Paul Dans, one of the top architects behind Project 2025, is joining the Republican primary to oust South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham — who has held the seat for 22 years.
Joining a crowded primary field, Dans said the Trump administration’s cuts to the federal workforce and federal programs are what he had aimed for when putting together Project 2025. But he noted that there’s “more work to do.”
“What we’ve done with Project 2025 is really change the game in terms of closing the door on the progressive era,” said Dans. ”If you look at where the chokepoint is, it’s the United States Senate. That’s the headwaters of the swamp.”
Dans will formally announce his bid at a campaign event in Charleston on Wednesday. His campaign will launch with a prayer breakfast followed by an event at a historic venue. About Graham, he said, “It’s time to show him the door.”
Trump 2024 co-campaign manager Chris LaCivita, a senior adviser on the Graham campaign, said in a statement that, “After being unceremoniously dumped in 2024 while trying to torpedo Donald Trump’s historic campaign, Paul Dans has parachuted himself into the state of South Carolina in direct opposition to President Trump’s longtime friend and ally in the Senate, Lindsey Graham.”
Graham, who has been in the Senate since 2003, has previously beaten challengers who have taken him on.
President Donald Trump has already endorsed Graham, and Sen. Tim Scott and the state’s governor, Henry McMaster, are chairing his bid for a fifth term. Graham, 70, also has millions in his campaign account.
With more than a year left until the 2026 midterm elections, former South Carolina Republican Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer and Democrat Dr. Annie Andrews have also announced that they will run for the seat.
During Trump’s first term, Dans worked in the White House as the liaison to the Office of Personnel Management. He said he expects to garner the support of Project 2025 allies and Trump supporters who have grown tired of Graham.
Following Trump’s departure from the White House, Dans joined the Heritage Foundation, where he organized Project 2025. The nearly 1,000-page plan for a new Republican administration includes chapters authored by several conservatives and argues for dismantling the federal government and reducing its workforce.
“To be clear, I believe that there is a ‘deep state’ out there, and I’m the single one who stepped forward at the end of the first term of Trump and really started to drain the swamp,” said Dans, adding that he put together large parts of the tome at his Charleston kitchen table.
Dans said one of the goals was to “deconstruct the administrative state,” which he argued the Trump administration has been doing, noting former Trump adviser Elon Musk’s leadership at the Department of Government Efficiency, which took the lead in shutting down the United States Agency for International Development.
As Project 2025 came under scrutiny in July last year, Dans departed from the Heritage Foundation. The plan gained notoriety last summer as Democrats highlighted the proposals as a warning of what would be forthcoming if Trump were allowed to return to the White House.
Trump, then a presidential candidate and former president, put some distance between himself and Project 2025, claiming that it wasn’t connected to his “Agenda 47.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report
Despite Trump endorsement, Lindsey Graham faces daunting challenge to reclaim his Senate seat
Former Project 2025 leader accuses Trump campaign advisers of ‘malpractice’
Trump called Project 2025 author a ‘right-wing a******,’ RFK Jr claims
Trump wants Murdoch deposed quickly in Epstein birthday letter defamation case: Live
Between Trump-Epstein and redistricting, Democrats finally figured out how to fight
Chaos over Alina Habba’s status at NJ attorney’s office even has defendants confused
