Graham Quits Presidential Race

Senator Lindsey Graham on Monday announced the suspension of his 2016 presidential campaign just a day before the race comes to a brief halt for the holidays and 6 weeks before the New Hampshire primary.

“I’m going to suspend my campaign. I’m not going to suspend my desire to help the country,” Graham told CNN Monday morning. “I’ve hit a wall here.”

The Republican presidential hopeful had hoped that the terror attacks in Paris and San Bernardino would give him the boost needed to gain traction in the crowded field of candidates. “There’s the election before Paris and there’s the election after Paris,” Graham told Jewish Insider last month. “I think my chances of rising have gone up dramatically because foreign policy and national security are more important, not less,”

But the momentum he had expected never arrived. Graham continued to poll around 1 percent nationally and failed to get onto the main stage in the last 5 TV debates.

Despite his exit, Graham said he will remain vocal on national security, the U.S. war on terror and foreign policy issues. “We’ve fallen short here, but the fight continues,” he said. “To those who are doing the fighting, I want to be your voice. To those in the Republican Party who want to win, check my plan out.

Graham added, “”Here’s what I predict. I think the nominee of our party is going to adopt my plan when it comes time to articulate how to destroy ISIL. Hillary, if you get to be President, I’ll help you where I can. I hope you’re not. But if you are, I’ll be there to help you win a war we can’t afford to lose.”

During his interview with Jewish Insider, Graham expressed his gratitude for the support he has gotten from the pro-Israel and Jewish communities. “The pro-Israel community has been a godsend of Lindsey Graham because of my unwavering support for the State of Israel,” the South Carolina Senator said. “I’ll never forget this. It means the world to me that the American pro-Israel community, Evangelical Christians, and Jewish-Americans have been supportive of me. I’ll never, ever forget that. I’m very appreciative of that.”