but, -- i have her to think for the road i'm going down now. >> i think should be pretty proud of you. >> i hope so>> i hope so welcome to "morning joe." special hour. we're officially 100 days away from the midterms. and over the next hour, we will take a look at what's at stake in this pivotal election. it's an extraordinarily important election. and that of course includes control. house and the senate and key governors races in states like pennsylvania, georgia, and arizona. these midterms come as fallout from the january 6th insurrection continues. and the country braces for a

likely 2024 campaign announcement from the man who inspired that attack. former president donald trump. a series of monumental decisions from the supreme court will also be top of mind for so many voters this november. none greater than the unprecedented decision to overturn almost a half century of privacy rights in roe v. wade. coming up we will be joined by georgia's democratic nominee for governor, stacey abrams, here to talk about everything that is on the line this fall. but first, let's bring in an incredible round table, we have former chairman of the republican national committee, michael steele, former white house press secretary under president obama, robert gibbs, host of msnbc's politics nation and president of the national action network, reverend al sharpton, former george w. bush white house and state departments, elise jordan and former white house director of communications, to president obama, and director of communications for hillary

clinton's 2016 presidential campaign, jennifer palmieri. michael, let's start with you. you ran the rnc. i need you to explain something to me. how could it be that the republicans have, i would say, the best environment, if you just look at leading economic indicators right now, as they've had since ronald reagan's massive victory in 1980 and yet look at the senate race, behind in all of the key states, behind in pennsylvania. they're behind in ohio. they're behind in georgia. and their candidates, talk about a leading indicator, republican candidates are getting wiped out when you look at the money that both sides are raising. what's happening out there? >> well, i think there are a couple of things that are coming into focus, as we get ourselves really through the midpoint in the primary season. we still, at this point, have a number of primaries left, and on the ballot, you have a lot of

candidates that have been pushed up and forward by a hardened right fascist base. they are about owning the livs, the revenge politics that was stoked by donald trump and mitch mcconnell, the big nest this, is they have lost control of this process. unlike what i was facing in 2010, when i had to deal with the candidate, the worst thing she was saying i'm not a witch, today's republican party has to deal with candidates who literally believe that president biden is an illegitimate president and should be thrown out of office. >> also, still believes in all of the lies, all of the eis and a lot of all of the election lice and won't criticize january 6th. elise, i always tell the story,

when i talk about the impact of this abortion decision and what it may do in the 2022 election, i always talk about the georgia focus group of trump republicans and they follow donald trump on every issue and one of the people you were talking to that, just let's be blunt, bought into so many conspiracy theories, and said what about roe, should roe be overturned, before the decision was overturned, and he said, what are you talking about? i'm a man. that's not up to me to decide. and i heard so many republicans, so many life-long conservatives, so many people that actually consider themselves to be pro life, they look at the supreme court decision, and they look at thomas' concurrence and they look at privacy rights under attack now, they look at a 2-year-old girl having to flee her home state because she is going to have, the state is going to force her, to carry, 10-year-old girl having to flee

to her home state because she is going to have, the state will force her to have the rapist's brother and the mothers to i don't -- rapist's baby. and the mother is on the table, independents will be chasing swing voters with a lot of these policies. >> joe, the person you're talking about in georgia, he is pro life and those who identify as pro life doesn't necessarily mean they want abortion banned outright. in the race this cycle that i'm really watching is what is going to happen in pennsylvania because the republican nominee, doug mastriano who was a marcher on january 6th and part of the insurrection, he had said that if he wins, he is immediately going to ban abortions in pennsylvania. the fifth largest state in the country. and a very purple state, i would say. and so is that actually going to help or hurt the down-ballot

candidate like dr. oz? is he going to be lumped in or are there enough independent voters that it gives democrats an advantage in a state like pennsylvania where abortion could be front and center on the ballot. >> abortion, we talked about the abortion ruling from the start, we talked about how it's going to definitely impact republicans with suburban moms, with suburban women, with college-educated, whatever, soccer mom, whatever we want to call swing voters, women swing voters in the atlanta suburbs, in the philly suburbs, in the i-4 corridor, and yet there is another side to that story, isn't there? older hispanic voters may actually move the republican party's way because of that. so this decision, this decision has put a lot of cross-currents in the political waters, hasn't

it? >> there is not a blueprint for these type of midterms for those who live in the post trump world and all of the midterms go out the window, and he has a decision that comes down and you look at the candidate like gretchen whitmer, she has gone all in on abortion, she is starting from earlier this year, when she filed a lawsuit about it, so some people have already made their decision, we're going all in, but it is not, you know, even though there might be culturally, hispanic voters could be more conservative, that is certainly my experience, and presidential campaigns, but i think now, when i look at, if i were running a race and i were looking at voters of color, black, hispanic, aapi, they are, you know, they are walking away from democrats in a very disturbing way. i suspect that's about inflation. i suspect that's about the economy. these are the sort of people who are most affected by that, so i think for democrats, who are probably going to be looking at

running the race, where you need to, do we look at abortion, but you got to do the basic economic issues first. >> and reverend al, there is something you talked about for many, many years, we talked about this for many years, democrats have long considered, especially white woke democrats, have long believed, that people of color, the black voters, the hispanic voters, are just as progressive and just as woke as them, you have been saying all along that the latte liberals as you call them have it all wrong. you now look at joe biden's polling numbers, he is leading support from black voters, and massive support from hispanic voters. do you think it may be because of this disconnect between the democratic establishment in washington, d.c. and where people of color live politically? >> certainly, a lot of it that. when you look at the fact that

it seems that a lot of those in the democratic party leadership are playing to quiet those that are noisy rather than deal with the base voters who are concerned about inflation, that are concerned about the crime going up in many areas, that are concerned about issues like roe v. wade, and are concerned about policing and other issues, and i think that what has seemed to bother me a lot is that this tendency of whoever yells the loudest, that's who they are dealing with, rather than understanding they don't represent the overwhelming majority of the people that you need to come out and vote. and one of the things that i've seen is the democratic candidates, democratic presidents, you brought up biden's numbers, were more effective when they knew how to

compartmentalize the noise makers, president obama was very good at that, and even clinton some degree, and i think that what we've seen, even those who have made noise, understand we were getting attention on certain issue, we are looking at something that i've not seen where just the noise makers are being heard by the leadership in the party err than understand they have a part that we need to hear but we got to deal with the mass base and i think they have been captive of their own noise makers which is to their detriment. you know, robert, we're always seeing political analysis, coming on this show, coming on every show, looking at the last election results, and talking about how this is the future of the republic, the political future, it's cast in stone, of course, 2008, we heard about that emerging permanent democratic majority, 2010 it was the tea party, and then in 2012,

after president obama won, another massive victory, we heard everybody talking about that blue wall that democrats had set up with the electoral college and there was no way republicans would ever win the electoral college again because there was a blue wall that protected the democratic candidates. i want to ask you about three states that i find to be the most fascinating, most perplexing, since president obama left office in 2016, wisconsin, michigan, and pennsylvania. those are three states that i always call fool's gold for republicans. because they would always throw money to those three states and other than michigan, it seems they always lost. now, you go county by county, let's go and put iowa in there, too, you know, county by county, president obama did so well, in a lot of counties where, you know, he may have lost a county,

but instead of loeg losing it by 60 points, he would lose it by 30 points, and you added that up and he owned the industrial midwest. what has happened to the democratic party's lock on the industrial midwest? >> it's a great question, joe. i think what you've seen and you saw this with acceleration starting in the 2014 election, and the advent of donald trump in 2015 and 2016, is he was really able to capture those noncollege, particularly noncollege white voters, that democrats and particularly president obama had done well with in many of those upper midwestern states, and you know, we see this even now in the national polling, that the democratic party is now more aligned with voters that are college educated, and the republicans with noncollege educated voters, and i think you've seen, you can throw in ohio, a state that president obama won twice, that now feels

potentially out of the grasp of democrats for quite some time, despite having i think a great senate candidate there. but i think you have really seen voters that have been talked to about their fears, and their concerns but really their economic anxieties that has changed the fortunes fort republican party, particularly in the rural areas of those states. >> i would ask about those same three states. you look at some of the races right now, tim ryan is looking pretty good in ohio. right now, gretchen whitmer is looking pretty good in michigan. at the end of the day, of course fetterman in pennsylvania, looking pretty good but my god the ads that he keeps throwing, the tweets that he keeps throwing dr. oz's way, just dizzying, keeping him offbalance every single day, i'm curious, i'm curious, does this tell you that at the end of the day, so much just depends on the candidate pers, the candidate

himself, who is the best political athlete? >> yes, this is a clear advantage that democrats have across the board and in an historically difficult year is, they have very good candidates and particularly in michigan, very good candidates and a ton of money, and the democrats are pretty much, the gubernatorial candidate, outraising the republican counter parts across the board. in michigan and pennsylvania, you have two really great stars that are very well suited for the states that they are running in. with both whitmer and fedderman. i've never seen so much fun running a senate race. and the other thinking, i think a few months ago, i might have thought they were in a tough spot, but abortion, jan 6, and

guns, they may be marginal issues, but they may be marginal issues that get those two candidates over the top. >> coming up next, how republicans may just manage to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. with some of the extreme candidates the party has nominated in key races. our special look at the critical midterm elections, now just 100 days away, continues after a short break. ys away, continues a short break.

michael, jen brought up a great point about democrats right now, in a lot of these states, they have better, better political athletes on the ballot in these states, because donald trump has worked hard to let's just call it what it is, i mean he's worked really hard to get a lot of crazy weirdos, freaks, idealogues, these hucksteres on the ballot, and it is so interesting, you know, we talk about ideology, we talk about economic trends, and at the end of the day, like reverend al,

you have run for office, i've run for office, you walk into a room, and you know whether you own the room or not, you know if you're going to have to work hard or not, and candidates like fetterman, candidates like tim ryan, they're so much more attuned to that than say a dr. oz who lives in new jersey, and votes in turkey, and you know, jd vance who one day says i love san francisco, i hate san francisco, i love silicon valley, i hate, i mean when is this going to catch up with these people? usually at the voting booth, right? >> it does, and it has, and i think in large measure it will, i think their dynamics, political cross-currents, and i'm sure you know with conferences with the republicans, that a lot of the leadership did not want to be in

play this fall, that did not want to go into this fall having a discussion about abortion, they didn't want to go into this fall having a discussion about guns and here we, are and they were unhappy that a number of the states including mississippi, pushing forward abortion legislation that they knew would wind up in front of the supreme court. so here we are. and now, the leadership is hammered by candidates who are so whacked up that voters are looking at them saying i can't do that. and policy positions that are untenable for a lot of republicans to, you know, to try to take advantage of. >> michael steele, thank you so much. greatly appreciate you being with us. and i just, i just want to ask, elise said she was looking closely at pennsylvania, that's going to be a fascinating race. what race are you looking at? >> michigan. i mean i just, it is, i think that whitmer could be, if she

wins, she is proof of how you make your own weather, right? i think she has, she has a very distinct brand. and at times, michigan, that has been to her detriment. but she has been able to separate from biden more easily than others. i mean at this point, i'm sorry to say that but the president's numbers are so low, democrats are able to separate from him, relatively easily, and unique candidates that are running best race that they can with the message that is going to work in their state, whether they're an challenger or an incumbent like whitmer, but if she can come back, and tony evers may have a harder time in wisconsin winning election, and in nevada, a harder time re-election, and they haven't done the work that she has done have her own agenda, have her own record, and constantly be hammering it. she gets a lot of blowback, but i think that's the price of admission in winning in a tough

midterm. >> elise, what about the key issue for you in 2022? >> donald trump, he is going to motivate democratic voters? i mean that's just the gift that democrats are waiting on, and coupled with abortion, coupled with guns, and democrats want to stay away from talk about inflation. and that gives them a really great outlet. >> yeah, reverend al, what about you? let me ask you both questions. what race are you looking at as a race you think will be the defining race for 2022 and what's the defining issue? >> i think i'm looking at ohio. really very interested to see how tim ryan does because he is not in either of the mode of what we call the woke crowd, and at the same time, he has been able to deal on the ground with ohioans, and what they're concerned about which could be the model going into '24, so i

think tim ryan and his race in ohio i'm particularly looking at. and again, i think the real overall concern of voters is looking at candidates that really understand where i am, how i'm living. this is the first election, i think that, you know, we can look at the history, but this is the first election we've had since a pandemic in this country and since an assault on the capitol of this country, on our democracy, so a lot of what we're looking at, we're not realizing voters are voting with a different reality than they ever voted before. so a lot of the matrix are changing, and i want to see who gets it right, because there's no book for them to read or study or no adviser that they can get that can say this is how lincoln did it. lincoln did not have a pandemic, and lincoln did not have the preceding president leading an insurrection. so a lot of things are

different. >> a lot of things are different. it's going to be fascinating. i want to thank you all. thanks to our incredible round table, greatly appreciate your insights, and hope to see you again soon. coming up, a look at the supreme court's monumental decision to overturn roe v. wade and how that is going to impact others. we will speak with democrat spais stacey abrams on her bid to unseat georgia's republican governor ryan kemp. an governor ryan kemp

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some, the only reason they will cast a ballot this fall. >> this is an nbc news special report. >> we have just received word of a decision in one of the most consequential cases before the supreme court in deck decades. >> june 24 was a victory decades in the making nor one side. >> i will be joining now. . there are no words that can describe what i'm feeling right now. >> an unfathomable outcome from the other. >> it sounds like my country doesn't love me and appreciate my body as a woman. >> many american women for the first time in their lives lost a constitutional right, something the supreme court had never done before. >> unfortunately, people are going to die, women are going to die, between now and when we can get legislation passed. which is untenable. and i don't know how we let it get to this point. >> the supreme court's conservative majority ruled 6-3,

in dobbs versus jackson women's health downholding a mississippi law that bans abortions after 15 weeks. the justices voted 5-4 with overoccurring roe with chief justice john roberts making it clear that his vote was only to side with the mississippi law. it came two months after "politico" reported a leaked draft of roe and the impending reversal did not diminish the despair and outrage felt by abortion rights supporters, when the decision was announced. protesters flooded the streets in several cities. while thousands demonstrated outside a barricaded supreme court. the implications of the ruling were immediate. several states had trigger laws banning abortions that went into effect as soon as roe was overturned. some of those laws make no exception for rape or incest. legal challenges have temporarily stalled in bans,

with restrictions, in more states. >> our elected officials, you have to do something. that is a message i really want the people to hear. you are in charge. you can do it. >> in the aftermath of the ruling, president biden and democrats have vowed to protect a woman's right to an abortion. >> we cannot allow an out of control support, working in conjunction with extremist elements of the republican party to take away freedoms, and our personal autonomy. the choice we face as a nation between the mainstream and the extreme, between moving forward and moving backwards, between allowing politicians to enter the most personal parts of our lives shall and protecting the right of privacy. >> earlier this month, the president signed an executive order to help ensure women have access to medications for abortions and emergency contraceptions. the yeahs are 219, the nays are

210, the bill is passed. >> two weeks ago, the house passed the women's health protection act which would make the right to an abortion federal law but is likely to die in the senate. back in may, a similar bill was blocked by all 50 republicans, and one democrat. joe manchin of west virginia. the supreme court's position to overturn roe is not in line with where a majority of americans stand on the issue. national polls both before and after the ruling put support for abortion in all or most cases at around 60%. recent polling has also found that more voters see abortion or women's rights as a key issue, heading into the midterms. in fact, in a pest roe survey by "the new york times," abortion and the economy were tied for the most important issues for 18 to 29-year-olds. in the wake of this monumental decision on women's rights,

there is a feeling of hopelessness that we as a nation are moving backward, but this november, we can turn anger into action. coming up, we are going to be talking to democrat stacey abrams about her bid to unseat georgia's republican governor, brian kemp. and how abortion will play into that race.

with us now, georgia democratic gubernatorial nominee stacey abrams. thanks for joining us. i guess we're on tv every morning, you're on the ground

every day, we can talk about the environment and how it's shifting because of this court decision, or because of that crazy statement by other political candidates, i'm curious what are you seeing on the ground 100 days out? >> what i'm seeing on the ground is a great deal of anxiety and the desire for hope. we live in a state that is in the midst of multiple crises. while some people are doing well, so many georgians are struggling. we have an economic crisis that is being exacerbated by the failure of this governor to deploy resources. we have evictions that are at a skyrocketing rate. number two or three in the nation. we have a housing crisis in georgia. we have an economic issue. because while prices are rising, wages are not. they're stagnant in georgia. so we may have low unemployment. but unfortunately these jobs are not playing a good paying wage so family are struggling to get by. we are facing an extreme abortion ban.

abortion is now illegal in georgia for all intents and purposes. before women know they're pregnant, they cannot make a decision. and in georgia, we have 82 counties that do not have an ob-gyn. 18 counties that do not have anyone practicing family medicine and in nine counties that do not have a doctor. and yet, the response from the governor is to refuse to expand medicaid denying access to health care to half a million georgians. we are the ninth highest gun violence state in the nation, and gun violence is the number one killer of our children, and so on a host of metrics, this governor has failed, and i'm hearing again and again, that people are concerned, because his response is either inaction, or making it worse, he has weakened gun laws in georgia. i've been across this state. i've been to every region of the state. and without exception, the people i'm talking want better, they want more and they don't know that they can get it. but they have been convinced that we can't afford. it and that's simply not true. >> you know, isn't it ironic, let's just say not ironic,

hypocritical that the very people who call themselves pro life are the very people who want to cut medicaid and the very people who support the row lif ration of weapons of war and 18-year-olds with mental health problems to be able to walk in and buy them on their 18th birthday, the same people who of course support the death penalty and the same people who seem unconcerned about any sort of health care reform that would stop the united states of america from having the worst infant mortality rate, for mothers, and again, in the western world. >> georgia is ground zero for almost every proof point that you offered. under this governor, in order to win his primary, he weakened gun laws in georgia. and that was after the massacre in march of 2021 that took the lives of eight people in the state of georgia, including six asian women. this is the same governor who is refusing to expand medicaid but

yet forcing women into pregnancy. he's basically told them either you get pregnant or you go to jail, if you get pregnant, you either hold that pregnancy, and are forced to give birth, or you go to jail, and you have done that despite denying those very same women access to the kind of prenatal care, and the kind of preventative care that can make possibly getting pregnant a life-changing opportunity. we know that under this governor and in the state of georgia, black women are three times more likely to die. and georgia has the highest maternal mortality rate in the nation. which means that it is lethal to get pregnant in georgia, if you cannot have the health care you need, and he is denying them the very health care that could make carrying a healthy pregnancy to term, and worse, he's telling them that if you miscarry, you can be investigated and jailed. if you have an ectopic pregnancy, you may have to risk your life until it is do or die

literally. we have a governor who is a hard right extremist, who is a religious treemist, who likes to pretend that he is a moderate because he is anti-trump or a fiscal conservative but to your point, he is someone who has proven time and again he does not care about the people of georgia, he does not care about the future of georgia. >> i want to talk a while bit more about abortion because it is front and center in georgia, not because of the campaign, but just because of the laws that are being passed here, but it is very interesting, we had elise jordan, who did a focus group of georgia voters, we had this focus on georgia democrats and a focus group on georgia republicans shall the georgia republicans who were trump voters were predictably extreme on issues like the election being stolen. and would say crazy things about possible conspiracy theories but when the topic came to abortion, one of the men that supported

donald trump, when asked about abortion -- >> women should have this mup much voice on the topic, men should have this much voice on the topic. >> i'm t-is fascinating, republicans who calls themselves pro life their entire life who are shocked by how extreme the georgia legislature and other legislatures especially across the deep south have taken it. >> i grew up in the deep south. i grew up in a religious family. i shared those beliefs for a very long time. but when i moved into politics and law, when i started really examining my belief system, i realized i don't have the expertise or the capacity to make that type of medical decision for anyone, and because georgia's ban is so extreme, a ban that brian kemp says he was overjoyed to sign, pim, women are literally putting their

lives on the line and can't access care because they can't get it and often don't know if they're pregnant because it may be too late to find out if someone is there to help them, as of today abortion is illegal. and that is terrifying. it is terrifying for those women who also want to carry a child to term. because they may be denied the very life-saving care they need to one day carry a child to term. this is about a woman's medical care. this is not a political issue. and yes, i've heard from independents, i've heard from republicans, i've heard from older religious black women, and latino women, who have all said to me to a person, this is not the government's job, this is not the governor's job, the governor should be expanding tunes and not taking away rights. >> and in ohio, a 10-year-old girl who was raped had, to flee that state, to get an abortion, a 10-year-old girl, because she was afraid the laws of ohio were

going to have a forced birth of her rapist's baby. you look at what the texas republican party is doing, the texas attorney general is doing, they are actually fighting the biden administration, who are trying to protect women. if the mother's life is at risk. and it seems to be one extreme move after another extreme move. the mississippi attorney general, a month or so ago, said that 12-year-old girls would be forced to have births if they were victims of rape or incest. they don't presses a lot of people. women obviously extraordinarily concerned. they have no control over their health care choices. over their own bodies. the federal government, the state government is stepping in and taking control. what hope do you have to offer them? >> i would offer them the

reality that if i become governor, i will absolutely work to repeal these laws, but more importantly, i will veto any new laws of the current governor, not only signed the most extreme ban in georgia's history, he has said he will go further, we join mississippi, and texas, he would eliminate access to abortion for rape and incest. he likes to tout what he has done with human trafficking and yet he would deny those very same women the medical care they need. he would tell them, we tell that 10-year-old kid to file a police report in order to get access to care. i don't know of a 10-year-old who has the with with daul to -- the wherewithal to survive the trauma of rape and our criminal justice system. i will protect women. i will protect families. let's take this a step further. this is also about the economy of georgia. who is going to bring jobs to a state where women cannot survive being here? who is going to make the decision to live in a state and bring multiple jobs to a place

where we do not have adequate health care already and we are going to continue to lose doctors and health care workers because they risk losing their licenses if they do their jobs? in georgia, if a doctor or health care worker, an emt can go to prison for ten years if they are found to have participated in an bortion and they have to prove the negative, they have to prove it wasn't their fault and they have to hire lawyers and it is easier and more profitable to work somewhere else. georgia is putting not only our economy at risk, and our communities at risk, putting our future at risk with the lame duck governor, if he is re-elected, who will make it harder to survive living in the state of georgia. >> stacy, stay with us if you will, we will talk about other voters that will drive the vote in georgia this november. back in a moment. vote in georgia this november back in a moment

you talked about the business climate, and you talked about the economy. what can any governor do about the crisis of inflation right

now that's impacting all georgians? >> inflation is real. and we have to acknowledge it. we also have to acknowledge that this is a worldwide phenomenon. this is not endemic to the united states. that said, there are instruments already available in georgia, medicaid expansion is one, health care costs in georgia are disproportionately high because we refuse to accept the $3.5 billion per year to which we are entitled because georgians have already paid the bill. but brian kemp is refusing to bring the money back. that means that we don't have access to doctors and nurses, but we're also losing out on 64,000 good-paying jobs that could be helping those very communities especially in rural georgia. we have a housing crisis. we have an inventory crisis because too many hedge funds and out of state corporations are buying up affordable housing, jacking up the rates, and this governor is sitting on hundreds of millions of dollars that could be going towards solving that problem, and he refuses to spend it. not because he doesn't have it,

but because he doesn't think that's his job. and the very few dollars that he has spent has gone to the industry, to the hotel industry, and not to families that are in need. he has refused to address the hunger crisis, we have a food insecurity crisis in a state that is number one for agriculture. those are all the issues that families worry about. food on the table. a roof over your head. and the ability to make a living to take care of your family. brian kemp has no solutions. but he has the power, georgia has a $6 billion surplus, that is a surplus that could invest in future pay raises, which i recommended, raises for law enforcement to get them to a living wage, but also money we could put into small businesses which are 99% of the businesses in the state of georgia. there are tools available, but we need a governor who is good at math, and has the willingness to do it, and i tell people to check my plan. i have actually put the plan online, it's a spread sheet, you can check my numbers, make certain that i'm right and i use his numbers to come to the conclusion that we can do better

for georgia, we can address the economy in georgia. >> stacy, let's talk about education. you talked about teacher salaries in the virginia gubernatorial race last year, terry mcauliffe lost to glen youngkin, glen youngkin of course brought up critical race theory, but also many people believe they have really damaged terry mcauliffe at the end by saying that parents shouldn't have a big say in what went on in their classrooms, and he would say that quote did him in. how much power should parens have over the classrooms of their children, over the school districts, over what their children are taught, when they go to school in the morning? >> parents should absolutely have the power to be deeply involved and deeply invested in their children's education. i don't have kids of my own, but i have a borrowed teenager. my parents and my niece live with me and i have spent the last year deeply imbedded in her

education. i understand the kevins of parents, but i understand we can't have individualized plans for all students when we have underpaid teachers strug lig to get by. georgia has a teacher shortage and hemorrhaging teachers and the starting sam ry in georgia is less than the starting salary in mississippi. 39,000 dollars a year. i plan to raise that starting salary to $50,000. yet the governor is saying we can't afford. it he can afford to give billionaires and millionaires $10,000 tax cuts, but he can't afford it give teachers an $11,000 pay raise. that's bad math but it is also bad for education. what parents want, what any good person wants is for children to have good education, to feel safe in the classroom, and to know that they're being taught the truth. and unfortunately, this governor has banned children, he has banned books, he has banned teachers telling the truth, and he is doing everything in his power to undercut a strong public education.

recently, yes the state legislature finally filled its promise and funded education and that is because democrats sent money home. under his own fruition, brian kemp cut a billion from education during his tenure. that's the kind of leadership we will see if he is re-elected to. my mind, we want a public education governor and which is why i've been endorsed by the georgia association of educators. >> democratic nominee for georgia governor, stacey abrams, thank you so much for being with us. >> i want to thank you for watching this morning's "morning joe" special. stay tuned for the key races to watch and what's at stake 100 days from now. flowers are fighters. that's why the alzheimer's association walk to end alzheimer's is full of them. because flowers find a way to break through. just like we will. join the fight at alz.org/walk

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a major development to address a growing global food crisis. for the first time since russia invaded ukraine, a ship carrying grain is leaving that war-torn country. back here at home, do democrats have a reconciliation deal or not? arizona senator kyrsten sinema is now in the spotlight, as leadership needs her vote to pass a significant spending bill. and president biden goes back into isolation following another positive covid test. we'll have the latest on his recovery from the