OpenSecrets

Sen. Lindsey Graham's death on July 11 is already reshaping the political map in South Carolina.

His passing triggers a rapid special primary election, reopening a race that was already decided in the June 9 primary. It also raises immediate questions about the fate of his campaign operation, one of the most formidable fundraising machines in the GOP.

Per FEC filings, Graham raised $20.9 million since his last Senate campaign, including $6.2 million since January 2025, with $4.2 million cash on hand. Whoever wins the nomination fight now faces a compressed sprint to Nov. 3 against Annie Andrews (D), without the infrastructure Graham spent three decades building.

Read more:

Lindsey Graham’s death halts his massive money machine - OpenSecrets News Sen. Lindsey Graham's death created a political vacuum in South Carolina and froze a multimillion-dollar campaign infrastructure.

July 15 is the FEC's Q2 filing deadline. Every House and Senate campaign has to report fundraising and spending from April through June.

This will give us a real read on where candidates stand financially before the traditional post-Labor Day sprint begins.

Follow along for our analysis.

🏛️ The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 in NRSC v. FEC, striking down limits on how much political parties can spend in coordination with candidates for Congress and the presidency.

Previously, national party committees faced coordinated spending caps: $65,300 to $130,600 for House candidates depending on state size, $130,600 to roughly $4.1 million for Senate, and up to $32 million for a presidential candidate. Parties could raise unlimited sums through joint fundraising committees (JFCs), but were restricted in how directly they could work with candidates on spending decisions.

Those limits are now gone.

FEC filings will take months to show the practical effects. How parties and JFCs use this authority will be a storyline to track through the midterms.

Read the latest:

One court ruling could ‘supercharge’ joint fundraising committees - OpenSecrets News A recent ruling raised the stakes for joint fundraising committees: Parties may now fully coordinate with candidates on how to spend money.