Democrats are flipping the script on border security, with political ads for elections across the country highlighting an issue that Republicans have repeatedly used as an attack. In key districts that could determine which party controls Congress, Democrats are criticizing the lack of solutions and calling for improvements to public safety at the U.S.-Mexico border.
“Ken Calvert has had 32 years to secure the border,” Democrat Will Rollins says in an ad he debuted last week, arguing that the Republican incumbent he is seeking to unseat in California’s 41st Congressional District hasn’t done the job.
In the ad, Rollins says that as a prosecutor for the U.S. Attorney’s Office, he has put away drug lords, members of the Mexican Mafia and violent criminals. The video shows a Calvert for Congress sign that reads “Secure the Border!”
But that stance is a lie, Rollins says, pointing to Calvert's vote against a bipartisan border security bill that would have added 1,500 more agents to the border.
On the same day that Rollins’ ad launched, Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) released an ad for his Senate campaign that begins with Arizona’s Santa Cruz County Sheriff David Hathaway driving parallel to the border, with the steel barrier with concertina wire in the background.
“Every day at the border is a challenge,” Hathaway says. “Both parties created it and neither has the courage to fix it. But Ruben Gallego has been by my side — I’m the only member of Congress who has regularly come to my border. And he’s fighting for solutions — better technology, more manpower, so people like me can do our jobs.”
A month earlier, Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez — a Washington state Democrat who won a long-held GOP seat in 2022 — released an ad touting her work to confront the Biden administration and work with Republicans to secure the southern border.
Two sheriffs from her state participated in the event, with Thurston County Sheriff Derek Sanders saying, “Marie is providing the tools and manpower we need to address the fentanyl problem.”
In a caption accompanying the video on Facebook, Perez wrote: “My bipartisan record is clear. I am working to secure our border, combat fentanyl, and support law enforcement in Southwest Washington. That is why I have the backing of Republican and Independent County Sheriffs and our rank-and-file peace officers.”
Asked about the trend, Ben Petersen, a spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee, pointed to Rollins and Perez opposing the Republican-led Border Security Act of 2023 and backing Vice President Kamala Harris for president as examples of their weakness on the issue.
“Their manipulation is backfiring because voters know that Democrats unleashed the worst border crisis in American history,” Petersen said.
Democratic strategist Michael Trujillo said such ads are a relatively new strategy for Democratic candidates, who have traditionally avoided focusing on immigration as a campaign issue. They reflect the candidates' attempt to reach out to voters on their stance on an issue that has dominated conservative media for many months.
“Is this a fair political perspective? Who knows?” he said. “A lot depends on what voters see on the news, what they see on Fox or what Trump tries to make the headlines. We’re seeing Democrats show their response to this, that they’re not going to ignore the border and that this is a priority.”
Beyond congressional races, the Democratic presidential candidate is also touting her record on border security. Harris released an ad this month highlighting her record as a California prosecutor and arguing that while fixing the border is hard, “so is Kamala Harris.”
“As a border state prosecutor, she took on drug cartels and jailed gang members for smuggling guns and drugs across the border,” the ad reads. “As vice president, she backed the toughest border enforcement bill in decades. And as president, she will hire thousands more border agents and crack down on fentanyl and human trafficking.”
His Republican opponent, former President Trump, has made blaming Democrats for the “border nightmare” a hallmark of his campaign, portraying immigrants as drug dealers, terrorists and rapists. “We have become a dumping ground for the rest of the world,” Trump said at last month’s Republican National Convention.
Trujillo said Harris’ campaign also released an ad focused on the border, showing that the issue has transcended Republicans and moderate Democrats in key districts. Talking about the border from a security perspective is smart, he said, because “no one wants to scapegoat immigrants.”
“There is still a large segment of the population that remembers 9/11 and does not want anyone to come here who wants to harm our country,” he said.
Monthly apprehensions at the southern border have hit their lowest level since September 2020, according to figures released Friday by U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Officials attribute the decline to the Biden administration’s June executive order temporarily blocking access to asylum, as well as stepped-up immigration enforcement by authorities in Mexico and other countries in the region.
