Feb 10, 2025 Story by: Publisher
Senate GOP campaign chief Tim Scott outlined his 2026 strategy to top Republican donors over the weekend at a retreat in Palm Beach, Florida, warning that the election cycle is expected to be extremely expensive.
Scott, chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, said his team believes the battleground map will include six states — three offensive targets in Georgia, Michigan and New Hampshire and three defensive ones in Maine, North Carolina and Ohio. The new chair of the NRSC estimated that both parties would spend more than $1 billion in two states.
“Winning is expensive, so cash is king,” Scott said, according to the attendee, adding both parties would likely spend over “$1 billion combined” on “just two of our Republican-held states.”
The top 2026 races, Scott told donors, will likely break spending records, according to a person who attended the meeting and was granted anonymity to share private details from it. And protecting the three red seats, held by Sens. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Jon Husted (R-Ohio), will require a massive effort.
He estimated Republicans and Democrats would spend “$400-600 million in Maine and $700 million in North Carolina. And in Ohio, Bernie Moreno’s race cost $550 million last year. We need to win there again with Jon Husted.”
Collins is the only Republican up in a state that Kamala Harris won, but she is a formidable incumbent, and many Democrats in the state are loath to take her on. Tillis, meanwhile, could face a serious primary challenge in addition to a competitive general election. But Ohio is quickly trending out of competitive territory.
Last cycle Moreno ousted Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown by 4 points in the state. Husted was tapped by Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine to fill the seat of Vice President JD Vance, and he will have to run again in a 2026 special election. But Brown was largely viewed as one of the last Democrats capable of winning statewide in Ohio, and he hasn’t indicated he’s eager to make another bid.
Lindsey Graham launches bid for fifth term:
South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham, a key ally of President Donald Trump, is launching his bid for a fifth term with strong backing from two of the state’s most prominent Republicans. His 2026 campaign will be chaired by Senator Tim Scott and Governor Henry McMaster, his team confirmed to The Associated Press on Tuesday, February 4.
Scott, currently leading the National Republican Senatorial Committee, initially ran against Trump in the 2024 presidential race but later endorsed him during the GOP primary. Meanwhile, McMaster, now South Carolina’s longest-serving governor, secured two full terms after completing the remainder of Nikki Haley’s tenure when she became Trump’s U.N. ambassador.
Both Scott and McMaster played significant roles in Trump’s 2024 campaign, and their support signals Graham’s strong positioning in a state where the former president remains highly popular.
Despite this, Graham is expected to face challenges in the Republican primary, as he often does. His willingness to collaborate on bipartisan deals has made him a target of criticism from the far right. Some county-level Republican groups have censured him, with one resolution criticizing his “condescending attitude” toward grassroots organizers.
Graham has also encountered resistance at party events in South Carolina. At a July 2023 Trump rally in Pickens, his home county, loud boos from the crowd drowned out more than five minutes of his speech. Even Trump acknowledged the reaction, telling attendees that Graham was “going to have to work on these people” but emphasizing, “he’s there when you need him.”
Financially, Graham enters the race with a strong war chest. His campaign reported having over $15.6 million in cash on hand as of last month, with nearly $1 million raised in the final quarter of 2024 alone. In 2020, he successfully overcame multiple Republican challengers before defeating Democratic nominee Jaime Harrison—who recently concluded his term as Democratic National Committee chairman—by a 10-point margin.
Among the potential Republican challengers this cycle are Rep. Ralph Norman, a House Freedom Caucus member, and former state legislator Adam Morgan, who lost a 2023 primary against U.S. Rep. William Timmons.
