The Project 2025 Architect Just Dropped Out and Threw Every Vote He Had at Stopping Lindsey Graham

Lindsey Graham bragged to the Wall Street Journal about playing word games on a golf course to talk Trump into a war with Iran.

Now the man who wrote the Project 2025 America First blueprint just cleared the field to make sure Graham pays for it.

Paul Dans is out – and Mark Lynch just became the last man standing between South Carolina and another six-year term of Lady Graham.

Lindsey Graham Has Survived Every South Carolina Republican Primary Challenge Before

Dans wasn't the first conservative to try this.

In 2014, Graham beat back six Republican primary opponents simultaneously without needing a runoff. In 2020, three more conservatives tried. Graham crushed all of them, then buried Democrat Jaime Harrison by double digits in the most expensive Senate race in American history at the time.

The pattern has been the same every cycle: conservatives despise Graham in theory and then split their vote when it counts, handing him another six years.

Dans saw the math clearly. He had raised just $630,000 for his entire campaign. Graham had more than $19 million in the bank. Staying in wasn't going to beat Graham – it was only going to make sure Lynch couldn't either.

"I did it because we cannot Make America Great Again until Lady Graham is taken out of office," Dans wrote on X. "@MarkLynchSC has the resources to make that happen."

Dans also made clear his exit had nothing to do with Tucker Carlson's endorsement of his campaign – which Trump had mocked as the "kiss of death" in a Truth Social post the same day.

Why Mark Lynch Is the Challenger Who Could Actually Win

Every previous Graham challenger ran on grassroots energy and ran out of money.

Lynch is running on $5 million of his own, with more pledged before June 9. He is a Greenville businessman – owner of the appliance store his father founded more than 70 years ago – and he has been building name recognition in the state since February 2025.

The latest Rasmussen poll, commissioned by the Lynch campaign, showed Graham stuck at 41 percent on an initial ballot – dangerously short of the majority a candidate needs to avoid a runoff. On an informed ballot, after voters learned both candidates' records, Lynch led Graham 34 to 23 percent.

The pollster's assessment was direct: Graham is one of the weakest incumbents he had seen in the entire 2026 cycle.

Lynch's closing argument is straightforward. Graham has spent 30 years in Washington championing foreign wars, working across the aisle with Democrats, and representing Washington's interests over South Carolina's. Roads in the state rank among the worst in the country. Schools lag. And Graham's answer to every problem, Lynch argues, is another conflict somewhere overseas.

Trump's Endorsement Is the Real Wall

Lynch doesn't have an easy path.

Trump endorsed Graham in April and called Lynch a "lunatic" in a Truth Social post, specifically because Lynch backs Thomas Massie – a congressman Trump has sparred with.

In a state where Trump won by 18 points in 2024, that endorsement at one time carried real weight with a primary electorate that took every cue from Mar-a-Lago.

But that may be shifting.

Graham moved fast to amplify every Trump post praising him. He knows the endorsement and oodles neocon money are his shield.

Lynch is betting that South Carolina Republicans will vote their gut over a presidential tweet – that voters who want America First in practice, not just in name, will look at Graham's 30-year career and make the call themselves.

Dans just gave Lynch the best possible chance to find out.

South Carolina Republicans finally have one candidate, one target, and two months to end the career of the senator who spent three decades putting Washington first and calling it service.

Sources:

• Bella Carpentier, "Republican Paul Dans Exits the Senate Race, Endorses Mark Lynch," AOL/WCSC, April 10, 2026.
• NBC News, "Project 2025 Architect Drops GOP Primary Bid Against Sen. Lindsey Graham," April 10, 2026.
• Breitbart News, "Exclusive – South Carolina Poll Shows Lindsey Graham in Trouble as Challenger Mark Lynch Surges," March 20, 2026.
• Washington Examiner, "Trump Endorses Lindsey Graham After Senator's Consistent Backing of Iran War," April 10, 2026.
• SC Daily Gazette, "Upstate GOP Businessman Kicks Off Challenge to Lindsey Graham," February 10, 2025.