hard things. the question i leave you with tonight is what does that mean for you? on that note, i wish you a very good night. from all of our colleagues across the networks of nbc news, thanks for staying up late with me. i will see you tomorrow. you tomorrow. >> i was out sick. i finally got covid. i think and one of the last people in the country who had never had it before. but i finally tested positive like a week and a half ago. i'm vaccinated so i think that helped me get an easier bout. i rested up, isolated from everyone. i took a five-day course of paxlovid which honestly is kind of grows while you're taking it. but it is, in my opinion, totally worth. it it's only five days of pills. by the end of those five days of the paxlovid, i had no fever, totally reduced symptoms, and most importantly, i was testing negative. and not a risk to other people. so, anyway, i'm back, i'm sorry, i missed you here last week. also had to cancel and reschedule the remaining book tour events for my book prequel. i will tell you what's awesome is prequel debuted at number one on the new york times bestseller list which means that a significant chunk of the reading population of america is reading about americans fighting home growing fascism right now in this book which is just absolutely fantastic. really exciting with how the book is doing. just so you, know i'll be back out picturing as of this weekend in new york city with chris hayes and the next week i'll be in northampton massachusetts and boulder, colorado, and november 20th, you can come see me in tulsa, oklahoma. a lawsuit beyond midlife with seth myers tomorrow, i'll be on the cbs morning show later this week. everything had to get canceled for a while, that's why was gone but now i'm back. lots going on. thank you, science! thank you paxlovid, thank you covid vaccines. happy to be back. and i'm particularly glad to be back on my feet in time for election day. this is 2023, obviously. an odd number of, year that means we're not having national federal elections this year but the elections that we are having this year tomorrow are more fascinating, more surprising, than your usual off your fair. surprising in the sense that -- depending on where you, look one of the races that actually could be contested tomorrow that might actually be close is the governor's race in mississippi. seriously. mississippi has and voted for a democrat, a democratic president since i was three years. old i'm now 50 years old. it has been 24 years since a democrat was elected governor of mississippi. but nevertheless, believe, a democrat brian pressley is in the states -- democrat brendan pressley, he has that famous last, named elvis pressley was actually his second cousin, or cousin once removed or something, but his story is much more relate-able than that distance celebrity relation. brendan pressley was raised by a single mom, his mom worked in a garment factory, his father was murdered when he was eight years old. his family was poor enough -- his utilities were cut, off they didn't have enough money to pay. and he said it's ridiculous given the economics in mississippi that that state has the highest tax on groceries in the whole country. so you want to get rid of that. that's a popular position. mississippi also has an affordable health. kara lots of people who are uninsured, presley said that he would get people insurance in huge numbers by expanding medicaid which is financially a very, very good deal for the state and would get hundreds of thousands of people insurance in mississippi. so with popular positions like that and compelling personal story that he's got, brendan pressley is running against the republican incumbent ted reeves who was one of the least popular governors in the country. among many of the albatrosses -- it's this huge ongoing corruption scandal in mississippi. you may have heard this over the past few, years it was 2020 when the state auditor announced that $77 million in federal funds had mysteriously gone one case in mississippi. it is all apparently diverted into huge speaking fees for politicians and people connected to the state a ministration. also, a bunch of money was diverted into a weird pet project for breath favre, the retired nfl quarterback from mississippi. this was supposed to be federal welfare funds. ted reeves was lieutenant governor for the state of mississippi when all of that happened. it happened during that administration. he's governor now since the scandal broke, several people have pled guilty to fraud and conspiracy charges. the guy who was the head of the -- was sentenced to decades in prison for the scandal. ted reeves himself has not been charged in this case, the federal investigation, again, the federal investigation here is an ongoing thing. so yes, it's mississippi and mississippi very much appears to be a red state. but this democrat, brendan pressley, is making a run for that governorship. and tomorrow -- it's considered to be of these republican race. considered to be a case where a democrat has at least a shot of forming a runoff this is a remarkable thing. also kentucky, you think mississippi's -- for perspective, mississippi one for donald trump in 2020 4:16 points. and -- by 26 points. wow. still, though. the year before that 2019, kentucky elected a democrat for governor. andy brashear. and democratic governor and he pushes up for reelection tomorrow in kentucky. and again, this is a super, super red state by some metrics by a democrat andy beshear won the governorship there in 2019. and he has run a solid campaign for reelection. and there is a down that mcedwards kentucky election that is i think may be hard to overestimate. it's at least hard to estimate in terms of its effect on voters. the issue in kentucky of abortion rights. republicans control the state legislature in kentucky, when conservatives and the supreme court overturned roe v. wade, kentucky is one of the states that got what is effectively a complete and total ban on abortion. a majority of kentucky residents voted in favor of abortion rights in a statewide referendum. but the republicans and the legislature nevertheless imposed this total ban. and it's really a total ban. kentucky, you're only allowed to get an abortion if not getting an abortion will kill you. or permanently disable you. other than that, no exceptions. the government will force you to carry a pregnancy to term, will force you to give birth against her will, even if you're underage, even if you're pregnant because you were raped. and this is not a theoretical thing. this is the existing ban, this is the existing law that's in effect in kentucky. and polling by the shared campaign shows that support for the total abortion ban that is in effect in the state right now is at 12%. only 12% of people in the entire state actually approve of the total abortion ban that the republican legislature has imposed there. but the republican nominee for governor, david cameron, he has defended the ban in court, he said he supports it. and this has led to this point in the governor's race in kentucky. and adam going to show you here, i want to show this to you, unfold this is one of the most effective, most memorable, most stop you in your tracks 32nd-long political ads i had seen in a very very long time. i will warn you, this is very intense, and this is very personal, it's just 30 seconds, long and i think you'll see immediately why this was perceived to have had such a big effect on voters in kentucky heading into this governor's election tomorrow. watch. >> i was raped by my stepfather after years of sexual abuse. i was 12. anyone who believes there should be no exceptions for rape and incest could never understand what it's like to stand in my shoes. this is to you, daniel cameron. to tell a 12 year old girl she must have the baby of her stepfather who raped her is unthinkable. and speaking out because women and girls need to have options. daniel cameron would give us none. >> daniel cameron is again the republican candidate for governor in kentucky, he has defended the total abortion ban that is in effect in that state. that and does force girls and women impregnated by rape to give birth against their will. according to internal polling from the beshear campaign as reported in the new york times, only 12% of kentucky and say they are in favor of that abortion ban. but republicans in the state legislature imposed the state it's living under it right now and that in part is why estate won by trump 26 points is nevertheless looking at a tie game in the polls heading into this election tomorrow. the last poll heading into tomorrow's vote is literally 40 7:47 as the state decides tomorrow, and kentucky whether to reelect their governor who's against the abortion ban or to instead elect republican daniel cameron who was for it. tomorrow, election, day abortion rights also gonna be on the ballot directly in the great state of ohio. everywhere there has been a statewide vote on abortion rights and the conservatives in the supreme court overturned roe. everywhere people have had the chance to's -- in kentucky, in, kansas in, michigan everywhere. people have voted for abortion rights. ohio's gonna have that vote tomorrow. in, ohio republicans there have passed and almost complete ban, a so-called six-week ban, it's been tied up in court, but in the meantime, republicans are pretty sure they are going to lose a statewide ohio vote tomorrow. ohio voters tomorrow are expected to vote to enshrine abortion rights in the state's constitution that would effectively block the republican abortion ban. republicans have done everything possible to forestall the eventuality tomorrow. they tried to change the threshold of votes you need to be able to add something to the constitution, the very quietly canceled the voter registrations of 26,000 people in ohio right before the deadline to be registered to vote for tomorrow's election. they change the lives of people will actually see -- it sort of seeing the real language to propose a constitutional amendment, republicans before, instead we rode it in anti abortion language to make it seem -- ohio voters appear to be as fired up on this as voters have been in all the other states where this has been put to vote since the conservatives overturned roe federally. kansas, montana, california,, vermont michigan, kentucky, all the states where people have been asked about abortion rights, since the supreme court overturned roe and every single one of the states people have sided with abortion rights in considerable numbers. ohio's going to be the next state to make such a decision tomorrow. they -- as they can to try to block this and trick people and outmaneuvered people from casting their votes the way they want to in this referendum. but we shall see. it is also going to be worth looking tomorrow watching the results in virginia. and, sustained legislature that's off. control of the state legislature which is currently divided between the two parties. but there, once, again it's a republican administration state government that is in charge of administering the election. and in virginia, just like an ohio, the republican-controlled state government has admitted to purging thousands of people off the voter polls right before the election. in virginia, is republican governor -- admits canceling thousands of people -- even those who are legally registered to vote. and the republican administration pushed them off -- early voting had already started. it's a dirty trick, but they do it everywhere they can. there's been a lot of quiet murmuring, a lot of political gossip that if republicans and virginia do well tomorrow in these legislative races, if they have super majority control and, virginia republican governor glenn youngkin will try to claim credit for that, by hook or by crook, you do what you have to, republican gossip is duncan, if the results go his party's way tomorrow, he's gonna try to use momentum tomorrow on the results to lock him self into the republican presidential contest as a late entrant to try to beat donald trump for the republican nomination. again, this is gossip and it is november already, and it seems wildly implausible that someone would jump in now and take the lead in the race. but i'll tell, you there has been chatter about this in republican circles for weeks. so watch for those results tomorrow, make of it but you will. thank as we head into election day tomorrow and all these individual states, you'll see all these -- there's a special congressional election and rhode island and there's legislative elections in new jersey and in virginia and the statewide referendum -- they saw some interesting one off thanks. but they all give you some national information. and as we head into tomorrow's a few elections and all these individual states, as we have got one year from the national presidential election next year, you do things see these two things intercepting with each other. and affecting each other. these individual contests in the states and what's going on a national politics. these things do sort of interweave. maybe the virginia results tomorrow might affect whether or not we get another republican governor jumping into the meat grinder of republican presidential primary word on trump is currently ahead of his -- by 40 plus points. maybe that will happen because of tomorrow's legislative election results in virginia. maybe it does not help ultimately for the prohibitive favorite for the republican nomination for donald trump to put private justices in the supreme court to provided the three new votes to overturn roe v. wade. given how wildly unpopular that decision has been with the american people in conservative, states and liberal states across the country. maybe you'd really does not help republicans in progress to have elevated speaker of the house a cosponsor of the national federal abortion ban, maybe that doesn't help in these individual state contests. maybe in mississippi where governor tim reeves has not been criminally charged in that huge corruption case but several other people associated with the scandal his administration have been at the federal investigation is ongoing, maybe does not help ted reeves from mississippi tomorrow to have that case, that corruption case looming over him as governor. we also have the likely republican nominee for president on trial facing 91 felony accounts. donald, trump you may have heard today, took the stand as a witness in the quarter billion dollar civil trial in which he and his business are accused of years of massive financial fraud. his testimony was chaotic and rambling by all accounts, legal observers broadly today said his testimony likely undercut his own loyal's defense strategy in terms of the probable allegations in this case and the amount of distance his lawyers have been trying to put between him and the financial statements that are at issue in this. but you know, the chaotic insulting non sequitur character of his testimony today may not help with the black letter law in the civil law case that he's facing, but he does have a larger point for him. chaotic rambling non sequitur out of control, unprofessional, inappropriate testimony may not help with this case. but it does make a mockery of the legal system. it does implicitly at least and explicitly in his testimony today's show that he's trying to denigrate and disk emanate -- but the whole legal system, the whole court system. that has to be his logical. when your legal troubles include a couple of huge civil cases and anyone criminal counts against you, one way to fight that is to fight each of the civil suits and each of the funnily charges -- easier path, though the more fishing path is to run against the legal system. to tell your followers that the american legal system, the american system of justice and law enforcement and the judiciary, and the court, is all illegitimate. and your followers should see it as a legitimate to. tell your followers you don't intend to follow the rules of the legal system and they should -- delegitimizing the legal system, delegitimizing and trying to discredit the independent judiciary in the court system is of course the most important step toward dissolving the legal system in the court system and trying to turn it into something unrecognizable in a democracy. we're gonna talk with the washington post devin barrett about his new reporting about the planning that's underway on the right for what to do to the u.s. legal system if trump or another republican is elected president. next year. truly chilling reporting from barrett and his colleagues at the washington post. we will have him coming up in the following hour. l haveyou might have seen the bg political news in the last 48 hours the new york times see -- the headline there is that president biden's reelection effort looks like it's in trouble. trump is ahead of biden, and -- five and six battleground state's. interestingly, though even in that poll, those results flip when asked about trump potentially being convicted of all the felonies is currently charged. within that same poll, all six of those six swing states will go for biden if trump is convicted on any of his trials. so we will see. but you see how central this is to trump's effort to get back into the white house. it's a chicken and egg thing in terms of what how he wants to get there and what convictions need to be seen as by his followers. but you see why he didn't necessarily try to beat all these charges and all these civil suits, it's just to say the legal system doesn't matter and this legal system incident and power, and the legal system doesn't need to be. here's one last point, one last poll number that i think isn't getting the attention it should, especially from the punt in class. it's this, number 71%. 71% support, americans have a favorable view of labor unions by huge margin right, now 71 support, that's more than any point in my lifetime. that's higher than any time since the 1960s. and unions have had this bunch of great successes within the past year. u.p.s. workers who are part of the team starts, academic workers, tens of thousands of health care workers and kaiser, airplane pilots, the writers guild and hollywood. all of these big organized labor successes in the past 12 months. and now the uaw, united -- a six-week strike against the big three u.s. auto workers have agreements for what are called record contracts, 25% pay raise road workers for over four and a half years. 40 hours a, week $84,000 a year. plus, cost of living adjustments guaranteed as protection against inflation. these are all tentative agreements for the big three automakers, and they will have to ratify the results. but the terms the union won in the strike are so favorable that when they were announced, toyota which isn't union announced a surprise increase and its own wages. for its own non-union employees, presumably to try to preempt them all trying to join the union now to get the same deal that uaw was trying to get for its members at ford and gm, and stellantis. the au w strike was audacious. it was pushy, it was a huge success. uaw's presidential -- said the automakers had record profits which they do, that we should have record contracts, and now they do. so just watch this. you can tell from the way they are messaging on this from the very beginning of the strike, you can tell the part of the wind in their sails here is that they know the kind of support they have from the american public. have from the>> we have nothin. i look around here, i see power, i see faith. and i see a working class that is fired up. a sea working class people from all walks of life standing together. we all know what we need to do and know the whole world knows what