ICYMI: Democrats “Go On Offense On Border Security” [POLITICO]

POLITICO: Democrats “Go On Offense On Border Security”
By Ally Mutnick and Burgess Everett
February 11, 2024

• Democrats in Congress are trying to go on offense on border security. They see the collapse of a bipartisan border deal as a rare opening to flip the script on immigration.

• Democrats are vowing to bring the charge to TV ads this fall. And party strategists are already shopping around polling, testing different messages on the issue. Democrats are also aggressively pitching local news outlets on Republicans’ about-face. 

• And it’s an attack Democrats plan to deploy across the entire GOP.

• Senate Democrats’ campaign arm, spokesperson David Bergstein vowed: “It will be a major line of attack against their candidates. The ads write themselves.”

• The disintegration of the deal gives them an easy response to Republican attacks.

• Democratic strategists still view the bill as the most conservative border policy shakeup in decades and are surprised Republicans walked away after getting so many concessions.

• Of course Democrats are attacking Republicans for flip-flopping, said Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska): “And wouldn’t you? 

• Republican Senate candidates, from Kari Lake in Arizona to Bernie Moreno in Ohio, came out against it. Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.), who chairs the Senate Democrats’ campaign arm, said “This will hurt them on election night.”

• Both of [Jon Tester’s] potential opponents, Rep. Matt Rosendale (R-Mont.) and Tim Sheehy, signaled they would oppose the legislation. “We’re letting people know,” Tester said in an interview on Thursday after supporting the bill. “I don’t think they can stand up and say they want a secure border then. I think it becomes incredibly hypocritical.”

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