© AP

Can Vice President Harris convince voters she’ll take border security seriously if she wins the White House?

The Harris campaign released a new 30-second ad on Friday saying she’ll prioritize border security, as she seeks to cut into former President Trump’s lead on a pivotal election issue.

The ad, which was released along with another spot touting Harris’s working class upbringing, says she “spent decades fighting violent crime” as a “border state prosecutor.” The ad will run in two border swing states: Arizona and Nevada.

“She took on drug cartels and jailed gang members for smuggling guns across the border. As vice president, she backed the toughest border control bill in decades. As president, she’ll hire thousands more border agents and crack down on fentanyl and human trafficking. Fixing the border is tough. So is Kamala Harris.”

The new border offensive comes as Harris seeks to pivot to the center after tacking to the left on several hot-button election issues in the 2020 Democratic presidential primary.

• In 2019, Harris said she would decriminalize border crossings and consider “starting from scratch” when it comes to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

• A Harris adviser told Axios that Harris’s position on illegal immigration is the same as the Biden administration’s position, that “unauthorized border crossings are illegal.”

Harris’s new border ad is her second of the cycle promising to take a more hawkish approach to the border.

• A previous 50-second ad took aim at Trump for sinking a bipartisan immigration bill. The bill failed after Trump came out against it.

The Harris campaign has also pointed to the Biden administration’s order cracking down asylum claims at the border. 

• The executive action has led border encounters to plummet, although critics note that border crossings were at crisis levels for the first three years of the Biden-Harris administration.

The latest Ipsos battleground survey found immigration is a top issue, along with inflation and political extremism.

• Trump leads Harris on the question of who is better equipped to deal with immigration, 45 to 31.

The focus on border security comes as Harris heads to Nevada this weekend to make inroads with Latino voters who have drifted to the right in recent elections.

Trump got 28 percent support from Latinos in 2016 and 36 percent in 2020. President Biden’s share of the Latino vote fell by 5 points in 2020 compared to Hillary Clinton in 2016.

The League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), the oldest Latino civil rights group in the U.S., endorsed Harris on Friday, an historic first for a group that has traditionally abstained from endorsing candidates.

LULAC will join Harris at a rally on Saturday.

Domingo Garcia, chairman of the LULAC Adelante PAC, took a shot at Trump, saying the “the politics of hate mongering and scapegoating Latinos and immigrants must be stopped.”

Trump’s incendiary rhetoric about immigrants is seen as a hinderance to Republicans as they try to grow their coalition.

But new polls show growing support among Latinos for Trump’s border policies.

• An Axios-Ipsos Latino poll from April found 42 percent of Latinos support a border wall – up from 30 percent in 2021.

• Thirty-eight percent support deporting all undocumented immigrants, up from 28 percent in 2021.

• Nearly two-thirds of Latinos support the president having the authority to shut down the border during times of mass immigration.

Perspectives:

• The Liberal Patriot: The Dems’ half-hearted move to the center.
• The Hill: Can Harris rebuild American’s anti-Trump majority?

Read more:

• Harris leads Trump in Miami-Dade.
• Harris highlights union support with UAW.
• Harris has support from union leaders, but workers still weighing options.
• Walz a hit with progressives but a question mark in the Sun Belt.

Welcome to Evening Report! I’m Jonathan Easley, catching you up from the afternoon and what’s coming tomorrow. Not on the list? Subscribe here.

• Local police were furious with the Secret Service in the moments after the Trump shooting, according to newly released videos.

• Tornadoes, flooding rains, and swollen rivers plague those in the path of Tropical Storm Debby.

• A third person is in custody after authorities foiled a terrorist attack on a Taylor Swift concert in Vienna. Here’s everything we know about the planned attack so far.

©  Greg Nash

Democrats with military experience are rallying to defend Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz’s 24 years of service in the Army National Guard, as Republicans seek to make allegations of “stolen valor” a campaign issue.

Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-N.J.), a former U.S. Navy helicopter pilot, told CNN that Republicans are trying to “Swift Boat” Walz.

“It’s reminiscent of the Swift Boat bulls— that Senator Kerry faced in his election. We’re seeing the same type of people trying to reignite this same kind of slanderous campaign against a man who served for 24 years in the National Guard.”

Republicans allege that Walz inflated his rank, abandoned his unit before deployment and insinuated that he was in a war zone.

A look at the allegations:

• Walz has at times referred to himself as a “Command Sergeant Major,” the highest rank in the Army. He held that title at one point but retired at a lower level because he didn’t finish necessary coursework. The Harris campaign tweaked its online biography for Walz to reflect that he didn’t retire as a Command Sergeant Major, according to Politico.

• Walz has described himself as a “veteran of Operation Enduring Freedom,” the U.S.’s anti-terror campaign in Afghanistan. Republicans say Walz insinuated that he was on the ground in Afghanistan, when in fact he was stationed in Europe in 2003 and 2004.

• Walz retired from the National Guard after 24 years of service in May of 2005 to run for office. Two months later, his unit was deployed to Iraq. Walz had filed paperwork to run for office in February of that year. ABC News reports that there was speculation the unit would be deployed ahead of time, but nothing concrete. Some of Walz’s former unit members have criticized him for leaving, while others have defended him, saying the deployment news came after he retired.

“He told us that he wanted to run for Congress, and he was in a tough spot, because he was pretty sure we were going to Iraq. We didn’t have orders. We didn’t have any kind of orders at all.” —  Al Bonnifield, who served with Walz, to NewsNation

• The Harris campaign has promoted a video of Walz saying he “carried” weapons of war. The remarks were made as part of a gun control push.
  

“We can make sure those weapons of war, that I carried in war, are only carried in war.”

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, a veteran of the war in Afghanistan, and Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), a former Navy pilot, are among those who have come to Walz’s defense.

“Denigrating the worth of a soldier’s service based on whether he deployed to a war zone is… kind of like denigrating the worth of a woman’s citizenship based on whether she happens to have children,” Buttigieg posted on X.

Former Rep. Peter Meijer (R-Mich.), a former intelligence adviser in Iraq, said Walz may have “played fast & loose with his military bio.”

“He let audiences paint in their minds a deceptive picture. It was shady but not stolen valor.”

Meijer’s thread here is worth reading.

Expect this to be a topic of conversation at the vice presidential debate with Trump’s running mate Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio), who has spearheaded the allegations of “stolen valor.”

Vance, meanwhile, is swinging back at CNN host Brianna Keilar, who called him an “imperfect messenger” to attack Walz’s service.

Keilar said Vance’s title of “combat correspondent” is misleading because he didn’t see combat. Vance has never claimed to have seen combat.

Vance responded on X:

“It’s easy to sit in the comfort and safety of a @CNN studio and trivialize the service of countless men and women who risked their lives.”

Perspectives:

• Intelligencer: The ‘Swift Boating’ of Walz won’t work.
• The Atlantic: Post-liberal Catholics find their man in Vance.

Read more:

• GOP Rep. questions Pentagon on Walz military service.
• With “Swift Boat” architect at the helm, Trump camp uses familiar playbook on Walz.

New polls reveal an alarming trend for former President Trump’s campaign.

Independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. appears to be pulling some support from Trump since President Biden dropped out of the race.

The Marquette Law School poll that found Vice President Harris leading Trump by 4 points in a head-to-head matchup also found Harris leading by 6 points in a multicandidate field that included Kennedy and other third-party candidates.

That lines up with the DecisionDeskHQ average.

• In a direct head-to-head matchup, Trump has a slight lead nationally.

• When Kennedy is included, Harris leads Trump by more than 3 points.
  

Still, the data is inconclusive and the polls are volatile in the wake of Biden’s exit from the race.

The latest NPR/PBS/Marist survey found no change between the head-to-head matchup and the multicandidate field. Harris leads by 3 points in both.

Trump is now feuding with influential podcaster Joe Rogan over what looked like Rogan’s endorsement of Kennedy.

“[Kennedy’s] the only one that makes sense to me. He’s the only one — he doesn’t attack people, he attacks actions and ideas, but he’s much more reasonable and intelligent. I mean, the guy was an environmental lawyer and he cleaned up the East River. He’s a legitimate guy.”

Rogan says he wasn’t endorsing Kennedy, but Trump swung at him on the social media platform TruthSocial.

“It will be interesting to see how loudly Joe Rogan gets BOOED the next time he enters the UFC ring??? MAGA 2024.”

Perspectives:

• The Wall Street Journal: Will Trump blow another election?
• The Washington Examiner: The Harris boom and bust cycle.

Read More:

• Could RFK throw the race to Harris?
• How the third-party effect is hurting Trump.
• RFK Jr.’s incredible disappearing campaign.
• Harris is the betting markets favorite.
• With Harris and Walz, some Dems still weigh skipping the polls.

©  Associated Press

Is Vice President Harris out-hustling former President Trump?

From The Hill’s Brett Samuels: 

“Since the Republican National Convention concluded July 18, former President Trump has held five campaign rallies. Vice President Harris will hold that many this week alone.”

• This week, Harris is holding campaign events in five swing states:  Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan, Arizona and Nevada. She had to put trips to two other swing states on hold due to Hurricane Debby.

• Trump’s lone rally will take place tonight in Montana, which he won by 16 points in 2020.
  

Democrats are needling Trump, saying he can’t keep up.

Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.) went further, pointing to Trump’s freewheeling press conference on Thursday to single out his age.

“I don’t know, maybe it’s he is incomprehensible. Maybe he is losing a lot because, you know, he is the oldest person to run for president of the United States.”

Trump’s press conference achieved one objective: He criticized Harris for refusing to answer questions from the press and threw down the gauntlet on three debates.

Shortly after, Harris took a few questions from her traveling press corps and said she might sit for one interview before August is over. 

The Hill’s Amie Parnes reports that Democrats say Harris must find the right message on the economy, as voter concerns about the high cost of living remain top of mind. 

• Harris and President Biden will make a joint appearance in Maryland next week to “discuss the progress they are making to lower costs for the American people.”

Read more:

• Elon Musk to interview Trump.
• Willie Brown calls Trump helicopter story ‘creative fiction.’

Here’s who we’ll be watching on Sunday, via The Hill’s Liz Crisp:

• CBS’s Sunday Morning: President Biden interview (pre-taped)
• ABC “This Week”: Republican VP nominee Sen. JD Vance (Ohio); Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.); political pundit “Charlamagne tha God.”
• CBS “Face the Nation”: Vance; retired Marine Corps Gen. Frank McKenzie; new Democratic Governors Association leader Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly.
• CNN “State of the Union”: Vance; Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).
• NewsNation “The Hill Sunday”: Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.).
• MSNBC “The Sunday Show”: Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.).
• FOX “Fox News Sunday”: Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.); Rep. Jason Crow (D-Colo.).

“Democrats have everything to lose if they abolish the filibuster,” by Christian Fong for The Hill.

“4 signs the peaceful transfer of power is in danger,” by Myra Adams for The Hill. 

10 days until the Democratic National Convention.

32 days until the first presidential debate between Trump and Harris.

88 days until the 2024 general election.

164 days until Inauguration Day 2025.

Friday

• Trump holds a campaign rally in Bozeman, Mont.
• Harris holds a campaign event in Phoenix.

Saturday

• Harris holds a campaign event in Las Vegas.

Sunday

• The Paris Olympics closing ceremony.

There a story you think should be getting more attention? Something people should be talking about? Drop me a line: jeasley@thehill.com

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