Lindsey Graham: I Will Run as Conservative in GOP Primary

South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham compared himself to Ronald Reagan when asked about the growing number of Republican challengers seeking to unseat him in his bid for a third term.

Nancy Mace, the first female graduate of The Citadel, announced Saturday she will run against Graham in the 2014 midterms. Mace has tea party ties, and joins businessman Richard Cash in the race. Libertarian state Sen. Lee Bright has said he plans to announce his run in coming months.

"I’m going to keep being a social and fiscal conservative that focuses on our national security, takes care of our interests at home, like the Port of Charleston, working with my state officials and be a conservative like Ronald Reagan who will sit down with a Tip O’Neill to solve America’s problems," Graham said Sunday on CNN's "State of the Union."

"I will continue to be Lindsey Graham, a solid fiscal and social conservative who wants to solve problems," he said. "That’s the future of the Republican Party."

Graham has a 92 percent conservative voting record from the American Conservative Union for 2012, but his support of Sonia Sotomayor for the U.S. Supreme Court, voting for the bank bailout, and his work on the Senate immigration bill has earned him the wrath of many in the tea party movement.