A former South Carolina business executive who has given more than $10,000 to the campaigns of GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham over the past decade is now backing his Democratic challenger this fall.
The Post and Courier reports Richard Wilkerson, the former chairman and president of Michelin’s South Carolina-based North America operations, said he turned to support Democrat Jaime Harrison after he helped lobby for his company’s behalf in Washington, D.C.
Harrison was a lobbyist from 2009 to 2016 at the now-defunct Podesta Group, where he advocated for Michelin’s legislative priorities, including introductions of more environmentally friendly practices within the company.
Harrison served as the chair of South Carolina’s Democratic Party from 2013 to 2017, being elected as its first black chairman. He is also a counsel and associate chair to the Democratic National Committee.
Wilkerson has a history of donating to candidates across the aisle, but has donated $10,000 to Graham since 2011. When Graham was a brief presidential hopeful in 2015, Wilkerson was a member of the Graham campaign’s state finance committee, which included more than 100 business and community leaders from across South Carolina.
Graham, first elected to the Senate in 2002, is a strong favorite to win. South Carolina has not elected a Democrat to the Senate since 1998, and Graham won his last race in 2014 by 17 percentage points.
Campaign finance records show Graham has raised nearly $17 million between 2019 and 2020. Harrison has brought in nearly $15 million but outraised Graham in the first three months of 2020, setting up the race as potentially competitive.
The nonpartisan Cook Political Report moved the South Carolina race to “likely Republican” where it was once “solid Republican” territory. The report defines a likely race as one that may have the potential to become engaged.
Graham, in his 2016 Republican primary bid, was a strong critic of rival Donald Trump, the party’s eventual nominee. But since Trump became president, Graham has become a staunch legislative ally and vocal defender.
