Melissa: Let's head on over to the Garden State, New Jersey, where the gubernatorial race is just too close to call. Right now the incumbent Democratic Governor, Phil Murphy, and Republican candidate, Jack Ciattarelli, are in an unexpectedly tight race. Joining me now to provide perspective on the New Jersey gubernatorial race and other election results is someone well positioned on the subject, former New Jersey governor, Christine Todd Whitman, who beat incumbent James Florio in 1993, becoming the first woman to serve as governor of New Jersey. Governor, it's always lovely to have you. Thank you for being here.

Christine Todd Whitman: It's good to be with you, Melissa.

Melissa: What do you make of this razor-thin margin in this race?

Christine Todd Whitman: Well, it's showing the trends. We haven't re-elected a Democrat Governor since when I ran and defeated Florio. That was the first time a governor of either party had been defeated in a general election but since then, no Democrat has won a second term. Even though the Democrats outnumber the Republicans in registrations by over a million voters, they have been very negligent and lazy in these off-year elections, they just don't come out and vote. The conservative Republican base was really energized. Jack Ciattarelli was able to really energize that base, and they come out and vote anyway.

They really came out in big numbers this time and so it's going to be interesting to see. It's as you say, still too close to call. It was very clearly the tactic of Jack to energize that very conservative base to play to them and hope that the Democrats didn't do what they needed to do, which was to really work with the County Chairman. I just don't know how much the Murphy administration worked with local County Chairman because they're the ones that get out the vote, what kind of a geo-TV effort they had because it cannot be the candidate. It's got to be at the local level.

Melissa: I so appreciate this analysis because I think, often what happens is we start talking about the mood of the country changing or the state changing. I think as you're pointing out here, it's less about mood and more about which voters actually make it to the polls and which don't. It's not all on the voters or even on the candidate, it has everything to do with the capacity of these larger organizations to move their voters, get them excited, get them right to the polls. I'm wondering if you see that same narrative in the Virginia governor's race from yesterday?

Christine Todd Whitman: Well, I think that was also a little bit more reflective of the fact that Democrats can't seem to govern. Virginia, a lot of those people in the suburbs particularly work in Washington, and everybody though is watching the fact that Democrats control all three branches. Well, not the court, the two branches, the executive and the legislative, and they can't get anything done. If McAuliffe had been able to go around the state and say, "Look at what difference Democrats make all this money that's going to be coming into Virginia because of these two major bills," he might have had a much better chance.

Again, Youngkin was very smart in that he ran to the right in the rural communities, the more conservative communities, and in those bedroom communities of Washington DC in the more urban areas, he was much more moderate. Just going to wait and see how he governs but he was much more moderate up there. It's going to be interesting to watch how that happened. Again, it does come down to that base. In that instance, again, McAuliffe just wasn't able to excite the base but I think it was not all on him or on the Democrat organization in the state so much as the fact that the Democrats in Washington so close to them were showing they couldn't make it happen. They just can't get anything done right now.

Melissa: I want to talk a little bit about the new pac called Renew America Movement. You all call yourselves the renewers in part because you've used the language here of conservative, but I also know that as part of the Renew America Movement, you've expressed some-- and everyone who's part of that movement, has expressed some concerns that the far right of the Republican party may not actually be conservative. At least not conservative in the traditional sense of small government, fiscal conservativism. I'm wondering how you're seeing the interests of the Renew America Movement reflected in the election results?

Christine Todd Whitman: Well, again, I think it tells us that there are a lot of people who are in the center who can't quite find their home yet. As I say, it's going to be very interesting to see how Virginia is governed going forward because everyone's looking at that as the model, and part of that model is that you run to the center where there are a lot of votes in the urban areas. You cannot be as radical as the former president was. In fact, it's interesting with Youngkin while he did not push the president away in the sense that he accepted his endorsement, he didn't even appear with him when Trump was in Virginia in a rally forum.

He tried to keep him at arm's length while at the same time recognizing as Chuck Grassley did in Iowa that, "Hey, if this is someone who the majority of my party overwhelmingly supports, I'd be crazy not to take their endorsement." He was walking a very fine line but it seemed to have worked and that's going to be the message I think to a lot of Republicans, you've got to walk that line. For us at a Renew American Movement is sorting out those Republicans who really are conservative and are the types of conservative who respect the constitution and the rule of law and are fiscally conservative and are not socially extreme. That's what we're looking for and I think we're going to find more people looking for that kind of approach because they see it having been reflected down there in Virginia.

Melissa: Did you see any wins like that yesterday, any Republicans, and maybe they weren't happening at the gubernatorial level and therefore not getting that kind of news, but even in state legislators or others where you may have had your eye?

Christine Todd Whitman: Well, what I've certainly seen and looking at New York and some of the legislative races, but particularly New York, where you have the more extreme Democrats, they hadn't done well. They didn't do well in New York, surprisingly enough. Some of the city councils there in the various boroughs have elected Republicans for almost the first time or added to the few Republicans that they had. Again, I think you're seeing a rejection of extremism on the left and that's got a lot of Democrats worried too, that if their message is Bernie Sanders' socialism or AOC, the tribe, whatever they call themselves-

Melissa: Squad. [chuckles]

Christine Todd Whitman: -that's their alternative, then they're not going to go there.

Melissa: Former New Jersey governor, Christine Todd Whitman, thank you.

Christine Todd Whitman: Oh, my pleasure. Good to be with you again, Melissa. Take care.

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