Jaime Harrison’s Senate Campaign in South Carolina

Republican incumbent Senator, Lindsey Graham, defeated Democratic challenger, Jaime Harrison in the South Carolina Senate race on Tuesday night. 

This ended one of the most intensely watched Senate races in the 2020 election. The race was also one of the most expensive congressional races in history, as Harrison raised 57 million dollars during the final full quarter of the campaign. The national attention that Harrison created, showed what is possible for a democratic candidate in not only South Carolina, but in the south as a whole. 

According to the results on Election Day reported by The New York Times, Graham won the South Carolina Senate race with 54.5 percent of the vote. Harrison received 44.2 percent of the vote, which was about a 5 point increase from Democrat Brad Hutto’s race against Graham in 2014.

In January, there was little belief in South Carolina that Harrison would be able to unseat Graham. Harrison ran his campaign to mobilize the Black voters in South Carolina and inspire the white voters. 

The race appeared to tighten in the fall. The Trump administration’s response to the coronavirus crisis made Harrison’s arguments that Graham followed the president too closely, became even more clear. Thousands of South Carolina residents had died from the Coronavirus this year. Harrison emphasized during the campaign Graham’s lack of response to the pandemic and lack of effort to help the residents of South Carolina. Instead of passing a second coronavirus-relief bill in the Senate, the Senate Judiciary Committee led by Graham, confirmed Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court. 

During multiple appearances on Fox News, Graham practically begged viewers to make donations to his campaign. This gave Democrats the impression that victory in South Carolina was possible. 

Harrison spent $34 million of his third quarter donations on TV ads alone. Eight million went to digital advertising, and 2.2 million went to radio ads that targeted Black voters in South Carolina. Harrison had the funds to have one of the most robust ground operations in South Carolina that Democrats had seen in a long time. As the race tightened, it seemed that Harrison may had a chance to flip a seat once held by segregationist Strom Thurmond. 

Out of state money from both parties was put into the state as Election Day approached. The GOP-aligned Senate Leadership Fund spent about $16 million in South Carolina for Graham. The Democratic Senate Majority PAC spent about $6 million in advertising at the end of September. 

Despite Harrison’s loss, the work that the campaign did in South Carolina was able to register and mobilize Black voters across the state. Harrison gave the race national attention and encouraged participation of all Democrats in South Carolina.

Harrison was optimistic in a speech after the race was called. During his speech, Harrison told the crowd, “Well folks, I’m still breathing, and I still have hope. We proved that a new South is rising. Tonight only slowed us down. But a new South with leaders that reflect the community and serve the interests of everyone will be here soon enough.”