The Border Crackdown Poised To Be Pivotal For Republicans In 2026 Senate Races

With the southern border being effectively shut down under the Trump administration and likely to become a pivotal factor for the Republicans’ campaign messaging in 2026, Senate Majority Leader John Thune appeared on Friday alongside a handful of incumbent GOP leaders at the border wall in McAllen, Texas.

“On the border today with colleagues, including [Cornyn] and future colleagues [Whatley] and [Rogers],” Thune posted to X. “Happy to report that thanks to new leadership in Washington and strong policies like the Working Families Tax Cuts, the southern border is safe and secure.”

Immigration and the border were considered a top issue for voters in the 2024 election, according to a Navigator Research report, and will likely remain so in 2026.

Thune brought along North Carolina Republican Senate candidate Michael Whatley, and Mike Rogers, who’s running in Michigan. Rogers and Whatley are both considered frontrunners for the Republican nomination in their states. Currently, the Cook Political Report rates both races a “toss-up.”

“This is the front line for law enforcement right here in the country,” Rogers said Friday. “This is the group that will stop the one rapist who rape a young lady jogging on a trail and leaving her body in a cruel and inhumane way on the trail. That stops here, on this border.”

Sen. John Cornyn was also in attendance as he faces a tight primary challenge against Attorney General Ken Paxton and Rep. Wesley Hunt. The upcoming Republican primaries could play a larger role in how the border clean-up is touted compared to the general elections.

The Friday visit led to a scuffle between Cornyn’s campaign and Hunt on Friday on X. Hunt posted, “Word on the street is John Cornyn will be visiting the border on Friday for a photo-op. What’s he going to do, look at the wall he opposed?”

The Texas senator’s campaign responded with a lengthy post saying that Cornyn “led the effort to secure $13B+ for federal reimbursement for state border efforts,” “voted for HUNDREDS of billions of dollars for the border wall over years” and “led many border delegations and been to the border dozens and dozens of times.”

Whoever wins the primary will face off against either Rep. Jasmine Crockett or state Rep. James Talarico in the border state contest.

As ICE continues its deportation efforts nationwide, apprehensions at the border have come to a near-total halt, with only 221 apprehensions on Thursday, according to data reported by Fox News. The numbers draw a sharp contrast from the height of the Biden-era border crisis, where there were sometimes daily apprehensions in the thousands.

In Congress, there were major pieces of border and immigration-related legislation that ended up being signed by President Donald Trump last year, including the Laken Riley Act and the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act.” The OBBA included billions in border security funding in addition to $13.5 billion for reimbursements to go toward states that had to pay for border crisis mitigation.