Ex-GOP lawmaker 'seriously considering' run as a Democrat against Lindsey Graham
Joe Walsh, a former far-right Tea Party Rep. from Illinois who recently switched parties, says he's "seriously considering" a run for Lindsey Graham's (R-SC) Senate seat.
Walsh told Politico he registered as a Democrat last week and still considers himself a "conservative."
"I am seriously considering moving to South Carolina and challenging Lindsey Graham next year, because he’s a piece of s---,” Walsh told the outlet. “He’s everything that is wrong about our politics, and he’s the worst, most pathetic Trump enabler.”
Back in 2019, Walsh told CNN, “There are so many Republicans in the House and the Senate who have sold their soul to [Donald Trump]. Lindsey is just one of them."
Walsh also told Politico that "Democrats have to take a new, asymmetrical approach to their Republican opponents and have to 'f------ wake up and begin to do different things.'”
Walsh recently spoke out against Donald Trump's actions in Los Angeles, calling the federalization of the National Guard and calling up of U.S. Marines, a "dishonest farce designed to justify authoritarianism."
"Let’s get something straight from the top: there is no national emergency in Los Angeles. The crisis is invented. Manufactured. Just like the 'trade crisis.' And it’s being used—once again—by Donald Trump to divide, to incite, and to expand his power," Walsh said.
Politico reported that Graham’s last race against Jaime Harrison (D), "was among the most expensive of its cycle, totaling nearly $200 million. Harrison lost to Graham by 10 percentage points." The outlet noted that Graham's seat has been held by Republicans for more than 50 years.
If Walsh decides to run as a Democrat, he would have to primary at least one other Democratic candidate: South Carolina pediatrician Dr. Annie Andrews, who has denounced Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s anti-vaccine rhetoric.
Read the Politico article here.