0 party has announced that they no longer support james lee knox in his bid to become the next mayor of winston-salem. this comes after mr. knox admitted using with the local paper describes as several derogatory terms including the "n" word in a confrontation with a local elections worker last year. mr. knox acknowledged that he used the racial slur after the 2012 election. he said he was trying to find out the name of a black elections employee with whom he had exchanged words during early voting. during a conversation with another county worker, mr. knox referred to the woman using several derogatory terms including the "n" word. mr. knox says he does not believe in using such words but that he, quote, got frustrated. that's how he explains it. he got frustrated. you get frustrated and out pops the "n" word. she was black. you know, as you do. so reportedly the state republican party in north carolina decided to not get involved in this situation in winston-salem, but the local party did drop their support for mr. knox. after initially telling the local paper that he felt that the local republican party had stabbed him in the back. well tonight mr. knox officially just quit the race. i think this has happened early enough that it probably means his name will be off the ballot and that means the winner of the democratic primary in winston-salem will go on to run for mayor without any republican opponent at all. for an off year in politics, for an odd-numbered year, there's been a kind of a lot of elections drama in north carolina this year and a lot of it has been happening in north carolina's college towns. like in that dramatic development today in winston-salem. also there's been some drama in the town of boone, north carolina, the home of appalachian state university. the new republican majority board of elections there last week decided to close the voting site on campus at appalachian state. no more voting on campus there. if that were not enough, the new republican majority has also fight, and i think from a national spperspective it feels like it's happening all of a sudden. the more we talk to people and pay attention to the local press and local discussion there, you get the sense in north carolina it doesn't feel all of a sudden. it feels like we're getting to the loud part of a natural crescendo. started, of course, in 2010 when republicans did really well in the midterm elections in north carolina. once they got in. in 2010. because they did great. they took advantage of the fact they were there in a sense this year and they redistricted the jeepers out of north carolina. thus earning themselves supermajorities in both houses of the legislature to go along with their new republican governor, north carolina's first republican governor in 20 years. pat mccrory had been the seven-term mayor of charlotte, north carolina. he was thought of as a republican who might conceivably govern the way that mayors tend to govern which by necessity tends to be a kind of technocratic moderate get things done kind of way of working. it has not been that way with him as governor, though. with his supermajorities in the legislature, with the republicans' ability to do whatever they want in the state for the first time in 20 years, they are going for it. and it has been a hard, fast and rather radical right turn on everything in the state from abortion, to taxes, to funding education, to northeast recently this very dramatic move getting attention on voter suppression, voting rights. moral mondays in north carolina, on mondays, in north carolina. moral mondayss started back in june. people started showing up at the state capitol, protesting inside the state capitol building getting arrested week after week. more than 900 people have been arrested so far in those demonstrations altogether. now that the state legislature is out of session, they've been moving moral mondays around the state. the first one they held outside the capitol was in the mountain town of asheville, north carolina. thousands of people showing up on a monday to protest their government. look at that in asheville. last night moral mondays on the road was in charlotte. which, of course, is where pat mccrory spent seven temprms as mayor before he became the governor. >> quite a few people showed up. maybe more than was expected. >> absolutely, paul. 2,000 people according to charlotte police. all of these protesters have one thing in common. they are frustrated with the direction the state legislature has taken in raleigh and they wanted their voices heard. everything from cuts to education, to the new voter i.d. law, women's rights, the new tax laws, the changes in the capitol have folks fighting mad. >> i'm furious for our students, women, poor people, old people, sick people. i just feel like the state of north carolina has taken a huge step backwards. it's just not right. and i'm ready to fight. >> what the american values first voting rights strategy, is a 50-state strategy to promote policies and legislation that will, you know, ease access to voting as well as opposing the myriad of voter suppression measures going on in the states. over 30 states right now have either passed legislation or are in the process of passing legislation that would make it more difficult for people to vote. we're talking about students. we're talking about the disabled. we're talking about elderly. we're talking about minorities. this is really a truly -- it's an attack upon, you know, american values and, you know, american rights. >> we have been reporting on that for years now in terms of these very aggressive republican efforts, very similar republican efforts in lots of states to try to roll back voting rights wherever and whenever they can. what we've seen so far in terms of a pushback is a lot of legal fights, right? the department of justice, whether or not they can use the voting rights act, in some cases defending states' voting rights against what republicans are trying to do there. we've also seen local fights organized by local community groups and politicians like i just documented in north carolina. we have not seen any sort of national strategy organized by democrats spanning multiple states to try to push for it. so when you say you're going to fight to turn back this tide, what exactly are you going to do? >> well, you know, a big part of the program really is, you know, the mobilizing and working with state legislators around the country actually passing the laws and are in position to oppose these laws. that's one of the things american values first and voting rights project is working on. we have the ability to work with legislators across the country, you know, it should be legislators of whatever political persuasion, who believe that all americans have the right to vote and we should -- and it should be encouraged and should be made easier, not more difficult. and unfortunately, far right, many far right forces have been working on limiting the right to vote, you know, to try to guarantee certain political objectives. >> can you give us any idea of the scale of your efforts and how you are connected to democratic party politics or democratic party organizations at all? how long are you guys going to be around, and how big a deal are your efforts going to be? >> we're planning on being around and working on this issue as long as it needs to be worked on. unfortunately, i think it's something that's going to need to be worked on for a long time. you know, we work, you know -- the american values first works with legislators, state legislators across the country, and that's the first line of defense regarding protecting people's rights to vote. and american values first works very closely with the democratic legislative campaign committee which is the democratic party organization that works with democratic state legislators across the country. >> democratic legislative campaign committee. now i have to set a new google alert. michael sergeant, president of american values first. thank withdryou for helping us understand your efforts tonight. >> thank you so much, rachel. >> we have been reporting on this story for as long as this show's been on the air, we've been reporting on voter suppression and protecting the right to vote. and every time you get sort of national-level democrats to talk about it, they tell you how bad the problem is and they tell you how much it must be fought. but the fight has been a state-to-state fight and a lot of it has been a legal fight, and a little bit of it has been a legislative fight. but to imagine the democratic party waging a national 50-state political fight on this subject, i feel like that's something that everybody's been waiting for. everybody's been covering this. everybody's been watching this happen for years, has been waiting for. this rollout of this american values first thing has been very subtle. and that was certainly their first national tv appearance. we shall see if this turns into a big deal. we'll be right back. nywhere in , but you had to leave right now, would you go? man: 'oh i can't go tonight' woman: 'i can't.' hero : that's what expedia asked me. host: book the flight but you have to go right now. hero: (laughs) and i just go? this is for real right? this is for real? i always said one day i'd go to china, just never thought it'd be today. anncr: we're giving away a trip every day. download the expedia app and your next trip could be on us. expedia, find yours. i tthan probablycare moreanyone else.and we've had this farm for 30 years. we raise black and red angus cattle. we also produce natural gas. that's how we make our living and that's how we can pass the land and water back to future generations. people should make up their own mind what's best for them. all i can say is it has worked well for us.
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