CBS Heralds John Legend Backing Ohio Dems, Strategizes for Talarico

Screenshot via CBS/Snapstream

So much for being the MAGA broadcast network. Tuesday’s CBS Mornings opened with six minutes of midterms coverage fluffing the pillows of Democrats, trumpeting far-left singer John Legend campaigning with Ohio Democrats Amy Acton and Sherrod Brown. Elsewhere, they joined NBC (and ABC) in both promoting Democrats as surging in Mississippi and giving Texas Democrats a road map for Senate candidate James Talarico to emerge victorious.

Co-host, Democratic donor, and Obama family friend Gayle King started the show: “President Trump launched new attacks against Democrats last night in Mississippi. That’s a deep-red state, as you know, where the Senate contest is much, much closer than anybody expected to be.”

Senior White House correspondent Weijia Jiang started by spending a seemingly wild amount of time on the blue team’s excitement asserting Mississippi could fall into their column (click “expand”):

JIANG: Mississippi is just one of several reliably red states where Democratic underdogs are surprisingly putting up a fierce fight. President Trump is making stops in several of them this week, as top Democrats and surrogates do the same, all with a singular goal of convincing voters to turn out.

TRUMP: The tariffs are so good. They’re making our country so rich.

JIANG: In Corinth, Mississippi, Monday night, President Trump praised his tariff policies, and played up his high-dollar construction projects at the White House.

TRUMP: We built the most magnificent ballroom you have ever seen. It’s under construction. It’s ahead of schedule.

JIANG: Trump also defended the war with Iran —

TRUMP: The price of oil was going to go much, much higher, and I was fully prepared to do it because we really had no choice.

JIANG: — after recently downplaying a spike in gas prices resulting from the war.

TRUMP: We’re making a freaking fortune. Our country is getting stronger and stronger all the time. And those pump prices are going to come down.

JIANG: A report from congressional Democrats exclusively obtained by CBS News reveals Trump himself is making millions from his personal holdings in oil and gas companies, a portfolio that has increased 43 percent since the end of 2025. A White House spokesperson said neither Trump nor his family directs portfolio investments.

TRUMP: You must vote Republican.

JIANG: Trump was in Mississippi to support Republican Cindy Hyde-Smith’s Senate reelection bid against Democrat Scott Colom, who seized on one of the President’s campaign promises.

SCOTT COLOM: We were promised no more in this war. Y’all remember that? We are back at war with no end in sight.

Jiang then pivoted to trumpeting Legend: “Democrats are also drawing star power out to the campaign trail...Musician and Ohio native John Legend rallied in Dayton Monday with Democratic Senate candidate Sherrod Brown and gubernatorial nominee Amy Acton, who was at the center of a controversial ad released by her Republican opponent, Vivek Ramaswamy.”

Jiang, however, was the only network correspondent to mention on the lead morning shows that President Trump has “announced a $1 million reward for anybody who reports information that leads to an arrest and conviction for voter fraud in past and upcoming elections.”

The second segment between White House and campaign correspondent Ed O’Keefe and co-host Norah O’Donnell mirrored that of NBC’s Today with Savannah Guthrie and Steve Kornacki as it was all about telling their liberal voters what they have to do to make Talarico the next senator from Texas.

Notice O’Donnell ended with a swipe at the President for his streak of talking about the backsides of Senator John Husted (R-OH) and Nicki Minaj (click “expand”):

O’DONNELL: That Senate campaign in Texas is one of 10 close races around the country that will determine which party controls the Senate for the next two years. Ed O’Keefe is here for a closer look at the map. Good morning to you.

O’KEEFE: Good to see you.

O’DONNELL: I love it. We’re getting into the map.

O’KEEFE: We are.

O’DONNELL: Let’s talk about, overall, what we’ll be watching.

O’KEEFE: So, there are 35 Senate races are on the ballot this year. You see the darker blue versus the lighter blue, okay? It is these lighter-shaded states — Georgia, North Carolina, Ohio, and Kansas — and the white ones, Maine, Michigan, Ohio, Texas, and Alaska, all of which will fill in on election night, as we know. The President is going to Texas for the third time, as Weijia said. Why on Earth is he going, and where is he going? First of all, let me make a little adjustment. It’s a big state, as you know, Norah. He’s going to Corpus Christi. Part of the reason is there’s a competitive race down there, and he wants to drive up turnout in hopes of defeating a Democratic incumbent. Then he’s going to Lubbock, because on election night, this part of the state will be as red as that circle. So, the more he can drive up Republican turnout in those parts of the state, the more it helps Ken Paxton. How does James Talarico pull off something a Democrat hasn’t been done since 1988, you ask? Well, first of all, turnout in Houston has to be astronomical. He’s got to get these four counties around what they call DFW — Dallas-Fort Worth. Dallas, Collin, and Denton. These likely will go blue. Collin and Denton have to be as blue, or as lightly red, as possible in order to win. And then, down here in the Rio Grande Valley, we keep talking about Hispanic voters who went to the President two years ago. Will they swing to Democrats? The bluer the sections of the state, the more likely —

O’DONNELL: And San Antonio is my hometown. That’s my hometown.

O’KEEFE: — San Antonio. That’s right. We can’t forget San Antonio.

O’DONNELL: Let’s talk about Ohio, though, because it is another Senate race that could determine control of the United States Senate.

O’KEEFE: Absolutely. So, you saw last night that —

O’DONNELL: John Legend.

O’KEEFE: John Legend was there. They can drive up turnout there, which would be great for Sherrod Brown and Amy Acton. The suburbs of Columbus — the bluer he can make them there, the better. But Sherrod Brown won statewide races back in the day by winning northeast Ohio. Can he bring that section of the state back to the Democratic fold? If he can, he will likely is the next Senator that would defeated Jon Husted. It would be a big pick-up for Democrats.

O’DONNELL: That’s — we’ll be watching the working-class vote, there, right —

O’KEEFE: Absolutely.

O’DONNELL: — in Youngstown. Interesting. This is Jon Husted, which the President was talking about his backside, as well as Nicky Minaj’s.

To see the relevant CBS transcript from October 27, click here.