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Erin Burnett Outfront
Primary Night In Six States; Iowa Senate Flip?; Outrage Over DNI Pick. Aired 7-8p ET
Aired June 02, 2026 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[19:00:30]
ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: OUTFRONT next:
It's election night in America. Millions of voters casting ballots in six states, the biggest primary night of the year. Poll's about to close and we will bring you the results.
Plus, he thinks he's got a chance to flip a Senate seat blue in Iowa. It's 20 years since that's happened. He's on the ballot tonight, and he's our guest.
An outrage from both parties as Trump taps a mortgage guy with zero intel or foreign affairs experience to be the acting director of national intelligence. Why did Trump pick somebody with no resume or experience on the issue?
Let's go OUTFRONT.
(MUSIC)
BURNETT: And good evening, I'm Erin Burnett and welcome to this special edition of OUTFRONT on this Tuesday. It's a primary night and it is election night in America.
And we are standing by for the first polls to close tonight in the biggest night of the primaries so far. Millions of people are voting in six states coast to coast. Polls are closing in New Jersey, Iowa, Montana, New Mexico, South Dakota, and California in these next hours, and so many big stories tonight.
Democrats are hoping to flip a ruby red Senate seat blue in a state that Trump won three times, but it's now up for grabs.
And of course, there's California, where voters are casting final ballots in one of the most unsettled governor's races in history, also the most expensive governor's race on record. The primary has easily passed a quarter billion dollars in ad spending, a quarter billion dollars -- 315 million, in fact, according to Ad Impact.
There are 61 candidates running. One of them happens to be a billionaire spending a lot of money, so that skewed the whole thing. The top two winners are going to go head-to-head in November, which likely means that two of these three, Xavier Becerra, Biden's former HHS secretary, who has a lot of support from moderate Democrats; Tom Steyer, the billionaire Democrat I referenced; and Steve Hilton, a Republican and former Fox News host who has Trump's backing.
Like I said, probably two of those three, we'll see, final votes being cast.
As we are also watching the race for Los Angeles mayor, where reality TV star Spencer Pratt, running as a Republican, is battling the incumbent Democrat Karen Bass. Pratt trying to paint her as a communist.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SPENCER PRATT (R), LOS ANGELES MAYORAL CANDIDATE: You want change, I want change. But a vote for a 5 percent candidate only maintains the failed status quo. A vote for Miller is a vote for Karen Bass. A vote for Miller is a vote for more homeless drug addicts, more potholes, more empty reservoirs when the wildfires hit your neighborhood. Right now the election is Spencer Pratt versus Karen Bass. It's common sense versus communism.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: So that is a big race.
And then there's another big story in Iowa. And that is where Democrats are hoping to flip that ruby red Republican Senate seat blue. The two men vying to become the first Democrat from Iowa elected to the Senate since 2008 are four-time Paralympian Josh Turek and State Senator Zach Wahls, who will join us later this hour.
And we are going to go first though to Kyung Lah live in Los Angeles. We've got Elex Michaelson in North Hollywood. We've got Jeff Zeleny in Des Moines.
Also here throughout the hour, you'll see a lot of them -- Paul Rieckhoff, Gretchen Carlson, Jamal Simmons, and S.E. Cupp. We're all here.
S.E. CUPP, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: We're all here.
BURNETT: And let's start with Kyung, as I said.
Kyung, you're in L.A. You're at Spencer Pratt's headquarters. And that race for the mayor of Los Angeles has gotten national attention. And the headquarters -- I'm just looking at where you are. It appears you're at a Mexican restaurant?
KYUNG LAH, CNN SENIOR INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT: Don Antonio's Mexican restaurant on the West Side. It is an unconventional evening for an unconventional candidate. We did eat here. I can confirm to you that the food here is quite good.
As far as what this headquarters is going to look like tonight. It's a little difficult to say because the campaign is running, as I said, an unconventional campaign, so not a traditional reach out to figure out what's happening this evening. But you can see some of the local press is getting together here. There's been a projector put up to sort of prep everybody for some sort of event here tonight.
But even the restaurant here isn't quite sure exactly how this is all going to go.
We've spent most of the day today at different polling places trying to talk to people about how unconventionally he is and why that is appealing to some and not to others and why this race is so close. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAFFA MESHULAN, LOS ANGELES VOTER: He's -- he's a human person. He's -- he lives here. He knows what goes on.
LAH: What do you think about Pratt's unconventional approach?
MESHULAN: I love it. I love it.
LAH: What is it that you love about it?
MESHULAN: He's another Trump.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I just want to see a change, that's all.
LAH: But not a Spencer Pratt.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Not the reality TV star, never held a job kind of change, yes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LAH: So how close is this race? The latest poll, Erin, shows that they are neck and neck. There is no clear winner. And a reminder that a lot of people are dropping off their ballots today. These ballots will all be counted. It could be days before there's something conclusive known -- Erin.
BURNETT: All right, Kyung, thank you very much.
Days before something conclusive is known is not a good thing. Let's just be honest here. We should be able to do better than that in the United States.
Okay, Gretchen, so it could be days before we know. And that -- I'm serious about what I said, but it is also, of course, when people start to complain and, you know, all sorts of rumors and machination gets involved. But Spencer Pratt has gained scene, you heard Kyung just describe it, as neck and neck.
How real do you think the momentum is?
Zach Wahls: I think it's very real. There's a ton of voter frustration out there in California. He was actually a victim of the wildfires, so that was what really ignited, no pun intended, ignited his campaign originally and his frustration with the system there. He's playing into the frustration of the homelessness problem and the drug problem. You know, I think -- I think it's, I think it's different than Trump
on the national scale, because that one person said that, Well, this is like Trump. I think how I would perceive that is not that it's exactly like Trump. It's like an outsider who's coming in but actually lives there and understands the circumstances. But it has not been in politics, which I think is still appealing to some people.
BURNETT: Right, I mean, that concept of change, he's positioning it as change versus communism. It's interesting, though, OK, the Trump factor in this. OK, because he's running as a Republican. Spencer Pratt is. And you've got Karen Bass is the incumbent Democrat.
And Trump loves Pratt. He's talked a lot about him recently. Here's a couple of things he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'd like to see him do well. He's a character. I don't know. I don't know him. I assume he probably supports me. Does he support me?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think so.
TRUMP: I think so. Yeah, I heard he does. I heard he's a big MAGA person. He's doing well.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Now what's interesting is maybe Spencer Pratt is aware that he's living in Los Angeles. And so, but then he got asked, you know, do you, I guess essentially, do you want his support? Do you want his endorsement? And here's what Spencer Pratt said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
INTERVIEWER: Do you want his endorsement?
PRATT: I don't need anyone's endorsement but mothers. That's who's getting me elected.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Mothers, yeah. You talked to him for your podcast.
CUPP: I did. I asked him very -- you know, I asked him those questions because I think they're fair questions. You know, I loved Spencer's story. He's a born and bred Angelino.
BURNETT: Yeah, I looked that up. He actually is from there.
CUPP: Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Born and raised.
And obviously, something awful happened to him and his parents. Both of their homes burned down. He watched a lot of his neighbors' homes burned down. He went looking for answers and found corruption and inefficiencies. and decided to run to solve a problem. I think that's exactly who should be running for higher office, not people who want to go and get famous or rich.
He's already infamous. He's got money. He really wanted to solve a problem. And he may prove me wrong later, but I'm going to believe him for now, because when we asked him about Trump and MAGA, and he said, I'm not falling for this. I am not running for national politics. I'm not running to fix anything but Los Angeles, and he's really stuck on that message.
And what I would say, because I know a lot of people on the left are like even mad that I had him on, what I would say to Democrats is, if you're mad at Spencer Pratt, be mad you didn't field a Spencer Pratt.
CARLSON: Exactly.
CUPP: Where's the Democrat's Spencer Pratt, who's going to come out and say what is obvious to anyone, which is that L.A. is in trouble, L.A. has overpaid the police union, L.A. hasn't paved street in over a year. L.A. has 9,000 street lamps that have gone unfixed because they don't have the money or the manpower.
I mean, Hollywood's driven out. You can't afford to live or work there. There's drugs, there's crime, there's homelessness. Anyone could say that, but Spencer did. And who did Democrats run? The sitting mayor.
I don't know why they're fighting so hard for the status quo.
BURNETT: Okay, so then what do you make of that? We're talking about Karen Bass, known nationally, obviously spent her time in Washington as well.
JAMAL SIMMONS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yeah, it's hard to beat an incumbent mayor inside will rally around that person. But S.E. is not wrong. There is a great hunger in the country, not just in California, for people who are going to do things differently, who are going to be kind of these outside figures who may go in and finally this time change something.
BURNETT: And acknowledge there's a problem.
SIMMONS: Acknowledge there's a problem.
BURNETT: As opposed to saying your eyes aren't seeing what they're seeing.
SIMMONS: Here's the problem for Pratt. There's no evidence he can do anything about this. There's no evidence he's qualified at all to actually go into a behemoth like the L.A. government and make any changes. That's probably the thing that he's running up against when he's going around the country.
BURNETT: And that is --
SIMMONS: People don't buy that he actually is the solution.
BURNETT: To that point, Karen Bass, okay, and Jamal saying, well, she decided she was going to run, so Democrats were stuck. But she took that issue head on, right? The whole sort of whatever Pratt wants to say, here's the reality, here's what she said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAYOR KAREN BASS (D), LSO ANGELES: It's not just that he has no experience in city government. I don't know that he's ever held a job in his life.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: I don't know that he's ever held a job in his life.
PAUL RIECKHOFF, FOUNDER & CEO, INDEPENDENT VETERANS OF AMERICA: People don't care. They are angry. And if you're not angry, you're not paying attention. They want vessels for their anger. They want somebody to run against all of it.
And the people who are going to be most effective are going to run against Trump and the Democrats and the system and the city government and all of it. And that's where Spencer Pratt sits. He's a vessel for the frustration and the anger that exists in Los Angeles, but it's a reflection broadly of the state as well.
And even what we saw with Mamdani here in New York. It's not just Republicans or Democrats. And keep in mind, independents can vote in the primary in California today. That means three million independents can vote. They can't vote in New Jersey. About 2.5 million are completely blocked out. But this is a truly open primary. And you're going to hear from everyone. And what everyone is united on is that they're angry and they want change.
BURNETT: So what does that mean, Gretchen, for the governor's race in California? That everybody can vote. And it's a jungle because there's 61 people. It's also a jungle because the two top advance. It doesn't matter what party they are. Okay?
And you've got three. that look like they're probably going to be two of those slots.
CARLSON: Yeah, and I think that the Democrats probably thought that was never going to happen in the race for mayor or the race for governor.
BURNETT: Because God knows, it's California.
CARLSON: California was so blue and has been for so long, and you just mentioned at the top of the show how long it's been since somebody has become a senator from California who would be a Republican. And Arnold Schwarzenegger, governor, 20-plus years ago, right?
BURNETT: Right, right.
CARLSON: So I think that this system will change if a Republican is number two in mayor or number one and number two for governor or number one after tonight. The system will probably change after that. But it's a reality of what Paul's saying, and I was going to use the
exact analogy of Mamdani on the other side. It's really about coming in to change what people are perceiving as a corrupt system that isn't working. And that's why I say it's so different from Trump, because these are people that are angry about their existence in their localities, not necessarily how they feel about the national scene, which I think is a whole different ball of wax.
RIECKHOFF: Seventy percent of people in California want open primaries, so I don't know if it will change. I think to call it jungle is kind of a slander. I mean, this is what democracy looks like. It might be messy, you might not get anything you want.
BURNETT: You want everybody to have a say.
RIECKHOFF: But this is a voter-driven primary. It's not a party-driven primary. And it's one of only three states in the country that are like that. And I think this is actually what the future looks like.
New Mexico is also voting today. Yes, New Mexico is now has a truly open primary. I think New Jersey, New York, those are the past because an overwhelming percentage of the young people are independent and unaffiliated. And they want to say in primaries and too often primaries determine the final outcome. We never get a vote.
SIMMONS: A month ago, you know, Democrats thought there was a chance you might get two Republicans that showed up at the end of that jungle primary that you're talking about. Now that doesn't look like it's going to happen, but what's probably going to happen is you'll have and you have a Republican that may come in second.
If that happens, that Republicans toast. In a year like this with Donald Trump as the major issue in the country for Democrats, Democrats will not flee. They will not flee the Democratic Party as a way to sort of put the brakes on Trump and Trumpism. So, it's actually going to really hurt Hilton.
CUPP: It's tough, because in California, it's really one of the few places you just can't blame Republicans for anything because they haven't been in power for a really long time.
BURNETT: Impossible to blame them, yes.
CUPP: L.A. or Sacramento. You can't.
So I do think you're -- if there were a year to get a Democratic governor-- a Republican governor, maybe a Republican mayor of L.A., it would be this year, because you really just can't. Whatever you think is wrong with California, it's Democrats' fault. Period, full stop.
Now, you can keep voting for Democrats because you think Republicans are worse, and that's -- you're right. But you can't blame Republicans. So I think this is the year that you could get a Republican.
RIECKHOFF: I think you're going to see more Democrats running against the Democratic Party, too. I mean, Trump is very unpopular, and so is the Democratic Party. And I think you're going to see both sides start to break with their party and appeal to the independents who are ultimately going to decide most.
CUPP: We're going to talk about Iowa, where that is.
BURNETT: Absolutely. We're going to talk about both of them.
And we are also standing by for polls to close in New Jersey. This is a really odd one because it's 2026 and there is a Republican congressman who has not been seen publicly in months in the state of New Jersey. That is for real.
This is -- you can't hide from anything these days. This guy, no one's seen him. He's running on a post. So what does this mean, and where is he?
Plus, Graham Platner, the Dems' best hope for unseating Republican Susan Collins in Maine, as Paul just mentioned, avoiding reporter questions today on Capitol Hill. He is now at the center of an extramarital sexting scandal. Is his campaign in big trouble? I mean, is there more coming?
And Trump's pick for acting director of national intelligence facing bipartisan backlash tonight, the pick has absolutely no intelligence experience.
[19:15:00]
Senators say it's not even clear that he has a security clearance. What the -- is going on?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BURNETT: Breaking news, there is bipartisan outrage tonight over something Trump did, which is naming the new person in charge of housing-- I'm sorry, the person in charge of housing and mortgages to be his new acting director of National Intelligence. That sounds like a really bizarre, you know, career shift, doesn't it?
Well, it is, because the mortgage guy does not have any national security experience. Zero.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN CORNYN (R-TX): I see no -- no evidence of any qualifications for that job.
[19:20:01]
SEN. PETER WELCH (D-VT): You're putting in a person whose qualification is he's blindly loyal to Trump.
SEN. THOM TILLIS (R-NC): I don't know of any national security experience he has. SEN. MARK WARNER (D-VA): The idea that President Trump picked this guy, I fear, to use all the information in the intelligence agencies to potentially go after Trump opponents.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: All right, everyone's back with me now.
And, S.E., so what we know about Bill Pulte, okay, if the name doesn't ring a bell to people, Pulte Group is the third largest home builder in the United States for residential homes, and it's a family. His grandfather founded it, then his father, so he's inherited that position. His grandfather helped him establish a private equity firm called Pulte Capital Partners, and then he ended up as Trump's mortgage guy.
So just to point -- absolutely no background in intelligence. Nobody's pretending this.
CUPP: I'm looking for the evidence that he has any qualifications. He has no military experience, no foreign policy experience, no national security experience.
BURNET: None. And doesn't pretend to.
CUPP: None. So you have to ask the obvious question. Why do you put someone with no relevant experience in a very sensitive, high-level post where they don't have that experience? Maybe it's not to do that job. Maybe that's not why he's going over there. Maybe he's going over there to do other stuff for Donald Trump, like go after his political opponents or maybe like rig some elections.
Clearly, he's in there not to do any kind of national security job, but to do other things for Donald Trump. And if I'm Congress, I want to ask what those things are.
BURNETT: So Paul, I mean, because what Pulte did, okay, while you're saying that, in his mortgage job was go after Trump's enemies on mortgage fraud. And by the way, using a standard that's not the legal standard for that. So even within the frame of that job, it wasn't done accurately.
CUPP: Successfully.
BURNETT: And in most cases, not successfully at all, right? Letitia James, Eric Adam Schiff, Fani Willis, they were all on the list, okay? And they referred them all for investigation.
So is that the resume we should be looking at?
RIECKHOFF: All of it is unacceptable. I mean, our enemies are celebrating. If I'm Vladimir Putin, I'm looking at this going, wow, it's a great day for me. You're putting this guy in charge of your intelligence operation.
And let's keep in mind, we have dedicated, heroic intelligence personnel across this country who deserve to be led by someone who is experienced and competent. You can say what you want about Tulsi Gabbard, but she'd been in the military, she served on the Armed Services Committee.
BURNETT: Yes.
RIECKHOFF: She might not be your cup of tea, but she was qualified on some level. I mean, she looked infinitely qualified compared to this guy.
It's absolutely unacceptable. Republicans need to draw a line and eliminate this from any consideration.
BURNETT: Will they?
CARLSON: Keep in mind that Trump has angered some Republicans now because of how he came after them in the primary. So we just heard from Senator Cornyn, and you have Senator Cassidy, who's also been ousted. You have Tom Tillis, who's retiring. And you have Rand Paul, who can tend to not be predictable on how he's going to vote about things.
I think after the slush fund situation, there is more energy now within Republicans to be able to say no to certain things. So I wouldn't be surprised.
And by the way, to your point, there are probably people sitting in those offices currently, even in the basement. that have more knowledge about what's going on with our national security than this guy coming in. I worry immensely about the enemy list. And to your point, S.E., that he's coming in there to do something else nefarious.
BURNETT: Right. And also, what does this do to all those people who spend their entire lives building careers and building the gravitas and the credibility that goes with that experience to be in the running for a job like this, and then you say, hey, you're worthless. We actually are going to celebrate the fact that this person is completely unqualified. That's the main reason they're in the job.
SIMMONS: Yeah, we are focused on Pulte, and really the problem is Donald Trump, right? Because Donald Trump is the one who hired him, and he's the one who's siccing his staff to go after his enemies list.
We have been dancing with this tiger ever since 9/11. We've been building up this huge national security infrastructure. It's gobbling up all the data that it can find, all the information about Americans that it can find. We've been betting that good people weren't going to do bad things with this infrastructure, and now we're at the point where that might not be the case.
When I got hired in the White House, I got in trouble with some of the Democrats because in 2015, I gave money to Rand Paul. I gave money to Rand Paul because he had a filibuster against the Patriot Act, and I wanted to say this was the right thing.
At some point, he was the only United States senator who stood up and said, maybe we should slow down before we continue to build this infrastructure. Now here we are with somebody who's who does not appear to be trying to use this infrastructure to protect us, but instead use it to punish Donald Trump's enemies.
BURNETT: Well, that's interesting. When you talk about Rand Paul, what you said, how is he going to vote on this?
All right, you also mentioned the $1.8 billion fund and how Dem-- Republicans, I'm sorry, stood up to Trump on that. So Todd Blanche, the acting attorney general, spoke about that today on Capitol Hill, and he, you know -- here he is. Let me just play it.
[19:25:03]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TODD BLANCHE, ACTING ATTORNEY GENERAL: Anytime the IRS settles with an individual taxpayer or another company as part of the settlement, it's standard. It's typical for -- to get rid of past ongoing audits. It's not a forward-looking document. It's nothing that gives any sort of immunity in the future to the president or his family or his organizations.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: So that was sort of the terms of the swap deal, right? That all the investigations, if anything in the past to Trump or his family, tax-wise, would go away.
CARLSON: And that's been my concern from the beginning when this whole announcement of the slush fund came out. And two weeks ago on air, I said, maybe this is what it's all about.
The whole idea that they get immunity from the IRS, because maybe they strategized that the slush fund would be so outrageous that even Republicans would say no to it, which is exactly what's happened, and that all the immediate attention would go to the slush fund.
And remember how they released the tax immunity after the first testimony?
BURNETT: Yeah.
CARLSON: So that there were no questions about it?
And now they're getting exactly what they want. Oh, yeah, we'll just blow up that slush fund.
BURNETT: So the slush fund went away.
CARLSON: But they still get immunity.
BURNETT: You're nodding.
RIECKHOFF: Yeah. I mean, good thing we're not paying out insurrectionists and domestic terrorists. That's a victory nowadays. But I think Gretchen's right about one thing. This is one of the first
things that I can remember where Republicans stopped Trump, or when the Senate stopped Trump on anything. I mean, they said they were drawing a line, and they couldn't stop him on Iran, they couldn't stop him on Venezuela, they probably can't stop him on Cuba, they haven't stopped him on the tariffs.
So I hope this is a new normal, where the Senate can actually show some backbone and stop Trump on anything. Now, he may have negotiated and gotten what he wanted, but I do think it's important that they were able to at least publicly give him a loss.
CUPP: But importantly, they stopped him -- it was political pressure.
RIECKHOFF: Yes.
CUPP: They believed, the Trump administration, that this was a legally sound thing to do, and they could have carried it across the legal threshold. They caved because of political pressure. That should be a key to all Senate and House Republicans. You can go after Donald Trump. He is a lame duck.
And guess what? He doesn't care about the midterms. He doesn't care about you. You have to save yourselves. This is how you do it.
BURNETT: All right.
SIMMONS: There's more of a caucus now that might do that. Mitch McConnell will tell us there are a few of them who are now saying, let's just slow down and let's see if they continue to stand up and at least put some common sense breaks on policy that most Americans probably aren't for.
BURNETT: We'll see.
All right. And we're going to take live to a polling place in California. Elex Michaelson is there. And as I said, we're in the final moments here of polls being open. Elex says voters are really motivated. So let's talk about turnout.
John King is also at the magic wall, so he'll be with us.
And I'll talk to a Democrat on the ballot tonight in Iowa who is hoping to pull off what Democrats have not been able to do since 2008. So we're talking almost 20 years as win a Senate seat in this state.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:32:29]
BURNETT: Breaking news, tight contest this hour playing out across the country, including in California, where Republican Spencer Pratt and Steve Hilton are right now trying to break through the state's Democratic stronghold. They are running as outsiders.
Elex Michelson is at a polling center in North Hollywood. Elex, this is a big day, okay? You've been talking to voters coming
through all day. We're in these, you know, coming to polls closing now.
What are you seeing? What's the enthusiasm? What's the turnout anecdotally?
ELEX MICHAELSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Anecdotally, we're seeing a lot of people come here. A lot of them seem to be motivated by the mayor's race a lot more than the governor's race. Strong opinions when it comes to the mayor's race.
This is a vote center. We've seen people voting here in person all day long. In California, every registered voter is mailed a ballot, so they have the opportunity to do that by mail, but some of them choose to come in person.
They want that sticker right there. We see this sticker. This is the "I voted" sticker, which of course is a badge of honor on this day.
We've seen a long line of people here all day long coming to North Hollywood, really a diverse cross-section of people that we've been talking to, including some voters here. We've seen a late surge in the polls for Tom Steyer, the billionaire who spent over $200 million on this race. We've seen his numbers in the last week start to creep up.
And we're seeing that in the people we talked to. Most of the people we talked to today are voting for Steyer, including these two gentlemen who we just met.
Gilbert, you're voting for Steyer. Why is that?
GILBERT AGUILAR, CALIFORNIA VOTER: I think we should definitely give him a chance, being that with everything that's going on right now. He has an actual agenda on how to get it done versus other people having really had people there to get it done. So that's the reason why I'm here.
MICHAELSON: Is your dog also supporting Steyer?
AGUILAR: Oh yeah, Steyer, right, Papa? This is milkshake.
MICHAELSON: And what about you, Ed? You also are supporting Steyer. You're a progressive. You're concerned about voting for a billionaire.
ED BAUMAN, CALIFORNIA VOTER FOR TOM STEYER: Yes, it was hard to vote for a billionaire, but at the end of the day, he is the one that I think is saying the most things that align with my personal values, and we're going to hold his feet to the does those things.
MICHAELSON: So it's interesting you both who don't know each other before this, both are Democrats and both have very different views when it comes to the mayor's race. You say Nithya Rahman, the progressive Democratic socialist council member over Karen Bass. Why?
BAUMAN: Well, I'm not a Democrat, but I am -- I do consider myself a leftist and a progressive. And while I wanted to vote for Rae Huang, I think strategically it made more sense to vote for Nithya and shift everything left. And hopefully we'll get a more progressive mayor in the process.
MICHAELSON: Meanwhile, you as a Democrat are voting for Spencer Pratt.
AGUILAR: Yes, sir.
[19:35:00]
MICHAELSON: Why is that?
AGUILAR: I do like his approach for the homelessness. As a person who used to be homeless myself, I was rendered the services that he's talking about. I was able to change my life. Ten years sober with no alcohol and stuff like that.
So his approach is really good. I do think it's fair for him to go off with the runoff with Karen Bass. This way, both of them can go ahead and prove to me why they deserve my vote.
So as of today, I'm doing it. Yes, because I do like his approach, and I do think he deserves a fair chance. But come November, it could be different.
MICHAELSON: It's been really interesting how many people are animated one way or another by Spencer Pratt. So polls close here at 8:00 p.m. Pacific -- Erin.
BURNETT: All right. Elex, thank you very much.
Let's go to John King at the magic wall.
John, that was fascinating. Those voters that Alex was just speaking to, right? First of all, the surge for Steyer and -- I mean, that's fascinating. Obviously, that's one polling place. I get it. But that surge we'd seen in recent days for Steyer, is that real? How big is that? It just raises questions there.
But also that voter who's splitting going for Steyer, he's a Democrat and going for Spencer Pratt that, you know, is it possible that that's where the upset is? I mean, I guess let's start with the governor's race, though.
I mean, when you hear voters like that, how does that fit into your rubric that you're looking there on the map?
JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Number one, when you hear voters like that, there's broad dissatisfaction with politics across the spectrum. When we talk nationally right now, I'll get to the map in a second. We talked nationally now. It's anti-Trump. It's the affordability crisis directed at the party in power, which here in Washington is Republicans.
But Democrats have been in charge for a long time in California. If you're a grumpy voter, disgruntled voter, disaffected voter, you might be mad at the Democrats, too.
The other fascinating part is he's just explaining there with these voters going around, this is not like most other primaries. This is an open primary or jungle primary. So here are your candidates for governor. They're alphabetical order because we don't have votes yet.
Tom Steyer, the billionaire, but attracting a lot of progressive votes is down here. The former mayor of Los Angeles down here. You come up here. People expect because of recent polls, the former cabinet secretary, California Attorney General, Mr. Becerra, may be first place.
The big question is the top two. The top two make the runoff. Do the top two include a Republican? Steve Hilton is fighting for that spot. The former Fox News host, he has President Trump's endorsement.
So we're going to go through this. It's possible we have Democrat versus Democrat in November in California. It's possible we have Democrat versus Republican.
Early on, not of late, the polls show this is most unlikely to happen. There was some thought you -- thought you could get two Republicans.
So it's California. You think of it as a blue state. And we'll get as we get the candidates tonight, Erin, just a reminder, the last time Gavin Newsom ran, he ran against a Republican state senator, 60 to 40. So not a close race, but you see a lot of the red, especially inland and Southern California. There are Republicans.
It's been a long time in California. You have to go back to Schwarzenegger who wanted to recall all that. It's been a long time, but there are Republicans in California, and as we talk about all this change environment in the country, guess what? It exists in blue California, too.
BURNETT: Right, which it says something, I think, for people to really realize where we are.
You know, we've been talking a bunch about Iowa this hour, John, and that's where Democrats think they could flip that Republican Senate seat. Obviously, that'd be a big deal, right? It's been, what, 18 years? But if they flip that seat, right, that's crucial to the balance of power, especially when you consider the main situation for Democrats right now is a bit unsettled, shall we say.
So Iowa is crucial. Is the Democratic optimism there, though, given that we'd be talking about breaking a nearly 20-year drought? Is that wishful thinking or is there a real chance there for Democrats?
KING: There's a possibility. I wouldn't say there's a probability just yet. The Democrats are very excited about the governor's race. There's the national climate.
There's the same thing I just talked about in California. Republicans have been in charge in this state, both at the governor's level and sending senators to Washington for a long time now. So if you add that little piece in, is it just time to give the party in power a timeout? That's one of the questions you have in California tonight, perhaps here in Iowa as well.
First, we have to settle who will the Democratic candidate be? Josh Turek has the support of most of the Republican establishment. Millions of dollars have gone in there to support him because he has the support here in Washington. Zach Wahls is running and he says, I won't vote for Chuck Schumer. I don't like the Democratic establishment in Washington.
So this is a good test of the establishment versus the progressive or the establishment versus the anti-establishment in Iowa tonight as we try to get votes in this one.
On the Republican side, Ashley Hinson, she's a Republican congressman from right up here, the Cedar Falls area, northeastern Iowa. She's expected to run away with the Republican nomination, has the president's endorsement. She's considered even by Democrats to be a very strong candidate.
But Democrats do believe because of the national environment, because Republicans have had power in Iowa for so long, and because they have a very strong candidate for governor on the Democratic side, that it is possible. Possible they add that to the potential Senate pickups.
BURNETT: Yeah, important. the difference of the adjective possible versus probable at this moment.
All right, John King, thank you.
KING: Thank you.
BURNETT: And next, we're going to talk to a Democrat on the ballot tonight, hoping to give Democrats a Senate seat they've been chasing for years.
[19:40:01]
Plus, voters in New Jersey are considering a Republican congressman who has disappeared. I mean, he has literally not been seen in public since March.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BURNETT: Breaking news, Democrats in Iowa heading to the polls tonight to elect a Senate nominee that they believe gives them the best chance to flip a Senate seat.
Now, Iowa's not elected a Democratic senator in 18 years, as I said.
[19:45:02]
But the Democrats are feeling wind at their back. One of the candidates is a two-time gold medal-winning Paralympian. That's Iowa State Representative Josh Turek. The other is Iowa State Senator Zach Walz, who is promising to oppose Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer if he's elected.
Now, Jeff Zeleny is OUTFRONT live. He's in Des Moines at Turek headquarters.
And, Jeff, how confident is the Turek team tonight?
JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Erin, I would use the word optimistic. I mean, there's no question that Josh Turek has been campaigning on the power of his biography. He believes that his physical disability is a political strength as he goes around the state talking about Medicaid cuts. He talks about the challenges to rural hospitals, but he also talks about geography, where he is from in Iowa.
He's from Council Bluffs. Of course, that is a city on the western edge of Iowa, along the Missouri River. It's largely a working class town, and that's largely a red area. His opponent, his rival, is from a blue area around Iowa City. So that kind of breaks it down somewhat.
But even beyond that, just the idea that he is running here in a seat that Tom Harkin was the last Democrat to win the seat. And Tom Harkin in the final weeks of this race has endorsed Josh Turek. Tom Harkin, of course, was the champion of the -- of the Americans with the Disabilities Act. And Josh Turek in his final closing arguments here, he's been making a case to voters that he said he is the living embodiment of the ADA. So that certainly is one of the things that he believes is going to give him some strength among Iowa voters.
But, Erin, the bottom line here, Democrats are somewhat but they're also realistic. It is a red state in many respects, but in the first midterm election of the presidents of first determined office back in 2018, Democrats won three House seats here, which helped win the House majority.
So with the governor's race, those House seats and a Senate race being open for the first time since 1968, a governor's race and Senate race is open at the same time. There is some optimism here, there's no doubt. But again, this is still Iowa, so it's hardly a fait accompli -- Erin.
BURNETT: All right, Jeff Zeleny, thank you very much.
And I want to go OUTFRONT now to Iowa State Senator Zach Wahls, the other Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate.
And, Senator Wahls, I appreciate your time. So how do you feel about your chances tonight in the context of everything you just heard Jeff Zeleny reporting?
ZACH WAHLS (D), U.S. SENATE CANDIDATE FROM IOWA: Well, Erin, it's great to be with you. We're feeling good. We have been barnstorming all over the state here in the closing weeks. I know that our message about challenging the broken establishment in Washington, D.C., the fact that leaders from both parties have failed our state, it is resonating both with Democratic primary voters and the voters who we need to win in November. I know that our message about putting Iowans over insiders is a
winning message, especially against Ashley Hinson, who's been a rubber stamp for Donald Trump during her time in the United States House of Representatives. And I think that we're going to win the race tonight. And I know that I am really looking forward to defeating Ashley Hinson this November as well.
BURNETT: So I know -- you know, you talk about the establishment and really running as an outsider. One way that we can look at that when we look at you as a Democrat is that one of your primary targets in this race has actually been in Washington, and it's been the Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, right? Democratic leader there.
So why have you chosen to do that? Do you think that is resonating with Iowa voters, actually going after the Democratic establishment in Washington? You chose to do that, not just to go after Trump or Republican candidates, but Chuck Schumer.
WAHLS: Well, Erin, I would tell you that we're talking about a broken establishment in D.C., and the problem is both parties. This isn't just about Chuck Schumer. The problem is an entire political apparatus in D.C. that has passed legislation after legislation that is bad for Iowa.
And if you look at the moment that we are currently in, I do think it is clear that Chuck Schumer is the leader of the Democratic establishment in the Senate has not met this moment.
And for the folks who are watching at home, still maybe making up their minds, thinking about getting out to the polls, I want you to understand that the voters who we have lost in this state, they are rural voters, they are blue collar voters. They are voters that Chuck Schumer went on national television and said that our party can write off because each one of those voters we lose, we're going to pick up two more in the suburbs.
I'm not going to vote for Chuck Schumer or any other Senate Democrat who wants to lead the Democratic caucus if they believe that our party can win elections by writing off rural and blue-collar voters. I'm the only candidate running in this primary who has actually represented small town in rural Iowa. I'm proud to have the endorsement of 27 different labor unions representing 30,000 hardworking blue-collar voters. We have the right message, the right coalition.
And I'll tell you this, when we think about defeating Ashley Hinson in November, she's been a rubber stamp for this failed agenda, and it's going to be a lot easier to beat her with the who can be honest about the failure of leaders in both parties, not just attacking Republicans.
BURNETT: All right, Senator Wahls, I appreciate your time. And thank you very much.
And everyone's back with me here.
Jamal, interesting from what we were talking about with California. SIMMONS: Yeah.
BURNETT: It's a similar message here. It's frustration with both parties, with establishment. It's an outsider message. Okay, push come to shove, though, no matter who wins tonight there, do you fall in the possible or probable camp when it comes to a Democrat picking up Senate seat in Iowa?
[19:50:05]
SIMMONS: It's possible, but it's tough, right? So if you take a look just at the numbers, there are about 200,000 more Republicans registered in Iowa than there are Democrats. There are about 600,000- ish no-party-ID voters in Iowa, so somebody's got to be able to go get some claim into some of those voters and bring them over.
When I was talking to people in Iowa today, one of the things they said to me is, it could happen here, because if lightning strikes, you got to have a bottle, and these candidates are really good bottles for the Democrats to be able win.
The problem here, though, or the opportunity may be that when Chuck Grassley retires in a couple of years, this may be the real setup for a Democrat to win that seat in the next election.
BURNETT: I like the message there, though. You got to have a good bottle, but you're still hoping for the lightning.
SIMMONS: But you need lightning.
BURNETT: You still need the lightning.
Okay, okay, we got to talk about the mystery in New Jersey. Okay, Gretchen, we are 10 minutes away, 9 1/2 minutes away from polls closing in New Jersey. There's a Republican congressman. He's running on a post. So this has real implications for where we go in the next few months.
He has not been seen publicly in months. We're talking about Tom Kean, Jr. No vote since March 5th. No campaign appearance. He's essentially disappeared.
You were looking him up, Paul, foreign Affairs that he's on? Foreign Affairs. And they said he's dealing with a personal medical issue, but there's been no details put up.
The race, when it comes to November, is a toss-up, according to Cook Political Report. What do you think's going on here?
CARLSON: Who knows, but we're going to have to find out in this day and age of social media and just full transparency of people's lives in general. They're not going to be able to have them come back and say, I'm not going to tell anyone where I was for three months.
So you would think that if it was some sort of a serious medical illness, I'm just going to say cancer for example, that they would tell the New Jersey people that that's what it is because there would be a certain amount of sympathy that the man --
BURNETT: Yes.
CARLSON: -- is suffering from a medical illness.
Even if it was -- I'm going to make up something else again, alcoholism or drug addiction. Like, we live in a much more open society now where people in many families struggle with that.
BURNETT: Mm-hmm.
CARLSON: Even if it was a mental health issue. I mean, we talk a lot about that now in our society, which we should continue to talk about more so that we can normalize that. They're going to have to say what it is.
BURNETT: Yeah.
CARLSON: And I think that, you know, the fact that they're not saying it now could be a P.R. blunder, but we don't know what it is.
BURNETT: It is just incredibly bizarre in this day and age that such a situation could be the case no matter what it is. And obviously, we hope he's okay and who knows. Again, they haven't said. His father said he's going to come back and he's going to be fine. So -- implying it is not some sort of medical issue physically, but we just don't know.
RIECKHOFF: Congress is a job where you have to show up. I mean, I don't think it's acceptable for anyone to be AWOL, especially without explanation. It's also potentially a national security issue.
BURNETT: Yeah.
RIECKHOFF: I mean, a member of Congress is missing, and we don't know why.
BURNETT: And he's on important committees.
RIECKHOFF: I'm surprised in thinking about this, that there's not already some kind of a rule in place where you have to show proof of life every 30 days, every 60 days, right? I think if somebody introduced legislation right now that said you have to provide proof of life every 60 days, it'd be pretty popular and get non-bipartisan support.
BURNETT: Okay, I just want to say this guy's running as a Republican unopposed in the primary, right? Okay, Trump has put an endorsement out in which he said, quote, "Tom is working tirelessly." I mean --
(LAUGHTER)
CUPP: Listen, people forget this is public service. You're meant to show up and serve. And that means you have to be transparent with your voters. I'm not a public servant. A few years ago, I had a mental health crisis. I went to my job, CNN. I said, "I need time off. Here's what's going on with me." They gave me that time off, but I was upfront both with my employer.
I couldn't just not show up at my job for three months and say, I'm not telling you why. I'm not telling any of you why. That's insane.
And he is paid by us. His job is to tell us where he's at, what he's doing. If he can't fulfill his obligations, it's time to make a change. I'd be indignant if I were a New Jersey voter.
BURNETT: All right, thank you all very much.
And next, breaking news, a shock to the music world. The legend behind some of Disney's biggest hits has just passed away.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:58:51]
BURNETT: Breaking news, Grammy Award winner Peabo Bryson has died. Bryson dominated the R&B and soul charts for decades. It was the 1990s, though, when Bryson went on to record many things you know, some of his biggest hits.
(MUSIC)
BURNETT: It was that song that won Bryson his first Grammy, and then it was only a year later he went on to win another one, this time for a song that would go on to reach number one on the Hot 100.
(MUSIC)
BURNETT: Songs that everybody knows. Maybe it's the soundtrack of your childhood or as your children watch those movies. Bryson said that his songs represent every hope and promise that you will ever have.
A statement from Bryson's family says he was, quote, "surrounded by the love of his family and those closest to him," and they added, "his legacy and music will live on for generations to come."
Peabo Bryson was 75.
Anderson starts now.
