Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Live Event/Special

Warnock Takes Lead; Perdue-Ossoff Virtual Tie; Razor-Thin Margins in Both Georgia Senate Races. Aired 12-1a ET

Aired January 06, 2021 - 00:00   ET

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

[00:00:00]

(MUSIC PLAYING)

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST (voice-over): Welcome, back Election Night in America continues. What a dramatic night indeed, the stakes are clearly enormous. Take a look at, this in the Georgia two Senate runoff elections, 98 percent of the estimated vote is now in.

The Democrat Raphael Warnock is leading the Republican Kelly Loeffler by 35,132 votes. He has 50.4 percent, her 49.6 percent.

The other contest, David Perdue has a slight lead over the Democrat Jon Ossoff. It is so close, 50 percent to 50 percent. Take a look, a virtual tie right. Now

There's still plenty of votes outstanding, especially in some of those heavily Democratic counties around Atlanta. Take a look at what's at stake right, now the Republicans have 50 senators, the Democrats 48 in the caucus. If the Democrats were to win, it certainly is possible, based on the numbers we are getting right now.

If the Democrats were to win both of these Senate races in Georgia, it would be 50-50. But the new administration, the Biden administration would have Kamala Harris, the vice president, who is automatically the president of the Senate. She would break any, tie so the Democrats would be the majority in the. Senate

Pamela ,Brown let's take a look at where the outstanding vote is right now. We believe that much of the estimated vote is in but 2 percent is significant?

PAMELA BROWN, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Right, the outstanding vote can tell us a. Lot

Gabriel Sterling, the Georgia election official there, says, quote, "What we have outstanding will likely be leaning Democrat at best."

Those are direct words from him. Here's what he broke down in the last half hour. He said that they're expecting about 27,000 early votes to be counted statewide. He homed in on Dekalb County, 19,000 early in- person votes yet to be uploaded there, 7,000 from Coffee County, then you have a smattering of small county handfuls that we are waiting on. The day-of absentee ballots that have yet to be uploaded. Those are

the ballots that just arrived in the mail today. Another factor, look at the margins, the 17,000 outstanding overseas ballots that are due on Friday.

BLITZER: It's so dramatic that we're watching a virtual tie. In one contests, the Democrat leading and in the other contest leading by 35,000 votes.

Jake, we thought it would be dramatic but it's a lot more dramatic than I thought it would be.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: Indeed, the races remain tight.

And while we don't know the final result, I think it's fair to say, Abby, that Donald Trump, perhaps inadvertently, has worked against the interests of his own party in the fact that these races should not be so close.

He lost Georgia in November because he alienated so many of the moderate voters, not to mention all the things that Biden did right. And now the Republicans are struggling in this race, not to mention the things that Ossoff and Warnock did right, partly because the outgoing president seems to have depressed Republican turnout.

Republicans are talking about how turnout was light in areas they needed it to be higher. Trump supporters not coming to the polls because he's been trashing the polls and the election process.

ABBY PHILLIP, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: And he's been so distracted in the moments he's come down to Georgia, to try to turn out voters and preoccupied with himself and not these races.

So should not be a surprise then that you would find that a lot of Georgia voters didn't get a clear message from President Trump about what they were supposed to do today, whether they were supposed to come out at all.

You're seeing Democrats did have a clear message. Black turnout was where Democrats needed it to be; turnout in the Atlanta suburban counties was where they needed it to be.

On the Republican side, it's not where it was even a few months ago in November.

[00:05:00]

PHILLIP: So that's why we're seeing what we're seeing.

But as we're waiting for the votes to be counted, we should point out we're not quite there yet. But it tells you a lot that President Trump and his allies are already trying to claim something nefarious is happening tonight, because they know it's heading in a direction not favorable to them.

They're already trying to create conspiracy theories about it. We've been transparent with our viewers about what is going on county by county. We know what we're waiting on, explaining it as it's coming in.

But the president and his allies are still spinning lies because they've not been willing to accept loss, not just the president's loss. But if these two seats don't go their way, I don't expect them to accept that, either.

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Oh, no, not a chance will they accept it.

But reality is going to be what it is. And as we're watching these returns, I'm thinking about the fact that this -- you know, this day, this runoff, reminds me of 2018. Sort of feels more like 2018 right now than 2020 even because, in November, not that long ago, Democrats in the Senate and certainly even more so in the House didn't do very well.

And they got hurt in a lot of places, including suburbs. Even Republicans now are saying, Josh Holmes, one of Mitch McConnell's longtime top advisers, just tweeted, imagine what happens when, four years ago, you talk about jobs and the economy and now, four years later, Republicans are talking about conspiracy theories and QAnon.

And they have a president railing against the integrity of an election, falsely doing that. This is what happens, particularly in the suburbs.

TAPPER: And speaking of conspiracy theories, tomorrow we're going to hear a lot more because of the Electoral College votes come to the Congress for certification. And a lot of Republican members of the House and Senate, standing on the sand of conspiracy theories, are going to object to President-Elect Biden's win, allying themselves with the complete nuttery we're hearing from the far, far reaches of the fever swamps.

I wonder if any of them will take a lesson from what we're seeing here on the board. Even if Perdue and Loeffler pull this off, it should not be this close.

This is Georgia. One of the reasons why it is this close, if not headed for Democratic victories, one or two, is because of this deranged, self-centered, conspiracy theory-spewing president, in terms of what his message has been last few weeks.

And all these Republicans are allying themselves with that deranged message.

Are they going to learn anything from this or back off?

PHILLIP: Speaking of Mitch McConnell, he humored this for far longer than he should have humored it. The rationale from the Republicans was the gamble was, keep the energy and enthusiasm up for the base so, by today, the Republican base would come home and be there for them.

But I think we have to look at what has actually happened. McConnell has a serious situation on his hands tomorrow. He's failed to stop many senators from doing the president's bidding. The president is now even deeper into his hole of conspiracy theories than he was before.

And the Republican base is now firmly entrenched in those same conspiracy theories.

Was it worth it, the weeks of humoring President Trump?

TAPPER: Let's go to Jeff Zeleny, who covers the Biden transition for us in Wilmington, Delaware.

Jeff, what are you learning?

What are the Biden people seeing when they look at this?

We have not called either race, who knows what is going to happen, it could go either way but it looks like things are trending Democratic. And this is a state obviously that Joe Biden won in November.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: It is, Jake. And they are watching these numbers come in very carefully and their silence is calculated. They're not saying anything this evening, I'm told. President-elect Biden is watching tonight, not expected to make a statement until the races have been called.

[00:10:00]

ZELENY: But, boy, two months from tomorrow is the date at which he accepted victory right here in Wilmington. This will be as dramatic of a moment for him in terms of how it will affect his presidency if Democrats win those seats.

But we're not there yet. One thing they believe is the Biden map can form a direction for the Democratic Party. For all of internal fights going on inside the Democratic Party, we've seen happen in races across the country last year, this is something that both candidates hewed very carefully to Joe Biden.

And they are performing very strongly tonight in Georgia. Of course, he was there campaigning just yesterday on Monday. He was there about a month or so ago. There was no dispute who they were going to follow. They were following Joe Biden.

They believe, the Biden advisers I'm talking to this evening, believe this is a roadmap for the Democratic Party.

But something else is going on here, Jake. If Democrats win those seats and control the Senate, that changes the remaining cabinet positions, including attorney general. Look for the Biden team to potentially have a different nominee for attorney general if Democrats are in control of the Senate.

And I'm told that could be Sally Yates, the former acting attorney general. She would have a hard time getting confirmed in a Republican Senate. So if Democrats control the Senate, that could also change. So a very big day tomorrow for Joe Biden in Wilmington. TAPPER: Let's talk about that for a second.

If it is true, Dana, if, say for the sake of argument, we're not calling either race right now, but if it's a 50-50 Senate, Democrats win both seats tonight and then Vice President Kamala Harris would become the tiebreaking vote, then Joe Biden really probably doesn't have to worry about any of his cabinet nominees.

I mean, who knows what might emerge in the vetting process?

But right now, the one that Republicans have objected to most is his nominee for Office of Management and Budget, Neera Tanden, because she's written some mean tweets about various Republicans and all of a sudden, they've seen the tweets and are offended.

BASH: They've woken up to the notion of mean tweets.

TAPPER: Yes, five years later, their sense of outrage has returned.

Neera Tanden can get 50 Democratic votes if there are 50 Democratic votes.

BASH: And maybe even some Republican votes. For all the talk about abolishing the filibuster, there is no filibuster anymore. Harry Reid already got rid of it for nominees.

TAPPER: For cabinet officials.

BASH: And judicial nominees.

TAPPER: Just not the Supreme Court.

BASH: Right. So the issue is that it probably won't be an issue, you're exactly right. So many other questions come to mind, talking about organizing. Also, I am old enough to remember the last time, if this happens, there was a 50-50 Senate.

It took a lot of time and lot of working together, a lot of working across the aisle to figure out how to organize an evenly divided Senate, even though obviously it was --

TAPPER: During the Bush years right?

BASH: So the Republicans were technically in charge.

TAPPER: And Daschle-Lott?

BASH: And Lott. It was -- the Republicans were technically in charge because they had the presidency and the Senate but it's still very difficult and it requires a lot of comity with a T, not something we are in excess of right now in Washington, D.C.

PHILLIP: But the idea that Biden's thinking about, especially the AG nomination could be changing as result of this is, I think, very fascinating. Because that's one of the -- it's been one of the more opaque decisions he's yet to make about what is he trying to accomplish, what balance is he trying to strike in choosing somebody for that position.

We know he's being pushed in one direction or another by Democrats, who want an African American in that position, others who want someone with a strong civil rights background, others who want perhaps to put someone who might be willing to enforce what the Democrats view as lawlessness that might have been going on in the Trump years.

So I think we will learn a lot about, if these two Senate seats go to the Democrats, learn a lot about what Biden's potential wish list really is.

[00:15:00]

PHILLIP: It might give him a little bit more leeway to pick someone who is not as soft of a nominee, who is not someone who is a compromise pick because he doesn't have to necessarily do that anymore.

And I think that's one of the interesting things about what Jeff just reported. He's been waiting for a long time, under a lot of pressure, and it might have been worth it if these two Senate seats go for them.

TAPPER: Very interesting. We're not done yet with this chapter, don't know what twists and turns await. So many happened already.

We're expecting Democrat Raphael Warnock to speak soon, he's pulled ahead of Republican Kelly Loeffler, as the votes continue to be counted. We'll be back in a moment.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(MUSIC PLAYING)

BLITZER: Another key race alert. In the Georgia Senate runoff elections, Raphael Warnock, the Democrat, is leading Republican Kelly Loeffler by 35,802 votes, 50.4 percent to 49.6 percent, 97 percent of the estimated vote is in. The Democrat is winning in this Senate runoff election.

The other one, the Republican is ahead but it is so, so close. Republican David Perdue's lead has shrunk to 1,208 votes over the Democrat, Jon Ossoff.

[00:20:00]

BLITZER: It's a virtual tie in the other Senate runoff election right now. Once again 97 percent of the estimated vote is in. Walking over to the magic wall.

What is encouraging Democrats, I've been getting emails and communications, texts from leading Democrats, pretty upbeat because so much of the remaining outstanding vote is in heavily Democratic counties.

JOHN KING, CNN HOST: I can back that up with discouraging texts from Republicans.

Do you see any way here?

Let's watch the Perdue race but they're worried because of what is out.

David Perdue, Republican, ahead by 1,200 votes but it was higher a few minutes ago, 1,200 vote lead there. This is stunning, nearly 36,000 votes for Democrat Raphael Warnock in the other race. Outside at moment of the automatic recount margin. We'll see, 97 percent reporting statewide.

The race where David Perdue is ahead, look at it through this perspective, what is still out there to be counted?

If you're a Republican, looking around, where might we get votes, one place is Coffee County. 47 out of 159, not bottom tier but not huge. David Perdue winning comfortably there, several thousand votes to be counted, will be a net gain for the Republican candidates out of Coffee County.

But that's only place on the map I can find where you're looking at significant number of Republican votes still to come in. What else is missing is here, Fulton County, Atlanta, up to 95 percent. By far largest county in state, 10 percent of the statewide population, 20,000 to 25,000 votes still to be counted in Fulton County.

Democrats are getting 72 percent for Jon Ossoff when you round up, 73 percent for Raphael Warnock if you round up. Getting 7 of 10, don't need to be a rocket scientist, net gain coming for Democrats there.

Still 19,000 votes ballpark to be counted in Dekalb County. Atlanta runs across the county line here as well. Democratic area here, more as you go out. But 83 percent, just below, 19,000 votes to be counted.

Saw what happened earlier when the big basket of votes came in from Dekalb County. Democrats are confident they'll get a significant gain of the 19,000 votes still out. Gwinnett County, not as Democratic but still 60 percent for Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock.

There are about 4,800 votes still out in Gwinnett County. Doesn't guarantee they come in 60-40 but Democrats assume they'll break even.

Fulton, Dekalb, Gwinnett in metropolitan Atlanta, 3,000 votes in Chatham County, where Warnock is getting 59 percent, Jon Ossoff 59 percent. If it comes in like that, net gain of 600 votes for each Democrat there.

County by county, Republicans don't have places where they can count on giant numbers of votes. Significant number perhaps in Coffee County but overwhelming. The math, numbers of the outstanding vote are overwhelming.

David Perdue is up by 1,200 at moment but most Republicans think perhaps any minute that's likely to change, be very close and might be counting for a couple of days and the overseas and military ballots could have an impact here.

But most Democrats think when this comes in, Ossoff will be ahead by a decent margin and that will grow. Raphael Warnock, pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church, ahead now, that lead likely to grow. Most of what is left to be counted is here, some here.

And Republican votes outstanding, places, not as many people live there, so Republican net won't be as much. Down to simple math waiting for the votes.

BLITZER: Warnock's lead, I'm told, is outside the margin available for a potential recount.

KING: Right, it's 0.5. Doesn't mean people can't ask for things. We saw in the context, because the president of the United States is already tweeting something nefarious is going on in Georgia.

No, there's not. No evidence of that. Three times these votes were recounted. Joe Biden won Georgia. They know what they're doing.

[00:25:00]

KING: And they faced a lot of pressure from the Republican president, as we watched it play out. Again, 1,208 lead for David Perdue but you know there's votes to be counted in blue there.

BLITZER: What is going on in Georgia is a free and fair democratic election. We're standing by to hear from Democratic Senate candidate Raphael Warnock, expected to speak any moment, we'll have live coverage. Election coverage will continue with Chris Cuomo and Don Lemon standing by live.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[00:30:04]

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN HOST: We're living history once again.

DON LEMON, CNN HOST: Here we are.

CUOMO: Pleasure to be with you D. Lemon here we are, literally a nail-biter of an election in the state of Georgia. It was expected to be close. It's even closer than expected.

Everybody is watching, especially President-elect Joe Biden. He probably has the most on the line tonight, we'll talk about.

So, the outcome will determine obviously whether Republicans maintain control of the U.S. Senate or did the Democrats do, right? That's why President-elect Joe Biden is thinking about what this will mean for him, when he prepares to take the oath of office in two weeks.

It's great to have you.

LEMON: Yeah and you can believe the current president United States, not just the president elect watching as well, because I think his reputation, his legacy on the line. He came down and went down to Georgia to campaign for the two Republican candidates and also he had some grievances in there as well.

But welcome back to CNN's coverage of election in America, it is continued right now. I'm Don Lemon, along with Mr. Christopher Cuomo.

And, tonight, America is really witnessing democracy in action right now. An election season where President Trump has, tried in, tried, and try to subvert justice. We have to undermine our democracy and here we.

Chris, let's think about this. Here we are, midnight 30, a little bit past.

CUOMO: Midnight train to Georgia.

LEMON: Midnight train to Georgia, we are talking about Georgia? Usually ruby red, on the precipice of possibly turning blue and changing the Senate, changing really at least the beginning of the course of the Biden presidency. Who would have thunk that this would've happened in a state like Georgia?

CUOMO: It is unusual. It is a sign of the times. The Republicans now hoping that this is not the night that the lights went out in Georgia.

LEMON: You're full of them tonight.

CUOMO: That's it, I'm done. Now, he's going to think for something else.

So, I tell you who won tonight, we already know, you did.

LEMON: Yeah.

CUOMO: Once again, a beautiful display of democracy in action.

We're not getting any phony business out of the state of Georgia. The officials are content with how it's going. We have a long way to go. The county could take some time. I do not expect to be called tonight. But we will be going through it.

But already, we knew on the numbers that we have we won. Democracy won, usually a special election after a general, you have about 50 percent fall off in who comes out to vote.

Here, you had 5 million voted in Georgia in November. We are definitely over four and a half million.

LEMON: Four-point-six million voted compared -- for a runoff, that's huge. Let's not forget, Chris, this is happening as we are going into a joint chief session on Congress, where Biden's electoral victory will officially be certified.

Then you have all these folks these Republicans who are going to try to stop it, but they can't really legally. The president has been pressuring the vice present to stop, which you can't really do he doesn't have the power to do. We're in a middle of a pandemic.

What else can we have going on right now? Especially when it concerns politics in this country?

CUOMO: Did you see what happens in Pennsylvania today?

LEMON: Yeah.

CUOMO: That's what you could have happening.

LEMON: Yeah, refusing to sit a Democrat.

(CROSSTALK)

CUOMO: It looks like one of those scenes from Eastern Europe, where all of a sudden it's like a donnybrook in the middle of an official briefing. I'm surprised it in starting punches at each other's day, that's how sad and savage what's going on right now.

So, you're hoping that with change, with the New York comes a better way. We're not seeing it yet.

But enough about where we think we would be, how about where we are. We have a key race alert for you right now. Let's get the latest on the race.

All right. Here we are. Obviously, you know who the players are now. Let's take a look at the wall.

You have two different setups here, right? You have Loeffler who was seated by the governor to replace somebody who left because of a health check. Now she's in there against Raphael Warnock.

Warnock is, of course, royalty in Georgia, in terms of his family. Ebenezer Baptist, his father created that church with Dr. King. So, you know, a lot of legacy there.

You look at the race, 50.4 for him, 49.6. There has been word that Warnock, the reverend is seeing this with so much optimism, he may come out and speak. If he does, will bring that right away.

Now the other race, David Perdue, he had a lot of stink put on him because of his stock jockeying. That's an interesting contrast, supposed to be about anti-elite don't get more elite in this guy. And yet, he was seen, it's going to be very strong. It's 50-50. It's statistical dead heat there, with Jon Ossoff, the man who calls himself a journalist, a media executive.

Now, he was -- got some sunshine on him when he had a race in Georgia that he lost for the House, but it was seen as a very expensive race, but showed a potential. It's all locked up.

Now, so that is the key race alert, how do we get here where we want to go. Let's go to the man J.B. at the magic wall.

Good to see you, brother. Happy New Year. JOHN BERMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's great to see you. First, let's

pour a beer out for Phil Mattingly. He's covering the Electoral College count tomorrow, I'm here filling in for him.

Let me first show you where we are. Remember, the Democrats need to win both the seats to take control of the Senate. Right now, Raphael Warnock is leading by 35,000 votes.

[00:35:02]

It doesn't feel like a lot but that's three times what Joe Biden won Georgia by in November, and it's outside the realm of the recount. That's where his lead is right now.

CUOMO: Now, you were telling me before, there is no law of a recount, how does it work?

BERMAN: Within 0.5 percent, one of the candidates can request it, and it will happen.

The other race is razor-thin. You see David Perdue leading by 1,200 votes now an hour ago Chris, he was leading by more than hundred thousand. What happened? Let's look at the DeKalb County right here.

The Atlanta area is where the votes have come in for Democrats in big ways. Jon Ossoff leads by 200,000 votes into DeKalb County. There's a 200 margin we got all of that no one hour and a close that enormous gap. We're expecting 19,000 votes from DeKalb County. They could be counted by 2:00 a.m., we're watching very closely.

Look at the split. You have an 82-17 split, 19,000 votes, if Ossoff gets 80 percent, he nets at least 11,000 votes. If he does, he's leading, all of a sudden.

We also have votes in Fulton County still to come. Fulton County is Metro Atlanta. Jon Ossoff again.

CUOMO: Oh, the reverend is speaking right now. Here is Reverend Warnock speaking. We heard he might, let's hear him.

REV. RAPHAEL WARNOCK (D), GEORGIA SENATE CANDIDATE: As a son of Georgia, my roots are planted deeply in Georgia soil. A child who grew up in the Kayton Homes Housing Project in Savannah, Georgia, number 11 out of 12 children. A proud graduate of Morehouse College and pastor of Ebenezer Baptist church, spiritual home of Martin Luther King Jr. and Congressman John Lewis.

A son of my late father who was a pastor, a veteran, and a small businessman. And my mother who as a teenager growing up in Waycross, Georgia, used to pick somebody else's cotton.

But the other day because this is America, 82-year-old hands that used to pick somebody else's cotton went to the polls and picked her youngest son to be a United States senator. So, I come before you tonight as a man who knows that the improbable journey that led me to this place in the historic moment in America could only happen here. We were told we couldn't win this election, but tonight, we proved that with hope, hard work, and the people by our side, anything is possible.

May my story be an inspiration to some young person who is trying to grasp and grab hold of the American Dream.

And so, Georgia, I am honored by the faith that you have shown in me. And I promise you this tonight, I am going to the Senate to work for all of Georgia. No matter who you cast your vote for in this election, in this moment in American history, Washington has a choice to make, in fact all of us have a choice to make.

Will we continue to divide, distract, and dishonor one another? Or will we love our neighbors as we love ourselves? Will we play political games while real people suffer? Or will we win righteous fights together, standing shoulder to shoulder for the good of Georgia, for the good of our country? Will we seek to destroy one another as enemies or heed the call towards the common good, building together what Dr. King called the beloved community?

Here's what I know. I know that we can beat this pandemic, with science, and good old-fashioned common sense. I know we can rebuild a fairer economy by respecting the dignity of work and workers who do it. Economy that honors those we now call essential workers by paying them an essential wage, and providing for them essential benefits.

So to everyone out there struggling today, whether you voted for me or not, know this, I hear you, I see you. And every day I'm in the United States Senate, I will fight for you. I will fight for your family.

To our supporters, our incredible campaign team, and to my family, thank you from the bottom of my heart.

And to every Georgian who marched with us, organized with us, prayed for us, fought for us, believed in us, or shared their story and their pain with us, thank you for all of your love and support. In the words of Dr. King who grew up just a few blocks from where I'm sitting right now, we are tied in a single garment of destiny. We are caught up in an inescapable network of mutuality. Whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly.

I remember my dad in this moment. He used to wake me up every morning at dawn, it was morning, but it was still dark. It's dark right now, but morning comes. And Scripture tells us that weeping may endure for the night, but joy comes in the morning.

Let us rise up, greet the morning and meet the challenges of this moment. Together we can do the necessary work and win the future for all of our children.

Thank you. God bless you, Georgia. And God bless these United States of America.

CUOMO: There you have it, the Reverend Warnock.

It absolutely sounds like victory speech to me. Now, CNN is not calling this race. The race has not been called by

anybody but the reverend feeling his margin is secure.

We'll put it up on the board for you right now. Most recent count, he's outside the statutory 0.5 percent margin. Where his opponent could ask for recount and it would be awarded. Now, this is still preliminary, still votes coming in. So, we don't know.

But --

LEMON: Fifty-point-four to 49.6 percent, we'll also hear from Kelly Loeffler saying she has a path to victory. But I think we need to focus on him since he spoke.

You said that he was basically royalty in Georgia, talking about his roots down in Georgia, saying he grew up in Savannah housing project, tied to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

CUOMO: Right, Ebenezer Baptist Church.

LEMON: Ebenezer Baptist Church, John Lewis, even doing a quote from Dr. King, we're tied in single garment of destiny from famous Dr. King speech. So, there he is, he's a son of Georgia, expects to win. He was no doubt strongest of all the candidates with the deepest ties to that state.

CUOMO: Right, he certainly has a lineage there and he was portraying himself as true son of Georgia.

LEMON: So does Perdue, not as deep as him.

CUOMO: Right, look, they -- you know, what is the reality? The reality is both have a strong case to make as being there. Ossoff and Loeffler have different positioning but it's close for a reason all fronts, right?

This is a very divided state within a very divided country. It was interesting for me to hear Warnock talking about trying to bridge.

Now, I know that you hear politicians say that, but it's a little different right now. Reaching out, if you voted for me or didn't, and here's what I believe in, talking about not just the pandemic being science and common sense, which is true in Georgia and everywhere else, but that he wants to fight for things for that state specifically.

I think we're going to be hearing a lot of that.

LEMON: Yeah.

CUOMO: He doesn't say Democrat, Democrat, Democrat. He says, Georgia, Georgia, Georgia.

LEMON: It's very similar to the vice president-elect's message back in November, but he said, they told me I couldn't win, I will work for all of Georgia, as you said, I hear you, I see you, I will fight for you. That's his message.

And that appeared to be at this point, we have not called it, but possibly, probably a winning message in Georgia.

CUOMO: Now, just in terms of timing. We have Wizard of Oz, Harry Enten, with us.

Why is he not going out prematurely?

HARRY ENTEN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL WRITER AND ANALYST: I mean, where the votes are remaining, mostly Fulton County and Atlanta suburbs, I believe that margin is going to widen not just in special race with Warnock but Ossoff is going to gain ground as well.

I wouldn't be surprised if final margin in the special, Warnock's lead ends up being 1.5 to 2 points. So, I don't think it's particularly early. Obviously, we have not called the race. But at this point, it looks pretty darn good for Raphael Warnock.

LEMON: Do you think that -- when do you think we will know for sure?

[00:45:00]

ENTEN: Oh, God.

LEMON: We still have, what, 17,000 ballots?

ENTEN: We still a ton of votes to be counted but it should be in the Democratic areas, there's going to be a lot of African-American precincts and Warnock knows the math, Democrats know the math that's out there.

Now, obviously, we need to be as cautious as we possibly can be. It's better to be right than fast, but fact of the matter is, I would rather be Raphael Warnock than Kelly Loeffler.

LEMON: Let me just say that -- I lived in Atlanta for seven years, in Fulton County, voted in Fulton County, lived there. It is heavily, Atlanta, right, heavily African-American, very liberal, inside the perimeter.

Once you get outside of Fulton County, in the surrounding counties, then it becomes very red. Even still, with high number of African- Americans and liberals in Atlanta area, this is surprising to see Georgia turn red.

And there are people, Stacey Abrams helped a lot, could end up being the hero. But also, we shouldn't forget about LaTosha Brown, Black Votes Matter, Harvard Institute of Politics, signing up millions of people, traveling across the country, especially the deep South on a bus to sign up people to vote, many African-Americans.

ENTEN: On Monday night, as we approach midnight going into Tuesday, I was on the program and talked about early vote that African-Americans as percentage of the electorate made higher of the early vote than they did back in November. I have very little doubt based upon the numbers that we're seeing so far this evening that they will make up a larger share of the total vote. Black voters came out, they came out not just in the Atlanta suburbs, but in the Black Belt as well, in the Southwest part of that state from Augusta, down to South.

CUOMO: All voters came out. You had tremendous turnout is a story about this. But big headline is what this would mean for President- elect Joe Biden.

ENTEN: Absolutely.

CUOMO: One race is not enough. If Warnock has a great victory to celebrate, it is meaningless because you wind up, still have the Republicans in control. A Democrat-controlled Senate is always important, but in this climate, Harry, it's everything for Biden. If he has control of the Senate, he has a chance of getting $2,000 checks.

LEMON: But he's saying he believes --

CUOMO: You need both, so people at home understand, you are not one and done.

ENTEN: You're not one and done.

CUOMO: And you still need vice president, wouldn't have the control until she's sworn in.

ENTEN: Right, January 20th, right? But, look, based on the votes remaining, I know right now, Jon Ossoff at 50 percent versus Raphael Warnock at 50.4 percent, but I believe the votes remaining out there will, in fact, lead to Ossoff winning, that's the better chance.

CUOMO: When you get confident, I get nervous.

I got to get over to John --

ENTEN: I'm always nervous around you.

CUOMO: -- John Berman, we left JB before. We were trying to understand the story of how we got to where we are.

So, you were listening to the reverend. And you understand -- do you agree with the rationale, where he is, it makes sense he came out?

BERMAN: Absolutely. Review what we were talking about before. DeKalb County has most votes left, we think 19,000 left in DeKalb County, which will be counted maybe in next few hours, maybe tomorrow. If that splits 80/20, he nets 11,000 votes, increase the lead from 35,000 up to the mid-40s. This is outside the percentage, 0.5 percent is what you need to ask for recount in Georgia. Warnock is leading outside that area right now.

One other thing, I want to talk about how Raphael Warnock won, first of all, this is historic. You're talking about an African-American who is a senator now, could be a senator, from old Southern state, right? An old South state. Tim Scott from South Carolina and now, perhaps, Raphael Warnock from Georgia, that would be historic.

Let me show one thing, let me show where Warnock outperformed Joe Biden, right? Joe Biden is baseline for Democrat to win Georgia, 11,000 votes. You have to do as well or better. Raphael Warnock outperformed Joe Biden in every county where there's color on the map, which is almost everywhere.

He ran better than Joe Biden almost all places. Harry talking about African-American vote, swath from Columbus up to Augusta, some call it Black Belt, heavily African-American. He did very well, outperforming Joe Biden.

I'm just going to click on some of these counties. Macon County, you can see Raphael Warnock at 62 percent. What did Joe Biden do in the election, he was at 61 percent, 1.5 percent doesn't seem like a lot but county to county -- this is Jimmy Carter's hometown, by the way.

Joe Biden was 52 percent, and Raphael Warnock at 53 percent. So, he picked up piece by piece.

CUOMO: Even or better.

BERMAN: Even better almost everywhere.

CUOMO: Now, do you think it's going to be a straight color play or do you think it's what's happened since the election as well?

BERMAN: Not just straight color play as well. You also have suburbs of Atlanta which are racially mixed. I mean, there's young educated whites, there's Asian-Americans, African-Americans, big mix.

Kelly Loeffler was picked in order to pick up some suburban vote.

[00:50:03]

ENTEN: Gentlemen, what John was just saying, even though the margin differences with Biden are small, that's basically a river, right?

It's a wide river, given how close this races, and one thing that I know that's really interesting where Warnock seems to be running the most ahead of Ossoff. It's actually in Atlanta and those suburbs.

To me, I would've thought that it was in those heavy African-American areas among the black belt from Augusta down to the southwest. But that doesn't necessarily seem to be the case, in fact the Georgia states congressional district, talking about over an overnight in the lead up to the election. There's a lot of white, well-educated voters in that district, in Atlanta in the Atlanta suburbs. It actually seems in that area, is where Warnock is most outperforming Ossoff. But it's very interesting math.

BERMAN: Hang on one second here, but we just get some more votes.

CUOMO: In Fulton County, right?

BERMAN: In Fulton County. I just want to show overall with this as the other Senate race, David

Perdue only leading by 919 votes, that's because we got a small handful of votes from Fulton County. Now you can see, Jon Ossoff leads there by more than 200,000 votes.

There are still votes to count in Fulton County, a few thousand votes to count at Fulton County. We may not see them until tomorrow. But again, when you're picking up 70 percent of them, he will not more than 1,000 votes in the votes remaining in all likelihood the same thing with DeKalb county which is why Jon Ossoff will not even be in the lead yet overall may be feeling good about things right now.

CUOMO: But almost certainly if it stays in play like this would be within their margin of recount. We keep talking about recount as if it's one devastate change in play. All means the wind up confirming their count. And, historically, we keep bashing our democracy and we know why it's being done. Everybody knows it could be better but we know why it's being played to advantage right now, it's ugly and it's obvious.

But when they do recounts, the changes and Johnny you checking on this, if you get a few hundred votes that change on recount, it's a big deal.

BERMAN: I -- the Georgia recount, for President Trump and Joe Biden. The president actually netted a couple thousand, he netted a couple of thousand votes.

ENTEN: He netted a couple thousand votes and I was actually pretty large right, something like 0.04 percentage parts the margin close by. That's rather large. You really would need probably a final margin of say 1,000 votes in the overall count, maybe 2,000 at most in order for the recount to change things.

And based upon the trend so far, I don't think we're heading that direction, but obviously we have to wait to count the votes and see.

CUOMO: Yes, you have to but I'm saying again when we say that there may be a recount, it's not because there's trouble, it's just process. You want to check everything especially in this climate.

BERMAN: We haven't finished counting the votes from tonight. There are still absentee ballots that arrives across the state that haven't been counted yet, there are still military ballots. More than 10,000 or so that can arrive until Friday that can be counted.

Something else I want to show you here. There aren't that many ballots left though, I can show you right now. Go down to here, these are the only counties. There's only 3 counties left in all of Georgia, that have 10 percent left roughly to count. You can see two of them are Democratic counties. You can see Jon Ossoff leading in Hancock County, gets tiny.

You know, he's got 10 percent left. He might net a couple dozen votes there. You look here, Newton County. Now, Newton County is a bigger county, there's only 89 percent reporting. Jon Ossoff had a big haul from Newton about 45 minutes ago.

The fact there is that many votes left bodes well for, him he may net a couple thousand votes there. Then there is one Republican county yet that's not at 90 percent that's Gilmore County, 25 percent left to go. Look, David Perdue is just crushing Jon Ossoff there.

He will do well, he will net another thousand or two votes there -- but probably not enough to measure up against what will be a big haul from DeKalb County.

CUOMO: And just to be clear, DeKalb County are early in-person votes that are yet to be counted.

BERMAN: Early in-person votes which have skewed heavily Democratic, the early in-person votes in the DeKalb County have roughly mirror this, Jon Ossoff has pulled more than 80 percent from the early in person voting, and that's what's remaining.

So, again, we expect him to net around 10,000 votes here, which when you look at the margin, we put him in the league.

CUOMO: Overseas --

(CROSSTALK)

LEMON: We're talking about that -- you know, Harry mentioned the river, right? Let's talk about the ocean here, I want to talk about the big picture, we're all sitting. I have to stress the importance of the black vote not only in Georgia, but in this entire election, and what this means for Joe Biden, especially when you look at how Joe Biden really recovered from South Carolina, the black vote.

Then you have Georgia, then you have Pennsylvania, then you have other states where the large -- a large black population voted for Joe Biden.

This has consequences for the beginning of this presidency. Look where we were on November 3rd.

[00:55:02]

We had a Republican White House. We had a Republican Senate. And just two years ago we had a Republican congress. Now look where we are. Look where we are.

What does this mean? We all cover this every day. What does this mean for Joe Biden's presidency if this does indeed turn out that he has Democratic Senate tied for vice president has to break the tie --

CUOMO: It'll mean everything for the next 18 months.

LEMON: I think that's the important thing.

CUOMO: Right. It will mean everything for his start and what he's able to do and setting a table for agenda into the midterms. Let's take a break. We're talking about the difference between how

Raphael Warnock, the reverend who just came out, seemed to be giving a victory speech and Jon Ossoff. Why are there differences in performance? We'll discuss.

Stay with CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)