We're just a month out from Election night and all eyes are on a
few consequential race is playing out across the country control
of the Senate is on the line. This midterm cycle with 35 seats up
for election Republican need to net just one seat to regain the majority
in the upper chamber today will be diving into three key toss up
races in Georgia.
Pennsylvania and Nevada to talk about where things stand in these
Senate contest. I'm joined by Stephen Fowler of Georgia Public Broadcasting.
Katie Meyer was spotlight P A. And John Ralston of the Nevada Independent.
Welcome to all three of you were watching these races so closely
Stephen Fowler in Georgia. Let me start with you because there is
this
Big headline right now in the race between Herschel Walker and Rafael
Warnock, and that is one of Herschel Walker's former girlfriends,
alleging that she had an abortion in 2009 that he paid for it. What
is he saying about this? How is it affecting the race?
Well, Herschel Walker is categorically denying every allegation that's
in there. In fact, he threatened to sue the news outlet, the daily
Beast that reported this, But no lawsuit has yet been filed. And
it really has roiled erase that has in within the margin of error
for many polls that have come out. There are some on the left the
Democrats that say it's hypocrisy, and it's more examples that Herschel
Walker is not equipped to be a U. S. Senator.
But many Republicans by and large are sticking by Walker. They're
saying that it's a smear put out by Democrats and the media, and
that Herschel Walker at the end of the day is a Republican and would
be could be the 51st seat that they need to have that majority, so
they're standing by him in this crucial moment. So that's even though
the daily Beast has provided a receipt.
Ah, they provided they've They've shown a card that he sent
this this woman and even though his son is publicly denouncing him
Right. I mean, it's one thing to say that Democrats are attacking
the campaign. But Herschel Walker's own son, 23, year old Christian
Walker, who is a very outspoken conservative commentator, posted
videos and tweets attacking his father, saying that he was a liar,
alleging that there was family violence involved in his childhood.
And still, you know, the campaign has seemed to just push forward.
In fact, they said that they raised more money than they'd ever raised
in the aftermath of the story and are putting out fundraising calls,
saying.
That they're trying to be attacked over this baseless story. So it's
really a remarkable evolution and politics from what would be a campaign
ending story many cycles ago.
And now you're right. So interesting How That's how that's being
received by the voters. Katie Meyer to you and Pennsylvania. This
race had been seen as an advantage for the Democrat John Fetterman.
But I see the cook political report now says it's a toss up with
the other. Of course, the Republican being Mehmet Oz televisions.
Dr. Oz. What's going on there? What are the dynamics right now?
Yes, So I mean, this race was always going to be pretty close. It's
just sort of the political patterns that we usually see. It's not
supposed to be a very good year for Democrats, based on what we usually
think. You know, the President's party tends to do worse down ballot
the year after in the midterm after he's elected, so with that in
mind, said Herman had outperformed expectations. His polling looked
really strong. He did have a stroke right at the beginning of this,
you know, general election cycle and what you've seen now.
Is his paper ability ratings going down a little bit as as has gotten
a lot of support from mainstream Republicans and has become
Fundraising and, you know, advertising really, really heavily against
Fetterman across the state. So what you've seen is a real consolidation
of effort to paint betterment is, for example, soft on crime. That's
been a huge GOP talking point, not just in Pennsylvania. But those
things have cut into his into his approval ratings a little bit now,
I will say he's still does lead Oz in most of the polls that we've
seen.
But there also have been flaws in these polls before. So you know,
you gotta take anything with the grain of salt.
And then to Nevada and Jon Ralston, where the Democrat and Democratic
incumbent Catherine Cortez Masto is seen by many as the most potentially
vulnerable Democrat running for the Senate this year. What has happened
in that race she's running against a well known name in the state
of Nevada. Adam lacks all
Yeah, Junichi is definitely in a toss up race. All of the recent
polling, including one that we had the Nevada Independent, did then
released over the weekend show this within the margin of error. But
most of the recent polls have showed Laxalt slightly ahead. As you
mentioned. He's the grandson of Paul Laxalt, who was a legendary
figure in the state. Ronald Reagan's
Best friend. Laxalt was a former attorney general, then ran for governor
and lost, And then he ran the he was the head of the Trump campaign
here in fronted the big lie here in in the state, but he has consistently
been either close or slightly ahead. As you know, Judy Catherine
Cortez Masto was not the highest profile senator out there. She's
not that well known she's in
First term. She's very disciplined, much more of a workhorse than
a show horse, even to the consternation of some of the Democrats
here who wished she had gotten out there more, But she's run a very
good campaign, but to no avail. She has not been able to pull away
from Laxalt. She's raised more than any senator, including the legendary
Harry Reid ever raised in this state, including $15 million the last
quarter, which is a lot of money for little old Nevada. And still
this is a very
Very close race. Well, let me turn back to Georgia, Stephen Fowler.
We just heard John Ralston mentioned former President Trump. We know
he has certainly endorsed Herschel Walker. How much of a factor is
Uh, Donald Trump. What else is on devoted say is on their mind this
cycle.
Well, Donald Trump is largely a non factor in Georgia's elections
right now, and that's because most of his slate of candidates that
he picked in the primary lost Herschel Walker and Lieutenant governor
nominee Bert Jones are the only two trump endorses that have made
it to the general election, and Trump has actually stayed away from
Georgia. There was reports that he might come and do a rally later
this month for Herschel Walker, but that hasn't materialized.
And largely, it's because Trump has left a bad taste in the mouth
of Georgia voters because of his attempts to overturn the 2020 election.
There's an ongoing investigation in Fulton County into that attempts
to overturn the election. And so trump isn't necessarily a big factor
here. But what is the factor here is Georgia's economy. National
inflation has been a top line thing that both Rafael Warnock and
Herschel Walker have mentioned obviously Warnock, mentioning his
attempts to try to combat inflation.
And Walker blaming Democrats for the inflation, But Georgia's economy
at the state level is doing surprisingly well. So that attack has
really been blunted in a lot of ways. But the issues of abortion,
the issues of the economy, and of course, democracy and voting rights
are first and foremost in this state heading into these final weeks,
much at play in these elections to Katie Meyer again in Pennsylvania.
What about the Donald Trump factor and whether he is a central
Roll thing and voters minds or, or is it something else?
I think there's no question that Trump's endorsement has been a really
big deal for Mehmet Oz. He doesn't have an enormous amount of credibility
among Pennsylvania Republicans among the base that he is trying to
capture. He only recently moved to Pennsylvania. He's a rich celebrity.
But yes, he's leaned heavily into Trump's endorsement and into Trump's
style of campaigning, for example.
Saying that John Fetterman, you know, has campaigned said he had
a stroke because he didn't eat enough vegetables. Things like that
are very in line with the way that Trump has already always campaigned,
But I'll say I mean the policy issues have been at the four of this
campaign. But more than that, it has been a campaign of personalities
as this guy from TV who's running more of a campaign geared towards
moderates honestly.
And Fetterman, who has just tried to paint as as an outsider, Somebody
who doesn't understand Pennsylvania more than anything. It has been
about the characters of the two candidates. And and Jon Ralston in
Nevada. What is what is driving voters this year? You mentioned the
Latino vote, uh, feeling different this year. But what else do you
see pushing driving voters thinking this cycle?
William. The Hispanic vote is going to be very important. It's been
as much as 20% of the electorate here in general elections. As you
know, Judy and and Catherine Cortez Masto was the first Latina ever
elected to the U. S Senate. And yet she even she is vulnerable among
Hispanic voters. In one of the indicators of that is just this week,
the club for Growth. A Republican Super PAC, decided to pour $2 million.02
million dollars into Spanish lying
Guage adds. We've never seen anything like that in this state and
Nevada is essentially three states. As you know, Judy There's the
two urban areas Reno and Las Vegas and rural Nevada and speaking
of Donald Trump, and he's coming for Adam Laxalt this weekend because
they really want to get a lot of base turnout. Republican base turnout,
but it's It's a difficult needle to thread because Trump is quite
unpopular about his unpopular and even more so than Joe Biden in
the
The state, especially in Clark County or Las Vegas, where 70% of
the registered voters are. And so the voters here are driven by the
economy. They're they're driven by all the same pocketbook issues.
But when a race is as close as this every little bit that trump factor,
the Hispanic vote every little bit could make the difference. Each
one of these races is absolutely fascinating. We're going to be following
it, and I know the three of you.
Are going to be as well. Thank you so much. Stephen Fowler. Katie