Former South Carolina Democratic candidate for Senate Jaime Harrison, who lost to GOP Senator Lindsey Graham in November, will be nominated to lead the Democratic National Committee (DNC) on Thursday, The New York Times reported. Harrison formerly led the South Carolina Democratic Party and raised historic amounts of money during his bid to unseat Graham. Ultimately, he lost to the incumbent Republican by 10 points after spending upwards of $100 million on his bid.
Harrison will lead the party through the opening years of the Biden administration, and will be tasked with overseeing efforts to hold majorities in the 2022 midterm elections. The party as a whole still has to approve Harrison’s nomination formally. The committee's current chairman, Tom Perez, elected to not seek a second term.
Jaime Harrison, the former South Carolina Senate candidate and Democratic Party chair, is Biden's pick to lead the Democratic National Committee, per three people familiar. Confirming news from @llerer and @jmartNYT.
— Jennifer Epstein (@jeneps) January 14, 2021
President-elect Joe Biden plans to name Jaime Harrison to lead the DNC. He became a party star as he shattered fund-raising records in his ultimately unsuccessful race against Senator Lindsey Graham in South Carolina. https://t.co/fgl2oLuwMU
— The New York Times (@nytimes) January 14, 2021
While being floated for DNC chair, Harrison also inserted himself into the pair of runoff elections in Georgia, creating a political action committee (PAC) in support of Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock. Democrats ultimately came out on top in both races, giving President-elect Joe Biden a majority in both chambers of Congress.
