A high-profile conservative says he is running to unseat long-time Sen. Lindsey Graham in next year’s Republican primary.
Paul Dans, the former director of the 2025 Presidential Transition Project known as Project 2025, announced his plans to run against Graham — launching a campaign page and changing his social media bio to say, “Candidate for U.S. Senate to Retire Lindsey Graham once and for all.”
Dans, a former member of the Trump administration and lawyer, boasts conservative policy points like cutting government spending, bringing down the federal debt and fighting federal bureaucracy on his campaign website.
Paul Dans, director of The Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025, speaks at the National Conservative Conference in Washington D.C., Wednesday, July 10, 2024.
He aligns himself with Trump’s ideologies and authored Project 2025, a conservative policy plan laying out a course of action for a Republican presidency.
“For conservatives to have a fighting chance to take on the Administrative State and reform our federal government, the work must start now,” Dans wrote in the Project 2025 forward. “The entirety of this effort is to support the next conservative President, whoever he or she may be.”
He is planning to make a “special announcement” on July 30, at the Old Provost Exchange Dungeon in Charleston.
“As a proven conservative who led Project 2025’s blueprint for reform and served in Trump’s administration, Paul offers a bold, America First vision,” Dans campaign website states.
The race for Graham’s Senate seat is getting crowded with three other candidates declared. Dans’ Republican competitors, so far, are incumbent Graham, former South Carolina Lt. Gov. André Bauer, and businessman Mark Lynch. An official primary date and filing deadline have not been set.
Ralph Norman racks up Republican party endorsements
Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley is putting her support behind U.S. Rep. Ralph Norman’s campaign for governor.
More: Congressman Ralph Norman officially joins the 2026 race for South Carolina governor
Norman (SC-5th District) formally announced his campaign on July 25 before a kickoff event on July 27. He also earned the endorsements of Jim DeMint, a former U.S. Senator from South Carolina, and Mark Meadows, President Donald Trump’s former White House chief of staff.
The congressman notably endorsed Haley for president over Trump and joined her on the campaign trail before she dropped out of the primary race in 2024.
He will compete against Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette, State Sen. Josh Kimbrell and Attorney General Alan Wilson in the Republican primary contest next year.
Bella Carpentier covers the South Carolina legislature, state, and Greenville County politics. Contact her at bcarpentier@gannett.com
This article originally appeared on Greenville News: Project 2025 writer joins South Carolina Senate race to unseat Graham