Lindsey Graham opponent Jaime Harrison raises record-breaking $57 million since July, campaign says

Democrat Jaime Harrison announced Sunday that his campaign collected a record-shattering $57 million in contributions from July through September as he seeks to unseat incumbent Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham.

Harrison's haul is the highest quarterly amount raised by a U.S. Senate candidate in American history, according to his campaign. He has now raised a total of $86 million, a state record, in his bid to prevent Graham from winning a fourth term in the Senate.

"This campaign is making history, because we’re focused on restoring hope back to South Carolina," said Harrison's campaign spokesman, Guy King, in an email. "While Lindsey Graham continues playing political games in Washington, Jaime Harrison is remaining laser-focused on the real issues impacting people here — like healthcare, broadband access, and COVID relief for businesses and families. After 25 years in Washington, Lindsey Graham has changed into someone voters no longer recognize, and these resources will be instrumental in our efforts to send Lindsey home in November."

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Graham has yet to respond to his opponent's latest fundraising totals, but he and other South Carolina Republicans have criticized Harrison for collecting money from liberal groups and out-of-state donors.

Graham has until Thursday to report his campaign's fundraising quarterly fundraising numbers. Through June, he raised about $30 million for his reelection campaign, according to the Federal Election Commission.

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According to King's email, Harrison's campaign received 1.5 million contributions averaging $37 from 994,000 donors. His email did not specify how much of the money came from supporters in South Carolina.

The previous quarterly fundraising record belonged to Democrat Beto O’Rourke, who collected more than $38 million in the third quarter of 2018 while challenging U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz in Texas. Cruz narrowly defeated O'Rourke in that election.

Follow Kirk Brown on Twitter @KirkBrown_AIM.

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This article originally appeared on Greenville News: Jaime Harrison: Lindsey Graham opponent raised record $57M since July