if everything you read or watch gives you comfort, you're doing it wrong. that'll wrap things up for me this election eve live from marietta. see you live tomorrow on election day from roswell, georgia. >> katy, that is amazing. that's exactly what people need to hear. the news is not meant to be comfortable. the truth might be negative, but it's the truth nonetheless. and you can't come here just to hear your side speak. amen, katy. thank you for saying that. >> and don't go to facebook for your news! gosh. >> because you're curating your own facebook feed. listen to what other people have to say and check the facts. katy, thank you for saying that. i appreciate that. stay safe. we'll see you tomorrow. all right. good afternoon, everybody. i'm ali velshi. a political kaleidoscope, that's the take from nbc's senior political editor just one day out from an historic midterm election. that's because there's a potential path to victory for both parties.

we are in the final hours, which means a last-minute push from all sides from the 2018 candidates to the president, all hoping to energize voters to get out the vote. president trump is about to speak -- i think he's just started speaking at one of three campaign stops today. once again, all in trump-friendly territory. his predecessor, former president barack obama, hit the trail in fairfax, virginia, for a rally. his message, as we've heard before, is don't boo, vote. early voting totals have already far outpaced 2014's midterms. 35 million people have already cast their early or absentee ballots. whether you cast your vote early or you vote like i will early tomorrow, every single vote counts. here's what's at stake. right now the current senate makeup, 51 republicans, 47 democrats, 2 independents. there are 35 senate races right now. democrats need a net gain of two seats to take control of the chamber. they're defending 26 of the 35 seats. republicans look poised to keep

control of the senate, but right now it is still anyone's game. in the house, there are 435 house races plus 4 house special elections. republicans hold the majority. here democrats need a net gain of 23 in order to take control of the house. we've got all of our road warriors on the trail following the action on this election eve. we're going to get the latest on some of the most crucial races, but first let's quickly listen in to president trump in cleveland. >> think of that. how do we lose that in a debate? more people are working today than ever before. somehow whenever they do pick their far-left candidate, i think we're going to do okay. we have a lot of good sound bites. our military is stronger than ever. we have a lot of great, great sound bites.

tomorrow the people of ohio are going to elect mike dewine to keep america surging full speed ahead. mike dewine, boy, he's fighting, he's great. and i know his opponent. he's a disaster. there are some democrats, they're fine. this guy is a bad guy, not a good person. he's hurt a lot of people. what he's done to people is a disgrace. and i hope he loses for two reasons. number one, mike dewine is -- he's going to be a great governor, and cordray a bad person who will do a terrible job. okay. now that i have that out of my system, let's go. it's true.

it's true, he's a bad person. we actually essentially fired him, so i know a lot about him. you're fired. republicans have created the best economy in the history of our country and the hottest jobs market -- well, you take a look. take a look what's happened. this is the hottest place clickical economically anywhere in the world right now. i have some wonderful leaders of countries, presidents, prime ministers, kings, queens, some dictators, but we don't mention that. the first thing they say to me is congratulations, mr. president, you have the hottest economic nation anywhere in the world. congratulations. [ cheers and applause ] ohio sees it just about better

than anybody because you see the car companies back, the car companies expanding, other companies coming back. remember, they were all leaving. now they're all coming back, folks. they're all coming back. just like i said, but i did mislead you in one way. >> let's go to nbc's peter alexander in cleveland, where the president is speaking. talking about richard cordray, he was the head of the consumer financial protection bureau, put in there because elizabeth warren was not able to be seated because of objection by every single republican in the senate at the time. so he's now personalized that, calling richard cordray a bad guy, the democratic candidate for governor in ohio. >> reporter: that's exactly right. bottom line is this is the first of three stops in this final day for president trump. he's focused exclusively on red states, states he won in 2016.

he was reliving the glory days when he won here in ohio, ultimately moving on to winning the white house. we visited with some of the president's base of supporters, people he's trying to get out and motivate. even though his name is not on the ballot. here's what they told my colleague a short time ago. take a listen. >> i think there's enthusiasm on both sides. i think when you look at what's happening with the caravan and with justice kavanaugh, the way he was treated, i'll tell you, my mom's an 86-year-old democrat from pennsylvania. she just changed parties from republican this year. >> because of kavanaugh? >> because of kavanaugh. >> i think troops at the border is a good idea. i mean, we're a country built by immigrants, and i believe, like trump believes, we want the immigrants here, but we want them to do it legally. >> i actually work with hispanic-americans who believe legal immigration should be the way because they came here legally. they say you shouldn't be able to cut the line. >> reporter: the president's supporters parroting back some of his main talking points,

everything from fake news to concerns about immigration, specifically about that caravan. that's another topic the president is hoping to close out with, stoking these fears of immigration in the waning days. >> all right. peter, thanks very much. peter alexander in cleveland, where the president is talking. why is the president visiting these three states one day out from the election? i want to bring in our national political correspondent steve kornacki, who is at that remarkable board that can give us all the answers. the president is going to friendly places, but he's really trying to preserve his popularity in those places because he's told people the media is going to call in a referendum on his performance over the last two years. >> yeah, and i think the idea there, the key there is the idea of trying to put some wins up on the board, trying to go to places -- let's see -- that didn't quite work. oh, my god, there it is. the governor's race obviously in ohio, this is shaping up as one that is a winnable race for

republicans. it is a competitive race. if republicans do end up posting a win, trump, you know, after being there is in position to try to take some credit for that. indiana, obviously trump won the state by 20 points a couple years ago. mike pence, his vice president, the former governor of indiana. joe donnelly was leading in our most recent poll of that state, but only by a couple points. braun certainly within striking distance. missouri very similar to indiana. trump winning in 2016 by 20 points. a lot of republicans felt that mccaskill had gotten lucky in 2012 in getting re-elected. her opponent that year, todd aiken, made that comment about legitimate rape. he self-destructed. republicans said at the start of this campaign, josh holly, put in a more generic candidate, the republicans can reassert

themselves. very close race. again, trump going to three places, when you look at where the battlefield is for the house right now, republicans are in deep, deep trouble. but he's found three races that are at least winnable on paper for republicans on tuesday. >> all right. steve kornacki, thank you. i'm going to be spending a lot of time alongilistening to you the next few days. up next, brian kemp says he's investigating an attempted hack of the voter registration system in georgia. democrats are calling it a last-ditch political stunt. how's it resonating with voters? after the break, we'll talk about that. and our reporters are fanned out across the country. throughout the hour, we'll take you to california, georgia, texas, and wisconsin. you're watching msnbc. when i book at hilton.com

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california may be key to determining which party controls the house of representatives next year. democrats need 23 seats to take control, and they're targeting seven districts in the golden state that are held by republicans, but in areas that hillary clinton won during the last election. nbc's jacob soboroff joins us from orange county, california, traditionally a republican area

that went blue in 2016. jacob, what are things like there? >> reporter: ali, i don't want to overstate it, but where i am right now could potentially, in the case of a close election tomorrow night, become the most consequential building, the most consequential election administrator in the united states of america. these are ballots that have already been cast, hundreds of thousands of ballots that have already been cast here in orange county. 130% increase in-person early voting alone. what's gone down with these ballots so far is they've gone through two scans. they're going through a third for another check. tomorrow night they'll all be tabulated and counted. there's a huge surge not just in democratic voters but republican voters as well. this is a giant warehouse. you can pick up your precinct election supplies. why this is so consequential is orange county is home to 1 million different registered voters. this is one of the machines

where they count the ballots. also, four different toss-up districts. four drimpifferent toss-up congressional districts. seven of those districts are in california. the democrats need 23 seats to take back the house. at the end of the night, if it's a close election across the country and we're waiting on those polls to close here in california, all four of those districts, t districts will all be counted in this building right here. it's an unbelievable thing to think about. the men and women that work here are the ones that are actually making sure this happens in an orderly process. all of these ballots here have gone through a sorting machine. let me go back and show you. i'm so nerding out about this process. it's hard to explain how cool i actually think this is. it's actually deadly serious. in terms of election security and things like that, this place is on lockdown. this is a sorting machine that these vote by mail ballots will come through.

once they come through this machine here, they come into this area here, and with a computerized system using bar codes, they're sorted to be in their relevant areas. once they come off this machine, they go into this area. it's lunch break, which is why it's quiet here. they go down into this machine then come over into these cases. they're opened. all of the signatures are matched to your voter registration signature on file. ultimately, like i said, when the polls close and it gets to that time tomorrow night, all of those votes are going to be counted. i talked with neil kelly, who's been the registrar for 15 years here in orange county. he says he's never seen anything like this in terms of the surge of voters in his entire life. when i asked him, you know, what's it going to be like, to be here at a time when the election could be decided in this building that we're standing in right now? he said, it's huge, but we're ready for it. so a lot of pressure on the orange county registrar. an extraordinary day, to be sure, will be going down here tomorrow. the reality is, in california it's been going on for this early voting process, ali, a long process that continues at

this minute. although, when they're on lunch break, it kind of slows down. >> yeah, it looks orderly now, but that is going to be interesting if that comes down to tight races in california overnight for those of us on the east coast. that's why tomorrow night could be a very, very late night. jacob, thanks very much for taking us through it. jacob soboroff in santa ana, california. all right. the georgia governor's race is one of the closest and hardest fought races in the country, and it's getting yet nastier. a new poll shows the race is effectively tied with democrat stacey abrams and republican brian kemp each getting about 47% of the vote. libertarian ted mets gets about 2%. nearly 5% of voters say they're undecided. fascinating how anybody is undecided at this point. if nobody gets 50% on election day, the top two finishers advance to a run-off. the campaign has been marred by charges from abrams that kemp is using his position as secretary of state to suppress votes by not processing tens of thousands

of voter registrations, mostly from minority voters. now, kemp is accusing democrats of committing a crime. kemp, who is georgia's secretary of state, has asked the fbi to investigate the georgia democratic party for trying to hack the state's online voter database. it's quite a charge. he hasn't provided any evidence to back up the allegation. this came after an associated press report that an attorney for election security advocates are suing kemp in his role as georgia's top election official, told the fbi in kemp's office about a major database flaw. independent commuter scientists told the ap the flaw allows anyone with access to a voter's personal information to alter that voter's record. earlier today, kemp was asked about the timing of all this, just before voters head to the polls. >> i'm not worried about how it looks. i'm doing my job. this is how we would handle any investigation when something like this comes up. i can assure you, if i hadn't done anything and the story came out that something was going on, you'd be going, why didn't you

act? >> are you worry about it undermining trust in the voting system? >> this has nothing to do with the voting system. this has something to do with the vulnerability, potential vulnerability that we found out about, some other things that are going on that i can't comment on because it's an open investigation. >> the georgia democratic party responded with a statement reading in part, this political stump from kemp just days before the election is yet another example of why he cannot be trusted and should not be overseeing an election in which he is also a candidate for governor. brian kemp is desperate to save his failing campaign, and it's likely we'll see even more of his abuses of power as the election nears. democratic nominee stacey abrams called the investigation a witch hunt. >> instead of owning up to it, taking responsibility, and seeking a way to fix the flaw, he instead decided to blame democrats because he does that. he doesn't take accountability. he finds someone else to blame. he has consistently taken this action, and unfortunately, this time he did it on national

television through a statement that lies. it's a complete and utter fabrication. >> nbc's rehema ellis joins us from marietta, georgia. these hacking allegations came after the end of early voting, but is this something that voters you're talking to are thinking about, especially those who haven't voted yet? >> reporter: yeah, it really does depend who you talk to, but in this county, it's really important because cobb county, where i'm standing right now, in the last presidential election, 2016, cobb county for the first time went for a democrat. that was hillary clinton. all the times before, they had voted republican, but not that time. so now what do they think about these allegations? let's ask a voter. this is eddie. forget the fact it says billy on his shirt. what do you think about all of this in terms of the allegations that are coming from the secretary of state's office that there might have been some attempt by the democrats to hack into those registration files?

>> i don't believe it. >> reporter: you don't believe it? >> no, i don't believe it at all. i think it's just to throw off voters. i think people are going to vote whoever they're going to vote for anyway. i don't think it's true. >> reporter: when you hear allegations of voter suppression, does that bother you? does that impact the way that you're going to vote? >> no, not at all. not at all. >> reporter: what does matter to you in terms of voting? >> i just have my own thoughts about who i'm going to vote for and why. i just keep it personal between me and amongst my friends. i just kind of like a lowdown on that. >> reporter: so you're not going to tell me who you voted for? >> no, i think you might know. >> reporter: do you always vote? >> no, i've always been voting. when i was younger, i didn't vote as much. now your vote does count. it's so close right now. from what they're showing on tv. definitely, no excuse but to go vote tomorrow. >> reporter: great. eddie, thanks very much. >> thank you. >> reporter: ali, as i mentioned earlier, it does depend on who you talk to. i was talking to some other

folks in the parking lot here just in front of the grocery store. they told me that they don't care about the issues of voter suppression. one person said they do. another person said that they don't. it all depends, i think, really, on your politics in this particular instance. but one thing i can tell you for sure, voters are energized. people are talking about going to the polls. there are something like 6.9 million registered voters in the state of georgia. in the last gubernatorial election, only a third of those voters came out to the polls. everybody i'm talking to around here says they suspect it's going to be much higher than that come tomorrow. >> that will be a victory for democracy no matter who people are voting for. rehema, thanks very much. joining us now to take a closer look, roland martin, host and managing editor of the digital show "roland martin unfiltered." joe watkins, republican strategist and white house aide during it the george h.w. bush administration. and maria hinojosa.

roland, you and i for years have been talking about people need to vote. it is secondary as to who you vote for. i certainly get pushback on twitter saying it's only important that democrats come out and vote this time. you and i have had very specific examples of parts of the nation that have been troubled where voter turnout has been very low. when people go out and vote, i'm thinking of ferguson, missouri, they can actually change the future. >> absolutely. we see that right now. first of all, when we talk about voting -- there's no facet of our lives government has no role in. in fact, the moment you're born, government takes over because there's a birth certificate as a government document. even when you die, there's a death certificate as a government document. you actually think about every facet of your life, government has a role. you have to connect the dots. i've spent the past eight days -- i was in north carolina

last sunday, i was also at union baptist church, houston thursday and friday, and saturday. i was in gainesville, florida, now i'm in atlanta. i can tell you the enthusiasm is stunning because people are now beginning to understand the role that voting plays. if you believe in criminal justice reform, guess what, you better vote for those folks who are judges. 19 black women running in harris county. who's running for district attorney? so we've gotten out of this idea of everything is about washington, d.c. people are now beginning to realize that, wait a minute, that local race has an impact on my life. >> joe, let me ask you about this. there's a remarkable amount of interest from different groups. african-americans -- i realize certainly in alabama in the special election in which doug jones was elected over roy moore, they realized, boy -- roland and i talked about ferguson, missouri. but there are instances where african-americans are realizing if you come out here, you can make a difference. certainly on the democratic

side, i was looking at a statistic to say white men are in the majority of democratic candidates being fielded in this election between minorities and women. what are you seeing amongst african-americans? >> tremendous energy and excitement about voting. this is one cycle, one midterm cycle where you're probably likely to see greater turnout than you have in the past. that's a good thing for america. that's a great thing for democracy. i love some of the things i've heard on the campaign trail. you had oprah winfrey talking about the fact she's not owned by either party, that she's an independent, she votes for the best person. she was out there supporting the candidate for governor. >> she made an interesting point. if people vote in numbers that are beyond tampering or numbers that are too big to tamper with. i saw on that poll we just showed that hispanic enthusiasm is lagging a little bit. you think that's just inaccurate polling? in texas, beto o'rourke is counting on hispanics coming out. >> this is the whole question around latino voters. i get a lot of pushback when i

say things like, you know, people want latinos and latinas to go vote, but are the parties, in this case the democratic party, are they going after that vote hard? and they're not. they're just not. so i'm not surprised that latinos and latinas are circumspect about this because when you are kind of the face of the attack and you're just feeling all the of the attacks, sending troops down to the border to keep people like you out of the country, to make sure your families aren't staying together, we're going to take away your children. all of this is very confusing. my sense for latinas and latinos is a lot of them are super enthusiastic. they're running for office. but then there's another segment of people that feel really beaten down. they have a lot of questions about the republicans, obviously, and a lot of questions also about the democrats. but who's knocking on their doors, making sure they're getting enthusiastic? >> ali, what has to happen with

latinos is exactly what happened in the 1960s with african-americans. we had groups like core and others who were part of the nonpartisan groups. they were actually sent into mississippi and alabama. you had people like ella baker who said, look, take your college clothes off, put your overalls on, and go sit and ask those folks who didn't go to college or didn't go to high school what do you want. she said, they're very smart. they can tell you. but don't come in saying, i'm going to save you. no, what do you want. six years ago when i was going on cnn with chris van holland, i said, dude, y'all have got to spend resources in georgia to register the 800,000 people who are eligible and unregistered. he's like, well, i think georgia it going to go red. guess why stacey abrams is tied. she created the georgia register act. you have to spend millions moving people into those places to register the 2 million

latinos who are eligible but aren't registered. it can't happen during an election season. it has to be a two to three-year process. >> and lupe valdez, who's running for governor in texas, maybe people aren't necessarily watching this race in particular. she's a latina, daughter of mexican immigrants, former sheriff, former dea, lesbian democrat in texas. she's running -- >> she's checking a lot of boxes. >> and she's running on the democratic ticket. >> but she doesn't have the resources. >> true. that's the other question. she doesn't have the resources. what i was going to say is that when she talks about what happens in texas, people are like, is it a red state a blue state? she just says it's a nonvoting state. when i was on the ground with her, the number of people in texas who we met who just were like, you know, i don't vote, it's like, what are you talking about? she was on the ground getting them to register and getting them enthusiastic. but there is that question. that's the unpredictable part,

right. that's where i'm like, who knows what's going to happen because we're not necessarily polling those people who are first-time voters. >> we'll find out again in this election. hang on one second. i want to ask joe, because joe is a republican. he's a conservative. you're still a republican of the republican party, are you not? >> yeah, yeah. >> what is happening here in terms of the fact there are things like prison reform, things like health care? there are all sorts of topics that would actually be -- even immigration -- that would be good and smart and popular for republicans, but they've been hijacked by the right wing of the republican party and this president. when i grew up, i didn't know republicans thought immigration was a bad thing. i didn't know they thought prison reform was a bad thing. i didn't know they thought lower costs for better health care would be a bad thing. so what do guys like you do? there's so many of you, people who are republicans. i mean, you worked in the white house. you worked for a republican president of the united states. what do you do? >> you vote for the best person. you don't have to be hijacked by policies you don't agree with.

you vote for the best person. that's our right as americans. we have the right to vote. back in the '70s, i'm showing my age now, i was working at talladega college in alabama. i worked with sclc to get people registered to vote. back in alabama in the '70s, it was still a hard thing to make sure that people were being registered, people of color got the chance to vote. so i'm against voter suppression. i'm for progressive policies, policies that help people. i joined the republican party because they were the party that supported civil rights back in the '60s. they got the civil rights bill. they were the ones that bandied with president johnson to pass civil rights and voting rights. >> not today. >> not today. i'm just talking about the party that i joined. but that doesn't mean that republicans who are in the party can't let their voices be heard. one of the ways you can, of course, is to show up at the ballot box and vote. look at the district in virginia where brad is running for re-election. that's a republican district. there will probably be high turnout there, but it's a

neck-and-neck race. a lot of republicans are saying, i don't agree with that. republicans have the right to disagree and vote their conscience. >> you know what's really great? not hearing, for example, what we were hearing on the street back in north carolina right before the presidential election. a lot of the young black activists, both republican and democrat, were saying that they weren't going to vote. what they were going to do was not vote. that was going to be their statement. we know that now, of course, there was some russian influence in that and social media input, saying don't vote. i have not heard that kind of trope. i'm not seeing that in these midterm elections. and that makes me incredibly happy. >> roland, last word. >> i will say this. i'm still registered in texas. in harris county, the early voting in this year is going to actually surpass the total vote

in 2014. >> amazing. >> latinos, huge numbers there as well. also, i was just in florida. african-americans, 344,000 voted early in 2014. it's going to pass half a million this election. obviously andrew gillum on the ballot. the key about those young folks, we're seeing huge numbers. 200%, 300%, 400% increases around the country. i think people understand after 2016, all the people who said hillary clinton is the same as donald trump, they finally realized that, what the hell were we thinking? guess what, you may not be in love with a white candidate, but one of them is going to win, so you better make the best choice when it comes to voting. very simple philosophy. vote or shut the hell up. >> you have been consistent in that message. i don't know there's anybody in america wearing more of a sign that people should go vote. i appreciate your commitment to democracy. joe and maria, same to both of you. you guys have -- you know, there are a lot of people who tell me,

don't tell everybody who go vote. everybody needs to go vote. we'll settle it all afterwards, but your vote is your voice. thank you to all three of you. coming up, i want to talk about immigration. it is front and center across the country, but in texas, i want to go there with hours to go before election day. the first of three caravans of asylum seekers from central america is still hundreds of miles from the u.s. border, but the military is working fast in southern texas, spreading out across the border, putting up fences, rolling out barbed wire. we're going to go there live after the break. we're also going to take you to the florida panhandle, where early voting has been extended after the area was decimated by hurricane michael last month. you're watching msnbc. i just got my cashback match,

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proposition 11 "proposition 11 is a vote to protect patient safety." it ensures the closest ambulance remains on-call during paid breaks "so that they can respond immediately when needed." vote yes on 11. all right. welcome back to our special coverage. hard to believe tomorrow night polls will be closing across the country. so far, at least 35 million people have already cast ballots as of yesterday. that's from our data with target smart. one of the states with the highest early turnout is florida. more than 5 million floridians have already voted. there are two big races on the ballot in florida, governor and senate. they are both very competitive.

in the rear clear politicins average of polls, both show the democratic candidate with a slim lead. in the governor race, tallahassee mayor andrew gillum versus ronn versus ron desantis, gillum has the lead within the margin of error in most polls. nelson is up about 2.5 points, well within the margin of error for most polls. kerry sanders is in tallahassee. he's one of nearly two dozen road warriors getting the perspective ahead of elections tomorrow. early voting for most people in florida, you're going to tell me about the exception, ended sunday. the governor running for senate extended early voting for several counties affected by the storm. >> reporter: that is correct. hurricane michael devastated portions of florida, primarily in the panhandle. that's an area where the voters typically used to be called

dixiecrats because they were conservative democrats. over the last decade, they have converted to republicans. their lives have been disrupted by a hurricane. early voting in most of the 67 counties in florida ended yesterday. what we have right now is eight counties where they have extended early voting by the governor's order. so we can report that so far 16,807 people have voted in those counties just today. across the state, 5.111452 million people have early voted, either by going to the polls early or by mailing in their ballots. in this state, the democratic republican split is a very narrow margin. you have 35.3% of the registered voters here republicans. 37.2% are democrats. so it will break down, perhaps, by the demographics of different

groups. one of those groups is perhaps a wild card. it is the young voters. those young voters today are doing something called storm the dorms. they're going out, going to the college campus dormitories. many in this group are the survivors of the shooting in parkland at marjory stoneman douglas. they're here, they say, because they believe after going across the country, they have registered voters who will make an impact when these votes are finally counted. this is what emma gonzalez, one of the survivors, had to say. >> tomorrow if you haven't already voted, is your chance to be a hero for yourself and everyone you love by casting a ballot and participating in our democratic system. gun violence is on the ballot. our lives are in the hands of the people that we elect. vote in every election like it's your last because it very well could be. >> so with 5.1 million votes cast, and we see those numbers still trickling up because in

counties like bay, jackson, liberty, those eight counties where people are still voting, we're going to see perhaps not only a record early vote, but it is possible that we'll see more people in the state of florida voting early rather than voting on election day. of course, that will change the tables as well. one of the big questions, ali, is do republicans who were energized by donald trump, those who had sat out years upon years of elections, are they energized for an election like this during a midterm, or did they simply participate in the election for the man that they like, donald trump? now they're back to not really interested in politics, all i was interested in was president trump. we'll get some of those answers once the tallies come in. >> no kidding. i can't believe what emma gonzalez said. vote in every election like it's your last because it very well could be. i mean, coming from her and the survivors of parkland, that takes on whole new meaning.

there was never any question about i'm going to cast my ballot, but it didn't occur to me that's a good reason to vote. that it could be your last. >> reporter: powerful words. >> really powerful. kerry sanders in tallahassee. obviously the mayor of tallahassee, andrew gillum, is in the race for the state's governorship. all right. florida's early voting numbers are impressive, but as the saying goes, they do it bigger in texas. nearly 6 million voters there have already cast ballots. the biggest race has generated plenty of national attention, the senate battle between incumbent ted cruz and congressman beto o'rourke. real clear politics average has cruz up 6.5 points. one of the biggest issues dividing voters is immigration. nbc's gabe gutierrez is in the border town. a university of texas/texas tribune poll released last week shows immigration is the most important problem facing the state. what are you hearing from people? >> reporter: hi there, ali. good afternoon.

yes, immigration and border security, especially among conservatives. democrats in that same poll vote political leadership and health care as their top issues. we are standing right now at the epicenter of the immigration debate. this is the area where the u.s. military is ramping up this encampment here. you see the barbed wire behind me that the president's been talking about. in the distance, dozens of military vehicles that we have seen come in today, several hundred troops already here. this is the border town of donna, texas. over the past few days here along the border, we've seen border patrol agents as well as the military conducting drills and also reinforcing the international bridges around this area. ali, this is despite the fact that the migrant caravans that the president has been talking about are still several hundred miles away. of course, this has become a major issue in the senate campaign. beto o'rourke having to turn out latino voters, especially in

these border counties, after having underperformed here during the democratic primary. but ted cruz, of course, trying to cast his opponent as being for open borders. he's trying to paint himself as the border security candidate and trying to hold off an upset here in the lone star state. as these midterms are playing out, the military plans to ramp up its forces here. several thousand troops are expected to be deployed here, up to 15,000, the president says, in order to help secure the u.s. border. >> so gabe, in texas it's complicated because you have people who think immigration and border security is a problem and they need to be stronger. you've got a whole set of people who depend on labor, both from latinos and hispanics inside america as citizens or legal immigrants and those who depend in some cases on labor from illegal immigrants. then there's a large hispanic population. so it's by no means monolithic about how people feel about immigration, but a big thing

that i was talking to maria about is whether a lot of these latino voters will come out and support beto o'rourke. >> reporter: and that's exactly the question. that's why beto o'rourke has been coming to some of these border counties, trying to ensure latino turnout here along the border. as you mentioned, there are many people we've spoken to that think this help is needed. they're happy to see the military here. yet, others we've spoken with say, look, this amounts to a militarization of the border. they don't want to give the impression that this is a dangerous part of the country. they see this as a fraud. they see that the president is doing this simply several days before the midterm elections to ramp up his base. yes, it is a very complicated situation here along the texas border. the question for the beto o'rourke campaign, can he convince enough of those latino voters along this area to come out and vote for him. >> thanks very much. gabe gutierrez in donna, texas.

coming up, we're going to make a stop in wisconsin, where house speaker paul ryan is campaigning for the man who could very well replace him. wisconsin was a key state in 2016. what role is it going to play in the midterms? you're watching msnbc. hey! alright, let's get going! and you want to make sure to aim it. i'm aiming it. ohhhhhhh! i ordered it for everyone. [laughing] (dad vo) we got the biggest subaru to help bring our family together. i'm just resting my eyes. (dad vo) even though we're generations apart. what a day. i just love those kids. (avo) presenting the all-new three-row subaru ascent. wave to grandma, everybody. (avo) love is now bigger than ever.

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end. we have 22 road warriors crisscrossing the country like the candidates to get a sense of what is motivating voters. msnbc's political reporter shaquille brewster is in mt. pleasant, wisconsin, just south of pleasant, wis wir wisconsin. shaquille? >> hello there, ali. speaker ryan just wrapped up with the man who he wants -- who he wants to replace him in congress. they were here talking with supporters and volunteers. i was able to ask speaker ryan how he feels on the eve of this election day. listen to what he had to say. >> how do you think you guys are doing? >> i think we're doing all right. we're holding our own. midterms are tough ones. i think we're holding our own. >> and this here in wisconsin, there's, of course, this local race here, wisconsin one, where ryan is campaigning for style.

eavers and baldwin were campaigning together. baldwin running for senate. listen to what tony eavers said about the national attention they've been getting visits from president obama, vice president pence. listen to what they said about an impending possible blue wave here. >> if there's a blue wave, let's have it. in wisconsin, it's around health care. it is around making sure that people are protected and have a good education system. if that's a blue wave, see, i don't think it is. i think it's about wisconsin, issues that are really important. i don't take on donald trump unless scott walker is connected to it. i'm running against scott walker, not donald trump. >> now the democrats there were in beloit, wisconsin, campaigning together. i got to speak with tammy baldwin. baldwin, of course, is leading in the polls right now. she has a comfortable lead. as she reminded the audience, if you look just two years ago, ron johnson was the republican there. it was behind in all the polls.

the democrats up against ron johnson. ron johnson now is senator ron johnson. so tammy baldwin is not taking anything for granted. she's out there mobilizing her supporters. tony evers is out there mobilizing his supporters. speaker ryan is out campaigning. so it's all hands on deck effort in wisconsin. lots of attention being focused on this race in this state, one day ahead of election day. ali? >> shaquille brewster in mt. pleasant, wisconsin, thank you. no one knows for sure what's going to happen when the polls close tomorrow night. we know the democrats need to take control. they need 23 seats in order to take control of the house for the fist time in eight years and two seats to take control of the senate for the first time in four years. what is it going to take for democrats to pull off that blue wave? i want to take a closer look. let me start with the senate and show you what has to happen in the united states senate. our country is of the 100 seats in the senate, 35 of them up for grabs, the democrats will end up

with 42 and the republicans with at least 47. with about 11 states in play. now here's the problem. i'm not suggesting that this is what democrats are going to win but let's just say they win any three states. let's say the democrats win texas, north dakota and they win arizona. that's it. 50. that's what they need to control the senate. so the democrats -- the republicans need just three to win the senate of the 11 in play. the democrats would have to win everything else and one more. so that's why the senate is a tougher play for the democrats than the house is. let's look at the house. the house needs -- the democrats need 23 seats in the house of representatives. they are targeting about 60 republican-held seats right now. so they just need 23 of these 60. now let's just say they don't win all of these. we also have to take a quick look at what the -- what republicans need on this front. republicans, in order to take

the house, need to pull up -- let me just pull that up again. we're all getting used to this. the republicans are also targeting a number of democratically held seats. about nine seats here and the republicans may turn some of these. so as of now, the magic number for democrats is 23. but if republicans pull off victories in any of these, that will increase that number. so the net win that democrats need is going to be 23 seats for control in the house of representatives. that will get them to control of that. we'll be watching it all very closely. now, according to a new nbc news/"wall street journal" poll, 49% of those surveyed prefer a democratic congress while 43% prefer a republican congress. the main message is voters sent -- being sent by voters who prefer a democratically controlled congress, stand up to donald trump. get rid of donald trump. protect health care and work together. the main messages being sent by voters who prefer a republican

congress, let me justice look at the words together. work together. do your job. immigration. uphold the constitution. secure the border and the democrats are wrong for the country. this is a word cloud that suggests these are the most important messages. now the white house appears to be preparing for the possibility that democrats may take control of the house. white house press secretary sarah huckabee sanders was asked about that during an interview on fox news this morning. >> i still hope that republicans win the house, but if they don't, i think that what you've seen the democrats start talking about is the only message they have. and that's one of obstruction. they have no policies. they have no solutions. america's got some real problems we have to deal with. and it's another reason that when people are going to the ballot boxes tomorrow, they need to look at what type of america they want to have. one of a party that has solutions. somebody that's leading. or a group that only wants to obstruct and tear people down, which is exactly what you're seeing come out of the democrats right now. >> with many races, many of

these races, i'm just showing you these ones that are in play right now with the republican targets or democrats targeting republican precincts, they are very close. every vote matters. if you haven't cast your ballot, get to your polling place tomorrow and do your civic duty. we're going to be right back. you're watching msnbc. ♪ ♪ i'm all for my neighborhood. i'm all for backing the community that's made me who i am. i'm all for my theatre, my barbershop and my friends.

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"look what she's accomplished... she authored the ban on assault weapons... pushed the desert protection act through congress, and steered billions of federal dollars to california projects such as subway construction and wildfire restoration." "she... played an important role in fighting off ...trump's efforts to kill the affordable care act." california news papers endorse dianne feinstein for us senate. california values senator dianne feinstein that wraps up this hour for me. i'm going to see you right back here tomorrow at 1:00 p.m. eastern with stephanie ruhle and

at 3:00 for the all-day special coverage of tomorrow's midterm elections. thank you for watching. "deadline white house" with nicolle wallace starts right now. hi, everyone. it's 4:00 in new york. in about 30 hours we'll know a lot more about the country's appetite for change. for the very first nim his short political career, donald trump represents the status quo and democrats represent change. with 54% of americans believing that the country is on the wrong track. that's a daunting number for any party in charge of everything. and a potentially perilous place to be politically with the nation on edge just one week after the deadliest massacre of jewish americans in this country's history. and the arrest of a florida man who targeted donald trump's critics with pipe bombs. adding to the gop's political baggage, a president who has chosen to douse the flames of xenophobia and fear