Schumer credits Trump for Suozzi win — as Dems cite ‘proof’ they can flip border script
WASHINGTON — Prominent New York-area Democrats celebrated Rep-elect Tom Suozzi’s Tuesday night victory over Republican rival Mazi Pilip as a sign that they can win the US-Mexico border policy debate while tying swing-district rivals to ex-President Donald Trump.
“There were reports that Republicans hired snow plows in Republican precincts to make it easier for voters, but Suozzi won because no matter what, Republicans couldn’t plow through their biggest obstacle, Donald Trump,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) told reporters.
Trump “blocked a bipartisan deal to strengthen our border and stem a crisis and voters knew it,” Schumer said.
“MAGA Republicans handed Democrats a golden opportunity to talk about the border. And we showed we would be very strong on the border — that we knew it was broken and needed to be fixed,” he added.
“When voters were asked at the polls who they were voting for, what their biggest issue was, many said the border. And when asked why they’re voting Democratic, they said because Democrats wanted to get a deal done and we know Republicans didn’t. So that really hurt the Republicans.”
The top Democrat negotiator on a now-defunct border deal, Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) posited that Republicans’ decision to quash the border deal last week gifted the Democrats “a unique, unprecedented opening to go on the offensive on border security.”
“Tom Suozzi’s victory last night — due in part to his decision to go on offense on the border and attack his opponents’ opposition to the bipartisan border deal — is proof that the politics of the border are changing before our eyes,” Murphy wrote in a memo to his fellow Democrats obtained by The Post.
House Republicans blocked the border deal by arguing it did too little to stem a surge in asylum seekers crossing the US-Mexican border, most of whom are released into the US to await asylum rulings, burdening the resources of local governments, including in New York City.
Republicans also argued Biden already had the power to take a harder approach after fiscal 2023, which ended Sept. 30, set an all-time record for illegal crossing, with December setting a monthly record of more than 251,000 illegal crossings.
The Biden Department of Homeland Security is releasing into the US up to 85% of people who illegally cross the border — after Biden axed former President Donald Trump’s “Remain in Mexico” policy that required people citing fear of persecution in their homelands to await rulings south of the border.
House Republicans on Tuesday night impeached Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas for allegedly failing to secure the border and for allegedly lying to Congress about the frontier being “secure.”
Democrats voiced optimism about the lessons from Suozzi’s race as polling shows that migration continues to be a major liability for President Biden ahead of his expected rematch with Trump in November — with a Gallup poll released this week finding that it’s the top issue mentioned by voters who disapprove of Biden.
Murphy pointed to Suozzi’s triumph Tuesday as a “roadmap for Democrats.
Schumer said “I think this is indicative of November.”
“The same negativity that voters had towards Donald Trump and people who follow him on their refusing to enact bipartisan legislation on the border, or their refusing to protect a woman’s right to choose, on their refusing to get the guns off the streets are going to hurt Donald Trump, not just in the third district, but across America,” the top Senate Democrat said.
Suozzi (D-NY), 61, dispatched Republican rival Pilip, 47, in the special election to fill ousted former Long Island Rep George Santos (R-NY), 35, in New York’s 3rd Congressional District. Biden won that suburban district by roughly eight points in 2020.
Throughout the special election race, the two traded barbs over abortion and the border in particular.
Early on, Suozzi made a point of blaming the federal government for the surge of migrants afflicting the Empire State.
Republicans have long pummeled Democrats over the southern border, which has endured a record level of encounters under President Biden’s watch.
Murphy highlighted several recent polls showing Republicans with a significant advantage on the issue. One poll he cited from Bloomberg/Morning Consult showed former President Donald Trump with a “jarring 49-22 advantage” over Biden.
He cautioned that the border is increasingly becoming a top issue for voters and recalled that Biden held “comfortable leads over Trump” on the top two issues in the 2020 cycle pertaining to the economy and the COVID-19 pandemic.
This go around, he wants Democrats to take steps to ensure they have the edge on the leading issues for voters ahead of the presidential election.
“Democrats have been unnecessarily stuck in a defensive crouch on the issue of border security and immigration,” he argued.
“Too many of our leaders retreat to defending the existing system, even though we know it’s
byzantine, broken, and in desperate need of reform.”
While calling the typical Democratic objective on immigration of establishing a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants, “worthy,” Murphy argued that should be packaged “inside a message that prioritizes strong and fair border policies.”
For months, Republicans demanded Democrats tack on deep border security reforms in exchange for a sprawling supplemental package Biden requested featuring billions in aid for Ukraine, Israel, and Tawain.
After nearly four months of negotiations led by Murphy, Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.), and Sen. James Lanford (R-Okla.), the Senate rejected that deal last Thursday in a 49-50 vote, largely along party lines.
Republicans claim they rejected the border deal because it was woefully insufficient. Democrats like Murphy accused them of playing political games and wanting to retain a key issue ahead of the presidential election.
In the wee hours of Monday morning, the Senate wrangled through a roughly $95 billion supplemental sans the border security provisions. But House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) quickly came out in opposition to it.
Murphy was far from alone in extrapolating a positive trend for Democrats from the New York 3rd Congressional District race, which was, at least in part, overshadowed by scandal-plagued Santos, who was booted from the lower chamber last December.
“Yesterday, voters proved [Biden] right with a devastating repudiation of congressional Republicans. Tom Suozzi put support for the bipartisan border legislation – and congressional Republicans’ killing of it for politics – at the forefront of his case,” White House deputy press secretary Andrew Bates said.
“The American people see through congressional Republicans’ elevation of their personal politics over the safety of the country. It’s time for the Speaker to allow a vote.”
The Biden campaign also pointed to Suozzi’s victory as evidence that prognostications of Biden’s odds against prevailing in a rematch against Trump in November aren’t great.
“There is now an undeniable pattern of strong Democratic performances under President Biden — and despite baffling punditry saying otherwise, that is good news for our campaign,” Michael Tyler, the communications director for the Biden campaign wrote in a memo.
