House Republicans prepare to hit Harris over border ‘weakness’ with her at top of ticket

House GOP lawmakers plan to amp up the criticism of Democrats’ handling of the border crisis if Vice President Kamala Harris is the nominee, arguing that it is her “Achilles’ heel” in the 2024 election.

With immigration as a top concern among voters, Republicans have spent the majority of President Joe Biden‘s administration attacking him over the influx at the southern border. With Harris on pace to be at the top of the ticket, GOP lawmakers feel like the border crisis will be even more of a messaging tool, given her “border czar” title.

“She was handpicked by President Biden to be the border czar and she has abdicated that responsibility for the last three and a half years,” Rep. Stephanie Bice (R-OK) said. “And as such, we’ve had anywhere from 9 [million] to 11 million people illegally crossing the United States, and she asked to be held responsible for that.”

Many Republicans began hitting Harris over the border before Biden dropped out of the presidential race on Sunday, with many saying they would be delighted to have the chance to pin the administration’s policies on her.

Now, with Harris as the front-runner for just over one day, Republicans are already preparing messaging bills to condemn her for border policies. On Monday night, the House Rules Committee announced it would hold a markup on an “emergency measure”: a resolution “strongly condemning the Biden Administration and its Border Czar, Kamala Harris’s, failure to secure the United States border.”

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), a firebrand conservative and harsh critic of the Biden administration, said that Harris “owns” all the border policies that Americans are “fed up with.”

“Being the border czar, that one’s definitely her responsibility,” Greene said, adding that the failures of the Democrats have been “so incredible and horrific, that we’re prepared to run against any of them.”

Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) said her work as the border czar was a “total failure” and it will sway competitive down-ballot tickets.

“I think it’ll be a real metaphor for her campaign and her vision for the country,” Gaetz said. “Kamala Harris looks a lot more like Hillary Clinton to the Midwestern voter than she does Joe Biden. And I think we’re gonna do really well in those formerly blue-wall states.”

One of the major concerns of Biden’s campaign, particularly as pollings showed him trailing nationwide behind former President Donald Trump, was that his dwindling support would affect competitive swing seats and states in an election that is likely to be won by a thin margin.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) had dismissed concerns that Biden’s candidacy would weaken Democrats’ ability to hold onto current seats and flip new ones that have been leaning Democratic in recent months. However, polling showed several battleground states and purple seats were leaning red following Biden’s lackluster debate performance, leading to nearly 40 congressional Democrats asking the president to step aside as nominee.

Some Republicans, including Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), have floated the idea of state and even congressional legal action to keep Biden on the ticket. Others have acknowledged that a vote for Biden was also a vote for Harris in the primaries.

“When you look at the polling — there’s legal reasons why they have to go with Harris, There’s no polling data that would say that she’s the best candidate,” Rep. Andy Ogles (R-TN) said. “But they have all that money in the Biden war chest is tied up, and so we’ll beat Harris in the same way we were going to beat Biden. I think the Democrats recognize they can’t win the White House now, whether it’s triage to mitigate damage on the down ballot.”

For Harris’s part, she can expect Republicans to hit her with the same things they were attacking Biden for. However, she is likely to see stronger concentration on the border than there has been in recent months, given the conversation was centered on Biden’s age and health.

“I don’t think it’s going to change anything other than they’re going to ramp up talk about the border,” Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN) said on whether campaign strategies would change with Harris at the top of the ticket. “I don’t know how much more you can talk about it. It’s a disaster. Kamala Harris couldn’t find the border if she had a compass and a map. It’s a total disaster.”

Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) said targeting Harris over the border crisis will be the “No. 1” priority for Republicans because it “exacerbated under her watch.”

“Look, she has been hook, line, and sinker with Joe Biden on every policy initiative,” Lawler added. “And dutifully defending it and articulating it and supporting it. And so I think, from the economy to the border to the international crises that we’re dealing with, she owns it.”

House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Mike McCaul (R-TX) said he thinks Biden put Harris in a “bad spot” by setting her up as the border czar.

“Well, she didn’t do anything. I mean, I think she wasn’t equipped to handle that. I think he kind of put her in a bad spot really, but she didn’t do anything,” McCaul said. “I mean, she went down there, what, one time?”

McCaul continued, “And I think that’s her weakness. I mean, her Achilles’ heel was ‘you were the border czar and look, what a disaster.’”