interesting comments from terry mccauliffe, he is changing strategies when it comes to trump. what's going on? tell us about it. >> reporter: jim, for months, terry mccauliffe and democrats tried to tie former president donald trump to candidate glenn youngkin. mccauliffe today was speaking to reporters, again saying he believes that trump is unpopular with virginians, and also saying the race is not about the former president. take a listen. >> you know, it's just killing trump that he's not here obviously. he's in the race, obviously he's endorsed youngkin seven different times. i think trump is trying to play whichever happens, trump claims credit no matter what happens. trump is very unpopular in the state, everybody knows it. that's probably why youngkin doesn't want him. >> would it help your campaign, i know you said you would pay for his jet fuel to get here. would it help your campaign? >> i would love to have him come in, but dan, this isn't about trump. >> reporter: one big question for democrats after former president trump left office is what campaigning and turno

i think that terry mccauliff misspoke. but that's not what he means. he means we're not going to have people come in. a woman at the school board meeting said she wasn't able to sign up to talk about critical race theory so she signed up to talk about salaries and her first opening salvo is, i'm here to talk about salaries. you should. be getting yours because you're not doing your job. this is what they want to say. we're only going to pay you if you do what we tell you you should do and that's not how things work in a democracy. >> i wonder why you think this is happening now because listen, you're right. they're the loudest voices, not necessarily the majority. they get all the coverage, right? this is a nationwide i think sort of agenda to infect not effect, effect, as well but infect the narrative and really people into thinking like this is some big deal that critical race theory is being taught and we need to get ahold of it because it's making our kids feel guilty. you know what i'm saying? >> absolutely, which by the way is the talking points

in duelling tv ads -- >> terry mccoaulcauliff, puttin politics over parents. >> reporter: terry mccauliff, the state's former democratic governor, and glenn youngkin, are locked in a bitter fight over the role of government in schools. >> my name is amy dodson. >> reporter: during the pandemic last year, dodson became an unlikely activist. attending school board meetings for the first time. arguing students should be in the classroom, not learning virtually. >> by myself, i felt very powerless. as a collective group, your voice is stronger and holds more power that we never had before as just an individual parent line up to speak. >> reporter: that's alarming some democrats, like michael, who has been attending school board meetings to provide a counterbalance. >> they're doing a good job of scaring up anger and emotion. when it comes down to walking in the voting booth, that there are enough of us who are able to look at the science, look at education with a level head, and look at this race with a level head. we don't need somebody as extreme as youngkin in the governor's mansion. >> re

i don't know if terry mccauliff feels that. i don't know if people in the midterms feel that. do you think there's time to course correct? >> well, i think that, you know, is there's a lot of rationals and explanation why progress is slow and coming on things like the infrastructure package or voting rights bill that the clip you just mentioned invoked. but none of them make sense in the public. none of them make sense to the voters that turned out in a massive wave election in 2020 to elect joe biden and a democratic senate. all these arguments about i have 58 senators supporting and two holdouts or it's the filibuster holding us back. they make sense on one level in the beltway but in the public, you have three way democratic control and if democrats don't deliver on the agenda they campaigned on, there is going to be a backlash i feel and some of the erosion and support that you're seeing is from democratic voters that are wondering why they don't have this infrastructure package passed yet. why aren't they willing to do what it takes to get the voting rights act passed so

mccauliffe responded. there is a graphic symbol of pedophilia and pornography. >> can i ask you, why do you draw a line from one to the other? because i have gone through critical race theory. i don't know that there is a direct line. why do you think that there is? >> just look at this idea that is in "not my idea." it literally says here, whiteness is a bad deal. it has a symbol of satan. and this is the contract that they say whiteness brings. children are getting this book. so there is a direct correlation from these ideas to these dangerous principles. and i fit into the intersectional world. i'm a muslim. i'm an immigrant. i'm a mom of color. i am a single mom. yet i do not -- all of these privileges in the new paradigm of the oppression matrix, we're all human beings. that's what we need to teach children. race is important, hairacial history is important. but now racism, bigotry, and separation, affinity circles, segregation. it is not okay, and it is not healthy for our kids. >> what do you say to