54 of you picked that one. 12 named Debt Reduction and another 13 named immigration. And another 14 said voting rights. 18 of politics nation said other. The minimum wage was a popular writein here as well. Thanks for voting and you keep the conversation going on our Facebook Page and twitter. And thanks for watching. Im al sharpton. A special election edition of hardball starts right now. Catching Mitch Mcconnell, lets play hardball. Good evening. Im Chris Matthews in washington. Let me start with tonights bik electoral contest, leading off with the two state where is the
democrats had the best chance to snatch u. S. Senate seats now held by republicans. Those contests in kentucky and georgia could end up as this years big democratic morale boosters. Both being contested by women with impressive political roots in their state, the kind of strong name and family idea that could help them withstand what threatens otherwise to be a brutal november. In kentucky, Allison Grimes at the age of just 35 is running even right now in poll matchups with Senate Republican leader Mitch Mcconnell who may or may not have reached his electoral sellby day. Astoundingly, she has the greatest opportunity in the country to knock off an incumbent republican u. S. Senator. Again in a year that democrats are generally seen as vulnerable. Today, michelle nun is dpmted to win big. The polls kentucky and georgia are now closed. In kentucky, Mitch Mcconnell has beaten Tea Party Challenger matt bevin. Allison lundegrengrimes is the winner on the democratic side. Heres why those two states are so important right now. There are 12 states with Competitive Senate races right there. The republicans will need to win a net of three of the remaining nine states. Kentucky and georgia in red are the only state where is democrats could pick up a republicanheld seat. We expect other big news this evening from pennsylvania, where democrats see a major chance to knock off a very unpopular republican governor. Will the nominee be tom wolf,
the selffinancing businessman . Or Allison Schwartz whos running with the backing of the Democratic Organization in philadelphia. All happening today. All being counted tonight, all going to be reported here on msnbc the second there are results. Are they expecting a resounding victory or too close for comfort . At this point, theyre pretty confident that bevin is going to stay down in the 30s, which is where they want him, considering he spent 3 million, much of it his own money in this race. But the biggest difference is going to be that mcconnell is going to be able to stop fightinging a twofront war. Its hard to top dance with a tea Party Challenge and Allison Grimes. Hes not able to sell his accomplishments both as a
senator whos bringing money back to his state and role as minor think leader and hes been key in crafting quite a few deals. Hell be able to argue he avoided a tax inkrecrease. Here she was last night on the stump, sounding confident and ready for a fight. Lets watch her. I am the kentucky woman who my republican colleagues have so gentlemanly referred to as an empty dress. That seeks to retire Mitch Mcconnell. Mitch mcconnell fails to realize its labor that lifted millions
out of poverty. As he says no to collecting poverty. As he says no to a living wage. You have someone who says right to work for less is just another name for Union Busting and i will have none of it. Mcconnell may find that grimes isnt the same stump speaker who began the campaign with a hastily arranged press conference and who often sounded sdripted and uncertain when speaking. Monday night she seemed more comfortable in the role and hit all of her lines. The race is virtually tied right now prmcconnell has just a onepoint lead, which is nothing. Anyway, lets go right now, casey, your thoughts. Have you been watching Allison Grimes . Has she improved on the stump . Is that obviously and objectively true. It is. Shes made marked improvements. Thats an advantage. Its given her a lot of time to practice and get better. She faced criticism for not being ready for prime time. They restaged that announcement event shortly after that initially hastily arranged press conference. People are saying 25 of the people who said theyre going to vote for matt bevin, the car conserco far conservative candidate that they were going to switch and vote for grimes. Is that credible . You know, if you dig into that polling a little bit, the Mcconnell Campaign people will tell you that arch conservatives were actually supporting
mcconnell over bevin and some of the places where they were losing to bevin included Younger Voters and some who were actually more moderate. So there is a little bit of a concern. If you think about the type of voter that backed rand paul, for example, it doesnt seem out of the realm of possibility they were looking for a fresh face and looking for a democrat. One person at the poll said exactly that. He voted in the republican primary. He described grimes as a fresh face for a time when in his view fresh faces were needed. Thats sharp reporting. I love hearing a different angle. I never thought of that. Theyre not necessarily to the right of mcconnell because they dislike him. They could dislike him for a whole lot of reasons, including hes been around too long. Lets go to georgia where the polls have just closed in the ore state where the democrats have an even chance of picking up a seat. Ron, the purdue people are looking to get what . 50 . Hoping to get at some point, either now or in july . Its more likely in july. Those in this race think its going to go to a runoff on july 22. Theres not been a poll where any of the candidates has gotten more than 25 or so. Hes a wealthy man. Hes bombarded the airways with a lot of ads. And that seems to be the reason hes been out front. His opponents are questioning that and hoping that in an election today with his very low turnout that he doesnt have a natural constituency and that low turnout will hurt him, they are hoping. But of course, that remains to be seen. We think its going to be a late night here, perhaps 9 00, 10 00 wfr we know who wins. The top two will go in the runoff. Its a very wide open field. Theres been seven candidates vying for this position. Its been a bitterly fought contest over the past few weeks and months. The other candidates who are
interesting, Jack Kingston, the 11term congressman from savannah who many people think will be the second place finisher, hes been in that position in the polls for a solid period of time. He has a natural constituency. Hes won elections in this state so that may help him. Theres also the former secretary of state and the woman in the race, karen handle who because she has run statewide has something of a constituency here. Shes known in fulton county, where a lot of votes are here, some think she may be a strong finisher. Theres a history of her outperforming in the polls. Hasnt raised a lot of money like the other two candidates have. Kingston and purdue both have a lot of money. Shes something of a wild card and you have two other congressmen who were in the back of the pack of the polls who were more conservative. But again, its very wide open. The expectation is that were going to be back here on july 22 with two republicans duking it out. And of course, on the other side here, you have michelle nun from a Famous Family with a big name,
a good political name. Unclear how she will do. But so far shes raising a lot of money. Getting comfortable for the run in november. And a lot of people think that in this state, this could be the big surprise where nun pulls it off and takes the republican seat. Thanks so much for that great report. Ron allen down in pursue headquarters in atlanta. Chuck todd is the host of the daily rundown here on msnbc. A couple of things. My punch about this year, and you probably have your own hunches that the people on the democratic side who may withstand even a tsunami are the ones with Strong Family roots in the state. Whether its begich alaska. You have the big democrat in kentucky running. Does that work . Do you think that can work based on your sense of history . These two women may have a better shot, even though theyre novices in many ways than some of the more regular democrats in
there including imcome bents. The democrats are counting on it. Weve seen marry landrieu overperform democratic performance in louisiana time and time again. Boone landrieus daughter gets through. They trust the brand prk they trust the name. When she makes the case, right . When a family heir of sorts, a member of the political dynasty whatever you want to call them says i put louisiana, arkansas, georgia, kentucky, whatever it is first, an older voter in midterm might say, you know i did know sam nun. He was pretty good. I did know that. So theyre not the tail of obamas dog. They have at least a shot of denationalizing the race a little bit. Which is important. Obviously in these red states it is. Let me ask you about the ironies of politics. I always noticed that even in the year when one party gets blown away, whether its wartergate killing nixons people in 72, or didnt ever
kill him. 74. You have a democrat from joe biden being elected from delaware in a year no democrat could win. He won. And this year, do you think there will be someone im thinking perhaps the democrats could lose the senate and grimes could beat mcconnell in the same year. That map is that way. Theres always been theres been two ironies to election night. Republicans find six but lose mcconnell. Or they find seven and lose mcconnell and john cornyn ends up majority leader out of nowhere. Would it actually fit you know, this is Mitch Mcconnells issue, how does he not become the washington candidate . This is what grimes is trying to do in this race. And by the way, this is a race that i think the first 60 days, if you divide it, the last 60 days of a campaign from labor day to election, or the first 60 day, this first part, this is a case where i think the first 60
days decide the whole race. Hes coming out tomorrow morn, i already have a copy of the super pac ad, a pro Mcconnell Super pac that goes after grimes, does what they can to try to make her liberal national democrat. 35yearold woman. That will work . What im saying is well find out. The first 60 days shes got to withstand that assault, prove shes ready for prime time. Theres going to be a lot of focus on her. I think well know in the first 60 days whether she can win if she can withstand this. Let me talk about the press. The media is not kind to men who go after women. Hes got to walk a line. Just in general. Theres a sense of unfair attack in many of these cases. Like with karl rove recently. Especially if the candidate doing it already doesnt have a very favorable view. And Mitch Mcconnell, hes already seen in a negative light. Hes not seen as a warm and fuzzy guy. So then its even harder for him. I wonder about this. Ive watched people over the years, like mario cuomo. Liberal, conservative, middle of
the road, at some point, politicians reach their sellby date. All the moves have been tried. All the tricks have been played, but unless youre beloved it seems like they say okay, enough of you. Mcconnell has never been beloved in kentucky. And if you look at his history, the last couple election cycles are actually anomalies. His first three campaigns were all surprisingly close. He underperformed what a republican should do in kentucky because theres always been that, he just doesnt connect. This is not who he is. Not a touchyfeely guy. Hes a methodical kind of guy. He takes pride, and he should, that mccobble is going to be tough in the end. You got coal going for him, guns going for him. If its a referendum on mcconnell, he loses. If he somehow creates a choice election, right . Bushkerry, obamaromney. Youve got to try not to be the referendum. Grimes job is to make it a referendum. Is tom corbett going to be scared to death . This is the worst result. If tom wolf is the nominee, this is the uncharismatic and i say this as a compliment, not a very charismatic, but doesnt seem like a firebreathing liberal. Hell play well in the tea. Hell play well out west. A grownup. You know hes going to get the philadelphia turnout. Well have that result after 8 00 on msnbc. Mitch mcconnell has defeatth feeted hi Tea Party Challenger in kentucky. Thats the news tonight, just breaking. Hell find Allison Grimes who also won. Theyre both going at each other in november. I think its the big race of the year. And coming up, why it looks like it might be a rough night for the tea party, at least on the surface. Im still thinking theyre around. And dont forget, ill be back for full coverage of tonights primaries. All the news for you, all the results and analysis, and, of course, the best part of the night, the victim vi and the concession speeches. You cant beat a good concession speech. When folks think about what they get from alaska, they think salmon and energy. But the energy bp produces up here creates Something Else as well
jobs all over america. Engineering and innovation jobs. Advanced Safety Systems technology. Shipping and manufacturing. Across the united states, bp supports more than a quarter million jobs. When we set up operation in one part of the country, people in other parts go to work. Thats not a coincidence. Its one more part of our commitment to america. Chelsea clintons mother in law is running for polls. Polls there close at 8 00. And tea parties. Ill have more awkward conversations than im equipped for, because im raising two girls on my own. Ill worry about the economy more than a few times before theyre grown. But its for them, so ive found a way. Who matters most to you says the most about you. At massmutual were owned by our policyowners, and they matter most to us. Ready to plan for your future . Well help you get there. Trwith secure wifie for your business. It also comes with public wifi for your customers. Not so with internet from the phone company. I would email the phone company to inquire as to why they have shortchanged these customers. But that would require wifi. Switch to comcast Business Internet and get two Wifi Networks included. Comcast business built for business. Welcome back to hardball. Lets take a look at latest results. Senate republican leader Mitch Mcconnell the winner in the republican primary over Tea Party Challenger matt bevin. On the democratic side, its expected its allison lundregengrimes who is the winner tonight. That may be the democrats best shot to take a senate seat currently held by a republican. While the establishment may be on its way to victories tonight, the tea party is still there and kicking. Reason number one, the establishment candidates made Tea Party Opponents look implausible. Exhibit one, Mitch Mcconnell seizing on his opponent matt bevins attendance at a pro cock
fight. Mcconnell response was quick and sharp, quote, matt bevins cockfighting episode will go down as one of the most disqualifying moments in kentucky political history. Reason number two, the establishment started acting like the tea party. For an example of this, we go to Mitch Mcconnell again. Taking a stage at the Tea Party Sen trick cpac in march, brandishing a rival. Charlton he ston. And outside groups supporting the establishment candidate. Republicans might have tried to hide the tea party, but its there, of course, with its powerful influence over the party generally. The former chair of the Republican Party, the Republican National committee and an msnbc political abnalysanalyst. I could it seems to me the Tea Party People are losing in name, but the people who are
beating them are buy into what the tea party stands for. Theyre coopting it. If. If this is the establishment, the Republican Party has been coopted by the tea party. Look at this georgia primary. A year ago you might have had an argument there were moderate republicans in there and extreme tea party republicans. But today, we have extreme republicans who say crazy things and extreme republicans who are doing crazy things. Jack kingston is not crazy. But theyve embraced the tea party agenda. Kingston has . Absolutely. So does purdue, the buzzman. They want less goth intrusion into the private sector. They want more opportunity for people to advance up the ladder economically. They want to lower the tax rate. So what is this scary agenda that has so many on the left thats a question that requires an answer. Theyre also talking about dismantling the government completely in the process and not the tea party republicans. Name a nontea party person whos doing that. We talked about thom tillis. As speaker of house, he rolled back policy and policy. North carolina is so far right. Just ask the state and the folks in the state that apparently support that. Virginia fox . They had a lot of people in that party. Theres a different conversation at the state level than you see at the federal level. Thom will deal with that in a federal campaign. Theres different ratio when youre running for federal office than state office. People look at their leadership a little bit differently. I think thats a big factor in some of these races. But i think at the end of the day, to the broader question about the tea party. The tea party is now a full part of the gop. Theres no doubt about that. It began in 09 and 2010. Its now moved in. O. Not your sweet spot here. Michael tamasky writes, the