South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham has confirmed that he has joined the Republican Party race for nomination as the GOP’s presidential candidate in next year’s elections.
Graham, who is an ally of major Republican donor and land gambling billionaire Sheldon Adelson, is better known in the industry as one of the politicians spearheading Adelson’s campaign to secure a federal ban on internet gambling via the proposed Restoration of America’s Wire Act .
Last week former New York governor George Patakis – another Adelson ally and co-chair of his Coalition to Stop Internet Gambling action group – announced his run for the Republican presidential candidacy.
Speaking in his home town Monday, Graham said: “I’m ready. I want to be president to defeat the enemies that are trying to kill us.”
The Senator is regarded as one of the more hawkish politicians in Congress and would like to see more US forces on the ground in Iraq to stop that country “falling apart” under the ISIS threat. He has, however, backed the 2012 immigration law overhaul, and in 2013 voted with Democrats to end a partial government shutdown.