Longtime donor drops SC’s Graham for Democratic challenger Harrison in US Senate race
Early in 2019, when Democrat Jaime Harrison was first mulling a challenge to Republican U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, he said there were two things he had to do to be competitive: He had to raise a lot of money, and he had to chip away at Graham’s base of support.
“I know Democrats who have written Lindsey Graham checks. There is a swath of independents who have saved (Graham) from campaigns coming from the right,” Harrison told The State in February of last year, predicting these voters could shift alliances in 2020.
Harrison, a former state party chairman who now holds a leadership position with the Democratic National Committee, has achieved his fundraising goal.
Though Graham still has more money, having raised $22.6 million this election cycle so far, Harrison has raised $15 million since jumping into the race and surpassed Graham in the last fundraising quarter: $7.4 million compared to the $5.6 million Graham raised in the first three months of 2020.
Now, Harrison is claiming support from at least one of Graham’s former, deep-pocketed allies.
Richard Wilkerson, the former chairman and president of Michelin’s North American operations headquartered in Greenville, is publicly switching sides to endorse Harrison for the U.S. Senate after being a reliable Graham donor for years.
A finance committee co-chairman on Graham’s short-lived 2016 presidential campaign, Wilkerson quietly made a $500 donation to Harrison’s campaign at the end of last year, Federal Election Commission records show.
The last contribution Wilkerson made to Graham was $2,700 in 2017. In all, he has given Graham over $20,000 throughout the years in a combination of a contributions to various accounts affiliated with the lawmaker — to boost his reelection campaign, his presidential bid and his political action committee.
“This campaign is not about Democrat versus Republican, it is about right versus wrong,” Guy King, Harrison’s spokesman, said in a statement to The State. “The people of South Carolina deserve leadership that will put them first instead of someone who plays Washington political games. We want everyone across the Palmetto State to join our movement to restore hope to millions of South Carolinians statewide.”
In an interview with the (Charleston) Post and Courier, which first reported the news Tuesday, Wilkerson attributed his shift in allegiances — the first public defection in this particular contest of the campaign season — to his familiarity with Harrison during the candidate’s time as a lobbyist with the now-defunct Podesta Group, which represented Michelin’s interests.
Wilkerson did not suggest that his crossover was because he was disenchanted with Graham and his actions.
Graham’s campaign declined to comment Tuesday, and Wilkerson could not immediately be reached by The State for an interview.
Though Graham has traditionally been seen as a bipartisan dealmaker whom Democrats and centrists could support alongside establishment conservatives, his transformation in recent years from President Donald Trump’s harshest critic to his most loyal defender in Congress has alienated Democrats and “Never Trump” Republicans. These are the voters Harrison is hoping to attract now.
Wilkerson also has a history of giving money to Democrats and Republicans, sometimes in the same election cycles, making his endorsement of Harrison less shocking than if he’d never supported a Democrat before in his political life.
Alongside donations to former South Carolina Republican officeholders like U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint and U.S. Rep. Trey Gowdy, FEC records show Wilkerson has written checks for South Carolina Democrats, including U.S. House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn and former U.S. Rep. John Spratt. He also gave to James Smith, South Carolina’s 2018 Democratic gubernatorial candidate.
Wilkerson has also aided Democrats in other states, like late-Sen. Kay Hagan of North Carolina and U.S. Rep. John Yarmuth of Kentucky. At the same time, he has given money to another prominent Kentuckian, Republican U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, and the leadership PAC for Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Richard Shelby, R-Ala.
Still, Wilkerson’s defection from Graham’s camp is good news for Harrison, practically speaking and in terms of optics, as the Democratic underdog attempts to overcome steep obstacles to beat the Republican incumbent favored to win reelection in a reliably red state.
It’s also another chance for Harrison to tout how his campaign is bucking expectations. Earlier this month, he generated a slew of news articles with headlines announcing he’d outraised Graham in the year’s first fundraising quarter.
After the chatter, Graham told donors a few days later in a conference call he needed them to up their ante in fundraising efforts going forward, according to a source familiar with the conversation.
Graham proceeded to send out fundraising emails with the subject line “OUTRAISED” and “Guess Who,” the latter taking aim at the majority of Harrison’s campaign contributors being from out-of-state, among them Hollywood entertainers.
“Can you guess who is behind my opponent’s $7.4 million fundraising number?” Graham wrote to supporters in an effort to undermine Harrison’s record haul. “Here’s a hint to this mystery ... it’s not South Carolinians.”
This story was originally published April 28, 2020 at 4:08 PM.
