Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), who has never opposed another sitting senator in his decades-long tenure, vowed Sunday to hit the campaign trail to actively oppose sitting Democrats who voted against now-Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh.
The Washington Examiner reports that the suddenly fiery senator from South Carolina has pledged to change how he approaches his colleagues on the left, telling Fox News Sunday that he will appear alongside Republicans in midterm battleground states to help hammer home exactly what’s at stake in the 2018 elections.
“All I can say is this is going to the streets at the ballot box,” Graham said. “I’ve never campaigned against a colleague in my life. That’s about to change. I’m going to go throughout this country and let people in these purple states, red states, where Trump won, know what I thought, know what I think about this process.”
Graham found his voice in the battle over Kavanaugh, taking aim at his Democratic colleagues for first hiding and then pushing through vicious, uncorroborated claims of sexual assault, subjecting Kavanaugh to a two-week nightmare as first the Senate Judiciary Committee and then the FBI probed Dr. Christine Blasey Ford’s allegation that Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her when the pair were teenagers, more than 35 years ago.
Now, Graham is coming for those he deems responsible for destroying a respected institution.
“I hope everyone running for the House in these purple districts will be asked the question, ‘Do you support impeaching Judge Kavanaugh based on five allegations, none of which could be corroborated? Do you want an outcome so badly that you would basically turn the law upside down?'” he said.
That means Graham will likely appear to assist Republicans Kevin Cramer in North Dakota (running against Democrat Sen. Heidi Heitkamp), Josh Hawley (giving Sen. Claire McCaskill a run for her money in Missouri), and Rick Scott in Florida, among others. Republicans are in hard-fought Senate races right now in Indiana, Montana, and elsewhere.
Graham won’t be stopping there, either. He told Fox New Sunday that he supports a “full inquiry” into how Democrats — particularly Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) — handled Dr. Ford’s allegations, and whether there was cooperation behind the scenes to smear a judicial nominee.
For now, though, Graham is celebrating a hard fought victory.
“I am happy that those who try to destroy his life fell short,” he said. “I’m glad that those who try to overturn the rule of law and replace it with mob rule lost. I’ve never been more pissed in my life. This is character assassination. This is wanting power too much. To the extent that I came to the aid of this good man and help defeat this debacle, I am happy as a clam.”