Meet the Press NOW — October 20th

Join me now as the panel, Shelby Talcott, White House correspondent for Semaphore, Mo Alithi, executive director for Georgetown University's Institute of Politics and Public Service, and Republican strategist Malik Abdul.

Thank you all so much for joining me here on the panel.

Shelby, I want to start with you, and I want to start on the control of Congress, race for the control of Congress.

We just spoke with Scott Wong, who was down with Hakeem Jeffries down in Florida last week.

What do you make of Hakeem Jeffries' involvement in that race?

I mean, I think it's really interesting because it clearly indicates to me that Democrats think that they are doing pretty well when it comes to potential control of the House, but also have a chance to expand that that lead.

And even when I talk to Republicans inside the administration, close to the administration, people who are involved in these campaigns, there is a little bit of an understanding that.

most likely the House is not going to go well for Republicans.

And the focus when it comes to the Republican Party has really shifted towards keeping control of the Senate.

And I've talked to several people who say that if Republicans can keep control of the Senate, the president will be sort of satisfied with that kind of a result.

Specifically with that seat in South Florida, Congresswoman Salazar, you know, she recently made headlines by distancing herself from the president on immigration.

She recorded that campaign video in front of the White House, basically putting a lot of distance between herself and the president.

How concerned should Republicans be about that seat? I

actually think that they should be concerned not just about that seat, but with the Hispanic vote overall in a place like Texas, Texas.

I'm sorry, Florida.

Florida will be the first state where we'll see the impact of Donald Trump's immigration policies.

The first test of how people actually feel about it.

And I think even though there is, of course, a large Cuban conservative population in a place like Florida.

There's other, you know, Hispanic population in Florida that I think we're going to have to look out for.

And Donald Trump, I'm not sure if going after Salazar, she was, I think, one of the only ones that he actually went after when she distanced herself from him.

I'm not sure that's going to serve him well, but we're going to get a good indicator about how Hispanics feel about Donald Trump's policies with the Florida vote.

Mo, if Jeffries and if Democrats are successful in November, do you have any doubts that he's going to become Speaker of the House?

I haven't heard any reason to believe he won't be.

I mean, I think he's got most of the caucus locked up.

Doesn't mean that there may not be some noise, but I think he'll be fine, which is one of the reasons why I think, to your point, that it makes sense for him to go down to Florida.

Join me now as the panel, Shelby Talcott, White House correspondent for Semaphore, Mo Alithi, executive director for Georgetown University's Institute of Politics and Public Service, and Republican strategist Malik Abdul.

Thank you all so much for joining me here on the panel.

Shelby, I want to start with you, and I want to start on the control of Congress, race for the control of Congress.

We just spoke with Scott Wong, who was down with Hakeem Jeffries down in Florida last week.

What do you make of Hakeem Jeffries' involvement in that race?

I mean, I think it's really interesting because it clearly indicates to me that Democrats think that they are doing pretty well when it comes to potential control of the House, but also have a chance to expand that that lead.

And even when I talk to Republicans inside the administration, close to the administration, people who are involved in these campaigns, there is a little bit of an understanding that.

most likely the House is not going to go well for Republicans.

And the focus when it comes to the Republican Party has really shifted towards keeping control of the Senate.

And I've talked to several people who say that if Republicans can keep control of the Senate, the president will be sort of satisfied with that kind of a result.

Specifically with that seat in South Florida, Congresswoman Salazar, you know, she recently made headlines by distancing herself from the president on immigration.

She recorded that campaign video in front of the White House, basically putting a lot of distance between herself and the president.

How concerned should Republicans be about that seat? I

actually think that they should be concerned not just about that seat, but with the Hispanic vote overall in a place like Texas, Texas.

I'm sorry, Florida.

Florida will be the first state where we'll see the impact of Donald Trump's immigration policies.

The first test of how people actually feel about it.

And I think even though there is, of course, a large Cuban conservative population in a place like Florida.

There's other, you know, Hispanic population in Florida that I think we're going to have to look out for.

And Donald Trump, I'm not sure if going after Salazar, she was, I think, one of the only ones that he actually went after when she distanced herself from him.

I'm not sure that's going to serve him well, but we're going to get a good indicator about how Hispanics feel about Donald Trump's policies with the Florida vote.

Mo, if Jeffries and if Democrats are successful in November, do you have any doubts that he's going to become Speaker of the House?

I haven't heard any reason to believe he won't be.

I mean, I think he's got most of the caucus locked up.

Doesn't mean that there may not be some noise, but I think he'll be fine, which is one of the reasons why I think, to your point, that it makes sense for him to go down to Florida.