Sen. Chris Murphy urges Democrats to follow Tom Suozzi and go on the offensive on the border

Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., urged Democrats to go on offense on the border and immigration in a memo Wednesday to party members, citing New York Democrat Tom Suozzi’s victory in the special election for former GOP Rep. George Santos' seat in the Long Island-based 3rd Congressional District.

Murphy, who served as the lead Democratic negotiator on a bipartisan border security bill that Republicans rejected largely along party lines last week, pointed to Suozzi’s forceful messaging on the border and immigration, which the senator argued can “serve as a roadmap for Democrats” in November.

“Suozzi messaged aggressively on the issue, running ads that highlighted his support for a secure border and legal pathways to citizenship,” Murphy wrote. “He flipped the script on his Republican opponent, successfully painting her as unserious about border security because of her opposition to the bipartisan border bill, and turned what could have been a devastating political liability into an advantage.”

Murphy acknowledged his frustration that after months of negotiating the bipartisan border security bill, Republicans in the Senate ultimately knifed it in a matter of days. But he said the GOP’s rejection of the bill provides Democrats with a way to counter GOP talking points on the border.

“Republicans can’t claim that the border is in crisis and then vote against the bipartisan bill, written by their own leadership, that would fix the problem," he wrote. "But their abandonment of the bill they requested presents Democrats with an opening to flip the narrative on the border. We can talk about our belief in a strong border and strong legal immigration, contrasted with Republicans’ view of the border as a simple political tool to help