By Bob Allen
A third Southern Baptist entered the 2016 presidential race when Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) threw his hat into the ring June 1.
Graham, who announced his candidacy at a rally in his hometown of Central, S.C., joins fellow Southern Baptists Ted Cruz and Mike Huckabee in an increasingly crowded field for the GOP nomination.
Graham’s pastor, Tim Tate of Corinth Baptist Church in Seneca, S.C., opened the rally with prayer.
“It is an honor, to personally know that today we are going to hear a great announcement from a man who loves this country,” said Tate, a native of Easley, S.C., who became pastor of Corinth Baptist Church in 2011.
“Father, we pray that you would have your hand upon him and his endeavors, while we pray that you would have your hand upon our nation and that you would be glorified because of this event today and because of the weeks and days and months and years ahead,” Tate said.
Graham is the ninth Republican to formally announce his candidacy for the nomination in 2016 and the third Southern Baptist. Cruz, a U.S. Senator from Texas, is a preacher’s son and member of First Baptist Church in Houston. Huckabee, former Arkansas governor and Fox News personality who ran for president in 2008, was a pastor and one-time president of the Arkansas Baptist State Convention before entering politics in the early 1990s.
In 2008 Graham accepted an invitation to speak at the New Baptist Covenant Celebration in Atlanta but withdrew shortly before the event, saying he needed to devote time to campaigning for Sen. John McCain leading into the Super Tuesday primaries in the election that year.