A key contributor to the Project 2025 policy blueprint for the second Donald Trump administration plans to challenge Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) next year in the Republican primary election.
Paul Dans announced his intentions in an interview with The Post and Courier published on Monday morning.
“We have seen where the swamp is, and the swamp is the United States Senate,” Dans told the paper. “And the top swamp critter is none other than Lindsey Graham.”
Graham has served in the U.S. Senate since 2003 and was an early opponent of Trump’s, infamously saying in 2016 that if Republicans nominated Trump, the party would be destroyed. He has since fashioned himself into a top Trump booster and won the president’s endorsement earlier this year.
Nevertheless, some allies of the president see Graham as insufficiently loyal and questioned Trump’s endorsement. Earlier this year, for instance, Graham criticized the president for pardoning hundreds of violent rioters who stormed the U.S. Capitol in Trump’s name in 2021. Clearly, Dans sees an opening.
Dans served as an adviser to the president in Trump’s first term and then worked for the right-wing Heritage Foundation, where he served as “director” of Project 2025, the controversial playbook that Trump dismissed as a candidate before implementing many of its recommendations as president.
Last summer, Dans stepped down from Heritage as the Trump campaign sought to distance itself from Project 2025. In a statement on its website, Heritage saidDans’ departure “did not involve any issues with his integrity or inappropriate/offensive behavior towards women.”
Graham faces two other Republican primary challengers: Former Lieutenant Gov. Andre Bauer and business owner Mark Lynch.
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