Graham’s embrace of Iran war faces primary test in South Carolina

▪ Iran war on the ballot in South Carolina

▪ Mormon backlash forces Pentagon update

▪ Trump formally nominates Blanche for AG

▪ First family and Albania’s ‘Flamingo Revolution’

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The Iran war is on the ballot in South Carolina, where GOP primary voters will determine the political fate of Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), a steadfast ally of President Trump and one of the Senate’s most hawkish members.

Graham is heavily favored to eventually secure the Republican nomination, but polls show he may need to win a runoff first, in what would be a first for the four-term senator.

The most serious challenger Graham faces is attacking him from the right, hoping to tap into the growing anti-Iran war sentiment in the MAGA base and the frustration from the economic fallout from the war.

Mark Lynch, an appliance repair executive, accuses Graham of being insufficiently “America First” by supporting “foreign aid packages, interventionist policies, and visa programs that prioritize global interests over American workers and taxpayers,” in his campaign platform. 

The incumbent senator needs to meet a 50-percent threshold to avoid a runoff on June 23.

An InsiderAdvantage poll of GOP primary voters released Monday showed Graham getting 51.2 percent of the vote and Lynch getting 20.9 percent of the vote, with 18.4 percent still undecided and 9.5 percent selecting another candidate.

Another poll released last week, conducted by the Citadel School of Humanities and Social Sciences, showed Graham with 46 percent of the GOP primary vote, Lynch with 36 percent and 18 percent still undecided.

Graham won his last primary in 2020 with almost 68 percent of the vote.

Trump mentioned the war during a tele-rally he held for Graham on Monday evening, saying the U.S. would win “over the next two weeks, when we declare total victory.”

“Lindsey has been fighting with me all the way,” Trump said.

Graham’s advocacy for the war has even extended to telling South Carolinians to prepare to send their sons and daughters to the Middle East.

In a recent interview, Graham pointed to inflation and fuel prices as the top issues constituents mention on the campaign trail, but he did not back down from his view that the U.S. intervention in Iran was still necessary, regardless of the consequences.

“The only answer I know to give you is an honest one. They’ll come down when this war winds down, and we’re inside the 10-yard line,” Graham said in an interview with WYFF News 4.

“But President Trump had to do this in my view,” he continued. “Whatever cost we paid — and it’s been consequential — it’s better than allowing Iran to get nuclear weapons to destroy Israel, and one day come after us. The biggest change in the world for the worse would be if the regime in Iran had nuclear capability.”

The primary follows a volatile weekend in the Middle East, as Iran and Israel exchanged fire for the first time since a ceasefire went into effect in early April. Both sides said their attacks had stopped for now, but the firing added more cracks to an already fragile ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran.

Even as Trump has expressed optimism about being close to a deal, the war has no end in sight after it passed the 100-day mark over the weekend, The Hill’s Julia Manchester reports. That has put greater political pressure on the president and his GOP allies as the conflict grows more unpopular.

OTHER RACES TO WATCH: Trump’s influence will be further tested in South Carolina’s race for governor, where the president threw his weight behind Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette (R) over other high-profile Republicans, including South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson and South Carolina Reps. Ralph Norman and Nancy Mace.

Evette is leading the pack of candidates, but an outright victory — as opposed to merely advancing to a runoff — would be a significant boon to the president.

Maine Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner is the clear front-runner in his primary, also set for Tuesday, but he’s been embroiled in controversy that has political observers watching closely for signs of trouble ahead of the general election. Gov. Janet Mills, his top competitor, remains on the........

© The Hill