Appointed Sen. Darline Graham and Rep. Ralph Norman Advance to Aug. 25 Republican Senate Runoff in South Carolina
The Facts
- Sen. Darline Graham finished first in South Carolina's special Republican Senate primary on Aug. 11 but did not reach the 50% threshold required to avoid a runoff, which is scheduled for Aug. 25.
- Rep. Ralph Norman was projected as the second candidate to advance to the runoff, after a close contest with Rep. Russell Fry for the second spot.
- Ten Republicans competed in the special primary, including Reps. Ralph Norman and Russell Fry, former Gov. Mark Sanford and businessman Mark Lynch.
- In partial returns on election night, Graham had roughly 33% of the vote, with Norman near 24%.
- The special election was triggered by the death of Sen. Lindsey Graham on July 11 at age 71 from an aortic dissection; he had already won the Republican nomination for a full term in June.
- Gov. Henry McMaster appointed Darline Graham, 62, to serve the remainder of her brother's term, which runs through early January; she had not previously held public office and is a first-time candidate.
- President Trump encouraged Darline Graham to run and endorsed her for the full six-year term, and held a telephone rally for her the night before the primary.
- The runoff winner will face Democrat Annie Andrews, a pediatrician who secured the Democratic nomination in the June regular primary, in November; the eventual Republican nominee is described as favored in the general election, and no Democrat has won a U.S. Senate seat in South Carolina in decades.
- Multiple outlets characterized the primary as a test of the strength of Trump's endorsements in Republican primaries, given that his endorsed candidate did not win outright.
Context
Why is a runoff necessary?
South Carolina requires a candidate to win more than 50% of the primary vote to secure the nomination. With 10 Republicans splitting the vote and no one reaching a majority, the top two finishers advance to a runoff, set for Aug. 25 https://www.wbtv.com,Aol,Breitbart.
Why was there a special primary if Republicans already picked a nominee in June?
Lindsey Graham had already won the Republican nomination for a full term in the June primary, but he died on July 11, leaving the party without a nominee on the November ballot Newsweek,HuffPost,Anadolu Ajansı. The special primary was held to select a replacement nominee, separately from McMaster's appointment of Darline Graham to serve the final months of the existing term https://www.wbtv.com,Economic Times.
What arguments have been raised about Darline Graham's candidacy?
Graham has never held elected office, and critics have said her bid rests substantially on family name recognition Straits Times. Reporting notes she faced skepticism about her lack of experience Pulse24.com …, while she has pointed to the passage of a Russia sanctions bill during her first weeks in the Senate as evidence of accomplishment Forbes and has cast herself as a political outsider against two sitting congressmen and a former governor Jerusalem Post.
Where Left and Right agree, and where they split
- Where Left and Right agree
- Neither framing treats an appointment plus a presidential endorsement as a sufficient claim on the seat: at roughly 33% in a ten-candidate field, she still has to earn it.
- Where Left and Right split
- Whether the story is about a seat passed from brother to sister by appointment and endorsement without voters' consent, or about a runoff rule forcing that candidate to win it outright.
How left and right read it
A Senate seat is not an inheritance. Yet the governor's appointment handed one to a first-time candidate who had never held public office, and a presidential endorsement plus an eve-of-primary telephone rally were meant to settle the rest — an arrangement that still left her near 33% and short of the majority in a ten-candidate field. Whose consent, exactly, was ever asked here?
“Unlike Lindsey Graham, whose political career began 34 years ago with a run for a South Carolina state legislative seat, Darline Graham's career began exactly four weeks ago, two days after her brother's death.” — HuffPost
An endorsement doesn't excuse a first-time candidate from making her own case, and South Carolina's majority rule saw to that: finishing first near 33% in a ten-candidate field earns a runoff, not a coronation. What's striking is part of the case against her — recasting help for people with a disability as DEI, a charge she says she can't account for. Win it on substance.
“One day before the Republican primary, the senator said she doesn't know why some of her opponents, namely Rep. Russell Fry (R-SC), have been attacking her on DEI for helping people with a disability.” — Washington Examiner
The receipts — all 100 sources
Wire services (11)
Independent coverage (50)
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