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Inside Politics
Today: Trump, Mamdani To Meet At NYC Mayor's Home; Can Democrats Flip Crucial Maine Senate Seat?; Maine Senate Race Neck And Neck With Majority On The Line; Ad Wars Heat Up With 43 Days Until Election; Dueling Texas Senate Ads Take Over Dallas Cowboys Game; Another Republican Takes Aim At Trump's Immigration Policy; Dinosaurs Take Over The Airways In Illinois. Aired 12:30-1p ET
Aired September 21, 2026 - 12:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[12:30:00]
GLORIA PAZMINO, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: -- at the Oval Office in the White House. What's different about today's meeting, and I think will, you know, provide for a different outcome, perhaps, is the fact that this is very much happening in Mamdani territory. President Trump is literally coming to the mayor's doorstep.
He will be meeting with him inside Gracie Mansion, which is the mayoral residence here in New York City. And all morning, we have been watching as security preparations get underway. The NYPD is out in force, the streets are barricaded, and we expect traffic to be closed off to the area as we get closer to the hour that the President is expected to arrive.
Likely on his agenda, housing, immigration, and affordability, which is Mamdani's key issue.
MANU RAJU, CNN ANCHOR: And Gloria, how does the mayor think this meeting will be perceived by New Yorkers?
PAZMINO: Yes, you know, Manu, I think that's an interesting question, because New York City is not a place that has a lot of love for President Trump, right? He is not very popular at all here. And I think there could be some perceived risk with Mamdani seeming to sort of open the door to him, right?
But Mamdani's aides say that they see this as nothing but a good opportunity for the mayor, especially because they feel like the mayor has gotten some real deliverables from the last two meetings. The last time he met with him, he told him about the case of a Columbia University student who was detained at the time by federal immigration agents. That student was detained shortly after Mamdani met with Trump.
So they see this as a real opportunity to get some real commitments from him. We'll see what he is able to get, if anything, today. You know, Mamdani is hoping that he can get the mayor's support on a major federal housing project that has been in the works for multiple years here in New York City. It would require billions of dollars in federal funding. But he has pitched it to Donald Trump in the past as an opportunity to build for New York City. We know how much the President likes to think of himself as a developer, as a builder. So Mamdani is certainly trying to appeal to that part of the President.
And just a bit of history for you, Manu, the last time we had a presidential visit to Gracie Mansion here in New York City, it was during the Ronald Reagan administration. So I think we could say that these presidential visits to Gracie Mansion are a little bit rare here in New York City.
RAJU: Yes, no question about that.
Gloria Pazmino, thank you so much for that report from New York. And for us, it's about Maine with a state that likes to call itself a vacation land. But one thing, it's not a vacation from politics. I hit the campaign trail from a closer look at the questions facing the candidates in this pivotal Senate race.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RAJU: You want to say it was a mistake or not to put Kavanaugh on the court?
SEN. SUSAN COLLINS (R), MAINE: I believe that Kavanaugh was qualified.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[12:37:40]
RAJU: There is no one Democrats want to defeat more this year than Susan Collins. Is Democrat Troy Jackson the one to finally do it? Well, I hit the campaign trail in Maine and caught up with both candidates in this critical race.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RAJU: This is the home of the Austin Red Sox minor league team, a popular place to be on a Wednesday night.
I've spoken to a lot of Democratic voters who frankly understand how hard it is to beat Susan Collins. She is someone who has been able to withstand the national environment and cycle after cycle after cycle.
Do you think that she could do that again this time?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, she could. Absolutely.
RAJU (voice-over): 2020 is haunting Maine Democrats. That's when President Trump lost Maine by nine points, while Collins won re- election to a fifth term by nearly the same margin, something she's done in other tough cycles for Republicans. This time, Collins is the lone incumbent Republican running in a state President Donald Trump lost, meaning flipping the seat is once again central to Democrats' path back to the majority.
RAJU: The national environment is bad for the GOP. Susan Collins is still within striking distance. Does that give you any pause?
TROY JACKSON (D), MAINE SENATE CANDIDATE: Oh, sure it does. I mean, you know, I mean, she's a U.S. senator. She's the chair of Appropriations. Trump, you know, won the presidency. And now, two years later, people know that everything he was saying was bullshit. And she's helped him with all those things.
RAJU (voice-over): With no clear leader in the race, a new CNN poll has this warning sign for Collins. Roughly two-thirds of likely Maine voters disapprove of Trump's job performance, and almost half say their vote for Senate would be to oppose the President.
JACKSON: I actually see, you know, people around the state coming out like I've never seen before. And it's not about me. It's about her.
RAJU: Is your vote more about voting against Susan Collins more than anything else?
PEGGIE BROWN, MAINE VOTER: Yes. I'm totally annoyed and frustrated and angry.
RAJU (voice-over): I caught up with Collins during her bus tour at a stop in the GOP stronghold of Newport, Maine, as she greeted voters in a hunting supply store, fire station.
COLLINS: I love helping our first responders.
RAJU (voice-over): And dairy bar.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: For me, I think Susan Collins is better just because she's right here.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She brought a lot of business to Maine.
[12:40:01]
RAJU (voice-over): Collins relying on her influence, years of deal cutting with Democrats, and chairmanship of the Senate Appropriations Committee downplaying poll number showing a majority of likely Maine voters disapproving overperformance in office.
COLLINS: What I look to is the reaction on the ground. And no matter where I've been in the state of Maine, the reaction has been terrific.
RAJU: So you don't think this is worse than the 2020 environment here right now?
COLLINS: I'm saying that I go by the reaction that I get on the ground. I've participated in six or seven parades, for example, country fairs, community lunches. And the reaction has been very good. That doesn't mean that this isn't a tough race. And obviously the Canadian tariffs are a huge issue in Maine because our economy is so intertwined with Canada. But I've been able to make some progress there as well.
RAJU: Are you worried, though, that that issue, the Canadian tariffs, could cost you this race?
COLLINS: I don't believe that the Canadian tariff issue is going to decide the race, even though I'm very unhappy, as are my constituents.
RAJU (voice-over): The president's trade war on Canada hammering some of Maine's signature industries, upsetting undecided voters like this one.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It concerns me because we get a lot of stuff from overseas and even from Canada.
RAJU (voice-over): Collins says she lobbied administration officials to win an exemption on tariffs for road salt and concrete, both with a direct impact on Maine communities.
COLLINS: Now, obviously, I'd like to see more --
RAJU: Yes.
COLLINS: -- but that's a good start.
RAJU (voice-over): Jackson mocking that response.
JACKSON: Thank you for the road salt. I agree.
RAJU (voice-over): After losing a primary bid for governor, Jackson emerged as the Democratic nominee eight weeks ago after Graham Platner dropped out of the race following a swirl of controversy, including an allegation of rape that he has denied. Still, the episode remains a focus of Republican attacks.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Jackson is like Graham Platner, but worse.
RAJU (voice-over): And continues to roil Democrats.
JASON CURRY, MAINE NEA DIRECTOR: I know there are people who feel that the division hasn't quite healed yet.
RAJU (voice-over): A logger from the same northern Maine county as Collins, Jackson's political journey has seen him go from running as a Republican in 2000 to joining the Democratic Party in 2004, ultimately rising to State Senate president.
RAJU: Why did you shift on abortion?
JACKSON: Well, I mean, I listen to a lot of people over time. I might have made some votes that I'm not proud of now.
RAJU (voice-over): While Collins repeatedly has broken with Trump, including to convict him during his January 6th impeachment trial, it's her pivotal vote to confirm Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court that could haunt her. Collins, who supports abortion rights, will be on the ballot for the first time since Roe v. Wade was overturned by the Dobbs decision that Kavanaugh voted for and that roughly two- thirds of Mainers feel negatively about.
COLLINS: What Justice Kavanaugh said to me is he considered Roe v. Wade to be settled law. I assumed that that meant that he would not overturn it, but he -- I would not ask nor could he tell me appropriately of what his decision would be.
I would note that I'm the only Republican senator to have voted for the three liberal women on the court. I make the decisions based on the qualifications of the individual. And that is what I did with Brett Kavanaugh.
RAJU: And you won't say if it's a mistake or not to put Kavanaugh on the court?
COLLINS: I believe that Kavanaugh was qualified to be on the Supreme Court. Do I like his decision on Roe v. Wade? It's obvious that I didn't, Manu.
RAJU (voice-over): Jackson himself is trying to keep his distance from his own party, saying it's time to boot Chuck Schumer as Democratic leader.
RAJU: Why do you want him out, Schumer?
JACKSON: I just think the party needs a shakeup.
RAJU (voice-over): But Schumer's outside group is spending enormous sums to elect Jackson as GOP groups seek to define a man still unknown to many with Republicans poised to pour in north of $135 million, including with attacks like these.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Troy Jackson is just another dirty politician.
JACKSON: It's about things that don't matter to Mainers. What they care about is the fact that they can't afford their health insurance.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
RAJU: My excellent panel is back. Marianna, one of the things that stuck out to me is what Troy Jackson said. He said, it's not about me, it's about her. Very clearly the strategy for Democrats.
MARIANNA SOTOMAYOR, CAPITOL HILL CORRESPONDENT, PUCK: Yes. And here's the thing. Voters, especially in a state like Maine, also want to know what a Democratic candidate like Troy Jackson is about. So I understand what he's saying, but he also needs to be out there talking about, well, here's what a Democratic Senate could deliver on.
[12:45:08]
And, you know, the interesting thing for Susan Collins is that we have time and time again seen her prevail in incredibly tight races. This would be the environment where she could potentially go down.
RAJU: Yes. SOTOMAYOR: But I think, you know, she is someone who has been able to distance herself from Trump, make clear that she is not, you know, 100 percent part of the MAGA brand. And that's what I hear from a number of Republican strategists as we see Republicans trying to distance themselves. The ones who had convinced their constituents, honestly, more authentically, are those who have not been completely (INAUDIBLE).
RAJU: The big question, is this finally the national environment that can take down Susan Collins? That is going to be the question of this race and perhaps of the entire midterm cycle.
All right. Coming up, the ad wars are heating up. Coming up, we'll look at some of the recent ones making waves on the airwaves.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[12:50:22]
RAJU: You really know where to avoid political ads these days, especially if you're watching football in a swing state with the midterms just 43 days away. The games were campaign ads with a side of football.
My panel of insider is back to look at some of these ads, including the ones that ran in Texas just yesterday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Defending trans Texans is something we have to do every day.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Radical liberal James Talarico, for they/them not you.
JAMES TALARICO (D), TEXAS U.S. SENATE CANDIDATE: Billionaires are spending millions attacking me. Here's why. I don't take corporate PAC money. I'm running to ban dark money so billionaires can't buy our elections. Because if the billionaires are coming after us, we must be doing something right.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
RAJU: What do you make of the ad and also doing it during the Cowboys- Commanders game?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I mean, the Cowboy-Commanders game is like --
RAJU: You don't want to debate that. I mean, I had a bad day as a Bears fan yesterday, so I don't want to talk about that.
SABRINA RODRIGUEZ, POLITICS REPORTER, THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: But, I mean, clearly a target audience, a target demographic that they're trying to get out in November. But what I find --
RAJU: Male voters could be may predominantly watch up for grabs in a lot of these races.
RODRIGUEZ: 100 percent. What I found really striking was in the Talarico ad, him not saying the word Republican and the fact that the message was targeted on billionaires are trying to buy this election. We're going to get billionaires out of your politics. And that we have seen in race and race across the country, Republican and Democrat.
We've heard voters talking about their concern about the influence of money in politics, of billionaires in politics. And I think for Talarico, who's really trying to court these more moderate, disaffected Republican voters, him not just going to attack the President, him not just going to attack the Republican Party, was clearly a strategic choice to get the support of those folks.
RAJU: Yes, populist message and see how that works. And we also saw in Ohio, Sherrod Brown, the former Democratic senator, trying to flip that seat now occupied by Jon Husted. Remember the last cycle, Sherrod Brown ran. He got hammered on the issue of transgender rights. He is now facing attack ads on that issue again. He had a response ad to an ad that came his way from the Republican side.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: With everything going on, that's what they're talking about.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In Ohio, it's against the law to perform transgender surgeries on kids. That's right. It's illegal.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Jon Husted, why'd you vote to increase the cost of groceries?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: To do nothing about the cost of gas.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: To kick 490,000 Ohioans off their health care.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
RAJU: Marianna, what do you make of Brown coming out this early to defend himself? Learn from the last time, perhaps.
SOTOMAYOR: That is the message. Democrats have to respond to a very successful message that Republicans pinned on them on the trans issue. We saw that in 2024. A lot of this reminds me of the environment of 2028 and where Democrats worry before that -- or I should say 2022 when Democrats were running on abortion. That was an issue that helped them.
They said, wow, it helped us so much. We should run on that in 2024. But at that time, voters were screaming about the economy. And that's kind of where we find ourselves right now, where Republicans are still pushing these culture war issues. They think that this is what's going to, you know, really differentiate themselves from Democrats.
But again, voters are still reeling about the economy. So that was actually a perfect way to say, hey, in Ohio, this is the law. What any elected leader should be talking about is the economy making ends meet.
RAJU: And the messages are choosing right now. So interesting. We saw last week a congresswoman from South Florida put out an ad to push back against Trump on immigration. Now we're seeing one in Texas, one of the critical districts in Texas, Monica De La Cruz, who is running in one of the most competitive races in the country. She put out this ad on that issue.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STEPHANIE, WESLACO TEXAS: My husband and I did things the right way, but we were stuck in a broken immigration system. This immigration system is broken. So we reached out to Monica De La Cruz. She helped with my husband's immigration case. I voted Democrat before, but Monica puts people over politics.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BETSY KLEIN, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: The thing that's so interesting here in this particular ad and in all of those ads that we just watched is there is no mention of President Trump by name. And that actually is very consistent with some reporting that we had last week, which was that in the 500 Republican ads in the first couple of weeks of September, just 12 of them mentioned Trump by name. And that also speaks to how toxic the President's brand is and how many of these candidates are trying to put a little bit of distance between themselves in this White House.
RAJU: And let's take a look at one that came out of Illinois from the governor, JB Pritzker, going after his Republican opponent, Darren Bailey.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[12:55:01]
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Dinosaurs and humans living side by side look silly, right? Not to Darren Bailey, because Darren Bailey's school curriculum teaches dinosaurs and humans were definitely on Earth at the same time.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But dinosaurs and men did not walk the Earth at the same time, right?
DARREN BAILEY (R), CANDIDATE FOR ILLINOIS GOVERNOR: Were you there?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I wasn't there, but that's what --
BAILEY: I wasn't either.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- the science says, though. Settled, right?
BAILEY: I wasn't there.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
RAJU: Sabrina? Any comment?
RODRIGUEZ: I mean, we can all collectively laugh at this one. But, I mean, I think it's telling in Illinois, you know, you have Governor Pritzker, of course, the 2028 ambitions for president, but he's not running a particularly competitive race.
RAJU: Yes.
RODRIGUEZ: So he has a little more runway to play. And we see that --
RAJU: Yes.
RODRIGUEZ: -- in an ad like this.
RAJU: He wants a big margin of victory. No question about that. Is it a possible 20 -- likely 2028 run?
All right, thank you so much for joining Inside Politics. CNN News Central starts after a very quick break.
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