John.
Give us your analysis.
Hold on for one moment.
As a result of these new
numbers, right now we have a
huge projection to make.
Look at this.
The projection in the
high-stakes battle for the
United States senate.
CNN now projects that Democrats
will keep control of the united
States senate, holding on to the
majority they narrowly, narrowly
won two years ago.
This is an extraordinary victory
for the Democrats as the battle
for control of the house
continues to play out.
We are making this call because
we can now project that
democratic senator Catherine
Cortez masto will win reelection
in Nevada.
Cortez masto defying
expectations and beating back a
very strong challenge from
Republican Adam laxalt.
Once again, CNN projects that
senator Catherine Cortez masto
wins reelection, sealing the
Democrat's control of the united
States senate for another two
years.
Our David chalian, let me get
your reaction.
That's major breaking news.
>> Major breaking news.
Since Tuesday we have been
waiting with the battle for
control of the house of
representatives and battle for
control of the senate, hanging
in the balance no more.
Democrats will maintain their
majority in the United States
senate.
As was said earlier, this is
very good news for the Biden
administration because things
like judges and cabinet
appointments and what have you,
that will not be under the
purview of Mitch Mcconnell to
navigate through the senate.
That will be under the purview
of chuck Schumer who will
maintain his role of majority
leader.
In terms of the balance of power
shifting in Washington, with
this senate projection it
doesn't because the most
vulnerable democratic incumbent
figured her path to victory
here.
I got to tell you, wolf, on
Wednesday morning in the wee
hours after election night
Democrats were calling me and
saying even with laxalt's big
lead they were saying, we think
Catherine Cortez masto is going
to get there with what is
outstanding, when that late mail
arrives.
We have a very high level of
confidence.
They were right about that.
>> A huge win, Gloria, for the
Democrats.
>> Oh, a huge win.
I think one of the things when
we take a long view of this is
that this may be the moment that
we discover that Donald Trump is
not a king maker any longer.
This is it.
His candidates did not do well.
His election denial was not a
big issue in this campaign, and
I think that Republicans are
going to have to do an awful lot
of soul searching about whether
they actually ran on issues that
were geared to them and how they
could have lost the senate with
an election that was about
inflation, that was about crime,
that was about immigration.
Yes, it was also about abortion
rights, but I -- and democracy,
but I think that the fact that
the Republicans couldn't pull
this off is going to force them
to go to the couch and have a
little bit of therapy and say,
why did we do this.
Were we following the wrong
leaders?
How can we fix this?
One short-term answer might be
to tell your voters that they
should vote by mail because
maybe it is easier and maybe
more people do it and, you know,
if you don't want to show up on
election day as Donald Trump
wants you to show up, just vote
anyway you want.
>> You know, I think what is
interesting too is we think
about the problems that Kevin
Mccarthy is going to have in the
house of representatives
regardless of what happens.
Republicans -- look what is
happening in the United States
senate right now.
You have the head of the
campaign arm calling,
questioning Mitch Mcconnell and
the future of the conference.
You have Josh Hawley doing the
same thing, a Missouri senator.
You have Marco Rubio from
Florida as well, somebody you
would think would be lining up
behind Mitch Mcconnell.
Republicans are going to have
their own issues in the senate
right now trying to stay
together.
Mitch Mcconnell, who has been
bullet proof now for decades
because he has really done such
a very good job of keeping the
Republican conference in order,
has done an amazing job getting
judicial nominees through, now
he is going to have a fight on
his own hands within his own
conference.
>> They were complaining of
Mitch Mcconnell, among others,
about the quality of those
Republican candidates who won
the primaries and now they're
paying the price for it.
>> That's right.
They were talking about
candidates in Georgia, they were
talking about candidates -- not
so much in Nevada, but certainly
in Arizona, in New Hampshire as
well.
We see what happened with that.
We're going to enter into this
period very quickly where Donald
Trump looks like he is going to
announce for president.
What does that do to the
calculus that Republicans have
been making so far?
Essentially they've been afraid
of the base of the Republican
party, which has been bonded to
Donald Trump over the last
couple of years, but now we see
some of that frame.
You see some sniping at Donald
Trump.
The idea that maybe he shouldn't
even announce heading into
Tuesday given the fact there's a
Georgia run-off coming up on
December 6th, but we know he is
a person who likes to suck up
all of the oxygen.
He likes to take credit.
He likes to have sort of the
roar of the crowd.
So far, even though there is
this distancing I think from
some Republicans from Donald
Trump, it doesn't seem like that
has necessarily trickled down to
the base of the Republican
party.
>> Of course.
>> And now it will be the big
question.
>> We should just note that
December 6th run-off in Georgia,
it is an entirely different
race.
Battle for control of the united
States senate is not going to
hang on that.
It will be a little lessen
gauged and probably not as much
money spent, not that it is not
important to the people of
Georgia and not that chuck
Schumer would rather have 51
rather than 50 and not have to
go to Joe Manchin for every
single thing or a power sharing
agreement with Mitch Mcconnell.
It has ramifications, it is
important, bus without control
of the senate hanging on Georgia
it will be a different race.
>> One thing, one Republican
Victor in all of this as we look
back on all of this is Rick
Desantis.
>> Ron Desantis.
>> Sorry, Rick.
Ron Desantis.
>> The governor of Florida.
>> Yes, someone who won
overwhelmingly, double digits,
and lots of Republicans are now
talking about as the heir
apparent.
So we don't know how that's
going to turn out.
We don't know what Donald
Trump's future holds right now,
but I would have to say that Ron
Desantis is somebody who rises
above the pack after this
election.
>> Let's get more reaction.
This is major breaking news.
We have just projected that
senator Catherine Cortez masto
will be reelected, defeating the
challenger, Adam laxalt.
As a result we have now
projected that the Democrats
will maintain their majority in
the United States senate.
Ashley Alison is joining us
right now.
Let me get your reaction first,
Ashley.
>> I'm excited for our country.
I think Americans showed up.
If there was ever a question
whether your vote mattered,
these tight races tell you that
every single vote matters.
I'm so proud of young people.
I'm proud of my generation, the
millennials who showed up, gen-z
who showed up, women who said
you cannot take our
constitutional rights away.
It is an important moment.
It is an historical moment in
our country that we were able to
hold the senate, but I also
think it is an opportunity for
Democrats, particularly if
Republicans hold the house, to
draw a stark contrast.
While Republicans may try to do
oversight hearings and not
really do things to improve the
quality of life, for the senate
now that it is still controlled
by Democrats to push an agenda
that is for the working person,
it is going to improve our
economy.
It will continue to solidify our
democracy.
So not surprised we were able to
do it because so much was at
stake and voters were very clear
on that, but it is an important
night for the party but also our
country for sure.
>> Let me get Scott Jennings
into this conversation.
What is your reaction, Scott?
What happens here?
>> Well, number one, we did have
candidate quality issues.
I don't think that was really
the issue so much in Nevada,
which is the race that's just
been called.
But you look around the map, and
quite clearly moderates and
independents just revolted
against Republicans and voted
for Democrats that they didn't
really like.
I mean Joe Biden's approval
rating in our exit polls was
low.
Most people said his policies
were hurting and not helping the
country.
There's a lot of anxiousness and
anxiety about the direction of
the country, yet they stuck with
the party in power despite all
of their fears about the
direction of the country.
This ought to be a wake-up call
to Republicans that if you want
to be a majority governing party
you have to appeal to a majority
of the American people.
We nominated a lot of candidates
who were not able to do that at
the behest of one person, Donald
Trump.
You know, we're heading into
2024.
He is going to announce for
president, and we're going to go
through this whole thing again.
We will see if -- we will see if
the lesson will be learned.
I hope it will be.
>> Let's get Hilary Rosen to
weigh in as well.
Go ahead, Hilary.
>> Well, let's look at some
practical realities here, which
is that, you know, with the
democratic senate we can
continue to confirm judges.
Joe Biden has been very
successful at confirming judges
for the federal judiciary.
He also gets to continue to
govern, which means that he gets
his cabinet and sub cabinet
officials confirmed when he
needs them.
We were looking at, you know, a
scenario where that might get a
standstill.
I agree with Ashley.
This is a great moment for our
country.
I disagree a little bit that,
you know, that means we are
going to get a big proactive
legislative agenda.
I just don't think the house of
representatives is going to let
that happen under a Republican
majority.
But I think what we have with
this back stop in the senate is
that the president will get to
continue to govern, that, you
know, the bad things won't
happen, and we're going to walk
into 2024 with, you know, a
positive story to tell.
>> Kristin, a huge win for the
Democrats in the United States
senate right now, maintaining
their majority.
What is the message that sends
from your perspective?
>> It is fascinating that in a
year when you have only a
quarter of Americans saying that
things are headed in the right
direction that you are going to
have -- if Alaska and Georgia
both turn out preserving their
incumbent senators, every
incumbent senator up for
reelection will be going back to
Washington.
It was not a change year even
though there were so many signs
that people were agitated and
frustrated with the status quo.
I think part of this is you had
a lot of voters, as Scott
mentioned, didn't necessarily