Of course the border deal rollout devolved into a mess

Former President Trump thrives in chaos so it’s no surprise his allies are blowing their best chance to enact a mostly anti-immigrant border package.

Sen. Chris Murphy, the Democrats’ top negotiator on the border security talks, speaks with reporters at the Capitol on Jan. 25, 2024. Photo by J. Scott Applewhite/AP

👋🏾 Hi, hey, hello! I’m Michael Jones and this is Once Upon a Hill, your guide to the ins and outs of congressional politics.

Today should have been Trayvon Martin’s 29th birthday. I think about Trayvon’s parents often—Tracy Martin and Sybrina Fulton, whom I had the opportunity to meet about a decade ago—and all the people who loved him. Our Black boys deserve to grow old. I’m sorry Trayvon was robbed of his opportunity.

In tonight’s edition, fresh reporting and useful context on what’s next with the Senate border deal that took negotiators months to craft and critics minutes to crush. Plus, abortion.

But first…

Nevada up next in first-in-the-west primary

The Nevada Democratic presidential primary is tomorrow and will provide the Biden campaign with a window into the president’s support among Hispanic and Latino voters, who, as the largest racial or ethnic minority, represent 19.1 percent of the US population and make up almost 30 percent of the state’s.

Nevada is a key swing state in 2024 for Congress and the presidency. Biden won the state in 2020 after former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and former President Barack Obama did so in the previous three elections dating back to 2008. Two of three Democrats in the state’s congressional delegation—Rep. Steven Horsford and Susie Lee—are members of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee’s frontline program for vulnerable incumbents running for reelection in a competitive district. Democratic Sen. Jacky Rosen is up for reelection this year as Democrats look to hold their majority against a tough map. (Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto held her seat in 2022 as Democrats expanded their majority by one.) 

President Biden spent today and Sunday in Nevada campaigning in the state. Vice President Kamala Harris hosted a get-out-the-vote event in Las Vegas in late January on the first day of early voting. (She had an official event on the same day to promote the administration’s investments in small businesses.) And she also met with hospitality union workers during a separate stop last month to celebrate their new contracts, which include historic pay raises and workplace safety improvements.

Biden heads into the first-in-the-west Nevada primary coming off a landslide in the first-in-the-nation South Carolina contest where he won 96.2 percent of the vote and received no less than 90 percent of the vote in every county. Biden won an unsanctioned primary on January 23 as a write-in candidate with over 63.8 percent of the vote.

Now back inside my notebook on the Senate border deal and the GOP’s abortion messaging about-face…

While the cool kids were watching the Grammys last night, I was poring through the 370-page, $118 billion emergency national security package that combines aid to Ukraine and Israel with restrictive border security measures that would amount to the first serious changes to immigration law in decades.

Before we get to the key details of the bill and what’s next in the legislative process, it’s worth briefly revisiting how we got here.