Sen. Mark Kelly sidesteps VP talk, hits Trump pick JD Vance again

Sen. Mark Kelly said Republican vice-presidential candidate JD Vance is visiting Arizona’s southern border Wednesday “to take a picture,” not to solve the “challenging problem” with border security.

Appearing on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” Kelly, D-Ariz., repeatedly urged voters to back Vice President Kamala Harris over former President Donald Trump and disparaged Vance as picked by Trump only to “overturn an election.”

The 15-minute interview may have seemed like an audition for Kelly as Harris’ running mate, with Kelly casting the Democrats as the only ones seriously trying to do something about the border. Kelly is believed to be among the finalists for Harris’ running mate, along with others, including Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.

Kelly repeatedly deflected questions about his interest in joining Harris on the presidential ticket while showcasing a frankness about the border — and a legislative fix — that Democrats hope could offer a rhetorical reset on a top political issue for Republicans.

“Kamala Harris and the administration wants to fix this problem. She’s worked on this problem for three and a half years, and it’s a challenging problem,” Kelly said. “We have made progress, especially with what was put in place over the past several months.

“Like a lot of other Republicans, they don’t actually want to solve this problem. They just want to talk about it. That’s why his running mate, JD Vance, is down at the border to take a picture. That’s the only reason he’s there.”

Kelly’s position on border-related matters is viewed as a key asset he could bring to the Harris-led Democratic ticket. Many of the Democratic governors believed to be in the running have relatively little experience on the issue, especially in contrast to an Arizona U.S. senator.

In short order, Kelly referenced the bipartisan border-security bill that his seatmate, Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, I-Ariz., helped negotiate earlier this year and executive action by President Joe Biden intended to bring down illegal entries into the country.

The border security bill quickly failed in the Senate after Trump successfully convinced Republicans not to give Biden a legislative victory on the issue.

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In June, Biden issued an executive order temporarily suspending asylum claims, a move that has led to falling encounters with migrants by implementing a policy more in line with methods Trump used in office.

Kelly reminded viewers that he’s “down at the border all the time meeting with mayors, sheriffs.”

“This (border-security bill) was not meeting the Republicans on the 50-yard line. It was meeting them on the 10-yard line on their side of the field,” Kelly said.

“We realize we’ve got to get operational control over the border. I realize this. Kamala Harris realizes this, and this legislation was going to do that," Kelly said. "Our goal here was to get this legislation passed and then start working on comprehensive immigration reform.”

Trump stopped that in its tracks for election purposes only, Kelly said. He repeated attacks on Vance that he made during an appearance earlier this month on MSNBC that assailed the Ohio Republican for his support for abortion restrictions and a willingness to do Trump’s bidding.

Kelly pledged to help get Harris elected, but would not speculate on his role. He invoked his wife, former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., who campaigned for Harris in Philadelphia last week.

Kelly also took swipes at U.S. Senate nominee Kari Lake, who defeated Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb in Arizona’s Republican primary on Tuesday. Unofficial election results Wednesday morning showed Lake leading Lamb by about 15 percentage points, which was about half what her campaign signaled two weeks before voting began.

“Kari Lake won the primary, but a guy with no money got about 40% of the vote,” Kelly said of the result. “It was not an overwhelming (performance) — she ran against a guy with $100,000 in his campaign account — because Kari Lake stands for divisiveness, dividing us.”

He invoked her election denialism as well.

“She thinks she’s governor and is still litigating the 2022 election. Now she wants to be a United States senator,” he said before noting her disparaging comments involving the late Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.

Kelly called Ruben Gallego, the Democratic Senate nominee he endorsed, “a guy I work with on practically a weekly basis to make sure we have the military we need.”

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Sen. Mark Kelly sidesteps VP talk, hits Trump pick JD Vance again