Graham’s Black candidate remark at the debate went viral. What he said to SC voters
A 10-second video of U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham from Friday’s candidate forum saying African Americans can go anywhere in the state but they need to be conservative went viral, causing backlash and accusations of racism to fly against the Republican.
But a fuller context of what Graham said reveals he was talking about what political leanings a candidate needs to be successful in a statewide election, his campaign said.
A viral clip of the statement had been viewed on Twitter 6.3 million times by Monday and retweeted or quote-tweeted more than 31,000 times.
“I care about everybody. If you’re a young African American, an immigrant, you can go anywhere in the state, you just need to be conservative not liberal,” Graham says in the clip, condemned as racist on social media.
“Hey Lindsey, I’m a young Black man and I’ll go wherever I want in my state,” Democratic state lawmaker JA Moore tweeted.
But Graham’s comment was toward the end of a two-minute response to a question about civil unrest in the country and whether Graham has met with members of the Black Lives Matter movement.
“Do I believe our cops are systemically racist? No. Do I believe that South Carolina is a racist state? No,” Graham said. “To young people out there of color, to young immigrants, this is a great state. The one thing I can say without any doubt. You could be an African American and go to the Senate, you just have to share the values of our state.”
Graham made the comment during a candidate forum that also featured Senate Democratic Senate candidate Jaime Harrison in a separate half-hour segment.
During Graham’s response, he pointed to South Carolina’s junior U.S. Sen. Tim Scott, the chamber’s only Black Republican, and former Republican Gov. Nikki Haley who is the daughter of Indian immigrants. Both entered politics in South Carolina and have since become high profile political figures in the country.
“In South Carolina, folks, it’s not about the color of your skin or where you came from. It’s about your ideas,” Graham said echoing comments he made the week before during a debate with Harrison at Allen University.
“The reason I’m going to win this race, is because my ideas, my conservative philosophy, my willingness to reach across the aisle, fits our state,” Graham said speaking about the conservative tilt in South Carolina. “I’m in line with Tim Scott and Nikki Haley. My opponent is going to lose not because of race but because he’s aligned with the most liberal people in the country.”
Graham added he supports reforming the police and he supported the First Step Act, which President Donald Trump signed in 2018. The law aimed to curb recidivism, and reduce long prison terms for inmates with low-level non-violent drug offenders minor criminal histories.
“There are a lot of people getting out of jail who were sentenced to long terms in jail for nonviolent offenses and they can go back to their families. They can get a job. Thirty one percent of our state is African American, I’m asking to every African American out there, look at my record,” Graham said.
Graham also went on to say he supports continued funding historically Black colleges and universities.
This story was originally published October 12, 2020 at 4:02 PM with the headline "Graham’s Black candidate remark at the debate went viral. What he said to SC voters."
