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by WILL FOLKS
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South Carolina Republican primary voters have been waiting a long time on a credible alternative to U.S. senator Lindsey Graham to step forward. This year? Their cup runneth over.
Two months ago, this author reported on the candidacy of Mark Lynch – a Greer, S.C.-based appliance store owner who was reportedly polling within striking distance of the fiscally liberal, warmongering incumbent. While Lynch is hardly a household name across the Palmetto State, it’s worth recalling Graham received an anemic 67.6% of the GOP primary vote five years ago against a trio of unknown, penniless opponents.
Lynch’s numbers, at the very least, marked yet another turn of the ratchet against Graham – who has been lustily booed by the MAGA faithful at multiple public events.
A month ago, the ante was upped by former S.C. lieutenant governor André Bauer – who formally announced his intention to challenge Graham. As I noted at the time, Bauer was nominated by president Donald Trump in July 2020 to be the U.S. ambassador to Belize. When Trump announced his 2024 reelection bid in South Carolina, Bauer was one of the first Palmetto State politicians to appear alongside him and endorse his candidacy.
Last week, though, the latest (and some contend, the greatest) challenger to Graham announced his entry into the race…
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Paul Dans, a veteran corporate litigator and author of the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025, formally declared his U.S. Senate candidacy on July 30, 2025 – boasting a swamp-draining résumé which includes authorship of the “source code” for destroying Washington D.C.’s deep state.
Dans drew a stark divide between himself and Graham in launching his campaign…
“Graham promises foreign dictators your children’s inheritance,” he said. “He’s a 70-year-old childless warmonger with no stake in this country’s future.”
This week, Dans paid a visit to our studio – sharing his background, his vision for the future of the country and his belief that Graham is beatable (despite the incumbent amassing a nine-figure war chest in the last election and securing the endorsement of Trump in this one).
“This is ultimately a battle for the survival of ‘America First,'” Dans said. “And it’s the consummate swamp critter, Lindsey Graham, versus me – the actual proven swamp drainer.”
According to Dans, his challenge of Graham is “the race of the cycle” nationally.
“I’ve walked the walk,” Dans continued, referring to himself as a “MAGA Rambo.”
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RELATED | ‘SWAMP-DRAINER’ TAKES AIM AT LINDSEY GRAHAM
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In excoriating Graham, Dans decried his fiscal liberalism but also his prior engagement against Trump – referring to him as “the handmaiden” of the Trump-Russia hoax.
“You know, it’s like a Scooby Doo episode at the very end and they’re going to pull the thing off and it’s going to be like Senator Graham, it was you – the Russian hoaxer all along, you know?” Dans said.
“It’s not just World War Three, it’s the profligate spending,” Dans said, referring to the mess Graham and other left-of-center neocons have made of the country. “Look, the kids – the next generation – needs a piece of the rock, and they have leveraged everything to the hilt. The’ve maxed out their credit cards. All of this foreign adventurism is what you pay at the end of the month in your credit card statement. That’s why you have 20% interest rates, because the U.S. borrowing has crowded out that private lending capacity.”
Addressing Trump’s endorsement, Dans noted “a majority of South Carolinians, the likely primary voters, think that the president got it wrong.”
“Remember, the president endorsed Mitch McConnell,” Dans said. “He also endorsed Lindsey before, only two years later to say that he regretted doing it. The president’s fallible. He’s not the pope… what I’m saying is over 50% of South Carolinians say either he got it wrong or it’s not going to effect their vote.”
GOP voters head to the polls on June 9, 2026. If no candidate receives a majority of votes in that election, the top two contenders would face off in a head-to-head runoff election two weeks later. Given that Democrats haven’t won a statewide race since 2006 – or a top-of-the-ticket race since 1998 – whomever prevails in the GOP primary is
To watch our full interview with Dans, click here…
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR…
Will Folks is the founding editor of the news outlet you are currently reading. Prior to founding FITSNews, he served as press secretary to the governor of South Carolina. He lives in the Midlands region of the state with his wife and eight children.
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6 comments
Nothing will create a bigger swamp than Project 2025. It is a blueprint for a corrupt oligarchy. Government of the rich, by the rich, for the rich. But that has been the Republican plan for a long time. The rich are sick and tired of middle-class people taxing them, regulating them so they can’t screw whoever they want, and expecting things like Social Security, Medicare, and some form of security for people who are too old or too infirm to work.
Let’s hope the people of SC, who are some of the poorest and least healthy people in the country, will wake up before they are back to where they were at the beginning of the last century. Poor, dumb, and dying early.
“Project 2025” tells me not to vote for him.
Paul Dans MOVES to SC to run for the US Senate? South Carolina has always been a leader whether overcoming the textile industry to building the technical college system or bringing in the auto and aeronautical industry. We DON’T need a CARPETBAGGER moving in to tell us what we need. Bye, Paul. I am sick and tired of people degrading Graham’s service to his home state. He literally raised his sister while finishing college and law school. Then, he dedicated himself to SC. So, Paul Dan’s thinks moving to a new state and running is a good idea- the home of Strom Thurmond and Fritz Hollings? Right. The other choice is Little Napoleon Lynch. He is like Abnormal Norman. Daddy did it all for him. Jesus, come on people.
Visiting the fizziness “studio” is where losers go to die. RIP to your campaign, Dans. Better luck with your next grift.
Interesting gentleman. These types of interviews help us voters to know as much as we can before making a decision. Thank You.
Yet another right-wing douchebag. And a Yankee to boot.