June 01, 2015
U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, a defense hawk, entered the race for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination on Monday, putting criticism of President Barack Obama's foreign policy at the forefront of his White House bid.
"Those who believe we can disengage from the world at large and be safe by leading from behind, vote for someone else. I am not your man," he said at an event in his home town of Central, South Carolina to announce his candidacy.
Graham, 59, is the ninth Republican to declare he is running
for the White House in a field that includes better-known Republicans such as U.S. Senators Ted Cruz of Texas and Marco Rubio of Florida.
Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush and others are also likely to join the battle in the coming weeks.
A fierce critic of Obama's nuclear negotiations with Iran, Graham was one of 47 Republican senators who signed a letter of warning in March to the leadership in Tehran, a highly unusual intervention into U.S. foreign policymaking.
Graham said the United States needs to step up the fight against Islamist extremism abroad to prevent militants attacking America as they did on Sept. 11, 2001.
