Democrats patch over their biggest vulnerabilities

Republicans have hammered Democratic candidates on immigration-related messaging all cycle. It’s their most frequent and potent attack against the Democratic Party, which has historically been politically weaker on the issue—and it has been emphasized since Vice President Kamala Harris became the Democratic nominee.

But on Wednesday night, Democrats got their rebuttal in front of a live, national audience. Democratic Rep. Tom Suozzi of New York took to the stage in prime time to deliver a speech advocating for Democrats to take the lead on border security. Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut and Rep. Veronica Esocobar of El Paso, Texas, also gave speeches on immigration.

Suozzi won his election in February by running to the right of the party on immigration, recapturing his old seat in a special election defined on the issue.

“Let’s be clear: The border is broken,” Suozzi said during his speech at the convention. “But this year, when Democrats and Republicans worked together to finally write new border laws, we were blocked. We all know who sabotaged us."

Border security was the top issue during the run-up to replace expelled Rep. George Santos. Suozzi ran multiple ads touting his previous work on immigration and his pledge to continue that work with both parties. He coasted to an 8-point victory.

Immigration remains one of the most important issues in swing states and districts, according to public polling.

Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chairwoman Suzan DelBene told reporters at the convention that Suozzi won in part because he was “very straightforward” and “talked to voters about where he stood” on border policy.

DelBene reiterated, as Democrats have for the last several months, that “the proof is there that Republicans, you know, were willing to back away from a policy that some of them helped negotiate because President Trump told them to,” referring to the bipartisan border deal that former President Trump tanked. “We [will] continue to hold Republicans accountable for being blindly loyal to Donald Trump and incapable of coming up with their own ideas on policy.”

Attendees at the convention agreed with DelBene’s assessment of the situation.

Over loud chants of “USA, USA” on the convention floor, Rose Salas, a 62-year-old delegate from Texas, told National Journal that “something is better than nothing” when it comes to an immigration bill.

“Let’s go ahead and pass something that everybody agrees upon and then go back and reorganize it and tweak it and make adjustments to the bill. But at least you have something in place rather than having nothing in place and an open border, in the sense that there are no checks and balances,” Salas said.

Suozzi chalks up his win to his willingness to stray from traditional Democratic messaging.

“People were originally saying—the consultants were saying and other politicians were saying, ‘Why are you talking about that issue? It’s a Republican issue,’” Suozzi told National Journal shortly after his speech Wednesday. “I said, ‘No, it’s not; it’s an American issue. It’s what people are talking about. We have to address this issue.'”

Republicans contended that Suozzi was a unicorn of a candidate who could not be replicated in other districts across the country. As National Journal reported after the election, a National Republican Congressional Committee memo concluded that the GOP's negative ads on Suozzi had succeeded in denting his image—leading to an underwater favorability.

Wednesday night, the Republican committee still wasn’t buying Suozzi’s words.

“House Democrats enabled border czar Kamala Harris throwing the border wide open allowing drugs, criminals, and terrorists to flood into communities,” NRCC communications director Jack Pandol told National Journal in a statement. “That’s why it has skyrocketed to the top issue for voters in swing districts, and Democrats are delusional if they think they can point the finger at anyone but themselves.”

One Democratic strategist with experience in New York congressional races said Suozzi’s prime-time speech was a good idea, that it’s smart to introduce “that winning message” to a national audience, and that it will benefit Democrats across the ticket.

The source, who asked to speak on background to talk candidly, added that the immigration speech is a net positive for Harris, who still has room to be defined as Republicans try to associate her with the progressive movement.

“We reject the divisiveness. We reject the dysfunction,” Suozzi said.

“We reject the deception.”