Billy Graham’s granddaughter is “unapologetically” speaking out her support for Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, breaking the Graham family tradition of not endorsing any candidate.
“As a Christian woman, I will vote for Donald Trump, and do not have a problem doing so,” Jane Austin Graham Lynch, more popularly known as “Cissie,” wrote in a blog published last month.
She explained why she has decided to support the real estate mogul’s presidential bid. She said the most pressing concern that voters must weigh is the direction of the U.S. Supreme Court because decisions made by the high court affect future generations of Americans.
“My greatest concern for the country is for the Supreme Court. If there is any reason for Christians to vote, this is it,” Cissie wrote.
The future president will appoint Supreme Court justices who would be instrumental in shaping America’s future. A Clinton presidency, Cissie said, is “terrifying” and endangers religious liberty in the country.
“If Hillary Clinton wins and appoints the next five vacancies in the Supreme Court, I will probably never see another conservative decision made by that court in my lifetime. As a mother who has two babies, this is truly terrifying,” she wrote.
“Our religious freedom stands as an open target to be diminished. The persecution we can see happening to Christians in other countries around the world is knocking on our doorstep and being threatened right here in the U.S.,” she added.
Cissie also challenged Christians who said they could never vote for either Trump or Hillary. The 2016 U.S. presidential election is “the most important election we ever vote in,” she said, and Christians could not afford to sit it out.
Cissie urged voters to face the reality that, whether they vote or not, one of the two foremost presidential candidates will win. She urged believers to consider “the most serious issues” the country is facing right now and to go out and cast their ballot on Nov. 8.
In an interview at Fox and Friends, Cissie reiterated the call for Christians to vote.
“This is not just an election for four to eight years; this is generational when it comes to the Supreme Court,” she said.
When asked what specific issues she is concerned about, she said that in the face of Christian persecution in the U.S. today, America needs leaders who will “stand firm for our religious beliefs, not attack the faith-based institutions and … fight for the unborn.”
Cissie also complimented Trump’s running mate, Mike Pence, saying Pence “doesn’t just talk about his faith, he talks about his faith in Jesus Christ, and he is not ashamed of it. I think Trump and Pence together will fight on behalf of Christians.”
