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CNN Live Event/Special

Midterms 2026, Countdown to Election Night. Aired 7-8p ET

Aired September 07, 2026 - 19:00   ET

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

[19:00:39]

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN HOST: Good evening.

And you're hearing that music because this is a special edition of THE SOURCE, "Midterms 2026, Countdown to Election Night".

Now, traditionally, Labor Day is when we say goodbye to summer. One last long weekend, one last barbecue or family trip to the beach. But in an election year, Labor Day marks something else as well. It is when the long, hot political summer ends and the fall sprint begins.

The primaries are over, and the candidates have been chosen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JON OSSOFF (D-GA): He wants to build his ballroom and travel with Natalie.

SEN. DARLINE GRAHAM (R-SC): National security is not my thing, not my area of expertise.

ABDUL EL-SAYED (D), MICHIGAN SENATE CANDIDATE: So if you're starting a trade war with Canada, it's because you're the asshole.

SEN. SUSAN COLLINS (R-ME): I still think imposing new tariffs on Canada is a mistake.

KEN PAXTON (R), TEXAS SENATE CANDIDATE: The future of Texas and the future of America is on the line.

JAMES TALARICO (D), TEXAS SENATE CANDIDATE: There's too many politicians in both parties, if we're being honest, are either bought by or afraid of big medicine.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: And those are the candidates on the ballot this November. It's a potentially dangerous moment for the Republican Party with President Trump's approval rating stuck at 33 percent. But elected Republicans still very much fear him and very much need him. His voters, his energy, as the president has been making sure those voters understand that even though his name may not be on the ballot, he wants them to pretend like it is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: What I really want you to do is pretend, please, that I'm on the ballot.

I'm asking the people to get out and vote. Pretend I'm on the ballot.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: Now that could be, as it has before, a powerful turnout machine for Republicans. It could also, though, be a huge liability because the more that the president puts himself at the center of so many of these critical races, the more Republican candidates are tied to a president whose numbers are underwater, especially on the issue that voters care about the most the economy.

Now the president, for his part, says that inflation has been defeated.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Inflation is defeated.

We have very low inflation. We brought inflation way down.

The hottest country anywhere in the world by far with no inflation.

Inflation has been defeated.

Inflation has been defeated.

Inflation has been defeated.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: Now, that's the president's argument, but the voters seem to be feeling something different. At least that's what they're telling pollsters. The president wants Republican voters to treat the election as a vote for him because the consequences of a Republican loss would be enormous, especially for him.

A Democratic House would mean subpoena power investigations, oversight, and potentially a very different final two years in office for Donald Trump. Now, because the president is already thinking about what he wants his presidency to look like in the history books, quite literally, you could see that in the Washington that he is trying to build around himself. The White House Ballroom, which he talks about on a near daily basis, that proposed arch that he is building, the fight over the Kennedy Center and the effort to put Donald J. Trump on a building that already bears the name of John F. Kennedy.

And the fixation on those monuments to himself is coming at a time when so many Americans are focused on something very much more immediate in their lives. How much it costs to live, to buy a home, to fill a grocery cart, to put gas in their car. Democrats sense a real sense of opportunity, but they're also fighting among themselves over what to do with it. The party has been grappling with the rise of Democratic socialist and DSA aligned candidates, a more aggressive progressive movement, and a growing argument over whether Democrats need to fight harder or broaden their appeal to the voters that they lost.

Now, beneath that are deep disagreements over Israel and the use of American military power. And in 57 days from tonight, we'll know what voters decided.

Tonight, the fall campaign and our countdown to Election Day begins. We start with my political and White House insiders who are joining me now.

And, Sean McCreesh, you are someone who covers the White House with me. You've been in a lot of these rallies with the president, including the one in South Carolina where he was trying to pull Darline Graham across the line. I do think it's a real question of his endorsement power that he likes to tout, but some Republicans may not be so sure about.

SHAWN MCCREESH, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, THE NEW YORK TIMES: Yeah, I was at the rally that you just showed on the screen there.

Power that he likes to tout, but some Republicans may not be so sure about.

Yeah, I was at the rally that you just showed on the screen there, and usual caveats apply, it was the middle of August, and he did end up helping her get across the finish line.

But I've been to 100 of these things. I have to tell you, the energy in the room was really, really low. The place was not packed. The seats were full, but the back half of the convention center was empty. And I was going around talking to people, doing interviews.

And usually at a Trump rally, you have to scratch hard and ask four or five, six questions to get the people who were there to say anything nuanced or truthful about how they really feel about something going on with him. On this one, it was one question. How do you think it's going so far? And a lot of them were saying things like, rusty, the economy's not as good as I thought it was going to be. He's not focused enough.

And these are people wearing T-shirts with pictures of his face on it. So I just had not seen anything like that before, and I thought it was a real sign of trouble for him.

COLLINS: Do you think the White House, Jasmine, recognizes a sentiment like that? Because to Sean's point, these aren't voters that he caught in the grocery store or at the gas station. They showed up at a Trump rally.

JASMINE WRIGHT, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, NOTUS: I think there are certainly factions of the White House that are concerned about how the domestic politics are playing out, particularly when it comes to Iran. That has been, I think, a real source of concern for a certain amount of people. But when you listen to the president, that's not what you hear from him. Instead, you hear kind of a more boastful approach of it, that things are doing much better, that the country's OK, that people like him, they actually don't like the Republican Party.

And I think it's led to concern for folks outside of the White House whose job it is to put Republicans in office come November. This idea that they're putting President Trump on the ballot, something that Susie Wells' chief of staff said in April that was going to be their strategy, and you're seeing it come into fruition now.

The concern for people that I've talked to that are close to the president, that support the president, is that whether or not one, he's on the right things to put him on the ballot, and two, whether that's going to lead people to feel better about affordability, better about these concerns that we know Americans are saying that they are voting for when it comes to the ballot in November.

COLLINS: Doug, you're the Republican at the table. I mean, if we're 57 days out, how are you feeling about your party's prospects?

DOUG HEYE, FORMER RNC COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: Look, they're bleak, and they're bleak because history tells us that this is what happens in midterm elections. They're also bleak because of where the president's numbers are. When I worked at the Republican National Obama was 46. We felt if he was at or below that, we take back the House. Donald Trump's nowhere near that.

Now, the maps are completely different now with redistricting by Democrats and Republicans, so you don't have a 63-seat pickup opportunity. But Republicans know that their back is against the wall, and part of the challenge is two challenges here. One, the Trump campaign has not been spending money to help Republican candidates like it needs to.

COLLINS: Why do you think that is?

HEYE: Donald wants to spend money on himself. He doesn't want to give things away, and he wants Republicans to earn it, so we still have "The Apprentice" playing out here to some extent. We'll see how some of that, if any of that, changes ultimately in Dallas this week.

But the other issue is then what Donald Trump talks about, whether he's off-topic or not, or when he's on-topic, we've never been hotter or richer, and voters don't feel hot or rich right now.

COLLINS: I think a question is whether or not Democrats have the alternative vision that these voters are looking for. Is it enough to get them to come out and vote against these Republicans that your party's trying to defeat.

ASHLEY ETIENNE, FORMER COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR, VP HARRIS: I mean, the environment could not be more perfect for Democrats right now. You've got, as you just mentioned, the president's underwater in 48 -- 47 states in the country, across the country. 94 percent of the country believes we're in an affordability crisis, 90 percent believe that Washington, this White House, is corrupt and it's affecting their pocketbooks. You got more than 65 percent who believe that we're not winning the war in Iran. So, if you look at the issues that are most pertinent to voters,

Democrats have an advantage. We also have an advantage when it comes to enthusiasm. Our voters are more enthusiastic about voting than not. And many of those numbers actually reflect the mindset of independent voters. They're going to make the difference in these midterm elections, where actually you know, Donald Trump is underwater with independent voters across all of those issues.

Now, I agree with you. I think the challenge for the Democratic Party has always been is laying out an alternative vision. But in this environment, they may not need to, because all of the -- all of the metrics are moving in their advantage and are to their advantage.

So, I don't think they need to, but I've always advocated that they should, because, you know, an anti-Trump agenda as forceful and as strong with voters as giving them something to vote for.

COLLINS: Yeah, and obviously the president has said that he thinks he'll get impeached should Democrats win. But in terms of who he's going to blame if Republicans don't win this fall, Sean, I mean, he keeps saying it's Republicans that are responsible for this, and the party likes him, they just don't like Republicans. But he is the most prominent Republican, and actually his numbers are worse than the GOP's overall.

MCCREESH: Yeah, he's doing some amazing rhetorical loop-de-loops this week, trying to distance himself from any modicum of responsibility.

[19:10:05]

He's saying they're unhappy with the party, not me, and then in the next breath he's saying I am the party, and then he's saying that, you know, these elections aren't about me, but then he's making all of the advertisements about him, and he's saying if they lose it won't be his fault, and if they win it's because of him. So, I don't know.

COLLINS: I mean, it's tortured kind of at best in terms of who they believe will get the downfall here.

I do think there's a real question of what the White House is doing to fight this. I mean, obviously his staffers, his political staffers outside the White House are working to elect Republicans. But to Doug's point, the president has a huge war chest, and they're not really spending it on these candidates.

WRIGHT: Yeah, I mean, $404 million, I think, is one of the latest figures of what MAGA, Inc., the president's C4 super PAC, has at, you know, in its war chest. And I've talked to a lot of Republicans who are concerned that they're not spending it specifically in the state of Texas.

President Donald Trump basically anointed Ken Paxton over John Cornyn. It's caused him a lot of strife within Congress itself because of Republicans were mad because John Cornyn was a reliable vote. And now people are asking, well, where is all the money that the president is spending on Ken Paxton so that the NRSC or the other Senate branch doesn't have to spend that money?

And so, I think people are asking the question of whether or when the president spends some money. And if that happens after Labor Day, is that actually too soon? Are people's feelings cemented? And whether or not the Republicans have the candidates to pull themselves along without some of that money that the president should be spending.

ETIENNE: The reality is, is that Republicans have deep pockets beyond MAGA. Elon Musk just recently, I think it was last week, it was reported that he's going to put $200 million into these races, almost 100 million directly --

WRIGHT: To the RNC, you have the --

ETIENNE: Yeah, so there's going to be a lot money that's going to be spent even if Donald Trump decides to sit on his own.

COLLINS: What are you going to be watching when it comes to Democrats over the next 50 or some days in terms of this fight that is really happening inside your party of these aggressive progressives, as we put it at the top, and the more moderates who say we have a better way and a pathway to victory here?

ETIENNE: I mean, my eyes are focused on leadership, whether or not they're sufficiently reading the room. Right now, it's not clear that they are. They seem to be quite delusional in some respects, not realizing, A, where they've had record number of incumbents, seven, I think, total this cycle that have lost. You're going to have a record number of DSA candidates.

Now, I have -- you know, I used to work for Speaker Pelosi. And so, the challenge is not a November challenge. It's a day one challenge. It's a governing challenge that's going to be put before somebody like Mr. Jefferson. If you don't have an affirmative agenda and a vision, that's going to leave you vulnerable to all of those factions within the Democratic Party starting to eat their young.

HEYE: And language and actions, that's exactly what Republicans dealt with the Freedom Caucus.

ETIENNE: Absolutely.

COLLINS: We'll see what happens.

Doug Heye, Ashley Etienne, Shawn McCreesh, Jasmine Wright, great to have all of you here.

Up next for us, Democrats believe that control of the Senate is also within their reach this November. There's a few high-profile races that will determine which party does get control. My source tonight is an elections analyst, and his take on the key races you should watch and which side he thinks has the momentum is next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:18:06] COLLINS: And welcome back to a special edition of THE SOURCE, "Midterm 2026, Countdown to Election Night".

Democrats are increasingly optimistic that they have a shot at winning back the Senate this fall. Election experts say that their path to victory depends on nine key races.

My colleague, CNN's Arlette Saenz, takes a closer look at those races.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Control of the Senate is up for grabs as Labor Day kicks off an eight-week sprint to Election Day.

OSSOFF: Are you ready to work? Are you ready to win?

SAENZ (voice-over): Nine states are set to determine the balance of power in the Senate, six currently held by Republicans and three by Democrats. Democrats need a net gain of four seats to win the majority for President Donald Trump's final two years in office.

TRUMP: If we lose, you're going to lose your border. You're going to lose your tax cuts. You're going to lose everything that we've done.

SAENZ (voice-over): The best pickup opportunity for Democrats is North Carolina, a state Trump won during all three of his presidential runs. Democrat Roy Cooper, a popular former two-term governor, seen as the favorite against Trump loyalist Michael Whatley.

ROY COOPER (D), NORTH CAROLINA SENATE CANDIDATE: I'm hitting the road to talk about how I will work to make stuff cost less.

MICHAEL WHATLEY (R), NORTH CAROLINA SENATE CANDIDATE: I am thrilled that he asked me to run for Senate in North Carolina and is giving me an opportunity to represent you.

SAENZ (voice-over): Maine is another top target for Democrats. GOP Senator Susan Collins is running for a sixth term, facing off against Troy Jackson, who Democrats nominated to replace Graham Platner after the scandal plagued candidate exited the race.

TROY JACKSON (D), MAINE SENATE CANDIDATE: We've never seen a movement like this in Maine, and I've been waiting a long time for that.

[19:20:02]

COLLINS: I have worked with five presidents. I've supported them when I think they're right. I have not hesitated to oppose them when I think that they're wrong.

SAENZ (voice-over): Republicans are eyeing Michigan as the party's best offensive opportunity, with former Congressman Mike Rogers taking on Democrat Abdul El-Sayed in a race that will test whether a progressive can win in a battleground state.

EL-SAYED: Money out of --

CROWD: Politics!

EL-SAYED: Money in your --

CROWD: Pocket!

MIKE ROGERS (R), MICHIGAN SENATE CANDIDATE: When I get back there, Mr. President, if you haven't gotten it done, we're going to pass the SAVE Act.

SAENZ (voice-over): After Michigan, the best potential Republican flips are in New Hampshire and Georgia, where Democratic Senator Jon Ossoff is running strong against GOP Congressman Mike Collins.

REP. MIKE COLLINS (R), GEORGIA SENATE CANDIDATE: Y'all know what the mission is, is to put a Republican in that seat and get rid of that Jon Ossoff in November.

OSSOFF: The wave is building, the kind of wave that comes once a generation when the people have been pushed too far and they decide altogether all at once to say what?

CROWD: Enough is enough!

SAENZ (voice-over): Democrats are confronting a difficult map needing to win in states that voted for Trump by double digits such as Ohio, Alaska, Iowa and Texas.

PAXTON: Pray for our Texas leaders. Pray for these elections. Texas cannot afford to lose these races.

SAENZ (voice-over): After decades of failures in statewide races, Democrats believe Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton's controversial past and State Representative James Talarico's broader appeal could give the party a shot in November.

TALARICO: This is the way that puppet politicians like Ken Paxton stay in power, is they divide and they distract. But I think Texans across the board, across the spectrum are on to that game.

SAENZ (voice-over): Arlette Saenz, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COLLINS: And now joining me is one of the nation's top election forecasters, David Wasserman, who is the elections analyst for "The Cook Political Report".

And it's great to have you here because obviously Democrats are doing a lot of math these days. They need four seats to win the Senate. If they win in North Carolina and Maine, obviously they still need two more. Which races, in your view, from your data, seem the most likely at this point in the election?

DAVE WASSERMAN, SENIOR EDITOR & ELECTIONS ANALYST, COOK POLITICAL REPORT: Yeah, Kaitlan, Democrats have always needed North Carolina and Maine. They've always needed to defend Georgia and Michigan. Michigan looks harder to defend right now than Georgia. Jon Ossoff is doing well. But they've also needed to go beyond that and reach into these double-digit Trump states.

And there are four states Democrats are targeting that voted for Trump in 2024 by between 11 and 14 points. Those are Ohio, Iowa, Alaska, and Texas. Democrats have had a strong recruitment cycle in the Senate. They had primary results go the way they wanted in Iowa, where they got Josh Turek, in Texas, where they not only got James Talarico, but the opponent they wanted in Ken Paxton, and then in Alaska, where they recruited Mary Peltola, the state's most popular Democrat, into that Senate race.

There are two factors that I'm watching, Kaitlan, and how these races shake out. And the first is money. Republicans do have an advantage at the party committee and the super PAC level. MAGA Inc. has more than $400 million in cash on hand, but it has yet to make the ad reservations that would seriously move the needle in a lot of these contests.

And for Republicans, it might be more of a cost benefit. analysis because playing in Texas might require over a hundred million of those dollars to bail out Ken Paxton.

The other factor I'm watching is the presence of independent or spoiler candidates, third party candidates on the ballot in some of these contests. There are an awful lot of voters right now who disapprove of the job the president is doing but are not yet sold on Democrats and feel politically like they might not have anywhere to go. And if some of those Trump disapprovers end up in the libertarian column and there are libertarians on the ballot in Michigan, in Iowa, in Texas, the libertarian is polling at 4 or 5 percent in some surveys, then it could lower Democrats' threshold for victory in some of these red states.

And then in Alaska, where there is an additional Dan Sullivan on the ballot, in addition to the senator, as well as a third Republican on the ballot in the four-way ranked choice runoff. And so, these are factors that might make the slightest difference in which party controls the Senate. And today, it's a dead heat.

COLLINS: Yeah. And the president said he'll be campaigning for that Dan Sullivan that he wants to win in Alaska. He said in the last 30 days, I think before the election.

And, you know, obviously you talk about Texas, you talk about Maine, all these races that we're looking at. When it comes to the battle for the House, where obviously the president believes should Democrats win, they will impeach him, they need three seats to win the majority.

[19:25:02]

We've seen this redistricting battle that's been playing out. How are you looking at that right now? WASSERMAN: Well, historically, Democrats should be a lock for the House because the president's party in the post-war era has lost an average of 23 seats. Democrats only need to net three, and the president is at a negative 21 net favorability in "The Cook Political Report's" latest poll tracker.

And yet, Republicans, they managed to squeeze out a few more seats from their mid-decade gerrymandering gambit, and our best estimate is that they've netted around five or six seats between the changes in Texas, Florida, Missouri, North Carolina, and three states that responded to the Voting Rights Act decision.

Now, Democrats did retaliate in California. That is probably not enough for Republicans to maintain their majority. I still give Democrats somewhere in the 80 to 90 percent chance range. But there are plenty of races that are only on the board because the president is so unpopular, and Republicans hope they can disqualify enough of those Democratic challengers to have a chance, but they're big underdogs right now.

COLLINS: Yeah, we'll see what happens. Dave Wasserman, it's always great to have you and thank you for joining us tonight.

WASSERMAN: Thanks, Kaitlan.

Up next, when it comes to these races, fury over data centers has been reaching a fever pitch. Both parties are grappling with the politics and how to handle it. That's ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:31:20]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Affordability, I inherited that from the Biden administration. We had very high prices.

We had the greatest economy in the history of our country in my first term. You know that. This is going to blow it away. It already is, I think, but this is blowing it away.

I saw polls today on television that say, Donald Trump polls on the economy aren't good. The economy is the greatest economy we've ever had by far. The economy aren't good. They're fake polls. I should be at 100 percent on the economy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: It is a constant refrain, as you heard there, from the president, insisting that he is presiding over the greatest economy Americans have ever had and dismissing polls like this one -- 71 percent of Americans, including four and 10 Republicans, disapproving of the way that he is handling the cost of living.

My political sources for tonight's countdown to election night are David Chalian, our Washington bureau chief and political director; Paul Begala, CNN political commentator and Democratic strategist; and Kevin Madden, who is the former campaign advisor for Mitt Romney's presidential campaigns.

And, David, I mean, the president could be forgiven maybe for saying that because that's what he said in term one and running for term two. It just isn't true, though, anymore in terms of how voters see it.

DAVID CHALIAN, CNN WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF AND POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Exactly. And here's the reality. The president could say anything he wants on this topic. Voters live and experience what the economy is every day in their lives. So, it doesn't -- it actually is more noise than anything else because people are going to vote on what they're experiencing in their pocketbooks.

I would do another -- I would look at another poll number also about this that I think is particularly troublesome for the talking points about like, hey, I inherited this all from Biden. In our most recent poll, two thirds of Americans think that Donald Trump's policies have made their economic conditions worse. That connection, that it's not just, oh, I feel pessimistic about the economy, but it's his policies that are causing the economy worse, that is a weight around Republicans this fall.

COLLINS: Well, and how do Republicans deal with that when the messaging from the White House, not just the president, also the vice president, J.D. Vance, is we started this issue from the Biden administration where you've still been digging out of that. I mean, do voters buy that two years in?

KEVIN MADDEN, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Well, I think, look, one of the central questions that I think every voter asks themselves when they're going through an election and they're looking at a candidate is, does this person understand the problems of people like me? So, I think one of the way -- one of the things that's waiting on a lot of congressional Republicans is that the president has not really conditioned that question very well with voters.

And given that he has a lot of sway over this election, that's kind of challenge. A lot of these Republican candidates right now, they have to get out of the national jet stream. They have to run more localized races. They have to make a very personal appeal that they understand what's driving food prices. They understand what's driving gas prices. They understand what's driving things like rent and healthcare.

And they have to have very specific policies that they're talking about bringing back to Washington and that they're trying to focus on. And quite frankly, when it comes to the question about whether or not the White House is a problem there, and one of the rhetorical sort of refrains a lot of these candidates are going to have to have is, and this is what I've told the White House, what they've told them about tariffs, what they've told them about health care costs. And that's really how they survive in this type of environment.

COLLINS: Yeah, that's a good point in terms of what we've heard from Susan Collins, for example, on the tariff and the trade war with Canada. When it comes to Democrats, the Reuters/Ipsos poll that we saw recently says voters feel the Democrats have better ideas to address the cost of living compared to Republicans. But there's a big chunk over a quarter of voters who still are undecided on who they would support.

I mean, if you're a Democrat and you're looking at those numbers, what are you doing in the next 53 days?

[19:35:00]

PAUL BEGALA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: We're slamming on the brakes.

A midterm election is actually not the time for the party out of power to put out hundreds of new ideas and policies. Democrats love their policies. They've got more solutions than America has problems.

All they want to say is, do you want to hit the gas of the brake, right? This is one of these -- it's like -- it's life like its own self. There's only two choices in life. Stay the course, time for a change, okay?

I pray to God every morning my wife wakes up and says, stay the course, 37 years so far. But that's all this is. So, the Democrats have it very, very easy. I think Kevin's advice to Republicans is great. It's exactly what they should be doing, but you can't message your way out of inflation.

We had 2024, we had more elections around the world than ever in world history. And with the exception of Mexico, every single incumbent party around the world lost.

Why? Inflation is a career killer. And ask Jimmy Carter, ask Joe Biden. You can't message your way out of it because people live it, as David said.

COLLINS: You know, I mentioned, David, a moment ago, data centers, and how that has become something that has injected this uncertainty into several of these races. In a way, it's not fully clear how it could affect these races, how it could swing these races, if it will.

But what do you make of what voters are saying about it and how both parties are responding?

CHALIAN: Well, I am fascinated about it is rare that you see sort of an issue on the move the way we are seeing this right now. I mean, it has just -- it has rapidly moved right now sort of swinging to opposition to data center, sort of the NIMBY, not in my backyard crowd is sort of winning out on this argument at the moment, but I'm not convinced it's settled, right?

I mean, there is an economic argument, a jobs argument that the president is clearly trying to make, and I don't think that that is completely something that will fall on deaf ears, but it's not resonating in this moment in time. That's not the voters right now are pretty clear that they're more concerned about the cost of their electricity bills to this matter, what it means to their communities, than they see it as a huge job opportunity.

But this is, as you said, I think it's a bit of Jell-o at the moment. It's moving, but I don't know that it's settled.

COLLINS: Yeah, Kevin, how do you see it?

MADDEN: Well, I don't see it as a Republican or Democrat thing to take advantage of. The thing that I think is probably the biggest factor here is there is an unsettled nature about the state of our economy. and how rapidly it is transforming and who is winning in that economy and who's getting left behind.

I think you see Republicans and Democrats -- I mean, the interesting thing about this is you take Bernie Sanders going after data centers and you take, you know, Governor Abbott down in Texas, not exactly political, like, you know, political mind, yeah. And they're both saying the same thing.

So -- but I think it's going to be a much more potent issue in 2028 for a lot of the candidates that have to say, have a national plan on what we're doing with A.I., the A.I. economy and how data centers fit into that.

COLLINS: Yeah.

BEGALA: I think the resentment against these tech bro billionaire elites who think they know better than you, that is ripe for a Democrat or a Republican, actually, for a Democrat right now because the Republicans are in power and they seem very close. I saw all those tech bros surrounding President Trump when he was sworn in for his second term.

COLLINS: But then I saw John Fetterman saying he thinks the president is actually right when it comes to data centers and that a lot of the anti-data center sentiment he was saying is fueled by China.

BEGALA: Oh, bless his heart. John Fetterman always thinks the president's right. And he's a good guy, but I think the coalition that you guys mentioned, I noticed two others this week. The president said, wait, I wrote it down. He said, you're going to be backwards and poor if you don't let data centers come in.

Tim Burchett, right, from Tennessee, one of the most conservative members of the House, said, well, call me backwards and poors. Before he could finish, AOC was out there saying, let's build them at Mar-a- Lago.

OK, when you -- so I -- I love--

CHALIAN: Paul Begala go after the tech bros and you sound like what Steve Bannon like oh --

(LAUGHTER)

CHALIAN: So there you go, right there.

COLLINS: Paul Begala and Steve Bannon.

BEGALA: Oh my God.

COLLINS: I mean it is fascinating though in terms of Democrats have been reversing on it. Greg Abbott's reversing on it. I mean, it is something where they are trying so hard to read the tea leaves on this in a moment that is shifting that we don't really know what it's going to look like.

CHALIAN: And the president's leaning in on it.

COLLINS: Yeah, the president is saying let data rain. We'll see obviously what ultimately happens here.

Great to have all of you. Thank you for joining us.

Coming up at the top of the hour, I should note it's the premiere of a brand-new CNN film. It is "Top of the World". It's the incredible untold story of that restaurant that was at the top floor of the World Trade Center. And as we approach the 25th anniversary of 9/11, I'm going to speak with those filmmakers about why they directed this now.

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[19:44:06]

COLLINS: The 25th anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks is this Friday. While it's hard to believe it has been 25 years since that horrific day, there are several ceremonies that are planned to commemorate the moment and the lives that were lost. In just a few moments here, the new CNN film "Top of the World" will premiere, and it tells the story of the legendary Windows in the World restaurant that was atop the north tower of the original World Trade Center.

That story came to a devastating end on September 11, 2001, when the attacks claimed the lives of 79 restaurant employees and 91 guests. "Windows of the World" was once one of the most celebrated restaurants in America, as well as a symbol of New York City's resurgence in the 1970s.

This is a preview of tonight's all new scene in film.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think on the last year, we're the highest grossing restaurant. Is it in the United States?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Privately, yeah.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Privately owned.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We were all in sync, and we were mainly the same people moving ahead in the company.

David Emil was the owner of Windows. So, David comes to the front desk one day, and he's like, Natalie, you interested in being a manager? Yes. I felt appreciated. That was the first opportunity that I was

given to move ahead in my career.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In 2001, I think for me, it was the first moment of stability. I decided to bring my wife to America. I was working a little harder and getting the promotion and also improving significantly my English proficiency. And I had a pending asylum case. For me, it was going in the right direction.

My wife got pregnant, and she was due in October 2001.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 2001 was the 25th anniversary of Windows on the World. We were planning a series of parties. We had it planned for October.

Veuve Clicquot Champagne printed a special label for us that was a 25th anniversary label. Twenty-five years for any restaurant is a celebration. And for us, it was momentous.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: And joining me now are the directors of the Top of the World, Betsy West and Julie Cohen.

And I just wonder, Betsy, you know, as you were telling this story 25 years later from 9/11, what that was like for you?

BETSY WEST, DIRECTOR, "TOP OF THE WORLD": Well, obviously, revisiting the tragedy of 9/11 is a little tough, especially for Julie and I are both New Yorkers. But what was gratifying was to be able to tell the story of the people who created this extraordinary restaurant at the top of the -- of the World Trade Center.

And you saw three of them there, Natalie Tolentino and Sekou Sibi, both of them were immigrants. The Windows on the World was really staffed by many, many immigrants. And then Michael Lamonaco, the amazing chef. We just met so many great people that it was very gratifying to work on this.

COLLINS: Well, and Julie, you know, obviously when people think of the World Trade Center, what happened on 9/11 immediately comes to mind. And as you're telling this story, how do you -- how do you tell both of those? How do you tell the restaurant's incredible story? What happened in those nearly 25 years before that devastating day and the aftermath of it?

JULIE COHEN, DIRECTOR, "TOP OF THE WORLD": Yeah, I mean, that was the balance to strike. I mean, there's a part of us, I think, when you think about 9/11, just being people who lived and worked in New York City in the news business, in fact, at that time, maybe there's a part of you that the whole thing is so traumatic that you want to look away from it.

But when you, if you do that, if you ignore everything that happened in the World Trade Center in the 25 years before September 11th, then you're really pushing away some incredible, beautiful human stories. I mean, Windows on the World was a spectacular place. It was a place of real innovation. It was a place of great achievement.

And, you know, as Betsy says, it was a place where there was a talented and tenacious immigrant workforce, many of them dealing with challenges that the customers never saw that are part of what makes New York City great and makes America great.

COLLINS: Yeah. And I mean one of the people that you talk about, one of the main subjects, restaurateur, Joe Baum. And when you look at that Betsy and his story, what about it stood out to you or was a highlight for you?

WEST: Well, Joe Baum was a legendary restaurateur when he was tasked with making Windows of the World, and he just created something that was so innovative and so influential. He was a very tough guy, and he had very high standards, and he thought that dining should be an experience.

Back in the mid-'70s, that idea was kind of new. So, it was really fun to learn about Joe Baum, and he is no longer with us, but he left a lot of writings, and we were able to get Dennis Leary to be the voice of Joe Baum, and his kids came to see the movie last week and they thought it was great.

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So that was very gratifying.

COLLINS: That's really cool and probably incredible for them to see that of his legacy.

WEST: Yeah.

COLLINS: And you know, Julie, I think in that moment, that's a good point of as they were preparing for this 25th celebration of their own. When it opened in 1976, what New York was going through, how it was struggling in this devastating financial crisis, and how this came to -- to try to shift that and change that, to your point.

COHEN: Yeah, I mean, you know, New York City, if you look over decades of history, it's kind of a rollercoaster. There are moments when the city is really down and then followed with a lot of resilience and a lot of hard work with things totally change -- the whole course of the city changing.

And that's what happened in 1976. Windows on the World was really part of that. It was both played a role in the city's comeback, but I also think really was a symbol of the city's comeback, like in downtown Manhattan, which, as we talk about in the film, was really a wasteland in the mid-'70s. The whole idea that people would want to go out and have a fancy dinner there, it just wasn't what people thought of when they thought of Lower Manhattan. It's kind of hard to -- for people to understand when they see what Lower Manhattan is now, but it was kind of nowheresville, and Windows on the World was part of making it somewhere.

COLLINS: Betsy, what else, was there anything that surprised you? I mean, you mentioned that you guys are both New Yorkers. Was there anything that surprised you as you were making this and putting this story together, given, obviously, as we noted, it's complicated, but was there anything that maybe you didn't know before when you set out here?

WEST: Yeah. I mean, we had the benefit of reading a fantastic book, "The Most Spectacular Restaurant in the World," written by Tom Roston. And he laid out what Julie just described, the impact that Windows had.

And I was living in New York, actually moved here in 1976. I had no idea what it took to build the World Trade Towers and to put a restaurant on the 106th and 107th floors. I mean, it's an extraordinary story. And then to learn about the people, Sekou, Natalie, all the other people in the film, it was just a real privilege to be able to tell their stories.

COLLINS: Yeah. Well, I'm excited to watch it. And I know everyone else is as well.

Betsy West and Julie Cohen, congratulations. And thank you both for joining us to talk about it.

And for everyone, be sure to tune in. It is the all new CNN film, "Top of The World". It premiers next here at 8:00 P.M.

Still ahead for us tonight, a warning of what was described as a potentially catastrophic failure of the election system. A whistleblower is breaking their silence about the postal service and the rule on mail-in voting.

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COLLINS: A troubling report surfaced last week from a whistleblower who is an official within the U.S. Postal Service on that new digital system for verifying mail-in ballots and the term, forgive my language, but this is what the official used, they described it as a quote, shit show. That is what is going on when it comes to President Trump's plan to overhaul mail-in voting.

They're warning that potentially millions of American voters may not receive their mail-in ballot this election cycle in a timely manner or at all. The new system stems from President Trump's executive order that he signed back in March, giving the Postal Service an unprecedented role in screening states' mail-in ballot programs. It's supposed to ensure that only people who are legally allowed to vote get a ballot.

Instead, this new report, which I should note was assembled by the whistleblower's attorneys and released by the Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal, it says the system has created a, quote, "substantial risk of a catastrophic failure and says it has the potential to derail the midterm elections". That whistleblower describes the system as rushed and untested, and for example, according to this report, says, quote, "As presently designed, if even one barcode on a single ballot and a bulk mailing of 10,000 ballots fails to properly scan during the verification process, the entire batch is rejected and sent back to the state, effectively stopping the ballots from being mailed to voters."

Now, in a statement, the Postal Service said it is carefully reviewing the concerns raised by Senator Blumenthal and the whistleblower, and that the United States Postal Service has spent months developing a U.S. federal ballot mail portal to provide election officials with a simple, secure and efficient way to share lists of individuals receiving ballots by mail in their respective states. The work has at all times been conducted in a manner consistent with court orders. Now, when this report became public, I spoke with David Becker, who is the executive director and founder of the nonpartisan nonprofit Center for Election Innovation and Research, and this is what he had to say.

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DAVID BECKER, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR & FOUNDER, CENTER FOR ELECTION INNOVATION & RESEARCH: First, it is pretty troubling to see how this confirms the concerns that many election officials have had for so long about this order, that the Postal Service is not equipped, they don't have the capacity or expertise to do this work, they rush this, put a slapdash effort together.

And basically, their plan as it's laid out in the whistleblower's allegations is that they basically accept a massive error rate where there would be potentially millions of mail ballots not delivered to eligible voters who are entitled to receive them. And we might see around 50 million mail ballots in this coming election. So that's troubling.

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COLLINS: Thanks so much for joining me here tonight.

The new CNN film, "TOP OF THE WORLD", starts now.