Thread by @MegKinnardAP

NEW: Senate candidate @harrisonjaime announcing this morning that he has raised a record $57 million in the Q3 in his race against @LindseyGrahamSC.

This is the highest quarterly amount raised by a Senate candidate in US history.

Brings his total haul to an unfathomable $86M.

These lines from the Q2 story I wrote back in 2019 continue to stick out:

"Harrison, 43, has said that he thinks it could take $10 million to win the race next year."

"In the first quarter of 2019, (Graham) raised more than $2 million, setting a personal quarterly record."

Needless to say, we've come a long way since the days (last year) when $4.6 million was considered “one of the largest campaign war chests among Republican incumbents in the country.”

I'm also old enough to remember when people were losing their minds because Beto raised $38 million in his Q3.

Harrison has eclipsed that.

Worth noting however - Beto still didn't win.

This will be an interesting experiment for South Carolina.

Just 23 days to go.

Attributing the fundraising success to grassroots support, @harrisonjaime's campaign said the $57 million came in the form of 1.5 million donations from 994,000 donors.

The average contribution was $37.

My story on this record-breaking haul. #SCSen

apnews.com/article/electi…

For those asking "How much of this came from out of state?"

South Carolina has a population of just over 5 million people. Many of those people are children.

The better question in a race like this (on either side) is to ask what small percentage actually came from in-state.

And here's that answer:

For the #SCSen race overall, thus far, (not counting this quarter, because we don't yet know) Harrison's in-state contribution amount is 10% and Graham's is 14%.

In a statement, @LindseyGrahamSC "congratulates" @harrisonjaime adding, "The problem is, there's not enough money in the world to convince (SC) to vote for the radical liberal agenda (of Pelosi, Schumer, Sanders, AOC)

Plugs Barrett hearing tomorrow, calling that "priceless."

UPDATE: I asked @harrisonjaime's campaign how they plan to spend this money. According to campaign manager Zack Carroll, they plan to drain the account, spending "every dollar donated" in digital organizing, communication with Black voters and ads in 7 media markets. 👀