Protesters and Police Clash Outside White House; Impact on Kentucky's Primary
BERMAN: Happening now, polls opening in New York and Kentucky for Democratic primary elections. Here in New York, longtime Congressman Eliot Engel being challenged by progressive candidate Jamaal Bowman. And in Kentucky, Amy McGrath and Charles Booker are vying to take on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell in November. That state has been roiled by the police killing of Breonna Taylor. CNN's Jeff Zeleny live in Louisville with the latest here. And these elections just look so different than we would have predicted five months ago, Jeff.</s>JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: John, good morning. There was no question about that. I mean the pandemic has delayed this primary here in Kentucky by more than a month, and protests over racial justice and police brutality have changed the politics dramatically, particularly in this Senate race here in Kentucky. Democrats have had this -- had their eye on this for so long, trying to unseat Mitch McConnell, as he seeks a seventh term. Suddenly, though, this race has changed.</s>STATE REP. CHARLES BOOKER (D), SENATE CANDIDATE, KENTUCKY: This is happening in Kentucky right now! We are in a moment, y'all. We are in a moment.</s>ZELENY (voice over): A sleepy Senate primary race suddenly electrified in Kentucky.</s>BOOKER: This time has to be different, for my cousins, for my little ones, for y'all. This has to be different for Breonna, for Mr. McAtee, for everybody that's a hashtag.</s>ZELENY: A national reckoning on racism and police brutality is resonating loudly here, where Louisville police killed 26-year-old Breonna Taylor, an EMT, in March, and David McAtee, the owner of a barbecue restaurant in June. Weeks of protests have injected fresh uncertainty into the campaign over who Democrats will choose in today's election to take on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell in November.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She's Kentucky's best chance to move on from Mitch McConnell.</s>ZELENY: Amy McGrath, a former Marine pilot, is the hand-picked choice of party leaders in Washington. Her primary victory was seen as a foregone conclusion, but State Representative Charles Booker is now riding a wave of momentum.</s>BOOKER: From the hood to the holler! From the hood to the holler!</s>ZELENY (on camera): You've said that you are campaigning from the hood to the holler. Explain that.</s>BOOKER: Well, I'm trying to build a movement here by speaking to our common bonds. And there's a reality that there are so many similarities in the hood that you would see in the -- in places in the hollers of eastern Kentucky and in the mountains, that if we realize our common bonds, we can change the world.</s>ZELENY (voice over): With a political awakening underway, McGrath has struggled to find her footing.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Have you been on the ground in Louisville with the protesters the last three days or in Lexington or elsewhere, Ms. McGrath?</s>AMY MCGRATH: I have not.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And why?</s>MCGRATH: Well, I've been with my family and I've had some family things going on this past weekend, but I've been following the news and, you know, and watching.</s>ZELENY: Booker turned that moment into a TV ad. While she's dramatically outspending him, $14 million to his $1 million on advertising alone, the closing momentum is on his side. The race is playing out here in Trump country, where the president won the state four years ago by nearly 30 points.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: President Trump and Mitch McConnell, delivering for Kentucky.</s>ZELENY: From the streets of Louisville, to small towns like Campbellsville, Booker is making the case for progressive change. His policies closely align with Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, both of whom have endorsed him.</s>BOOKER: We've got to be that change. We've got to bend that arc.</s>ZELENY (on camera): Do you wonder if he's too progressive for Kentucky?</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sometimes I think about that, but it's time for a change. Everything is evolving, man.</s>ZELENY (voice over): A more urgent test is the mechanics of voting. While more than 500,000 have voted early or absentee, only one polling place is open today in Louisville, with precincts consolidated because of coronavirus.</s>BOOKER: It's been hard to vote in Kentucky for a lot of us for a long time. And what we're seeing now is really a continuation of that. It's just naturally going to disenfranchise people. And that is a concern.</s>ZELENY: Now, the mechanics of voting certainly at play here in Kentucky. Normally, there would be some 3,700 polling places across the state. Today, only 170. But, John, these are no ordinary polling places. Take a look at this. We are standing inside the Kentucky Exposition Center, where the polls open at 6:00 a.m., and there have, you know, been a steady stream of voters coming in. And what they do is they find their precincts. There are some 527 precincts right in this very building. And then they come across and they vote at these polling places, more than 300 of these little stations here you can see behind me. And then they scan their ballot. So, election officials designed this to allow a lot of voters to come. But more than half of voters they believe have already casted their ballots absentee. And we should point out, this is a plan that was reached by the Democratic governor and the Republican secretary of state. So, John, we will see if Kentucky repeats the errors of Georgia and Wisconsin. Election officials here tell me they believe that they have it under control because most of the voters have voted absentee, but we'll see as this day progresses. John.</s>BERMAN: Really interesting pictures behind you, Jeff. You have to get creative in this day and age to get people out to vote.</s>ZELENY: Yes.</s>BERMAN: Appreciate it. So, it looks like we might have a baseball season after all. How many games? When will it start? Is it all just too late after all that fighting? Details in the "Bleacher Report," next.