Darline Graham Nordone has won the South Carolina Republican Senate runoff, defeating Rep. Ralph Norman by 53-47 percent and giving President Donald Trump a huge win on Tuesday. The race was called by Decision Desk and NBC News.
After being tapped to fill the rest of the term of her brother, the late Lindsey Graham, in the U.S. Senate, Graham Nordone was asked by President Trump to run for the full term.
President Trump rallied for Graham Nordone on the Friday before the runoff, telling thousands of voters in Myrtle Beach he asked her to run for the full term and urged them to support her on Election Day.
In a July post on Truth Social, Trump said that Graham Nordone would “never” let the people of South Carolina down. Trump added that Graham Nordone shares her brother, the late Sen. Lindsey Graham’s (R-SC), “deep love of our Country” and of South Carolina.
“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. During her visit, I asked Darline, for the Good of our Nation, to run for the U.S. Senate,” he wrote.
In addition to Trump’s complete endorsement, senior South Carolina elected officials also backed Graham, led by two-term Gov. Henry McMaster and Sen. Tim Scott.
She was able to shake off criticism in the only debate of the runoff, where she said she was “not that informed on national security” in response to a question about Taiwan and the South China Sea. Some voters later said it was an authentic answer from a candidate who had not long-planned a run for elective office.
Over $5 million in negative ads from outside battered Norman in the two-week sprint, including $1 million from the Democrat-led green energy PAC Invest in Tomorrow Coalition.
Graham Nordone now faces far-left Democrat Annie Andrews in the November general election for the full six-year term to represent the state.
