Lindsey Graham was a profile in courage on immigration

Immigration reform isn’t exactly a popular agenda item in South Carolina. It has no natural constituency, as in Arizona or Florida. There is no obvious political upside for a senator already viewed as suspect by the Tea Party crowd and facing reelection—and a possible primary fight—in 2014. A lesser public servant would shy away and let others do the heavy lifting, but Graham instead said: “I don’t want to stop being a senator to be a senator.”

Instead of playing to the base and dealing in demographic denial, Graham spoke bluntly about the stakes of failure on immigration reform. “We’re in a demographic death spiral as a party and the only way we can get back in good graces with the Hispanic community, in my view, is to pass comprehensive immigration reform,” he said on Meet the Press. “If you don’t do that, it really doesn’t matter who we run, in my view,” in 2016.

As some party leaders counsel a strategy of simply trying to get out the white vote more effectively, Graham is not afraid to confront Republicans’ declining fortunes among Hispanics in presidential campaigns—down from 44 percent for George W. Bush in 2004 to 27 percent for Mitt Romney in 2012.

“This is an odd formula for the party to adopt, the fastest growing demographic in the country, and we’re losing votes every election,” he said on Fox News. “It’s one thing to shoot yourself in the foot—just don’t reload the gun. I intend not to reload this gun when it comes to Hispanics. I intend to tear this wall down and pass an immigration reform bill that’s an American solution to an American problem.”