It’s starting to look like it’s easier to list which senators aren’t running for president in 2016 than those who are. South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham is the latest to join the race for the 2016 Republican Presidential nomination.
Graham made the announcement today in his hometown of Central, South Carolina, where he was met with a cheering crowd. As a senator for over a decade, Graham, 59, hopes to position himself as a qualified candidate who has been a big supporter of defense programs and a noted GOP hawk. He brought up that language again in his speech today, which came amid the Senate’s battle over provisions in the Patriot Act.
“I want to be president to defeat the enemies trying to kill us, not just penalize them or criticize them or contain them, but defeat them,” Graham told the crowd today, reports ABC News. “We will never enjoy peaceful co-existence with Radical Islam because its followers are committed to destroying us and our way of life.”
Graham’s national political career began in the House of Representatives and he was elected to the Senate in 2002. He was reelected last year, even though Tea Party challengers tried to unseat him. He is also a former Air Force lawyer and judge and has visited Iraq and Afghanistan. His long record on foreign policy should help him stand out, compared to Senators Marco Rubio, Rand Paul and Ted Cruz, who are all running for President as well.
However, as the New York Times points out, Graham’s work on domestic policies has often been criticized by the right. He worked on the bipartisan legislation on immigration in 2013, but the plan didn’t work.
Although Graham is still a longshot in the ever-growing pool of Republican candidates, he could get off to a good start if he wins his home state’s primary, which is one of the first in the election cycle.
screenshot from CBS News YouTube video
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