang, we'll be watching closely to see if he gets more than ten percent in a state with large numbers of Asian and Pacific Islander voters, but Democrats have consistently won 60 percent or higher since 2008, including over 70 percent twice for Barack Obama, who was born here.

WOLF BLITZER: And, Jake Tapper, we have some results in the Senate as well.

JAKE TAPPER: Yes we do, Wolf. CNN projects former Congressman Kai Kahele will win the U.S. Senate seat of retiring Democrat Mazie Hirono. He ran for Governor in 2022, but lost big in the Democratic primary against Lt. Gov. and now-current Gov. Josh Green. This was not a surprise given the state's strong preference for Democrats. Kahele was a progressive in the Democratic caucus, and was largely overshadowed by his being from Hilo, but he defeated Congressman Ed Case, who once again failed to win another Senate primary, having run in the past in 2006 and 2012, and 2002 for Governor.

WOLF BLITZER: And also important to note that Kahele ran ads attacking Case from the left.

JAKE TAPPER: Yes, very true.

We have also projected Governor's race in three states as well. Starting in Washington, where Gov. Jay Inslee has been reelected to a fourth term - the most in Washington history. Inslee, a relatively popular Governor whose handling of the COVID-19 pandemic has been praised, also oversaw significant economic and infrastructure achievements as well. He defeats independent candidate Chris Vance, a former Republican who left his party over Donald Trump, but nonetheless was at the Republican National Convention with his party's official endorsement. It didn't necessarily work out as planned, and Inslee will win with 56 percent of the vote favoring him.

Also, in Utah we are projecting Republican Spencer Cox will win a second term over former State Rep. and physician Suzanne Harrison. Harrison has 39 percent, and many thought it would be more competitive with a far-right challenger from the Independent American Party getting 11 percent, in some parts of Utah up to one-quarter of the vote, obviously in reaction to Cox's more moderate views and his defense of Sen. Mitt Romney. But Cox's 46 percent is good enough for him to win a second term as 80 percent of the boxes are in in Utah, and he's even narrowly winning Salt Lake County with 46 percent.

And in Montana, Republican Greg Gianforte, we project will win a second term as Governor. He will defeat former State Superintendent Denise Juneau, who took considerable heat over her time as superintendent of the Seattle Public Schools, a position she took after losing a congressional race in 2016 against Ryan Zinke, who later became Interior Secretary, with Gianforte winning Zinke's seat - then covering the entire state - in a special election he ended up narrowly winning after assaulting a reporter the day before the election.

But he has since completed his community service, and Gianforte has since been elected Governor, will now win a second term.

As for the Senate race, we still cannot project a winner with Sen. Jon Tester trailing by three percent against Congressman Matt Rosendale.

More House results, this time with no explanation...

AZ-01: Former State Rep. Shawnna Bolick defeats former State Rep. Aaron Lieberman, succeeding David Schweikert.

AZ-02: Rep. Eli Crane defeats Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez.

AZ-06: Rep. Juan Ciscomani defeats State Sen. Stephanie Stahl Hamilton.

CT-05: Rep. George Logan defeats State Rep. Maria Horn.

FL-02: Rep. Neal Dunn defeats Leon County Commissioner Rick Minor.

GA-02: State House Minority Leader James Beverly defeats Rep. Chris West.

IL-06: Senior Counsel for the Thomas More Society and former State Rep. Peter Breen defeats former U.S. Rep. Sean Casten.

IL-07: Rep. Keith Pekau defeats State Sen. Mike Hastings.

IL-08: Rep. Catalina Lauf defeats State Rep. Suzanne Ness.

IL-13: Former State Rep. Avery Bourne defeats Rep. Nikki Budzinski.

IA-01: Davenport Mayor Mike Matson defeats Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks.

KS-03: Rep. Amanda Adkins defeats State Senate Minority Leader Dinah Sykes.

Next: All hail President DeSantis!

[SaintStan86]

As Piers Morgan said earlier, Democrats don't care about folks in general and will "pee in the cup" if given half the chance. The left in general and the Democrats in particular, have nothing but contempt for those who don't agree with them and especially so, if voter's they take for granted don't do what is expected of them. I guess that contempt has gone stratospheric with each network call. If Casey prevails in Pennsylvania, then it is conceivable that McCormick gets Treasury if Dimon says nay. Anyway the left can fear monger, throw tantrums and whatever they do, in their virtue signalling way. Even go to Canada 🇨🇦! I'd be there to wish them bon voyage and good riddance too. And remind them not to let the door hit them in the as* on their way out! 🤭I really doubt that DeSantis gives a royal cr*p, what the left and Democrats do, especially considering how big his victory is likely to be. The size of his victory eliminates any hopes of Democrats trying to create Russian interference narrative. Also to those who have designed this TL, well done! Also a heads up on a means to designing a country map, check out MapChart, its a brilliant website in which one can design a county map. I use it to design my own county maps. So try it out. All different color codes, Red for Republican and so on, so forth.

Yes, I do imagine that this is the pretty much the swan song of the Obama era with regards to this TL. Though I will say if Biden does persist in running and Trump declares, yes the margins will likely be closer depending on what Andrew Yang does, among other factors, but it's fair to say the Democratic Party had one job and blew it.

In effect, they have pissed off independents, energy sector employees (especially fossil and nuclear, and even a few renewable types sympathetic to Elon Musk), the more socially libertarian and business- and STEM-end of suburban voters, the more conservative end of NeverTrumpers (looking at you, Sasse-e-pants types!), Joe Rogan and Dave Portnoy-esque libertarians, Jesse Ventura wannabes, a sizable chunk of Jack Kennedy Democrats (aka "Democrats who wear preppy clothes"), the hardcore super eco-nut types who went to Norman Solomon, whatever Trumpkins never cared for DeSantis (who mostly held their nose for DeSantis or voted for Yang or Mike Lindell), most Hispanics (especially on the working-class end) and even some who really liked Gary Peters.

Who did that leave the Donkey Brigade with? The lower income-end of the college-educated crowd (especially those whose degree tracks were not business or STEM), reliable union voters (including public sector and AFT types), minorities not especially on the socially conservative end, illiberal progressives who consider AOC their patron saint, Silk Stocking voters who often hobnob with celebrities and the Met crowd, and Mallory McMorrow types (folks in Michigan will know what I mean) who often follow the "Vote Mama" and "JoJoFromJerz" Twitter feeds.

The Elephant Stampede certainly is not a majority of the country - it's still an America First party economically in Trump's mold, now with a fairly calmer demeanor in the mold of Ron DeSantis, with a renewed interest in tough fiscal discipline, a continued emphasis on "free and fair trade" with an aim to "bring China to its knees", a return to the hard-line realist foreign policy of the pre-George W. Bush era (with Nikki Haley being its North Star) with Reagan's "peace through strength" mentality embedded deep within, a continued emphasis on the sanctity of life (including tacit support for both Cardinal Bernardin's "Consistent Life Ethic" and the goal of "safe, legal and rare" on the abortion matter that has since been abandoned by the left in favor of "abortion is healthcare") and family values, but without the anti-LGBT crap that no longer registers with a majority of Republicans - most especially younger Republicans, and a healthy skepticism of the DC swamp with calls to audit the Federal Reserve, the IRS, the FBI, and the "deep state".

But regardless of whatever amalgamation of America First and Reagan-style conservatism has come about in the rise of Ron DeSantis, pretty clearly this is the direction the GOP is going in now, and there's no turning back. Just wait 'til the Senate map fills up, and we shall see if the filibuster-proof majority does in fact exist.

[SaintStan86]

UPDATE: Congratulations to the following winners in Florida, New York and Oklahoma...

• Charlie Crist easily dispatched Nikki Fried in the Democratic primary for Governor. DeSantis starts off as the favorite and will be projected to win in November as the future revolves around whether or not he will run. Going by this TL, it's rather obvious what happens...
• It's Marco Rubio for a third term vs. Val Demings for the "big upset". But don't let the media tell you Rubio's faltering - that one poll where Demings was up 4 really is a fluke, especially after a Dem-aligned pollster showed the latest poll with Rubio up outside the margin of error. Just wait 'til Trafalgar shares its findings...
• Rep. Matt Gaetz vs. Democrat Rebekah Jones has to be one of the most scandalous matchups on the ballot in November. But it doesn't matter about Gaetz being under investigation or whatever Jones did romantically when she wasn't attempting to sidetrack Ron DeSantis on the COVID case count...or what some unknown pollster no one's ever heard of thinks of that race, Gaetz is safe in the most heavily Republican district in Florida. The little ditty about Gaetz resigning and moving to California still exists in this TL.
• My predicted pick in the 7th District - Republican Cory Mills, won his primary and remains in this TL. Republican Aaron Bean, who entered this TL after DeSantis worked his magic on the redistricting front IRL, won the GOP primary in the 4th District. As did Maxwell Frost, the March For Our Lives activist who replaces my original pick in this TL, State Sen. Randolph Bracy, in the Orlando-based 10th District. Both are favored to win in November.
• Speaking of March For Our Lives, former State Rep. and current Broward County Commissioner Jared Moskowitz, who once served as DeSantis's original state director of emergency management early in his governorship, won the Democratic primary and will win what is expected to be a sleeper race in the 23rd District - anchored in Boca Raton - that includes Parkland, site of the horrible mass shooting that spawned March For Our Lives. Carla Spalding remains in the Fort Lauderdale/South Broward-centric 25th District as an underdog to Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz.
• Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick in Florida's 20th District. While I thought the closeness of the special election earlier in this cycle had me thinking Dale Holness might have had a chance in a smaller primary field, Cherfilus-McCormick proved the power of incumbency is strong. Her name will now be substituted in this TL instead of Holness.
• The big surprise has to be the GOP primary in the 11th District, where Republican incumbent Daniel Webster won by a surprisingly close margin against provocateur Laura Loomer. I still predict that Webster will retire in this TL, and I still think 2022 7th District GOP primary loser Anthony Sabatini remains his replacement in this TL, even if Loomer runs here again. At least Sabatini has A legislative voting record and a Twitter account (and isn't crying about voter fraud against the venerable Webster)...
• The forecast for the rest of the Florida races in this TL - including those for Reps. Maria Elvira Salazar and Carlos Giménez and nominee Anna Paulina Luna remain largely unchanged They all remain incumbents and have won new terms in this TL.
• The four Republicans on Long Island I projected in this TL - Nick LaLota, Andrew Garbarino, George Santos and Anthony D'Esposito - won their primaries tonight IRL, and so far all four - most especially the latter given his situation - remain undecided in this TL...for now.
• After going from Mondaire Jones to Carlina Rivera to perhaps even Yuh-Line Niou, the real winner in the 10th District turned out to be a Levi's heir and Trump impeachment counsel named Dan Goldman? In this TL, he becomes a rising star on the Democratic side given his role in playing foe to the Donald. I did nail it on Jerry Nadler beating Carolyn Maloney, and I still think he will retire in 2024 paving the way for Kennedy heir Jack Schlossberg.
• As I predicted, Sean Patrick Maloney won his primary and will face Mike Lawler. Which as we already see in this TL is a rematch that remains undecided. We also know what happened in this TL in 2024 to Jamaal Bowman and Alessandra Biaggi...
• Of course, the Democrats will be all over the place saying how Republicans are blowing the midterms because of Trump and abortion and all that, but apparently the Democratic vote has to certainly be more motivated than the GOP vote in the interim before November. It's also important to note that Pat Ryan merely got a head start in a completely different district from the one he'll be running in in November. I do expect Marc Molinaro to pull it off even though the new 19th does not have Dutchess, but it does have Binghamton and Ithaca - where his Dem opponent in November, Josh Riley, is from.
• As I predicted, it will be Republican Brandon Williams versus Democrat Francis Conole in the 22nd District John Katko is vacating. The media will say this is Conole's to lose, but this is not a terribly Democratic district between Syracuse and Utica, not much different than the one the arguably more moderate Katko won in 2014.
• In the new 23rd, Nick Langworthy won his primary as I predicted, and in the old 23rd Joe Sempolinski gets the right to keep his seat warm - albeit in another close race that Democrats will yak about like they did Kathy Hochul's in 2011 until Republicans gained the upper hand and defeated her with Chris Collins, remember him? (You would also know if you remember Jane Corwin...) You gotta feel sorry for Max Della Pia, because he served our country in the Air Force with great honor, and the new 23rd is going to be less charitable to him than the old one Tom Reed vacated. Regardless of party, we always - and I mean MUST always - thank our veterans for their service to our great nation.
• The Oklahoma runoffs went as I predicted they would. Rep. Markwayne Mullin is going to the Senate, and while Trump's and Gov. Kevin Stitt's endorsements were a factor, it doesn't necessarily mean that T.W. Shannon is a lost cause, as the former State House Speaker is a decent conservative candidate; in this TL, he has won his race to succeed Rep. Tom Cole, and it's important to note that Shannon's strongest base was in his southern Oklahoma base, much like Mullin's was in eastern Oklahoma. And it's not like the 4th hasn't elected a Black Republican before...remember Julius Caesar Watts?
• Also, congrats to GOP primary winner Josh Brecheen in Mullin's 2nd District. Though it shall be noted that it doesn't mean Avery Frix is a bad guy and the same goes for Johnny Teehee, whose name would have been the most interesting he had not missed the runoff let alone missed the chance to win this district. The close and wide open 2nd District GOP field certainly makes a great case for ranked-choice voting in Oklahoma. If it worked for Glenn Youngkin in Virginia, it can work in Oklahoma. Be informed voters, Sooners (or if you're an orange-hued snowflake who is triggered by the word "Sooner", Pokes!), for it would really make our primaries a whole lot easier to figure out.

Lastly, I have some very sad news IRL to share with regards to this TL. Schenectady County Legislator Brian McGarry, who I originally had in this TL as the GOP nominee against State Assemblyman Phil Steck in the Albany-based 20th District of retiring Democrat Paul Tonko, died on Thursday after a long and inspirational battle with prostate cancer. Prayers be with his family and the people he was honored to serve alongside in Schenectady County. May his memory be a blessing to those who loved him.

The TL now continues on the next post...

[SaintStan86]

Continuing from the last post, more House results...

LA-03: State Rep. Vincent Pierre places first in the state's nonpartisan "jungle primary" with 34 percent, but will go to a December 7th runoff as the underdog against the leading Republican, former State Public Service Commissioner and Trump administration official Scott Angelle, who polled 24 percent in this Lafayette-to-Lake Charles district that he previously ran in in 2016.

ME-02: Rep. Bruce Poliquin defeats State Senate President Troy Jackson.

MD-02: Baltimore County Executive Johnny Olszewski defeats Republican businesswoman and radio commentator Kim Klacik, succeeding Dutch Ruppersberger.

MD-03: State Sen. Sarah Elfreth defeats former Anne Arundel County Executive Steve Schuh, succeeding Sen.-elect John Sarbanes.

MA-02: Worcester County District Attorney Joseph Early Jr. defeats State Rep. Kim Ferguson, succeeding Jim McGovern.

MI-11: Rep. Haley Stevens defeats former State Rep. Martin Howrylak.

MN-01: Rep. Brad Finstad defeats State Sen. Liz Boldon.

MN-02: Rep. Tyler Kistner defeats State Rep. Jess Hanson.

MN-08: Rep. Pete Stauber defeats Duluth Mayor Emily Larson.

MO-02: State House Speaker Dean Plocher defeats Democratic challenger Jane Dueker, succeeding Ann Wagner.

NE-02: Rep. Don Bacon defeats State Sen. Machaela Cavanaugh.

NH-01: Rep. Matt Mowers defeats State Sen. Rebecca Perkins Kwoka.

NH-02: Rep. Bob Burns defeats State Sen. Becky Whitley.

NJ-03: Businessman Bob Healey defeats Rep. Andy Kim in a rematch.

NJ-05: State Asm. Christopher DePhillips defeats Rep. Josh Gottheimer.

NJ-11: Morris County Commissioner Tayfun Selen defeats former Parsippany Mayor Michael Soriano, succeeding Mikie Sherrill.

NM-02: Rep. Yvette Herrell defeats State Sen. Jeff Steinborn.

NY-01: Rep. Nick LaLota defeats Suffolk County Legislator Kara Hahn.

NY-02: Rep. Andrew Garbarino defeats State Asw. Kimberly Jean-Pierre.

NY-11: Rep. Nicole Malliotakis defeats State Asm. Michael Cusick.

NY-20: State Asm. Phil Steck defeats Albany County Legislator Jennifer Whalen, succeeding Paul Tonko.

NC-01: Rep. Don Davis defeats State Sen. Lisa Stone Barnes.

NC-08: Former Rep. Mark Walker defeats former state Democratic Chairman Wayne Goodwin, in a seat made open by the musical chairs involving Reps. Richard Hudson (reelected in the 9th) and Dan Bishop (reelected in the 14th).

NC-13: Rep. Bo Hines defeats former State Sen. Sam Searcy.

OH-10: Rep. Max Miller defeats former State Rep. Nick Celebrezze.

PA-04: State Rep. Todd Stephens defeats Rep. Madeleine Dean.

PA-06: Rep. Guy Ciarrocchi defeats State Rep. Melissa Shusterman.

PA-07: Rep. Lisa Scheller defeats former Rep. Susan Wild in a rematch.

PA-17: Rep. Jeremy Shaffer defeats attorney Steve Irwin, who previously ran in the neighboring 12th District in 2022.

RI-02: Rep. Allan Fung defeats Lt. Gov. Sabina Matos.

TX-15: Rep. Monica De La Cruz defeats State Rep. Mando Martinez.

TX-23: Rep. Tony Gonzales defeats San Antonio City Councilman Manny Peláez.

TX-27: Former Rep. Mayra Flores defeats Hidalgo County Commissioner Ellie Torres, succeeding Michael Cloud.

TX-28: Former Ted Cruz Field Director Cassy Garcia defeats progressive attorney Jessica Cisneros, succeeding Henry Cuellar.

TX-34: Cameron County GOP Chairwoman Morgan Cisneros Graham defeats Rep. Vicente Gonzalez.

VA-05: Rep. Bob Good defeats attorney and former Charlottesville Mayor Michael Signer.

WI-01: Rep. Bryan Steil defeats State Rep. Greta Neubauer.

WI-08: State Sen. André Jacque, who survived a bout with COVID-19 that included time on a ventilator, defeats Green Bay Mayor Eric Genrich, succeeding Sen.-elect Mike Gallagher.

Meanwhile, on a famed championship golf course in Florida...

NIKKI HALEY: Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, how do you feel tonight?

(loud applause)

NIKKI HALEY: I know how you feel, and I know it, because the voters have spoken loud and clear.

But before I continue, let me offer my gratitude and friendship to Kamala Harris and Sen. Gary Peters. They ran a hard-fought campaign, gave us all they have given in this election, and their service to our country as Vice President and as a Senator or Senators, as well as Gary Peters' own military service, is remarkable in many ways. It is our hope that they stay active in the future of our great nation, regardless of whether we agree or disagree, going forward.

Now, let's turn our focus to the history you are about to witness...

Four years ago, when Donald Trump was defeated by Joe Biden in an election that became less about how he made America great again and more about endless, destructive sniping from the Democrats, from their partners in Hollywood and the media and Big Tech and elsewhere, we all knew that democracy was on the brink. And while I wasn't exactly fond of everything that happened on January 6th, we all knew what to do about it.

And from that point on, we did what we do best: We regrouped. We organized. And as Americans began to see just how embarrassing the presidency of Joe Biden has turned out to be, we took action, and the voters took notice.

They responded in kind, by voting for Republicans in Virginia and coming very close in New Jersey. And then we picked up a critical congressional seat in Texas. And then we saw many candidates come out of nowhere to win, take back Congress, and put a check on the damage that President Biden caused.

All that led us to where we are tonight, and we are grateful that Donald Trump and his family could be here tonight to celebrate the culmination of all the hard work we did in the last four years to make freedom matter again. Not only will we put America first, but we will stand for America, no matter what the cost. Because America just elected the greatest governor in the greatest country in the world - and I am honored to be joining him as your new Vice President.

Once again, and since this is Florida and you remember the whole story...Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls...It is my honor to introduce to you on this very stage, where golfing legends are made and fireworks spring eternal in the Florida moonlight...the 47th President of the United States...Ron DeSantis!

(loud applause as Randy Edelman's "The Premiere Of The Big Boss" from the soundtrack of Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story begins to play)

RON DeSANTIS: Isn't America great?

(loud applause)

RON DeSANTIS: There is no greater sunshine than what you see here in Florida. But even better than the Florida sunshine, is being under the moonlight right here in Florida!

(loud applause)

RON DeSANTIS: But before we go any further, first off I want to congratulate our Vice President, Kamala Harris, on running a campaign that spoke to many Americans. That spoke to the issues we all face every day in this country. For that, I am grateful for having had the opportunity to compete with her and Sen. Gary Peters in this election. It is my hope that Vice President Harris continues to remain active in our discourse, and I look forward to seeing Sen. Peters work with us in helping to advance the best interests of Americans in these coming months and years.

I also wish to extend my gratitude to Joe Biden, whose lifetime of public service is worth commending, regardless of whatever accomplishments or not that have occurred under his watch. I wish him a happy retirement as he begins to spend the twilight years of his life with his wife, Jill, and his family.

Lastly, we are all grateful to Donald Trump, for the work he did in making our country great again, standing tall for freedom where others chose to falter, and not only bringing us back to the great and glorious years of Ronald Reagan, but in some cases even exceeding what Reagan accomplished. Without Trump, imagine how much greater the mess would be...

And now, after much hard work and lots of prayers throughout this last year and a half, we have come past the crossroads to this very moment in our history. I am not excited, but rather I am grateful to be your next President of these great United States of America!

(thunderous applause)

When I started my first congressional campaign here in Florida, writing down the details at our house here in Ponte Vedra Beach more than 12 years ago, this district was effectively an open book - a blank canvas with no incumbent, because two other incumbents were placed elsewhere.

Those incumbents, sadly, no longer serve in Washington, but the legacy that these two Republicans - Cliff Stearns and John Mica - left behind, paved the way for a young former little league baseball player - the son of a nurse and a technician who installed Nielsen ratings boxes to TVs across Florida - to dream and dream big.

Never in one's wildest dreams could they imagine that a former college baseball player-turned-Navy Judge Advocate General, who taught history while studying the law, prosecuted terrorists at Guantanamo Bay, deployed to Fallujah, then to the U.S. Attorney's office in Orlando, earned the Bronze Star, and after an honorable discharge continued his service in the Naval Reserve, would make his way to the halls of Congress, let alone make his way to the Governor's Mansion, make his way to the White House.

But it did happen. And I was honored to trek along that path, and it was not only a gracious journey, but one of many accomplishments.

And here I stand, before you tonight, on this glorious course at TPC Sawgrass where dreams are made and legends are created in the most glorious realm of our greatest entertainment export to the world, the wonderful game of golf, where we celebrate our champions every March at the PLAYERS Championship, as we begin to write the next chapter in the great and glorious history of our beloved United States of America.

Tonight is the beginning of a New Day for America. A day where the fruits of our labor are spent, not in the purgatory of excess, plunder and financial uncertainty, but in the realms of generosity, prosperity and unbridled progress. It is an America we all wish for - that shining city on a hill that Ronald Reagan spoke so boldly of. One that promotes prosperity at home, peace abroad, and liberty and justice for all.

And now, the hard work begins, To get America back on track and moving again like it once did. To get America back to the predictable nature of life that seeks to nourish the soul and savor the moments we all share. To get America to a place of security in the face of the demons that seek to bring down our resolve and our standing in the world. And to get America back to a place where freedom not only is never taken for granted, but is never forsaken for the mere benefit of a selfish few who wish to impose the rule of vocal minorities at the expense of our diverse and patriotic majority.

You know where I stand, and I know where you want to America to be. Right up there, moving forward, in forward motion, like never before.

I would like to thank my wonderful campaign staff, especially those who have been here for me from day one, and stood through thick and thin where others chose to stumble. My campaign staff is the greatest this country has ever seen, and represent the best and brightest of who we are as Americans.

I most especially would like to thank President Donald Trump and his family again for their gracious support, because believe me when I say that when we want to Make America Great Again - the most fantastic slogan in our modern American political history - it will be as another great President named Ronald Reagan said it best - Morning Again in America.

Also to our fantastic Republican National Committee Chairwoman, the wonderful Ronna Romney McDaniel, thank you very much for all the support that this wonderful Republican Party has given me in this amazing campaign. Because of the hard work of millions of Republicans like you, we are able to have a celebration like no other.

And to my wonderful partner-in-crime as Governor of the Great State of Florida, our fantastic Lieutenant Governor, Jeanette Nuñez, who is going to be a fantastic Governor - the first female Governor in Florida history, who will continue to build on the great progress that our state has made in the last six years - the greatest ever in the history of our state.

Last, and definitely not least, I would like to thank the greatest joy in my life, my beautiful wife Casey, who is going to be the greatest First Lady this country has ever seen, and our wonderful kids Madison, Mason and Mamie. These love bugs bring boundless joy to my life, and they are the reason I am here today, serving you the people of Florida, and pretty soon, serving you the American people, from the East Coast to the West Coast, from the Gulf Coast to the Great Lakes, from the Appalachians to the Rockies, from the towering sights of New York City to the bright lights of Los Angeles, and everywhere in between.

There is nothing our country cannot do - and as your President - we will go to new heights like never before. My record as a fighter for you, the American people, brought greatness to Florida, and it will bring greatness to America.

From the bottom of my heart, by the grace of God, I am going to work hard to unite our nation through the shared values that make us whole and stand the test of time. Because your life matters.

I am going to work hard to make prosperity - from our economy and our markets to our energy supply and our infrastructure - not a myth you dream of, but a reality that goes beyond your wildest dreams. Because your future matters.

I am going to build a military that speaks to the needs of our country, addresses the fears we must face, and confronts the enemies that wish to destroy us so that we can continue to enjoy the good things we take for granted. Because your country matters.

And I am going to - with every beat of my heart - go the extra mile to fight for that New Day for America, in every corner of the country, in every neighborhood, in every group of people that fill the patchwork quilt of our great nation. Because Freedom Matters.

Thank you all, may God Bless everyone of you in this wonderful country, and may God Bless America!

(loud applause, as fireworks begin shooting off)

(And now, let's go to PBS...)
JUDY WOODRUFF: An incredible scene, as you look live now from Ponte Vedra Beach, south of Jacksonville, Florida, where Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is celebrating his victory as the 47th President of the United States. Just an incredible scene, with the fireworks going off on the golf course at TPC Sawgrass, which if you're a big golf fan, is where the annual PLAYERS Championship takes place, the course being just around the corner from the headquarters of the PGA Tour, in this city that Ron DeSantis lived in as a member of Congress before he became the Governor of Florida.

And now we turn to New York Times columnist David Brooks and Washington Post associate editor Jonathan Capehart for their thoughts on this historic election of the first-ever Italian-American President in our nation's history, what this means for the Republican Party and their growing majority, and where does the Democratic Party go after a stunning defeat?

DAVID BROOKS: Well, as you can see, Donald Trump effectively laid the groundwork for the Republican Party as we know it today, and Ron DeSantis took its absolute best aspects - the economic successes, the judicial philosophy, the sleight of hand on cultural issues - and left behind its worst aspects, namely the bizarre social media tweets and posts, the perils of the COVID-19 pandemic and the racial unrest in the wake of the murder of George Floyd, not to mention the economic unrest and the continued effects of climate change, and most especially the horror stories of January 6th.

Some will say this is merely yet another complete rebranding of the Republican Party, but tonight the GOP may have had its finest hour since the Reagan era, and it is now time to see how DeSantis's brand of conservative leadership works for the rest of the country.

JONATHAN CAPEHART: Well of course, it's easy for you to say, yes the economic tailwinds - with the continued inflation struggles, the high national debt with a potential default looming, the lingering concerns about national security especially regarding China - really put DeSantis at a big advantage. But it is also important to note that there was another factor in play tonight. Clearly, a good portion of what happened was of Kamala Harris's own doing, especially with the way she handled some of the issues in the Biden presidency, from Afghanistan to the much-maligned "Build Back Better" plan of President Biden's, to the handling of the COVID vaccines to the controversy surrounding the FBI in the wake of the Mar-a-Lago raid, these issues certainly did not help her.

And that's not even counting what happened with regards to her responses both to the controversial attack ad by an obviously disgruntled former Republican strategist named Rick Wilson, ironically from Ron DeSantis's own backyard in Florida, during an NFL game that compared the GOP to 'trailer trash', and also her response in the last debate to how she would avoid a nuclear war with China with no guarantee that American jobs wouldn't be sacrificed. Ron DeSantis took the "peace through strength" approach that Reagan envisioned, and that was the final nail in the coffin. That, and also Andrew Yang's rise as a third party candidate, which took away a lot of Democratic votes, but also a few Republicans as well especially with Adam Kinzinger on the ticket.

But not all hope is lost, a lot of moderate Democrats did well tonight and are even outperforming Harris on the ballot, hopefully Bob Casey prevails in his reelection, and also Kyrsten Sinema as well.

(Meanwhile, on C-SPAN...)
C-SPAN ANCHOR: OK, to our viewers at home, you know the drill with our Open Phones: 202.748.8000 for Democrats. 202.748.8001, Republicans. 202.748.8002, Independents, third parties including Andrew Yang. Text messages: send to 202.748.8003. Also on Facebook dot com slash cspan and on Twitter, @cspanwj.

OK, first caller, Karen from North Carolina, Democrat line...

Next: The rest of the first hour past midnight...

[SaintStan86]

Before I continue, I shall make an editor's note with regards to the late-night schedules of the networks, including some aspects that IRL are currently nonexistent but stand to likely change before November 5, 2024:

• ABC and CBS will end their election coverage at 2:00AM ET. ABC will then turn over to World News Now, its irreverent overnight newscast - with such alums as Anderson Cooper and David Muir - that has a very lighthearted tone in comparison with its obviously more serious sister programs, while CBS will resume network programming at 2:30AM ET with the CBS Overnight News - which is usually the rebroadcast of the CBS Evening News repackaged under a different title in the first half hour and the first ten minutes or so of the second, with the rest being updated material. But because yesterday was election night, the network will instead turn over to its crew for the CBS Morning News, which precedes the CBS Overnight News at 3:30AM ET.
• NBC, which does not have an overnight newscast that broadcasts across the network IRL, will be assumed in this TL to have done just that, reviving a late-night newscast called NBC News Overnight that is produced from their newsroom in Rockefeller Center (not to be confused with the old early 80s program of the same name). This newscast is taped live at 2:30AM - 30 minutes after NBC wraps its election night coverage, and is rather similar to the sort of off-beat newscast that ABC does with World News Now. Early Today is taped live at 3:30AM ET.
• Fox News, which usually ends its West Coast rebroadcasts of its primetime opinion shows (you know who they are!) at 4:00AM ET, will also terminate its election night coverage at this point, with Fox & Friends First starting right after. Many Fox broadcast affiliates simulcasting Fox News coverage will have already moved on by 2:00AM or so regardless of time zone, with most West Coast affiliates (on Fox as well as other networks) already having switched over to their late news and likely staying there; stations like KTLA in Los Angeles and KRON in San Francisco will have stayed with local election coverage from the moment the polls closed on the West Coast.
• PBS will conclude its coverage of the election at 5:00AM ET, during which time its member stations - like WNET in New York and WGBH in Boston - will switch over to archival programming, children's shows and other stuff like Sit and Be Fit, which airs at 5:30AM CT on KUHT in Houston.
• Both Fox Business and CNBC had dueling election coverage with an emphasis on the business aspect of the election, and most likely at this point will be focused on how a DeSantis administration would be "beneficial to business" as well as the impact on both Asian and European markets as well as American futures, all the way to 5:00AM ET.
• CNN's election coverage will go all the way to 3:00AM ET, when Wolf Blitzer finally calls it a night. The CNN newsroom in Atlanta will take over for two hours until 5:00AM ET when their early morning news programs start up. No telling what Chris Licht will do with them IRL...
• MSNBC's own coverage will go all the way to 5:00AM ET, even as their NBC counterparts go to bed for the night. And definitely unlike the main NBC network's coverage, expect plenty of cringe with the results we have seen so far.
• C-SPAN pretty much will be taking final calls from viewers and some final analyses on the election, concluding their coverage at 3:00AM ET and turning over to video snippets of election victory and concession parties until Washington Journal comes on at 7:00AM ET.

But in this TL, it is now almost 1:00AM in New York City, and 10:00PM in Los Angeles...

WOLF BLITZER: Well that was quite a speech from Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, now President-elect Ron DeSantis. And certainly one for the ages, as the comparisons to Ronald Reagan and Donald Trump are sure to come about.

As DeSantis accepted his victory, we made some other projections during the speech.

In Delaware, CNN projects that Ron DeSantis has won the First State, a Republican victory for the first time since 1988, winning the home state of favorite son Joe Biden with 51 percent of the vote and 99 percent of the vote in, to 45 percent for Vice President Kamala Harris. The fact that President Biden got 59 percent in 2020, a loss of 14 percent for Harris, really is breathtaking - DeSantis getting 70,000 more votes than Donald Trump, and Harris getting 50,000 fewer votes, even losing a good chunk of them to Andrew Yang. Three electoral votes gone to the GOP.

The DeSantis campaign clearly highlighted Delaware's status as a haven for corporations in marketing to voters here - tying Harris to more progressive Democrats who have sought to strip Delaware of its prized status in tax and court reforms pushed by the party's left flank, and contrasted it with DeSantis's economic agenda.

DeSantis also wins Maine's two statewide electoral votes, where he is up 51 percent to 39 for Kamala Harris; Andrew Yang has eight percent. The 2nd District especially swung to DeSantis earlier tonight, but the 1st District in southern Maine, based in Portland, will actually go to Harris; Yang is getting only six percent in that district, where Harris leads 47 to 45 with almost all the votes in.

And look at this, Colorado and its 10 electoral votes will also go to Ron DeSantis with 51 percent, the highest since George W. Bush in 2004, according to John King's analysis. DeSantis also reportedly the first Republican to sweep the big four suburban counties - Adams, Arapahoe, Douglas and Jefferson - since Ronald Reagan; Douglas usually being the most Republican by far - it has not gone for a Democrat since 1964. While Harris did well in Denver and Boulder, as well as several counties to the west with ski resorts, DeSantis did not let up all night. Harris only got 41 percent, and Andrew Yang got five.

Still outstanding in Connecticut, where Ron DeSantis has 46 percent, but where Harris only has 44 percent, and Yang has 8 percent, and also in New Jersey, where DeSantis is leading 49-42 with Andrew Yang getting 7 percent, and Dr. Öz is at 52 percent to 47 for Sen. Bob Menendez, still not called as well.

(Fast forward >>)

WOLF BLITZER: It's now 1:00AM here in Washington, and with the Aleutian Islands in Alaska now closing their polls, we can make our projection for Alaska. Stand by...

(CNN "Key Race Alert"...)

WOLF BLITZER: And this is just more gravy for Ron DeSantis, who wins the three electoral votes in the state of Alaska. This is not a great surprise, Joe Biden was only the second Democrat since 1964 to win at least 40 percent, and Kamala Harris has struggled here in polling. Andrew Yang and other candidates definitely getting plenty of support in this independent-minded state, but DeSantis has consistently led in polling throughout almost the entire campaign. Alaska, a relatively easy call for the President-elect.

(On NBC...)
LESTER HOLT: Let's turn now to Kate Snow, who has the latest reports from the presidential campaigns.

KATE SNOW: OK, Lester, here is a Twitter post from the Harris campaign where Biden's deputy Chief of Staff, Jen O'Malley Dillon, who was to have served as chairwoman of Vice President Kamala Harris's transition had she won, tweeted this photo of her with the Vice President and others, including Michigan State Sen. Mallory McMorrow and Veterans Affairs Secretary Denis McDonough, also members of the ill-fated transition team. In this photo, she writes "It has been a biast working with these leaders in our efforts to provide what would have been a smooth transition. But we shall live to fight...Stay strong, Democrats, we have nowhere to go but up!"

Of course, they're trying to bring some levity into an otherwise bleak night for their party, but they sure managed to smile the best they could in spite of the obvious.

Meanwhile, on the DeSantis side, the co-chairs of the President-elect's transition team, Andy Card and Mick Mulvaney, both former Chiefs of Staff to George W. Bush and Donald Trump, respectively, are both shown as the post proclaims "Our work is just getting started...". Mulvaney also served in the South Carolina House of Representatives alongside Nikki Haley and in Congress alongside Ron DeSantis. You may remember Andy Card as the man who whispered to President Bush in that elementary school scene in Sarasota, Florida on September 11, 2001, that the World Trade Center's Twin Towers and the Pentagon were being attacked. No great surprise that these two men have been selected by the campaign to build the President-elect's Cabinet given their backgrounds.

(On CNBC...)
SHEPARD SMITH: Well as we all know, Tyler, the election of Governor DeSantis surely is going to have an impact on the markets, and so far what are we seeing?

TYLER MATHISEN: Yeah, Shepard, as we take a look at the markets in Asia, the Nikkei in Japan is up about 5 percent as talk of optimism on a new trade agreement that benefits American and Japanese workers as a hedge against China has sent stocks in Japan rising. The Hang Seng in Hong Kong as well as the TSEC in Taiwan, where DeSantis has expressed support for the people of those autonomous regions in the face of overbearing demands from China, are up by 7 percent and 9 percent.

The composite in Shanghai is a different story, however, down 6 percent in mid-day trading over in China which DeSantis has vowed to take a hardline approach on, much like former President Donald Trump did, especially on trade and allegations of human rights abuses. President Xi has expressed hope, however, that the incoming administration will engage in peaceful negotiations, and many Chinese business leaders have expressed an openness to not shortchange American workers in any future trade agreements with China, mainly as a means to avoid a confrontation between the two warring powers. When the European markets open in a few hours, I imagine a similar situation of optimism will transpire.

(And Fox Business...)
NEIL CAVUTO: I mean, I am just speechless just how big this mandate has turned out to be. We all knew with the exit polling it was going to be big, but not exactly this demolition derby we are seeing tonight. It doesn't even matter if the baseline Republican was Donald Trump in rural and working-class areas or Mitt Romney in the suburbs or even in some cases the Bushes or Ronald Reagan, this is just downright massive.

CHARLES PAYNE: And clearly, as you can see voters really resonated with Ron DeSantis on the economy, on China, on a whole buffet of issues especially towards the end. This is the kind of spanking that Kamala Harris got, and definitely not a very enjoyable one either. The Democrats are going to have to go into a deep detox and ask themselves how did it go so badly for them? And if they don't change, as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has suggested, Ron DeSantis could be looking at a 50-state sweep four years from now. It is just that tenuous for them.

The big loser in all this, not surprisingly, is China. Ron DeSantis has vowed to take a hard line on China, especially on trade and manufacturing, not to mention the sort of human rights abuses and concerns about nuclear war. They are pretty much to today where the Soviet Union was in the Reagan era, and it seems like history definitely is repeating itself tonight. Just waiting to see who China's Boris Yeltsin will be next time he goes to a grocery store in Houston...

(And...MTV?)
DOMETI PONGO: What are we seeing from young people tonight? Well as you can see, while Kamala Harris appears to have a plurality of Zoomers at about 47 percent to Ron DeSantis's 37 percent, Millennials appear to have gone for DeSantis, 47 to 37, near exact reverse. In both demos, Andrew Yang got about 10 percent and the Libertarian, Dave Smith, got about two percent. This is pretty much an election where the young and wild hearts of the Obama era appear to have grown up, in some cases even voting against their parents in some historically Democratic households in Black and Hispanic circles.

ANA MARIE COX: I mean, it's almost like those Progressive ads, especially the ones that don't have Flo, about young people struggling to not become their parents, and they have tonight. It's almost as if we became the voters we hoped not to become! Kind of like when your mom grounded you for sneaking out to some midnight concert, smoking weed, only to become exactly that stern, Dad-bod, Dad-joke Phil Dunphy wannabe.

(And now, back to CNN for a big Senate projection...)

WOLF BLITZER: This just in: CNN is now projecting another big first that hasn't happened on this network since we first went on the air. For the first time since 1972, a Republican has won a U.S. Senate election in New Jersey, as we can now project that Dr. Mehmet Öz, TV doctor and former talk show host introduced to millions of Americans about two decades ago by none other than Oprah Winfrey, two years removed from his defeat in Pennsylvania against John Fetterman, has defeated Sen. Bob Menendez in this closely watched race.

Menendez was first appointed to the seat in 2006 after Jon Corzine became Governor, and had faced a number of spirited Senate campaigns from the Republican side that had great expectations, but ultimately did not lead to a victory on Election Night, and gave rise to the phenomenon of the New Jersey Republican who dreamt big of winning a Senate seat in the Garden States, but never achieving that goal. Jake Tapper, this is definitely historic in many ways.

JAKE TAPPER: Most definitely, Wolf. The last time a Republican won a Senate seat, the winner was incumbent Republican Clifford Case, who won a fourth term in 1972, ran for a fifth but lost to the more conservative Jeff Bell who went on to lose to former New York Knicks star Bill Bradley in 1978, who later had an underdog run for President in 2000 against then-Vice President Al Gore. There have been two appointed Republican Senators since then: the first coming in 1982 when Nick Brady was appointed to the seat that was up for election tonight after Pete Williams, a Democrat, resigned rather than be expelled from the Senate over his conviction for bribery and conspiracy in the Abscam scandal involving an FBI sting operation.

That seat ultimately got filled by Frank Lautenberg, who held that seat for three terms before retiring in 2000 and replaced by Jon Corzine. Lautenberg then regretted his move and returned to the Senate in 2002 after Robert Torricelli chose not to seek reelection in the face of his own corruption charges, staying there until he died in 2013. Jeffrey Chiesa, then the state Attorney General, was appointed by Republican Gov. Chris Christie to serve until Cory Booker won a special election in 2013 that Chiesa did not run in. Chiesa did vow to run for office in the future at the time, and could very well run against Booker in 2026 if given the chance.

But tonight, it has finally happened. A Republican has won a U.S. Senate election in New Jersey in the 21st century. And his name is Dr. Mehmet Öz, who also becomes the first Muslim to serve in the U.S. Senate, and also the first Muslim in either the House or Senate to be elected as a Republican. There have been Muslims elected to Congress already, all of them Democrats, but Dr. Öz will be the first as a Republican, in a demographic that has not voted Republican since September 11th. They voted 3-2 for George W. Bush in 2000, but swung sharply to the left in the face of anti-Muslim attacks from conservatives and supporters of the War on Terror. What a dramatic sea change in these last two decades, Wolf...

WOLF BLITZER: And you have another projection to report as well.

JAKE TAPPER: Yes, in fact we do. In Vermont, CNN projects that Vermont Progressive Party candidate David Zuckerman, a staunch liberal endorsed by retiring Sen. Bernie Sanders, will win the U.S. Senate race in Vermont, a narrow 37 percent win over former Lt. Gov. Brian Dubie, the Republican, and former state Attorney General T.J. Donovan. The split between more moderate and establishment Democrats who favored Donovan and more progressive ones who favored Zuckerman created an opening for Dubie to become the first GOP Senator from Vermont since the moderate Republican Jim Jeffords became an independent and started to caucus with the Democrats, which flipped the Senate to Democratic control after briefly being split between the two parties after the 2000 election.

But Zuckerman not only benefited from the Sanders endorsement, he also benefited from ads tying Dubie, a moderate Republican, to Ron DeSantis and especially Donald Trump, while also attacking Donovan as a "corporate Democrat out of touch with working families". That obviously played into Zuckerman's favor tonight.

WOLF BLITZER: And this also means that that same Senate seat Jeffords flipped to independent a few months before September 11th will remain in the hands of someone not affiliated with either party. Zuckerman has vowed to caucus with the Democrats, much like Bernie Sanders has, but he will become the first actual member of the Vermont Progressive Party to serve in Congress. Sanders is affiliated with them, but does not necessarily serve as a member of that party.

Next: More Senate results, as The Day After approaches...

[SaintStan86]

It's almost 2:00AM...

Continuing with CNN...

WOLF BLITZER: In addition to electing Dr. Öz, we can also project, Jake, that New Jersey goes for Gov. DeSantis who is getting 49 percent. While some Democratic ballots are still out there in absentee balloting, they weren't enough to help Bob Menendez, and they certainly won't be enough to sway the outcome on the presidential race here. That's another 14 electoral votes for DeSantis, in a state that hasn't voted for a Republican presidential candidate since 1988. It's also a state where Andrew Yang had an impact, winning seven percent including about 12 percent in Middlesex County - which has a sizable Asian American vote, and as much as 15 percent in some mostly Asian parts of Bergen County, which flipped to both DeSantis and Öz with absolute majorities tonight.

CNN also projects that Nevada with its six electoral votes will go to Ron DeSantis, who has led in every county across the state, winning a majority in every county including Clark County, where DeSantis is getting over 50 percent, which explains his 52 percent to Kamala Harris's 36 percent - the worst performance by any Democrat since Walter Mondale in 1984. Andrew Yang is getting seven percent, and Libertarian Dave Smith is getting about two percent. One percent of voters even voted for "None of these candidates", which is an actual entry on the ballot in Nevada, has always been.

There are still 51 outstanding electoral votes remaining on the map, the largest being Illinois, where Ron DeSantis has 49 percent with Kamala Harris getting 45 percent. Connecticut also has not been called - that state still has DeSantis up 48-44. And in New Mexico, Gov. DeSantis, with 90 percent of the vote in, is getting 51 percent of the vote, and - just as we're taking a look at this - it is now being called for DeSantis. New Mexico goes Republican for the first time since George W. Bush narrowly flipped it in 2004, another five electoral votes.

John King, that means only 46 electoral votes remain now. And in Washington and Oregon, where a lot of folks vote by mail, it in fact is the standard in the latter, we're looking at historic lows for the Democrats and some very interesting trends on the Asian American vote.

JOHN KING: Yes, Wolf, in Washington state, we are looking at 40 percent of the vote in, but so far it looks like it will be a while before we make a call on this one. DeSantis is winning 46 percent so far - higher than what George W. Bush got in 2004, and 70 percent of the vote in King County is in, where Kamala Harris is getting only 52 percent - the lowest since 1992. Ron DeSantis is only winning 33 percent, though, while Andrew Yang strikes again - getting nine percent, and this is also speaking volumes of the significance of the Asian American vote, with some Asian voters even considering Yang to be a more "pro-Asian" candidate than Harris.

And certainly more liberal Asians; the Asians that vote conservative already have backed DeSantis from the get-go. What's interesting is that Norman Solomon, the Green Party candidate, has four percent, a good portion of it concentrated in the city of Seattle, which Harris is winning handily itself, but not by the overwhelming margins we're used to seeing.

WOLF BLITZER: And that precinct map is looking a little different, is it not?

JOHN KING: Yes, the Eastside of King County, Bellevue, Sammamish, other areas, plenty of pink for DeSantis and only moderate shades of blue for Harris. The tech vote certainly is influencing the map to the left, but concerns about China, default, and the Yang campaign are making the outcomes precinct-by-precinct very interesting.

Let's go back to the countywide map, up to Snohomish County, where DeSantis is getting 47 percent and winning there, as well as in Pierce County with 49 percent, home to Tacoma where the same blue-collar swing, suburban comebacks and left-wing splinters persist. As with Illinois, the DeSantis campaign made it clear: "We are a 50-state campaign, we're going to act like it", and this apparently is the fruit of their results. You're seeing, back up to Snohomish now, Everett, where blue-collar workers are concerned about trade and manufacturing, also places like Marysville, traditional suburban bellwethers in Washington state politics, and then you have Edmonds, down here which is a liberal bastion, remaining true to form but not as deep blue as previous elections would suggest. This is also where Yang and to a lesser extent Solomon are splintering votes from Harris.

Of course, east of the Cascades, DeSantis is showing usually strong Republican numbers, and in southwest Washington he's ahead in Clark County, which is Vancouver across from Portland, Oregon. The county to watch here is Clallam, which is Port Angeles across the Puget Sound and also across from the Strait of Juan de Fuca, across from Canada. That county has predicted the presidential winner since 1980, and tonight it's breaking for DeSantis with 53 percent.

WOLF BLITZER: What about Oregon?

JOHN KING: Well the mail-in ballots are rolling in slowly but surely, but so far in Oregon Clackamas County is voting for Ron DeSantis with 52 percent. Marion County, which is the state capital of Salem plus several outer suburban, exurban areas of Portland, giving 56 percent to DeSantis. Then you have Linn County which is very Republican, and then you have Lane County, home to Eugene and the University of Oregon, 42 percent for DeSantis, only 46 for Kamala Harris. Benton County, where Corvallis and Oregon State University is is also telling: 37 percent for Ron DeSantis, nowhere near competitive, but Kamala Harris is only getting 53 percent.

The rest of the state is mostly Republican red, but DeSantis is even exceeding a quarter of the vote with 28 percent in Multnomah County, which is Portland. 60 percent for Kamala Harris is the smallest we've seen in the 21st century here, Yang and Solomon clearly splintering liberal votes. And then you have Washington County, the big suburban county west of the city, which put Republican Gov. Christine Drazan in office. It is giving DeSantis 52 percent tonight - which is what George H.W. Bush got in 1988. But still a lot of vote out there, and if this holds, we could be looking at a red uprising in the Pacific Northwest.

WOLF BLITZER: Obviously, the suburban voters in Portland getting sick and tired of being associated with some of the famous activism that sometimes gets out of hand in that city, which has long been known as a hotbed of intense progressive activism, to the point where the elder Bush called the city 'Little Beirut' following a visit there during his presidency.

JOHN KING: Most certainly.

WOLF BLITZER: We also now have some Senate and gubernatorial projections, let's go to Jake Tapper with those.

JAKE TAPPER: Wolf, in Delaware there will be a Republican Governor for the first time since the early 90s, as former State Treasurer Ken Simpler will defeat Matthew Denn, the former state Attorney General who succeeded the President's late son, Beau Biden, in that position. As you can see, Simpler won 52 percent tonight to 48 percent for Denn.

He will be the first Republican Governor of that state since Michael Castle won his second term in 1988. Castle then moved to the U.S. House in 1992 as the state's at-large Congressman, trading places with Democrat Tom Carper who became Governor and then defeated five-term Republican William Roth, who had been plagued by health problems, in 2000.

Carper is now retiring from the Senate, and this will be his replacement: Republican Ben duPont, with 54 percent of the vote, will be the next U.S. Senator from Delaware. He originally planned to run for Congress, but chose instead to jump to the Senate, where he will join his wife's in-law, Dr. Mehmet Öz, who won tonight in New Jersey. DuPont, from the famous chemical company fortune, defeated Congresswoman Lisa Blunt Rochester, who hoped to become Delaware's first African-American and first female U.S. Senator. 59 Republican Senators now, one away from the magical 60 seat threshold.

The Senate races remain close in Michigan, where GOP Congressman John James maintains a 51-48 lead over former Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, and in Minnesota, where Michele Tafoya is up 48-46 over Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, who hoped to join a long line of progressive Senators from here from Eugene McCarthy to Paul Wellstone to Al Franken, but apparently may not be the case. And in Pennsylvania, Bob Casey Jr. has a narrow lead over Dave McCormick, 49-48, this make days to confirm a winner. Also with Chellie Pingree in Maine, who is now a few hundred votes behind Rick Bennett, at 47.6 to 48.2, as Portland and other liberal strongholds rolled in with only a slight number of votes remaining - ranked-choice voting likely could benefit her in the final vote count.

Out west, the Senate picture is also looking close as well. In New Mexico, we have Mark Ronchetti still up 51-48 over Sen. Martin Heinrich with almost all the boxes in, we could be looking at a call soon on that race. There has not been a Republican Senator from New Mexico since Pete Domenici retired in 2008, but DeSantis's Latino voting strength and the nuclear power issue, which DeSantis seized on in his campaign, working in his favor and also benefiting Ronchetti, a former TV meteorologist on the CBS affiliate in Albuquerque, KRQE, which is also one of our affiliates there in New Mexico.

In Nevada, Jacky Rosen is hanging in there against Republican Sam Brown, but she is down four now with Washoe County in. There are pockets of Clark County still outstanding that will further affect the outcome, but it's going to be an 11th hour miracle if it comes to that. Trying to win a second term, but some feel that Rosen did not do much to distinguish herself in her first. It is now 50 to 46, with two percent preferring no candidates.

Then you have Arizona, where Kyrsten Sinema is still up 50-45 on David Schweikert. Sinema benefiting from her moderate voting record, endorsement by the usually right-leaning Arizona Republic, and lingering bitterness from some of Schweikert's Republican detractors, including the Republic who singled out his ethical issues as well as right-wing Congressman Paul Gosar, who admitted to having no ill will towards Schweikert, but wished that the GOP nominee were more honest about his ethical shortcomings.

As if Arizona Republicans needed another thing to worry about after the 2020 election, the challenge that set off the insurrection at the Capitol and Donald Trump's second impeachment, Trump's own ill will towards then-Gov. Doug Ducey, the 2022 midterm Senate and gubernatorial losses, and now this. I'll be surprised if there's not another housecleaning of sorts at the Arizona GOP, even though Ron DeSantis won this state without much of a struggle tonight.

Montana, we still have Matt Rosendale ahead, but with the liberal areas coming in for Tester, the margin is now 49-47. Too close for comfort, but Rosendale, who did represent the obviously more liberal western part when Montana still had the one at-large congressional seat in his first term - before being broken off into a safely Republican seat from Billings and all points east in 2022, pretty much could be headed back to DC as a U.S. Senator. They're still waiting on the mail-in votes, but that's about it.

Washington state, Maria Cantwell is retiring, and in this battle of Congresswomen, Suzan DelBene from the Seattle suburbs is leading with 53 percent to 47 percent for Cathy McMorris Rodgers out of Spokane, who rented a second property around Snoqualmie for better access to the deeply populated Puget Sound region. Definitely a closer margin than Jay Inslee's numbers for a fourth term as Governor, but this is still a close race.

And look at this, Wolf, in California, with 40 percent in, Speaker Kevin McCarthy is leading 58 to 42 in this all-Republican Senate battle with Donald Trump's former U.S. Ambassador to Germany, Richard Grenell. McCarthy's biggest stronghold is in the Central Valley from Fresno to his base in Bakersfield, also in Orange County, but what's intriguing is where Grenell is leading - over in San Diego and also in the San Francisco Bay Area, where his status as an openly gay Republican apparently has played a factor in his support there, especially considering Grenell is endorsed by Trump and is the conservative candidate, and he's beating or tied with McCarthy in the most liberal metro area in the country.

And now, it's time for some of the networks to go to bed...

(On CBS...)
NORAH O'DONNELL: It is always our pleasure to give to you the most unbiased, factual and accurate coverage of elections, including this presidential election. And it was our honor to deliver the news of this presidential election to you in exactly that fashion, as we have now elected a new President and enter an uncharted path where as always - the mission is clear, but the outcome can always affect the course of history.

We'll have more on tonight's election at CBSNews.com and on CBS News Streaming. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, and you also can see more coverage on the Morning News as well as your local news and check back with us on CBS Mornings, live from Times Square. From all of us at CBS News here in Washington and across the nation, I'm Norah O'Donnell.

(On NBC...)
LESTER HOLT: And we have come to the conclusion of another election, as Ron DeSantis, the 46th Governor of Florida, will now become the 47th President of the United States, and while the process will take just over 75 days, it will be a very busy process as the President prepares to build up his Cabinet, and as a new Congress - now more Republican than we've seen in many years, begins to take shape.

There will be more coverage on CNBC and MSNBC, and also on NBCNews.com and the NBC News app, as well as our streaming channel, NBC News NOW. There will also be additional coverage later this morning on your local NBC station and on the Today show. For all of us here at NBC News, live from Democracy Plaza in Rockefeller Center, I'm Lester Holt. Good night and good morning.

(On ABC...)
DAVID MUIR: We appreciate you being part of your election night viewing, and thank you for watching as we have gone through another Election Night together, with Ron DeSantis now set to become the 47th President of the United States. We will now turn over to World News Now for more on this election, and there will be more coverage on ABCNews.com and the ABC News app, as well as ABC News Live and tomorrow morning on Good Morning America. I'm David Muir with George Stephanopoulos, live from our Election Night headquarters in Times Square, thank you for watching. Good night.

(And, on Fox broadcast affiliates...)
BRET BAIER: And to our affiliates across the country, including those on the West Coast, we thank you for tuning in for this special edition of Fox News Democracy 2024, as Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is now set to become President Ron DeSantis in 75 days, with the Cabinet speculation already beginning to heat up. We'll have more coverage and reaction over on Fox News Channel and the Fox News app, as well as on your local Fox station. For now, I'm Bret Baier with Shannon Bream in New York, good night.

Next: The rest of the wee hours proceed as America sleeps...

[SaintStan86]

While the clock strikes 2:00AM in New York City, more House results roll in...
AZ-04: Rep. Kelly Cooper defeats State Rep. Jennifer Jermaine.

CA-02: State Sen. Mike McGuire defeats fellow Democrat and State Asm. Marc Levine, succeeding Jared Huffman.

CA-09: Rep. Tom Patti defeats former Stockton Mayor Michael Tubbs.

CA-11: Rep. Catherine Stefani defeats fellow Democrat and former San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin.

CA-13: Rep. Adam Gray defeats farmer and businessman John Duarte in a rematch.

CA-14: Fremont City Councilmember Jenny Kassan defeats former State Asw. Catharine Baker, succeeding Eric Swalwell.

CA-18: San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo defeats fellow Democrat and former U.S. Rep. Josh Harder, succeeding Zoe Lofgren.

CA-22: Rep. David Valadao defeats Bakersfield City Councilman Andrae Gonzales.

CA-31: Former State Sen. Ed Hernández defeats attorney and 2022 nominee Dan Martinez, succeeding Grace Napolitano.

CA-40: Rep. Young Kim defeats attorney Florice Hoffman.

CA-41: Former State Sen. Melissa Melendez defeats former federal prosecutor Will Rollins, succeeding Ken Calvert.

CA-45: Rep. Michelle Steel defeats healthcare advocate Mark Anthony Paredes.

CO-07: Rep. Erik Aadland defeats former State Sen. Brittney Pettersen.

CO-08: Rep. Barb Kirkmeyer defeats State Sen. Kevin Priola, a former Republican.

Editor's note: Whereas I originally had State Sen. Faith Winter penciled in as the Democratic nominee in 2024 against Barb Kirkmeyer in this TL, I switched to Kevin Priola - who originally was listed as having won the newly-minted 8th as a moderate Republican in the very early stages of this TL - in light of the recent news that he switched from the GOP to the Democrats. Priola IRL is term-limited but can serve until 2024, and it's fair to say that Kirkmeyer has aggressively called out Priola (who IRL is going to be sought after to run against Kirkmeyer should she win this year) as a "craven opportunist" in her advertising against him in this TL.

CT-02: Rep. Mike France defeats State Rep. Gregg Haddad.

HI-01: State Rep. Sonny Ganaden defeats fellow State Rep. and former Miss Hawaii Lauren Matsumoto, succeeding Ed Case.

IL-05: In one of the biggest upsets, former Schaumburg Township Trustee Nimish Jani defeats Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi following the incumbent's raid by the FBI on corruption charges involving favors to pharmaceutical lobbyists. Krishnamoorthi has denied the allegations, and even suspects that "race could be a factor in his inquiry".

IL-11: Will County Republican Central Committee Chairman George Pearson defeats former Rep. Lauren Underwood in an all-Black congressional battle.

IL-12: Rep. Mike Bost defeats State Rep. Katie Stuart.

IN-01: Commercial pilot and Air Force reservist Jennifer-Ruth Green defeats Rep. Frank Mrvan in a rematch.

MD-06: State Del. Neil Parrott defeats Rep. David Trone in a rematch.

MA-09: Businessman and Marine Corps veteran Jesse Brown defeats State Sen. Julian Cyr, succeeding Bill Keating and becoming the first Republican to represent Massachusetts in the House in 28 years.

MI-07: Rep. Tom Barrett defeats Michigan Circuit Court Judge Rosemarie Aquilina, best known for her role as the judge in the Larry Nassar sexual abuse trial.

MI-10: State Sen. Mike MacDonald defeats Macomb County Executive Mark Hackel, succeeding John James, whose race for Senate remains undecided.

NV-02: Rep. Mark Amodei defeats Reno Mayor Hillary Schieve.

NV-03: Rep. April Becker defeats former Rep. Susie Lee in a rematch.

NM-03: Environmental engineer Alexis Martinez Johnson defeats Rep. Teresa Leger Fernandez.

NY-03: Rep. George Santos defeats former North Hempstead Town Supervisor Jon Kaiman.

NY-17: Former State Asm. Mike Lawler defeats Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney in a rematch.

NY-18: Rep. Colin Schmitt defeats former Rep. Pat Ryan in a rematch.

Editor's note: In light of Pat Ryan's special election victory on Tuesday, I am substituting his name in lieu of Dutchess County Legislator Yvette Valdés Smith. In this TL, the Biden administration offers Ryan a key post in their administration relating to veterans' affairs. After Biden announces his retirement, Ryan decides instead to run against Schmittt.

NY-19: Rep. Marc Molinaro defeats Broome County Executive Jason Garnar.

NY-22: Rep. Brandon Williams defeats former State Sen. David Valesky.

NC-06: State House Majority Whip Jon Hardister defeats Rep. Kathy Manning.

OH-15: Rep. Madison Gesiotto Gilbert defeats former State House Minority Leader Emilia Sykes in a rematch.

OR-05: Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer defeats attorney Jamie McLeod-Skinner in a rematch.

TX-32: Rep. Colin Allred defeats former Dallas County GOP Chairman Phillip Huffines in a rematch.

WA-05: Spokane County Treasurer and former State Sen. Michael Baumgartner defeats State Senate Majority Leader Andy Billig, succeeding Cathy McMorris Rodgers whose race for Senate remains undecided.

The network news teams have all pretty much gone home, save for the cable networks and PBS. But there is still plenty of election news to talk about...

(On CNN...)
VAN JONES: ...You had some pretty notable pickups in the House for the Democrats. For example, in Alabama you now have two African-American members of Congress - with Kirk Hatcher joining Terri Sewell in the House. And in Georgia, James Beverly, the State House Minority Leader standing up to Gov. Kemp on the so-called "election integrity" bill, defeated one-term Republican Chris West in the 2nd District in southwest Georgia.

DAVID AXELROD: Don't forget Hillary Scholten winning in her third try, taking out John Gibbs, the Trump loyalist who beat a more moderate one-term Republican who voted to impeach Donald Trump, in the 3rd District in Michigan. And Mike Matson, the Mayor of Davenport, Iowa, who beat Mariannette Miller-Meeks in southeast Iowa, 1st District. He ran as a moderate problem solver and that is what fits the district like a glove. Something Democrats need to take note of for 2026.

So don't fret, Democrats are clearly looking forward to capitalizing on the DeSantis presidency overreaching and going too far, doing the same overt pandering to the Fox News crowd. You won't know it, because whereas Donald Trump farted with his mouth, DeSantis is going to do it while you sleep, just like Reagan did when Mondale promised to raise taxes in advance instead of covertly.

ANDERSON COOPER: Alright, gentlemen, thank you for your input. We'll go now to Wolf Blitzer for an update.

WOLF BLITZER: Anderson, we are about to make another projection for President. In Connecticut, CNN projects that the Constitution State will go for President-elect Ron DeSantis, its seven electoral votes going Republican for the first time since 1988, when George H.W. Bush, the son of former Connecticut U.S. Senator Prescott Bush, won that state. True, it is only a plurality, but DeSantis's strong support in eastern Connecticut, Litchfield County, along with Andrew Yang's strong performance here tonight, puts DeSantis at 48 percent, to 43 percent for Vice President Kamala Harris, and seven percent for Yang.

That leaves us with just 39 electoral votes remaining, 19 in Illinois, 12 in Washington, and 8 in Oregon. Those last two states will take some time, as they are still processing their ballots. Almost all of those ballots, we know, are mail-in ballots.

JAKE TAPPER: And this just in, Wolf, CNN projects now in the race for Governor of North Carolina - one of three very crucial races that has taken all night because they are so close - that Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson will win and become North Carolina's first African-American Governor. We are projecting him the winner with 48 percent to 46 percent for state Attorney General Josh Stein, who was hoping to succeed term-limited Gov. and one-time presidential candidate Roy Cooper. The Libertarian candidate has five percent, mostly coming from backlash over some of Robinson's more controversial comments, but with support from the DeSantis campaign, Donald Trump and South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, Robinson has managed to win the race despite what supporters called "a kitchen sink of gross insults", some of them racially tinged.

But with 99.5 percent of the votes in and any potential recount not likely to change the results, we are safely able to go ahead and project Robinson the winner.

That leaves us with two outstanding gubernatorial races. In Indiana, Tom McDermott has taken the lead; the Mayor of Hammond has a lead of 47.9 percent to 47.1 percent for state Attorney General Todd Rokita, with the Libertarian candidate getting under four percent. The overperformance in northwest Indiana, his base, as well as in Terre Haute, South Bend, Evansville and Fort Wayne, as well as some voters in the Indianapolis suburbs, clearly factoring into McDermott's narrow lead now.

Rokita, of course, has had some issues during the campaign. You had the whole abortion issue, for instance, in which Rokita defended his handling of the matter despite obvious backlash from female voters as well as employers like Salesforce, Cummins and Eli Lilly who recoiled from economic investment in the state due to the issue, as well as a group of protestors who disrupted an Indiana Pacers game last week over the matter in which a group of women taped themselves and their mouths to the hallways leading into Gainbridge Fieldhouse.

That proved to be very controversial between Rokita accusing the Pacers of "enabling terrorism against fans" and McDermott attacking his opponent for "stoking the fires of division", and what he called "running away from serving Hoosiers first". McDermott also had significant appeal to blue-collar DeSantis voters outside of the Indianapolis area, and a series of TV ads where he vowed to continue the moderate style of governance favored by outgoing Gov. Eric Holcomb versus the sort of conservative hardline that Rokita has taken.

McDermott also condemned the ad that aired during the NFL kickoff game as well as Harris's response to it, which he called "a slap in the face to hardworking Hoosiers who would like to have a choice that focuses on"what makes us great here in Indiana instead of the same old talk you get out of San Francisco". So obviously, McDermott is giving a pretty good template that Democrats can use for upcoming elections next year in Virginia and New Jersey, plus of course the midterms in 2026.

The other race we're looking at is in Missouri, where Jason Kander not only is winning over DeSantis voters in the suburbs, but also rural Josh Hawley voters as well, competing well in rural "Miz-zur-rah" and doing quite well in the Kansas City and St. Louis suburbs. Right now, he is at 48.5 percent to 48.2 percent for Jay Ashcroft, who succeeded him as Secretary of State in 2016. Ashcroft, as you know, is the son of former Governor, U.S. Senator and Attorney General John Ashcroft, and a couple of ads from the Kander camp may explain his struggles in this race.

The first one pointed to Ashcroft's failure to win a Republican-held State Senate seat in an affluent suburban St. Louis district during a strong Republican year in 2014, his efforts to block Medicaid expansion despite voter approval of it, and of course the voter fraud claims from former President Trump, since debunked. But the second one was more intriguing, featuring Republican DeSantis and Hawley supporters who criticized Ashcroft for even having the gall to investigate improprieties in 2018 surrounding then-Attorney General Josh Hawley, which ironically were made by of all persons, Nicole Galloway, whom Hawley just defeated tonight.

Kander has used the iconic Creedence Clearwater Revival song, "Fortunate Son", as his main campaign rally song, to contrast his story - almost winning the other Senate seat in 2016, then shelving a bid for Kansas City Mayor to deal with his mental health and depression struggles, and bouncing back to run for Governor - with that of Ashcroft, and the "Fortunate Son" comparisons, which Ashcroft rightfully condemned, stating "I am my own person, and my purpose is to serve the people of Missouri, not some sort of entitlement I never asked for", stuck like a sore thumb.

(Fast forward to later in the evening, when CNN is able to make a Senate projection... >>)

JAKE TAPPER: CNN now projects that Republicans will achieve a filibuster-proof majority in partisan votes, as we are now calling Michigan for Congressman John James, who will become the first African-American Senator from the Great Lakes State, ending the comeback bid of former Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. Whitmer performed strongly in Detroit and also in Flint and other Democratic bastions, but she was soundly defeated in most counties and narrowly lost in the critical suburban counties of Oakland and Macomb; this obviously sunk her bid as James finishes with 51 percent and Whitmer above 47 percent.

That means that Republicans will now have 60 seats in the Senate with eight GOP pickups, surpassing the elections in 1908 and 1920, and one shy of the 1868 and 1906 elections in which 61 Republican Senators were elected - the most ever for the GOP in both cases, albeit with fewer states - there were only 46 states in 1906, as Arizona, New Mexico, Alaska and Hawaii were not states yet. In the cases of all four examples - there were Republican trifectas.

...before CNN calls it a night, and Wolf Blitzer calls it a career - at least in regards to presidential election night coverage sweeps...

WOLF BLITZER: Folks, it has been a great pleasure to be here tonight for yet another fascinating presidential election, each with their own twists, surprises and shockers. I have been fortunate to be a part of nine presidential elections here at CNN - including tonight, with an unprecedented - at least in the modern era - trifecta. When I made the decision to retire earlier this year, I did it with plenty of self-reflection and lots of gratitude for the people here at this network, who have been here for the best and worst of times, through corporate branding and ownership changes - from Ted Turner to Time Warner to now Warner Bros. Discovery, and through evolutions in technology that have happened multiple, multiple times.

And I honestly say, it has been an honor to preside over a presidential election one final time, and it is truly one that is never to be forgotten.

From all of us here at CNN in the United States and around the world, I'm Wolf Blitzer here in Washington, wishing you all a pleasant good night and good morning, and will see you on The Situation Room later this evening at 6:00PM ET. We now turn over to our newsroom at CNN Center in Atlanta for more coverage of Election Night in America, as Republican Ron DeSantis takes his place in history.

Next: Will there be any calls at 3 A.M.?...

[SaintStan86]

While the networks have largely gone to bed, there are still calls being made in various races across the country, but it's clear the networks are in a down period as they transition from the frenetic pace of their Election Night crews to the morning teams...

• On ABC, World News Now is updating the latest results, with the candidates' speeches and foreign press reports on reaction to DeSantis's win overseas filling most of the time, in addition to the anchors' usual irreverent banter and some offbeat stories about unusual election candidates and how they turned out.
• On CBS, the CBS Overnight News is for the most part live, with the anchors of the CBS Morning News presiding instead of the usual repeat of the CBS Evening News (including the story from Steve Hartman about Dixville Notch, New Hampshire) followed by updates and other material such as an earlier interview with Casey DeSantis on CBS Sunday Morning by Jane Pauley.
• NBC News Overnight (launched during this TL by NBC) has the crew from Early Today anchoring, with more updates on the election as well as analysis from Steve Kornacki, who admits to being "very high" on caffeine during one point in the broadcast.
• The other networks, for the most part, are starting to wind down as a new day approaches...

(And for those who may be wondering, as expected things were very quiet over at ESPN, as the sports world took a break on Election Day to emphasize the importance of voting. As evidenced by the rolling late-night repeats of SportsCenter...)
LINDA COHN: The sports world took a break on Election Day to assist in voter outreach across the country, aiming to get voters to the polls. NBA & NHL teams have utilized their arenas for various election purposes, not just to serve as Election Day polling precincts, but also even to count the ballots and host watch parties for various candidates across the country. NFL teams also took the day off, using the day to encourage their fans to go out and vote, with individual players also doing their own voter outreach efforts - including several Arizona Cardinals players, through the Pat Tillman Foundation, who took retired veterans to the polls with assistance from their local VFW chapters, as well as the Miami Heat opening up FTX Arena to serve as a polling place, and the Miami Heat's own home court being used as a floor for counting some well over one million ballots in Miami-Dade County.

(Fast forward to an excerpt from the 11:00PM SportsCenter with Scott Van Pelt >>)
SCOTT VAN PELT: There is no doubt that this election is a very important one. So much so that 'stick to sports' seems like mere postulating for halcyon days where voter turnout was so next to nil that they required you to attend jury duty. But doing your civic duty is indeed very important - after all, these juries ensure a fair trial for both civil cases where a business may have ripped you off and criminal cases where misdemeanor traffic tickets or felony capital murder charges hang in the balance.

And the impact has indeed been very strong. 75 percent of adult Americans are believed to have cast a ballot in this election. That is good for democracy. But it's also good for our posterity and vision of who we desire to be as a nation. Whether it's opening up arenas and stadiums for voters, counting ballots, providing water and other refreshments since campaigns cannot do that by law, or taking groups like disabled veterans to the polls, athletes and teams have exercised their civic duty to the American people on this day.

And it's hard to say "stick to sports" when you have both sides and others getting athlete endorsements, whether it's LeBron James and Steph Curry vouching for Kamala Harris on the very same court in which they routinely embarrassed the Houston Rockets at the Democratic National Convention, Jack Nicklaus and other golfers vouching for Ron DeSantis - who himself is hosting his watch party tonight on the very same lawn at TPC Sawgrass where the winner of the PLAYERS Championship is crowned every March, Colin Kaepernick going door-to-door for some Norman Solomon dude in the Bay Area, or Roger Goodell, Adam Silver, Dana White, Mike Helton, Al Michaels, Ernie Johnson and others reaching out to Donald Trump, among others, after the ad heard 'round the world at the beginning of the NFL season, it's hard to ignore politics.

Because as much as we hate to say it, eventually everything comes downstream from politics. And that is why your vote today for the candidate of your choice matters, and that is a right - whether it was for Kamala or Ron or some guy named Andrew Yang who believes in a national lottery of free cash for everyone - that is sacred and deserves to be respected.

(Around 3:30AM on Fox News, where the crew for Fox & Friends - or at least its early counterpart - took over after 2:00AM...)
TODD PIRO: We can now project that Speaker Kevin McCarthy will become Senator Kevin McCarthy, as his 57 percent of the vote with 70 percent of the votes counted has remained consistent. He was facing former U.S. Ambassador Ric Grenell, who was endorsed by former President Donald Trump, in an all-Republican runoff that ensued after the Democratic Party's splintered primary vote led to them being shut out, turning a seat that favored the Democrats into a lock for the GOP, and setting the tone for a big Republican swing across the country this past evening.

We are not projecting a party flip, because as we said it was already going to go Republican by default. But we can project which Republican it will be, and it will be Kevin McCarthy.

(Sometime after 4:00AM on PBS, where the West Coast crew has taken over...)
STEPHANIE SY: We have a projection to make now here in the West in the Senate, where the Associated Press is now projecting that Sen. Jacky Rosen has been defeated in Nevada, losing to Army veteran Sam Brown, who ran for the GOP nomination in 2022, losing to Adam Laxalt, but is now set to join Laxalt in the Senate, winning 50 percent of the vote to under 47 percent for Rosen.

And with that news, the Republicans will now tie for the most Senators it has ever elected in American history, at 61, with 1868 and 1906. A very significant sea change from the current Senate of 52 Republicans and 48 Democrats.

(And on CNBC, shortly after 5:00AM and the beginning of "Squawk Box"...)
BECKY QUICK: Well, there is another projection coming in now, and this is for Illinois, where Ron DeSantis has held a narrow lead in the polls for most of the evening. NBC News can now project that Illinois and its 19 electoral votes will go to the Florida Governor now set to become our 47th President in 75 days. DeSantis's strong performance in the downstate parts outside of Chicago, as well as the GOP's resurgence in the Chicago suburbs where DeSantis also did well and the GOP made some gains - including a surprising pickup near O'Hare Airport, played into his victory where only Cook County and Chicago itself came in strong for Kamala Harris. That now takes DeSantis to an eye-popping 400 electoral votes, to just 118 for the Vice President.

Also, for those of you football fans, including us in the NBC universe through Sunday Night Football, who may be wondering whatever happened to Michele Tafoya? Well, she was running in Minnesota for the U.S. Senate, and we can now project that she will in fact be going there. NBC News is calling the open Senate seat in Minnesota for Michele Tafoya, who defeats Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan with 49 percent to 46 percent. That means there will be 62 Republican Senators - which will be the most ever in American history.

Flanagan had hoped to follow in the footsteps of other notable progressives from her state including another NBC alum, Al Franken from Saturday Night Live, as well as the late Paul Wellstone and going back to Eugene McCarthy, but Ron DeSantis's historic win in Minnesota - first since 1972 - which clinched the election for him last night, and both strong support in rural Minnesota and resurgent support around the Twin Cities suburbs, did her in. Tafoya will succeed Sen. Amy Klobuchar, who chose to retire and make a run for the Democratic nomination for President, her second after the one in 2020.

And as we look at Europe now, it appears the markets are reacting positively to the news. In London, the FTSE is up four percent with optimism that the election of Ron DeSantis will be a "watershed moment" for relations between the US and its most storied ally, particularly as the US aims to cull its foreign aid load while also resolving its debt issues, including IOUs from China, Germany and other nations to which the US owes debt on such matters as military and defense - including foreign bases such as those in Germany and others it shares with NATO. Defense stocks, unsurprisingly, are mixed given that a DeSantis administration will likely look to be more cautious on future spending while also paying attention to whatever obligations may exist from previous administrations.

(Then, across the street on Fox Business shortly after 6:00AM...)
MARIA BARTIROMO: We can now project that, and this is the first in a while for the Democrats, we can project that Sen. Kyrsten Sinema has won reelection in Arizona with 51 percent - under 51 percent that is, to 45 for the Republican, David Schweikert. You may recall the divisive primary in that state where it took weeks to determine a winner between Schweikert and two fellow members of Congress, Andy Biggs and Paul Gosar - who held out on Schweikert citing his colleague's "degree of conservative principles" as well as his ethical troubles which became cannon fodder for criticism from Sinema's campaign, the media and even some Republicans.

Schweikert, of course, has denied any ethical improprieties, but obviously that and Sinema's moderate record as one of the more bipartisan Senators in Washington - which at one point left her for dead in the eyes of the Democrats' far-left base - worked to her advantage in the end. With her victory, there will now be 33 Senators - all but one of them officially Democrats, with the one exception being Sen.-elect David Zuckerman of Vermont, who won a three-way battle with the endorsement of retiring Sen. Bernie Sanders, and is likely to be one of the staunchest voices on the left, especially on economics as Sanders has always been, in the new Senate.

With that news, a bright spot for the Democrats in what otherwise has been a disastrous night for them, they are now at 32 Democrats and one Vermont Progressive Party newcomer caucusing with the Democrats, with a record 62 Republicans and 5 Senate seats remaining to be called.

(And, on "Fox & Friends" as they start...)

STEVE DOOCY: Good morning and welcome to Fox & Friends on this Wednesday morning, November the 6th. I'm Steve Doocy here with Ainsley Earhardt as we begin another "hump day" with Thanksgiving and the endless barrage of Christmas music on the horizon - oh please, can we keep Mariah Carey bottled up for a little longer? But first, we need to go straight to Brian Kilmeade who has a projection to report.

("Fox News Alert"...)

BRIAN KILMEADE: Thank you, Steve. Fox News is now projecting that Sen. Martin Heinrich has been defeated in New Mexico. Ronchetti had been leading most of the night as the GOP vote that swung the Land of Enchantment towards Ron DeSantis, particularly in suburban and Hispanic communities across the state, not unlike what we've been seeing since last night. Heinrich was running for a third term, but it appears the former TV meteorologist has put an end to those plans, and Mark Ronchetti will be the next U.S. Senator from the state of New Mexico, the first Republican since Pete Domenici whose son Adam Laxalt, himself the grandson of Paul Laxalt, serves from the Senate in the latter's former seat.

AINSLEY EARHARDT: And that will now take the Senate to 63 Republicans, a huge mandate for President-elect Ron DeSantis, and a big challenge for Senate Majority Leader John Cornyn, who will be speaking with us shortly on the results of last night's election.

And...some more House races were called overnight...

CA-12: Oakland City Councilmember Loren Taylor defeats fellow Democrat and State Asw. Mia Bonta, succeeds Barbara Lee.

CA-16: Saratoga City Councilmember Rishi Kumar defeats fellow Democrat and Mountain View City Councilmember Sally Lieber, succeeds Anna Eshoo.

CA-26: Rep. Matt Jacobs narrowly defeats State Asw. Jacqui Irwin.

CA-27: Rep. Mike Garcia defeats nurses' advocate Pilar Schiavo.

CA-30: State Asw. Laura Friedman defeats fellow Democrat and West Hollywood City Councilmember Lindsey Horvath, succeeds Adam Schiff.

CA-47: Former Orange County GOP Chairman Scott Baugh defeats former Rep. Harley Rouda, succeeds Katie Porter.

CA-49: Rep. Brian Maryott defeats San Diego County Supervisor Nathan Fletcher.

IA-03: Rep. Zach Nunn narrowly defeats State Senate Minority Leader Janet Petersen.

MI-08: Trump administration alumnus and former TV news anchor Paul Junge narrowly defeats Rep. Dan Kildee in a rematch.

MN-03: Former State Sen. Melisa Franzen narrowly defeats State Sen. Julia Coleman, succeeds Dean Phillips.

NV-01: Rep. Mark Robertson narrowly defeats healthcare reform advocate Amy Vilela.

NV-04: State Senate President Pro Tempore Mo Denis defeats Rep. Sam Peters.

NM-01: Rep. Melanie Stansbury defeats former State House Majority Leader Nate Gentry.

NY-04: Rep. Anthony D'Esposito narrowly defeats Nassau County Legislator Kevan Abrahams.

VA-10: Rep. Jennifer Wexton narrowly defeats retired Navy captain Hung Cao in a rematch.

With 263 Republicans and 157 Democrats, 15 other House races remain uncalled by 7:00AM ET, including five in Washington (2nd, 3rd, 4th, 8th, 9th), three in California (4th, 25th and 43rd), two in Oregon (4th and 6th), Montana's 1st District, the at-large district in Alaska, Georgia's 14th District and Pennsylvania's 8th District. Louisiana's 3rd District is already confirmed to go to a runoff.

(Meanwhile, it's 7:00AM on NBC...)

(NBC chimes sound...)
(clip with Ron DeSantis proclaiming "Tonight is the beginning of a New Day for America...")
HODA KOTB: This morning, America is waking up to a new President, as Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis defeats Vice President Kamala Harris in a rousing defeat of depths not seen in decades, with many states that haven't gone Republican in years doing so. Once chastised by his rivals - both Democrat and Republican - for defying science in the COVID-19 pandemic in favor of an aggressive reopening, DeSantis persists and now prepares to head from the Sunshine State to the White House, with his wife and young family in tow. We'll also hear the latest from former President Donald Trump, including his newly released statement on last night's victory.
(clip with Kamala Harris proclaiming "It was not the outcome that I wanted to see happen, but the voters made the final decision...")
CRAIG MELVIN: Also, history delayed again, as Kamala Harris fails to become Madam President as America will have to wait at least another four years before the glass ceiling shatters, eight years after Hillary Clinton's shock defeat by former President Trump.
HODA KOTB: Joe Biden's legacy in perspective. How last night's election may or may not alter the perception of his administration. Where one saw great change and a return to normalcy, while others expressed doubts on his accomplishments. How does Biden stack in the pecking order of former Presidents and their legacies?
CRAIG MELVIN: A look at Casey DeSantis, her inspiring story including overcoming breast cancer, and what we can expect from our next First Lady, could a royal pit stop have harmed Harris's chances on Election Day?, and how the markets are reacting as the DeSantis era begins in America on this Wednesday, November 6, 2024...

(Today begins...)
ANNOUNCER: From NBC News, this is Today! With Hoda Kotb and Craig Melvin, live from Studio 1A in Rockefeller Plaza!
CRAIG MELVIN: Good morning, and thank you for joining us on this Wednesday morning, November the 6th. I'm Craig Melvin here with Hoda Kotb, Al Roker who is outside our studio has the latest weather on this sunny Wednesday...

(Meanwhile, on C-SPAN...)
C-SPAN ANCHOR: Next call on open phones...Rusty Shackelford from Texas, Republican line... (This is NOT a joke, btw...)

Next: Let the Hunger, er, Cabinet Games begin...