By Paul Dans, the architect behind the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 and a former Trump administration official, declared Monday that he will challenge Sen. Lindsey Graham in South Carolina’s 2026 Republican primary—setting up a battle that could test both the enduring grip of Trump-style populism and the staying power of the GOP establishment.
Dans, who leads the Heritage Foundation’s 2025 Presidential Transition Project, unveiled his candidacy by reposting an Associated Press story with the understated message: “Have some news this morning.” The formal campaign kickoff is slated for Wednesday in Charleston.
Have some news this morning:https://t.co/80rjWMyR65
— Paul Dans (@PaulDansUSA) July 28, 2025
His announcement escalates a growing intra-party fight in South Carolina, where Graham—first elected in 2002—is seeking a fifth term. While Graham has secured the endorsement of President Donald Trump, their relationship remains uneasy. During Trump’s 2024 re-election campaign, he publicly brushed aside Graham’s policy advice, remarking, “Lindsey wouldn’t be elected if I didn’t endorse him,” and added that he didn’t “care what he says.”
Dans framed his challenge as part of a broader conservative insurgency aimed at dismantling what he called the remnants of progressive dominance in Washington. “What we’ve done with Project 2025 is really change the game in terms of closing the door on the progressive era,” he told the Associated Press. He singled out the U.S. Senate as “the headwaters of the swamp,” casting Graham as a symbol of entrenched power.
“The number of Democrat tears shed over Project 2025 would probably cure any drought in this country,” Mr. Dans said. “That said, they were right, they did see it as the existential event to the deep state” in the form of Mr. Trump’s aggressive approach to remaking government, wrote The New York Times.
“I’m an original Trump guy — I date back to the Trump Shuttle,” Mr. Dans said, saying he was an admirer of Mr. Trump from his early days as a rising businessman, which included operating an airline from 1989 to 1992.
After supporting Mr. Trump in his first presidential run, Mr. Dans hoped to land a job in the administration. That opportunity didn’t come until 2019, when he was hired as an adviser in the Housing and Urban Development department; six months later, he jumped to the Office of Personnel Management, the primary human resources agency of the federal government.
His signature achievement during that stint was helping enact Schedule F, a new job classification created in the final weeks of the first Trump administration that made it easier to fire federal employees who previously had civil service protections.
Biden eventually revoked his reform upon taking office.
Dans campaign aims to build momentum from his work on Project 2025—a sweeping 900-page policy blueprint to restructure the federal government—and looks to rally the conservative grassroots and mobilize support from Trump-aligned networks.
Graham’s camp wasted no time firing back. Chris LaCivita, a senior adviser to the senator who previously worked as co-campaign manager for President Trump, blasted Dans as a political opportunist.
“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,” LaCivita said in a statement.
Though Trump has not yet weighed in directly on Dans’ candidacy, the former president’s base remains a key variable. Many of the architects of Project 2025 served in Trump’s administration, even as he himself publicly distanced from the plan during the last election cycle.
With Republicans holding a narrow 53–47 majority in the Senate, the South Carolina primary is poised to become a flashpoint in the broader struggle for the GOP’s ideological future—between institutional loyalty and activist overhaul.
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