With roughly 24 hours until polls closed for the midterm elections, the liberal broadcast networks were out in force Monday evening as they pleaded with viewers to vote for Democratic candidates. From touting Democratic Missouri Senator Claire McCaskill as a moderate to blasting Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp for accusing Democrats of hacking to fantasizing about all the investigations of President Trump the Democrats would start, it was all hands on deck for the liberal networks.
All three of them (ABC, CBS, and NBC) rhetorically pounded on the desk to emphasize what was at stake in the outcome of the election. “Barack Obama today driving home the Democrats closing message,” touted NBC foreign affairs correspondent Andrea Mitchell on Nightly News. She played a sound bite of Obama claiming a vote could literally save someone’s life from the evil Republicans who wanted to steal people’s health care.
“The stakes are huge. If Democrats win the House, they gain control of committees and subpoena power, the ability to investigate President Trump,” Mitchell added.
On ABC’s World News Tonight, congressional correspondent Mary Bruce fantasized about how Democrats would put Trump “under an intense microscope” with endless investigations (click “expand”):
If Democrats take the House, they are going to put the Trump administration under an intense microscope. The first thing I'm watching, the investigations. They are going to demand to see President Trump's tax returns. And they're going to dig into conflicts of interest to questions about possible Russia collusion. Second thing to keep an eye on, Robert Mueller. Democrats are likely to take steps to try to protect the special counsel. The third big question, is impeachment. Democrats are treading very carefully here. Don't expect Democrats to bring that up much. They want to see what the special counsel has discovered before they make any decision.
Georgia Gubernatorial Race
Republican Secretary of State and candidate for governor Brian Kemp recently accused the state Democratic Party of attempting to hack the election system. The accusation sent the outlets into a rage as they continued to push the unsubstantiated accusation Kemp was trying to suppress minority votes.
“After weeks of facing accusations of voter suppression, Republican Secretary of State Ryan [sic] Kemp, who’s also running for governor, has fired off a bold accusation of his own,” spat NBC’s Rehema Ellis as she got Mr. Kemp’s name wrong.
Ellis also parroted Democratic calls for his resignation as secretary of state, something ABC’s Steve Osunsami joined her in doing. “Kemp is ignoring repeated calls for him to resign from his day job as secretary of state, where he supervises state elections,” he said.
Osunsami also praised Kemp’s opponent, Stacey Abrams, for running as a staunch “progressive.” “If she wins tomorrow, Democrats everywhere will be studying her campaign, because Abrams has been preaching to the progressive choir, talking gun control and subsidized health care, not at all trying to convince hard conservatives,” he touted.
Over on the CBS Evening News, national correspondent Mark Strassmann boosted Abrams’ dismissal of the charges: “Kemp's opponent, Democrat Stacey Abrams, says the hacking allegation is proof Kemp can't do his job, calling the allegations a witch-hunt.” Apparently, only Democrats are allowed to get away with calling an investigation a “witch-hunt”.
Missouri Senate Race
Both ABC and CBS rushed to the aid of faulting Democratic incumbent Claire McCaskill who was looking like she could lose her reelection. Despite her overwhelmingly partisan voting record, both networks tried to help remake her image as a moderate. “The two-term Senator's message to voters here in Trump country? She's not one of those, quote ‘crazy Democrats,’ and on issues like immigration, she'll work with the President,” noted ABC’s Deborah Roberts.
After Roberts noted how McCaskill's favorable position on health care was her ticket to reelection, she chided GOP candidate and State Attorney General Josh Hawley suggesting he wanted to take health care away from residents. "In fact, as Missouri's Attorney General, Hawley joined a lawsuit to overturn ObamaCare that would gut protections for people with pre-existing conditions," she bitterly declared.
For CBS, Dean Reynolds suggested that McCaskill’s “political compass at times veers rightward.” “She's not one of those ‘crazy Democrats’, she insists. Nor is she a softy on that caravan of migrants the President calls a threat,” he added before noting she wasn’t for shooting migrants like Trump was.
Arizona Senate Race
As NBC was touting the 2018 midterms as the “year of the woman,” White House correspondent Kristen Welker noted the “razor-tight race between two female congresswomen, Republican Martha McSally and Democrat Kyrsten Sinema.”
Welker pegged McSally as the candidate who was “in lockstep with the President's agenda from health care to the border wall,” while painting Sinema as the reasonable moderate. Even helping her pitch herself that way in an interview:
WELKER: Why should those voters that agree with his agenda vote for you on election day?
KYRSTEN SINEMA: Well, I vote for issues the President agrees on when they’re right for Arizona and I vote against the issues that he supports when they are wrong for Arizona.
Of course, there was no mention of Sinema’s radical leftist past when she often would smear her state saying it was a den crazy people and drug users. That’s not to mention her encouragement for Americans to join the Taliban to kill American soldiers.
Florida Gubernatorial Race
Meanwhile, on ABC, weekend Good Morning America co-anchor Whit Johnson was hyping the “true progressive” in Florida Democrat Andrew Gillum. “A true progressive, endorsed by former President Obama and Bernie Sanders, Gillum would also be the first black governor in state history,” he boasted. According to him, Republican Congressman Ron DeSantis was just the guy “hand-picked by President Trump early on.”
Johnson would brush off the corruption charges against Gillum as just something DeSantis was “taking aim” at Gillum for while giving credence to Gillum’s accusations that DeSantis was a racist.
The liberal broadcast networks made it painfully obvious which party they were backing in the final hours of the 2018 midterms.
The transcripts are below, click "expand" to read:
ABC’s World News Tonight
November 5, 2018
6:33 p.m. EasternJON KARL: Urged by party leaders to focus on what they think is his strongest selling point, President Trump is now talking up jobs and the economy.
(…)
KARL: But the core of the President's closing argument is not hope, it's fear -- dark warnings about illegal immigration.
(…)
KARL: There's no evidence Democrats having anything to do with the caravans of migrants fleeing violence and poverty, and they are more than 600 miles from the border.
(…)
MUIR: In the meantime, we're watching several other races tonight. Many are very close in the polls, and some could make history tomorrow night. In Georgia, if Stacey Abrams wins, she would be the nation's first African-American female governor. A progressive candidate in the South up against a conservative, Georgia Secretary of State Brain Kemp, who now accuses Democrats there of trying to hack the voter registration system on the eve of the election.
(…)
STEVE OSUNSAMI: If she wins tomorrow, Democrats everywhere will be studying her campaign, because Abrams has been preaching to the progressive choir, talking gun control and subsidized health care, not at all trying to convince hard conservatives. And she has no worries bringing in out of towners like Oprah Winfrey to knock on doors.
(…)
OSUNSAMI: Republican Brian Kemp has the blessing of the President.
(…)
OSUNSAMI: Kemp is ignoring repeated calls for him to resign from his day job as secretary of state, where he supervises state elections. Over the weekend, Kemp, in his official role, launched an investigation into state Democrats, accusing them of attempting to hack into state voter registrations without any evidence.
(…)
OSUNSAMI: Abrams says Kemp's office is still sitting on thousands of registrations from minority voters.
(…)
PAULA FARIS: Tonight, it's a fight to the finish in Texas, as voters decide if this deep red state will turn purple. The two Senate candidates both in their 40s, one ran for president, the other could run one day. Senator Ted Cruz and three-time congressman Beto O’Rourke could not be more different.
(…)
FARRIS: And Beto O’Rourke with a new ad, traveling to all 254 counties, documenting it on his iPhone.
(…)
FARRIS: And with President Trump focused on the images of the caravan, so is Cruz.
(…)
FARRIS: O’Rourke says we need immigration reform.
(…)
WHIT JOHNSON: And tonight, a bitter battle to the finish, voters with a clear voice to either celebrate or reject the Trump agenda.
[Cuts to video]
Tonight, Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum is hoping to become Florida's first Democratic governor in 24 years. A true progressive, endorsed by former President Obama and Bernie Sanders, Gillum would also be the first black governor in state history. His opponent, Republican Congressman Ron DeSantis, hand-picked by President Trump early on. Seen in this campaign ad using toy blocks to build Trump's wall with his daughter.
(…)
JOHNSON: But the race has been ugly from the start, including accusations of racism.
ANDREW GILLUM: I'm not calling Mr. DeSantis a racist, I'm simply saying the racists believe he's a racist.
JOHNSON: The Republican then taking aim at Gillum, pointing to the feds looking into corruption in Tallahassee.
(…)
DEBORAH ROBERTS: David, President Trump won Missouri by 19 points, and now Democrat Claire McCaskill is fighting tooth and nail here to hang onto her Senate seat.
[Cuts to video]
The two-term Senator's message to voters here in Trump country? She's not one of those, quote "Crazy Democrats," and on issues like immigration, she'll work with the President.
(…)
ROBERTS: McCaskill counting on one issue to save her seat -- health care.
(…)
ROBERTS: In fact, as Missouri's Attorney General, Hawley joined a lawsuit to overturn ObamaCare that would gut protections for people with pre-existing conditions.
(…)
MARY BRUCE: If Democrats take the House, they are going to put the Trump administration under an intense microscope. The first thing I'm watching, the investigations. They are going to demand to see President Trump's tax returns. And they're going to dig into conflicts of interest to questions about possible Russia collusion. Second thing to keep an eye on, Robert Mueller. Democrats are likely to take steps to try to protect the special counsel. The third big question, is impeachment. Democrats are treading very carefully here. Don't expect Democrats to bring that up much. They want to see what the special counsel has discovered before they make any decision.
CBS Evening News
November 5, 2018
6:32 p.m. EasternJEFF GLOR: In less than 12 hours now, polling locations will begin opening in parts of the country. Control of the Congress is at stake as voters make a critical decision on what sort of Senate and House the President will deal with for the second half of his first term. The President is going all out to keep both chambers in Republican hands in what he acknowledges is in large measure a referendum on him.
(…)
WEIJIA JIANG: In the past 16 years, the only President with worse approval ratings heading into a mid-term election than Mr. Trump was George W. Bush in 2006 when Republicans lost 30 seats in the House. Democrats hope to see a repeat but know it's not a done deal. Saturday Night Live took advantage of their insecurity.
(…)
JIANG: Former President Barack Obama, who has campaigned extensively during this mid-term election, was out working to turn up the turnout.
BARACK OBAMA: The character of this country is on the ballot. Who we are is on the ballot.
JIANG: Voters seemed to know it. A CBS News battleground tracker poll finds 93 percent of them in both parties say their vote tomorrow matters just as much or more as in a presidential election.
(…)
MARK STRASSMANN: Republican Brian Kemp roiled this tightly contested race with his call for the FBI to investigate a hacking charge against the state's Democratic Party. Kemp, currently Georgia's secretary of state, who oversees election, offered no supporting evidence and denied the charge was last-minute campaign ploy.
(…)
STRASSMANN: Kemp's opponent, Democrat Stacey Abrams, says the hacking allegation is proof Kemp can't do his job, calling the allegations a witch-hunt.
(…)
STRASSMANN: The hacking charge is the latest twist in a bitter campaign as Abrams looks to become America's first black female governor. She has accused Kemp of suppressing Georgia's vote, especially in minority communities.
CAMPAIGN AD: Trying to shut down our right to vote. How can anyone trust someone like Brian Kemp?
STRASSMANN: Kemp has called those allegations a farce. A Trump loyalist, he has consistently painted Abrams as an extreme liberal. Over the weekend, he tweeted this photo of armed Black Panthers supporting her.
(…)
DEAD REYNOLDS: In the last days of this tight campaign, Claire McCaskill political compass at times veers rightward.
(…)
REYNOLDS: She's not one of those crazy Democrats, she insists. Nor is she a softy on that caravan of migrants the President calls a threat.
(…)
REYNOLDS: Last week McCaskill even said the President should use every tool at his disposal against the migrant, but today she clarified. I'm wondering if you support for him includes shooting at them.
(…)
REYNOLDS: Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley a lock-step supporter of the President, is challenging McCaskill and says she's a liberal, plain and simple.
(…)
GLOR: Nancy, let's break down some of the numbers. What does it take for control of Congress to slip on either side potentially?
NANCY CORDES: Well, in the Senate there are 35 seats up for grabs. Democrats need a net gain of two to take control, which is not as easy as it sounds. That's because 26 of those seats are already controlled by Democrats. So they have to protect all of those seats and then pick up two of the only nine seats that are currently controlled by Republicans. That's just how the map shapes out this year. Now, in the House where everyone is up for reelection, Democrats have a lot of avenues they believe to pick up the 23 seats they need. That's because there are about 66 seats that we believe are in play tomorrow, and all but six of them are controlled by Republicans right now.
GLOR: You need 218 for that majority in the House.
NBC Nightly News
November 5, 2018
6:04 p.m. Eastern(…)
ANDREA MITCHELL: Barack Obama today driving home the Democrats closing message.
BARACK OBAMA: Health care is on the ballot. [Transition] You vote, you might save a life.
(…)
MITCHELL: It's Nancy Pelosi's final marching orders in a letter to House Democrats. Writing, “health care is the key factor in voters' decisions.”
(…)
MITCHELL: The Democrats have been burned before by predictions of an easy Clinton win. Their anxiety tonight perfectly captured by SNL.
(…)
MITCHELL: The stakes are huge. If Democrats win the House, they gain control of committees and subpoena power, the ability to investigate President Trump. So they recruited a wave of candidates targeting Republican districts. At least 48 women and 19 veterans trying to turn read seats blue, like Navy veteran Mikie Sherrill.
(…)
MITCHELL: In fact, for the first time, Democrats are outspending Republican in the key competitive races with women putting up 58 percent of the money raised.
(…)
KRISTEN WELKER: If there is any doubt, this is the year of the woman, look no further than Arizona. The razor-tight race between two female congresswomen, Republican Martha McSally and Democrat Kyrsten Sinema. McSally, a former fighter pilot, is in lockstep with the President's agenda from health care to the border wall.
(…)
WELKER: Sinema, an educator and tri-athlete, voted to fund the border law but oppose the President's tax cuts.
(…)
WELKER: Why should those voters that agree with his agenda vote for you on election day?
KYRSTEN SINEMA: Well, I vote for issues the President agrees on when they’re right for Arizona and I vote against the issues that he supports when they are wrong for Arizona.
(…)
LESTER HOLT: Now to that explosive claim rocking one of the closest races in the country, an allegation lobbed by Georgia's Republican secretary of state, the man in charge of the state elections, who’s also running to be governor. The late allegation he’s lobbing at Democrats setting off a torrent of controversy. NBC's Rehema Ellis is in Georgia.
[Cuts to video]
REHEMA ELLIS: After weeks of facing accusations of voter suppression, Republican Secretary of State Ryan [sic] Kemp, who’s also running for governor, has fired off a bold accusation of his own. Asking the FBI to investigate Georgia's Democratic Party for what he says was an attempted hack of the state's voter registration system. Kemp has offered no evidence publicly to back it up, and has rejected calls he should resign.
(…)
ELLIS: His democratic opponent Stacy Abrams, who would be the nation's first African American female governor, calling it a desperate political stunt.
(…)
