Saul Loeb | AFP | fake images
Graham, sister of Sen. Lindsey Graham, whose seat she was appointed to fill after his unexpected death in July, led Norman by 4 percentage points when the Associated Press called the race.
He will face Democrat Annie Andrews in the November general election. The Cook Political Report with Amy Walter labels the race as “Solid R.” Lindsey Graham was the favorite to win re-election before his death.
The race was a test of Trump’s power in the party, as he threw his full support behind Graham. Trump, the party’s de facto leader, has traditionally been decisive but has suffered a series of recent defeats.
Graham and Norman are both Trump allies. But Norman, a hardline member of the House Freedom Caucus, has clashed at times with Trump, in part because of his early support for former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley in the 2024 Republican presidential primary. Norman also tends to raise fiscal concerns about some of the president’s priorities, sometimes straining his relationship with the president.
Throughout this election cycle, Trump has attacked fellow Republican lawmakers who have opposed him or his policies.
Graham, who has a brief political career, has enjoyed Trump’s enthusiastic support since the days after his brother’s unexpected death. Trump, who had a close relationship with Lindsey Graham, traveled to South Carolina to campaign with Graham last week and held a tele-rally for her on Monday.
″[T]There is no one better to honor the legacy of his beloved brother, Lindsey. “Darline, who comes from an absolutely incredible family, has been a WINNER her entire life and has my complete and total support in the special election for the US Senate in South Carolina,” Trump posted on TruthSocial on Monday.
Graham, who has never been elected to office but was appointed by South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster in July to serve out the remainder of her brother’s term, arrived Tuesday on somewhat shaky ground. He suffered an embarrassing moment in a debate with Norman last week.
Norman, who launched an unsuccessful bid for South Carolina governor earlier this year, seized the moment and presented himself as the proven conservative in the race.
“My opponent is unknown. She is backed by the Washington establishment,” Norman said in a recent appearance on Fox News. “She is an established candidate. It showed during the debates. This is an important job. There is no on-the-job training that she can do effectively.”
The stakes were high for Trump, some of whose appointees in South Carolina, as well as elsewhere in the country, have not been up to par lately.
In May, Trump endorsed South Carolina Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette in the Republican gubernatorial primary, though he ultimately endorsed the state’s attorney general, Alan Wilson, who beat Evette in a June runoff. Republican lawmakers in the South Carolina legislature also dealt a blow to Trump in May when they thwarted his push for partisan redistricting by mid-decade.
Elsewhere, Trump’s once-powerful endorsement has also fallen short. Rep. Randy Feenstra, R-Iowa, lost in June to Zach Lahn in the state’s Republican gubernatorial primary, despite earning Trump’s endorsement.
A Trump-backed candidate lost this month in the Republican primary for governor of Wyoming. And two candidates Trump had endorsed for the House of Representatives in Florida, Rep. Cory Mills and Catalina Lauf, lost their respective primaries earlier this month.
In total, 10 Trump-endorsed candidates have lost their races this election cycle, equal to the total number of Trump-endorsed candidates who lost in the 2018, 2020 and 2024 primaries combined, according to a CNN analysis.
