Trump-Backed Darline Graham Underwhelms, Faces Ralph Norman in Senate Runoff
Having received endorsements from President Donald Trump, Gov. Henry McMaster, and Sen. Tim Scott, Graham had been expected to come considerably closer to the 50% threshold needed to avoid a runoff.
Sen. Darline Graham and Rep. Ralph Norman were the top two finishers in Tuesday’s special election for the Republican Senate nomination in South Carolina. Because neither candidate cleared the 50% threshold required to win outright, the two will advance to an Aug. 25 runoff.
Given the strong likelihood that the Republican nominee will prevail in deep-red South Carolina, the winner of the runoff will almost certainly become the state’s next senator.
Graham finished with the largest share of the vote, at 32.7%. Still, having received endorsements from President Donald Trump, Gov. Henry McMaster, and Sen. Tim Scott, she had been expected to come considerably closer to the 50% threshold needed to avoid a runoff. Appointed to her seat following the sudden death of her brother, Sen. Lindsey Graham, she also has the advantage of incumbency.
Norman, who is currently serving his fifth term in the U.S. House, received 24.7% of the vote. He is a strong conservative with a proven record.
He ran in the Republican gubernatorial primary in June and finished third behind Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette and Attorney General Alan Wilson.
Norman was endorsed in that race by former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley. He had been an early and enthusiastic supporter of Haley’s 2024 run for the Republican presidential nomination and also campaigned for her.
The New York Times speculated in a recent article that his support for Haley over Trump in 2024 “may have cost Norman an endorsement from Trump in the governor’s race and again in the special Senate primary.” It is entirely possible. Trump is certainly known to hold a grudge.
But Trump may also have supported Darline Graham because of his special relationship with Lindsey Graham.
Norman, 73, currently serves as vice chair of the House Freedom Caucus. According to the Times:
Mr. Norman is perhaps best known for being a member of the ultraconservative group of House members that has opposed spending bills and staunchly supported Mr. Trump’s immigration crackdown.
He has promised to be “very vocal” in the Senate. Mr. Norman, like his rivals, has campaigned for the Senate in part on supporting the SAVE America Act, a voting restrictions bill that Mr. Trump has made a priority of his domestic agenda. Mr. Norman has described the Senate as “deadlocked” and said getting legislation to move in the chamber again will require more stalwart conservatives to vote as they do in the House.
Although 10 candidates appeared on the ballot in Tuesday’s special election, the top four captured roughly 92% of the vote. Rep. Russell Fry and former South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford finished third and fourth, with 19.6% and 14.9%, respectively.
Axios reported that Norman and Fry were “neck and neck” for the second runoff spot for part of Tuesday night before Norman ultimately pulled ahead.
As far as Sanford goes, he may never be able to live down his “hike” on the Appalachian Trail in June 2009. South Carolinians probably haven’t forgotten the episode.
While serving as governor, Sanford disappeared for six days, leaving even his family and staff unsure of his whereabouts. His staff eventually said he was hiking the Appalachian Trail, but Sanford was actually in Argentina visiting a woman with whom he was having an extramarital affair.
At any rate, Graham and Norman now have just two weeks to win over the voters who backed other candidates in the primary. Although Graham received roughly one-third of the votes on Tuesday, nearly two-thirds of primary voters chose another candidate. In Norman’s case, three quarters of primary voters chose someone else.
The runoff now presents South Carolina Republicans with a clear choice between two very different paths: Graham, who carries the advantages of incumbency and the backing of Trump and much of the state’s Republican establishment, and Norman, a veteran congressman with deep conservative credentials and strong ties to the House Freedom Caucus.
How those voters break over the next two weeks will determine who becomes South Carolina’s next U.S. senator. The outcome is far from certain.
Sen. Darline Graham heads to GOP Senate runoff against Rep. Ralph Norman on Aug. 25. pic.twitter.com/Mt7EDKAucZ
— D. Scott @eclipsethis2003 (@eclipsethis2003) August 12, 2026
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Comments
What’s the difference between underwhelms and wins?
She didn’t win. She wasn’t expected to win outright, but she was expected to come close, and she didn’t even do that.
We’re a republic, not a monarchy. She’s welcome to try and run but don’t expect to be coronated just because of your last name.
Agreed. Just because her sibling was Lindsey doesn’t mean she can do the job. I don’t mean to disparage her, only to point out that she hasn’t worked into the position. She may or may not be effective but it looks like the state will find out.
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Why does it look that way to you? I mean the state will certainly have the next five months to get an idea of whether she’s effective, but your prediction that it will then have the next six years as well seems rather premature. There’s no telling what will happen on the 25th.
Because she was just now thrown into the job with no preparation, even that which a candidate would get by campaigning. It could be and possibly will be true that she will turn into an effective campaigner which will give the voters an idea of her effectiveness. I’m *not* saying that she *won’t* be able to be an effective senator, only that it’s too soon to tell because she has no track record of public office.
Agreed, there’s no telling what will happen in the future. We will see.
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You wrote “it looks like the state will find out”, which implies that you think she’ll have not just the rest of this year but the following six years as well to show the state whether she can be effective. I don’t understand how you can be confident that she will have that opportunity. She may lose the primary in two weeks, in which case she’ll be gone from the senate on January 3, before the state has a chance to find out whether she’s effective.
She hasn’t really had time to do anything except be vocal about the SAVE act.
That’s fair to say to both her as a candidate and the voter as an evaluator.
As an askide, seriously doubt it is any kind of referendum on Trump since both want SAVE anyways.
I’m convinced Darline is yet another rino puppet.
I know nothing about her. What convinced you?
Graham.
The folks in SC obviously can choose their preference from among the candidates. IMO the way the rollout of the candidacy of Darline Graham NORDONE was handled stinks. The Gov very publicly declared he wanted to appoint a caretaker to serve the remainder of Lindsey Graham’s term till Jan. He didn’t want to advantage one of the declared candidates for the election contest in Nov for the full term. There was an ’emotional’ outpouring over the death of Sen Lindsey Graham.
MS Nordone was appointed to serve out the remainder of her brother’s term on that basis. Within days she rebranded herself as Darline Graham, changed her wardrobe, changed her hairstyle. Seems very slimy and opportunistic to me. I suspect the establishment is pushing this candidacy to gain a useful pawn for their machinations in DC to thwart the populist America First/MAGA agenda. I am willing to be convinced otherwise but it’s gonna take well reasoned fact based arguments to so so.
Graham will get the cracker vote.
Honey, or cinnamon?
That’s one of your better offerings!
Gee. Maybe the voters went by perceived capabilities and merit rather than celebrity endorsements.
I no more make voting decisions by endorsements than I buy tires based on what was on the winning car at (insert race here) v
I look t this as encouraging. One of the worse trends (of many) that has developed in this country is the notion of political families. The Kennedys. The Bushes. The Gores. The Cheneys. And so on. It’s about time to for the citizens to realize nepotism is bad and no one is entitled to an office because of who their relatives are. We’re probably not there yet and may never get there but I remain hopefully.
True.
I don’t want a dynasty regardless of the name. Whether it’s Trump, Clinton, Roosevelt, Graham, Gore, Bush, Kennedy, etc. No more than I would want the dynasty names like Windsor, Tudor, or Wessex.
Yet, we keep getting these watered down, useless relatives and descendants of a former politician.
uhhh, someone who’s never held elected office coming in first with a 40% vote share in a crowded field it’s not “underwhelming.”
32,7% is not 40%, She has tremendous name recognition because of her brother. She is endorsed by Trump who has coattails, She is also the sitting senator. Never holding office is irrelevant. What is relevant are the expectations for her which I’m having trouble finding.
ahh, I see it went down from early returns. I was looking at last night.
Norman has been a thorn in Trump’s side, so its fairly obvious why Trump endorsed Graham.
As for expectations…Graham is as solidly conservative as her brother.
I have no stake in it. Mostly I think the griping is coming from the GOP Consultant Class.
I live in SC with my wife and we are both Republicans. My oldest son and his family also live near us. We voted for Mark Lynch against Lindsey Graham in the primary. When Graham died I contacted the Governor and asked that Lynch become the temporary Senator as he had run in the primary, but the Governor followed President Trump and put in Darline in.
Once the Special Election was set many piled in to try to get the position. Me and my wife voted for Lynch again since he was the only one that had previously run, but the two top were Darline and Ralph. In the next special election I will vote for Ralph as I know how he votes and he is a solid conservative. I believe my wife will likely vote for Ralph also as she does not like the hand down of the position to the Sister.
Just a month or so ago, she was Darlene Nordone. Now that she wants Lindsey Graham’s senate seat, she’s Darlene Graham.
Forever, it seems, senators and congressmen running for reelection have stated that they have “experience” and the voter shouldn’t throw that away because they know how to get things done in DC yadda, yadda.
Well Darlene Graham Nordone has no experience in DC at all and voters in SC are expected to send her to the senate as their senator.
So, it seems, after all, that experience has nothing to do with being a senator or congressman, just a reliable vote the Thune etc.
I have no dog in this hunt, it’s just an opinion. Nothing against Darlene Graham Nordone but this is something I’ve known for a long time.
“So, it seems, after all, that experience has nothing to do with being a senator or congressman, just a reliable vote the Thune etc.”
Though it helps if you know how to write your own novels and songs.
Having watched the “Experienced” Republicans in the Senate since Trump came into office, I’ll vote for the one with NO, ZERO, NADA experience!
Does Darline have any known views about foreign policy?
Underwhelming is O.K. with me.
I want people that will do the mundane daily work and keep things going
As long as she isn’t voting with democrats. But I don’t live in SC, so it will be up to the voters who they foist on the nation.