South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham
says he wants Caitlyn Jenner's vote.
Graham, who last week announced his bid
for the Republican presidential nomination, spoke Sunday to CNN from
the Iowa campaign trail.
Olympian Bruce Jenner came out as a
transgender woman during an April interview with ABC News' Diane
Sawyer. Caitlyn Jenner's debut last week on the cover of Vanity
Fair made her America's most recognizable transgender woman.
When correspondent Dana Bash noted
comments from conservative radio host Steve Deace calling for the
Republican Party to oppose transgender people, Graham chimed in: “If
Caitlyn Jenner wants to be safe and have a prosperous economy, vote
for me.”
“I'm into addition,” he
continued. “I haven't walked in her shoes. I don't have all
the answers to the mysteries of life. I can only imagine the torment
that Bruce Jenner went through. I hope he's – I hope she has found
peace. I'm a pro-life, traditional marriage kind of guy. But I'm
running to be president of the United States. If Caitlyn Jenner
wants to be a Republican, she is welcome in my party.”
In her interview with Sawyer, Jenner
said she was a Republican.
“Yeah. Is that a bad thing? I
believe in the Constitution,” Jenner responded when Sawyer asked if
she was a Republican.