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Border security is generally seen as a strength for Republicans and a weakness for Democrats. But along Arizona's southern border, a wave of mayors and county officials are backing a Democrat in his campaign for U.S. Senate, Congressman Ruben Gallego. Many of those officials are also supporting Vice President Harris. As NPR's Ben Giles reports, the needs and issues facing border communities don't always match national narratives.
BEN GILES, BYLINE: Last November Kari Lake's Senate campaign got a boost during a visit to Nogales, Arizona - face time with the city's Democratic mayor. Jorge Maldonado even spoke alongside her - a video of which the Lake campaign spread on social media.
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JORGE MALDONADO: This is a big situation for our community. You know, we were never expected to handle this.
GILES: The situation was record-high encounters along the southern border. Customs and Border Protection were outmatched by the waves of migrants, and Maldonado warned the Nogales Port of Entry was undermanned, as federal officials rerouted resources to deal with illegal crossings.
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MALDONADO: It hurt us 'cause it shut down half our regular tourist lanes, traffic lanes in cars, which is what the city of Nogales depends on.
GILES: In early December, the Biden administration announced it was temporarily but indefinitely closing the nearby Lukeville Port of Entry. The decision only added to the strain on nearby ports like the one in Nogales. So you'd be forgiven for thinking that, six months later, Mayor Maldonado would endorse Lake. Instead, he backed Gallego. Weeks later, he lent his support to Harris. Maldonado said it wasn't a decision borne out of fealty to a political party.
MALDONADO: I take off my hat, Republican, Democrat or independent. I think, you know, in my post, we run bipartisism (ph) here.
GILES: And just to be clear, he's more than willing to work with Lake if voters elect her as Arizona's next senator.
MALDONADO: As the mayor, I got to work with whoever wins.
GILES: Like Maldonado, mayors from all along the border have praised Gallego as an advocate for their communities. Together, their support may help Democrats at the top of the ticket in Arizona defend themselves against Republican attacks on immigration. Last week, Gallego boasted of their support during a debate that mostly covered border issues.
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RUBEN GALLEGO: Border mayors that used to campaign with her are now campaigning with me 'cause they don't think that she's serious about this.
GILES: Bisbee Mayor Ken Budge, also a Democrat, says there's nuanced border communities that Republican talking points often miss.
KEN BUDGE: Well, I wish they would come to a town instead of the wall. It seems like they all want to just go get their picture next to a wall.
GILES: Budge, like many other mayors, says he can't afford to dabble in partisan politics when it comes to the issues that matter to his border community. But Congress' failure to pass a bipartisan border bill earlier this year - when Republicans rejected the proposal at former President Donald Trump's urging - broke his spirit.
BUDGE: At that point, I just lost all faith in the Republican side.
GILES: But the desire for bipartisan solutions cuts both ways. Just south of Bisbee, in Douglas, Arizona, Republican Mayor Donald Huish gave a speech welcoming the Harris campaign to his border community last month.
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DONALD HUISH: Well, here in Arizona, we want solutions. That's why Vice President Harris is here to offer, and Arizonans should take that into consideration when voting in November.
GILES: After his speech, Huish said that the vice president's visit was an opportunity to reset people's expectations of Douglas. The national narrative about the border doesn't match what he sees day-to-day.
HUISH: We get labels many times as being unsafe - that it's almost a Wild West in here - and it couldn't be anything further from the truth.
GILES: Unlike his neighboring Democratic mayors, Huish isn't going so far as to endorse Harris, Gallego, or Lake, for that matter. Lake's website does boast a few endorsements from elected officials along the border. When asked to identify any other border-adjacent endorsements that might be missing, they instead boasted of support from congressmen and senators from as far away as South Carolina and Wyoming. Ben Giles, NPR News. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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