While most of the country is focused on the presidential contest in November, at least one group is already spending on South Carolina’s 2026 elections.
U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham still has two years left in his fourth Senate term. On Monday, though, a nonprofit advocacy group launched a statewide advertisement touting the Republican senator’s work backing Donald Trump’s judicial nominees and, more recently, blocking a judge nominated by President Joe Biden.
The 30-second ad, running on cable TV and online platforms, can be viewed as an attempt to ward off challengers from Graham’s right flank.
The six-figure expenditure, first shared with the SC Daily Gazette, comes from Security is Strength, LLC. As a 501(c)(4) nonprofit, it can spend money promoting an issue but is not directly associated with a particular candidate.
The ad starts out by reminding viewers of Graham’s fierce support of Justice Brett Kavanaugh during his 2018 confirmation hearings, followed by the 2020 confirmation of Justice Amy Coney Barrett to the U.S. Supreme Court. It then pivots to a hearing that got far less attention — a magistrate Biden nominated earlier this year to the federal bench in New York.
The Senate Judiciary Committee, on which Graham sits as ranking member, failed to forward Judge Sarah Netburn’s nomination over her handling in 2022 of a transgender inmate’s request to be transferred to a female prison.
The ad isn’t the first time that Security is Strength or its associated, but separate, political action committee (PAC) has backed Graham. Earlier this summer, the nonprofit arm touted Graham’s commitment to Israel in its ongoing war with Hamas following militants’ surprise attack last October.
In 2020, the Security is Strength PAC spent close to $14 million supporting Graham and opposing his Democratic opponent, Jaime Harrison, according to the website Open Secrets. That contest grew to what was, at the time, the most expensive U.S. Senate race ever. It was the only race that the PAC spent money on that year, although it has supported other candidates in other years. After losing that race, Harrison became chairman of the Democratic National Committee at Biden’s recommendation.
“South Carolinians greatly appreciate Sen. Graham’s fight against the radical Biden-Harris liberal agenda,” said Kevin Bishop, a spokesperson for the nonprofit. “When we elect a conservative president who nominates conservative judges, no senator will play a more prominent role getting them confirmed than Lindsey Graham.”
Bishop worked for Graham for 27 years, retiring earlier this year to launch a consulting firm. He also jumped into the race for South Carolina’s 3rd Congressional District, although he failed to make the runoff in a seven-way Republican primary.
Winthrop University political scientist Scott Huffmon said Security is Strength may be trying to head off another crowded GOP contest for Graham.
“This is not meant to ward off a Democratic challenger,” said Huffmon, who also leads the Winthrop Poll.
Graham, who Republicans have blasted in the past as being too willing to compromise with Democrats, has a history of attracting — and besting — GOP challengers. In 2014, he fended off six Republican opponents without needing a runoff. In 2020, he easily defeated three GOP challengers to his right before taking on Harrison.
The one-time presidential candidate, who ended his bid in December 2015 before any votes were cast, has also had a rocky relationship with Trump. When Graham appeared with Trump on stage in Columbia in February, after the former president won South Carolina’s GOP presidential primary, the crowd booed him.
During the Obama administration, Graham got flak from Republicans for voting to confirm the president’s nominees to the nation’s high court: Justice Sonia Sotomayor in 2009 and Justice Elena Kagan in 2010. Explaining his votes at the time, he said, “Elections have consequences.”
The blocked appointment of Netburn featured in the ad marked the first time the Democrat-led Senate Judiciary Committee rejected a Biden judicial nominee since he took office. Republicans, including Graham, objected strongly a past decision in which Netburn approved the transfer of a transgender woman convicted of child sex abuse to a women’s prison.
Sen. Jon Ossoff, a Georgia Democrat, flipped on that vote, joining Republicans to block Netburn.
Huffmon said spending this early isn’t typical.
“Graham has been pretty safe in his seat and, when he has taken risks it has been, you know, long between elections,” Huffmon said. “He’s always found ways to get back in the good graces of the slightly more right wing of the party just before the election.”
One way Graham did that before the 2020 election, Huffmon said, was by defending Kavanaugh.
Graham’s fiery support of Kavanaugh amid Democrats’ questioning about an alleged sexual assault decades earlier was applauded by Republicans as saving the conservative justice’s nomination.
“You’ve got nothing to apologize for,” Graham told Kavanaugh when it became his turn to ask questions. “When you see Sotomayor and Kagan, tell them that Lindsey said hello because I voted for them. … This is the most unethical sham since I’ve been in politics.”
In 2022, however, Graham did not vote for Biden’s nominee: Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson.
Editor’s Note: This article has been updated throughout to reflect that Security is Strength LLC is a 501(c)(4) nonprofit advocacy group that is separate but affiliated with the Security is Strength political action committee.
ABRAHAM KENMORE
