Lindsey Graham is spending big to ward off an ‘America First’ primary challenge

The far right is trying to defeat Sen. Lindsey Graham. He’s burning serious cash to make sure that doesn’t happen. Spending from his campaign and allied outside groups ahead of Tuesday’s primary has already topped $18 million, according to an Ad Impact analysis — an eye-popping sum in the relatively small state, and a sign that Graham is taking seriously the primary challenge from businessman Mark Lynch as he seeks to avoid a runoff election. Graham allies including a pro-cryptocurrency organization, an outside group closely aligned with GOP Senate leadership, and a super PAC that has not yet been required to make its donor list public have combined to dump millions into the race on Graham’s behalf. Lynch has held his own, mostly self-funding his campaign with $5 million of his retirement savings. He is running hard to Graham’s right, setting up a proxy test of whether the “America First” GOP base views President Donald Trump’s recent interventionist turn with some skepticism even as they continue to support the president. Core to his message is an attack on the senator’s long history in Washington, including his past support of amnesty for undocumented immigrants — and his stridently interventionist foreign policy, including his vocal support for Trump’s war in Iran. Lynch’s campaign ads feature clips of Graham from his 2016 presidential bid calling Trump a “bigot” and praising former President Joe Biden. Lynch’s campaign has also attracted the support of some of the president’s most prominent MAGA Republican critics, like former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), who says the GOP has moved away from Trump’s “America First” platform. The few public polls of the primary show Graham either narrowly topping or just under the 50 percent threshold he’d need to avoid a two-week runoff. In addition to Lynch, four other Republicans will appear on the ballot, which could further dilute Graham’s share of the vote. The big spending against a little-known primary opponent has