Consider This from NPR - Immigration: A Winning Issue For Democrats?

Episode Date: February 14, 2024

One single election does not a trend make. But does Democrat Tom Suozzi's victory in the special election for New York's 3rd Congressional District mean something bigger for democrats?The Congressman won his seat – which until recently had been held by disgraced Republican George Santos – by diving head on into an issue that democrats would usually rather avoid – immigration.Was that the opening chapter in a playbook Suozzi is writing, for fellow Democrats trying to find a way to deal with the thorny political issue of immigration?For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org. Email us at [e-mail] more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Shortly after 7, on Tuesday night, there was a historic vote in the House chamber. On this vote, the yeas are 214 and the nays are 213. The resolution is adopted. It was close and almost straight down party lines. But in the end, the House of Representatives passed a resolution to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. Tuesday's vote is only the second time in U.S. history, and the first in nearly 150 years, that a member of the president's cabinet has been impeached. The reason? Say Republicans, the situation at the southern border. The articles of impeachment accused the Homeland Security Secretary of

failing to detain migrants at the border and resisting congressional oversight. These charges have been met with skepticism by legal experts. Democrats accuse Republicans of using the impeachment to score political points on immigration, and the GOP may well have accomplished that. Polls repeatedly show immigration is a top concern for voters and one that they don't think the Biden administration has handled well. But we won just a couple of hours after Republicans in Congress impeached Mayorkas. Democrat Tom Swazi and the squad, about Tom Swazi being the godfather of the migrant crisis, about Sanctuary Swazi.

As you can hear from that victory speech, Swazi ran on and believes he won on immigration. This despite the fact that his opponent and political action committees attacked him on that very issue. Here's a sample campaign ad. Swazi supported allowing illegal immigrants charged with violent crimes to be released back into our community. He even bragged about getting rid of immigration enforcement. When I was county executive in Nassau County, I kicked ice out of Nassau County. Tom Suozzi helped create our immigration crisis.

In Congress, he'll make it worse. Consider this. Immigration has been widely viewed as a losing issue for Democrats. Does Tom Suozzi's special election victory in New York suggest otherwise? From NPR, I'm Mary Louise Kelly. It's Wednesday, from NPR. One single election does not a trend make. But does Democrat Tom Suozzi's victory and the special election for New York's third congressional district, does it mean something bigger for Democrats? Congressman won the seat, which until recently had been held by disgraced Republican George Santos,

by diving head-on into an issue that Democrats would usually rather avoid, immigration. Like in January, when his opponent, Mazie Pillip, held an event at a migrant shelter in Queens and blamed Swazi for the border crisis. He created this problem. He supported President Biden 100% of the time. When Swazi learned of the event, he drove straight to the shelter and held his own press conference. The press conference was just held, so I thought it was important that I come here and just rebut some of the things that she brought up directly. Is this the opening chapter in a playbook other Democrats might use to deal with the thorny political issue of immigration? That's a question we're going to put to NPR senior editor and correspondent Domenico Montanaro. He's in New York. Hey, Domenico. Hey, Mary Louise. So walk us through exactly how Swazi approached the immigration issue and particularly compared to other Democrats. Yeah, he really decided that you have to take this

issue head on. He tacked toward the middle. He called for the border to largely be shut down, came out in support of the bipartisan congressional compromise that was derailed by Trump and the hard right. And Pillip, his opponent? Well, she came out against the bipartisan compromise, really sort of playing to the Trump side of things, which then played into what Democrats wanted to do in painting her as extreme. Okay, so just get specific. What is noticeable about Swazi's approach as compared to other Democrats on immigration? Yeah, I mean, this was a real potential roadmap what he did on immigration because, you know, other Democrats who are looking to win in the suburbs, this is something that they were nervous

about it coming after them, you know, because Republicans have really tried on a host of other issues, education, crime, now immigration. Understandable, they would try immigration, but they really haven't been able to turn the tide. They've had this advantage on immigration in the polls. Biden doesn't fare well on his handling of it at all. But what Democrats hear was not dismiss or avoid immigration in this race or the economy, by the way, for that matter. I'd say it's a little bit of like a Bill Clinton strategy, feel your pain, come up with solutions that the middle might find pretty reasonable.

What about other issues? Did he try a similar approach on things like abortion, for example? Well, what Democrats really tried to do was focus on Pillop's record, her ethics, and abortion was also like the other major issue that wound up being aired across this district. And it wasn't just in this district. I mean, we had another election

in Pennsylvania where Democrats held the state house and there was a local legislator there who wound up winning his race and cited abortion as a key issue for what his constituents wanted. And, you know, Democrats in this race used Pillip saying that she was pro-life, accused her of wanting to push for a policy with no restriction, which echoes the National Republican Party platform. And they leaned into this message about Pillip being an ethical nightmare, as they said, and an embarrassment. Listen to this attack ad. Same story, new name.

Mozzie Pillops about to embarrass us again. Refusing to answer questions. Subpoenaed to testify about unpaid bills from her family's business. So, you know, really dropping the oppo book on her. And the beginning of that ad, when they said same story, new name, they had shown George Santos' face. And it really did wind up hurting her in this race. So let's land on the question that I put to you at the beginning. Has Swazi figured out something of a playbook that other Democrats running other races might use? Well, partially,

I think he did. You know, I think that for lack of better phrasing, when we talk about the suburbs, it really comes down to normal versus extreme. And Democrats have done a pretty good job with that framing. They made this race into a painting of their candidate as sort of the adult in the room willing to compromise against a Republican MAGA extremist who isn't. That's worked lots of times, especially in this era of Trump. He's very unpopular in the suburbs. Republicans haven't figured out how to get the message or the messengers right in these areas that are often also swing areas. And on the issues, on the messaging for Democrats, something like immigration, like the economy, where their back is a little bit against the wall, where they're a little bit defensive, Swazi showed that there is a way to thread that needle and to be able to talk about it in a strong way. But they have to have policies that tack toward the middle that can

resonate with those voters. NPR's Domenico Montanaro in New York. Thanks, Domenico. Hey, you're welcome. That is NPR senior editor and correspondent Domenico Montanaro. This episode was produced by Megan Lim and Alejandra Marquez-Hanse. It was edited by Dana Farrington and Courtney Dourning. Our executive producer is Sammy Yenigan. It's Consider This from NPR. I'm Mary Louise Kelly.