Posted on 10/02/2020 3:01:41 AM PDT by RandFan
A third-party candidate in South Carolina’s Senate race is dropping out and endorsing Sen. Lindsey Graham, providing the Republican incumbent with a boost as he faces an unexpectedly strong Democratic challenger.
Bill Bledsoe, who was the Constitution Party’s candidate in the Palmetto State, said Thursday he is dropping out to back Graham, specifically citing the senator’s efforts as chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee to usher President Trump's judicial nominees to federal courts across the country.
“This is the most important election in my lifetime. I appreciate Senator Graham’s work helping President Trump confirm over 200 conservative judges to lifetime appointments on the federal bench,” Bledsoe said in a statement distributed by Graham’s campaign. “President Trump has asked that conservatives stand together and re-elect Lindsey Graham in order to help make America great again, and I agree.
“I will be voting for President Donald Trump and Senator Lindsey Graham on November 3rd, and I urge every freedom-loving South Carolinian to do the same.”
The conservative Constitution Party says its purpose is “to restore American jurisprudence to its Biblical foundations and to limit the federal government to its Constitutional boundaries.”
The endorsement from Bledsoe, a veterinarian from Spartanburg, marks a small victory for Graham, who is fielding a tough challenge from Democrat Jaime Harrison. Harrison is heading into the final sprint to Election Day with a gargantuan campaign account after attracting donors from across the country, and polls show him and Graham running neck and neck.
Bledsoe ran against Sen. Tim Scott (R) in the 2016 South Carolina Senate race for both the Constitution and Libertarian parties, raising eyebrows when he carried around a Revolutionary War-era rifle as he discussed gun restrictions. But while he only garnered 2 percent support in that race, a similar showing could have made the difference in a Senate contest that polls show may be decided at the margins.
Graham, who first won his seat in 2002 and coasted to reelection in 2008 and 2014, is looking to consolidate support from conservatives who may be wary over his early criticism of President Trump’s campaign in 2015 before he turned into one of the White House’s staunchest allies. He’s also at times drawn Republicans’ ire over his willingness to work with Democrats and his stances on immigration.
“I appreciate Dr. Bledsoe’s support. We agree on numerous issues like increasing the number of conservative judges on the bench, reducing the national debt, upholding the sanctity of life, and having a strong military,” Graham said. “Dr. Bledsoe and I both recognize that Democrats like Jaime Harrison pose a threat to these values and our beloved state. Radical liberals, like my opponent Jaime Harrison, are trying to fundamentally change who we are as a country.”
I hope Linda would get primaried out some day. He still has a little McCain in him. Maybe he always had a little McCain in him. Maybe a lot more at times if you know what I mean.
Agreed.
He will probably do better than Ted. That was too close.
Compare that to the behavior of Democrat senators and one will readily see that party discipline for them is real and our guiding principle is to flee the threat from the left at any cost.
Caught in this dilemma, we lash out at feckless rino senators or congressmen but that is a cheap and easy observation, the real dilemma is that we have surrendered all the institutions that create the climate protecting Democrats and undermining conservatives.
That is good, we need to hold every seat!
Here's an interesting oxymoronic Political party name: Freedom Socialist Party. How can you be a socialist and Free at the same time?
Since McCain croaked I have been pleasantly surprised in a good way with Linsey Graham....so much so I actually sent him a contribution.....the stakes are to high...I humbly request any who can afford to to do the same!!!!
With the judges Linda is getting through, I can tolerate him for six more years. That democrat whose running against him is a million times worse.
Remember that he’s running for reelection. They all act conservative until they win. And then it’s back to RINO mode.
The day McCain die Graham started moving to the right... I live in SC and don’t get a crap about his sex life I do care that he has become a strong supporter of the President and his policies.
Good. Very Good. I don’t particularly like Lindsey, but if it’s him or a Dim I’ll take him in a heartbeat, and I always felt the three way race had only won possible outcome - handing the win to the Dim by default. Such outcomes result from our attempts to get a “purer” Conservative, out of idealism more than practicality, more than reality. I don’t believe in letting the Dim’s win for any reason. We will always have some top Conservatives in the GOP. When the GOP looses its majority, the best among them, the ones we like, the ones who do keep their seats, become the losers as well. THEIR chances of moving anything forward are diminished by their party’s loss of a majority.
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