Moskowitz uses taxpayer-funded mailer to distance himself from unpopular Biden border policies

U.S. Rep. Jared Moskowitz is using a taxpayer-funded mailer to offer criticism of the Biden administration’s unpopular border politics and selling himself as someone who is working on “securing our border.” The mailer looks as if it could have come from a Republican — which is notable since Moskowitz, like President Joe Biden, is a Democrat.

It seems like typical campaign advertising. The mailer describes an elected official as “securing our border” and as someone who has “voted to disapprove” of the Biden administration’s border policies, which are widely unpopular with the public.

It is, however, somewhat unusual.

The mailer looks as if it could have come from a Republican — which is notable, since it was sent out by U.S. Rep. Jared Moskowitz who, like President Joe Biden, is a Democrat.

It also was sent as “official business,” with the cost covered by the taxpayers.

In it, the Broward-Palm Beach County congressman says he has “worked across the aisle and supported policies to stop the flow of illegal immigration.”

And he echoes a frequent Republican refrain on deaths from fentanyl overdoses. “Securing the border is a critical part of preventing these tragedies.”

Sean Foreman, a political scientist at Barry University, said, “The language in it and the imagery in it is not unusual. What’s unusual is the way the information is presented, it appears to be coming from a Republican rather than a Democrat.”

High-octane issue

It’s not hard to understand why Moskowitz might want to distance himself from Biden on the border. It’s become a top concern among voters.

(The mailer refers to “the administration’s border policies,” but doesn’t call out the president by name.)

A Florida Atlantic University poll in April found 25% of the state’s voters cited immigration as the most important issue for them in the upcoming election. It was the top issue, slightly ahead of the economy and well ahead of everything else.

It’s a far lower concern for Democrats and much greater for Republicans — and by far the top issue for independent voters, 29% of whom ranked it as the most important.

Election year

Moskowitz is in his first term in Congress after holding multiple elected and appointed jobs in Broward and Tallahassee. Six Republicans are seeking their party’s nomination to challenge him in November.

Though his 2022 victory was narrow — Moskowitz received 51.6% of the vote in 2022, 4.8 percentage points higher than his Republican opponent — he isn’t seen as vulnerable.

The 23rd Congressional District — which takes in northern Broward, and much of the coast extending south through most of Fort Lauderdale, plus part of southern Palm Beach County — is rated “solidly” Democratic by Inside Elections, “safe” Democratic by the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia, and “likely” Democratic by the Cook Political Report.

So why did Moskowitz send out the glossy mailer — large enough at 9 inches by 12 inches that it has to be folded to get into many mailboxes?

“What’s the motivation, I don’t know. He doesn’t have a Democratic primary. And his district isn’t overly competitive,” Foreman said. “He’s just not a vulnerable incumbent and not vulnerable on this issue.”

Foreman said it may be “more about defining what kind of a Democrat he is than trying to win his next election.”

Since Moskowitz arrived in Washington January 2023, he has positioned himself as a centrist, willing to work with Republicans. One result: He has the lowest rating of any Florida Democrat in scores from the organization “Progressive Punch,” and was the only state Democrat who got an “F” from the group.

His position

In response to questions about the mailer, a Moskowitz spokesperson said in a statement the congressman’s views on the issue aren’t new. “Back in January, the Congressman supported a resolution disapproving of the Administration’s handling of the border.”

“The Congressman will always look past party labels and do what he thinks is right. Voters across all party lines are deeply concerned about the amount of fentanyl flowing into our country at the border and our ability to contain what has become an unsustainable amount of illegal immigration.”

The statement pointed to efforts by “the administration along with conservative Republicans in the Senate” that came up with “the strongest bipartisan immigration reforms in history” that former President Donald Trump “killed so he could use the border as an election issue.”

Moskowitz isn’t the only House Democrat critical of Biden on the issue.

The January resolution passed 225-187, with “yes” votes from 211 Republicans and 14 Democrats (including Moskowitz).

It had zero “no” votes from Republicans and 187 “no” votes from Democrats. The official description was, “Denouncing the Biden administration’s open-borders policies, condemning the national security and public safety crisis along the southwest border, and urging President Biden to end his administration’s open-borders policies.”

On Tuesday, 15 moderate Democrats, not including Moskowitz, wrote to Biden urging him to “immediately take further action to restore order at the Southern border and fix our broken immigration system.” Axios and Politico reported Wednesday that the administration was preparing changes in the asylum system.

The Moskowitz spokesperson didn’t respond to questions about how many mailers were sent and what group of constituents received them.

Use of official government mailers by members of Congress for what looks to many people like campaign advertising isn’t anything new. Representatives of both parties have been doing it for decades.

‘Score political points’

Though Moskowitz is a lifelong Democrat, some in the party’s left wing have been suspicious of him, especially since he served as Gov. Ron DeSantis’s director of emergency management during the first part of the Republican governor’s administration.

Carolina Ampudia, president of the Broward chapter of the Democratic Progressive Caucus of Florida, was critical of Moskowitz’s border message.

“Jared Moskowitz is fanning the flames, using wrong Republican talking points. And what this causes is more of the xenophobia that we continue to see. Rhetoric can be used and has been used to (advance) legislation that harms immigrant communities, and the most vulnerable in our community,” she said.

“It’s to score political points, trying to get more support,” she said.

Joe Thelusca, one of the Republicans running in the Aug. 20 primary for the nomination to challenge Moskowitz, said the incumbent is trying to get away from what he sees as a losing issue for Democrats.

“This is political theater,” Thelusca said. “He should not be trusted when it comes to immigration and securing our borders. … He knows the Democrats are losing the battle on immigration and the border because they haven’t done anything. They’ve failed the country.”

Thelusca said the public is concerned. “When I talk to my voters, it’s very high on their radar.”

Anthony Man can be reached at aman@sunsentinel.com and can be found @browardpolitics on Bluesky, Threads, Facebook and Post.news.