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One Day Away: Polls Open Tomorrow Across U.S. in Historic Race; Trump Set to Speak at Rally in Battleground Pennsylvania; Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-MI) Discuss About Political Lean in Michigan; Georgia Republican Election Officials Fighting Misinformation; Republicans in Georgia Challenge Hand-Returned Absentee Ballots. Aired 3-3:30p ET

Aired November 04, 2024 - 15:00   ET

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

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[15:00:38]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: It's almost here. Election Day in America arrives in a matter of hours - hours. And we're keeping a close eye on the campaign trail as the candidates are taking their final laps through the battleground states in their race for the White House.

Today, former President Trump is set to rally his supporters in must- win Pennsylvania, which holds the biggest electoral prize of all the swing states.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: And Vice President Kamala Harris, meantime, is also making a major push for the Keystone State. She's spending her entire day on the ground there, marking her 18th trip to the Commonwealth since she launched her campaign in July. All this is happening as brand new CNN polling shows Harris with a narrow lead over her Republican opponent. But it is so close and still within the margin of error, so there is no clear leader right now.

KEILAR: Our correspondents are spending this election eve on the trail following the candidates. So let's go now to Priscilla Alvarez with the Harris campaign in Pittsburgh.

Priscilla, talk to us about the Vice President's strategy on this final day before the election.

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, senior campaign officials have said and even said today that they think they have multiple pathways to 270 electoral votes. But Pennsylvania is always key to that. The most favorable path over the course of this election cycle has been the blue wall, which is Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, which explains why the Vice President is spending her day here today, of course, in the Commonwealth.

Now, over the course of her stop so far, she's tried to project optimism by not naming former President Donald Trump and trying to outline a new vision ahead. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: But over these next 24 hours, let's enjoy this moment to knock on a neighbor's door and in their face, even if we've not met them, know that we have a lot that we care about in common and that we are optimistic about the future of our country, that we love our country and that that's what this fight is about and about the promise of America, and the promise of America being represented by everybody who's here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALVAREZ: Now Pennsylvania has included a converging of strategies that this campaign has tried to employ, be it going after the red rural counties and trying to peel off those GOP votes, appealing to Latino voters and just locking in their coalition in the cities and suburbs. And in talking to campaign officials, they tell me that what they are banking on is their ground game. They've talked about this frequently, especially in Pennsylvania, having those field offices in multiple counties, including the blue ones and the red ones. And they say that their door knocking has been positive and they're hopeful that that helps them get out the vote.

Now the Vice President, we're learning, will be spending tomorrow in Washington, D.C., where she is going to be calling into radio shows and yet another appeal to voters. And that is what this moment is really about. And talking to any campaign official on the Harris campaign, they are solely focused on mobilizing voters. They wanted to capitalize on early voting when that was possible in states. And now they want to make sure that people get out to the polls tomorrow, especially in crucial states like this one, Pennsylvania. Boris, Brianna?

SANCHEZ: Priscilla Alvarez live for us in Pittsburgh. Thank you so much.

Let's now go to Grand Rapids, Michigan, with CNN's Kristen Holmes following the Trump campaign. The former president set to speak there later tonight.

Kristen, give us a sense of how Trump world is feeling behind the scenes with polls set to open in just a matter of hours.

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, of course, it really depends on who you talk to. Now, most of the senior advisers say that they are cautiously optimistic, and that's because of at least two things that they tell me that they're looking at. One is those early voting numbers.

We know that traditionally in the past, Republicans have voted on Election Day, but we have seen a larger number of Republicans doing early voting. Now, of course, there is a caveat with that. Are these people who were going to vote on Election Day or not? If they are, then they're not going to show up on Election Day, meaning they won't - Republicans won't get the same big boost that they normally do on Election Day if people are voting early.

But there is a belief that a lot of these people are not people who are not necessarily going to show up on Election Day and that this early voting is an extra surge. The other thing that they've been looking at is voter registration numbers.

[15:05:03]

They believe that they have seen a surge in Republican voter registration numbers in the last several months, which they believe will translate into Republican votes. The big question here is whether or not their ground game strategy pays off, particularly in areas in which they outsourced.

We know in Pennsylvania, for example, they had Elon Musk's PAC doing a number of door knocking as well as really implementing a lot of that ground game. That could turn out to be an issue for them, given some of the reporting that we've seen around what those door knockers are doing. We also know that they relied heavily in Arizona on Turning Point, Charlie Kirk's organization, to drive out low and mid propensity voters.

They believe that a lot of this election could be decided on the backs of those low and mid propensity voters. And just a reminder, those are voters who either have never voted or don't typically vote in an election. There is a belief among Republicans in particular, but really among the political class, that those low propensity voters, they used to lean Democratic, now they lean Republican. If they were actually going to show up to the polls on November 5th, they would vote for Donald Trump. That's his team's belief.

But the question, of course, is whether or not they actually show up. It's a very risky strategy to bank on people who don't traditionally vote because they might not actually go to the polls. But his team says that they feel like these numbers are indicative of the fact that Donald Trump could still win this election. But there's no one I talked to who doesn't think this is going to be close, who doesn't think this is going to be determined in the margins. They really fundamentally believe that every vote counts. And I have been to a number of rallies in recent weeks, and that is very clear.

Not only is Donald Trump saying it, but every person leading up to Donald Trump in this pre-program is essentially begging people in the audience to get out and cast their ballots, saying that it doesn't matter if you're here. We need you to show up on Tuesday.

KEILAR: And do we know why he chose to end his campaign in Grand Rapids?

HOLMES: Well, you might be surprised to learn that Donald Trump is a very superstitious person and he ended his campaign in 2016 at this very arena in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Obviously, as we know, Donald Trump went on to the White House after that election. I am told that a big reason they chose this venue is because of that superstition. They are trying to do everything they can to replicate the results of 2016. We'll see if it works.

SANCHEZ: Kristen Holmes from Grand Rapids, thank you so much. The so-called blue wall of Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania are expected to play a decisive role in determining the next president. And the last New York Times-Siena College poll shows a dead heat in the Wolverine State once a Democratic stronghold turned into a battleground.

Let's discuss with Congresswoman Debbie Dingell, a Democrat from Michigan.

Congresswoman, thank you so much for being with us.

You've been very gracious with your time this election cycle and you've joined us multiple times. And from the beginning, you were saying that it's not clear yet who would have the advantage in Michigan. A few weeks ago, you said the same thing. We're now one day out before Election Day, I wonder where you think things stand and which candidate you think has the momentum there.

REP. DEBBIE DINGELL (D-MI): So Boris, it's good to be with you and 24 hours left and a little more. I do believe it continues to be very tight. The tightness we're seeing around the country, but I have moved myself to a new phrase that you're now nauseously optimistic. So, it's a great phrase. I didn't know. One of my friends that got a sports team told me that's a term they use.

But I - it - I've been on the ground, you know this, I've already done six campus kickoffs today. As soon as I'm done with you, I'm right back out there. There is movement in from a month ago. There is movement in the union halls as union workers realize that Donald Trump has said that they should be fired for walking a picket line. There's certainly movement on young - amongst young African-American men and the college students are really recognizing what's at stake.

It's still very tight. I'm not going to - we're doing our work. We're not going to stop till those polls close. And I hope young people are in line again till 2 AM tomorrow because they just didn't listen to us and do their early voting, so it's tight.

SANCHEZ: Congresswoman, you mentioned union workers and African- American voters. I'm curious to get your perspective on Arab-American voters, because in several key communities in Hamtramck - I hope I said that right, Congresswoman - the mayor there endorsed Donald Trump. In Dearborn, the mayor declined to endorse a candidate. You also have your colleague, Democratic congresswoman, Rashida Tlaib, declining to endorse.

Do you think if Vice President Harris loses Michigan, will it be because she didn't break from President Biden enough when it comes to Middle East policy?

DINGELL: So I'm going to answer the question this way, the Arab- American community is not monolithic.

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And some of them are going to vote for Donald Trump. But the mayor that endorsed him last Saturday, a friend of mine, is a Republican. So that did not surprise me. Some are not going to vote at the top of the ticket. Some are going to vote for Jill Stein and some are going to vote for Kamala Harris.

And I will think - tell you that I think in some ways, Donald Trump may have made a mistake going to Dearborn on Friday, because he reminded the mayor of Dearborn, who you just talked about, tweeted, Donald Trump will never be my president. He reminded people of what Donald Trump did when he did for president. He still declines to endorse and points to President Biden.

But I have heard other Arab-Americans, it's reminded them of - that his - the first thing he tried to do - got stopped from doing was the Muslim travel ban, the deportations, other threats against the community. Rashida Tlaib was at a UAW rally on Friday night that's been misreported. She told people to vote the Democratic ticket. She has not endorsed because this issue was so personal to her.

But there are a lot of people remembering Donald Trump not only has said things, he has a track record. People are hurting. People are hurting in the Jewish community and the Arab-American community. And it's one of the issues that is an issue in this campaign.

SANCHEZ: I'm also curious about your perspective on the approach from Harris in the closing hours. We heard from her a short time ago, talking to campaign workers at this canvassing kickoff event. She was very optimistic. She didn't use Donald Trump's name. And similarly, over the weekend at her most recent rally, she didn't specify who she was talking about when she was attacking the other side, the other guy, et cetera.

I wonder what you make of the contrast from just a few days ago when she was explicitly laying out her view of the danger she believes that Trump poses to the country. Is that the right approach in the final few hours?

DINGELL: Look, I'm not - she is - I think it's very important now that we begin to focus on how we are going to come together post this election. And I think, you know, people, you know, are going to - there were people that wondered if my raising the fact that Donald Trump doesn't like me was a mistake. And it wasn't, because Donald Trump is somebody who has - he goes after political enemies. He names them by name. I remind people that no one should ever say someone should point eight barrels at somebody's face.

And he's threatened - he talks about the enemy from within. He threatens to use our military forces. You need to remind people, and some of the things he's saying right now, I don't want you to be shot, Boris. I don't want any member of the media to be shot. He's saying some pretty outrageous things this weekend.

But I think I'm feeling cautiously optimistic. I just want everybody to know that their vote wins. We got to come together. We can disagree with each other agreeably. But this has been the toughest, most vitriolic, violent, bitter election I've seen in my lifetime - Not old, but I'm seasoned - and we need for the sake of this country to remember we're the United States of America.

SANCHEZ: Congresswoman Debbie Dingell, I appreciate you sharing your perspective and also the sentiment I would not like to be shot for doing my job. Thank you so much, Congresswoman.

DINGELL: Thank you.

SANCHEZ: Still to come, in battleground Georgia, it's Republican versus Republican as election misinformation spreads. We're going to explain.

KEILAR: Plus, the threat of election violence. The National Guard is on standby in at least three states and officials in the nation's capital are taking extra security measures on the eve of Election Day. And then later, stormy weather could hit key battleground states as voters head to the polls tomorrow. We have that and much more coming up on CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

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[15:18:29]

SANCHEZ: Back in 2020, Georgia was the closest race in the presidential election as Joe Biden just squeaked out a win by fewer than 12,000 votes. Both campaigns are bracing for another close race in the Peach State this year as well.

KEILAR: There was a fake viral video that claimed to show immigrants in Georgia voting with multiple IDs. It's already fueling misinformation and it's exposing a rift in the state's Republican Party, even as officials there have said this is part of a Russian disinformation campaign, likely. This comes as the Republican National Committee and the Georgia Republican Party have filed a lawsuit in federal court challenging hand-returned absentee ballots received this weekend in some of Georgia's biggest counties, despite the fact that there was already a decision on that very matter in Georgia here in recent days.

CNN's Sara Murray is with us now from Fulton County's election hub.

Sara, what is Georgia's most populous county doing to make sure the election's safe and secure?

SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well look, this is a brand new election hub behind me. This is where they're going to be counting the votes tomorrow and we know these vote counting centers have really become magnets for misinformation. So officials earlier were walking us through how the process is going to work and the steps they've taken to make sure that this is a secure process.

I mean, first of all, when you go cast your ballot across the state of Georgia tomorrow at these polling precincts, there are going to be panic buttons in the event anything goes wrong and local officials need them. That's new. There are also going to be police officers at Fulton County at their 177 polling precincts. That is the same in 2020. Again, they're there to address any issues. [15:20:05]

Now, when the polls close, when those tallies of ballots and those ballot images are on the memory sticks that are removed from the voting machines, those memory sticks are going to have a police escort to get here to, again, the elections hub where they are going to be tallied.

And there are going to be these cameras inside. They were showing them to us earlier, that are filming 24/7 on the process of tabulating the votes. There's also going to be a police presence here 24 hours a day for as long as it takes them to get through finishing the count here in Fulton County, guys.

SANCHEZ: Sara, what happens to those ballots that Republicans are challenging?

MURRAY: Right. So it was about 300 ballots that came in over the weekend. There are some more that are being dropped off today that Republicans say have been cast illegally. As you pointed out, a state judge disagreed. Now Republicans have gone to federal court.

What county officials told us today is that they are segregating those ballots, which means they're essentially making sure that they're identifiable while this lawsuit goes on. It doesn't mean they're picking them up and throwing them away or anything. It just means that while they're the subject of litigation, they need to be able to know how to identify these couple hundred of ballots that are being litigated over, guys.

KEILAR: All right. Sara Murray, thank you so much.

Let's talk more about this now with Frank Luntz. He's a pollster and a communication strategist.

All right, Frank, so we're hearing, and I know this is all about sometimes what a campaign is projecting, but the Harris campaign chair, Jen O'Malley Dillon says they believe they have multiple pathways to 270. So is this, in your opinion, the Harris campaign projecting optimism, or do you see multiple paths as well?

FRANK LUNTZ, POLLSTER AND COMMUNICATIONS STRATEGIST: They do have multiple paths, but every path goes through either Pennsylvania or Michigan. There is no way that either candidate can win without at least one of those two states. It's absolutely necessary.

We are watching these accusations on the ground. It's very concerning because it tells me that we're going to have the same disruption that we had in 2020, an election that was clearly decided, there was a winner and a loser, and I'm praying that we don't have the same thing this time, but you can already see it, and I'm watching social media very carefully.

I believe that there's a very effective effort to challenge every one of these accusations, and then I'm glad that we're not talking about the polling because the polling is now done. It's now just about the voting and the counting of the voting and the verification of that count, and so far it doesn't appear like any of these are grounded in any kind of fact.

But we know that there will be attempts at interference, and it's just a real tragedy that here's the greatest country on the face of the earth with the greatest electoral system and the strongest democracy, and it seems to be going through this for the second election in a row.

SANCHEZ: Yeah. I share those sentiments, Frank. I do wonder what you think the most likely path is for Vice President Harris and for former President Trump to get to 270. Where do you see the likelihood of some of those states landing?

LUNTZ: The key for Trump is the Latino vote in Arizona and Nevada, and what he said a week ago about what the comedian said at the Madison Square Garden event, the stupid comments. And the fact that they were allowed to stand may hurt Trump probably not in other Latino communities, but clearly in the Puerto Rican community, and that's a big deal in Pennsylvania.

So he has to look at Arizona and Nevada because of Latinos, and then the South, Georgia and North Carolina, because they're ever so slightly leaning Republican, and then he only has to take one of these industrial Midwestern states. I think Harris, on the other hand, she's ahead pretty clearly in Wisconsin. And for her, she just needs to sweep both Pennsylvania and Michigan, and then it will not matter what happens in those two southern states or those two western states.

So both of them can lose a key state and still make up the difference, but my God, we've never seen it this time (INAUDIBLE) turnout (INAUDIBLE) older union voters, in his perspective, these are the key voter blocs that will determine the election.

KEILAR: Frank, you mentioned that - Puerto Rico - the comedian - and as we see both candidates in Pennsylvania right now, both visiting majority Latino communities, you could - correct me if I'm wrong - could you really see Pennsylvania turning on that comedian referring to Puerto Rico as a floating island of garbage at a Trump rally?

LUNTZ: It's going to be a one percent election. It's going to be literally 50,000 votes between them, maybe a hundred thousand, that's still 1 percent.

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And so whenever you hurt - whenever there's a negative message and Trump had been doing very well up to that point with organized labor, with rank and file union members, he'd been doing well in the Latino community, but that stops your momentum. Similarly, because I want to be balanced here, when Joe Biden made that garbage comment, that is likely to bring out more Trump voters, likely to agitate that Trump base and ensure that every Trump voter actually votes.

The key is the people who want a candidate but stay home, that in the end they don't participate, and right now, up until a few days ago, I would have said that Trump voters are more active, more engaged, more likely to vote. Over the past 96 hours, I've seen in the polling that I've been looking at, a slight shift that benefits Harris among this intensity to actually participate.

SANCHEZ: Frank, I'm curious to get your thoughts on the early vote, because we've had 78 million ballots that have already been cast. Some folks on either side have tried to tell us that they have the advantage because they see this in the data or the other side saying similar things. Which side do you think really has the edge when it comes to early voting right now?

LUNTZ: Both of them. It depends what narrative you want to follow, and both narratives are actually correct. That Harris is driving out female votes, and she's doing particularly well, better than any candidate has done among women in some time. And Trump is successful in bringing out Republicans who did not vote early in 2020, and particularly in those key swing states.

So I can make a case for either side. In the end, it's really going to be the low propensity voters that make the difference. For Harris, that's younger women. For Trump, that's older men who don't normally participate in elections, but I feel that this one really matters.

I know I'm not really giving you - I'm not being definitive, because you can't be definitive. I'm being accurate with you because that's - this is how divided we are.

KEILAR: Frank, thank you so much for that. We do want to head now to former President Trump. He is in Reading, Pennsylvania. Let's listen in.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Tomorrow, we're going to vote, vote, vote. But we're right there. We're right there. And then we're going to do something, a term you've never heard of, make America great again. That's what we're going to do.

So hello to Pennsylvania, a very special place. I went to school here, as you know. I spent a lot of time here. I have a lot of friends here, and I'm thrilled to be back in this beautiful commonwealth with thousands of proud, hardworking American patriots. Great people. Great people.

You built this country. I have to tell you, you built this country. You're going to save this country, too. You're going to save this - because, you know, if we win Pennsylvania - not me - if we win Pennsylvania, we win the whole ball of wax, it's over. It's over.

So I'd like to begin by asking you a very, very easy, simple question, are you better off now than you were four years ago? With your vote tomorrow, I will end inflation. I will stop the invasion of criminals coming into our country and I will bring back the American dream. You're going to have the American dream back.

What a shame what they've done to our country. They have destroyed our country, but we're going to get it back and fast. We're a nation in decline, but that will not be long, believe me. And after four years of economic suffering, we will create the greatest economic boom the world has ever seen. They're all coming back. All those companies that left us with the jobs, they're all coming back.

Think of this, though. We're just one day away. Oh, we've been waiting for this. I've been waiting four years for this and so have you - and so have you. We've all been waiting four years, one day - you got to show up. I don't want any money. I don't want anything. Just show up and bring your vote. And if you have somebody else that got a little lazy, bring that person too. Say, Jim, you got to get off the damn couch. Come on. We got to make America great again, Jim.

We're just one day away from what will be the most important political event in the history of our country. But you have to get out, we have to vote, just show up and vote. I'd love to - really what we should do is swamp them. Just swamp them tomorrow.

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You know, we have a massive lead. I don't even like telling you that, to be honest with you.