{"id":40149,"date":"2026-08-12T05:42:44","date_gmt":"2026-08-12T00:42:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=40149"},"modified":"2026-08-12T05:42:44","modified_gmt":"2026-08-12T00:42:44","slug":"appointed-sen-darline-graham-advances-to-gop-senate-primary-runoff-in-south-carolina","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=40149","title":{"rendered":"Appointed Sen. Darline Graham advances to GOP Senate primary runoff in South Carolina"},"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>\n<p id=\"anchor-0580c0\" class=\"body-graf\">Appointed Sen. Darline Graham will compete in a Republican primary runoff for a full Senate term in South Carolina, NBC News projects, though it\u2019s not yet clear which opponent she\u2019ll face in the one-on-one race.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-1c6a38\" class=\"body-graf\">The runoff raises the prospect that GOP voters could again reject a candidate endorsed by President Donald Trump.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-e6df8f\" class=\"body-graf\">Gov. Henry McMaster appointed Graham to fill the rest of the term of her late brother, Lindsey Graham, in July, and she is looking to also take his place on the November ballot and win a full six years in the Senate. Trump encouraged her to run and then endorsed her in a special primary that featured 10 GOP candidates, including Reps. Russell Fry and Ralph Norman and former Gov. Mark Sanford.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-4b40a2\" class=\"body-graf\">With more than a two-thirds of the expected vote in, Graham had about 33%, while Norman had 25% and Fry had 21%.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"styles_inlineImage__FvnTh styles_medium__MEKii\" id=\"anchor-ac9f0a\"><picture class=\"styles_image__i32F7\" data-testid=\"picture\" data-flavor=\"fit\" data-original-height=\"1467\" data-original-width=\"2200\"><source media=\"(min-width: 1000px)\" srcset=\"https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/t_fit-560w,f_avif,q_auto:eco,dpr_2\/rockcms\/2026-08\/260809-Ralph-Norman-aa-547-6927e5.jpg 2x, https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/t_fit-560w,f_auto,q_auto:best\/rockcms\/2026-08\/260809-Ralph-Norman-aa-547-6927e5.jpg 1x\"\/><source media=\"(min-width: 320px)\" srcset=\"https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/t_fit-760w,f_avif,q_auto:eco,dpr_2\/rockcms\/2026-08\/260809-Ralph-Norman-aa-547-6927e5.jpg 2x, https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/t_fit-760w,f_auto,q_auto:best\/rockcms\/2026-08\/260809-Ralph-Norman-aa-547-6927e5.jpg 1x\"\/><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/t_fit-760w,f_auto,q_auto:best\/rockcms\/2026-08\/260809-Ralph-Norman-aa-547-6927e5.jpg\" alt=\"House GOP 3\/25\/26\" height=\"1467\" width=\"2200\"\/><\/picture><figcaption class=\"caption styles_caption__TCewG\" data-testid=\"caption\"><span class=\"caption__container\" data-testid=\"caption__container\">Rep. Ralph Norman in the U.S. Capitol in March.<\/span><span class=\"caption__source\" data-testid=\"caption__source\">Tom Williams \/ Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p id=\"anchor-ce48d4\" class=\"body-graf\">The winner of the Aug. 25 runoff will face Democrat Annie Andrews, a doctor who won her party\u2019s primary in June.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-1dc625\" class=\"body-graf\">Graham, the first woman ever to represent South Carolina in the Senate, has never held elected office before. But she ran either first or second in most counties in the primary vote Tuesday night.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"styles_inlineImage__FvnTh styles_medium__MEKii\" id=\"anchor-3e2946\"><picture class=\"styles_image__i32F7\" data-testid=\"picture\" data-flavor=\"fit\" data-original-height=\"1467\" data-original-width=\"2200\"><source media=\"(min-width: 1000px)\" srcset=\"https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/t_fit-560w,f_avif,q_auto:eco,dpr_2\/rockcms\/2026-08\/260809-Russell-Fry-aa-547-8d1309.jpg 2x, https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/t_fit-560w,f_auto,q_auto:best\/rockcms\/2026-08\/260809-Russell-Fry-aa-547-8d1309.jpg 1x\"\/><source media=\"(min-width: 320px)\" srcset=\"https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/t_fit-760w,f_avif,q_auto:eco,dpr_2\/rockcms\/2026-08\/260809-Russell-Fry-aa-547-8d1309.jpg 2x, https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/t_fit-760w,f_auto,q_auto:best\/rockcms\/2026-08\/260809-Russell-Fry-aa-547-8d1309.jpg 1x\"\/><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/t_fit-760w,f_auto,q_auto:best\/rockcms\/2026-08\/260809-Russell-Fry-aa-547-8d1309.jpg\" alt=\"U.S. Senate Candidate Rep. Russell Fry\" height=\"1467\" width=\"2200\"\/><\/picture><figcaption class=\"caption styles_caption__TCewG\" data-testid=\"caption\"><span class=\"caption__container\" data-testid=\"caption__container\">Rep. Russell Fry in Charleston.<\/span><span class=\"caption__source\" data-testid=\"caption__source\">Bill Clark \/ Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p id=\"anchor-62b97d\" class=\"body-graf\">Still, Graham\u2019s thin r\u00e9sum\u00e9 appeared to cost her with some voters, calling into question the power of Trump\u2019s imprimatur.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-d625c2\" class=\"body-graf\">\u201cI understand that she\u2019s lost a brother and lost someone very special to her, and I sympathize with that, but at the same time, I don\u2019t think that it\u2019s necessary just to give it to her,\u201d Republican voter Bob Howell told NBC News in Lexington.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-451278\" class=\"endmark body-graf\">Asked about Trump\u2019s endorsing Graham, Howell said, \u201cI like President Trump, but I don\u2019t think that that\u2019s necessarily what sways my vote.\u201d <\/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>Appointed Sen. Darline Graham will compete in a Republican primary runoff for a full Senate term in South Carolina, NBC News projects, though it\u2019s not yet clear which opponent she\u2019ll face in the one-on-one race. The runoff raises the prospect that GOP voters could again reject a candidate endorsed by President Donald Trump. Gov. Henry&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":40150,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/t_nbcnews-fp-1200-630,f_auto,q_auto:best\/rockcms\/2026-07\/260722-Darline-Graham-aa-401-684e56.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-40149","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pics-news"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40149","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=40149"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40149\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/40150"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=40149"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=40149"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=40149"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}