MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. (AP) — President Donald Trump sought Friday to boost Sen. Darline Graham's effort to win a full term, telling thousands of supporters that the first step toward keeping her as their senator involves helping the political newcomer triumph in a Republican runoff next week.
The Republican president also begged them to pretend that he's on the ballot Tuesday — even though he is not — if that will help them get to the polls to vote.
Voters
will decide Tuesday whether Graham or Rep. Ralph Norman will be the Republican nominee for the U.S. Senate on the ballot in November.
“You have to get out and vote,” Trump said about Darline Graham, who is serving out the remainder of the term of her late brother, Sen. Lindsey Graham, who died unexpectedly in July. “And we need every South Carolina patriot to go to the polls and vote for Darline Graham.”
Trump nodded to the reality that enthusiasm for voting among in the Republican base drops off when he is not a candidate for office, as is the case this year. Trump is serving his second and final term as president.
“So what I really want you to do is pretend, please, that I’m on the ballot. Just come and vote. It’s so important,” Trump said. “So just say that I’m on the ballot one more time. You got to say it, and you got to come out and vote.”
Trump, who encouraged Darline Graham to run and has endorsed her, called her to the stage as he neared the end of his remarks.
“This is Trump country,” she declared before the crowd in chants of “U.S.A.”
The Myrtle Beach rally is the sort of campaign trail occasion that Trump hasn’t done as much of this year, compared with past midterms, making it a signal of the importance he is placing on a win for his pick.
It was also an opportunity for the president to wade into friendly territory ahead before the midterm elections that leave his party’s control of Congress hanging in the balance. South Carolina hasn’t elected a Democrat statewide in decades, its House delegation has only one Democrat and Trump’s own victory in the 2016 presidential primary here helped propel him toward the nomination and ultimately the White House.
Shortly before Trump arrived, Darline Graham sought to distinguish herself from Norman.
“I am many things: a problem solver, a mother, a leader, but I am not a career politician," Darline Graham said. "I will take the South Carolina conservative values I learned in the back of that liquor store, and bring them with me to Washington. South Carolina needs a fighter.”
In the scramble of a special Republican primary election that was called after Lindsey Graham's sudden death last month, Darline Graham was picked by Gov. Henry McMaster — also a Trump ally — to serve as interim senator and entered the special primary at Trump's urging. The president had said he told McMaster that appointing her would be a “fabulous tribute to Lindsey,” although the governor pointed out that he asked Graham to serve “in the wee hours” after her brother's death, adding that Trump “thought it was a great idea” when he later told him of his pick.
Hours before the rally, McMaster officially endorsed Graham. When he appointed her Graham last month, a person familiar with McMaster’s thinking but unauthorized to speak publicly about it said the governor had never contemplated that she would run for the seat herself.
The president pressed “RUN DARLINE, RUN” on social media, and gave her his “Complete and Total Endorsement” before she'd officially announced her campaign. And at every turn on the campaign trail, she's reminded voters of this anointing, as well as her commitment to advancing his priorities if elected. On the eve of the primary two weeks ago, he held a tele-rally for Graham.
Trump also considered Lindsey Graham a close ally and friend, though they ran against each other in 2016 and had their ups and downs, so part of the visit is personal for Trump. He eulogized his longtime golfing partner and wartime consigliere at Washington National Cathedral last month.
A political newcomer, Graham has stressed that she's “not a politician,” as she's hurriedly introduced herself to voters across the state. Regularly touting her support for Trump’s policies, as well as his endorsement, she has pointed to her years heading up a state agency, as well as her weeks on the job in the U.S. Senate, as evidence of her readiness.
Saying she’s “answering President Trump’s call to serve,” she has repeatedly said she wants “to fight for President Trump’s agenda” and cited his core goals of border security and passing the SAVE Act voting bill as among her top priorities.
Graham has said she's focused on kitchen table issues like gas prices and household spending rather than international affairs. Earlier this week, after stumbling on an elemental foreign policy question related to U.S. interests in Taiwan, Graham defended herself as “not a polished politician up here.”
Speaking publicly about the gaffe for the first time Friday, before he flew to South Carolina, Trump told reporters Graham “was being honest” when she said Tuesday during a debate that she wasn’t up to speed on national security issues.
“She’s surrounded by very good people, and she said that she’s totally for the military,” Trump said.
By meeting voters in Myrtle Beach, both Trump and Darline Graham were aiming to capitalize on a growing part of the state that's known to be deeply conservative, loyal to Trump and full of new residents.
It's also the home district of Rep. Russell Fry, the House ally whose name Trump had floated as an “outstanding” possible replacement for Graham after the senator's death. Elected to the House in 2022 with Trump's help, Fry ousted a five-term GOP congressman who had voted to impeach Trump a year earlier.
Running in the Senate primary, Fry touted his support for and previous backing from the president, but was hampered by the absence of it in this race. Finishing third, he swiftly endorsed Graham, a calculated move for the 41-year-old, two-term congressman, who, dating to the origins of his 2022 election, has seen the ramifications for some Republicans who have crossed Trump.
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Superville reported from Washington. Meg Kinnard can be reached at http://x.com/MegKinnardAP
