Cnn reporters are on the ground for us, tracking all the biggest races in the country. Lets start in florida. Home to two of the most contentious races. Rosa flores is in hialeah, florida. What are you seeing on the ground there . Kate, good morning. Slow and steady. Thats what were seeing here in hialeah, florida. Take a look over my shoulder. You can see some of these lines are slow but steady here in florida. Now, there are multiple florida races that are being watched across the country. One of those, of course, the governors race between ron desantis and Andrew Gillum. Our cameras were rolling when ron desantis voted this morning in st. Johns county. They were also rolling when Andrew Gillum went to vote this morning in tallahassee. And then he made these remarks. Take a listen. Us winning tonight, i think, will send a message to mr. Trump and mr. Desantis as well that the politics of hatred and of division, of separation, that they have come to an end. At least in this election thats what were going to show. People are going out and voting for something and not against. And by voting for something, were returning the politics of decency and whats right and whats common between all of us. Well worry about history later, but today, were working to win. Now, the governors race is locked in a dead heat. And if early voting numbers are any indication of what this race is going to be like, it will be nail biting. Take a look at these updated numbers from the florida secretary of state. More than 5 Million People have already voted, and if you break down those numbers from party, heres the breakdown. The republicans that are registered that have already voted, 40. 1 . Democrats, 40. 5 . The rest, 19. 4 , are no Party Affiliation or other. So kate, when you look at those razor thin margins, thats why florida is either famous or infamous for these razor thin margins, and thats how people win these elections. Lets not forget in 2016, trump took florida by about 1 . Kate. And also worth noting, of course, this is also the day when candidates get to bring out the most important people in their lives, their absolutely adorable children. Andrew gillums child there, and also ron desantis walking in. We saw a video of that. Perfect. A little highlight on this day. Thanks so much. Democrats begin this election day with high hopes. They need to gain a net gain of 23 seats to take control of the house. And the prime battlegrounds to gain those seats, the suburbs. Cnns senior political analyst mark preston has been watching this all Campaign Long and is going to break it down for us. 435 seats all up for grabs. What are you seeing . As you said, for democrats, the focus right now for them is on the house of representatives. We currently stand at 193 democrats in the house of representatives. You need 218. Lets put a little odds making into this. This is where were going to start the night based on our projections and forecasting upon incumbency and open seats and what have you in polling. This is where democrats stand. Theyre only 11 seats away based upon these numbers right now. That in itself is very good for democrats heading into tomorrow, kate. As we talk specifically about this, we have to talk about specific races. When we do so, lets look at two very different races that are very much in common. Lets head down to new jersey right now. We have tom mccarthy, an incumbent. He represents an area in new jersey that is considered the most conservative part of the state, yet hes in danger of losing. Why . Because he supported the federal tax bill that actually can hurt a lot of folks in new jersey based upon their income. Thats one, and also, he voted to repeal obamacare, a very big issue in that race. At the same time, look where he rests, over in here, the philadelphia suburbs, major metro suburbs. Even though hes in jersey, philadelphia right to the west. Lets head down to the south. When we head down south to a state where you dont see a whole lot of yellow, look in the state of texas, a little bit. Lets go down here, down into houston, and when we get down into houston, look at this race right down here. Thats the crenshaw race. Lets go next to it, lizzy fletcher, shes a democrat challenging the nineterm incumbent john culberson. Very nasty race. The argument on this one right now, kate, is over health care and if lizzy fletcher is able to win, if shes able to beat culberson, thats going to help them. When i say them, the democrats, take back the majority, but it really does come down to all of this. It really comes down to the subers. When we talk about the suburbs, look at this last graphic here. When you look at the gender gap in our latest poll right now between women and men, democrats and republicans, look at this right here. That is the suburban vote that we have been talking about so much. 62 of women say theyre going to vote for democrats. Only 35 of republicans women say theyre going to vote for republicans. Thats scary if youre a republican today. Great to see you, mark, thank you. Lets go to one of those suburban battlegrounds mark is talking about, Northern Virginia. Barbara comstock is fighting to hold on to her seat. Political watchers on both sides of the aisle say shes in real danger, facing democrat Jennifer Wexton at this point. Cnns brian todd is at a polling station in sterling, virginia. Brian, what are you seeing there . Well, kate, you guys talked about people bringing their families to the voting places in florida and elsewhere. People bringing their families here to this voting place. This is 2 1 2yearold keegan coming here with her grandmother and her mom to vote. Look how cute she is. A gentleman back here bringing his 10monthold son max. Max is in the yellow hoodie behind the voting station there with his dad voting. A lot of people bringing family members, kids, elderly members of their family. A lot of handicaps people have come in here. Theyre making it easy to vote in this precinct. You mentioned the hot race here in this battleground. This is the virginia tenth district. Northern virginia with a very affluent suburban base. The suburban battleground that really is going to be key for democrats if theyre going to take back the house of representatives. Jennifer wexton is the real challenger, challenging republican incumbent barbara comstock. Republicans have held the seat in this district for almost 40 years. Wexton is mounting a very serious challenge to comstock here. A very close race. Just yesterday, president obama stopped in this district to stump for both Jennifer Wexton and for incumbent democratic senator tim kaine. So again, a very hot and heavy Battle Ground here in Northern Virginia and the turnout is absolutely popping. We just got an influx of new voters coming in here to check in and vote over here. But we just talked to an official, an election official here in louden county. He said they had roughly 50,000 voters just cast ballots just this morning, as of 10 00 a. M. Eastern time. He says thats way up from the midterms of 2014. So you get an idea, these battlegrounds are absolutely crucial, especially in these house races. Kate. Great to see you. Thank you so much. Joining me to talk about the races to watch, political analyst rachel bay. Forming adviser to four president s, political analyst david gergen, and ron brownstein. Great to see you guys. So, races to watch. The races to watch, we could do this for the entire hour. But narrowing in, if we go off comstock is one thing. Exactly. Theres another race everyone is watching in virginia which is virginia seventh, the congressional district. Dave brat facing a big challenge from his democratic challenger, abigail span brger. Why is everyone watching this one . We know the epicenter of republican vulnerability are the whitecollar suburbs outside of the south. Brat will measure how far the blast radius extends. Comstock is one thing. Democrats have to win that race. They expect to win that race. And it will be a big surprise if they dont. Brat is something else. Brat, like Brian Fitzpatrick in philadelphia, are republicans who are in a stronger position but are subject to the same current that we are seeing. And that current is the pullback from, and its ordinarily republican leaning suburbs, among College Educated voters who are thriving. Theyre the most likely to have a 401 k going up, yet theyre making a judgment about the president , on his values, his behavior, the way he talks about race, the way he talks about women. And they are essentially taking that out on republicans. If brat goes, i think there will be a lot of nervous republicans as we move west through the night. Its also a fascinating turn of events, for someone who beat the republican leader, eric cantor, four years ago. Yeah, just four years ago. Totally shocked washington when out of nowhere this Tea Party Candidates takes out the majority leader. This is a district that has been a republican hands for more than a century, i think the last time they elected a democrat was in the 60s, the early 60s. This shouldnt even be on the map, and its interesting. I have been following this race closely. Brat has been talking out of both sides of his mouth here. He has campaign ads in the district touting bipartisan bills that he has sponsored, which is so bizarre for me because when i talk to him in the hallway, hes always talking about red meat issues. Freedom caucus member, super conservative. Ads about saving puppies. Things both sides of the aisle love. But then you listen to things he says in private fundraisers which i have heard recordings of, and hes praising the president. Talking about how he goes on fox news and mimics jim jordan, who is one of the president s number one defenders. And goes out against the mueller investigation. Tries to undercut that all the time. So i mean, its just a really interesting race to watch. If abigail can pull this off, youre right, democrats are probably going to experience a big wave tonight. David, do you think there is at all i want to know what races youre watching in the house right now, but do you think theres by chance too much focus on the suburbs . Yes. Theres a danger here. Look, one of the things i love about election day is the control of the narrative moved from commentary and is now in the laps of the gods, the vot voters. And we have to shut up for a while. We wont shut up, but we have to step back. Let the spotlight fall. I think at this point, theres so many conflicting signals. I think democrats have reason for cautious optimism. I dont think it ought to go beyond that, but there are some contradictory signs that are giving republicans. Its a tale of two americas. One thing thats really striking is if you look at the 2010 and 2014 midterms, democrats ran about seven points better with collegeeducated whites than nonCollege Whites who have become the base of the Republican Party. In 2016, democrats ran about 13 points better. In the cnn poll, democrats, all of these polls, running 20 points better among College Whites than nonCollege Whites. An unprecedented gap. What that means is you have a lot of vulnerability for republicans in the suburbs. Much less for republicans in bluecollar districts further away from the met rocenters, and democrats are trying to built the majority on half of the playing field. They can do that, but there may be idiyiosyncratic measures. Its the epicenter of vulnerability. Kentucky six is indock tf of a number of districts that republicans drew in redistricting that combine suburban areas with more rural areas. You see that in seattle and washington eight, in North Carolina with the charlotte seat, North Carolina nine, where you have suburban areas moving very much away from the republicans and rural areas where trump is still very strong along the lines we just discussed, and this will be a big test of which of them are more enthused. Conor lambs victory in pennsylvania was exactly that kind of district as well. Go ahead. I was going to say a couple things. First of all, i want to spotlight another group. I think there are two groups really interesting in this election. If the democrats win, this is going to be by far and away a huge breakthrough for women. We had the number of women running that set records. Number of women who are donating, the women of democrats could take back the house with just women winning seats. And the number of women in the house itself may go well over 100 by the end of the night, which would be a real breakthrough. But the other group i want to mention, i have been very engaged in the cycle, in trying to help veterans, young veterans get elected. Republic and democrat. Im involved with a super pac that is called with honor. And we have about 40 young veterans who have been endorsed and supported one way or another on both sides of the aisle, and there are three of them i would like to mention briefly. All of whom are underdogs who have now worked their way into tight races. In southern minnesota, dan theen, a former student of mine. And were close friends, and hes doing really well there. Amy mcgrath in kentucky, who captured the nations imagination, and North Carolina, dan mccready, first class candidate in a tough, tough district. But what were trying to do is build what i think the country needs is a more of a center again. And these veterans are going to form a group who will work across the aisle with each other. Theyre pledging to do that. Seeing veterans serve, toib to serve in this way is one of the most important things we can see. Rachel, talk to me about the senate. When i talk to everybody before the show, missouri is the place everyone is keeping an eye on. Why missouri . Does it all come down to Claire Mccaskill here . Yeah, Claire Mccaskill is a fighter. I remember one of my colleagues was out following her on the campaign trail. She had this big rv and she was driving around the state. At one point, they were talking. There was a bug on her shoulder. She flicked it off, found it kroosdz the room, stomped on it. My colleague said, this is Claire Mccaskill. Very much so. Not entirely sure what that shows, but continue. Shes a fighter. So this is a state that President Donald Trump won by 20 points, and shes a top target for the republicans. But again, her opponent, josh hawley, he has been party to this lawsuit where a lot of state attorney generals are trying to get rid of obamacare. This has been a big problem for him because it allowed mccaskill to say youre trying to get rid of protections for preexisting conditions. A top talking point for democrats in the senate and house, but we have to see because hawley is saying Claire Mccaskill is a progressive. She retorted by saying im not a crazy democrat. There were some democrats in her state that were not happy about that, but well have to see if they give her the leeway to distance herself from them to win. Real quick, what do you think is more important to kind of the direction the country is headed . Is it the Indiana Senate race or Arizona Senate race . Theyre equally reflective. Indiana shows like missouri, like north dakota, lie many rural districts how trump is strengthening the gop in places that are heavy white, heavy blue collar, big rural populations. Religiously traditional. And those benefits have been clear in 2016. I mean, thats what was on the ledger. In 2018, the costs of the trade that trump is imposing on the party are going to be more apparent. In the house, the potential for a suburban annihilation, really, for republicans from coast to coast. In the senate, it means trading those bluecollar interior states, potentially, for losses in the fastgrowing diverse sunbelt states where democrats are probably favored to win nevada, tossup in arizona, and texas may be on the pathway if they dont get there tonight. And that is, as i said, the costs of the trade, the benefits have been there for trump, but the costs of it, i think, and the question i have tomorrow morning if in fact they lose these suburban places not only in the obvious places but in atlanta and dallas and houston, is there anyone in the Republican Party who gets up and says maybe the cost of this is too high . No. No. Im already talking to House Republican members who are saying okay, if our losses are greater than 30, if theyre 40, if theyre 50, are we going to call for new leadership . Theyre talking about their own leadership. Theyre not talking about the president. Theres republicans who are going to say the reason we didnt keep the house is because we didnt hug the president enough. That is exactly that is exactly what i feel like were going to hear from folks. Thanks. Really appreciate it. Coming up for us, voters in georgia hitting the polls as Stacey Abrams fights to become the nations first female africanamerican governor, and as both sides accuse each other of dirty tricks. Were live in atlanta. Plus, the most Expensive Senate race ever. Can ted cruz keep his seat in texas or will the Democrat Beto Orourke surprise anyone . Stay with us. At tmobile, forty bucks gets you an unlimited plan and a new Samsung Galaxy s9 included for every line. This is what you get with your 40 plan at verizon. Recap with tmobile, you get this four lines four phones for forty bucks. With verizon, you get this. The choice just got a whole lot more obvious. Get more because you deserve it. Only at tmobile. Takes more mathan just investment advice. From insurance to savings to retirement, it takes someone with experience and knowledge who can help me build a complete plan. Brian, my certified financial planner™ professional, is committed to working in my best interest. 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