Former Graham challenger Jaime Harrison launches political action committee

Jaime Harrison, who attracted a national spotlight in his challenge to Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), will launch a political action committee on Tuesday to target historically Republican areas.

Despite his loss, the Democrat’s candidacy smashed fundraising records, which the organization, Dirt Road PAC, hopes to replicate, according to The Associated Press.

The name of the PAC refers to an anecdote Harrison related during his campaign in which a rural voter who lives on a dirt road said he would continue to feel alienated from politics “until either a Democrat or a Republican paves my road.”

This moment, Harrison told the AP, illustrated “the hardship that so many of us are suffering with across this state.”

The PAC’s first priority, Harrison said, will be the two Senate runoffs in Georgia, where wins by Democratic candidates Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff could result in an even split in the upper chamber. Harrison told the AP he has already raised nearly half a million dollars for Warnock and Ossoff and plans to target Virginia’s 2021 state elections next.

“The days of just swooping in every few years and putting up a candidate, having no grassroots infrastructure and thinking that we’re going to win – that’s just not working,” Harrison told the AP. “I’m going to focus on investing and doing it in a much deeper manner, and going into areas where people have just been forgotten, or been given up on.”

Harrison is also reportedly considering a bid for Democratic National Committee (DNC) chairman, although he said he is currently focusing on boosting other candidates. However, Harrison noted his varied experience within party leadership at both the national and South Carolina level.

“I don’t think there are very many folks that you could find who have probably done all of those things and can step up into the DNC wearing those many hats, and understand the route that we need to take to rebuild our party,” he told the AP.