people thought that that outrage would translate into electoral doom for the political party that had been pushing to end roe. but instead after the court's decision, the response from elected republicans was basically, eh, no big deal. >> the kind of angry leftists, many of whom are pretty ignorant and don't even know what overturning roe means i think a month afterards are going to be surprised, wait, nothing about my life changed. >> there's a narrative forming in america that the republican party and the pro-life movement is on the run. oh, no, we're going nowhere. >> my guess is in terms of the impact on federal raies, i think it's probably going to be a wash. >> did not turn out to be a wash, not even close. in ballot measure after ballot measure across the country voters came out in support of reproductive choice. in kansas, in vermont, in california, in michigan, in montana, in kentucky, literally everywhere abortion rights were on the ballot. abortion rights won. in the 2022 mid-term election, republican predicted a red wave, but that red wave crested before it reached the shore. supporters turned out in droves to stem that tide, and last night it happened again. in ohio a state trump won by 8 points in 2020, people voted by a margin of 13 points to enshrine abortion rights in their state's constitution. in kentucky, a state that donald trump won by 26 points in 2020, voters chose to re-elect democratic governor andy beshear who very vocally campaigned on protecting abortion rights. in the swing state of virginia republican governor glenn youngkin campaigned to win republican control of the state legislature so he could pass a 15-week abortion ban. a ban he wanted to sell to the american people as the sensible abortion plan. that failed, too. they managed to take control of the statehouse from republicans by running against glenn youngkin's abortion ban. way to go, governor. and now today conservatives are freaking out about all this and finally starting to realize it is not a wash, that people do care, and boy do they care a lot. >> democrats are trying to scare women into thinking republicans don't warrant abortion legal under any circumstances. >> no abortion ban. >> we've seen it in polling for a long time. we looked at the mid-term elections last year and instead of a red wave we saw a red ripple in large part i think because of abortion. >> if the democrats could run abortion rights geps trump in 2024 -- >> it does seem like the republican party in general has a real problem with winning. >> none of this is lost on democrats. the ads are being cut, reminding people the republican front-runner in the coming presidential race is the one who made all of this happen in the very first place. >> i got rid of roe v. wade. i'm the one that got rid of roe v. wade. i was honored to do it and i was very honored to do it. >> do you believe in abortion, yes or no as a principle sph. >> the answer is there has to be some form of punishment. >> for the woman? >> yes, there has to be some form. nobody has ever done more for right to life than donald trump. roe v. wade, they won. they finally won. >> the iowa bill was signed and they wouldn't be able to do anything if they didn't do what i did. >> that is the play book. democrats understand they can run against donald trump. as far as his base is concerned, the reason republicans keep losing on this is because they haven't been extreme enough. >> the reality here, trump delivers maga, maga delivers victories. this was a turnout issue about maga. don't come here this morning and start wining about abortion. stand up and do your job. get in the trenches and fight. >> joining me now is congressman hakeem jeffries, house minority leader. leader jeffries, thank you so much for being here on this busy night. i am struck by the ways in which republicans are in both a state of shock and denial. it has come to my attention in the last hour senator lindsey graham says he plans to reintroduce his 15-week abortion ban. senator j.d. vance agrees with the introduction of this bill saying he believes they can get a majority of the american people onboard with something. what is your reaction to senate republicans who think the answer to last night's problems is to double down on an abortion ban? >> we're dealing with extreme maga republicans who have one objective which is to jam the right-wing ideology down the throats of the american people. and fundamentally what that has meant is that they want a nationwide abortion ban. what the extreme maga republicans want to do is criminalize abortion care. what they want to do is to create a society where women have to live in a place with government mandated pregnancies. and so this issue is one that we'll see them continue to double and triple and quadruple down on because it's fundamentally why many of them are in elected office. we're going to continue to make clear that we believe in a woman's freedom to make her own reproductive health care decisions and reproductive freedom will certainly be on the ballot next november just like it was this november. >> they seem to think, leader jeffries, that there's some -- that there's some difference that the american public sees in a ban versus a 15-week, what they call limit, or at least that's what virginia governor youngkin calls it. and despite the results of last night, they keep hammering down on this notion that the public sees a difference between giving a woman reproductive freedom for an entire pregnancy and just part of the preg faens. what is your response to that specific strategy? >> well, abortion care should be a choice between a woman and her doctor, period, full stop, not these extreme politicians who are trying to jam their ideology into this incredibly important sensitive health care decision that a woman should be able to make. that's what freedom in america is all about. and the american people as was evidence in kentucky and ohio and certainly in virginia are not fooled by the republican efforts to defend what they fundamentally are trying to do, which is to try to eradicate reproductive freedom in america. as the former president has indicated, that was their agenda, why they stacked the supreme court, and now they've got to live with the consequences of extremism being made clear to the american people. >> i know you've been fired up about this particular topic. i know the mood inside the house democratic caucus has been one of -- i'd let you characterize it, but but it's a positive day for the democrats in the house. but i do have to ask you because there's been some certain amount of hand wringing by democrats about president biden's chances. and i wonder how last night was linked to president biden or whether those results were more testament to the strength of the democratic platform? >> well, president biden continues to be underestimated, and president biden continues to exceed expectations. he's not just the leader of our country, the leader of the free world but the leader of the democratic party. but yet what we've seen under president biden's leaderships fundamentally is incredible things being done to the american people and also to point out that president biden may be on the ballot. he supports reproductive freedom. he supports social security and medicare. he supports democracy. he supports building an economy from the middle out and bottom up. and whoever appears on the ballot on the other side of the aisle, is just going to try to jam their extreme ideology down the throats of the american people. there will be a clear contrast, we believe, with president biden at the top of the ticket. and as he has consistently shown, we will do what is necessary to win electorally and to continue to deliver results for the american people. >> i want to hang onto something you said. you said we need to lean into the president's accomplishments. what does that practically mean to you? >> well, we of course have been busy governing in the previous congress, producing results for the american people. but we need to talk about what we've been able to do. clean water in every single community, infrastructure, gun legislature for the first time in 30 years, the chips and science act which brings domestic manufacturing jobs back home to the united states of america. certainly through the inflation reduction act, dramatic investment in combating the climate crisis and lowering the price of insulin $35 per month. it's important we talk about these accomplishments not to say to the american people reward us, but we do want to be able to articulate what we've done to say trust us. we mean what we say and we say what we mean when we talk about putting people over politics and making life better for every day americans. and if you give us the ability to continue to govern, we will build on these accomplishments to make life better for hardworking american taxpayers. >> as you lay out the laundry list, there's a lot of governing democrats have done, which brings me to the cliff we're all barrelling towards, the government shutdown in nine days, we had a deadline. you had your first meeting with the new speaker of the house mike johnson a week ago. how are your discussions going across the aisle? and what's your impression of speaker johnson? >> well, from the very beginning of this congress under prior management and now with speaker johnson, we made clear that we are going to as democrats try to find common ground with our house republican colleagues whenever and wherever possible in order to improve the quality of life for the american people. however, we're going to push back against their extremism whenever necessary. and one of the ways in which we've seen their extremism manifest itself throughout this year and prior years is the republican attempt to shut the government down or to try to extract these extreme policy proposals that they know they can't otherwise achieve through the normal legislative process. and as has been the case in past years, we are not paying a single extreme republican ransom note. we're going to defend the american people. and what we need to do is to make sure that we continue to fund the government so the government can provide for the health, the safety and the economic well-being of the american people. we're willing to have reasonable bipartisan conversations, but we're not going to be subject to any extortion effort that is designed to shakedown the american people by threatening us with a government shutdown. >> just to get a bit in the weeds does that mean you're not going to vote for anything that's not on a clean continuing resolution? >> well, certainly my view is that a continuing resolution should reflect the spending levels at the current fiscal year 2023 numbers. and to the extent we arrive at a year-end spending agreement, that should also be consistent with the bipartisan agreement fiscal act. alex, basically what we're saying to republicans is that you made an agreement with president biden. set top line spending numbers. keep your agreement. keep your word so that we can do what is necessary for the american people. >> i mean you lay out the facts of what has happened, and yet this house republican conference is shall we say unpredictable. do you think speaker johnson is any good at this? >> well, listen, i think that he believes what he believesa then tickicly. and we've had a cordial relationship and i hope that will continue but there is a clear blue line in the sand we'll continue to draw in terms of some of their extremism. we're not going to let them cut social security and medicare. we're not going to let them undermine reproductive freedom. we're not going to let them blow up our democracy, and we're going to try to make sure we're building an economy that works on the middle class and all those who aspire to be part of it. if they're willing to meet us in a bipartisan way in that space, we can really make changes for people. >> we focus a lot on the infighting inside the house republican conference, but there's most certainly been a fracture over the house democratic caucus over israel and hamas and what is happening in gaza. in the 2022 election cycle you started something called team blue pack to raise money to defend incumbent democrats against primary challenges. outside groups are threatening to primary incumbent democrats who threaten a cease-fire. there are a number of incumbents in your caucus. are you going to dedicate resources to defending those democratic incumbents? >> many of those individuals are people who i've clearly indicated i'm going to support. all of our members from whatever part of the conference or caucus they come from in terms of their ability to be able to communicate with the people that they represent, that's what house democratic leadership has traditionally done. that's what house democratic leadership should continue to do. >> so that's a yes? >> absolutely. >> house minority leader hakeem jeffries on the record being straight up, we appreciate it. sir, thank you for your time. please come back whenever you have the inclination, the energy, and the availability. i really appreciate . protecting abortion rights helped propel a wave of victories for democrats last night, and the issue is already shaping up to be front and center in 2024. senator amy klobuchar joins me on that last night. former white house press secretary robert gibbs joins me to discuss the lessons for democrats right after the break. stay with us. for democrats right after the break. stay with us i got this $1,000 camera for only $41 on dealdash. dealdash.com, online auctions since 2009. this playstation 5 sold for only 50 cents. this ipad pro sold for less than $34. and this nintendo switch, sold for less than $20. i got this kitchenaid stand mixer for only $56. i got this bbq smoker for 26 bucks. and shipping is always free. go to dealdash.com right now and see how much you can save. you want to be able to provide your child with the tools or resources they need. with reliable internet at home, through the internet essentials program, the world opened up. fellas, fellas. that's how my son was able to find the hidden genius project. we wanted to give y'all the necessary skills to compete with the future. kevin's now part of this next generation of young people who feel they can thrive. ♪ ♪ republicans did not have a good night last night. not only did voters come out swinging in support of abortion rights, the evening proved to be a referendum on other big ticket conservative priorities. remember moms for liberty? the group that's led the republican charge on the so-called anti-woke agenda in schools? well, last night all four candidates endorsed by moms for liberty in one minnesota district lost to democrats. in north carolina, the candidate the group supported in a contested district also lost to a democrat. in iowa 12 of the 13 candidates backed by moms for liberty were wiped out. in pennsylvania democrats won against 11 candidates aligned would the moms for liberty platform. and in virginia three moms for liberty candidates lost by a lot. so the fairly clear indications that voters are turning away from the book bans and revisionist histories that conservatives have sought to redefine as parental rights movement, well, it's, yes, fairly clear and there is more. last night virginia elected the state's first transgender state senator. ohio voters supported a measure to legalize marijuana. and in kentucky a ruby red state, voters elected an abortion supporting vaccine promoting democratic governor again. as ronald brownstein writes in the atlantic a clear message from the party's performance yesterday is that democrats can still win elections by running campaigns that prompt voters to consider what republicans would do with power. joining me now is robert gibbs, former white house press secretary under president obama. robert, it's a thrill to have you here today and in person in new york city. welcome and thank you. first of all, what do you make of ron brownstein's contection this is really about a repudiation of republican governance and an affirmation of the republican platform? >> think about where we were two years ago watching glenn youngkin win the governorship, watching new jersey almost go red, and i think what you saw last night was a clear repudiation of the two years of that type of government, that type of culture war. we see it in the house of representatives right now talking about hakeem jeffries. i mean for 17 days you couldn't even get enough people or enough leadership to rename to post office. i do think like you saw with choice, you see with democracy, but writ large extremism, it's just too much. it's been surprising to me that ron desantis has run an entire presidential campaign on thing that poll somewhere between 35 and 38%, and that's just not a way to certainly win an election and definitely no way to govern, and i am say i'm happy with some of those results particularly as the product of two librarians. >> i do need to ask you about a sort of -- the sort of ghost of christmas future hanging over all of this, which is how this translates to biden. i mean there's been a lot -- i talked to leader jeffreys about this momentarily at the end of that first block, but there's real concern on the part of democrats look at biden's approval numbers and just how voters are rating him on economy. even his lead on abortion is not as big as you would expect it to be. do you think there's any question about how biden, if you will, sort of rides the coattails of democratic policy? >> well, i think you mention this with leader jeffries, too, i think the first thing they have to do is they have to do a better job defining what's been done, right? and i think particularly on the economic side, i think the administration has sort effbit into the trap we had to be careful of in 2008, 2009, into 2012 and that is economic statistics can be better and yet people don't feel better off, right? if you're trying to borrow money for a house or car right now, you don't feel like america is back, right? so i think there's an economic plank that has to get done, but i have no doubt that the polling and the electorate -- the polling i think will change and the electorate i think will get focused when the campaign happens. it would explain last night. last night was the culmination of the 2023 campaign, can we saw the grades when the contrast was put in front of voters. look at a place like virginia, very focused on the issue of choice and abortion. i think when that happens writ large particularly in the six swing states that democrats are rightly nervous about, that when we focus those choices and put them directly in front of voters whether it's these governance issues, on democracy, on the economy, then i do think there's definitely a path for president biden to be re-elected. >> do you -- i kind of think that part of the reason trump seems less repugnant if not actually attractive to some voters is because he's basically been muzzled on his most xenophobic offensive language because he's in focused on his criminal exposure. he's been sort of in the courtrooms. he hasn't been the sort of unleashed demagogue that he has been in previous years, and there might be some sort of he's getting a mulligan for that almost. it sounds like especially when you look at his approval among voters of color it sort of begs the question how and why this could happen. do you think that could change once trump is back? he'll be in a lot of courtrooms next year, too, but once he's on the stump in a more pronounced way? >> yeah, i definitely think so. >> it definitely was. but i also think about stuff he's barely campaigning, occasionally campaigning, playing a lot more golf and as you said visiting a lot more courtrooms