• Happy Election Day! Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump spent their final full day on the campaign trail converging on the must-win state of Pennsylvania. Harris spent her entire day in the Keystone State, making direct appeals to Latino voters and young voters. For Trump, Pennsylvania was one of three swing states he stumped in Monday, continuing to muddle his closing message all along the way. Alyssa Mastromonaco, former White House deputy chief of staff under President Obama and co-host of the the Crooked podcast ‘Hysteria,’ explains what the Election Day vibes are like on a presidential campaign.
• Also on the show: Nevada Democratic Sen. Jacky Rosen talks about how she’s working to win her tight re-election race, and an update on a Florida ballot measure to enshrine abortion rights in the state’s constitution.

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TRANSCRIPT

Jane Coaston: It’s Tuesday, November 5th. The Tuesday we have all been waiting for, election day. I’m Jane Coaston and this is What a Day. The show that is feeling a combination of nauseous and hopeful and scared but mostly nauseous. [music break] On today’s show, Nevada Senator Jacky Rosen talks about her tight race. Plus, the abortion fight on Florida’s ballot. Let’s get into it. Vice President Kamala Harris spent the entirety of her final full day on the campaign trail in the must win state of Pennsylvania. She started in Scranton before moving on to events in Allentown and Redding, two majority Latino cities. She’s clearly still trying to capitalize on the fallout from former President Donald Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally and a comedian’s comments about Puerto Rico being garbage. She’s also trying to energize young and first time voters in the final stretch of the campaign. And boy, did young voters seem energized at Harris’s speech Monday at Muhlenberg College in Allentown. 

[clip of Vice President Kamala Harris] And every day I see the promise of America in all the young leaders who are voting for the first time. [cheers] I do. I love Gen Z. [laughing]

Jane Coaston: And she made a direct appeal to them and their power as a voting bloc. 

[clip of Vice President Kamala Harris] So here’s one of the things about y’all. You are rightly impatient for change. [cheers] I know that. I know that. And you who have only known the climate crisis are leading the charge to protect our planet and our future. You who grew up with active shooter drills are fighting to keep our schools safe. [cheers] You who have known you who have known fewer rights than your mothers and grandmothers are standing up for freedom and for you none of these issues is theoretical or political. This is your lived experience. And I see you. 

Jane Coaston: Harris ended the day with two star studded rallies in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. Even Oprah came. Both cities are Democratic strongholds, and she’ll need to turn out as many voters as possible to win Pennsylvania’s 19 electoral votes, the most of any swing state. She dispatched her running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, to the other big Midwest states she’s hoping to win, Michigan and Wisconsin, to shore up votes there. Walz also stressed the opportunity for a generational change in politics during his speech in La Crosse, Wisconsin. 

[clip of Tim Walz] We’ve got a chance, and it’s rare thing to do in the moment that we’re living in to elect a new generation of leadership, a new way forward, a hopeful, unified America that holds true to our values. That’s why you’re here today. [cheers] 

Jane Coaston: Both Harris and Walz were very polished all day, very on message, very hopey changey. Exactly what any campaign should be in the closing hours of the election. The same could not be said for the Trump campaign. Republican vice presidential nominee J.D. Vance has been trying to be Trump’s on message guy. He has at least been talking about the campaign’s positions on immigration and the economy during his speeches, though in recent days, he’s also started sounding like Trump, like he did Monday during a speech in Atlanta. 

[clip of J.D. Vance] We are going to take out the trash in Washington, D.C. and the trash’s name is Kamala Harris. 

Jane Coaston: Fun. But for Trump’s part, he really seems to have lost whatever the message was supposed to be. He held four rallies on Monday, standing in front of a group of women holding pink women for Trump signs in Redding, Pennsylvania. The former president fantasized about the idea of a matchup between Harris and former professional boxer and convicted rapist Mike Tyson. 

[clip of Donald Trump] Hey Mike is uh Mike’s went through a lot, but he could fight, let me tell you, that guy could fight. But  uh can you imagine, Mike? Oh he says, put Mike in the ring with Kamala. That’ll be interesting. 

Jane Coaston: Don’t forget that rasping, terrible weirdo could be the next president of the United States. It’s been a wild, messy, historical presidential election. The campaigns are almost certainly feeling a lot of feelings right now. So I called up Alyssa Mastromonaco, former White House deputy chief of staff under President Obama and co-host of the Crooked podcast Hysteria. She talked about what the Election Day vibes are like inside a campaign. Alyssa, welcome to What a Day.

Alyssa Mastromonaco: Jane, thank you for having me. 

Jane Coaston: So as a campaign veteran, what’s the vibe like usually the morning of Election Day, what are people doing? How are people feeling? Is there just a lot of people feeling that like, I’m going to throw up feeling just for a long period of time? 

Alyssa Mastromonaco: There are a range of emotions and since we are sort of memorializing, we are celebrating the life of Quincy Jones. One of my favorite sayings that he always used was, let’s start chopping wood. And that is kind of the vibe. You wake up. You’re listening to your pump up music. You have listened to one day more from Le Mis. You know, you’re walking to the office. And the funny thing is, though, Jane, is that if people have been doing their jobs, everybody has less and less to do. The closer you get to Election Day. So there’s just like a lot of nervous energy and you don’t know where to put it, but you know, you should be busy. So everyone looks frantically busy, but sometimes you’re not sure what everybody’s doing. 

Jane Coaston: So I know you’re not working on the Harris campaign, but how do you think you’d be feeling right now if you were given what we know and what we don’t now? 

Alyssa Mastromonaco: Well, I hope that they’re feeling proud. And I don’t mean that in a way as to, like get ahead of anything. Like, we’re very excited about what we’re seeing. I think that they have done a pretty incredible, nearly flawless job of pulling together a joyful, substantive campaign. 

Jane Coaston: At what time do campaigns start getting information on Election Day that’s actually useful? Not exit poll bullshit, not kind of prognosticating. 

Alyssa Mastromonaco: Well. 

Jane Coaston: But when do you start to get a sense of good or bad of how things are going to go?

Alyssa Mastromonaco: So the funny thing is, Jane, you’re talking to someone who in the campaign of 2004 with John Kerry was drinking at 4:00 based on exit polls, because back then, they actually had what they called raw exit polls, which were just things that were showing up on the Internet. And we were like, we’re killing it in Ohio and Florida. We were not. And so things have changed a bit in the last 20 years. But look, you have organizers on the ground, people who are at the polls who are seeing who’s turning out. Right. You’re seeing if all the people who you have been calling, are they voting? Are they voting? So you start to get some sort of like spidey senses, I’d say around lunchtime and then the dreadful exit polls start coming out around five. I don’t listen to them when all is said and done two months later, exit polls are interesting once we know what we know. 

Jane Coaston: Right. 

Alyssa Mastromonaco: The thing I always worry about with exit polls and to all the listeners, it doesn’t mean you don’t have to go vote if you think things are going good. That is what I always worry about. Exit polls, you know, New York states in the east start closing seven, 8:00. People out west, Nevada, Arizona are like, oh well, it sounds like things are going good. And I’ve had a busy day. No, you can’t believe any of it. You have to still go vote. You have to do it all. Don’t listen to the exit polls ever. 

Jane Coaston: In the last week or so, Harris seems to have pivoted her closing message away from Donald Trump. She’s still talking about how he’s a danger, but she’s been talking a lot more about herself. Do you think that that was a savvy move in the campaign’s part, even though Trump is a uniquely unifying force in Democratic politics, given that none of us like him? 

Alyssa Mastromonaco: Well, Jane, I think that most of us know how terrible he is. And I think that people who have already voted, who were already voting for her, who are already Team Kamala, I think they’re well aware. And I think that right now what she has to do is give people who are undecided a reason to not stay home. She needs to give them a positive message. She needs to give them a motivating reason to get off the couch. The thing that I think is so interesting about what she’s doing is that she’s being pretty positive. She’s doing a lot of bio. She’s talking about what she’s for, and Trump’s just out over here doubling down. So she’s like, I want people to have health care. I want a healthy America. And he’s like, I don’t know if you heard it, but Mike Johnson and I are going to kill the Affordable Care Act, which has provided millions of Americans with affordable health care. So I think that while she has focused on a sort of forward looking, positive message, I don’t think that we are losing anything because of it. 

Jane Coaston: So let’s talk about Trump, because Trump has never been one to stick to a scripted speech, if you remember the Republican National Convention. But he really seems to have been leaning into his own Id in the final week of the race. I was telling someone that it’s as if he was told that he couldn’t possibly lose. So he’s like, yeah, RFK Jr is going to go nuts on vaccines and quote unquote “women’s health.” And I’m going to tell women that I’m going to protect them whether they like it or not. He seems to be doing so much to be disqualifying for anyone who is a wobbler in the middle. But in a race that’s been this stable with someone who is so deeply unstable, how much do you think it matters? 

Alyssa Mastromonaco: I do think it matters, and I think he’s learned some bad lessons. Right. So back in 2016, the last, let’s say three weeks before the election, he did the same thing and it worked for him. And so now I think that he thinks, well, people love me for who I am. I am flummoxed by the RFK of it all, RFK, who he said he would put in charge of not just HHS, Jane, but USDA, all the things that involve our health, that he’s like, well, maybe we should take the fluoride out of water and maybe we should ban vaccines in America. In the last three weeks, in 2016, he kind of just went bonkers on Hillary. Now he’s going bonkers on America. And so I think that he has miscalculated this time. But I do think he thought last time it worked and maybe this time it’ll work, too. I also think that he is much older now and I think that he is not disciplined when he is tired. And I will not take away from him that he is working very hard. But the more tired he gets, the wider the weave. 

Jane Coaston: So the race probably won’t be called by tonight, and Harris’s campaign knows that. But Trump said in an interview with ABC that he expects a winner to be declared tonight and that he plans to speak at the right time. Now, we all know there is a non-zero chance he declares himself the winner before all the votes are counted, as he did four years ago, because he believes he cannot lose. How do you think the Harris campaign is planning for that? 

Alyssa Mastromonaco: So I have to imagine they have a very detailed, multi-prong plan for how to deal with this. I’m sure it involves David Plouffe, Jen O’Malley, I’m sure Governor Shapiro in Pennsylvania has his talking points. You know, I’m sure because the thing is, Jane, that we know the minute he does that, God knows what will happen. So I’m sure there is a lot of keep calm and carry on. We’re counting every vote. Every vote should be heard, you know, from all of the key officials in all of the states that Trump would be talking about. And then from the Harris campaign itself. 

Jane Coaston: Alyssa, thank you so much. It’s been wonderful to hang out with you. 

Alyssa Mastromonaco: Jane, thank you so much and see you on the other side. 

Jane Coaston: That was my conversation with Alyssa Mastromonaco, former White House deputy chief of staff under President Obama and co-host of the crooked podcast Hysteria. Check out Hysteria, which will keep a close eye this election week on all the reproductive rights initiatives across the country. After the break, we’ll talk to Nevada Senator Jacky Rosen. But if you like the show, make sure to subscribe. Leave a five star review on Apple Podcasts. Watch us on YouTube and share with your friends. More to come. [music break]

[AD BREAK] 

Jane Coaston: Today, voters in ten states are deciding on initiatives related to abortion. In Florida, if voters approve Amendment Four, it will lift the state’s six week abortion ban and enshrine the right to an abortion in the state’s constitution. It’s facing an uphill battle for a few reasons. One, a constitutional amendment requires 60% approval from voters. Two, the state’s Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, has waged a vicious campaign against the group behind the amendment. I called up Anna Hochkammer, the executive director of the Florida Women’s Freedom Coalition, an organization that’s on the executive committee for Yes on four. Anna, welcome to What a Day. 

Anna Hochkammer: Thank you for having me. I’m excited to be here. 

Jane Coaston: So what have you been hearing from voters in the last few days leading up to the election and how has the Coalition been organizing to get folks to the polls? 

Anna Hochkammer: What I’ve been hearing from a lot of people is it’s nuanced, It’s complicated. They’re almost resentful that the government has sort of put them in the position of having to answer a yes, no question about abortion access. That said, my gut tells me we’re going to win. We had a network of over 200 grassroots organizations across the state that helped us get on the ballot, that collected the 1.45 million petitions that we collected. These are people who’d been talking with strangers in the street about abortion access for a year and a half at this point, getting them to grab a clipboard and bring this thing home for us was not that hard. 

Jane Coaston: Now, something that struck me is I don’t think I’ve ever seen a state government go harder at trying to fight off an amendment off the ballot. And so Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has done literally everything to get Amendment four off the ballot since it was introduced. Can you tell me a little bit about the lengths he and his administration have gone to keep Floridians from voting on this measure or even learning about it through television ads? 

Anna Hochkammer: It’s really quite something. I mean, he’s not only somebody who’s sort of pushed to the edges of what the chief executive can do in Florida to places we’ve never seen in a governor in this state. But he’s using our tax dollars and the law enforcement and the institutions that we rely on to keep us safe in order to for all intents and purposes suppress a popular referendum. He has used the state attorney general’s office to investigate us speciously  He sent his Office of Elections Integrity to people’s front doors, who signed the petition to try intimidate them and get them to recant their signatures. He went in front of a press conference the other day and announced that any doctor in the state of Florida who supported Amendment four should be investigated and have their license to practice in this state stripped. We are seeing the weaponization of state resources against something that is protected in the Florida Constitution. We have the right under our Constitution to petition for a constitutional amendment. To see my own tax dollars and my own institutions being used against me and my neighbors this way really leads me to question exactly what the end game is here. I think we’re all bright enough to see where this stuff goes. 

Jane Coaston: I wanted to ask you, what does Amendment four mean to you personally? What has this fight been like for you and what does the future look like? 

Anna Hochkammer: The real reason I started this is because I have three daughters. They’re 19, 22, and 25 right now. They’re right in the prime of their lives at the point at which they’re trying to figure out who they are and what their future is and to have their civil rights and human rights stripped from them as they try and create a future for themselves in this country, profoundly violated my sense of duty as a mother. I was born in 1973. I literally came into the world with rights that my daughters no longer have. And so my initial motivation wasn’t political. It was it was personal. And it was about protecting my babies. What it’s been for me ever since is eye opening. We, I think, are in a moment in American culture where we’re going to rip the bandage of shame off of abortion stories and bring it into the realm of public health. I’m actually honored to have had any role whatsoever in that. 

Jane Coaston: Anna, I know you’re so busy, but thank you so much for coming on What a Day. 

Anna Hochkammer: A pleasure. Thank you for having me. 

Jane Coaston: That was my conversation with Anna Hochkammer, executive director of the Florida Women’s Freedom Coalition. [music break] One more thing, as you know, because you listen to the show, there are tons of tight races in swing states beyond the presidential ticket. One of them is in the great state of Nevada, where Senator Jacky Rosen is battling Army veteran Sam Brown to keep her seat in Washington. Rosen won her race for the House back in 2016 and her Senate seat in 2018. Jon Ralston, the Nevada journalist and election guru, predicted on Monday that she and Vice President Harris will win the state. We got to chat with Rosen about her campaign, her plans for Election Day and how she manages stress during this time of stress. Senator Rosen, welcome to What a Day. 

Jacky Rosen: Well, thank you, Jane. I’m excited to be here. 

Jane Coaston: So Election Day is here. You’re one of many candidates organizing to get people to the polls in a very tight race in a swing state. 

Jacky Rosen: Yeah. 

Jane Coaston: And like many of these candidates, you and your team were out canvasing this weekend. What are you hearing from voters in Nevada? 

Jacky Rosen: Well, I can tell you Nevada is a purple state. Races are always tight. Races are always tough. We canvas until the last minute. We make sure every vote is out. And I can tell you that the enthusiasm is through the roof. People are excited to vote for Kamala. People are excited to vote for me. We know we’ve got a lot more work to do. But we know that they’re all going to turn out. Women are going out to vote and the men who love them are going out to vote. So here in Nevada, I’m going to give the plug for voting today on Election Day. If you still have your ballot, you can mail it in, but don’t do that. I would say come on down to Allegiant Stadium where I’m going to vote. You can drop your ballot in a drop box. If you’re not registered and you still want to vote. That’s okay, too. You can register and you can vote right there. Then if you want to have a little bit of fun and see where they play the best stadium, I want to say in professional football today. Come on down and join me. 

Jane Coaston: Jon Ralston shared his predictions for Nevada on Monday, saying he expects you and Kamala Harris to win the state. Are you confident? 

Jacky Rosen: It’s a great position to be in, but we take nothing for granted because, like I said, too much is at stake. Women’s rights, our voting rights. Our Department of Education, Environmental Protection Agency. Seniors getting their Medicare. It’s all on the line. I’m glad that he said that. But we’re going to keep going until we win this race. 

Jane Coaston: I have to ask because I’ve always wondered. 

Jacky Rosen: Yeah. 

Jane Coaston: How do you manage your nerves on Election Day? I feel like I would be a complete basket case. 

Jacky Rosen: Well, I think you do go through the roller coaster. Of course, you wake up just like the anxiety before a big test, right? You know that you’ve studied you know you put in the work, you’ve gone to class, you’ve done all of those things, and now this is the day that the test is taken. This is the final day. Where we’re going to find out what great people gave us, I suppose if you think of it like that. So you have all the emotions. But I’m so grateful for my staff. I’m so grateful for the people of Nevada, my family, they’re really keep me going. My husband will make me a great breakfast to keep me calm until we show up at where we’re going to watch the results together with everybody. 

Jane Coaston: Senator Rosen, thank you so much. 

Jacky Rosen: Oh. Thank you for everything. And Happy Election Day, everyone. 

Jane Coaston: That was my conversation with Nevada Senator Jacky Rosen. 

[AD BREAK]

Jane Coaston: That’s all for today. If you like the show, make sure you subscribe. Leave a review. Contemplate how otters hold their little paws while they’re sleeping so no one floats away and how nice a mental image that is and tell your friends to listen. And if you’re into reading and not just anxiously reading election returns while listening to Philip Glass’s Koyaanisqatsi and rewatching the 2024 Rose Bowl like me, What a Day is also a nightly newsletter. Check it out and subscribe at Crooked.com/subscribe. I’m Jane Coaston and please save us Steve Kornacki. [music break] What a Day is a production of Crooked Media. It’s recorded and mixed by Desmond Taylor. Our associate producer is Raven Yamamoto. Our producer is Michell Eloy. We had production help today from Tyler Hill, Johanna Case, Joseph Dutra, Greg Walters and Julia Claire. Our senior producer is Erica Morrison and our executive producer is Adriene Hill. Our theme music is by Colin Gilliard and Kashaka.