Voters in South Carolina have chosen Darline Graham, the sister of late Senator Lindsey Graham, as the Republican candidate to contest his US Senate seat in November.
Graham’s bid received strong backing from President Donald Trump, who traveled to the state to campaign for her. Graham’s victory is being seen as evidence of Trump’s continuing influence over the Republican Party.
Graham is currently serving in the Senate as a temporary replacement for her brother, who died suddenly in July. She had never previously run for elected office.
The Primary Result
With counting almost complete, Graham had received 52.5% of the vote, according to the BBC’s US partner CBS News. She was running against right-wing Republican Congressman Ralph Norman, who sought to portray his opponent as a puppet of Washington politicians.
Norman is a supporter of Trump and has voted in favor of many of his policies. But in 2024, he initially backed Trump’s primary opponent Nikki Haley as his pick for the Republican presidential candidate.
In a post on X, Graham thanked her supporters and the president, and said she was “deeply honoured and humbled” by the result.
The Experience Question
During her primary campaign, Graham acknowledged her lack of political experience, particularly after stumbling during a foreign-policy question during a recent debate. Asked about the US stance towards Taiwan, Graham had said: “I’m not that informed on national security.” She added: “National security is not my thing, not my area of expertise, but I do support the military.”
Political experts expect that Graham will now go on to succeed in the November election. South Carolina has not elected a Democrat to the Senate for decades.
The Midterm Context
The midterms more generally will decide which party controls the US Congress — which in turn will have a bearing on the second half of Trump’s presidency.
South Carolina was not the only state that held an election on Tuesday to replace a deceased lawmaker. In Georgia, voters in the Atlanta area were tasked with choosing a replacement for Democratic Congressman David Scott, who died in April. Marcye Scott, the daughter of the late congressman, was among those seeking office, but projections show she was beaten by opponent Everton Blair.
The Bottom Line
Darline Graham, sister of the late Senator Lindsey Graham, has won the Republican primary for his South Carolina Senate seat with strong backing from President Trump. She received 52.5% of the vote against Congressman Ralph Norman. Graham, who had never previously run for office, is now favored to win the November election in the heavily Republican state. Her victory is seen as evidence of Trump’s continuing influence over the GOP.
