WASHINGTON — Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina is wielding the gavel in the performance of his political life.

Once a biting critic of President Donald Trump, the Senate Judiciary Committee chairman on Monday, Oct. 12, launched confirmation hearings for Judge Amy Coney Barrett in a bid to seal a 6-to-3 conservative majority on the Supreme Court. Hanging in the balance could be the future of government health care during a coronavirus pandemic that’s claimed more than 214,000 American lives. And Graham’s own career appears in jeopardy like never before.

For Graham, the Republican Senate majority and Trump himself, the hearings three weeks before Election Day could be a last stand. The proceedings are a display for voters of what it means to control the presidency and the Senate. But they also are a real-time test of whether that’s enough to counter a jaw-dropping $57 million fundraising haul by Graham’s Democratic opponent in the South Carolina race, Jaime Harrison.

“Senator, how good is your word?” Harrison, 44, asked at a recent debate.

Graham’s answer is complicated by his whipsaw shifts, particularly where Trump is concerned. He’s been friend and foe of the belligerent president. Now, they play golf. He once vowed to oppose any Supreme Court confirmation hearings in presidential election years. This week, he is chairing Barrett’s, and predicting she’ll be confirmed to the high court this month to replace the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

With early voting underway in South Carolina and many other states, Graham, 65, mounted the dais Monday amid his opponent’s withering fundraising, his own statements as one of the Senate’s most visible members, and Trump’s weak standing against Democrat Joe Biden in the final stretch of the campaign.

The days leading up to the Barrett hearings were particularly challenging for Graham. On Friday, during a debate forum with Harrison — who is Black — Graham denied there was systemic racism in South Carolina.

“If you’re a young African American, an immigrant, you can go anywhere in this state. You just need to be conservative, not liberal,” Graham said.

Then Harrison’s campaign on Sunday rocked the political world with its fundraising haul, propelled by contributions from around the country. The third-quarter amount brings Harrison’s overall fundraising for the campaign to $86 million. Harrison’s campaign said the $57 million came in the form of 1.5 million donations from 994,000 donors. The average contribution was $37.

Graham, acutely aware the president won his state by double digits, tried to brush it off.

“There’s not enough money in the world to convince South Carolinians to vote for the radical liberal agenda,” Graham said. But weeks earlier, he’d complained on Fox News that he was “getting killed financially” by Harrison.