WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump made his final pitch Monday night for South Carolina Republicans to vote for Sen. Darline Graham, sister of the late Sen. Lindsey Graham, in a Republican primary runoff
on Aug. 25 that will test the power of the president's endorsement.
Trump urged his supporters to back Graham, saying she "fully supports the Trump agenda." He made the remarks during a 20-minute tele-rally on the eve of her runoff against Rep. Ralph Norman in the race to replace her deceased brother as the Republican nominee for U.S. Senate in South Carolina.
"I asked her to do it. I got her into this whole thing," Trump said of Graham, referencing his efforts to personally recruit her to run for the seat despite her lack of experience in public office. "I have to make sure she gets in because there will be nobody better."
In his brief remarks, Trump added: "Tomorrow, go out and vote for Darline Graham. It's going to be something that you'll be very proud of, looking back over the years."
The runoff, which comes after several Trump-backed candidates have lost in recent Republican primaries for Congress, gives Trump an opportunity to reassert his power over the Republican Party ahead of the November midterms. The winner will take on Democratic nominee Annie Andrews, a physician, in November. Trump campaigned alongside Graham last week in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.
The Trump-backed Graham finished first in the Aug. 11 special Republican primary with 33% of the vote, topping Norman, who finished with 25%, and U.S. Rep. Russell Fry, who got 20% of the vote. But a runoff was triggered because Graham did not secure a majority of the vote.
"She's tough, she's strong, and she's the perfect person to carry on the legacy of her brother," Trump said. "Very different people. She's very much about that affordability. He was very much about foreign affairs, but he was good at everything, and she's good at everything. And with time, she will be one of our greats."
'Guilty as charged,' Graham says of being new to politics
South Carolina Republican Gov. Henry McMaster appointed Graham to fill the remainder of her brother's term just days after he died on July 11, age 71, of arteriosclerotic cardiovascular disease. Prior to his death, Lindsey Graham had already won the Republican nomination in a June primary.
Darline Graham, 62, is a longtime state bureaucrat in South Carolina government who since 2019 has worked as commissioner of the South Carolina Commission for the Blind. A political novice who has never before ran for elected office, Graham stumbled in a televised debate last week when she was asked for her position on Taiwan. "I’m just going to be honest here," Graham. "I’m not that informed on national security, so ‒ but I do support the military."
Graham addressed her lack of political experience during the tele-town hall, framing it as a strength and saying she's actually "a little bit tougher" than her late brother on illegal immigration.
"Now the critics say I shouldn't run for the Senate. They say I'm not a politician," Graham said. "I say, guilty as charged. And by the way, President Trump had never served in an elected office before, and I think he's done a darn good job."
Norman, a conservative hardliner on the House Freedom Caucus, is aligned politically with Trump but backed one of his opponents, former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley, in the GOP presidential primary in 2024. Haley has endorsed him in the Senate race.
Graham went on the attack against her opponent as she touted her Senate votes during her three-week stint in office to approve a Russia sanctions package inspired by her late brother and to confirm Todd Blane as attorney general.
"Simply put, I've done more in 20 days than Ralph Norman has done in 20 years," Graham said in the tele-rally. "The reality is the only person my opponent has delivered for is himself." She pointed to Norman's status as one of the top 25 richest members of Congress.
Reach Joey Garrison on X @joeygarrison.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump makes final pitch for Sen. Darline Graham before South Carolina runoff
