South Carolina Republicans aren’t waiting on Lindsey Graham.
The third-term senator’s polite request to supporters to delay joining other camps while he considers a presidential bid has met with limited success. At best Graham has slowed the rush of operatives and donors to other 2016 contenders. But he has failed to put a temporary freeze on endorsements, as Jim DeMint did four years ago through his loose-knit group of Palmetto State Republican insiders known as the “Keep Your Powder Dry” caucus.
“It’s more slow-motion than a freeze,” South Carolina Republican consultant Lori Raad said. “You have some that are just too close to Lindsey for too long who no one will fault for being with Lindsey as long as he’s in.”
Back in 2011, DeMint, a popular conservative and then a South Carolina senator, convinced many political operatives in the state to hold off on signing with a presidential campaign. DeMint’s plan was to maximize South Carolina’s leverage in picking the eventual GOP nominee. Graham was hoping to encourage a similar waiting period this year, though to benefit his position as a potential favorite son in this crucial early primary state. South Carolina votes third, after Iowa and New Hampshire.
But four months after first signaling his intention to explore a White House bid, few Republican operatives outside of Graham’s inner circle feel compelled to stay on the sidelines out of deference to their state’s senior senator, multiple GOP insiders in South Carolina told the Washington Examiner.
In recent weeks, many Republicans with presidential ambitions have signed South Carolina consultants to their political teams. Operatives also have joined independent super PACs backing various 2016 contenders.
Among them have been influential political professionals who count themselves as strong supporters of Graham’s Senate campaigns. That doesn’t mean Graham hasn’t made inroads or retained some support.
The senator landed the backing of Dr. Edward Floyd, a prominent South Carolina donor with deep ties to the Bush family who had been expected to land with former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush. Former South Carolina House Speaker David Wilkins, who was appointed ambassador to Canada by President George W. Bush, also is supporting Graham. Richard Quinn, Graham’s top consultant and a regular every four years in the operative sweepstakes, is sticking with the senator as well.
“There’s no question I’m committed to Lindsey,” Quinn said Friday when reached by telephone. “I’ve always been in his corner, and I will be this time.”
Four years ago, Quinn advised former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman, whose prospects were kaput by the time South Carolina Republicans voted in their primary. Four years before that he counseled Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., who went on to secure the GOP nomination.
Palmetto State Republicans not attached to Graham, 59, have maintained from the start that they don’t expect the senator to be much of a factor in the voting. But nor is his candidacy being dismissed as the vanity project it was considered earlier on.
Graham has muscled his way into the forefront of the 2016 discussion, helping to set the primary campaign issue agenda on the strength of his foreign policy expertise. The Republican’s strength on the trail has surprised some inside his own party, who initially wondered what he brought to the table besides his ability to make news on Capitol Hill — and his home base. South Carolina hosts the first in the GOP-dominated South.
Graham said in an interview that he’s pleased with the support he’s received at home and insisted he would only move beyond consideration and formally announce for president if he’s convinced he can win the nomination over a deep field of formidable contenders. Graham dismissed suggestions that he was trying to freeze the field, saying any attempt to give him space to maneuver was an organic effort by his loyalists.
“I don’t own South Carolina,” Graham said. “But I’ve got a core of support at home that’s very loyal to me that really does believe that national security is the issue of our time and believe in me.”
“Most people in the state who’ve been with me all these years are sort of excited about somebody from South Carolina having a voice at that level,” he added.
This story originally published at 9:20 p.m. March 20 and has been updated since then.
