March 10 - 2024 campaign updates

The parents of Laken Riley, a 22-year-old nursing student who police say was killed by a man who illegally crossed the border, are attending Donald Trump’s rally Saturday in Georgia and met with the former president backstage, according to Trump co-campaign manager Chris LaCivita. 

Trump has repeatedly invoked Riley’s death as he rails against illegal immigration and pushes his hardline immigration proposals, including a mass deportation of undocumented immigrants. His campaign on Saturday passed out signs to supporters with Riley’s photo and “Say Her Name” written on them. LaCivita said the campaign spoke to Riley’s parents about using her image on the signs. 

LaCivita criticized President Joe Biden, who said earlier Saturday in an interview with MSNBC that he should have used the word “undocumented” instead of “illegal” when describing Riley’s suspected killer in his State of the Union address.  

“He's more interested in apologizing for using the correct term to define the killer as opposed to apologizing to the parents,” LaCivita told reporters.

An outside group backing independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s White House bid has gathered enough signatures to put Kennedy on the ballot in two more states, including Michigan, a crucial battleground ahead of November’s election.

A spokesperson for American Values 2024 said in a statement to CNN the group has gathered the necessary signatures needed to qualify Kennedy for the ballot in Michigan and South Carolina, notching two more states toward Kennedy’s goal of appearing on the ballot in all 50 states and Washington, DC, while further complicating the dynamics of a rematch between President Joe Biden and presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump. 

A New York Times/Siena College poll conducted in October 2023 showed Kennedy earning 26% support among registered voters in a hypothetical three-way race with Biden, who received 31%, and Trump, who received 34%. 

Michigan is the latest battleground state where Kennedy’s allies have met the signature gathering threshold. The super PAC announced last month it collected enough signatures to gain ballot access in Georgia and Arizona. 

Kennedy’s campaign has gathered enough signatures to gain ballot access in Nevada, another pivotal swing state, as well as in New Hampshire and Hawaii. Kennedy is officially on the ballot in one state, Utah. 

The 2024 presidential general election is here, for all intents and purposes. Joe Biden and Donald Trump are set to face off in the first presidential rematch since 1956. It’s also the first rematch between a current and a former president since 1892.

But unlike in 2020, when Biden was favored over Trump for the entirety of the campaign, the president faces a rougher road this time around. Indeed, he has no better than a 50-50 shot for reelection, and fans of Biden should be aware that Trump has a real chance at retaking the White House.

Consider:

National polling: Surveys from The New York Times/Siena College, CBS News/YouGov, Fox News and The Wall Street Journal all gave Trump a higher percentage of the vote than Biden by margins ranging from 2 to 4 points. (KFF had Biden scoring 3 points higher than Trump.)

All those results were officially within the margin of error, but put together they paint a picture of a troubled incumbent.

Electoral College: Polls also show Trump ahead, however narrowly, in enough states to win the Electoral College and the presidency.

Biden is trailing by 5 points or more in the most recent polling from Arizona, Georgia and Nevada. He's also trailing in Michigan, where the average of polls over the past six months that meet CNN’s standards for publication has him down 4 points.

Top campaign issues: Americans say the top problems facing the country are either related to the economy or immigration. Trump is considerably more trusted than Biden on both issues.

Read more here.

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.