Jaime Harrison is chasing Lindsey Graham like a cheetah running down an impala
An internal poll from the Harrison campaign released Monday shows that Harrison, the former chair of the South Carolina Democratic Party, within two percentage points of Graham, who garners 43 percent support to 41 percent for Harrison. That poll comes as a super PAC with the not-at-all-subtle title “Lindsey Must Go” revealed a survey of likely voters that shows Harrison (45 percent) within four percentage points of Graham (49 percent).
The money race isn’t even close. Harrison raised nearly $14 million in the second quarter, which is nearly double what he raised in the first quarter. Both were record hauls for the state. By comparison, Graham raised just $8.4 million in the second quarter. The incumbent senator does have a money advantage, though. Graham has $5 million more on hand than his challenger — and he’s going to need every dime of it.
Harrison shouldn’t even be competitive in South Carolina. President Trump won the Palmetto State by 14 percentage points in 2016. The last Democrat elected to the U.S. Senate from South Carolina was the late Ernest F. Hollings in 1998. Yet, data from the Lindsey Must Go poll show why Harrison is seriously in the hunt against Trump’s two-faced golfing buddy. It all boils down to character.
Those surveyed do not think Graham “shares my values” (56 percent), is not “honest and trustworthy” (53 percent) and don’t believe him to be “a strong leader” (53 percent). However, they do think he “will say anything to get elected” (57 percent), “put his own political power first” (59 percent) and “has lost touch with South Carolina” (51 percent).
“People have told me my entire life that it can’t do certain things,” Harrison told me during an interview in February. “And now they are telling me that I can’t win this race for the United States Senate. My retort to them is, watch me.” We’re watching. And when it comes to the cheetah versus the impala, many of us are rooting for the cheetah.
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