COLUMBIA, S.C. — Saying the presidential race is "by no means over," South Carolina's senior Republican lawmaker suggested that President Donald Trump exhaust every legal avenue before conceding the contest, and if he concedes, run again in four years and "keep his movement alive."
"All I'm asking people to do is run down every credible allegation of misconduct, look at the computer systems, look at the provisional ballots, then we'll make a decision, go to court," said U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, speaking to Brian Kilmeade on Fox News Radio Monday, despite that Kilmeade's own network also declared Joe Biden the president-elect.
"Then we'll make a decision about who won the presidency," Graham added. "I don't know if it will flip the election, but I do know this: It deserves to be looked at and this election is by no means over."
Prominent South Carolina Republicans have come out strong in Trump's defense, arguing for more transparency and calling on election officials in states that include Michigan and Philadelphia to count every "legal vote" to ensure no fraud has occurred.
They include former Gov. Nikki Haley, who is rumored to be a 2024 White House candidate, and Gov. Henry McMaster, who is up for reelection in 2022 in a state Trump won by nearly 11.7 percentage points.
Graham himself said his campaign contributed $500,000 to Trump's legal fund to help pay for challenges. And, on Sunday — days after calling on the Trump campaign to show evidence of fraud it was alleging — Graham wrote a letter to U.S. Attorney Bill Barr, asking the Department of Justice to investigate an affidavit in which an Erie, Pennsylvania, postal worker reported a scheme to backdate ballots.
"It would be insane for President Trump not to look at all this stuff," Graham said.
Republicans are now also focused on winning two Georgia Senate runoffs next year that will help them secure majority in the Senate.
Graham told Kilmeade that he planned to tell Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, of Kentucky, on Monday that should Republicans keep their majority, the Senate should create a joint committee to analyze mail-in ballots used in 2020.
South Carolina's Attorney General Alan Wilson joined other Republican attorney generals on Monday to challenge Pennsylvania's mail-in ballots in court. And separately, South Carolina's U.S. House Republicans said they plan to hold a news conference Tuesday at the State House to announce new legislation that would address "irregularities in federal elections that have occurred in select states" during the 2020 election.
"If South Carolina can deliver an accurate count on election night, there is no excuse for other states to undermine faith in our electoral process," a release said. "Every effort must be made for legal votes to be counted and so any attempt to steal the election is stopped in its tracks and prosecuted."
Former South Carolina GOP chairmen Chad Connelly and Katon Dawson both said Trump deserves a "full and fair" look at any voting issues, whether it be mail-in ballots or poll watchers' access to vote counting.
"I've never seen a movement like this," said Connelly, chairman from 2011 to 2013, who also served as the national director of faith engagement for the Republican Party. "You ought to exhaust all possibilities. In a big sense, it's beyond the bounds of credibility to think the country voted for Republicans (in the U.S. Senate and House, where Democrats still hold their majority, and state legislatures) but against Trump."
Even though it is unlikely Trump could flip back enough states to win the necessary electoral votes — 270 — to win reelection, Dawson, chairman from 2002 to 2009, said Trump can't disappoint the people who put him in office in the first place.
But it also isn't in Trump's style, Dawson said.
"I don't see Donald Trump hanging his head," Dawson said. "If Donald Trump walks up there and says, 'By law, I've got to give up the White House,' packs up his clothes, he can say, 'By law, I can tell you I'll see you in four.' But you need something to rally about."
Trump "holds all the cards," whether he concedes or plays it out, Connelly said.
"No matter if he is in the White House or not, he ain't going anywhere."
