Hi, everyone. Welcome to the beat. I'm Ari Melbert, and we're going through some technical difficulties, but I think we're going to be okay. You hear the music, and that means we are in the midterms home stretch. Tomorrow marks three weeks out from Election Day. Early voting now underway in 46 states. Tonight, there are some high stakes, marquee debates, Stacey Abrams versus Georgia Governor Brian Kemp, and the Trump critic term

Trump fan, J.D. Vance, will be facing off in Ohio with Tim Ryan. Everyone knows why these

races matter, control of Congress, the first election, since the Supreme Court ended the right

to choice, and the premise here is, of course, the votes will decide the outcome. I shouldn't

have to say that, right? The reason I shouldn't have to say that, right? The reason I

shouldn't have to say that is this is still a democracy. So here we are tonight in the midterms

home stretch, and this is America. It's not like many other countries where you have

authoritarian or despots who make it clear that they don't intend to follow any outcome

except the one where they

win. Take, for example, Brazil, where you have Bolsonaro, an autocrat who sounds like this.

There are only three alternatives for me. To be arrested, to be killed, or to be victorious.

And I tell those scumbags, I will never go to jail.

That's how authoritarian's talk.

He's basically saying the only right outcome is that he wins.

That's abroad, but consider why I'm showing you to this as the first senior hearing in our

midterm coverage tonight on the beat.

Because one of the Republicans running to be governor of Arizona is already talking like that before ever gaining power, conditioning her potential acceptance of the outcome in a democracy

on only whether she wins. Here she was, Ms. Lake, on Sunday.

Will you accept the results of your election in November?

I'm going to win the election, and I will accept that result.

And that's not some isolated rhetoric, and it's not that hard to just say, I'll accept the results, period.

That's one candidate, but that's one out of over 370 Republicans who now doubt or lie about the 2020 results, which rejected Republican rule.

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