--- title: John McCain to Campaign for Lindsey Graham Next Week description: John McCain's in-person assistance in the Republican Presidential primary is critical for Lindsey Graham canonical: https://time.com/3972234/john-mccain-lindsey-graham-campaign/ author: Zeke Miller article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-07-25T15:48:26.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T08:05:03.540Z article:section: Politics og:title: John McCain to Campaign for Lindsey Graham Next Week og:description: McCain's in-person assistance is critical for Graham og:url: https://time.com/3972234/john-mccain-lindsey-graham-campaign/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt77238b3ef0ce1aa5/69885c79cd6848febe0a0f8d/graham-mccain.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: John McCain and Lindsey Graham og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: John McCain to Campaign for Lindsey Graham Next Week twitter:description: McCain's in-person assistance is critical for Graham twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt77238b3ef0ce1aa5/69885c79cd6848febe0a0f8d/graham-mccain.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # John McCain to Campaign for Lindsey Graham Next Week ## Video: Know Right Now: 2016 Republican Presidential Candidates [Watch (HLS stream): Know Right Now: 2016 Republican Presidential Candidates](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/1je7rbfl.m3u8) (1:00)  _Published 2015-06-04. A look at the Republican candidates running for president_ by [Zeke Miller](https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/) ## Zeke Miller Jul 25, 2015 3:48 PM UTC  U.S. Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham at a Counterterrorism Education Learning Lab (CELL) event titled, Violent Extremism & U.S. Response, on April 1, 2015 in Denver. U.S. Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham at a Counterterrorism Education Learning Lab (CELL) event titled, Violent Extremism & U.S. Response, on April 1, 2015 in Denver.John Leyba—Denver Post/Getty Images by [Zeke Miller](https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/) ## Zeke Miller Jul 25, 2015 3:48 PM UTC Arizona Sen. John McCain, the 2008 Republican presidential nominee, will campaign for the first time on behalf of his friend Sen. Lindsey Graham in New Hampshire next week. According to a Graham spokesperson, McCain, who won the 2000 and 2008 New Hampshire primaries, will appear with the South Carolina senator at a barbecue at a VFW hall in Littleton, N.H. on Saturday, Aug. 1\. The pair will campaign in the state throughout the weekend. McCain’s in-person assistance is critical for Graham, who is casting his message as the natural successor to McCain’s “straight talk,” combining a hawkish foreign policy with calls to reform the immigration system, preserve the environment and modernize entitlement programs. It comes as a bevy of 2016 contenders are hoping to deploy a [“tell-it-like-it-is” campaign](http://time.com/3934812/straight-talk-candidates/) in the Granite State. The pair traveled extensively together in 2008, when Graham was a ubiquitous presence on McCain’s campaign bus and plane. Together with former Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman, the trio branded themselves as “the three amigos.” (The three were united in New York last week at an event opposing President Barack Obama’s nuclear agreement with Iran.) In an interview with TIME last month, McCain praised Graham for being a “happy warrior” on the campaign trial. “He’s been on it with me for so long, he knows that one of the things that’s important about a campaign is to enjoy it, and that enjoyment many times will transmit itself to the voter,” McCain said. “He’s going to be a happy warrior. He already is. And sometime that’s very helpful in getting support, particularly when sometimes the face-to-face contact is what you get with voters in Iowa, and particularly New Hampshire.” In 2012, McCain held off endorsing anyone until the day after the Iowa Caucuses, when he appeared with former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney at a joint New Hampshire town hall as the eventual GOP nominee, and McCain’s once bitter primary rival, sought to consolidate the party’s support. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3972234/john-mccain-lindsey-graham-campaign/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3972234/john-mccain-lindsey-graham-campaign/"},"headline":"John McCain to Campaign for Lindsey Graham Next Week","datePublished":"2015-07-25T15:48:26.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T08:05:03.540Z","description":"McCain's in-person assistance is critical for Graham","url":"https://time.com/3972234/john-mccain-lindsey-graham-campaign/","keywords":["Lindsey Graham","2016 Election topic","John McCain","New Hampshire Primary"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt77238b3ef0ce1aa5/69885c79cd6848febe0a0f8d/graham-mccain.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Zeke Miller","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt77238b3ef0ce1aa5/69885c79cd6848febe0a0f8d/graham-mccain.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"John McCain and Lindsey Graham","caption":"John McCain and Lindsey Graham","creditText":"John Leyba—Denver Post/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/lindsey-graham/","name":"Lindsey Graham"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3972234/john-mccain-lindsey-graham-campaign/","name":"John McCain to Campaign for Lindsey Graham Next Week"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Know Right Now: 2016 Republican Presidential Candidates","description":"A look at the Republican candidates running for president","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/1je7rbfl/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2015-06-04T15:30:58.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/1je7rbfl.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3972234/john-mccain-lindsey-graham-campaign/","duration":"PT1M","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3972234/john-mccain-lindsey-graham-campaign/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```