Lindsey Graham Has Spent $27 Million On His Quest To Become The Longest-Serving Senator Ever

WASHINGTON — South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, who has morphed from one of President Donald Trump’s fiercest Republican critics into one of his closest allies, is spending money like he’s in political trouble.

Graham has spent an astounding $27 million on his reelection campaign, according to Federal Election Commission filings, and that’s even before his primary next week. His five GOP opponents — none of whom has a high statewide profile ― combined have spent less than a fifth of that.

By comparison, Maine GOP Sen. Susan Collins, who is in a bitter reelection fight, has spent just $5 million.

Is Graham, who has had an occasionally uneasy relationship with the GOP’s conservative base ― remember “Grahamnesty?” ― in political trouble ahead of the state’s primary on Tuesday? Possibly. But Republicans say it’s more likely he’s just being careful and working toward a longer-term goal.

Graham joked two decades ago when he first ran for Senate in South Carolina that he wanted to make Strom Thurmond, the eight-term 99-year-old he was then seeking to succeed in Congress’ upper chamber, the second-longest-serving U.S. senator in history.

Terry Sullivan, a longtime Republican consultant with extensive experience in South Carolina, said Graham, who is now seeking his fifth six-year term, wants to send a message to potential challengers in the future.

“The candidates running against him are clowns. And if one of them ever got close, somebody real might run against him next time,” said Sullivan, who ran former GOP Sen. Jim DeMint’s campaign in 2004. “When he first ran for office, his stump speech at every GOP county convention was that he wanted to make Strom Thurmond the second-longest-serving United States senator.”

Graham’s campaign did not respond to a HuffPost query.

Graham is also getting outside help from super PACs funded by cryptocurrency and technology companies, with $924,287 in advertising support from American Mission and Fellowship PAC. His best-funded opponent, self-financed businessman Mark Lynch, meanwhile has been hit with $5.6 million in negative advertising by three groups: Palmetto Action, Security is Strength PAC and Project 2026.

Limited public polling has shown Graham in the lead: A late May poll from The Citadel, a military college in the state, found Graham with a 46% to 36% lead over Lynch. A poll from the Trump-friendly polling firm Trafalgar Group found him with a larger 52% to 28% lead.

If no candidate wins a majority in Tuesday’s primary, the top two candidates will head to a June 23 runoff election.

The winner of the Republican primary will face in the November general election the winner of the Democratic primary, with pediatrician Annie Andrews seen as the front-runner for the party’s nod. A Democrat, however, has not won a statewide office in South Carolina in 20 years.

Graham in the past year and a half has also raised more than $20 million after entering this two-year cycle with $15.6 million in the bank already. The $20 million figure makes him the top GOP Senate candidate in campaign fundraising this cycle and number eight overall.

“Lindsey won’t lose. He’s spending money because he can,” Sullivan said. “Lindsey has absolutely no intention of leaving the United States Senate vertically. He’ll die in that seat.”

Graham had served eight years in the House when he won the Senate seat in 2002 with Thurmond’s endorsement.

Thurmond began his career as a Democrat but switched to Republican, as many southern Democrats did, after the passage of the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts in the 1960s and Richard Nixon’s aggressive wooing of Southern whites who opposed that legislation.