Ask Senator Graham Why His Campaign “Digitally Altered” Jaime Harrison’s Skin Tone

Graham Is Second Vulnerable Incumbent Caught This Week Offensively Manipulating Image of Democratic Opponent

Senator Lindsey Graham’s campaign was caught running a Facebook ad featuring Democratic challenger Jaime Harrison with a “digitally altered darker skin tone” — and when confronted about it, Graham’s campaign called it “a non-story” and refused to apologize. The ad comes “at a time of nationwide reckoning over race” and as two new polls have found a tightening Senate race, with Harrison pulling within just a few points of Senator Graham.

This is the second time this week that a desperate and increasingly vulnerable GOP incumbent has been found manipulating photos of their opponent in an offensive way. On Monday, Senator David Perdue in Georgia blamed a “graphic design flaw” for an anti-Semitic Facebook fundraising ad that deliberately “lengthened and widened” Jon Ossoff’s nose — and he still hasn’t apologized for it.

“Senator Graham is resorting to these desperate and disgusting tactics to attack Jaime Harrison because he knows he is deeply vulnerable and has fallen out of touch with the people of South Carolina,” said DSCC spokesperson Helen Kalla. “Senator Graham must take responsibility for this offensive ad and apologize to South Carolinians.”

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

CNN: Lindsey Graham campaign ad features image of opponent with digitally altered darker skin tone

Key Points:

• Sen. Lindsey Graham‘s reelection campaign posted an advertisement to Facebook earlier this month featuring a digitally altered image of his opponent — who is Black — with a darker skin tone.

• The campaign ad, uploaded to Graham’s Facebook on July 23, includes an image of his Senate rival Jaime Harrison that was originally published in the New York Times. The version of the image in Graham’s ad, however, shows Harrison surrounded by a dark, portrait-style background effect with a notably darker skin tone.

• The edited image of Harrison has garnered significant attention on social media and comes at a time of nationwide reckoning over race — a topic that has quickly defined campaign races across the country, including Harrison’s bid to unseat Graham.

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