Republican senator Lindsey Graham, of South Carolina, will defeat Democratic candidate Jaime Harrison to retain his Senate seat, bringing to an end one of the most closely watched Senate races of the 2020 cycle.
Graham has been in the Senate since 2003, serving as chair of the Judiciary Committee since 2019. During a brief presidential run in 2016, he was a noted critic of Donald Trump before his election, describing him as a “nutjob” and repeatedly arguing that Trump would be the downfall of the GOP.
But Graham strangely became one of Trump’s most loyal allies in the Senate. He championed Trump, emphasizing his conservative successes, including the nominations of Justices Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court.
Graham relied heavily on his personal relationship with Trump — who won the state by 14 points in 2016 — throughout his campaign, though the president himself did not make an appearance in the state.
