GOP Midterm Election Ads Go on the Attack over Border Issues

New television ads by Republican Senate candidates in Arkansas and New Hampshire blame the recent surge of illegal immigration on Democratic support for "amnesty."

And in Maine, Republican Gov. Paul LePage is bashing his Democratic challenger for supporting government welfare for illegal immigrants.

The current immigration crisis is reaching parts of the campaign trail closer to the Canadian border than Mexico's. Republicans cite the arrival of tens of thousands of unaccompanied Central American children in recent months to argue that Democrats are supporting bad immigration policy. A recent Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll found 64% disapprove of the U.S. response to the border crossings.

Democrats, fighting back, say the GOP is playing politics with a humanitarian crisis and seeking to drive up voter turnout in November. Maine's Mr. LePage "has chosen to focus on an extremely divisive issue in an election year to rally his conservative base," said Lizzy Reinholt, a spokeswoman for the governor's Democratic challenger, U.S. Rep. Mike Michaud.

Until recently, immigration had surfaced as an issue only in Republican primaries, and mostly in border states, said Elizabeth Wilner of Kantar Media's Campaign Media Analysis Group, which provides research on political ads.

Two weeks ago, New Hampshire Senate candidate Scott Brown became the first GOP candidate to raise the issue in general-election ads, Ms. Wilner said.

Another GOP Senate candidate, Terri Lynn Land of Michigan, joined in last week, airing grainy images of border crossings and accusing her Democratic rival of "playing Washington politics." And Arkansas Senate candidate Tom Cotton started running a TV spot attacking Democratic Sen. Mark Pryor over immigration. "Chaos and crime. Washington made the mess," declares the ad from Mr. Cotton.

Read the resr of the story HERE.

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