For many, this is long overdue.
For the campaign of Vice President Kamala Harris — the topper of the Democratic presidential ticket come November — this is just an overdue consideration.
According to a new report from CNN, Team Harris is considering having the vice president, finally, visit the U.S.-Mexico border when her campaign rolls through Arizona on Friday.
The reason for this newfound desire to visit?
Harris’ campaign is trying “to close the gap with former President Donald Trump on the issue of immigration,” according to sources who spoke to CNN.
Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, has been hammering both Harris and incumbent President Joe Biden on the issue of the southern border.
“Some Harris campaign officials remain concerned about the gap in polling, which shows Trump holding a lead on the issue,” CNN added.
The outlet did note that Harris’ campaign also believed that a visit to the border, alongside the prerequisite optics, could be a big aid in assuaging those concerns.
Does Kamala Harris actually care about the border crisis?
This proposed visit to the border — which is not confirmed, per CNN — would come less than two months before election day in what is rapidly shaping up to be a highly competitive presidential election.
While much of the aggregate polling has largely swung in Harris’ favor (ever so slightly) following Biden declining to seek re-election in July, there are still numerous issues plaguing the VP, with illegal immigration being chief among them.
And that’s because, despite her best efforts to distance herself from it, Harris was effectively tabbed to be Biden’s “border czar,” which is a role that may not exist in title but definitely exists in function.
Because of that connection, Harris is having a demonstrably harder time separating herself from this part of Biden’s failures, compared to some of her boss’ other shortcomings.
And Trump knows this.
Of the many fronts that the former president has attacked Harris on, his efforts to decry Harris’ border policies (or lack thereof) have been one of his stronger points of attack.
In fact, Trump’s needling of the issue has forced Harris to flip-flop on issues pertaining to the border, which has only helped the former president in his re-election bid.
Despite the glaring issue of illegal immigration, especially in regards to the southern border, Harris is enjoying a 2.2 point lead over Trump in Real Clear Politics’ aggregate polling.
While that number bodes well for Harris in terms of the popular vote, it doesn’t mean nearly as much when it comes to the race for electoral votes.
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