Brian Farkas was raised in Pitt County and graduated from J.H. Rose High School. Following high school graduation, he attended the University of North Carolina at Charlotte where he earned his Bachelors in Political Science and a minor in Economics. Farkas also received a Masters in Public Administration from UNC-Chapel Hill. 
Farkas has served on many boards and commissions in the Pitt County area, from being Vice Chair for the City of Greenville Public Transportation and Parking Commission, to being the only-two term President in the history of the Greenville Museum of Art. in 2019, Governor Roy Cooper appointed Farkas to serve on the Disciplinary Hearing Commission of the North Carolina State Bar as a public member. 
In November 2019, Farkas announced his candidacy to serve Pitt County's 9th District in the North Carolina House of Representatives. In the 2020 General Election, Farkas defeated Republican incumbent Perrin Jones for the seat. As a result, the seat flipped back to Democratic control for the first time since 2012.

In the last episode of What The Politics?!, we dove into the topic of whistleblowers; people who expose what they believe to be evidence of wrongdoing. In this week’s episode we wanted to venture a little deeper, and discuss national security as a whole.  We’ll talk about transparency, and what role the government has in divulging information pertaining to national security to the public. What is that fine line between the “need-to-know” for public safety, and keeping information under wraps? On this episode we speak with an attorney specializing in national security, who tells us about his experience addressing legal issues related to this topic. He gives us his thoughts on controversial people like Edward Snowden and Julian Assange. We discuss concerns about legislation, and protection acts when it comes to whistleblowers and national security criminals. 

Stephen M. Kohn is one of the nation's leading whistleblower attorneys. Kohn has represented whistleblowers since 1984. His law firm, Kohn, Kohn, & Colapinto, LLP has been honored by the National Law Journal, and he is a founding attorney Trustee of the National Whistleblower Legal Defense & Education Fund. Kohn is also the Chairman of the Board of Directors of The National Whistleblower Center, as well as serving as Co-Chair of the Whistleblowers Leadership Council. 

More about Hugh Lee:

Lee holds a B.A. from Davidson College and a J.D. from the Florida State University College of Law. Prior to joining East Carolina University, Lee taught for 19 years at the University of Alabama School of Law, where he taught a variety of courses over his career, including the Elder Law Clinic, the Civil Clinic, and the Foreclosure Relief Clinic. With a special interest in elder and disability law, he directed the Elder Law Clinic, served on the Executive Committee of the Center for Mental Health and Aging, taught in the graduate school and department of psychology on issues related to aging served on the board of several aging advocacy groups served on the Executive Committee of the elder law section of the Alabama State Bar and won grants from the Administration on Aging, the Alabama Department of Senior Services and the Alabama Attorney General's office.

More about Dr. Mandy Cohen -

Dr. Mandy Cohen was appointed to the role of Secretary of the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) in January 2017 by Governor Roy Cooper. Secretary Cohen and her team work tirelessly to improve the health, safety, and well-being of all North Carolinians. DHHS has 17,000 employees and an annual budget of $20 billion serving as the home to NC Medicaid, Public Health, Mental Health/IDD/SUD, State Operated Hospitals and Facilities, Economic Services, Adult and Child Services, Early Childhood Education, Employment Services, and Health Services Regulation. Secretary Cohen and her team are focused on responding to and recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic, building a robust, efficient Medicaid program, improving early childhood health, safety and education, combatting the opioid crisis, and ensuring equitable access to health resources.

Dr. Brad Lockerbie is a professor of political science. Prior to joining the faculty at ECU, he was on the faculty at the University of Georgia. He is the author of Do Voters Look to the Future? Economics and Elections published by SUNY Press. He is the co-author (with Jody Baumgartner) of “Maybe it is More than a Joke: Satire, Mobilization and Political Participation” published in Social Science Quarterly.

Major Garrett is Chief Washington Correspondent for CBS News. Garrett is also the host of “The Takeout”, a weekly multi-platform interview show on politics, policy, and pop culture available on CBSN, top radio stations across the county, and all podcast platforms. Prior to being at CBS, Garrett worked with the National Journal and was Chief White House Correspondent for both FOX and CNN News at different times in his career. Before joining television, Garrett worked for the Washington Times, The Houston Post, Las Vegas Review-Journal, U.S. News, and World Report. 

More about Dr. Francia - Dr. Francia is the author of several academic books and articles on the subjects of campaign finance, interest groups, public opinion, and American elections. He's published several academic articles and books, including Guide to Interest Groups and Lobbying in the United States. 

Trey Cash, Director for Greene County’s Board of Elections. Cash is currently in his second term as Director.

Cash previously worked for the Greene County Emergency Services and North Carolina Division of Emergency Management for over 6 years combined.
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Election Day is just 7 days away. November 3 will see tons of ballots and much anticipation. Many people across the country have already cast their votes with early voting sites and absentee ballots.

The Associated Press reported on October 26, that a total of over 58.6 million ballots have been cast countrywide so far. That already surpasses the 58 million early votes cast in the 2016 race.

Nearly 3.5 million votes have been cast so far in North Carolina, which equates to about a 48% voter turnout.