{"id":11582076,"date":"2025-07-28T10:34:05","date_gmt":"2025-07-28T14:34:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.baltimoresun.com\/?p=11582076&preview=true&preview_id=11582076"},"modified":"2025-07-28T11:54:19","modified_gmt":"2025-07-28T15:54:19","slug":"project-2025-author-challenges-graham","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.baltimoresun.com\/2025\/07\/28\/project-2025-author-challenges-graham\/","title":{"rendered":"Project 2025 author Paul Dans will challenge Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham in South Carolina"},"content":{"rendered":"

By LISA MASCARO and MEG KINNARD, Associated Press<\/strong><\/p>\n

WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 A chief architect of\u00a0Project 2025<\/a>, Paul Dans, is launching a Republican primary challenge to\u00a0Sen. Lindsey Graham<\/a>\u00a0in South Carolina, joining a crowded field that will test the loyalties of\u00a0President Donald Trump<\/a>\u00a0and his MAGA movement in next year’s midterm election.<\/p>\n

Dans told The Associated Press the Trump administration’s\u00a0federal workforce reductions<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0cuts to federal programs<\/a>\u00a0are what he had hoped for in\u00a0drafting Project 2025<\/a>. But he said there’s \u201cmore work to do,\u201d\u00a0particularly in the Senate<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we\u2019ve done with Project 2025 is really change the game in terms of closing the door on the progressive era,” Dans said in an AP interview. \u201dIf you look at where the chokepoint is, it’s the United States Senate. That\u2019s the headwaters of the swamp.”<\/p>\n

Dans, who is set to formally announce his campaign at an event Wednesday in Charleston, said Graham has spent most of his career in Washington and \u201cit\u2019s time to show him the door.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chris LaCivita, a senior adviser to Graham’s campaign who co-managed Trump’s 2024 bid, predicted in a statement to the AP that Dans’ campaign would \u201cend prematurely.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter being unceremoniously dumped in 2024 while trying to torpedo Donald Trump\u2019s historic campaign, Paul Dans has parachuted himself into the state of South Carolina in direct opposition to President Trump\u2019s longtime friend and ally in the Senate, Lindsey Graham,” LaCivita said.<\/p>\n

Challenging the long-serving Graham, who has routinely batted back contenders over the years, is something of a political long shot in what is fast becoming a crowded field ahead of the November 2026 midterm election that will determine\u00a0control of Congress<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Trump early on gave his endorsement of Graham,\u00a0a political confidant and regular golfing partner<\/a>\u00a0of the president, despite their on-again-off-again relationship. Graham, in announcing he would seek a fifth term in the Senate, also secured the state’s leading Republicans, Sen.\u00a0Tim Scott<\/a>\u00a0and Gov.\u00a0Henry McMaster<\/a>, to\u00a0chair his 2026 run<\/a>. He has amassed millions of dollars in his campaign account.<\/p>\n

\"Sen.
FILE – Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., listens to journalists at the end of his visit to Israel, in Jerusalem, Wednesday, 2024. (AP Photo\/Maya Alleruzzo, File)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Other candidates, including Republican\u00a0former South Carolina Lt. Gov. Andr\u00e9 Bauer<\/a>, a wealthy developer, and\u00a0Democratic challenger Dr. Annie Andrews<\/a>, have announced their campaigns for the Senate seat in an early start to the election season, more than a year away.<\/p>\n

Graham, in an appearance Sunday on NBC’s \u201cMeet the Press,\u201d did not discuss his reelection campaign but fielded questions on topics including his push to release \u201cas much as you can\u201d from the case files on\u00a0Jeffrey Epstein<\/a>, something many of Trump’s supporters\u00a0want the government to do<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Dans, an attorney who worked in the first Trump administration as White House liaison to the office of personnel management, said he expects to have support from Project 2025 allies, as well as the ranks of Trump’s supporters in the state who have publicly tired of Graham.<\/p>\n