♪ ♪ narrator: funding for this presentation of this program is provided by... narrator: pediatric surgeon. volunteer. topiary artist. a raymond james financial advisor tailors advice to help you live your life. life well planned. brook: these are people who are trying to change the world. startups have this energy that energizes me. people who know, know bdo.

narrator: funding was also provided by, the freeman foundation. by judy and peter blum kovler foundation; pursuing solutions for america's neglected needs. and by contributions to this pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. announcer: and now, "bbc world news". ♪ maryam: hello. i am maryam mcsherry. this is "outside source." the face of nstant ukrainian counterattacks. civilians have been evacuating for weeks. the only regional capital taken by forces since the start of the war. we will get reaction from kyiv

and moscow. the bids from republicans failed to materialize, but control they failed to flip a key -- we reject "woke" ideoly. we will never surrender to the "woke" cause. ♪ maryam: well, we start with a significant developmentn the war in ukraine. russia has ordered his troops to withdraw from the key city ofkherson. the, that it captured in march, mark the start of the invasion. russia has struggled to hold the area in the face of counterattacks. tonight, russian troops have been told to withdraw.

confirmation came from russia's defense minister. >> begin to pull out troops and ensure safe transfer across the river. maryam: i got reaction from vbc's -- bbc's steve. steve: it is not buying it. it has described this announcement by moscow as a staged event, an attempt by the kremlin to save face in the face of the difficulties it is facing around kherson. so that from the official urging people to not share information, he said actions speak louder than words, so no one is really getting carried away, and i think that teases to what president zelenskyy might say later in his evening address. but that declaration itself is

significant. if you look at kherson, for the last two months, ukraine has been issuing countermeasures. the territory has been fiercely contested. we have seen russian forces looting, seemingly trying to prepare for some kind of retreat across the river, and ukrainians have used long-range missile attacks, and it might make it a bit more difficult. but we are some way from seeing ukrainian soldiers potentially wandering the streets of kherson. if that were to happen, it would be a massive moment in this conflict. it would be a retaking of the only regional capital to fall to the russians. the dam in the region would affect water supply, down toward occupied crimea, and it is

huly embarrassing for there are a number of people, notably here in kyiv, who would be delighted, but nobody is going to believe kherson's liberation until they see it. maryam: thank you. let's turn over to steve rosenberg. how much of a blow as this to russia? james: i agree with james -- steve: i agree with james completely. if this is true, as the russian generals announced to the russian public this afternoon, then that is a big deala big, symbolic vote, and something of an embarrassment to vladimir putin, because as he was saying, her son is the only provincial capital russia was able to capture since they invaded back in february. and it was only on september 30 that putin held this glittering ceremony in the kremlin, where in a packed hall, he claimed the

curse on region and other territories, that they would be russian forever, and now we hear russia says it is going to retreat from hairs on -- kherson. so, yes, i believe that would be some valid. maryam: now, to another story, those are still being counted with control of congress hanging in the balance. republicans were hoping for a "red wave," but they have done worse than expected. that battle hinges on three states, and the race is incredibly tight. it looks to move toward republican-controlled but it is not the amatic shift they were hoping for. so far, republicans have 200 three seats, the democrats won

187 paired remember coming as 2018 -- -- 218 seeds to win a majority. the upper chamber of congress is the senate. it is down to a knife's edge. four races are yet to be called. if it is 50/50, the vice president will have the deciding vote. democrats got a huge boost. republican tv dr. mehmet oz lost out to john fetterman. his campaign was derailed when he suffered a stroke back and made here he was his victory speech in pittsburgh. sen.-elect federman: every county, every vote. [applause] i'm proud of what we ran on, protecting a woman's right to choose -- [cheers and applause] raising our minimum wage!

fighting the union way of life! health care as a fundamental human right! it saved my life, and it should all be there for you. maryam: so control for the senate will now come down to three states -- arizona, nevada, and georgia, which currently democrats. in arizona, it is leaning toward incumbent democratic senator rk kelly. stacey long has the latest. stacy: only about half of the votes have been counted in arizona where i am, but u.s. networks have reported a couple of hours ago that what gubernatorial incident raises are looking like it is leaning toward a democratic win. that is usually important not only for arizona but nationally. mark kelly, the democratic senator, fighting for

reelection, much more likely that the democrats could take control of the senate. maryam: nevada looks very close. the republican challenger is in the lead, but there are lots of mail-in ballots to be counted that could yet make th diffce. if the republicans do win in nevada, it could all come down to georgia. leading democratic senator -- neither democratic senator raphael warnock nor his republican rival have reached 50% of the vote, and we have heard in the last couple of hours it will go t a rocket i ask o correspondent in georgia, dario donahue, who might have a stronger chance in a runoff. gary: i think what happens is what would be in the existing races. if the democrats hold onto those other two outstanding senate seats that are up at the moment -- nevada and arizona, then they have control of the senate, without georgia, and so georgia

then becomes yet a runoff, yet a bitterly fought runoff, but not a runoff for controlling the senate. if one of those were to go to the republicans, then georgia then becomes center stage, then who gets to run the senate, its committees, approve the appointment of judges, potentially even approve the supreme court judges for the next two years, so there is an awful lot at stake. these two candidates here are pretty much as an end that as you can be, just not quite enough to get over that 50% plus one mark. and a lotf money, a lot of activists, and a lot of politicaadvertising will flood this state for the next four weeks, as people try to battle for this seat. maryam: let's go to one of the key races of the night, and that is florida. republican governor ron desantis has been reelected by a huge margin. this was his victory speech. gov. desantis: well, thank you

so much. you know, over these past four years, we have seen major challenges for the people of our state, for the citizens of the united states, and, above all, for the cause of freedom. we saw freedom and our very way of life in so many other jurisdictions in this country wither on the vine. florida held the line. [cheers and applause] we chose facts over fear, we chose education over indoctrination. [cheers and applause] we chose law & order over rioting and disorder. florida was a refuge of sanity when the world went mad. we stood as a citadel of freedom for people across this country and, indeed, across the world. ryam: well, governor ron desantis there. let's hear from our reporter in

florida, net adelphi. >> florida has now cemented its status of a wright state. the story of the election is both of enthusiasm and turnout from democratic voters. that really helped republicans take former democratic strongholds like miami-dade along with palm beach and broward county. and of course, all eyes are now on ron desantis and whether he will be making a they for the presidency in 2024. i mean, his victory speech sure sounded like a play for the presidency. he said florida had redrawn the political map, and he has restarted his fight. maryam: join us now is chity elder, who served as an adviser

to mike bloomberg, and she is also the author ofpower: the rise of blacmen in america." what are your main takeaways in this mterm? >> thank you for having me. i'm happy to be here. my main take away in the overall race is biden is coming out looking better than what people thought. biden and the democratic party beat expectations. we are now coming down to three hotly contested races -- nevada, georgia, arizona, in terms of the senate. and we did not have the red wave that everyone expected. i think that the democrats came out of this looking really comparative -- competitive. maryam: why is it that the red wave did not merialize, do you believe? charity: there are a number of reasons. one in particular is we saw exit

polling, we will have to see later a federal comes to fruition, but one of the things with the exit polling is that a majority of independents voted for democrats, and usually come in a midterm election, independents will vote for the party that is not in the white house, so not in power. i think that helps weigh a lot. that helps perhaps even biden, we will seek him about perhaps his speech that he did before the election, urging for calm and for, you know, people to be able to vote uninhibited, important to democracy. i think it also helped calm the country, and, you know, i also think the extremism of the gop turned some people away and swayed, like i mentioned before, the independents. maryam: let's talk about what

people are worried about in america, what drove them to vote in the midterm. there was a lot of chat, wasn't there, before the election about how the economy would be on the most part. it didn't seem like other issues, for example, abortion rights, crime, education, they very much pushed people to get out and vote, didn't they? charity: they really did, and that was actually another reason why democrats did better than expected, that abortion, you know, from the bad decision at the u.s. supreme court, doing away with abortion as a right in our country, actually was more top of mind than people realize. and across the country, you know, we saw in some balance and some states where they actually have further protection for abortion and for abortion rights. and so i think abortion seems to

be more top of mind, and people thought that it would be. obviously, the economy is still, you know, a big deal. exit polls from the associated press shows that about one-third of voters cited the economy as a concern to them. and crime as well, maybe not perhaps to the level, for instance, in new york, that republicans thought it would be an issue. maryam: ok. charity elder, it has been great to have you on the program. thank you so much. charity: thank you. maryam: stay with us on "outside source." still on the program, we look at what the midterm results could mean for the next presidential election in 2024. ♪ >> the bombastic establishment outside or has defied the posters to take the keys to the ovalice. >> i genuinely believe that he

cared about the country. >> it is keeping the candidate's name always in the public eye that counts. success or failure depends not only on public display but on the local campaign headquarters and be heavy, routine work of their women volunteers. >> berlirs from both east and west met, and with nobody to stop them, it was not long before the first attempts work made to destroy the structure itself. >> yasser arafat, who dominated the palestinian court for so long, has died. palestinian authority has declared a state of mourning. >> after 17 yea discussion, the result was greeted with an outburst of joy. ministers grudgingly accepted the rights of clergy suddenly felt welcome. ♪ maryam: this is "outside sourc ," live from the bbc news room.

our lead story, russia ordered his troops to withdraw from the ukrainian city of kherson, its single biggest prize since the invasion began. the bid for republicans failed to materialize. the control of congress hangs in the balance. now, let's look at what the result means for america's next esidential election in 2024. ron desantis' huge margin of victory is fueling talk of him for the republican ticket, but what does it mean for donald trump? he says it was a great personal success, but do of the republicans agree? as a result trickled in, former president mingled with people at his mar-a-lago resort, and he gave a short speech. mr. trump: so as of this moment, we have some out there, we are 80 wins and three losses. isn't that great? [cheers and applause]

wouldn't that be funny if we were better on the general election than the nominations themselves? maryam: the truth is that is a little more complicated. donald trump officially endorsed 174 of the house candidates, and many struggled in battles with more establishment republicans in counties with candidates backed by trump, those who voted republican increased by 1.3% compared to 2020. but in states or counties where republican candidates stood without his support, well, they are the votes increased by 6.9%, so perhaps not t results he was looking for or other senior republicans. this is senator lindsey graham. sen. graham: definitelnot the republican way, so that is for darn sure. i was in charge of guam, so i want to take control of that. >> congratulations. sen. graham: i think, you know, we will be at 51, when all is

said and done in the senate. maryam: so, in his words, definitely not the republican wave. he was asked about ron desantis, which he replied, "i don't know if he will run. i think it will be bad for the party. if mr. desantis announced a presidential bid," he would reveal things that would not be flattering, suggesting "i know more about himn tboso when repuo will they blame? joe walsh is a former republican congressmen. he has some ideas. joe walsh: privately, they will do what they have done for the last six years, because they are all cowards. privately, they will all blaine trump, which is the truth, but none of them will say that publicly, so they will blame mitch mcconnell, they will blame kevin carthy, they will blame

anybody publicly but trump, and once again hope that trump just goes away. all of theseepublican powerbrokers who want to push trump out, trump won't let them push him out. he owns this party because he owns the voters in the party. maryam: taylor griffin was a republican strategist and former advisor to former president george w. bush. do you agree with that assessment? do you think that privately republicans are blaming former president trump, but publicly they are saying something completely different? taylor griffin: of course, and i will say that has been the case all along. but the republican voter, i don't see a lot to blame here. if the republicans take back the house of representatives, the republicans take back the house of representatives. maybe the margin is not as large as it could become, but it is still a win, so i don't know that republican voters are going to be looking for people to blame right now. maryam: there is a feeling,

though, is there, of a great victory comin from the republican side, is there? taylor griffin: well, no. from the sort of establishment, political prognosticators are all saying republicans did not do as well as they could have done, and that is absolutely true. but i the same time, i think for the regular republican voter, especially the ones that follow donald trump, if donald trump says it is a victory, it is a victory. and i don't think there's going to be some huge reckoning over this among the republican base. maryam: ok, well, we know that president donald trump attention he is going to announce that he is going to run 2024. do we want ron desantis to throw his hat in the rain? if he does throw his hat in the ring, he would be, made people predict, a formidable opponent for president trump, no? taylor griff: sure. by all established metrics, ron the santos' victory -- ron desantis' victory in florida

looked really good pure he improve margins among hispanics or he took miami-dade county for the first time since jeb bush took miami-dade county, the first republican governor to win miami-dade county in quite some time. i think you feel like he is well-positioned. at the same time, he is not donald trump. nobody holds the heart and mind of thease of the republican party right now. and so this race is going to be defined by trump, and if desantis can find a way to contrast himself with trump in such a way that he can gain enough support to actually push through and win the nomination, we will see. maryam: i spoke to someone earlier who told me that it is not about personalities, it is about policies, and that ron desantis, if he were to go forwd and move ahead, he would be moving ahead with trump policies anyway. is that true, do you think? taylor griffin: i think it is still very much about

personality when donald trump is involved. donald trump has a -- he has changed -- i mean, think about the policies of the republican party before and after donald trump and tell me at policies are all that matters here. the personality of donald trump has changed the policies of the republican party in very marked ways, and i think that the personalities will continue to be important, as we go through in this race going forward. maryam: taylor griffin, it has been good to talk to you. thank you once again. taylor griffin: sure. thank you. bye-bye. maryam: so what is the result mean for joe biden? well, he is do to make an address in the next hour or so. in the meantime, he has tweeted pure views as "democracy does not happen by accident. we have to defend, strengthen, and renew it. i will have more to say this afternoon, but thanks to the poll workers and officials who worked into the night to safeguard our sacred right to vote in the millions who made their voices heard."

our north american correspondent barbara platt usher. barbara: they are treating it as a victory because they are going to lose by less than i thought. so it is certainly a receipt -- a relief to them that the route that was addicted by the republicans, this red wave that they thought might be coming, and they themselves thought they might get a real walloping, because there is so much unhappiness about inflation in the country. president biden's poll ratings are low, so the conditions were there, but it wanot like they expected. thatas given them a certain amount of energy, i think. president biden, you saw in his suite there, continuing on with the message that he used in the closing message of the campaign, that democracy itself is at stake here. this is off t back of the fact that there are many republican candidates who either are suspicious or deny election results of donald trump's

presidency in 2020, and also the revelationthat the committee that is investigating to capitol hill attack and the various roles that were played there. so he is going to continue emphasizing tt, and he will have to face a cgress that is divided, which will limit his ability on the hill quite a bit. but i think still the democrats feel that they have managed to achieve something by not losing more. maryam: alright, well, that was barbara plett-usher in capitol hill. plenty more on this fast-moving story, the midterms and the results here on bbc news throughout the evening also come of course you can revert to our website. our webpage has the very latest. we will be hearing from joe biden in about half an hour's time. the president will be getting an address to the nation after democrats did better than many people expected. also, we have heard in the last hour or so, there will be a

runoff election in the sta of georgia. that will be held on december 6, because neither senate candidate received over 60% of the vote. as always, please stay with bbc news. you have been watchin"outside source" with me, maryam moshiri. thanks for your company. goodbye. ♪ narrator: funding for this presentation of this program is provided by... narrator: financial services firm, raymond james. man: bdo. accountants and advisors. narrator: funding was also provided by, the freeman foundation. by judy and peter blum kovler foundation; pursuing solutions for america's neglected needs. and by contributions to this pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. ♪ ♪

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♪ ♪ is provided by... narrator: pediatric surgeon. volunteer. topiary artist. a raymond james financial advir tailors advice to help you live your life. life well planned. brook: these are people who are trying to change the world. startups have this energy that energizes me. i'm thriving by helping hers everyday. people who know, know bdo.