House Democrats in competitive races have been encouraged to run on fixing border security and blaming Republicans for being obstructionists with the issue, The Wall Street Journal reported Friday.
A memo from House Democrats' campaign arm says its candidates should point to GOP members rejecting the bipartisan Senate deal announced in early February.
The memo, which accuses Republicans of killing the border deal so that they could campaign on the issue and deny President Joe Biden a political win, mentions polling that found the Senate deal being broadly popular with voters, the Journal reported.
Former President Donald Trump and many House Republicans said the Senate bill did not go far enough in addressing border security issues.
"If Democrats say 'lean in' on the border, we say: 'It's your political funeral,'" said Jack Pandol, spokesman for the House GOP's campaign arm, the Journal reported.
Democrats are trying to change the narrative that has developed with the migrant crisis under Biden. Record numbers of illegal migrants have crossed the southern border since he took office.
A recent Gallup poll showed, for a third straight month, that immigration topped a list of pressing issues facing the U.S., outpacing concerns about the economy and the government.
Polls also have shown that voters prefer presumptive Republican presidential candidate Trump over Biden on the issue, the Journal reported.
CBS News reported Tuesday that 15 House Democrats — from Minnesota and swing states Arizona, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Michigan — called on Biden to take executive action on the United States' border with Mexico.
In a letter to Biden, the lawmakers urged the president to "immediately take further action to restore order at the Southern border and fix our broken immigration system."
The House Dems memo cited by the Journal also highlighted the victory by Rep. Tom Suozzi, D-N.Y., in a hard-fought special election earlier this year. Suozzi defeated opponent Mazi Pilip after campaigning on his support for the border deal.
Republicans, though, blamed Suozzi's victory on Pilip's inexperience and Suozzi's strong name recognition in the Long Island district he had previously represented.
The November election will determine which party will control the chamber, where Republicans currently hold a 217-213 majority.