COLUMBIA, S.C. — South Carolina’s Lindsey Graham has posted what his campaign says is a record-setting fundraising haul as he seeks a fourth term in the U.S. Senate.
Graham’s $3.29 million raised in the third quarter of this year is the most raised in a single quarter by any candidate in South Carolina’s history, his campaign said Tuesday. The previous record was Jim DeMint’s $3.125 million in 2004 for a U.S. Senate seat.
The campaign also said that the Republican’s total is the most raised in this filing period by any Republican U.S. Senate candidate in the country.
Graham is one of President Donald Trump’s closest allies in the U.S. Senate, despite their recent dustup over Trump’s abrupt announcement that U.S. forces would no longer protect Syrian Kurds from a Turkish invasion.
Officials with Graham’s reelection campaign said he has almost $8.4 million cash on hand. That’s the third-highest cash-on-hand total for a Republican Senate candidate, after Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and John Cornyn of Texas.
Jaime Harrison, who is running as a Democrat for Graham’s Senate seat, raised more than $2.2 million in the third quarter and has more than $2.6 million on hand. Harrison is an associate chairman of the Democratic National Committee and former chairman of South Carolina’s Democrats.
The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee is backing Harrison, who has said he thinks it could take $10 million to win next year’s race. Flipping a Senate seat from red to blue in South Carolina would be difficult and likely would require millions of dollars in fundraising, an area in which national-level groups like the DSCC would be crucial.
Economist Gloria Bromell Tinubu also has announced her candidacy in the Democratic primary for Graham’s seat, but the Federal Election Commission did not have updated fundraising information available for her as of Tuesday afternoon.
Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. PHOTO AP
