Frontline House Democrats are confident they’ve finally found a cohesive message on border security and immigration after being hammered on it by Republicans all cycle.
Democrats in tough races are connecting Republicans to former President Donald Trump’s role in killing the bipartisan Senate border security bill. After the Senate effort failed earlier this year, Democrats promised to make it an issue in the campaign. Now we’re seeing them follow through on this.
Rep. Susie Lee (D-Nev.) said Republicans’ refusal to take up the bipartisan proposal makes their attacks on Democrats less salient.
“Republicans are disqualified on the issue,” Lee told us. “It was negotiated and they got their marching orders from the former president.”
How they’re messaging it: During the presidential debate Tuesday, Vice President Kamala Harris accused Trump of trying to run on the border issue rather than fixing it. And multiple Democratic candidates have run ads in recent weeks blaming Trump and Republicans for tanking the bill, saying they’re responsible for exacerbating the migrant crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border.
– In an ad this week, Democratic challenger Janelle Bynum, who is running against Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer (R-Ore.), said her opponent went along with Trump to defeat the “toughest border bill in our nation’s history.”
– Kirsten Engel, challenging Rep. Juan Ciscomani (R-Ariz.), also tied Ciscomani to killing the border bill in an August ad, saying the freshman “played politics” instead of protecting his constituents.
– Another ad supporting Rep. Don Davis (D-N.C.) from House Majority PAC, the Democratic leadership-aligned super PAC, touts the fact that Davis went to the border three times, as well as his efforts to work across the aisle to tackle border security.
What’s next: Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-N.Y.), who chairs the Democrats’ border security task force, said he’s been advising members on how to effectively carry that message into Election Day. Suozzi flipped a red seat earlier this year in part because of how he countered Republicans’ border-related attacks.
“If you listen to Vice President Harris and other Democrats, they’re adopting the message that we should have done the bipartisan deal,” Suozzi told us. “Even though we didn’t get everything we wanted in the bipartisan Senate deal, we have to support something like that.”
Suozzi said the group will likely meet next week for the first time since before August recess. He’s also teamed up with Rep. Morgan Luttrell (R-Texas) to host town hall meetings about how to work across the aisle to find solutions on border security.
Rep. Nikki Budzinski (D-Ill.), who is part of the task force, said members have looked to Suozzi as a leader on the issue.
“[Suozzi] flipped his seat by leaning in on this very issue, so sometimes our vulnerabilities can be a strength if we address them head on,” Budzinski told us. “It’s top of mind for voters what’s happening with immigration and so by ignoring it, that’s to our own detriment.”
Frontline Rep. Greg Landsman (D-Ohio) said the border bill-themed Democratic attacks are effective because “it happens to be true and believable.”
“The only reason we didn’t vote on it was because Trump sabotaged the whole thing,” Landsman told us. “All he knew was it would be bad for him politically, and so no vote.”
Republicans aren’t easing their immigration-focused attacks on Democrats. As we reported this week, the top House GOP super PAC is running new ads blaming Democrats for failing to stop President Joe Biden’s “open border” policies.
The most endangered House Democrats also joined with Republicans earlier this summer when voting for a resolution that condemned Harris’ “open-border policies.” Criticisms of Harris as the Biden administration “border czar” is still an effective line of attack for Republicans.
