[THEME MUSIC]
COY WIRE: Hello, everyone.
Wonderful Wednesday to you.
I'm Coy.
Grateful to be spending part of this day with you
right here on "CNN 10."
Let's start today with an update on the midterm
elections in the United States.
In two weeks, Americans will cast their votes
for representatives in Congress and candidates
for state and local offices.
As we've said these elections are called "midterms"
because they happen in the middle of a president's
four-year term.
Currently, members from President Joe Biden's
political party, the Democratic Party,
control both the US House of Representatives
and the US Senate, but Democrats control
both chambers by a thin margin.
In fact, in the Senate, it's currently
a 50/50 tie with, Vice President Kamala
Harris as the tiebreaker vote.
Let's take 10 to break it all down.
In the House, there are 435 voting members elected
every two years, so every seat is up for re-election
this year.
However, senators are elected every six years,
so about a third of those seats are up for re-election
Historically, lawmakers who are in the same party
as the president tend to lose seats in the midterm elections
regardless of who the president is.
Americans head to the polls to cast their vote on November 8.
If Republicans take the majority in one or both chambers,
this would likely make for a more difficult road
for President Biden's Democratic agenda
the remainder of his term.
There's a lot of attention on this election,
and you've likely seen the political advertisements,
especially if you live in a state with a tight race.
Early voter turnout for the 2022 midterms
appears to be on pace to shatter the previous record set
in 2018.
Let's hear more now from CNN anchor
and chief national correspondent John King, who's
looking at three key Senate races
that could determine which party gains control in the new year.
JOHN KING: The numbers tell the story better than any words,
can.
The Democrats have a majority but just barely.
The vice president breaks the tie in the 50/50 Senate.
The question is, can the Democrats
keep that majority in a very difficult
midterm election year climate?
35 Senate elections in all.
Let's look at three likely to determine which party controls
this chamber come January.
Let's start in Pennsylvania.
No incumbent here.
Pat Toomey, the Republican, is retiring.
Democrat John Fetterman versus Dr. Oz.
You know him from TV.
He's the Republican candidate backed by Donald Trump.
So let's go back in time, the 2020 presidential race.
What will we look for on election night?
We will start over here in the Pennsylvania suburbs.
The Democrats need to run it up here.
Fetterman, now the lieutenant governor,
was mayor of Braddock.
It's out here near Pittsburgh.
Can he do what Joe Biden did in, say, Montgomery County?
These are the suburbs outside of Philadelphia.
Look at Joe Biden's margins.
That's why he's president of the United States.
The suburbs went against Trump in 2018, even more so in 2020.
Can Fetterman match Biden in the Philadelphia suburbs?
That is one key test.
The other question, the flip side
of that is, can Mehmet Oz run like George
W. Bush or George H. W. Bush did in these suburbs?
They used to be Republican suburbs, or at least
open to Republicans.
Can Dr. Oz do that?
Let's go down to another marquee race.
Georgia.
Marquee because you have a Democratic incumbent Raphael
Warnock.
Marquee because you have a football hero,
Republican Herschel Walker.
Interesting because you also have
a libertarian candidate here.
And on Georgia on election night,
if you don't get 50% plus 1, then
we have a runoff in December.
So that's one big thing to look for in Georgia.
What else do we look for?
Just like in Pennsylvania, Joe Biden won Georgia
because he won in the suburbs.
Here's Atlanta, Democratic base.
Obviously, Senator Warnock needs that.
But how does he do in places like Rockdale County
and moving away from Atlanta, right?
Traditionally, Republican or purple suburbs,
they have become more Democratic,
especially in the Trump age.
Can Senator Warnock get anything like that?
Or can Herschel Walker prove that he
can contest for the suburbs?
And just like Dr. Oz, as a newcomer to politics,
Herschel Walker has to prove, if he
is to win-- see all that red?
That is Donald Trump's strength in rural America.
Can Herschel Walker in a place like Dodge
County-- not a lot of votes.
It's small, but they add up if you
win all these small counties by margins like that.
Let's come back to the Senate map
and let's move out west to the state
the Democrats are most worried about.
And it's a surprise.
Nevada.
You have a Democratic incumbent here.
She is a Latina.
This is a state where the Latino vote is critical.
So why is Democrat Catherine Cortez Masto in some trouble?
Number one, Laxalt is a big brand name in Nevada politics.
So you have a very close race between a Democratic incumbent
and a very well-known Republican.
To win Nevada, you have to win Clark County,
and you have to win big.
Clark County is the home to Vegas.
If you can see that up there, it's nearly 75%.
It's around 74% of the statewide population.
If you can run it up here, you can win.
It was reasonably close last time, right?
Joe Biden just won Nevada.
That was a surprise to many Democrats.
They thought he'd have a bigger margin.
Why?
Donald Trump made inroads among Latino voters,
especially male Latino voters.
So one of the tests as we watch the Senate race this time
is, can the incumbent, a Latina, dominate the Latino vote?
That is critical.
Or do Republicans keep making inroads?
That could make that one incredibly close as we move
from East to Midwest to West and count
the votes come election night.
COY WIRE: 10-second trivia.
Baseplates, trucks, and grip tape
are key components of what activity?
Slacklining, skateboarding, cycling, or parasailing?
[TIMER BEEPING]
Originally known as sidewalk surfing,
the first commercial skateboards began appearing in 1959.
All right, I think you all know me
and my team well enough now to know that we love sharing
stories that inspire and make us all reconsider what we think
is possible.
I introduce you now to Dan Mancina, a skateboarder who
lost his eyesight at 23 years old due
to a neurodegenerative disease, but his perseverance
is a reminder that when circumstances build up walls
around us, we have to find ways to continue to build
ourselves up within them.
Because changing within leads to changes without.
[DEVICE BEEPING]
DAN MANCINA: Had some O&M training, which
is orientation and mobility.
That's using the white cane.
That really helped shift my mindset
and get some of my mobility and freedom back,
and self-confidence.
[INSPIRING MUSIC]
It was just kind of a slow-- you know,
dealing with, coping with my vision loss
and starting to be comfortable and figure out who I was again.
Got some training, started doing kind of all the things
I would do in life before I lost my vision.
Skating was one of those.
And then just started--
yeah, it started very slow of trying skateboarding one day
and then posting some videos on it.
[MUSIC CONTINUES]
I wanted to build, like, the first fully adaptive skate park
kind of designed around visual impairments and stuff
like that.
It's just, like, an environment that has visual impairment as
well as WCMX.
That's the wheelchair motocross stuff.
In mind, ledges are really long, and
quarter pipes are really wide.
So there's kind of more time to figure
out where you are in the park using a lot of,
like, contrasts.
It's important for those who have
a little bit of residual vision between the ramps
and the ground, so it's easier to pick up and see.
[MUSIC CONTINUES]
They should have access to everything,
just like every other child.
So skateboarding is just one of those things, you know.
It's not for everybody, but there
are going to be those kids who want
to skate, so, yeah, equal opportunity for everybody.
I enjoy skating, so I'm going to do it.
So I encourage people to kind of more think that way, you know.
Don't let other people dictate your life
and decide what you can and can't do, you know.
It's all up to you, and it's kind of the biggest thing.
[ROCK MUSIC]
And for today's 10 out of 10, a doggone cute creation that
deserves round of applause.
David Jensen was tired of riding his bike alone,
so he got creative so that he could take his pups, Salt
and Pepper, along for the ride.
He got a Long John, a type of cargo bike,
then custom-built a box for the dogs.
But he also made them some possum goggles, or shall
we say goggles, so the wind isn't rough on their eyes.
Where there's a will, there's a way.
All right, all of you, diamonds in the rough.
It's about that time, shout-out time.
A round of applause for Prairie Farm Middle School
in Prairie Farm, Wisconsin.
We see you, and we hope you and everyone watching around
the world have a wonderful one.
I'm Coy, and this is "CNN 10."
[CLOSING THEME MUSIC]