{"id":33307,"date":"2026-08-08T22:05:47","date_gmt":"2026-08-08T17:05:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=33307"},"modified":"2026-08-08T22:05:47","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T17:05:47","slug":"darline-graham-tests-value-of-a-famous-name-vs-lack-of-experience-in-south-carolina-primary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=33307","title":{"rendered":"Darline Graham tests value of a famous name vs. lack of experience in South Carolina 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<\/p>\n<div data-testid=\"prism-article-body\">\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao MvWXB TjIXL aGjvy ebVHC \"><span class=\"oyrPY qlwaB AGxeB  \">FLORENCE, S.C. &#8212; <\/span>Few people have anything bad to say about Darline Graham, who was <a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/lindsey-graham-death-sister-darline-senate-87bce5649c07e03129cf535feb97873a\">catapulted from obscurity last month<\/a> when she was appointed to <a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/lindsey-graham-dies-south-carolina-whats-next-5ba55574ce6f087d56999abe3a7f9fdc\">replace her late brother Lindsey Graham<\/a> in the U.S. Senate. <\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">\u201cI think Darline\u2019s wonderful,\u201d said Kathy Bustos of Mount Pleasant, after attending a Republican forum last week.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">But that doesn&#8217;t mean Bustos wants to vote for her in the state&#8217;s special primary on Tuesday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">\u201cI think it\u2019s a very nice gesture for her to have the rest of his term to complete, but I\u2019m not sure that she\u2019s really qualified or ready to be elected to the Senate,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">It&#8217;s a common sentiment among Republican voters pondering an unexpected decision about replacing Lindsey Graham, who was nominated for a fifth term before <a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/lindsey-graham-funeral-south-carolina-a82f073c0d7ca2692214427b3029c988\">he died from a tear in his aorta<\/a>. Darline Graham was often by his side throughout his career, but she remains largely unknown in South Carolina&#8217;s clubby political circles.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">President Donald Trump has endorsed her, and she&#8217;s backed by the National Republican Senatorial Committee, which is running television advertising to support her candidacy. <\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">However, Graham has been largely absent from the campaign trail, spending most of her time in Washington as an interim senator. Her appointment to the role, instead of giving her a leg up over the competition, may ultimately hold her back by preventing her from getting to know voters during a weeks-long sprint to Tuesday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">She is up against several well-known Republicans, including Representatives Russell Fry and Ralph Norman, as well as former Gov. Mark Sanford. The crowded field makes a runoff more likely, and it would be held on Aug. 25. <\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">All of them spoke at a Friday meeting of the Fourth District Republican Club in Greenville, but Graham sent a video message, saying she was \u201cin Washington working hard for you.&#8221; She promised to be &#8220;a great friend and ally\u201d to Trump and that she wanted to \u201cearn your vote.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">And at a candidate event in Florence on Saturday, where Graham was expected to speak, some of her supporters said they backed the interim senator\u2019s decision to stay in Washington, even if it meant not campaigning.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">\u201cShe committed to not missing votes or not being there to push forward with those bills,\u201d said Teresa Castrinos, who made the hours-long drive from Bluffton to see Graham. \u201cI feel like she\u2019s putting South Carolina first. She\u2019s wanting to fulfill her time as a senator right now, so I really admire her for that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">While Lindsey Graham was single and well known around the world, his sister lived a relatively quiet life with her husband and daughters in Lexington, South Carolina. She spent years in state government, working with people with disabilities and as agency head of the South Carolina Commission for the Blind.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">So far, her only public campaign event was a candidate forum in Lexington. Charles Brentnell of Greenville County, who was still considering his options, said he liked her decision to stay in Washington when the Senate was in session.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">\u201cLet\u2019s keep the Senate at the Senate instead of taking a month off for no good reason,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Graham also participated in one of two televised debates, where she backed Trump&#8217;s plan to change filibuster rules to make it easier to pass strict proof-of-citizenship <a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/congress-save-act-citizenship-republicans-women-0c0ba9fd8e6a01cf144736490c71df21\">voting legislation.<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">While other candidates came to speak to the media gathered afterward, Graham skipped the session and merely gave a thumbs-up outside when asked how she felt the debate had gone.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">In contrast to her loquacious late brother, Graham has not spoken with reporters in Capitol Hill hallways or fielded questions on the stump. <\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">She&#8217;s spoken at length to Fox News personalities Sean Hannity and Trey Gowdy, both of whom eulogized Lindsey Graham at memorial services last month, and granted two interviews to local news outlets. <\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">A second debate took place while Graham was in Washington on Tuesday, a date her campaign pointed out had been scheduled despite the senator\u2019s conflict. <\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Gigi Bray of Charleston said the idea of Darline Graham serving in the interim makes sense, but electing her to a full term does not.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">\u201cI think it\u2019s a great honor for her to hold her brother\u2019s spot till November, but it\u2019s time for a change,\u201d said Bray, who backs Sanford. \u201cI don\u2019t think she has a lot of government experience, and I think right now, with the state of our country, I think it\u2019s very important that somebody has experience.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">___<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC eTIW sUzSN \">Meg Kinnard can be reached at <a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"http:\/\/x.com\/MegKinnardAP\">http:\/\/x.com\/MegKinnardAP<\/a><\/p>\n<\/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>FLORENCE, S.C. &#8212; Few people have anything bad to say about Darline Graham, who was catapulted from obscurity last month when she was appointed to replace her late brother Lindsey Graham in the U.S. Senate. \u201cI think Darline\u2019s wonderful,\u201d said Kathy Bustos of Mount Pleasant, after attending a Republican forum last week. But that doesn&#8217;t&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":33308,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/i.abcnewsfe.com\/a\/fa822c03-9296-48dd-a072-8ba072fdcc31\/wirestory_7faae372fd831368c0f2a1af40e5c703_16x9.jpg?w=1600","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33307","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-political-news"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33307","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=33307"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33307\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/33308"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=33307"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=33307"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=33307"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}