[Music]
hi everybody I'm Bry Lewis a breaking
news reporter here at Forbes joining me
now is z Cohen Sanchez executive
director of Soul strategies Z thanks so
much for joining me thanks so much for
having me I'm so excited I am so excited
to talk to you right now we have been
talking about this election for months
election night is finally here it is
right after 11:30 on Tuesday night I do
want to give our viewers a time stamp of
where we are to kind of give an insight
into the conversation so results are
still coming in across the country but a
clearer picture is being painted right
now as of now there are still Pathways
to victory for both Donald Trump and uh
vice president KLA Harris but as we sit
here Harris has 187 vot electoral votes
to former president Donald Trump's 230
according to the Associated Press you
hear those numbers what are your
thoughts so I mean let's let's just
start by saying that it's not the night
that we necessarily thought it was going
to be um Virginia certainly a shock
there are some states that I think we
thought we were going to do a lot better
in that we have not um but I I still
don't think it's over I mean there's
still a path to Victory we're very close
in PA very close in Wisconsin in
Michigan so um still there's still hope
there so you definitely sound cautiously
optimistic so let's talk about that a
little bit where do you see her Pathway
to Victory what are you looking at when
you see the tea leaves when you see
these results coming in that are giving
you you know that
excitement so I definitely cautiously
optimistic I mean it looks like Georgia
and North Carolina are going to be in
the most part although things could
shift slightly in Georgia because
they're still counting Atlanta they're
still counting gwick County um very very
important places for Democrats in
Georgia
so still there um on ABC they they were
saying that the chance of that are
pretty small even if she outperforms in
those areas it's still a pretty slim
chance of Georg is going to look
positive for us however um even if we do
lose Georgia even if we do lose North
Carolina uh PA Wisconsin and Michigan I
think are going to be the path forward
to Victory um which all looks so close
right now at least the last time I
checked I know that this was touted as a
close race I know that it is not over
the results are still coming in the New
York Times ticker though has Donald
Trump's chances of winning at over 85%
as you and I are talking so you hear
that number what's your
thoughts listen it is um the path to
Victory slim right now it is it um but
you know again there there's still hope
I mean remember the bush and um and Al
Gore race came down to a few hundred
votes in Florida um the the way that PA
is looking right now it could really
come down to a couple thousand votes in
the end same thing with with Wisconsin
so I think we still need to look at
those as the possibilities um the
problem becomes is that we're naring our
different Pathways to victory at this
point um originally obviously Georgia
was a very very sure path to victory for
us we were able to pick that up along
with PA very for almost for sure Victory
um but we still have the issue of the
fact that we're not going to get that
state very unlikely that we're going to
get that state so we're our our path is
is a lot more narrow and also if we lose
Virginia um our path could narrow even f
so what are you hearing right now in
other conversations with Democrats what
is the vibe like in the group chat give
us some insight
there um stressed very stressed um you
know it's interesting because I think
that the night start a a down a downfall
with Florida and I think that a lot of
people were expecting to well at least
Democratic operatives were expecting to
see Florida at least in a similar
Fashion To Where what Biden did which I
believe that he won sorry lost last time
very very small margin so the fact that
we are 10 points behind a FL that's that
was that hurt at the beginning of the
night a lot and I think you know that
again that
Virginia Virginia should be a solid Blue
State and we're underperforming also
there are definitely some places um in
like different suburbs particularly in
PA that we thought were going to be
better not so much so again PA not place
or ruled out but Slimmer path it's
definitely too early for a postmortem
but when you're saying things like we
thought this would be a better result
and it's not as of right now do you
think Democrats effectively turned out
cities what does that look
like yeah well I think that there are
definitely places that the campaign just
thought that they didn't need to be
right um and this was an issue back with
Hillary's campaign in 2016 as well it is
very interesting that there are some
places where kamla is not doing as well
as Hillary did which I think was very
unexpected I think people went into this
thinking that kamla was a much stronger
candidate is a much stronger candidate
than Hillary Clinton more story all of
those things but it's it's not
reflecting in the numbers and that you
know could be for a number of reasons I
mean the fact that this was a very short
campaign um the fact that Trump has been
in full swing you know the entire time
it yeah it's they're definitely states
that we thought that we would do better
in I know that for political junkies
like you and I this is like our Super
Bowl staying up watching the election
when I'm thinking about other elections
like 2016 Democrats I talked to then
were really shocked that Hillary Clinton
didn't win if we remember the Javit
Center seemed like a celebration at the
beginning of the night and then as hopes
waned she ended up not coming out in
2020 Joe Biden won it was a different
story what do you feel like now in 2024
are you drawing any comparisons to
recent election nights what does that
look
like yeah you know I mean I I think that
going into this we understood that this
was going to be the Titus race everybody
was saying it that it was going to be
one of the tightest races in history so
I don't think that that's necessarily um
I I do think that people were more
confident in Hillary's win in 2016 than
they were in KLA Harris although she is
a strong I think a stronger candidate in
terms of her profile
um but yet it's you know again some of
those States is is concerning I mean it
means that we haven't been there doing
the work for long enough and I think
that if anything if Trump does win
tonight um I think that the Democrats
really need to take some inward
reflection about what we can be doing to
make sure that we're not ruling off
States like Virginia again and that
we're able to actually have a presence
in those States let's talk about that
scenario now because if Donald Trump
does win tonight what do you think the
first thing democrats should do
is you
know we're we're I think that the part
party's going to need to have a major
overhaul and restructure you know I
think it's definitely going to be one of
those situations this is not going to be
a Hillary 2016 law I think that this is
having a president like Trump somebody
who is a felon you know all of these
things this is not you know he was in a
very different situation when he ran
against Hillary than what he is now and
so I think as a party we're going to
really have to do some inward reflection
um and we're gonna have to start running
some really serious campaigns I mean we
I don't think that after tonight if
Trump does become the winner that it's
going to be time for us to be um you
know crying and being upset about the
results I think that we need to jump
into action because 2025 we have some
very serious races including in
Virginia but we aren't at that point yet
there are still some Pathway to
victories as we sit here right now so
what is your eye on after you and I hang
up you're turning on the TV what
specific State and County are you
looking at all pa pa pa pa all the way
honestly um I think PA is going to be
our biggest struggle um I think it's
going to be the closest St and I think
ultimately who win who wins PA wins the
presidency right so um I think that and
I also unfortunately think that it's
going to be the longest date for us to
probably get the results
in I've been talking about this election
I know you have too now for months and
months and a similar sentiment
especially in recent weeks is this is
going to be a long night the election
won't be called to the same night it'll
take maybe a week it'll take at least a
couple of days I was thinking back to
2020 when that was called on Saturday
obviously election night is on a Tuesday
but it seems like there's a different
picture here I was just talking to a
pollster who said I think if you're not
going to bed this race could be called
at 300 a.m. 4: a.m. we could get results
tomorrow so what do you think then was
missing from this conversation about the
election yeah you know I I I I also
don't think that that they're going to
be able to anything tonight just because
I think these states are going to be so
close that very very likely we could
have multiple States going into a Rec I
think that's a very likely here um but
but I do I do think that you know we
we'll probably get results faster than
what we did um for the 2020 election
because people forget obviously that
there was Co during the 2020 election we
had an enormous amount of mail in
ballots and So that obviously slowed
down the process significantly also back
then a lot of these places like n PA
were not prepared to be able to count
that many mail and ballots it was a
shock all at once and they have said
that they are very much prepared um to
be able to take that on at a much faster
rate this time so I don't think it'll be
as as late as Saturday but I also don't
think we're going to find out tonight
well we still have our eye on all those
Battleground States as results are
coming in Z Cohen Sanchez per usual
thank you so much for joining me thank
you also for this entire election season
joining me and I hope that once the
results are fully in you can join me
again would love to thanks so much for
having me Britney