Graham tops personal fundraising best in reelection bid

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) raised more than $3 million over the past three months, his campaign said Monday, a personal record for the South Carolina Republican. 

The second-quarter fundraising haul leaves Graham with more than $6.4 million in cash on hand, according to his campaign. 

For Graham, the $3 million haul is a personal best, marking the most the senator has ever raised in a single quarter for his campaign. He set his previous record of $2.05 million in the first three months of the year.

{mosads}“For our supporters to step up and give record-breaking amounts in back-to-back quarters shows they truly have Senator Graham’s back,” Scott Farmer, his campaign manager, said. “We are humbled and amazed at their incredible generosity.”

Graham will seek his fourth term in the Senate in 2020, but has already drawn a high-profile Democratic challenger, Jaime Harrison, a Democratic National Committee official and former chairman of the South Carolina Democratic Party.

Harrison announced earlier this month that he had raised $1.5 million in a little more than a month on the campaign trail. He launched his Senate bid in late May and the second-quarter fundraising period ended on June 30. 

Candidates for federal office have until midnight to report their second-quarter totals to the Federal Election Commission.

While Democrats are hoping to seize on Graham’s friendly posture toward President Trump to make the case against his reelection, the three-term senator has an advantage in South Carolina, where voters haven’t elected a Democrat to the Senate in more than 20 years.

Trump won the state by roughly 14 points in 2016 and still remains overwhelmingly popular there, according to a tracking poll from Morning Consult. That could bode well for Graham in 2020, when Trump will also be on the ballot.