— Nancy Mace, the first woman to graduate from The Citadel, and state Sen. Lee Bright, one of the Legislatures more outspoken libertarians, say they will announce soon that they will run against U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham in next years Republican primary. 
 
 The two challengers would join Richard Cash, an Easley businessman who lost a 2010 Republican congressional runoff, in trying to block Graham from winning a third six-year term in the Senate. 
 
 However, a large field of libertarian opponents could help Graham by splintering Tea Party voters among his challengers, S.C. political scientists said. If Im Lindsey Graham, I want two or three people opposing me, Citadel political scientist Scott Buchanan said. 
 
 On her website, Mace said Thursday that she plans to make her announcement at 9 a.m. Saturday at a GOP breakfast in her hometown of Goose Creek. 
 
 Mace, who runs a Charleston public relations agency that has done political work, said she would talk about her campaign then. The 35-year-old political newcomer has said for months that she was mulling a run against Graham. The Seneca Republican has been targeted by Tea Party followers because, they say, of his willingness to compromise with Democrats on some issues. 
 
 Bright, a 43-year-old Spartanburg County truck company owner, said Thursday he plans to enter the race within the next few weeks. 
 
 Bright said he was waiting to see if either U.S. Reps. Trey Gowdy, R-Spartanburg, or Jeff Duncan, R-Laurens, enter the GOP primary against Graham. The congressmen have not announced any plans to challenge Graham, whom Bright said is too willing to allow government to intrude into private lives. 
 
 Unlike Mace, Bright said he has a voting record that voters can use to judge his commitment to limited government. In 2011, for instance, Bright introduced a bill to study creating a S.C. currency in case the federal government fell into financial ruin. 
 
 My having a record in the state Senate similar to the record of (former U.S. Sen.) Jim DeMint had in the U.S. Senate would be appealing to South Carolinians, Bright said. 
 
 Cash, 53, said the additional candidates will bring more interest into the race. He said he is not just running against Graham but wants to share his positive message of hope and heritage. 
 
 The Graham campaign declined comment until the candidates formally announce they are running. 
 
 With only 10 months before the June 2014 primary, Mace, Bright and Cash need to raise lots of cash fast to have a chance of overcoming the $6.3 million that the Graham campaign has on hand. 
 
 Grahams supporters also have started a super PAC to support his re-election bid. An anti-Graham political organization also was formed last month to defeat the 58-year-old senator. 
 
 Bright said he thinks he can raise the $5 million necessary to run a competitive campaign. 
 
 Some money could come from outside the state, such as from the Club for Growth, said Mark Tomkins, a University of South Carolina political scientist. 
 
 Do the Koch brothers come in? Tomkins said of the influential Midwestern businessmen known for backing conservative candidates. Im not sure they are not pleased with Graham. Theres a lot of money out there none of us know about. 
 
 Mace faces a tough challenge in going up against Graham, a seasoned politician, The Citadels Buchanan said. However, a good showing  winning about 40 percent of the primary vote  could propel her to another future office, such as the state Legislature. 
 
 Theres something to said for going through the gauntlet, Buchanan said. Shes aiming high on this one. 
 
 Bright will run a very aggressive campaign, experts said. 
 
 He is the in-your-face, red-meat conservative who will play real well with voters who are critical of Lindsey, Buchanan said. 
 
 But Tompkins said a Bright candidacy could anger libertarians who prefer Mace, popular in some circles because she broke the gender barrier at South Carolinas previously all-male military college. 
 
 He doesnt offer a story that can attract coverage the way Nancy Mace does, Tompkins said of Bright. With lots of time to go, I would expect conservatives to work hard to come behind a single candidate  and she may be better positioned than he is to take advantage of that effort. 
 
 Political analysts also said Grahams positions on some issues have grown more conservative as his 2014 re-election drew closer. For instance, Graham has launched several attacks against the Obama administration for its handling of the attack on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya. 
 
 Hes trying to cover his flank on the right side, Buchanan said of Graham. 
 
 Even if he wins re-election, a hard-fought GOP primary could send a message to Graham. It puts pressure to be less cooperative and (not) sign on to those grand bargains with Democrats, Tompkins said. 
 
 CORRECTION: This story was updated to reflect Lindsey Graham's correct number of terms in the Senate. ||||| The first woman to graduate from the Citadel is planning to challenge South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham in the Republican primary next year. 
 
 Charleston businesswoman Nancy Mace will head to Goose Creek Saturday to announce her Senate campaign, The Daily Caller News Foundation has learned. 
 
 “This isn’t about one senator,” Mace told TheDCNF. “The only way to change Washington is to change who we send to Washington.” 
 
 “Washington is out of touch,” she added. “Voters are frustrated. They’re looking for someone authentic.” 
 
 In a June fundraising email, the Senate Conservatives Fund listed Graham as one of three Republican senators the group would support a primary campaign against if “strong, conservative challengers emerge.” 
 
 Mace, who has written articles for The Daily Caller, is a Fort Bragg native who graduated from South Carolina’s military college in 1999, becoming the first woman graduate since the Citadel was founded in 1842. She later wrote a memoir of her experience at the school and runs a public relations firm in Charleston. 
 
 Last year, Club for Growth president Chris Chocola told a Christian Science Monitor event that Graham was a potential target. 
 
 “If you’re looking to the horizon of 2014,” Chocola said, “the sun may rise over South Carolina.” 
 
 South Carolina Republican state Sen. Tom Davis predicted to TheDCNF last year that “someone will challenge Lindsey Graham.” 
 
 After Graham spoke out in support of the National Security Agency’s data collection practices under the Obama administration, Mace wrote a scathing post at the conservative blog RedState chastising the senator. 
 
 “In Senator Graham’s world, the Constitution doesn’t exist,” she wrote. “In Senator Graham’s world, the entire Bill of Rights is negotiable.” 
 
 Mace’s phrasing is a play on Graham’s criticism of Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul in the wake of the NSA leaks: “[I]n Rand Paul’s world, you have almost no defense against terrorists.” 
 
 “In Senator Graham’s world, arming al-Qaeda in Syria is a good idea,” Mace retorted. 
 
 When Paul ran ads against several swing state Democratic senators who voted against his proposal to stop foreign aid to Egypt, Pakistan and Libya, Graham came to their aid. Graham joined West Virginia Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin in a conference call defending his vote. 
 
 “I think the overwhelming majority of Americans oppose giving tax dollars to countries that hate our culture, burn our flag and train terrorists,” Mace told TheDCNF. 
 
 Mace said that Graham refers to his Republican critics as being “to the left of Obama, but he has has been with Obama on many issues.” She pointed to the Gang of Eight immigration bill — Graham’s harshest critics nickname him “Grahamnesty” — along with the Troubled Assets Relief Program bailout, cap and trade and his votes to confirm Supreme Court Justices Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor. 
 
 Mace argued that justices in the mold of these Obama appointments “upheld Obamacare,” the controversial federal health care reform law she would like to defund. 
 
 Last year, Graham distanced himself from the Americans for Tax Reform pledge against tax increases, causing the group’s leader Grover Norquist to brand him “not a thought leader in the Republican Party.” 
 
 The New York Times quoted Graham saying he was willing to accept higher tax revenues to prevent cuts in defense spending, although his office later clarified that he was referring only to closing tax loopholes. 
 
 With more than $6.3 million in cash on hand, Graham will be a formidable opponent for newcomer Mace. The two-term senator easily turned back a primary challenge from former Republican National Committeeman Buddy Witherspoon in 2008. 
 
 South Carolina Republican Rep. Trey Gowdy told an interviewer earlier this year, “Lindsey Graham will be fine.” 
 
 “He’s not in trouble,” Gowdy said. “He’s a better lawyer than I am. He’s more persuasive than I am.” 
 
 The South Carolina Republican primary is scheduled for June 2014. 
 
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 Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact licensing@ dailycallernewsfoundation.org. 
 
 
 
 Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org. ||||| The first female graduate of the Citadel is raising money in preparation for a 2014 primary challenge against GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina. 
 
 Nancy Mace is scheduled to officially announce her political plans on Saturday, and the married mother of two is already signaling her intent to oust Mr. Graham from office next year by asking supporters to donate to her campaign. 
 
 “I need your help to make sure that South Carolina’s conservative values are represented in the U.S. Senate,” Mrs. Macesaid on her website. “We have a long campaign ahead of us, and we can’t do it without your support.” 
 
 Tea party groups have been clamoring for someone to try to topple Mr. Graham, who they say has habitually sold out the limited government principles that fuel the grass-roots movement. They call him a “RINO,” or “Republican In Name Only.” 
 
 Mrs. Mace’s campaign announcement will come roughly a week after a conservative South Carolina group launched a grassroots campaign targeting Mr. Graham in the 2014 election. 
 
 Carolina Conservatives United, a non-profit organization, said Mr. Graham has made a habit of saying one thing, but doing another, selling out their limited government principles and showing “contempt” for small government advocates. 
 
 “We never know which Lindsey Graham will show up in Washington each day,” said Bruce Carroll, the group’s chairman. “He’s more likely to side with liberal Senate Democrats on important votes than with Senator Tim Scott or the South Carolina Republican Congressional delegation.” 
 
 Mrs. Mace delivers a similar message on her website. 
 
 “Voters here in South Carolina are frustrated with the status quo,” she said. “Washington is out of touch, and the only way to change Washington is to change who we send to Washington.” 
 
 Mr. Graham appears to be in good financial shape as he looks toward winning a third term. As of June 30, he had $6.3 million cash on hand for re-election, and polls have shown he is on sturdy footing. ||||| Jim Cole / AP ID: 5672497 
 
 WASHINGTON — If Lindsey Graham really runs for president, most expect him to serve as a protest candidate, pushing and provoking the rest of the Republican field on foreign policy. 
 
 There is one place, however, where any move Graham makes right now is affecting the Republican field: South Carolina. Republican contenders have descended on the early primary state to raise money and secure endorsements, but donors, lawmakers, and activists are in a bit of freeze — and at least for now, deferring to Graham’s clout in the state. 
 
 “A lot of folks I’ve talked to in a lot of the campaigns that have come through the state have mentioned the inability to raise money right now in South Carolina,” a political operative in the state told BuzzFeed News, “because so much of the donor class is waiting on Lindsey Graham’s decision.” 
 
 “It makes sense, he’s the senior senator from South Carolina: He ought to have a lot of good donor contacts. Those donors realize at the end of the day they have a voice in the Senate they can’t get crossways with,” the operative said. Activists “can’t do anything either right now, a lot of them.” 
 
 Like Iowa and New Hampshire, the state’s become busy fast, especially for certain candidates: Ted Cruz and Rick Perry have made 10 trips each; Marco Rubio has traveled there five times and has close ties to people in the state. Rand Paul has been there seven times and has relationships with quite a few members of the state’s congressional delegation. But for many South Carolinians, waiting to see what Graham does is as much about saving money as it is about politics. 
 
 “People are deferring to the senior senator, more from a financial standpoint than anything else,” said one former party official there who noted that he’d spoken with a donor who argued that Lindsey is “60 years old, this is his one shot at it.” 
 
 “He makes sense on national security, he could get lightning in a bottle on this Iran deal, and it saves me money now and I can still spend money later,” the official recalled the donor saying. 
 
 One Republican operative in the state said people were less impatient with Graham for causing a delay than they are eager for him to start running. 
 
 “There are a lot of people very eager to hear the answer, among activists, among donors,” the operative said. “Are they waiting to hear the answer so they can make plans? I would think so.” 
 
 According to Graham, people won’t have to wait much longer but he acknowledged in an interview with BuzzFeed News that many people were in a holding pattern waiting to see what he ultimately decides. 
 
 “Supporters are waiting to see what I do and the wait won’t be much longer. I’m 98.6% sure I will run,” Graham said. “I’m the senator and congressman they’ve known for 20 years… There’s a lot of support in South Carolina for the ideas I represent, not just me. But if I run, I run to win. I’m not running to make a point here. 
 
 “If I’m in this race in South Carolina, I will win South Carolina.” 
 
 South Carolina’s influential congressional delegation has been careful to not endorse anyone in the race at this point. One member of the delegation, speaking on background, said that politicians in the state generally wanted give Graham some room to decide, but it would not ultimately influence who they end up endorsing. 
 
 “Lindsey is a very pragmatic guy,” the lawmaker said. “He knows he has to make up his mind soon but he’s also not going to hold it against us if we go with someone else.” 
 
 Graham said that members of the delegation should “do what they think is best, I leave that decision to them.” 
 
 At the state party convention in Columbia last weekend, Graham spoke three times: at the Silver Elephant dinner, where he essentially announced a run; at a breakfast the next morning; and at the convention itself. “To Iowa and New Hampshire, hello,” Graham told the audience at the dinner. “To South Carolina, you have my heart, thank you very much.” He was enthusiastically received at all three events, but many activists are already loyal to other potential candidates who have already formed deep relationships in the state. 
 
 “I know there are a lot of people who have a fondness for Santorum and for Perry and for Huckabee off past years, and they have some deep roots here,” said Don Fort, a Republican activist from Charleston and former vice chair of his county party, who was attending the convention. 
 
 “I would expect [Graham] to have announced here and today, but on the whole I think he’s still waiting on money and numbers to really give him a yes/no, because it’s bound to step on some toes,” Fort said. 
 
 Though it’s a point of frustration currently, the deference to Graham among the state’s political establishment may not last for too long. Just Tuesday, Sen. Ted Cruz announced his South Carolina leadership team, that included state Sen. Lee Bright as a co-chairman. Bright unsuccessfully tried to primary Graham in the 2014 senate race. A senior political operative in the state predicted Graham would ultimately struggle in South Carolina if he chose to run for the White House. 
 
 “The state’s not going to rally behind him, because the Oval Office is 100% different than a single Senate seat,” the operative said. “And the candidates who are deferring to Sen. Graham are deferring only because it’s their best or only South Carolina strategy, at this point. Jeb certainly falls into that category.” 
 
 “Every other candidate is proceeding as if Sen. Graham doesn’t exist; that’s telling.” ||||| Annie Leibovitz is reportedly set to shoot the story. 
 
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– Lindsey Graham has drawn a potentially formidable primary challenger. Nancy Mace, the first woman to ever graduate from the Citadel, plans to throw her hat in the ring, she tells the Daily Caller. Mace, 35, graduated from the military college back in 1999, and has since written a memoir and founded a PR firm. She'll officially announce her candidacy tomorrow, but she's already been raising money in preparation, the Washington Times reports. Mace has gotten a head start attacking Graham online; in a Red State column last month she savaged him at length for supporting the NSA's phone surveillance programs. In another on the Caller she sounds like she's trying out campaign language, with a series of "South Carolina needs a senator who..." statements as she blasts him for backing immigration reform. But Mace will also have to beat two other libertarian-leaning challengers who could split the Tea Party vote, the State points out.