Darline Graham is trying to distinguish herself from her war-hawk brother as she courts MAGA votes in a difficult GOP primary.
The sister of the late Sen. Lindsey Graham, who was chosen to serve the remainder of her brother’s term after his sudden death last month, announced unexpectedly that she also would seek a full six-year term starting in 2027.
Despite earning an endorsement from President Donald Trump in the upcoming South Carolina Senate Republican primary, she faces a crowded field that includes two popular congressmen and a former governor.
She’s now trying to walk a fine line between carrying on her brother’s legacy and breaking from his interventionist foreign policy agenda, which has infuriated parts of the MAGA coalition.
Asked by Fox News host Trey Gowdy what a full term would look like, the former disability services worker, 62, insisted her “first priority” would be to “fight for South Carolina and… help President Trump achieve his agenda.”
“Lindsey was focused on national security, and I know that’s important, but I will probably be focused more on affordability and what matters to families in South Carolina, struggling families,” she said. “I know what it is to struggle, and living paycheck to paycheck.”
She described growing up in a single room at the back of her parents’ bar, and said that even as an adult she only bought steak if it was on sale.
But she didn’t offer any examples of how she would help fix the affordability crisis, which Trump dismissed as a Democrat-led “hoax” in December.
The president has since tried to re-focus his messaging on the economy. Still, polling shows he remains deep underwater on the issue, potentially putting Republicans’ congressional majorities in jeopardy this November.
Political strategists predict that despite Trump’s endorsement, Darline Graham will have trouble advancing past the Aug. 11 primary, given her lack of public voting record.
U.S. Rep. Ralph Norman is favored to win the nomination, and Rep. Russell Fry—whom Trump planned to endorse before Graham entered the race—also expected to make a strong showing.
In a sign of how fractured the base has become, Republican voters have already rejected Trump’s preferred candidates in the GOP primaries for the South Carolina, Georgia, and Iowa governor’s races.
Darline Graham’s connection to her brother could actually be a liability in the primary, with some MAGA supporters souring on Trump’s war with Iran—which has driven up inflation—and other costly foreign conflicts.
Even as she tried to stress her commitment to domestic issues during her sit-down with Gowdy, the only specific piece of legislation she mentioned was a bill to impose tougher sanctions on Russia that Lindsey Graham had championed before he died on July 11 at age 71.
“I definitely want to get that across the finish line, because it was extremely important to Lindsey,” she said.
The Daily Beast has reached out to Darline Graham’s campaign for comment.
