The South Carolina Republican Senate special election is headed to a runoff after Donald Trump’s favorite candidate, Darline Graham, failed to secure enough support despite his backing.
Graham had 32.7 percent of the votes, with Rep. Ralph Norman in second place on 24.6 percent, the Associated Press reported, with 99 percent of votes counted.
Graham and Norman are headed to a runoff on August 25 after no candidate was able to secure the necessary 50 percent to secure the GOP nomination outright. Norman told the Washington Post he would call President Trump on Wednesday, while Graham posted on X, “I am incredibly honored & humbled by your support.”
Trump labeled the candidates in the race, without naming them, “Trumpers,” on Tuesday night, according to the Post.
Trump, 80, offered Graham an early full-throated endorsement even before she announced her intention to run for the seat held by her late brother Sen. Lindsey Graham, but she faced questions about her political leanings, having never run for elected office.
The younger Graham sibling spent the past few weeks frantically scrambling to promote her conservative credentials by endorsing a series of bills ranging from anti-abortion measures to anti-immigration provisions.
As the senator appointed to fill the seat for the last few months of her brother’s current six-year term, she vowed to back Trump’s priority election legislation and voted to confirm his former personal attorney Todd Blanche to serve as Attorney General in the days before the special election.
The president held a tele-rally for Graham on the eve of the election in a final push to help get her across the finish line, during which he called her “tough” and the “perfect person to carry on Lindsey’s legacy.”
Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Graham pushed back on criticism that she was being handed the seat and insisted she was working very hard to “earn voters.”
But the president’s early backing and her quick insistence that she is a true conservative on the campaign trail were not enough to tamp down the concerns that much of her beliefs remain a mystery.
Fueling the concerns of some conservatives was a campaign donation she made to South Carolina state Sen. Katrina Shealy on October 19, 2023, after Shealy helped block a near-total abortion ban in the state.
Amid questions about her stance on abortion, the newly appointed senator released a list of bills restricting abortion access she supported, but her team did not address the Daily Beast’s inquiry directly.
Some conservative pundits also raised questions over her decades of experience working for the state government, including signing off as commissioner on a report from the South Carolina Commission for the Blind that touted diversity and inclusion efforts as Republicans have repeatedly attempted to dismantle DEI initiatives.
Her GOP opponents, including two current GOP Reps. Ralph Norman and Russell Fry as well as former Rep. and Gov. Mark Sanford were quick to promote their own conservative track records.
While the short special election cycle did not draw in massive fundraising numbers, $4.7 million was spent on ads in the race. Graham led the pack with $1.8 million spent on ads, according to tracking by Ad Impact. Fry followed with $1.5 million spent on ads.
