SC’s Jaime Harrison, NC’s Cal Cunningham join forces in bids to unseat GOP senators
What does a candidate do when he’s setting fundraising records in his party?
In the case of Jaime Harrison — the South Carolina Democrat raking in millions for his bid to unseat U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham — the answer is: start working with another U.S. Senate candidate in a neighboring state, where the race is expected to be a toss up.
Harrison, who has raised more than $7 million in 2019, formed a joint fundraising account in January called the Cunningham Harrison Victory Fund with Cal Cunningham, who is running for the U.S. Senate in North Carolina. The committee has not reported any fundraising yet. Cunningham is hoping to unseat Republican U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis, who was elected in 2014.
Cunningham raised $1.6 million in the final quarter of 2019, for a total of $3.1 million since he joined the race in June of last year.
The victory fund allows Harrison and Cunningham to set up joint fundraisers for their campaigns.
“We are glad to be partnering with Cal Cunningham’s strong campaign in North Carolina to raise the resources together to win the Carolinas in 2020 and get Washington to work for everyday Americans,” said Harrison spokesman Guy King.
As the incumbent, Tillis has a fundraising advantage over Cunningham so far bringing in $7.7 million just through in the end of September of 2019.
According to the University of Virginia’s Center on Politics, the North Carolina race is expected to be a tossup this fall, so every dollar raised will be pivotal in helping the eventual nominees get their messages out.
The Center for Politics rates the South Carolina race as a safe Republican seat.
“There’s a certain perception if you’re someone who’s looking to donate to a Democratic candidate for the Senate, you should look at a race like a North Carolina or Arizona,” said J. Miles Coleman, an associate editor of Sabato’s Crystal Ball at the University of Virginia Center for Politics.
For Harrison, “he may be able to help a colleague who’s in a somewhat of a closer race than he is,” Coleman said.
Tillis’ 2014 election was pricey — the entire race cost $124 million — and the race in 2020 is expected to cost tens of millions of dollars, too, at least $74 million, according to the Center of Politics.
And the 2020 presidential race in the swing state and the NC gubernatorial race are expected to be expensive as well and compete for contributions and media coverage, Coleman said.
Joint fundraising accounts allow multiple candidates or groups hold fundraisers together as a convenience for donors who want to contribute to multiple candidates. A donor would be able to write one large check, rather than several smaller checks.
Candidates would be able to split the contributions that come into the fundraising accounts, but it still wouldn’t allow people to contribute more than the per contributor limits of $2,800 for the primary election and $2,800 for the general election.
So if donors have given the maximum amount to one candidate, and then contribute to a joint fundraising account, all the money would go to the other candidate.
The fundraising race in the South Carolina campaign also has been intense.
Even though Harrison has raised money better than any other Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate in the state, he still trails Graham, a nationally well known figure who has been breaking his own fundraising records and has $10.3 million cash on hand. So working with Cunningham may also give Harrison an additional boost that would be needed to go toe-to-toe with Graham, a Seneca Republican who has held his Senate seat since 2003.
“I think they can mutually benefit from one another. They are sister states. They are geographically proximate,” said Jordan Ragusa, a political science professor at the College of Charleston. “I think voters in South Carolina will probably be aware of the race in North Carolina and vice versa. It’s a simple strategy to raise as much money in pretty important high profile races,” Ragusa added.
Harrison is going to need a sizeable war chest to compete on a level playing field with Lindsey Graham.
For Graham’s reelection in 2014, his campaign spent $11.4 million and his Democratic opponent Brad Hutto spent $522,000.
Harrison and Graham have raised a combined $24 million so far, with the election still months away.
Coleman said the race is shaping up to make history.
“It wouldn’t be surprising if the Senate race there turns out to be the most expensive in state history,” he said.
Note: This story has been corrected to include the most up-to-date reported fundraising numbers for Graham and Harrison.
This story was originally published January 28, 2020 at 1:38 PM with the headline "SC’s Jaime Harrison, NC’s Cal Cunningham join forces in bids to unseat GOP senators."
