Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), departing Sen. Jim DeMint’s colleague in the state delegation, praised DeMint in a floor speech on Thursday.
According to Graham, DeMint was driven by “trying to keep his country the land of the free and the home of the brave, where people’s hard work is rewarded and not punished.”
Graham occupied a very different position in the Senate than DeMint, often taking on a role as a top negotiator with Democrats while DeMint threatened to scuttle deals he felt were insufficiently conservative. He appeared to allude to this divide in his speech.
“From a personal point of view we’ve had a great ride together,” Graham said. “It has been fun, it’s been challenging, and I think we’ve put South Carolina on the map in different ways at different times.”
He added that DeMint deserved South Carolina’s thanks, because “whether you agree with Sen. DeMint or not, he was doing what he thought was best for South Carolina and the United States.”
