2024 - A Blank Canvas

[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)...

[2016]

So DeSantis is at 156 Harris at 56

If we go by conventional wisdom and give DeSantis Alaska (3), Idaho (4), Montana (4) and Utah (6) that puts DeSantis at 173.

If you then give him Texas (40), Georgia (16) and North Carolina (16) where he is leading that brings him to 245 Electoral Votes just 25 short of the Presidency.

Given the Trends (Counties) in other States we have already seen you would think he wins Virginia (13) and New Hampshire (4) he gets to 262.

That means he only needs one other State: Wisconsin (10) would do it, Minnesota (10) would do it, Michigan (15) or Arizona (11). He doesn't even need to win Pennsylvania or those blue bastions like Connecticut (7), New Jersey (14) or Delaware (3).

[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...

[2016]

CNN is probably very smart holding off calls in Georgia, North Carolina & Virginia for now. DeSantis should get Montana & Utah in the 10pm Hour as Instant Calls.

This could be a very long Night for the Democrats.

DeSantis being so competitive in traditional Democratic States bodes well for the vulnerable Republicans running in California in their House Seats. While Harris will certainly win her Home State and Kevin McCarthy the Senate Race all the vulnerable GOPers could be reelected like Mike Garcia, Michelle Steel, Young Kim and Ken Calvert.

[Kahane's Grave Is A Gender-Neutral Bathroom]

The Republicans will win VT-SEN too?

I hope the DSCC are the first ones sent to the concentration camps.

[PRESIDENT STANTON]

It appears that DeSantis has more paths available to the 270 magic number! Should he carry Georgia and North Carolina next, Harris's pathway gets more narrower. If he takes either Pennsylvania or Michigan or both, it becomes virtually impossible for Harris to win. The way that DeSantis is performing in the WOW counties of Wisconsin suggests a national trend in DeSantis's favor. I'd like to see some news from either Connecticut or New Jersey. It's an interesting sidebar regarding the Oz-Menendez race in New Jersey. As for Ohio, I have a feeling that Brown is gonna lose to Jordan. Now with regards to the Vogel-Kaine contest in Virginia, and taking into account that Vogel is an apostle of Youngkin, it is possible that if Kaine is to win, it will be by a squeaker, but Vogel appears to be benefiting from the DeSantis overvote.  Now how is John James doing against Whitmer in Michigan? Josh Hawley seems to be having a tough time of it in Missouri, could this state be a flip? The Kander-Ashcroft gubernatorial contest in Missouri appears equally interesting.

[BigVic]

I like this format. Feels like a real election with the dialogue from the CNN anchors

[PRESIDENT STANTON]

The Republicans will win VT-SEN too?

I hope the DSCC are the first ones sent to the concentration camps.

They had a good crop of candidates, it's just the Harris factor that's the problem! The PC and her inability to connect is the problem! She might be okay for New York and California, but she's going to win them anyway, but she basically ignored "Fly-over country", likely a costly mistake, also assuming that the Republican brand was going to help her, is political malfeasance. The fact she's under performing in Georgia is telling and what's going on in New Jersey? Might DeSantis be the first Republican since George H.W. Bush in 1988 to win the Garden state? Bottom line, Kamala Harris is Hillary 2.0. Anyway that's my take!

[Kahane's Grave Is A Gender-Neutral Bathroom]

The Republicans will win VT-SEN too?

I hope the DSCC are the first ones sent to the concentration camps.

They had a good crop of candidates, it's just the Harris factor that's the problem! The PC and her inability to connect is the problem! She might be okay for New York and California, but she's going to win them anyway, but she basically ignored "Fly-over country", likely a costly mistake, also assuming that the Republican brand was going to help her, is political malfeasance. The fact she's under performing in Georgia is telling and what's going on in New Jersey? Might DeSantis be the first Republican since George H.W. Bush in 1988 to win the Garden state? Bottom line, Kamala Harris is Hillary 2.0. Anyway that's my take!

Kamala is worse than Hillary at campaigning.

The DNC had plenty of people to choose from and they went with her.

[PRESIDENT STANTON]

If Kamala loses this one, she's done in politics! The idea that she could try in 2028 would be nonsensical, especially if DeSantis wins either modestly or big, means that such Democrats such as Cory Booker or Pete Buttigieg or even Gavin Newsom would want a shot. Castro would have to win the Texas Senate contest to be in with a shot!  But Harris could write a book about her abysmal Vice presidential career and explain to everyone how and why Joe Biden picked her! Help us solve the mystery. As for Trump, it's no longer his party.

[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...

[John King wannabe]

At this point it’s time for Harris to call DeSantis to concede, the math is simply not in her favor.

[Kahane's Grave Is A Gender-Neutral Bathroom]

At this point it’s time for Harris to call DeSantis to concede, the math is simply not in her favor.

And then it's time to begin the airlifts of rape victims and LGBTQ people to Canada.

[PRESIDENT STANTON]

What is puzzling, is if DeSantis is polling so well in the WOW counties in Wisconsin, why is Wisconsin still outstanding! All of the so called "Blue wall" state's, are quiet as church mice, nothing so much as a peep! If either Georgia and North Carolina were to be called, I thought it would be North Carolina first, but considering the Governor's race there is a factor, then I can imagine that North Carolina probably won't be called until we have a winner in the Governor's contest, which means probably somewhere ìn the a.m. hour's

[2016]

What is puzzling, is if DeSantis is polling so well in the WOW counties in Wisconsin, why is Wisconsin still outstanding! All of the so called "Blue wall" state's, are quiet as church mice, nothing so much as a peep! If either Georgia and North Carolina were to be called, I thought it would be North Carolina first, but considering the Governor's race there is a factor, then I can imagine that North Carolina probably won't be called until we have a winner in the Governor's contest, which means probably somewhere ìn the a.m. hour's

I think the Question is now if Republicans can get to 60 Senate Seats.

[PRESIDENT STANTON]

I'm beginning to suspect that the reason why Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania are not being called is that Harris is gonna win them in a squeaker, win the electoral vote, but lose the popular vote! She wins in a 270-268 vote, but has no mandate and DeSantis waits until 2028 for a rematch and Harris becomes a lame-duck,  a female version of Jimmy Carter if you will. Then Harris loses in a landslide in 2028. I could be wrong, but considering the fact that there has been virtually no movement on Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, that has to be an outcome being considered. DeSantis in "losing", becomes the leading contender for the GOP nomination in '28. This way, the writer's extend the storyline a bit longer.

[2016]

I'm beginning to suspect that the reason why Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania are not being called is that Harris is gonna win them in a squeaker, win the electoral vote, but lose the popular vote! She wins in a 270-268 vote, but has no mandate and DeSantis waits until 2028 for a rematch and Harris becomes a lame-duck,  a female version of Jimmy Carter if you will. Then Harris loses in a landslide in 2028. I could be wrong, but considering the fact that there has been virtually no movement on Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, that has to be an outcome being considered. DeSantis in "losing", becomes the leading contender for the GOP nomination in '28. This way, the writer's extend the storyline a bit longer.

It's virtually impossible to get Vice President Harris to 270 Electoral College Votes.

DeSantis sits at 222. Add 3 from Alaska makes it 225, add four more from Idaho and he is at 229, add Nebraska-2 he is at 230. If he wins North Carolina, which I think will be called after 11pm ET, that gets him to 246. At that Point he only needs Pennsylvania (19) and Iowa (6) and he is at 271.
Or he does PA (19) and New Hampshire (4) which gets him to 269 and the House hands the Presidency to him.

[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.

[2016]

Unless they find some kind of Magic Boxes in Madison & Milwaukee Harris has lost Wisconsin, a State she needed to have having lost Georgia earlier in the Night.

Michigan is still TOO EARLY TO CALL and with Gary Peters on the Ticket Harris & Whitmer might win in a squeaker. Still, I am surprised how competitive DeSantis is in that State.

[Kahane's Grave Is A Gender-Neutral Bathroom]

We know Harris won't win PA either because of Governor Mastriano.

[PRESIDENT STANTON]

Don't worry Harris will "find" those "fabled magic boxes" and win squeakers in both Wisconsin and possibly Michigan as well, all she needs to do is run the table and limp across the line to get that 270. I believe that the scenario I painted earlier will occur. Remember what Joe Biden said in his Oval office speech about wishing all the candidate's "good luck"? He literally meant it! DeSantis will literally need it, when it is Joe Biden and his "magic boxes", look at how everything is stalled as it was four years before! I bet there's a bit of malarkey going on! And mysteriously they will "find" millions of votes, all favoring Harris. She will get her turn and there will be a rematch in 2028 and she will lose in a landslide! Because she doesn't have the same "skill set" that old Joe has! She is John Quincy Adams to DeSantis's Andrew Jackson. That's my take.

[PRESIDENT STANTON]

This is my prediction of the final map. Due to the better than expected performance in the popular vote by DeSantis, he wins a 5% margin. Its a complete reverse on 2016.

[President of the great nation of 🏳️‍⚧️]

Don't worry Harris will "find" those "fabled magic boxes" and win squeakers in both Wisconsin and possibly Michigan as well, all she needs to do is run the table and limp across the line to get that 270. I believe that the scenario I painted earlier will occur. Remember what Joe Biden said in his Oval office speech about wishing all the candidate's "good luck"? He literally meant it! DeSantis will literally need it, when it is Joe Biden and his "magic boxes", look at how everything is stalled as it was four years before! I bet there's a bit of malarkey going on! And mysteriously they will "find" millions of votes, all favoring Harris. She will get her turn and there will be a rematch in 2028 and she will lose in a landslide! Because she doesn't have the same "skill set" that old Joe has! She is John Quincy Adams to DeSantis's Andrew Jackson. That's my take.

Jesse what the  are you talking about?

[PRESIDENT STANTON]

As if this user would care if they were being ignored 😉just making sure that I submitted my ten cents! 😊😉

[President of the great nation of 🏳️‍⚧️]

As if this user would care if they were being ignored 😉just making sure that I submitted my ten cents! 😊😉

Fair enough. But I really see no way Harris can pull this off, even accounting for Dark Brandon undoing the Republican fraud.