threats to the governor of michigan. there's a lot more to cover on that as well as, obviously, donald trump's very strange day, his strange morning, and the strange things that he said. stick with msnbc for the rest of the night because there's a lot of show left, starting with my friend, chris hayes. "all in with chris hayes" starts right now. tonight on "all in." >> can you tell us anything else about your condition? >> i'm essentially very clean. >> contact tracing the infected president. >> i met with both families. i didn't want to cancel that. they want to hug and kiss me, and they do. >> tonight as the trump cluster grows, the president pulls out of the next debate and biden deputy campaign manager kate bedingfield is here to respond. the right-extremist plot to kidnap the governor of michigan. tonight the governor's responding.

>> when our leaders meet with, encourage, or fraternize with domestic terrorists, they legitimatize their actions, and they are complicit. valerie jarrett on the big takesaways from the harris/pence debate and beto o'rourke on why democrats are surging in texas despite voter suppression. a it looks like we're not going to have a presidential debate next week. the main reason is because our 74-year-old president, who is currently infected and contagious with a vicious and deadly virus, insists he will only do the second debate next week if he can be close enough to shed his viral load on his 77-year-old opponent. got to be within infecting distance or donald trump just won't do it. this morning the committee on presidential debates made the

obvious call to make the next debate a town hall event virtual in wake of the president's covid diagnosis. trump said no to that. he won't waste his time debating if he can't be in the same room as biden. no matter that just about everyone in america has spent the last seven months getting used to suboptimal virtual means of doing their normal work, no. unless the president can maximize the risk, he won't do it. trump's campaign moved the debates back a week, but the biden campaign said they wouldn't allow them to rewrite the calendar. >> we agreed to three debates back in the summer. that has been going on since the early '90s. first debate, second, town hall, third debate, person to person. we set the dates. i'm sticking with the dates. i'm showing up. i'll be there. in fact, if he shows up, fine. if he doesn't, fine.

>> trump's refusal to debate virtually is par for the course for a man who's the center of what increasingly looks like an enormous cluster that the white house is in the midst of trying to cover up. we do not know -- we just don't know how many people around the president have tested positive or how far the links in the chain go because the white house is not doing contact tracing despite holding an apparent super spreader event. and now the washington, d.c., local government has resorted to begging individuals connected to recent white house events to contact their local health department. an internal fema memo reported by abc news says 34 people connected to the white house, more than previously known, were infected and a "usa today" investigation found the white house outbreak may have exposed thousands of people all across the country. we know a bunch of people who were at that big september 26th

event for supreme court nominee amy coney barrett that was held before ruth bader ginsburg was even buried. it also had several indoor components and masks were scarce. we know that a bunch of people who were at that tested positive. today the president appeared to try to blame gold star family members who attended white house receptioni reception for his infection, even though it was a day after what appears to have been the super spreader event. indeed, it's more likely those families were put at risk. family members of the fallen service members. as we now know, the white house itself has quietly acknowledged. the white house is even flagrantly covering up a crucial, easy-to-ascertain piece of information, when the president's last negative test was. two officials familiar with the situation told "the washington post" trump hasn't been tested

daily in recent months. >> what was the date of the president's last negative test? >> i'm not going to get into all the testing. >> was it thursday, was it wednesday? do you remember when was his last negative test. >> i'm not going to give you with time stamps every time he was last tested. >> we don't normally get into the testing protocol for the president. >> when was the president's last negative test? >> i can't reveal that at this time. the doctors would like to keep it private. my understanding is that it's his private medical history. >> i mean, that's patently absurd. i mean, first of all, they've given negative test results before. the history is not private because he's the president. and the reason they're not answering the question is because it would make them look very bad. here's the thing, though. the people in the white house appear to believe their own dangerous delusional story the virus is nothing to worry about.

it's either that or they don't care. the atlanta journal constitution reporting mark meadows, the white house chief of staff, threw a wedding for his daughter this past may, may in atlanta, with roughly 70 guests. despite a statewide order and city of atlanta guidelines that banned gatherings of more than ten people to preventive spread of the virus. so, you know, you may be out there to attend a wake or a funeral, as i have. but mark meadows goes and throws a wedding for 70 people. you know, there's a wedding in maine in august with about the same number of guests, which has been linked to seven deaths and 75 confirmed cases? the recklessness of these people, the danger they pose to everyone has been evident to everyone watching. just this afternoon, after all this with his father wheezing on videos, just hospitalized with hundreds of thousands of dollars of medical care, donald trump

jr. headlining a mostly unmasked indoor rally as though the pandemic were over. you know, though, who does understand reality? the president's perhaps most important political ally mitch mcconnell, who today said one of the most devastating things i ever heard about trump and himself. basically in so many words, mcconnell said, i have stayed away from the white house because the president is so incompetent, his team is so incompetent, so dangerous, so dilute deluded, that i would not trust him with my personal health, even though i'm going to do everything i can to keep him in power. >> i haven't actually been to the white house since august the 6th because my impression was their approach to how to handle this was different from mine. if any of you have been around me since may, i said wear your mask and practice social distancing. it's the only way we know of to

prevent the spread until we get a vaccine. and we've practiced that in the senate. you heard about other places that have had a different view, and they are, you know, paying the price for it. >> wow. think about what he just said there. mitch mcconnell more or less comes out and says the white house had it coming. i mean, this is the whole nightmarish, destructive seven months of this pandemic in a nut shell. just today, this is what's happening today. the latest covid tracking data shows nearly 55,000 new cases today. that's the chart in pink. you can see we're now trending upward, looks to be the third wave along with 34,000 currently hospitalized. the blue graph turning up. today another 975 dead americans. and you have all these people around the president watching him sabotage the response. still watching the unnecessary deaths pile up day after day who

take personal precautions to avoid being infected by his mismanagement while simultaneously bolstering his political power to keep running the country. except we're all trapped in the trump white house. they have opted out of visiting. joining me now, kate bedingfield, communications director for the biden/harris campaign. great of you on, kate. >> thanks for having me, chris. >> the president has now issued a third statement on the debate basically saying i'll come with a doctor's note next week. his doctor, dr. sean conley, released a statement earlier today saying basically we expect saturday will be ten days, so he'll be fine. there's no word about if he's testing positive or not or anything like that. but the president wants to come and show up in person with his doctor's note. what's the biden response to that? >> well, i mean, look, you know, the president is trying to

change the rules here on the one-yard line. we agreed back in june to three debates. we're requiring -- we expected the cleveland clinic and the debate commission to enforce the rules, to enforce the rules, to ensure that the debate that we held last week was safe. obviously this white house has not been transparent and that is troubling. that is concerning. so we will demand -- we have every expectation -- by that we will demand that the cleveland clinic and the debate commission make any debate moving forward safe, that we see proof from trump and from the trump team that they're not infectious to be there. that's first and foremost. we need to ensure the debates are safe. here's the other thing to remember. both campaigns agreed to the terms of these debates back in june, and here you have donald trump at the last minute saying today, well, no, actually, i'm

not going to show up. he's clearly afraid to take questions from voters, which is perhaps understandable. he doesn't want to have to answer questions directly from voters at this town hall in miami. remember, this debate is supposed to be a town hall format. he doesn't want to answer those questions. so when he said he wasn't going to show, we decided we were going to do our own town hall. we're going to do a televised national town hall on the 15th. joe biden will talk about his plans to get the virus under control, to get our economy working again, and voters are going to have to chance to hear directly from him about what he will do for our country. >> i'm going to ask you a sort of slightly personal question, which i would love for you to answer honestly, even though i feel like there's always kind of cageyness generally around health and stuff like that. i know a lot of people that were very freaked out for five or six days about the vice president. we saw the vice president on the stage with the president. two days later the president of

the united states says i have coronavirus, and the vice president is 77 years old. it would be horrible if he contracted this illness as well. were you guys nervous about this? was this something that people were worried about? >> look, he's tested negative and consistently tested negative. we released the results over the last week as he consistently tested negative. so what i will say is that for our campaign, the focus is less about the health of joe biden, although of course we're taking every precaution to make sure that he's safe. it's more about the health of american families all across this country. i mean, you know, the way that donald trump personally is handling his own illness, that's one issue. but the big issue is how he's handled this illness for families across the country. he did not take action, he did not take the steps to contain this virus to get it under control, he lied to the american people. we know he was on tape back in february talking to bob woodward about how serious the virus was

while simultaneously telling the american people that it was no worse than the flu. so, you know, for us these questions of health are really about the health of the american people. joe biden is somebody who is going to put in place meaningful plans, is going to get this virus under control. you ask about how he's doing. look, we have taken every precaution. our campaign has been exceptionally focused throughout the spring and summer, even to the point where we were taking some criticism, some political criticism and people were saying, well, are you doing enough? but we were adhering to public safety guidance to make sure we were keeping everybody safe, including the people in the communities we were visiting. >> it's interesting you note that because, like, generally, you know, the health or well-being of various candidates is a little ancillary to policy. people get sick or don't, they might have conditions. in this case, it's, you know, central to what the country is battling. i can't help but point out that one of the main messages donald

trump and his campaign have used to run against you is you're taking the virus too seriously. you're not doing enough going around with people. you're wearing a mask too much. like, quickly, what's your response to that now as you look at the last month of this campaign? >> the same as it's always been, chris, which is it's incredibly irresponsible and dangerous. it's jeopardizing the lives and livelihoods of people across the country. look, we can get through this virus. that's joe biden's message. we can get through this by looking out for each other, by wearing a mask. he believes that the words of a president matter, the actions of a president matter. he has modelled responsible behavior from the outset, wearing a mask, encouraging others to do it. there are steps we can take to get through this crisis to get our economy back on track, but it requires leadership. we've seen it from joe biden. we haven't seen it from donald trump. >> kate bedingfield, thanks for your time tonight. >> thanks for having me, chris. i really appreciate it.

>> joining me is james carville. it's great to have you. i want to get your response to mcconnell's quotes today. i thought it was such a remarkable thing to say to basically throw the white house under the bus, say i won't seen set in that place, and it's a swamp. seems to be a little bit -- i don't know if it was a signal to republican senate candidates that you can distance yourself from the white house down the stretch of this campaign. how did you read it? >> just like that. you got to go back to the "houston chronicle" editorial board that criticized the virus. you have to go to martha mcsally in a debate that even refused to compliment the president. you go to north carolina insisting on wearing a mask, knowing what's going on. you're going to see a lot of this between now and the

election date. mitch mcconnell cares about one thing, power, power. and his senate candidates are coming in and they're getting slaughtered out there. so he's trying to give them some space to get away from trump. i mean, like the devil runs away from holy water. it's really amazing. you can just feel it that they're looking for space out there, and mcconnell was trying to give them some. that's exactly what's behind this. >> it's also -- i mean, mcconnell also, you know, he is a pretty smart political operator and can read a poll. you know, we talk about masks and these things being polarized. the numbers here, they're not that polarized. how often do you wear a mask when you leave home? always, 74%. this is not a 50/50 issue. it's a 75/25 issue, and mitch mcconnell is bright enough, even public health aside, to just look at the data. >> yeah. and again, he's getting all of

the people in his caucus that are running and coming up all saying the same thing. you're going to see people -- you're really starting to see separation with these republican candidates from trump. all along people say when are they going to say something? look, he wants to arrest barack obama. you know what that's going to do to lindsey graham and south carolina? you know what that's going to do for african-american turnout in georgia or north carolina? donald trump is not trying to win this race. he really isn't. i have no idea who would give him money because the guy is just doing -- all over the place on the debate, all over the place on the stimulus. speaker pelosi, that's something really wrong with a politician who's running for an election who's not trying to win. and then you have this thing in michigan. the last suburban woman leaving the democratic party, please

turn out the lights. because we're at that stage right now. i mean, i couldn't imagine anything going worse than they've gone. this whole thing is just one -- we say down here, goat rogueing, it really is. >> you mentioned the stimulus, which i agree. the president loudly announcing on twitter that he's cutting off negotiations for a rescue package, taking the blame for it and then saying we're going to focus on ramming through supreme court nominee, which is literally the least popular position in polling, even among republicans. he's now come back to the table on the rescue package. how do you understand the calculation by democrats politically at least on this? >> well, look, the democrats -- actually, there's a lot of criticism with people saying -- people are hurting out there. >> yes. >> you just have no idea how profoundly and deeply people are hurting, people can't go to

work. kids have to stay home and they're doing zoom, they don't have money, people not paying mortgages. and i thought it was a noble thing that the speaker was doing, and then he turns it down. and then the stock market crashes, on which it's the only thing he reads. his position in these negotiations is so feeble, you can't imagine it. you can't imagine what a horrendously weak position he is. steve mnuchin, he has no bargaining chip right now. pelosi has every card that you can imagine, and he did it to himself. and then he started talking about he wasn't going to debate. now he's going to debate. he was going to do a stimulus, now he isn't. he really is a man -- he can't control his emotions. and mcconnell knows that, mcsally knows that, trellis knows that, dan sullivan, the

whole world knows it, and the democrats are going to drive this home so hard, and they better not take their foot off the gas. just drive it home and get rid of all of them. >> james carville, always a delight to talk to you. thank you for making time for us. >> yes, sir, you bet. up next, over a dozen right-wing extremists arrested in michigan charged with trying to kidnap that state's governor. the latest on that next. onnell respond? they swoop right in to put a justice in the seat for life. why? the president says it right out loud; he wants his justice on the supreme court because he thinks the court will decide the election. he won't let voters choose; he wants the supreme court to decide. with this lifetime appointment... ...it's all on the line. let the voters be heard. do it right. demand justice is responsible for the content of this advertising.

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foiled a plot by right-wing extremists to kidnap the governor of michigan. according to the complaint, at least six men were involved in staking out governor gretchen whitmer's vacation home, allegedly planning to kidnap her and potentially use bombs, even blowing up a bridge to keep police away. the state also filed terrorism charges against seven other right-wing extremists in michigan, members in contact with the six members charged by the fbi. governor whitmer has been under attack for months thanks to her swift response to the pandemic in her state. ben collins and brandy strauss noted in november after the president tweeted out liberty michigan, extremists took that as a call to arms. armed anti-covid restrictions extremists even showed up at the state capitol back in april. demanding lawmakers lift the lockdown. according to a detroit television reporter, at least two of the men charged today were at those protests. governor whitmer held firm on

her covid measures and her favorable rating is still high, 51% right now. today she addressed the plot against her and made a plea for unity. >> at this particular tii want n to know this. as your governor, i will never stop doing everything i can in my power to keep you and your family safe. you don't have to agree with me. but i do ask one thing. never forget that we are all in this together. let's show a little kindness and a lot more empathy. let's give one another a little grace and let's take care of each other. >> joining me now, democratic michigan state senator dana pull hanky who was at the state house when armed protesters showed up. she tweeted this photo back then writing directly above me men with rifles yelling at us. some of my colleagues who own bullet proof vests are wearing them. i have never appreciated our sergeant at arms more than today. michigan state senator, it's great to have you. first reaction to hearing this

news and learning that it appears that two of those men involved in this alleged plot were there armed in the state capitol. >> yeah, i'm a little bit shaken, chris. i'm still shaken, even more so to learn that two of the men in the photo that i took are conspirators in this plot to kidnap the governor and storm the capitol. i really do feel grateful, though, however, to our attorney general, dana nestle, the fbi, the michigan state police, the u.s. attorney's office for thwarting this plot. i'm just so grateful and i wanted to make sure i said that. >> what has the reaction been among your colleagues today? you know, i can imagine this being some moment of bipartisan unity. if the plot is what is alleged by the government, it's pretty

horrifying and scary for all involved. you have a sense of what the reaction's been more broadly? >> you would think there would be bipartisan unity, wouldn't you? unfortunately just today the person who was in charge of moving bills, our senate majority leader pretty much said he doesn't plan on acting to probate gu prohibit guns from our capitol. he said we can't get rid of all risk. he talks about being strong and not being afraid of those taking our freedoms away, and it just seems like they're intent on baiting this group. there was a group at the capitol today and the majority leader said those words to them on the capitol steps. some of them were armed too. i had to be escorted to my

office today by the sergeants at arms because there were guns at the capitol today. it's just -- you would think it would be bipartisan. it's not. >> i want to make sure i understand. so you're saying there were protesters there today outside the capitol? >> yes. >> and some of them had weapons on them, which -- yes. >> -- is protected by state laws. they're allowed to open carry on capitol grounds. >> and inside the capitol, except you can't carry signs in our capitol. >> is that right? you can't carry signs in the capitol but you can carry a long gun? >> that is absolutely correct. you can open carry, concealed carry, but the signs may chip the paint on the walls of our beautiful capitol. so signs are not allowed. >> i mean, it really does -- i remember we had you on the program back in april. and i remember looking at these images and really thinking they

were pretty menacing. to see there was an actual plot, that there were talks of possibly constructing ieds and having a show trial for treason, i can understand why you were looking over your shoulder today of all days with armed protesters outside your door. >> yeah. every day when i enter the capitol floor, like into the gallery for armed gm. i keep a bulletproof vest under my desk, and that's just how it is in my workplace. it's unfortunate. you know, the plot -- the news today was, of course, about the plot to kidnap the governor, which is bad enough. but in the affidavit, there was also a plot to storm our capitol with hundreds of armed men, take

hostages, kidnap politicians, and just today we had kids visiting our capitol, sitting in that same gallery where the armed men were. and i'm just afraid for them, for myself, my colleagues, the staff, the journalists, everyone. >> i wanted to ask you about the governor. it is striking to me that she really had a target painted on her back. the president's tweets at her, liberty michigan, telling him these were nice people, the armed men that showed up and that she should give a little, work things out with them. yet she's remained quite popular in your state. she's taken a strong approach to the virus there. what is your takeaway about the politics of this and what michiganders think about all this?

>> these men -- i just want to make it clear -- don't represent the vast majority of michiganders who do approve of the governor's stay home, stay safe order, her mask order. you know, michigan is doing a great job with the coronavirus, and that's in large part because of the governor's executive orders. she's saved lives, thousands of lives. so it's not surprising to me that she's still popular. >> michigan state senator dayna polehanki, thank you so much for talking to us tonight. >> thanks, chris. coming up, the mike pence punt. why the vice president kept dodging his own platform in the debate last night. obama senior adviser valerie jarrett joins me next. icans, is what joe does. when writing his healthcare plan, joe biden worked with both doctors and patients

to make healthcare affordable by lowering premiums, reducing drug costs, and protecting people with pre-existing conditions. joe listened to both small business owners and workers to create his economic plan that cuts taxes for middle class families, creates 18 million new jobs in his first term, and raises wages by as much as $15,000 a year. joe biden's plans will help working families immediately by making the super rich finally pay their fair share. for joe, it's never been about ego. it's always been about the work he can do for working families. it's what he's always done. joe biden brings everyone to the table and gets it done. i'm joe biden, and i approve this message. before we talk about tax-s-audrey's expecting... new? -twins! ♪ we'd be closer to the twins. change in plans. at fidelity, a change in plans

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to deny drivers the rights they deserve. no sick leave. no workers' comp. no unemployment benefits. vote no on the deceptive uber, lyft, doordash prop 22. one ride california doesn't want to take. doordash prop 22. they do one of the most deven in normal times.s, our frontline health care workers. and when these heroes lack the resources they need, that risky job gets ten times harder. prop fifteen makes corporations pay their fair share. to invest in our communities, in our clinics, in the essential workers who treat everyone- rich, poor, and in-between. whether it's this pandemic or the next health crisis, vote yes on prop fifteen. for all of us. the most striking things i noticed about last night's vice presidential debate wasn't how pence answered the questions but how he dodged them.

a lot of people noticed that as well. time and again he refused to give straightforward answers because, i suspect, he understands that his ticket is on the wrong side of a bunch of issues that are widely popular with voters. this was really notable when he absolutely was given a layup on roe v. wade. this is mike pence, a man so anti-abortion, that as governor as indiana he signed a law that basically forced women to seek funerals for abortions and miscarriages and he didn't the answer question. >> you're the former governor of indiana. if roe v. wade is overturned, what would you want indiana to do? would you want your home state to ban all abortions? you have two timeminutes. >> thank you for the question but i'll use my time to respond. the american people deserve to know qassem soleimani, the iranian general, was responsible for hundreds of american service members. >> think about that. mike pence, should they outlaw

abortion in indiana? yes, he thinks that. no, headrests let's talk about qassem soleimani. and then pence gets asked about the affordable care act, and the trump plan for pre-existing conditions, and he doesn't answer that. he then changes the subject back to abortion without ever actually answering the very easy and obvious abortion question itself. >> tell us specifically how would your administration protect americans with pre-existing conditions to have access to affordable insurance if the affordable care act is struck down. >> well, thank you, susan. let me just say, addressing your very first question. i couldn't be nowhere proud to serve as vice president to a president who stands without apology for the sanctuaity of human life. >> a question about health care, let's talk about abortion but not answer the first question. the big take from the republican side last night is whatever

vessel you put the message in, they're fundamentally aware of how unpopular key parts of it are. as for the democratic message and the performance of senator kamala harris, first black woman in american history to become a vice presidential nominee, i want to bring in valerie jarrett, former senior adviser to president obama, author of "finding my voice: my journey to the west wing and the path forward." great to have you. >> thank you, chris. good evening. >> kamala harris had a hard job last night because of all the different ways there are expectations. mike pence is an accomplished debater and there's freighted dynamics around gender and race. what do you think of the job she did? >> she did a terrific job because she was authentic. she spoke truthfully, he was enjoying it. she was the only one of the two who actually enjoyed the debate process. she came prepared and ready to debate the issues to speak

directly to the american people, to see the world through their eyes and explain not only what she and vice president biden are going to do to get us out of this horrible situation that we are in with the pandemic, we're losing jobs with our racial tensions, but also contrasting the abysmal job the trump administration has done. >> one thing that struck me several moments is that first debate with the president, it was a train wreck because he wouldn't let anyone speak and you couldn't actually, like, get through a sentence. no one could get through a sentence. because mike pence who was interrupting but not as much, senator harris had moments laying out basic, fundamental parts of the platform. i thought this part on student debt, for instance, which i want to play, was striking because i just hadn't heard it in the first debate because it was impossible to get a message through. take a listen. >> for folks who want to go to a two-year community college, it will be free. if you come from a family that

makes less than $125,000, you'll go to a public university for free. across the board, we'll make sure that if you have student loan debt, it's cut by $10,000. that's how joe biden thinks about the economy, which is about investing in the people of our country. >> basic sort of brass tax stuff that was just almost impossible to get out through the maelstrom of donald trump in that first debate. >> i think donald trump's entire strategy was just to try to keep interrupting in the hope that he would make vice president biden lose thinks train of thought. he did not lose his train of thought. but it took away an opportunity for the american people to hear directly from the president, explain what he was going to do in a second term. but he didn't want to do any of that because he can't justify it, so his strategy was to keep interrupting. last night vice president pence interrupted far more than he

should have. he showed disrespect not only for senator harris but interrupting her, but also for the moderator and the rules that the campaigns had agreed to ahead of time. you can't just answer whatever question you want to because the american people are listening. and the questions, chris, that they were talking about were ones that are so important to our lives and our livelihood. the covid-19 and the horrible, abysmal way in which this administration has handled it, the affordable care act, knowing that the supreme court is going to be hearing in december the trump administration's argument for why they should repeal it. i thought senator harris did a very good job breaking down that they're coming after you if you have a pre-existing condition, if you want your kids to stay on a your plan until they're 26, women preventative care, all of the ingredients of the affordable care act. she did the same thing on systemic racism. she broke it down in a way the american people know she's walked in their shoes. >> i got to ask you this

question about the affordable care act as someone with the battle scars of that huge political fight. the affordable care act was unpopular, it was under water when was passed. it stayed unpopular for longer than people thought. a lot of people thought it would get right side relatively quickly and it stayed unpopular. here we are ten years later and you have republicans basically running on it. john correspond thin is cutting an ad that he's going to protect someone with pre-existing conditions. what is your reaction to watching republicans attempt to appropriate a law they have spent ten years and are trying now to kill? >> well, i think what they recognize and they learned this when the trump administration tried to pass a law that would repeal it. all those members went home to their districts and they were eviscerated by their constituents who said, wait a minute, i like having health insurance that's affordable, i like knowing that i'm going to

be covered and don't have to worry about being discriminated against if i have a pre-existing condition. in a sense, what they're doing now is they're saying when president trump signs an executive order saying he's going to protect pre-existing conditions, no, he's not. his executive order doesn't mean anything. if the supreme court rules the way he wants them to, it's going to wipe out the entire act. and then what's going to happen? they're going to have to go back to congress. that's where i think the disingenuousness of everything the trump administration stands for kind of comes out with real clarity. how do you argue i'm going to protect pre-existing conditions when you're in court right now trying to get rid of it? >> valerie jarrett, thank you so much for making time. >> you're welcome. thank you, chris. coming up, astonishing early voting turnout numbers across the country and a suddenly competitive senate race in texas. beto o'rourke will join me ahead. n me ahead. to be honest...a little dust? it never bothered me.

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the level of interest, the stakes for the country, and, of course, the pandemic. so we can't make apples-to-apples comparisons to the past. so far the early voting numbers are crazy. according to the united states elections project which is tracking early vote, over 6.5 million americans have cast their ballots. in dean county, wisconsin, which encompasses madison and the surrounding suburbs, a third of the votes cast in 2016 are already in with nearly four weeks to go until election day. in north carolina, i thought this stat was interesting. a quarter of the early votes cast by mail so far are from people who did not note vote in north carolina four years ago. there aren't any tea leaves to read here about who's in the lead. we do know that democrats have been fighting all across the country to make it basically as easy as possible to vote, to

count as many ballots as possible, and republicans have generally been doing the opposite. one of the places where republicans have been most egregiously trying to make it harder to vote is the state of texas where suddenly the texas republican party, which is used to having a total strangle hold on state politics is facing an existential threat. i'll talk about that next. existential threat i'll talk about that next. it's time for sleep number's fall sale on the sleep number 360 smart bed. can it help keep me asleep? absolutely, it intelligently senses your movements and automatically adjusts to keep you both comfortable. and now, the queen sleep number 360 c4 smart bed is only $1,399. plus 0% interest for 36 months. only for a limited time. ♪ ♪

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the unfair money bail system. he, accused of rape. while he, accused of stealing $5. the stanford rapist could afford bail; got out the same day. the senior citizen could not; forced to wait in jail nearly a year. voting yes on prop 25 ends this failed system, replacing it with one based on public safety. because the size of your wallet shouldn't determine whether or not you're in jail. vote yes on prop 25 to end money bail.

fun fact about texas, there are 254 counties in the state, far more than any other state. and the smallest have tiny populations, populations in the low hundreds, like loving county, while a few like harris county have millions of residents. and governor greg abbott recently ordered that every single one of those counties, no matter their size, can have only one ballot drop-off location. of course in the very heavily populated harris county, it led to lines like these. it's clear that texas republicans are intent on doing just about anything they can to keep voting down because polling in the state is looking bad for

them right now. recent polls show joe biden and donald trump neck and neck in texas, and in the sleeper race, longtime senator john cornyn, who is planning to coast re-election, is now in an absolute dogfight with his democratic challenger, mjhegar, joining me now, who is widely speculated to run for that very senate seat before passing on it, former texas congressman beto o'rourke. beto, let me start with where your assessment is of where things stand for democrats in the state of texas. i was skeptical of the cornyn race and the hegar race, but i've now seen three polls in a row that show it to be a real race. what do you think? >> it is a real race, and i think texans have been able to connect the dots. they understand john cornyn has not only voted time and again to take away health care, including protections for pre-existing conditions, but he has enabled donald trump. so if you're angered by the kids

in cages, if you are so frustrated and disgusted by the open racism of this president, the failed response to covid and the great of the recession since the great depression, that's john cornyn, who in the senate has made that possible. and mj hegar is the alternative. she is one point down with five days to go before early voting starts in texas, and biden is tied with trump. and we're about to pick up a majority in the statehouse. so this is a very good year for democrats in texas. >> there's a -- i know texas politics, it's always been hard, you know, for years, it's hard for democrats to raise money there. there was a bunch of trial lawyers who you could go raise money from. there weren't a lot of other sources of donors. that has been kind of redone by act blue and online fund-raising as you demonstrated in your race two years ago. you've now got the biden campaign is going to spend $6 million on texas campaign

ads. the lincoln project has a $1 million digital ad campaign in this state. how much does the money matter in a state as big as texas and as expensive as texas at this point? >> yeah. texas used to be the atm to the rest of the country, and now you're seeing the rest of the country start to invest in texas, including -- and i want to thank him publicly -- joe biden investing $6 million to go on the air, which is probably $6 million more than any democratic nominee has spent in this state in the last three decades. and i think it's in part because he knows he can win it and also because he knows he can settle the matter on the night of november 3rd. we can wait days or weeks for the votes in pennsylvania to be counted, or we can know who the winner is because texas will declare its results on the 3rd of november with 38 electoral college votes, it is mathematically impossible for donald trump to hold on to power and have a second term. we can turn the page on him and trumpism with texas, and that's

made possible by what the great people and candidates in texas are doing and the fact that joe biden sees this opportunity. >> you know, you mentioned the statehouse, and this has less national implications, but it's interesting to me, and i think a sort of window on what's happening, right? i mean republicans have run texas like -- you know, it's like democrats in new york. like, you know, they run -- i mean democrats in new york are a little complicated because the governor made a pact with the republicans. but, like, they kind of view it as a kind of birthright that they have supermajorities. they have the governor's house. they have the statewide offices and they do what they want with the state. and you've got abbott upside down in approval rating and a real battle to take over that statehouse. like what has happened in the state that has gotten us here in a very short amount of time? >> you went from not a red state but a non-voting state to one that's actually turning out to vote. so we won 12 statehouse seats in 2018, leaving us only 9 down.

and, chris, in 2018, i actually won more votes than ted cruz in nine of those districts that we have to win. so not only can we do it, we have turned out a sufficient number of democrats before. and then in addition, since 2018, at least 800,000 new voter registrations just in the last two years. we're going to win that statehouse, and that voter suppression that you talked about when you began this segment, that democratic majority can dismantle that infrastructure of intimidation and suppression, the voter i.d. laws, the ballot drop-off locations that have closed, the racial gerrymander. the answer to that is winning the statehouse, which will also draw in three new congressional districts after the census. so this defines what is possible for a decade going forward, chris. >> one other dynamic that i think is fascinating in texas is we are seeing particularly white women in metro areas and suburbs who have been republicans move out of the party. and the candidate mj hegar, who

is running against john cornyn, she's sort of a perfect democratic fit for that. there was a piece the other day about how she voted for john mccain and mitt romney. turns out folks, getting people registered, this swing particularly among women in dallas suburbs, in houston suburbs against the party of trump. >> yeah. it's about great candidates like mj hegar or ali sa simmons or aquila baysy or natalie hurtado running at the statehouse level. then it's about all these fired up volunteers. in fact, on monday we're going to have a million-voter phone bank where we're going to call a million voters before the first day of early voting. that's only possible because literally thousands of volunteers have signed up. so this state is fired up. you see it in the registrations. you see it in the candidates who are contesting across the board, including in districts that last saw a democrat on the general election ballot 20 years ago. this is a different state with a new electorate that's about to

shock the country on the night of november 3rd. >> you know, it's funny. i never trust polls, but i do trust the way politicians act. and john cornyn is acting like a guy who is really in a race right now. his comments, his ads. he knows he's got a fight ahead of him. beto o'rourke, thank you so much for coming on the show. >> thanks, chris. >> all right. that is "all in" on this thursday night. the rachel maddow show starts right now. good evening, rachel. >> good evening, chris. thank you, my friend. much appreciated. thanks to you at home for joining us this hour. happy to have you here. i would not have guessed this going into it, but last night's debate between vice president mike pence and senator kamala harris was the second most watched vice presidential debate in history. i would not have expected that. i clearly am a dummy. look, you'll see the pattern immediately. you'll see why i should have seen this coming. these are the top five most watched vice presidential debates in history. number five was 1992. that was alor