Lindsey Graham calls for investigation into flood of donations to defeat him
In May 2019, Democrat Jaime Harrison formally launched a U.S. Senate campaign in South Carolina to challenge incumbent Lindsey Graham, a man who is simultaneously one of the most powerful people in government and one of the most despised politicians in the country.
From the start, Harrison has faced an uphill battle in South Carolina. Challenging the head of the powerful Senate Judiciary Committee in a state that falls in the deeply red column isn't for the faint of heart. No doubt Lindsey Graham and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell thought his reelection was in the bag and they could focus on other battleground races. But Lindsey Graham and Mitch McConnell underestimated just how angry the actual silent majority truly is after four years of watching Lindsey Graham act like Donald Trump's lap dog, protecting Trump from criminal investigations and stealing three Supreme Court seats along the way.
In short, Graham and McConnell underestimated YOU and our collective rage.
In the past year, Jaime Harrison received a tsunami of small donations, flooding the Harrison campaign with record-breaking donations that have topped $86 million, forcing Graham to appear almost nightly on Fox News to beg Sean Hannity's audience for money. He even used the Senate Judiciary Committee pulpit during a hearing on Amy Coney Barrett's Supreme Court nomination to complain about all the money, issuing a plea from inside the Senate building (a big no-no) to ask for donations to help him because he was delivering the Barrett nomination to the Senate, despite the public outcry. It was not only pathetic, but it might have run afoul of the law, which "prohibits soliciting or receiving campaign contributions on federal property."
In fact, Graham is so upset at the record donations that came into the South Carolina race that he has indicated he wants an investigation after the election.
In an interview with The Hill, Graham whined, "Where's all this money coming from ActBlue coming from? How easy would it be to just have a bunch of pre-paid credit cards?"
Yes, Lindsey Graham, I suppose it is entirely possible a shadowy, powerful Black Lives Matter foundation with secret billions in the bank loaded up pre-paid 'antifa' cards and made tens of thousands of $37 donations (the average Harrison donation), one at a time, to unseat you.
Why can't Lindsey Graham just accept that not only is he personally deeply unpopular, but so is the Republican agenda? It isn't like we didn't try to tell him. We called his offices. We showed up at town halls. We showed up in Washington, D.C. We even chased him in airports when we he refused to hear us anywhere else. But he will hear us at the ballot box on Nov. 3 and so will his corrupted colleagues. And even if Lindsey Graham survives this challenge, we will be back for the next. You can take that to the bank.
In the meantime, let's keep pissing off Lindsey Graham with our small donations. Our Daily Kos Elections team has compiled a list of 17 state legislative candidates from Arizona, Texas, North Carolina, and Michigan who need the most help as we head down the final stretch. Sure it feels good to donate to Lindsey's demise, but these races are every bit as critical or even more so than South Carolina's because these state legislatures control the boundaries of congressional districts, something Republicans have successfully used to slice and dice our blue districts, gerrymandering our states into Republican-controlled havens that give people like Lindsey Graham undue power over the majority.
Afterward, you can send Lindsey Graham a copy of your donation as evidence for his "investigation" at campaign@lindseygraham.com. Bless his heart.
