It will be interesting to see whether the residents of S.C. decide to look past Trump’s endorsement in this race.
I wanted to slip a quick Corner hit in under the wire before polls close in South Carolina at 7:00 p.m. Eastern Time, because a surprise may be brewing in a race most people have slept on: the race to replace Lindsey Graham in the Senate.
Graham, of course, won renomination back in June, then was unexpectedly felled by a heart condition at nearly the same age as his father was. Governor Henry McMaster’s appointment of Graham’s sister Darline to fill the remainder of his current term — at President Trump’s direct behest — was greeted with general approval by all, given that she was a political tyro.
But then Trump tried to flex his muscles: After the appointment of Graham he went one step further and pushed the non-politician to run for a full term in the Senate. Trump’s logic is clear enough from his own narrowly focused perspective: Darline Graham, being completely new to politics, would be guaranteed in her loyalty to the man who had singlehandedly elevated her to power.
What Trump forgot about was every other politician in South Carolina. As CNN notes, South Carolina Republicans have been waiting a very long time for a Senate seat to open up in this most blood-red of states, and few if any of them felt the need to defer to a non-politician who has announced her intent to be little more than a temporary mascot for Trump. It seems that South Carolina voters are similarly wary.
So on August 11, during the first round of voting in the emergency primary, Darline Graham scored a shockingly anemic 33 percent of the vote statewide, with Representative Ralph Norman hitting 24 percent. (Representative Russell Fry sat 20 percent, and Mark Sanford, that ol’ rascal, fell short with 15.) A week later, during the one and only candidate debate between Norman and Graham, she committed a gaffe that I can only describe as “Biden-like”: When asked a basic question about China, she could not even attempt a response. “I’m just going to be honest here. I’m . . . not that informed on national security, so — but I do support the military.”
Now Sanford has endorsed Norman, and Fry has endorsed Graham. Graham still has to be considered the favorite, but discontent with her as an anointed choice is real in S.C., and it will be interesting to see how close her victory margin is.
I liked Lindsey Graham quite a bit. Beyond admiring his sheer talent as a political survivor, I respected his genuine commitment to public service. But Lindsey Graham is gone now, and whatever her other virtues, Darline Graham is plainly not her brother. Ultimately whoever wins tonight’s primary will become the junior senator from South Carolina — this seat is not up for grabs — so it will be interesting to see whether the residents of S.C. decide to look past Trump’s endorsement in this race and choose an actual politician instead.