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Overview of the Lindsey Graham presidential campaign of 2015
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| Contributor | Chronicler |
| Last Edited | Chronicler Jul 09, 2022 05:56pm |
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| Category | News |
| Author | Chronicler |
| News Date | Saturday, July 9, 2022 11:50:00 PM UTC0:0 |
| Description | Lindsey Graham was one of 17 Republican contenders for the presidential nomination in 2015-2016. Although he was initially considered a formidable candidate, his campaign never took off, and he withdrew from the race before the Iowa caucus.
Background
At the beginning of 2015, Lindsey Graham was a maverick Republican US Senator from South Carolina. A close ally of John McCain, Graham was at the time a moderate Republican who would work with Democrats on occasion to pass bipartisan legislation. Graham had periodically discussed a presidential run, and after his 2014 re-election he began to discuss his potential race with supporters. In his discussions about a potential presidential run, Graham emphasized national security and foreign affairs, including his strong support for Israel. A Winthrop University poll of 956 South Carolina Republicans showed that Graham was in fourth place in the state with only 8% support; 55% of SC Republicans said they would not vote for Graham (Rock Hill Herald, 4/16/2015).
At the time, Graham was telling the media that he was "98.6% sure" that he would run. He made the case that the Republicans needed to take steps to increase their support with Hispanic voters. Graham said "I would veto any bill that did not have a pathway to citizenship," being the only Republican presidential contender taking that stance (Louisville Courier-Journal, 5/8/2015).
Graham announces
Like many members of Congress, Graham appeared on various television shows periodically. While being interviewed on "CBS This Morning" on May 18, 2015, Graham said that he intended to announce his candidacy on June 1. "I'm running because I think the world is falling apart. I've been more right than wrong on foreign policy" (Lincoln Journal Star, 5/19/2015). In the following two weeks before his official announcement, journalists were primarily interested in two aspects of Graham's character - that he was a bachelor and his use of zingers to make political points. Graham was also particularly interested in taking an aggressive stance against ISIS, which he consistently called "ISIL" (Rock Hill Herald, 5/24/2015).
Graham officially entered the race on June 1, 2015. He held a mass rally in the small town of Central, South Carolina, outside a brick building where his parents had operated a bar and pool hall. A crowd of 1,600 people came to hear him discuss his early years in Central and his platform. "I have more experience with our national security than any other candidate in this race. That includes you, Hillary [Clinton]." Graham ended his speech with a brief account of his domestic agenda, which would include strengthening Social Security and Medicare through some reforms (Anderson [SC] Independent, 6/2/2015).
Graham's campaign
An important early event in Graham's candidacy was an exchange of views with Donald Trump. After Trump's announcement with his statements about immigrants from Mexico and his refusal to recognize John McCain as a war hero, Graham fired back. Graham didn't think that candidates needed to slander people for media attention, and he went on various talk shows to make that point on July 21 and 22. Trump held a rally in Bluffton SC on 7/22, where he called Graham an idiot who "register[ed] zero in the polls." To punish Graham, Trump gave out his personal cell phone number and asked people to call Graham to complain (Charlotte Observer, 7/22/2015). That number, (843) 706-8147, went dead in a few days as Graham got a new number and destroyed his old phone. The exchange of insults, which was not presidential in caliber, failed to raise Graham's poll numbers.
The first Republican primary debate was held in Cleveland on 8/6. Ten candidates met qualification standards to attend the debate, and Graham was one of seven additional contenders relegated to the "undercard" or "JV" debate. The JV debate did not have the same level of viewership as the other debate that day. Newspapers didn't report much of what Graham said (including an interesting zinger about Bernie Sanders), but they were running syndicated news stories about Graham's service in the Air Force Reserve, which was not as laudatory as he had led voters to believe previously (Des Moines Register, 8/7/2015).
A Public Policy Polling survey reported on September 10 showed that South Carolina Republicans had abandoned Graham. Trump led in SC with 37% to 21% for Ben Carson. Graham had the support of 4%, and 80% of SC Republicans said that he should drop out of contention (Greenville News, 9/10/2015). The second Republican primary debate was held at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library on 9/16. Like the first debate, Graham was relegated to the undercard debate (this time with three other contenders). Unlike the first debate, Graham's one-line zingers stood out in the undercard debate, and his performance was highly regarded by pundits (Chicago Tribune, 9/17/2015).
Like so many other Republican contenders in 2015, Graham's campaign was suffocated by Trump. Graham was again relegated to the undercard status in the third debate in Boulder Colorado on 10/28; he still gave the best performance of the four people on the stage in this discussion of economic issues (Des Moines Register, 10/29/2015). Graham was excluded from joining the undercard portion of the fourth debate on 11/10/2015. He was allowed to join the undercard element of the fifth debate on Dec. 15, in which the four undercard contenders allowed Trump's recent anti-Islamic statements to dominate their discussions (Tampa Bay Times, 12/16/2015).
Finally on 12/21/2015, Graham released a video in which he suspended his campaign. That day was the deadline for dropping off the South Carolina primary ballot, and Graham didn't want to experience a poor finish in his home state. Throughout his campaign, his support in national polls never reached 10%. His willingness to tell hard truths to the Republican electorate had not achieved its desired result in the wake of a candidate who was insulting his way to the nomination. Later, Graham endorsed other Republican contenders and ended up supporting Evan McMullin in the general election.
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