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Races Heat Up With Midterm Elections Just 11 Days Away; Trump To Rally In Florida As State's Governor Race Tightens; Military Boards Are Rejecting Orders To Bar Trans Troops; Experimental Vaccine Cut Risk Of Melanoma Recurrence By 42 Percent In Trial. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired October 23, 2026 - 14:00   ET

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

GOV. RON DESANTIS (R-FL): Today, we have 1.5 million more registered Republicans.

So I think what the president said is right. If people come out, if our people vote, I think we'll win, not just in Florida, but some of these other Senate races that are close. If our people show up, we'll win those Senate races. So it's all about the turnout, and no one does it better than the president of the United States.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. President, you're (inaudible).

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: He's going to be in great shape. He is going to be in great shape.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Your ambassador to Turkey, sir, just said in an interview that absolutely, quote/unquote, there could be a strike on Iran this weekend. Have you gone back on holding off?

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: That was my ambassador I think. He's a pretty powerful man, I guess. Well, if that's the case, I don't know anything about it. Thank you very much, everybody.

Ron?

DESANTIS: Thank you, sir.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Today, President Trump's red state blitz is swinging there through South Florida. The president heading to this rally in Fort Myers as he's looking to boost support for Republicans in tight races. That includes the GOP candidate for governor, Byron Donalds. You heard about that there. He is in an increasingly close contest with Democrat David Jolly. Earlier, before heading to Florida, the president brushed off the political headwinds that his party is facing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I think there's great Republican enthusiasm. We're sold out at every single place I go. And every single place I go, people that are down are now winning. Every place I've gone to, I've helped. And every place wants me. The one problem is I'm one person.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: All right, let's go now to CNN's Adam Cancryn, who's in Fort Myers, where the President is expected to speak any moment. Adam, what are we expecting?

ADAM CANCRYN, CNN REPORTER: Yeah, Briana, sorry, it's a little bit loud in here to hear you. But that just kind of shows what Trump and these Republicans are trying to do in these last 11 days until the midterms.

Send the president around to basically anywhere they can find that might juice some turnout for Republicans. We've heard it here from pretty much everybody who's been on the stage that not only do MAGA voters need to talk to other MAGA voters about turning out, but also talk to Independents and Democrats.

Now, the one warning sign here that's kind of apparent is that Trump is only traveling, for the most part, to deep red areas, areas where there shouldn't be an issue with turnout and having to try to juice this. So you're seeing really this daily cadence of Trump trying to go to these areas and just gin up his own voters to come out on November 3rd.

One issue that has been a constant problem throughout, though, has been the distractions coming out of the White House at times, the most recent one being Trump's defense, constant defense of a controversial ad in Ohio about the Democratic gubernatorial candidate's estranged mother. Take a listen to what the president said a little bit earlier today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Now that you know the back story about Amy Acton and her stepfather, and why she hasn't talked to her mom for so longer, her stepfather was indicted for rape. Now that you know of that, sir, do you change your mind about the ad?

TRUMP: No. No.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: -- survivor (ph) after her husband had raped --

TRUMP: You don't know that. You don't know that. You don't know anything. Her mother stood by, didn't stand by, her mother went on television and said that the daughter is running for governor of Ohio, is a liar and a bad person. And that's all I know.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CANCRYN: So that's just a sign of what Republicans have been having to try to navigate in these final days. Not an ideal closing message, but Trump is going to come here. He's going to Georgia, Michigan, Mississippi in the next few days to try to change that narrative. Brianna?

KEILAR: All right, we'll be watching that. Adam, thank you so much.

Let's talk now about the latest in the midterms with Florida Congresswoman, Debbie Wasserman-Schultz. She's also the former Chair, of course, of the Democratic National Committee.

All right, Congresswoman, do you think the Democrats should be worried about this visit by the president today, stirring up enthusiasm and spurring turnout among Republican voters in your state?

REP. DEBBIE WASSERMAN-SCHULTZ, (D-FL): Well, Brianna, thanks for having me. I think it's hilarious that President Trump has gone or is going to the absolute reddest part of the state of Florida, southwest Florida, the Fort Myers area. I mean, literally everyone in that arena there is already planning to vote. And he is completely speaking and preaching to the choir.

He's doing that because he's not welcome or supported in central Florida, in the I-4 corridor, in the areas where our swing districts are. And in the state of Florida, what's going to happen is the illegal gerrymandering, the map rigging that the Republican Party did here, is going to backfire in their face because we're going to have the four seats that they illegally gerrymandered to go from Democratic to Republican. They're going to elect Democrats in each of those.

[14:05:00]

And that's why Donald Trump is nowhere near the candidates or the districts where those candidates are running.

KEILAR: So the latest polling from the University of North Florida finds that the Republican Senate candidate, Ashley Moody has a four- point edge over Democrat Angie Nixon, 49 to 45 percent among likely voters. It's actually a tighter race than in the organization's last poll in July.

I mean, knowing that, and knowing certainly that perhaps Nixon's win was a little bit of a surprise and she sort of got some of the establishment money a little later, who does Nixon need to turn out? What does she need to do that she hasn't done yet?

WASSERMAN-SCHULTZ: Well, both the governor's race and the U.S. Senate race here are within the margin of error. They are closest in terms of polling that we've had in many an election cycle because people in the state of Florida are tired of Trump's policies driving up the cost of everything, groceries, gas, housing, health care, utilities.

We have our immigrant communities, Hispanic communities especially, that are outraged that they have family members that are being unlawfully taken by ICE. People are living in fear here. The culture of fear that this administration has had, coupled with the real struggle that people are having making life affordable, is going to result in surprise Democratic wins.

We have more Democrats than Republicans that have turned out all across the state during vote by mail and early vote. That's because the enthusiasm is with us, because there is enthusiasm for change. They want to throw the bums out and make sure that there's a Democratic majority and Democrats that are making decisions because we've committed and will deliver on making their lives more affordable.

KEILAR: Would you like to see Democrats spending more money in Florida? Do you think that they had written it off when maybe they shouldn't have?

WASSERMAN-SCHULTZ: Well, we are spending money in the congressional races. I can't speak to the governor's race or the U.S. Senate race, but we are seeing our map expand. We have Bale Dalton in Florida 7, Eliott Rodriguez in Florida 27. I mean, those are two additional races beyond the illegally gerrymandered districts that the Republicans pushed to create, because people are fed up here.

We have a corrupt Trump crime family who is taking money out of regular folks' pockets and stuffing their own pockets and getting rich off of being in office. They are dismantling our democracy. The three major issues that are driving voters, especially Democrats and NPAs, are that life is too expensive. The Trump crime family is running this country and the corruption is disgusting, and he's been dismantling our democracy.

And that is what voters are going to go to the polls and they are already in the process of going to the polls here in Florida to make sure that we can turn that around and make life more affordable, get us out of this illegal war in Iran, lower gas prices, groceries, health care, housing, and just really try to make sure we can get this country back on track.

KEILAR: Yeah, I mean, the affordability, the people's individual financial situation and how they're really struggling and feeling it is motivating them so much. Right? That is sort of the leading issue this election. When I spoke this week with Angie Nixon and I talked to her about Kamala Harris taking part in this virtual event with her this week, I said, what -- how does she move the needle?

And Angie Nixon said, it's the buyer's remorse, that there are folks in Florida look at Kamala Harris and she's a draw because they're upset with what they purchased over Kamala Harris. With that in mind, it's sort of being a referendum on Donald Trump. I mean, is that enough when it comes to the fact that the economy is really the issue here driving so many voters?

WASSERMAN-SCHULTZ: Well, that's what's driving voters is that the economy is the issue. And voters know that these tariff taxes that were left by Donald Trump drove up the cost of everything.

The illegal war in Iran has driven up the cost of gas and food because fertilizer costs are -- have skyrocketed. Diesel is over $6. I just drove past the gas station right here in my district that it was $6.17 for diesel.

KEILAR: Sure. But I guess --

(CROSSTALK) KEILAR: Let me rephrase the question. Is it -- do you think that Democrats have adequately convinced voters that their policies would do something differently other than just the dismay with what the president has done?

[14:10:00]

WASSERMAN-SCHULTZ: I do, because we have demonstrated time and again that when we're in office, we bring costs down. When Joe Biden was president, the Inflation Reduction Act brought the cost of prescription drugs down.

In Medicare, $35 insulin. The capped prescription drug costs in Medicare Part D. The ability to spread those costs across the year -- monthly, so that you can manage your prescription drug budget better. And so much more that we focused on to try to make life more affordable, bringing health care costs down.

Republicans let the enhanced premium tax cuts law -- program expire, that doubled, tripled, and quadrupled people's health care costs. You know what they did? In the big ugly law, they made tax cuts for billionaires permanent. That shows you all you need to know about their priorities, and it's why Donald Trump is in the reddest part of our state today.

Not, as I can tell you as a former DNC chair, we sent Barack Obama around to the swing districts. To the swing states to help use the strength of his popularity to make sure that we could bring candidates on the margins across the finish line. And Donald Trump is, basically, he's gone on a make him feel good tour.

So he has adoring crowds in red communities that are going to do nothing to move the needle in the swing districts and the swing states, where Democrats are going to have voters deliver a victory for them because they want change.

KEILAR: Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, we're getting very close here to the election. We appreciate you being with us to talk about it.

WASSERMAN-SCHULTZ: 11 days for victory.

KEILAR: Can't believe it.

(LAUGH)

KEILAR: Very soon.

WASSERMAN-SCHULTZ: Thank you, Brianna.

KEILAR: Thank you. Still to come, military boards reportedly rejecting orders and allowing transgender troops to serve. The reporter behind that story joining us next here.

Plus, from COVID to cancer, an experimental mRNA vaccine may slash the risk of melanoma returning. This is amazing. We're going to talk about this ahead.

And then later, Meghan Markle reacting to disturbing allegations about her estranged father. We have that and much more coming up on "CNN News Central."

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[14:17:04]

KEILAR: Some new reporting from The New York Times revealing that military boards are rejecting Defense Secretary, Pete Hegseth's orders to purge the military of transgender troops. The report finds that military review boards set up by the Pentagon at the Navy and Marine Corps are finding ways to keep trans troops in uniform. We're joined now by Dave Philipps. He's the Military Correspondent for The New York Times. He's behind this piece.

Dave, walk us through your reporting here. What did trans troops tell you happened when they went before these super-secret boards?

DAVE PHILIPPS, MILITARY CORRESPONDENT, THE NEW YORK TIMES: Yeah, so what's interesting is these boards are set up sort of like jury duty to pull everyday Marines and sailors and have them apply the rules and kick trans service members out. And these rules are written so narrowly that they're really left with no choice. If anyone has any sign of being transgender, even if they're a decorated war hero or a really needed, highly-trained technician, the juries have no leeway.

If transgender, then you must throw them out. But that's not what these boards are doing all of a sudden. They are looking at these rules, realizing that they're given no choice. And then they've been voting over and over about three out of every four times to keep these transgender soldiers and sailors and Marines in uniform, which is basically them quietly defying orders.

KEILAR: So how do they do that? On what basis? And then is it not reviewed?

PHILIPPS: So I think on no basis. This is -- one legal expert told me this is basically jury nullification. You know, the old idea that a jury can be given rules and said you must convict on this and then looking at them and saying we're not going to.

So what I think the boards are doing is saying, look, we're being presented with someone who is good at their job, has never broken any rules and, in some cases, is a highly-valued member of the military, and we're being told to throw them out. And they're just saying no.

In fact, in some cases in the Marine Corps, I saw paperwork where they actually scratched out the instructions on their paperwork that said you must discharge this person, and instead they just voted to keep them.

Now, all of these cases are just recommendations. Those jury's decisions go to the secretaries of all the branches and those secretaries who are politically appointed by the Trump administration, they get to review all of them and they could easily reverse these. But what these decisions do tell us is that the rank and file over and over again is looking at this policy to throw out fellow service members and saying, no, we don't agree. We think these people should stay.

KEILAR: They're not on board. And what kind of patterns did you find across service branches?

[14:20:00]

PHILIPPS: Yeah, this is really interesting because not all the branches are behaving the same. So the first branch to start doing this back in the winter was the Army, and they discharged almost everybody, 95 percent, maybe higher than that.

But that was early on, and that has started to shift, where the Army's seeing now more people getting retained. The Navy and the Marine Corps started this summer. Well, this summer, the attitudes in the military have been very different.

We've been now in a war with Iran that has no clear ending or end goal. We've had a number of high-profile circumstances where troops' day-to-day needs haven't been well taken care of. And some of people I talked to said, you know, maybe that is giving license to these boards to realize, like, hey, we're not necessarily under a leadership that has our best interests in mind, and we may need to stick up for these folks.

Now, these boards are, like you said, they're secret. I don't get to talk to the board members, not even the people who go to the board's spouses are allowed to be in there. So we don't know what their reasoning is. The Pentagon wouldn't let me interview them.

But what we do know is that since this summer, more and more, these Marine and Navy boards and even a few in the Army are starting to say, no, we are going to vote against this policy and let these folks stay.

KEILAR: And real quick, Dave, how many trans troops are actually serving currently, do we know?

PHILIPPS: This is a really small number, 4,200-ish. That comes out to about a tenth of a percent of the force. So -- and many of them already have left voluntarily. So the people that we're talking about is in the hundreds. But again, the military won't tell us. They won't tell us how many people are being sent to these boards. So we just have to try and guess. But it's small.

KEILAR: Very interesting reporting. Dave Philipps, thank you so much for being with us.

PHILIPPS: Thanks for having us on.

KEILAR: An experimental melanoma vaccine cut the risk of the cancer returning by more than 40 percent. What we're learning about this potential new treatment, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:26:58]

KEILAR: Now, promising new results in the fight against cancer, a late-stage clinical trial found that adding an experimental vaccine to immunotherapy reduced the risk of melanoma returning or death by 42 percent compared with immunotherapy alone. CNN's Meg Tirrell has more on what this could mean for cancer treatment.

MEG TIRRELL, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, this is potentially an entirely new way of treating cancer. And this trial, of course, was in melanoma, which is a deadly form of skin cancer. And it is in patients who'd had their cancer surgically removed and then typically they're given what's called adjuvant therapy to try to keep their cancer from coming back.

Right now, the standard of care for that is drugs like Keytruda, which is an immunotherapy drug, which is a class of medicines that really was revolutionary when they were approved just a little more than a decade ago. But the goal is to improve on that still further because cancer does sometimes come back in these patients with melanoma.

And so what they're using here is a personalized mRNA cancer vaccine. And it uses the same technology as the COVID vaccine, but what they do is they sequence the genetic signature of patients' tumors after they're removed, and they design a vaccine specifically to target that cancer. They give the patient that mRNA cancer vaccine and the goal is to sort of soup up the immune response so that it can better recognize the cancer and better fight it on top of Keytruda by itself.

And so we had seen back in August that this clinical trial succeeded, but we didn't know how well the therapy worked, and that's what we are now seeing. So they're saying that when this experimental vaccine is given on top of Keytruda, it reduces the risk that cancer comes back after surgery or that patients die by 42 percent compared with Keytruda alone.

And doctors are telling me that is a really major step forward, both in this cancer type, but then there's the hope of course that it'll work for other cancers as well. I spoke with Dr. Michael Postow, who is at Memorial Sloan Kettering. He's a melanoma specialist, and he says he's very excited for applications in melanoma, but also potentially for other cancers. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. MICHAEL POSTOW, MEMORIAL SLOAN KETTERING CANCER CENTER: This is an approach about boosting a patient's immune system for their cancer. And it could in theory be any cancer. The way that this vaccine is made by looking at differences in a patient's tumor from the rest of the cells in their body, and administering it to them in a shot is potentially applicable for patients with all different types of cancer.

(END VIDEO CLIP) TIRRELL: Now, there are clinical trials underway for other cancer types including lung cancer and pancreatic cancer. And of course, we need to see the data and see that it can actually work in those cancers. But doctors are tremendously excited for what this potentially means, and they say in melanoma, if all goes well with applying for regulatory approval, this could potentially be on the market as soon as next year.

KEILAR: Wow. Meg Tirrell, thank you so much.

As inflation remains a top issue for midterm voters, oil and gas prices just keep rising. We'll take a closer look when we come back.

Also ahead, why one particular group is losing faith in President Trump's economy.

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