Over nearly 20 years, as Harrison has learned how to run a campaign, Lindsey Graham has been perfecting his political strategy. We need you to knock on doors. Before the pandemic, Harrison’s team had a meticulous strategy built on changing the electoral math. “And hope is here.”. Txt HELP for help, STOP to end. “We need you. He objected. “If he believes partisan politics is his base and that’s what he has to do, then go ahead and do it,” Harrison said. “He’s an unknown,” Drew McKissick, the South Carolina GOP chair, told me. By the end of his senior year, he was introducing Tom Brokaw at commencement. When he first sought Strom Thurmond’s soon-to-be-vacant Senate seat in 2002, then-Congressman Graham explained the potholes that could blow the tires off his candidacy. We shake hands, pack into the back of a blue sedan, and speed south to tour his hometown of Orangeburg. Let me tell you about a man I met who lives on a dirt road. Clyburn had just become the vice chair of the House Democratic Caucus, and wanted someone from South Carolina to join the staff. As Clyburn rose through the ranks of the Democratic Party, so did Harrison. South Carolinians, and any constituents of any state, for that matter, care about local issues: the workers laid off by Boeing in Charleston; the school system in Allendale County, which has been taken over by the state; the hospital that closed in Bamberg County. Graham attacked his first Democratic opponent, Alex Sanders, for opposing the death penalty and supporting abortion rights, and trounced him by 120,000 votes. Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, and Amy Klobuchar lock arms. After a year of teaching, Harrison left Orangeburg for Washington, D.C., to attend Georgetown Law, and to work at a nonprofit that helps low-income students apply to college. In short, he was too willing to compromise. He often advocates policies that conservative and moderate white voters can get behind. When we spoke in early March, Harrison riffed on the work of a senator. The smiles and approving nods signaled that the practiced spiel worked—at least on this crowd. The Trump administration’s bungled response to the coronavirus has helped Harrison’s campaign. Harrison addresses hundreds gathered at the South Carolina state capitol on January 20, 2020 (Courtesy of Jaime Harrison) B ack in January, Harrison took me to his old neighborhood in Orangeburg. That road was a dirt road when Ronald Reagan was president, it was a dirt road when the Bushes were president, it was a dirt road under Bill Clinton and Barack Obama. Jaime rose up from poverty thanks to teachers and mentors who helped guide him to, and through, college. “When you break down the white vote, the black vote, the Democratic vote, the Republican vote, and the independent vote in its current form, Democrats lose by about 150,000,” Don Fowler, the former chair of the Democratic National Committee, told me in January. Jaime R. Harrison (/ ˈ dʒ eɪ m i /; born February 5, 1976) is an American politician and former lobbyist.He served as the chair of the South Carolina Democratic Party from 2013 to 2017 and is an associate chairman of the Democratic National Committee.. Harrison is running against incumbent senator Lindsey Graham for the South Carolina U.S. Senate seat in the 2020 election. “South Carolinians are conservative. He will fight to modernize the state’s sanitation systems and end the lead crisis that is poisoning our children’s water sources. Graham, a Republican, is running against Democrat Jaime Harrison to keep his Senate seat. Yelberton Watkins, Clyburn’s chief of staff, called Harrison in December 2002; in January, the kid with gumption from Orangeburg became director of floor operations, tasked with convincing representatives to toe the party line on votes. Jaime R. Harrison (/ ˈ dʒ eɪ m i /; born February 5, 1976) is an American politician and former lobbyist.He served as the chair of the South Carolina Democratic Party from 2013 to 2017 and is an associate chairman of the Democratic National Committee. Privacy Policy. We drove past the prison that Union General William T. Sherman had used as his headquarters during the Civil War. That was four months ago, when smiles weren’t hidden behind masks. And then the coronavirus arrived. "I was raised on a dirt road in Orangeburg" by a single mother and grandparents, Harrison said during the call. When Clyburn became chair of the House Democratic Caucus, Harrison became his executive director; when Clyburn became the majority whip, Harrison became his floor director. Reverend Aaron McCoy is reading from the Bible—the Book of Isaiah, Chapter 43. About Press Copyright Contact us Creators Advertise Developers Terms Privacy Policy & Safety How YouTube works Test new features He lost the race, but became an associate chair. The eggshell-white paint was chipping from the facade, and I could see bent window screens. The Democrats hoping to win the White House—and one hoping to head to the Senate—sit in the front pews at Zion Baptist Church in Columbia before the MLK Day march. “It’s easy to become cynical—to not speak up and to lose hope. If there was a fracas in the House, it was Harrison’s job to quash it. Submit a letter to the editor or write to letters@theatlantic.com. He was tired of waiting and had completely lost faith that his government would help him. He believes that universal access to affordable broadband must be a cornerstone of an economy built for the next generation of workers.