Incumbent Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) handedly won Tuesday’s primary election as he garnered more than half the primary vote.
Graham is well on his way to his fifth term in the Senate as he squashed five opponents, including businessperson Mark Lynch.
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Lynch went after Graham for his staunch support for the war in Iran and long history in Washington.
Lynch had the support of some of President Donald Trump’s most prominent MAGA Republican critics.
Graham does not have a Democratic opponent in November.
A Democrat has not represented the state in the Senate since 2005 — that is when when longtime Sen. Fritz Hollings did not to seek reelection.
The four-term senator spent big in the final weeks of the campaign to make sure he won, spending over $18 million in television and digital ads. He also touted his record and endorsement from Trump. That spending proved to be decisive in staving off Lynch’s challenge from the right.
Graham’s success is a loss for the strict “America First” wing of the GOP that has criticized the president’s new interventionist foreign policy streak. This includes former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, former Trump White House chief strategist Steve Bannon and former counterterrorism official Joe Kent.
They supported Lynch during the final stretch of the campaign.
