2026 Democratic candidates throw Joe Biden under the bus on the border
WASHINGTON — Democratic candidates in 2026 battleground races are directly criticizing Joe Biden’s handling of border security when he was president, seeking to neutralize a political vulnerability and signaling a new path for the party on the thorny issue.Candidates are throwing the ex-president under the bus on border policy in key states that will decide control of the Senate and some battleground House races across the country.“I called out Joe Biden for failing us on the border,” Texas’ Democratic Senate nominee James Talarico says in a recent ad airing in the closing stretch of his neck-and-neck race against Republican Ken Paxton.He also criticized Biden in July for having “failed us on our southern border” as he rolled out his own border security plan.He’s not alone.Republicans ‘playing defense’ in reliably red states one week out from Election Day16:01In Kansas, a longtime Republican stronghold, Democrat Adam Hamilton criticized Biden in a recent debate with Republican Sen.
Roger Marshall.“I want to be crystal clear, first of all: Immigration at the border under Biden was a disaster.That is how we ended up where we are today,” he said.
“Second, what we did in response to that has been a disaster for people across the state of Kansas.”Hamilton, like other Democrats in areas that voted for Trump in 2024, paired their critique of Biden with criticism that the current president has gone too far on enforcement.Polls show many Americans have soured on Trump’s handling of the issue in the wake of immigration officers fatally shooting two Americans in Minnesota and one in Maine this year.Still, the comments reflect a recognition that the issue of border security remains a vulnerability for Democrats as Republicans continue to accuse them of promoting “open borders” in a bid to mobilize their base and win swing voters.
Biden’s ratings on the issue tanked amid a surge in migrant crossings during his presidency, which Trump succes...