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CNN's The Arena with Kasie Hunt
Trump DOJ Sues To Block Alaska Senate Results If GOP Loses; Harris Campaigns In Unexpectedly Competitive Mississippi Senate Race; Cook Political Report Moves Ohio Governor Race From Toss Up To Lean Democrat. Aired 4-5p ET
Aired October 23, 2026 - 16:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: The Republican gubernatorial candidate, Byron Donalds, he is in a tight race there in Florida with David Jolly, the former Republican congressman-turned-Democrat.
"THE ARENA WITH KASIE HUNT" starts right now.
KASIE HUNT, CNN HOST: Hi, everyone. I'm Kasie Hunt. Welcome to THE ARENA. It's great to have you with us on this Friday. We made it to Friday.
As we come on the air, did you see this coming?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Everybody stand by. We have a lot more news coming in to "THE SITUATION ROOM" right now, including some breaking news. The Trump administration is suing Alaska, Alaska over its Senate race.
DANA BASH, CNN ANCHOR: The tale of the two Dan Sullivans has taken another turn.
JOHN ROBERTS, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: He wants the results, the certification of the results frozen because of this Dan Sullivan versus Dan Sullivan issue.
PETER ALEXANDER, MS NOW ANCHOR: The Trump administration is now officially stepping in to preemptively block midterm election results.
SHANNON BREAM, FOX NEWS HOST: They think that this is possibly upending the will of Alaskan voters.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: The Trump Justice Department today taking a significant step and already inserting itself into the midterm election, suing the state of Alaska, trying to block certification of that state's closely watched Senate race. But -- and this is important -- it's only if Republican incumbent Dan Sullivan loses.
Why is that? Well, because there's another Dan Sullivan on the ballot. Take a look on your screen. This is what the ballot looks like, and the DOJ says that's confusing.
The non-senator Dan Sullivan took his case to the state Supreme Court earlier this year, and they said that his name could stay on the ballot. Today's lawsuit comes as more than 20 million Americans have already cast their ballots in these midterm elections, including tens of thousands of votes in Alaska.
And this court filing dropped barely 24 hours after the attorney general, Todd Blanche, actually said that the DOJ had no intention of getting involved in the midterms, specifically around the certification of state election results.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REPORTER: Is there any scenario in which DOJ would weigh in on that certification process or try to block states from certifying?
TODD BLANCHE, U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: I mean, is there any scenario? Yes, of course, there's scenarios that we could all come up with hypothetically, some doomsday scenario, for example.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: So just moments ago in Florida, where the president is campaigning today and planning to cast his own ballot this weekend, he confirmed that he apparently changed his mind.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REPORTER: Have you thought of the Alaska lawsuit?
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, I'm the one that said do it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: I'm the one who said do it.
All right, let's get off the sidelines, head into THE ARENA. My panel is here. CNN contributor and host of "The New York Times'" "The Interview", Lulu Garcia-Navarro; the managing editor of "The Cook Political Report", Carrie Dann; former DNC communications director, Mo Ellithee; and former Republican congressman from Michigan, Peter Meijer.
We soon will hopefully be joined as well by Ben Ginsberg, one of our election law experts.
But -- so start here, Lulu. I mean, this is a quirk. Let's put this ballot up on the screen just to help everybody see and talk through it. This is what their ballot's going to look like.
Now, again, Alaska. has this system where it is essentially ranked choice voting, which is why it looks like this, right? You pick your various choices. And it's not-- the primary system is different than what most people are used to. But you can see there that it does say that Dan S. Sullivan is a registered Republican incumbent. And then you also have Daniel J. Sullivan Jr.
Actually, let me go to you, Carrie Dan, on this, because the thinking is here and I'm interested in how you all assess the race at "Cook Political", right, what actual impact of having two Dan Sullivans could there be on the ballot?
CARRIE DANN, MANAGING EDITOR, COOK POLITICAL REPORT: I mean, this is extremely difficult to game out because of the ranked choice nature of this. You can't predict -- you can poll all you want in Alaska by the way, a notoriously difficult state to poll in, but you can't predict what voter behavior is going to be, right? Republicans are concerned that actually, there's going to be confusion about which Dan Sullivan to rank.
They're also concerned that people are going Republicans especially are going to exhaust their ballots, right? They're only going to pick their top person and they're not going to fill other people down the line.
Democrats only have one Democrat on the ballot, so they're hoping that they can consolidate that support, and they're hoping that Mary Peltola can get to 50 percent without going through the entire rank- choice process.
But what's so difficult about this is you don't know how that is going to game out.
Also keep in mind, Alaska would have been right for all kinds of potential controversy anyway, because it's not the kind of state where, like, you give your ballot to the mailman and it goes straight to the receiving center. It's a place where there are going to be villages with 50 people in them that are trying to mail in their ballots on a prop plane that takes 40 minutes in the air to get to the next place.
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That's why Alaska allows ballots to be counted up to 15 days after the election, as long as they're postmarked. So, they're not even going to be in position to necessarily have all of the ballots until the 18th of November.
HUNT: That is a very good point.
And, Lulu, what does it say that the Trump Justice Department is doing this at? I mean, this has been the situation that is coming at us now for weeks, right? And yet they are suing just days ahead of the actual election.
LULU GARCIA-NAVARRO, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: What actually is so interesting is something that you did not mention right now, and this just shows you how far down the line we have gotten during the Trump administration, which is President Trump said, yeah, I told him to do it, which in any other administration would have been shocking that the sitting president would have told the DOJ to insert themselves in an election before said election had even started. But here we are, where the president says, jump, and Todd Blanche
says, OK, I'm going to jump. And it's unclear what the courts are going to do with this, right, because my understanding, and I'm not a legal expert, but this is pretty novel, what they're trying to imply. And so, this is going to be sorted out in the courts. And I think that this is the first salvo of what you are going to see and what Democrats have been preparing for, which is a very long and legally protracted season.
HUNT: So on that note, let's bring in CNN contributor and Republican election lawyer Ben Ginsberg.
Ben, it's great to see you. This, of course, a novel situation. You and I, of course, first started working together over a decade ago when things were in some ways a little bit more straightforward.
Can you start by addressing -- we just showed the president say that he was the one that said go ahead with this DOJ lawsuit challenging the certification, preemptively challenging the certification of Alaska's election results. What does that mean?
BENJAMIN GINSBERG, REPUBLICAN ELECTION LAWYER: Well, I mean, look, the president has no role under our Constitution in elections. And here he is trying to tell the Justice Department to overrule the votes, the votes of the people of Alaska, who, under Alaska laws and Alaska rules, voted to put both Dan Sullivans on the ballot.
So, it's an extraordinary attempt by the executive branch to go in an area clearly forbidden by the Constitution, and clearly prohibited by all precedents. I mean, politically, it is not a vote of confidence in Dan Sullivan that they go to such extraordinary lengths. And it is a sort of an enduring mystery about why the Justice Department would think this was a well-founded complaint.
HUNT: So, what would you predict or how would you see this moving forward?
GINSBERG: Oh, I don't think it's going to move forward very far, at least not in the courts. I think when it comes, there'll be a motion to dismiss, and that will undoubtedly be successful. There'll be an appeal up to the Ninth Circuit in Alaska. I would be very surprised if all of a sudden, any legal grounds just appear for them to do that.
And then it goes to the Supreme Court, and the Supreme Court has been very consistent in election cases in following the path of the Constitution, which, again, does not let the Justice Department intervene in a case involving ballot access under Alaska rules.
HUNT: Ben, what is your sense of what else we might see play out in this space? Because, of course, you know, we're just days from the midterm elections voting -- polls are going to be closing a week from Tuesday night. And this, of course, potentially, like the first significant effort we've seen in this space. Do you think it'll be the last? What are you preparing for?
GINSBERG: Well, I think it would be foolish to predict that this is the last thing the Trump administration would try. But I mean, look at the record so far. They're 0 for 26 in trying to get state voter rolls. They flopped before the Supreme Court in trying to get the U.S. postal rules changed.
They've got a case in California in Los Angeles County that is similarly ungrounded to this one. And so, this feels like the Justice Department has a very demanding client who is insisting on them doing all sorts of unprecedented things, throwing it against the wall and hoping something sticks.
But of course, where we end up in terms of number of credible cases of litigation will depend more than anything else on the election results and how close the margins are in the House and the Senate and whether there are any close races to contest that would make a difference.
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HUNT: Well, and of course, to that point, Congressman Peter Meijer, I mean, one of them could be Michigan. I mean, the balance of power in the Senate in particular could absolutely depend on a very small handful of votes in a single race, or perhaps a very small handful of votes in a couple of different places. You obviously have had experience with how the Trump administration and how President Trump himself can deal with these kinds of things, and of course, you know what's going on in the ground in Michigan.
How concerned are you about these interventions and the doubt that they sow in our system?
PETER MEIJER (R), FORMER MICHIGAN CONGRESSMAN: I mean, I view the Alaska component of this intervention there as just press the do something button because we don't think we can do anything, but that do something button is going to do nothing. I think the long-term ramifications for the dueling Dan Sullivan's is probably going to be tighter ballot access to avoid something like this happening in the future, recruiting candidates who have more unique last names.
I'm grateful. There's only two other Peter Meijers that I know of in the country, and my apologies to both the architect in Portland, Oregon and the grain trader in the Midwest whose mentions get blown up from time to time.
HUNT: Wait, do they spell it the same way?
MEIJER: They do.
HUNT: OK.
MEIJER: So I apologize to them publicly.
But I think you'll also see Republican campaigns taking a page out of this playbook. They've done that at state-level elections with ghost candidates in Florida, but of course probably the most famous example was the two Joe Russo's in the 1946 Massachusetts congressional race where John F. Kennedy was elected to the Congress after his dad helped get another Joe Russo in the race for -- HUNT: Nothing's new under the sun in politics, is what you're saying.
MEIJER: It's not new under the sun, but this is also the challenge with opening that avenue is if we kind of look at it and say, you know what, that's politics ain't beanbag, go ahead, you're just going to see more and more efforts to have the same tactic applied.
And also, the reason why this worked in Alaska is because of their final four primary system, where even if on this ballot they've changed the rules, so now, it's more clear who the incumbent is. I think combination of that ranked-choice voting causing additional confusion will really pour cold water on efforts to have political reform, especially primary reform, in the future.
HUNT: Mo Elleithee, I want to read this statement that we just got this from the Peltola campaign on this. So, they say the following, quote, "This is a despicable political threat to overturn an election designed by Senator Dan Sullivan's allies to suppress the voices of Alaskans because Sullivan is terrified he'll lose the seat that has allowed him to enrich himself at Alaskans' expense for over a decade."
This, again, the Peltola campaign. "We will fight to ensure every single eligible voter in Alaska can make their voice heard and that no bureaucrat or politician from the lower 48 can interfere with our lawful and secure elections." Mo?
MO ELLEITHEE, FORMER COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR, DNC: Yeah, I mean, if Dan Sullivan, Senator Sullivan loses, it's not going to be because there is another Dan Sullivan on the ballot. It'll be -- I was talking to a Republican friend of mine who's involved in a lot of Senate races and is involved in Alaska to some extent. who said that they're not worried about the other Dan Sullivan. What they're worried about is what they call a Democratic billboard on every street corner in Alaska and across the country in the form of the gas price sign outside of gas stations.
If he loses, it's going to be because of the high cost of living and the corruption out of this administration that's animating the electorate in Alaska as it is around the country. At the end of the day, I take your point, though I might look at it a little bit differently. The ranked choice voting here actually could clarify things for people. In the primary, the other Dan Sullivan only ended up getting, what, like 2.5 percent of the vote? In the general election, if he tracks the same way, his votes get eliminated and reallocated to the person they ranked second.
MEIJER: That's assuming people don't drop off.
ELLEITHEE: Which is why Republicans ought to be out there, and I think some of them are, saying rank Dan Sullivan first and second, right? That's a way to do it, so to make sure that there's that loss of confusion. But at the end of the day, I don't think a message from the White House saying if we lose -- invalidate this election if we lose it because voters are too dumb to know the difference. And that's what they're saying.
HUNT: Yeah.
All right. Ben Ginsberg, thank you very much. It's always great to see you. I'm sure that we'll see you again soon, as you predict. I appreciate your time.
All right, the rest of the panel is going to stand by. Coming up here in THE ARENA, "The Cook Political Report" has just moved even more races and Democrats' favor the eye-popping number of seats that they now say Democrats could flip. And we're going to take you down to the state of Mississippi.
Yes, Mississippi has suddenly entered the midterm chat.
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The Senate candidate, who is now giving Democrats some hope, will join us live in THE ARENA.
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REPORTER: Kamala Harris was in Mississippi last night. Mississippi is a state that nobody really thought would be in play. What does that have to tell you about the midterms?
TRUMP: Well, I won it by 32 points. They've asked me to go. I'm going there, I think, on Monday.
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KAMALA HARRIS, FORMER U.S. VICE PRESIDENT: For a year and a half, some of us have been saying words we don't say at church towards the TV. Maybe throwing a little something at it from time to time.
That season is over.
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We are now in the season of being able to do something about it.
Mississippi matters! Mississippi matters!
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HUNT: Former Vice President Kamala Harris in the Deep South last night hoping to energize Democratic voters in Mississippi.
Bullish Democrats now believe that a Senate pickup in Deep Red Mississippi is not entirely out of the realm of possibility, as their nominee Scott Colom seems to be gaining momentum in the final weeks against incumbent Republican Cindy Hyde-Smith. It has prompted national Democrats to even start spending some money there. Just to give you a sense of how historic a Colom win would be, the
last time the state elected a Democrat to the state was in 1982. That was the year Colom was born. And the last time they elected a Black senator was during Reconstruction. The state also set to get a visit from President Trump on Monday, who earlier today said this.
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TRUMP: I won it by 32 points. They've asked me to go. Cindy Hyde is fantastic. And she's very popular, and she's up in the polls. She's not losing.
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HUNT: All right, joining me now in THE ARENA, Mississippi's Democratic nominee for Senate, Scott Colom.
Sir, thank you very much for being here in THE ARENA today. I really appreciate your time.
I'd actually like to start by showing our audience a little bit of what you've had on the air in Mississippi as you have campaigned against Cindy Hyde-Smith, some of the strategists that I've been talking to in your state have pointed to it to show kind of why the dynamics are where they are.
Let's watch and we'll take a look.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The price of beef continuing to go up.
SEN. CINDY HYDE-SMITH (R-MS): You know, you have so many proteins to choose from.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Pick another protein? Shiiii -- I'd rather pick another senator instead.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Pick another protein? She done lost her damn mind. I'd rather pick another senator.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Pick another protein? What the --
SCOTT COLOM (D), MISSISSIPPI SENATE CANDIDATE: Pick another senator instead.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: So, Democrats have tried to win this seat. In recent cycles, the environment simply has not been what it needed to be to give you a real shot. What's different now?
COLOM: Well, listen, Americans have been betrayed. We were promised America first. Mississippi thought we were going to get America first. And what we've gotten is Mississippi last. We were promised lower grocery prices on day one. The only thing that
happened on day one is we got the greatest increase on sales tax in decades. We were promised no more illness wars. We're back at war with no insight, and everybody's paying more at the gas stations. Farmers and truckers are paying more at diesel as a result of it.
And we're promised concepts of a healthcare plan. Well, the concept is 400,000 Mississippians don't have healthcare because of the big, beautiful betrayal, another 100,000 going to lose health care. And instead of looking out for us, the people in DC, the president and Cindy high prices, that's what I call it because that's all we got from her, they're not looking out for Mississippi, they're looking out for the folks in D.C.
So, we got to go in a new direction.
HUNT: The president, of course, is coming to Mississippi. His strategy has been to remind Republicans who perhaps came out and voted for him but may stay home during midterm elections to get out and vote.
How concerned are you that that's going to be an effective strategy in a state that's as Republican as Mississippi?
COLOM: It's not going to be effective at all because the president and people like Cindy Hyde-Smith, they're not doing -- they're doing too much talking. They're not doing enough listening, right?
They need to listen to the voters of Mississippi because they got questions. The farmers got questions about why the tariffs have destroyed their ability to sell row crops. The farmers got questions about how the war in Iran has got diesel prices through the roof. I've got Republican voters that got questions about why they've been betrayed on the Epstein files and they haven't been released.
So, the president and Cindy high prices, they need to stop talking and do some listening.
HUNT: So, one thing here, of course, is investment from the National Democratic Party has picked up here in recent weeks. But, of course, they have not been there to help you for the months up to now.
This was what Congressman Bennie Thompson, chairman former Chairman Thompson, had to say. He says, quote, "I don't want to seem like people here are not appreciative, but, you know, we've been singing this song for almost a year."
He says this of you, "Scott's a quality candidate. He could have benefited from early recognition from Senate Majority PAC others. The South in general is right for Democrats, but it has to be a sustained investment. That engagement can't come two weeks or less before the general election."
What do you say to national Democrats who are only doing this at the last minute?
COLOM: But what I would say is the people of Mississippi built this movement, right? I did over 60 town halls, unlike our junior senator. I actually listened to voters.
You know, I went to the housing projects. I went to the music festivals, and they were excited because they saw a fighter for them. We were able to build the movement.
And so, in this moment where we're getting attention, I want the people in Mississippi to know that they matter. It's not about me, it's about us and they saw a fighter for them. We were able to build the movement and so in this moment where we're getting attention, I want the people in Mississippi to know that they matter. It's not about me, it's about us.
And I'm glad that the national leaders are catching on that Mississippi matters.
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That we deserve representation that's going to actually fight for us. And you know, it's better late than never. And we're going to win because the people are behind me.
HUNT: So -- you mentioned, of course, national leaders who are coming down there. You had Kamala Harris, the former Democratic nominee, campaigning for you.
There are quite a few Democrats who have been campaigning on the midterm trail who are likely potential candidates in 2028 for president. We saw, for example, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez hit the trail for Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan.
I'm interested. Would you like to see Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez come to Mississippi and campaign for you?
COLOM: Well, for me, I focus on the issues. I don't believe in celebrity in politics. I think we've got too many people trying to be celebrities. And when you try to have too much celebrity in politics, you know what you get? Get a celebrity president.
So, for me, I focus on the issues. When vice president was down here, it was important for her to go to Clarkdale to listen to some people that talked about rural health care and rural hospitals and how these Medicaid cuts are going to cause people not to be able to deliver babies. They're going to have people not being able to go to a hospital when they have a stroke. Because for me, it's the issues that matter.
What's actually impacting the people. So I'm focused on the issues and I'm glad that Vice President Harris was down here to talk about those issues.
HUNT: Would you want AOC to come down and talk about the issues or not?
COLOM: I mean, just -- I'm focused on issues like people, the judges coming down to talk about infrastructure. I mean, I look at -- look at, you know, our junior senator, people don't know this, but she voted against the bipartisan infrastructure bill that brought billions of dollars to the state of Mississippi for roads and bridges.
Now, if I did a press conference outside one of those projects and called her out for voting against the money, but showing at the press conference bragging about the projects, no reporter would come. And the reason I noticed because I tried that and nobody came.
But the Secretary Buttigieg comes and talks about how he helped bring these projects and how our junior that gets the attention to the issue. So, for me, it's not about the people, it's about the issue. And I want the people of Mississippi to know that they built this movement. It's about them. It's not about anybody else.
HUNT: Yeah, I mean, I'm asking the question in part because, of course, the issues that, for example, the Democratic Socialists of America stand for are a set of issues and positions that Republicans are trying to use to remind or tell voters that the Democratic Party is too extreme. Do those candidates being front and center help or hurt you in your race?
COLOM: Well, for me, I'm a common sense Democrat. I've said that from the very beginning of my campaign. I believe in a secure border. I think the president's done a good job of securing the border. I believe in protecting Second Amendment rights.
As a prosecutor, I want to be able to protect my family. I want my wife to be able to protect my two beautiful daughters. And so, for me, all I'm talking about is my values that I learned from Mississippi and my vision for the study of Mississippi. That's what I'm running on. That's what I'm offering to people, because I'm not trying to be just another Democratic senator. I'm trying to be the best Democratic senator that Mississippi's ever had because we're in a moment where we need leadership that's focused on the issues that matter.
HUNT: All right. Scott Colom, very grateful to have you on the show today. Thank you very much for your time. Hope you'll come back.
COLOM: God bless you. Thank you.
HUNT: Thank you.
All right. Ahead here in THE ARENA, the controversial campaign ad that some warned could move the needle in the Buckeye State. It may have done just that. Carrie Dan is here to break some news on the Ohio governor's race.
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REPORTER: Do the sexual abuse allegations --
TRUMP: Let me ask you. My mother said, Steve --
REPORTER: Do the sexual abuse allegations make no difference?
TRUMP: Wait, wait, wait, wait. Slow down. Who are you with? Who are you with?
REPORTER: I'm with NBC, sir.
TRUMP: One of the worst networks you have?
REPORTER: But there are very serious sexual abuse.
TRUMP: Quiet. Steve --
REPORTER: They make no difference to you?
TRUMP: Isn't she a fresh person?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
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REPORTER: Now that you know the backstory about Amy Acton and her stepfather and why she hasn't talked to her mom for so long, her stepfather was indicted for rape. Now that you know all that, sir, do you change your mind about the ad?
TRUMP: No. No.
Her mother went on television and said that the daughter who's running for governor of Ohio is a liar and a bad person. And that's all I know.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: President Trump again today defending that incredibly controversial attack ad that's being run by Ohio's Republican gubernatorial nominee, Vivek Ramaswamy. The president saying that he's not changing his tune about the video despite knowing the backstory, which, as you heard there, was also recounted to him by that reporter.
Just this hour, "The Cook Political Report" has now shifted that race between Ramaswamy and Democrat Amy Acton from toss-up to lean Democrat. "Cook" writes the ad confirmed that the race was slipping away from Ramaswamy and could even potentially create some collateral damage for his fellow Republicans.
The Republican gubernatorial nominee, for his part, remains defiant, calling the ad, quote, "absolutely acceptable". Watch.
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VIVEK RAMASWAMY (R), OHIO GUBERNATORIAL NOMINEE: Her mother has spoken since 2020. I've never met Amy Acton. I've never met or spoken to her mother, but I do think that if a candidate has repeatedly told lies in this campaign as she has, and she is called out for it by a lot of people who are close to her from the state physicians to people who worked for her to now another person who's close for her. I think that in the standard of political advertising that they have
used and that the media regularly accepts. I think it is absolutely acceptable for voters to hear and make a decision for themselves.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: So, Carrie Dann, he, of course, says that this is absolutely acceptable, but you have now moved this race in the direction of the Democrat.
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Explain more as to why.
DANN: Well, and we were contemplating this move before this ad, but this ad sort of confirmed a lot of the things that we had been seeing. We had commissioned a poll in Ohio that showed Amy Acton up by about five points. There's been other public polling, we've seen some private polling, that had seen her starting to gain an edge.
But as my colleague Jessica Taylor, who wrote the story making this move, wrote, this is not the way that a candidate behaves if they think that they're going to win or if they're confident that they can. Just the -- how controversial this was, she said: I've talked to so many Republican consultants today, I can't get anybody to explain to me why this is a good idea at all.
And one of the things about Ramaswamy that I think is worth highlighting as well in his own ads that he has put up, he is very rarely featured in them. He's featured his family, but he is not front and center, and it's after, what, $50 million worth of spending by him and his allies, his unfavorables are still very high. He's still very polarizing.
And I think, again, this is not the kind of extremely controversial move that you make if you think you're winning. Now, the other thing I really like to be a fly on the wall is in the Jon Husted campaign offices when this happened, because there could be some collateral damage for him, another Republican who is in a very tight race in Ohio, who's now going to have to take a lot of questions about this. He's distanced himself from the ad, but after he did that, the president and vice president came out and doubled down on it.
HUNT: So, appreciate all of that. And, you know, one thing, for those of you watching at home, when political reporters, anchors, people around a table like this say his unfavorables are very high, what that really means is not very many people like him, OK? It's that -- and that's the thing about Vivek Ramaswamy, Lulu, that if you know, he ran for president, right? He was out there.
I mean, all you have to do is look at that tweet from Nikki Haley, basically saying, like, hey, guys, I told you he was a bad guy, to explain some of what's going on here.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: Not only do people not like him. And yes, he is allied with the MAGA wing. But the MAGA wing also have some problems with him because of his support for certain visa exemptions for immigrants coming from South Asia, et cetera, et cetera. So, he is a person who is --
HUNT: Right, because he's a tech investor.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: He's a tech investor. He likes H-1B visas, which are specialist visas, which allow people with high skills to immigrate to the United States.
And so, you know, he has been this controversial character. And also, some people see him as a bit of a carpetbagger going to Ohio to look at the seat. I mean, let's recall how this all happened. He was going to be helping in the new White House. He was going to be part of DOGE. Elon Musk didn't like him.
HUNT: Someone else didn't like him.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: Yeah, somebody else didn't like him. And so, he was sort of quietly shunted off to Ohio to run for this. And so all to say that This is obviously an act of desperation. Things aren't going well for him. People don't like him.
And this is another race in which we're going to get a very important answer in this country, which is how partisan are people? Are people willing to vote against their party if they think the candidate is not of sufficient quality, same problem with Paxton. I think this election will answer those questions.
HUNT: Well, part of why this ad from Ramaswamy and the storm that it has generated could matter is that it really has made Amy Acton a national figure, at least in this moment, in a way that she wasn't previously. She, of course, is the Democratic opponent for Ramaswamy. And you can see evidence of how that is rippling out across the midterm landscape in moments like this one.
So, Ashley Hinson is the Republican nominee for Senate in Iowa. It is one of the closest Senate races on the map. It's arguably the one that's going to give us the most sense of whether this national environment is so bad that a relatively generic race between a Democrat and a Republican is going to swing in favor of the Democrats.
Let's watch how she answered. She's doing an interview for "This Week" on ABC, and they put out an early clip of her interview and asked her about this. Here's her answer.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. ASHLEY HINSON (R-OH): Terrible. I think about it as a mom and you think about your kids surviving childhood sexual abuse and having to relive that trauma on TV again. I think it's absolutely terrible and I think they should take the ad down.
Iowans want and probably Ohioans want someone who's going to be an empathetic leader and I think it sends absolutely the wrong message. And I would bet that Amy Acton and I probably don't agree on anything either but like the last thing I would want as someone who's running against me is to force them to relive the childhood traumas.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: I mean, Congressman, says a lot.
MEIJER: I mean, putting your other folks who are on the ballot, whether in the state or across the country, in that type of a position is something that you have to consider when you're running a high- profile race. I mean, the fundamental mistake that the campaign made on -- well, I mean, before even the conception of that ad, you know, was a mistake.
[16:40:00]
But not immediately saying, hey, you know what? Yes, we drafted this. We realized that this was an error. We never should have -- whatever.
They didn't. They doubled down. That was on Tuesday. The video leaked Monday. It is Friday and we are still talking about it. That is proof positive that this is not what you want your closing message to be and this is not what you want to have candidates across the country having to respond to.
HUNT: One of the -- Mo, Jonathan Martin wrote, and to the point the congressman is making about how they're doubling down, I mean, this is a Trumpian strategy, right? Like J-Mart said this, Here's the question, can anyone besides Trump pull off this sort of lowdown stunt? The body of evidence may be limited, but it's fairly conclusive. Trump is singular, and his imitators have scant appeal with voters.
There's only one Trump, and if you don't have Friars Club level talent, well, you're Ramaswamy or Kari Lake. The list goes on, and they are all winless.
ELLEITHEE: Yeah, and frankly, I'm not sure how much it's working for Donald Trump right now, given his approval ratings and his unfavorable ratings and how his party seems to be positioned to do in this midterm.
I mean, to highlight a woman who covered for her own daughter's serial rapist, put her on air, and then spend days essentially defending it and touting it and saying this is absolutely the right message, just shows how tone-deaf at least Vivek Ramaswamy, J.D. Vance, and Donald Trump are, because they seem to be the only three who are defending it at this point.
HUNT: All right. Ahead here in THE ARENA, he's up for reelection in New Jersey, but he spends the day down south rallying Democratic voters. Senator Cory Booker joins us live in THE ARENA.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:46:05]
HUNT: All right, welcome back. More now on that lawsuit that the Justice Department has filed seeking
to block the Alaska Senate results if the Republican incumbent loses. Just this hour, the campaign for the Democratic candidate Mary Peltola issued a statement calling the effort a, quote, "despicable political threat designed by Senator Dan Sullivan's allies to suppress the voices of Alaskans, because Sullivan is terrified he'll lose the seat."
DOJ, arguing in the suit that a different candidate named Daniel J. Sullivan could confuse voters and that a court should potentially delay the certification of the election.
Joining me now in THE ARENA, Democratic senator from New Jersey, Cory Booker. He sits on the Senate Foreign Relations and Judiciary Committees.
Senator, thank you so much for being here. It's always great to see you. Let me start you there with this lawsuit. I know that Democrats Senate Democrats have been preparing behind the scenes for challenges like this. Were you prepared for this one?
SEN. CORY BOOKER (D-NJ): No, I wasn't. But it doesn't surprise me. It's almost like they're declaring that they're going to lose even before the election. But let's be clear. The Alaska Supreme Court has already ruled on this. These elections are the province of the states, not the federal government. And they now want to try to do some kind of legal maneuvering to upend what Alaskan courts have already decided.
And by the way, I've seen the ballot. These two folks are clearly labeled as the nominees of their parties. And it's not something that, when I saw the ballot, that is really up for confusion or discrepancy. And I think they're also insulting Alaskan voters to not be able to know who the Republican nominee is.
HUNT: One reality here is that control of the Senate could come down to a very small handful of votes in any single state, potentially. How concerned are you about potential efforts from the Trump administration, especially under conditions like that, to sow doubt among Americans about the outcome?
BOOKER: I mean, he's been sowing doubt about the election already. He's been attacking these elections before they've even happened. And remember, we have a certifiably proven election sheet in office. Remember, he was indicted for election interference in South, excuse me, in Georgia, where he made that famous phone call that we all heard, find me 11,000 plus votes so that I can cheat and win this election.
So, we know we have a commander in cheating in Donald Trump. What we have to do as voters is say that we are going to make this turnout so big he can't rig the election. And that's why I'm traveling all over the state of New Jersey as well as the country. I'm in South Carolina right now fighting for an election that is neck and neck with record turnouts here in South Carolina and supporting Dr. Annie Andrews. And I hope people go to DrAnnieAndrews.com and support her because
Donald Trump is finally starting to spend money in red states because he's seeing what's happening is that Americans don't see this election as left or right. They see this election as right or wrong. And what this president's doing has been wrong for too long.
HUNT: Senator, if in fact Democrats do take back the Senate, you, of course, will be looking toward the 2028 presidential election. In your view, what should Senate Democrats, if they're in control of the chamber, do to help potentially take back the White House in 2028?
BOOKER: Well, gosh, the first thing that Senate Democrats should do is focus on the people. In all seriousness, I -- Americans, as I crisscross this country, are in crisis right now, healthcare crisis. The cost of everything is going up. We are seeing this nation really struggle as small businesses. I've been talking to farmers who are in one of the worst farm crises.
We've lost 150,000 family farms since the last farm bill just a few years ago.
[16:50:03]
So, I'm telling you right now, Democrats, the first priority if we get back to the House and Senate has got to be lowering costs, helping people --
HUNT: How can you do that with Trump in the White House election? He's threatened to veto basically everything.
BOOKER: Well, I -- yeah, he has. And the reality is, is we just jammed him with a bipartisan housing bill. It didn't solve all our housing problems, but it did some really good things to get rid of bureaucracy, streamline construction, get private equity the housing market and we jammed it.
We put it on his desk and he threw a temper tantrum. He refused to sign it, but it became law. It lapsed into law. So, I want to do that.
I want to put bill after bill, common sense, bipartisan solutions to people's problems on his desk and force him into -- being that jam again. He's passed one big piece of legislation that took healthcare away from millions of Americans in order to give tax breaks to the wealthiest. Let's send him bills that actually solve people's problems.
I think that's the way the Democratic Party can earn some trust back from the Americans who don't have great trust in our party. They have great trust in people around this country that are running for office, from Talarico to here with Annie Andrews. But the party itself has to not be feckless and start to do big things and let Donald Trump be clearly seen for who he is, a fraud who's not willing to get on board with real bipartisan solutions to people's problems.
HUNT: You used the word feckless, and of course, there is this question about how Democrats would try to hold the president accountable. Of course, impeachment is something that especially voters on the left have talked about. Do you think that the House should move forward to try to impeach the president if, in fact, Democrats take back control?
BOOKER: Well, I think the House is going to make their own decisions. If they find serious criminal activity, they're going to have to really figure out how to deal with that. But let me just be plain with you. This Republican Party has failed to hold this man accountable.
In the Senate, you need a very big majority to convict the president, even if it's clearly like we saw where we got seven Republicans to come with us to convict him for inciting a riot on the Capitol, the beating of police officers and more. We got seven Republicans to go with us, most of them now that Donald Trump has gotten rid of by not supporting them, and we failed to impeach him.
So, I want people on the other side of the Capitol to think really hard about taking up valuable time where we could be passing bills that could be solving problems.
Do we need accountability and oversight and checks and balances and exposing a lot of the crime and corruption that is clearly happening in this administration? Yes. But my focus, my drive is to get big things done that relieve the pain that the American people are speaking about. They are voting at record numbers because they want the pain to stop, they want the cost to go down, they want affordable gasoline, they want affordable health care.
That has got to be the main thrust of what we do. And yeah, corruption, Donald Trump's corruption is causing some of these costs, and we need to hold them accountable for that, but we need to work to deliver real results for people.
HUNT: Republicans are, of course, in ads and messaging across the board, trying to convince voters that the Democratic Party is too extreme, that they're beholden to the Democratic Socialists of America. When you look ahead to the 2028 nominating contest, do you think someone who identified as a Democratic Socialist could win a general national election for president?
BOOKER: Look, as a guy who's thinking about running after this election, my wife and I are going to come together, I can tell you what I believe.
HUNT: Yeah.
BOOKER: I believe that we need a renewal in America. We need an American reset, and we need to bring people together. We need people who can heal in this country, the divides. We need people who can remind us that what we have in common is so much stronger than what divides us.
And I believe we are about to have a great American reset in our politics, because our politics as they stand right now are not serving this country. And the tribalism in this country that is being fueled by social media platforms that want to keep your eyes on the screen, and they think outrage is the best way to do that, I think we're about to have an American reset that's going to renew the American spirit, and that Americans are going to call for leaders that are healers and uniters, not people that double down on divides.
HUNT: How do you think the Democratic Party can or should convince voters, especially low-income white voters, that they're not the party of the elites?
Look, I'm coming through Mississippi, Alabama, South Carolina right now, and we have candidates that are doing extraordinary things, from Scott Colon to Annie Andrews, as I mentioned, speaking right to voters of all backgrounds, enough of, again, highlighting our divides.
Black rural families and black/white families want the same thing affordable diesel gas, affordable health care, great public schools.
[16:55:05]
God, we need to start talking to people about the things that they're most concerned about. And those are uniting things. God, people in New Jersey and people in Nevada want affordable childcare.
HUNT: Yeah.
BOOKER: People in South Carolina and people in California want to have prenatal care so that we don't leave the developed world in postpartum deaths. We have real things that unify us and that's what we need to be talking about.
HUNT: All right. Senator Cory Booker, very grateful to have you on the show today. Thank you so much for being here.
BOOKER: Thanks for having me.
HUNT: Come back soon.
All right, we'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HUNT: All right, thanks to my panel. Thanks to you at home for watching.
Don't go anywhere. "THE LEAD WITH JAKE TAPPER" starts right now.
Hi, Jake.
