Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, fended off essentially the most tough problem of his profession on Tuesday, turning again a D
Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, fended off essentially the most tough problem of his profession on Tuesday, turning again a Democrat backed by a record-setting onslaught of marketing campaign money to win a fourth time period, based on The Related Press.
The victory reassured jittery Republicans, who have been compelled this fall to divert tens of thousands and thousands of {dollars} from key battlegrounds to a deeply conservative state to save lots of Mr. Graham. It additionally dashed the hopes of Democrats who believed a victory by their candidate, Jaime Harrison, would enhance their possibilities of seizing the Senate majority.
Mr. Harrison, a Black Democrat whose upstart marketing campaign electrified progressives throughout the nation, would have been solely the second African-American from the South elected to the Senate since Reconstruction.
Ultimately, although, Mr. Graham, the chairman of the influential Judiciary Committee, leaned closely on his stature in Washington to drag by way of. Simply days earlier than the election, he helped ship a singular conservative victory, the affirmation of Justice Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Courtroom, utilizing the extremely partisan struggle within the Senate to bolster his marketing campaign. He additionally benefited from an in depth relationship with President Trump, who simply carried the state on Tuesday.
“To those that have been following this race from afar, I hope you bought the message,” a triumphant Mr. Graham declared Tuesday evening in Columbia. “Right here’s the message I acquired: Folks like what I’m doing, and I’m going to maintain doing it.”
He added, “With regards to Lindsey Graham, and crew Graham, one of the best is but to return.”
Mr. Graham, 65, has been a fixture in Washington for the reason that 1990s, when he was first elected to the Home, and is named a wily and efficient political messenger.
He averted making his struggle towards Mr. Harrison private. As a substitute, he attacked his Democratic opponent as a generic liberal whose coverage preferences on well being care, spending and judges have been merely out of line with a solidly conservative state.
However the shut outcomes instructed Mr. Graham’s standing had additionally taken a major hit within the state since he final ran in 2014. Earlier than his re-election this time, the senator had undertaken a substantial political makeover, casting apart a popularity as a dealmaking reasonable who as soon as referred to as Mr. Trump a “race-baiting, xenophobic spiritual bigot” to current himself as a conservative warrior standing on the president’s proper hand. The transformation appeared to have alienated some reasonable Republicans turned off by the president, even because it failed to influence a few of his staunchest conservative supporters.
Mr. Harrison tried to take advantage of these fissures, portraying Mr. Graham as a morally compromised politician prepared to do no matter it took to win. Flush with greater than $86 million in contributions — a report haul for a Senate race fueled by out-of-state liberals who loathed Mr. Graham — Mr. Harrison blanketed the state with promoting that not solely bolstered his personal candidacy, but in addition bolstered Invoice Bledsoe, a Structure Get together candidate who he hoped would possibly siphon conservative votes away from Mr. Graham.
That didn’t show to be sufficient. Mr. Harrison merely couldn’t discover sufficient South Carolinians prepared to vote for a Democrat.
“Tonight solely slowed us down, however a New South with leaders who mirror the neighborhood and serve the pursuits of everybody will probably be right here quickly sufficient,” Mr. Harrison mentioned Tuesday evening in a concession speech. He urged Mr. Graham to domesticate his unbiased streak.
If he had an opportunity of doing so, it virtually definitely ended within the weeks after the loss of life of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg in mid-September. In 2018, Mr. Graham’s fiery protection of Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh within the face of accusations of sexual assault briefly made him a conservative rock star.
This time round, as chairman of the judiciary panel, he had a microphone and a highlight in nationally televised hearings to current himself as an ally of conservative ladies and remind the occasion’s voters what was at stake. He may credibly declare to be an important drive in cementing a conservative majority on the courtroom that Republicans have lengthy made a precedence.
Now, Mr. Graham can have six extra years in Washington. Within the weeks earlier than Election Day, Mr. Graham had hinted that he would possibly attempt to reclaim his unbiased streak if re-elected. And with the potential of Mr. Trump’s defeat, he could be positioned to have a significant position in figuring out his occasion’s path ahead.