Hard right

Graham slams Rubio for going 'hard right'

By Eliza Collins

Lindsey Graham had some harsh words for Marco Rubio on Tuesday, particularly on his stance on abortion and immigration which he warned would keep women and Hispanics from joining the party.

“Marco has no exceptions for rape and incest,” the South Carolina senator said in an interview with MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.” “I think it’s going to be very hard to grow the party among women if you’re gonna tell young women, ‘If you get raped, you’ve gotta carry the child of the rapist. Most pro-life people don’t go there, that will not sell in New Hampshire.”

Graham, who dropped out of the presidential race last year and threw his support behind Jeb Bush, said he likes Rubio, but the Florida senator “has now turned hard right.”

He also criticized Rubio’s move to the right on immigration — the two had both been part of the bipartisan Gang of Eight immigration reform effort in 2013, but Rubio has since distanced himself from the legislation.

“In the last debate he sounded more like Ted Cruz on immigration. That is very disappointing because that will come back to bite us as a party,” Graham said.

Graham gave Rubio a compliment on foreign policy before pivoting back to his stance on immigration.

“Immigration haunts this party. He tried to fix a broken immigration system in a rational way. Now he has backed off. To think that’s not gonna matter in the general election — you’re kidding yourself,” Graham said. “I don’t know how this movie ends, but I know with women and Hispanics, that we’re going the wrong direction in my view,” Graham said.

Rubio came in third place in Monday's Iowa caucuses, just 1 percentage point behind Donald Trump.