October 31, 2020 - PBS NewsHour Weekend full episode

In the battleground state of North Carolina, young people under the age of 29 are turning out in large numbers to cast their vote. The Senate race here is also one of the most competitive, with big spending from both parties -- and a sexting scandal. Rusty Jacobs, politics reporter at WUNC, joins Hari Sreenivasan for more.

The 2020 election cycle is by far the most expensive campaign year in U.S. history. Advertising spending for candidates running for federal office has reached unprecedented amounts, totaling at least 2.5 billion dollars on TV ads so far. Erika Franklin Fowler of the Wesleyan Media Project joins to discuss the different purposes, priorities and methods for political ads.

North Carolina, a key swing state in this year's presidential election, has been hit by three major hurricanes in the last several years. Hari Sreenivasan reports on the race for Agriculture Commissioner, where a Democrat is making climate change a key issue as she challenges a four-term Republican incumbent. This segment is part of our series, “Peril and Promise: the Challenge of Climate Change.”