DANG IT, DARLENE

Trump’s Nepo Senator Hit With Brutal Snub in Own Party

Darline Graham is facing a revolt inside her own party.

The family of the GOP congressman who lost to Darline Graham is coming out swinging against the president’s pick.

The son of GOP Rep. Ralph Norman said he will not vote for Darline, who took over her late brother Lindsey Graham’s Senate seat after his abrupt death in July.

In an op-ed titled “Why This Lifelong Conservative Won’t Vote for Darline Graham,” Warren Norman wrote that he was “leaning” towards voting for Democrat Annie Andrews—the first time he has ever seriously considered voting Democrat at the ballot box.

“What we need is strength, courage and real leadership. We need senators with the backbone to stand up to pressure from both parties, including their own, and the commitment to root out corruption wherever they find it,” Norman wrote.

He continued that though he “disagreed” with Andrews, they found common ground on standing up to corruption, and said she vowed that she would “stand up to her own party.”

“If Senator Graham wins, the establishment that backed her will protect her in every primary to come. This seat could be hers for 24 years or more,” he argued. “If Annie Andrews wins and doesn’t stand up to her party the way she has promised, South Carolina voters can hold her accountable and replace her with a strong conservative in six.”

A spokesperson for Darline Graham could not be reached by the Daily Beast.

Ralph Norman, for his part, has said he will support his former opponent at the ballot box—even if his family will not.

Darline, 62, pulled off a victory in the South Carolina Republican special primary runoff in August after Trump backed her fiercely, including hosting an in-person rally and repeatedly urging his Truth Social followers to vote for her.

“Darline Graham Wins! Endorsed by President Trump,” the president wrote. Graham scored 52.5 percent of the votes to Norman’s 47.6 percent, according to the Associated Press.

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However, Darline has struggled on the campaign trail, repeatedly stumbling over her answers, most famously during the primary debate for the Republican nomination, when she declared: “National security is not my thing.”

“There’s no question that there’s a drag at the top of the ticket,” one South Carolina GOP official told MS NOW about Graham.

A poll conducted by the Trafalgar Group, a Republican polling firm, showed Graham leading by just three points in the reliably red state. Meanwhile, GOP Gubernatorial candidate Alan Wilson comfortably leads his Democratic opponent by 16 points.

Additionally, Darline is facing an October surprise of her own. A bombshell documentary released by a progressive group on Thursday details accounts from three men who claimed the late South Carolina senator and top Trump ally paid them for sex—including one who was just 17 at the time.

Before his death in July at 71 from a rare heart condition, Graham spent three decades opposing same-sex marriage, workplace protections and open military service for gay people. Darline, for her part, has carried on her late brother’s crusade against the LGBTQ+ community.

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Laura EspositoBreaking News Reporter

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