South Carolina native and 44-year-old Jaime Harrison is working hard to send Lindsey Graham back to South Carolina. In Kentucky, 36-year-old Charles Booker is planning a similar journey for Mitch McConnell. And, in Mississippi, 67-year-old Mike Espy is suited up for a rematch with Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith.

In a December 2019 South Carolina online poll, the results showed that many voters viewed Graham unfavorably while generally supporting the president. Ironically, the same poll gave Graham, a staunch Trump supporter, just a two to nine percent lead over Harrison.

Last week, Harrison's campaign announced that it collected more than $7.3 million in contributions during the last quarter. Graham's campaign said it brought in $1.7 million less, or $5.6 million during the same period. This gives Harrison much hope.

The Yale University and Georgetown Law graduate became involved in politics as Representative Jim Clyburn’s floor director of operations while Clyburn was United States House of Representatives’ Majority Whip. While he still needs to win the Democratic primary to face Graham in November, Harrison already has support from an array of well- known people including Joe Biden.
 
While Harrison is heavy on endorsements, Charles Booker hopes to surprise his Kentucky primary competitors just as Andrew Gillum did in Florida in 2018. The native Kentuckian and the state’s youngest Black lawmaker is trailing Amy McGrath in endorsements and funds.

She has received a litany of endorsements from national Democratic figures and reported ending the first three months of 2020 with $14.7 million cash on hand. McConnell reportedly has $14.9 million in the bank. Booker raised $315 thousand.

However these statistics have not deterred the University of Louisville graduate, whose biography of overcoming adversity is what many wealthy politicians only talk about. “The reality is that money does not vote,” he told Port Of Harlem. With endorsements from groups such as Kentuckians for the Commonwealth, he added, “We are going to prove everyone wrong and elect the first Black person from Kentucky to the United States Senate.”

Many people speak of making it big and going back home to do good things. Mike Espy is one of those who continues to do that. Espy was born in Yazoo City, in the historic agricultural Black belt. The great grandson of enslaved Africans, Espy became the first African American congressperson elected from Mississippi since the Reconstruction Era I in 1987. 

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Analyst says that a Mike Espy victory hinges much on Black turnout versus White conversion. If Black voters rise to 40 percent of the electorate and Espy wins 9 out of 10 Black votes, he needs less than a quarter of White votes to squeak out a victory.

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The Howard University and Santa Clara Law School graduate later became the Secretary of the United States Department of Agriculture in 1993 and the first descendent of enslaved Africans to do so. Espy ran for the United States Senate in 2018 and received almost 47 percent of the vote, the highest percentage for a Democrat in 30 years.

Analyst says that an Espy victory hinges much on Black turnout versus White conversion. If Black voters rise to 40 percent of the electorate and Espy wins 9 out of 10 Black votes, he needs less than a quarter of White votes to squeak out a victory. "Mike Espy doesn't need a huge turnout overall," agreed Henry Barbour, one of Mississippi's Republican National Committee members. "He needs a huge turnout of his supporters."

Since the founding of the United States, only ten Blacks have served in the Senate including three from the State of Illinois. The first two, however, Hiram Rhodes Revels and Blanche Bruce, represented Mississippi during Reconstruction I.

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Additional Candidates:
Louisiana: Dartanyon A Williams (D) Louisiana: Antoine Pierce (D)