Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris talks during a campaign rally at United Auto Workers Local 900 in Wayne, Michigan, on August 8. Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images.
A new campaign ad from Democratic presidential hopeful Kamala Harris touts a tough-on-immigration stance as her party tries to fend off right-wing attacks on a topic of high interest to voters.
Why this matters: Harris' campaign is figuring out how to use her experience with US-Mexico border policy to appeal to both swing voters and Latinos.
"Fixing the border is tough, so is Kamala Harris," a narrator stated in the commercial, which is currently running in Arizona and Nevada, according to a campaign statement.
Aside from her time in the White House, a different ad released this week highlights her prosecutorial record and role in advocating for families while she was California attorney general.
That was the story: "As a border state prosecutor, she took on drug cartels and jailed gang members for smuggling weapons and drugs across the border," according to one commercial.
"As vice president, she supported the harshest border control legislation in decades. And as president, she plans to hire thousands more border agents and crack down on fentanyl and human trafficking.
The other ad, which was launched on Thursday, is aimed at Latinos and promotes her family's immigration heritage.
"When you're raised by an immigrant mother, you learn what's possible with determination," the narrator says in the commercial.
Between the lines: Democrats no longer have a significant lead among Latinos on immigration, as Latinos have increasingly expressed support for harsher border policy.
Latino strategists believe Harris might do well with Latinos by emphasizing her history as a U.S.-born child of immigrants.
This year, an estimated 36.2 million Latinos in the United States will be able to vote, with many having family ties to immigration.
The intrigue: In a statement released on Friday, Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) was unambiguous about the Democrats' border message.
"This year, we go on offensive on immigration and border security," wrote the senator. "There is no choice to be made between being the party of border security and being a party that celebrates legal immigration and lifts up immigrant communities."
Flashback: The GOP has been preparing to emphasize Harris' border past since before her campaign began.
A Republican-backed ad in early July portrayed Harris as President Biden's "enabler-in-chief" on border policy.
During the 2020 election cycle, she stated her support for decriminalizing illegal border crossings. More recently, she stated that her attitude on border crossings is identical to that of the Biden administration, according to Stef Kight of Axios.