Lindsey Graham endorses Jeb Bush for GOP presidential nomination

While his endorsement could be meaningful in influencing the SC primaries, it won’t matter if, as Bush’s donors hope, he drops out after New Hampshire.

Graham said Trump’s proposed ban on Muslims entering the United States would complicate efforts to gain support from governments in the Middle East. At the debate, Bush had said Trump’s idea was flawed and that a Muslim alliance was vital.

Graham’s backing comes as the establishment wing of the party is desperately working to blunt the momentum of Donald Trump and Ted Cruz, the runaway leaders in the current field. Tim Scott, and U.S. Rep. Trey Gowdy.

Graham will endorse his former rival on Friday.

As a longtime USA senator, Lindsey Graham has had a chance to work closely with some of the Republican Party’s leading 2016 presidential candidates.

Graham said earlier this month that he wants to support a candidate who would criticize them for that – something Bush has done.

Graham’s camp said the state’s senior senator is supporting Bush because he “is prepared to be commander-in-chief on Day One”, according to The Charleston Post and Courier, which first reported the news. “I am not here to talk about Rubio’s commitment to immigration reform”, the South Carolinian said.

One Bush adviser in SC, who asked for anonymity to speak frankly about campaign strategy, said that the influx of Graham support in recent weeks has been a “huge help” across the Palmetto State.

“We’ll add 20,000 border agents, finish all 700 miles of border wall, and if we aren’t 100 percent sure who you are and why you’re coming to America, you’re not getting in”, Rubio says in the spot. And while Bush was already the runaway leader of the endorsement primary, that hasn’t stopped him from becoming an afterthought among GOP primary voters.

“Last night (in the Republican debate) he said, ‘I will have your backs.’ I believe he will. Last night he explained in the best possible terms why we need partners to win a war we can’t afford to lose”. He praised Bush, saying the former Florida governor has the right “temperament” to be president. “I blame Obama for ISIL, not Bush”, Graham yelled.