The Trump endorsement wins again, this time in the Palmetto State’s special primary runoff where Darline Graham secured the GOP nomination for the Senate seat her late brother long held.
Graham beat proven conservative Rep. Ralph Norman by 5 percentage points (52.5% to 47.5%), with primary voters opting for a “woefully” unprepared “very nice lady” over a five-term congressman and Freedom Caucus member who is informed on national security.
Graham will face Democrat Annie Andrews in November’s general election. Ruby red South Carolina has not elected a Democrat to Senate since before the turn of the 21st century.
Gov. Henry McMaster tapped Graham to serve out her brother Lindsey Graham’s current term after South Carolina’s senior senator died in July — less than four months before November’s midterm election. Now Darline Graham stands an election away from keeping the seat her brother had held for four terms, and was running for a fifth.
‘Our Victory Would not have been Possible’
“I want to thank President Trump for all of his support and his endorsement,” the Republican nominee said following her win. Speaking to her biggest benefactor, Graham said her brother truly loved the president and thought of Trump as one of his closest friends.
“Our victory would not have been possible without you and we are truly grateful,” the senator said.
She couldn’t have been more correct.
During his concession speech, Norman told supporters that he never understood why Trump got involved in the South Carolina race. Darline Graham is thanking her lucky stars that he did.
But Democrats may have helped Graham’s cause, too. She was viewed by many as the weaker of the two candidates in the GOP runoff — the one Dems would rather face in November. As conservative activist Tyler Bowyer noted, the Democrats who did not vote in the primary could opt to vote in the Republican primary runoff “for a second dip” in South Carolina’s open primaries.
“Totally screwed up system that benefits moderate Republicans with Dem votes, not just ONCE but TWICE,” Bowyer wrote on X.
Lindsey Graham may have been a staunch Trump ally, but he was no warrior for the MAGA cause. His sister, critics argued, is untested without a history of pro-Trump positions. The big fear: Darline Graham will become an empty vessel for Senate RINOs who have shrugged off much of Trump’s agenda as if that agenda didn’t put Republicans back in control of the Senate.
Just days before Tuesday’s runoff, Graham stumbled badly, saying national security wasn’t her “thing” when asked about U.S. foreign policy in Taiwan and China during a debate.
“I’m just going to be honest here … I’m not that informed on national security, so,” adding that “national security is not my thing, not my area of expertise, but I do support the military.”
“It very much confirmed many of our suspicions that while she might be a very nice lady, she is woefully underprepared or unprepared to be one of the 100 U.S. senators in the Senate,” state Rep. Jordan Pace, a Norman supporter, told Politico in an interview.
But the Trump endorsement once again proved more than enough to compensate for candidate weaknesses.
Heading into Tuesday’s primaries Trump had posted a 97 percent win rate for candidates he’s endorsed this election cycle — 254 victories in 262 races.
‘Helping Us Across the Finish Line’
Trump padded his endorsement record on Tuesday in Oklahoma’s governor runoff election, with former state Sen. Mike Mazzei’s paper-thin win over Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond. The Republicans fought a bruising battle, with Drummond holding a slight edge in June’s primary, which set up Tuesday’s runoff.
Mazzei, whose campaign coffers were bolstered by his personal $11.6 million loan, also received the support of Trump Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, who had served Oklahoma in Congress for 13 years, 10 years in the House and three in the Senate. He had the state GOP’s backing, too.
“We wanted to keep you on the edge of your seats for a little while, or at least on the edge of my seat,” a relieved Mazzei joked with supporters at his watch party in Tulsa after the race was called.
“Thanks, of course, to President Donald J. Trump for helping us across the finish line,” Mazzei said to loud applause from attendees of the watch party, Nondoc reported.
‘Decoy Dan’ Makes the Cut
Also on Tuesday, the final vote tallies came in from Alaska’s Aug. 18 primary election, showing “Decoy Dan” Sullivan advancing to November’s general election under The Last Frontier’s rigged ranked-choice voting system. The Democrat plant is accused of running to confuse voters considering casting their ballots for the incumbent Republican senator, also named Dan Sullivan.
“Make no mistake, the entire purpose of this man’s candidacy is to siphon votes away from Sen. Sullivan by confusing voters,” The Federalist’s John Daniel Davidson reported Monday. “He even initially tried to register with the Alaska Division of Elections as ‘Dan S. Sullivan,’ adopting the incumbent’s middle initial so that the two names would appear identical on the ballot. He then created a website that was markedly similar (in format, color scheme, etc.) to Sen. Sullivan’s reelection site.”
Despite Decoy Dan advancing to the four-person RCV ballot in November, the race ultimately will come down to the incumbent and former U.S. Rep. Mary Peltola. But the other Dan Sullivan could grab enough votes from Sen. Dan Sullivan to push Peltola and the Democrats over the top — exactly how the Dems planned it in a red state that Trump won by 13 percentage points in 2024.
