Trump’s PAC Pours More Than $800,000 Into Last-Minute Get Out the Vote Messaging Campaign for Darline Graham

President Trump’s political action committee, MAGA Inc., is making a last-minute investment of more than $800,000 in the special South Carolina Republican Senate primary on behalf of Senator Darline Graham. Ms. Graham was appointed to the Senate last month after the death of her brother, Senator Lindsey Graham, and is now at risk of losing the primary to a conservative congressman. The spending by Mr. Trump’s PAC signals a kind of uneasiness about Ms. Graham’s chances on Tuesday as she faces off against Congressman Ralph Norman, the vice chairman of the House Freedom Caucus who has been a House member since 2017. Mr. Norman has won the support of many conservatives in the state, while Ms. Graham is being supported by Senate Republican leadership and Mr. Trump himself. Because of her brother’s death, Ms. Graham was forced to compete in a special Republican primary after the late senator won his own primary earlier this summer before he passed away. Under South Carolina state law, if no candidate receives a majority of the vote on primary day, then a second election will be held with the top-two vote getters winning a spot on the ballot. In the first round of voting, Ms. Graham won less than one-third of the vote — just under 33 percent — while Mr. Norman captured nearly 20 percent in the initial round of voting. On Monday — just 24 hours before the runoff election — MAGA Inc. filed paperwork with the Federal Election Commission announcing its investment for Ms. Graham. According to FEC records, the more than $800,000 in spending will be used to send text messages on Ms. Graham’s behalf before voters go to the polls. On Monday night, Mr. Trump participated in a tele-rally for Ms. Graham. During that call, he said Ms. Graham would be a critical partner in the Senate, declaring that she “fully supports” his agenda.“I asked her to do it. I got her into this whole thing,” Mr. Trump said, referencing the fact that he had asked Ms. Graham to run during an Oval Office meeting last month. “I have to make sure she gets in because there will be nobody better.”After Ms. Graham announced her candidacy, leading Republicans were quick to follow Mr. Trump’s lead and rally to her despite her lack of political experience. The number two and number three Senate Republicans — Senator John Barrasso and Senator Tom Cotton — are both supporting Ms. Graham. The chairman of the Senate’s campaign arm, Senator Tim Scott — also from South Carolina — endorsed Ms. Graham after she placed first in the first round of voting. South Carolina’s governor, lieutenant governor, and the speaker of the state house of representatives are also supporting Ms. Graham. Mr. Norman, meanwhile, has won the backing of Congress’s leading conservatives, as well as several outside activist groups. Senators Mike Lee and Rick Scott, along with several members of the House Freedom Caucus, are hoping Mr. Norman prevails on Tuesday. A former governor, Nikki Haley — who has been friends with Mr. Norman for more than two decades, dating back to their time together in the state legislature — quickly endorsed Mr. Norman after he announced his candidacy. Tea Party Patriots, the Conservative Political Action Committee, and Turning Point Action — the organizing group founded by Charlie Kirk — are supporting the congressman. Ms. Graham’s candidacy has been marred by her inability to answer certain questions, including one famous debate flub where she declared that she was not “informed” on key national security issues. She has also declined to say if she supports a ban on abortions post-conception, and would not say if she believes that recipients of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program should be allowed to stay in the country, as her brother believed.

Trump’s PAC Pours More Than $800,000 Into Last-Minute Get Out the Vote Messaging Campaign for Darline Graham

Trump’s PAC Pours More Than $800,000 Into Last-Minute Get Out the Vote Messaging Campaign for Darline Graham

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