If you've been following the down-ballot November races, you will have seen that Senator Lindsey Graham, who has held one of South Carolina's Senate seats since 2002, is in very real danger of losing his seat to Democratic challenger Jaime Harrison.
And Graham seems fully shaken about his prospects. Appearing on Fox News today, Graham implored viewers to donate money to his campaign in a tone that can only be described as begging--and the internet has had a field day mocking him for it.
The Senator's groveling appearance had even some of his fellow Republicans mocking him.
Recent polling has Graham and Harrison in a dead heat, 48% to 48%, with just 3% of South Carolina voters undecided. Graham's Senate races have never been so close--or so expensive.
As he told the hosts of Fox News's morning show Fox & Friends:
"My opponent will raise almost $100 million in the state of South Carolina. The most money ever spent in the state on a Senate race was by me in 2014 when I spent $13 million. He raised $6 million from the time Justice Ginsburg passed away, within 72 hours..."
Graham was careful to be respectful about Justice Ginsburg, but nonetheless blamed her death for his decline in the polls.
"...God bless Justice Ginsburg. We're celebrating her life... But I am being killed financially. This money is because they hate my guts."
Indeed, Harrison, along with the campaigns of many other Democratic candidates, raked in extraordinary amounts of donations in the wake of Ginsburg's passing: $91 million dollars in over the course of just a few days.
It's easy to see why Graham is so rattled: He won his 2002, 2008 and 2014 elections by roughly 12, 15 and 10 points, respectively, so it seems like a whole lot more South Carolinians just might "hate his guts" than ever before.
And on Twitter, there was very little sympathy for Graham's plight.
@thekalenallen/Threads
U.S. Mint
