Lindsey Graham is pouring money into making sure he keeps his seat. The South Carolina senator and his allies have shelled out more than $18 million ahead of Tuesday's GOP primary, reports Politico, an enormous sum for a race where the main threat isn't a Democrat, but "America First" businessman Mark Lynch. Lynch, who has plowed $5 million of his own cash into the contest, is running to Graham's right, hitting the longtime senator over past support for immigration measures, his hawkish foreign policy, and his backing of Trump's war in Iran. His ads replay Graham's 2016 digs at Trump and praise for Joe Biden, and he's drawn endorsements from anti-interventionist figures who now cast Graham as the embodiment of the GOP establishment.
Public polling shows Graham hovering around the 50% mark he needs to avoid a runoff in a five-candidate field. Trump has endorsed Graham and dialed into a tele-rally Monday night, warning supporters that "we don't want any surprises, we don't want any bad things to happen. Elections, you never know, so we have to be very careful." The pair weren't always so chummy, reports the New York Times in a look at their contentious history, noting that Trump's endorsement in 2020 helped Graham fend off challengers in that cycle. Graham, a prolific fundraiser with a history of crushing primary foes, remains favored, but Lynch's viability underscores a growing rift between MAGA-aligned skeptics of foreign entanglements and Republicans who back Trump while embracing a more traditional, hardline foreign policy. The Post and Courier takes a look at the field challenging Graham here.
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