One of the chief authors of the controversial “Project 2025,” Paul Dans, will challenge incumbent Republican U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham.
Former Republican Lieutenant Governor Andre Bauer and Spartanburg County businessman Mark Lynch are already filed in the race ahead of the 2026 Midterm Elections.
During an interview with the Associated Press, Dans said the Trump administration’s move to cut the federal workforce drastically was one of his goals when drafting Project 2025, something President Donald Trump has since distanced himself from and has publicly stated is different from his own “Agenda 47.”
“What we’ve done with Project 2025 is really change the game in terms of closing the door on the progressive era,” Dans told The AP. “If you look at where the chokepoint is, it’s the United States Senate. That’s the headwaters of the swamp.”
Graham is a staunch Trump ally and has already earned the President’s endorsement for a fifth term. Not surprisingly as a powerful incumbent, Graham leads GOP fundraising in the race, with $2.6 million raised since the beginning of 2025. Federal Election Commission records show Graham maintains more than $15 million on hand.
Three Democrats are also in the race, including Dr. Annie Andrews, Kyle Freeman, and Catherine Fleming Bruce. But their races are also long-shots. More than 49% of the state’s voters are registered Republicans, while just 41% are Democrats, according to the most recent L2 voter data.
During Trump’s first term in office, Dans worked as a White House liaison to the office of personnel management and has openly said he expects to garner support from allies and supporters of Project 2025.
The almost 1,000-page document outlining a blueprint for how the federal government should be dismantled was originally published while Dans worked for the Heritage Foundation.
“To be clear, I believe that there is a ‘deep state’ out there, and I’m the single one who stepped forward at the end of the first term of Trump and really started to drain the swamp,” Dans told The AP.
However, the document received heavy backlash, which led to Dans leaving his position at the Foundation in July 2024. Democrats touted the project as an example of how far-right pundits plan to cut critical funding and the federal workforce. It was a major part of Democrats’ failed efforts in 2024 to defeat Trump and maintain control in Congress.
Predictions about Project 2025 components being implemented came to fruition upon Trump’s reelection after the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) slashed thousands of jobs in the first few months of Trump’s second term.
In a statement to The AP, Graham’s senior advisor, Chris LaCivita, who also managed Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign, hypothesized Dans’ campaign will not make it to the 2026 Midterms.
“After being unceremoniously dumped in 2024 while trying to torpedo Donald Trump’s historic campaign, Paul Dans has parachuted himself into the state of South Carolina in direct opposition to President Trump’s longtime friend and ally in the Senate, Lindsey Graham,” LaCivita said.
