Democratic super PAC launches $6.5M ad campaign against Graham

Senate Majority PAC, a super PAC devoted to flipping the Senate majority to the Democrats, will spend $6.5 million on behalf of Jaime Harrison, the Democratic challenger to Sen. Lindsay Graham (R-S.C.).

The ads will begin airing this week, the PAC’s first foray into the Palmetto State this election cycle. The buy includes $5 million in TV advertising and $1.5 million in digital ads. The 30-second TV ad slams Graham on prescription drug pricing, claiming he “stands in the way” of reducing them.

The spot contrasts Graham’s record with President Trump’s anti-establishment rhetoric, with a narrator saying, “If we want to lower drug prices, we need to clean out the swamp.”

“There’s a reason Lindsey Graham is hitting the panic button and begging for donations on cable news: He’s vulnerable and he knows it,” J.B. Poersch, the super PAC’s president, said in a statement. “Jaime Harrison has put this seat in play by running a strong campaign and earning the trust of South Carolinians who are ready for change. After 25 years in Congress, Graham personifies the worst of the Washington swamp by pocketing millions from special interests and voting their way.”

Graham’s vocal support for Trump has made him one of the top Senate targets for Democrats this cycle. Recent polling shows him in a statistical tie with Harrison, running substantially behind the president in the state. CBS News-YouGov polling released Sunday showed Graham at 45 percent to Harrison’s 44 percent.

In the same poll, 46 percent of likely voters said the Senate Judiciary Committee chairman agrees with the president “too much,” compared to 36 percent who said “about the right amount.”

The South Carolina Republican alluded to Harrison’s fundraising last week, saying on Fox News, “I’m being killed financially. This money is because they hate my guts.”