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Voters elected Darline Graham to take her late brother’s place on November ballots, as the full backing of President Donald Trump helped overcome criticism of her political inexperience.
When The Associated Press called the GOP runoff election at 9 p.m., Graham had 52% of the vote over U.S. Rep. Ralph Norman, with 89% of votes counted.
Graham’s win ensures the first elected female U.S. senator from South Carolina will be sworn into office in January. Sworn in exactly six weeks ago as the appointed senator, Graham faces Democrat Annie Andrews in the general election.
The 62-year-old younger sister of the late U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham led the 10-candidate primary two weeks ago with 33% to Norman’s 25%. But a runoff win was far from guaranteed. Some polls showed Norman ahead hours before polls opened.
“We did everything we could do,” Norman said to a round of applause from supporters at his election watch party in Rock Hill.
Trump, who urged Darline Graham to seek the next six-year term, pitched her candidacy as a tribute to her brother, his best friend: Lindsey Graham died suddenly July 11 in Washington, D.C., of a ruptured aorta, one month after trouncing five GOP opponents on his way to a fifth term.
“She’s the perfect person to carry on the legacy of her brother,” Trump told people who called in to a tele-rally Monday night.
His all-in endorsement included traveling to ruby red Myrtle Beach, where he told thousands of supporters Friday to pretend his name is on the ballot. Voting for Graham, he said, is voting for someone who “fully supports the Trump agenda.”
He recognized he would take the credit or blame. “I asked her to do it. I got her into this whole thing,” he said Monday night. “I have to make sure she gets in because there will be nobody better.”
In a state where Trump won every time he was actually on the ballot, the runoff results were expected to reflect his strength or waning influence. In November 2024, Trump won South Carolina by 18 percentage points. When Trump got behind Graham’s candidacy pre-filing, political commentators outside South Carolina assumed that made her a shoo-in.
But Trump’s surprise pick of a political novice caused many South Carolina voters to rebel. Graham was expected to be the honorary placeholder — an appointment that gave no one the benefit of incumbency in South Carolina’s first open Senate race in 22 years — not the handpicked successor.
Norman attempted to turn that into an advantage. The support and money lining up behind Graham “shows the elite establishment has already picked their candidate. Same ol’ playbook. Same ol’ insiders. I’m not their choice,” he said in an ad.
Following an unsuccessful campaign for governor when he sought the outsider label — repeatedly saying he’s not a career politician — Norman juxtaposed his record over more than two decades in elected office against Graham’s lack of political experience. He’s the proven conservative, he argued: “You know how I’m going to vote.”
Graham embraced her status as unskilled at being a politician.
“They say I’m not a politician. I say guilty as charged,” she repeated Monday night.
Norman, first elected to the state House in 2004, has won two previous special elections, including the 2017 race that sent him to Congress. He opted to seek the governor’s office this year instead of re-election to the U.S. House but placed third in the June GOP primary.
She used that against him.
“He’s run for office 14 times, always chasing the next office. To me, this is just desperation,” Graham told callers Monday. “I am not a career politician.”
She pointed to 30 years of experience in state government, to include the last seven leading the state Commission for the Blind. And she emphasized her humble roots in relating to Americans’ economic struggles, saying that, like her brother, a childhood growing up in the back of her parents’ restaurant and pool hall also instilled a hard work ethic.
“Whatever it was that made Lindsey strong has made her strong,” Gov. Henry McMaster said during a campaign event with her Monday. The perspective she gained in her roles helping people with disabilities is also a strength, he added.
McMaster, who appointed her last month for the term ending in January, endorsed her for the full term on Friday, just before the Trump rally.
He called Graham the better candidate for keeping the Senate seat red.
“Keep this in mind: There is another election after this one,” McMaster said. “We’ve got to win this election in order to win that election in November.”
Norman supporters
For David and Ann Casey of Rock Hill, their votes for Norman came down to time spent in office. They also wanted someone who could push back against Trump.
“Darline’s a great person, but my vote was more for experience,” said Ann Casey, a 63-year-old dental hygienist, after voting at a church off Interstate 77 in Rock Hill.
“I had concern about Darline being a ‘yes’ person to the Trump administration,” added David Casey, a 64-year-old financial advisor. “(Norman’s) capable of hitting the ground running, and he’s not going to be told what to do.”
Graham’s non-response to a question about Taiwan during the only runoff debate sunk her for some voters.
Matthew Gusmer, a farmer in western York County, supported Norman in the governor’s race and in Senate GOP primary two weeks ago but was on the fence about whether to continue supporting him in the runoff — that is, until Graham’s performance in the Aug. 18 debate in Newberry.
“Probably the number one thing that swayed me was in the debate the other night with her comment about foreign policy,” he said.
Asked whether Taiwan is a national security issue for the United States, Graham blanked, eventually acknowledging she’s not informed on the issue.
“I’m just going to be honest up here,” she said. “I’m not a polished politician. National security is not my thing, not my area of expertise.”
“That really just kind of floored me,” Gusmer said. “With everything going on between Russia, Iran, every front, it just really turned me off.”
As a farmer, Gusmer said foreign policy and the impact it can have on things such as prices at the pump, fertilizer, and seed, as well as the cost of land in fast-growing South Carolina, are major issues and he wants a candidate who is well-informed.
Voters for Graham
For Graham’s supporters, her lack of political experience was a plus.
“I like the fact that she’s not a politician,” said Tommy Wood, a 66-year-old engineer from Irmo. “She’s not seeking the job, so she’s willing to serve, where all the opponents are wanting the job.”
Graham kept the same staff as her brother, which brings their institutional knowledge, Wood said. He and his wife, Phyllis Wood, were longtime supporters of Lindsey Graham.
“That’s invaluable,” Tommy Wood said.
When the Woods watched Graham flub an answer on Taiwan during the GOP debate, they felt bad for her, but their opinions never swayed, they said.
They consider themselves politically inclined and don’t think they’d be able to come up with an answer on the fly, so they were sympathetic, they said.
“She was nervous and blindsided, and it didn’t look good,” said Tommy Wood. But, as he heard someone else say, “I don’t care if she knows the difference between Taiwan and Timmonsville,” a tiny town in Florence County.
The couple noted Norman ran for Senate only after losing the nomination for governor. If he wanted to be a senator, he should have made that his primary goal, they said.
“I didn’t like that,” said Phyllis Wood. “Not cool,” Tommy Wood added.
Sandra and John Jackson, of West Columbia, felt her support for South Carolina is more important than her opinions on foreign policy.
“She’s going to keep South Carolina at the forefront of her mission in Washington, D.C.,” said Sandra Jackson, a 69-year-old retired flight attendant.
What Graham lacks in political experience, she makes up for in life experience, the Jacksons said.
“She’s a mother, and she’s run the Commission for the Blind,” Sandra Jackson said. “She has experience.”
“Anybody who runs for office for the first time doesn’t have any experience,” added 78-year-old John Jackson.
by Seanna Adcox, SC Daily Gazette
SC Daily Gazette is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. SC Daily Gazette maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Seanna Adcox for questions: [email protected].
