ad focused on black men and the economy. young black voters are less certain they'll vote in november than this time four years ago, so why? two insiders tell us what works to turn that around. plus, why a candidate in louisiana who won by a single vote to be caddo parish's first sheriff will have to run again after a judge voided his victory. that candidate is with us. and civil rights leader joins us to explain why he supports the delay in banning menthol cigarettes, despite the health concerns. his warning about political backlash from black voters. i'm victor blackwell. let's start the show. we begin this morning with the new appeal from the biden-harris campaign aimed at young black men. a cnn poll shows biden's approval rating is 62% among democrats, but only 47% of black americans approve of his job performance. black voters in several polls say biden's key economic policies have not helped them. this new ad airing in battleground states looks to flip that narrative. >> my community is usually last on the list to receive any type of funding. when joe biden started passing laws like the inflation reduction act, that was huge for us. the policies he puts in place are striving to make a difference for things that matter, how to put table on our table, how to get the next job, skill up. joe biden is actually doing stuff that helps everyday people. president joe biden has our backs because he's thinking about our present and our future. >> is that message an effective one? let's talk about this with the biden-harris director of paid media in 2020, and a strategist and former regional director for the 2012 obama-biden campaign. you are the right people with whom to have this conversation. thank you for being with me. i want to start with the numbers and as it relates to young black people and the intention to vote, the latest harvard institute of politics poll shows that there's been a big drop-off in those who have intentions to vote. in the fall of 2019 it was 50% who said they will definitely vote. that's now down to 38%. if the biden teams starts at a 12 point deficit, should this have started focusing on young black voters, young black men earlier? >> well, if you look at what's going on at the biden-harris administration, the policies, they have been focused directly on people of color, particularly young black men and hispanic men and women as well. but the thing that is really encouraging to me, victor, is this is an unprecedented investment of $25 million very early on in the campaign with a little less than a year out to specifically focus on this constituency group. so while the numbers are still early, i think those numbers will get better. polling this early really doesn't necessarily dictate what the outcome will be. but i know that if you look at the biden record of success, particularly around the economy, encouraging black men to basically give them the resources they need to provide for their families, things involving public safety, and also embracing entrepreneurship, if you look at the number of small businesses, an unprecedented number of small businesses that have been created by black and latino businesses. i think that is something that is going to resonate with voters. but i believe this, even if the poll you just quoted wasn't out, the biden-harris campaign was going to make this investment, anyway. but the one thing we can't leave the show and not highlight is how early it is and it's in key battleground states. >> i want to come back to as you talked about the content, the economic message, because as i said at the top, it's refreshing that the first words out of a campaign to black men is not about policing or prison reform. it's about growing small businesses. cameron, let me come to you because this is your wheelhouse, reaching black voters. the effectiveness of a television ad of this style, is this the right approach for the re-election campaign? >> thank you, victor. yes, ads like this are great because black people and definitely young black men have had legitimate questions about what the administration has done with rising prices and student loan, interest rates, and young black people are wanting to make sure they have the same opportunities their parents and grandparents had. but ads like this are effective not only on tv, but also really on digital because black people, we are all over the internet. this is a really good first step and investment in really getting that message out there early and often. >> you know what i found interesting, you told, cameron, one of my producers, as it relates to black voters, we are not a monolith, but we are an algorithm. explain that. >> yes, yes, black people are not a monolith, but we are an algorithm. there's a way to reach us surround sound across the internet, social media, to really break into the feed, to really break into the feed, and i think the biden campaign by launching this not just on tv but across digital platforms, across social media, and, again, getting out there early, often, and really showing up, so when people go online, when they go on social media, wherever they have that surround sound, they really are getting this message. that's the problem the administration has had, is really breaking through so people hear and receive the message and know what the president and vice president have done for them. >> let me go back to this poll from harvard institute of politics, where they say -- they show in this poll among likely voters, biden's advantage over trump is exactly where exit polls show that it ended up in 2020, four points ahead of former president trump. however, with the independents, cornel west and rfk jr., is and even joe manchin not in the race, that lead is cut by a third down to 16%. so winning the youth vote is not enough. he's got to win it big. your concerns about the presence of these independents? >> well, if you look at the last few elections that we had for president of the united states of america, each candidate, he or she put together a broad coalition. but the one consistent thing we've seen within the democratic party is that young voters are an essential part of success. so those numbers you just quoted, i believe that joe biden will basically get back to those numbers, and possibly exceed them, because right now we're not in sort of a head-to-head race between joe biden and kamala harris and whoever the republican presidential nominee will be. the independents, it gives the voters an opportunity to look at another candidate. will those independents be able to make the ballot and will they be on the ballot in november of next year? maybe, maybe not. ultimately, i believe once it sort of becomes a head-to-head matchup between president joe biden and whoever the republican nominee will be, possibly a third-party candidate or independent, i think the voters will basically pay more attention to those candidates, and that's where the biden campaign's record of success will shine. >> i will say that rfk jr. has shown some double-digit strength in these early polls, that the independents in 2020 did not show, and is holding that double-digit strength. cameron, let me come to you on more than the ads and showing up, your thoughts on the biden-harris campaign showing up in this community, are you seeing what you did or did not see in 2020? are they coming and making the case in person? >> yes, i think in 2020, obviously, we were all locked in place due to the pandemic, and the only way we really could communicate was through visual and audio. but the president and the vice president have really been going around the country, showing up in communities, continuing to show up there, and then with ads like this to layer on top of that, so when they see the president and see the vice president in those communities, they also are then seeing this on tv, hearing this on radio, seeing this on their social media feed and all of that message is being carried not just by the president and vice president, by everyday people who have been affected and who have seen the benefits of some of their policies, both in their lives and in their communities. >> thank you both. >> thank you. so this is the 2023 race that proved every vote counts. you might have heard about this. this is the sheriff's race in caddo parish, louisiana. henry whitehorn defeated his opponent in a runoff by one vote. as you would expect in a race that close, there was a recount. after a few additional votes for each, that margin held, one vote win for whitehorn. the count was certified, according to cnn affiliate ktbs. caddo parish had elected its first black sheriff, but whitehorn's opponent claimed that some votes were illegally cast, and he asked to be declared the win or hold a new election. this week a judge agreed and henry whitehorn's victory has been thrown out. on facebook,on's campaign celebrated the decision saying the court's ruling is a victory for election integrity and we should all be confident that in march voters of caddo parish will make their voices heard definitively on who should be the next sheriff of our parish. joining me now is caddo parish candidate henry whitehorn. i don't know whether to call you candidate or sheriff-elect. thank you for joining me this morning. let me start with this. your opponent, john nicholson, his attorneys, and the judge agreed, that two people voted twice, five absentee mail-in ballots should not have been counted, did not comply with the law, claims about missing signatures for invalid votes. do you dispute the claim that the votes were illegal, or is your concern that this vote was certified and it's done, regardless of what happened before certification? >> yes, good morning. we won the election. we won the election not once, but twice, actually, and it's been certified. so we are confident that the election integrity was in place, the hard working people at the registrar's office, the clerk of court and the supervisors certified the election. my opponent asked for the recount. that happened. i won by one vote. i have a team of attorneys that's working to ensure that the court process is fair as well, but that's going to play out in its own time. right now i'm still looking forward to serving the people of caddo parish as the chief law enforcement officer in the parish. >> here is what the law that was cited by the judge -- and let's put it up on the screen. if a trial judge in an action contesting an election determines that it is possible to determine the results of an election -- or impossible, i should say, or the number of unqualified voters who were allowed to vote by the election officials was sufficient to change the result of the election if they had not been allowed to vote, the judge may declare a judgment declaring the election void and ordering a new primary or general election for all candidates. that's the allaw that allows th. i wonder if you had been on the other side of a single vote margin and lost this by one vote and there was evidence that people voted twice or there were illegal votes, would you have sued to start over? >> no, i would have not sued during this election process. i trust the integrity of the election process and it was fair and we won the election fair and square. my opponent only decided to challenge this election after he realized he had lost. so i wouldn't have challenged it myself because i know the process works. >> you in your statement responding to the judge's ruling to hold another runoff, you said this, it seems as though the rules of the game are different depending on who the players are. what do you mean by that? >> you know, i've always been told that one vote -- whether you win, the person with the most votes wins, if it's by one vote or a thousand votes. so we won and the margin was one vote. that was always been the case. all of a sudden, the rules are changing. it favors someone that doesn't fit that particular mold. so now we're having to go back through this process again and try to generate the motivation to continue to have people come out and vote. everybody is talking about these elections and why it doesn't matter if they vote. one vote does matter. if we prove that in this election, we're encouraging folks to stay with that and to come out if there's a new election. but i have faith in the court system as well and i don't know if this will even get to another election. >> let me ask you this, if these votes -- let's say two, because one is enough to flip this result, they were cast illegally. are you comfortable, satisfied with a win that includes those illegal votes? >> well, let me say this, the records show that those two votes probably went to my opponent. those were two republicans that voted. one of those individuals we know was a former chairman of the local republican party here in caddo parish, and so we know who the voters are. chances of them voting for me is slim to none. >> cnn cannot confirm that specific detail. you'll be back in court on monday. henry whitehorn, we will continue to follow this election. thank you so much for your time this morning. >> thank you, victor. coming up, a closer look at a relatively small group of voters that could have some serious influence on the 2024 race, and they got new attention this week at the white house. native american voters. plus, what do you wear to your doctors' appointments? if you've never thought about it, hear who says that they must dress for respect. cnn heroes, an all-star tribute tomorrow at 8:00. a discuss nearly often enough in the context of voting power is native americans. now, one might expect that considering they're just 1.3% of the u.s. population. however, it's where these voters are and the influence they could have on swing state outcomes that's especially relevant in this cycle. the state of arizona has the second highest population of native americans in the country, and, remember, in 2020 president biden's margin of victory there was fewer than 11,000 votes. on just the hoppe and navajo reservations in arizona, more than 60,000 votes were cast according to the native american rights fun. it got my attention this week when president biden hosted a tribal nation summit, he rolled out a series of new initiatives, he called them a new era of relationship after, quote, years of neglect by my predecessor. >> it's hard work to heal the wrongs of the past and change the course and move forward, but the actions we're taking today are key steps into that new area of tribal sovereignty and self-determination. a new era grounded in dignity and respect, that recognizes your fundamental rights to govern and grow on your own terms. that's what this summit is all about. >> now, will this new relationship be reflected in a new focus on these voters? not just to turn out the indigenous vote, but to ensure that they have access to the vote. my next guest says that both political parties have been negligent. we have a senior staff attorney at the native american rights fund, she is also enrolled member of the pueblo tribe. jacqueline, thank you so much for being with us. i had not had an appreciation for the challenges for native americans accessing the polls until, to be transparent, i read a piece you were part of for npr in which you describe the hours it takes sometimes for native americans to get to early voting locations, just for people who aren't aware, what are the challenges, the access battles that native americans are fighting? >> thank you so much. you know, the native american rights fund conducted a series of field hearings across indian country, where we asked the question why is it so difficult to vote. we got a remarkably consistent answer across indian country, and the truth is there are structural barriers that make it more difficult for our communities to vote. unfortunately, because of the poor roads, lack of infrastructure, such as lack of residential addresses, the lack of mail delivery directly to homes, native americans have just more difficulty getting to the polls. and those polls, unfortunately, are often located off reservation, and native americans have to travel to get to those polling locations and registration opportunities in a lot of instances. that travel isn't small. i think it would be surprising to most americans that native americans sometimes have to travel upwards of 50 miles to get to a polling place, to a registration opportunity. any time you have to travel those distances, it costs a lot of money. so you have to take a car, if you have one, you have to travel poor roads in the wintertime, and you have to have a vehicle that can traverse those distances. unfortunately, across indian country, we have abject poverty that makes it more difficult to vote. so these structural barriers all keep native americans from voting. >> is it clear -- i mean, we've talked about voter suppression in the black community, in the latino and hispanic community on this show. is it clear why politically there would be any advantage to keeping the access to the ballot from these native communities? >> native americans vote for republicans and democrats across the country. however, native americans have also flexed their political power and shown preference for candidates across the country. what we see is when native americans flex their political power, there's a corresponding backlash. for example, in a place like north dakota, native americans elected -- or were held responsible for electing then-senator heidecamp, and in the next session they passed a law that required addresses on i.d.s when they knew that native americans in north dakota, some of them didn't have addresses. essentially a literacy test making it impossible for native americans to cast their ballot. and i think we've seen that native americans have that power across the country in key states all across the country. >> well, you certainly have it now in arizona. i should also say the numbers in michigan, as close as these states are. thank you so much for just letting us in on some of the challenges that our native american brothers and sisters are fighting as it takes this effort to get to the ballot box. thank you so much. well, after backlash from conservatives like florida's governor, there are now new revisions to an ap african american studies course. we'll walk you through what is in and what is out. plus, we've got an update on the men charged after that brawl involving a black river boat captain in montgomery, alabama. stay with us. the united states is facing criticism this morning for vetoing a u.n. cease-fire resolution in gaza. the vote was brought to the u.n. security council during the growing concern about the massive civilian death toll there. the resolution called for an immediate humanitarian cease-fire, unconditional release of all hostages, and ensuring humanitarian access to gaza. the u.s. was the only country to vote against the resolution and faced immediate backlash from palestinian officials and human rights organizations. a bipartisan group of more than 70 lawmakers is demanding the removal or resignation of the presidents of some of the country's top universities. the presidents of harvard, the unit of pennsylvania and m.i.t. have been under intense scrutiny since a congressional hearing where they said that calls for genocide of jewish people did not violate rules against harassment and bullying. two have since clarified their remarks, being more forceful in condemnation of hate speech. two men involved in a viral brawl on the riverfront dock in montgomery, alabama, have pleaded guilty to harassment charges. they must complete a year of probation and 100 hours of community service. a warning, the video you're about to see, that maybe you've seen before, the disturbing. this fight made national news