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37 Days To Go: Trump Keeps Putting GOP In A Bind; Can Republican Cash Keep Texas Red? Interview with Rep. Derrick Van Orden (R-WI); Rogue A.I. Agents Targeted 3 U.S. Government Web Sites; Democrats Fight Back against GOP'S Anti-Trans Playbook. Aired 8-9a ET
Aired September 27, 2026 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[08:00:38]
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(MUSIC)
MANU RAJU, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Stampede. At risk Republicans flee the president.
SEN. PETE RICKETTS (R-NE): Higher gas prices and higher diesel prices are having a big impact.
RAJU: As he flies to red states, is out of sight, out of mind?
Swing state Republican Congressman Derrick Van Orden joins me live.
Plus, money pit.
SEN. JOHN CORNYN (R-TX): It's hard to outrun all the baggage.
RAJU: As the GOP pours millions into Texas. Could it force tough choices and imperil their chances in other states?
And deja vu.
AD NARRATOR: Kamala's agenda is they/them, not you.
RAJU: Republicans bring back a wave of anti-trans ads. But will it work this time.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: With everything going on, that's what they're talking?
RAJU: New reporting this morning. Are Democrats on the verge of a clean sweep, or is it all hat, no cattle?
INSIDE POLITICS, the best reporting from inside the corridors of power, starts now.
(MUSIC)
(END VIDEOTAPE)
RAJU (on camera): Good morning. And welcome to INSIDE POLITICS SUNDAY. I'm Manu Raju.
Thirty-seven days, that's all that stands between Republicans and Election Day. And they're entering the final stretch with their party increasingly at odds with itself. President Trump's approval ratings have fallen to new lows, with polls showing voters alarmed about rising costs and affordability. And as voter perceptions are hardening, Republicans and some of the country's toughest races are now breaking with Trump, trying to put some distance between themselves and a president who could determine their political fate. But could that ultimately hurt them?
Overnight, the president directed his fire towards a Republican congresswoman who is in a competitive race, who had recently criticized him on immigration. Still, there are plenty of Republicans sticking with Trump and betting that some key advantages could give them an edge in down to the wire races. There is a lot to unpack this morning with our excellent group of political insiders at the table.
CNN's David Chalian, Jessica Taylor with "The Cook Political Report", and Mike Allen with "Axios", who's also the coauthor of a brand new book called "Simplify: Do 50 Percent More with 50 Percent Less.
Good morning to you all.
And happy badgers come back -- oh, I'm very good. I got my badger red on after that victory against Penn State. But you know, we could spend the whole show talking about that. But I'll spare everyone with my delight.
David Chalian, the you look at the headwinds that the president and his party are facing right now. This is a presidential approval rating in fall of a midterm election cycle. If Trump is down at 33 percent all the way at the bottom, now it's 27 percent, I should say.
DAVID CHALIAN, CNN WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF: That's on the economy.
RAJU: That's on the economy. Yeah. So we have multiple ones. One is here on the economy at 27 percent. A big reason why he is now the lowest of any sitting president in that we have -- there is a -- of all the presidents from presidential approval rating in fall at this time.
How big of a drag is he for the rest of his party at this moment?
CHALIAN: I mean, a really big drag. And I mean, you look at that chart there, you see he's like 11 points below where Joe Biden was in the 2022 midterms, where they lost the House nonetheless. And they did better, you know, than people thought for a midterm year for president. What happened to the Democrats that year? But that -- he's 11 points below that. He is -- he is below where he was in 2018. And obviously he lost 40 seats then.
Here's the biggest difference. It's the first chart you showed. The game changer here is the economy. Back in 2018, Donald Trump was unpopular himself, but the country was still giving him credit on the economy. They were largely with him, or at least evenly split. So that was a strong suit he could play on the economy, which, you know, is obviously always a top issue for voters.
It is even more of a top issue for voters now. And the country has turned away from Trump on the economy. They think his policies are not working for them. That is the biggest difference as to why this environment is even more negative, I think, for Republicans, even though they may not lose as many seats because of the map, it's more negative for Republicans than it was eight years ago.
MIKE ALLEN, AXIOS CO-FOUNDER: And, Manu, I know you're hearing the same thing as you talk to Republican candidates and their camps. What they tell me is the problem is nothing good is going to happen on any of those issues over those 37 days, 37 eternities, as Larry Sabato said on your air this morning that the war is not going to end like gas prices are not going to go down. In fact, they could go up like diesel could get worse. Consumer confidence is not going to come back. Mortgage rates are not going to fall.
And so if you're a Republican, you're like, give me some good news. And they're not seeing it coming.
RAJU: Yeah, and where is Trump going to go?
[08:05:00]
So far, he has -- he has campaigned -- remember, he said he was going to go to 35 competitive districts in the final stretch before the midterms. We've actually only seen him going to a handful of states. Not all of those are campaign travel other than North Carolina, one of the senate battlegrounds there.
We'll see if he actually carries through with his promise to go to 35 campaign districts. Hakeem Jeffries, the Democratic leader, told me yesterday he wants Trump in those battleground districts. That's absolutely what he wants.
ALLEN: Bring it on.
RAJU: Exactly.
Jessica, you guys have been analyzed how things are in terms of the full Senate map here. And cook political report shifted three of these races towards Democrats this week. What is -- what has changed has given Democrats. When we started the cycle, it seemed like they had a very little chance of regaining the Senate. How would you handicap their chances now of taking back the Senate?
JESSICA TAYLOR, SENATE & GOVERNORS EDITOR, THE COOK POLITICAL REPORT: I wrote at the beginning of 2025 that their task was Herculean. Well, Hercules may have arrived because we see the Senate right now as a true toss up. Our range is that Democrats could pick up between one to five seats. They need four to win the majority. And the fact that Democrats have put seats into play with strong
candidates like Ohio, like Alaska, the fact that we shifted Kansas toward Democrats this week just tells you how large the map has gotten. Now, Democrats still have a big problem in Michigan. That is a major seat. That is because of candidate quality is in play for Republicans. New Hampshire. They cannot look away from.
But overall, Democrats are playing offense and they're playing offense in double digit Trump states. Now this -- if they don't win the majority, it's because the map was too tilted against them. But the fact that, you know, I think back to 2006 when we found in our analysis that an average of 13.6 is how much candidates outran the presidential baseline. If they are able to do that again, approaching 14 points in a state like Iowa, that's a 13-point Trump state. Alaska, that's a 13-point Trump state. Texas, that's a 14-point Trump state.
That is -- that's why the Senate is very much in play. It's a combination, I think, of strong candidates for Democrats and the headwinds that Donald Trump has faced.
RAJU: And then what about the house? Because you look at the generic ballot, of course, that's when voters are asked, who do you prefer to control, Congress, Democrats or Republicans? Okay. The CNN poll from this past week had Democrats with an eight point generic advantage. We'll see if they gain any seats in this midterm.
But then you compare it to when the Democratic wave in 2018, they had a 12-point advantage at that point, 41 seats they picked up back then, and the GOP wave, the tea party wave from the 2010 midterms. It was a six-point, roughly six-point advantage. And they had a huge wave year. But that was a different environment. The maps were not districts were not as gerrymandered as before.
So I asked Jeffries this yesterday, too. I said, are you concerned that your numbers aren't higher? Shouldn't you be? Look, all the environment's terrible for the Republicans. Shouldn't you be D plus 12 and beyond?
He downplayed the numbers. He said, we're in a strong position right now, but is that enough? Is D plus eight enough?
CHALIAN: Well, when the votes were counted in that midterm in 2018, it ended up being D plus eight. That's sort of what the results were. I know that's not you're comparing to a poll pre-election. So D plus eight is probably enough given they only need to win a net gain of three seats to win the majority. There's no doubt about that.
But I think you're making an important point here, Manu, which is yes, the maps are different and things have been structured in a way that perhaps prevent that kind of large thing. But also Democrats, I don't think this election has anything to do with what Democrats have on offer. Like that's -- that's why --
RAJU: They don't have an agenda.
CHALIAN: They haven't put out a big plan that they're running on. They are -- their leaders in congress are as woefully unpopular as the Republican leaders in Congress with the American people. This is about a rejection of Donald Trump, his policies, and the economy he is overseeing right now by the American people. That's the -- and the Iran war. That is what is the weight for the Republicans on the ballot this year?
I don't think it is some rally -- I don't think we're seeing the country rallying around some Democratic vision, which is maybe sufficient to get the majority in this year, but they are going to have a reckoning with the American people to figure out their path forward as soon as this election is over.
TAYLOR: I think that's exactly right, because the Biden administration misread 2022 as you know, as being for their policies when it was really it was a repudiation in many ways, instead of the fact that they gained seats in the Senate. So I think that Democrats right now, they should not see this as an endorsement of their policies.
RAJU: That's why their numbers are in --
TAYLOR: Right, right. The estimate, they're going to pick up between 5 to 15 seats, which is enough for the majority. But it's not just because the house battlefield is smaller, but it's in like R plus six, R plus seven seats right now that they're battling, which is good in this environment.
RAJU: Right.
TAYLOR: But you know, again, what, what is going to happen in 2028 when the party still has an identity crisis? Do they go toward progressive candidates? Do they go toward more centrists? What are they going to do?
RAJU: And just before you jump in, Mike, I want you to look at how Republicans respond to the question about the impact of the Iran war on the midterm environment, and the question, too, about whether Republicans should embrace Trump and his handling of the war or run away from it. The first two senators that you'll hear from are not on the ballot. The last three are.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RAJU: How much harder this has made the midterm environment, the Iran war itself, and the way he's handling it?
SEN. LISA MURKOWSKI (R-AK): I think it has complicated the midterms considerably.
SEN. THOM TILLIS (R-NC): Any time you got economic uncertainty going into October of an election cycle, generally speaking, it's not good.
RAJU: Is it time for the president to bring the Iran war to an end?
SEN. PETE RICKETTS (R-NE): A country that chants "death to America" cannot be allowed to have a nuclear weapon. SEN. TOMMY TUBERVILLE (R-AL): Our people in Alabama know that, you
know, they voted for President Trump. They know he they gave him the opportunity to go back and --
RAJU: You know, they're willing to pay higher prices you think?
TUBERVILLE: Yeah, yeah. Sure they are.
RAJU: So you'll vote no on War Powers. Is that right?
SEN. JON HUSTED (R-OH): I don't -- I don't plan to have America change course until we're successful.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
RAJU: So it's an interesting calculation because yeah, we are seeing some distance in some of these swing states. But you hear Senator Jon Husted, for instance, in one of the biggest battlegrounds in the country, he is deciding that he needs to align himself with Trump on Iran.
ALLEN: No. And we saw in Florida where candidate moved away from Trump. Now Trump says he's going to go visit the state. So that'll teach him.
RAJU: Yeah.
ALLEN: But we're seeing that the candidates are doing this. But what's important for your viewers is this is moving fast. "Axios" had a headline over the weekend that captured it, and insider told us that the Democrats chances were moving from bad Republicans, chances were moving from bad to craptastic. And what I'm hearing --
RAJU: Hey, there's a headline right there.
ALLEN: What I'm hearing -- depends on top of things. What I'm hearing is that Democrats now think that they could get a double digit majority in the House. We weren't hearing that very recently. Republicans now telling me 70 percent chance they lose the Senate. That's all moving fast.
Now, Republicans will say is we have more money if we can get our people out, if we can get out those infrequent Republican voters, it will be a different story.
RAJU: Yeah. And we'll talk about the money coming up next.
And but also, we're talking about China's latest panda diplomats arriving in the U.S. this morning. We'll have more on that in just a few minutes.
Plus, as I just said, that amount of money Republicans are dropping in Texas in particular, truly eye popping. But the GOP senator who now holds that seat -- well, he does not have high hopes.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) RAJU: Do you think that Paxton's running a good campaign?
CORNYN: Well, I think it's hard to outrun all the baggage.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[08:16:56]
RAJU: If there's any indication Republicans are worried about losing reliably red Texas this year, take a look at these numbers going into the final stretch of the Senate race there, Republicans are outspending Democrats an incredible 13 to 1. They plan to spend a massive $66 million on ads from now until Election Day, compared to just $5 million from Democrats.
But in a tight race will that be enough. I caught up with one on one with Senator John Cornyn. The veteran incumbent Republican who lost in a vicious Republican primary to the Trump endorsed Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. Cornyn unloaded on the GOP candidate.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RAJU: Do you think that Paxton is running a good campaign?
CORNYN: Well, I think it's hard to outrun all the baggage. And when you see that, I think the last thing I saw is that a less than 100 percent of Republicans intend to vote for him. That is problematic. And with indies -- independents not supporting him, I mean, it's hard to get to 50 percent plus one.
RAJU: I mean, why do you think that he's having such a hard time consolidating Republicans?
CORNYN: Well, I think because of all the things we talked about in the primary, which were -- which were true. So, I mean, you can spend a lot of money and there are a lot of money being thrown at the race. But if you have a have a bad candidate, it's hard to win. And so -- so we'll have to see. I mean, we're here. We are 40 days out. It's going to be hard to change people's minds.
RAJU: Yeah.
CORNYN: This -- this late in the game.
RAJU: I mean, you said before he was lazy. He disputed that. Do you -- why -- do you still think that?
CORNYN: I'll let the evidence -- I'll let people, you know, decide on their own about that.
RAJU: But -- so you're not planning on helping him at all fundraising, right?
CORNYN: That's correct. RAJU: Why is that?
CORNYN: Well, for all the reasons that we pointed out in the primary. I think, you know, the risk for Republicans is if we nominate flawed candidates in November, we risk losing. And we haven't we haven't elected a Democrat in Texas statewide since 1990, well before 1994. And this is the way that, you know, majority parties become minority parties by nominating candidates that are less than appealing to a general election electorate.
RAJU: Does he deserve to be a senator?
CORYN: Say it again.
RAJU: Does he deserve to be a senator?
CORYN: I'll let the voters decide that one.
RAJU: And are you going to vote for him?
CORNYN: I'll support the ticket.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
RAJU: Not a ringing endorsement.
ALLEN: That is a classic piece of tape. And we were joking the break about leading the witness. But for a Senate Republican to call his successor on camera would be successor, a bad candidate. He just said it. And over the week, Karl Rove on camera listing all of the weaknesses of Paxton.
RAJU: Yeah.
ALLEN: And for the first time, we have lots and lots of Republicans saying to us, yes, it's Texas. It's a very, very, very Republican state. But we have such a weak candidate. That graphic that was a great graphic, but it is proof you everyone around this table knows this. Despite what you might think from the press coverage, money does not dictate the outcome of a lot of high profile races. And we're seeing this. Talarico is winning.
RAJU: Yeah. And there's a poll here, Jessica, 50 to 44, a Marist poll. Is that really where the race is at? Do you think that he has a -- Talarico has a six-point lead right now?
TAYLOR: I was talking with my Republican sources on Friday, and one of them said this week was some of the worst polling that they've ever seen in Texas. And that's that applies to some of the House, Paxton is dragging down the entire ticket. He's dragging down --
RAJU: That's what Cornyn warned about.
TAYLOR: That's exactly what. And. And now Senate Leadership Fund has had to create the Texas PAC to go in there, just as they warned that they would have to spend $250 million and may end up being that much. You know, but he is -- the governor's race is competitive now because of Paxton, that he is just -- he is just dragging down everything.
And I do think that I think if the election were held today that that Talarico would probably win. Now, it's not held today. Can they close that gap?
I agree with Mike though. I don't think that the money is everything. And also Talarico is probably the strongest fundraiser that Democrats have. That super PAC money is double the ad rates that Talarico can get that he's buying at week to week right now.
ALLEN: Jessica just reminded me of something that's super important and really speaks to the Republicans problem. And Texas is exhibit a this pollsters can't get Republicans to answer polls we're seeing in Texas, Florida and elsewhere. That is a real problem.
RAJU: Yeah. And speaking of money, you take a step back and we look at all the Senate battleground ad spending, future reservations as of Friday. That means the amount of money they're going to spend from now until Election Day. Still, the Republican advantage is significant.
The Democrats have closed the gap in some states, like in Iowa, a little closer, but still really being significantly outspent in Maine, 38 million bucks to 24 million bucks. In Michigan, almost twice the amount of Republicans are spending over the Democrats. And then in Ohio, $100 million to $55 million in that critical race that Republicans want to hold as well.
So, money may not be everything but it's a lot.
CHALIAN: Well, it definitely is something. And a lot of what that money is being spent on is a message on screens everywhere that Democrats are way far outside the mainstream. Communism, socialism, trans issues like that is where that money is being spent. And the question is going to become, does that carry weight with voters?
Maybe with some it will. And it will narrow the gap, as you're saying, but it doesn't eradicate the overall political environment that we were talking in the last block that we are in. And one very senior Republican said to me, this election is anger versus fear.
So the Republican money is being poured into a message of trying to generate fear about a far too left Democratic Party among their voters and their base versus the anger in the population about the mortgage rates and diesel and gas prices and the war in Iran and their own economic future.
ALLEN: That is an accurate, oblique frame. It's Halloween in America.
RAJU: That's --
TAYLOR: Money versus the message for me. Democrats have the message on their side that polls overwhelmingly show right now that they are not trusting the president on the economy. But can the money overwhelm that? I think that it can in some of these states, you know, maybe stop the bleeding a little bit, but maybe Democrats only pick up four seats and not five. Maybe they only pick up three and not four in the Senate. So maybe they're able to keep the majority there.
But I mean, in the House, we're seeing some similar just, you know, torrent of spending to.
RAJU: Yeah.
TAYLOR: But again, I think that when you look at what voters are saying, they want to be done, it's on the economy. And Trump is focused on everything but the economy.
RAJU: And which is why the map is expanding. And we talked about Kansas. There was an ad that the Democratic candidate, Adam Hamilton, put out going after Roger Marshall. He's an OB-GYN. He's the incumbent Republican senator.
There was a story in "The New York Times" about him filing lawsuits over some of his patients' unpaid bills, and Hamilton's seizing on that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: One evening, I see lights. I open the door and it's a police officer. They arrested me because I didn't make a $50 payment to Roger Marshall.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
RAJU: I mean, is that -- I mean, is Kansas truly in play?
TAYLOR: Kansas is truly in play. There's something happening in the Midwest. There's a lot of similar to Iowa, where I think the states have been hit uniquely hard by tariffs, by, you know, their products are not being sold overseas, that agriculture is being hit hard because it's not just gas prices, it's diesel prices, fertilizer prices that are being impacted.
And I think then you have a strong candidate like Adam Hamilton, who is a pastor of the largest Methodist church in the country. He's obviously a good orator.
[08:25:01]
He's talking about governing from the middle. I think that initially Marshall was kept -- was caught sleeping a little bit. I think he sort of woken up.
But there's money. There's real money that might have to be put into Kansas right now. So, I mean, Marshall still has the advantage and it's still a 16-point Trump state. But it's certainly a race worth watching.
Again, if you'd have told me this time last year that we'd be talking about Kansas, I would have laughed.
RAJU: Yeah. I mean, there's one reason why the vice president was just there -- TAYLOR: Exactly.
RAJU: -- not so long ago.
All right. Coming up next, Democrats need to win in Trump districts if they want to take back the House. But can they do that in rural Wisconsin? We're at the magic wall with David Chalian and the stakes of one crucial toss up race. And I'll speak to the Republican congressman fighting for reelection there. How is he navigating the pressures his party is facing?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[08:30:12]
RAJU: To take back the House, Democrats need to win in districts carried by President Trump. That includes. In a bellwether district, in a bellwether state, specifically Wisconsin's third congressional district, represented by Republican Derrick Van Orden since 2023.
I'll speak with him live in just a moment.
But first, David Chalian is at the Magic Wall to show us why this district is so crucial in the fight for the majority, David.
DAVID CHALIAN, CNN WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF: Yes. Manu, take a look here. So this is Wisconsin after the '24 election, six Republicans in their congressional delegation, two Democrats.
Let's go into the third district here on the western side of the state. You see in 2024, this was the result. Derrick Van Orden got 51.4 percent of the vote in his reelection battle against Rebecca Cook.
And it's a rematch this year. These are the same two candidates on the ballot this year.
Look at how President Trump did in this district back in 2024. He beat Kamala Harris by more than seven percentage points.
And if you go back to 2020, what you see here, he actually -- Trump expanded his margin of victory in this district in the last presidential election. It was much closer, about five points or so with Joe Biden in 2020.
I want to show you also, Manu, here, some of the demographics of the district that point to why this is potentially fertile ground for Republicans but Democrats are still very much in the hunt here.
It's an 89.2 percent white district, so the makeup there. And if you look at the education level in the third district in Wisconsin, 71.5 percent have no college degree. So heavily white, no college degree rural district.
It's got some pockets of blue in urban areas, no doubt. That makes it a real battleground. And it's a rematch from two years ago. That was a very narrow race in a very different political environment this time.
RAJU: Yes, no question about it in the district that actually Barack Obama had won as well, a bellwether district.
And I'm joined by the congressman representing that district, Congressman Derrick Van Orden. Congressman, good morning to you. I appreciate you being here.
As you know, a midterm cycle for a president's party, it can be pretty grim. And now you're dealing with the war in Iran, not that very popular. You know, gasoline and diesel prices are still very high. The president's poll numbers are not good.
REP. DERRICK VAN ORDEN (R-WI): Yes.
RAJU: How tough is the environment for Republicans on the ticket?
VAN ORDEN: Well, I mean, you can't deny that gas is too high right now. Diesel is too high. You know, you just can't do that. You know what I mean?
We live in a rural district and you know, it's raining outside. It's beautiful. You got to acknowledge the environment right now.
But we're going to win this district. And this is why, Manu. We're just going to tell the truth about who Rebecca Cook is, who I am, and my record.
Rebecca Cook wants to defund the police. She wants trans surgeries for children. She wants men and women's locker rooms and on their sports teams. She wants to open the borders and provide free medical care for illegal aliens.
This is not who we are here in the third congressional district. She wants to raise your taxes because she said the Working Families Tax Cut Act was absurd. She's been railing against it forever.
Well, guess what? That's no tax on tips. And you are a Badger. And so you know that you watch the Badger game and the Packer game in a tavern in the state of Wisconsin. I don't think the ladies that are working there and the men that are working there should have to pay any taxes on their tips.
I don't think our hardworking tradesmen and women should be paying any taxes on their overtime. I don't think the seniors that built our country should be paying taxes on their Social Security.
I'm thrilled that we finally got rid of the death tax because that's what's been killing our family farms here in the state of Wisconsin. And Rebecca Cook wants all of those taxes put back on the American people.
(CROSSTALKING)
VAN ORDEN: And here's who I am. I'm a retired Navy Seal senior chief with 26 years of service, multiple combat tours. I'm a father and a grandfather.
I was a small business owner, and I'm responsible for getting rid of all those taxes for you.
RAJU: So.
VAN ORDEN: I'm also a key component in making sure that Wisconsin Badger Care has an additional billion dollars a year. That's our Medicaid program.
That's who I am. That's who she is. That's why we're going to win.
RAJU: Yes. And she was defending her record on our air earlier this week. I do want to ask you about --
VAN ORDEN: And she lied about it.
RAJU: I do want to ask you, though, about a new CNN poll out this week that found only 33 percent of Americans do approve of how Trump is handling his job as president. Is he a drag in your district?
VAN ORDEN: President Trump won this district three times in a row. President Trump is responsible for closing the border and deporting millions of criminal illegal aliens.
RAJU: So are you fully -- are you fully embracing him?
(CROSSTALKING)
VAN ORDEN: There's over 22,000 families --
(CROSSTALKING)
[08:34:43]
VAN ORDEN: Manu, Manu, there's over 22,000 families this year that will not have to attend a funeral because their loved one didn't die of a fentanyl overdose. That's a direct result of President Trump.
And yes, I am fully supportive of President Trump. And if that's not popular, you know, that's just the way it is. The man has secured our border.
(CROSSTALKING)
RAJU: Do you want him to come campaign in your district for you
VAN ORDEN: Oh, yes. President Trump is always welcome here right now.
RAJU: Ok.
VAN ORDEN: Absolutely.
I encourage the entire administration to come to this district because we represent rural America. Over 93 percent of all tillable land, Manu, is represented by Republicans. And that's why they need to come to the third congressional district.
We represent rural America. We are America here. You know that.
(CROSSTALKING)
RAJU: Yes. Your constituents, as we talked about, there are a lot of them are farmers and a lot of them are paying the price for the Iran war.
I mean, diesel prices in Wisconsin are up more than a dollar compared to just last month, Congressman, and more than $3 compared to this time last year. Are you ok with your constituents eating the cost from this war?
VAN ORDEN: Well, it's much more nuanced than that. You got to remember, there's a massive spike in diesel prices as soon as Russia invaded Ukraine due to Joe Biden's strategic weakness. We have multiple --
(CROSSTALKING)
RAJU: But in the last month it has gone about a dollar.
VAN ORDEN: -- that have shut down refineries across the country. We have multiple blue states have shut refineries down across the country. That's leading to an increase in this also.
And there's just, thank God, the diesel plant refinery just reopened in Illinois. We've had two of our refineries in the Midwest shut down recently. One just opened again, that's leading to a spike in these prices.
RAJU: But you can't deny -- you can't deny that the Iran war and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, I mean, that's leading to the increase in fuel prices, including in your district. Are you ok with your constituents eating those costs?
VAN ORDEN: That is a partial reason for the increase. And no, I'm not -- I'm not ok with Americans paying more for gas and diesel. I'm just not.
(CROSSTALKING)
VAN ORDEN: You have to understand, Manu --
RAJU: So should the war end? Should the president end the war to help your constituents?
VAN ORDEN: So Manu, listen. Over 50 years ago, these radical Muslim mullahs took over our embassy and held Americans hostage for 444 days. And they've been able to hold the world economically hostage by closing the Straits of Hormuz willy-nilly with just conventional weapons.
So if the Iranian radical Muslim mullahs ever got nuclear weapons, our decision maker becomes binary. You either get involved in a nuclear war with these people because they'll get in a nuclear war, or you permanently secede 20 percent of the world's petrochemicals to these radical Muslim mullahs.
(CROSSTALKING)
RAJU: So you want him to continue with this strategy. You want him to continue with this strategy?
The president has said, according to "The Wall Street Journal", that he could maybe continue bombing the after the midterm elections. He may continue bombing Iran. Would you be ok with that?
VAN ORDEN: Here's what I'm not ok with. I'm not ok with these radical Muslim mullahs ever having nuclear weapons. And I'm not ok with permanently seceding 20 percent of the worlds petrochemicals to these radical Muslim who hate us, they hate you. They chant death to America in the streets. And we're supposed to pretend like this is ok.
So is this politically convenient right now? Absolutely not. Does it need to take place so that my grandchildren aren't fighting the same war? Yes.
RAJU: I do want to ask you one last question, Congressman.
VAN ORDEN: Sure.
RAJU: The debate over data centers, it's also -- it's critical in your race.
VAN ORDEN: Yes.
RAJU: The president has said that concerns over A.I. are hoax. He said that communities that reject data centers will end up, quote, "backwards and poor". Do you agree with that?
VAN ORDEN: This is the question you should be asking your colleague, Dana Bash. Why did she not push back on Rebecca Cook when she looked straight into the camera and lied about her involvement with data centers?
Rebecca Cook is a senior visiting fellow on The Third Way (ph). She's also on the board --
(CROSSTALKING)
RAJU: I'm asking you about -- I'm asking you about Trump. I'm asking about Trump's --
VAN ORDEN: Rebecca Cook was also on the Wisconsin tech council. She's been paid tens of thousands of dollars to build data centers on pristine Wisconsin farmland. So I'm running against Rebecca Cook. I'm not running against Donald Trump.
So Donald Trump is the president of the United States, but Rebecca Cook is a cocktail communist who's trying to weasel her way into a congressional seat. And it would be devastating for America. So that's who I'm running against. And she flat out lied to your
colleague, Dana Bash on air. That's shameful.
RAJU: Well, yes. Well, I'll -- we're going to have to leave it there. I was asking you about Trump's position on that and what he's what he said as well.
But as you said, you're embracing Trump in this race.
Congressman Van Orden, I appreciate your time. Thank you so much for joining me this morning.
VAN ORDEN: Thanks., Manu Great to see you. God bless you and your viewers.
RAJU: Appreciate it. Thank you.
All right. Coming up, new reports of A.I. agents going rogue and meddling with government Web sites reigniting the debate over an A.I. slowdown.
And two pandas, well, they get their first taste of southern hospitality. We'll have a first look of their big arrival.
[08:39:37]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
RAJU: With just over five weeks to go until November 3rd, A.I. continues to be a hot button on the campaign trail as new, alarming reports keep coming in like this weekend. OpenAI saying its agents went rogue and targeted three U.S. government Web sites over the summer.
Sam Altman, the head of OpenAI, said the company had quote, "not been as fast" as they would have liked in disclosing these incidents.
My panel of insiders is back, including Mike Allen, with this excellent new book, "Simplify".
MIKE ALLEN, AXIOS: Either do the right work, not more work.
A.I. is a classic case where we thought it was going to save us time. Instead, were inundated with DEX (ph).
RAJU: Yes.
ALLEN: Dashboards.
(CROSSTALKING)
RAJU: And you guys -- and Mike, you have this story in Axios about how A.I. companies are probing tens of thousands of these incidents.
[08:44:50]
RAJU: So the extent of this is happening, we don't really know the extent of these attempted hacks.
ALLEN: No 100 percent. So there's great reporting up from Axios' Maddie Mills. Tens of thousands of incidents from the frontier labs that they're looking into, where the agents have gone rogue or have done something suspicious.
And why this matters is that the order of magnitude of this problem is infinitely worse than was realized on the outside.
Now reality check. It's never going to be zero. But this the scale of this raises real question of whether the labs can control their own technology.
RAJU: Yes.
ALLEN: It's the first invention in the history of the world where they're trying to figure out how the thing that they invented works.
RAJU: Look at the polls on this issue. Which party is better on A.I. policies? The question was asked in a recent CNN poll that came out. Just neither party, the voters don't like either party's handling. Of this, 54 percent say neither.
And then the importance of this issue of A.I. and data centers for the midterm vote, 87 percent say this is important. That is pretty staggering.
Yes, interesting.
CHALIAN: It has been an issue fast on the rise, both in terms of salience and in terms of opposition from the data center piece, specifically from voters.
It has been injected into almost every campaign as a as a campaign issue. In a way, when this campaign season started, I don't think people anticipated.
And you're still watching how it scrambles the politics. It doesn't cut cleanly on party lines. And so it scrambles the politics a little bit. And you're watching politicians, as always, playing catch up.
(CROSSTALKING)
RAJU: One place this is playing out is in Ohio, the Ohio senate race. Sherrod Brown has been attacking Senator Jon Husted over this issue.
There's a bill that's coming up in the United States Senate this week, a bill that passed overwhelmingly, almost unanimously in the House.
Now, this Jon Husted bill. It's called the Ratepayer Protection Act. It is designed to help try to ensure that data centers pay for all energy costs and grid updates.
The Democrats are planning to block this in the Senate because they say it doesn't go far enough. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JON HUSTED (R-OH): We're trying to lower electricity prices by passing the Ratepayer Protection Act, which would demand that data centers build their own electricity. And the Democrats are blocking it.
SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): Senator Husted's bill is a fraud. It's voluntary. No company has to do it. The bill we have is mandatory.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
RAJU: Could this turn the Senate race, this issue?
JESSICA TAYLOR, SENATE AND GOVERNORS EDITOR, THE COOK POLITICAL REPORT: I mean, I think Brown has been -- probably one of the most effective people at using this as a cudgel in a race. He was out very early hitting Husted on this. And I think sort of these opinions of Husted are baked in.
I mean, he said is going to -- he's pushing back on Brown saying you know, he's a career politician. But I think Husted's bill, is it enough? We'll see. It's a very, very close race.
But I think that Brown again he was out first issue. I'm seeing this coming up in so many governors races that we've seen like Texas Greg Abbott changing his position, looking to 2028. Josh Shapiro in Pennsylvania. Like this is just a cross-partisan issue that I've seen pop up, and I don't think it's going away.
RAJU: We've seen that Greg Abbott recalibrating his position on this issue.
TAYLOR: Yes.
ALLEN: Yes. And this race is going to be watched by labs, activists, companies like the take away from this is going to really shape 2028 because it's going to be such a massive issue heading into '28. Society, economy everywhere is going to be reshaped by A.I. between now and the next presidential election.
RAJU: Yes. And that's why these candidates are -- they're trying to understand what to do if Washington hasn't acted and hasn't figured out what it should do about the growth of A.I.
All right. Coming up -- actually, I should say, before we go to break, Atlanta is now in its bamboo era. Overnight, two giant pandas, Ping Ping and Fu Shuang, arrived at their new home at Zoo Atlanta.
A special delivery came just after Chinese leader Xi Jinping state visit to Washington. The pandas are on loan from the Chinese government for ten years. Since 1972, China has used pandas as a tool of diplomacy.
Ping Ping is six years old and is said to be very good at climbing trees. Fu Shuang is also about to turn six. She is known for finding food very easily. Seems like a good skill to have. All right, who doesn't love pandas?
All right, coming up. It worked for them in 2024, the GOP bringing back culture wars to the forefront for the midterms.
But now Democrats are changing their strategy. So what's up with that? That's next.
[08:49:13]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
RAJU: In the 2024 elections, Republicans made a clean sweep with a lot of help from the culture wars. Their ads of choice, taking on transgender rights.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Kamala's agenda is paid (ph) them, not you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
RAJU: And in the final stretch of the midterms this year, Republicans are repeating that playbook, attacking Democrats over trans issues, especially related to kids' sports.
But unlike what happened in 2024, when then Vice President Harris stayed largely silent in response to those attacks, new reporting from CNN's Patrick Svitek (ph) and David Wright found that this year, Democrats are fighting back.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Here's the truth I voted with Republicans to keep transgender ideology out of our schools.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Dark money groups are lying about me. We need to protect kids, and we need common sense rules to keep sports fair.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I want to set the record straight. As a mom, I know that parents just want their kids safe on the playing field and across Arizona.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I've always been clear boys shouldn't play on girls sports teams. The thing is, in 20 years raising a family here, I haven't heard this issue come up. Not once.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[08:54:47]
RAJU: In the pivotal Ohio senate race, Democrat Sherrod Brown tried to recenter the conversation after his Republican opponent, Senator Jon Husted, leaned in to trans issues.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Brown supports sex change surgery for kids, permanent surgical decisions with devastating consequences. The extremists demand it, Sherrod Brown complies.
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 did you vote to increase the cost of groceries.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: To do nothing about the cost of gas.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He took 490,000 Ohioans off their health care.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
RAJU: So will it work? Our CNN poll this week found that affordability and cost of living are voters' top concerns. As for trans issues, down at the bottom of the pack.
That's it for INSIDE POLITICS SUNDAY.
Up next here, "STATE OF THE UNION WITH JAKE TAPPER AND DANA BASH". Jake's guests include U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Mike Waltz, North Carolina Senator Thom Tillis, and Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear.
Thanks again for sharing your Sunday morning with us. We'll see you next time.
[08:55:52]
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