Biden’s Own Ambassador Wanted to Challenge Him Over Border Disaster

Clear Facts

• Ken Salazar, Biden’s ambassador to Mexico, seriously considered running against his former boss in 2024 after the disastrous debate performance
• Salazar begged the administration to call the border situation a “crisis” and appoint a border czar — both requests were ignored or mishandled
• The former ambassador blasted Kamala Harris as “ineffective” on border issues despite sitting “next door to the Oval Office for almost four years”

Ken Salazar, who served as U.S. ambassador to Mexico under President Joe Biden, has revealed he seriously considered mounting a primary challenge against his former boss over the administration’s catastrophic handling of the border crisis.

“I should run for president,” Salazar told himself after Biden’s devastating July 2024 debate performance, according to excerpts from his new book obtained by Politico.

The revelations paint a damning picture of an administration that refused to acknowledge reality at the southern border. Salazar claims he repeatedly urged Biden to publicly call the situation a crisis and appoint a dedicated border czar — advice that fell on deaf ears.

“There was political failure to understand the reality of the crisis at the border, and the political consequence it would have on Democrats in the 2024 election,” Salazar wrote.

Behind closed doors, administration officials used the word “crisis” constantly, Salazar revealed. But the White House publicly refused to acknowledge the severity of the situation, even as illegal crossings reached record levels.

When Salazar advised then-Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to use the term “crisis,” Mayorkas reportedly responded with political concerns rather than substantive action.

“Ken, I have a lot on my plate already. I’m about to be impeached for all this border stuff. The Republicans have it out for me,” Mayorkas told him.

Salazar went so far as to recruit a campaign team and draft a presidential platform, though he never formally declared his candidacy. He had planned to enter the race when Biden dropped out, but the Democratic Party opted to install Vice President Kamala Harris without holding open primaries — a decision Salazar called “a mistake.”

His harshest criticism was reserved for Harris, who was tasked with addressing the root causes of migration. Despite her proximity to power, Harris proved utterly ineffective, according to the former ambassador.

“But sadly, her designation in this position was having no effect on migration flows,” he wrote.

“[Harris] had been placed in charge of getting at the ‘root causes’ of migration, but many felt she had been ineffective.”

“For whatever reason, she had been unable to help with the border and migration crisis, even though she’d sat next door to the Oval Office for almost four years.”

Salazar, Colorado’s first Hispanic senator and a lawyer of Mexican descent, acknowledged that Biden’s eventual decision to effectively shut down the border in 2024 came far too late to save Democrats politically.

“This should have been a moment of vindication — after all, American voters were demanding action on the border — but it was too late, and images of an out-of-control border would dominate the closing months of the presidential election,” he wrote.

In his book, titled “Borderlands: My Fight For An Inclusive America,” Salazar reveals he’s now shopping his “borderlands platform” to potential 2028 Democratic presidential candidates. He has already met with Arizona Senators Mark Kelly and Ruben Gallego, both Democrats, and plans to meet with Illinois Democratic Governor JB Pritzker.

The admission from a high-ranking Biden administration official confirms what conservatives have argued throughout Biden’s presidency: the border crisis was deliberate policy failure, not an unforeseen circumstance. The administration knew it was a crisis, refused to call it one, and paid the political price in November 2024.

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