Paul Dans, the main force behind the polarizing conservative blueprint Project 2025, is planning to challenge South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham in next year’s Republican primary.
Dans told CNN he will formally launch his campaign with a prayer breakfast Wednesday in Charleston.
Graham, a close friend of President Donald Trump’s, is seeking a fifth term and already has the president’s backing. Dans, though, said there is room for a Republican candidate to prove they are more loyal to and aligned with Trump than Graham.
“He’s a 70-year-old childless warmonger and he has no stake in the future of this country,” Dans said. “He is the very reason that MAGA started in the first place, and we only have to look at 2016 when he was a vehement Trump hater. A leopard doesn’t change its spots.”
Dans went on to rebuke Graham for voting to confirm judicial nominees put forth by Barack Obama and Joe Biden during their presidencies and for his past remarks affirming Russia’s attempts to interfere in the 2016 election, signaling some potential future attacks during the primary campaign.
Former South Carolina Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer is also running in the GOP primary against Graham.
A veteran of the first Trump administration, Dans spent the next few years at the Heritage Foundation. There, he spearheaded Project 2025, a right-wing roadmap for the next Republican president put together by more than 100 conservative organizations in the lead up to the 2024 election. It included a 900-page manifesto full of policy prescriptions that provided Democrats with ample fodder to attack Trump during the presidential campaign.
As criticism intensified, Trump distanced himself from Project 2025 and Dans was pushed out of Heritage. However, a CNN review found many of Trump’s early actions as president aligned with Project 2025’s proposals. Dans suggested the blueprint – once seen as a liability for Trump – could demonstrate his MAGA credentials to South Carolina Republican voters.
“I was able to work with thousands of patriots who came together and put in that labor to make the next conservative president hit the ground day one. And that’s what President Trump and his team did,” Dans said. “It’s gratifying to see these ideas preserved and put into action. But to be clear, the battle goes on.”
For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com
