October 12, 2024, presidential campaign news

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Former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris

In the final leg of the presidential race, both campaigns will make their case in the key battlegrounds of North Carolina, Georgia, Pennsylvania and Arizona on Sunday.

Vice President Kamala Harris will be in Greenville, North Carolina, where she will attend a church service and deliver remarks — an extension of the campaign’s effort to turnout Black churchgoers — as well as meet with Black farmers to discuss what she’s described as an “opportunity economy.” She will also hold a campaign rally in the city later in the day.

Harris touched down in the swing state Saturday evening and stopped at a local restaurant in Raleigh, where she met with local Black leaders.

Former President Bill Clinton will stump for Harris at a local campaign office in Albany, Georgia, on Sunday, while second gentleman Doug Emhoff will rally support for the ticket in Philadelphia’s collar counties.

Meanwhile, former President Donald Trump will deliver remarks Sunday afternoon at a campaign rally in Prescott Valley, Arizona.

His running mate, JD Vance — who stumped in the key state of Pennsylvania on Saturday — will also be in North Carolina on Sunday to attend a?NASCAR?race at Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord.

Republican presidential nominee, former President Donald Trump speaks a campaign rally in Coachella, California, on October 12, 2024.

Former President Donald Trump launched into a deeply personal attack of Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff during his campaign rally in Coachella, California, on Saturday, calling the Democratic Senate nominee names and mocking his physical appearance.

The comments followed an extended riff in which Trump defended his praise of Chinese President Xi Jinping, whom he called a “brilliant” leader who rules “with an iron fist.”

“The worst people are the enemies from within, the sleazebags like the guy that you’re going to elect to the Senate, shifty Adam Schiff,” Trump said.

The former president suggested without evidence that Schiff would win because of voter fraud and called the California Democrat a “low life,” a “sick puppy” and “one of the least attractive human beings I think I’ve ever seen.”

Schiff brushed off the comments in a social media post.

“Yet another?nonsensical rant about me filled with tired insults, lies about voting booths, and more, this time in my home state of California,” he wrote in a post on X. “Seriously, Donald. Why are you so obsessed with me?”

Some background: The animosity between the former president and the California Democrat dates to the early days of Trump’s presidency. Schiff has been one of the former president’s most vocal critics in Congress and served as the House impeachment manager during Trump’s first trial.

Schiff, who represents a House district in Los Angeles County, is running to fill the remainder of the late Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s term in the Senate and a full six-year term in the upper chamber. He is running against former baseball star Steve Garvey, a Republican.

Schiff is heavily favored to win based on polling, fundraising and the state’s voting history. Republicans have not won statewide in California since 2006.

California’s blue voting habits didn’t stop Trump from campaigning in the state, however. The former president has taken a detour from campaigning in battleground states to hold events in Democratic strongholds such as Colorado, where he held a rally Friday, and California’s Coachella Valley. Trump will also campaign in New York later this month.

A supporter reacts as Republican presidential nominee, former President Donald Trump speaks during a rally in Coachella, California, on October 12, 2024.

Former President Donald Trump on Saturday again threatened to withhold federal funds used to fight fires in California if reelected as he attacked Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom over water rules in the state.

Trump argued Newsom had “mismanaged” the water situation in California with environmental regulations that he said came at the expense of farmers.

The former president made the same threat to withhold disaster relief funds a month ago during a news conference at his golf club in Los Angeles.

California Rep. Adam Schiff slammed Trump’s comments in a post on X. “Another reminder that Trump doesn’t care about you, your family, or?your?communities,” the California Democratic Senate nominee wrote. “He’ll?happily let them burn?to further?his personal politics. We’re?all Americans, Donald.?And when disaster hits, we stand together.”

As Trump campaigned in deep-blue California, he repeatedly attacked Newsom and slammed the state’s liberal policies.

This post has been updated with comments from Adam Schiff.

First lady Jill Biden slammed former President Donald Trump’s record on abortion rights Saturday during the Harris-Walz campaign’s “Fighting for Reproductive Freedom” bus tour stop in Phoenix, according to reporters at the event.

During her seven-minute speech, Biden emphasized the challenges women face post-Roe v. Wade and criticized Trump for appointing Supreme Court justices who curtailed the nationwide right to an abortion.

“Today our daughters and granddaughters are living with fewer rights than we had,” the first lady said, adding that she was “shocked and devastated” by Roe’s repeal, though not entirely surprised. She urged the crowd to support Proposition 139, a proposed amendment to the Arizona Constitution that would protect abortion rights.

Biden concluded her speech by introducing?reproductive?rights advocate Kate Cox, who shared her story of having to leave Texas to end a life-threatening pregnancy. Cox was a guest of the first lady at this year’s State of the Union address.

The bus tour, which began in Tucson, will make multiple stops in Phoenix and will continue on to Sedona and Flagstaff over the next few days.

Top outside groups flexed their influence on the 2024 campaign this week, disclosing tens of millions of dollars in new spending targeting the presidential race.

America PAC, a super PAC that tech billionaire Elon Musk helped form over the summer to support former President Donald Trump, reported a total of $18.2 million in new spending.

The super PAC has taken a leading role in supporting Trump’s field operations, an area where his campaign has been outspent by Kamala Harris’ team. America PAC reported $7.8 million in new spending this week, coming as the?group began offering organizers $47?for voter contacts.

With its latest round of independent expenditures, America PAC has now reported spending $95.8 million on the presidential race, including $56.9 million on canvassing and field operations — emerging as one of the top outside groups supporting Trump.

On the Democratic side,?FF PAC, the leading super PAC supporting Harris, reported $50.8 million?in new ad buys this week, bringing its total spending for the year up to more than $242 million. In contrast to the network of super PACs supporting Trump, FF PAC has taken a singular role as the lead outside group supporting Harris.

The massive new ad buys from FF PAC reflect a significant escalation of its spending in recent weeks — up more than $150 million from the end of August.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz speaks to players on the Mankato West High School football team in Mankato, Minnesota, on October 11.

As a high school marching band played a rendition of “Sweet Caroline,” Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz walked down the 50-yard line at Friday’s crosstown rivalry football game between Mankato East High School and Mankato West High School. Walz, accompanying the latter team’s captains, received an introduction that would work equally well at a campaign rally.

“Joining them for the coin toss,” said the announcer, “former Mankato West defensive coordinator, decadelong geography teacher, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.”

Walz’s visit to the football game, and his stop earlier in the day at the school where he once taught and coached, marked his first return to the town he called home for 10 years since joining the Democratic presidential ticket in August.

Since Walz was named the Democratic vice presidential nominee, the Harris campaign has sought to highlight his tenure at Mankato West as the defining aspect of his background, more so even than his over 20 years in the National Guard or his six terms in Congress. Vice President Kamala Harris often refers to Walz as “Coach Walz,” a moniker now seen on campaign signs at Walz’s rallies.

Walz’s return to Minnesota is part of the campaign’s bid to win over male voters in Midwestern battleground states. A campaign official told CNN that Walz’s recent interviews with local outlets in Midwestern battleground states and a sit-down with former NFL star Michael Strahan on ABC’s “Good Morning America” were also part of the push to engage persuadable male voters. A Pew Research Center national survey released Thursday found 51% of registered male voters support former President?Donald Trump, while 43% support Harris.

Read more here.

Former President Donald Trump on Saturday said people in the battleground state of North Carolina affected by Hurricane Helene shouldn’t vote for a Democrat in November as he falsely claimed the Biden administration “held back aid.”

“They got hit with a very bad hurricane, especially North Carolina and parts of Georgia, but North Carolina really got hit. I’ll tell you what, those people should never vote for a Democrat because they held back aid. They were so bad,” Trump said in an interview with Newsmax.

Some background: Trump has been escalating his lies about the federal response to Hurricane Helene, claiming in recent campaign speeches that Vice President Kamala Harris “stole” money from FEMA and “didn’t send anything or anyone at all” to areas affected.

Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance speaks at a town hall event in Reading, Pennsylvania, on October 12.

Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance said Saturday that Donald Trump would not try to prosecute his political opponents if reelected, contradicting the former president’s repeated suggestions that he would do so.

While answering questions at a town hall in Reading, Pennsylvania, Vance said if they are elected, he and Trump will practice the principle of “justice under law.”

“That’s what we’ve got to do,” Vance said. “And if you’re not willing to do that, then you have no business running this country.”

When pressed by Fox News’ Sean Hannity in June on whether he would use the justice system to go after his political opponents if elected, Trump said, “based on what they’ve done, I would have every right to go after them.”

Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance defended former President Donald Trump’s tariff proposals on Saturday, arguing that opposing tariffs on Chinese-made products essentially supports slave labor.

Vance argued Vice President Kamala Harris “attacks tariffs all the time” and is “effectively” saying that “we are going to let slave laborers build products and then bring it into our country, undercutting the jobs and the industries of America.”

Some background: In an interview with MSNBC recently, Harris called Trump’s tariff proposals “a sales tax on the American people” and said tariffs should not be implemented across all foreign imports, as the former president has proposed. She has not given many details on how she would approach trade policy.

Trump has called for?new tariffs of up to 20% on every foreign import coming into the US, as well as a tariff upward of 60% on all Chinese imports.

The Biden administration?hiked tariffs recently on several Chinese-made products, including a 100% tariff on electric vehicles.

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Updated 11:21 PM EDT, Sat October 12, 2024

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Harris campaign spokesman talks with CNN

00:54 - Source: CNN

Ian Sams, a senior spokesperson for the Harris-Walz campaign, on Saturday drew a contrast between Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign stops this weekend to those of Donald Trump, saying the former president is visiting a Democratic stronghold “because he wants attention for himself.”

“Both candidates have consolidated a lot of the support from within their own parties,” Sams told CNN’s Jessica Dean, but “there’s this small sliver of undecided voters out there who are going to tip the election one way or another.”

Watch the video to hear more from Sams.

Vice President Kamala Harris greets Black community leaders during a stop at The Pit Authentic Barbecue restaurant in Raleigh, North Carolina, on October 12.

Vice President Kamala Harris on Saturday stopped by The Pit Authentic Barbecue, a local restaurant in Raleigh, North Carolina, where she greeted Black community leaders and helped pack hurricane relief packages.

“Put me to work,” Harris said as she packed diapers in boxes and slid them down the assembly line with other volunteers.

The supplies will be distributed to those impacted by Hurricane Helene in the hard-hit western part of the state, according to the campaign.

As she shook hands and mingled at the event, one man addressed Harris as “Madam President,” according to reporters traveling with the vice president.

“Not yet, my dear — 24 days,” she responded.

To highlight that she graduated from Howard University, a historically Black college and university, the vice president told the group, “We’re about to make the first HBCU presidency ever.”

The vice president will hold a rally in Greenville, North Carolina, on Sunday.

This post and headline have been updated with additional information.

Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance speaks at a town hall in Reading, Pennsylvania, on October 12.

Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance praised GOP efforts to challenge election procedures in battleground states, attempting to instill election confidence in Pennsylvania voters.

Asked by a Pennsylvania resident at a town hall how voters can be assured the election is free and fair, the Ohio senator responded that though “we’re not getting everything perfect,” he thinks “we’re doing way better as a Republican Party on election integrity this year than we were four years ago.”

Vance pointed to several lawsuits the Republican National Committee has filed in battleground states related to voting and elections, including on voter rolls and signature verification.

Referring to Democrats, Vance said, “that doesn’t mean, of course, they’re not going to change things or try to pull something in ’24 that they didn’t pull in 2020,” before bringing up how President Joe Biden stepped down and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris for the top of the ticket weeks before the Democratic National Convention.

People gather ahead of former President Donald Trump's rally in Coachella, California, on October 12.

Donald Trump’s?schedule in the closing weeks of the 2024 election is?dotted?with detours into overwhelmingly Democratic states.

From California’s Coachella Valley on Saturday to New York’s Madison Square Garden later this month, the former president is veering away from the monthslong slog through the swing states that the campaigns of Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris both expect to decide the race.

Republicans have no illusions about winning the deep-blue states he is visiting — though Trump, who for years has refused to accept his loss in 2020 and spread lies about widespread voting fraud, this week claimed he has more support than Harris in California, a state he lost by 29 percentage points four years ago.

“If they had an honest election in California, I think I’d win it in a landslide. I really do,” the former president said on “The John Kobylt Show,” a Southern California talk radio show, while complaining about the state’s mail-in voting procedures.

But Trump’s allies argue the stops are more than undisciplined sideshows designed to satisfy the Republican nominee’s whims.

Though Democrats dominate California and New York, the states’ overall size means they’re home to huge numbers of Republican voters and donors, creating fundraising opportunities and helping down-ballot candidates, particularly in competitive House races.

“We have a lot of support in California, and I felt I owed it to them,” Trump told Kobylt.

Read more here.

Former President Donald Trump speaks at a roundtable in Las Vegas on October 12.

Former President Donald Trump on Saturday touted his proposal to eliminate taxes on tips and overtime pay in remarks at a Saturday roundtable focused on issues affecting the Hispanic community in Nevada

The roundtable, hosted by nonprofit Building America’s Future, featured Hispanic small-business owners and union workers; Nevada GOP Senate candidate Sam Brown; Goya Foods CEO Bob Unanue; and former Texas Rep. Mayra Flores, who is running to retake a seat she briefly held in 2022 following a special election.

Trump touted his proposal to eliminate taxes on tips and overtime pay, stoked fears about undocumented immigrants in the US, and railed against the Biden administration and Vice President Kamala Harris.

“We have a problem of survival of our country, because we’re run by very stupid and probably evil people, and we can’t have it,” Trump said.

Some background: Both Trump and Harris have proposed eliminating taxes on tips, a play for service and hospitality workers’ votes — especially in Nevada, a key swing state where many residents work in the hospitality industry.

Vice President Kamala Harris speaks to the press before boarding Air Force Two at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland on October 12.

Vice President Kamala Harris took a dig at former President Donald Trump on Saturday for not releasing his medical records after she released a letter from her physician.

Earlier Saturday, the White House?shared?a letter from Harris’ doctor, US Army physician Joshua R. Simmons, summarizing her medical history, but it did include her full medical records. Trump released a letter from his physician last year, though it didn’t include as many details as Harris’ did.

When asked about her assessment of her rival’s health, Harris replied, “I will not give you a medical analysis of his fitness, but on every other level when it comes to what we should expect in a president of the United States around having the ability to actually exercise good judgment both as commander in chief and as the leader of this country, we know that he does not have the ability to do the job. He is unfit for office.”

Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance on Saturday again refused to say former President Donald Trump lost the 2020 election after refusing to do so five times during an hourlong interview with The New York Times earlier this week.

Asked by a reporter at a rally in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, whether he would definitively say Trump lost in 2020, Vance responded, “As I said in that interview, and I’m gonna say to you right now, I think the election of 2020 had serious problems.”

As CNN’s?KFile reported, in the weeks after the 2020 election, Vance indicated he believed Trump had lost the election and accepted that Biden would be inaugurated.

Vance was also asked by a local reporter, “Do you or do you not condemn the attacks on the Capitol for the last election incited by Donald Trump?”

Trump put out a video several hours after the riot started at the Capitol on January 6, 2021, telling his supporters to be peaceful.

Sen. JD Vance speaks at a campaign event in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, on October 12.

Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance on Saturday criticized former President Barack Obama?for admonishing Black men?who are hesitant to back Vice President Kamala Harris, telling rallygoers in Pennsylvania that he doesn’t “believe in hectoring voters.”

When asked by a reporter at his rally in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, whether the senator can contrast his approach to win hesitant voters to that of Obama, Vance said, “I believe in persuading voters.”

Obama told a small group of voters in a surprise stop at a local Harris campaign office in Pittsburgh on Thursday that the lack of energy some see around the campaign “seems to be more pronounced with the brothers.”

CNN has heard from community organizers that the support of Black male voters is a particular concern for the Harris campaign.

A police car is in mud in a flooded area of Lake Lure, North Carolina, on October 2, after Hurricane Helene.

Powerful hurricanes that wreaked havoc on wide swaths of the Southeast have?election officials facing the dim reality that some ballots may be lost in the mail.

The problem is part of the?complicated preparations for the upcoming general election, especially in hard-hit North Carolina, a battleground state where early voting begins Thursday and communications and power remain spotty in some counties.

Hurricane Helene, which hit the US late last month, caused hundreds of deaths across half a dozen states and upended carefully laid election plans as polling centers were crippled and regular communication channels were shattered.

County election officials in Florida, meanwhile, are facing a potential new challenge after?Hurricane Milton?made landfall on its western coast late Wednesday.

Read more here.

Abortion rights supporters demonstrate in Phoenix during a recess from a legislative session at the Arizona House of Representatives on April 17.

David Tapia has watched one election after another from the sidelines, unfazed and largely uninterested in politics. Until this year, when?Donald Trump’s candidacy stirred him to become more politically aware.

He intends to cast his first vote for?Kamala Harris.

“Looking at both sides, I’ll be honest, I’m not a supporter of Trump. I’m just not,” said Tapia, 42. “I have no fear of him winning, I don’t think any of us should. I think it’s really what’s right and what’s wrong.”

The balance between Arizonans who share Tapia’s views and those who disagree may go a long way in determining the outcome of the fight for the?state’s 11 electoral votes. It’s one of the tightest battlegrounds in the country, where the votes of Latino men are highly coveted by both sides.

With early voting already underway here, the presidential candidates, their running mates and a parade of surrogates are descending upon the state in a scramble to gain the upper hand in a race that several polls suggest is stubbornly close.

Abortion and immigration are driving factors in the election in all corners of the country, but the issues are colliding in Arizona like few other battlegrounds. Voters are deciding ballot measures to?guarantee abortion rights?in the state constitution and a?separate question?on whether to make violations of immigration law a state crime, rather than only a federal offense.

Trump is set to appear at a rally Sunday in the central Arizona city of Prescott. Harris spent Thursday and Friday in the Phoenix area, where she implored thousands of supporters to consider the consequences of the election.

Read more here.

Vice President Kamala Harris attends a campaign rally in Chandler, Arizona, on October 10.

Vice President Kamala Harris is in “excellent health,” her doctor, US Army physician Joshua R. Simmons,?said in a letter summarizing her medical history?that was released by the White House on Saturday.

Harris has seasonal allergies and hives and is nearsighted, Simmons’ letter said. Her immunizations and preventive care recommendations are all up to date, and her most recent April physical exam and her routine bloodwork have shown no cause for alarm.

The vice president wears contact lenses, takes a vitamin D3 supplement, and at times uses over-the-counter and prescription allergy medications, including Allegra, nasal spray and eye drops, Simmons wrote.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN’s chief medical correspondent, said the letter is “most notable in some ways” for what it does not show. “No history of diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, cardiac disease, lung disease, cancer,” Gupta noted, summarizing it as “basically saying (Harris) is fit for duty.”

The letter is an effort to draw a contrast between the 59-year-old Democratic nominee and her 78-year-old Republican rival,?Donald Trump, who is vying to become the oldest person ever elected to the Oval Office and has released relatively little detailed information about his own medical history.

Former President Donald Trump will hold a rally in Atlanta on Tuesday as he looks to gather support in the key battleground state of Georgia in the final stretch of the campaign.

Trump’s running mate, JD Vance, will take the ticket’s messaging to Pennsylvania on Wednesday with a rally in Williamsport.

Vance’s visit to the commonwealth will come as a new poll from The New York Times and Siena College shows Vice President Kamala Harris holding a narrow edge over Trump in Pennsylvania.

Former President Donald Trump arrives for a campaign event in Erie, Pennsylvania, on September 29.

Former President Donald Trump called Vice President Kamala Harris “retarded” while attempting to convince top Republican donors to pour more money in his campaign, The New York Times reported Saturday.

According to the Times, the former president’s offensive remark came during a dinner with donors at his penthouse apartment last month. Among the donors present were Trump’s former education secretary Betsy DeVos and her husband, along with hedge fund manager Paul Singer, investment banker Warren Stephens and billionaire Joe Ricketts.

To the group of wealthy donors, Trump argued that his tax policies were favorable to them and argued that they should be grateful and help his campaign more, according to the Times.

Sources told the Times that Trump was frustrated with fundraising numbers as Harris continues to bring in more cash.

Since she joined the race in late July, Harris has raised $1 billion. Meanwhile, researchers at OpenSecret, a nonpartisan group that tracks money in elections, noted in a?report?this week that at this rate, Trump could struggle to even match what his political operation raised during the 2020 campaign.

Trump has often made disparaging remarks about his opponents, including the mental acuity of President Joe Biden when he was still in the race. Late last month, Trump publicly insulted Harris’ mental state at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania, calling her “mentally impaired.”

During her first presidential campaign in 2019, Harris came under fire for responding, “Well said,” to a lengthy question from a voter who had called Trump’s actions “mentally retarded.”

Harris at the time posted an apology from her presidential campaign account on X, then known as Twitter, and while she said she didn’t hear the term, she said, “That word and others like it aren’t acceptable. Ever.”

Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during a campaign rally in Charlotte, North Carolina, on September 12.

Vice President Kamala Harris is redoubling her outreach to Black voters during a swing in North Carolina this weekend amid waning enthusiasm among that slice of the electorate.

On Saturday, Harris will stop at a local restaurant in Raleigh, where she will meet with local Black leaders, including elected officials, religious leaders and others in the community, according to a Harris campaign official, as part of efforts to shore up her support among Black voters.

During that restaurant stop, Harris will also work with volunteers on a hurricane relief supply drive to help those impacted by Hurricane Helene, according to the official.

On Sunday, Harris will be in Greenville, where she will attend a church service and deliver remarks — an extension of the campaign’s effort to turnout Black churchgoers — as well as meet with Black farmers to discuss what she’s described as an “opportunity economy.”

Harris will also hold a campaign rally later in the day.

Sen. JD Vance participates in a vice presidential debate in New York on October 1.

In an interview with The New York Times published Saturday, Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance addressed a range of issues and clarified previous statements, including describing the way he phrased his criticism of “childless cat ladies” as “dumb.”

But Vance said he stood by the point he made as a US Senate candidate in a 2021 interview with Tucker Carlson discussing leaders of the Democratic Party, including Vice President Kamala Harris.

He specifically criticized those who have decided against having children because of climate change, describing such a decision as “very deranged” and “sociopathic.”

And as both tickets focus on the issue of abortion rights, Vance said voters have “instinctively mistrusted” Republicans on the issue in the wake of Supreme Court’s 2022 reversal of Roe v. Wade.

Vance said Republicans must earn voters’ support by backing what he described as pro-family measures, including fertility treatments, lowering the costs of raising children and helping young families afford homes.

He also backed away from his previous support for outlawing abortion nationally, saying it’s a “different world” now and that Republicans must live with some states enacting more progressive laws.

Read more on Vance’s interview here.

Vice President Kamala Harris holds a narrow edge over former President Donald Trump in the battleground prize of?Pennsylvania, while Trump leads Harris in?Arizona, according to new polling from the New York Times and Siena College. The Pennsylvania poll was co-sponsored by the Philadelphia Inquirer.

In Pennsylvania, Harris stands at 49% among likely voters to Trump’s 45% in a matchup including third-party candidates. It is the second recent high-quality poll to show Harris with a narrow edge in the state, while other polling from late September suggested a tighter contest. Harris’ edge rests on wide support from women there (57% back her, 39% Trump, compared with a 52% Trump to 41% Harris divide among men). A CNN Poll of Polls in Pennsylvania updated to include the new survey continues to show a slightly tighter race, with Harris’ support averaging 48% in the state to Trump’s 47%.

In Arizona, the survey finds Trump with 50% support among likely voters to 45% for Harris with third-party candidates included in the matchup. Here, although Harris holds wide leads with traditionally core Democratic groups such as younger voters (50% to 40% among voters younger than 30) and Latino voters (58% Harris to 38% Trump), Trump holds a wider lead among men (56% to 39%) than Harris does among women (51% to 44%).

The surveys also found that Democrats are ahead in Senate races in both states, with incumbent Democratic Sen. Bob Casey leading Republican David McCormick 48% to 44% among likely voters in Pennsylvania, and Democrat Ruben Gallego leading Republican Kari Lake 48% to 41% in Arizona.

First lady Jill Biden speaks at a rally in Yuma, Arizona, on October 11, in this screengrab taken from a video.

First lady Jill Biden is?making a return to the campaign trail for a series of events supporting Vice President Kamala Harris, marking her first campaign activity since the president dropped out, with the exception of her remarks at the Democratic National Convention.

Speaking in Yuma, Arizona, on Friday, Biden wove together some personal stories with her own relationship and understanding of Harris, recycling some of her traditional lines on the stump for her husband.

She described Harris as a “quick, tough, compassionate, decisive leader,” and spoke about Harris’ mother, Shyamala Gopalan.

This marked the first in a series of Biden events in Arizona, Nevada, Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania.

Read more?about Biden’s campaign swing.

Former President Donald Trump attends a campaign rally in Reno, Nevada, on October 11.

While speaking in Nevada on Friday, former President Donald Trump continued pushing his sensationalized claims about Venezuelan gang members taking over the city of Aurora, Colorado, and “terrorizing the residents” there while recalling his visit to the city earlier in the day.

He again attacked Democratic Colorado Gov. Jared Polis – though not by name – as being “petrified,” “afraid” and “chicken shit” to take on the gang members.

Polis has shrugged off Trump’s attacks, telling CNN’s Kaitlan Collins on Friday that he was glad to distract the former president from going after his real opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris.

At Friday’s rally, Trump continued to attack CBS News over its interview with Harris on “60 Minutes,” accusing the network of editing the interview.

With early voting underway in Nevada, Trump also urged his supporters to “turn in your ballot today.”

Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump.

With Election Day less than a month away, former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris will hit the campaign trail this weekend.

On Saturday, Trump will travel to the Democratic stronghold California for a campaign event in Coachella.

Trump said earlier this week that he wants to campaign there despite Democrats carrying the state in the last seven presidential elections because, “We have a lot of support in California, and I felt I owed it to them.”

Meanwhile, Harris will be in the battleground state of North Carolina this weekend. She is scheduled to deliver remarks at a campaign rally in Greenville on Sunday.