Swing state

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Voters are already mailing in their ballots in North Carolina, one of the battleground states expected to determine the next Senate majority.

So as President Trump heads to North Carolina this week, how will it turn? Let's bring back my panel of experts, John Bresnahan.

These attacks on crime against Roy Krupa's record that we just saw in my piece in the last segment, we have seen these attacks in Democrats being on the defensive in cycle after cycle.

You saw a surge in African-American turnout in places like Alabama and Georgia and in North Carolina where Democrats out-polled Republicans in a lot of these primaries.

That's why I think Cooper is such a, why it feels like he may only win by four or five, but he feels almost like hard to catch because African-American turnout, as long as it stays on the levels it was in the primary, is probably how that tips the balance in North Carolina.

And just look at Trump's approval rating in these battleground states.

I mean, he is underwater pretty much everywhere, according to New York Times, Siena polls, and North Carolina.

But three of them said they would certify the winner.

Do you see this as part of, like, a broader effort on the part of this administration or the Republican Party more broadly to sort of legitimize the Big Lie into our institutions, into even election administration, which there's been lots of reporting about? Or is it just a coincidence? Are there so many election deniers now that, like, inevitably some of them are gonna be running for office in key battleground states?

Yeah, I think it's more the latter-

Hmm

Like, you know, they're talking about his, you know, Abdul El-Sayed's ties to Hassan Piker, but, like, it's a much bigger liability that Mike Rogers is so tied in with Trump, you know? Like, he's the president.

We've got a lot of candidates who deny the results of the 2020 election running for office in 2026.

We've got people who deny the results of the 2020 election administering our elections in various key battleground states.

We've got the Supreme Court fighting with lower courts about what maps they can use.

Well, this mail-in ballot fight is particularly urgent in North Carolina.

Purple State, absolutely crucial to the balance of power in the U.S. Senate.

CNN's Manu Raju is in the Tar Heel State.

Manu? Yeah, Phil, this is one of the most closely contested Senate races in the country.

We are looking to make sure that we have a big tent and we're going after moderate voters.

When I am looking at polling right now, I would say the only national Democrat that really stands out is Barack Obama.

He is polling in purple states at about 50%.

And I think that is is interesting given the fact that the president of the United States and other national Democrats aren't even polling at 50%.

You know, I've got a bunch of political operatives and they're feeding me a lot of information that I can feed to you and hopefully you can feed to Trump.

And one of the game plans, because I've told you that Ohio right now is up for grabs and a lot of these other battleground states.

And here's the reason why one of their game plans is.

is they're having the women that, like in Ohio, we got a lousy, lousy Democrat candidate.

That's where his people are.

That's who will turn out and save Ohio and keep it under Republican control.

And he has to have that same strategy in these other battleground states.

Now, here's what these Democrat governors are doing.