Project 2025 architect to run against Graham in GOP bid for SC Senate seat

Project 2025 writer and former Trump official Paul Dans will join a crowded race to oust incumbent Sen. Lindsey Graham in 2026, the Associated Press reported and a Dans campaign official confirmed.

Dans helped write conservative thinktank the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025, a detailed blueprint to downsize the federal government and implement other right-wing priorities.

He joins a GOP primary field of Graham, former South Carolina Lt. Gov. André Bauer and Greenville businessman Mark Lynch. The winner could face Democratic hopefuls Annie Andrews, Kyle Freeman, Catherine Fleming Bruce or Brandon Brown.

Dans credited himself with “transforming Trump’s second term” with Project 2025 in a news release.

“Lindsey Graham has betrayed South Carolina conservatives for the last time,” Dans said in the release.

“While he schemes with the D.C. swamp to send billions overseas and push for endless wars, I’ve been at work to enable President Trump to implement the America First agenda that’s reshaping America into the country we have always dreamed of,” he said in the release.

Chris LaCivita, a senior adviser to Graham’s campaign, in an emailed statement said Dans’ campaign will “end prematurely.”

“After being unceremoniously dumped in 2024 while trying to torpedo Donald Trump’s historic campaign, Paul Dans has parachuted himself into the state of South Carolina in direct opposition to President Trump’s longtime friend and ally in the Senate, Lindsey Graham,” LaCivita said in the statement.

Dans is expected to formally announce his campaign Wednesday in Charleston. He lives in Charleston with his wife, Mary Helen Bowers, and four children.

The lawyer stepped down from his position in the Heritage Foundation about a year ago. He also worked in President Donald Trump’s first administration as the White House liaison at the office of personnel management.

This story was originally published July 28, 2025 at 10:44 AM.