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Officials Warn They Can't Meet Trump's Mail-In Ballot Demands; Top GOP Senators Ask Trump to Do More to Help Paxton Win in Texas; Massachusetts Democratic Incumbents Fend Off Younger Challengers; Schools Facing Tough Choices on Use of Artificial Intelligence. Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired September 02, 2026 - 15:30   ET

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

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: ... Pierre, we're going to love and miss you.

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BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: A vigil is set for tonight at 6 p.m. in Springfield, Ohio, to honor Bell.

Ahead, control of the U.S. Senate next year could come down to the race in Texas, and less money may mean more problems for the Republican candidate. That story is next.

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SANCHEZ: So we're just 62 days from the midterm elections, but new efforts by the Trump administration to clamp down on mail-in voting have election officials. So we're just 62 days from the midterm elections, but new efforts by the Trump administration to clamp down on mail-in voting have election officials raising major objections.

Some say there isn't the time, money or resources to make the wholesale changes required under the proposed rules. And that could leave thousands of American voters without access to the most basic civil right. CNN's Gabe Cohen has some new reporting on all of this.

So how are these election officials, Gabe, handling all the uncertainty?

GABE COHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Boris, first, we cannot stress enough that as of now, a federal judge has blocked the Postal Service from actually mandating these changes. So these officials, state and local across the country, they are still proceeding with the status quo. But the White House has -- they are trying to push this back to the Supreme Court.

They've appealed that decision. And so as that's playing out, we're hearing these election officials, both at the state and local level, saying if this goes through, there is no way we can implement these changes in the coming weeks ahead of the midterms. They've really provided a long list of reasons why.

They say there is not enough time to redesign and reprint potentially millions of ballots, millions of those envelopes that come with mail- in ballots, that the vendors in some areas don't even have enough paper stockpiled to reprint those envelopes, that reprinting them would cost millions and millions of dollars. And then there is this issue of training election officials across the country to be able to use that new Postal Service portal that the agency has just set up, because they don't want any sort of administrative errors that could end with ballots getting rejected by that portal, getting rejected by the Postal Service and sent back to elections offices.

That ties back to that really stunning whistleblower account that we were reporting on yesterday from a Postal Service employee who painted this picture of the agency secretively and sloppily rushing to produce that portal in recent months, saying that it has not been properly tested and that there is the possibility that it could have some serious errors.

And the issue that they pointed to is that they say the Postal Service as part of this is going to have a 0 percent failure policy. That is how they described it. Where essentially election officials would bring in large chunks of ballots, collections of them, potentially thousands at a time, and that if there is any discrepancy, any name, address, barcode on just a single ballot that does not line up -- a single envelope, I should say -- the entire batch would get fed back, it would get rejected and sent back to an elections office to be corrected. And the concern there is that would mean a lot of voters would potentially have to wait for their ballots, and they may run out of time before actually casting their vote.

SANCHEZ: That would mean delays, potentially, as you put it, disenfranchisement. So Gabe Cohen, thanks so much for that reporting. Appreciate it.

A new message now from President Trump urging Texas Republicans to keep the U.S. Senate seat in Republican hands, warning that things could get bad fast. The President speaking on a podcast today as Republicans prepare to gather in Dallas for their first ever, or let's say in recent history, midterm convention.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: That's right. Trump is backing Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in his tight Senate race against Democratic State Representative James Tallarico. Here's the president hyping Paxton.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Some people, I'll be honest, some people don't like an interview that he'll do or something, you know. The bottom line is he was a phenomenal attorney general. He may have been the best attorney general in the whole country.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Without question.

TRUMP: And, you know, so if, you know, some people don't like things about him, but he was the best there is.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: Let's talk about this now with Chuck Todd, who is the host of the Chuck Toddcast. All right. There's also a lot of intra-Republican drama when it comes to this Paxton race, Chuck.

You have Republican Congressman Troy Neils, who's even accusing Senate Republican leaders of imperiling Paxton's bid by spending too much money, too much money defending Cornyn in the primary. What's happening here?

CHUCK TODD, HOST, THE CHUCK TODDCAST: Exactly what Senate Republicans said would happen, which was if Cornyn wasn't the nominee, Paxton's a terrible fundraiser. Donors don't like him. I don't think the White House appreciates how popular John Cornyn is with fellow Senate Republicans.

This is one of those that they took personally. John Thune, other senators begged the president to get involved here. If Cornyn would have been the nominee, Tallarico would be competitive right now because of the political environment, but he wouldn't be winning.

He'd be down and Cornyn would likely have at least matched him dollar for dollar at this point outraced him. And when you look at the Senate map, John Thune's got a whole bunch of other races to defend. Ohio, he's got an opportunity in Michigan.

[15:40:00]

He's got to deal with Alaska and Kansas comes on the board. South Carolina's on the board. Maine's on the board.

Texas is a giant black hole of money that would suddenly imperil them in these other places. Tallarico has a ton of money.

Now, Donald Trump has a bunch of money. So this is a little bit of a staring contest, Brianna, between John Thune and Donald Trump and say, look, we told you what is going to happen here. You chose not to help us out when you could have, which was endorsing John Cornyn immediately and Paxton likely getting either getting out of the race or not winning the runoff.

But he chose not to because Donald Trump loves Ken Paxton for one reason. He was the attorney general that started the court fight over the 2020 election. That's why he it's always about.

Remember, Trump's political allies are always about what did they do for Donald Trump. So that's why he's sticking by Paxton. But Thune is basically saying, if you want him, you pay for it, you do it.

Because if they ask the Senate Republicans to do it, guys, it's going to cost them multiple other seats. If I were in John Thune's shoes, I'd be like, I'd write it off, make Trump try to do this. Hope Abbott can bail him out and go find Michigan. You know, I was joking the other day with somebody. I think Chuck Schumer and John Thune would trade -- I think Thune would say, you give us Michigan, we'll give you Texas. And we both can walk away from those candidates.

SANCHEZ: Chuck, on the other side of the aisle, as you mentioned, Democrats, there were three longtime Democratic incumbents in Massachusetts that fended off primary challengers last night. In some cases, much younger challengers. With the caveat that Massachusetts is about as blue a state as they come, how do those wins fit into the broader conversation about progressive versus establishment, a younger versus older guard in the Democratic Party?

TODD: Well, I think you saw, look, Massachusetts is the least competitive state in the union. It's a very, it's still, there's still, it's not, I don't want to call it machines, but sort of, you know, you look at a guy like Richie Neal, right, who had the, one of the closer elections he's ever had. He's like represented that area either in Congress or as mayor for nearly my entire life.

And I'm 55 years old, OK. Stephen Lynch has been a congressman forever. Ed Markey's been in office since the year I was born.

So I think this was all about what you saw was the old, the progressive movement didn't -- you know, I think if they put a little bit more effort, I think had Moulton -- Moulton was trying to run to the right of to Markey. I think if he had been a little bit closer politically to sort of where today's Massachusetts Democrats are, he might've had a better shot at winning that generational argument.

So I think it, you know, I think it just is a reminder that Massachusetts is just going to be harder to push out that whole old guard than almost any other state on the Democratic side. And that's what I would chalk that up to.

KEILAR: What did you think about these two house Democrats? These moderates who really surprised their leadership by joining Republicans in this, what was really, it was a procedural step that unlocked Republicans being able to put several pieces of legislation on the floor, including a messaging bill on socialism and also a bill to help lobstermen, which is something that one of the two house Dems certainly liked a lot. What'd you think about it?

TODD: Brianna, that's the story, right? Like this is what's wrong with our politics. The Democratic leadership was asking Jared Golden, the Democrat from Maine second district, who was the author of this bill to help out the lobster -- the lobster industry, which is an important constituency group of his in Maine.

And he was, they were going to ask him, hey, vote no, vote no. So your bill doesn't get a vote. And as he said -- he did an interview with a local reporter and he said, how was I supposed to explain?

Oh, you didn't get a vote on the bill. I've been telling you, I was going to make sure was my priority before I left Congress because I first had to vote against it before I could vote for it. As he said, how do you explain that to your constituents?

And it is like, you have to go through these crazy procedural, this is what's wrong with the House. Our democracy is really ailing, right? There's a lot of things that are broken.

The executive branch is broken. The Senate is broken, judiciary is broken. But you know, if you think of our democracy as sort of a series of organs, sometimes one organ matters more than others.

The House is that organ. The House is the heart of our democracy. And it is ill, it is sick.

And when it is sick, it's sickness spreads to the Senate, to the judiciary, to the presidency, to the democracy as a whole. And it's things like this. We've got so polarized.

The place is run only by the leadership. An average member of Congress can't even get a bill on the floor to get a vote on it.

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Look, as somebody who is pro-voter, and that's what I am, I am pro- voter. I'm not pro either side of the aisle, I'm pro-voter. Jared Golden was simply looking out for the constituency represented here. And the fact that people are giving him grief because he just wanted the House to take a vote, think about how backwards the entire system of politics has become.

That this is a controversy. I just, it is, this is why the public hates Congress. OK, this is why.

KEILAR: There's a bunch of reasons. It is crazy.

TODD: There's a whole lot of reasons. It's logic like this.

KEILAR: Yes, I hear you.

TODD: We had to report on the procedure of a rule to see if just put these bills on the floor and take a vote and let the chips fall where they may.

SANCHEZ: On that lighthearted note, Chuck Todd, always great to hear from you. Thanks for joining us.

TODD: You got it.

SANCHEZ: Up next, artificial intelligence presents a problem but also an opportunity for schools in the U.S. We're going to look at two very different approaches to the challenge when we come back.

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SANCHEZ: The development of artificial intelligence is forcing schools and universities to make tough decisions about what to do in the classroom. New York schools are banning AI for elementary and middle schools, while the University of Florida is emerging as a leader in teaching students about how to use the new technology. Clare Duffy is here to explain.

So, Clare, first, what are schools in New York City doing?

CLARE DUFFY, CNN TECH REPORTER: Yes, Boris, I think if you look at this big picture just for a minute, it really is an example of two educational institutions that are trying to think intentionally about where AI can bring value into the classroom, where it can't, and how to tailor this technology appropriately for students of different grade levels. So here in New York City, where students are gearing up to go back to school next week, the public school system is instituting a one-year ban on generative AI technology in school for students in 2K through 8th grade. High school students will have limited access to AI through a certain set of AI tools.

They'll also receive an AI critical thinking course, where they will learn about the pros, but also the downsides and the risks of this technology. The policy also includes individual screen time limits by grade and a ban on companion chatbots for students of all ages. Importantly, there will be exceptions here for students who are English learners or who have disabilities.

And Mayor Zohran Mamdani really talked about this being a way to ensure that students' critical thinking abilities are protected, as well as the human relationships between students and teachers, Boris.

SANCHEZ: What about the University of Florida? They're taking a very different approach. Obviously, though, these students are older.

DUFFY: That's exactly right. So the University of Florida has really tried to get ahead in training students how to use AI. They have been incorporating AI into their curriculum since even before ChatGPT was released in 2022.

This is in part in thanks to a partnership with NVIDIA and NVIDIA co- founder Chris Malachowsky, who's a University of Florida alumni. And what the university is doing is incorporating lessons and training on how to use AI across all of its disciplines. So not just for students in computer science or engineering.

Just as one example, a geology professor last year used AI with her students to map the landscape beneath Antarctica's ice sheets. And all of this aimed at ensuring that those university students are prepared to enter a workforce where we are seeing employers increasingly demand that new workers have AI skills.

SANCHEZ: Clare Duffy, thank you so much for bringing us those two very different approaches.

Still ahead on CNN NEWS CENTRAL, Bigfoot enthusiasts unite. Maine's second annual Bigfoot calling contest officially in the books. We're going to bring you the best and not so best sounds of Sasquatch when we come back.

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KEILAR: Now to some of the other headlines that we're watching this hour. Parts of East Texas are currently under a severe flood threat. As tropical depression Edouard brings repeated bands of rain northeast of Houston, an estimated 10 to 21 inches of rain has already fallen in the region.

And in this video shot this morning, that's a car completely submerged. The floodwaters flowing over its roof.

Also, the University of Tennessee's football team will honor the late great Dolly Parton by wearing a commemorative helmet sticker for every game this season. The legendary musician grew up in Sevierville, Tennessee, just about an hour from the University of Knoxville's campus. The University of Knoxville campus, I should say. The Dolly inspired sticker patch will have a butterfly with Parton's signature in the middle.

SANCHEZ: Touching tribute. Meantime, officials in Columbia are looking for this guy. Lucky, lucky guy.

A survivor of quite the motorcycle accident. It was caught on video. He was blowing through an intersection as a bus was passing through.

It just so happens that the bus's door was open. Watch this.

You got to pay the fare, buddy. Yes, it looked like he was kind of disoriented there. Not sure where he was. The guy obviously ran a red light, blew right through it, and went straight into the open door of the bus.

Almost actually lands in a seat. Eventually, he got up and left the scene. Officials say the man's identity, his health status, both unknown, somehow just walked away from that.

KEILAR: I don't know, but we don't know that, right? That's why they want to find out. He hit his head, Boris.

SANCHEZ: He was able to walk away. What came after, we don't know.

KEILAR: At that moment, we'd like to know.

Finally, believers and skeptics joining together in Glenburn, Maine for the second annual Bigfoot Calling Contest. And what's the saying?

Imitation is a sincerest form of flattery.

SANCHEZ: Sounds like me at a Taco Bell drive-thru at three in the morning. The event's celebrating all things Sasquatch. There was an adult and kids division this year.

The kids' winner took home 100 bucks. There was also lots of Bigfoot artifacts and memorabilia on hand, as well as a family of snakes from the Serpent Sanctuary. Just for fun. [16:00:00]

KEILAR: That first woman was great. I feel like that's exactly what Sasquatch would sound like.

SANCHEZ: Probably, yes.

KEILAR: Amazing.

SANCHEZ: Gordita crunch!

KEILAR: "THE ARENA" with Kasie Hunt starts right now.

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