Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Live Event/Special
Democrats Take Early Leads in Key Senate, House and Governor Races. Aired on 8-9p ET
Aired November 06, 2018 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[20:00:00] WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: This is a huge moment right now because so many states are about to close and we're getting results.
Our projections are at six wins for the Democrats.
We could project that Elizabeth Warren, incumbent Democrat, she will be re-elected to the United States Senate for another six years.
Sherrod Brown in Ohio re-elected, the incumbent Democrat.
In Connecticut, Chris Murphy, the incumbent Democrat, re-elected.
In Maryland, Ben Cardin, the incumbent Democrat, re-elected.
In Delaware, Tom Carper, Democrat incumbent re-elected.
And Sheldon Whitehouse in Rhode Island re-elected.
Too early to call in three states. Let's take a look at those. Too early to call in Florida still, Bill Nelson and Rick Scott. They're in a tight matchup right there.
In Missouri, Claire McCaskill/Josh Hawley. Polls just closed there. Too early to call in Missouri.
Similarly in Tennessee. Phil Bredesen, former governor, Representative Marsha Blackburn, too early to call, too early to call in those three states.
Let's take a look where we're not able to make projections. As we mentioned Florida, Maine, Mississippi, the Mississippi special Senate election as well. Missouri, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Tennessee. No projection.
The balance of power, where things stand in the U.S. Senate right now: 31 Democrats are guaranteed. They will be in the Senate. Forty-two Republicans.
But 27 seats in the Senate remain outstanding right now. We're watching all 27 of those seats. Remember, Democrats must pick up two Republican seats. Two Republican seats in order to make sure that they are the majority, without losing any of their own seats.
Dana, you're eyeing some of the races that are still very close.
DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right, they are all very close. Still early.
But we want to check back in in Indiana because earlier, it was closer, I mean, further apart than it is is now. It's gotten closer. Mike Braun, the Republican, is still very far ahead at 55.3 percent. The incumbent Democrat, Joe Donnelly, is trailing at 40.8 percent.
But, again, we are still waiting for a lot of the Democratic areas to come in and that is according to people who I'm speaking to in Joe Donnelly's camp. Little more than a third of the vote in, but it is closing just a little bit. Republicans hope to take that just as they do a lot of other Trump states.
Now in Florida, Bill Nelson, incumbent Democrat, is leading. Votes are coming in very fast. He's 51.4 percent. The Republican, Rick Scott, is behind, 48.6 percent, rather; 70 percent of the vote in.
I want to get straight to Nia who has a projection in the governor's races.
NIA-MALIKA HENDERSON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL REPORTER: That's right, Dana. Two projections in governors' races.
In Pennsylvania, CNN projects that the winner of this race, Tom Wolf, who, of course, is the incumbent governor, he hangs on. Wins re- election defeating Scott Wagner, the Republican in this race.
We'll go to Massachusetts. CNN projects that the winner there is Charlie Baker. Also the incumbent there. The Republican defeating Jay Gonzalez for a second term.
So two holds, one for Democrats and one for Republican.
And here is the big board. These are the races we just can't make any projections in at this point. Alabama, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, and Rhode island and also Tennessee. No projections at this point.
It's just too early. In Florida, let's go to this race we've been watching all night. Andrew Gillum, the Democrat at this point, it's getting a little tighter with 82 percent reporting at this point.
He's ahead at this point by about 23,000 votes, but look at that, it's about 0.4 percent split. In Ohio, we'll go up to the Midwest here, Richard Cordray, the Democrat at this point, over Mike DeWine at this point for about 55,000 votes, 26 percent reporting.
Remember, Ohio, a state that Donald Trump won by about nine points. The Democrat doing well there. In Georgia, another race we're watching really closely, Brian Kemp, the Republican, over Stacey Abrams at this point by about 92,000 votes, 8 percent in.
We're going to hand you over to Wolf and Jake.
BLITZER: All right, thanks, Nia, very much.
Let's take a look at the big picture. JAKE TAPPER, CNN CHIEF WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Yes.
BLITZER: The House of Representatives right now. We got numbers. We'll put them on the screen.
I think 16 Democrats right now are leading in Republican districts. There you see it right now, 16 Democrats leading in Republican districts. And races that are still too early to call. Remember, the magic number now has gone down to 22.
Democrats must pick up 22 Republican seats. Not lose any of their own. They'll get to the magic number of 218 to become the majority.
TAPPER: Yes, and this is good news if you're a Democrat. You're watching this and you're thinking they're leading in 16. They already picked up one. It's early yet. It is only 8:00. A little bit after 8:00. We still have the rest of the country. We've only really hit the East Coast. There are still polls open in some places.
And so, but Democrats look like they're on track to have a good night. One thing that I would like to point out of the races that we just called, Pennsylvania and Ohio were purple states or blue states even in the case of Pennsylvania that Trump won.
[20:05:05] And yet both Governor Wolf of Pennsylvania and Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio won re-election pretty easily.
Even though there were a lot of hopes Republicans would be able to pick them up -- pick up the Senate seat in Ohio.
BLITZER: Look at Florida right now, how tight it's getting in the Florida gubernatorial contest and the Florida Senate contest right now. It's getting very tight.
TAPPER: Well, because a lot of the polls are coming in from the western part of the state I would assume.
BLITZER: Take a look at this, Andrew Gillum, 49.6 percent, Ron DeSantis, Republican, 49.2 percent. Only 23,500 votes ahead for Andrew Gillum.
Look at the Senate right now. The Senate contest, Bill Nelson is ahead by about 44,000 votes over Rick Scott, the governor, 50.3 percent, 49.7 percent.
But it is tightening in the past few minutes. It's tightened pretty dramatically.
TAPPER: You know what's interesting about this, the conventional wisdom is Andrew Gillum, because he was a more exciting candidate according to the pundits was helping Nelson and pulling nelson across the finish line although we obviously don't know who's going to get across the finish line first.
But, right now, Nelson actually has more votes than Gillum so perhaps that conventional wisdom, like so much conventional wisdom, was completely wrong.
BLITZER: We got a key race alert coming up right now.
BASH: Wolf, look at what we are seeing in Texas. The red state of Texas, the Democrat, Beto O'Rourke, as we're starting to get votes in is ahead. Significantly ahead, 58.5 percent. Ted Cruz, the incumbent Republican, 49.9 percent.
This, of course, has been a huge marquee race. Millions, tens of millions of dollars have poured in for Beto O'Rourke in the hope that he can turn this red state blue. It is early, but it is not something we ever see going into Texas on a Senate race. The Democrat is ahead.
I want to go back to Wolf and see exactly where these votes are coming in with John.
BLITZER: Well, fortunately, John is here and can show us where the votes are coming in. Thirteen percent of the vote in Texas has now been counted. Beto O'Rourke, the Democrat, he's ahead by 167,000 votes over Ted Cruz.
JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: He's become a national sensation. You can see Beto for Senate signs in Washington, D.C., in the liberal Washington suburbs. He's running in Texas. It's way down here.
Just, everybody, calm down. We have a ways to go. Thirteen percent in.
But where is it coming in? It's coming in, where it's coming in from is actually significant when it comes to the state of play overall in Texas tonight. Let's take a look.
BLITZER: Hold on one second. Hold on one second. I want to go to Florida for a moment because it's a nail biter, looking like a nail biter in Florida right now.
Look at this. He was way ahead but now let's get to the governors race right now if Florida. Look at how close all of a sudden, only 916 votes ahead for Andrew Gillum over the Republican Ron DeSantis, 49.4 percent, 49.4 percent. What, 6.5 million votes have already been counted.
KING: Welcome to Florida. Last time you were here and we were looking at this race, we had nothing. To the west, here, because the polls were still opened. So, what has happened since the polls have closed, come out here and have Ron DeSantis running it up?
The president had a rally here. This is more Republican country. Not a ton of votes but if you're trying to erase a margin, that helps you, 58 to 40 helps you. Move over here, 73 to 25, again, 27,000 votes you pick up there.
So, try, when you're in a close statewide race, when we're looking at this earlier, some big reliable Republican areas still out. And there's more. These are smaller counties. As you move away from Pensacola, these are much smaller, only 1 percent of the population there. Votes for Ron DeSantis. Come in here, looking at smaller counties less than 0.1 percent, 0.2 percent.
So, these smaller rural counties in a big blowout election, they don't tend to matter. In an election that is this close, every vote counts and these you can expect to go blue. So then you -- I mean, red. So, then you start looking at the map. Where are the Democratic votes? Sixty-eight percent in here.
One of the surprises of the night as you start moving down, let's see when we get down into the Tampa area here, Hillsborough County, then move over here, Pinellas County, 97 percent. So, the Democrats, you're doing your math, A, this is a swing county, you're happy to win it. You wish you'd win it by a little more than that if that number holds up.
But you're looking at 97 percent. You're starting to think, we know Republican votes are coming in up here. Where can we get some more Democratic votes?
So let's look. Orange County, 89 percent. This county was not in, remember, the early count, it came in fast. If you're the Democrats, you like that.
BLITZER: DeSantis has just taken the lead.
KING: Pull back out statewide now, taken the lead by 37,000 votes. Again, you're starting to see more votes coming up here, also seeing very strong Republican numbers down here. You see them in the panhandle and you see them down here in the southwest part of the state.
Again, this is normally Republican stronghold. This is where Republicans have focused their turnout effort. The Naples area, Collier County, 65 percent of the vote up there. You move up the coast here, Lee County, 3.5 percent of the statewide population, 60 percent.
[20:10:00] So Republicans are running it up with pretty good numbers in this part of the state.
The question is, 86 percent. This is where we get into crunch time in Florida. It happens every time, presidential race, governor's race, Senate race.
BLITZER: The Senate race looks like Scott is -- right now, go to the Senate race in Florida.
KING: Again, these two races have tracked each other. They've tracked each other in the polls, tracked each other in the returns coming in tonight.
A nationalized political environment, even though the candidates are different, they ran different campaigns, the Senate campaign, same thing. When Bill Nelson was ahead, we had no votes out here. Rick Scott getting nearly 60 percent of the vote there. Rick Scott getting 73 percent-plus of the vote there.
So, as the panhandle comes in, Georgia and Alabama, this is the South, if you will. These are reliably Republican voters. As they come in, the Republicans are now jumping into the lead.
The question is, what's left for the Democrats?
Let's just come down here. Miami-Dade, 58 percent. Lot of Democratic votes still to be counted. Welcome to Florida, this is where you have a roller coaster in the competitive race in Florida. Broward County, Democrat, 70 percent in the Senate race, Democrat just shy of 70 percent --
(CROSSTALK)
BLITZER: There's a lot of -- only a third of the vote is in.
KING: A lot of votes to be counted.
So, if you're Republicans, you're happy. You just pulled into the lead after a couple hours of being behind. However, you're doing the math, this is a giant basket of votes. That's still a lot of votes there.
Let's come all the way up. Palm Beach actually came in very fast tonight. Palm Beach County kept us up, sometimes. Ninety-eight percent of Palm Beach County. It's what the Democrat needs to do.
But if you're looking at Miami-Dade and Broward, still have more votes to count. This one pretty done. As you come out and look at it. So, you're looking elsewhere at the map. I just want to check where we are south of Orlando, 75 percent. Again, this one was at 89 percent.
So, obviously, Democrats have a lot of votes still to come down here. Republicans have more to come up here. The question is, more people live here than live up here. So, the Republicans have the lead, 37,000 in the governor's race right now, 14,000 in the Senate race right now. So you're looking at this map.
And if you're the Democrats, you suddenly got anxious. You've been leading all night long and all of a sudden this happens. When that happens you think, oh, did we just get overcome? Again, it's because of this and because of this, the question is, we got some more counting to do here. Again, you look at the margins.
They're tracking closely. That's the Senate race. That's the governor's race. They're tracking pretty closely.
Democrats are optimistic they'll get more here. Optimistic, they'll get a lot more here in the governor's race and Senate race. But come back out statewide. Again, this is Florida.
BLITZER: I interrupted your analysis of what's going on in Texas right now. Very, very close race that we're looking at. Ted Cruz and Beto O'Rourke. KING: Remember a few months ago this was a Democratic dream. There
were polls showing Beto O'Rourke in a statistical tie or a couple points behind Ted Cruz. Just, again, starting to come in, 55-43. So, if you're a Democrat, you're thinking we have a chance.
Beto O'Rourke had an aggressive voter turnout operation. He thinks that youth vote is going to be off the charts in Texas tonight and make it more competitive. This is one of those, I mean no offense, I believe it when I see it, in the sense this is a red state. It is wired.
But, but, a competitive Beto O'Rourke, number one, is he competitive in the Senate race? Number two, if he is, what does that do?
The reason I was about to talk about the early results coming in in Dallas county, 66 percent-34 percent, right? That's a big deal. The suburbs are changing.
This used to be -- George W. Bush lives here. This used to be reliably Republican country. Once you got outside the city and the suburbs, they are changing. So it's one of the things you're watching.
I just want, as you look at the map, this is where Beto is from, Beto is from El Paso. So, look down in here. But there are also house districts here, here, and here, just outside of Houston. That could be impacted. I want to see if we have House results coming in yet here.
This is not the district I'm looking for, but come in here, let's come over here and look. Yes. This is the district I'm looking for. This is -- a lot of Texas Democrats say if Beto doesn't win but Beto gets close because of the Dallas suburbs, can they knock off a Republican incumbent congressman, Pete Sessions?
Now, again, we're early in the vote count here. The Democrats look at this race and would love Beto O'Rourke to beat Ted Cruz. They would love to. That's a steep hill to climb.
Even having a competitive Democrat on the statewide ballot energized Democrats and so they think they can get Pete Sessions here. There's another Houston district down here. I don't think we have any results for it yet. We have no results here. This is the 7th district. They think they have a chance.
They're also looking here, right now, this is Will Hurd. Will Hurd's district. Another Republican incumbent at odds with the president in a lot of issues including immigration. This is a Republican seat, Will Hurd.
Hillary Clinton carried this district late in the campaign, a lot of Democrats thought maybe this one was slipping away. Beto O'Rourke is from are El Paso. Texas Democrats tell you there's a lot of pride. In a statewide race, they view smaller cities like El Paso get overlooked because of the size of Houston and Dallas, where the statewide candidate from this area, a lot of Democrats are saying watch turnout down here.
So, it's early. It's early. We're going to watch this play out. Will Hurd another Republican incumbent in trouble in a competitive race, at least losing at the moment because of a very different Texas dynamic.
[20:15:02] BLITZER: Let's remind our viewers, John, the Democrats need to win 22 more, 22 Republican-held districts, not lose any of their own to become the majority. How are they doing now?
KING: Right. So, first, they look at the national map as day fill in and uncalled pickups, that means races where candidates are leading and if they continued on to victory, they would flip it. You have 15 Democrats right now leading in districts that are now held by Republicans, four Republicans leading. You see them down here in the south.
The question is, how early are we? Again, we were talking about how early it is in the Texas Senate race. I'd say the same thing when we look at these House races.
You know, is the Democrat going to win in Will Hurd's district? We don't know. She's ju9st leading at the moment. Is the Republican going to win in Vicente Gonzalez district? The Democrats would tell you no way.
But gain, we're going to watch. You got a governor's race, you've got a Senate race. These results are very, very early. So be careful about it. That? What you're looking at.
BLITZER: Take a look at Florida's Senate race right now. It's a virtual tie what's going on. It's really flipped a lot over the past 20, 30 minutes.
KING: And we're at 89 percent right now. Rick Scott pulled ahead.
I want to come back out to the national map to show the significance of this. At today, tonight, entering the vote, that's a Democratic seat, that's a Democratic seat. That's a Democratic seat.
Now, that's a Republican seat. That would be a pickup for the Democrats in that state very early there. But as we get later into the vote count, Missouri, Indiana, and Florida, these are these neck in neck seats.
Democrats got confidence in the final days of the campaign. They thought Bill Nelson was starting to inch ahead. They thought he was starting to inch ahead.
Same in the governor's race. Look at the count, 50/50, 50/50. Welcome to Florida. Bush v. Gore. Let's keep going. Every election since.
Rick Scott, 4,700 votes, 4,731 votes ahead in a giant state of Florida. So, again, let's go through it. Where are the Republican votes? Waiting for percentages here. We'll see what happens there. Sometimes you don't get percentage in the feed.
Eighty-four percent over here, Lee County. This is bigger for Republicans, 3.5 percent of the population. So, still some more to come in. We're getting into the 80s, 16 percent here. Much smaller county here. You're starting to look -- my biggest question in these races and those who have been through Florida nail biters know, is number one, the gray up here means we have no votes in these very small, but reliably Republican rural counties.
What are the margins? Do Trump voters turn out? Not only does Bill Nelson -- let's take a look, Rick Scott, not only does Rick Scott get 70 percent but are you getting Republicans out? The numbers. What's the math?
BLITZER: You know what I want to do --
KING: You need the math to overcome --
(CROSSTALK)
BLITZER: Miami-Dade and Broward County, how much of the vote is still in? Here's Miami-Dade.
KING: You need the math up there to overcome the math down here, because 25 percent of the vote is still out in Miami-Dade, a lot of votes. I mean, look what we're talking about at 75 percent. 429,000, 283,000. 28 percent still out.
BLITZER: That's 13 percent of the population in Miami-Dade.
KING: That's a lot of votes. Again, in the Senate race, Democratic votes, the governors race, they're running about the same. Come back to the Senate race. Move up here. Only half of the vote.
In Broward County, 9.4 percent of the voters. It could be a higher percentage of the state tonight if turnout is high. Looking at least 9 percent, 10 percent of the state's vote coming out of here, only 50 percent in.
So, again, welcome to Florida politics. If you're Rick Scott, you're happy to be ahead. You've run for governor twice. You've just won barely twice in Republican years. You're Rick Scott, you know these things go late into the night and you know that this is not your strongest part of the state.
BLITZER: Right.
KING: There are a lot of votes still out.
BLITZER: So you take a look at those two counties, alone, Miami-Dade, Broward County, still a lot of votes out there. That's bill nelson's hope right now.
KING: When you say a lot, let's be clear, tens of thousands of votes still to be counted in Miami-Dade then in Broward County here. We got a long way to go. Think of it, if this is half the vote, 51 percent, see the math we're talking about here. There are a lot of votes still to be counted here. We see them come in.
Again, if the Republicans, you're happy to be ahead but you know these are going to stay blue.
BLITZER: Right.
KING: They're going to stay blue and stay blue by a significant margin. You're looking around the map thinking where else do Republicans get votes?
Number one, again, this used to be more swing Republican territory. It is swing. See how close it is. But the Democrats winning.
Move up here, the Republicans winning. It's tiny. Not enough people.
You start going through the map. And again, out here, Republicans will win out here, 1 percent of the population, 0.1 percent of the population. So, again, you're happy to be ahead if you're Rick Scott. You're starting to look anywhere else where we can find some votes because that's going to come in. Continuing blue.
The question is, does it stay that margin? There's no guarantee. No guarantee, 60-40 right now, 25 percent of the vote still to come in. There's no guarantee it will come in 60-40. It's going to come in Democratic --
BLITZER: Yes,
KING: -- this by tradition of the state.
The question is, by how much? This is where Broward county, you look at that margin.
BLITZER: This is where Bill Nelson is hoping -- what about the governor's contest in Florida?
KING: If you look at that margin, and if you're sitting in Republican headquarters, you're happy to be ahead. But you can do arithmetic and know what's going to happen down there.
So, let's go. Again, these races are tracking each other, right? Thirty-three thousand votes. Only 10,000 votes in the Senate race. A bit more comfortable lead if you want to say comfortable in Florida politics, 33,000.
But, again, 90 percent of the vote in. Most of the Republican vote.
[20:20:01] I just want to check how much as the panhandle comes in, 75 percent. Not as big. Remember, 1.6 percent of the state's population.
So, Ron DeSantis is going to get some more votes here, 25 percent still to come in. However, Andrew Gillum saying, I'll see your Escambia County with Miami-Dade County and, again, 75 percent here. He's running ahead, again, 60-40 pretty much like the governors race -- I mean, the Senate race. And you see more votes here. More votes here. So it's nail biting
time in Florida, as the overall percentage is up to 90 percent. Pretty quick count for most of Florida tonight. We've gone a lot later to try to get that high in Florida.
You're looking at the map, two Republicans are leading. There's available math for the Democrats, which is why we count them.
BLITZER: Yes. Big picture in the house of representatives, right now, how many Democrats are leading in Republican districts? They need 22 and right now, there it is, you see 16 Democrats are leading in Republican districts in races that are still too early to call. Three Republicans are leading in Democratic-held districts.
KING: And we'll see if -- we'll see if that holds. Again, surprises in midterm years, that would be a surprise. This one here, I haven't checked this district. Let's pull this one up and see.
A Nashville district here, Jim Cooper's district. That would be an interesting race right there, Jim Cooper, house Democrat who's managed -- one of the Democrats who managed to hang on in Tennessee. As Tennessee has gone more and more. Again, you have a Senate race here. One of the questions is, is the margin in the Senate race going to be so much that maybe it helps another Republican in another place?
We'll watch this one play out, but we'll keep an eye on Jim Cooper there. Again, Democrats need to pick up a net 22 now, 23 at the beginning of the night. They have one in Virginia already.
As you're going through that, you're checking your list. Are we going to lose any of ours? Looking at house district Democrats, it makes you nervous because Tennessee is so competitive. Jim Cooper. The race in Texas is gone.
A minute ago I told you we'll see if that holds up. That's now gone. The Democrat is back ahead in that district. You have 16 Democrats leading in Republican-held districts. Two Republicans leading in Democratic-held districts.
This one I'm very suspect of given the demographics of the district. We'll see if it holds up, 19 percent. We're still stuck. Let's see when we get to 25 percent, 30 percent, and more, if this Republican can hang on here.
Again, there are always surprises on elections. That would be a big one, though. We'll see what happens when more of the vote comes in.
If you're the Democrats, you're thinking we should get that back. That's a little more dicey because of where it is. You need 22, 16 where you're leading. Doesn't mean they're done deals.
It doesn't mean they're done deals in part because of where they are. North Carolina, a Republican-leaning state. It's a Republican-leaning state. Let's check on a couple of these to see where we are. Republican incumbent there, 10,000 votes. This held right about there for a while. You need the vote percentage
to get you up higher here. The Republican incumbent here, very close, let's not get too far ahead of ourselves. It does tell you that you have a number of districts some of which were on our list to watch. Couple were not where the Democrats are in play and being competitive.
If the goal is to get to 23, now 22 because of the called race in Virginia, there are places on the map. There are also, I want to be clear, there are missed opportunities or disappointments at least on the second tier. Democrats have their first list, let's do that.
We talked earlier about Virginia, talked about the Dave Brat district here. He's now pulled ahead. Democrats were hoping to get two, maybe three, but they were hoping to get two out of Virginia. They have one.
At 68 percent, Dave Brat. That's a narrow lead. Still doable. Dave Brat inching ahead there. This would be a missed opportunity for the Democrats, by no means an easy race for the Democrats to get. We focused on that earlier.
Wolf, I want to go back to you, I understand you have a projection.
BLITZER: We have a projection.
Another pickup for the Democrats. CNN projects that Donna Shalala will be the next representative from Florida in the House 27th district, defeating Maria Elvira Salazar. She's a former Bill Clinton cabinet member, secretary of health and human services, went on to become the president of the University of Miami.
Donna Shalala will take the seat. It's Ileana Ros-Lehtinen seat, the Republican who had served in this district for many, many years. She retired.
This is a pickup. This is a pickup for the Democrats. As a result, Democrats must now pick up 21 more Republican seats in in order to become the majority without losing any of their own. This is a significant win for the Democrats in the Miami area of Florida right now.
So, they need 21 right now. How many are they leading in, John, as we see this pickup for the Democrats in Florida?
KING: They're leading in 15 Republican-held seats. Republicans are leading in two Democratic-held seats. I just want to emphasize in some of these districts, one of them is right here in the middle of Ohio, Democrats were not expecting to pick up a seat in the middle of Oklahoma tonight.
So we'll watch as the results come in. The Republican incumbent is Steve Russell. We show you some of the results. We saw a race in Texas we showed you, the Republican was leading, went back to the Democrats.
Let's be careful as we do this. We want to see, see the results start to come in. You think, OK, A, are the Democrats winning the districts they thought they would win, and B, are there any surprises out there? Either way.
So, we'll keep on eye on the seat in the middle of Oklahoma, see if the Democrats can pick that up.
[20:25:03] That would be a bonus, if you will, on this night. Again, we mentioned Republicans right now leading in Jim Cooper's district, longtime house member from Tennessee, but pretty low vote count. Pretty low vote count. So, we have to see how that one plays out. We'll come back in.
You're looking at the Democratic opportunities now. How do you keep building and keep building? Again, the Kentucky race where they were leading, they're no longer leading. One of the Virginia races where they were leading, they were no longer leading.
So, the bigger list has been widowed down a bit as we start looking through the races but do have targets of opportunity. There's one in Ohio, Troy Balderson. Again, this was on our list of races to watch, 3 percent reporting. We have a ways to go.
There's a governors race going on, Senate race going on as well, 3 percent. Democrats, one they're keeping an eye on out there. We come back in.
When the polls close at 8:00, a couple targets for the Democrats in New Jersey. Just want to come back in here and look here, some potentials in North Carolina. We'll keep counting. One potential in South Carolina. Again, this would be a surprise, but we'll keep looking.
BLITZER: We want to go to Dana, she's got a key race alert in the Senate.
BASH: That's right, Wolf, we're checking in on four battlegrounds in the senate, starting with Texas. This is something that, again, nobody thought that they would ever see even though it's early in the night. Beto O'Rourke, the Democrat, is ahead, 51 percent of the vote. The incumbent Republican Ted Cruz is trailing right now 48.4 percent of the vote.
Not only has this been a marquee race, this is if you look at the big picture, one of those seats the Democrats are hoping to turn over, to flip, if they have any shot at taking back the Senate. Again, about a third of the vote in in Texas.
It's the same story for Tennessee. This is an open Republican seat. Democrats were hoping to take back. Right now, the Republican candidate, Marsha Blackburn, is ahead with a significant lead, 66 percent of the vote. And change. The Democrat, Phil Bredesen is behind.
Indiana, Mike Braun, Republican challenger, is ahead in the race, 55.6 percent, he has that much of the vote. Joe Donnelly, incumbent Democrat, 40.3 percent. This, again, is Trump country, but a Democrat there, Republicans are trying to take it back.
Same story in Florida. The Republican challenger is ahead. But it is still very, very close, 50.2 percent of the vote for Rick Scott. The Democratic incumbent, third-term incumbent, Bill Nelson, is trailing at 49.8 percent, 91 percent of the vote in.
We're going to watch Florida all night long, Nia.
HENDERSON: We are, Dana. And speaking of Florida, we're going to look at this governor's race and update here.
Ron DeSantis still in the lead at this point by about 0.8 points over Andrew Gillum in this race, 91 percent reporting. It is tracking with that Senate race we just looked at, 56,000 vote lead for Ron DeSantis. Such a contentious race. A very tight race going in. We can see that now.
Still a tight race, 91 percent reporting. Obviously more votes to come in in the south of Florida.
In Ohio, we go up to the Midwest. Richard Cordray, the Democrat in this race up by 56,000 votes over the Republican who's the attorney general in Ohio. He is trailing at this point by about 31 -- by -- with 31 percent reporting at this point. Why is Ohio important? Because it's in the Midwest.
In Georgia, another race we're closely tracking. Brian Kemp ahead here 158,000 votes at this point above the Democrat in this race, Stacey Abrams who, of course, is trying to become the nation's first African-American woman governor, 16 percent reporting. We're going to keep an eye on this race.
I'm going to hand you over to Wolf.
BLITZER: All right, Jake. Let's take a closer look at what's going on, step back and look at the big picture.
TAPPER: OK. It's a very interesting. First of all, we have these three nail-biting races right now.
In Florida, we have the person running for Senate, the incumbent governor, Rick Scott, is up by 0.45 percent. There was, I think, only 91 -- not only, 91 percent of the vote in. This was projected to be a tight race but I don't think anybody knew how tight it was going to be.
And Democrats did seem to have an edge in a lot of the -- in the polling at the last minute. Right now, Rick Scott is up in the Senate race and not coincidentally, Ron DeSantis running for governor is also up.
We also have in the Texas Senate race right now, and it's early, Beto O'Rourke is leading over Senator Ted Cruz. Again, it's very, very early. We don't expect that that necessarily is going to be the end result. But it is still -- those are the results as of right now.
And then in West Virginia, the Democrat, Joe Manchin, is ahead, but still, a close race as of right now.
So right now, if anybody was thinking this was going to be an early night in a lot of early projections for some of these races we didn't know about -- no, it is not.
TAPPER: It's going to be close and it's going to be a nail biter for a lot of these Democrats and Republicans in these states.
TAPPER: And right now, in the House side, remember, Democrats need to pick up a total of 23. We have called now two races for the Democrats, both of them are women running in seats previously elected -- represented, rather, by other women, Republican women.
BLITZER: Take a look at this, 15 Democrats in the House contest are leading in Republican districts in races that are still too early to call. Democrats must pick up now 21 Republican seats. They started the night with 23.
TAPPER: Yes. And as John has pointed out at the magic wall, just because somebody's leading in a Republican district right now doesn't mean ultimately that's where it's going to end up.
And, yet, right now Democrats are projected to -- we've already called two of them in Northern Virginia and in Florida flipping from Republican control to Democratic control. Now, Democrats only need to flip 21 more and its only 8:30.
BLITZER: And they are leading in 15 of those districts right now, so there's potential that the Democrats clearly have.
Let's look at how close the contests for Florida Senate, Florida governor are right now. We'll put the numbers up on the screen so our viewers can see them because it's getting very, very close in both, but there are still plenty of votes outstanding.
Look at this, Rick Scott is ahead 50.4 percent to 49.6 percent. He's ahead by 56,000 votes. 92 percent of the vote is in, but there are still plenty of Democratic votes out in those Southern Florida counties, Miami-Dade and Broward County. We'll see what happens in Florida. That's the Senate contest.
In the gubernatorial contest, look at how close it is right now, 49.9 percent to 48.8 percent. 92 percent of the vote is in. Ron DeSantis is pulling ahead. He's got an 80,000-vote lead right now, just changed to 79,000-vote lead. So it's very close, but there are still some outstanding potentially Democratic votes in those Southern Florida counties.
TAPPER: Once again, it seems to suggest that when people talk about polling, they don't talk enough about the margin of error because both Gillum and Nelson were polling ahead of their Republican -- the Republicans they were running against, but right now they are losing to them.
Something that is fascinating that I think is going to be a subject for a lot of people in days to come is there has never been a poll that I saw before Election Day where Gillum was not ahead of Nelson. Gillum, the Democratic candidate for governor, was not ahead of Nelson, the incumbent Democratic senator even though they're running in two different races.
And yet if you look at the results, the actual votes, more people voting for Nelson, at least as of right now, than Gillum, which suggests that either the polling is just completely been off or there have been people who said they were voting for Gillum, but ultimately, did not vote for Gillum.
BLITZER: Yes, there are still some outstanding votes out there that have to be counted. John, you're looking very closely at this Senate contest.
JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I'm just going around through the different counties, small counties, big counties, medium counties, just to see where there's still outstanding vote. To Jake's point, Rick Scott ahead in the Senate race by 56,000-plus votes, so you're just looking around 100 percent reporting here.
These are small rural counties but they're critical to Republicans in close races, 100 percent reporting, 86 percent reporting, so a little bit more to come in here. But, again, 0.3 percent in a giant state population, 100 percent reporting here. So you look through, that's Republican counties.
So let's just look at some of these Democratic. It's a smaller one here, 78 percent, so a little more votes but, again, smaller county. And I'm getting south for a reason. The news is in the south, I'm burying the lead to degree, just want to check. But this is the Democratic area, Orange County, much more populated.
This is what's key. Rick Scott is ahead right now, but the Democrats are by no means, by no means out of these races because of -- look at the vote totals, look at the vote totals in Orange County. I just want to go back up here to a smaller county. That's a medium-sized county.
Come over here, there are still some votes out in smaller Republican counties. This is the issue if you're the Republicans. You're happy to be ahead, but 93 percent, still some more votes here. Now we keep going south, I just want to check over here in the Tampa area first, though, 83 percent here, Democrats way ahead, right, in a decent lead there. This is more competitive, 99 percent there.
So if you're the Democrats you're thinking we're behind, can we get them? The answer is, yes, you can. Doesn't mean you will, but the answer is, yes, you can. Where can you get them? Right here. Look at the size of this lead here, that's 190,000 votes in one county alone. The lead, 51 percent reporting. That doesn't guarantee the vote total is going to double, it doesn't guarantee the lead is going to hold up, but what it tells you is just about half the vote is out in a large county.
Bill Nelson has a giant advantage in this county if the vote comes in significantly Democratic, again, that's 193,000 votes right there. In this one county, if you come back out to the statewide just to look at the results, 59,000-vote lead for Rick Scott, that's Broward. You come down to Miami-Dade, again, that's a thumping in Miami-Dade County.
[20:35:00] Bill Nelson winning big, 75 percent, so there's still another, do the math at home, more than enough votes here and here for Bill Nelson to come back. If they come in 60-plus and if they come in at that level of the precincts that are outstanding, that's the big question.
So if you're the Republicans, you're leading in the race for Senate, 59,000 votes, almost 60,000 votes, you round it up right there. In the race for governor, 83,000 votes, a bigger margin there. So the Democrats, this is nervous time, but there are still votes to be counted and this is what happens in Florida.
BLITZER: Right. Democrats still have some significant potential in those Southern Florida counties. Let's go to Texas right now, Beto O'Rourke apparently still ahead.
KING: Just look at it for a minute because you don't see that very often, Texas blue. This is a Democratic dream. I was just texting with some people in Texas who say this is real. We think we have a competitive race. Do they have enough? Do they have enough to pull it off? Let's look at the map.
And again, focus first, not just on the red and blue, but on the gray. That is where we have no votes. That is where we have no votes and most of that area, yes, it's small, yes, it's rural, most, not over here, this is Democratic over here, but this up in here is a Republican votes we've yet to count. So if you're the Democrats, though, 53 percent, 46 percent, you're feeling pretty good about that as you go through.
Let's just take a look. Let's come in here. Let's look at Austin, Texas. This is Travis County. This is Democratic country. We knew Beto O'Rourke is going to win in Travis County. The question is, can he win big? That's big, that's big, 75 percent, 23 percent that you're looking there.
So let's come down here, San Antonio, another area where Democrats statewide in Texas has to win big. He's winning in there. See how it goes right there when we take a look at it. Winning in Dallas, starting to get some votes. We don't have Harris County yet. This is Houston right here. Harris County is giant, 16 percent of the state population, big county here. We don't have any of that yet growing more diverse, more Democratic. So if you're Beto O'Rourke you're saying, "I'm ahead and we don't have any of that yet."
BLITZER: Look at these counties. Let's look at the margins historically because that could potentially be an indicator.
KING: The question is, can be or maybe not, though. Let's just go back in time to look at Ted Cruz's race. We go back six years ago. Ted Cruz didn't have an opponent. This was a Republican year, presidential year. Ted Cruz on the ballot in a presidential year, so that's sometimes the historical comparisons that just don't work in the sense that Ted Cruz has a real opponent this time if you look at the race.
But to my point earlier about what's not filled in on the map yet, just look through here with the exception of Austin, right? The exception of Austin, just look through here and the exception of Dallas, block that out, and go around it. And then come back to the map where we are right now, a lot of votes to be counted up here. And with the exception of Dallas and Austin, this is likely to fill in red.
The question is, the question is, and, again, you know, Ted Cruz not the most likable guy, the President went down there. They've had a dysfunctional relationship from 2016 that they say is repaired now, so these are very tiny counties. This is what Ted Cruz has to do in these small counties. You have to run it up like that. This is reliable rural Republican country.
But, Texas is changing. Texas is changing. Is Texas changing this fast? Is Texas going to surprise us tonight? That would surprise even a lot of Democrats, but Texas is changing for this reason. Again, as I noted, the suburbs in America are growing. The suburbs in America are revolting against President Trump.
Look at this vote in Dallas. Look at this vote in Dallas. Let's go back to see where this was. 66 percent for the Democrat in Dallas, 55 percent for a weaker Democrat there and this county, 9.4 percent of the population, so Ted Cruz had an easy race last time, Ted Cruz does not have an easy race this time. So you watch that play out.
And again, there's a House district up here as well. So the Beto effect, you have a close race in Texas right now with the Democrat at the moment leading in about 50 percent. You also have Democrats thinking this is going to help us in a couple House districts and state legislative races. We'll see how this plays out.
I just want to check them out. The governor's race is not close. I mean, that's closer than Democrats thought it was going to be and we'll see if that holds up, 47 percent. I just want to remind people, the gray, we have no votes. Most of that, most of that is Republican country, but, but some of it's not.
This is where Beto O'Rourke is from. We have nothing from El Paso County, it's 3 percent of the population. So if you're Beto O'Rourke, you're saying, "I get it, I get it, when this comes in, Ted Cruz is going to come up." But if you're Beto O'Rourke, you're also looking and saying, "This is home. This is home. There's no votes here yet, so I've got an opportunity".
I just want to keep checking down here. Let's see where we are in percentage wise. We don't have this on the map right now. Small counties along the border but, again, is Beto O'Rourke pulling off the Texas miracle? That means Latinos are coming out in presidential year numbers even higher maybe. Young people are coming out in presidential year numbers, not traditional midterm numbers. That's what we'll find out as we go through this. I just want to come back and look at the margins as we come to it. Population center, San Antonio, Democratic, Beto O'Rourke has to run it up. Let's just go back and look at what the margin was 20 years ago. Beto O'Rourke, remember, a weaker opponent, Ted Cruz gets 46 percent. Stronger opponent, Beto O'Rourke is getting 59 percent, that matters. That's votes in a major metropolitan area in the state of Texas.
[20:40:00] BLITZER: He's really got to run up it in those four largest cities --
KING: Exactly.
BLITZER: -- in the suburbs of Houston, San Antonio, Dallas and Austin.
KING: Here, here, here, here, and, again, Corpus Christi to a degree. But, again, this is the magic for Beto O'Rourke if he can pull it off in the sense that when you talk to Texas Democrats they say, "You know what, guys from here never win statewide." They never get the nomination statewide. They always get beat by guys from Dallas or Houston or somewhere else in the state in the statewide contests.
So Texas Democrats who say we don't know if we can pull this off but we think we're going to do a lot better than you think, say watch down here too because they say it's a point of pride not only in Beto O'Rourke's congressional district, he's a member of the House, but in neighboring areas where they think a guy from El Paso has a chance to win statewide, let's come out and play. So we'll see how it happens. Again, we're looking at it right now, 53 percent to 47 percent, a competitive Texas Senate race. Well, you don't say that that often.
BLITZER: Yes, certainly. Take a look at this, look at this right now, 21 Democrats are leading in Republican districts in races that are too early to call. 21 Democrats are leading in Republican districts. Democrats must pick up 21 Republican seats in order to become the majority in the House of Representatives, not lose any of their own. Jake, this is a big deal. They're seemed to be on the verge of potentially becoming the majority in the House.
TAPPER: Yes, that's right. And while Republicans are looking at what's going on in Florida and other parts of the country, governors races, Senate races and feeling good, this is where Democrats are looking right now and feeling good looking at the fact that they're really breathing down the necks of the Republicans when it comes to control of the House.
Just to remind our viewers, we have already called two congressional seats as flips, in Virginia and in Florida going from Republican control to Democratic control. And now there are 21 seats, Republican-held seats, where Democrats are in the lead.
And just as a reminder for the big picture, 435 congressional seats, CNN is considering about 97 of them seats to watch. And of the 97, Republicans are playing defense on 88 of them. The map favors Democrats when it comes to control of the House and whether or not Democrats will be able to take control of the House, the map when it comes to the Senate favors Republicans.
BLITZER: It's a significant moment that Democrats are anxious, of course, to become the majority in the House of Representatives because the implication of that, the meaning of that, is so significant, it would have a tremendous impact on the President of the United States if the Democrats have subpoena power oversight majority in the House.
TAPPER: That's right. I mean, look, when Republicans controlled the House during President Obama's time in the White House, Republicans were able to hold hearings, they were able to conduct investigations, they had subpoena power. They were able to make life very difficult for the Obama administration.
If Democrats do take control of the House, they will do that to the Trump administration. And, of course, there's also the "I" word, impeachment. It is possible Democrats don't like to talk about it, or at least they haven't for the last couple of months, it is possible that Democrats will ultimately find some reason to try to go after President Trump and impeach him in the House of Representatives.
So what happens tonight with these congressional seats, these 21 Democrats that are currently leading in Republican districts could have a huge effect on President Trump, his ability to be re-elected, his ability to survive the next two years.
BLITZER: That's right. We're watching the House of Representatives as closely as we are. In the battle for the House, Democrats are making some gains. They're leading in 21 Republican-held districts right now, the same number they need to win -- to gain control of the House of Representatives. Polling places are about to close in 14 more states. More key races, more crucial votes, just ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:47:25] BLITZER: Let's take a look where things stand in the House of Representatives right now. Look at this, 24 Democrats are leading in Republican districts in races that are too early to call. Democrats must pick up 21 Republican seats and not lose any of their own. But four Republicans, a cautionary note, four Republicans right now are leading in Democratic districts in races that are too early to call.
Dana, it's very, very tight, very, very potential. You got a key race alert.
DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Wolf. A number of Senate races we are looking at starting, of course, with Texas because Beto O'Rourke, the Democratic challenger, is still ahead pretty significantly, 51.3 percent to Ted Cruz, the incumbent, at 48 percent, half the vote in.
Rick Scott, the Republican in Florida, he is ahead there, 50 percent -- 50.5 percent, rather. Bill Nelson, 49.5 percent, so that means a half a percentage point or one percentage, I should say, is separating these two candidates with 95 percent of the vote in. I also want to go to Missouri. This is one of those states where the President won by double digits and the Republican challenger, Josh Hawley, is ahead. He's at 63.8 percent of the vote, McCaskill is trailing. She's the incumbent Democrat.
It's a different story in West Virginia, also Trump country. The Democratic incumbent Joe Manchin is ahead, 51.9 percent. Patrick Morrisey, the Republican challenger, 43.8 percent, a little more than a third of the vote in, in West Virginia.
I also want to go to the state of Indiana, this is another one of those Trump states where he is hoping to help the Republican win there and Republican Mike Braun is doing just that right now, 54.9 percent. The incumbent Democrat, Joe Donnelly, is trying to keep that state in Democratic hands, but right now he's failing in his efforts to do that.
I want to go straight no Nia with the projection in the governor's race.
NIA-MALIKA HENDERSON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL REPORTER: That's right. Dana, CNN projects that in Tennessee the winner of that race is Bill Lee, this was an open seat. He wins this race defeating Karl Dean who was a Democrat in that race.
We can move on to another projection in Arkansas. CNN projects that the winner of that race is the incumbent, Asa Hutchinson, who defeated Jared Henderson in this race down in Arkansas.
In Rhode Island, CNN projects that the winner of that race, Gina Raimondo. She is the incumbent governor there. She defeats Allan Fung in that race.
And let's look at some other races, the race we've been looking at all night long. Florida, Ron DeSantis, still in the lead at this point by 87,000 points over his Democratic challenger.
[20:50:06] Andrew Gillum, the major of Tallahassee, 96 percent reporting. This thing is tight, tight, tight. Everyone on this is looking closely at this margin. At this point, about two points are still separating Ron DeSantis from Andrew Gillum in that race.
Moving on to Ohio in the Midwest, Richard Cordray, the Democrat here above of about 2,000 votes at this point ahead. Its 14,000 of votes at this point, 38 percent reporting, Mike DeWine ahead, you saw that flip just there. Mike DeWine ahead over Richard Cordray at this point in this very, very tight race. It was tied essentially going into and then you see it's basically tied at this point too in Ohio.
Let's move on to Georgia at this point, another race we're watching closely. Brian Kemp at this point 20 points above Stacey Abrams, the Democrat in this race, with about 27 percent reporting.
Important to keep in mind in this race that Atlanta in the suburbs are haven't quite reported votes at this point, that's going to be probably a good area over Stacey Abrams to gain some votes here. But at this point, she's behind by about 190,000 votes, 27 percent reporting. And we're going to toss you to Wolf and Jake.
BLITZER: All right, thanks very much. Another high stakes hour just ahead as voting ends in 14 more states. We're about to get a huge new round of results that will help decide the battle of control for Congress.
At 9:00 p.m. Eastern, polls will close in Arizona, Colorado, Kansas, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Mexico, New York, North Dakota, South Dakota, Texas, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. Jake, lots on the line in the next hour.
TAPPER: There sure is, Wolf. We're watching a dozen competitive House races in Republican held districts from New York that taxes many of them are tests of President Trump's appeal, including a House contest in upstate New York.
Moderate Democrat and state assembly man (ph), Anthony Brindisi is waging a strong challenge against Republican Congresswoman Claudia Tenney. Tenney has closely aligned herself with President Trump in this district that he won by 15 points two years ago.
We're also watching some high profile Senate races as well in Texas. Democrats may, emphasis on may, be heading toward an upset. Democratic Congressman Beto O'Rourke has taken the lead in this deep red state over Republican senator and former Republican presidential candidate, Ted Cruz. A little over half of the votes are already in, but it is still early and it is still a Republican state.
In Arizona, two U.S. congresswomen, Democrat Kyrsten Sinema and Republican Martha McSally, they're battling it out for an open Senate now head by -- held by the Republicans.
And in North Dakota, a very vulnerable seat for Democrats, perhaps the most vulnerable Democrat, incumbent Senator Heidi Heitkamp, she's facing a tough challenge from Republican Congressman Kevin Cramer.
We're about to get the first results in a key governor's race in Wisconsin. Democrat Tony Evers is taking on incumbent Republican Governor Scott Walker who was seeking his third term. Walker is a top target for Democrats.
And, Wolf, we're just minutes away from the second biggest round of poll closings tonight. Wolf?
BLITZER: We're about to get a whole lot more results. John, let's take a look at Florida right now. It's a key race, 96 percent of the vote is in. Let's take look at the Senate contest.
KING: 96 percent of the vote in, in a state has big of Florida, not that big of a lead, 63,638 votes for Rick Scott, 96 percent in. So the question is, if you're Bill Nelson in what's left, can you come back? And so you go through it.
Let's take a look, 87 percent Miami-Dade County. You're starting to get nervous if you're Bill Nelson. That's 63,000 votes. Can you make it up? Yes. But how many votes are coming in down here? He has more than 450,000, the Republican almost 300,000. So there are votes to be had here in Miami-Dade. Are they enough for Bill Nelson, that's what they're doing, checking with all these precincts right now and doing their math, looking at their voter list.
You come up here, we're up to 70 percent now in Broward County. Remember last time you were here this was at 51, so more votes are coming. The Democrat is holding his lead. The question is, with the 30 percent left, again, that's 200,000 votes, 200,000 plus votes with 70 percent in. Is there in that 30 percent left enough, do the quick math, possible. It is possible.
Then you start looking at the math, but I just want to check here. This came in early, 100 percent for Palm Beach County. That came in earlier tonight, I just want to double check that to see. So if you're a Democrat, you're saying where else are there population centers, urban areas, suburbs that we can pick up votes?
You're at 96 percent here. So some, some, but you can't count a lot up there at Orange County. Come back out, let's come over here and start looking. These are much more competitive areas of the state, you get the 10 percent peak (ph), Bill Nelson winning 91 percent.
If he keeps that margin, again, at some in a close race, every vote counts. The bigger areas, Miami-Dade and Broward that we're looking for, analysis come in at 100 percent. So, they're all -- most of them are in there.
So the other question is in the Scott campaign, can you add -- can you add votes? And so you have one county here in the northern part of the state up in the panhandle, very tiny, though. Some votes for Bill Nelson. Every vote counts in a close race with some votes.
[20:55:04] But most of these other areas, you come over here, this is the biggest county in the panhandle, 86 percent, so Rick Scott can count on moving up a little bit here. But you look at this right now, I just want to come back and check it every couple seconds statewide to see where we are, just shy of 63,000 votes in a state like Florida.
Let's go back to one of Rick Scott's closer elections. Now, we'll look at the governor's race. I just want to go back to Rick Scott's election as governor, 48-47. He does this. This is what Rick Scott does when he wins, 49-48. This is the history and so these races are always close. Now we're switching to the governor's race. To show the Senate race, same dynamics at play here.
Can Andrew Gillum, the mayor of Tallahassee, overcome 85,000 votes? That's a little bigger, right? 20,000 votes more believe (ph) been in the Senate race. Can he overcome that? We're looking at the very same places. We're coming down, again, 87 percent of the precincts reporting here. Again, Andrew Gillum running up a big healthy lead here in a place where you're talking about giant vote totals.
So, is it possible? Yes, starting to get tighter. You know, you're starting to think that we're going to get all those votes so they're going to come in here, again, Broward County, 9.5 percent statewide voting population. We don't know what the turnout is right there tonight, but it's 9 percent, maybe a little more, maybe a little less of the vote that's going to come in tonight. Andrew Gillum running up a healthy, very healthy margin there.
The question is, they're looking at the voting lists trying to figure out are there enough? Because if you go through most of the other blue parts of the state, 94, smaller county, it might be a little bit here. Let's just check randomly some of these more Republican counties in the middle, 100 percent, 100 percent, 100 percent, just one more to be safe, 100 percent.
So if you're in the Republican campaign, most of your vote is in. You got a little bit more coming in up here. In the Democratic campaign, that's a big number. That's the race for governor. Come over and look at the race for Senate. It's a smaller number but still significant number if you're Bill Nelson.
Both the Democrats in the Senate and the governor's race were leading narrowly in the polls coming in. The question is, will they be rescued by the last Democratic votes in Miami-Dade and Broward County, which is often the case in a tight Florida race, it's often the case. But don't rule out a comeback. Will they be rescued? This is -- if it's going to happen, Wolf, there are few others in other places, but it's going to have to happen right down here.
BLITZER: There's still some significant numbers of votes outstanding. Let's go to Texas right now.
BLITZER: Texas, again, another murky Senate race. Let's come over here. Texas is blue. Again, you don't see that on the map in a long time (INAUDIBLE). Let's go back to see Texas turning blue on the map here. Beto O'Rourke getting closer, though, as you watch this play out, 51 to 49 if you round them up, 84,000 votes. Again, sounds like a big healthy lead at giant state of Texas.
If you want more, you watch this starting to fill in. If you're Beto O'Rourke, home has yet to report. So you're thinking, "OK, we'll see what happens there." If you're Ted Cruz, you're looking at this map and you come down here, how are we going to do in Harris, a county that's increasing turning Democratic? Houston is sprawling. The Houston suburbs are growing. It's more diverse. It's more Democratic. We'll see what happens here as it plays out. And, again, you're looking at margins, right?
So you see all these grays up here, see all the red around it, smaller rural Republican counties where Ted Cruz is going to do damage like that. But, again, these are low early -- still votes are coming in. They're just not as big. So if you're Beto O'Rourke, here's what you have to do. Dallas, run it up. What's he doing? Running it up, 66 percent of the vote in Dallas County talking 9.5 percent statewide population. We'll watch this one. That's what he has to do there to keep this race competitive.
Austin, smaller, but Democratic run it up. That's what he's doing right there. And you start looking at San Antonio, Democratic area, Democratic base. Latino voters, are they turning out? That's a good margin down there as we look. Again, here's the big question mark. Houston and the suburbs, is the turn out there to keep Beto O'Rourke in the lead, to keep propelling him?
And then out here as you start to look out here, you're starting to see it fill in. His congressional district is right here in El Paso. And then you this area in here, Democrats say Beto O'Rourke will run it up here. The question for Ted Cruz is, do you keep filling in all that red?
BLITZER: Let's go to the House of Representatives. Big picture right now, where things stand?
KING: That's still a wow as you see the Senate race as we fill in. So let me come out -- let me clear this and show you the entire map. This is the country. The entire country as it comes in. These numbers can be confusing because most of the Democrats leading are in safe Democratic districts. Most of the Republicans leading are in safe Republican districts.
But as you watch the map fill in, you notice some blue here, you notice some blue here, that's different. So let's look at races we have not called that would be pickup opportunities, pick up opportunities.
We just talked about Beto O'Rourke running a very competitive race, leading at the moment in the state of Texas for Senate. If he wins, or even is very close, Democrats think they can pick up a couple seats in Texas. Some of these seats were not on the Democratic list. So, will this happen? We don't know what's going to happen here, but we'll watch that.
Democrats leading and a few opportunities in Texas might a more competitive Senate race pull off a few surprises in Texas, maybe. But this is where -- especially if you begin to the next hour, Democrats, a couple pickups here as the polls close in New York, we're still looking for a few more there. And as we count in New Jersey right here, we'll know in the next half hour or so are Democrats getting closer to magic number? We'll know soon.
BLITZER: Yes. All right, we've got some projections right now.
