captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening. i'm judy woodruff. on the "newshour" tonight, less than two weeks to go-- the trump and biden campaigns intensify their pitches to american voters as early ballots are cast in record numbers nationwide. then, an important shift-- in a dramatic departure from catholic tradition, pope francis calls for civil unions for same-sex couples. plus: separated families-- lawyers remain unable to find the parents of hundreds of children taken from their families under the trump administration's immigration crackdown. and a generational divide--

millennials are set to be the largest voting groupn the u.s., with stark differences from their predecessors. >> in the next ten years, given the size of that generation, we could certainly see them really being the generation that is at thforefront of influence in terms of political, social, and economic factors. >> woodruff: all that and more on tonight's "pbs newshour." >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: ♪ ♪

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>> and with the ongoing support of these institutions: >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> woodruff: the campaign for the white house is more and more about battlegrounds, big bucks and early ballots tonight, and a former president has entered the fray as the two sides strain for every advantage. white house correspondent yamiche alcindor reports. >> reporter: the waning days of a presidential campaign and, for the candidates, no end to the work to be done. today, the focus for both sides: north carolina-- where more than two million voters have already cast their ballots. that's nearly three times more than at the same point in 2016. in asheville, democratic vice presidential nominee kamala

harris urged voters to keep that going. >> 13 days to go and we cannot spare a minute, sisters and brothers. we cannot spare a minute. we're talking about an election that's taking place right now, where over 20 million american have voted and the election will be over in 13 days. >> reporter: this evening, president trump also headed to the state for a large-scale rally at an airport just outside of charlotte. his opponent, however, stayed off the campaign trail. for a third straight day, former vice president joe biden has been holed up, preparing for his final debate with president trump. it's planned for tomorrow night in nashville. instead, this evening in philadelphia, his former boss-- president barack obama-- stumped for him at a community round table, and later at a drive-in rally. it was obama's first in-person appearance on behalf of biden this year, and it was aimed at upping enthusiasm among black voters. president trump waalso in pennsylvania last night.

he flipped the state in 2016, and during his visit to erie county, he admitted he once saw the county as a shoo-in-- until the pandemic happened. there's no way i was coming. i didn't have to, i would have called and said, "hey, erie, you know if you have a chance to get out and vote," but we had this thing won. >> reporter: now, without an easy path re-election, the trump campaign is trying to hit a number of key states in the days ahead. this evening, vice president pence traveled to cincinnati, io, after spending some time in portsmouth, new hampshire. >> in this election, come november 3, it's going to be a choice between trump recovery and a biden depression. >> reporter: but the trump campaign is trailing biden when it comes to funding. new filings with the federal election commission show the democratic nominee entered the month with a stunning $177 million on hand. that is nearly triple the $63 million held by president trump. and, with just 13 days until election day, the nation's political divisions also gave rise to a dangerous new development: a federal criminal complaint filed today said a man in frederick, maryland, has been

arrested for threatening to kidnap and kill biden and harris earlier this month. for the pbs newshour, i'm yamiche alcindor. >> woodruff: in the day's other news: pharmaceutical giant purdue pharma is pleading guilty to federal charges of conspiracy and paying kickbacks to doctors in the national opioid epidemic. it involves the painkiller oxycontin, and is part of an $8-billion settlement. federal prosecutor christina nolan said today the case sends a clear message. >> people were suffering from addictions that sometimes ended in death, and so many of those addiction stories began with oxycotin. we hope purdue's guilty plea will send a messe that d.o.j. will not allow big pharma and

big tech to conduct illegal conduct that corrupt the doctor patient relationship. >> woodruff: some states and congressional democrats have argued the settlement is not sufficient punishment, but the justice department says purdue pharma's executives and owners-- the billionaire sackler family-- could still face criminal liability. pope francis has become the first pope to endorse same-sex civil unions. in an interview for a documentary film, he says mosexual couples have a right to be a family. francis previously endorsed civil unions as bishop of bueno aires. we'll take a closer look at this after the news summary. it turns out u.s. preme court nominee amy coney barrett served on the board of christian schools that barred children of same-sex parents. the associated press reports they also barred openly gay teachers. the news came as barrett spent the day meeting with republican

senators. the senate judiciary committee votes on her nomination tomorrow. democrats now say they will boycott the vote. in nigeria chaos gripped lagos today after soldiers fired into a crowd overnight. it's unclear how many were killed, but the incident fueled a brewing crisis in africa's most populous nation. jonathan rugman of "independent television news" reports. >> reporter: it was at this toll gate in lagos where security forces opened fire on protesters last night. >> sit down! sit down! >> reporter: the nigerian army said no soldiers were even there, but eyewitnesses claimed the opposite. though nigerian media poured scorn on that, claiming dozens were killed. the governor appealed to young nigerians to observe today's curfew and he countered that nobody had died at all.

>> we are comforted that we have not recorded any fatality as against widespread-- on social media. >> reporter: president muhammad buhari has been in power for over four years now. in a written statement, he called for calm, and promised police reform. in the face of two weeks of protests, the president has agreed the abolition of a special police unit accused of torture and murder-- though that did nothing to quell yesterday's unrest. witnesses said troublemakers had infiltrated otherwise peaceful protests in lagos and that a police station was set alight. but in london this afternoon, hundreds from the u.k.'s nigerian community came out in support for meaningful reform as

well as justice for what the u.n. secretary general has described as multiple deaths. >> woodruff: that report from jonathan rugman of "independent television news." in the covid-19 pandemic: a surge in infections prompted boston's public school system to switch entirely to remote learning effective tomorrow. and europe reported a record one-week total of 927,000 infections. that's up 25% from just one week earlier. and, on wall street, the dow jones industrial average lost 98 points to close at 28,210. the nasdaq fell 31 points, and the s&p slippeseven. still to come on the "newshour," in a major departure from tradition, pope francis calls for civil unions for same-sex couples; hundreds of children remain separated from their parents under the immigration crackdown; policy toward china

becomes a critical issue in the closing weeks of the campaign, and much more. >> woodruff: as we reported, pope francis made remarks that went further than he has before as pope in support of same sex unions and legal protections. william brangham looks at the latest development and whether it signals a broader shift within the vatican. >> reporter: judy, the pope has talked before about the need for the catholic church show greater love, understanding and outreach to l.g.b.t.q. communities. he's even spoken before about supporting same sex unions. but these latest comments were interpreted by some observers to be more explicit and categorical.

"what we have to create," the pope said, "is a civil union law." "that way," he said, "they are legally covered... they're children of d and have a right to a family. nobody should be thrown out, or be made miserable because of it." david gibson is a scholar, former journalist and documentary filmmaker who has long covered the vatican. he's now the director of the center on religion and culture at fordham university on the "newshour". as i mentioned, this is part of an evolution in the pope's comments about same-sex couples. how significant to you is what he has said? >> this is very significant, really, in terms of tone and content. look, he's calling for an actual civil union law. he's calling for the church to welcome these people, welcome gay people in the secular sphere, and that's mething that goes against the policy of the catholic church itself.

in 2003, they say catholics cannot support civil unions. again, this is different. he's not calling for gay marriage in the church, but the church has said you can't support civil unions, so he's upending that and he's also, i think, undercutting cultural war years in the united states who have long thought against anything resembling gay marriage. it's also a big change in tone. that's what he's after here. he does not like the culture wars. he wants the church to be open and accepting. >> reporter: the pope is criticize bid some in the church who point out as you are that this contradicts official church policy. so how much does tone eventually change doctrine or does it? >> he's also asserted he's not changing doctrine. this is has nothing to do with gay marriage or even blessing same-sex couples. this is simply a way to welcome them civilly and in the secular

world, and it's putting out the welcome mat to gay people. again, he says they should not be made miserable, there should be no sort of discrimination against them. but he is upending that church policy that said catholics have to be against civil unions. >> this is more clearly in line with american public opinion but much less so, i guess, thin the broader catholic world. i wonder how much of abimpact this might have on nations where there is much more overt intolerance for gay communities? >> yes, william. we see everything so often through our own lens here in the united states and our culture war lens, but thiss a question of life and death in many parts to have the world, in the southern hemisphere, especially where the christian and catholic church is growing. there are laws that criminalize homosexuality and homosexual actions. for the pope to come out and put the church firmly against the criminalization, essentially, of homosexuality is really a

powerful statement in the rest of the world. again, it's really a matter of life and death for gay and lesbian people. >> reporter: all ght, david gibson of fordham university, thank you very, very much. >> thank you. >> woodruff: one of the most criticized policies of the trump administration is its decision to separate families who were illegally crossing the southern border from mexico back in 2018. a federal judge put a stop to that policy and ordered the administration to reunify families. but hundreds of families are still separated-- with no likelihood of reunifying any time soon. amna nawaz has the details. >> reporter: judy, what many people don't realize is that before 2018, and the flurry of coverage as thousands of

children were separated from their families at the border, the trump administration had already run a secret pilot program in 2017 separating many hundreds more. a federal judge later ordered the government to provide a list of those names, and any documentation, to a group working to reunite families. but the information they gave was sometimes flawed, or incomplete, and many of the parents had already been deported without their kids. yesterday, lawyers told the court that after searching far and wide, the group still cannot find the parents of 545 separated children. and their search has only become more challenging during the pandemic. lee gelernt is the principal attorney with the american civil liberties union, which has been leading the litigation to reunite these falies. he joins me now. lee, welcome back to the "newshour". you and the groups you have been partnering with had already been working to reunite the thousands of kids separated under zero tolerance in 2018. the news broke there have been more kids separated earlier. why has it been much more

difficult to reunite those kids with their families? >> yeah, so i think a few things happened. the first thing is that, when we got the injunction in court stopping a t family separation practice, the government told us and the court that there were 2,800 families that had been separated. only later because to have the watchdog report from h.h.s. did we find out about ven months later that there had been potentially thousands morse separated at the beginning of the trump administration under what you had called the secret pilot program. we went back to court. the government said we won't give the names. the judge said, absolutely not, you're giving the aclu those names. the government had to retract the families and reconstruct things. we finally got all the of the information in october of 2019. so we didn't really get to start in full until fall of 2019. the secd problem we hit is that these separations occurred so long ago that the contact

information the government gave us is largely steal, so while wd some families through phone numbers, our partners and i had to look on the ground for families literally town to town in central america. that was time consuming, dangerous and expensive. wwe were, though, making progres anin march of this, obviously, covid hit and that halted the progress, and we are now only starting up again with a lot of precautions looking for the families. so i think all those factors have combined to mean that some children may now have been separated for three years. they may have been toddlers when they were separated and now have been separated more than half their lives. >> reporter: how much help are you getting from the trump administration to reunite those families? >> we are not getting help from the trump administration. originally in court, the judge said to the governor you're going to find these families, and the government said the no, we don't think it's our problem

because they've already been deported. i then said in court, we the aclu will find them and get volunteers and law firms and partner organizations to create a steering committee. everyone jumped in and it's been a collective effort on behalf of law firms and n.g.o.s to find these children was it has not been the trump administration. in fact, when there are families in the u.s. who have finally been reunited and have gone through this horrific situation, you would think the trump administration would let them stay, but, in fact, most people don't know the trump administration is trying to deport all these presms separated families. so we hope if there's a biden administration, the biden administration will help us find these families, we'll bring them to the u.s. and give them status, given what they have been through. >> reporter: i spoke with one of the lawyers who is representing one to have the kids trying to be reunited now. he was nine when separated, dad was deported, the uncle took him in, the uncle was caught up in an immigration raid, arrested,

deported, the boy is now 12, taken care of bia stranger. how unique is that in the cases you are seeing? >> the children are ending up the strangers. unfortunately, it's not unique. these children are facing unbelievable battles. it's not just who they are living with but the trauma they're living with every day having been separated from their families especially the young once. you know, when i talked to the families and they tell me about what their children are going through, it's unbelievable, but it's exactly what the medical community predicted that these children would feel a sense of vulnerability the rest of their lives. children asking their parents are people going to come and take me away again in the middle ofhe night. that's the reali, and chilen with being shuffled from home to home, and the trump administration is stilying to deport them. >> reporter: finding these parents in other countries often in remote areas, it is time intensive, it is harder, as you mentioned, during the the pandemic, are you worried the

longer this goes on that some of these kids may never be reunited? >> you know, i think that's the right question. i am worried but i'm remaining optimistic. i mean, what we have said in court is we will not stop this search until we have found every last family. i'm worried, but i ultimately believe, hopefully not naively, that we will find every one of these families. i think we just cannot stop until we have found everyone. otherwise, it would just be a tragedy on top of a tragedy. >> reporter: that is lee gelernt to have the american civil liberties union joining us tonight. thank you for your time. >> thanks for having me. >> woodruff: when president trump and joe biden face off in their last debate tomorrow

night, one topic that may be on the agenda is china. to explore where the candidates stand on dealing with beijing, here's nick schifrin. >> reporter: as candidate: >> we can't continue to allow china to rape our country. >> reporter: and president: >> no administration has been tougher on china than this administration. >> reporter: president trump's made confronting china, one of his administration's signature policies. >> the chinese communist party presents the central threat of our times. >> reporter: today's china is more assertive globally. its military is modernizing, and claims almost all of the south china sea, flouting international law. beijing sells technology the u.s. says helps china spy, and buil billions of dollars of infrastructure around the world, that also builds influence with other countries. in hong kong, after more than a year of protests, beijg ended much of the city's british-era rule of law. and in xinjiang detained more than a million muslim uyghurs. chinese diplomats make no

apologies, and criticize their critics. >> ( translated ): the whole world has watched as things unravel in the u.s. american politicians had better get their own house in order. >> reporter: the trump administration has exposed chinese espionage, closing china's oldest consulate in the u.s., and charged chinese hackers and chinese military officers. the administration sanctioned officials involvedn uyghur detention, and targeted chinese technology giants. while e administration confronts china, president trump has personally praised china's leader xi jinping. >> i call him king. he said, "no, i am not king, i am president. i said, "no, you are president for life, and therefore, you're king." >> reporter: and rejected more aggressive policies to protect a phase one trade deal. >> we have a great relationship with china. >> reporter: as the election approached, he called out china as the source of covid. >> i call it the plague from china. ( laughter ) the plague. >> reporter: the biden campaign accuses trump of trade policies that have hurt u.s. farmers, and not emphasizing human rights enough, or working with allies.

biden himself, as senator and vice president, long reflected a mainstream consensus: thu.s. and china benet from economic cooperation. >> i believed in 1979, and said so, and i believe now that a rising china is a positive development. >> reporter: by the end of the obama administration, he added"" but." >> but even as we talk about cooperation, there will be areas of competition. >> reporter: as presidential candidate, he criticizes beijing, but has said china's internal problems, will keep the u.s. ahead. >> they're not bad folks, folks. but guess what? they're not competition for us. >> reporter: china's been a top campaign foreign policy issue. and both candidates released videos accusing the other one of being weak on china. >> reporter: we debate the approaches to china now with michael pillsbury. he advises the trump administration on china policy, and directs the center for china strategy at the hudson institute.

and christopher hill had a 30 year career as a diplomat, and served as assistant secretary of state for east asian and pacific affairs during the george w. bush and obama administrations. he supports joe biden. we asked the biden campaign to participate in this segment but they declined. welcome to you both to the "newshour". michael pillsbury, let me start with you with the overall question, has president trump's policy toward china advanced u.s. interests? >> well, of course it has. he focused initially on economic security. he said he was going to increase the number of amecan jobs, cut back fient nell imports. he had quite a long agenda for china that came out to have the campaign, and i think he just delivered on those campaign promises. that was the main trump strategy, kind of effectiveness. so he's had a price tag fact policy, he's had a lot of success and what i see joe biden doing now is saying me, too. he sort of wants to be like trump. he wishes he had been tougher years ago. one very sad thing, though, is

when vice president biden in february of this year used the word "thug" to talk about xi jinping, this is not the way a statesman should behave. president biden if he wins the election will have to back down and apologize to xi jinping for calling him a thug if he wants to make any progress, it seems to me. >> reporter: we'll get to some criticisms of biden but i want you to answer the first question as well, has president trump's policy toward china advanced u.s. interests? >> i don't think it has. certainly, there are huge problems in the china relationship, not the least of whicis that the concerns about china are shared by a vast majority of the american people right now. but the question is what are you going to do about themand, so far, i see a lot of sort of dueling press conferences but very little effort to sit down and solve problems. i think in foreign affairs, you always have to lookt a where you're going with something and what are we going to do next, and i don't see a strategy ther this is quite a typical thing

with the trump administration. there's a lot of noi, sound and light and there's no strategy. so i want to know where this is going and, frankly speaking, is this a country, china, that we really should be living in enmity with and we should be careful in proceeding and keep in mind our objective. >> reporter: michael pillsbury, let's go through some of what the trump administration has done. trade, the biden campaign accused the administration of pursuing trade policies that hurt farmers and haven't improved chinese behavior. >> well, i saw an interview senator biden gave -- i used to know him when he was a senator, sorry -- but he said he wold keep all the tariffs except tore a few of the agriculture taffs. so that's what i mean about the me too-ism of joe biden. he support the framework of the

trade deal. he praised it. he has not supported what others democrats are doing. all the ranking democrats have endorsed a $350 billion strategic plan for dealing with china over the next ten years and, nick, the plan is very similar to what the strategy of the trump administration has been. so everybody likes to say somebody else doesn't have a strategy, but what president trump has is a 95-page detailed trade deal that's working. the chinese are making the purchases they've promised, they've cut back on intellectual theft. so it's a real success i see from the trump administration strategy toward china. it's quite sophisticated, actually, chris. >> this is not the first time in human history where one country has asked the other country to make more purchases and the other country has made some more purchases. certainly, we have a situation where the secretary of state when he isn't calling the chinese names or when he isn't

sort of implying what we need is the end of the chinese communist party, he's certainly not meeting with his chinese counterparts. he hasn't been to beijing for some two years. this is not the kind of relationship we should be having with a country that, to be sure -- to be sure, it's been a -- it's a relationship characterized by a lot of competition over the years, but also a lot of cooperation, and we're not kind of seeing any rhythms of cooperation happening, we're not really seeing the u.s. and china find any kind of common ground. i have no problem with going after china on issues of i.p.r., and i support a lot of this, which, by the way, didn't begin with donald trump. but i support a lot of this tough trade policy. my concern, however, is what are we going to do with this massive country out there that is not going away and will not be ignored? >> reporter: ambassador hill, i want to switch to human rights. the trump administration sanctioned chinese officials and businesses involved in the

uighur crackdown as well as in the hong kong crackwn. what's wrong with that, do you think? >> it is absolutely essential for the u.s. to stand up for international rights, for human rights. where i really feel that there is a lot of scope for doing more is to work with other allies. but as it turns out of late, we don't have other allies. we don't have a president who's willing to work with like-minded countries, and the second thing is, in addition to not working with the other allies, we're not reinforcing a rules' based order. we're not reinforcing the naonal trade, the internal trade organization, we're not doing much to reinforce rules out there. we're saying, hey, we're as tough as you, china, and we can compel you to do what we want. in fact what we want to do is shape the environment in which china makes its decision. we are not going to change china anymore than china is going to

change us, but we ve tremendous scope for making a world in which china has to perform and behave in a certain way, and that is where we have been utterly derelict in recent years. >> reporter: michael pillsbury, respond to the criticism from ambassador hill and with others that while the trump administration work with allies in asia, european allies feel like the trump administration has gonet it alone when it comes to china. >> no, i think it's not true. i think the president has spent a lot of time and effort with allies and partners, in particular japan, organizing the quad with the australians and the indians recently. there's been a lot of progress with the european union and especially germany with investment review. so i know this is a common criticism that the president asked for the allies to do more, but he also works with them more himself. and i agree, shaping china's behavior in the international rules-based order is extremely important, but the president has said that himself, and so have many members of his administration.

so i think what you have, nick, and ambassador hill, is kind of a carrot and stick approach that is working with china. >> reporter: ambassador christopher hill, michael pillsbury, thank you very much to your both. >> thanks. >> woodruff: for years, baby boomers, currently aged 56-74, have been the dominant voting bloc in the u.s. that could soon change. john yang reports on how millennials-- voters in their mid-20s to late-30s-- could play a big role in this year's election and beyond. >> reporter: with voting already underway acrosthe county, political strategists are keeping an eye on voters like these. >> my name is francisco marquez. >> ally henny. >> melissa munn. >> reporter: they're millennials-- born between the early 1980s and mid-1990s.

there are more than 72 million of them in america, and this year they became the nation's largest adult generation, surpassing baby boomers. stella rouse of the university of maryland is author of "the politics of millennials." >> in the next ten years, given the size of that generation, we can certainly see them displacing baby boomers, generation x, which is a pretty small generation in comparison, and really being the generation that is at the forefront of influence in terms of political, social and enomic factors. >> reporter: research shows that millennials tend to be liberal-- and unlike their predecessors, they aren't becoming more conservative as they get older. political scientists say it's because most of their lives they've known economic insecurity. >> not only were they hit with the great recession on this side of entering the job market, but now they're dealing with the pandemic at the height of when they should be able to earn their biggest earning potential. >> reporter: dionna lopez was in

her 20s during the 2008 financial collapse. she and her husband found only low-paying hourly wage jobs. so she decided to go to college, but had to borrow to pay for it. >> now we have this huge, massive debt, and we're not any further along than we were before. >> reporter: now 38-years-old, she and her husband struggle to make ends meet for their family. >> i'm still in a huge amount of debt. my husband's still in debt. and now i'm supposed to put two teenagerthrough college. how am i going to do that? >> reporter: millennials have also seen climate change intensify natural disasters like wildfires and hurricanes. and, as america's most diverse adult generation, they're more concerned than their elders about racial justice and l.g.b.t.q. rights. ally henny is 35 and lives in chicago with her husband and two daughters. >> whenever i look and see my, my black siblings, my brown siblings, my queer and disabled

siblings, and a lot of us just have a sense of existential dread. >> reporter: like many millennials, she ss the status quo is unacceptable. >> the system doesn't really seem to give a heck about anybody. so why would we want to? why would we want to perpetuate a system that we nev benefited from? >> reporter: the demographic shift toward millennials could be especially troubling for reblicans. they won the white house in 2016 on the strength of votes from white baby boomers. before the pandemic we spoke with consultant rory cooper, who was communications director for then-house republican leader eric cantor. >> look at the rhetoric from the president. it's the platforthat says to older generations, we're going to keep things the way they used to be. and that's very effective. if you are running a base election and you think that you're going to be able to turn out older voters. >> reporter: but recent polls show mr. trump is losing support among older voters this election. and he's driving away some

younger conservatives. 29-year-old melissa munn of eufala, alabama, has campaigned for repuicans in the past. this year she plans to vote for both democratic presidential nominee joe biden and democratic incumbent senator doug jones. >> i feel like the republican party has just, like, like, just run far right, far faster than any of us really want to keep up with. >> reporter: another common denominator for millennials: they tend to be skeptical of government and political parties. president trump's outsider image appeals to 25-year-old summer tong. >> i just el like there's a lot of corruption with just politicians that have made their whole career in politics. i just, i just don't trust them. i feel like donald trump is different because he's never been in politics >> it's a shared experience with so many people who are my age range who have who have lost favor and lost faith in

government and the ability of government remedies to be here to help. >> reporter: political strategist joel payne, himself a millnial, worked for then- senate majority leader harry reid. >> there are so many failures of government that i've lived through. 9/11, katrina in 2005, the wall street collapse of 2008. you got a coronavirus, which we're living through right now. those types of experiences have really created a lot of doubt in the lives of millennials about the power of government and of governing. >> reporter: how do democrats, or how to do parties in general, candidates in general, overcome that? >> i think there are a number of ways to do that, you know, demonstrating every time that you accomplish something, what you've accomplished and what it means for people. >> reporter: in the past, millennials have not been reliable voters. this year, dionna lopez is still on the fence. >> i'm not going to vote for trump, but i just feel like if we keep voting for democrats when they're not giving us something to vote for, then what is going to motivate them to

change? >> reporter: 26-year-old francisco marquez lives in brooklyn. >> there's so much talk that happens with the democrats that sounds good. and yet, very little is done to accomplish it. >> reporter: distrustful of politicians and institutions, many millennials turn to grassroots movements: black lives matter demonstrations, boycotts and climate change protests. >> when you see people take to the streets for weeks on end, that's really a demonstration of hear me. listen to me. it's a, it's a call out, it's a yell for help. and i think what policymakers and what those who are hoping to win office have to do is they have to understand that just because those folks are showing up, yes, they e engaged in the issues, but they're not engaged in the remedies that you might be presenting to these folks. they need to see more. >> reporter: but there are signs that millennials may be taking their activism from the streets to the ballot boxes: in 2018

their turnout was double what it was in the last midterm elections-- helping democrats recapture the house. for the pbs newshour, i'm john yang in washington. >> woodruff: with just under two weeks left before voting ends on election day, we turn now to the view from three battleground states. i'm joined now by jeff tiberi of north carolina public radio, karen kasler of ohio public radio and television, and mary lahammer of twin cities pbs in minnesota. hello to both of you -- all three of you. it's great to have you back with us again, and before i come to you, i want to remind everybody just how high the stakes are in this election tonight, as i'm talking to you. president obama is out making his first appearance on the campaign trail on behalf of joe

biden. he's at drive-in event in philadelphia. i want to let everybody hear a part of what he had to say, pretty tough words about president trump he said just moments ago. >> right now as we speak trump won't even extend relief to the millions of families who are having trouble paying the rent or putng food on the table because of this pandemic. but he's been doing all right by himself. as it turns out, this was just reported in the last 48 hours, we know that he continues to do business with china because he's got a secret chinese bank account. how is that possible? how is that possible? a secret chinese bank account. listen, can you imagine if i had had a secret chinese bank account? >> woodruff: so that's former president obama just moments ago trying to gin up voters for joe biden in philadelphia in the

crucial battleground state of pennsylvania. but i want to talk to the three of you about the battleground states the three of you represent and start with you, karen kasler, in ohio. this is a state that donald trump won by, what, eight points in 2016. tell us, first of all, what it looks like in terms of early voting, absentee voting and does either party have an advantage? >> well, early voting has been huge in ohio. new numbers that came out yesterday showed 1.1 million ohioans either have sent in absentee ballots or cast votes in person. that's 119more than did at this point in 2016. 440,000 people have voted in person. that's a 266% increase, which we're seeing in cities with long lines. also, when you ask about absentee ballot requests, there are about 2.7 million ohioans, one in three of all of the 8 million registered voters in ohio have asked for absentee ballots and, right now, most of

those are unaffiliated, these are people who have not voted in a primary, but democrats have been returning those in big numbers. those people who are affiliated with the democratic party are returning thosen huge numbers, and that potentially sets up an interesting scenario on election day because you have republicans sayinging they're going to vote in person on election day. >> so interesting, and to north carolina, another really truly hard fought battleground state. jeff tiberi, this is a state donald trump won by 3.5 points against hillary clinton. what does that look like with regard to early vote and democratic energy. >> it is much tighter right now. we forecast that it's going to be much tighter than it was four years ago. you mentioned that donald trump did win here four years ago, and every demoat has lost here going back to jimmy carter with the exception of president obama in 2008, he carried the state by 14,000 votes. so historically, as we think

about the last four decades or so, this has been a state that has trended to the right, trended to the red. but in all of the polls across the last eight, ten weeks, joe biden has either had a small lead within the margin of error, some of the leadhave been just outside of the margin of error. so this is seen as a key battleground. from the republican and democratic strategists i've spoken to throughout the year, it is more central to a donald trump reelection than a joe biden path to the white house, which is to say joe biden can probably get to the white house without carrying north carolina, but trump has to carry carolina if he's going to get another four years. as for those early voting figures, we've seen just a huge outpouring of early voting and also mail-in ballots, about one-third of registered voters have voted as of this afternoon here in north carolina. >> woodruff: seeing a big surge in early voting there and in minnesota. mary, this is a state donald

trump lost about by a point and a half but has said he's since determined to win it this time. give us a sense of what the state looks like right now. >> it seems as if president trump is almost on a personal mission to win minnesota. four years ago, he didn't visit very often, he didn't have a lot of troops on the ground, didn't spend a lot of money. this year, four years later, very different, a lot of folks on the ground, a lot of money being spent, and the polls are still averaging really well ahead for joe bidenty point, but that does -- at this point, but that doesn't mean donald trump doesn't come here repeatedly. we had a visit to duluth, minnesota a day before he was agnosed with the coronavirus. the day before th we had trump and biden here on the very same day, the very first time in minnesota history to have both major presidential candidates here and perhaps as being reflected in our early voting numbers. we expect to surpass 1 million early votes and we only have about 4 million voters, so

that's about aourth of the votes already in. we are a state that is very proud of leading the nation in voter turnout. we had about 75% of turnout last time around. the latesprojections had minnesota going perhaps 80, 82, 83% voter turnout, something we haven't done in half a century. we also haven't voted for a republican here in minnesota since nixon. it's very interesting historic times in minnesota. >> woodruff: a lot of interests in the election across the country. karen kasler in ohio, back to you. what about the pandemic and the role it's playing? i know ohio is one of the states that is seeing thnumber of cases climb. how much is that driving voter decision about who to vote for? what's on the mind of voters? >> i think covid and the economy, those are the two things. the economy always a big factor in ohio elections, but i think this year, when you pair it with covid, then you definitely get that mix that is driving people

to vote. ohio is a state that trump experts say has to win, but biden doesn't have to win, but it's not a state that necessarily people thought that biden was going to be competitive in because of 2016, as you mentioned trump won by eight points, and in 2018, there were some pockets of blue activity but not nearly the statewide level. but then this covid crisis has hit and, so, you have, you know, more than almost two-thirds of ohio restaurants say they're probably not going to reopen after the pandemic. that's a big deal to a lot of people, so i think it's driving part of what's happening here, and we are seeing these huge numbers again. democrat affiliated voters, democratic affiliated voters driving them. but unaffiliated voters are still the majority of voters in ohio and there's no guarantee that just because somebody is affiliated with a particular party that they willvote for that party's candidate. so we are lucky in ohio that our state does cast and count its absentee ballots fairly quickly on election night. we can start processing those,

though the results can't come out till election night. >> woodruff: to north carolina, to jeff tiberi, what about the pandemic there? what does it look like? what else driving voters' preferences? >> you know, it's a really good question, and we hear different narratives, we hear competing narratives from the republicans and the democrats. it very much has been tethered to what we're hearing from the presidential candidates, and in the u.s. senate race here which is a very important one, could signal which party has power in the next congress as well as state legislative races. but really on town the le when it comes to the republican side of things, we're hearing a lot about law and order and criminal public safety and the need for a continued investment in law enforcement, and democrats here, by and large, have said that's not the real issue, that's not the issue that's going to mobilize north carolina voters, and they pretty regularly have pivoted to additional funding for education here in the state, response to the pandemic, and they say most importantly

healthcare. they think that is what's really going to indicate where the unaffiliated voters break here in the coming weeks. >> and finally, to you, mary in minnesota, how is the pandemic affecting voters? >> in an enormous issue here, we are now trending with the rest of the midwest, and cases are spiking. we are reaching record or never record death rates here, so definitely the coronavirus is a large issue, and healthcare is always a big issue in minnesota. we are home to the largest clinic in the world mayor clinic number one hospital in america, that's a huge employer. one of our top employers is healthcare across the ate. h.m.o. started here. we have lots of healthcare management, employers and employees in our state. so healthcare is always incredibly dominant. but the other issue, of course, racial justice. george floyd was killed here in minnesota, so that issue started here, racial justice, and now also law and order, rural republicans are definitely

saying that's the major issue they're hearing outside the metro. >> such an important race in every single one of these states, and we thank each one of you for joining us tonight. mary lahammer, jeff tiberi and karen kasler in ohio, thank you all three. we'll see you soon. >> reporter: in the southwest, a once robust mining town is looking to a growing arts community as a new economic driver. stephanie sy reports on how ajo, arizona, is trying to cast off the image of a "ghost town" and become an arts destination. it's part of our "american creators" series and ongoing arts and culture coverage, "canvas." >> reporter: in the middle o the 10,000 miles of the sonoran

desert lies a dusty town near the arizona border with mexico. a central plaza built in spanish colonial revival style emerges like an oasis, a vestige of an era when ajo had a successful copper mine. today, it's reinventing itself through art. on an atypically cloudy monday afternoon, visiting artist christopher lutter-gardella was busy putting up his latest work in the center of the town plaza. the dove is made of reclaimed materials, and incorporates written messages of peace from students across the border. >> inviting everybody in and celebrating our common humanity was really important at this time. >> reporter: artist tom kiefer moved to ajo in 2001 from los angeles. his current work focuses on everyday items confiscated from migrants trying to cross the border. >> that's when el sueno

americano, the, the american dream began. those items were confiscated and thrown in the trash. it is my hope that i photograph them with reverence and deep regard and respect. >> reporter: like a t of old mining towns in the west, ajo could easily have fallen into obscurity were it not for an investment in the arts. >> when artists and creatives come in in a critical mass, really interesting things start to happen. >> reporter: aaron cooper is the executive director of the international sonoran desert alliance which, 15 yearsgo, converted classrooms from the old curley high school in the center of town into live-work units for artists. >> it didn't matter if you lived in indian village or mexican town or the predominantly anglo town center. everyone went to school at the curley school. >> reporter: it s a symbol worth preserving he says. >> turns out i really like it here. >> reporter: bobby narcho grew up an hour away on the "tohono 'oodham nation...

♪ ♪ and is one of the artists that resides in the curley school. >> it's not a big adjustment from the rez. aside from, you know, a little more diverse audience out here. >> reporter: the project was a spark for an economic and artistic rival-- public art now abounds in this town. this is artist's alley. the community hopes attractions like this will make ajo much more than a pit stop on the way to mexico. there are signs it's working. annual growth in tourism as measured at the visitors center quadrupled between 2015 to 2018. 100% of the plaza storefronts are occupied. >> beautiful public square, murals, those kinds of things that really help make people feel like they own the space. >> reporter: jason shupbach, who has examined how to harness the arts to spur economic growth, says investments in places like ajo paid off in the years after the great recession, and he sees the same opportunity with the covid pandemic.

>> i think in every single community there are those artists, we call them culture bearers. they're the holders of our culture and those places. and we need to activate those people to help us find a way forward. >> reporter: besides attracting entrepreneurs, artists themselves have become business owners. >> i started selling a friend's coffee from tucson. >> reporter: annelise keuper, who uses fibers and textiles for her "woven paintings," started her own coffee roasting business five years ago, and she hopes her cafe, which recently relocated, becomes a community hub. what do u want your business to mean to ajo? >> well, i think it's a meeting ground. especially during this pandemic time. it has continued to grow because the community enjoys what it is that i'm doing. when i first came here, there was literally no local food system to talk about. >> reporter: nina sajovec has built up a local farmers market and farm-to-table cafe utilizing indigenous agriculture. sincthe pandemic, she and

volunteers have been focused on distributing food to those in need. >> we are rking with the groups here in ajo offering up to 200 deliveries a week. >>eporter: tom kiefer has witnessed the transformation of ajo. >> there's this vibrancy, this determination of, you know, kind of, lift yourself up by your own bootstraps and make this work. >> reporter: keeping a rural town like ajo from fading into history isn't easy or cheap-- it's redevelopment was largely subsidized by government and foundation grants, but cooper says, these places are part of the nation's colorful tapestry. >> if everybody sort of moves to the urban centers and leaves the rest of america and the world out to, to, to sort of fall into disuse and disrepair, we feel pretty strongly that we lose a lot. we lose a lot of stories. we lose a lot of opportunities for resiliency. we lose a lot of opportunities to have connection to land and landscape. >> reporter: the hope now is not only that ajo becomes self-

sustaining, but that it bemes a model for the re-invention of small, rural towns across america. for the pbs newshour, i'm stephanie sy in ajo, arizona. >> woodruff: and that's the newshour for tonight. i'm judy woodruff. for all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you, please stay safe, and see you soon. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> consumer cellular. learn more at consumercellular.tv >> when the world gets complicated, a lot goes through your mind. with fidelity wealth management, a dedicated advisor can tailor advice and recommendations to your life. that's fidelity wealth management.

>> financial services firm raymond james. >> bnsf railway. >> the ford foundation. working with visionaries on the frontlines of social change worldwide. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions and individuals. >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc captioned by media access group at wgbh acce

hello, everyone, and welcome to "amanpour & co." here's what's coming up. >> we're going to win. i wouldn't have said that three weeks ago. three weeks ago, ten weeks ago. >> president trump says he's got this, but democrats beg to differ after spending four years building a countermovement. i speak to grassroots organizers leah greenberg and lori goldman. then -- >> at the end of the day it depends on purpose if we're going to have effective governance. >> what if this democracy doesn't work for the majority anymore? our walter isaacson speaks to harvard professor danielle allen about breaking the vicious partisan cycle. and -- >> despite all that's happened and despite all that's still happening it's still a possibility.