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Lindsey Graham: If I Can Sell Immigration Reform In South Carolina, It Will Pass

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC)
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Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) has taken on a lead role in immigration negotiations despite living under the constant threat of a conservative primary in his 2014 re-election race. Which puts him in the odd position of being both the author of legislation and the prime political test case for whether his own party’s base can get behind it.

“There’s a sea change happening in the Republican Party on this and I see it here,” Graham told Bloomberg News in an interview published Thursday. “If I can sell it in South Carolina, don’t come to me and say it’s hard. This is a conservative state, and the way we’re selling it is to fix it.”

Graham has been touring the state in recent weeks pitching a bipartisan immigration plan backed by him and seven senators that includes a path to legal status and citizenship for the nation’s 11 million undocumented immigrants, a guest worker program for future immigrants, a crackdown on employers who hire illegal immigrants, and a slew of new border security measures.

To sell the bill to Republicans, he’s emphasized business support behind the guest worker component, which various industries are counting on to provide them with a reliable source of labor in hard-to-fill jobs, and union opposition to the idea over concerns it will undercut American workers with cheap alternatives. Amid heightened tension between the Chamber of Commerce and labor federation AFL-CIO over the issue, Graham said he was digging in on his support.

“I don’t mind walking away from the bill if it’s a bad bill — I can do that,” Graham told Bloomberg. “I will do it in a heartbeat.”

On Wednesday he held a press conference in Columbia, S.C. with evangelical leaders, who are influential in the state and been strongly supportive of immigration reform at the local and national level alike.

“If you want to run ads, spend all the money you want to spend,” Graham told reporters. “I’m not backing off.”

Graham has some advertising backup of his own. Republicans For Immigration Reform, a super PAC founded to protect politicians like Graham from attacks on their right, has already run ads supporting Graham to counter an anti-immigration campaign in the state by the restrictionist Numbers USA. Evangelical Immigration Table, a coalition of major evangelical organizations, has also run radio ads supporting reform in South Carolina with an eye towards Graham and Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-SC), who is working on the issue in the House.

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