Examining the crucial races of the midterm elections
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This is a rush transcript from "Life, Liberty & Levin," November 4, 2018. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
MARK LEVIN, HOST: Hello, America. I'm Mark Levin. This is "Life, Liberty & Levin" in our special election edition.
I think it's apropos to begin this program with a quote from Thomas Paine, one of the great pamphleteers, journalists if you will - reporters if you will -- and he wrote "Common Sense" which was read by 125,000 columnists. That's a lot people back then. He also wrote a pamphlet called "The American Crisis", and he wrote it on December 23rd, 1776. And George Washington and other founders have credited Thomas Paine among others but Payne in particular. We're giving the intellectual and the patriotic founding for our movement for independence, and here's what he said in part.
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"These are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will in this crisis shrink from the service of their country, but he that stands by it now deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered. Yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly. It is dearness only that gives everything its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods and it would be strange indeed if so celestial and article as freedom should not be highly rated." Freedom was his emphasis.
"Britain, with an army to enforce her tyranny declared she has a right not only to tax but to bind us all in all cases whatsoever, and if being bound in that manner is not slavery, then is there no such a thing as slavery upon earth. Even the expression is impious; for so unlimited a power can be only with God."
That's Thomas Paine. You don't hear much about Thomas Paine these days, certainly not by the media. Now, why am I reading that? What kind of soldier are you? I'm not talking about Army, Marines or whatever. What kind of soldier are you? Are you a soldier for liberty? Or not? Because that's what this election is all about.
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The men who founded this country understood liberty. The men who founded this country understood the limitations of government. And the men who founded this country also understood what was meant by a free press. Do you know back before the revolution and during the revolution, there are only a couple of dozen newspapers, a little over 30, less than 40. Even before that, there are relative handful of printers and the printers were the great patriots because how else would you get the word out?
But the pamphleteers were key. There are many, many pamphleteers and they would write their pamphlets which could include some news of the day, typically old news because it took time for news to travel, but the vast majority of the pamphleteers were patriots for liberty, for limited government, for representative government, for private property rights. They were pamphleteers against tyranny and their pamphlets would be posted at pubs and other public place.
Their pamphlets would be circulated and by mouth discussed at the dinner table and among community meetings and so forth. These were true patriots and they had a big cause, the cause of founding an independent United States.
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Contrast that with the media today, which is crucially important in this upcoming election. Contrast it with the media of today. Do the media ever talk about individual liberty? Private property rights? Natural law? Unalienable rights? Do they ever talk about that? No. What do the media talk about? Typically one of two things, pushing the progressive left agenda or trashing the President of the United States. That's pretty much it. They are Johnny and Janie Two Notes. And it's a big problem in this country.
So this election is about not only defeating many, many radicals that the Democrats have nominated, some of them are outright bigots, but it's also about pushing back against the media that has no comprehension whatsoever what freedom of the press means, the history of freedom of the press and why it's so important.
Freedom of the press exists to undergird freedom of speech. Freedom of the press is simply person or a group of people, and today businesses, communicating with the American people, sharing information with the American people. But, freedom of speech is the basis for freedom of the press, but when the press becomes myopic, malignant, when so-called reporters are really practicing group think, because the vast majority of them are located in and around Washington, DC, in and around New York City, in and around Los Angeles, not Kansas, not Missouri, not Arkansas, you name it, all the states in between.
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Well, then they have a pretty much aggregate mind-set, and that aggregate mind-set is to advance the cause of centralized government, ubiquitous government. And now even worse, they are attacking - attacking those of us who disagree with that alien ideology, progressivism, that was imported into the United States.
Progressivism which is the progeny of, yes, Marxism - Karl Marx, Frederick Engels, Hegelism, German philosophers who wrote about fundamentally transforming and altering the kind of society that we have. Attacking capitalism. Attacking the individual, insisting that the only way the individual can be really fully realized is through the state, and we all must be a part of the state. We all must work for the state. Pushing this notion of radical egalitarianism.
Let me ask you something, in Arizona, the Democrat Senate candidate, is that not her? In Florida, the Democrat gubernatorial candidate, is that not him? In Georgia, the Democrat gubernatorial candidate, is that not her? Is it not Bernie Sanders and Kamala Harris? Is it not Barack Obama and all the rest? The Democratic Party now is not the Democratic Party of even 30, 40 years ago, the Democratic Party is an extremely radical European-type left-wing party.
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And in order for their agenda to advance, they must, they must undermine our constitutional order and our Republican order. But it's not just them, they have a mouthpiece, they have a voice, and that is the modern day American media, the press.
Survey after survey have shown us that the vast majority of so-called reporters are liberals and/or Democrats. The vast majority of so-called journalists or reporters live at the edges of the country, not in the center of the country. The vast majority of the major media live in the edges of the country, not in the center of the country.
So we have this cultural battle going on between those of us who wish to uphold our traditions. Those of us who actually believe in Constitutional Republicanism, and those who do not. And the reason why the Kavanaugh hearings were so important, because it all came to a head right there. Basic issues of western civilization and the enlightenment. Basic issues of the American founding. Due process. Presumption of innocence. We're on trial. We're on display at that hearing over a Supreme Court justice.
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And the Democrats to a man and woman rejected the enlightenment. Rejected western civilization. Rejected the Bill of Rights. "Oh, it's just an interview." It's not just an interview. If somebody is accused of criminal behavior, whether it is in a congressional form or some other form, they have basic rights. They're not guilty until proven innocent. They are innocent until proven guilty.
And in Kavanaugh's case, there wasn't a shred of evidence, there wasn't a scintilla of evidence. None. And yet, look what they did to this man. But this is illustrative because they're doing it to you.
Throughout the media as I speak, when you look at CNN or MSNBC, when you read the "Washington Post" or the "New York Times," and that ilk, they're trashing you, the American people. They're comparing you to Nazis. They're calling you racists. They're calling you white supremacists. We reject this. We abhor this. We embrace individual liberty and constitutionalism and unalienable rights for all people regardless of colors, regardless of gender, regardless of religion. We believe in the individual. That is our philosophy. That is our philosophy as conservatives. They do not.
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They identify us as groups. They put us into groups. And you can see it on CNN and MSNBC in particular. It's truly outrageous, and these are news organizations. And they are so furious that they were not able to determine who would be President in the last presidential cycle. They have spent every hour and every day since Donald Trump was elected President actually before, every hour and every day trying to destroy his character, trying to uproot his administration, trying to create controversy in order to diminish him and diminish you, and to change the course of the 2016 election and to change the course of history.
That's exactly what they're doing right now. It's time to stand up. That's what Tuesday is about. For ourselves, for our families, for our faith, for our country, for our party and for our President. It's time to stand up. I know the vast majority of you, if there's early voting have already voted or you're prepared to vote on Tuesday. It's not enough. You need to be Thomas Paine. You need to tell your family, friends, colleagues and neighbors, that they must vote. If they're going to vote the right way. You need to be in charge, you need to be following up with them. You need to be your precinct captain.
If those of you watching me now contact four, five, six, seven people or event more, take it upon yourself. Forget about the political party and the RNC, take it upon yourself, you, the modern-day Thomas Paine, to get the vote out in your own little familial or social circle. You will make the difference.
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In close elections throughout the country, for the Senate, for governorships and congressional races. You will push back against this force in the media, against this force in the Democratic Party, against this force in Hollywood. You will push back against the Far East Coast and the Far West Coast, that's trying to devour and control the rest of the country. It is time to push back. The press has interposed itself in this elections in a way that I've never seen before, in a way I've never seen before. They want you to believe that the President of the United States is a racist because of his immigration policies. The President is not a racist.
The President's immigration policies are identical to what Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, Harry Reed, Joe Biden's immigration policies were a decade ago. A decade ago. They want you to believe that this President is destroying freedom of the press. How so? By calling them out? By calling them out and exposing what they're doing? Unlike John Adams in the Sedition Act back when he was President or Abraham Lincoln in his executive order or Woodrow Wilson and the Sedition Act of 1918. We don't have a Sedition Act that the President is enforcing. He is not putting journalists and editors in prison as those Presidents did. He's not shutting down newspapers as those Presidents did.
The only threat he poses to the media is he fights back. The President is not attacking any part of the Constitution. He's trying to defend the Constitution. But it's up to us now, it's up to you and me. The question is this: We have men and women - young men and women who volunteer to fight for this country.
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Throughout our history and we have men and women today in one hell hole after another. What are they fighting for? Are they fighting for the fundamental transformation of America? Are they fighting for this government program or that government program? Are they fighting for some bigots who are running for office as Democrats? Are they fighting for a so-called free press that continues to trash this country? No. They're fighting for you and your principles and the least we can do here at home is to not only vote, but make sure family, friends, colleagues and neighbors vote, too.
It's not asking too much. It's up to us. If more of us vote than them, we win and they lose. This is a truly, truly crucial election for you. For your family. What kind of country do you want to have? That's what's on the ballot. Are you going to vote or are you going to watch? Are you going to get others to vote? I have a lot of faith in you America. I have a lot of faith in you who are viewing the program. We'll be right back.
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Welcome back. It's very important to go through a number of the races and get a feel what's going on in the country. It's important people turn out and vote and bring out family members, nobody better to help us than one of the great pollsters in America, John McLaughlin. How are you brother?
JOHN MCLAUGHLIN, CEO AND PARTNER OF MCLAUGHLIN AND ASSOCIATES: Pleasure to be here.
LEVIN: You were Donald Trump's pollster during the campaign, probably the only pollster in the world that got it right. You're CEO and partner of McLaughlin and Associates. You graduated from Fordham, you had a BA. You hold an MBA from Fordham University with concentrations in Finance and Quantitative Methods.
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MCLAUGHLIN: Right.
LEVIN: Glad I wasn't in your class. I would have outdone you. John McLaughlin. Let's jump into this. As I understand it, there are 78 - 78 competitive races.
MCLAUGHLIN: In the House.
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LEVIN: In the House of Representatives that are almost ties.
MCLAUGHLIN: Yes.
LEVIN: Sixty seven of those are Republican districts.
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MCLAUGHLIN: Absolutely.
LEVIN: You've indicated to me before, 16 lean Democrat, and 11 of those are Republican districts.
MCLAUGHLIN: Yes.
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LEVIN: Twenty six lean Republican and 25 of those are Republican districts.
MCLAUGHLIN: Yes.
LEVIN: Toss-ups, 36.
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MCLAUGHLIN: Right.
LEVIN: Thirty one of which are Republican districts.
MCLAUGHLIN: Yes.
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LEVIN: So if Republicans and Trump supporters turn out and vote in these Republican districts, Republicans might hold the house, I'm not trying to be a Pollyanna, but isn't that what the stats show you?
MCLAUGHLIN: Yes, in fact we had a poll last week, national generic ballot, we had 44 percent say they are voting Republican, 46 percent Democrat, 10 percent were undecided. It's in range.
Donald Trump won the election on Election Day. I mean, there was a record - our strategy was to bring out new voters, and there was nine million more voters who voted in 2016 than did in 2012. And those were the voters who came out and won Pennsylvania for us, won Wisconsin, won Michigan. We had a strategy to build a heartland coalition of voters to come out and sunbelt and rust belt. That's where the districts are a lot of them.
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And even in the parts of New York state or California or Pennsylvania and New Jersey, those are our voters. There are excerpts and suburban voters in those districts. Trump brought out 63 million voters, and in a typical midterm election, you only get 90 million voters that came out in 2010, 83 million in 2014.
There is going to be more than 90 million voters this time. It could approach 100 million because the anti-Trump voters are coming out to some degree. But now, since the Kavanaugh hearings, the Republicans and the Trump voters have gotten re-engaged and that 63 million on Tuesday, just like two years ago, they can win the House, they can hold the House, and you know what they want to do? They want to stop Nancy Pelosi.
Nancy Pelosi, if she gets control of the House, she will be the most powerful Democrat in the country.
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LEVIN: Let's go through some of these races. Let's start with the Senate. Michigan, John James versus Debbie Stabenow. This guy is a superstar. An African-American, a combat veteran, a successful small businessman, a traditional conservative getting almost no national media attention. Almost no support from Hollywood, Oprah Winfrey and so forth and so on, and yet he's really putting up a fight. What do you make of that race?
MCLAUGHLIN: He's closing. What's amazing is, here's an African-American candidate, who the Democrats are all touting Gillum in Florida, they're touting Abrams in Georgia, but where the national media in this race? And those Trump voters are coming back out in Michigan for him.
LEVIN: So if the people vote, he wins.
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MCLAUGHLIN: Yes.
LEVIN: Let's look at Montana, something interesting there, we have Rosendale, the Republican; Tester, the Democrat. Tester goes to Montana, he pretends he's one of the good old boys, that he's a moderate, comes to Washington. Votes the New York-Massachusetts way, he's a sure Schumer vote for leader of the Democrats there.
Rosendale is the Republican, he is the state auditor, now the libertarian has dropped out and endorsed Rosendale. What do you make of that race?
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MCLAUGHLIN: I think Rosendale is going to win. Again, with focus on turnout, but the irony is Tester was running that he was somebody who voted for Trump. And now, he's exposed. He didn't give us a vote on tax cuts. He didn't give us a vote on Kavanaugh or Gorsuch.
So I think he's been exposed and Trump has made it a mission to see him defeated. He's been to Montana.
LEVIN: Then again, it's a tight, tight race, if folks don't vote, we lose.
MCLAUGHLIN: They've got to come out on Tuesday. Everything is pointed to Tuesday.
LEVIN: Texas, Ted Cruz and we have Robert Francis O'Rourke. $70 million O'Rourke has spent. Half of it has come - or more have come out of Manhattan, Los Angeles area, Hollywood and so forth. They're trying to take out Cruz because Cruz is the leading conservative in the United States Senate and behind Trump, people would argue is the second most prominent conservative. So they want to make an example of him. How's that going to turn out?
MCLAUGHLIN: It's backfiring on him because there's another state that post Kavanaugh, where - Trump is popular in Texas. And Trump is basically - his voters - and it won't even be close. He'll win decisively, Cruz. Because O'Rourke running, he's an anti-Trump candidate is basically sending votes to Cruz every day.
LEVIN: He's also running on Bernie Sanders issues, it's unbelievable.
MCLAUGHLIN: Right, right.
LEVIN: All right, quickly, Florida Rick Scott versus Nelson, this is a nail-biter.
MCLAUGHLIN: This is a very close race, just like the presidential race, it's going to be that close. But Rick Scott has done an amazing job as governor particularly with these hurricanes, he even took people in from Puerto Rico when they were hurt. And he's been focused on making sure the panhandle recovers. I think all the polls have it dead even, he pulls this one out.
LEVIN: Missouri, Josh Hawley, Claire McCaskill, has she finally been exposed as the leftist that she is?
MCLAUGHLIN: Oh absolutely and that a state that was solid for the President. So I think that one, you're getting the Trump voters fall back in. We've polled there for a super PAC and have Hawley ahead.
LEVIN: Okay, again, I just want to caution the audience, if you don't turn out and you don't bring out family members and friends and colleagues, all this will be reversed. All of this will change. So you're assuming the Trump supporters, the Republicans come out in large numbers and do what they should do.
MCLAUGHLIN: Right, and they should make sure they are bringing their friends. So bring a friend.
LEVIN: Arizona, have you McSally and Sinema. This sinema is like a kook.
MCLAUGHLIN: Yes. She's been ...
LEVIN: What's going to happen there?
MCLAUGHLIN: McSally will pull that one out in a close race. It's very close though.
LEVIN: Because there was an ugly primary there, conservatives don't trust McSally because she's been relatively moderate and so forth, but as I said on my radio show, that's not what this election is about. It's not your typical election. This election is about defending the election of 2016. Defending the Constitution. This is really basic stuff.
MCLAUGHLIN: Yes.
LEVIN: West Virginia, Patrick Morrisey versus Joe Manchin.
MCLAUGHLIN: Manchin has always been popular, but West Virginians don't want to go back to the policies of Barack Obama where they were closing coal mines, putting people of West Virginia out of work. So in this one, this is really tight right now. The edge is still for Manchin, but again, that's another state where if the Trump voters come out on Tuesday, we could pull a big upset.
LEVIN: Again, he will vote for Schumer to be the leader. He will throw 95 percent of their votes to the Democrats. Indiana quickly, Mike Braun versus Joe Donnelly.
MCLAUGHLIN: That's another one where Donnelly is still ahead and the libertarian candidate is taking some votes that would go back in for Braun. But right now, Donnelly has an edge, but Trump's going in there.
LEVIN: Nevada, Dean Heller and Jacky Rosen?
MCLAUGHLIN: That one again, that's another one that is really close and you won't know until Tuesday based on turnout. There is a lot of these races where it's all coming down to does the Trump coalition that came out two years ago come back out and support these candidates? Because why would we want people who are going to vote for leadership that are going to impeach our President.
LEVIN: If we have a significant voter turnout. These tight races, two, three points here and there, they will flip Republican.
MCLAUGHLIN: Yes.
LEVIN: If they do, these tight races, we're talking about half a dozen, ten races, they'll flip the other way.
MCLAUGHLIN: Yes.
LEVIN: That's how crucial this is.
MCLAUGHLIN: Absolutely.
LEVIN: In the Senate. Ladies and gentlemen, don't forget, most week nights, you can check me out on Levin TV, Levin TV. Go to crtv.com/mark, crtv.com/mark. We'd love to have you. We have wonderful hosts throughout the network or give us a call at 844-LEVIN-TV, 844-LEVIN-TV. We'll be right back.
LAUREN GREEN, CORRESPONDENT, FOX NEWS: Live from "America's News Headquarters," I'm Lauren Green. Both parties pulling out all the stops ahead of Election Day. President Trump holding two rallies today in Georgia and Tennessee while former President Obama fired up Democrats in Indiana and Illinois.
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DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This is a big one. It will decide whether we build on the extraordinary prosperity that we've achieved for our nation or whether we let the radical Democrats take control of Congress.
BARACK OBAMA, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Healthcare for millions is on the ballot. A fair shake for working families is on the ballot, and most importantly, the character of our nation is on the ballot.
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GREEN: It comes amid record voter enthusiasm with a whopping 34 million people voting early. I'm Lauren Green. Now back to "Life, Liberty & Levin."
LEVIN: John McLaughlin, let's take a look at the House of Representatives, and I just want all the viewers to understand that even though a number of these people may not be their representatives, they vote on issues that affect them across the board so they can still support them financially. But even more, people who live in these districts, they really need to turn out. Let's take a look at several of them. These are tight districts. Virginia 7, Dave Brat, he beat Eric Cantor in the primary a few years back. He's part of the Freedom Caucus, a leader in the Freedom Caucus. He's facing Abigail Spanberger, who is a former CIA analyst, but a hard core leftist and she is running as a moderate and a CIA analyst. How does that race look?
MCLAUGHLIN: That's a district that Donald Trump won by six. It's a really dead even race right now. But those suburban voters in Chesterfield County, if they don't vote for Dave Brat, you're going to get a Democrat who going to raise their taxes.
LEVIN: And vote for impeachment.
MCLAUGHLIN: Absolutely.
LEVIN: Barbara Comstock, she's the last Republican in the little circle around Washington, DC suburbs, Fairfax and Mclean, Loudon County. She is the incumbent running against Jennifer Wexton who is the biggest taxing Democrat in the state Senate in Virginia. Tight race.
MCLAUGHLIN: Tight race. And Barbara, I've always done her polling, and we've released it, but we released one a couple of weeks ago where she was ahead by a point and the "Washington Post" have ridiculed this, but let me tell you, she's the hardest working person. She represents her district extremely well and she always defies the polls because last time, Hillary Clinton won her district by ten points and she won by six.
LEVIN: And she's being targeted by leadership, she's being targeted by Bloomberg. She's being targeted by the "Washington Post." Dana Rohrabacher, California 48 versus Harley Rouda, I guess the name is. Rohrabacher was a speechwriter, I remember in the White House for Ronald Reagan ....
MCLAUGHLIN: Also from the 90s.
LEVIN: In the 90s. He's been around for decades. Huntington Beach in that area. What's that look like?
MCLAUGHLIN: That's one where since they're not getting the blue wave, the Democrats are putting in a green wave. Mike Bloomberg just put five or six million dollars in there to try to beat him and Dana was a little ahead in the polls, so that's another race where we've got to get our people to ...
LEVIN: Another turnout race. These are all turnout races.
MCLAUGHLIN: They've got to send in their mail-in ballots.
LEVIN: A lot of these - to your point are Republican districts. So if Republicans and Trump supporters, they turn out and vote, we win.
MCLAUGHLIN: Yes.
LEVIN: George Holding versus Linda Coleman, North Carolina second.
MCLAUGHLIN: Another one of my candidates extremely close. There's been a C4 from the Democrats attacking us on different issues, but Coleman is on the rolls right because she supports sanctuary cities and higher taxes.
LEVIN: Most of them do, don't they?
MCLAUGHLIN: Yes.
LEVIN: It's unbelievable.
MCLAUGHLIN: You know what you're going to get.
LEVIN: They're running on open borders, sanctuary cities, higher taxes.
MCLAUGHLIN: Government run health care ...
LEVIN: ... foreign policy, yes. A top down government run healthcare, eliminating Medicare, it's incredible. John Faso versus Antonio Delgado, Faso is the Republican in the New York 19th district. How do you see it?
MCLAUGHLIN: Right, that one is dead even in the polls, obviously, I do the polling for John. John a very solid candidate, but Delgado came and he raised $3.6 million in the last quarter. He doesn't even live there. He just got parachuted in by Pelosi to try take this away from the people of upstate New York.
LEVIN: Very tight?
MCLAUGHLIN: Yes, very tight race.
LEVIN: Okay, Lee Zeldin versus Perry Gerschin. Now, Lee Zeldin I happen to know. He is a combat vet.
MCLAUGHLIN: Solid.
LEVIN: He is a wonderful guy. He is a solid Republican and a conservative and they're targeting him with a hard left-wing radical who has a lot of money in Long Island. New York 1, what does it look like?
MCLAUGHLIN: Gerschin is spending a lot of money on ads, absolutely stuff that's not true on Lee saying he would take away people's healthcare. I mean, Lee is a solid, solid conservative and Gerschin is spending a lot of money, but people love Lee out there.
LEVIN: It's tight.
MCLAUGHLIN: They know him as an Iraq war veteran. Yes, it's tight.
LEVIN: Florida 27, Maria Salazar, the Republican versus Donna Shalala ...
MCLAUGHLIN: Shalala.
LEVIN: The former Clinton administration official. I understand it's a largely Hispanic district, and she doesn't speak Spanish.
MCLAUGHLIN: Shalala doesn't.
LEVIN: Right, that's Shalala. Obviously, Salazar does.
MCLAUGHLIN: Salazar was the mega TV broadcaster down there and she's very well known. This is one the Democrats thought they had in the bag, and now, they're finding out that they're actually losing. So this one, the Republicans can keep.
LEVIN: Carlos Curbelo, the incumbent Republican versus Debbie Muscarsel, I guess? What's that look like?
MCLAUGHLIN: Carlos is very popular down there. And that's where the Democrats are really targeting a lot of money, outspending him in the final week. But you know what? The voters like Carlos and the Cuban vote for him is solid, so if the Cuban vote comes out and the other Hispanic votes come out for Carlos, he'll win.
LEVIN: Robert Woodall versus Carolyn Bourdeaux, Georgia 7?
MCLAUGHLIN: That's a district where the Democrats are trying to make inroads into the suburbs of Atlanta, but the governor's race is affecting it. So you've got this governor's race where basically they're trying to turn out their troops and beat us with turnout. He's in good shape but he's got to get through the turnout on Tuesday.
LEVIN: California 10, Jeff Denham versus Josh Harden. That's a tough one.
MCLAUGHLIN: Very close race right now. Very close race.
LEVIN: California 45, Mimi Walters, the incumbent Republican ...
MCLAUGHLIN: Again.
LEVIN: Versus Katie Porter?
MCLAUGHLIN: Another very, very close race that depends upon ...
LEVIN: Where is that? Anaheim? That area.
MCLAUGHLIN: Yes, I hope so.
LEVIN: One that used to be solid Republican, all that Orange County, it's unbelievable what's happened there. Iowa third, David Young versus Cindy Axne. David Young being the Republican?
MCLAUGHLIN: Well, last week, Ivanka Trump went out there at the end of the week to campaign for - that's a critical race where they tried to make trade an issue and guess what? Donald Trump got a new deal with Canada and Mexico.
LEVIN: Does that help?
MCLAUGHLIN: That helped, plus he's also been - he's also straightening out China, so that helps because a lot of this - Iowa is about corn, soybeans, their all economy is agriculture.
LEVIN: It's a tight race?
MCLAUGHLIN: It's a tight race.
LEVIN: Illinois 6, Peter Roskam who is part of Republican leadership versus Sean Casten.
MCLAUGHLIN: Right, that's the one Republican leadership they're really going after and that district has changed because it's suburban Chicago. So he's in a tight race, but the Republicans should be able to win that one, if again, if they come out and vote.
LEVIN: Kentucky 6, Andy Barr versus Amy McGrath. I mean, the President has campaigned for Andy Barr.
MCLAUGHLIN: Yes, and that one, if our voters come out, if they're not complacent and they come out in that part of Kentucky, he should be able to win. Republicans should be able to keep that.
LEVIN: We've got a lot more. We're going to finish the House and get into some of these governorships. We're not doing this because we like just mentioning names and districts and stuff. We're doing this because you folks out there, the American people need to know what's going on in your states and in your districts.
Folks, don't forget, you can see me on Levin TV almost every week night. Just go to crtv.com/mark, crtv.com/mark or give us a call at 844-LEVIN-TV, 844-LEVIN-TV. We'll be right back.
LEVIN: John McLaughlin, I want to finish with some of these incredibly close House races. Maine Second? Bruce Poliquin versus Jared Golden? How does that look?
MCLAUGHLIN: Right, he's a fighter and again, it's ...
LEVIN: He's the Republican that is Poliquin.
MCLAUGHLIN: It's another dead even race that if our voters come out, that voted for Trump in that part of the state, he can win.
LEVIN: New Jersey third, Tom MacArthur, the Republican versus Andy Kim.
MCLAUGHLIN: And Kim is really an extreme, extreme Democrat. He had some radical views, particularly on terrorism and some other things, and MacArthur, they tried to put him on the ropes on healthcare, but he's fighting back, so MacArthur could win if we get the right turnout and the Senate maybe helping us in that part with Bob Hugin because Menendez is definitely facing a big threat because he wasn't convicted, but he certainly ...
LEVIN: He's had ethics complaints filed against him. He's pretty dirty. It's quite serious. And you raise a very interesting point, which is the Democrats are running on healthcare.
MCLAUGHLIN: Right.
LEVIN: Which seems kind of odd, but they are running on healthcare because they're now saying Medicare for all. But seniors in this country need to understand what Medicare for all means to the Democrat is eliminating Medicare, what it means to union member is eliminating their contracts that they've negotiated on healthcare. What it means to other Americans is employer healthcare goes, independent healthcare - it's all eliminated and you create sort of this VA DMV system, top down Bernie Sanders socialist healthcare. That's what they are campaigning on.
MCLAUGHLIN: Yes, if you thought Obamacare was bad, like ...
LEVIN: It's France all over again. New York 22nd, Claudia Tenney versus Anthony Brindisi.
MCLAUGHLIN: That's a tough one right now because in the published polls, the Democrats have been ahead. And he's one of those classic Democrats who is trying to tell you he's moderate when he's not.
LEVIN: Isn't this happening all over the country? I would say the Democrats have nominated the most radical group of candidates in our history. In the Senate races, in the House races and the gubernatorial races, and not all of them, but most of them are trying to pretend that they're moderates.
MCLAUGHLIN: Right, and you had to be for repealing the Trump tax cut, government run healthcare and open borders.
LEVIN: Unbelievable.
MCLAUGHLIN: That's who they are.
LEVIN: Pennsylvania 1, Bucks County, those areas. Brian Fitzpatrick, the Republican incumbent versus Scott Wallace.
MCLAUGHLIN: He's a very good candidate and Wallace is a real extremist, particularly on like the Iran nuclear deal. He supports that. He supports things that are really to the left on foreign policy.
LEVIN: Texas 32, we have Pete Sessions, a longtime Republican incumbent versus Colin Allred. What's going on there?
MCLAUGHLIN: Well, in Pete Sessions' district, you've got a lot more of these suburban voters and the Democrats have made it about trying to take back suburban women from Pete in that district.
LEVIN: How do they hope to take back suburban women, pushing abortion, abortion, abortion?
MCLAUGHLIN: Right, but what they don't want to tell you they're going to raise your taxes. They're going to take away your healthcare.
LEVIN: And they're not going to do a thing about abortion. The Supreme Court has nationalized and federalized this issue of abortion so states can operate within a small box. So what the Democrats are oddly running on, I guess, more availability for abortion although it's quite available, it's a nonissue, isn't it?
MCLAUGHLIN: Right, and Pete's a solid - he's also a smart legislator and he really works the district.
LEVIN: Mia Love in Utah, Republican incumbent versus Ben McAdams, she's in trouble, isn't she?
MCLAUGHLIN: Yes, she is in a close race, and again, it's - even in Utah, it's going to come down to turnout. But we've got to make sure that the Trump voters in that part of the state come back out, plus Senator Romney, Romney in the Senate race should be able to help her and get her through. We'll see.
LEVIN: Here's the thing about this, you've got all these Republican districts with these close races up for grabs within one, two, three points.
MCLAUGHLIN: Yes.
LEVIN: If the Democrats win most of them, they take the House.
MCLAUGHLIN: Oh absolutely. Twenty three seats.
LEVIN: As a result of Republicans failing to vote.
MCLAUGHLIN: Right.
LEVIN: As a result of Republicans failing to show up on Election Day with family members and friends and colleagues to fix this and take care of this.
MCLAUGHLIN: Right.
LEVIN: And then we will have endless subpoenas against the President and his family, the administration. We will have endless investigations not of the top ranks of the FBI, but of those who have been trying to expose what took place in the administration during the course of the last election. You're not going to have border security. You're not going to have a wall. You're not going have the kind of spending you need for our defense that the President and the Republicans have been promoting.
On the Senate side, if there's another vacancy on the Supreme Court or two, we're not going to be able to fill it because the Democrats will simply block it.
MCLAUGHLIN: Right.
LEVIN: So there's an enormous amount at stake. You tell me if I'm right or wrong about this, John McLaughlin? I view this as a race about the American people. Forget about Republicans, Democrats, Trump, not Trump. This is about us, what kind of country we're going to have and all we have to do is show up and vote and bring five people with us.
MCLAUGHLIN: Yes, absolutely, and all of those things you're saying, this is the most important midterm election that we have seen probably in our life times because the Democrats are really starting the 2020 campaign for President right now. They're running against Donald Trump, but to President Trump's credit, he's picking these Republican candidates up and he's putting them on his shoulders trying to bring them across the finish line. So this is really consequential in terms of policy.
LEVIN: We'll be right back.
LEVIN: Governorships - very, very important, particularly coming into the 2020 presidential election. I think the biggest race, at least, for me is in Florida. Ron deSantis, solid conservative, pro-America, veteran, pro- Israel. Andrew Gillum, a Bernie Sanders left-wing, anti-Israel and I would argue, an incredible radical who has a number of corruption issues swirling around him. How do you see that race for governor?
MCLAUGHLIN: You're right about that with the corruption issues. The FBI was leaking out stuff out this week about him taking tickets, paying for events. They have this guy, so the FBI doesn't leak that stuff out unless they know somebody is really bad.
LEVIN: What's going to happen in that race?
MCLAUGHLIN: I think that one deSantis ends up picking up winning, but it depends upon turnout, because ...
LEVIN: Every race you say, I want to underscore that, you're saying, look, this is our race to have if we turn out.
MCLAUGHLIN: Through the end of the week, Florida had four million votes cast already, and the Republicans had a slight lead in party enrollment. But you know what, over the weekend, the Democrats usually have a good in- person turnout. On Monday, the Republicans have to win the turnout just like they did for President Trump.
LEVIN: They've got to get out. Let's move quickly. Kansas, Kris Kobach - a wonderful candidate versus Laura Kelly.
MCLAUGHLIN: He's pulling ahead and definitely, he's pulling ahead on the strength of Donald Trump in that state in Kansas and they're even making immigration an issue in the governor's race in Kansas. Well, you know what, our voters don't like seeing caravans.
LEVIN: Wisconsin - that's the truth. Scott Walker, a great governor versus Tony Evers?
MCLAUGHLIN: I think he ends up pulling that one out because it's dead even in the race. But you know what, he's done a lot for the state of Wisconsin.
LEVIN: Unbelievable.
MCLAUGHLIN: Great record.
LEVIN: Georgia, Brian Kemp versus Stacey Abrams?
MCLAUGHLIN: At the end of the week, Brian Kemp was dead even with her in a poll that the Atlanta Journal Constitution had. I polled there for governor deal in Georgia and when I looked at their polls, I said we were going to win by eight points and we won by eight. I looked at Kemp's polling in that, I think he pulls it out, 50.5, if his vote gets out on Tuesday.
LEVIN: Once again. Nevada, Adam Laxalt, the grandson of the great Paul Laxalt, he is the Attorney General Republican, versus Steve Sisolak.
MCLAUGHLIN: Right, all the polls are dead even just like the US Senate race in that, and guess what? The Democrats are counting on winning the turnout on that one on Tuesday.
LEVIN: All across the country, the Democrats are turning out on Republicans and Trump supporters or counting on not turning out and their base being so furious and the media helping them with all these claims of racism and Trump is Hitler and he's against immigrants. Do you think they're going to be effective or do you think Republicans and Trump supporters are going to see through all of this?
MCLAUGHLIN: I think we're seeing through this. But again, we won't know the results until we actually see the votes on Tuesday. Just like when Trump - forget all the exit polls, forget all the polls coming into it, we had to see the votes.
LEVIN: We'll be right back.
It's the last Sunday before the election and here is the problem. We're talking about all of these Republican districts, a lot of Republican states, if Republicans, conservative, Trump supporters don't unite and turn out en masse, we lose; and the country lurches hard left and the House of Representatives lurches hard left and the Senate lurches hard left because we didn't do our civic duty.
MCLAUGHLIN: Right, right, and that hard left is really what changes our life - it would just undo so many good things that the President has been able to accomplish in the last two years. You would see socialized medicine coming back to the front. They'd want to repeal the tax cuts. They'll definitely stall anything. They'll put back in government regulations and you'll have open borders. They will legitimize basically people just walking into country and staying.
LEVIN: And Maxine Waters has already announced that she intends to persecute as Chairman of the Finance Committee companies that she disagrees with. You'll have Adam Schiff in charge of investigations, you'll have this crazy guy in Manhattan in charge of the judiciary committee, Jerry Nadler. If Republican in Republican districts don't turn out en masse and take care of business, we lurch left and there's chaos.
I want to thank you, John McLaughlin. Thank you.
MCLAUGHLIN: Thank you. Appreciate it.
LEVIN: See you next time on "Life, Liberty & Levin."
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