Return to Transcripts main page
The Story Is with Elex Michaelson
Day 37 of the Longest Shutdown in American History; Fight Over Prop 50 isn't Over in California; Ad Campaign Helped Push Prop 50 Over Finish Line; UPS Plane Crash Kills at Least 12; Typhoon Kalmaegi Heads to Vietnam After Devastating the Philippines; GOP Plays Down Democratic Sweep Across Key Races; CNN's 'Guard Your Green Space' Initiative Under Way; Scientists Work to Strengthen Coral Reefs. Aired 12-1a ET
Aired November 06, 2025 - 00:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[00:00:00]
COATES: Way of expressing ourselves is to say, Elex, have a great show.
ELEX MICHAELSON, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks, Laura. Have a great night.
THE STORY IS starts right now.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MICHAELSON: THE STORY IS the longest shutdown in American history which could make it a lot harder for you to fly on time.
THE STORY IS suing the state of California. California Republicans announced a plan to try to invalidate Prop 50.
DAVID TANGIPA, CALIFORNIA STATE ASSEMBLYMEMBER: I believe that the people of California were lied to.
MICHAELSON: I go one-on-one with the lead plaintiff. Plus exclusive with Prop 50's biggest funder, billionaire Tom Steyer.
And THE STORY IS saving our coral reefs. On CNN's annual "Call to Earth" day, we take you live to Australia.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANNOUNCER: Live from Los Angeles, THE STORY IS with Elex Michaelson.
MICHAELSON: And welcome to THE STORY IS. I'm Elex Michaelson.
The story continues to be the longest government shutdown in U.S. history. Here is a live look from Capitol Hill. It's now after midnight, where a bipartisan group of lawmakers is attempting to push a new deal that could potentially reopen the government. It would fund it through January. But there are still plenty of hurdles to overcome before presenting it to Congress. Meantime, the Trump administration is planning on cutting the number of flights at 40 different U.S. airports.
Staffing issues are continuing to increase as the shutdown goes on, and officials say they don't want to risk the safety of passengers.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEAN DUFFY, U.S. TRANSPORTATION SECRETARY: There is going to be a 10 percent reduction in capacity at 40 of our locations.
BRYAN BEDFORD, FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION ADMINISTRATOR: When we see pressures building in these 40 markets, we just can't ignore it, you know? And we're not going to wait for a safety problem to truly manifest itself when the early indicators are telling us we can take action today to prevent, you know, things from deteriorating.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAELSON: So while lawmakers haven't been able to agree on reopening the government, many are in agreement that the longer the shutdown lasts, the more it will harm Americans.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOSH HAWLEY (R-MO): Here's what I do know is the shutdown needs to end. And in my state, I can just tell you it is really hurting real people. This is why I've offered a bill to pay those SNAP benefits because people need the assistance. 42 million people. I mean, this is becoming a humanitarian crisis, and I think we have got to end this ASAP.
SEN. JOHN FETTERMAN (D-PA): We've all been paid, but all these workers haven't been paid. The Capitol police that are protecting here haven't been paid. Our military. Why? That's not controversial. Pay our military. We can all reopen and find a way forward now.
SEN. TOMMY TUBERVILLE (R-AL): We need to get the government open to help the American people. Right now we are strangling people all over this country with cutbacks on everything that you can name. I'm hopeful. I don't know whether I'm optimistic. I can't count on the Democrats. They might think, boy, that was a great thing yesterday. You know, we won all the elections. That didn't do anything for the American people.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAELSON: Meanwhile, President Trump is blaming the shutdown in part for Republicans' election losses. He unveiled a new theory at a speech to business leaders in Miami. Affordability. The president says that affordability is a new word made up by Democrats. He says Republicans didn't talk enough about it or his supposed economic accomplishments during the campaign. The president harshly critical of New York's new mayor-elect, Zohran Mamdani.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: But the communist, Marxist, socialists and globalists had their chance, and they delivered nothing but disaster. And now let's see how a communist does in New York. We're going to see how that works out, and we'll help him. We'll help him. We want New York to be successful. We'll help him a little bit. Maybe.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAELSON: Mamdani announced his leadership transition team in New York on Wednesday. All of them women. He got some words of encouragement from a fellow Muslim mayor, Sadiq Khan of London.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SADIQ KHAN, LONDON MAYOR: But the reason why Zohran won with such a big majority was people could relate to what he was saying. Him being a Muslim is almost beside the point. His opponents may have used his faith against him, but was quite clear was a positive, upbeat campaign led to New Yorkers choosing him as their mayor.
London, like New York, is a city that is liberal, multicultural, progressive and also incredibly, incredibly successful. We are the antithesis of everything that Donald Trump is about.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAELSON: Here in California, the dominoes are falling after CNN's projection that California voters will pass Proposition 50. Ballots are being counted at this hour. Here are the latest results. Yes, at about 64 percent. No, at about 36 percent. The measure redraws California's congressional map to help Democrats after Texas redrew their maps to help Republicans.
[00:05:03]
So here is the new map that could lead to five more Democratic seats. Current Republican members are scrambling to adjust to all of this. Incumbent Republicans Ken Calvert and Young Kim announced today that they will be running against each other in the 40th District, setting up a high stakes, expensive showdown in one of the few Republican- leaning districts. Incumbent Republican member Kevin Kiley said he will run for reelection, but interestingly, he hasn't decided yet which district to run in. He may not run in the district he currently represents.
Meanwhile, in Sacramento today, the state's Republican Party announced a federal lawsuit claiming that Proposition 50 is unconstitutional. They say it unfairly increases the voting power of Latinos at the expense of other groups.
After the event, I spoke with Republican Assemblymember David Tangipa. He is the lead plaintiff in the lawsuit.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MICHAELSON: Assemblymember, what's this lawsuit all about? TANGIPA: Well, this is looking at the entire process. I mean, I've
been a part of this process since the very beginning, and I believe that the people of California were lied to. I believe that they're all confused about what has gone on. And we don't believe that the governor and the legislative body followed the process. They claim that they were protecting VRA districts. They were creating them, and they didn't give any justification.
Here's one of my biggest issues is that in the legislation that I had to vote on, it states that I was part of the process of drawing these maps. It says the assembly and the elections committee prepared these maps. That is a fundamental lie. There is no justification for what they've done. I now live in a VRA congressional district, and I represent a non-VRA district. This is ridiculous.
MICHAELSON: So I mean, it's essentially the bottom line argument here is that this map gives too much power to Latinos at the expense of other groups' power.
TANGIPA: The bottom line argument is they did not follow the justification process to claim VRA. And then --
MICHAELSON: Meaning what? So that's the Voting Rights Act. Explain this for people that may not follow this stuff.
TANGIPA: Exactly. There are very, very clear guidelines that if you are going to use race to redistrict, you have to follow steps one, two and three. They didn't even give us justification for why they did those steps. And that is fundamentally different.
MICHAELSON: So what's the process now? What does this actually mean for people? Because people are already starting to run for these districts.
TANGIPA: Yes. Well, I think they're getting a little bit over their skis. They should have expected this. And we were going to fight. I stated that every single step of the way that we were going to fight for the people of California. My rule voices the people in the central portions of California deserve to have that same voice. They deserve to be represented in Washington as well.
MICHAELSON: So essentially, you're hoping that judges throw this thing out and it goes to this, or it goes to the Supreme Court? I mean, what's the process?
TANGIPA: I'm hoping that people follow the law. That's what I'm hoping for. And we just -- we're going to let this play out in court, and we're going to make sure that we're there every step of the way to make sure that we're fighting for the people of California.
MICHAELSON: Assemblymember, great to see you.
TANGIPA: Good to see you.
MICHAELSON: Thank you very much. Appreciate it.
TANGIPA: Yes. Thank you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MICHAELSON: So the attorneys hope to have a decision in federal court and then in the Supreme Court by December. Why does that matter? That is when candidates must file their paperwork to run in next June's primary.
Governor Newsom's press office responded, quote, "We haven't reviewed the lawsuit, but if it's from the California Republican Party and Harmeet Dhillon's law firm, it's going to fail. Good luck, losers."
Joining me live from San Francisco is Tom Steyer. The former Democratic presidential candidate gave more than $12 million worth of his own money to support Prop 50, making him the single largest donor. If you lived in California, you probably saw Steyer's ads about Prop 50.
Welcome. Good to see you. Welcome to THE STORY IS.
TOM STEYER, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Hey, Elex. How are you?
MICHAELSON: I'm doing well. Good to see you again. It's been too long. So let's talk about Prop 50. What do you think is the message that California voters are sending?
STEYER: Well, I think Prop 50 was very clearly a referendum on the Trump administration and the attempt by this administration to steal another election and the need for California to stand up for themselves. But beyond that, I think it's a very strong message about how unhappy Californian voters are with this administration, with this president, and with the way this country is being run.
MICHAELSON: But it also is about redistricting. And you just heard some of the arguments in terms of a lawsuit claiming that this whole thing is unconstitutional. What's your response to that?
STEYER: Look, this is a classic situation where they got licked. They lost by 30 points, and then they went to the referee to say, hey, this wasn't fair to begin with. The truth is, the people of California very strongly spoke about this.
[00:10:04]
This was us standing up for ourselves against an attempt by the administration and by the Republican Party to steal an election in 2026. We did what we had to do. And honestly, the Californian voters supported us overwhelmingly. And I think that this is just sour grapes.
MICHAELSON: So you put up a lot of your own money on this, and we know that California is not the only state considering redistricting. Governor Newsom last night encouraging other states to do the same. Kamala Harris over the weekend encouraging other states to do the same. Are you encouraging other states to do the same? And if they do, will you contribute money on that front?
STEYER: I honestly haven't considered that, Elex. What I was interested in was our state standing up for ourselves. As you know, I have been opposing Mr. Trump and fighting him since at least 2017. I spearheaded the "Need to Impeach" movement, which was really centered in 2018, where we got eight million Americans to join us to sign up to say that this was an illegal administration that needed to be stopped.
And Prop 50, which I give a ton of credit to Governor Newsom for founding and leading, was a perfect chance for us to redraw that, those lines and to push back against what we consider to be an illegal presidency and an attempt to steal another election. That was where I was focused. That's what I was entirely consumed with. And I think the result was fantastic.
MICHAELSON: Meanwhile, you know, there are a lot of people that are wondering if you're going to run for governor of California. If you want to make an announcement here, you can. But if you're not, what is the thought process? What's going through your mind in deciding whether to run for governor? What will make you go one way or another?
STEYER: Look, I have been entirely focused on Prop 50 and what I was trying to do, really, was to give voice to Californians, to allow Californians to see this as a clear referendum on the Trump administration, and for us to stand up for ourselves. That's something which, of course, I started "Need to Impeach." But beyond that, I've run a number of propositions in the state of California, going back to 2010, taking on oil companies and tobacco companies and out-of-state companies. That's what I've been focused on.
MICHAELSON: Well, it's over now --
STEYER: My goal here --
MICHAELSON: It passed. It passed. So what about what's next?
STEYER: OK. Look, I think that the statement that was made broadly in the country last night, including in California, was that the people of the United States feel like they haven't been heard. And I know that the buzzword around that is affordability. But I think what we're really seeing is the vast bulk of Americans who are living paycheck to paycheck, who really are barely surviving and are now looking at having food and health care taken away from them.
So I think last night was the American people saying very simply, we need to get the basics and we need the politicians to get back to basics, because what's being taken away from Americans are the simple basics of the American dream. Rent, food, health care. Really simple things. But people are screaming that they're not being attended to, and that's the biggest takeaway from last night.
MICHAELSON: And my big takeaway is that you do not want to answer whether you're running for governor or talk about it, but that's OK.
Tom Steyer, I --
STEYER: (INAUDIBLE) just been focused on.
MICHAELSON: OK, we appreciate that. Tom Steyer, thank you so much for joining us live from San Francisco. We appreciate your perspective.
STEYER: Thank you. It's nice to see you again.
MICHAELSON: On to other news now, 12 people confirmed dead following the fiery crash of a UPS cargo plane in Louisville, Kentucky. Officials say that figure is expected to climb. Transportation safety investigators have recovered the so-called black boxes, but there's no word yet on what brought that flight down.
CNN's Isabel Rosales picks up the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ISABEL ROSALES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The UPS cargo plane that departed Louisville, bound for Honolulu, crashed at approximately 5:15 p.m. Tuesday evening. Because the crash happened during daylight hours, surveillance cameras in the surrounding areas captured the harrowing scene. The crash ignited up to 38,000 gallons of jet fuel, sparking a fire that stretched nearly half a mile, creating an enormous plume of black smoke over Louisville.
TODD INMAN, NTSB BOARD MEMBER: We have viewed airport CCTV security coverage, which shows the left engine detaching from the wing during the takeoff roll.
[00:15:02]
ROSALES (voice-over): That engine can be seen on the runway along with other scattered debris from the plane. Two businesses near the airport were directly impacted.
SEAN GARBER, CEO, GRADE A AUTO PARTS AND RECYCLING: I've never been in a war zone, but I would have to imagine it is what a war zone looks like. All of our buildings in the path of the airplane are destroyed.
ROSALES (voice-over): Garber still has three people missing from his company and has little faith they're alive. As of tonight, at least 12 people are dead and at least 16 families have reported loved ones unaccounted for, according to Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear. The NTSB says investigators have recovered the plane's black boxes and that all the video footage that captured the crash is already proving critical to the investigation.
INMAN: This and other videos, along with evidence we are finding, are very valuable asset to our investigators and helping us hone further which areas we were going to be focusing on as we move into further days of the investigation.
ROSALES (voice-over): Tomorrow will be the first full day the NTSB will be on scene to investigate, and they expect to be there at least a week, if not longer.
INMAN: Our mission, again, is understand not only what happened, but why it happened and recommend changes to prevent it from happening again.
ROSALES (voice-over): For nearby business owners, the focus for them is finding those still missing and eventually on rebuilding.
GARBER: The most important thing for us is figuring out where out where these -- where these three people are and identifying the customers that were there. So we can provide information to their families, comfort them, and make certain that that process is as painless, which it can't be for them. And then turn our focus onto our business.
ROSALES (on-camera): That ill-fated UPS flight was not delayed and it had no maintenance work done immediately before that Tuesday crash. That's according to the National Transportation Safety Board, citing UPS.
Now, the NTSB is deploying several groups to look into this investigation. One of them is a maintenance group that will look into every aspect, every little bit of maintenance done to this plane to independently verify what UPS is saying. But so far, the NTSB saying that they haven't found anything disproving what UPS has said so far.
Isabel Rosales, CNN, Louisville, Kentucky.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MICHAELSON: To sports now, Alex Ovechkin has smashed yet another pro hockey record. The 40-year-old left winger backhanded his 900th goal into the net as his Washington Nationals crushed the Saint Louis Blues 6 to 1. Ovechkin breaking the great one Wayne Gretzky's career record, 895 goals back in April. Tough for that to ever be broken.
The final, crucial showdown of the baseball World Series was the most watched game seven in decades. The ratings are now in, and that nail- biter, winner-take-all battle between the Dodgers and the Blue Jays drew 51 million viewers across Canada, Japan and the U.S. Of course, all three countries heavily invested with the Dodgers in Toronto, playing Japanese star pitcher Shohei Ohtani and MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto playing a pivotal role in L.A.'s victory.
The previous Game Seven viewing record was set back in 1991, when the Minnesota Twins defeated the Atlanta Braves. And as you remember back then, there were a whole lot less viewing options. So to get that sort of number today, with the amount of choices you have is unheard of.
Coming up, a popular online retailer is expanding from the digital world into the real world. Straight ahead, how the crowds in the fashion forward city of Paris reacted when Shein came to town. Plus a typhoon packing damaging winds and rain heading to Vietnam after killing more than 100 people in the Philippines. A live report from the region next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[00:23:21] MICHAELSON: Typhoon Kalmaegi is strengthening and expected to make landfall in Central Vietnam in the coming hours after killing at least 114 and leaving more than 100 missing in the Philippines.
CNN's Mike Valerio is following the storm and joins us live now.
Mike, what's happening?
MIKE VALERIO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Elex, you know, the pictures are astounding. And the latest developments that we have over the past couple of minutes is that the entire country of the Philippines, not just a section, not just a province, but President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has put all of the Philippines under a state of calamity in response to this, Typhoon Kalmaegi that has already wiped through the central part of the country. And another typhoon that's on the way.
So here are the pictures. The split screen, the double whammy typhoon forecast picture that we have for the Philippines towards the end of the weekend. And then Kalmaegi, which is making its way towards Vietnam right now, expected to make landfall towards the end of the day. Winds now are above 100 miles an hour approaching 200 kilometers an hour. And the problem with Vietnam, where it's going, is that the ground is already saturated. Damage -- extensive damage expected there.
Let's go to Cebu, though. These are the dramatic pictures that you're seeing from drone perspectives, from rescuers who are now able to make their way to the epicenter of the disaster zone. Cebu, for all of those who don't know, who are outside of the region, is still recovering, parts of Cebu City and the surrounding province, from a 6.9 magnitude earthquake on September 30th. So if you can only imagine being displaced because of that massive earthquake, and then to have a typhoon come through, truly extraordinary with so many people are dealing with.
[00:25:02]
At this hour, scores of people are still missing. The Philippine Air Force is dealing with the tragedy on its own. A helicopter on its way for a humanitarian rescue efforts crashed with six people on board. So I know that in North and South America, you know, the western hemisphere, we focus so much of our attention on Jamaica. But this is truly catastrophic.
Just an idea of what Western Visayas is dealing with. This is another part of the devastated area. 200,000 families affected, 700,000 individuals affected, with more than a thousand evacuation centers, not 1,000 people in an evacuation center. A thousand evacuation centers. So where we are going from here, we're waiting to see what Kalmaegi does when it makes landfall in Vietnam.
Fenghuang is going to be the next typhoon that you saw in the double whammy graphic that we made a couple minutes ago. It's headed towards Luzon, the northern section of the Philippines. The distance between those two paths from earlier this week to today is about 500 miles, which would be more or less the distance between San Francisco and San Diego. So twin trenches of damage.
That's what's going on here. That's what we're watching over the next couple of days -- Elex.
MICHAELSON: It's extraordinary how many -- much bad news can people have at one time really. Thank you for bringing that to people's attention. And hopefully people here can help people in that region as well.
Mike Valerio, thank you so much.
VALERIO: Thanks, Elex. We appreciate it.
MICHAELSON: To this now, lovers and haters of the online fast fashion retailer Shein showed up for the company's latest venture in France. Shein opened its first ever brick and mortar store, happened inside one of the most famous department stores in Paris, BHV. Customers lined up early to be the first ones to shop inside the store. But protesters demonstrated inside and outside the shop, condemning the Chinese brand's ultra cheap fashions. Shein plans to open more stores in five French malls.
Back in the U.S., a major test of presidential power underway now at the U.S. Supreme Court. Justices are weighing whether President Trump overstepped his authority in imposing sweeping global tariffs. Even some of the conservatives on the court appear skeptical about President Trump's arguments. If the court breaks with the president, it would be the first major time that they've done so since his return to power.
President Trump says he heard the case, quote, "went well" and warned that reversing the tariffs would trigger a worldwide depression and hurt the U.S. economy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: It would be devastating for our country if we lost that. Devastating. I think it's one of the most important, maybe the most, but one of the most important cases in the history of our country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAELSON: President speaking there with Bret Baier on FOX News Channel. That tariff case was brought forth by a group of small and medium sized businesses. And a key question is whether they would be entitled to refunds if the court rules against the Trump administration. That could be expensive.
All right, well, speaking of expensive, Elon Musk could soon become the first ever trillionaire. Tesla's shareholders will decide on CEO Elon Musk's new pay package in the coming day. If it's approved, he could be granted more than 420 million additional shares of Tesla stock over the next decade, which could be worth about $1 trillion.
Remember in "Social Network" when they talked about being a billionaire? (LAUGHTER)
MICHAELSON: All right. Up next, you see them standing by, our panel here to break it down this week's pivotal elections. Mike Murphy and Lynn Vavreck, love them both, they join us when we come back. Unfortunately, they're not quite at the trillion-dollar mark yet, but maybe soon. That campaign cash is coming in to Murphy.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA): There's no surprises. What happened last night was blue states and blue cities voted blue. We all saw that coming, and no one should read too much into last night's election results.
[00:33:56]
Off-year elections are not indicative of what's to come. That's what history teaches us.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ELEX MICHAELSON, CNN ANCHOR: That's House Speaker Mike Johnson there, like so many other Republicans, downplaying Democrats' election success last night.
Here to discuss, we've got Mike Murphy from the USC Center for the Political Future, host of the great podcast "Hacks on Tap" with David Axelrod; and Hoffenberg professor of American politics at UCLA, Lynn Vavreck. We're bringing together UCLA and USC here on "The Story Is."
Mike, we just heard what Mike Johnson said.
MIKE MURPHY, USC CENTER FOR THE POLITICAL FUTURE: Yes.
MICHAELSON: Blue cities, don't worry about it. But for you, it's about the margins. Right?
MURPHY: Well, yes. Look at the shot with them there. They all look so happy. You know, such a wonderful night as they got slaughtered from coast to coast.
So, he's right. They were blue places. But "The Story Is" how big the margins were, how the Republican vote collapsed.
And the real story for us political wonks is you go to the second- level races. Allegheny County, Western Pennsylvania, leaned -- Pittsburgh, that area, leans Democratic. There were 469 local elections. Republicans only won 11 of them.
[00:35:07]
In Georgia, the Public Service Commission, elected statewide, partisan, "R" and "D" after your name. The two Republicans got beat by 20 points. One of them, my friend Tim Echols, who, by the way, is great. Sad to see him go. He's been there since 2011.
The Democrats have not won those kind of constitutional offices in Georgia for 20 years.
So, this -- and the speaker, with all due respect, is totally wrong. This -- I'm so old, you know, I'm the carbon-dated consultant. I did Christine Todd Whitman's campaign in '93 for governor of New Jersey, like this year. And Bill Clinton had just won. Nobody thought she would beat the incumbent, Joe Florio. And we -- we beat him.
And a year later, we had '94. The Republicans ran the table. So, this was a real scary outcome on a generic party basis for the Republicans.
MICHAELSON: I'm grateful, in your answer, you got "The Story Is" in there. So, I appreciate the show branding there. I also appreciate the deep dive into Georgia and Pennsylvania politics. I didn't see that on any other coverage.
MURPHY: Yes, no, your audience is all going to an infomercial now.
MICHAELSON: We're going into real in the weeds here on "The Story Is."
Lynn, your big takeaway in terms of the numbers? You look at numbers as much as anybody.
LYNN VAVRECK, HOFFENBERG PROFESSOR OF AMERICAN POLITICS, UCLA: Well, definitely, I agree with Mike. You would rather be a Democrat today than a Republican. There's no doubt about that.
And I think there's some good news also in the fact that we got a little bit of a sense of some candidates out there appreciating what Americans are struggling with.
This idea of affordability, of the costs, of cost of living, it was a common thread across all those top Democratic wins that everyone's talking about: governors and mayors.
And I know that that seems like, is that hard? Should that be hard? But apparently, it sometimes is hard. It was a little bit hard for the Biden campaign in 2024 to get to that message. Harris got to it, but she had a late start.
So, I think that's a good sign. And it is not -- that is not going to change in a year, in two years, in three years.
So, the idea that that's what the contest is and the recognition that, if you're the incumbent, you haven't fixed the problems, no matter which party you are, that's bad.
MICHAELSON: And Lynn, you sort of study who votes, as well. And our pal Sasha Issenberg was on the show late last night, and he made the point about the fact that it used to be in midterm elections, and off- year elections, it would be Republicans that voted, because they had the college-educated voters always show up. Now those people vote Democrat.
How much is it important in terms of who's actually voting?
VAVRECK: It's hugely important. And the way to think about when elections swing, like we saw last night -- they went one way last time, different this time -- you have to think about two things.
One is, oh, did people change their minds? People were persuaded. And everyone likes to think about that.
But there's the second thing: the composition of the electorate. It's not always just adding voters. Oh, these people were mobilized. That's the wrong way to think about it.
The composition of the set of people can change. Some people stay home; other people turn out.
And so, both of those things matter a lot. And campaigns like to think about that mobilization, getting people to return to the polls, getting new people to turn out, because they think they can target their own voters. And so, if they can get one more person out, that's definitely one more vote for them. Changing someone's mind is hard.
MICHAELSON: Yes. And that was when we talked, Mike, with Governor Newsom about this for Proposition 50. He said to us, look, nobody's mind's changing. Everybody's locked in.
MURPHY: Yes.
MICHAELSON: And -- and we basically got all the Democrats and Democrat-leaning independents in the state to vote for him. That's why you end up with a vote around 60 percent, which is what that is in California.
And he's responding with memes. We want to show some of these.
MURPHY: OK.
MICHAELSON: He was doing this beforehand. Now we've got more memes. This is one he put out there. It says, "Newsom is Right About Everything," an A.I.-generated image of President Trump, who is crying in that image.
And there are others, as well. There's this one of a WWE smackdown with Donald Trump and Newsom and Barack Obama's heads. So, you know, obviously, we've seen President Trump in real life at the WWE before.
What do you make of this as a -- as a political strategy? You sometimes talk about the second look.
MURPHY: Yes.
MICHAELSON: Is this something that lasts? Is this something that's good in the long term?
MURPHY: Well, no, I think it's sugar calories. But I've got to hand it to Gavin Newsom. He made a big bet. He shoved all the chips on the table on this 50 thing. And I didn't like the policy, but I reluctantly voted for it, simply because I wanted to offset the -- the horribleness of what Texas did.
So, what Newsom did was he shoved all these chips in, and at first the thing wasn't going that well, in September. Scary polling. And part of the reason for that was, at first, people thought it was a referendum on Gavin Newsom, who is more popular than unpopular, but not by much here in California.
[00:40:05]
Then it all landed in the gravity of October, where blue team/red team, and they wiped it out.
And now Gavin Newsom won the 2025 presidential pre-pre-pre-Democratic primary. And that's a huge win for him. It elevates him.
Now, when we get to late '27 into the spring of '28 when the Democrats are going to pick their nominee, I think Trump is going to be, in many ways, in the rearview mirror and being the best Trump basher isn't the ticket. Owning the future is.
But as far as elevating Governor Newsom to be a real national contender through the '26 highly partizan "go get him" cycle we're heading for in the midterms, it's gold.
And so, you've got to give him credit. And the memes and everything, I -- I think it's an effective sugar-calorie political tactic for right now. You're not going to -- that gadgetry will not get you the nomination. But it's good campaign food in the short term.
MICHAELSON: And it's hard to imagine, though, President Trump easily walking away from the stage or giving up the microphone.
MURPHY: Yes. He'll take the bait.
MICHAELSON: Yes.
VAVRECK: Yes, it is -- it is hard. And maybe that's part of the -- the purpose of it.
But I also think on -- on the Prop 50 campaign for just one more minute. What a tricky messaging environment that is.
The thing you're trying to get people to vote for is you're trying to say, hey, what those people in Texas did, that's bad. Gerrymandering, bad. So, vote for us to gerrymander. It's a tricky message.
MURPHY: Well, that was part of the problem in September. And at the end they said, blue team, red team.
MICHAELSON: Right. It had -- the message, had --
MURPHY: Which will win California.
MICHAELSON: It had nothing to do with gerrymandering. It was all about do you like Donald Trump or do you not like Donald Trump? And the other folks tried to make it about, do you like Gavin Newsom or do you not? And there's just more people that dislike Donald Trump.
MURPHY: And a 2-to-1 money advantage.
MICHAELSON: Yes.
MURPHY: Once they pushed it to pardons (ph) and (UNINTELLIGIBLE) they won.
MICHAELSON: And -- and a key word was the word "temporary."
MURPHY: Yes, yes, yes.
MICHAELSON: The polling changed when it was temporary, because then it wasn't a referendum on redistricting as much.
New York, your thoughts? Zohran Mamdani, is he the new face of the Democratic Party?
MURPHY: Well, I think the Republicans are hoping for that. But, you know, we had these moderate governors win. So, it's not that easy. And New York's a special electorate.
Now, I was surprised, because Mamdani is a very talented candidate. I'm against him on almost every issue. But he hit this affordability stop. He was a happy campaigner.
And so, I thought in his victory speech it would be, OK, let's build a city we all love. You know, we had our fight for it.
Because remember, he won in a three-way, but he only got half the vote. The other half isn't for him. Instead, he got up there and said, I'm going to open with Eugene Debs.
MICHAELSON: Yes.
MURPHY: And then he did the Castro speech, you know? And what he's forgotten is how hard that job is politically.
Running the city of New York is like massaging a porcupine. A year later, you wonder what happened. You have no fingers left. You need a lot of friends with gloves to help you. And he did the war speech, the dividing speech, which I thought was a huge blunder, because now that -- campaigning is fun and a little easier. Now -- now he's got one of the toughest jobs in politics. Very hard to do up there alone.
And I thought he gave Trump a little bait in -- by doing the -- the hard red, you know, lefty stuff.
MICHAELSON: Yes.
MURPHY: But he can correct. But a rare fumble of large proportion, in my view.
MICHAELSON: Well, and you think about Bill de Blasio, Eric Adams.
MURPHY: Yes. MICHAELSON: They have not governed with a lot of popularity by the end of their time there.
But in terms of nationally, is he -- is he a good thing, a bad thing?
VAVRECK: I think it's all good. Everything that happened for Democrats yesterday.
And again, those three candidates are very different. But the one thing they have in common is what they were talking about. And meeting people where they are and meeting the moment.
And that's not going to be enough. You can't just acknowledge that people are struggling.
MICHAELSON: Yes.
VAVRECK: You have to think of solutions for people. And obviously, this is not easy, because it -- this goes back in my mind to 2016. And we kind of got off on a tangent because of Trump's unique candidacy in that year.
But Hillary Clinton started that campaign talking about everyday Americans and trying to help them have better lives.
MICHAELSON: Right. Yes.
VAVRECK: That that got side-railed.
MURPHY: I'd just make one quick point.
MICHAELSON: One sentence.
MURPHY: It'll be a long sentence. No. Quickly, Trump is making the Biden mistake now of telling people the economy is better than they believe it is, and that'll sink them in the midterms if he keeps it up.
MICHAELSON: Yes, Bidenomics not the greatest word.
MURPHY: Now we have Trumponomics. "Everything's great."
VAVRECK: It never works.
MURPHY: Yes.
MICHAELSON: Mike, Lynn, great to see both of you. Really appreciate it.
VAVRECK: Great to be here.
MURPHY: Congrats on the show.
MICHAELSON: Thank you very much. More of "The Story Is" when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[00:49:26]
MICHAELSON: Welcome back.
Right now, CNN's annual Call to Earth Day is swinging into action in celebration of how people come together to help protect the planet.
More than 600,000 people of all ages are taking part in a daylong event around the world on TV, digital, social media in English, Spanish and Arabic.
This year's theme is called Guard Your Green Space. We're asking participants to show us how they are guarding their shared spaces for future generations.
CNN has a team of reporters covering Call to Earth Day across the globe. Los Angeles, Atlanta, London, Nairobi, Beijing, Hong Kong, and Tokyo.
Hanako Montgomery is in Tokyo, where she joins us live, and she's got some company. Hanako, tell us where you are.
HANAKO MONTGOMERY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Elex. It's good to see you.
So, I'm at the American School in Japan here in Tokyo, which is a school that teaches kids from kindergarten to grade 12. And part of the really interesting thing about this school is that it incorporates curriculums from the United Nations sustainability goals.
So, that means kids here learn about climate change, about their favorite green spaces, about sustainability. And I'm actually on top of the American School in Japan's roof, where I have two of my friends here, Remi and Marcella. How are you guys doing?
REMI, STUDENT: I am doing very well.
MONTGOMERY: Very well. OK. Can you tell me about what you're gardening here in your green space, in your garden?
MARCELLA, STUDENT: I think these are like soybeans. And these are like soybean sprouts.
MONTGOMERY: Very nice. And then I think you also have some carrots, some sweet potatoes.
REMI: Yes, we have carrots and sweet potatoes. I think my class might. We might be putting the carrots like over there. But we have, like, a ton of our things. And I just dug up this.
MONTGOMERY: You just dug that up.
REMI: Yes.
MONTGOMERY: Oh, very nice. REMI: It's not giant, but a tiny sweet potato.
MONTGOMERY: Do you get to take that home?
REMI: I don't know.
MONTGOMERY: I don't know.
REMI: I want -- I want to, but --
MONTGOMERY: And what's your favorite thing about gardening, you guys?
REMI: It's fun to be outdoors and escape class time.
MONTGOMERY: Escape class time. Escape, maybe, homework, as well. Assignments, yes?
REMI: Yes.
MONTGOMERY: What about you, Marcella?
MARCELLA: It's fun to be outside and to, like, plant things like -- plant like these little sprouts.
MONTGOMERY: And have you learned anything that's, you know, kind of indicating what is important about food and how we treat our food? Maybe, you know, no leftovers.
REMI: I think it was yesterday we learned about, like, decomposers and -- and how like they're the very, like, at the base of the food chain and like how they eat up everything --
MONTGOMERY: Right.
REMI: -- that's dead and turn it into soil for plants to grow. And the more things eat the soil.
MONTGOMERY: Very nice. So, our leftovers turn into decomposition. Great. Wonderful.
Thank you so much, guys.
So, there you have it, Elex. Here at the American School in Japan, kids are learning about their favorite green spaces and the food that we eat, and how important it is in our food chain. Back to you.
MICHAELSON: Hanako, thank you. We will see you next hour for more.
In the meantime, we head to Australia, where coral reef ecosystems support a quarter of all marine life. They're in real peril around the world.
Joining us live from Sydney is Dr. Emma Camp, a marine biologist whose coral nurture program aims to find the world's toughest coral and use it to help revitalize the reef, as part of the Rolex Perpetual Planet Initiative. Emma Camp, thank you so much for being with us and thank you for the
work you do.
DR. EMMA CAMP, MARINE BIOLOGIST: Thank you.
MICHAELSON: Talk to us about reefs.
CAMP: Thank you and thank you for having me.
MICHAELSON: Why -- why do reefs matter?
CAMP: Great question. Reefs matter, because they only cover a small percentage of the ocean floor. But over 1 billion people rely on things like fish stocks, storm protection, and even pharmaceutical compounds that are found on something that is -- originates from a coral reef.
MICHAELSON: So, talk to us about your work. What exactly are you doing to help the reefs?
CAMP: So, reefs globally are under threat. It's despite their immense importance. There is a real risk that we could lose reefs within our lifetime, primarily because of climate change.
And so, even though things like marine protected areas are crucial to ensure that we have coral reefs in the future, they no longer are enough to ensure a reef.
So, my lab looks to try and find the world's toughest corals. We look at places where people don't normally look. So, places like mangrove lagoons have corals, not typically where people look for corals. And these corals are really tough. They live in murky waters, hot waters.
And we studied the genetics. We studied the physiology of these corals. But then, we work with communities to grow these corals up, to try and get them back onto the reef and to try and rehabilitate areas that have been damaged.
MICHAELSON: What's the best way that viewers can support your work and support helping the reefs?
CAMP: I think firstly, it's realizing no matter where you are in the world, you're connected to coral reefs. They're a part of nature. Everything we do, from when we get up in the morning to when we go to bed, connects us to coral reefs, because the more that we're using electricity, the more that we're not recycling. It was great to hear about the schoolchildren, with their initiatives just before. These things all help reduce our footprint on the reef and in turn, help coral reefs globally.
If people want to know more, they can look us up online: Coral Nurture Program. Hear more about what we're doing and ways that they can also try and engage them in the science and the community activities that we're doing.
MICHAELSON: Thank you for the work that you do. And those images are just so, so beautiful. Emma Camp, we appreciate it.
We'll be right back with more after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[00:59:39]
MICHAELSON: Well, the magic of Christmas has arrived in Chicago. The city installed a soaring 67-foot Norway spruce in Millennium Park ahead of its lighting ceremony a few weeks away.
The towering evergreen was donated by a family from Glenview, Illinois. It was planted in the early '80s. So, that thing's older than me.
Different story. Not as pretty in Georgia. Look at this. Crews attempted to raise the Christmas tree. It snaps in half. That Norway spruce, 40 feet tall. It broke as it was being set up at a historic courthouse near Atlanta.
