Graham: I’m suspending my campaign, but never my commitment to achieving security through strength for the American people.
Reuters/DPA/AFP/Washington
US Senator Lindsey Graham, a respected conservative voice on defence and foreign policy issues, has dropped out of the 2016 Republican presidential race after months of barely registering in opinion polls.
Graham struggled to gain traction in a crowded Republican field dominated by front-runner Donald Trump, and he faced the potentially embarrassing prospect of being trounced in the February 20 primary in his home state of South Carolina.
Graham, an early and staunch advocate of using US ground troops against the Islamic State (IS), said his long-shot campaign had made headway in influencing the party’s debate on the conflict.
“I’m suspending my campaign, but never my commitment to achieving security through strength for the American people,” Graham said.
“I got into this race to put forward a plan to win a war that we cannot afford to lose, and to turn back the tide of isolationism that was rising in our party. I believe we’ve made enormous progress in this effort,” he said in a video posted on YouTube.
“I’ve hit a wall,” Graham acknowledged in an interview with CNN, and said it was time to consider “getting out and helping somebody else” in the presidential race.
He noted many of his Republican rivals for the November 2016 election now support placing more ground troops in Syria, and promised to continue his hawkish criticism of President Barack Obama’s strategy in Syria.
“I’m far more confident today that our party will reject the Obama doctrine of leading from behind and will provide the strong leadership America needs to restore our military and take the fight to our enemies,” he said in the video.
Graham, a third-term senator from South Carolina, had repeatedly been relegated to the early “undercard” debate of low-polling Republican candidates.
He registered below 1% in most national polls and in the latest Reuters/Ipsos poll of the Republican field.
His withdrawal, on the day of the deadline for removing his name from the primary ballot in South Carolina, will have little impact on the national Republican race, which still has 13 candidates.
But he could have some influence in the vital South Carolina contest if he makes an endorsement.
He did not immediately back any other candidates, although his Republican presidential rivals raced to praise him.
“Nobody is more clear-eyed about ISIS than my friend,” former Florida governor Jeb Bush said on Twitter, using a common term for describing the Islamic State.
“Republicans lost our most qualified, thoughtful, fearless and honest presidential candidate,” said Graham’s close friend and colleague in the Senate, John McCain of Arizona. “Lindsey stood up to and helped stem the rise within our party of isolationism and obliviousness in world affairs, and indifference to human suffering.”
Graham has continued to serve in the Air Force reserves while in the Senate and served on the armed service committee and the powerful appropriations committee as well as the budget and judiciary committees.
Graham often touted his experience in the Middle East – he says he has made 36 trips to the region – and said the next US president must have a deft understanding of the conflicts there.
He has expressed particular bitterness towards party frontrunner Trump, describing him as a xenophobic bigot for his comments about Muslims and at one point this month saying that American voters should tell the bombastic billionaire to “go to hell”.
“Donald Trump has done the one single thing you cannot do: declare war on Islam itself,” Graham said during last week’s Republican debate.
