The far right is trying to defeat Sen. Lindsey Graham. He\u2019s burning serious cash to make sure that doesn\u2019t happen.<\/p>\n

Spending from his campaign and allied outside groups ahead of Tuesday\u2019s primary has already topped $18 million, according to an AdImpact analysis \u2014 an eye-popping sum in the relatively small state, and a sign that Graham is taking seriously the primary challenge from businessman Mark Lynch as he seeks to avoid a runoff election.<\/p>\n

Graham allies including a pro-cryptocurrency <\/u><\/a>organization<\/u>, an outside group closely aligned with GOP Senate leadership<\/u><\/a>, and a super PAC<\/u><\/a> that has not yet been required to make its donor list public have combined to dump millions into the race on Graham\u2019s behalf.<\/p>\n

Lynch has held his own, mostly self-funding his campaign<\/u><\/a> with $5 million of his retirement savings. He is running hard to Graham\u2019s right, setting up a proxy test of whether the \u201cAmerica First\u201d GOP base views President Donald Trump\u2019s recent interventionist turn with some skepticism even as they continue to support the president. Core to his message is an attack on the senator\u2019s long history in Washington, including his past support of amnesty for undocumented immigrants \u2014 and his stridently interventionist foreign policy, including his vocal support for Trump\u2019s war in Iran. Lynch\u2019s campaign ads<\/u><\/a> feature clips of Graham from his 2016 presidential bid calling Trump a \u201cbigot\u201d and praising former President Joe Biden.<\/p>\n

Lynch\u2019s campaign has also attracted the support of some of the president\u2019s most prominent MAGA Republican critics, like former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), who says the GOP has moved away from Trump\u2019s \u201cAmerica First\u201d platform.<\/p>\n

The few public polls<\/u><\/a> of the primary show Graham either narrowly topping or just under the 50 percent threshold he\u2019d need to avoid a two-week runoff. In addition to Lynch, four other Republicans<\/u><\/a> will appear on the ballot, which could further dilute Graham\u2019s share of the vote.<\/p>\n

The big spending against a little-known primary opponent has drawn some attention in the closing days of the primary.<\/p>\n

\u201cLindsey is well-funded. You might as well make sure you\u2019ve got all the i’s dotted and all the t’s crossed to make sure that you win without a runoff,\u201d said Tyson Grinstead, chair of the Richland County GOP and a former Graham campaign adviser. \u201cFor Lindsey, I think it’s not outside the norm, especially in Lindsey dollars.\u201d<\/p>\n

The matchup between the longtime senator and the Upstate South Carolina businessman is shaping up to be a test of what \u201cAmerica First\u201d means and who can claim that mantle in the Republican Party: close allies of the president like Graham, or those who are the staunchest adherents to MAGA\u2019s original values, like Lynch.<\/p>\n

Anti-interventionism was a core tenant of Trump\u2019s meteoric rise that helped him squash more hawkish Republicans, including Graham, to win the White House in 2016. But now, more than 100 days into a conflict with Iran, the president has aligned himself with Graham\u2019s hardline approach to foreign policy \u2014 a complete reversal of his perennial campaign promise to keep the U.S. out of foreign wars.<\/p>\n

Trump has backed Graham\u2019s reelection bid, but several anti-interventionist Republicans have come out in support of Lynch in the closing days of the campaign, painting Graham as an avatar of establishment support for U.S. military intervention.<\/p>\n

Greene, a former Trump acolyte<\/u><\/a> who broke with the president over voting to release the Jeffrey Epstein files and the war in Iran, posted a long message<\/u><\/a> supporting Lynch and slamming Graham as an \u201cAmerica Last warmonger.\u201d Joe Kent, who left his Trump administration post<\/u><\/a> in March because of the Iran war, posted a similar endorsement message<\/u><\/a> a few days prior.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll the double dealing, all the lies, all the selling out the country to foreign powers \u2014 now [Graham] faces the humiliation of being forced into a runoff,\u201d Steve Bannon, Trump\u2019s former chief strategist, told Blue Light News.<\/p>\n

Graham is still seen as a heavy favorite to hold the seat. He has been sent back to the Senate three times since he first won in 2002, warding off a primary challenge from the right each time. He\u2019s a fixture of both Palmetto State and national Republican politics, and has successfully rekindled a close alliance with Trump amidst their long-running on-again, off-again relationship.<\/p>\n