Top GOP donors sign on for Lindsey Graham lunch The senator, exploring a run for president, gets encouragement from Sheldon Adelson and others.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) is getting some 2016 encouragement from several of the GOP’s top donors, with Sheldon Adelson signing up as a co-chair for a March 3 fundraiser for the senator’s testing-the-waters political committee, Security Through Strength.

Graham’s “luncheon and policy discussion” at the Capitol Hill club will be held right after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s address to a joint meeting of Congress. Donors are invited to watch together, before being joined by Graham.


In addition to Adelson, other prominent donors among the 33 co-chairs include Oracle co-CEO Safra Catz, hedge fund manager Seth Klarman, real estate developer David Flaum and homebuilding magnate Larry Mizel. The invitation asks for a donation of $2,700 to be a co-chair and $1,000 to attend.

The discussion will be moderated by Matt Brooks, executive director of the Republican Jewish Coalition. Joining Graham as guest speakers will be Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.), former Sen. Norm Coleman (R-Minn.), Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.), former Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.), Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Rep. Ed Royce (R-Calif.).

The names aren’t endorsements. A Graham adviser said: “It’s too early for that as Graham is still in the ‘testing the waters’ phase. But national security is looking to be a major, if not dominant issue, in this presidential election … and his message … will resonate widely.”

Graham has long been one of the Republican Party’s most prominent foreign policy hands. And he is from the first Southern primary state — South Carolina, where an NBC News/Marist poll showed him atop the GOP field with 17 percent, ahead of Jeb Bush at 15 percent.

Graham is planning a visit to New Hampshire. NH Journal reported this week Graham has called top Granite State Republicans, and adviser Christian Ferry recently traveled there to set up meetings. Last month, Graham announced on Facebook that he had established Security Through Strength “to ‘test the waters’ for a potential 2016 run for president” and added it would “fund the infrastructure and operations allowing me to travel the country listening to Americans’ concerns, and gauging support for a potential presidential candidacy.”