Jaime Harrison spent millions on Facebook ads in an attempt to beat Lindsay Graham

Harrison's campaign has spent $2.04 million on Facebook ads.

Sep 6, 2020

Jaime Harrison has spent more money on Facebook ads than any other candidate running for Senate. Harrison is from South Carolina and the ads were designed to target his opponent Sen. Lindsay Graham‘s inconsistency.

The ads claim that the incumbent challenger will say anything to win favors and Harrison’s ads paint him as a flip-flopper.

(L) U.S. senate candidate Jaime Harrison speaks to the crowd during the King Day celebration at the Dome March and rally on January 20, 2020 in Columbia, South Carolina. (Photo by Sean Rayford/Getty Images) (R)Committee Chairman Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) speaks during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on “Oversight of the Crossfire Hurricane Investigation” on Capitol Hill on August 5, 2020 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Erin Schaff-Pool/Getty Images)

Senator Graham, once a Republican Presidential candidate, said that then-fellow candidate Donald Trump was a “race-baiting, xenophobic, religious bigot,” and he was “unfit for office.”

However, in recent years, Graham has become one of Trump’s most prominent supporters.

CNBC reported that since April 22, Harrison’s campaign has spent $2.04 million on Facebook ads, according to Facebook’s ads library. This outweighs other candidates running for U.S. Senate, including Graham’s campaign, which comes in second at $1.01 million spent in the past three months.

“Graham has become a lightning rod for anti-Trump voters, and Harrison needs to remind those voters that he’s in a competitive race against him, and find a way to keep them engaged and supportive,” James Hodges, a Democratic former governor of South Carolina, and president of McGuireWoods Consulting in Columbia, South Carolina said.

#SCSen – Trying to unseat Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, Democrat Jaime Harrison has spent over $2 million in the past three months on Facebook ads.

Harrison has raised about $28.6 million for his campaign, third most among Democratic Senate candidates.https://t.co/SjjLZDTKmH
— OpenSecrets.org (@OpenSecretsDC) July 23, 2020

Harrison’s campaign has raised $28.6 million as of the end of June, making his campaign the third-most successful in terms of fundraising, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

If Harrison were to win Graham’s seat, it could bring the total number of Democratic senators closer to Republicans. The Republicans are leading with 53 seats to the Democrats’ 47 seats, including two independents who caucus with the Democrats, CNBC reported.

As of now, a Quinnipiac poll states Harrison and Graham are tied at about 44%, according to Black Enterprise. Graham believes Harrison’s momentum is due to “skewed polls and millions of liberal dollars from California.”

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