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Trump, Harris Give Final Pitches With 9 Days Left In Race; Israeli Warplanes Breached Iranian Airspace During Strikes; Harris Delivers Remarks In Battleground Pennsylvania; Western North Carolina Schools Reopen Nearly A Month After Hurricane; Pilot Program Provides Kits With Newborn Essentials For Moms In Need. Aired 4-5p ET

Aired October 27, 2024 - 16:00   ET

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

[16:00:00]

RAHEL SOLOMON, CNN HOST: 2024 presidential campaign, just nine days until the election, CNN's brand new Poll of Polls shows the race for the White House remains a virtual tie.

Today both candidates are pulling out all the stops to pull in voters. Soon Trump will speak at a rally in his hometown as he campaigns in the iconic Madison Square Garden in New York City. Meantime, his political rival, Vice President Kamala Harris is campaigning in battleground Pennsylvania. That's where she will speak at a campaign event any moment as well.

And instead of holding a big rally in an arena, she's making several stops in Philly's black and Latino neighborhoods and targeting male voters.

We have a team of correspondents covering today's election developments. Priscilla Alvarez is with the Harris campaign. She is in Philly. But let's begin with Kristen Holmes. She's at that Trump rally in Madison Square Garden.

So, Kristen, talk to us a bit about what's it like there, set the stage. What are you seeing? And what can we expect?

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, right now, Rahel, we are listening to Rudy Giuliani speak. Obviously once America's mayor, mayor of New York City. Since then he has had his own decline and legal issues, most recently, that he was ordered to give overall valuables and his penthouse apartment to some of the Georgia election workers that he had defamed.

But what we're seeing really at this rally overall is that they're treating this like a second RNC. Like a Donald Trump homecoming. They have filled almost every seat here. It's about 20,000 seats at Madison Square Garden. Then they are treating this as a celebration, really a kickoff of the last week of campaigning ahead of the election.

Keep in mind, New York is a solid blue state. If you talk to any of Trump's senior advisers or Republicans, they don't believe Donald Trump is going to win this state. So that's not why he's here, although the former president himself has said he thinks he has a chance of winning. They're here instead to kind of mark the end of this campaign.

Now we have been told that Donald Trump is going to make part of his closing pitch here, that he is looking forward, that Kamala Harris is looking backward, but it's also so Donald Trump. So we take a lot of that with a grain of salt. We'll wait and see what he actually says when he takes the stage.

The other big part of this to know is that this is going to serve as one of the largest fundraisers for the former president that we've seen yet. They have been selling packages for the last several weeks that include VIP suites, meeting with Donald Trump, a roundtable, photo opportunity for him, and they are planning on raising quite a bit money from this. So overall, that's what they'll get out of it.

But for the former president himself, it's something that he has wanted to do for a long time. It serves as sort of a homecoming. Even the people closest to him, they were working on this for months. They did not think it was going to happen, particularly given the politics of New York City. They just thought there were going to be too much of a hurdle to climb. But here we are today.

And of course well keep an ear to the ground listening to Donald Trump to see what he says and what he really remarks on, what he focuses on, as we head into this final week before election day.

SOLOMON: OK. Kristen Holmes, live for us there at MSG. Kristen, thank you.

Let's go now to Priscilla Alvarez, who is with the Harris campaign in Philadelphia.

So, Priscilla, talk to us a little bit about what we've seen from Harris's campaign today in terms of the stops that she's made in Philly. Last hour, we saw her talking with a group of kids in that Philadelphia Youth Basketball Center, I believe it's in north Philly. Talk to us about what we've seen so far today.

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, the vice president has been blitzing around the Philadelphia area in what is of course a crucial state for her campaign, Pennsylvania. This of course part of the blue wall states, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Michigan, which the campaign is trying to lock in ahead of election day.

Now part of that, too, means shoring up support among her coalition. So her stops today have in part been intended to court black and Latino voters. She started the day at a church service at a predominantly black church. She then went to a barbershop for a moderated conversation followed by a bookstore. And then here at this community center, she met with young basketball players and this was their message to her.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAMALA HARRIS (D), VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'm so proud of you, guys. I just love seeing our young leaders, and the coach has been telling me about how well you guys are doing and how hard you're working, and how disciplined you all are, and how smart you are. And, you know, the reason I do what I do is because of you all. And when I look at you, I know the future of our country is so bright.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALVAREZ: Now over the course of her stops here in Philadelphia, her message has been that Pennsylvania is the path to victory and she's also given some glimpses into her closing argument. That includes, for example, bringing in a new generation of leadership. It's something she has said multiple times on the campaign trail, will also be part of her closing but also trying to draw a stark contrast with former president Donald Trump, including, for example, appealing to a Puerto Rico, who make a big bloc of the voters here in Pennsylvania.

And also part of that message includes, according to sources I've talked to, the contrasting list.

[16:05:01]

We've heard this from the vice president a few times. We expect it's going to be featured quite prominently over the next several days, which is essentially saying that she has a to-do list for Americans compared to the former president's, quote, "enemies list." So she tries to cast him as obsessed with revenge.

Now, the vice president also planning to lean in on reproductive freedom. She did that on Friday in Houston, Texas. She started off the year actually on this very issue and so this is also going to be a big one going into these next closing days. But certainly her coming to Pennsylvania for what is to kick off really the final week of the election is notable because it is telling of the campaign strategy and how still they see the blue wall as their surest way to victory -- Rahel.

SOLOMON: Now, we've also seen, as you point out, Priscilla, the focus on reproductive rights, but also really leaning into star power that she has access to. We saw former first lady Michelle Obama, for example, speaking at that Harris rally about reproductive rights, talk to us a little bit about what her message was and what we heard.

ALVAREZ: Yes, I talked to a senior campaign official about these events that include celebrities and what they told me is that they're going to use every tool at their disposal and that includes bringing in the star power to amplify their message. And more importantly, for them, mobilize voters. The former first lady Michelle Obama, part of that as she joined the vice president in Michigan.

Now, she had pretty long remarks where she focused extensively on reproductive freedom but she also spoke to the criticisms that the vice president has been facing and essentially casting them as unfair. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHELLE OBAMA, FORMER FIRST LADY: So I hope you'll forgive me if I'm a little frustrated that some of us are choosing to ignore Donald Trump's gross incompetence while asking Kamala to dazzle us at every turn.

I hope that you'll forgive me if I'm a little angry that we are indifferent to his erratic behavior, his obvious mental decline, his history as a convicted felon. A known slum lord, a predator found liable for sexual abuse. All of this while we pick apart Kamala's answers from interviews that he doesn't even have the courage to do, you all.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALVAREZ: Now the Harris campaign plans to bring out a host of other celebrities over the next several days. Again, their focus is to energize and mobilize voters -- Rahel.

SOLOMON: OK. Priscilla Alvarez live for us there in Philly, thank you. Kristen Holmes who's in New York, Kristen, thank you as well.

And joining me now to talk more about the race for the White House is Margaret Talev. She is a senior contributor for Axios.

Margaret, good to see you again. So we're less than about an hour from Trump's rally at Madison Square Garden. What's your sense of this? I mean, do you think this is just an opportunity for Trump to create buzz in his hometown, a bucket list as it's been called, the bucket list item, or is this an effective way to reach voters in swing states who may just tune in to see what will happen?

MARGARET TALEV, SENIOR CONTRIBUTOR, AXIOS: Well, the latter is certainly true, and Rahel, I think, you know, in the old days, you would think about local news coverage as being really important to a local rally in a battleground state. But as the availability of local news has declined, increasingly people get their information about presidential elections, even in their own hometown from national media, whether it's on social media, whether it's cable TV or a digital news organization.

And so the reality is, if you can pack 20,000 people into an arena, he will try to do or if you can put 20,000 people on the Ellipse as we're going to see Vice President Harris do in a few days, that is going to become a big story. It's going to generate a lot of headlines and people in other states in Florida and North Carolina and, you know, Arizona will also be seeing that coverage. And I think a huge part of former president Trump's strategy is not just in the culture wars space, but is in the pop culture space.

His ability to do kind of TV scale events, "Apprentice" like productions, he thinks really speaks to his base and people think, well, anyone who could pack Madison Square Garden, you know, must have a big following. I think that's part of what you're seeing here.

SOLOMON: Yes. At least if you're thinking about the two campaigns today, Harris is taking a different approach. Instead of holding a big rally in an arena, we've seen her all day practically making these stops in Philly, at smaller venues, meeting smaller groups of black and Latino voters, whether it's a barbershop, whether it's a basketball center. These more intimate campaign events. Margaret, what do you make of the contrast?

TALEV: Well, I think today what she's really trying to do is focus on this essential voting bloc in the essential battleground state, right, Pennsylvania and 19 electoral votes, about one out of 10 eligible voters in the state is African-American. But in Philadelphia and the greater areas surrounding Philadelphia it's something like four out of 10 registered voters are African-American.

[16:10:09]

It is a huge plurality and it is an essential vote not only for her to turn out, but for black men who are eligible to vote to convince them either to vote for her or not to vote for Donald Trump. So I think she's obviously swinging for the fences on the large events, too, you know, the Beyonce, the Michelle Obama, her plans in Washington, D.C. But on a day like today it is a pinpointed, very strategic vote that could be key to the turnout in this essential battleground state.

SOLOMON: Yes, as we see her in that video that just played there, she was standing beside the beside the black mayor of Philadelphia, Cherelle Parker, as you talk about sort of the importance of that vote in or that group in Philly.

The Harris campaign also seems to be taking a page, as you see here, out of the Trump playbook with a series of new campaign ads aimed at swaying male voters in cities like Philly. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Philly tough is different. They insult us.

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Bad things happen in Philadelphia. Bad things.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They don't like us. We don't care. Because here's the thing that people like Donald Trump don't understand. We feel it. (EXPLETIVE DELETED) Philly. And when you fight us, we fight back.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOLOMON: Margaret, this is really interesting because this isn't the good vibes that we've seen from the campaign. It does kind of speak to a Philly audience. I'm from Philly. I'll say it speaks to that Philly sort of attitude. But what do you think about this type of messaging this late in the campaign and whether it can be effective to pull some Trump or undecided male voters over to Harris's side?

TALEV: Yes. I mean, I think it shows a couple of things and one is this is not the campaign of joy that she rolled out during the convention week. This proves that candidates on both sides, you know, believe and know from experience that negative campaigning works. And this is a play at that. But also this is very different than what you would see from Joe Biden, who really has always sort of suggested, he's going to go old school and take the high road and believes in diplomacy and outreach across the aisle. She's saying, you know what, I'm going to meet Trump where he is and

I'm going for it. I'm going to proverbially (INAUDIBLE) him with voters. And so we'll see if it works. It's meant to appeal to male voters. It's also meant to appeal to younger voters, a different generation that doesn't really respond to kind of the old bipartisan big tent rules of campaigning.

SOLOMON: Yes, I think the ad actually aired in the Eagles game today. On Tuesday, we know, Margaret, that the vice president set to make her closing argument of this campaign on the Ellipse in Washington, D.C., the same location that the former president Donald Trump spoke on January 6th before that mob of his supporters storm the Capitol.

Margaret, what message do you see there? I mean, what message is her team trying to send with this campaign event just days before many Americans will head to the polls if they haven't voted already?

TALEV: Yes, it certainly foreshadows the idea that a reminder of January 6th and of the former president's still unwillingness to concede that election that he lost four years ago and efforts to block President Biden from becoming the election, efforts to convince people that Biden didn't really win. This is certainly a hat tip to that. It's going to be a reminder to people of that and to say if you elect him again, all of that could happen again.

But it's also, the Ellipse is right behind the White House and it's her way of saying, look, I'm here, I am presidential metal. I am already governing. We'll see if people respond on both fronts. I think a lot of people want to hear about her and about what she's going to do about inflation. But this will hit a certain audience and for both candidates there are so much culture war campaigning right now, whether it's president -- former president Trump's anti-transgender ads on football games, or Vice President Harris, you know, going to the Ellipse to make the January 6th argument.

Everyone -- voters say they want to hear about the economy. We're going to see a lot of culture wars and cultural kind of stoking to turn out the final votes.

SOLOMON: Yes. Margaret Talev, great to have you today. Thank you.

TALEV: You too. Thanks.

SOLOMON: All right. Still to come, Egypt has just proposed a two-day Gaza ceasefire to exchange four Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners. Coming up, we're going to have the very latest on the Middle East conflicts right after this.

[16:15:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SOLOMON: Welcome back. And new today, more details are emerging in the wake of Israel's direct attack on Iran. Sources now tell CNN that some Israeli warplanes actually breached Iranian airspace during Saturday's operation. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says that Iran's defenses were, quote, "severely damaged" during the attacks. Iran's president saying today that his country does not seek a war with Israel, but vowed that a, quote, "appropriate response" -- vowed, quote, "for an appropriate response."

Now, despite the escalations for the first time in more than two months, top-level negotiators are coming back to the table, working on a potential Gaza ceasefire and hostage deal.

Let's bring in CNN's Jim Sciutto, who is live in Jerusalem.

So, Jim, talk to us a little bit about what you're hearing from your sources about Israel's capability to enter Iranian airspace, like we saw on Saturday.

[16:20:05]

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: That's right, Rahel. Sources tell me that as part of this elaborate and quite largescale attack by Israel on Iran involving some 100 warplanes, that some of those Israeli jets breached Iranian airspace to carry out these attacks. Not all of them, many fired from a distance, but some breached the airspace.

We already knew that it was a multi-level of attack that included taking out air defenses, not just in Iran but also in Iraq and Syria, and then striking multiple targets inside Iran, including around the Iranian capital Tehran. So it's a long-range attack. It's an elaborate attack. It required refueling in the air given the distances from Israel to Iran, and that shows you Israel's capabilities, which, by the way, might very well be part of the messaging here, right, from Israel to Iran to say, here's what we struck for now, largely military targets, but we have the capability of striking more, even potentially nuclear sites or oil facilities.

And a short time ago I spoke to a former spokesperson for the IDF who said that that was quite explicitly part of the message here, to show, one, that Israel is capable of these strikes and that it took out defensive positions, that it could take advantage of in the future. And that is, it just shows you, Rahel, that while this phase of this war may have passed for now, it's certainly hasn't closed off the possibilities of further strikes that would expand the direct confrontation between Israel and Iran.

SOLOMON: Yes. And Jim, I mean, as the Israel-Iran conflict goes on, Israeli forces continue their military operations in northern Gaza against Hamas. What's the latest there?

SCIUTTO: Listen, it's still a deadly battle on both sides. You hear every day virtually of multiple casualties in Gaza, including, among them civilians. But it's also a deadly operation for Israeli forces. The IDF confirmed today that an Israeli soldier died from injuries sustained in fighting in Gaza. They also announced today that five more Israeli soldiers died in fighting in southern Lebanon.

So this operation in Lebanon, which you'll remember began a number of weeks ago, described as limited, has proven to be not quite so limited in recent weeks. You have a significant number of Israeli ground forces in southern Lebanon moving forward and encountering serious resistance. And that's of course in addition to the air campaign that's still underway in Lebanon, striking targets across the country.

This is a multifront war, Rahel, in Gaza, in Lebanon, in Iran, strikes in Syria and Iraq as well, and there was even a strike a number of weeks ago by Israel inside Yemen. So it's a multi-front war and it's not clear that any of those fronts is this really calming down.

SOLOMON: Yes. And what about, Jim, within Israel's borders. I mean we saw a pair of attacks inside Israel today. One, it was a truck ramming a military base near Tel Aviv. Another an attempted stabbing in Jerusalem. What are you hearing about those and is it clear if any of those were in response to Israel's attack on Iran?

SCIUTTO: What we don't know. Of course this truck that you're seeing there that rammed into a bus stop and injured a number of people and killed one, being described by Israeli authorities as a terrorist attack, it did happen after those strikes in Iran, not clear that it was connected to that. But I'll tell you. This is my fourth time in Israel since the October 7th attacks. And one thing I've noticed is that attacks inside Israel have been increasing.

When I was here last time, you may remember there was that shooting by the tram station, killed half a dozen people. On my previous trip, there was a suicide bomber in Tel Aviv whose explosive blew up before he was apparently able to reach his target. You have this attack using a vehicle and you had the stabbing attack as well as others. It shows that terror attacks inside this country, perhaps in response to the military activity we've seen in Gaza and elsewhere, are increasing in number, that the threat here is one that had been forgotten gotten for some time. Those attacks have been fewer and further between.

But again, I think you could reasonably describe that as another front in this war, right? And a front in this broader war that is certainly not cooling down at least, and it appears to be getting hotter.

SOLOMON: Yes. Absolutely. Jim Sciutto, live for us there. Jim, thank you.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

SOLOMON: All right. Still ahead for us Californians already heading to the polls. Early in-person voting is now underway. We're alive outside a polling station coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:29:14]

SOLOMON: Welcome back. I want to take you to the campaign trail in Philadelphia where Vice President Kamala Harris has just started speaking before a crowd. Let's listen together.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) HARRIS: Speaker McClinton, thank you. Representatives Dean and Scanlon, thank you. And let's send Bob Casey back to the United States Senate. And to all the community and elected leaders here, I thank you. I had a chance to visit with many of you this afternoon. I thank you for the leadership you provide in so many ways.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We love you.

HARRIS: And I love you back. I love you back. So to everyone here, I thank you. I thank you because you have taken time this afternoon, this Sunday afternoon, out of your busy lives for us to all be here together under one roof to make the point that we are all in this together.

[16:30:11]

And we are all here together because we also understand how high the stakes are at this very moment.

Philly, we've got nine days, nine days, nine days left in one of the most consequential elections of our lifetime. And we know this is going to be a tight race until the very end. So, we have a lot of work ahead of us. But we like hard work. Hard work is good work. Hard work is joyful. And make no mistake, we will win. We will win. We will win. We will win.

And we will win, because here's how I think about it. When you know what you stand for, you know what to fight for. And this election is about two extremely different --

SOLOMON: Okay, we've just been listening to Vice President Kamala Harris speaking there in Philadelphia, where she has spent the greater part of her day reaching different voting blocs, Hispanic men, black men in Philadelphia, these small campaign events. This was one of her larger events.

She just started speaking a few moments ago, but what we did hear is her start to outline what she says is the contrast. She talks about how consequential this election is. She says that there is a lot of work ahead of us. There is a lot of hard work ahead of us, but we like hard work, something we have obviously heard her say before.

We'll continue to keep one ear on that. But in the meantime I want to get to early voting, which is underway in California with nine days ago before Election Day. Voters there are not only choosing the next president but also a successor for the late senator, Dianne Feinstein. It's the state's first Senate race without an incumbent running since 2016.

Let's bring in CNN's Julia Vargas Jones, who joins us live from Cypress, California. So, what have you heard so far, Julia, as you've been speaking to early voters in Orange County?

JULIA VARGAS JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, they're keenly aware, Rahel, of the importance of their vote in this election, which is not something you usually hear in California. For the seat -- to replace the seat of Dianne Feinstein, they have to choose between Representative Adam Schiff of California, of Burbank, California, and a former baseball star of the L.A. Dodgers, Steve Garvey, a Republican. But it's here in the 45th district, this is one of the most watched races, one of the closest races for the House. It could be one of the state's most competitive and determine whether Democrats or Republicans take control of the House.

The incumbent here is a Republican. She's running for a third term. It's Michelle Steel. She's being challenged by a Democrat, Derek Tran.

Now, this district is about 40 percent Asian-American after a redistricting happened in 2020 and also 30 percent Hispanic. Now, we spoke to one of those Hispanic voters earlier about why they came to vote early and some of the most important issues they care about. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JONES: Why vote early versus coming here on Election Day?

ANSELMO FELICIANO, RETIRED TEACHER: Well, that way if anything happens on Election Day, like I have an accident or something, then I know my ballot's going to be taken care of. I don't have to worry about it. Now I'm retired, it's not as big a deal, but when you're working, it's a little bit bigger of a deal.

I'm particularly worried about the Senate and the House to make sure that they get on the side I want. I'm a Democrat. And then also, you know, the propositions.

Democracy is probably the biggest one, and that kind of tells what I'm worried about.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JONES: And, Rahel, we've seen people come in and out here throughout the day, but yesterday, officials say about 300 people came to vote at this location.

SOLOMON: Okay, Julia Vargas Jones in California. Julia, thank you. We're going to take a short break and we'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:35:00]

SOLOMON: Welcome back. Nearly a month after Hurricane Helene washed out roads and sent water rushing through North Carolina towns, some schools in hard-hit Buncombe County are restoring power and water and students are getting ready to go back to class.

CNN's Rafael Romo joins us now. So, Raphael, you were there, you saw the damage first hand in North Carolina. What are you hearing now about the reopening plans? RAFAEL ROMO, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Rahel. Well, what we have learned from local school officials is that this is not going to be quite back to normal, but a slow, gradual reopening process that takes into account the fact that this is a community that is still recovering from an unprecedented natural disaster.

In the city of Asheville, classes resume Monday, but on a modified schedule and no after school programs, Asheville City School Superintendent Maggie Furman told CNN this morning that none of their schools were damaged in the storm and all have power, internet and running water. Asheville is in Buncombe County but operates an independent city school system. Buncombe County students went back to school Friday. Schools are on a two-hour delay and drinking water is being delivered just as Asheville schools are doing because what's coming out of the pipes is not yet safe for drinking.

[16:40:07]

Now, North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper reminded people over the weekend that Helene was the deadliest and most devastating storm ever to hit North Carolina, killing at least 98 people. More than 100,000 people had their homes damaged, the governor said, and thousands of businesses that were damaged have yet to reopen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. ROY COOPER (D-NC): They're going to need our help collectively. They're going to need local government, state government, the federal government, the private sector, the volunteers, the nonprofits, all pulling together so that Western North Carolina can build back in a stronger way, more resilient way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

And, Rahel, Governor Cooper also said the total damage caused by the storm is estimated at, listen to this, $53 billion. He made those remarks at a press conference before the beginning of a concert, a benefit concert, highlighting some of country music's biggest stars, like North Carolina natives Eric Church and Luke Combs and others like Sheryl Crow and Keith Urban. All proceeds from the concert will be used for storm relief efforts. Rahel?

SOLOMON: Yes, it's a big price tag. Hopefully, it all helps. Rafael Romo, thank you.

Well, coming up for us, a new government program is providing crucial support to new mothers. How it's helping to support the health of mothers and babies in vulnerable communities.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:45:00]

SOLOMON: Welcome back. More families are struggling to afford basic items for their newborn babies, like diapers, creams, and other expenses. But a new pilot program, inspired by a similar one in Finland, is aiming to lower the cost and financial stress for new mothers.

CNN Correspondent Sunlen Serfaty has more now.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was completely surprised.

SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Jerrica Neal's (ph) unplanned home birth --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I caught him. He was born in the bathroom.

SERFATY: -- led to a chaotic first few days becoming a mother of two much earlier than she expected.

It was this kit given to her at their first pediatrician appointment in Atlanta that alleviated stress at a crucial time for her family.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I felt like I was a kid getting a bag from Santa Claus. I was just pulling out stuff here and there. Having it in one place, it was a lifesaver.

SERFATY: Neal is one of the nearly 10,000 women across ten states in high need areas who have received a newborn kit since 2023 as part of a pilot program from the U.S. government, filled with diapers, clothes among a wealth of other items, including education for the new mom.

XAVIER BECERRA, SECRETARY OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES: This is more about investing, supporting the mom than it is the baby.

SERFATY: New data exclusive to CNN suggests the test run of the program has brought overwhelming benefits to new moms in the U.S. over the last two years. 97 percent of moms said they were satisfied or extremely satisfied with their kit. Two-thirds reported feeling less anxious and two-thirds felt less stressed about money. The HHS secretary hopes this data will help spur Congress to act.

BECERRA: Raising a family is not a partisan issue. Helping a child succeed is as red as it is blue. And I think Congress will take a look at this program and say, it makes total sense and it's working.

SERFATY: The program was born out of an almost public dragging online.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's designed to give every child for the first six months of its life all the essentials that you need.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What?

SERFATY: With baby kits, which for decades have been given away to new moms in Finland, among other countries, going viral.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You all, I got it. This is the famous finish baby box.

SERFATY: Amplified by moms in the U.S. shocked and mad over what other countries provide for their new moms that they don't get here in America.

The U.S. heard and teamed up with governments like Sweden, which has seen success in its program to create their own version after partnering with nonprofits in the diaper company, Huggies.

LYRIC SANDERS, NEW MOTHER: I do feel like most moms deserve to have that because everybody can't afford to have a baby shower.

SERFATY: Lyric Sanders in Birmingham, Alabama, says it helped her financially, and perhaps most importantly, mentally, in hopes the program will become permanent.

SANDERS: It made me feel like there was somebody out there that, hey, knew what I was going through and they thought about me and it helped.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SERFATY (on camera): But keeping this program permanent will meet some major investment from Congress. On Capitol Hill, there's been some bipartisan momentum around this. A group of members in the House has introduced a bill that would appropriate $5 million over the next five years to create a new national program. But there's been no firm movement on this yet.

Sunlen Serfaty, CNN, New York.

SOLOMON: And still to come for us, how space travel affects the human body. An exclusive look at the health checks that the four astronauts on SpaceX's Polaris Dawn crew underwent right after returning to Earth.

And a programming note, a CNN film documenting the 18 turbulent months inside what many expect will be the most consequential election of the history of the United States, all from the vantage point of one of the most influential voices of the Democratic Party, James Carville.

[16:45:04]

Here's a preview.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JAMES CARVILLE, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Age is something that everybody deals with. If you're like me, you're dealing with it, as we speak. If you're a younger person, you deal with it through your parents or your grandparents or somebody down the street. You can't pivot from that.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I've heard James on the phone saying, what if I stop saying he's old, he's going to get younger? I mean, it's not going to (INAUDIBLE). And I'm very pro-age. I love that James is going to be 80 and still whippersnapping around, but he quits teaching at LSU because it was too hard to drive to Baton Rouge. Imagine being president at that age.

CARVILLE: I am very comfortable that I am saying publicly what people are saying to themselves. I have enough money. I have enough whatever. I could just shut the (BLEEP) up.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: James is nothing if not consistent. He's consistent in his boldness, consistent in his willingness to say things that his allies might not want to hear. James is saying the flames are coming out of the engine. The plane is going down and we're all just watching it happen.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SOLOMON: CNN film, Carville, Winning is Everything, Stupid, replays tonight at 9:00 P.M. Eastern on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:55:00]

SOLOMON: Welcome back. SpaceX is studying how commercial space travel is impacting the human body. Last month, crew members on the SpaceX Polaris Dawn made history by completing the first all civilian spacewalk. CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta spoke to them about the health issues they faced on their mission.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Engine ignition and liftoff of the Polaris Dawn mission on the Falcon 9 rocket.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): In September, the four crew members of the Polaris Dawn mission made history.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Welcome to orbit.

GUPTA: -- by going to the highest levels of orbit in nearly 60 years and performing the first all civilian spacewalk.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Commander Jared Isaacman now emerging.

GUPTA: Jared, is commercial space travel a looming reality for most people?

JARED ISAACMAN, POLARIS DAWN MISSION COMMANDER: I certainly think so. A great proof point is while we were in orbit, there were 19 people in orbit at once, which was a record. And three years ago when I went to space for the first time, the record was 14. Now, these may seem like small numbers, but they're steps in the right direction.

GUPTA: But to keep moving in the right direction, there is still so much to overcome. ANNA MENON, POLARIS DAWN MEDICAL OFFICER: About 60 percent of people flying to space are afflicted by space motion sickness. This really hits you for the first few days.

GUPTA: Anna Menon was the mission's medical officer.

Can you give us some details? What did you experience?

MENON: There can be a whole spectrum of experience, from, you know, lightheadedness, nausea, all the way to vomiting. I experienced really the whole gamut.

GUPTA: It's because of the lack of gravity that messaging to our brains can go awry. And that can result in motion sickness-like side effects. But you should also know that the brain physically changes during space travel. Look here. It shifts up ever so slightly in the skull, and the fluids surrounding and protecting the brain expand.

SCOTT POTEET, POLARIS DAWN MISSION PILOT: It's a very austere environment. We're all going to be susceptible to something. For me, it was kind of this mild headache that I had to deal with that was perpetual for a majority of the mission.

GUPTA: Scott Poteet was the mission's pilot. What he noticed were changes in his vision.

POTEET: More or less, my vision acuity started to deteriorate those first few days, but immediately came back once I came back to Earth.

DR. DONNA ROBERTS, DEPUTY CHIEF SCIENTIST, INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION: 50 to 70 percent of astronauts, after spending periods of time on the International Space Station, have degradation in their vision.

GUPTA: Dr. Donna Roberts has spent more than 20 years with NASA trying to understand why symptoms like that occur.

ROBERTS: We've been analyzing MRI brain scans of astronauts that were obtained before they went into space and then some time after they landed back on Earth.

GUPTA: What you're seeing is an exclusive look at the post-flight health data collection the Polaris team underwent, testing everything from their balance and their vision, as well as the imaging of their brains.

ROBERTS: One of the unique aspects of this mission is the astronauts went deeper into space than astronauts have been since the Apollo days and more exposure to radiation. And so the question could have been, was there any evidence of radiation injury? And we're not seeing that on the initial look at these images. So, that's a really good thing.

GUPTA: Do you think we're getting to the point where humans could reliably live on a space station or even a different planet?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There's so much that changes when you're actually in microgravity. That's not how we evolved. But I think that really just underscores the importance to me of the research we are doing, the data we're collecting that can then feed into how do we solve some of these challenges, how do we, you know, enables so many more people to get to space.

GUPTA: It's that sort of research and data that might lead to another giant leap for mankind.

[17:00:00]

Dr Sanjay Gupta, CNN, reporting.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SOLOMON: And our thanks to Dr. Sanjay Gupta there. And thank you for joining me today. I'm Rahel Solomon.

CNN Newsroom continues with Jessica Dean right now.