South Carolina GOP is set to make a crucial decision regarding Lindsey Graham’s successor in the Senate
South Carolina Republicans will choose Lindsey Graham’s replacement on Tuesday. His sister Darline is running for the party’s nomination.
Governor Henry McMaster chose Darline Graham to finish her brother’s term, which ends in early January. She is now trying to get the Republican nomination to stay in the Senate for another six years.
President Trump has backed Darline Graham’s campaign, calling it a “fabulous tribute” to her late brother, even though she has never been in office before.
Republicans who are running against her have said that she is depending too much on the Graham family name and Trump’s support instead of her proven track record in politics.
Ten Republicans are running in the primary on Tuesday. The winner will go up against doctor Annie Andrews, who is running as a Democrat and had more than $3 million in her campaign account at the start of July.
As long as no Republican gets more than 50% of the vote, the top two candidates will go to a special election on August 25.
US Representatives Ralph Norman and Russell Fry, former Governor Mark Sanford, and Greenville businessman Mark Lynch, who is paying for his campaign, are some of the main people running against Darline Graham.
Lynch also ran in the June 9 Republican primary and came in second with almost 29% of the vote. He is the only candidate from that race who will be running in the special Republican primary on Tuesday.
Lynch got more than 130,000 votes in June. He has said that the result shows that Republican voters were open to an alternative to the Graham political elite.
He has been very against Darline Graham’s campaign, saying that Republicans may have agreed to her temporary appointment but shouldn’t automatically nominate her for a full Senate term.
Many people think Darline Graham will make it to the runoff, but her opponents are questioning whether Trump’s support will be enough to get her the nod.
If she moves forward, Republicans who don’t support her campaign will likely support the strongest remaining challenger to stop her from getting the nomination.
Trump is still a strong politician in South Carolina. In the 2024 presidential race, he won the state by almost 18 percentage points, which gives his endorsement a lot of weight among Republicans.
Some Republicans, though, say that Trump’s support isn’t enough to bring home the bacon. They say that Trump backed Lieutenant Governor Pamela Evette in the recent race for governor of the state, but she lost to Attorney General Alan Wilson.
Representative Nancy Mace, who also failed to get the Republican nomination for governor, thinks that Darline Graham will have the same result.
Mace said Trump’s support could help a candidate get to the runoff, but he said it might not be enough to win the final election.
The Republican nominee should have an edge going into the general election in November, since Republicans are very likely to keep the South Carolina Senate seat.
