In the days after Darline Graham was sworn into her late brother’s Senate seat, a parade of chief executives, lobbyists and other prominent Republican donors contributed thousands of dollars each to her campaign for a full term in the Senate.
Some opened their pocketbooks a little too wide.
Graham’s nascent Senate campaign received more than $24,000 worth of contributions over the legal limit in the course of a single week, according to a letter the Federal Election Commission sent the campaign on Monday.
The list of flagged donors is an eminent who’s who of powerful business and political figures. There’s Charles R. Schwab, the chair and founder of brokerage giant Charles Schwab; David H. Wilkins, the former U.S. ambassador to Canada and former speaker of the South Carolina House; and Ziad S. Ojakli, the head of public policy at TikTok.
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The FEC also flagged donations from the leaders of Blackstone, AmTrust, Micco Corporation, Westrock Capital Partners, The Daschle Group, Newtek Business Services and NRx Defense Systems. Sen. Lisa Murkowski’s Denali Leadership PAC also donated $5,000 over the legal limit, according to the FEC.
Individual donors may give a federal-level political candidate up to $3,500 per election, including primaries, runoffs and general election campaigns, according to FEC rules.
Graham’s campaign materialized quickly after her brother, Sen. Lindsey Graham, died suddenly on July 11. She was sworn in to his seat three days later and declared her candidacy on July 23 for a full six-year term. The donations flagged by regulators all occurred between July 29 and Aug. 5.
The campaign, which did not immediately return a request for comment, now must refund or redesignate the excess funds — roughly 10% of her cash on hand, which stood at more than $251,000 as of Aug. 5.
The Senate race is headed for an Aug. 25 runoff between Graham and Rep. Ralph Norman, whose month-old Senate campaign hasn’t received any similar attention from the FEC so far.
The pair of Republican candidates debated on Tuesday, with Graham stumbling over a question about Taiwan’s importance to U.S. interests.
“National security is not my thing,” Graham said. “I’m not a polished politician up here.”
Other high-profile political candidates have also accepted excessive donations that federal law required them to return.
Among them: James Talarico, the Democratic nominee for Senate in Texas, who NOTUS reported must give back more than $1 million.
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