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The Lead with Jake Tapper

Countdown To Key Races In New York City, Virginia, New Jersey, California; White House To Provide Partial Food Stamp Benefits This Month; FBI Says, Suspects Charged In Plot May Have Tried To Replicate 2015 Paris Terror Attack On U.S. Soil; Ben Shapiro Slams Tucker Carlson For Fuentes Interview. Aired 6-7p ET

Aired November 03, 2025 - 18:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[18:00:00]

JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to The Lead. I'm Jake Tapper.

We're just hours away from the very first polls opening in crucial races across the United States from New York to California. Are voters going to give President Trump a stamp of approval on his actions so far, or might they give Democrats a boost? As we head into the midterm elections in 2026, our teams are spread out covering every major race.

Plus, I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink or maybe not. The White House now says it will provide only half of the normal food stamp benefits for this month after two separate judges ruled they needed to use emergency funds to do so during the government shutdown, but what about that other half?

Also, three-hour security lines at Houston's biggest airport. Travel misery might be an understatement to describe how the shutdown is impacting air travel. More than 3 million passengers have been hit with delays or cancelations with officials warning it will keep getting worse.

And two men were officially charged today for allegedly plotting an ISIS-inspired Halloween attack. What the court documents reveal about alleged gun and ammunition purchases in the days before the arrests.

The Lead tonight, in just 12 hours, the first polls will open on Election Day in America for key races in New Jersey, Virginia, New York City, California, and more, offering voters the very first chance since President Trump took office again to head to the polls to put a lot to the test, not only the popularity of President Trump and his second term agenda, but a Democratic party still grappling for an identity as evidenced by the broad spectrum of candidates.

CNN has reporters standing by from across the campaign trails and right here in at the White House and Washington to bring you all the latest up updates. But let's kick this off with New York City's mayoral election, where President Trump just weighed in once again on the race to lead his former city. We'll have more on that in a moment.

But let's start with CNN's Gloria Pazmino, who just rode the subway with Democratic candidate Zohran Mamdani to a campaign stop in Queens. Gloria?

GLORIA PAZMINO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right Jake. We met up with Zohran Mamdani right in the heart of Midtown Manhattan, got on the double train on our way right here to Queens. This is his home district of Astoria, and he is set to arrive here any minute now to meet up with supporters and canvassers who are going to be spreading out this evening, knocking on doors and trying to get supporters to come out and vote for him tomorrow.

I caught up with Mamdani on the subway asking him how he is reacting to Trump's comments. Specifically, you heard him on 60 Minutes last night saying that Trump, he feels that he's a better looking guy and that if he had no choice, he would vote for Cuomo. He made it official on a Truth Social post just a short while ago.

Here's what Mamdani told me about Trump and about what he thinks the future of the Democratic Party is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ZOHRAN MAMDANI (D), NEW YORK CITY MAYORAL CANDIDATE: But Donald Trump diagnosed a problem that working class Americans were facing across the country in the cost of living crisis. We ran a campaign with a promise of cheaper groceries, where the comparison between us ends, however, is that we are actually intending to deliver on that diagnosis, not just to use it as a means of distract from the agenda that he always intended to deliver on.

I leave those decisions to any one candidate. What I would generally say is I would not be sitting here with you if it were not for the fact that we chose to listen to New Yorkers as opposed to lecture them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAZMINO: Jake, Mamdani told me just a few minutes ago that even though he's got a double-digit lead in this race, he is taking a nothing for granted. Behind me, they are starting to rally here with Queens lawmakers, several supporters. Zohran Mamdani has just arrived to address his supporters and they're talking about Queens, his home county being the most diverse, you know, such a large immigrant population here in Queens that's come out and supported him.

And he talked about that during that subway ride, you know, really making this race about everything that New York City signifies. He said that he is willing to talk to President Trump if it's going to be for the benefit of New Yorkers and that he, like I said, is feeling confident going into tomorrow, but not taking anything for granted and continuing to campaign until the very last minute. Jake?

TAPPER: All right. Gloria Pazmino in New York, thanks so much.

Let's go now to our reporters on the ground in New Jersey where the race for the next governor promises to be one of tomorrow's tightest contests. CNN's Arlette Saenz is following the Republican candidate, Jack Ciattarelli. But let's start with CNN's John Berman, who's at a rally for the Democratic candidate, Congresswoman Mikie Sherrill in Montclair, New Jersey.

John, the race is really coming down to the wire.

[18:05:00]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, this really could be the tightest race that we see tomorrow. I'm here in Montclair, New Jersey, where Mikie Sherrill will arrive in about 90 minutes for her final event of this campaign. This is her hometown. She's been elected to Congress four times from this district, which is at one point a Republican district, which is pretty notable because New Jersey right now is a blue state that's been showing hues of purple. Joe Biden won this state by 16 points in 2020, but by -- Kamala Harris won it by just six points in 2024. And in between there, there was an election for governor where the Democrat, Phil Murphy, won by just three points in 2021. So, Republicans have felt like they could make inroads here.

Mikie Sherrill has been working to drum up Democratic enthusiasm. It's still a state that does have a Democratic registration advantage of more than 800,000 votes. She spent the nine days leading up to today where there's been in-person early voting, traveling to all 21 counties. She had former President Barack Obama out with her on the trail on Saturday. And when you hear from Democrats, they tell you they do see signs of some Democratic enthusiasm. One Democratic insider told me, if Democrats show up to vote, Mikie Sherill is going to win this race.

There has been criticism of the way she has campaigned. Some people have seen it as somewhat lackluster. There's been some notes that she talks about Donald Trump all the time. She does speak about it though in a somewhat nuanced way. She's not talking largely about a defense of democracy, threats to democracy. When she talks about President Trump, she talks about issues of affordability and the economy, that he has not delivered on the promises, and that Jack Ciattarelli, the Republican, has tied himself 100 percent to President Trump.

And when you see the new CNN poll out today, you might see the reason behind that strategy from Mikie Sherrill, Donald Trump at an all time low in his second term now in terms of approval, an all-time low in terms of both terms he served in terms of disapproval right now. The Sherrill campaign is hoping that helps push Democratic voters to the polls tomorrow in this final push. Jake?

TAPPER: All right, Berman, thanks so much.

Arlette, Ciattarelli does have the coveted Trump endorsement, unlike his Republican counterpart running for Governor of Virginia. How heavily could that impact this race for good or for ill?

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jake, Republican Jack Ciattarelli is hoping to build on those gains that President Trump made here in New Jersey last year. This is Ciattarelli's third time running for governor. And in his last campaign against the Democratic incumbent, Governor Phil Murphy, he came within about three points of beating Murphy, which is a surprise to many people here in New Jersey. So, what he is hoping to do is replicate his own gains that he made in that race, but also build on the momentum that President Trump had here in New Jersey.

Now, Ciattarelli has not always been a Trump lover. In the past he had criticized Trump as a charlatan, but in this campaign, he fully embraced the president. And that is something that Democrat Mikie Sherrill has really tried to work to turn into a negative for Ciattarelli. She argues to voters that Ciattarelli will not do enough to stand up to President Donald Trump and that he'll continue the policies coming out of this Republican administration.

But I spoke earlier today with 88-year-old Marilyn Petruccelli, and she said that she is not buying Sherrill's argument. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SAENZ: -- that Ciattarelli is just going to be a yes man to Trump and will just do whatever Trump wants?

MARILYN PETRUCCELLI, NEW JERSEY RESIDENT: I don't believe that. I believe he's going to help us. I really do. Like they said that about Trump, that he was no good, and look what he did. And any Democrat says that to me, I got a couple words for him, which I can't say on the microphone.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAENZ: Now, President Trump will hold a tele-rally for Ciattarelli tonight, but he has not campaigned on the ground here in the Garden State. I asked Ciattarelli earlier today if he's worried President Trump will be a liability for him at all, and he told me not one bit. Jake?

TAPPER: All right. Arlette Saenz and John Berman in the Garden State, New Jersey, thanks so much.

For many, tomorrow's races are going to be a referendum on President Trump. Yes or no? And as a new CNN poll today reveals, Americans' opinion of Trump is, well, not so great. His approval rating is the lowest yet of his second term and his disapproval, 63 percent, is the worst of either Trump term, one point worse than it was when he left office in 2021, right after January 6th.

Let's bring in CNN's Kaitlan Collins at the White House. And, Kaitlan, President Trump just posted about New York's mayoral candidates. What did he have to say?

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Jake. If I had put us in a time machine and told you five years ago that Donald Trump was endorsing Andrew Cuomo over the Republican candidate for mayor in New York City, you might not have believed me but that is exactly what Donald Trump has just done with the president, making it very clear in explicit terms and a post on Truth Social just a few moments ago saying that, yes, that he believes that New Yorkers should go out and vote for Andrew Cuomo in tomorrow's race.

[18:10:08] He says, whether you personally like him or not, you really have no choice. You must vote for him and hope he does a fantastic job. The president says he is capable of it. Mamdani is not.

Obviously, the president saying that on Truth Social is something that the Mamdani campaign, Jake, has been arguing for weeks, that Trump was backing Andrew Cuomo in this race. This is basically a gift to the Mamdani campaign just 24 hours before this race comes to a close, though it is after some 750,000 New Yorkers have already voted, Jake. But this is how the president is looking at this.

And the other thing that stood out to me from his post is not just him saying explicitly that voters should go out and vote for Andrew Cuomo over a Curtis Sliwa in this race, who the president was talking about, his beret that he wears, saying he looks better not wearing it. But the President also saying that if they vote for Curtis Sliwa in this race, that is essentially a vote for Zohran Mamdani.

So, obviously, Jake, seeing that there, and the president is also arguing that he is going to withhold federal funds from New York if Zohran Mamdani wins this race, he said Jake, unless the minimum amount which is required. It's not really clear what the president is referencing there. But he is making clear that should Zoran Momani win this race tomorrow night, it is going to be setting up a battle already with this White House when it comes to federal funding, something that we have seen the president in this second term be eager to use and to hold back.

TAPPER: All right. Kaitlan Collins at the White House, thanks so much. I appreciate it. And as always, do not miss Kaitlan on her show, The Source with Kaitlan Collins. Tonight, she's going to be joined by Democratic Congressman Tom Suozzi of New York to dig into the mayoral race. Suozzi has not endorsed the Democratic candidate, Mamdani. That's tonight at 9:00 P.M. Eastern only here on CNN.

And then, of course, tomorrow, tune in for CNN's coverage of all of these key races, Election Night 2025. It starts tomorrow at 5:00 P.M. Eastern on CNN. You can also stream it live on the CNN app.

Breaking news tonight, a just released bipartisan proposal to extend those Obamacare subsidies that are at the heart of the Democrats' government shutdown fight, one of the Republican members of Congress who's part of that deal joins me straight ahead.

Plus, what investigators revealed today about four of the suspects in the Louvre heist, as those $100 million in jewels remain missing.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:15:00]

TAPPER: In our Politics Lead, the very latest on the government shutdown fight, now on day 34. Today, the White House says it will provide some food stamp benefits this month, but only half of what SNAP recipients normally get. Approximately 42 million Americans are not getting any of their food assistance benefits because of this shutdown.

Here now is Republican Congressman Don Bacon from Nebraska. Thanks for joining us, Congressman. So, Democrats say they voted to shut down the government, and their main argument is that they're doing so because the Obamacare subsidies need to be extended. They're going to expire at the end of the year, and this is their only way to force Republicans to the negotiating table.

You and Democratic Congressman Tom Suozzi of New York just released a bipartisan set of principles that could resolve some of those issues. Tell us more. What do you both agree on?

REP. DON BACON (R-NE): Well, first of all, most Republicans did not want to see the COVID era ACA tax credits that expire on 31 December just fully expire. Some wanted to do a one year extension. People like me wanted to see some reforms. And so it's a little bit of a fallacy. Most Republicans do not want to see premiums go up for everybody. But what Tom Suozzi and I did, and also Jeff Hurd and Josh Gottheimer, the four of us, two Republicans, two Democrats, we wanted to find some basic principles that we can agree on to show that this is not that hard.

First of all, we think we need income caps. Right now, you could earn $800,000 and get these COVID era tax credits put towards your ACA. So, we want to put some caps on it. I believe around $200,000 should be about right and then they should maybe stagger off, but that's negotiable what those precise numbers are. But we think around 200,000 and then taper off those tax credits.

Secondly, these tax credits should go directly to help offset premiums. Right now, a lot of these tax credits are sent to companies and they're not directly attributed to people's premiums. And we want to make sure they're helping out individuals lower their premiums. And then if we could do that, we think we should do a two-year extension, and that's our framework. And if we could get a two-year extension, then maybe we could work on some of the more underlying problems of ACA and why it's so expensive.

But most Republicans don't want to see these tax credits just fall off and just drop totally. And I know that, and this is the Democrats' priority on this shutdown. So, we think this is reachable.

TAPPER: Have you shared this bipartisan agreement on principles with Speaker Johnson? What have you heard from Republican leadership?

BACON: I've done more with the problem solvers and I would say folks that are negotiating. Frankly, I think it'd be better for me to work this through the problem solvers and people who want to negotiate, because in the end, we got to get an agreement within the appropriations committees, right?

Now, I have listened very closely to Speaker Johnson and also Majority Leader Thune. I know what their key concerns are. One of them is there should be caps on income. The other one is that should go directly towards people's premiums. So, you could tell that I've helped structure this agreement, keeping in mind what the concerns were from John Thune and Mike Johnson. So, I've tried to be responsive to what I think their red lines are.

[18:20:01]

And so I've listened to them.

But I wanted to lead with our bipartisan group and hopefully break the logjam in the negotiations, particularly in the Senate.

TAPPER: You talked about in those two years, assuming this were to become law, that extension spending some time to look at why premiums are going up, especially under Obamacare. President Trump was on CBS's 60 Minutes last night. Here's what he said when asked about his plan to replace Obamacare, which promise he made in 2015, and nothing's come of it. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: We can make it much less expensive for people and give them much better healthcare.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But where is that plan?

TRUMP: And I'd be willing to work with the Democrats on it. The problem is they want to give money to prisoners, to drug dealers, to all these millions of people that were allowed to come in with an open border from Biden, and nobody can do that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: So, obviously, as I said, President Trump's been saying for a decade that he wants to replace Obamacare but he's never presented any sort of plan. Is there a Republican plan?

BACON: Well, there's a rudiment plan that we worked on seven years ago and it's this. And I think if we would've stuck to what I'm going to say, I think we could have got some compromise with the Democrats on this. The reason healthcare is so expensive today on the ACA plans is that all of the high risk, folks who are struggling with various health issues, are put into the main pool with everybody else. And what happens is a lot of the healthy people, because their rates went up, got out of it, and they just -- they didn't even get the insurance. So, what that did is anybody that's on ACA, their rates skyrocketed and more and more healthy people were getting off raising the rates even higher.

So, what we have to do is find a way to lower the costs of those that are high risk and directly help with their premiums to lower their premiums down, and that would allow more health -- the healthy people without any risks or any conditions to get back into the ACA plans, and that would lower overall premiums. But we're going to have to realize if you're coming in with a precondition, it's going to probably take government taxpayer support to keep those premiums down. That's just a fact of life.

TAPPER: It sounds like you got some work to do. Perhaps you shouldn't retire after all. Republican Congressman Don Bacon of Nebraska, thanks so much. I always appreciate it.

BACON: Thank you.

TAPPER: Continued fallout within the GOP from Tucker Carlson's interview with Nick Fuentes, an anti-Semitic, Hitler-praising, misogynist, racist influencer. This has caused prominent Jewish lawyer to quit the national task force to combat anti-Semitism. He's going to explain why, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:25:00]

TAPPER: In our Law and Justice Lead now, federal authorities say that the two Michigan men charged for allegedly plotting an ISIS-inspired Halloween attack, said in online messages that their goal was to replicate the 2015 Paris terrorist attacks that killed at least 130 people. These new images released by a federal court in Michigan today show the suspects, Mohmed Ali and Majed Mahmoud, both 20 years old, at a gun store and a gun range. Agents recovered three AR-15-style rifles, more than 1,600 rounds of ammunition, four handguns, tactical vests, and more. The lawyer who represents one of the suspects says there was no plot of any kind.

Let's discuss with CNN Legal and National Security Analyst Carrie Cordero. So, Carrie, the alleged plot was uncovered when an FBI agent infiltrated an online chat room. The criminal complaint even accuses them of scouting possible LGBTQ-plus-friendly attack locations. Now that we're seeing more evidence, more details, what do you make of the strength of the case? I mean, it's early still, but we knew nothing last week when we first heard about it. What do you make of what we know?

CARRIE CORDERO, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Yes. So, I went through the whole criminal complaint and there's a lot here and it looks like the FBI conducted an investigation over a period of time and had a lot of different sources of information. So, first of all, in terms of the timing, it looks to me like they really had no choice but to wrap it up, when they did. They had suspects who were purchasing weapons over a period of a couple months, purchasing large volumes of ammunition --

TAPPER: 1,600 that's a lot.

CORDERO: -- over of a period of a couple months, purchasing tactical gear, going out to shooting ranges, and then coupled with communications that they had and they were obtaining the communications. The FBI was obtaining the communications through a confidential human source through an FBI undercover agent, through other subpoenas and other legal process that they could serve through a variety of communication mechanisms that the group was using. So, they had a lot of information. And once they started to have the weapons, the ammunition, potential timing that they thought was tied to Halloween, I think it makes sense that they disrupted it. TAPPER: Let's turn to another case. The Justice Department said that Trump's personal vendetta against former FBI Director James Comey did not lead to his indictment. In a court filing, the Justice Department urged a judge not to throw out charges against Comey over Trump's social media post, in which he clearly called for Pam Bondi, the attorney general, to go after Comey as well as two others. What do you make of that argument?

CORDERO: Well, vindictive prosecution is a hard case to make on behalf of a --

TAPPER: Very seldom accepted, right?

CORDERO: -- defendant. If there was any case that sort of tees up the issues, this might be the one, obviously extremely high-profile, so many public statements on the part of the president.

[18:30:03]

And then there's the piece of who actually took the case, the fact that the U.S. attorney in the Eastern District of Virginia was forced to resign, resigns on a Friday night, then you've got an acting U.S. attorney who was appointed by the president, not drawn from the office of prosecutors, but instead drawn from the White House.

TAPPER: Yes, she's a loyalist.

CORDERO: So, there's a lot of, information that the defense can bring forward in this case. Again, a hard case to bring, but if they're going to be successful, this seems like a logical case to do.

TAPPER: As long as I hear, I mean, this is just like -- this is me with lots of questions for you about lots of legal matters. I got another one for you. You know, I ran it to you at a high school football game, so you know, I'm interested in this one. The U.S. military has killed at least 64 people in 15 strikes that have destroyed 16 suspected drug boats in an effort to curb the flow of drugs into the United States from South America.

The Trump administration told Congress that the U.S. is now in an armed conflict against drug cartels, and they say that the ability to engage in these lethal strikes without any judicial review is due to a classified Justice Department legal opinion. Do you think there is sufficient legal justification for this, at least as far as we know? And if not, is there anything that can be done to stop the Trump administration?

CORDERO: So, on that last question I don't think so unless Congress were to act in a bipartisan way. And given the current situation, that seems pretty unlikely. Look, in this particular circumstance, as a national security lawyer, I can imagine circumstances and facts that would get, be able to get an administration to the arguments that they're trying to make. But in this case, the administration hasn't made those arguments. And what they have to get to is they have to demonstrate based on their own arguments that there is an armed conflict with these cartels that they are doing the strikes against. They have not articulated that in any public way.

And so, as a matter of constitutional law, while a president and an executive has a very broad amount of authority as commander-in-chief, under international law, the strikes are supposed to be necessary. They're supposed to be proportional. They are supposed to be part of an armed conflict, and the administration has not made that case publicly. And it doesn't sound like, based on reporting, that they've even made that case to members of Congress who sit on the relevant committees who are supposed to receive this information.

TAPPER: Carrie Cordero, thanks so much for your expertise, as always.

A three-hour wait to get through airport security, three hours. That's the harsh reality at one major airport today as the government shutdown causes even more TSA staffing shortages. That story's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:35:00]

TAPPER: We are back with our Politics Lead. Roll the election music, please.

Election Day kicks off tomorrow, though, we're going to be following major races in New York for mayor and New Jersey and Virginia for governor. There's also a bunch of mayor's races and there is one down in Miami that we're watching. It's a 13-way race for mayor that's rife with legal entanglements and personal feuds, and CNN's Randi Kaye is here to explain. Randi, walk us through this.

RANID KAYE, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, this is certainly one to watch, Jake, 13 candidates vying for this part-time job of Miami City mayor. This is a non-partisan race, so the campaign websites don't say what the party affiliation is and the ballot won't, but the voters will recognize some of the names that are on the ballot, namely Xavier Suarez. He's 76. He is actually the father of the current mayor of Miami, Francis Suarez. Also 70-year-old Joe Carollo is running.

And, in fact, Carollo and Suarez are both former mayors of Miami. They faced off against each other back in 1997, and that race had quite a bit of drama in it because Suarez actually won, but a judge said that there was widespread fraud, and he invalidated Suarez's win and handed the mayor's office to Carollo.

Now, Suarez was not accused of any wrongdoing. Carollo, though, has had some trouble on his own. Two years ago as city commissioner, a federal jury found Carollo liable for $63 million. A couple of businessmen, Jake, had come forward and said that he was targeting their bars and restaurants for inspection, sort of a political retribution campaign is what they called it. And that ruling was upheld in an appeals court.

Now, other candidate worth mentioning is Alex Diaz de la Portilla. He was suspended actually in 2023 from the city's commission accused of bribery and money laundering, and those charges were later dropped. It's also something to watch, Eileen Higgins, she's the commissioner for Miami-Dade County. And if she wins Jake, she would be the first woman to be the mayor of the city of Miami.

Now, if any of these candidates win more than 50 percent, they move forward. But if none of these candidates win more than 50 percent, there will be a runoff between the top two on December 9th. And, Jake, just very quickly, the issues in this race, if you watch the debates, which certainly got pretty fiery, it's the dysfunction in the Miami government, also housing issues, infrastructure, so-called frivolous spending, and what, as one candidate put it, city hall has become a joke and a circus. Jake?

TAPPER: All right. Randi Kaye, thanks so much.

Also, in our Politics Lead, 34 days and still Republicans and Democrats are divided on how to come together to pass that government funding bill. And as lawmakers keep fighting, flight delays keep piling up At Houston's airport today, lines snake through the terminal due to a shortage of air traffic controllers across the country. Yesterday alone, nearly 6,000 flights were delayed. Remember, we're just three weeks out from historically the biggest travel week of the year.

My panel joins me now. So, Karen Finney, will this be what gets Democrats to the table?

[18:40:01]

KAREN FINNEY, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I think what gets Democrats to the table is a president willing to have a real conversation and maybe let's put some pen to paper on healthcare costs. And until we get to that, and this whole -- you know, it's been interesting to see, particularly in our poll and a slew of other polls, frankly, that came out over the weekend the dissatisfaction with Trump and the Republicans around the shutdown is holding.

I mean, people are holding Republicans accountable. They're angry about costs. They're angry about the direction of the country. We saw last week in suburb of Illinois where, you know, you saw a man being detained by a Border Patrol agent, hit in the head with his knee on the guy's back. People are saying, this is not what we voted for. This is not the chaos and pain that we thought we were going to get.

TAPPER: So, there was a presentation last week by some Democratic pollsters to House Democrats. And, basically, the argument was, we're winning the argument. Democrats want us to be having this fight. More voters in general think that we should be fighting to lower healthcare costs than think we should be reopening the government. We are scoring points when it comes to partisan alignment into which party is fighting for lower costs more. Is there an incentive structure for this shutdown to end anytime soon?

SHERMICHAEL SINGLETON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I don't think so. And I think from -- I'm not a Democrat, but from the perspective of Democrats, I think they've seen a slew of polling throughout this year that have indicated more Democratic voters and Democratic-leaning independents want to see Democrats in power fight more against Republicans and President Trump specifically. That said, I'm thinking about midterms of next year. We have our base. There's some enthusiasm gaps between Republican voters and Democratic voters. We got to increase those numbers, but I'm worried about independence. And there's enough data that's starting to suggest that independent voters, even those that are sort of in the middle, but leaning towards the right, aren't necessarily satisfied with what they're seeing. I don't want to give a strategic advantage to my Democratic friends, specifically on healthcare.

TAPPER: Right.

SINGLETON: And so I think Republicans should probably consider reassessing our strategy on this point.

FINNEY: But even in our own poll, independents, I mean, that was a huge move that we saw are some of the biggest numbers of voters who are dissatisfied overall with Trump's and the way Trump is handling the economy, not just healthcare, but the economy, the way -- you know, whether it's immigration, I mean, you name it.

And, look, we're seeing this. We have an election day tomorrow. We don't have to cue the music. But, look, we're also -- obviously, it's having an impact on the Virginia Governor's race, again, because you have so many federal employees for whom -- I mean, normally in a governor's race, people are looking for something a little bit different from their governor than the legislator. But in this instance, it is about you got to protect us from what this guy is doing. I mean, and that's actually part of what you're also seeing in New Jersey, where you have a Democratic governor who has been trying, and particularly when the SNAP conversation where you had Democratic governors saying, we're trying to figure out how we can make up the gap while this lawsuit was playing itself out.

SINGLETON: Jake, if I can quickly, I certainly take a lot of Karen's points with a lot of legitimacy. I've seen a lot of the same polling. However, Democrats just had an autopsy report that came out. And I've been reviewing that thing for in presentation that I have coming up in a couple of weeks, and there's some fascinating data. Democrats are viewed as too liberal. Conservatives, Republicans, even Trump isn't viewed as too conservative. Democrats as a whole, there's a net negative that's higher than the net negatives for Republicans.

And so for me as a strategist, I'm still seeing opportunity for the Republican Party, for Republican candidates to turn this ship around that can indeed sustain at a minimum some type of competitive advantage is going into midterms, not to mention Texas and North Carolina with the redistricting.

TAPPER: Yes. So, a new CNN poll asked Americans if Trump's policies have helped or hindered the U.S. economy and 61 percent say that they've worsened. So, one of the things that's interesting about this, the last 30 whatever days, 33 days, whatever, I've lost track. It's the second largest industry, 37, 34, whatever. It's a lot. Democrats have been much more on message than Republicans. The Democratic message is we need to bring down healthcare costs. Republicans are like, ah, they're trying to do this with trans and they're trying to do this illegal immigrants and blah, blah, blah, and I hate them and their commies.

It's just -- I haven't said this in a while. Democrats, I think, are beating you guys on this shutdown, and the polling bears that out. But also just like Democrats are very on brand right now, like they're all saying the same thing about lowering healthcare costs, and it's no wonder that, according to the presentation made last week, there are these advantages being made in terms of which party actually fighting for lower costs.

SINGLETON: Well, look, I think the Republican message has to be clear and not so convoluted.

[18:45:03]

And it has to be Republicans want lower costs for Americans. Republicans want health care for America, with the emphasis --

TAPPER: But that's why Trump was elected. He hasn't done it.

KAREN FINNEY, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: That's right.

SINGLETON: But again, with the emphasis on Americans, you just highlighted the point that a lot of Republicans have talked about illegal immigration and how Republicans have argued we don't want non- Americans getting health care. This becomes a very complicated argument for the average layperson.

I would change that and simply say, look, we want health care for the people who deserve to have health care, and we're willing to work with Democrats where we can on that point.

FINNEY: Well, but then you're saying, so who deserves it if you're -- if you're too poor to be able to afford it? Do you -- do you deserve it or not?

Look, I think there's a couple of things. Number one, Democrats have historically enjoyed an advantage when it comes to health care. So, picking this fight, it was intentional. I mean, they saw that this was going to be a strong argument to make. Both because of the fact that we are now in open enrollment when people are literally seeing. I was looking at my cost over the weekend.

TAPPER: And it's not just Obamacare, it's health insurance for anyone.

FINNEY: For anyone. And we've -- and, you know, listen, people forget it is one of the leading costs. One of the leading reasons people go bankrupt is their healthcare costs.

TAPPER: And you just heard we had Republican Congressman Don Bacon on talking about how Republicans need to work on this. Of course, he's an anomaly. He's in the problem solvers caucus. But still, I'm talking about --

FINNEY: Yeah, yeah.

TAPPER: Everyone, stick around. We'll be right back. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:50:20]

TAPPER: In our politics lead, more GOP-on-GOP backlash following Tucker Carlson's interview with antisemitic influencer Nick Fuentes. The Heritage Foundation's defense of Tucker Carlson led a prominent Jewish lawyer to quit the Heritage Foundation's National Task Force to Combat Antisemitism. That lawyer posted yesterday, quote, "I cannot serve under someone who thinks Nazis are worth debating. Here is my resignation letter."

And here now is the author of that letter, Mark Goldfeder.

Mark, thanks so much for joining us.

So, you are just one of many prominent voices we've heard really, really criticizing the Heritage Foundation as well as Carlson and Fuentes, the president of the Heritage Foundation, Kevin Roberts. He denounced Nick Fuentes' views, but he defended Tucker Carlson for giving him a platform.

In your resignation letter, you wrote, quote, "Free speech protects the right to speak. It does not compel anyone to provide a megaphone for a Nazi," unquote.

So, explain, for some people out there who might not understand, why is this not an issue about free speech?

MARK GOLDFEDER, FORMER MEMBER, NATIONAL TASK FORCE TO COMBAT ANTISEMITISM: Sure. Well, what Roberts did was he conflated a lot of issues. First, he conflated criticism with (INAUDIBLE) deal with antisemitism. Anyone is allowed to say whatever they want about the state of Israel. Sometimes it's antisemitic, sometimes it isn't. You need to call it out when it is.

But to pretend that what Nick Fuentes was saying when he asked for the death penalty for perfidious Jews was somehow criticism of Israel is completely disingenuous. Then, to your point, he conflated cancellation with not giving a platform to announce free speech that anyone can say whatever they want, but free speech also includes right, freedom of association and the freedom not to associate.

So, everybody, self included, and it should be Heritage, is free to walk away from Tucker.

TAPPER: All right. Mark, unfortunately we're having audio problems with you. But we thank you so much for coming on.

Let's bring this conversation back out to the panel if we can.

"The Daily Wire's" Ben Shapiro used more than 40 minutes of his show today to slam Carlson, to slam Fuentes, and to slam Kevin Roberts from the Heritage Foundation. Here's just some of what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) BEN SHAPIRO, HOST, THE BEN SHAPIRO SHOW: If Republicans decide to cower before the likes of neo-Nazis and their propaganda, they deserve to lose and they will lose. Neo-Nazis and their propaganda are not Republicans. They are not America first. They are not MAGA. They sure as hell aren't conservative.

I will not stand by while it is handed over to those who betray the most fundamental principles I have spent my entire life defending and advocating. That is a path to defeat and a path to moral oblivion.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: So, there you have Shapiro, Shermichael, making the argument. Not only is this immoral, but this is going to hurt Republicans in the end. Do you agree?

SINGLETON: I agree 100 percent. I watched that earlier today. I know Ben, I was happy to see a number of conservatives sharing that on social media and even via email chains and text chains.

That said, these ideas that are represented by Fuentes and the ideas that Tucker at least platforms because I don't know what his personal thoughts are, but he's certainly giving these folks a huge megaphone, are not representative of the vast majority of the American people. And so, what you're doing to the party by platforming these ideals, you're making moderate leaning conservatives, you're making independent leaning conservative voters.

I ostracize effectively by saying, I don't have a place in this party. The values that I hold are not belonging to the Republican Party of yesterday. And so, I think if you're looking at this, electorally speaking, you don't want to ostracize people you need by filling they lack a sense of belonging. You want to ostracize the people who should not be in the party.

TAPPER: So, one other thing, though, Karen. And -- Shapiro and others will note that this is a problem on the right, but it is also a problem on the left, and there have been a lot of Jewish New Yorkers who have expressed real issues with the man that is likely to be the next mayor of New York, Zohran Mamdani, and their view that he has mainstreamed anti-Israel and antisemitic ideas such as, globalize the intifada, which a lot of people think is calling for violence against Jews, et cetera.

FINNEY: Yeah.

TAPPER: Do you see this as a bipartisan problem?

FINNEY: Not in the way that you're describing.

I think looking at what's happened in New York, you're right. There are people who have some concerns, and I think Mamdani has tried to do a lot of work since the primary to address those concerns. I think he intends to do more around that if he is elected and make it more about a conversation, about making sure New Yorkers feel safe no matter what your background is or no matter what your religious background is, no matter what your skin color is.

[18:55:09]

But I think we also have -- we can't look away from the fact that many of the same people were perfectly fine when Donald Trump hosted Nick Fuentes at Mar-a-Lago some time ago, and didn't really have a problem with it, didn't really say much about it. Not to mention what we saw in those text messages that were made public not too long ago from some college Republicans, some of whom were actually elected.

So, I do think the Republican Party has to take a hard look at what its platforming and what its not, what it's refusing to --

TAPPER: Denounce.

FINNEY: Denounce.

TAPPER: Karen and Shermichael, thanks so much.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TAPPER: In our sports lead, fans crowded Los Angeles' downtown streets today for the Dodgers championship parade. The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Toronto Blue Jays over the weekend, becoming baseball's first back-to-back champions in 25 years.

Voters head to the polls tomorrow in critical races across the country, and we're going to be covering them all live on CNN. Election night 2025 starts at 5:00 p.m. Eastern tonight.

And right now, I hand it over to Erin Burnett. "ERIN BURNETT OUTFRONT" starts now. I'll see you tomorrow at 5:00.