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Republicans’ congressional campaign arm is targeting Vice President Kamala Harris in an ad that appears to recognize Democrats’ rising tension over President Biden staying on that party’s ticket.

Why it matters: While questioning Biden’s fitness for office, Republicans are casting Harris as Biden’s heir apparent — and his “enabler-in-chief” on border policy.

• The new digital ad takes a shot at Biden, featuring images of him falling down and looking confused, but Harris is the focus.

Zoom in: The ad calls her Biden’s “border czar” — an exaggeration, since her role in the Biden administration border policy mostly has been to examine the root causes of migration from Central and South America.

• It features Harris saying “there is no border crisis” along with a caption that asks, “Is this who we want to be president?”

The National Republican Congressional Committee has repeatedly accused vulnerable Democrats of misleading voters about Biden’s cognitive abilities as he seeks a second term.

• As speculation increases about Biden’s future on the Democratic ticket, targeting those it says have helped to hide the 81-year-old’s health status has become a key part of the GOP’s campaign strategy.
• “House Republicans are sharpening our knives if extreme House Democrats dump Joe Biden — or we will remind voters Kamala is next in line if they don’t,” NRCC National Press Secretary Will Reinert said in a statement.

The big picture: The GOP is feeling increasingly bullish about former President Trump’s odds of taking back the White House, and about a trickle-down effect on down-ballot races.

• Recent polling has shown an uptick in Americans who think Biden isn’t mentally fit for the role.
• But a new CNN poll shows Harris within 2 points of Trump in a head-to-head matchup, stronger than Biden’s numbers against the former president.
• That poll painted a more nuanced picture of Harris’s popularity than Republicans have sought to portray: Her favorability ratings are lower than Biden’s but so are her unfavorables — indicating more voters are undecided about Harris.

What they’re saying: “Republicans are fooling themselves if they think the American public will blame anyone besides Donald Trump and his feckless band of Republican extremists and phony moderates who killed a bipartisan border deal — all in an attempt to score cheap political points” said Courtney Rice, spokesperson for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

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