Lindsey Graham on Re-Election: 'I'll Have to Earn It'

Sen. Lindsey Graham spent much of Monday in Columbia at two events touching on preeminent constituent concerns: the Economy and Security.

But as he begins his 2014 campaign, another concern for a certain segment of the state is Graham’s re-election.

Since becoming a Senator in 2002 Graham has been oft criticized by those to his right. But 2014 will be the first time Graham will have to run against a candidate supported by the Tea Party. Traditionally the Tea Party has struggled to cohere behind one candidate, but activists have signaled they’ll try to avoid that in the fight against Graham.

“I’ll have to earn my job and I think I’ve got a good story to tell about being strong on the military and finding solutions to hard problems like immigration reform and the Port of Charleston,” Graham said. “I expect to be challenged but I’ll mount a challenge of my own.”

Graham’s first stop in Columbia was at the Convention Center where an overflow crowd of veterans from across the state gathered to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the end of the Korean War.

In his remarks, which were met with a standing ovation at their conclusion, Graham drew comparisons of the Korean War to the present war on terror. The Korean War has never technically ended and some critics of the war on terror wonder if the end of that fight will ever come.

“The war against radical Islam is a generational struggle. We need to help those who would live in peace with us,” Graham said in a session with the media. Graham added that continued education and efforts to bring equal rights to women will only help to limit the expansion of radical groups and, therefore, terrorism. He argued that only the United States is poised to exert that kind of influence.

Graham, who just returned from the Middle East, said he is not encouraged by the change of power in Iran and pointed to the prime minister of Israel’s continued concerns that the Iranians will procure a nuclear weapon, which would tip the balance of power in the Middle East.

After departing the Convention Center, Graham dodged another Columbia rainstorm while en route to a meeting the Columbia Rotary Club.

There, Graham talked about the economy, specifically how it will be affected by the Affordable Care Act. 

“More people are getting part-time jobs because businesses are reducing full-time jobs because of Obamacare,” Graham said.

According to Graham, the lesson of Obamacare, which he also called Part-Time Unemployment Act, is that big issues like health care reform can’t be solved in a partisan fashion.

One of those big issues is immigration reform, which Graham was instrumental in passing in the Senate, though it faces a longer and rougher road in the House.

“I have been working on immigration reform for a long time,” Graham said. “Baby boomers are going to be retiring so we need a new legal immigration system. The bill we passed repairs the border and doubles the size of the security force.”

But Graham is just as focused on the economic impacts of immigration reform as the security ones.

“The worst nightmare for an American worker is to compete against an illegal immigrant being paid under the table,” he said. “South Carolina’s economy is based on tourism, agriculture and hi-tech. If there are any three elements of the economy that need immigration reform it’s those three.”

Finally, Graham addressed the ongoing controversy involving Edward Snowden, the former NSA contractor who leaked information about domestic spying to the media. While some are torn as to whether Snowden is a hero or a villain, Graham is not.

“Edward Snowden is not a hero. He put our country in danger. The program to monitor communications of radical Islam is necessary. I’m all for it. We’re balancing civil liberties against a radical Islamic threat … Edward Snowden is a traitor.”