US Politics
Project 2025 architect is taking on Trump stalwart Lindsey Graham, 70, for Senate seat
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.
Read more
Paul Dans, one of the top architects behind Project 2025, is joining the Republican primary to oust South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham — who has held the seat for 22 years.
Joining a crowded primary field, Dans said the Trump administration’s cuts to the federal workforce and federal programs are what he had aimed for when putting together Project 2025. But he noted that there’s “more work to do.”
“What we’ve done with Project 2025 is really change the game in terms of closing the door on the progressive era,” said Dans. ”If you look at where the chokepoint is, it’s the United States Senate. That’s the headwaters of the swamp.”
Dans will formally announce his bid at a campaign event in Charleston on Wednesday. His campaign will launch with a prayer breakfast followed by an event at a historic venue. About Graham, he said, “It’s time to show him the door.”
Trump 2024 co-campaign manager Chris LaCivita, a senior adviser on the Graham campaign, said in a statement that, “After being unceremoniously dumped in 2024 while trying to torpedo Donald Trump’s historic campaign, Paul Dans has parachuted himself into the state of South Carolina in direct opposition to President Trump’s longtime friend and ally in the Senate, Lindsey Graham.”
open image in gallery
Graham, who has been in the Senate since 2003, has previously beaten challengers who have taken him on.
President Donald Trump has already endorsed Graham, and Sen. Tim Scott and the state’s governor, Henry McMaster, are chairing his bid for a fifth term. Graham, 70, also has millions in his campaign account.
With more than a year left until the 2026 midterm elections, former South Carolina Republican Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer and Democrat Dr. Annie Andrews have also announced that they will run for the seat.
During Trump’s first term, Dans worked in the White House as the liaison to the Office of Personnel Management. He said he expects to garner the support of Project 2025 allies and Trump supporters who have grown tired of Graham.
Following Trump’s departure from the White House, Dans joined the Heritage Foundation, where he organized Project 2025. The nearly 1,000-page plan for a new Republican administration includes chapters authored by several conservatives and argues for dismantling the federal government and reducing its workforce.
“To be clear, I believe that there is a ‘deep state’ out there, and I’m the single one who stepped forward at the end of the first term of Trump and really started to drain the swamp,” said Dans, adding that he put together large parts of the tome at his Charleston kitchen table.
open image in gallery
Dans said one of the goals was to “deconstruct the administrative state,” which he argued the Trump administration has been doing, noting former Trump adviser Elon Musk’s leadership at the Department of Government Efficiency, which took the lead in shutting down the United States Agency for International Development.
As Project 2025 came under scrutiny in July last year, Dans departed from the Heritage Foundation. The plan gained notoriety last summer as Democrats highlighted the proposals as a warning of what would be forthcoming if Trump were allowed to return to the White House.
Trump, then a presidential candidate and former president, put some distance between himself and Project 2025, claiming that it wasn’t connected to his “Agenda 47.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report
