Democrats break with Biden on the border
Democratic candidates in competitive 2026 races are directly criticizing Joe Biden's handling of border security during his presidency, according to NBC News. The reporting describes an effort to neutralize a political vulnerability and points to what it calls a new path for the party on a difficult issue.
The critiques are surfacing in states that could decide control of the Senate and in several closely contested House districts. In Texas, Democratic Senate nominee James Talarico says in a recent ad, "I called out Joe Biden for failing us on the border." The ad is airing in the closing stretch of his race against Republican Ken Paxton, which NBC News describes as neck-and-neck. In July, Talarico said Biden had "failed us on our southern border" as he unveiled his own border security plan.
Candidates across the map echo the message
In Kansas, a longtime Republican stronghold, Democrat Adam Hamilton criticized Biden in a debate with Republican Sen. Roger Marshall. "Immigration at the border under Biden was a disaster. That is how we ended up where we are today," Hamilton said. He added that the response to it "has been a disaster for people across the state of Kansas."
In Pennsylvania, House candidate Paige Cognetti, who is challenging Rep. Rob Bresnahan in a competitive Scranton-area district, said at a Thursday debate, "The Biden administration failed at the border." She also said the border needs to be secure and that pathways to citizenship are needed. South Carolina Senate candidate Annie Andrews said in a debate, "Democrats have failed on the border."
Iowa Senate candidate Josh Turek traveled to Laredo, Texas, to film an ad promoting tougher enforcement. "I voted with Republicans to allow law enforcement to arrest and deport criminals," he says in it. Another ad vowed to work with anyone, including Trump, to secure the border.
In Texas' redrawn 35th Congressional District, Democrat Johnny Garcia, who faces Republican Carlos De La Cruz, criticized Trump's ICE raids as harmful to the economy. At a recent forum, he also said Biden "got it wrong on the border" and cited a 2022 smuggling tragedy in which 53 migrants were locked in a trailer.
A two-sided approach on enforcement
Hamilton, like other Democrats in areas that voted for Trump in 2024, coupled his criticism of Biden with the argument that the current president has gone too far on enforcement. NBC News reports that polls show many Americans have soured on Trump's handling of immigration after immigration officers fatally shot two Americans in Minnesota and one in Maine this year.
Even so, the outlet says the candidates' comments reflect a recognition that border security remains a vulnerability for Democrats. Republicans continue to accuse them of promoting "open borders" to energize their base and win swing voters.
The political backdrop
Biden's ratings on the issue fell during a surge in migrant crossings, which Trump successfully used against him in 2024, NBC News reports. Biden inherited a Covid-era migration surge in 2021, and it intensified after he rolled back Trump-era policies and restrictions and allowed more asylum-seekers to remain in the country while their cases were considered.
Trump's approval rating has fallen to 38%, according to the report, yet border security remains among his highest-polling issues, though below its peak early in his second term.
Democratic pollster Celinda Lake called it "very smart" for candidates to distance themselves from Biden and said "there's nobody contesting that interpretation" that he blundered on the border. She said the "best messaging" combines "some control for the border plus a humanitarian process for immigration," and argued that "ICE has gone too far, and that has backfired now."
