CHAPIN, S.C. — Former South Carolina Lt. Gov. André Bauer is mounting a GOP primary challenge to Sen. Lindsey Graham, arguing the incumbent isn’t conservative enough to represent the state.
Bauer, a wealthy developer, is a longtime backer of President Donald Trump. His candidacy sets up a midterm grudge match with Graham, a four-term senator whose relationship with Trump has undulated through the years, but who has Trump’s endorsement for reelection.
Bauer has described himself as “a real, America First conservative” intent on representing what he sees as South Carolina conservatives’ true values.
“I think Graham’s been there too long, and he votes like it,” Bauer told The Associated Press Tuesday night. “I’m guaranteed, I’m conservative, and I don’t think he is.”
Republicans dominate South Carolina’s statewide-elected positions, meaning that the most intense political competition takes place in GOP primaries.
Graham has faced previous primary challenges from the right, with opponents accusing him of kowtowing to Democrats on issues from immigration to climate change. But he also hews to Republican priorities on national security; ahead of last month’s U.S. strike on Iranian facilities, Graham called for Trump to “go all-in” in backing Israel and destroying Iran’s nuclear program.
Graham kicked off his reelection campaign in February, and at least one other Republican has also announced a primary challenge.
He has already secured Trump’s endorsement. This week, Graham’s campaign announced that Chris LaCivita, a co-campaign manager of Trump’s 2024 bid, would serve as a senior adviser. On Tuesday, Abby Zilch, spokeswoman for Graham’s campaign, noted that the senator had earned Trump’s “complete and total endorsement,” adding that Bauer “has spent his career chasing titles to feed his ego.”
Bauer said he understood Trump’s need to use Capitol Hill relationships to advance his legislative priorities, like the tax cuts and spending bill that came before the Senate Budget Committee — which Graham chairs — before passing the chamber earlier Tuesday.
“Trump’s got to work and get his bills passed,” Bauer said. “Lindsey’s chairman of a major committee. … I get what you have to do.”
Bauer has backed Trump since before his win in South Carolina’s 2016 GOP primary. At his 2024 campaign’s South Carolina launch event, Trump called Bauer — who served on his state leadership committee — “a friend of mine, somebody that could I think run for almost any office and win.”
Bauer served in the South Carolina legislature before, at 33, he was elected the youngest lieutenant governor in the country in 2002. After two terms, he mounted an unsuccessful 2010 gubernatorial bid, finishing last in a four-way GOP primary ultimately won by Nikki Haley.
Two years later, Bauer ran for Congress, losing a GOP runoff to eventual Rep. Tom Rice in South Carolina’s newly created 7th District.
Asked how much of his own money he would commit, Bauer declined to give a figure, saying he would “put skin in the campaign” and looked forward to returning to the trail.
“I’m going to cover this state like the dew covers Dixie,” Bauer said. “I think you’re going to see a movement.”
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Kinnard can be reached at http://x.com/MegKinnardAP