{"id":40234,"date":"2026-08-12T06:36:51","date_gmt":"2026-08-12T01:36:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=40234"},"modified":"2026-08-12T06:36:51","modified_gmt":"2026-08-12T01:36:51","slug":"trump-endorsed-graham-advances-will-face-norman-for-brothers-senate-seat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=40234","title":{"rendered":"Trump-endorsed Graham advances, will face Norman for brother\u2019s Senate seat"},"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\/08\/Election_2_26_South_Carolina_Senate_16193_s1440x960.jpg?f72536d07237fdd262042ae8f5e6e6de3b865f3c\" \/><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Sen. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtontimes.com\/topics\/darline-graham\/\">Darline Graham<\/a>, the sister of the late <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtontimes.com\/topics\/lindsey-graham\/\">Lindsey Graham<\/a>, placed first in the Republican primary to fill the powerful senator\u2019s seat for a six-year term after his unexpected death.<\/p>\n<p>Because she did not win an outright majority though, despite President Trump\u2019s support, Tuesday night\u2019s result sets up another battle for the political novice in two weeks\u2019 time.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Ms. Graham now faces Rep. Ralph Norman, a hardline conservative who has spent a decade on Capitol Hill, making a name for himself as a fiscal hawk.<\/p>\n<p>Mr. Norman claimed vindication in a statement, saying that he is the \u201cproven conservative\u201d in all capital letters for emphasis.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTonight, voters made it clear they want a proven conservative with a record of getting the job done on the ballot for the U.S. Senate, and as we advance to the runoff, that\u2019s exactly what I\u2019ll give them,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>The special primary election gave Mr. Norman, who fell short in the June Republican gubernatorial primary, a chance to extend his career on Capitol Hill.<\/p>\n<p>Ms. Graham came out on top over a crowded field of candidates that also included Rep., Russell Fry, businessman Mark Lynch and former Gov. Mark Sanford.\u00a0<\/p>\n<aside>\n<\/aside>\n<p>With 86% of the vote counted, Ms. Graham had 33% of the vote to Mr. Norman\u2019s 24% and Mr. Fry\u2019s 20%.<\/p>\n<p>Mr. Sanford struggled outside of the Charleston area and Mr.\u00a0Lynch, who already ran unsuccessfully against Ms. Graham\u2019s older brother in June, placed in fifth.<\/p>\n<p>Mr. Fry won his seat in Congress in 2022 with Mr. Trump\u2019s backing against a congressman who had voted to impeach him and entered the race as pro-Trump candidate. But a pro-Graham super PAC attacked Mr. Fry in an attempt to consolidate Trump-loyalist voters.<\/p>\n<p>The two remaining hopefuls will fight to consolidate the Republican electorate over the next two weeks.<\/p>\n<p>Ms. Graham had never held prior elected office before Gov. Henry McMaster, a Republican, appointed her at Mr. Trump\u2019s urging.<\/p>\n<p>She has inherited many of her brother\u2019s political assets \u2014 his Senate seat and campaign staff, the support of his super PAC and the president\u2019s endorsement \u2014 but she has made clear she has different priorities.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLindsey was probably much more focused on national security, and I know that\u2019s important, but I will probably be focused more on affordability,\u201d she recently told Fox News.<\/p>\n<p>She also has advocated overriding the Senate\u2019s 60-vote filibuster threshold, breaking from her brother\u2019s stance.<\/p>\n<p>When asked in the first of two debates how he would be different from Mr. Graham, Mr. Norman made a similar claim about foreign and domestic policy.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cForeign policy\u2019s important, but we\u2019ve got America to look after,\u201d he said\u00a0 \u201cThe debt in our country is not sustainable. We can\u2019t have endless wars.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtontimes.com\/topics\/south-carolina\/\">South Carolina<\/a> Republican voters have an independent streak. In June, Mr. Trump\u2019s preferred candidate, Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette, lost the Republican gubernatorial runoff to Attorney General Alan Wilson.<\/p>\n<p>The winner will advance to the November election against Democrat Annie Andrews.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>                        <a name=\"pagebreak\"\/><\/p>\n<p>However, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtontimes.com\/topics\/south-carolina\/\">South Carolina<\/a> hasn\u2019t elected a Democrat to the U.S. Senate since 1998 or to any statewide elected office since 2006.<\/p>\n<section class=\"author-contact-section\">\n<\/section><\/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>Sen. Darline Graham, the sister of the late Lindsey Graham, placed first in the Republican primary to fill the powerful senator\u2019s seat for a six-year term after his unexpected death. Because she did not win an outright majority though, despite President Trump\u2019s support, Tuesday night\u2019s result sets up another battle for the political novice in&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":40235,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/twt-thumbs.washtimes.com\/media\/image\/2026\/08\/08\/Election_2_26_South_Carolina_Senate_16193_c0-180-4320-2700_s1200x700.jpg?10082726ebbacac5ff99e2dcd29266ebef837578","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-40234","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\/40234","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=40234"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40234\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/40235"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=40234"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=40234"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=40234"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}