Original subtitles

[awestruck music]

[luminescent music]

[wind murmurs]

[door clunks]

[alarm buzzes]

[Chuck] Hey, there's trouble back there.

Hi, Sheriff, how you doing?

Good. How you doing?

[Officer] Good.

Hey, Gower.

Sir, how are you?

This is the ICE processing unit

within the detention center.

Basically, everybody that comes through our central booking,

they're asked, "Where were you born,

and what country are you a citizen of?"

If we get any answers other than the United States,

we bring them over here to this unit, where we process 'em

to determine their immigration status,

but it is a little bit controversial,

especially during an election year.

People will of course push to oppose it.

We've seen some very heinous crimes here.

How getting rid of these people is a bad thing,

I don't know.

Maybe I'm missing something,

but getting people that have committed murder, rape,

these serious charges, I don't understand how

that can be a bad thing.

Americans are very tired of it.

Americans are being killed by people

who are in this country illegally.

Americans have had enough.

As a sheriff who takes my obligation seriously,

I'm gonna do everything I can to protect them.

[tender music]

When you have no other argument,

the easiest sword to draw is the one

you're a racist in your profile.

It's simply not true.

It's so highly publicized because of the controversy.

Again, if it weren't an election year,

it wouldn't be an issue,

so we'll see in a few weeks how this plays out.

You have a sheriff who has committed

to stand on his program, to protect the citizens,

and an opponent who says he's going to get rid of it.

Let's see how it shakes out.

Oh, I think we're gonna win.

The need is greater now than ever

with the Sheriff's Office

because of the issues.

Well, I don't like to mention my opponent's name.

There's the asshole.

-Vote for Mr. Karl. -[child babbles]

If you want me to, I will.

[Interviewer] Whatever you're comfortable-

Well, I won't. I won't mention his name.

I'm Karl Bickel,

Democratic candidate for Frederick County Sheriff.

[virile music]

[text thuds]

In the U.S., we are unique in the world

in that we have fiercely independent local law enforcement.

[text thuds]

[virile music continues]

A sheriff is different than most police chiefs.

Most police chiefs are appointed.

A sheriff is independently elected.

True representative democracy,

the idea that he is the best among us.

[text thuds]

How you doing. Clarence Birkhead for sheriff.

A new day for Durham, that's right.

You get out and vote.

[text thuds]

[Preston] Got a tiger here!

Yeah, I know what that means.

CB!

You see the tension in my shoulders is what you see.

I would guess that most Americans don't

necessarily understand the level of autonomy

that sheriffs have.

[Boy] Are you running for state senator?

No, sir. I'm the sheriff running for reelection.

It is a constitutional position.

I think that is so important for people to realize.

I serve you. I don't serve another elected official.

Thank you.

That's the most important piece of it,

your role in the fabric of this country.

-How's it going? -Doing fantastic job, man.

[Chuck] Appreciate it. Thank you.

[virile music continues]

Theoretically, anybody could run.

There are many places where there are

no requirements whatsoever

to be a sheriff and be in charge

of all law enforcement activities

-in a county. -[crowd cheers]

[text thuds]

[virile music continues]

[text thuds]

Of course, this plays into all the other drama

that's playing out in American politics right now.

[Patriots] U.S.A.!

[Protesters] Racists go home!

The issues that are happening on a national level are

being sort of fought out at the local level.

[text thuds]

[siren wails faintly]

The current tenor of the politics across the country has

taken a turn that we never saw coming.

[crowd cheers]

This is probably the most important midterm election

that we've had in a very long time.

It really will shape the policies for years to come.

[virile music continues]

If you're wearing uniform and you have

that kind of a badge and the title of sheriff,

it's very tempting to sort of act out

as if you were in a old school Western movie.

The sort of idea of manifest destiny,

pushing out into the West,

The only person that can tame this wild land is the sheriff.

[text thuds]

[virile music slows]

[Bickel] You don't need to do that on Sunday.

Oh, okay. Oh well.

[Karl laughs]

Thanks.

[Woman] Thank you.

Oh, you're welcome.

They charge so much during the week,

they don't need to on Sunday.

This is a very important area for Karl this year.

We've been doing a great job reaching voters

here in the city of Frederick.

We wanna talk about the opioid crisis.

Karl's experience across multiple aspects

of law enforcement over 40 years

and the professionalism that he's going to bring

to the sheriff's department,

but when you're talking to voters,

reciting a script, is not compelling.

When you go in and you say the reason that I'm willing

to come out here on a Sunday and talk to you about this is

because of this issue, for me,

that's always the most compelling thing to say to someone,

so trust yourself about why this is important for you.

Here is the cards for Frederick Democrats

who offer free rides to the polls,

so just good to have 'em.

It's sort of unique to have a sheriff

as an elected position,

I kind of am uncomfortable with it, to be honest with you,

especially in the environment that we're in today.

In our country, everything is hyperpolarized.

If you're a republican, you have to stand

on this side of the line, this imaginary line,

and you have to believe these things and not these things.

Vice versa with democrats.

We vilify each other on either side.

I don't want my sheriff to be on one side of that line.

The change from Chuck Jenkins to Karl Bickel is

the biggest swing that I can help make in our local area.

Karl ran against him four years ago.

We've expanded Karl's operation this year,

more than fivefold.

I believe we can win.

There's a movement going on for Karl.

I think we're pissed off,

[laughs] so we're highly motivated.

Even if you don't know Karl,

you know Chuck Jenkins, you know, you know his opponent,

and you know we need change now.

[gleeful music]

♪ WFMD, Frederick's new station ♪

This is Sheriff Chuck Jenkins reminding you

and asking for your vote on November 6.

I've provided leadership with sound policy decisions

in the best interest of public safety for our citizens.

I'm the only one who will enforce the immigration laws,

and I stand alone to keep Frederick County

from becoming a sanctuary county.

The ICE 287g program has placed

over 1600 criminal aliens into deportation,

including 105 gang members to mostly MS-13.

Keep Frederick County safe. Elect Chuck Jenkins Sheriff.

Authority: Chuck Jenkins for Sheriff,

Gary Jenkins treasurer.

This is my brother, Gary, Gary Jenkins.

He's right behind me, two years younger than I am.

He's the second of five.

He's my campaign treasurer, has been for 12 years.

I'm sure he's tired of it. I know he's tired.

But he really does a great job at managing my money

for the campaigns.

But it's very difficult being the brother

of a popular sheriff.

I am nobody except Chuck's brother.

[phone rings]

Sheriff Jenkins.

Who stoled your identity?

[restrained music continues]

I believe this because I live this.

There's no elected official

closer to the people than a sheriff.

I truly believe that.

[Man] Who is the sheriff?

I serve at the pleasure of the people

and I have the trust of the people.

Hey, Shelly. How are you?

[Shelly] Doing good.

[Chuck] Thanks for having us. I appreciate that.

-Thank you. -Well, you know.

[Chuck] I appreciate it.

-We support ya. -I know ya do.

I'm a law and order guy. I'm kinda no nonsense.

The bad guys belong in jail.

I wanna protect the good people that are out there.

-Good to see ya. -Good to see ya, brother.

People in this county have seen me

become the sheriff they want here.

I recently read an article

that serious crime is down by 10% in Frederick County.

I wanted to do a shout out

to our great sheriff, Chuck Jenkins.

[Audience] Hey! [applauds] Whoo!

They recognize the problems that we're dealing with

as a county, as a society.

I call these societal problems.

The heroin/opioid-addiction problem.

There's always a conversation about that.

There are conversations about immigration,

illegal immigration, because that's a big issue over here.

[restrained music continues]

We have about 185 sworn deputy sheriffs.

Then we have our corrections bureau,

which is about another 150 employees,

a tremendous budget of about $46 million a year.

It's a tremendous amount of authority.

Everybody's lives depend on the decisions that you make.

[restrained music continues]

Well, this is something that really,

to me, has some meaning to it,

but this is an autographed picture of Russell Crowe

in the movie "Gladiator."

That's my favorite movie because in my mind,

when you're like an election,

you walk the other guy into the arena and you kill him.

Good evening. I'm Karl Bickel.

I'm running for Sheriff of Frederick County.

I just wanted to stop by and introduce myself.

The research seems to indicate

that the most effective means is

going door to door and making that personal contact.

Salisbury, did you go there?

No, my daughter did a while ago.

My daughter-in-law went there as well.

-Oh, did she? -Yes.

Said something about Salisbury.

That might be all she remembers,

but if she remembered something,

unfortunately, that probably means more

than anything having to do with policies.

Ask for your vote and see if you have any questions of me.

You gotta have that street cred.

Okay, thank you very much.

And I have that.

I was only 22 years old

when I was a detective working

in the inner city in Washington.

Got to do a lotta things in a real short period of time,

but just the fact that you came to the door,

a lotta times, will sway people.

The other candidate doesn't do this,

which works to my favor.

He's good at the job he's doing.

I don't like him getting into border stuff.

It just doesn't ring right to me.

You should worry about Frederick and not the-

Well, that's what he's getting paid for,

to look after Frederick.

He can be an affable fella at times,

but as far as running the Sheriff's Office,

I think he's been a dismal failure

attempting to manage through fear and intimidation,

his good-old-boy favoritism when it comes to promotions,

when it comes to assignments, when it comes to hiring.

Quite frankly, I've been enjoying retirement.

If we had a good sheriff, I wouldn't be running for office.

-[reserved music] -[dogs bark]

He was at one point with this agency.

I'm going back 24, 25 years ago.

Now, I don't know how he can sell himself

to be the chief law enforcement officer in the county

when you haven't been in the game for 24, 25 years.

It just doesn't work.

You can't be out of this game for six months.

This is the third time he's run against me.

He writes a lot, writes a lot on the blogs,

faults me for lack of leadership, lack of education,

[reserved music continues]

but people know what to expect from me.

They know what I believe in. That resonates.

I think people trust me because of it.

That's why I'm behind this desk.

The sheriff would accuse me of attacking him personally,

but I've been very careful only to talk

about issues and policy.

In fact, when he's done that,

I've asked him to bring to my attention

anywhere that I have attacked him personally,

and I'll publicly apologize.

I never hear back.

This is a Republican Sheriff Chuck Jenkins asking

for your vote on November 6th.

I've provided leadership with sound policy decisions

in the best interest of public safety.

In the first six months of this year,

more than 30 Frederick County residents have died

of opioid overdoses.

No parent should have to bury their child

because the sheriff doesn't take this epidemic seriously.

[reserved music continues]

Well, the argument for a sheriff is it's someone

who is chosen by the community, who is of the community,

so if you have a conservative sheriff, in theory,

it's reflecting voters who are conservative.

If you have a liberal sheriff, you know, vice versa,

but once a sheriff's in, you're kinda stuck with him.

In most states, sheriffs are elected to four-year terms.

There are very few places where sheriffs have term limits.

We have really long incumbency rates.

The average sheriff serves for 18 years,

so they're reelected over and over again.

That gives them a sort of permanence.

they just sorta become an institution in and of themselves.

Move. You need to move.

Well, fuck you, KKK bitch.

Law enforcement, at its core is incredibly political.

[crowd roars]

[Man] Get that fucking... [grunts]

[Mirya] If we think about politics

as the exercise of power,

-Back up. -Back up!

law enforcement is to some extent

the ultimate exercise of politics.

Well, me personally, I'm just here to support free speech

and the unpopular ideas that are being expressed today,

but "Speak English Please!" is a reference to the idea

that English should be America's national language.

Politics in the U.S. at the moment is

the closest thing to like sports affiliation

I've ever seen, right.

So you pick a side you know. Which team are you on?

First, God gives us Jesus,

and now God gives us Donald Trump.

Such a racist.

[Woman With Phone] Why? How do you know I'm racist?

[Mike] It sorta lends itself to do

what politicians typically do.

There's babies in cages!

[Mike] Your goal is to get elected.

In order to get elected, you need to raise a lotta money,

make a lotta people happy.

I order you to the concentration camps.

Sometimes, the popular decisions

are not the best decisions.

[music becomes lively]

Sheriffs in North Carolina are really interesting

because some of the national issues are

particularly affecting elections around sheriffs.

[protesters chant]

So, if we think about Durham, North Carolina,

[Protesters] Move!

[Mirya] Durham is a historically black city

[Protester] Who do you work for?

and has never had a black sheriff.

♪ No cops, no KKK, no fascist ♪

There have been some major conflicts

about immigration issues, immigration enforcement,

police violence, jails, and how the jails are being run,

so in the spring, there was a Democratic primary,

and this is really the only election that matters

because there are very few republicans in Durham.

There will be a new district attorney and sheriff

in Durham County.

Here's a look at those results for the Democratic primary.

[Anchorwoman] Clarence Birkhead is set to take over

the Durham County Sheriff's Office and would make history

as the first African American to hold the position.

I am your new sheriff!

[supporters cheers]

[lulling music continues]

It's good to be here.

And it's certainly good to be here as your sheriff-elect.

It's been a long road,

but we have worked really hard together

to get where we are today.

Now, having won the primary,

the general election is academic,

but you still need to vote for me

'cause I can't do this alone.

This is not "The Clarence Birkhead Show."

I recognize, as I hope you do,

that this is much larger than me.

Okay, and it's not about me, so what I need

from the community is like this right here.

Number one, we should fill this room.

We have an opportunity to have a conversation

with the first black sheriff.

I've been where you're sitting.

When things go bad, and things will happen,

there will be other incidents, there will be another death

in the jail, but I can promise you this,

meet me at the table so we can talk about what happened.

I can explain to you how we're going to rectify it.

The current outgoing administration

in the Sheriff's Office has pretty much left

the reputation of the Sheriff's Office

in a not-so-favorable light right now.

I'm trying to be kind.

I know these listening sessions are great.

And you're right. We should have filled the room.

What do you see your office doing

to reach these young people and let them know

you don't have to fear us

because we have the deputy badge on

and you see the car and tense up,

you won't have to do that under the Birkhead administration?

Oh, I almost quoted T.I., so I'm not gonna to quote T.I.,

but I have to let them know that I'm accessible, number one.

If you remember, TEA,

you remember, transparency, engagement, and accountability,

the only way I can reach those young people,

those young folks, is to engage with them where they are.

[marchlike music]

Got the committee slate. Come on.

We gotta get out and vote, all right.

Thank you.

How you doing?

That's the committee slate. Vote Birkhead for sheriff.

Okay.

I appreciate just support.

Tell all ya friends, okay?

All right, get out and vote, okay.

Get out and vote. All right, thank you.

[Clarence Voiceover] This is a great community,

but it's been troubled: drugs, violence.

You got me?

[Clarence Voiceover] Law enforcement is not always seen

as a friend.

On a national level, law enforcement's taken a hit,

made some mistakes, had some very tragic incidents occur.

-All right, how you doing? -Very good, I appreciate it.

Doing well. Thank you, sir.

Appreciate it. Thank you.

[poignant music]

I wanna win, and I wanna win big.

That momentum would just carry over to my first 100 days,

first year, and keep everybody excited about the change.

[poignant music continues]

For whatever reason, that office has been locked up.

We African Americans have not been able

to break that glass ceiling, so to speak,

but I think now, there's such a wave of change

across the state, across the country that now's the time.

[poignant music continues]

When you're talking about criminal justice issues

and some of the ills of the criminal justice system,

who can better relate then an African American man.

Good morning.

[Woman] We gonna win!

Yes, we gonna win! Say it again.

[Woman] We gonna win!

[Clarence] We gonna win! All right.

[dog barks]

[Hairdresser] You work a taxi?

[Client] Yep.

I'm really getting down to the wire

'cause I'm trying to save what I need for poles.

[Woman] Are you putting your signs up on every pole?

Well I've already got people on my team...

That's all set for me.

[Woman] Okay.

I'm taken care of, so...

I'm going down to Urbana. I'm going to Monrovia.

Then I'm gonna head West, go to Middletown.

They stole all my signs outta Middletown.

Fountaindale North and South and Main Street were all hit.

[Woman] Did you tell 'em that we have signs here for you,

they don't have to take-

Right, come and get their own. Don't take somebody else's.

Yeah, I hardly think it's that.

See now, you pull in here,

and what do ya see ahead of you there?

You're gonna be looking for a parking place.

You see a big area there where there's nothing.

That's our spot.

I'm not going to be identified

by winning or losing a sheriff's race.

You know, I'm who I am.

If I win a sheriff's race, that's wonderful,

but I'll feel badly if we don't have an opportunity

to bring about the kinda change that's needed,

because there are so many folks now

that are so hopeful,

both in the community

and in the Sheriff's Office itself.

I'll feel as though I've let them down

because there's a lot of energy that's going into this.

A lotta people have their hopes up,

but there's somebody going around pulling up signs.

That could explain why none of ours were here.

[Woman] Who would be pulling up signs though?

Oh, the opposition, especially up here.

This is Jenkins' territory.

[sensitive music continues]

[Man] Keep it going! [indistinct] and that's it.

[Woman] Come on. Let's go!

[boy yelps]

[Man] Derrick, you on that side.

All right, they-

[Woman] Everybody vote for Chuck Jenkins.

All right, so I got everybody's vote here, right?

-Yes. -Yeah.

-There you go. -Where am I supposed to...

Well, keep your eye on this next one.

I can't afford to keep bringing big signs up.

I know. We will.

It's just people like that out here.

[Chuck] I know.

I think it's people that don't like you.

Probably like these illegal immigrants.

There's a lot likes you.

They want you being sheriff again.

You got that right, and I'm one off 'em.

Well, thank you. Appreciate that.

Let me give you a bumper sticker. Here, yeah.

[Woman] I want one too.

You want one too?

You got it. No problem.

[Emily] You have a bumper!

-There you go. -You want one, Emily?

[Karl] I guess my objective is to get rid of Chuck.

There you go. All right.

It's not him.

Well, it is him because it's his policies.

And, uh

Yeah, I guess it is about getting rid of him

because if he were doing a good job,

I wouldn't be running for sheriff.

I just want this election to be over.

Its, um

I do and I don't. I enjoy parts of it.

It's a lota work.

I don't mind the work, but

Its the... you know

you're waiting for the results.

You're waiting for election day.

You don't know how it's gonna go.

You're apprehensive. You're nervous.

This is my livelihood. This is my career.

Everything's on the line.

[sensitive music continues]

[bird twitters]

People respect law and order,

and they love our law enforcement,

and I think we're gonna have much more

of a red wave than what you're going to see

as a phony blue wave.

Blue wave means crime. It means open borders, not good.

I'm with some of the great law enforcement people.

A lot of 'em are friends of mine.

They've been fantastic people, fantastic.

They know what we're up against.

We're up against people that want to allow

criminals into our society.

I appreciate our president leading by example

and coming down here.

Under the Obama administration

and under his Department of Justice,

when something would've occurred,

an officer may have shot someone,

the President and the Department of Justice seemed

to always weigh in before the facts were made clear.

It would always be against law enforcement.

There was never much pro-law enforcement.

A lot of times you're scorned,

and you're looked at by the media,

because the media's very dishonest,

much of it, in this country, very very dishonest.

It seemed to me that when Donald Trump became president,

he made it very clear running for president

that he was a law and order guy.

He likes sheriffs. He likes police chiefs.

He likes law enforcement in general.

I just think that the overwhelming feeling is

that he has our back.

It's not surprising for any of the sheriffs who are here

that shortly after you took office, people started saying,

"There's a new sheriff in town."

[attendee whistles]

Oh yes. Trump loves him some sheriffs.

Trump stands next to a sheriff, and what that telegraphs,

without anyone saying a word,

is law and order, strength, masculinity.

It's just so easy to endorse him

because everything I believe in,

he's doing, and he's going to do it.

In the years leading up to Trump's election,

sheriffs were extremely visible.

I mean, that's where you get Joe Arpaio and David Clarke.

They were revered among conservatives

as people who were at the forefront of pushing back

against what they saw as the tyranny of Obama.

I think once Trump was elected,

they were part of the in-crowd.

Took me 75 years to find a hero.

It's President Trump.

We're born on the same day, June 14, flag day.

I said, "You're gonna be our next president.

There's a silent majority out there.

That's why you're gonna win."

I was right.

Well, this is my conference room

in the office that I picked up.

"Picked up," I own the place.

I kept some mementos that were in my office,

in the Sheriff's Office.

You know what?

The media never gives me a break,

but I don't work for them.

I work for you.

[Mirya] Joe Arpaio was

a longterm serving sheriff of Arizona.

He was infamous for arresting

so many people that he ran out of space in his jail

and starting tent cities out in the desert.

There will always be room because I have the tent.

That shines 24 hours a day.

[Mirya] Made the inmates wear pink uniforms

because he wanted to humiliate them.

Some of 'em didn't like it.

Became famous around the world.

If you committed a crime, you do the time,

a punitive view of law enforcement policy making.

I put the men on a chain gang.

Then, since I'm a equal opportunity guy,

I put the women on a chain gang.

No one's ever put women on a chain gang, but why not?

Women are involved in everything, you know, flying planes.

Why can't they be on a chain gang?

[virile music continues]

I usually go on 14 parades every year, 2, 300,000 people.

I don't have to take polls.

I could just see how many people are screaming at me

or giving me the finger or cheering.

Do the people in this room like Sheriff Joe?

[Audience] Yeah!

Several people died in his jails,

so there were a variety of human rights concerns

about his tenure.

Was sheriff Joe convicted for doing his job?

[Audience] Yeah.

[Mirya] Eventually, he was arrested.

This is a pardon that he gave me.

Yet I'm the bad guy. I'm the worst guy.

Every day, they call me a racist, which is okay.

Now they call everybody a racist, including the president.

Everybody's a racist now, so that's okay. Join the club.

I like to wear this hat, boots, and everything else

'cause it pisses off the left.

I've heard, "It was controversial."

I say, "Well, to who?"

Seal the damn border.

I always ask when someone says.

I go, "Oh, who am I controversial to?"

Build the damn wall.

People who hate me? Of course I am.

After a while, you realize you're gonna have to become

a political animal

as a sheriff 'cause you're elected,

so you gotta pay attention to the politics.

Donald Trump is the steadfast leader our nation needs.

I ended up supporting, endorsing,

and campaigning for Donald Trump

to be the 45th president of the United States

because of his stance on law and order.

We had a chance to elect a guy who made it

a major plank in his platform.

There isn't one thing that he's done,

that he didn't say he was gonna do.

It's called leadership.

He told us before we elected him what he was going to do.

I think people who don't like him, they're shocked

'cause they say, "We've never seen politicians do that.

They just say that to get elected."

[thoughtful music]

I think in the law enforcement field,

there's a big temptation to get yourself

on the news at night.

The more outrageous your statements,

the more likely you are to be part of that coverage.

[audience cheers and applauds]

It's a challenge because what see on TV,

if it's going on in Milwaukee,

or if it's going on in Arizona,

people kinda lump all people with a badge together.

You said you have our back.

The sheriffs across this nation have yours.

God bless you. Thank you, Mr. President.

So on the one hand, you wanna be popular and get elected.

On the other hand, you're supposed to be enforcing the law

without bias, fairly.

Sometimes, creates a dilemma.

I'm the sheriff of your home

of Camp David, Frederick County.

We suffer the same problems there.

I'm convinced, without what you're doing here today,

every county becomes a border county.

-Thank you, Mr. President. -Thank you, Sheriff.

[thoughtful music continues]

He doesn't realize those people down there laugh at him.

And not just Trump. It's not just Trump.

The president will put on a dog and pony show.

Other ranking government officials,

they put on a dog and pony show

when they wanna try to make a political point.

They bring in these police people from around the country.

That'll come in for a photo opportunity.

That's all that really is.

There are some that point out the fact

that what the hell's he doing down there

when he should be up here

doing what our county sheriff should be doing?

In the United States, there is a deep divide right now.

That certainly comes from the top.

Our current president has a different tone,

a different way of looking at politics.

It is frustrating.

Those are not the values of most Americans.

It's certainly not the values of us who live in Durham.

With the recent incidents in Pittsburgh,

the unfortunate pipe bombs that have been mailed

over the past couple of weeks,

there's a direct correlation between those actions

and the rhetoric that's coming

out of our national politics.

Unfortunately, I think this is the tip of the iceberg.

[Announcer] From the 9:30 WFMD,

Roy Rogers Restaurant News Center.

[Announcer] This is "WFMD News."

[Anchorwoman] Early voting is starting in Maryland.

The state has 79 early-voting centers,

and they open at 10 o'clock this morning,

and they will be open until 8:00 p.m.

Early voting runs through next Thursday.

There is at least-

Here, we're doing early voting in Frederick County.

Today's the first day.

We have eight days where folks can come in and vote.

We've seen presidential-level interest in absentee ballots.

Certainly today, at early voting, we're seeing,

in all four of our locations, a higher turnout

than we would typically see.

I think there's a lot of interest this year

in participating in the process

simply because of the current climate

in the political world in Maryland

and in the United States as a whole.

I think that drives a lot of intense activity

in both campaigns and in voter interest.

I think that's a good thing.

More people participate, I feel like

the better off we can be.

[Karl giggles]

[Clerk] How are you, sir?

[Karl] Very good, thanks. How are you today?

[Clerk] I'm good.

[Karl Voiceover] It's still a crapshoot to some extent.

Those that have paid attention,

those that are paying attention

and comparing the two candidates, we won that.

That's easy, but it's the folks

that don't pay close attention.

[Clerk] Need your ballot, sir.

[Karl] Yeah, you got that one right.

You coming to vote today, ma'am?

[Voter] Yes, sir.

How you doing? Let me introduce myself to ya.

I'm Clarence Birkhead.

-Nice to meet you. -Hopefully, be

your next sheriff, having won the primary.

Yes, you have my vote. Thank you very much.

-Thank you so very much. -Yes, it's a new leaf.

A new day for Durham.

Thank you. "A new day for Durham," that's right, yeah.

[woman laughs]

Hey. Thank y'all for coming out to vote.

You're welcome.

I like that outfit.

-Thank you! -That's your voting outfit?

And my voting sticker.

And your voting outfit!

[Preston] Get that to Bob.

He's gonna push it out to his group, and that's Sunday,

so by the time we get to Tuesday...

When's the last day of voting? Saturday?

[Preston] Saturday, yeah. Saturday is it.

I gotta go vote.

[Preston] I do too. I'ma grab the family and go.

Go into central.

-Yeah. -Hey, I gotta go vote.

[Preston] Grace, I found it.

Grace Marsh.

Okay.

All the employees of the office of the sheriff works

at the pleasure of the sheriff.

As we get in there, a lot of the names will be changing.

I remember when I worked in a sheriff's office

as a young deputy.

You never knew exactly whether or not you had a job

after the new guy took the oath,

so for all those employees,

it could be a bit tense right now.

One thing Clarence will always let you know,

he's never fired anyone.

He's never fired anyone. They may have fired themselves.

Yeah, he's retired.

My position actually doesn't exist on this chart,

but it would be the sheriff, and then I would be

an offshoot, right here, of the sheriff.

Then everything else would flow, flow downward. Yes.

I've prepared for it over time.

There's a saying, "If you ever come

face to face with destiny, don't be late,"

so hopefully, this is my calling and my destiny.

[crowd murmurs]

[unruly music]

[Vendor] And you, ma'am.

[Customer] Can I get the same, please.

[unruly music continues]

-Hey, Karl. -Hey. How's it going?

Good to see ya.

-Good. You too. -How've you been?

I'm doing good.

We waiting. We ready.

I can't wait for this change, this switch.

Hey, Billy.

How y'all doing?

Hey. How's it going?

-Good to see ya. -All right. Good.

Hey, good.

-How ya been? -There he is!

-Good to see ya. -How you doing?

So far, so good.

Got it nailed down?

You got Jenkins on the run or what?

He's sorta on the run, but you know,

it's not nailed down until November.

[unruly music]

I don't think this is somewhere

where they're gonna see the current sheriff.

This is not a crowd he would feel comfortable in,

which is a shame.

That's one of the reasons, one of the many reasons,

we need a new sheriff.

[Interviewer] Why do you think

he would feel uncomfortable?

Because there's certain people he just doesn't like.

There are certain groups he just doesn't like.

He's been in a rural community all of his life.

Education, he really hasn't been exposed to very much

when it comes to education.

I think all those things come to play.

That's all part of what makes all of us who we are.

What would y'all like to drink. [indistinct] get that.

Fifty-Fifty.

Fifty-Fifty.

Bottle of water.

-Bottle of water. -I'd like to trade this in

for unsweetened.

It's actually sweetened.

Oh, I'm sorry.

That's all right, sweetie.

Had a good night down Urbana Saturday night.

They had their gun raffle.

I am seated down there, but I'll tell you what.

I took a stack of signs down with me

and just put them in that vestibule there.

After I gave 'em a little spiel, when everybody left,

the signs were gone.

Hmm, there you go.

[Bald Man] Your opposition pick 'em up and put 'em out.

-Probably. -We can find 'em.

[Interviewer] Do you think this is somewhere

your opponent would visit?

Oh hell no.

[table laughs]

[Man In Red] They wouldn't let him in here.

Honestly, he wouldn't walk through this door.

He really wouldn't.

He would not fit in an environment like this.

He would be as out of place

as a bottle of champagne on that bar.

I just don't see him fitting in

with much of anybody in this county.

He's an academic.

He [indistinct] to elitist attitude.

"You're all down here. I'm up here.

I know more than any of you

'cause I read a lot of books,"

but the actual person on the street

is the guy that I'm gonna vote for.

He's the people sheriff.

Which is good. Communication.

Communicating with the community all the time.

We're facing some significant immigration and crime issues

in Frederick County.

It's ugly, so we need a strong sheriff.

President Trump, thank you for agreeing

to stop illegal immigration and restore the rule of law.

We're America's sheriffs, and we see firsthand...

The cost and tragic consequences of illegal immigration.

By securing our borders and enforcing immigration laws...

We can make America safe again.

That's part of making America great again.

Mr. President, we know we can count on you.

And you can count on America's sheriffs.

[hushed music]

No nation can allow itself to be overwhelmed

by uncontrolled masses of people rushing their border.

We have no choice. We have no choice.

We will defend our borders. We will defend our country.

We will never surrender our nation to the forces

of anarchy and chaos and crime.

[hushed music continues]

One by one, we are finding the gang members,

the drug dealers, and the criminals who pray on our people.

We are throwing them outta the country,

[audience cheers]

and we are building a wall on the southern border,

which is absolutely necessary.

-Build a wall! -[music becomes lively]

This immigration issue is really only

about 10 years old at the moment.

It certainly predates the Trump phenomenon.

This is a product of the Bush administration

and the Obama administration and the Trump administration.

They're trying to pass off immigration enforcement

to local law enforcement.

Sheriffs on the U.S.-Mexico border were pleading

with the Federal Government to provide more services,

provide more resources, provide more support.

Under former President Bush, there was an initiative

to allow local police departments to, in effect,

become an extension of the immigration police.

[door knocks]

287g is a policy

that the Federal Government is going to train them

in how to be embedded pseudo-ICE agents.

[music becomes cheery]

From the point of view of a sheriff, it's someone saying

like, "If you sign up, we'll give you a lot of resources,

you can get on the news as helping

to round-up all these illegal aliens,

and you play into the xenophobic fears

of certainly a fair number of Americans.

You're gonna get a lot of publicity.

That's good if you're a politician."

It affects the sheriffs probably more when they run a jail

because the immigration authorities want local jails

to notify them if they book somebody that may be illegal,

so some sheriffs have taken the position

that they're not gonna notify ICE,

so there is widespread disagreement on this issue.

Because of this incentive for local law enforcement

to participate, because it financially makes sense,

this has become this major issue in these elections.

[Anchorwoman] Tensions were high on Tuesday night

for the annual immigration 287g committee meeting.

[Protester] Law and order!

[Anchorwoman] Residents spoke in favor

and against the program that has been in place

for the last 10 years.

I believe that we have a real serious problem

in this country, and it's a fact

that we don't enforce our laws.

[Woman] I don't think he's saying [indistinct].

There's a difference between legal and illegal.

I came here as an immigrant.

I was an immigrant alien until I became a citizen.

I made my citizenship when I was 18.

My dad didn't do it for me.

He said, "You decide if you wanna be German

or if you wanna be American."

At 18, I became a naturalized citizen, and I'm proud of it.

[Chuck] Thank you.

Of all detainers issued under 287g,

88% were for misdemeanors, not felonies,

not for murder, not for any of that.

They were for traffic violations.

Imagine if it was your family,

who you had to worry about every time they went out

for a drive or something like that.

I do not believe for one minute

there's any law enforcement officer in this county,

that's out on the street asking any questions about

-immigration status. -Your denial is denying

the stories of real people in the community.

You know what, I've yet to receive a call,

a complaint at any level.

If no complaints have been filed,

it could be due to a culture of intimidation

or perhaps those who could be complaintants

are lacking the resources to do so.

[audience cheers and applauds]

Jenkins' whole immigration standpoint,

he knows his base,

I don't think he is doing it for a political grab.

I think he genuinely believes what he's saying,

which is slightly scary.

Monday marked day one of settlement negotiations

between a woman from El Salvador,

who won her civil rights suit, and the county

that was ruled to have wrongfully arrested her.

[Anchorman] A judge ruled last week

that the county is liable for the policy

that permitted sheriffs' deputies to detain people suspected

of violating immigration law,

and Roxana Orellana Santos can seek damages.

We recently had a settlement on the Santos case

where a woman got picked up

when she was eating outside of her work.

She was eating a sandwich and the deputies came

and picked her up.

That was not something they were supposed to do.

What they got back over a course of a few minutes was

basically a hit for an open warrant.

It was a deportation warrant, so as they should have done,

as any police agency would have done,

they took her into custody.

Now we've been found liable.

I've been found liable for illegal detention.

In fact, we violated her rights

by the fact that we seized her

and we held her and ICE came in.

Then consequently, she was held for a number of weeks,

maybe into a month or more.

I disagree that we're liable because to me,

if that was a wrongful decision,

the liability ought to fall back to ICE.

ICE should be standing up beside me and standing up for me

to help fight this.

They haven't. That's what it gets disappointing to me.

I stand up and fight the fight for them.

There's no reciprocation.

It was described to you, probably,

by the incumbent sheriff as a public safety issue

when in fact the available research indicates

that in immigrant communities, crime is less.

There's no evidence at all that indicates

that the two 287g program makes a community safer.

The felons are gonna get caught no matter what.

287g is catching people who've committed very minor crimes

that U.S. citizens commit all the time

and then putting them into process to deport them.

People really don't understand that.

They think that really bad guys are gonna get out

if we don't have 287g.

That's not the way it works.

I guess the overall economy

and how it's affected Americans,

especially maybe the lower socioeconomic classes,

maybe the elderly population, the unemployed veterans,

the unemployed in general, how we can't take care of our own

in the United States.

Our systems are taxed, our social services,

our healthcare, our education.

Very honestly, we can't keep paying

for everybody else in the world.

People are tired of that.

Here's an example right here.

Here's probably a homeless person,

who's panhandling, which is illegal.

He's probably a veteran.

What Americans are really getting angry at is the fact

that we will take better care

of people in this country illegally than we will of him.

I think it's wrong,

but here's the sad part.

If I were by myself, I'd pull over,

and I'd run him off that intersection

because what he's doing's illegal.

[gloomy dance music]

Look how many people are here,

but Frederick has not always been a very tolerant community

when it comes to anybody that's different.

As you can look around and see, that is changing.

That's improving.

There's a lot more going on in Frederick.

The sheriff's race is sort of an indicator

of what's really happening in Frederick.

[wistful music]

Frederick, Maryland, for a long time,

and still for some people, was called Fredneck,

like redneck and Frederick combined together.

This was a county that had a significant presence of KKK.

The city has fundamentally overcome that

and has a lot of diversity, but when you get

out into the county, that legacy is still there.

The presence of a number of conservative-right people

in the county is an indicator of that legacy.

The sheriff's race is a huge symbol of that.

Now, I'm not saying anybody is or isn't racist,

but it's this tradition that has to be overcome

for Frederick the county to be as welcoming

as the city became.

[wistful music continues]

Thank you very much. I appreciate it very-

There's a lot of symbolism to these races

that aren't about the specific people,

but are about communicating,

specifically to the new residents,

that you are welcome here

as opposed to what the hell were you thinking moving here?

[wistful music continues]

[Clarence] Good afternoon, everyone.

[Attendees] Good afternoon.

Okay so,

I've been asked to briefly tell you what the sheriff does.

The sheriff is the top law-enforcement official

and the top elected official in the county.

[translator speaks in foreign language]

Specifically, as it relates to our immigrant community,

and I actually made this pledge in 2006

and have not changed my stance that under my leadership,

under my authority as the new sheriff,

we will not cooperate with ICE detainers.

[Audience] [applauds] Whoo!

[translator speaks in foreign language]

A lot of people have been deported from Durham

because the collaboration that it says right now

between the sheriff and immigration.

[Clarence] Members of the community.

[Ivan] The less we have contact

with the police, we feel safer.

Understand where your issues are.

We had to find a way to support this guy

who seems different, so we recruited a lot

of voters, first time voters.

They were like, "We don't vote. Nothing is gonna change.

This fucking president, whatever."

I'm like, "Yeah, but locally, we can do a lotta of stuff."

So it was kinda hard to convince them

that there's still hope.

[Audience] Whoo! [applauds]

[Ivan speaks in foreign language]

[hopeful music]

[Ashley] The complexion of the country is changing.

That's gonna make some people nervous.

Wave them flags! You know what it is.

The face of that changing complexion are

our immigrant communities.

As we are here to defend our Western culture,

society, and civilization

we are ready to fight, bleed, and die for this shit.

What don't you understand about illegal in illegal alien?

That's what people say, that kinda stuff.

The West is the best.

There's no federal law

that describes what's a illegal alien or a legal alien.

There's people here in status, not in status.

Some have documentation. They entered legally.

It's expired, or it's changed.

Our immigration laws make this problem more difficult.

[protesters sing in foreign language]

The United States relies on undocumented immigrants

to do a lot of work, particularly

in the agriculture industry.

There has to be a balance there, where there's a way

to accommodate the need for that labor force,

but also to be respectful of the immigrants

who have followed all the processes and procedures

to gain their citizenship.

[hopeful music continues]

Being effective at maintaining public safety requires

that law enforcement have a trusting relationship

with the community.

If members of the community are afraid of law enforcement,

that trust and cooperation doesn't happen.

[woman speaks in foreign language]

[Translator] We have the power.

People must understand the power resides

in the people, not with politicians.

[audience cheers]

[music becomes enthused]

We have a very specific idea

about what immigration enforcement looks like

in the United States, and it is very Latino focused.

[man speaks in foreign language]

Because of that, it makes sense to me

that we're seeing these black sheriffs be elected

in places that are concerned about racial policy

in the office of the sheriff, because voters think

that these black sheriffs are gonna be able

to do a better job thinking about comprehensive

and compassionate immigration policy making.

[Audience] [speaks in foreign language], whoo!

[music continues calmly]

Good evening, everyone.

[translator speaks in foreign language]

[man speaks in foreign language]

It's really good to be here and support you, stand with you.

Wanna let you know that the weather would not deter us.

The national policies will not deter us.

We will stand together. We'll be a community together.

I want you to know that you have an advocate in me

as becoming your next sheriff.

And I will be here to listen with you, stand with you,

and fight for you, and keep our families together.

[Audience] Whoo!

[cheerful music]

We have a significant immigrant population here in Durham.

It's a rich vibrant community.

We want them to feel welcome and included in everything,

but it is politics of fear.

[cheerful music continues]

At the highest level, we hear terms used such as invasion,

and we've heard that at the local level,

that illegals are taking over our community,

but I choose not to believe that.

[whistle blares]

[Audience Member] Whoo!

It's no big deal to me, but once you break the law,

now you've got my attention.

[man speaks in foreign language]

[primal music]

I took an oath and obligation, okay.

I swore an oath to uphold the laws

in the constitution of the United States

and the state of Maryland,

so I believe, this is my belief,

that enforcing the immigration laws is a part of that.

I choose to do it. I choose to uphold that oath I took.

I don't look at myself as a racist.

I look at myself as enforcing the law.

This is a public safety issue,

and you can see that most through the flow of heroin,

the flow of human beings and heroin, across that border,

so as much as we do in law enforcement,

that supply just keeps coming into this country.

It's just gonna repeat itself.

It's gonna be a continuing problem.

I answer to 240,000 bosses out there every day.

They look for answers. I think they look for leadership.

This is how I'm gonna frame this.

It's awfully hard for a person

that doesn't know you to walk up in Lowe's hardware store,

in the grocery store, at a ball game

and tell you...

They'll ask you, "Aren't you sheriff Jenkins."

I'll say, "Yes, ma'am," "Yes, sir."

"Sir, I think you're doing a heck of a job.

You're doing the right thing. Keep doing what you're doing."

It happens virtually every day, so I feel good.

Do I feel confident?

Maybe confident is the right word.

I think I've got another election left.

I hope I'm smart enough to know when it's time to roll.

The benefit of having an elected sheriff is

you have a person who is independent

and directly accountable to the people.

If you have a person who's a sheriff

who is genuinely trying to improve public safety

and work with other disciplines to make the community safe,

having the freedom of that independence is really valuable,

but it's like so many things in life.

You give somebody power and authority,

and that can be used for good or bad.

Courthouse and wait.

This courthouse does not belongs to Sheriff Clark.

This courthouse belongs to the people of Dallas County,

and these are other people that Dallas County,

and they have come to register,

and you know this within your own heart, Sheriff Clark.

You are not as evil a man as you act.

You know in your heart what is right.

When we think about that mythology

of what a sheriff looks like,

the sort of big man with the badge and the gun,

immediately, what comes to mind is a white man.

And we will register to vote

because as citizens of these united states,

we have the right to do it.

Reinforced by people like John Wayne

and spaghetti Westerns and these Western classics,

all of this is sort of encapsulated

into what the sheriff is and who he is.

At the same time though, there's a parallel track

that's happening that the sheriffs are playing

a pretty major role in enforcing Jim Crow

in the American South.

You can turn your back on me,

but you cannot turn your back upon the idea of justice.

You can turn your back now, and you can keep the club

in your hand, but you cannot beat down justice.

-[punch thuds] -[woman screams]

[despairing music continues]

[Cordy] Are you a bunch of thugs?

You don't have to do it.

No, you don't have to beat us.

[Officer] Well, get out [obscured].

[Cordy] You don't have to beat us. Arrest us.

[Jim] Get that [indistinct].

[Cordy] Arrest us if we're wrong. Don't beat us.

I think that was a pretty significant shift

in law enforcement because law enforcement's role

in the community was really maintaining the status quo.

This is cops responding to what their political leaders

and their agency leaders are

-telling them to do. -What was that for?

[Cordy] If we're wrong, arrest us.

[despairing music continues]

We're wrong, arrest-

All of a sudden the police have this conflict

because now they have the supreme court saying,

"Hey, you need to protect the constitutional rights

of these marginalized people too"

when the majority of the community said,

"No, we just wanna maintain the order.

We wanna keep things the way they've always been."

So now the cops are in the middle

of a political and a social conflict.

-Go on, now. -You beat me in the side

and then hide your blow.

Well, go on.

No, I don't want you to leave.

We have come to register to vote.

[despairing music continues]

You beat us with [indistinct] and [indistinct].

What kind of people are you?

[Mike] There's a temptation to use

the extraordinary powers they have

against outsiders, people who are different.

That could be African-Americans. It could be immigrants.

[Jim] Have you been in this court?

[Cordy] The vote belongs to all the citizens.

So sheriffs has caught up the halfway

between this old-school traditional model

and modern policing.

Probably not all of them are gonna survive the transition.

[despairing music continues]

[man speaks faintly]

In current time, you wouldn't see officers

at any polling places

because of past discrimination practices

as far as sheriff deputies being at polling sites

in which it would actually discourage

specifically minority populations

from coming out to the polls.

It was a tactic that was used

probably mostly in the South.

As you see, there's a couple of offices here.

There was evidently an online threat made

by a law student here at the university,

so the university has deployed some security here,

just as a precaution.

She made some racially disparaging comments

as well as an endorsement to the attempted murder

of the Clintons, the Obamas with respect to the pipe bombs.

We, the students, felt very strongly about that.

We fear for our public safety,

considering her access to weapons.

[Reporter] Do you all feel safe here?

No.

I, particularly as a white woman,

feel that it's my obligation to stand up

against the absolutely disturbing conduct

that we have seen by a classmate

who has been in our presence for three years,

so no, I don't feel safe.

I don't know what she's capable of.

I would like to see her expelled immediately.

Will you all be at the town hall meeting this afternoon?

They're here to learn.

We, as law enforcement, should protect

that sanctuary of academia,

but I know people will look at me and say

your office has a history of oppression.

I'm like, "Yeah, it does."

I recognize it so I don't make those same mistakes,

but some people say, "Yeah, talk is cheap."

You've heard the saying, but yeah,

recognizing and understanding where we've come from

hopefully allows us not to make

the same mistakes moving forward.

We are confident that we're gonna be able

to get you out to work tomorrow.

We have a wonderful Democrat ticket.

Please be sure to show up and just pull the lever

for a straight Democrat ticket.

We really need to vote more than anybody else's.

You are so important to us.

Thank you. God bless you.

God bless America. Bye-bye.

Talk about a waste.

Talk to me.

Boxes and boxes of that stuff.

Now that one, that's their thing,

but that's our central committee, I guess.

I know, how frustrating is that

to have all these materials left over

and we have one day left.

You know who doesn't have any materials left over?

Us.

We're running into good problems like that.

We're down to the final day.

we're running outta campaign flyers.

We're running outta yard signs.

We're running outta big signs.

We're running outta everything that we got.

Everything that we wanna

-run out of. -I don't want anything left

in the office at the end of tomorrow.

That works for me.

[indistinct] anyway?

[Campaigner] Just drop it there, Karl.

I'll take care of it later.

So far, the early voting numbers have looked fantastic

for us, and our party, the Democratic Party,

has had a significant advantage

in who's come out to vote so far.

Really, Frederick County is very much a purple county.

There's actually more republicans registered here

than there are democrats, but that's not who we've seen

showing up this year.

That's true in the city of Frederick and countywide,

but it's also been true in some traditionally red areas.

This year, we've got competitive candidates

in all corners of the county,

and we're actually seeing fantastic turnout

in some of those areas.

I don't know how to be a sheriff.

I don't know what policies we should implement around here,

but I do know how to work on campaign.

When I looked this year at helping Karl's race,

I knew he was a fantastic candidate.

He's gonna be a fantastic sheriff,

but he's not a politician.

He doesn't innately know how to campaign,

how to win an election, how to target voters,

how to tailor his message.

We got the vote of a Nazi, apparently.

You're expanding your base pretty broadly.

Lady said she voted for me

because of my name, Karl Bickel,

and had a very heavy German accent.

Her family that was there with her described her as a Nazi.

Her own family?

Yeah, well they were German too so maybe they knew.

I don't know.

But oh well.

Well, if we win by one, we'll have to go by and thank her.

Yeah.

[rain patters]

Yeah.

[high beam clicker clicks]

[Chuck Voiceover] It all depends on the turnout.

If the republicans turn out, I'll be in good shape.

If the republicans don't turn out,

it's probably a coin toss.

I do think I'll get some of the democrat vote,

the old-school democrats.

Again, it all comes down to who gets out to vote.

[Chuck grunts]

What I'm doing this time is really unprecedented.

There's never been a four-term sheriff in the county.

On the other hand, I had to be mentally prepared

to go the other way too.

[truck wheezes]

Well, you always think this could be it.

If you lose the election, it's over.

The run is over. You're always very anxious about it.

It's worn on me a little bit more.

I'm 62 years old. I'm not a pup anymore.

The political dynamic's different.

The demographic of the voter changes,

but I've just always kept the same message,

kept the same course.

I haven't changed. The times have changed, I guess.

[Joy] Is it gonna be a big party?

[Chuck] Well, it always is, isn't it?

[Chuck and Joy laugh]

-Yeah. -It'll either be

a victory party or a farewell party.

[Joy laughs]

Oh, Chuck, don't say that.

Everybody says that you've got it.

I ran into a guy out Walmart the other night

that works out at the funeral home.

He kinda took the wind out of my sails.

He said, "Hey, good luck in the election."

He said, "I know you're gonna win this."

He said, "But you know, you might not."

He said, "Do you have a plan?" [laughs]

I said, "Well, no."

He said, "Well, you know,

you're gonna to win this,

but you know, anything can happen.

You need to have a plan."

What's his name?

I forget his last name. First name's Bob.

But you know he's exactly-

He's right, but I don't have a plan.

He's right.

What's he mean, "Do you have a plan?"

That means in case you lose, what is plan B?

I don't have a plan.

The voters are changing.

So he kinda made me think a little bit,

but I don't have a plan.

My plan is to be sheriff.

Everything in this country comes down

to democrat or republican.

It's what the squabble is

-all about. -Well, Chuck,

you just have to pray about it.

Right?

I suppose.

Don't suppose. Do it.

Pray and put up more signs.

Yeah.

[Joy and Chuck chuckle]

[Clarence] They will. That's good.

That's good advice.

All right. Thank you so much.

All right, bye-bye.

Preston, what do I need to do?

[Preston] This is just [indistinct]. We gotta do his.

[Clarence] Okay. Six Birkhead.

That's six.

[Preston] That's six.

-Yeah. -Drive safe.

[Preston] All right.

[Clarence] Thank you, sir.

[Preston] All right, Tom.

You get in trouble, call me. I know the sheriff.

[Clarence laughs]

[Michael] We can't leave any votes uncast

because, you see,

we're living in serious and dangerous times.

[Clarence] Yeah.

Racism is raging.

Hate is heightening.

Intolerance is intensifying.

Bigotry is building.

Prejudice is proliferating.

We can't leave any votes behind.

Too many people got water hosed so you could vote.

Too many many people got dog bitten so you could vote.

Too many people got police dragged for you to vote.

Too many people got hand bashed for you to vote.

Too many people got hate mongered

for you to have the right to vote.

Too many people got life threatened

for you to have the right to vote.

Too many people got locked up

for you to have the right to vote.

Don't you dare disrespect their heritage.

Don't you dare disrespect their legacy.

Don't you dare disrespect their sacrifice.

Everybody ought to make sure that they get out

and exercise that right to vote.

[Audience Member] Yeah!

Tell your teacher,

and tell your preacher,

tell Miss Lady,

and tell Slim Shady

we can't leave

any votes behind.

Tell Robby, and tell Bobby,

tell Lily, and tell Millie

we can't leave votes behind.

Tell Jade, and tell Wade,

tell Moe, and tell Jo we can't leave any votes behind.

Tell Andy and Mandy and Randy and Sandy we can't leave.

Tell Sharon and Darren and Karen and Aaron we can't.

Tell Miguel and Danielle and Manuel and Nell!

Get you spouse out the house.

Tell the clerk where ya work.

Tell all them at the gym.

Even tell the crazy fool in the carpool.

We can't afford to leave any votes on the sidelines.

Hello, Antoine.

I'm with the Value the Vote Group,

and we see that you're a registered voter

who didn't vote in the past election.

You would probably agree

that the times the very critical now,

and the only way these drastic situations can be changed is

with your vote.

We need you.

Every citizen needs to vote

to change health and social justice issues.

Also, there are six amendments proposed

that need to be defeated, including voter ID,

which can make it difficult for some people to vote

such as those in nursing homes,

so please give us a chance to change society

for the better with your vote.

Election day is tomorrow, November 6.

So come out and vote, please. Goodbye.

[momentous music]

[Anchorwoman] Voters will decide the $5 million debate

between president Donald Trump's take-no-prisoner politics

and the Democratic Party's supercharged fight

to end the Republican monopoly in U.S. politics.

There are indications that a blue wave may help Democrats,

but two years after an election

that proved polls and prognosticators wrong,

nothing is certain on the first nationwide elections

of the Trump presidency.

I don't think their minds are made up. Do you?

I think there's still a small percentage of both.

They're still trying to make that final decision.

I'd like to spend maybe 20, 30 minutes here.

We'll go take a break and grab some lunch.

Shake some hands. Kiss some babies.

-All right. -All right.

[momentous music continues]

-How are you? -Howdy.

Hi. How're you doing?

[Pro-Lifer] Doing good.

You are the sheriff, aren't you

I am. Is that good?

[Pro-Lifer] Yeah, if you're pro-life,

that's what I'm looking for.

Absolutely. I'm pro life in prison for bad guys. [laughs]

I'm actually standing at the polls just to say hi to people

and maybe have 'em get one last look at me

and hope I get their vote when they walk in the door.

[Interviewer] How are you feeling?

I'll let you know at 10 o'clock tonight.

I feel guardedly confident. I'll put it like that.

Maybe that's the best term.

How you guys doing?

[Guy] Howdy.

How's it going?

You guys want a four o'clock number?

596 for Republicans.

Democrats: 644.

We've been like this since quarter to seven this morning.

Wow, perfect.

[Man In Yellow] You'll earn that pay today, won't ya?

You got that right! Okay?

Thank you.

[Clerk] Yep.

[phone rings]

[Karl] Oh, I don't know who that might be.

[Jerry] Hey, Uncle Karl. It's Jerry.

Are there any outlets you know

that we can watch to see the results?

You don't think Rachel Maddow's gonna cover it?

[Jerry] I'm watching that too.

[Karl and Jerry laugh]

I'll text everybody and let everybody know.

I've got your number, don't I?

[Jerry] Well, you do now.

Yeah, I do now.

Yeah, I'll send a text out

saying yay or nay.

It's gonna be late though.

The polls were supposed to close at eight o'clock.

There's apparently, at some of the polling places,

still people in line.

[Jerry] Well, that's the good news.

Well, as long as they're voting our way, it's good news.

[Chuck] Listen, I ain't get real comfortable with it.

[Man] Yeah, I know it's a little scary.

[Chuck] County's changing.

[Man] Well, the whole country's changing.

You got all these people like Taylor Swift out there

telling everybody to go vote.

They don't know what they're voting for.

[Woman] Did you make it all the way through?

[Voter] Yes.

[Karl] Thank you very much for hanging in there.

[Ben] How long did you have to wait?

[Voter] An hour.

[Voter] An hour 20 minutes.

[Ben] Thank you for staying.

-Thank you. -Thank you very much.

[Karl] Weird, never had this kind of stuff here.

No, I had people coming out just a couple of minutes ago.

This woman and her daughter were saying,

"We voted here for years.

We've never seen anything like this."

That's what we've been working on.

[Karl] I hope it's going our way.

That's why we knocked on the doors

in these neighborhoods five times.

[Chuck] He's gotta turn 20,000 votes.

I don't know if he can get 20 more thousand votes

than he had the last time.

Matter of fact, the closer this stuff comes to the border,

I think the more it helps me.

Oh, it has to.

[Chuck] Locally, people are gonna say, you know what,

what he's doing is not a bad thing.

-Yeah. -Right.

It's scary.

Yep. All right, guys. Goodnight.

Thank you. See ya later.

[drawn out music continues]

[supporters applaud]

[Supporters] Chuck! Chuck!

Thank you all so much for coming out tonight.

It really means a lot.

I got great friends in this county,

all through the county, great family, friends.

All of you are here tonight to share

in what we hope's a victory.

Good to see ya.

How are you?

I gotta tell you, this has been a tough one.

This has been nine months. It's been a grueling nine months.

I left it all out there on the battlefield today.

Whatever comes out, comes out.

[baby beats]

-Yeah! -Yeah!

It's been a great run,

so let's have a good time.

Let's drink some beer. Let's eat.

Let's have a real redneck party in this house.

[Supporters] Whoo!

We're watching numbers come in.

Let's take a big victory tonight.

[supporters cheer]

You're gonna do it.

[Chuck] I hope so.

And hell, if you don't, then we still gonna celebrate.

That's right.

[drawn out music continues]

[supporters chatter]

[Supporter] Sheriff.

[Karl] Oh, not yet. We'll have to wait and see.

[Supporter] Oh, I told you once,

we claim everything we want.

[Supporter] Nice to meet you.

Nice to meet you.

[indistinct] really like to get a picture with you.

What? Sure.

We all live in our own little bubbles.

Within my own little bubble, it looks very positive.

I talk with a lot of law-enforcement people that say

the only people they know are republicans,

and they're all voting for me.

We hear a lot of feel-good things,

but we won't let go until later tonight.

[Chuck] They want Fox News, is that what they're saying?

Yeah.

I'm trying.

Taylor, can you get Fox news on there?

Uh, like their live feed?

Who has the computer?

I don't know.

[Shep] In five Republican held house seats,

the math has been against the Republicans all day.

Throughout this contest, it was widely believed

that Democrats had the likely chance

to take over the House of Representatives.

Now Fox News projects,

the Democrats will win the House of Representatives.

Mike Emanuel is our chief congressional correspondent.

He's live on Capitol Hill. Mike.

[Mike] Well, Shep, good evening. Yeah, Democrats had-

[supporters cheer]

What were the results?

Get some numbers.

National results are coming in,

so we're finding out results for governor's races

and house races and Senate races.

Some of them are not looking like what we want,

but a lot of them are dropping in

how Democratic candidates we're hoping for.

We're actually picking up, especially in the House,

some seats that maybe we're gonna be a reach.

We've got folks on the other side of the room

that are really staying on top

of the local Frederick County results,

which still haven't been released.

We're waiting and hoping to find out our local results.

[Man] You have 230. In control.

[Woman] Yeah, probably not yet.

Yeah.

I knew all day.

Everywhere, I was hearing was larger Democrat numbers.

[Woman In Maroon] Oh, that don't look good.

I reckon you needn't even told me you might say that.

[Chuck yawns]

The thing that I will tell those Republicans is

you can come and get it,

but Durham, we do it like Durham in here, don't we?

[Supporters] Whoo!

We're gonna take those progressive values,

and we're gonna make sure

that people get what they deserve [indistinct].

I dare you to try and stop us

because we got some new reinforcements as of tonight.

[phone rings]

Hey Ryan, we're on our way down to Beyu right now.

Okay, I'm coming.

-Tell 'em I'm coming. -[supporters applaud]

[Speaker On Stage] Thank you so much.

Now there's a new sheriff in town.

[supporters cheer and applaud]

Thank you.

Thank you so much.

Good evening, Durham.

[supporters cheer]

Haven't seen the numbers lately.

Preston, what are the numbers?

We don't know?

[Preston] You're winning!

I'm winning?

You all do know we're making history tonight, right?

[Supporters] Yeah. [applaud]

I am truly blessed and honored,

looking forward to serving you as your sheriff.

If you need a job, apply online. Don't call me direct.

[supporters laugh]

[Woman] 70,000 votes.

70? All right, very good.

[Supporters] Whoo!

For all of you who have already asked

for that get out of jail free.

My advice is don't go to jail in the first place.

[guests laugh]

You won't need to call me.

[Anchorman] There will be wins

for both sides tomorrow morning.

The talk of a blue wave with taking over 45 house seats,

that talk has long passed in the last couple of hours.

The Democrats, Fox News projects,

will take the house, but not with a wave at all.

[supporters cheer and applaud]

[Caller] You're up by some I see.

Yeah. Not as much as I thought

-or hoped. -That's all good.

I know.

[Caller] Anything counts.

That's it. 51%, right?

[Caller] Yeah.

[Ben] Of the remaining precincts

that I haven't reported yet,

a full half are in the city.

-Yes! -Ah, good.

[Ben] That's what we needed.

[Supporter] High five.

Don't be defeated.

No, not over till it's over.

Exactly.

Right.

[clock ticks]

Hey, Blake. You're almost to 55.

That's still [indistinct].

Gotta take what you can get.

-51's all we need. -That's it.

The turnout was good.

The turnout was great.

We were just standing at a place

that had hour and a half waits

at eight o'clock.

[clock continues ticking]

Where we probably got a significant number of the votes.

Oh right, where we probably get two out of every three.

[Woman] I have no idea.

[clock continues ticking]

All right, so we're still there.

You put up a good fight.

Oh, it isn't over yet.

Oh, I know, but...

[ticking music continues]

[Supporters] Whoo!

[music becomes bittersweet]

Folks, I think I got a fourth term as sheriff.

We got a victory.

All right, we didn't get there.

Well, I'm going fishing tomorrow.

Look, I can tell ya, I think we'd all agree,

Frederick County's not really going in a good direction.

I don't see it turning around any time soon.

-We had 16,000 votes. -That's good, but...

That's really good.

We couldn't get any more negative publicity

than we did on Chuck.

Thanks for your friendship, your support,

everything you've done to help me get here tonight.

See what the next four years brings,

but let's see if we can turn this county the other way.

[Supporters] Whoo!

[Man With Wave] We're still Fredneck in some areas,

but we're changing.

Yeah, we're trying.

[bittersweet music continues]

[Chuck] That was close.

[Man] You're right.

[Woman] You did great.

That was close though.

Ah, exactly what I though you'd be.

I thought you'd be 53, 55.

I'm telling you, democrat turnout,

you got a lotta democrats voting for ya.

[Woman] We won. That's all that matters.

Win's a win. Doesn't matter how many.

Nobody remembers the score, just the win.

Just relax.

[bittersweet music continues]

Y'all take care, now.

[bittersweet music continues]

Take her easy.

Sorry I let you guys down.

[Supporter] No, good job. No, I'm good.

[bittersweet music continues]

I'm flabbergasted actually.

Jesus, God, man.

I'm telling ya

the democrats really come out, didn't they?

[traffic hums]

[sophisticated music]

-You nervous? -Yes.

[Man] Good for you.

[Clarence laughs]

[Woman] Hey.

[Clarence] Thank you so much for coming.

[Woman] I wouldn't have missed it

for nothing in the world.

[Clarence] Thank you so much.

[Woman] No problem.

Thank you for joining us on this historic day.

We're gonna get things started.

The swearing in of the new sheriff in Durham is always

an auspicious occasion, but today is special;

Clarence Birkhead will also become

the very first African American to serve

in that hallowed role in our community.

[virile music]

As with the installation of every new sheriff,

Clarence Birkhead personally represents.

[Commander] Sheriff's Office. Attention!

[virile music continues]

Welcome to the historic fourth term swearing-in ceremony

for Sheriff Charles A. Jenkins.

Today's keynote speaker, Mr. Thomas Homan.

Mr. Homan strongly opposes illegal immigration,

supports strong illegal immigration enforcement.

I think, in particular, if you are concerned

with the state of prisons in the United States,

if you're concerned about issues around immigration,

if you're concerned about issues around guns,

if you're concerned about domestic violence,

if you are concerned about any of these things,

it's an appropriate time to start paying attention

to who's running for sheriff in your county,

what their policies are.

I envision a Durham for all,

inclusive and inviting, sharing in the prosperity

that we are all experiencing.

Just thinking about how much power sheriffs have,

how much influence they have,

over people's day to day lives,

I think if I had to see a sheriff on the ballot again,

I would be doing a lot of research and I would be looking

at who the sheriff's affiliated themselves with.

Half of this country hates me, and I don't care.

I've worked with six presidents,

but nobody's done more for law enforcement

and border security and immigration enforcement

than President Trump.

-That's just a stone cold fact. -[audience applauds]

[Sue] I think sheriffs will always be part

of the American landscape.

I do have quite a bit to say this morning.

Some of it, little bit unusual, little out of the norm,

but I think it needs to be said.

But I think as the community in general

becomes more open minded

about what a cop looks like,

what a president looks like,

I think we're evolving,

but the office of sheriff might be one of the last bastions

of changing the iconic image.

We're experiencing a really dangerous shift in society

in which a certain segment of the population on the left,

even here locally, seem to want unenforced laws,

promote legalized drugs, encourage civil disorder,

open borders, and even want Frederick city and County

to become a sanctuary county.

All systems need to be reformed.

I think some people...

Change is a scary thing.

We must do our very best to ensure

that everyone feels safe.

Thank you so much.

That was a good time.

No matter the color of their skin,

no matter what your immigration status is,

what your gender is, your sexual orientation,

or your religious beliefs,

we are a Durham for all.

People don't like change, are prepared to resist it.

I will not, and I repeat,

I will not allow Frederick County

to become a sanctuary county.

[audience applauds]

But sooner or later, it's gonna reach a breaking point.

when that happens, you're not gonna be able to compromise.

You may just lose everything.

[Chuck] I, Charles A. Jenkins.

[Swearer-In] Do you solemnly declare and affirm.

Do you solemnly declare-

I think people value the local ties, the local culture,

that you often see in the elected sheriffs.

I think that means a lot to people.

On the other hand, the temptation to get carried away

might be irresistible for some elected sheriffs

Place your left hand on the Bible,

and raise your right.

I.

Clarence Birkhead.

Do solemnly swear

that I will support and maintain the constitution.

[swaggering rock music continues]

[audience laugh]

Can you say that again.

♪ It's month of the dead ♪

♪ It's the weeks of ghosts ♪

♪ The haunted memories ♪

♪ Come through in floods ♪

♪ By the time November comes in ♪

♪ I can see my breath in the air ♪

♪ It's the month of the dead ♪

♪ The sleepless live here ♪

♪ And I fall on my knees ♪

♪ Like a fallen tear ♪

♪ And while I'm down there ♪

♪ I may as well pray for my soul ♪

♪ Mmm, do the things I said I'd never do ♪

♪ By the time November comes ♪

[racy guitar break]

♪ Thought I knew the man I thought I was ♪

♪ Yeah, by the time November comes ♪

♪ Do the things I said I'd never do ♪

♪ By the time November comes ♪

♪ By the time November comes ♪

♪ I can see my breath in the air ♪

♪ By the time November comes ♪

♪ I can see my breath in the air ♪

♪ By the time November comes ♪

♪ I can see my breath in the air ♪

♪ By the time November comes in ♪

♪ I can see my breath in the air ♪