Lindsey Graham’s repeat performance

On a Thursday morning in upstate South Carolina, Lindsey Graham is downing a to-go cup of Chick-fil-A coffee before speaking at a private breakfast with pastors. The 70-year-old senator is wearing a Ralph Lauren–esque uniform of khaki pants, a blue blazer, and a blue-and-red striped tie. Staffers ask how he’s doing. “Better now that I have my coffee,” he replies. For the rest of the day, he’ll juggle a campaign luncheon, an interview with me, a news conference, a flight back to Washington, and at least one phone call with the president.

And he wants six more years of this. Graham is running for a fifth term in the U.S. Senate, and he’s already pocketed President Donald Trump’s endorsement. Not only that, he’s become the admin­istration’s advertiser for its military operations in Israel and Iran, a region he’s focused on for more than 20 years.

But his Washington qualifications have led many voters in his home state to believe he’s out of touch. In only two days, I saw eye rolls and heard comments like, “Oh, I can’t stand him,” and, “He’s never met a war he doesn’t love,” from South Carolinians at gas stations to audience members at the state gubernatorial debate. It’s not new. In 2023, a crowd in Pickens booed him during a campaign event with Trump. And then photos leaked of the senator holding a bubble wand at Disney World during a previously scheduled Senate recess, which happened to land during an extended partial government shutdown, chaos at airports, and a month of a war in Iran.

So how does Graham keep getting reelected? In 1994, Graham promised he would only serve for 12 years. He’s now exceeded 30 years in Washington. And since 2002, he’s never even had a close election. But this year, five other GOP candidates are stumping to replace him. Graham is dedicating more time out of Washington to stump in his home state, what he calls his every-six-year job interview. As in years past, he has a trifecta working for him: He’s made himself essential to Republicans in Washington no matter who’s in the White House, he’s charismatic on the campaign trail with voters, and his primary opponents’ strategy to turn the campaign nasty is turning off even the voters who don’t like Graham.

“I think what I have to offer the country and South Carolina is in great demand right now, which is steady, seasoned, informed leadership,” Graham told me in an interview. “I’m hard to bully. I know who I am. I know what I believe. I’m comfortable in my faith, and I will not be deterred.”

It doesn’t hurt that he’s golfing ­buddies with the leader of the free world. After Trump delivered an April 1 address to the nation about the Iran war, he called Graham, who praised the speech as “a home run.”

Graham had a rocky path to Trump’s inner circle. He now jokes about his short-lived 2015 presidential campaign and God’s mysterious workings, along with the restorative powers of golf.

“In my wildest dreams, I never thought we’d be friends. It’s from the Lord, I think. There’s no other explanation I can think of,” Graham told a group of Republican voters at a luncheon hosted by the Fourth District Republican Club, based in Greenville, on April 2.

Graham’s opponents call the progression proof of chameleon tendencies. Project 2025 architect Paul Dans suspended his campaign against Graham in early April, but before then, he frequently reminded voters of the days when Graham called Trump a racist and a dangerous man. Some say they cannot trust him since he voted to confirm liberal Supreme Court justices during the Obama administration. Others say he’s not focused enough on South Carolina.

“You see him in Ukraine with the Democrats, and they’re doing a press conference and that stuff in Ukraine, and we don’t really want to be involved,” Greenville County Republicans chair Jeff Davis told me. “Why does he take the opposite stance of what is really red meat issues here in South Carolina?

Graham pushed back that this is, in fact, his job and his specialty.

“The federal government’s No. 1 job is to provide national security, national defense above all others,” he told me.

Graham claims he can never be bullied, but he doesn’t talk about how many positions he’s flipped on. In 2010, he advocated for creating a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants, which conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh called “Graham-nesty.” Now he supports Trump’s mass deportation efforts. In 2016, he refused to schedule a quick confirmation hearing for a Supreme Court justice close to the presidential election. Then in 2020, he confirmed Justice Amy Coney Barrett only days before Trump lost reelection. One of his few consistent positions is a yearly push for more Defense Department funding.

“I hesitate to call him an actual Republican,” upstate voter Debbie McCauley told me. “It’s about low spending and less government, and he always votes for more spending and more government. If you’re looking for the principles of conservatism, he’s not it.”

The front-runner in the primary field against Graham is far behind him in the polls. Greenville businessman Mark Lynch is known for claiming extreme conspiracy theories about Graham, including but not limited to the baseless rumors that he is homo­sexual or a biological woman. Graham, a lifelong bachelor, often does not ­dignify the attacks with a response.

On the campaign trail, Graham sheds enough of his official persona to appear relatable to South Carolina voters, but retains just enough to be impressive. He quips with voters in a classic Southern drawl and remembers individual attendees. That’s because as much as Graham is on speed dial with world leaders, his district and Washington offices are known for their constituent service.

“He has a record of being for the people,” Upstate Republican Women President Cheryl Cuthrell told me. “I actually just talked to him about a domestic issue, and he told me, ‘Get the information to us, we’ll take care of it.’ He knows us here, he recognizes us, and he does what he can for South Carolina.”

Graham has developed what he calls scar tissue, simply by virtue of having been in politics for so long. But he argues he’s just now reaching his stride: “I trust the voters to understand that I feel that what I have to offer to South Carolina is at its highest peak.”