The Senate race seemed to tighten in the fall. Harrison raised $ 57 million during the last full quarter of the campaign, the highest total of a quarter for any candidate in the history of the United States Senate.
As chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Graham pushed confirmation from Supreme Court Judge Amy Coney Barrett. The move ignited both Democrats, who painted the quick confirmation as a hypocrite, and Republicans eager to have another conservative Supreme Court judge. Graham had previously said he would not appoint a Supreme Court judge for an election year.
Harrison was born to a 16-year-old single mother and grew up poor in Orangeburg, halfway between Charleston and Columbia. He went to Yale and then to Georgetown Law School before working for South Carolina Democratic Representative Jim Clyburn, the most powerful Democrat in the state. He later served as the first black president of the Democratic party in South Carolina.
Graham, a trained lawyer, has long been involved in South Carolina politics. He has served four terms in the United States House of Representatives and has held his Senate seat since 2003.
In the end, Harrison’s momentum was not enough to win in a Republican stronghold while Graham repeatedly tried to tie him to the most progressive members of the Democratic party.
Trump beat South Carolina by 14 points in 2016 and won the independent vote. In 2014, Graham beat his latest Democratic challenger by almost 16 points.