“With Senator Lindsey Graham’s announcement, Republicans lost our most qualified, thoughtful, fearless and honest presidential candidate, not to mention the candidate with the best (and it seemed sometimes the only) sense of humor”, McCain said in a statement after Graham’s announcement, lamenting that the “bifurcated debate structure” kept the SC senator from reaching a wider audience. This has been a problem solvers campaign. Lindsey’s friends and supporters take consolation in the assurance his voice will continue to be prominent in the U.S. Senate, where his message of inclusiveness, optimism, and forward-looking leadership will serve as a needed rebuttal to those who advocate a narrower and pessimistic vision for our party. “However the centerpiece of my campaign has been securing our nation”, Graham said in his farewell video. “I believe we made enormous progress in this effort”.
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“Four months ago at the very first debate, I said that any candidate who did not understand that we need more troops on the ground in Iraq and Syria to defeat ISIL was not ready to be Commander in Chief”, Graham said.
“I got into this race to win a war we can not afford to lose and to turn back the tide of isolationism that was rising in our party”, Graham said in a video.
This is a generational struggle that demands a strategy and the will to win.
God bless our fighting men and women, and God bless America.
Graham is the fourth Republican candidate to quit the presidential race following former Texas governor Rick Perry, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker and Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal.
Graham’s bid for the White House lasted almost six months.
Early in the race, Trump gave out Graham’s cellphone number during a rally in SC. John McCain (R-AZ), who has described the SC senator as being “like a brother to me”.
Saying “this is not my time”, the South Carolina Republican announced his decision Monday in an email from the campaign.
But Graham’s legacy in the race for president might also be his candor: He frequently lamented the direction of his party and the primary campaigns, particularly as Trump and Ted Cruz gathered steam.
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He did so on a day that President Barack Obama, in an interview on National Public Radio, praised him as the one Republican who delivered a “serious” alternative for combatting the Islamic State. Some leading Republicans in SC have remained uncommitted to this point out of loyalty to their senior senator, but now are free to take sides.
