WASHINGTON _ A Republican super PAC is preparing a massive ad blitz in South Carolina, hoping to boost GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham in a reelection campaign that has become unexpectedly competitive despite the state's rightward lean.
Senate Leadership Fund plans to spend $10 million over three weeks starting Saturday on TV and radio ads in the state, an enormous late push into the state the group's leader says is reflective of the massive spending disparity between Graham and his Democratic opponent, Jaime Harrison.
Harrison has significantly outraised Graham thanks to a surge of small-dollar online donations, creating a financial advantage in the race even before a Democratic super PAC this week announced its own ad campaign in South Carolina totaling $6.5 million.
The cash crunch for Graham is so significant that he made an unusual appearance on Fox News last week to plead for contributions to his campaign, saying that he was getting "killed" in fundraising.
"The far-left money spigot has been turned on for liberal lobbyist Jamie Harrison, and now he's flooding South Carolina with his liberal donors' funds," SLF president Steven Law said in a statement. "Our investment is an insurance policy helping South Carolinians understand Harrison is not the candidate he portrays himself to be _ he is a hardcore liberal bought and paid for by his out of state donors who support a radical agenda."
SLF is the primary super PAC of Senate Republicans in Washington, controlled by allies of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. Its involvement in the South Carolina race is another indication that both parties think the race is competitive, a perception bolstered by a handful of recent polls that show Graham and Harrison effectively tied.
A Quinnipiac University poll released Wednesday found the race was tied at 48%. Earlier this week, a CBS News/YouGov poll showed Graham leading by 1 point, 45% to 44%.
Graham was elected to the seat in 2002 and coasted to relatively easy reelection victories in 2008 and 2014. But Harrison has made the 2020 campaign competitive thanks in part to a fundraising surge.
In the second fundraising quarter, covering the beginning of April through the end of June, Harrison raised nearly $14 million to Graham's $8.4 million. The Democrat later announced that in August alone he raised more than $10 million, the kind of haul rarely seen in a Senate race in the state or nationally.
Harrison has used that advantage to fund a barrage of advertising on television, radio and digital. Along with Democratic allies, Harrison's campaign had reserved more than $15 million in ads in October and November, according to a GOP source tracking the ad data, compared with just over $6 million in reservations for Graham and his Republican allies.
The new reservations from SLF should bring the two sides to spending parity, though if Harrison's fundraising continues to surge, he could conceivably invest even more money into ads.
The Security is Strength PAC, a super PAC backing Graham, released two ads in September, and has $2.2 million worth of time reserved in October and November, according to Advertising Analytics.
And the Senate Majority PAC, a Democratic super PAC, announced earlier this week that it has $5 million in TV ads and $1.5 million in digital ads planned in South Carolina.
