Welcome to Washington: Trump’s Influence Faces Test in Palmetto State’s GOP Senate Primary

When South Carolina Republicans go to the polls on Tuesday, they will all but be electing the next United States senator from the state. President Trump hopes his influence is enough to get Senator Darline Graham — a political neophyte and the sister of Senator Lindsey Graham — over the finish line. The question is whether he has enough pull to elect a person whom many conservatives see as a deeply flawed candidate.Welcome to Washington, where the 2026 primaries are nearly over. Mr. Trump has suffered few losses in GOP races across the country, proving his endorsement carries a great deal of weight, barring some serious scandal involving the person whom he has chosen to endorse. His preferred candidate in the special Senate primary in South Carolina, however, suffers from no such personal defect. Rather, she has bungled a number of key questions and has been accused of not being conservative enough for the Palmetto State.Ms. Graham was sworn into office last month following the unexpected death of her brother, with many viewing her as a caretaker meant to serve out the remainder of the late senator’s term until January. When she announced that she would seek a full, six-year term in the Senate, the state’s political establishment and conservative activists were caught off guard. Senator Darline Graham on August 19, 2026 at Florence, South Carolina. Sean Rayford/Getty ImagesEven before she entered the race, Mr. Trump offered his support. In a message posted to Truth Social just days before she announced her candidacy, the president said he had asked her to run during a meeting in the Oval Office. He declared that “there would be nobody better to honor the legacy of her beloved brother, Lindsey.”The death of her brother — who passed away after he had won the GOP nomination for another term in the Senate — kicked off an unusual process. According to state law, the Republican Party was required to hold a second, special primary to choose a new nominee. If no person won a majority of the vote on primary day, then a second round of voting would take place with the top-two vote getters from the first round advancing to the runoff. Ms. Graham came in first place by a wide margin in the first round, though still far from a majority of the vote. She won less than one-third of the vote — 32.8 percent — against a field of nine other candidates. Enter Congressman Ralph Norman, the vice chairman of the hardline House Freedom Caucus, who will now face Ms. Graham on Tuesday. He won just under 20 percent of the vote in the August 11 initial primary. He now says he is the only conservative candidate left in the race. As a lawmaker for nearly the past decade, he — unlike Ms. Graham — has a record to which he can point. Senator Lindsey Graham, the chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, at the Capitol, February 11, 2025. AP/J. Scott Applewhite“What if Darline Graham had any other last name?” one ad from Mr. Norman’s campaign ominously asks. “Do we really know where she stands? Darline won’t tell us.”Over the last few weeks, Ms. Graham has, indeed, dodged some important questions for South Carolina Republicans. On a debate stage alongside Mr. Norman last week, Ms. Graham admitted that she was not “informed” on national security issues when asked about the Republic of China on Taiwan and the South China Sea. In a confrontation with one voter, she declined to say if she supported a total ban on abortion beginning at the moment of conception, saying she did not “know” and that she would get back to the voter on that issue. Unlike her brother, Ms. Graham usually dodges reporters on Capitol Hill, having her staff deflect as she walks silently through the halls of Congress. The late senator was possibly the most opinionated political operator in Congress, willing to talk with members of the press about anything and everything, whether it be about his attempt to win monetary damages from the government after he was investigated by Special Counsel Jack Smith or the most complex, high-stakes foreign policy matters. Mr. Trump successfully got the late Graham over the finish line in his primary earlier this summer, even though he was facing a more conservative challenger. Graham easily secured a majority of the vote with Mr. Trump’s backing. The fact that his sister was unable to do so may spell trouble for the president’s impressive endorsement record.

Welcome to Washington: Trump’s Influence Faces Test in Palmetto State’s GOP Senate Primary

Welcome to Washington: Trump’s Influence Faces Test in Palmetto State’s GOP Senate Primary

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