Sen. Graham Donating $1 Million to Georgia Republicans in Runoff Races

Sen. Graham Donating $1 Million to Georgia Republicans in Runoff Races
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) speaks during a press conference at the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Dec. 20, 2018. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)
Bill Pan
11/12/2020
Updated:
11/12/2020

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said Nov. 12 that he’s donating $1 million to help Georgia’s two Republican senators retain their seats in the upcoming runoff elections that will decide which party has the majority in the Senate.

“I’m going to donate a million dollars to Senators Loeffler and Perdue from my campaign to make sure they have the resources to combat a tsunami of liberal money about to sink Georgia,” Graham said in an interview on “Fox and Friends.”

Georgia’s two Senate seats were sent into runoffs after no candidates reached the 50 percent of the vote needed to win. The Republican incumbents, Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue, will face off again with their Democrat challengers, the Rev. Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff, respectively, on Jan. 5, 2021.

With Republicans in both Alaska and North Carolina winning reelection this week, the GOP currently holds a 50–48 seat advantage in the Senate; 51 seats are needed for majority control of the chamber.

“The Democrats outspent us in 2020, probably three to one,” Graham said, adding that Republicans would be “in trouble” if they can’t combat ActBlue, the Democratic fundraising platform that has collected a record-breaking $1.5 billion from July through September. The Republican counterpart, known as “WinRed,” raised $1 billion over the course of the 2020 election cycle.

“We’ve got to get better. I’ve got 2 million donors. I’m going to ask my donors to help Georgia,” he said. “I would encourage every other Republican just don’t go to Georgia, give to Georgia.”

Graham laid out a picture of what would happen if Democrats controlled the Senate next year.

“There would be 13 people on the Supreme Court, because they need to expand it to make it liberal,” he said. “The Electoral College would be changed so that New York and California pick the president.”

Graham added that if Republicans retain their control of the Senate, he'll be the budget chairman; if Democrats take over, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) might claim the role.

“What we’re trying to do is stop the most radical agenda in the history of American politics from being enacted, and Georgia stands in the way of socialism in America,” he said.

Earlier this week, Andrew Yang, a former candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination, said he’s moving to Georgia to help Democrats in the runoffs and urged his 1.7 million followers to do the same.

“This is our only chance to clear Mitch out of the way and help Joe and Kamala get things done in the next 4 years,” Yang wrote on Twitter. “More details to come but let’s go!!!”