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Mamdani, Cuomo And Sliwa Face Off In New York City's Mayor's Race; Former Vice President Dick Cheney Dies At 84; Trump Administration To Provide Only Half Of Usual SNAP Benefits This Month. Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired November 04, 2025 - 07:30   ET

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

[07:30:00]

JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: This has been one of the busiest polling sites we've seen in the city. Talk about record numbers -- 16,000 -- more than 16,500 people voted here early. When you talk about early voting here in the city of New York, more than four times as many people voted early this year as they did in the last presidential election.

Of course, the mayor's race is on the tops of so many minds here in the city -- the race between Zohran Mamdani and Andrew Cuomo.

We've been talking to a lot of voters about who they're voting for and why. I want to introduce you to Mr. Duane Jackson, a New York City resident. Tell me why you decided to vote for Andrew Cuomo.

DUANE JACKSON (PH), NEW YORK CITY RESIDENT: I decided to vote for Andrew Cuomo because he has a lot of experience. He's been the governor of New York and he -- and I feel like we don't want our city to go in a direction that's not -- you know -- you know, it's important for businesses as well as our regular everyday New Yorkers.

CARROLL: Obviously, Mr. Cuomo is not the frontrunner, according to just about every poll that's out there. When you look at Zohran Mamdani, he's the frontrunner.

What do you think of him as a candidate? None of the things that he was talking about appealed to you? Affordable housing, making health care for children more affordable, free buses. None of that appealed to you and what you were looking for in a mayor?

JACKSON: Well, I don think nothing is free, you know. With a -- with a background in finance and economics and business, I know that it's important that you have to pay for things. Even if you're paying for it at a discounted rate you need to be able to pay for it. I don't think nothing is given free.

I think it's important that we all should be able to work. I think job creation is the key to all of it. We must create jobs. We must put our people back to work. New Yorkers need to work. And that's what I think Governor Cuomo would do for us. He'll help us to get our jobs back and help keep our businesses here in the city of New York.

CARROLL: And then Mr. Jackson, one final question. What happens if Mr. Mamdani ends up being the city's next mayor? What are your thoughts about what his relationship might be like with President Trump?

JACKSON: Um, I don't know if it's going to be that great because I think President Trump definitely wants to make sure that New York is in good hands. He's a New Yorker himself and I feel like he wants to make sure that New York is in great hands.

So it's important that -- age is important. I feel like we can't run things if we are not at a good age. I think 40 is best -- is pretty much the best age to run if you're running for mayor of this great city. If you're younger than 40 I don't think you can really do what we need. Age brings about wisdom.

CARROLL: Mr. Jackson, I want to thank you very much for your thoughts. Good luck out there.

I want to bring you right back in here. We've got -- we've got one more voter here as well. Very quickly, sir?

FRED UMANE, PRESIDENT, NEW YORK CITY BOARD OF ELECTIONS: My name is Fred Umane and I'm president of the New York City Board of Elections.

CARROLL: Um-hum -- oh, yes. Tell me about the turnout that we've seen so far. A lot of early voting coming out. A lot of interest in this race.

UMANE: A lot of early voting. There's a lot of voters voting early today as well, and we're expecting a significant turnout today in addition to the significant record-breaking early voting that we've had in New York City.

CARROLL: Obviously a lot of that is due to, you know, the mayor's race. So much interest. You can't get into a cab without the cabbie telling you who he's going to vote for. You can't go to a supermarket without someone there telling you who they're going to vote for.

UMANE: Yes, that's true. And it's interesting because it ties into one of the proposals on today's ballot. The issue is trying to move the local elections to the even years with the presidential elections because there's concern that there won't be enough people voting for the local elections.

CARROLL: No.

UMANE: But this election --

CARROLL: Not this time.

UMANE: -- certainly sort of shoots that theory down.

CARROLL: All right. Thank you very much, and thank you for allowing us inside --

UMANE: Sure.

CARROLL: -- this --

UMANE: You need to just coordinate with the --

CARROLL: We will absolutely do that, sir. Thank you very much.

We'll take you back inside very, very quickly again so you can see some of the folks that are starting to line up here, John. And it's going to be a very, very busy day today. Polls here in New York City close at 9:00. We'll be here all day giving you the very latest from voters here on the ground -- John.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: I love it right here -- a real-life illustration of the difference between forgiveness and permission. Journalism at play here. Jason Carroll, great to see you. Great work as always. Thanks so much -- Kate.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: It's all -- it's all on the up and up. Don't worry, everybody. Everything is in the --

BERMAN: Yeah.

BOLDUAN: -- right designated area. But also, J.B., we should shout out to Sara Boxer, our amazing producer, just coordinating it and also doing squats the whole time, so --

BERMAN: It was a fantastic cameo right there.

And again, the rules are you can't talk to people inside the polling place. Jason obviously wasn't. He was out the door. It was all fully coordinated and it was awesome -- Kate.

[07:35:05]

BOLDUAN: Yeah, but make sure you just coordinate with the people inside, J.B.

We are continuing to follow, of course, this, but we are also following the breaking news that happened. We learned early this morning former Vice President Dick Cheney has passed away at the age of 84. Reaction just beginning to come in across Washington and far beyond.

And board -- and a board meeting chaos. Anti-ICE protesters who have been demonstrating outside the suburban Chicago detention facility for, well, weeks and weeks and weeks -- they're taking their message directly to the mayor now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Shame on you, mayor. Don't lie to us again when they're threatening to shoot us with pepper bullets.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL)

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: The breaking news this morning. Dick Cheney, one of the most powerful vice presidents in U.S. history and the chief architect behind the war on terror, has died. Cheney suffered complications of pneumonia and cardiac and vascular disease, according to his family. He was 84 years old.

CNN's Alayna Treene is live at the White House. Alayna, Cheney was a polarizing figure during his term, but he became polarizing once again before his death when he became a really big outspoken critic of Donald Trump after the January 6 Capitol attack.

Has there been any reaction from the White House after his passing this morning?

[07:40:00]

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Not yet, Sara. I've reached out to the White House asking if they have a statement and, of course, I've been keeping a close eye on the president's Truth Social page where he normally will release statements and post about these types of things. I've also been keeping an eye on the flags here at the White House. The question, of course, will be whether they lower the flags here to half-mast with Cheney's passing.

But you're right. The two men had a very complicated relationship -- one that went very sour, particularly when the president ran for office his second time.

Now, the former Vice President Dick Cheney -- one of the most, if not the most, powerful vice presidents in modern history -- is someone who had long been, you know, a key conservative and he remained a conservative in his later years. However, a lot of people, as you mentioned, were surprised and it was almost ironic when -- for the presidential race in 2024, he broke with the party and cast his vote for a fellow vice president, Kamala Harris.

And it came, of course, as there's been a lot of animosity between President Donald Trump but also, at the time, with Dick Cheney's daughter, the former Congresswoman Liz Cheney, for her role in the House Committee on January 6. Of course, she was someone who had voted to impeach the former vice president (sic) back during his first term.

And so not great history between these two men. And so we're waiting to see what the reaction would be from the president.

And just to go back to some of what that statement from the family that we received -- I think it's important to note, you know, you mentioned that they had -- that he had died of complications of pneumonia and cardiac and vascular disease. They also said that his wife and children -- Liz, the former Congresswoman as I mentioned, and Mary, and other family members were with him as he passed.

And it's interesting to watch, I think widespread, the reaction today to this as well because Cheney is someone who was long -- you know, kind of a key defender of Reagan ideals -- more traditional conservatism. That is kind of a party that has been somewhat left behind in the current Trump administration -- one now more populist, more nationalist. And so again, it'll be very interesting to see what the reaction is here this morning.

SIDNER: Yeah. I mean -- and noted that Donald Trump had the flags lowered for Charlie Kirk. It would be quite a thing if he did not do it for a former vice president.

Alayna Treene, thank you so much for your reporting there -- John.

BERMAN: All right, with us now is CNN political commentator Shermichael Singleton, Kate Bedingfield, and also Charlie Dent, former U.S. congressman from Pennsylvania.

I want to ask you quickly each about Dick Cheney and then I want to move on to the election today.

Congressman Dent, first to you. You did overlap. You were in Congress when Dick Cheney was vice president. What was he like when you were a Republican serving?

CHARLIE DENT, (R) FORMER U.S. REPRESENTATIVE FOR PENNSYLVANIA, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, ASPEN INSTITUTE CONGRESSIONAL PROGRAM: Well, Dick Cheney was a very serious man, very impactful. He struck me as the chief operating officer of the United States. He had the confidence of President Bush, and he really transformed the vice presidency.

When I first ran for Congress in 2004, he did a fundraiser for me up in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania and I got to know him a little bit on the more human side. And I teased him because I said my dear friend who is a cardiothoracic surgeon wants to be at this fundraiser, but the Secret Service told him he could not be here in the event something happened to you. He's at the hospital. And so he got a great laugh out of that and said I can't believe those guys did this -- you know, the Secret Service.

But he was actually quite a warm guy in many ways. And I just also want to say, you know, he -- you know, he was -- he was a workhorse. I mean, this is a guy -- he didn't -- when he was vice president, he did not have a political ambition to be president, and I think that kind of freed him to do the job. He liked doing the work. He wasn't a show horse; he was the workhorse. He had the confidence of the president.

And like I said, you know, this is man who was the chief of staff to a president, he was a congressman, he was secretary of defense, he was at Haliburton, and then, of course, vice president. Enormously impactful --

BERMAN: Yeah.

DENT: -- and he was an institutionalist, too. And he really believed in this country, and he was a great patriot.

BERMAN: But talk about a lightning rod, really and truly -- and this where Kate and Shermichael I think will have such interesting perspectives. Because I think you can say, Kate, that both the Obama eras and the Trump eras are a direct result of largely, former Vice President Dick Cheney and the role that he played.

KATE BEDINGFIELD, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR, FORMER BIDEN WHITE HOUSE COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: Yeah. Well, he was essentially historically a powerful vice president. He was for, as we were just talking before we came on air, for a generation of Democrats. Two thousand four was the first campaign that I worked on, you know, right out of school. And he was kind of a -- he was the boogeyman. He was a motivating force.

And so, I think part of what was very powerful about -- or what has been very powerful about his willingness to speak out against Trump is that for a whole generation of young Democrats he sort of represented the idea that, you know, Republicans --

[07:45:06]

BERMAN: Yeah.

BEDINGFIELD: -- were -- you know, where the big bad.

And so his voice I think carried a tremendous amount of impact for a lot of young people who felt like wow, if Dick Cheney is willing to say that what Donald Trump is doing, you know, cuts against the foundation of this country, then that's -- then we're really in dangerous territory here.

BERMAN: And Shermichael, to you. A little bit of a younger Republican, you know, in a lot of the roles that you have played were well after the Bush administration. And the Trump administration --

SHERMICHAEL SINGLETON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST (via Webex by Cisco): Oh, yeah.

BERMAN: -- and Donald Trump very much a reaction, you know, the Republican Party. It was a change -- a deliberate change -- Trumpism from Bush-Cheneyism.

SINGLETON: Oh, 100 percent, John. I mean, there are a lot of disenchanted voters, in part, coming out of that era because of economic insecurity. Then you fast-forward through the Obama era of trying to, I guess one could argue, be a course correction if you will in terms of a return of what I would refer to as an economic autonomy, and that is people's ability to earn a consistent wage. And a lot of people didn't see that.

And so I think if you sort of look at the culmination from Bush to Obama, that literally gave breath I would say not only to Trump and Trumpism but also to populism.

But all of that aside, no one can take away the level of care and the focus and attention that Dick Cheney gave to public service, and it is something that I always say you really don't see often today.

BERMAN: No.

SINGLETON: Sometimes people get into politics for all the wrong reasons. And this was a guy who, regardless of your views about him, I believe entered politics purely because of his love of country, and that is something that is admirable.

BERMAN: I mean, he was White House chief of staff, House minority whip, secretary of defense. I mean, think about everything he did even before he was vice president. What a full biography that is.

All right. It is Election Day, and I want to go to each of you and ask what you'll be looking for -- and I know you're all going to be working all day and all night helping us see the returns come in. I'm headed out to New Jersey.

But Kate, first to you. When will you know if this is a day that you'll be happy? But I was a Mikie Sherrill rally last night and one of the things that speaker after speaker were saying -- we don't want to wake up like we did in November of 2024 and feel bad about the results again. But when will you know if this is going your way?

BEDINGFIELD: Well, let's see where some of these key counties are. Let's see where some of the suburban vote, in particular, in both New Jersey and Virginia comes in. Those are the kind of swing -- tend to be the swing voters in those states who are incredibly frustrated and disenchanted with Trump's economic agenda. We see time and again in the polling people are frustrated about prices. They're frustrated about inflation. They don't feel like Trump is addressing the cost of living the way he said he would.

So those suburban counties, those suburban districts in both states -- let's see where vote is coming in. Let's see what the enthusiasm level looks like, and we'll have a sense of where these are going. Because I think all of these races are really going to be a referendum on how people are feeling about the economy and how people are feeling about the Trump economy.

BERMAN: I had one Democratic strategist not directly involved with the Sherrill campaign tell me last night that he believes that suburban women are the angriest voters --

BEDINGFIELD: And I think we see a lot of evidence of that.

BERMAN: -- right now, and that maybe they'll be decisive. We'll watch that.

Shermichael, how about you? When will you know if this is maybe a better night than Republicans have been fearing?

SINGLETON: Well look, I have to tell you something, John. I actually don't think that these governor races are as important as some may argue, and I'll tell you why.

If the Democrat wins in New Jersey, no surprise. But the fact that the Republican may be less than five points behind is something that I think Democrats should frankly be concerned about.

In Virginia, where I currently reside, I believe that Abigail Spanberger is going to win. Does she win beyond a margin of 10? We'll see. Bob McDonnell was the last Republican governor before our current Governor Glenn Youngkin who, by the way, only beat Terry McAuliffe in 2001 by just two points. And so the fact that my state is going to likely flip back to Democrats' control doesn't necessarily surprise me.

What I am looking at, however, is proposition 50 out of California -- that redistricting delta and the implications of that numerically speaking for Texas, North Carolina, and the advantages and disadvantages that presents to both parties as they try to battle it out for control in the House. That is what I think the big priority should be.

BERMAN: Yeah. Removing every guardrail on redistricting all in all over the country.

Charlie Dent, how about you? What are you looking for tonight, and what do you think we'll be talking about tomorrow morning?

DENT: I'm watching a few things. As a part-time resident of New Jersey -- Avalon -- I should note that I'm watching Passaic County. That's one county we need to watch. A huge Hispanic --

BERMAN: Yeah.

DENT: -- population. I believe Trump won it last election.

[07:50:00]

BERMAN: Yeah.

DENT: Watch that county.

I'm also watching Loudoun County in Northern Virginia to see what the margin is. I agree that Spanberger is going to win by a big margin -- probably, maybe 10 points or more.

So watch Loudoun County, watch Passaic County. Also watching the Pennsylvania Supreme Court retention races. Three Supreme Court justices -- a very controversial issue. A lot of money spent on both sides. And that's sort of a proxy war right now for the two parties in Pennsylvania. So watch that in addition to prop 50 out in California.

BERMAN: Spoken like a man from Pennsylvania who spends a lot of time in New Jersey.

Former Congressman Charlie Dent, Shermichael Singleton, Kate Bedingfield, thank you one and all -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: There is a lot of breaking news this morning. We are following all of it and much more ahead. Plus, food banks overwhelmed as the Trump administration says that it will abide by a judge's order but will only be able to partially fund SNAP benefits as the government shutdown drags on.

(COMMERCIAL)

[07:55:38 SIDNER: With the shutdown dragging on and SNAP funds lapsing, the Trump administration says it now plans to provide only half of the normal food stamp benefits for the month of November after a federal judge ordered it to find a solution. Millions of Americans who rely on that much-needed food aid are now scrambling to figure out how to put enough food on their tables.

Food banks across the country are struggling to keep up with rising demand with some organizations saying this shutdown is straining them in a different way than in years past.

Joining me now is Kyle Waide, the president and CEO of the Atlantic Community Food Bank.

First of all, we're so thankful that you exist and are still doing good work. Can you give us a sense of what it is like at the food bank now since the shutdown?

KYLE WAIDE, PRESIDENT AND CEO, ATLANTA COMMUNITY FOOD BANK (via Webex by Cisco): Well, good morning, and thanks for having me.

I think the first thing to say is that lines were already very long at food banks all across the country. I know at my food bank we have seen demand for food assistance increase by 70 percent over the last 3 1/2 years due to inflation. There's a lot more economic pressure on families across our community and that's prior to the shutdown.

Now, with the shutdown we, of course, have lots of federal employees who are not being paid right now. Many of these folks are hourly workers, working paycheck to paycheck and they now are having a really hard time meeting all their basic needs.

And on top of that, of course, you have the folks who are impacted by the disruption to the SNAP program. Many of them are very fearful of what's going to happen even with the announcement that there will be partial funding for SNAP in November. That still leaves a big hole for these families, and they won't receive those funds for an indefinite amount of time.

So demand is just incredibly high and that's with a lot of pressure on our existing food inventory.

SIDNER: Yeah. I had no idea that you had already seen a 70 percent increase before the shutdown. And now with the shutdown when you have both furloughed workers and those who rely on SNAP benefits hurting, how much more you are going to see.

I'm curious of the stories that you are hearing from -- to yourself and from your staff from people who are waiting in lines for food. And we're looking at some of the pictures of distributions happening.

WAIDE: Well, what we know is just, like, so many people in our community right now are finding it very hard to be able to afford to live. Just the impact of inflation across our community has been tremendous and folks just are really having difficulty being able to get the food that they need and to be able to afford higher rents and higher costs for health care. All of that is just putting a tremendous amount of pressure on a large segment of our population.

The folks that we see in line -- you know, these are working families. Most of the increase that we've seen at our food bank over those 3 1/2 years are among people who make too much money to qualify for SNAP. So these are working families that are going to work every day, but they just can't earn enough to keep up with the increase in prices, and it means that they're leaving with an extraordinary amount of stress and anxiety.

SIDNER: Yeah. It's really heartbreaking to consider that. You know, we are the richest country in the world and we're seeing people who are working but can't afford enough food for their families. And we should note that there are about 39 percent of those folks who are on SNAP who do quality for SNAP for children and so they are also in such a precarious place.

I do want to ask you two questions. What have you had to do to try and keep things up when you have this huge increase of people and your resources are thin? And what do you need from the community -- from us?

WAIDE: Well, thanks for the question. I think our food bank announced last week that we were pulling $5 million out of our reserves so that we could go purchase more food and distribute an additional 300,000 pounds of food a day over the next four weeks.