Who was Billy Graham? Franklin Graham claims his father supported Donald Trump after being featured in Kamala Harris' campaign ad

A new faction supporting Vice President Kamala Harris, called 'Evangelicals for Harris', launched a campaign ad using the late evangelist Billy Graham on August 14, 2024. In the 34-second ad, Graham is talking about asking God for forgiveness.

The ad then cuts to a 2015 interview with Donald Trump where he is asked if he has ever sought God's forgiveness, to which he replies "I'm not sure I have." The ad ends with the quote:

"Is there any greater denial of Christ...than to say "I do not need his forgiveness?""

As the ad made the rounds on social media, Franklin Graham, Billy Graham's son, lambasted the 'Evangelicals for Harris' group for allegedly misleading people. He added, his father supported Trump's conservative views while he was alive. Franklin posted on X.

"The liberals are using anything and everything they can to promote candidate Harris. They even developed a political ad trying to use my father @BillyGraham’s image. They are trying to mislead people."

He continued,

"Maybe they don’t know that my father appreciated the conservative values and policies of President @realDonaldTrump in 2016, and if he were alive today, my father’s views and opinions would not have changed."

Billy Graham was a popular evangelist known for his straightforward sermons. His sermons reached over 215 million people worldwide, spanning many countries. Graham died at the age of 99 in his home in North Carolina on February 21, 2018.

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Billy Graham befriended several US presidents

Hailing from Charlotte, North Carolina, William Franklin Graham Jr., was born on November 7, 1918. Graham embraced Christianity after undergoing a religious experience during evangelist Mordecai Ham's revival meeting at the age of 15.

According to his website, Billy Graham attended Bob Jones College but quit after a semester due to the institution's fundamentalism. He continued his education at Florida Bible Institute. Following his graduation, he was ordained by the Southern Baptist Convention but decided to expand his knowledge by attending Illinois' Wheaton College.

Graham and his wife, Ruth Bell, met at Wheaton, and the two tied the knot in 1943. That same year, he graduated from college and became an itinerant evangelist. In 1950, he started the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association to spread the word about his preachings in the media, arrange meetings with politicians and coordinate with local churches.

Billy Graham paved the way for many televangelists, however, he was not keen to use the word to describe himself. He enjoyed close friendships with many US presidents, including Dwight Eisenhower, Richard Nixon and George Bush.

Billy Graham and his wife were awarded the Congressional Gold Medal of Honor in 1996, and the evangelist was bestowed a KBE by the British royal family in 2001. Graham's final crusade was in Queens, NY, in June 2005. Along with being an evangelist, Graham authored around 33 books, including an autobiography titled Just As I Am.

Graham and his wife lived in their home in Montreat, North Carolina. Ruth Bell Graham passed away in June 2007, and Billy Graham died a decade later, in February 2018. The couple shared five children - three daughters and two sons.

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'Evangelicals for Harris' held a Zoom call on August 13, 2024, urging US evangelical voters to vote for Kamala Harris in the upcoming November elections against Republican nominee Donald Trump. They also responded to Franklin Graham's criticism about using his father for their profit, claiming Franklin had "forsaken the Gospel."

This is one of the many factions that banded together to raise awareness for Harris' campaign. The other groups that organized fundraisers for the VP include 'White Dudes for Harris' and 'Comics for Harris.'