Republican Senator Lindsey Graham kept his seat in South Carolina, according to an NBC News projection, defeating Democrat Jaime Harrison in a race that broke fundraising records and drew national attention to a credible red state.
With 91% of the votes counted, Graham led with 56.3%, against Harrison’s 42.3%, a margin significantly larger than many pre-election polls projected.
“All I can say is that it was overwhelming. I was never challenged that way,” Graham said in his victory speech on Tuesday night.
“I’ve already received two calls, one from President Trump,” continued Graham. “He’s going to win. For all the researchers out there, you have no idea what you’re doing. And all the liberals in California and New York, you’ve wasted a lot of money. This is the worst return on investment in the history of American politics. . “
Harrison raised more than $ 100 million, a huge sum for a race in South Carolina, raising $ 57 million in the third quarter alone and scaring some Republicans in the state.
Graham raised about $ 70 million, also breaking the third-quarter record for a Republican Senate candidate, with $ 27 million raised.
Harrison, 44, who is black, was born to a teenage mother and raised by his grandparents in a mobile home in Orangeburg. He started in politics working for Congressman Jim Clyburn before becoming a lobbyist and later leading the Democratic Party of South Carolina.
“We have proved that public office is not for life and that people are willing to hold our leaders accountable. We have proved that there are no red or blue states,” Harrison said in his concession speech. “We have proved that a new South is emerging. Tonight has only delayed us.”
Graham had faced difficult reelections before, driving away primary opponents on the right who disapproved of his reputation for bipartisanship. He won his previous general election contests by double digits.
This time, it was Graham’s proximity to President Donald Trump that made him a major national target. During much of the 2016 Republican presidential primaries, Graham warned the party about Trump, calling him a “religious fanatic, xenophobe and defender of the race”. He quickly changed when Trump was installed, becoming one of the president’s most fervent supporters on Capitol Hill.
Harrison sought to capitalize on Graham’s 180-degree turn, portraying him as untrustworthy and an opportunist. Harrison’s campaign and outside groups covered the radio waves with video clips of Graham’s earlier comments on Trump, alongside his praise for the president.
In his concession speech, Harrison pointed to Graham’s previous reputation for crossing the corridor, telling his supporters that “I hope he maintains a spirit of cooperation for which he is known.”
Graham, who chairs the Judiciary Committee, spent the last weeks of the campaign in the spotlight, holding hearings for the appointment of Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court after the death of Judge Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
Graham praised Trump’s appointment of three Supreme Court judges, hoping that a conservative court would bring home some disgruntled Republicans he needed to win the dispute.
Harrison bet heavily on Graham’s unpopularity among certain segments of the Republican Party, along with a growing population of more liberal white transplants, as well as the Democratic Party’s black base in South Carolina, to put him on the edge.
Harrison and several outside Democratic groups ran ads in the final days of the campaign, proclaiming Bill Bledsoe, a third-party candidate, as “too conservative” in an effort to cut Graham’s support among dissatisfied Republicans.
Bledsoe, who dropped out of the race and supported Graham, but not in time for his name to be removed from the vote, criticized Harrison’s tactic as “misleading, underhanded and wrong”.
Alluding to the race’s unusual competitiveness, Graham joked that “tonight, the 2022 race for senator [Tim] Scott begins, “by directing his supporters to his Republican colleague’s website to donate.
