Does not work now . Right. Does not work now. Never worked then either. Historically, midterms and polls have shown that people want a check on the president , not a blank check on the president. All right. Thank you all very much. And that is obviously a big Special Election matters across this country. So please stay with us with our special coverage of the Ohio Special Election. It continues now with ac 360. And good evening. Thanks for joining us. It is once again Election Night in america, or at least in five states with some key races that could take the temperature of the electorate three months before the mid terms there are primaries in kansas, michigan, missouri, and washington and in ohio a special Congressional Election in that states 12th District for a seat the republicans have held for decades, but could, could be up for grabs tonight. The president has injected himself into this race, visiting the district on saturday, appearing on stage with republican Troy Balderson. Last week he had a onepoint lead over Danny Oconnor. First i want to go to jason
suburbs are located, and balderson said look, we dont want someone from Franklin County representing this district. Well, youve got about a a third of the voters who live in the district live in that portion of the county. And just a short while ago, the Franklin County board of elections, we just heard from them. They said that they experienced anywhere from a 25 to 30 increase in Voter Turnout than what they expected. Having said that, the Balderson Camp not worried about that. Theyre still feeling good about tonight. But they recognize it could be a very late night. Anderson . And President Trump obviously was there rallying support for balderson in the district. Im wondering what are people on the ground who youre talking, to do they think the visit was helpful . Well, thats interesting because when we spoke to some independent voters out here in the district, they really felt as though trump coming here really isnt going to leave that much of an imprint that could not be further from what we heard from the campaign who feels as though the president coming here is really going give
balderson that extra boost that he is going to need to get over the finish line. Jason carroll, thank you very much. Want to check in the headquarters for democrat, Danny Oconnor in westerville, ohio. Cnn political reporter rebecca berg is there. Rebecca, let me ask the same question i asked to jason. What do people there telling you . Is the oconnor camp hopeful . Well, anderson, the oconnor camp is optimistic, but i would say cautiously optimistic. Remember, this is a district that has been represented by a republican in congress for the past, you know, decades, since 1940, only two years this district has been represented by a democrat. So the odds are against oconnor. But what they have working in their favor is that Democratic Energy and enthusiasm that we have seen in other Special Elections across the country for months. They believe that democrats are enthusiastic about voting in this election. And then other factor potentially working in the
oconnor campaigns favor here is republicans who are disaffected, who feel frustrated with the direction of this administration, with the direction of President Trump, who might have voted for him in 2016, but are now unhappy. In fact, there is an ad running right now by the oconnor campaign. I heard tonight radio today featuring a republican voter talking about how she voted for donald trump, voted for governor john kasich, also a republican here who endorsed balderson, but now she is supporting oconnor. Theyre also hoping to bring some of those voters to their side today and to win this election, they will need some of those Republican Trump voters to cruise to victory this evening. It terms of the district, its suburban. It obviously includes columbus. If oconnor does win, how much of it can it tell us about what we might see in november . It can tell us a lot about november, anderson. And thats one of the reasons we are here tonight, one of the reasons this is being so closely
watched by National Democrats and republicans. This is the type of district that can flip the house. You have educated white collar voters. Women will be voting in this election in huge numbers potentially for the democrat, that gender gap weve seen in other races is something well be watching tonight. And this is the republican plus seven district. And so if this district is competitive, that means dozens offer districts that are less republican than this one could be on the map for democrats as well. And so this is as close to a generic ballot race as you can get. Two candidates who are havent made these Lasting Impressions in the district, but really testing the feeling of voters here tonight. All right. Rebecca berg, thanks very much. Were going check with john king and the magic wall for breakdown. But right now i want to bring in Gloria Borger and our chief
political cant dana baorrespon bash. Gloria, reliably red for decades. What does this say to you if this ends up being as close as the polls indicate . This shouldnt even be a race, to be honest. Donald trump won this district by 11 points. Mitt romney won it by 10 points. And i think what it shows you is that there are a lot of disaffected suburban republicans. This is a district thats very well educated, and those white educated voters are where democrats need to make inroads. Rebecca mentioned women, of course. These suburban women is another area of opportunity. And so, you know, i think that also independent voters. There is just a recent poll showing that independent voters substantially favor the democrat over the republican. So if you put that if you put that mix together, it really is
an antitrump mix. And this is a referendum on donald trump. Dana, obviously the president coming the president s supporters says it does great things for the republican candidate. The flip side of, that does it energize people who do not like the president to go out and vote . The answer to yes, it could, and likely will energize some of the people who dont like President Trump. But the reality is the republicans tell me is theyre already energized. The people who are part of the sort of the angry what they call themselves the resistance, theyre mobilized. And that is why this is even a race. And the challenge for this republican has been to get those republicans who make up the majority of this district, to get out and vote. And so that is a really big reason why maybe there was there was trepidation. I know there was trepidation about getting the president out
to that district, but at the end of the day, republicans say that they feel really good about the fact that it was better to have the president there to get republicans out to vote than not. Gloria, i want to bring in john king who is at the magic wall for just a second. What are you watching in ohio . To the point, what happens if Franklin County let me show you so far. We have actual results to count. If youre democrats, you see this Congressional District that hasnt been blue since the reagan ready it is. You start to see it blue and start to celebrate. I dont want to be the skunk at the garden party, but we have long way to go. 33 to 36 . Lets break it down by county because this is so critical. The fact that we have so much blue right now early on is encouraging for democrats. We have the early vote. Republicans will tell you, and theyre often right, that they have a much better turnout on actual election day. So lets watch this play out. In Franklin County, danny
oconnor right now is 80 of the vote. Again, its early vote. A smart democrat will tell you he needs this to be 33 of the vote. It would be better for Danny Oconnor if the close in suburbs are 35, 36 of the vote tonight. If it come downs here, that would bode well for him. Why does that matter this we shade the district by population. About a third of the voters live here. He needs it to be at least, that 33 . This is the more populated area. Its also the more close in suburbs to the Points Gloria and dana are making, the people who have been turned against donald trump in the Republican Party, there is a lot of them down here. Thats the key battleground in Franklin County. Let me turn that off. Then Delaware County here. Danny oconnor is leading in Delaware County right now. Den, a tiny percentage of the vote in. If Delaware County stays blue, the democrats are going to win this seat. Were at 5 . Well see how this works out. These are affluent republicans. Suburb in here. You start to move exurban and rural. If Danny Oconnor can stay competitive here, within 5, 6, 8
point, then you a race tonight. If these stay blue, then we have history being made tonight because this is Trump Country up here in Morrow County. If the democrats hold on the this, then wed have a stunning upset. But again, as the democrats start to look at this early map and say wow, i just want the say hang in there. But just to that point, more Morrow County votes came in and it switched back to the republican there one little piece of context, anderson. Danny oconnor currently getting 80 in Franklin County. In the last race here, pat tiberi, the republican who gave up this race to step aside, this was his worst county in the district. He got 57 down here. If Franklin County stays red tonight, the republican will absolutely win. If it stays blue tonight, how big of a margin for Danny Oconnor and how much of a percentage from the overall district comes down here. It is very, very early. Democrats are going to be encouraged by what they see early. But if you look at the full district, lets just count them. Hang out a while. Any sense of the sort of time for counting these votes
traditionally . Youve done this before. So what you get first right Out Of The Box is you get the Absentee Ballots and the early votes. Then you start to get the election day votes. And often, not always, that tends to happen in the suburban areas where they tend to have more resources, they have more technology. And the rural vote tends to come in a little later. Im generalizing. Sometimes the very small areas are done quickly because fewer people voted. There is no magic rule here. The main thing to watch is how the vote comes in in Franklin County. I would suggest the democrats can be happy. Theyre off to the start they needed in the early counting. Weve got a long way to go. Gloria, it was interesting because ohios governor, republican john kasich says one of the reasons it doesnt appear to be a slamdunk for republicans is suburban women, as you discussed earlier, have been turned off. The question is what can Republican Party do to offset that or get those voters back . I think thats a big question. I think that suburban republican women are turned off by donald trump. Not necessarily by the
republican candidate running. And i think john kasich himself is also interesting, because john kasich, who has endorsed balderson, is also turned off by donald trump. And so he was late in endorsing this republican. He did, but he appeals to those suburban women. So maybe he can help balderson. But, you know, he and balderson disagree on medicaid money for the state. John kasich said lets take it. Balderson said no. And kasich doesnt like donald trump. So its kind of a its kind of a mixed bag there. It will be interesting to see what influence, if any, kasich has in this race, and what influence he really wants to have, to be honest. Dan narcotics kris kobach, who obviously helped field the president s unfounded claims of voter fraud who headed up that commission and was disbanded, he is running for governor of kansas. If he wins the gop candidate
there, could that help democrats chances in november . They sure think so. Thats one of the things theyve been crossing their fingers and toes all day. They want the republican who the president endorsed to win the primary in the governors race in kansas. Why . Because they think that he is much more they know that he is much more beatable i shouldnt say that. They feel very confident that he is much more beatable than the man, the incumbent republican. Lets not forget that it is highly unusual for a sitting republican president to endorse a challenger of a sitting incumbent republican governor. Now this Current Governor got in after the sam brownback, who was elected left to join the trump administration. But the reason is even though we think of kansas, rightly so, as very republican and very conservative, the republicans have had a tough go of it in
kansas because of sam brownback, the now former governor. Lots of budget cuts, lots of issues. And his popularity is very low. And that is dragging republicans down. So they feel like they have a shot there. But i do think that it will be interesting before we kind of get to that point to see how successful the president is in this republican primary, if he is going to get the candidate of his choice. Yeah. Because he has a mixed bag on the general election, of course, on all these Special Elections. But republican primaries and the people whoa he endorse, the majority of them he has made a difference. Mark sanford in south carolina. Look what happened to martha roby in alabama. No downtown it. Gloria borger, thank you. Dana bash, were going to keep an eye throughout the next hour and throughout the evening. Just ahead, the stunning confession in the Paul Manafort trial. Not from the defendant, but from his top aide who is testifying against him. The revelation came when he was under attack from one of manaforts own attorneys. Well tell you what happened. And what has become the biggest wildfire in california history. The images are amazing, incredibly awful, while President Trump chimes in inaccurately claiming there is a lack of water to fight these fires. Not true. Details ahead. Fidelity is redefining value for investors. Introducing zero account fees for selfdirected brokerage accounts. And zero minimums to open an account. We have Fidelity Mutual funds with zero minimum investment. And now fidelity has two index funds with a zero expense ratio. Because when you invest with fidelity, all those zeros really add up. So maybe ill win saved by zero so maybe ill win sometimes a day at the ballpark is more than just a day at the ballpark. Stadium pa all military members stand and be recognized. Sometimes fans cheer for those who wear a different uniform. No matter where or when you served, tmobile stands ready to serve you. Thats why were providing half off family lines to all military. At ally, were doing Digital Financial services right. But if thats not enough, we have more than 8000 allys looking out for one thing you. Call in the next ten minutes. And if thats not enough, well look after your every dollar. Put down the phone. And if thats not enough, well look after your every cent. Grab your wallet. Beeping SoundComputer Voice access denied. And if thats still not enough to help you save. Oh the new one well bring out the dogs. Mush dogs barking the old ones just fine well do anything, seriously anything, to help our customers. Thanks. Ally. Do it right. Ito take care of anyct messy situations. And put irritation in its place. And if i can get comfortable keeping this tookus safe and protected. You can get comfortable doing the same with yours. Preparation h. Get comfortable with it. Its breaking news done from the Paul Manafort trial. His longtime deputy rick gates admitted to having an extramarital affair a decade ago, but denied a contention from manaforts lawyer that he was using money from manaforts Offshore Accounts to pay for the affair. Gates spent the di on the Witness Stand detailing for the jury what he said were hundreds of Offshore Accounts Manafort used to move money from his lucrative accounts in the ukraine to accounts in cypress. Jim sciutto is at the courthouse now. Talk about more about what gates said on the stand. Sitting in that courtroom
today, i was a few inches from Paul Manafort, a few feet from rick gates. As he walked through just the details of the what he said was a criminal scheme, set up by himself and Paul Manafort to defraud the u. S. Government. Fake invoice, fake consultant agreements, fake documents to banks, all to get loans illegally, but also to avoid u. S. Taxes. Funnel these millions of dollars they were getting from the prorussian government in ukraine away from u. S. Talkses to Offshore Accounts. That was the Focus Today Of Gates testimony. The