{"id":25143,"date":"2026-08-02T12:18:10","date_gmt":"2026-08-02T07:18:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=25143"},"modified":"2026-08-02T12:18:10","modified_gmt":"2026-08-02T07:18:10","slug":"darline-graham-promotes-trumps-agenda-in-her-political-debut-ahead-of-special-senate-primary-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=25143","title":{"rendered":"Darline Graham promotes Trump\u2019s agenda in her political debut ahead of special Senate primary"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/twt-thumbs.washtimes.com\/media\/image\/2026\/08\/01\/Election_2_26_Senate_South_Carolina_95335_s1440x960.jpg?f72536d07237fdd262042ae8f5e6e6de3b865f3c\" \/><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>LEXINGTON, S.C. \u2014 Sen. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtontimes.com\/topics\/darline-graham\/\">Darline Graham<\/a> made her political debut before hundreds of Republican voters in South Carolina on Saturday, saying that she never envisioned a life in politics for herself until after the death of her brother <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtontimes.com\/topics\/lindsey-graham\/\">Lindsey Graham<\/a>, and now wants to work hard to promote the state and President Trump\u2019s policy priorities.<\/p>\n<p>Graham is serving in an interim role to fulfill her brother\u2019s current term. But as one of nine Republicans seeking to replace him more permanently in a special primary election set for Aug. 11, she is a relative political unknown facing off against some of the state\u2019s best-known GOP names.<\/p>\n<p>On Saturday, she acknowledged that she has not spent decades in politics, but argued that she understands the real-world applications of the federal policy debates her brother knew well, like budgeting and the cost of health care. She reiterated that, like her brother, she\u2019s backed by Trump, who urged her to get into the race and has endorsed her.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI certainly never expected to be on this stage, giving this stump speech,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtontimes.com\/topics\/darline-graham\/\">Darline Graham<\/a> said to a crowd gathered for the event in Lexington. \u201cI\u2019ve never had any desire to be a politician. I\u2019m here today because I\u2019m answering President Trump\u2019s call to serve. I want to stand up for South Carolina, and I want to fight for President Trump\u2019s agenda.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Graham found herself thrust into the political spotlight just three weeks ago, following her brother\u2019s sudden death from an aortic tear.<\/p>\n<p>Given the compressed timeline of the special election, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtontimes.com\/topics\/darline-graham\/\">Darline Graham<\/a> now has just more than a week to convince South Carolina Republican voters that she\u2019s the best pick to represent the state. Up to this moment, she has been known to the state\u2019s voters primarily through her brother\u2019s origin story, including their hardscrabble upbringing and parents\u2019 early death, and in the period of mourning for her brother, for whom funeral services in Washington and South Carolina took place just days ago.<\/p>\n<p>All nine of the hopefuls were on hand Saturday for the event, with five minutes each to speak on stage. Former Gov. Mark Sanford, seeking yet another political comeback following a halted bid for Congress earlier this year, warned against deficit spending and debt accumulation, hallmarks of his decades in political messaging.<\/p>\n<aside>\n<\/aside>\n<p>Reminding attendees of his endorsements in the race, including Sens. Rick Scott of Florida and Mike Lee of Utah, U.S. Rep. Ralph Norman also stressed his support for a voting bill known as the SAVE America Act, among Trump\u2019s top policy priorities.<\/p>\n<p>U.S. Rep. Russell Fry, a two-term House member, talked to voters of his own humble beginnings, saying that the things that held his family together \u201cwere our belief in God, hard work, blue-collar hustle.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>After the speeches concluded, hundreds of attendees got in line for free Chick-fil-A boxed lunches, as well as the chance to cast a vote in an informal straw poll for their preferred candidate &#8211; a survey in which <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtontimes.com\/topics\/darline-graham\/\">Darline Graham<\/a> eked out a victory, ahead of Fry and Norman.<\/p>\n<p>Several attendees said they just wanted more information &#8211; and more time &#8211; to make their choices in the primary.<\/p>\n<p>Charles Brentnell said his top three picks were U.S. Reps. Ralph Norman and Russell Fry, as well as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtontimes.com\/topics\/darline-graham\/\">Darline Graham<\/a>, with whom he said he agreed on backing Trump\u2019s demand to cut short its planned breaks to pass legislation, like the voting bill.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLet\u2019s keep the Senate in the Senate, instead of taking a month off,\u201d Brentnell said.<\/p>\n<p>Still mulling his choice as he stood in the straw poll line, Gary Atkinson said he was leaning toward picking Norman, but that he liked a lot of what he heard from several people.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThose are all strong candidates,\u201d said Atkinson, who said he had supported <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtontimes.com\/topics\/lindsey-graham\/\">Lindsey Graham<\/a> in the past, but disagreed on some issues, like the war with Iran. \u201cIt\u2019s tough to make up your mind.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>If needed, a runoff election will be held Aug. 25. The Republican nominee will face Democrat Annie Andrews in the general election.<\/p>\n<p>                        <a name=\"pagebreak\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Other candidates speaking Saturday included Walterboro attorney Duke Buckner, Greenville businessman Mark Lynch, former Myrtle Beach Mayor Mark McBride, retired Air Force officer Glenda Gail Parker and entrepreneur Sam Shepherd.<\/p>\n<div class=\"permission\" style=\"padding-top: 25px;\">\n<p>Copyright \u00a9 2026 The Washington Times, LLC.\n                        <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>LEXINGTON, S.C. \u2014 Sen. Darline Graham made her political debut before hundreds of Republican voters in South Carolina on Saturday, saying that she never envisioned a life in politics for herself until after the death of her brother Lindsey Graham, and now wants to work hard to promote the state and President Trump\u2019s policy priorities&#8230;.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":25144,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/twt-thumbs.washtimes.com\/media\/image\/2026\/08\/01\/Election_2_26_Senate_South_Carolina_95335_c0-180-4320-2700_s1200x700.jpg?10082726ebbacac5ff99e2dcd29266ebef837578","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25143","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-hub"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25143","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=25143"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25143\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/25144"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=25143"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=25143"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=25143"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}