7SEP

SLF opens a $4.06m South Carolina front

3 min read

13:32UTC

The Senate Leadership Fund filed $50.41m of independent spending in seven reports in a week. South Carolina, where it now backs interim Senator Darline Graham Nordone, took $4.06m.

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PoliticsAssessed

Key takeaway

Senate Republicans' main super PAC is now spending to hold South Carolina's Senate seat.

The Senate Leadership Fund (SLF), the Republican-aligned Senate super PAC (political action committee), reported $50.41m of independent spending in seven 24-hour reports filed from 15 to 21 October⁠¹⁠²⁠³⁠⁴⁠⁵⁠⁶⁠⁷. The largest sums went against Sherrod Brown in Ohio ($13.74m), Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan ($8.44m), Troy Jackson in Maine ($7.69m) and Josh Turek in Iowa ($5.90m). Smaller lines targeted Mary Peltola in Alaska, Chris Pappas in New Hampshire and Dan Osborn in Nebraska. Most of that money lands in states where the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) already spends alongside its nominees, so outside Kansas and South Carolina, SLF adds weight to seats the party chose.

In South Carolina, SLF's spending reached $4.06m by 20 October⁠⁸. It ran against Democrat Annie Andrews and, from 19 October, in support of Darline Graham Nordone. She is the interim senator who holds the seat after her brother Lindsey Graham's death, and the Republican nominee. South Carolina was among the races ratings firms moved in September. With polling day on 3 November, SLF's spending suggests Republicans now treat South Carolina as a seat to defend.

None of the seven reports carries a line in Texas, Georgia or North Carolina. In Texas, SLF's money arrives through a committee it funds.

Deep Analysis

In plain English

The Senate Leadership Fund (SLF) is a super PAC, a group that can raise and spend unlimited money in elections as long as it does not plan that spending with any candidate. It works to elect Republican senators. In one week it reported spending over $50m, mostly on ads attacking Democratic candidates in close races. It has also started spending in South Carolina, where the Republican senator was appointed after her brother, Lindsey Graham, died.

Deep Analysis

Root Causes

Lindsey Graham's death left an appointed interim senator, Darline Graham Nordone, as the Republican nominee.

SLF's own 24-hour reports understate its reach. It funds Texas PAC, which carries the Republican side in Texas, and state-named committees such as the Maine Standard and Cornhusker Majority in Nebraska. Money routed through them appears in their reports, not SLF's, which is why SLF shows nothing in Texas.

What could happen next?

Consequence
Further SLF 24-hour reports will show whether South Carolina spending grows or stays a small share of the total.
Meaning
SLF's absence from Georgia and North Carolina, matching the NRSC's, leaves the Republican nominees there with little national money.

Source Landscape

This story draws on neutral-leaning sources

Primary parallel: Two appointed Republican senators lost their first elections despite heavy party and outside spending: Martha McSally in Arizona in November 2020 and Kelly Loeffler in Georgia's January 2021 runoff.

Counter-parallel: In 2020, Democrat Jaime Harrison outraised Lindsey Graham with record sums in South Carolina, and outside groups poured in on both sides. Graham won clearly, a reminder that money has moved few votes in the state.

Below its four largest targets, SLF's seven reports carried $3.42m against Adam Hamilton in Kansas, $2.25m against Annie Andrews in South Carolina, $1.93m against Mary Peltola in Alaska, $1.76m against Chris Pappas in New Hampshire and $1.75m against Dan Osborn in Nebraska.

The week's total of $50.41m is Lowdown's sum of Schedule E lines across the seven reports. None of the lines targets Georgia or North Carolina, two states where the NRSC also gave its nominees nothing in September.

Consensus view: Sabato's Crystal Ball's five Republican-held Toss Ups on 14 October were Kansas, Iowa, Maine, Ohio and Texas. SLF's week tracks that list closely, with Ohio, Maine and Iowa among its four largest targets, plus Michigan, where it spent $8.44m against Abdul El-Sayed.

Counter-view: South Carolina was not on Sabato's list. SLF's $4.06m there by 20 October, $2.25m of it against Democrat Annie Andrews in this week's reports, puts money into a seat outside Sabato's Toss Up list. That reads either as polling the public has not seen or as insurance for an appointed senator with no campaign record of her own.

Key tension: Whether the South Carolina money is a sign of danger or a cheap hedge, given that it is under a third of what SLF spent against Brown in one week.

First Reported In

Update #21 · Senate GOP's cash lead trails its $20m loan

Federal Election Commission· 22 Oct 2026

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Causes and effects

Caused by

SLF funds new PACs in Nebraska and Maine

SLF's state-named committees preceded its own direct spending in new states.

Occurred 15 Oct 2026

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Sabato and Cook widen Democrats' map

Raters shifted South Carolina in September before SLF began spending there.

Occurred 23 Sept 2026

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This Event

SLF opens a $4.06m South Carolina front

SLF's South Carolina spending shows Senate Republicans' main super PAC now defending the seat Lindsey Graham held until his death.

Different Perspectives

Judge Adolf Zeman, Alaska Superior Court

Zeman refused to dismiss the League of Women Voters, Alaska Black Caucus and ACLU of Alaska suit over the state giving DOJ its unredacted voter list. The privacy claims now go to evidence-gathering under the Alaska Constitution.

Judge Thomas Schroeder, US District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina

Schroeder refused on 19 October to block the State Board of Elections rule that rejects mail ballots with an unsealed or missing inner envelope. He found the challengers had delayed and that relief was infeasible with voting under way, and pointed to notice-and-cure provisions as a safeguard.

Stephen Richer, Republican former Maricopa County recorder

Richer submitted a brief on 20 October supporting the voting groups on documentary proof of citizenship at registration. He takes no position on the separate 90-day voter-removal question.

Senate Leadership Fund

The Senate Leadership Fund began spending for interim Senator Darline Graham Nordone on 19 October, taking its South Carolina total to $4.06m, including $2.25m against Democrat Annie Andrews. Republicans are now paying to defend a seat in a state Donald Trump carried in 2024.

WinSenate, the ad-buying affiliate of Senate Majority PAC

WinSenate began buying Kansas airtime against Roger Marshall on 10 October and had reported $8.14m there by 20 October. Marshall held $922,088 in cash on 30 September and the NRSC gave him no party money in September, so the Democratic side is spending where the Republican committee has not.

County Board of Arlington County

Arlington says federal Polling Place Policies allowing armed agents at polling sites breach 18 USC 592, the 1865 ban on troops or armed men at an election. It reads Markwayne Mullin's 1 September remarks as confirming such a policy, and asks Judge Brinkema to keep armed federal staff from its polls and drop boxes.

Written with AI from Lowdown's published reporting. Not individually reviewed by an editor. Editorial standards.