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Democrats Hope To Fulfill Dream Of Turning Texas Blue; Selma Blair Accused Of Kicking Officer, Nurse After Plane Incident; Pope Leo XIV Admitted To Hospital To Remove Lung Nodule. Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired October 13, 2026 - 07:30   ET

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

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[07:31:20]

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: We are three weeks out from Election Day, and the spotlight turns again to Texas. Tomorrow CNN is set to host a town hall event with Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico, a candidate that's raising Dem hopes right now of winning a statewide office there for the first time since 1994.

CNN's Patrick Svitek is tracking this race for us. Patrick, where do things stand with this race?

PATRICK SVITEK, CNN NATIONAL POLITICS REPORTER: Yeah, this CNN town hall is coming at a pretty crucial moment in this race.

James Talarico, the Democratic nominee, just spent over a week off the campaign trail due to what he said was a bad case of the flu. It nonetheless created a lot of openings for Republicans to question where he was, and so this will be one of his first major appearances since returning to the campaign trail. And the state of this race hasn't actually changed much since the last time we saw James Tallarico on the campaign trail. It is a very tight race; the polls tell us.

And it's really interesting to see how Republicans are strategizing around this moment in the race. Today, Vice President J.D. Vance is going to deep red East Texas to hold a rally, presumably to help boost Republican turnout in this race. But that is not as -- not typically a part of Texas where people go to try to win votes during the general election. Like I said, it's deep red. And so this trip seems really geared toward boosting Republican turnout.

Ken Paxton, the Republican nominee, gave a speech a few days ago in the state where he acknowledged he's dealing with "a lot of apathetic Republicans right now." And so it is a really fraught moment in this race for Republicans who are trying just to unify and energize their ranks, let alone change any minds.

BOLDUAN: All right. Patrick, thank you so much.

And a reminder, you can tune in to that special CNN town hall event with James Talarico tomorrow night, 8:00 p.m. Eastern, right here on CNN, moderated and hosted by Erin Burnett -- John.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Just a little more on Texas. Remember, this is a state that Donald Trump won by about 13.5 points in 2024. This is a red state.

But we have a brand new poll, not out of the state, but out of Harris County. Now, Harris County is where Houston is, about 16 percent of the population -- the most populous county in the state. Kamala Harris won that by about six points in an election that Donald Trump won by 13.

This new poll out of Harris County today, though, from the University of Houston, shows James Talarico winning by 22. Leading by 22 points in Harris County. You'll remember Kamala Harris won this by five, so five versus 22.

If you want to have a sense of where that fits in historical perspective, I want to go back to 2018 when there was a Senate race in this state. Now, this was one of the closest Senate races that Texas has seen in more than a generation. Harris County again. Beto O'Rourke beat Ted Cruz in Harris County by about 17 points. Seventeen points versus 22 in this new poll for James Talarico. And if you go back to 2018 again, Beto O'Rourke lost the state by about two points. So a 22- point lead in Harris County. You can start to see how that might put James Talarico where he needs to be to win the state.

With us now, Margaret Talev, senior contributor for Axios, and Alex Gangitano, White House political reporter for Politico.

And Margaret, let me just start with you. Again, we've got this new poll -- this Harris County poll to show people here and it gives you a sense of the strength that James Talarico is showing.

What are you seeing?

[07:35:00]

MARGARET TALEV, SENIOR CONTRIBUTOR, AXIOS, DIRECTOR, INSTITUTE FOR DEMOCRACY, JOURNALISM AND CITIZENSHIP, SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY: John, absolutely. So what we're talking about here, you're not going to see like a 22-point margin Texas-wide, but if the polling in these areas of Texas is accurate -- and that is an if. There are Democrats who are concerned that the polling, you know, might be under-capturing Republicans. But if this polling is accurate, it shows a path.

And it shows a path for Talarico for a number of reasons, but one is because Paxton himself is an incredibly controversial and unpopular candidate even among Democrats. You have seen many supporters -- Republicans, rather -- you've seen many supporters of John Cornyn, say, you know, not so much with Paxton.

So it is this combination of that trend and also the redistricting plan in Texas that Republicans pushed through that in theory created the path for more Republican-held House seats and also watered down many of the districts in Texas. And so you're looking at a possibility -- Texas is not about to turn explosively blue, but a possibility of this window and it's quite exceptional.

BERMAN: Explosively blue sounds like one of those bad viruses that goes around.

Alex, I want to also talk a little bit more about Texas because you sometimes see campaigns seep into the mainstream -- the national mainstream. And there was this odd exchange having to do with James Talarico appearing over the weekend at a Kasey Musgraves concert. There was a picture of the two that circulated on various social media platforms that Talarico put out. You can see it there.

So after that was posted, Kristi Noem -- remember her -- Kristi Noem posted on social media saying, you know, "I'll take Ella Langley over Kasey Musgraves any day. And if I'm choosing Texas, I'll take Ken Paxton over James Talarico." Kasey Musgraves then went on social media and said, "I don't think you have a dog in this fight, but if you did, you would have shot it."

Um, again, I think the larger --

ALEX GANGITANO, WHITE HOUSE POLITICAL REPORTER, POLITICO (via Webex by Cisco): Yeah.

BERMAN: -- question I have here, Alex, is has the Talarico-Paxton campaign reached this national level where it feels bigger than Texas?

GANGITANO: You know, it does feel like that. I think you know the Kasey Musgrave-type celebrities, of course, would love to rally behind a Democrat senator -- people with ties to Texas. But we did see similar kind of energy on the national level behind Beto O'Rourke, who you mentioned, who ended up losing that race.

And so I'm not sure if the, you know, Talarico campaign I'm sure is cautiously optimistic when it comes to a national level like that because we have seen some of these Texas races get so big like that to getting this kind of national attention.

But I think what also puts it at the national level, regardless of the celebrity of it, is the Donald Trump of it all. He's the reason, you know, that he endorsed Ken Paxton so that incumbent John Cornyn is -- in part because he's not -- he's -- he lost that primary and now it's Paxton and Trump kind of ticket. And we know when Trump talks about a lot of these midterms, he'll say pretend I'm on the ticket. That's definitely the case with Texas.

Meanwhile, Talarico is somebody whose name has also really blown up nationally. Representing more of a moderate wing of the Democratic Party. Somebody who's Christian, leaning into his faith as a Democrat. While we also have DSA members nationally getting a lot of traction to just showing different types of Democrats.

So I think at this point there's a lot of attention. But then we see somebody like a Kasey Musgraves tweeting at the former DHS secretary, and it's a fascinating, you know, window into how big this race really is. Of course, in DC, we think it's big, but anywhere it seems like it is as well. BERMAN: Yeah. And it also might just be a sign of sort of the baggage that Donald Trump has collected over the last two years as president. Remember, Kristi Noem? Remember that whole thing? I think that might be a little bit of a reminder of that.

Margaret, you've got an interesting piece out today, and I'm just going to hit Michigan here. A reminder that Donald Trump won Michigan barely, but there's a key Senate race there without blue side against Mike Rogers.

But Medicare for All. Healthcare is something that the Democrats are focusing on in Michigan. And you've got a piece out today that might, I think, flip some of the conventional wisdom on its head, because Mike Rogers and the Republicans have been beating up Abdul El-Sayed and saying, oh, he's for Medicare for All. That makes him unelectable.

What did you find?

TALEV: John, this -- the numbers in this poll really surprised me. This is our new polling, Axios and Ipsos. We have this ongoing healthcare poll. It began in the COVID era and continues to this day.

What this survey found is that right now in America, people who are supporters of Medicare for All and the idea that would largely replace private insurance outnumber the opponents of Medicare for All by nearly two to one. Like, get your head around that. There are still about a third of Americans who are really unsure. They don't really know what to think. But if you have --if you have an opinion about this, you are much more likely, almost twice as likely, to support Medicare for All than to oppose it.

[07:40:08]

That number is different for Republicans. It's about one in five. It is one in five, which seemed large to me for Republicans. But if you are a Democrat or even an Independent, you are much more likely to like this idea.

And even Republicans -- we're hearing them say in this survey that the federal government should be spending more tax dollars to lower everyday Americans' healthcare costs. So you don't have to call it Medicare for All, depending on what party you're running for, but you're seeing this strong desire from Americans to have basically more subsidized -- more taxpayer subsidized healthcare. And that really goes to how much it costs not to trust in the federal government. I think we all know that is shot. Numbers for President Trump, for RFK, for Republicans and Democrats in Congress, very low, but the cost is so staggering that people are looking for any way to alleviate it.

BERMAN: It was just interesting to see where that discussion was headed, as Democrats are really leaning to that on the campaign trail.

Margaret Talev, Alex Gangitano, thank you very much.

I want to put Texas back up here on the screen to say this. Tomorrow night at 7:00. If you have more questions about the midterms, more questions about Texas specifically, join me and Harry Enten on "OFFICE HOURS." You can ask us anything you want. We're going to focus on Texas because it's just in advance of the James Talarico town hall. Send us your questions now at cnn.com/officehours and join us at 7:00 p.m. tomorrow streaming live with an all access subscription -- Sara.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: I got questions, but I'll ask them later.

BERMAN: About the music? The music is awesome.

SIDNER: The music is very snazzy. Thank you, John.

All right, this morning, actress Selma Blair has been charged with assault after allegedly kicking an officer and a nurse who were called to a disruption on a plane arriving at JFK Airport in New York. On the plane, Blair is accused of biting a flight attendant.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHAWN BARNES, ATTORNEY FOR SELMA BLAIR: The defendant kicked the officer in the face, the neck and the chest. One officer was on active duty. That officer sustained swelling to the face and substantial pain to the arm. The defendant was subsequently then transferred to the hospital for treatment where the defendant allegedly then kicked the nurse in the chest. Your honor, the circumstances alleged in the complaint are the product of a medical emergency, not intentional criminal conduct.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: Blair's attorney says she fell, hit her head on the plane, and missed her medication.

CNN aviation correspondent Pete Muntean joins us now. What are you learning about how this all unfolded on this flight that was landing in New York?

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: Well, Sara, it's important to consider the context here. Remember, this is just one of 1,300 reports of unruly passengers that flight crews have made to the FAA this year alone. Rarely ever do they end up in a courtroom as swiftly as this one.

And now we have a pretty good window into what happened aboard this Delta flight because the pilots reported it to air traffic control before they landed at JFK and also again on the ground. They asked for medical personnel to meet the plane, describing a bloody nose and bite marks. Two flight attendants reported injuries. One went to the hospital.

And CNN has learned that Blair had to be restrained with plastic restraints on board that flight. The pilots also reported that Blair may have hit her head against a bulkhead on board the plane. The explanation for all this, her attorney says -- the actress was exhausted, had missed her medication for her well-publicized battle with multiple sclerosis, and suffered a head injury during the flight.

And here is what that attorney told the judge.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARNES: Prior to the flight an issue. Ms. Blair missed several doses of Nuedexta, a powerful medication that controls severe neurological symptoms. And Ms. Blair boarded this flight after being on set and working extensive hours and exhaustive hours in the days leading up to this flight.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MUNTEAN: Blair's battle with M.S. was profiled in a 2021 documentary called "INTRODUCING SELMA BLAIR."

Blair now faces two state assault charges for allegedly kicking a police officer and a nurse after landing. The alleged attacks on flight attendants are a separate federal matter.

Remember, unruly passengers became a huge problem during COVID, especially over mask mandates, Sara. Nearly 6,000 reports in 2021 alone. Those numbers have fallen dramatically, but the problem clearly still has not gone away for flight crews -- Sara.

SIDNER: Yeah, we all remember seeing those fights on planes through -- after 2020. But this was highly unusual seeing and hearing about what's happened here.

Pete Muntean, thank you so much. We do appreciate you -- Kate.

[07:45:00]

BOLDUAN: Moments ago we saw Pope Leo arrive at the hospital in Rome where he is set to soon be undergoing surgery. We're going to bring you updates on the pontiff, how he's doing, and what's going to happen next.

And a neighbor desperately digging through smoldering debris to save a child caught in a house fire. How that baby is doing this morning.

And for more of the stories you need to get your day going, my show, "5 THINGS" WITH KATE BOLDUAN," is streaming on the CNN All Access -- the CNN app and CNN All Access right now and every morning.

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BOLDUAN: Moments ago, Pope Leo arrived at a hospital in Rome. That is where he is set to very soon undergo surgery to remove what's been described as a nodule on his lung. The Vatican says that it was detected at a very early stage.

[07:50:08]

Let's get to CNN's Stefano Pozzebon who's outside that hospital for us. Stefano, what's the latest that you're hearing?

STEFANO POZZEBON, CNN ROME CORRESPONDENT: Well, the latest, Kate, is that Leo XIV arrived here at the Gemelli Hospital, which is just behind my back. About 20 minutes ago, he arrived. He walked into the hospital himself, waving to the crowds, and he shook the hands of several doctors who were there to personally greet him. If you ever wondered what car does the first American pope drive around in Rome, he was driving a black Ford SUV, so sticking an American brand perhaps.

But what's most important is that we still don't know from the Vatican whether Leo XIV will go under the surgery today or perhaps tomorrow. He arrived here at the hospital at around 11 -- 1:00 p.m. local time here in Rome, so that means that he still has time to go and have this lung nodule removal if the doctors advise him so. Otherwise, he will do it probably tomorrow morning.

There is a sense of rushing -- that there is a desire from the pope to get this done with sooner, rather than later, Kate, because he's very much looking forward, -- we understand from Vatican sources he's very much looking forward to the trip to South America, coming from November 6 to November 17. So, the sooner he will have this operation, the longer recovery time he will have before going to this -- to this trip overseas.

In the meantime, the Vatican has cleared his schedule until October 20, and as soon as we hear from the Vatican whether he has indeed had a surgery today, we will bring it to you, Kate.

BOLDUAN: Absolutely. We'll stand by to get updates on the pope. How Pope Leo is doing, and hopefully his swift recovery from the surgery.

Thank you so much, Stefano -- John.

BERMAN: All right. Free football overnight, an overtime thriller if you can manage to stay awake that long between the Bills and the Rams.

Let's get right to CNN's Coy Wire. I know you liked this one, Coy.

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Oh yeah, I stayed up for the whole thing, John. I actually thought it was going to go longer than overtime somehow. These previous -- the previous time these teams met, John, they combined for 86 points; this time only 71 in overtime with six lead changes.

Let's go straight to late in the fourth. It was tied at 27 and there goes that man Josh Allen rushing for 121 yards and a touchdown on the night. That sets up James Cook. Somebody check the kitchen. Cook is serving. One hundred eleven yards for him, two touchdowns for him.

But the Rams have the comeback artist formerly known as Matthew Stafford. Under a minute to go he finds Davante Adams who had two touchdowns, and eventually hands to Kyron Williams getting into the end zone to send it to overtime. And then chaos, John. The Bills get the ball first, and James Cook fumbles. Elite punch out by Nate Landman.

Rams recover, so you know all they have to do is kick a field goal. Stafford gets to work and finds Puka Nacua, who had 17 catches. He was unguardable. But then on the field goal attempt, Greg Rousseau blocks it. James Cook cannot believe it. That sets up some Tyler Bass action 45 yards out. The kick is good. Bills win 37-31.

That was Allen's first career overtime win in eight tries, John, and it's his 100th victory. Incredible game on Monday night.

Now to baseball's final four. Dodgers-Brewers game two of the NLCS. L.A. has that champagne budget. Milwaukee serving wins on tap. William Contreras, three hits, three RBIs, fifth-inning home run tying the game at four. In the sixth inning Contreras did what the Dodgers were hoping. He hits a go-ahead RBI single. And from there it was enter Milwaukee's bullpen. Five perfect innings. That's 15 batters up, John, 15 down -- a postseason first. It's not a bullpen, that's a bouncer.

Brewers win 7-4 to take a 2-0 series lead. The "Brew Crew" putting the Dodgers on ice.

And in the American League, game one between the Guardians and Rays. Tampa Bay jumps ahead 2-0. Cleveland says hold my glove. Sixth inning, Chase DeLauter hit a homer. Seventh inning, Patrick Bailey -- he hits a homer to tie the game -- 436 feet, no-doubter. Eighth inning, low and behold, Nathaniel Lowe hitting a two-run single. And from there the Guardians scoring seven runs in the final four innings.

Cleveland wins 7-3. They haven't won a series since 1948. That's a lot of maybe next year, John. Seventy-eight years they've waited. I can barely wait 78 seconds for my coffee to get finished brewing.

You're a patient man. Out of Kate and Sara, which one would have better patience waiting that long for a win? And which one would be demanding a recount?

[07:55:00]

BERMAN: It's both Kate and Sara. They have way more patience than I do. They're way stronger with a much higher pain threshold than I have, as you can see, right? There's no question about that.

I do have -- I mean, the interesting thing with these three low budget teams doing well --

WIRE: Yeah.

BERMAN: -- in the -- you know, in the championship round here as opposed to the Dodgers, how that might affect that a lockout.

BOLDUAN: That is so scary. Oh my God.

BERMAN: I'm curious how that'll play out.

BOLDUAN: Sorry.

WIRE: Early Halloween. You have Sara creeping over your shoulder in the shadows. I love it. Here she comes.

BOLDUAN: He didn't want to answer your question. BERMAN: All right, Coy, excellent to see you. Thank you very much.

WIRE: You, too.

BOLDUAN: Thank you, sir. Let's go this way.

There is bodycam video just released that shows NYPD officers race into an apartment responding to a call of a 1-month-old baby who had stopped breathing. Officers say that they found the baby unconscious and unresponsive. They started CPR while waiting for EMS to arrive, and thankfully, the officers were successful, and the baby started breathing again. He was rushed to the hospital and is said to be in stable condition right now.

There is also other bodycam video to show you coming out of Mississippi. Officers rushing to the scene of a house fire. This video shows the moment a 4-year-old boy was pulled from the fire's debris. But get this -- a neighbor was actually already digging through the debris with his bare hands -- the smoldering debris to try to pull and was able to pull the child out. Deputies immediately started CPR and gave the baby boy oxygen. The child is now in critical condition. Investigators have not yet determined the cause of that fire.

And you can add this one to the file of not your average estate sale find. While going through boxes that they picked up at an Austin estate sale, the buyer found what ended up being World War II-era grenades. The police were called in and the bomb squad as well, and the bomb squad confirmed they were live grenades. Officials say that the devices were thankfully safely removed and are now using this close call as a learning -- a lesson to be learned to remind residents to do what apparently these people did, which is leave it to the experts if you come across what could be possibly looks like could be any old military ordnance.

And nearly 30 years later, Michael Jordan's last dance is still making history. The autographed jersey that he wore in game two of the '98 NBA Finals just sold an auction for an eye-popping $14 million. Hunt auctions in Pennsylvania announced Monday that it sold to a Miami real estate investor and that price tag makes it the most expensive piece of basketball memorabilia ever sold -- Sara.

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SIDNER: For the first time in America, one of Italy's most beloved Italian children's choirs is performing here in New York for Italian Heritage Month and Columbus Day celebrations. The group, called the Piccolo Coro dell'Antoniano, is on a tour titled "Generations of Voices-Music for Humanity.

Joining me now is Simona Rodano, president of Global Edulanguage Foundation. She is hosting the choir on their first trip to New York.

First, tell me about this choir. How was it formed and why was it formed?

SIMONA RODANO, PRESIDENT AND FOUNDER, GLOBAL EDULANGUAGE FOUNDATION: The choir was formed 70 years ago. Every single Italian knows about Piccolo Coro dell'Antoniano. And I grew up myself as well with the songs coming from this choir. So it's such a blessing and an honor to be here in America with them for the first time to see them singing and sharing the beauty and the love for the Italian language and culture.

SIDNER: This is a longtime dream of yours to be able to bring this choir that is so beloved in Italy to the United States to share so many things, but also to kind of bridge cultures.

What is your hope for this tour?

RODANO: Absolutely. So first of all, dreams do come true and mine certainly did. Uh, the vision behind -- yes, it's just to see this beautiful exchange between the new generations. There's so much need of peace. Peace can come through learning different languages, exposing them to the beauty of cultures because through that we really have this world to be more in peace among each other.

SIDNER: All right, let's listen in.