Sen. Darline Graham Nordone (R-SC), backed by President Donald Trump, advanced to a runoff election that will determine who will inherit the seat previously held by her brother, the late Sen. Lindsey Graham.
The Associated Press projected Graham Nordone would head to a runoff at 8:15 p.m. At the time of the call, she held 33% of the vote with 37% of ballots counted. It’s not yet clear who she will face in the Aug. 25 runoff election, with Reps. Russell Fry (R-SC) and Ralph Norman (R-SC) neck-and-neck for second place at the time of the race call for Graham Nordone.
To avoid a runoff, Graham Nordone needed to pass the 50% threshold in Tuesday’s special primary election, as South Carolina law requires a candidate to win more than half of the vote to secure their party’s nomination.
The Senate runoff marks the second major South Carolina GOP race to advance to a runoff this summer. State Attorney General Alan Wilson beat Lt. Gov Pamela Evette in a June gubernatorial runoff after neither candidate won outright in the primary election. Trump initially backed Evette, though he expanded his endorsement when it became clear that Wilson was a serious contender.
Graham Nordone was appointed to serve out the remainder of her late brother’s Senate term by Gov. Henry McMaster (R-SC) after he died unexpectedly last month in his Washington home. Graham was headed for his fifth term after he won the Republican nomination in deep-red South Carolina.
Trump backed Graham Nordone initially as a caretaker before endorsing her for a full term on July 17. Graham Nordone declared her candidacy within days.
Graham’s death and the uncertainty over whether Graham Nordone would seek a full term led to weeks of speculation about which Palmetto State Republicans would enter the race.
Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC), who lost the GOP gubernatorial nomination, publicly expressed interest before backing out days later. Former South Carolina Gov. and U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley also declined to seek the seat. Pundits even floated a candidacy from Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, though the Charleston native told the Washington Examiner that there was “no chance” he would run.
The crop of candidates soon narrowed to Graham Nordone, Fry, and Norman, former Gov. Mark Sanford, and businessman Mark Lynch, who lost the GOP primary to Graham by 28 points in June.
Yet Trump decided to keep his endorsement in the Graham family.
“Lindsey was one of the greatest people and Senators I have ever known, and his sister shares his deep love of our Country, and the State of South Carolina,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
In lending Graham Nordone his public support, Trump elevated a candidate who until July had been a political unknown. Graham Nordone has declined to answer questions at the Capitol, and she only held a local press conference two days before the election.
Graham Nordone’s opponents seized on her opaque record in the weeks leading up to the election. Fry ran attack ads arguing that Graham Nordone had pushed diversity, equity, and inclusion policies while leading South Carolina’s Commission for the Blind. Fry also claimed that she increased her own compensation, though salaries are set by a state commission.
“I’ve led a state agency for seven years where I help people who are blind find work so that they can live independently and not rely on the government, thus saving taxpayer dollars,” Graham Nordone said on Fox & Friends Monday morning. “So, I’m not sure how that equates to DEI. I’m really proud of what I did there.”
Trump’s endorsement has propelled some political careers and sunk others. During this electoral cycle alone, he intervened to push out three elected Republicans whom he saw as less-than-ideal partners: Sens. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) and John Cornyn (R-TX) and Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY).
Yet recent losses, including two within the last week, have tested the limits of Trump’s electoral influence. In Tennessee, Rep. Andy Ogles (R-TN) lost his seat after outside groups intervened for his GOP opponent. In Michigan, Trump-backed candidate Amir Hassan fell handily to a fellow Republican who had suspended his campaign weeks earlier.