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The last word with Lawrence O'Donnell starts right now. Hey, Lawrence. Thanks, Jen. We have Senator John Ossoff joining us tonight, and following him, he will be two guests who might be joining him in the Senate. Roy Cooper really looks like he's on his way to joining him in the Senate. But Josh Turek is going to join us, too. He's polling very, very strongly in Iowa. And so they could be two flips of Republican seats in the Senate right there. And the Roy Cooper one seems, everyone seems to think that's pretty much done.
Yeah, I think it seems, you don't know till you know, but it seems very likely we'll be seeing Roy Cooper in the Senate. But Josh Turick in Iowa and actually three seats there in the state of Iowa, House seats that could flip, is one of the most fascinating stories I'll be watching on election night. So it'll be fun to watch you and the future senators. - Thanks, Jen. We begin tonight in Bend, Oregon.
The American way of death came to Bend, Oregon today. Bend is a city of about 100,000 people in the center of the state and is now the scene of America's latest mass murder. It was an elementary school this time. The youngest of the four murdered was five years old.
According to initial reports, the mass murderer was, as usual, a young man. In this case, a 16-year-old boy. In a press conference with government officials and law enforcement, the school superintendent, Stephen Cook, said, quote, "This is the kind of thing you hear about in other places and pray that it never happens here. And it has happened here. 90 minutes ago, the chief of the Bend Police Department, Mike Krantz,
offered the first official account of the mass murder. 1259 p.m. today, Deschutes County Dispatch received a 911 call from a person in a vehicle who reported being shot at multiple times by a person with a long gun. In the ensuing several minutes, dispatch received dozens of 911 calls reporting that a shooter had entered the building at Silver Rail Elementary School on Southeast Stone Creek Lane in Bend, Oregon.
Dispatch used a tone to alert all law enforcement at 1 PM. One minute later, officers responding to the scene directed the school to go into lockdown at 101 PM. At 102 PM, our first officers arrived on scene. Moments later, an officer reported that a suspect had been shot by a community member who had seen the suspect enter the school and pursued him into the school and engaged him. Our officers entered the building and confirmed the suspect was dead. They cleared the school to ensure there were no additional threats and rendered emergency aid to the victims.
Officers at the scene located five people who had succumbed to their injuries, including the suspect. The deceased at the scene include three children, ages 5, 8, and 11, and one teacher. One 7-year-old child and one 54-year-old teacher were transported by Bend Fire to St. Charles Bend with critical injuries. The families of the victims have all been notified. We have identified the suspect as a 16 year old Bend resident. - Joining us now is MSNOW investigative reporter, Mark Santia.
Mark, when can we expect to know more in this case? - Lawrence, we're expecting a press conference tomorrow. The police department said they will be briefing The public, tomorrow afternoon, they're still gathering a lot of facts on this, a lot of evidence. There are still a lot of questions, Lawrence, that they're trying to answer, specifically about the shooter. We know the shooter's 16 years old. We know they're a resident of Bend. What we don't know, and what investigators will be looking at is, was the shooter communicating with other people?
Did the shooter say anything on social media, leave any notes, make any comments to friends or family? How did the shooter get that weapon? Police didn't talk much about the weapon. They said it was a long gun. When asked what specific type it was, they wouldn't answer. They didn't say that specifically. They just said it's a long gun. They also didn't say how many rounds were fired from the shooter.
They'll be looking at that. They're working with federal agencies right now, including the FBI. We know ATF is on scene. They'll be looking at ballistics, matching that, looking to see if that weapon was used in any other crimes. Again, looking to see how this teenager obtained this weapon. They're gonna take a look at that. They're gonna look to see if the teenager had any connections to the school. Again, we know he's a resident, they're a resident.
We don't know if they had any connection to the school. Why did the teenager specifically target this location? So Lawrence, at this hour, there are more questions than answers, but we're expecting a press conference tomorrow afternoon. We know tonight the police department there had two different press conferences trying to get information to the public as soon as possible Obviously a very fluid situation. They had a reunification center About 400 children go to that school. So families were showing up as you can imagine chaos at the school as police were trying to unite children with their families as well as process a crime scene tend to the injured and
and countless of others who are just obviously going through so much emotionally to be in that school, here and see what they saw. A lot of work still to be done, Lawrence. - Mark Santia, thank you for that report. And joining us now is Rob D'Amico, MSNOW National Security and Intelligence Analyst. He's a former FBI special agent. Also with us, Tom Manger, former US Capitol Police Chief and an MSNOW law enforcement analyst.
Rob, what stood out to you in what we learned tonight in that press conference? Biggest thing, he was 16 years old. His relationship with the school is going to be looked at, but again, 16 year old somehow gets a hold of a long gun. So they're definitely looking into that aspect of it. He shot through locks. Again, they had a system that locked the doors and he shot through them and got in. And then also the other thing that was, I don't want to say surprising, but the standby, the person who engaged him actually wasn't in the school,
saw him going to school and pursued him further into the school to end that killing, which is again, something that's heroic for someone to do, just kind of like follow him in and get into a gunfight with guy with a long gun is something of importance there, I think. The fact that the person in the car that called didn't know who it was, and we talked about it earlier today, what was the relationship with the person in the car? Was it just someone along the way that this person shot at or was that a target of the person? And I think because the caller didn't identify him, you said a shooter was shooting at me in the vehicle, I think we can take out that there was some relationship there.
It was just someone along the way as this person went into the school. - Yeah, Tom Manger, that is a hard to envision element of this, that this begins with a call from someone in a car saying a shooter has been shooting at the person in the car. That person then ends up running into this school. - Yeah, the person in the car, I think, may have been just at the wrong place at the wrong time.
This shooter is approaching the school with the long gun, and maybe he sees people looking at him as he's walking into the school and decides, "Okay, here's the first individuals that I'm going to shoot at." What really is, I think, just a blessing, if you can call it that, in this tragic situation, is the fact that you had some community bystander who sees this individual, whether he saw him shooting into the car, whether he just, he saw him when he was shooting at the door to get in through a locked door, the fact that this individual had the courage to pursue him into that school is really perhaps made a huge difference
in terms of the number of people that ended up being shot. And when you listen to the chief, the one thing in that press conference that he was very detailed about was the timeline. And he talked about the fact that the 911 call comes in, and then a minute later, the dispatchers tone this out, and that means when there's an active emergency, when there's a call that requires the highest response from law enforcement, they put a tone out to get everybody's attention. It's basically saying, if you hear this tone and you're near this location, you start heading there and heading there as fast as you can. That comes out a minute later, and it's only another minute or two before the first officers arrive on the scene.
And they're not there for a very brief time when they get on the radio and report that the suspect is down. And they're told this by the bystander who I'm assuming is the one who shot the suspect. So, you know, if you look at the timeline, that shooter was only in there for just a brief few minutes before he was taken down by the bystander. And again, so this could have been a lot worse.
The only other thing I would add, obviously the suspect in this case is deceased, but that does not mean that this is not still a criminal investigation that could result in some sort of criminal prosecution, because the big issue, and what Rob's talked about, what so many people have talked about, is how did this 16-year-old get this long gun? How did he come in possession of this long gun?
And depending on the answer to that question, there may be some criminal prosecution of someone that's associated, frankly, associated with these deaths. Rod D'Amico, how long, could you give an estimate of how long you think it'll take to investigate the source of the long gun? Very quickly, ATF already has people doing it and they do it by hand. They may already know, they probably already signed out a search warrant on the house interviewing the parents. And as Tom said, there are criminal charges possible.
saw the shooting in Georgia where the father was convicted because the son had mental health issues and he still bought him a gun, you could see something like this. Or they didn't secure the gun. In some states, there are rules in about how you secure your weapon and such. So those criminal charges can go in, especially if he had-- we've talked about so often that they leak this information, that they talk about it. not an overnight thing that this happens. They kind of talk about it. They fantasize
about it. They tell people they're on chat groups. And if the parents saw that or heard that and they still allow the gun to be accessible, I think you can really look at some criminal charges there if that's what they find. Rob D'Amico and Tom Manger, thank you very much for joining our breaking news coverage on this tonight. We'll be right back.
Today at 1255 p.m., Donald Trump said this. I didn't get too much sleep, come to think of it. I'm supposed to be sleeping now, but I'm not. So, the President of the United States is supposed to be sleeping at 1 p.m. on a Thursday? Okay. Sleepy Donald. Donald Trump has always claimed that he does not drink or take drugs, so he has never had either one of those things to blame for the utterly insane, breathtakingly stupid things that he says every day.
Like this thing that he said in that Rose Garden appearance when he was apparently supposed to be sleeping. If you don't drink or if you don't take drugs or if you don't smoke, there's no problem. I have other problems. I have some very severe problems, but those are not one of them. Go on. Donald Trump did not explain what his very severe problems are. Those are his words. He has very severe problems.
One of them appears to be declining cognitive ability. It's called a cognitive test. It's a very standard test, but very tough. Cognitive. That was yesterday, and it is worth hearing one more time. It's called a cognitive test. It's a very standard test, but very tough. So Donald Trump's cognitive decline appears to have reached the point where he cannot say the word "cognitive."
After years of Donald Trump claiming cognitive superiority over every president of the United States we've ever had, the man is now adding syllables to the word cognitive and telling us he has some very severe problems which he will not reveal. But Donald Trump does reveal some very severe problems unintentionally when he says things like this.
We don't have inflation and tariffs don't cause inflation. Is that hallucination? Is that dementia? What is that? Donald Trump said that on the campaign trail in Montana last night in a country where only four percent agree with him that inflation is completely under control. The rest of us, the 96 percent of us, know that he's lying when he says we don't have inflation. And the vast majority of Americans, including Republicans, know that tariffs do cause inflation
and that we, people in America, are the only people who pay Donald Trump's tariffs. We pay them into the United States Treasury. Here's something else Donald Trump said last night. We're richer now. We're making more money now than we ever. Well, that is true, of course, for Donald Trump. That is true of every member of the Trump family, including Donald Trump's in-laws, but it is not true for most Americans. A new Fox poll shows 85% say they are worried about inflation and high prices. 81% of Republicans say they are worried about inflation and high prices. And so Donald Trump directly insults 81%
of Republican voters every time he tells these lies about inflation. Every time he tells those voters there is no inflation. And every time he lies about his tariffs not causing inflation. And that is why so far, Democrats have been welcoming Donald Trump to the campaign trail, where last night he said this. It's a golden age of America and the Iran war will end very soon. It's gonna end very soon. As soon as I want it to end, it'll end. No wartime president of the United States has ever said, "As soon as I want the war to end, it will end."
And so what Donald Trump told American voters last night is, "I don't want the war to end. I don't want the war to end today. I don't want the war to end tomorrow. I don't want the war to end next week." Donald Trump is saying it's my war and it will end whenever I want it to end. Because I'm not out there fighting it myself, I do not want it to end.
It is the stupidest statement a wartime president could ever make, especially to voters who are overwhelmingly opposed to Donald Trump's war. In the Fox poll, 66% of Republicans say they're worried about Donald Trump's war in Iran. 29% of Republicans say they're extremely worried about Donald Trump's war in Iran. And the Republican who is not worried about Donald Trump's war in Iran is Donald Trump, who says, "As soon as I want it to end, it'll end."
In every campaign appearance, Donald Trump lies to voters and insults them, including insulting their intelligence. Donald Trump is going to Georgia tomorrow to try to knock Democratic Senator John Ossoff out of the United States Senate. In the last debate in that campaign this week, Senator Ossoff left Donald Trump's Republican candidate Mike Collins, incapable of answering simple questions. You stand here and say you're going to be a champion for black Georgians when you elevate to positions of leadership in your political organization, people with ties to the Ku Klux Klan.
You want to explain that to folks across Georgia? Did you accidentally put people with Klan ties in your political organization? Thirty-second rebuttal. What we need to do for the people of the state of Georgia is make sure that they have money in their pockets, make sure that they have opportunities. You do that by getting interest rates down.
- The question was, did you accidentally put people with Klan ties in your political organization? The question was not about interest rates. Senator Ossoff showed that Donald Trump's Republican candidate could not defend Donald Trump's war in Iran.
Secretary Rubio has been a deep disappointment, but not as deep a disappointment as Secretary Hegseth, who has lied repeatedly about the war in Iran. I want everybody to remember that they told us last year that they'd obliterated Iran's nuclear program. And then they told us this year that it posed an imminent threat and they had to take us to war. Both times, they were lying. President declared victory on the fourth day of the war. It's been months and months. 21 Americans have been killed, hundreds wounded.
It's never cost more to fill up your truck. We have a global energy crisis. And Congressman Collins, to this day, continues to defend the war. I think that Georgians deserve to know, Congressman, how this war has helped them. Iran still has its uranium, its drones, its missiles. How has this war helped Georgians? Simple question. Thirty-second rebuttal.
You know, you talk about the war in Iran. I think it's hypocritical and ironic at the same time that John Ossoff, you know, you take a look. Everybody needs to remember this. That's his word. Remember, Georgia. Remember this. He's the guy that's out there recruiting, supporting, and endorsing people like Abdul El-Sayed. That's his guy. He can't go against, that's why he's for Iran. Because Abdul El-Sayed and the whole DSA movement, they hate Israel. They would rather vote for Iran than to support Israel.
- That's time, 30 second rebuttal, and then we're gonna move on. - Yeah, Mike Collins is raising a Senate candidate in Michigan when the question, And a question that Georgians deserve to hear an answer to is how this war has been in our interests. Folks can't fill up a whole tank of gas. Agriculture is getting crushed. Everything's more expensive. Twenty-one Americans dead. Hundreds wounded. Iran still has its uranium, its drones, its missiles.
Just answer the question, Mike. How has this war been a success? We're going to move on, because that concludes our first round. And they moved on. Jon Ossoff's new campaign ad features a Georgia truck driver who voted for Donald Trump three times. The fuel tanks right here, this is 150 gallons on this side, and there's 150 gallons on the other side.
It's 300 gallons. I'd put comfortably 80 to 100,000 a year in diesel. Oh, it's going to be way more now, definitely, since fuel prices shot up. It happens every time there's a war goes on. Every time fuel goes up. I voted for Trump every election. He sold us. He sold everybody. Nobody wants to listen to the people, people that work every day, that makes this country run. Yeah, Senator John, he's what Georgia needs.
He's listening to truck drivers like myself, you know, just a middle class person. We just want somebody in office that will stand up for us. Leading off our discussion tonight is Democratic Senator John Ossoff of Georgia. He serves on the Senate Appropriations Committee, Senate Intelligence Committee, and he's running for re-election. Senator Donald Trump is coming to your state.
Is that something you are welcoming? - Lawrence, thank you for having me. And to be honest with you, yes, I'd be delighted for the president to come every day between now and the election. I mean, you heard from the truck driver featured in that video, and I hear it every day from folks in South Georgia, Middle Georgia, Metro Atlanta, in the mountains, folks involved in agriculture, folks in every industry. The public is turning against this administration. And they see on the one hand the total incompetence, the nation plunged recklessly into a war that they don't know how to win or to end a global energy crisis, record high diesel prices, record high prices
for health care. It costs more today than ever before in our country's history to fill up your truck, to stock your fridge, to power your home. And then everybody can see that at the same time, the first families raking in billions of dollars from all over the world, the president's adorning his office in gold. People are fed up and they've had enough. And you played a clip, by the way, in which I challenged Mike Collins about senior folks in his political organization having ties to the Klan.
Congressman Collins so-called convoy captains program. We just learned today that more campaign leaders in the Collins organization have serious criminal histories, including criminal histories against children. And tonight, Lawrence, I am calling on Congressman Mike Collins to disband his convoy captains program, which now has reported links to the Klan and folks with serious criminal histories targeting children.
Tell us more about that. We've heard you make this case about his connections to racists, both in his office and in other areas. What is new tonight that you're reporting, that you're telling us? Well, we learned last week that his so-called convoy captains, these people in leadership roles in Mike Collins' political organization, some of them had ties to the Ku Klux Klan.
And then we learned today that other so-called convoy captains in Mike Collins' organization have serious criminal histories, including criminal records, heinous crimes against children. These are people that the congressman has elevated to leadership roles in his campaign, and I am calling on him to disband this convoy captain's program, which has brought dishonor to our state and may pose some kind of threat to public safety.
But look, I need folks across the country to hear me when I say that Georgia remains the pivotal battleground state. There are many paths to the Senate majority and therefore to imposing real constraints on this out of control administration. But all of those paths depend upon defending this seat in Georgia. And Donald Trump is coming to Georgia tomorrow because they are determined to defeat me. And so I'm asking folks across the country now with less than three weeks until the polls close in Georgia, it's time to take action. Grab your phone, grab your laptop. This is something you can do right now that makes a difference.
Go to electjohn.com and chip in $10 to make sure we win this crucial Senate race. - So Donald Trump's coming to Georgia tomorrow and he's gonna tell people in Georgia that there is no inflation. That's his new line. There is no inflation. - Lawrence, look what else is happening in the economy. You saw wholesale price inflation skyrocketing.
All of this is setting up for even worse inflation to come. There are parts of the world right now that are having significant difficulty with basic agricultural operations because of fertilizer shortages associated with the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. These high diesel prices are getting passed to consumers through every part of our economy as Logistics and shipping and freight all become much more expensive The administration in its gross incompetence has uncorked a geopolitical and global Economic catastrophe here and what's coming down the pike is even worse than what we're going through right now And it's why it's even more vital that in the Senate race in
Georgia and in battleground Senate races across the country and frontline House races that we win and we win decisively. It's crunch time, a time for all of us to use the power that we have as citizens to make a difference. Let's not wonder what more we might have done after the polls close. This is our moment. Georgia Senator John Ossoff, thank you very much for joining us tonight. Thank you. And coming up, Donald Trump will take his message of "We don't have inflation," his
exact words, and "The Iran War will end when I want it to end," his exact words, to the Republican campaign trail in Iowa next week. Iowa Democratic Senate candidate Josh Turick will be ready, and he will join us next. The election is underway in the state of Iowa. Early voting started yesterday in Iowa, where a new Marist poll shows Democratic Senate candidate Josh Turick three points ahead of Trump-backed Republican Ashley Hinson, 48 to 45,
in a state that Donald Trump won by 13 points. MS-Dow Contributor Elise Jordan talked to a group of Trump voters in Iowa. - When you hear the name Ashley Hinson, what comes to mind? - Out of touch. That was said earlier, you know, with the war in Iran and now she's kind of changing her stance, you know, while she's behind in the polls. - So she's been a yes woman for a long time. - Exactly. - And now all of a sudden her tune's changing. - So right. - Hard to know really where she stands.
- Trump voters, those are Trump voters. In a debate this week, Josh Turek said this. "Let's remember exactly why we're in this situation. "We are in this situation because of this unnecessary war "in Iran that Ashley Hinson voted in favor continuing seven times. This has led to gas prices going up in Iowa more than almost any other state, diesel prices being at an all-time high as our farmers are going into harvest, and it's leading into an increase into fertilizer in input prices to our farmers.
It has disproportionately hurt Iowa. We need to end this war in Iran. President Obama, who began his road to the White House in 2008 by winning the Iowa caucuses is now trying to help Josh Turek win in Iowa. - Josh Turek's story is an American story. He grew up in a working class Iowa family and he was born with spina bifida because his dad was exposed to Agent Orange in Vietnam. Josh knows what it's like to struggle, but never let it define him.
He won back-to-back golds for Team USA at the Paralympics. And he's shown he can bring people together, including people who don't always agree on everything. Josh believes Washington should work for regular people, not just billionaires and big corporations. And that is why I am proud to support him for Senate. Thank you, Mr. President. If you're ready to join us and push for change text Iowa to
40192 or visit Turek for Iowa comm and make your plan to vote by November 3rd Josh has shown he can win tough races and he can win this one, too So Iowa make your voice heard and let's send Josh Turek to the Senate Joining us now is Iowa State Representative Josh Tuerck.
He's the Democratic candidate for Senate in Iowa. Thank you very much for joining us tonight. I guess I'm not sure on the debate if you could see your opponent's facial reactions to you pointing out the realities of life in Iowa because of Donald Trump's war. The Fox poll is showing that Trump voters everywhere completely understand the price of Donald Trump's war. - Oh yeah, I saw her face and she's got a lot to answer for. I mean, this is someone that has voted for cuts to healthcare, ripped away healthcare from 110,000 Iowans
in a state with a healthcare crisis and a cancer crisis that has voted for cuts to food assistance, to Social Security Administration just to give tax breaks to billionaires. She has five times voted in favor of the tariffs that have hurt Iowa farmers more than any other state and seven times voted in favor of this war in Iran that has led to gas prices, diesel prices, and fertilizer prices skyrocketing. She's got a lot to answer for. I saw it on her face and Iowans recognize this and they're ready for change and if you're ready to help us make this change We can win this race the polls show it go to Turk for Iowa comm help us push for change here
It's hard to think of things more important than small rural hospitals Closing and people who don't live it near that kind of problem Wouldn't be feeling it. But let's listen what you said about that in the debate a A lot of folks out there are struggling and you speak to the CEOs of these rural healthcare clinics and they will tell you Medicaid is their lifeblood.
Just in the six years that Ashley Hinson has been up in DC, we've closed 842 healthcare entities. She has with her vote on the big beautiful bill, she has kicked 110,000 Iowans off their healthcare in a state with a healthcare crisis and a cancer crisis. 119,000 Iowans seeing their healthcare premiums double or triple. And that situation is going to get worse after the election because they delayed the implementation of some of that till after the election. That's exactly right.
I mean, 110,000 Iowans are going to be pulled off of their healthcare. Another 119,000 Iowans already seeing their healthcare premiums double or triple. We've closed 842 health care entities in the last six years in Iowa, 160 rural pharmacies. We've got a health care crisis. We're nearly dead last for almost every single metric.
And here, Ashley Hinson is going out and cutting cancer research funding, health care clinics, just to give tax breaks to billionaires. Iowans are upset. They don't want someone to go up to the U.S. Senate just to make themselves 15 times more rich to look out for billionaires. They want to truck common sense, pray populist. That's going to go up there and fight for them. So you're a state representative.
You decide I'm going to run for Senate in a state where the Democratic nomination hasn't exactly been a prize lately. It hasn't been the route to the Senate. You get the nomination and then you find yourself down on the final stretch of the campaign sitting beside President Barack Obama, who is telling the people of Iowa that you can be the next big winner there. And he knows what it takes to win in a state like Iowa. And you know he wouldn't be there if you weren't running a campaign that was close enough to win.
What did it feel like to have him sitting there beside you like that? - Amazing, honestly, one of my political heroes and it was a great honor. And I'll tell you what, President Obama can absolutely shoot the ball. He gave me a good run for my money. I did beat him, IOWA to I. But look, I think that what that shows is that Iowa is still winnable. There's many, many people that remember that we are a state that voted twice for Obama, now three times for Trump.
And in this last year, we have taken this race from solidly R to a toss-up race to leading in the polls. We've got 19 days to go. The Republicans are spending millions and millions of dollars. This is the first time the RNC has ever put money into a Senate race because they know that Ashley Hinson is hemorrhaging. They know we can win this race in Iowa. If we can win this race in Iowa, we can flip the Senate, change the country. Go to JoshTurik.com, help us out.
We're going to be able to change the country right here from Iowa. Iowa Senate candidate Josh Turik, thank you very much for joining us tonight. Thanks for having me, Lawrence. I appreciate it. Coming up, voters began casting their ballots today in North Carolina, where polls indicate Roy Cooper is on his way to becoming North Carolina's first Democratic senator in nearly 20 years. Roy Cooper joins us next. And the election is already underway in the state of North Carolina, where early in-person voting began today.
Former North Carolina governor, now Democratic Senate nominee, Roy Cooper, cast his ballot this morning. Yay! Thank you for everything. All right, you ready? Good morning! (laughing) That's so funny. Good morning, give me a high five. Ready, high five. How you getting done? Senator! Ready? I'm ready. Senator, yes sir! Good morning, how are you? How many years you been working? That's amazing.
Thank you for your work. I appreciate the work you guys do. Roy Cooper. All right, here we go. One in the box, guys. Time has flown. All right. Good morning, guys. (crowd cheering) MSNOW polling partner 50+1 has Roy Cooper leading by 10 points in North Carolina. Donald Trump is now scheduled to hold a rally in Greenville, North Carolina next week. North Carolina's retiring Republican Senator Tom Tillis said today that he expects Republicans to lose on election day, speaking at an energy summit today.
Senator Tillis said, quote, "The election's in 19 days. "20 days from now, I'll be reaching out to Republicans "who aren't crazy and try to figure out "how we can recover from what I think are almost certain losses this election cycle. Joining us now is former governor Roy Cooper, now the Democratic candidate for Senate in North Carolina. Thank you very much for joining us on this first day of voting in North Carolina. You have, this Senate seat is open because Tom Tillis is leaving the Senate. He seems to think you're gonna win. He seems to think Democrats are gonna win big on election day?
- Well, Lawrence, there was a determined energy today at the voting place where I was. And actually someone came up to me and hugged me and said, "Medicaid expansion saved my life. And I wanted you to know that." In North Carolina, we were able to get a bipartisan agreement with Republicans, unlike other Southern states.
And now we have about 737,000 people who have health insurance because of Medicaid expansion. Senator Tillis on the floor when the big beautiful bill came up, voted against it because he knew that so many North Carolinians who had just gotten health insurance, and we're talking about working North Carolinians, would have it ripped away. And he felt it was important enough to do that.
And North Carolinians know what's happening in Washington and that it's affecting them personally. This war in Iran is making them pay more at the gas pump. They are frustrated with healthcare being taken away. They see these tariffs driving up the prices of groceries, and they're tired of it, and They're marching to the polls.
Now, yeah, we do have a lead, and right now the outside Republican groups have pulled out their ads, and all of the outside Democratic groups have pulled out their ads. So it's just Michael Watley's campaign versus my campaign. I'm okay with that, because we have a lot of people who are helping us. People can go to RoyCooper.com to make sure that we win this race, because we can't take the Senate majority without first flipping North Carolina.
We've had a lot of good Democrats who've been ahead in October who have lost in November. We do not want that to happen. Sometimes I'll pick up the phone and call people who've given me $10 or $25 on our website. And I talked with a former federal employee just the other day who lost her job. And yeah, we talked a little bit about the loss of income for her family, but she talked more about the fact that the federal agency she got thrown out of is now not providing
the services to the people that are needed. And that's what she cared about. And so many people are going to the polls and supporting this campaign, and I think others across the country because they know Washington's broken and they're going to want us to step up to the plate and do something to help them, not just the corporations and the billionaires. So we heard John Ossoff earlier in this hour say he welcomes Donald Trump coming to Georgia and wishes he would come to Georgia more. How do you feel about him coming to North Carolina? You know, he can come right on if he wants to.
He came just a couple of weeks ago and of course battered me. So did J.D. Vance. So did Stephen Miller has also talked about me. And I'm okay with that because I know what they stand for and I know that Michael Watley, my opponent, will do and say whatever the president tells him to do and say, regardless of whether it's good for the people of North Carolina. And I think North Carolinians are going to want a strong independent senator, someone
who will keep the focus on them, not blindly follow this president regardless of what he says. And I think that's what people are feeling. They want to restore the checks and balances that the framers of the Constitution intended. They're tired of Republican leaders in both the Senate and the House just letting this executive branch do whatever it wants, not invest the money Congress told them to invest,
spend money that Congress didn't authorize them spending. They're tired of it. So the thing is, we got to transfer all of that frustration and determination to voting. So I'm encouraging everyone to get out and vote. I don't think there's in my lifetime, I'm not sure there's ever been a bigger difference between candidates than right now. And it's time for all of us to look within ourselves. And, you know, what can we do right now to help future generations? These midterms are a great place to start the changes that are needed in Washington right now. Ray Cooper, Democratic candidate for Senate in North Carolina, Thank you very much for joining us tonight.
Thanks, Lawrence. We'll be right back. Former governor and possible future senator, Roy Cooper gets tonight's last word.
