TINA McDUFFIE: Jaime Harrison is challenging Lindsey Graham for his U.S. Senate seat.

JAIME HARRISON: I pinch myself all the time.

Who would have thought a little kid from Orangeburg would be where I am?

McDUFFIE: It's an uphill battle in South Carolina.

HARRISON (voiceover): I have decided to pull down all our of our public campaign events until further notice.

The attraction of politics to me is an opportunity to really go out and to improve the lives of people.

McDUFFIE: "In the Bubble with Jaime," on Local, U.S.A. ♪ ♪ MAN: You can repeat the question, you know.

For today, I'm really excited about so and so.

HARRISON: Okay.

Hi, I'm Jaime Harrison, and I'm running for the United States Senate, against the world's greatest golf caddy.

No, I'm just kidding.

(laughs) BAILEY (laughing): You're in a punchy mood today.

HARRISON: I am in a punchy mood.

(laughter) BAILEY: Okay, take two.

(laughs) Hi, I'm Jaime Harrison, and I'm running for the United States Senate in South Carolina against Lindsey Graham.

I am right now in a car headed down to my hometown of Orangeburg, South Carolina, for our campaign kickoff.

BAILEY: What's going through your mind as you get ready to officially launch the campaign in your hometown?

Well, it's hot.

(laughs) ♪ ♪ CORY BOOKER: The pathway to tomorrow runs through South Carolina and the leader will be Jaime Harrison.

Thank you!

(cheers and applause) We represent a New South.

A New South that is bold, that's inclusive, that's diverse and powerful.

I am Jaime Harrison.

And I am running for the United States Senate.

(cheers and applause) REPORTER: Jaime Harrison faces an uphill fight.

REPORTER: The latest polling numbers show about a 20 to 23 point edge right now for Lindsey Graham.

HARRISON (voiceover): It is time in this state for the good people of South Carolina to stand up and say, "Enough is enough."

We're gonna do this.

We are going to do this.

REPORTER: Jaime Harrison is gaining ground on Lindsey Graham.

HARRISON (voiceover): I just don't want you to just be here because you're tired of Graham.

I want you to leave happy because you are for Jaime Harrison.

(audience chanting "Jaime") REPORTER: Heightened states of emergency across the nation.

REPORTER: E.R.

doctors saying we are on the verge of a medical disaster.

REPORTER: South Carolina seeing about eight new positive cases of COVID-19 every hour.

HARRISON (voiceover): In light of the coronavirus outbreak, I have decided to pull down all of our public campaign events until further notice.

Okay and then we are going to go here.

Here we go.

Oh yeah, there he is, coming in on the iPad.

All right, we there?

HARRISON: Yup Okay, all right, so yeah, so the audio is a little bit weaker.

HARRISON: One of the things is, we're gonna have to get something to hold this thing up.

♪ ♪ HARRISON: Say "Hello," Charles.

Hi.

Oh, are you being shy?

(voiceover): Since the coronavirus, I primarily take care of the kids.

I mean, that's just the life of a working family, in the midst of COVID.

And then, you add on top of that, I'm the candidate for U.S. Senate.

I've been working out of the basement.

You might hear my little one.

(baby crying) Don't mind all the mess.

As you can see, the Pack n' Play is there.

There's my computer, and Zoom is already up.

My little supplies over here.

Can I hold the microphone now?

HARRISON: Mmm.

(voiceover): The most important thing is staying safe.

Hey folks, Jaime's on.

(voiceover): But it's not the way that I imagined campaigning.

I can barely hear you, Eric.

ERIC (on laptop): Okay, sorry.

HARRISON: Oh, that's better.

But there's still a lot of energy out there, there's still a lot of momentum.

Okay, folks.

So, I am about to do a... ...town hall with Oprah Winfrey.

WINFREY (on laptop): Well, earlier this year, Harrison was down in the polls by 17 points.

Now, the latest polls say that race is neck and neck.

REPORTER: Jaime Harrison raising more money in the third quarter than any other Senate candidate in history, wow.

You're getting so much attention.

You've been endorsed by, you know, President Obama, Joe Biden.

HARRISON (voiceover): I pinch myself all the time.

Who would have thought a little kid from Orangeburg would be where I am?

Right, buddy?

- Hm.

HARRISON (voiceover): I was the son of a teen mom.

I was raised by my grandparents who didn't have much money, didn't have much education.

PATRICIA STEWART (voiceover): I was 16 when Jaime was born.

I was still a kid, you know?

HARRISON (voiceover): One of the stories that really still lives with me, took place when I was in middle school.

One of the joys for kids is get ready for new school year; the new backpack, the nice clean sneakers.

But my mom was in-between jobs.

And she told me, she said, "You know, Jaime, I'm not going to be able to get your school clothes now."

I was disappointed, and I went to school, and I remember one of the kids coming up to me and saying, "Hey, Jaime, are those your new school clothes?"

Well, I remember afterwards, just going into the bathroom and crying.

That whole situation was tough.

It was really tough.

♪ ♪ When I was 12 years old, I remember watching the 1988 Democratic Convention.

Jesse Jackson spoke.

Keep on dreaming, young America.

Dream of peace.

When we form a great quilt of unity and common ground, we'll have the power to bring hope to our nation.

HARRISON: Here's this man, from Greenville, South Carolina, talking about hope and how young people could take charge of their lives and really change this nation.

And I was inspired by that.

I left to go to college, I went to Washington, D.C. and worked on the Hill, but the itch of getting involved in politics back home was always there.

(people chattering) (thermometer beeps) - Can you step forward?

Roll camera, tail slate.

WOMAN: Camera speeds, tail slate.

STEWART: A couple of years ago, Jaime said, "Mom, I'm thinking about running for Senator."

He said, "Mom, I just want to help people.

I just want to make sure everybody okay."

Where we go across the state of South Carolina... HARRISON (voiceover): The attraction of politics to me is, an opportunity to really go out and to improve the lives of people.

South Carolina is my home, I love it.

But, when you look at South Carolina, she is at the top of all of the bad lists and at the bottom of all the good lists.

And part of that is that persistence poverty.

You know, it is where you see the greatest disparities in health and healthcare issues.

It's where you see the schools that are falling apart.

MAN: Good for sound.

HARRISON: I hope that our campaign can help folks understand that it's just about having someone who can fight for you, your family, and your community.

I approve this message, because this election's not a choice between left and right, it's between right and wrong.

BRE MAXWELL: The political operation of the campaign all goes down over here.

(door beeps) We're just rocking and rolling.

We are working through COVID.

Right here is where our scheduler used to sit when we were in the office.

This is where I sit, hence the picture of me and Joe Biden.

I am Bre Maxwell.

I am from Laurens, South Carolina.

I have known Jaime since 2013, and he's been my mentor ever since.

This is the package that you need to deliver to the people in Greenville.

- Good to go.

- All right, thank you.

I am the liaison with all of the constituency groups, elected officials across the state.

I've attended events as a surrogate.

So, all that in one, is a lot.

- How're you doing?

- Good, good to see you.

I was livid that we had to stop doing everything in person.

I was like, "Y'all, we have not even did what we need to do on this campaign yet."

And so I've been, still out and about.

Everything that we have done on this campaign no South Carolina Dem has done, or you haven't seen in a while.

All the billboards, the TV, even gas pumps.

We're on gas station pumps.

Who has done that?

♪ ♪ Jaime deserves this position, and whatever I need to do to make sure that he gets it, I'll do it.

We have to learn to work with COVID.

(indistinct chatter) JOSEPH BUSTOS: What's the turnout operation?

Are you going to be doing more in-person campaigning?

Are you going to let your campaign go door-to-door?

HARRISON: We have the best turnout operation... BUSTOS (voiceover): I'm Joseph Bustos.

I'm a reporter with The State newspaper here in Columbia, South Carolina.

COVID definitely has changed the way people have campaigned.

(thermometer beeps) South Carolina has been hovering around that 12% positive.

It is scary going up to talk to people.

♪ ♪ Democrats have been more reluctant to do in-person campaigning because of the pandemic.

Hi folks, this is Jaime Harrison.

BUSTOS (voiceover): Jaime Harrison has been relying heavily on television and digital advertising to get his message out.

AUDIENCE: Lindsey Graham is the man.

BUSTOS (voiceover): Lindsey Graham is still holding events.

(audience cheering) (audience chanting "six more years") (audience cheering) The question for all of us: what will America look like after the virus?

Will it be socialist?

Will the court be liberal?

Will it be conservative?

That's what's on the ballot here, right?

(audience cheering) HARRISON (voiceover): Lindsey Graham is my opponent in this race for the United States Senate.

BUSTOS: Lindsey Graham is someone who has been in politics for a long time.

He was first elected to the South Carolina State House of Representatives in 1993.

Two years later, he was elected to Congress.

He is the Judiciary Committee chairman, so he is in the middle of the Amy Coney Barrett hearings.

This is the first time in American history that we've nominated a woman who is unashamedly pro-life.

And before that, he was a staunch defender of Brett Kavanaugh.

GRAHAM: If you wanted an FBI investigation, you could have come to us.

BUSTOS: South Carolinians like him because he's been talking about his conservative values.

- He's a Republican, and he has South Carolina's values, and he cares about the people of South Carolina.

- We don't need higher taxes, we need lower taxes.

We don't need someone to pack the court.

- (off-screen): What do you think of Jaime Harrison?

- I think he's running a great campaign in South Carolina.

I just don't think South Carolina is liberal enough for him.

♪ ♪ BUSTOS (voiceover): A year ago, I was expecting this to be a pretty easy Republican win.

(on video): I think the last time a Democrat won statewide in South Carolina was 2006.

HARRISON: I always knew we had a shot.

But when you have a "D" behind your name, your race becomes the primary issue.

♪ ♪ We don't do registration by party here in South Carolina.

But, what you can find is, a registration by race.

Nine out of ten African Americans are going to be Democrats; and then maybe six, six and-a-half out of ten, White South Carolinians are going to be Republican.

And it's the reality of the situation.

The legacy of slavery, the legacy of Jim Crow, are still very present in the state.

Thank you, man.

BUSTOS: With Harrison being an African American candidate, he is trying to get as much support from the African American community.

HARRISON: We also have to have a cross appeal, at least a third of White voters we have to get to pull over in order to vote for us.

I'm running not just to be the Black Senator from South Carolina.

I'm running to be a Senator of South Carolina.

So, that means, helping to take care of constituents across the board.

GRAHAM: No, do I believe that South Carolina is a racist state?

No.

If you're a young African American, an immigrant, you can go anywhere in this state.

You just need to be conservative not liberal.

HARRISON: It's about this Old South, that that's what I want to get rid of.

BUSTOS (voiceover): In order for Harrison to pull off the election, he needs people to think twice about Lindsey Graham.

Is it possible?

Yes.

Is it probable?

A lot needs to go right for Harrison on election night.

♪ ♪ MAXWELL: Well, apparently, we just found out that The State paper is endorsing.

"Should Jaime Harrison replace Lindsey Graham?"

Here's The State's recommendation.

Yes!

"His name is Jaime Harrison, "and South Carolinians should elect him on November the 3rd."

HARRISON (on laptop): This is a really, really big win, and it's the oldest newspaper in South Carolina, so, really is a big, big, big plus for us.

- (on laptop): As folks have seen from my panic memos, Mitch McConnell's super PAC is dumping in what we think is about $8 million in the final week of the campaign, which is unprecedented.

Bre, why don't you jump in and give us an update on what you're working on.

So, today is full-blown Common.

♪ ♪ BUSTOS (voiceover): In the last week, it's definitely revved up.

Jaime Harrison has started to hold in-person campaign events.

HARRISON (voiceover): Because this thing is so close, we felt that we had to go out in-person to let folks know that we're really fighting for them.

♪ ♪ Here at Toliver's Mane Event, Columbia, South Carolina, we're awaiting our special guest.

BUSTOS: There's a lot of media right now.

I think Senator Graham called this a "mini presidential election."

And it's been feeling like that for a while now.

I always knew that this race would be a particularly hot race.

But I never knew to the extent that it has gotten on national radar.

And so we've tried to take advantage of that.

REPORTER: Charlamagne tha God and Common join Harrison as they stop by a barbershop in Allen University.

The South Carolina Democratic Candidate for U.S. Senate, Jaime Harrison, welcome Jaime.

COLBERT: Congratulations, already for how you've proven the possibility of this.

HARRISON: Morning, everybody.

I'm actually pinching myself, for a little round headed guy from Orangeburg, South Carolina to be here with a musical legend like Common is amazing.

First of all, I'm very honored to be here with you.

I'm grateful to be here in South Carolina.

HARRISON (voiceover): We've raised $130 million on this race.

Nobody has ever raised that ever in the history of this nation.

And we did it because of donors from across the country.

From my observation, Jaime, you know, you're a legend in the making.

HARRISON: Thank you, thank you.

(audience applauding) JAMIE: The Senate is set to vote tonight on Amy Coney Barrett's confirmation.

If you were in the Senate today, how would you vote?

HARRISON: Jamie, you asked me this question last week.

JAMIE: I did.

HARRISON: And I still don't have the answers to the questions that I have from Judge Barrett.

I have said this countless times, and I'll say it one more time.

I'm tired of Lindsey Graham.

I wish he would have put the urgency that he has in terms of rushing this nomination through, I wish he would have put an ounce of that urgency into passing another COVID relief bill.

He can continue telling his fairy tales.

But he only has 'til November 3rd until that game will be done.

With that, thank you everybody!

Go vote!

One second, one second folks.

Come on, let's do some social distancing so everybody can, uh.

BUSTOS: Jaime continues to, to not to answer the question about how he would vote on, on Amy Coney Barrett.

Harrison has been trying to walk a fine line of not angering voters in South Carolina who like a conservative judge, and not angering donors from outside the state.

HARRISON (voiceover): Politics have become so racially polarized that it's almost like hand in glove.

(horns honking) We know that African Americans in South Carolina are going to be Democrats, and most White South Carolinians are going to be Republican.

And that's kind of sad.

I hope that our campaign can help move people from that.

And we're doing our very best, and reaching out to all communities to do just that.

(music playing) - How many signs do you need?

- Two would be good.

- Two?

- Awesome, thank you so much.

- Of course.

(horns honking) HARRISON: My friends, it is so nice to be in Anderson County.

(horns honking) What we are seeing here is the closing the book of the Old South, which Lindsey Graham is a relic of, and the writing the book called the New South.

A New South that is bold.

A New South that is inclusive.

A New South that is diverse.

A New South where all of our voices are heard and valued.

(horns honking) MAXWELL (voiceover): I know we need to appeal to White voters but I have this fear that we're taking the African American community for granted.

We can't just sit here and think that Black voters are going to vote for you because you're a Democrat and because you're Black.

REPORTER: Can you reiterate what you were saying to the people of Belton about your commitment to their issues.

HARRISON: You have my commitment that when I go to the United States Senate, I even have a plan, called my "Rural Hope Agenda," which is a five-part plan to rebuild and revitalize rural communities across South Carolina.

Lindsey doesn't even say rural, because he probably hadn't been in Belton in a long time.

So listen, my commitment, you have.

And I'm talking directly to you.

Looking at health care, infrastructure, education, economic opportunity, and it includes a Farmers Bill of Rights.

Thank you, guys.

- Thank you.

I voted, I sent money, I've done everything I can.

HARRISON: Thank you.

Thank you everybody.

Thank y'all!

MAXWELL (voiceover): I am very nervous.

Jaime can't be everywhere all the time, so I've decided to do my own get-out-the-vote strategy.

So, sweet!

(laughter) We are in Celia Saxon community, Columbia, South Carolina, African American community.

And right here, what we're having is another All In event for the South Carolina Democratic Party and also Jaime Harrison campaign.

(audience clapping) MAXWELL: Good evening, everyone.

How are y'all doing?

(audience cheers) So, as Dieska said, I am Bre Maxwell, and I am here on behalf of Jaime Harrison, who is running for United States Senate against Lying Lindsey Graham.

(voiceover): I am going into these communities all across the state, making sure that they know they are important to us.

South Carolina can flip blue.

And we will do it this year.

(woman cheers) So thank you all.

Let's make sure that we are supporting Jaime.

People can know who I am.

I can know they are.

I can know what they're facing.

(applause) - On behalf of the Democratic Party, thank you!

(cheers and applause) This is from Senator Lindsey Graham posted on Facebook earlier this month featuring a digitally altered image of his opponent, Jaime Harrison, who is Black.

I have to ask why would a political campaign darken a Black opponent's skin tone in an ad?

Let's start with your reaction to this Graham ad.

What did you think when you saw it?

Well, listen, Don, you know, I just sort of-- I sort of expected these type of things to come... (voiceover): When I started, my grandma told me, she said, "Jaime, you know that "they're gonna call you everything but a child of God on this campaign."

And she was right.

They've called me a communist.

They've called me a socialist and Nancy Pelosi's boy or Chuck Schumer's boy.

And all kinds of derogatory things.

People advised me not to talk about race.

But when the Graham campaign darkened my skin, I was forced to make sure that we had that discussion.

GRAHAM: All the help of growing the Republican party... HARRISON (voiceover): It was the classic dog whistle, turning me into the scary Black man.

I felt like I had to push back.

(car horns honking) Are you ready to send Lindsey Graham home?

Lindsey Graham may have darkened my face, but it's Lindsey Graham who the people of South Carolina don't recognize.

Thank you, sir.

Be safe.

We appreciate it.

- Thank you, sir.

LEMON: All right.

♪ ♪ REPORTER: Tonight, there is a major debate going on in the state of South Carolina.

REPORTER: The two candidates going head-to-head one final time before Election Day.

And then what's your recommendation again for the Barrett, the right approach on that?

- (on computer): For the Barrett, I think it's, if you can continue to dodge, I think continue to dodge.

BUSTOS (voiceover): We've got about five minutes according to this clock here at my computer.

GAVIN JACKSON (on TV): Good evening and welcome to the 2020 United States Senate debate.

I'm Gavin Jackson.

- Judicial confirmations have become increasingly partisan over the past few years.

Do you think you should be taking more than just qualifications into consideration when deciding on any judicial nominee?

And if so, what would you look for?

GRAHAM (on TV): Well, I'll answer that real quickly.

I'm not the problem.

You are a liar!

Now, when they tried to destroy Mr. Kavanaugh's life, my opponent, Mr. Harrison, cheered them on.

Mr. Harrison has opposed Kavanaugh, and he won't say how he'd vote on Barrett.

How would you vote on Judge Barrett?

Please tell us.

- Mr. Harrison?

HARRISON: Senator Graham, wasn't Merrick Garland qualified?

You voted for him before.

Why didn't you vote for him again?

You talk about the, the President having the power... - Smart dodge by Harrison.

HARRISON (on TV): You are constantly talking about liberal judges and conservative judges.

Why should they just be fair and impartial?

I thought justice was supposed to be blind, not whether you can see conservatives, but you can't see liberals.

I mean, come on.

GRAHAM: Would you have voted for Judge Barrett or not?

HARRISON: Would you have voted for Judge Garland?

JACKSON: I'm gonna be asking the questions, gentlemen.

Would you vote for Judge Barrett, yes or no?

JACKSON: Thank you, Senator Graham.

This is part of the reason we're in the gridlock that we're in now.

And you say that you are not a part of it, but you are, you're a root cause of it, Senator Graham.

JACKSON: I'm Gavin Jackson.

Good night.

BUSTOS: Well, that was, at the end got very... very contentious.

(chuckles) They're trying to scratch and claw for every, every vote they can get.

HARRISON: Hello, this is Jaime Harrison, and I'm on the bus for our final campaign rally, and we're going to Orangeburg, my hometown.

And guess who we have on the bus with us today, the special guest.

It is... - Me!

HARRISON: It is him!

Who are you?

W-I, W-I-L-L-I-A-M. HARRISON: And what is your role?

To help you on your adventure!

HARRISON: Yes.

I'm excited to share this experience with my best little buddy.

And, yeah, so he, he's coming over here and, um, we're gonna have fun and we're going to talk about hope.

♪ ♪ MAXWELL: This is the last one.

The last hurrah, and this is, I think this will probably the best one.

- What's up, Bre?

MAXWELL: Hey!

(voice-over): A lot more people from Orangeburg, where he's from, you know, that actually know Jaime, so it's gonna be a pretty good event.

And this is the grandmom, Ms. Bookie, right here.

- Bye, Lindsey!

We love you, Jaime!

- There's the mama!

♪ ♪ (car horns honking) - Ladies and gentlemen, the next Senator from the state of South Carolina, Jaime Harrison.

(audience cheering) (car horns honking, cheering) (upbeat music playing) HARRISON: Can you feel it, Orangeburg?

(audience cheers) Can you feel it, Orangeburg?

(audience cheers) If you can feel it, then blow those horns, Orangeburg.

(car horns honking) Let me hear it.

Let Lindsey Graham hear it.

Oh my, oh my, oh my.

William, you can have a seat over there, buddy.

(police siren whoops) Uh... - (through bullhorn): Jaime Harrison, what is your Black agenda?

Uh, my, my, my Black agenda is all these Black people who are out here right now, sir.

Can you feel it?

AUDIENCE: Yeah!

HARRISON: I am so happy... - (shouting through bullhorn) HARRISON: I am so happy to be here.

- Not at all.

Not at all.

HARRISON: Sir, sir, thank you.

I'm a Black man who grew up poor in South Carolina, sir.

- (man talking through bullhorn) HARRISON: Yes.

Thank you.

Read my Rural Hope Agenda, sir.

Thank you.

- Don't even say the word Black.

(speaking indistinctly) (audience chattering, car horns honking) Hey folks, it's Jaime.

Um, just, uh, got off the stage.

Kinda got off of it a little bit.

We had this, uh, protestor guy.

But you know, it is what it is.

Anyway, we're headed back.

Tomorrow is the day.

It's the election, so we'll see what happens.

♪ ♪ MAXWELL: I'm very, very excited.

On the inside.

Too tired to show it from the outside.

But it's there.

INTERVIEWER: Were you surprised by the heckler last night?

Let's not talk about that.

Well, no, I'll answer it.

Do I think Jaime should have answered his question?

No, not really, because if he felt that way, he should have approached the campaign about it a long time ago.

Do I think there should have been a Black agenda?

Yeah.

We have the Rural Hope Agenda, but that takes care of everybody.

What specifically are you gonna do for the African American community?

I think Black people are proud of him because he's been able to do what a lot of Black and White people have not been able to do here.

But I just think people wish he had visited more Black communities.

- (on laptop): All right, okay everybody.

Thank you.

Welcome to our, gosh, our last all-staff meeting of the campaign.

(exhales) (voice breaking): I just want to say, thank you.

It has not been always easy.

Black kid growing up here in South Carolina.

(sniffs) Not much money.

Folks not having great expectations for you.

(voiceover): The Orangeburg event ended up not being what I wanted it to be.

I was pissed off.

I was generally pissed off.

And I'm still pissed off about it.

Somebody who is probably on your side 90-some-odd percent of the time, uh, and you're gonna go to their rally and you're gonna be disruptive, but yet, you, you wouldn't dare go to a Lindsey Graham rally or a Donald Trump rally doing the same thing.

It just really knocked me off my track.

Being a Black male Democrat in the South is not easy.

It's constantly proving yourself.

Everybody wants you to be everything for them.

And that's the catch-22 that we're in right now in this race.

I'm nervous.

I'm anxious.

Um, I'm very emotional.

Um...

This is some, some heavy stuff.

It's really, really heavy.

And it's even more than just an election.

It's not just about the election.

It's just about life.

MAXWELL: Well, there's the bus.

HARRISON: Hello, hello, hello.

Happy Election Day, everybody.

REPORTER: What would be your first order of business if voters in South Carolina were to send you to the Hill today?

HARRISON: Well, you know, if I had to go to the Hill today, it's to get a COVID relief bill.

And right now, there is nobody that, that knows South Carolina better than I do.

There's nobody that understands the hardships of growing up here, being poor, being poor and Black, being poor and Black and a male.

I know how hard it is.

But it's also, at the same time, I know the flip side of this.

I know what hope is.

REPORTER: Can I just ask, you know, for future statewide potential candidates, if you don't win today, are gonna look at this and say, "We spent $130 million, "and we still couldn't do it.

What is it gonna take?"

HARRISON: Listen, in the end of the day, we have brought attention to South Carolina that South Carolina has never received in an election.

That's a huge win.

Okay, thank you all again.

MAXWELL: Bye, Jaime.

HARRISON: See ya, Bre.

How you feeling?

- I'm great.

(laughing) HARRISON: (laughs) I'll see ya, later.

MAXWELL: See ya.

Bye.

HARRISON: Morning, everybody.

WILLIAM: Dad, are you gonna vote for yourself?

HARRISON: Do you think I should vote for myself?

WILLIAM: Yeah.

HARRISON: Yeah, I think so.

It's all about turnout.

It's which side can turn their votes out.

REPORTER: Are you concerned, in the final days, that the math is just too difficult for you?

HARRISON: I believe, coming into today, I was in the lead.

REPORTER: Do you regret, though, perhaps, not being out there more?

HARRISON: I have no regrets.

REPORTER: Should you have been out there more?

HARRISON: I have no regrets.

Thank y'all for voting.

Hello, hello, thank you for voting today.

- Do you want to say "Hi" to my art history class?

HARRISON: Yes, I'm happy to.

I'm voting for Donald Trump.

(laughing) It was cool seeing Jaime Harrison, though.

I'm hoping when you turn on the TV, everything just lights up red.

Red Nation.

Trump, Graham, all the way.

HARRISON (voiceover): One way or the other, I think it's gonna be a close election.

Thank you, ma'am.

Yes, I voted for you.

HARRISON: Thank you.

You take care of yourself now.

I've, like, the world's worst headache.

♪ ♪ Live here in Columbia, we'll have a live report from the Jaime Harrison watch party coming up.

REPORTER: Polls close in South Carolina at 7:00 tonight.

MAN (over P.A.

system): The polls are closed in South Carolina.

Let's see if we did it.

REPORTER: We're watching the numbers start to roll in.

REPORTER: Lindsey Graham seems to be pulling away, a little bit, at least, from the last numbers that we saw.

REPORTER: We've been out here for the last several hours and that margin between Harrison and Graham continues to get a bit larger.

REPORTER: The Associated Press has called the race.

BRIAN WILLIAMS: Lindsey Graham is headed back to the U.S. Senate from South Carolina.

Jaime Harrison could not do it, could not convert it in the State of South Carolina.

- Thank you.

(chuckles) Yeah.

(audience chanting "six more years") HARRISON: You know, when we started this campaign, people said a Democrat didn't have a chance in this state.

We didn't get the result we wanted today.

But my friends, today is not where our story ends.

(cheers and applause) (inaudible) (cheers and applause) HARRISON: I love you, guys.

(cheers and applause) MAXWELL: I'm not together.

I'm very, very upset.

I just knew that we was gonna have a better outcome.

I just knew it.

You know, it's gonna take some time to get over what just happened, because to me, this was personal.

I put my all, if not more, into this.

I always said we need to put more effort into meeting the voters where they are and being on the ground.

But I will always love Jaime, and I will always be team Jaime forever.

REPORTER: It was a hard-fought campaign.

But in the end, this race just may prove that South Carolina is, indeed, a red state.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ HARRISON (voiceover): I still don't quite believe it.

It still doesn't feel like it's quite true.

The final result was that I lost to Lindsey Graham by ten points.

We were very concerned with COVID, and so we made a decision not to canvas until in the latter part of the campaign.

That may have hurt us.

You know, in the polls, consistently, we were expecting to get 32% to 33% of the White vote.

In the end, we got about 27%.

I think there were some White voters who just lied to the pollsters.

INTERVIEWER: Do you think, looking back, that you were too idealistic?

HARRISON: No, I don't think I was too idealistic.

My campaign wasn't about fear.

It was about bringing people together and our community together.

It's just sad to see that, uh, folks didn't see that.

We still got a long way to go here in this state.

You know, as South Carolina's motto says, "While I breathe, I hope."

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪