March 10 - 2024 campaign updates

President Joe Biden said Saturday he should have used the term “undocumented” to describe Laken Riley's alleged killer, who is an undocumented immigrant, after calling him an “illegal” during Thursday’s State of the Union. 

“I shouldn’t have used ‘illegal,’ it’s undocumented,” Biden told MSNBC anchor Jonathan Capehart in an interview Saturday. 

The comment is a pivot from earlier in the week, when Biden said he didn’t regret using the term “illegal” despite criticism from Democratic lawmakers and immigrant advocates. 

Shortly after the State of the Union, Rep. Nancy Pelosi told CNN that Biden “should have said undocumented.” 

Riley, a 22-year-old nursing student, was allegedly killed by an undocumented immigrant on the University of Georgia campus last month.

Speaking to Capehart, Biden also sought to distance his comments from his likely 2024 presidential election opponent, Donald Trump, by recalling his predecessor’s rhetoric saying immigrants are “poisoning the blood of our country." 

“When I spoke about the difference between Trump and me, one of the things I talked about on the border was the way he talks about vermin, the way he talks about these people polluting the blood. ... I will not treat any of these people with disrespect,” Biden said Saturday. 

Former President Donald Trump's campaign on Saturday released a new video attacking President Joe Biden over his age.  

The video opens with a clip of Biden saying, “Look, I’m not a young guy. That’s no secret.” The clip was from a new Biden campaign ad that touts the president's record. Biden is 81 and Trump is 77. 

The video then runs clips of Biden falling up the stairs as he boards Air Force One, onstage at the US Air Force Academy graduation ceremony and on his bike in Rehoboth Beach. 

The ad is running only on digital platforms, according to Trump campaign spokesman Jason Miller. 

Trump, who is only a few years younger than Biden, has said several times that he doesn’t think Biden is “too old” to be president, and has instead argued he is “too incompetent.” But the former president's campaign appears to be taking more direct aim at Biden over his age. 

As President Joe Biden hits the campaign trail after his fiery State of the Union address, some voters in his home state of Delaware are showing mixed feelings about his reelection efforts. 

George Wilson, 60: A Wilmington resident, Wilson said his first impression of the address was that the president's age "is catching up on him." 

But Wilson, who voted for Biden in the past and plans to vote for him again, said he has seen improvements in the economy and noticed that communities in his state have become safer. 

"I'm hoping his health doesn't give out too soon. I hope he keeps his strength up, and still makes America great again," Wilson said. Asked why he wouldn't support former President Donald Trump, he responded, "I don't feel safe with Trump."

Kelly Meding, 49: The Dover resident praised Biden's recent address to Congress. 

"I know a lot of people have said a lot of bad things," she told CNN, referring to Biden. "But if you look at our economy, it's turning around. I mean, he's really done a great job." 

Meding, who plans to vote for Biden again, added: "I think as he gets out of office eventually, I think we're going to look back and realize how much he's actually done for this country."

Ken Carly, 65: A Republican, Carly said he will not support Biden in the upcoming election and will most likely vote for Trump.

"I'm not happy with the current situation," he said. 

When asked what he is unhappy with, Carly noted that Democrats have accused Trump of committing crimes and referred to the multiple criminal indictments that have been filed against the former president.

"I will not be voting for Biden … because Democrats are very issue-oriented about the way they present their issues. It's always against the other side," he said.

The Democratic National Committee is launching a billboard campaign in northwest Georgia Saturday attacking former President Donald Trump and his allies in Congress, such as Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green, for blocking a bipartisan deal to secure the US-Mexico border.

The billboards will be on display in locations in Cedartown, Cartersville, Dalton, and Villa Rica, Georgia. Trump is set to rally supporters in nearby Rome, Georgia, on Saturday, along with Greene, who represents the city in Congress. Biden is also scheduled to hit the trail in Atlanta Saturday.

Some context: Speaking at a campaign rally in January, Trump urged Republicans to reject the bill negotiated in the Senate, which would include some of the most harsh border restrictions in years. He told lawmakers to “Blame it on me,” if they faced any blowback — a line that Biden and his campaign have jumped on. 

Signs with photos of Laken Riley, the 22-year-old nursing student who was killed allegedly by an undocumented immigrant on the University of Georgia campus last month, are being passed out to the crowd gathering for Donald Trump's Saturday rally in Rome, Georgia.

The former president has told audiences at his recent rallies that he spoke with Riley’s parents and has tied her death to President Joe Biden’s immigration policies.

The signs read "Say her name" on the front below a photo of Riley, and "Remember our angels" on the back.

Trump's rally is in the district of GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who got into a notable exchange with Biden at his State of the Union address when Greene pushed Biden to say Riley's name as he spoke about immigration.

Picking up a pin Greene handed to him as he walked into the House chamber, Biden acknowledged the death of “Lincoln Riley, an innocent young woman who was killed by an illegal” — at once misstating her name and using a term for undocumented individuals that many Democrats consider a pejorative.

Greene is expected to attend Trump’s rally in Rome. Biden is scheduled to hold a campaign event this evening in the Atlanta area.

The Democratic National Committee is placing a mobile billboard in Austin, Texas, highlighting independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s ties to a Republican megadonor.

The billboard will travel around Austin on the first weekend of the popular annual festival South by Southwest. Kennedy is not scheduled to make public appearances at events connected to the festival, but he's expected to hold multiple fundraisers in the city next week.

Alex Floyd, the DNC's rapid response director, called Kennedy "a stalking horse" for former President Donald Trump, citing donations made by Trump donor Tim Mellon to Kennedy's super PAC.

President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump will hold dueling events Saturday in Georgia ahead of the Peach State's primary on Tuesday.

Their head-to-head appearances separated by about 60 miles arrives as their rematch for the White House moves from an inevitable likelihood to an inescapable reality. The rallies will offer an early window into the competing strategies for courting an electorate less-than-enthused about a Biden-Trump rematch.

Biden is looking to amplify his State of the Union messaging on the trail. The Biden campaign is kicking off what it’s calling the “I’m on Board” campaign, looking to “dramatically expand our volunteer engagement, scale up our battleground staff, launch our coalition groups, and invest in new paid media campaigns," according to campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez.

There are plans for Biden and Harris to travel to every battleground state in the coming weeks, the campaign said. Next week, Biden will head to New Hampshire, Wisconsin and Michigan.

Meanwhile, there are headwinds for Trump in Georgia. The former president has had a contentious relationship with several Georgia officials following his 2020 defeat. He baselessly accused statewide Republican officeholders of concealing widespread voter fraud and blamed his loss on Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp and state Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger. One Republican strategist in the state said Trump’s antics there have hardened many swing voters against the former president. 

A Trump senior adviser told CNN that his team expects to build out its campaign operations in Georgia in the coming weeks. His messaging, though, has already shifted to the general election, particularly seizing on national angst over the flow of migrants crossing the US-Mexico border.

President Biden is hitting television airwaves this week with a minute-long advertisement that immediately addresses one of his biggest political vulnerabilities: his age.

“Look, I’m not a young guy,” a smiling Biden, wearing a quarter-zip sweater over a white shirt, says straight to camera at the start of the 60-second spot. “That’s no secret. But here’s the deal: I understand how to get things done for the American people.” 

He goes on to list accomplishments like steering the country from the Covid-19 pandemic, overseeing an economic recovery, lowering prescription drug prices and signing into law new infrastructure investments, all while seeking to draw a contrast with former President Trump, who is shown in the ad driving a golf cart.

The overall tone of the ad is serious. But after the legally required sign-off — “I’m Joe Biden and I approve this message” — a voice asks: “Can we do one more take?”

Biden returns to the screen with a different take on his age: “Look, I’m very young, energetic and handsome. What in the hell am I doing this for?” he asks, to laughter.

It’s the first time Biden and his team have cut a commercial addressing the issue of his advanced years and signals a more aggressive approach to countering voter unease about the prospect of the 81-year-old Biden running for a second term.

The ad is the first in a $30 million battleground state campaign, and will air on national cable networks and local broadcast stations in Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Arizona, Georgia, Nevada and North Carolina, according to Biden’s campaign.

President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden travel to Atlanta Saturday, where he’ll accept an endorsement from three national political action committees aimed at ensuring equality for AAPI, Black and Latino Americans.

The Democrat is looking for a repeat of 2020, where a narrow win in Georgia propelled him to the presidency and secured control of the US Senate for his party.

Biden is scheduled to attend an endorsement event in Atlanta with Collective PAC, a PAC aimed at building Black political power; AAPI Victory Fund, which aims to increase representation in US politics for Asian American and Pacific Islanders; and Latino Victory Fund, which seeks to do the same for Latinos.

“The stakes of this election could not be higher for voters of color, and President Biden and Vice President Harris could not be more honored to earn the support of these three national organizations that represent both the diversity of our party and the backbone of the coalition that stood up and voted in record numbers to defeat Donald Trump in 2020,” Biden campaign Manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez said in a statement shared with CNN Friday.

Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, she said, “have spent their first term fighting for communities of color.”