POLITICAL REALITY CHECK Kamala Harris tacking to the center on the border. Joe Biden pushing an enforcement-focused immigration bill. Swing-seat candidates pledging to build a border wall in ads. From the top of the ticket on down, Democrats are confronting a major shift in their party on border and immigration issues as Republicans hammer them on the campaign trail. If they lose the White House or their bids to control the House and Senate, those GOP attacks — driven by hundreds of millions of dollars in ad spending from Donald Trump on down — could be an obvious reason why. The potency of the issue has lawmakers across the Democratic Party’s various factions wondering where things go from here. So far this cycle, presidential nominee Kamala Harris and other Democrats have leaned heavily into the bipartisan border bill that failed earlier this year due to Trump’s opposition. But it remains unclear whether the message that Trump and the GOP aren’t serious about solving the problem will be enough to counter the onslaught. And that has Democrats worried. How progressives see it: Those on the party’s left flank are sticking to their longstanding script: Border security should only be embraced as part of a comprehensive immigration reform effort that includes a path to citizenship for the undocumented. They’ve consistently criticized President Joe Biden’s recent emphasis on border enforcement alone and panning the bipartisan border deal that many in the party are running on this fall. Rep. Delia Ramirez (D-Ill.), a progressive whose husband is undocumented, said fellow Democrats need to stay the policy course and do a better job matching GOP messaging. "This is not something that has been in the making over the last year,” Ramirez said. "Republicans have been really good in discipline, in making every single committee hearing, every conversation, come back to the same issue, which is [the] border." Others, including Rep. Greg Casar (D-Texas), acknowledge that Democrats need to pivot right in order to win tough races. “I think Democrats need to campaign to win right now,” he said. “And many of my colleagues are just dealing with a political narrative as it has been set before this election. … Our whole country needs to do better, Democrats included, in rebutting Trump Republican lies on this issue.” How moderates see it: Those lawmakers aligned more toward the political center say messaging won’t be enough: Democrats actually have to get more serious about border security policy, whether or not it is part of a comprehensive bill that also addresses the status of undocumented immigrants. Members like Rep. Don Davis (D-N.C.) say those GOP “open borders” attack ads aren’t going anywhere unless and until the border is addressed. “I've been a steady voice on this issue,” said Davis, who’s running to the right on border security to keep his seat. “I actually traveled to the border not too long after I was sworn in that first year, and obviously continue to take interest in the topic. … And really taking the time to do this has really helped better inform me.” Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-N.Y.) said “even a lot of Democrats and consultants” were opposed to him putting the border center-stage when he ran last year in the Long Island special election to fill the seat of expelled GOP Rep. George Santos. But he instead “ran into the issue,” he said, and won a comfortable victory. “A good elected official is someone who talks about what the people are talking about already,” he said. “So we certainly emphasized the need to secure the border.” — Daniella Diaz, with assist from Nicholas Wu
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